I Want it All [30% Complete]

[Cerise Areli]

Prompt List

• Prey
• Betrayal
• Lie
• Angel
• Fight
• Dragon
• Chaos
• New Year's
• Eclipse
• Queen

[Cerise Areli]

P R E Y

[Cerise Areli]

B E T R A Y A L

If there was one thing Ramsey had told her, it was to trust nobody. Nobody but him. And she had managed that for a very long time - until she met the Lady Emma. With her red hair and her sharp wit, Emma was definitely the only other person in the court that Cerise could stand, let alone talk to. It also didn't hurt that she didn't seem to be after Ramsey. In fact, it was nice to not have to make friendly with the competition for a change. The two often walked and talked at the enchanting woman's estate, where Cerise indulged in exotic fruits and wines. They usually ended up in the menagerie, where the pride of Emma's collection, a pair of peacocks, resided. Cerise often wanted to, many times, take a feather to use in her hair, but she knew that in doing so, Ramsey would know she'd been leaving the palace, and she couldn't risk being caught. Emma was the only woman who had peacocks; everyone else's had died from neglect, and yet hers thrived.

She had no idea who or what Emma was, simply that the woman seemed immune to the charms of the twins. She made no mention of this to Ramsey, and Emma seemed to fake it enough when she was in his presence (to feed his ego, she would tell Cerise over looking at fabric for new dresses), and on some level, she knew that she probably should have pointed out that there was one individual who didn't seem to get totally rolled by their power, but in truth? Ramsey was gone a lot lately, and Cerise was lonely. She was desperate for a friend. Nobody could replace Ramsey, but they could at least hold his place for a while.

And when a Vida witch almost drove a blade right through Cerise's back during the night, she knew for certain that she'd made a terrible mistake to place her trust in anyone except for her brother. She only survived because Ramsey chose that very moment to come into the room; he sensed the way his sister's aura suddenly spiked in fear and panic, and with a quick gesture of his wickedly sharp sword, the body fell to the ground on its knees, relieved of the head that so burdened it with clearly bad decisions.

"What happened?" he demanded, wiping the sword against the Vida's clothing to clean it of blood before sheathing it.

"I don't know!" she exclaimed. "I wasn't asleep yet, so when I heard something, I got up to see - I thought it was you!" she protested at the angry look he gave her.

"Cerise," he said, his voice threatening to get louder than it already was, "how many times have I told you? Even if you think something is happening, arm yourself! You'd know if it were me, sister. Any doubt you have is a sign that it isn't," he added. He had her firmly by the arms, and shook her to emphasize his point. Sometimes he'd like to have stabbed her himself.

Some time after he'd gotten done dressing her down for how careless she'd been, he forced her to help him remove the body. To teach her to clean up her messes, he'd said. She thought he was just trying to punish her further - and he was, truly, because he still couldn't believe that after all this time she still had rocks in her head. When she paused by the body before lifting its feet up, he thought she was trying to get out of helping - it wasn't until he realized that she had a peacock's feather pinched between her thumb and forefinger that there was something she had been hiding from him. He knew he wasn't likely to get it out of her right then, and whatever it was, the look on her face plainly told him that she'd learned her lesson.

[Cerise Areli]

L I E

[Cerise Areli]

A N G E L

[Cerise Areli]

F I G H T

[Cerise Areli]

D R A G O N

[Cerise Areli]

C H A O S

[Cerise Areli]

N E W  Y E A R ' S

So many years had come and gone, and in that time, Cerise and Ramsey had lived many different lives. Always together, but never together, at least, not publicly. It was probably because it was habit; brother and sister in the older times meant that Cerise was eligible, and they could attain property, money and power by marrying her off to someone. She'd kill them, of course, and be a lovely young widow whose kind brother looked after her. It had worked after France, but they had to be careful of how they told their stories and to whom, lest word travel back of a lovely golden-haired duo who seemed to have death at their heels.

