loping along through the cosmos

52.5: THEODORE'S PARAMOUR

Their embrace only ended when the distant sound of approaching footsteps reached their ears, signaling the imminent intrusion of onlookers from the arena.

Reluctantly, Theodore pulled back, though he didn't want to let go. Surprisingly, it was Jade who gently extricated herself from his embrace, her lips slightly swollen from their fervent kisses.

He couldn't help but admire their rosy hue, tempted to kiss her again and again. But with people starting to emerge from the exit, he swiftly pushed Jade to the side and instinctively shielded his face from view, blending into the shadows once more.

"Larcade Sinclair was bound to win," they heard one of the empyreans saying. "You should buy me three bottles of alcohol the next time we visit The Nectar."

"You want to be so out of your mind that you wake up with another fairy again, huh?"

The men laughed when the first man nodded.

Jade turned to Theodore and squinted her eyes once the men were a few feet away from them. "That alcohol before... where did you say you got that?"

"Uh-"

"It's from here," she said, sounding sure of herself. "And it has those effects."

"For the record, I didn't know its effects. I drank those with the others back when the queen and king got married. I didn't kiss anyone in this world while I was drunk."

"Oh, you better not kiss anyone when you're drunk."

"You kissed me back when we were drunk."

"That was a good choice, by the way. But don't drink beyond your limit, okay?"

Theodore smiled at her in fondness. "Yes, ma'am."

"Where have you two been?!" JP said when he found them outside. The vampires and the other empyrean versions of their friends followed him.

"Jade!" Kieran called her with glee. "Your uncle won!"

"So I have heard," she replied. "Did you enjoy your time with them?" Before Kieran could answer, she continued. "You ditched me for them so you should have enjoyed them or else."

A familiar boyish laugh was heard from behind the Empyrean Gus. Then, when the man revealed himself, Jade could finally see two versions of her head bodyguard.

She didn't know if she should be scared or not.

Two Kierans would actually be so strict yet so chaotic. Chaotic good anyway, if they don't have much difference in personalities.

"Your guard is funny," the vampire Kieran said. "Who would have thought me and my brothers would assume responsibilities as the Sinclair-Valentines' bodyguards?"

"We would not do that even if we do not have any food left," vampire Fino remarked, his tone laced with biting sarcasm. "I would never work for anyone except for the kids."

A wry smile tugged at Jade's lips as she listened until she could not take it anymore. "Aren't vampires supposed to know it all? Like, how to hunt and, basically, survive because you've been living for centuries already? Shouldn't you grasp evolutionary psychology's concept by now? Why do you have to work?"

The smiles on the vampires' faces instantly faltered. Jade sensed the shift in the atmosphere, a subtle but unmistakable shift towards confrontation as the vampires stepped forward, but Jareth (the bigger, more muscular version of Bodyguard Jareth, who's already scary enough for Jade) raised an arm sideways, a silent gesture of restraint for his brothers.

"As much as we would like to prey on everyone we see, which we could do so, we have children to protect."

"Not our children, anyway," a vampire mumbled behind.