The Criminal's Eyes - Daniel Howell

Chapter 7

A/N: I'm writing this in English but it's okay because it's English?
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The car journey to the manor couldn't have been more irritating, thanks to the wonderful Derek Lester.

"Yes, our establishment has made sure to acquire the best caterers, decorators and everything else of the like. All on Howell-excluded subscription, of course, as if we'd hire those who agree to work for the rabble of the city," he drones on and on, Ciara pretending to show an interest.

I exchange glances with my mother every time he says something against the Howells, and I can see her flinch slightly. I guess she's more caring than I give her credit for. I try and stay out of the conversation, but Derek notices my hesitation.

"My brother is so keen to meet you, Kira. I know you and your mother aren't strictly Lester, but hopefully you'll soon be, eh?" He says with a wink, and I feign a gracious smile. It's what he says next that provokes me.

"So lucky we managed to get you before you could be tricked by Howell scum," he says with disdain, as if saying the name of the rival family had left a bitter taste on his tongue.

I respond while looking out of the window, not wanting to lock eyes with either Derek or my mom.

"On the contrary, I feel no hatred towards the house of Howell, in fact-"
"What she means to say is that she may not associate herself with the Howells, but she does not wish for any disruption tonight, therefore wants to put aside any hate," I instantly turn back to look at the rest of them when I'm interrupted by my mother, trying to save the situation. I'm frustrated that I couldn't get my point across but thankful - if Derek had countered my argument this would have escalated very quickly.

I turn my head back to face the window, ignoring the obvious warning looks being thrown my way by my mom, and try to stay quiet for the rest of the journey - knowing me I would've gotten in trouble before even getting to this damn party. I manage to zone out for the rest of the ride, ignoring Derek before he makes my ears bleed with the sound of his arrogance, and focus on the sun setting in the distance and how the colours were slowly changing.

Before I know it, the car comes to an abrubt halt, bringing me back to reality from my daze, and I feel Ciara's hand on my arm.

"Kira! Kira wake up! We're HERE!" she yells down my ear and pulls me with more force this time, practically yanking me out of the vehicle before I can protest.

"Dude! Chill, I wasn't even asleep and - let go that hurt!" I exclaim, wondering why this party had turned her crazy all of a sudden. I mean, she was crazy anyway, but not this much.

"Well then what are you doing? Come on!" she says, one arm linked with Derek's and the other still on mine, now pulling me up the driveway. Knowing she always gets what she wants, I just go along with it and traipse up the steps behind them, before Derek turns around.

"Uh babe, I'm gonna go... find mom... help and stuff... bye!" he says before running into the large house ahead of us, avoiding all eye contact with Ciara who was still beaming up at him. I start to calculate possible scenarios in my head as to why he seemed so off, but I know that Ciara would never believe me, and I convince myself I imagined his shadiness simply due to the fact he was irritating me in the car.

"Isn't he great," Ciara whispers to me, finally slowing her pace after we get to the top of the stairs and Derek is out of sight, "hopefully his brother will be exactly the same!" she smiles, and I fake a smile back, while silently hoping Derek's brother is the complete opposite of him.

We walk into the hall and pull our masks down. While Ciara starts talking again I scan the faces in the room, if you wanted to find someone in here you'd need to recognise them by their eyes...

I snap out of my trace of taking in people's eye colours when I hear a shrill voice.
"There she is!"

I look up towards the direction of the sound and see Lady Lester, closely followed by my mother and a very tall guy with a black mask, and from what I can assume, I'm pretty sure it's Phillip. I have no time to take him in, though, as Lady Lester is embracing me before I can even process what's going on.

"It's so good to see you, my girl! Why, how you've grown up. And quite finely I should say, too," she smiles at me, and I see her give her son a sideways glance. From looking around the room I can see she is the only one in the room without a mask, and I begin to wonder if it's to display the excessive amounts of Botox injected into her worn-out skin, but I refrain from saying that and plaster the fake smile back onto my face.

"I'm sure you've heard lots about Phillip..." she says, stepping back to whisper to my mother while Ciara joins them and I see a dazzling blue contrasting the darkness of the mask, suddenly making my cheeks flush red. Maybe it's that I know so much about this stranger, or maybe it's just his importance, but I forget to speak and just watch as he takes his mask off to reveal the rest of his slender face and takes my hand in his, leaning down to place a small kiss at the base of my fingers.

"An honour to make your acquaintance," he says, head still bowed, and I can feel the vibrations of his deep voice against my hand.

My mother glares at me from her position behind Lady Lester at my lack of speech, and I say the first thing I've been trained to.
"The pleasure is all mine," I reply as he stands up straight, my hand still in his.

"Would you care to dance?" He asks, I'm still in awe of his height and the pleasant surprise of his difference to his younger brother. At this thought I wonder where Derek is - didn't he say he was finding his mother? If he was he'd be in front of me...

I hear Ciara clear her throat, bringing me back to reality, and I remember I haven't answered Phillip yet.

"Of course..." My mother gives me a look, "... your Lordship," she smiles at me when I finish.

Now intertwining his fingers with mine, he leads me to the middle of the ballroom, and places his other hand on my waist. I try my best to not let him know I have no experience whatsoever when it comes to dancing - it was always Ciara who got asked. If he notices, he doesn't show it, just skilfully guides me across the dancefloor. I only just manage to follow his lead, and try to concentrate, but he begins to talk.

"Look, I know you've met my brother, but please don't make assumptions of my personality off of him. That's all I can say, I promise you we are very different," he says, and this takes me by surprise.

"N-no, I mean... I'm not going to say anything about Derek, but I can assure you I don't associate any of your traits with that of his," I say, and earn a small smile.
"You're very charming, Phillip," his smile turns into a grin.

"Thank you, and you're extremely beautiful," he says, making me blush harder. "But please, it's Phil," he laughs.

"Okay then Phil, I-" I'm about to speak, but I can't when I see it.

This can't be happening. I mean, I want it to, but it's impossible. We were dancing, I was scanning the room every second that I wasn't looking up into Phil's eyes, but I'd recognise it anywhere. Anytime. Any place. I only saw it for a second, before they turned away, maybe my mind was playing tricks on me? No, it was there.

Amongst all the faces, amongst all the masks, there was something certain behind a sheath of gold.

I saw Dan's eyes.