Ramsey cursed the day that he had been born a twin, if only because it meant that he could not, no matter how much he desired, marry Cerise in a traditional sense, nor portray her lover in public, without people having a great deal to say about it. The Areli bloodline always bred true, with no obvious defects if you ignored the coin flip at birth - but that was every Areli, not simply the duo. One crazy, one sane, and so on, and so forth. Ramsey and Cerise were good so far, though after the first hundred years when neither of them began burning people alive, it was fairly obvious their parents had produced a 'good batch'.

Now, of course, they were the last two living members of the Areli line. The Vidas had banded together with the Aruns (the ones that they could fund, anyways) to destroy the last of the incubi/succubi long ago (all the while Ramsey and his sweet sister hid, and hid, and hid), and even though the dust had long cleared, they still had to be careful. Of course, careful had changed after roughly two hundred-fifty or so years, because despite knowing New York was a hot spot for Nyeusi activity, he still chose to throw a New Year's party at Bonne Chance, where there were literally hundreds of others moving from floor to floor and mingling with strangers thanks to the social lubricant that was alcohol.

Cerise was speaking to the pretty bartender when he came up alongside her, nodding in approval to the woman who refreshed his glass. He'd always liked lions. They were easily his favourite animal, and the city seemed to have quite a few of them, though he did notice there were considerably more males then females, and he was certain that did not bode well. His attention was brought from Farrah to a blonde that stood to his right, and he watched how she critically spoke to an equally blonde man that appeared no more than mid-to-late twenties. Neither did she, in fact.

Vidas, he recognized almost instantly. Instinctively, he gripped Cerise's hand beneath the bar, the squeeze bringing her attention to the situation. He dare not take his eyes off the duo, regardless of how little they seemed to do other than pick at eachother.

"What?" Cerise said, obviously oblivious. After all this time, she didn't recognize trouble when it was right in front of her face. It made him what to slap her, but he checked his anger at her ignorance to listen when she continued speaking. "Ramz, they're harmless," she insisted, but she backed up as he forced her away from the bar and across the room, pulling his magic up to make them 'invisible' (in the sense that nobody would notice them).

"They're Vida. They're not harmless," he said sharply.

Cerise rolled her eyes, gesturing to them as they laughed and drank, the spat obviously over. "They're the least Vida I've ever seen. That's Laura, and her brother Lance. Not twins, but they may as well be," she said. "Look at how they interact. Harmless, brother dear," she said, running her fingers through the very back of his hair and turning his attention towards her. "Besides, I suspect they're more Areli then Vida. Look at them."

Ramsey looked. It was more tempting to touch, but they were too far away and Ramsey didn't deign to reveal himself to a pair of Vidas. Besides, his sister always entertained ridiculous ideas - though, never any about other living Areli family members. He considered the options he had, but she was pawing at the back of his neck and it made him not want to deal with it right then. As the countdown began, he stepped further into the shadows with her to steal a kiss, and when he did, Cerise rose her power and snapped it out at the two siblings (and she did it before he could stop her).

There was a strange sensation as the two of them looked up, and Ramsey's mouth ripped from hers, primarily to scold her - until he felt it, too. While the two could not sense where the sudden burst of energy had come from in a room full of Supernaturals, Cerise's goal had been attained - he could feel familiarity as they both reached out with their own energy. It wasn't full Areli - it was faint, but it was there. It could be cultivated if given enough attention.

"I told you," she said hotly, pulling away from him. She walked right towards them, snatching a champagne glass from a passing tray as she did so. She straightened her sky blue satin dress and tossed her blonde hair back, a smile on her mouth. "Happy New Years," she said, toasting to the two new-found Areli kin. "I'm Cerise, and this is my party."

Ramsey shook his head, and followed suit. "Have we found another set of twins, my dear?" he asked, clicking his glass against hers nonchalantly. He kept a bored town to his voice, but the way in which he studied the two Cerise had suddenly become focused on was murderous.

"No, not twins," the female said, still obviously bothered by the sudden crack of energy she'd felt that she hadn't been able to identify. "Not like you," she observed, marveling at how... good-looking they were. And they seemed familiar somehow, too. She couldn't put her finger on it. "Happy New Years," she said anyways with a shrug and a smile, her brother raising his glass with a grunt behind her.

"I have a feeling it's going to be a wonderful year," Cerise said. Ramsey frowned.

[Cerise Areli]

E C L I P S E

[Cerise Areli]

Q U E E N

So, the King of France had died, and his son, Louis had just received the crown. Aside him, the lovely Austrian Antoinette would be named Queen, and Cerise and Ramsey found themselves very fortunate to have been put on the list for the celebration that ensued after, as it allowed them time to make connections they otherwise could not. For Cerise, this was her opportunity to make nice with the Queen and secure their place in French society for the remainder of their stay.

Cerise had been speaking with someone when the young Queen approached her, and she turned, smiled and curtsied to her as gracefully as ever. "Majesty," she cooed.

"Countess Richelieu," the Queen greeted her. "I wonder, could I have a word with you?"

Cerise blinked rapidly. Was she in some sort of trouble? She glanced over at her brother, who was busy speaking to several men about hunting, while the new King laughed at a joke he'd made and patted him on the shoulder (Ramsey was so much taller than Louis, it was comical).

"Your brother won't miss you too much," the Queen insisted. She reached out and took Cerise by the arm, tugging her closely as she lead her away from the thrum of men and drunken women to the next room, which was much quieter. In it sat a few of her ladies-in-waiting, drinking and laughing and carrying on.

"Majesty?" Cerise prompted.

"Mademoiselle Richelieu,  I simply must know... where did you get that divine dress?" she asked.

Cerise stared at her for a moment, her mouth open with shock. She'd never seen the Queen in a social setting before that was so personal; generally, if she and Ramsey were at Versailles, they stayed away from the center of royalty. Tonight had been an opportunity, but this was ridiculous. She thought about all of the stiff traditional that the French had with royalty, knowing that Ramsey had drilled her on 'how to be a lady', since they essentially had everyone believing they were relatives of the Comte de Toulouse. She had heard that the Queen didn't like all of the frippery and fussing, especially since she'd fired "Madame Etiquette".

"My dress, majesty?" Cerise repeated.

"Yes, darling. I've never seen fabric so soft before. Elisabeth, come and look at this," she cooed, holding her hand out to run the fabric between her fingers. Cerise was dumbfounded. "I simply must know - and look at her shoes," she exclaimed. Cerise lifted her dress slightly so that they could see them, and she was shocked when the Queen dropped down to a knee, fingering the diamond adornments lightly as she spoke. "I need shoes with diamonds in them," she muttered.

"I would be happy to refer you to my dressmaker, majesty," she said, her stunned expression turning into a smile.

"Please do," the Queen said. "Have you met my friends, yet?" And she took Cerise by the arm again, turning her to face the ladies-in-waiting, as they all sort of perked up to look her over. They seemed friendly enough, but Cerise knew that even kittens had the sharpest of claws, and so she only smiled.

"No, majesty, I have not had the pleasure."

"Please," the Queen said. "Call me Antoinette. They do. Lousy whores," she said affectionately, grinning at them as they threw a handful of raspberries and blackberries at her, which she blocked with an arm and a squeal. "Darlings, this is Mme. Richelieu. You may have seen her handsome brother around cavorting with your own husbands from time to time - Cerise, right?" Antoinette asked.

She nodded, then smiled warmly to the women. "It's very lovely to make your acquaintance," she purred.

One of the women sat up more on the long couch she'd nestled up to, tilting her head. "Your brother - Ramsey, right?" she asked. When Cerise nodded, she smiled wickedly. "Oh, my, but I have heard about your brother. Tell me, has he his eye on anyone at court for a wife?"

Cerise's smile turned into more of a smirk. "He's got eyes for a girl back home, I'm afraid," she said. "But that doesn't mean I can't always put in a good word," she offered. At that, the two women immediately cleared a spot for her on the couch, and she, Elisabeth, Antoinette and the rest all speculated as to the likelihood of Ramsey's interest in them, as well as how much the silks would cost for new dresses, what plays they had recently seen - and of course, the merits of gambling all night.

Cerise was beginning to find that she liked the Queen, Antoinette, very much.