The First Meeting
Author's Notes: This is an add-on chapter
for Dark Princess... it takes place
during the time Alex spent on Nemesis. (I cut out a lot in the original
chapter because of space, this and the other stories should fill you in
on all the minor details I left out)
Alex was, to say the least, a bit perturbed. She'd
been stuck on Nemesis for only a couple of days. But that was two days
too many! Especially with some of the jailers she had... She didn't mind
Saffiru, and the Akayashi were like sisters to her, but the other two creeps
were royal pains in her ass. Of course one of them would rather be other
places... Little did she know there were even worse annoyances on this
dismal little planet....
"Alex!" a voice called from the other side of the
door.
"Yeah, Beru-chan?" Alex said curiously, putting
down her brush. Beruche always came straight in without even knocking,
if she'd waited outside, something was up...
"You decent?" Beruche knew Alex didn't always sleep
with proper clothes, and if she asked, that meant there was a guy with
her.
"Yeah. Come on in." ... Alex thought as the door
opened. She sighed, "Hey, Saff. Why you visiting so early?"
"Because if Demando had come you'd either A) be
indecent and he'd never let Beruche make him wait or B) kill him as soon
as he came in before he could talk." Saffiru said with a perfectly straight
face even tough Beruche was giggling.
"That means you're playing messenger boy. What's
the perv want now?" Alex asked, sighign and rolling her eyes up in annoyance.
"I'd give you the formal command to be in his presence,
but you'd just laugh your ass off, so I'll just tell you he wants you in
the throne room. And I'd go before he loses his temper." Saffiru said and
smirked.
"Months too late for that, Sapphy-chan." Alex said
and grimaced. "Now what does he want?" she asked and grabbed her cloak.
It wasn't cold, she just didn't want Demando getting any ideas from her
"new" outfit. She was lucky Kalaberas was her size, but unlucky that nothing
the young lady had covered anything other than vital areas...
"He didn't say, but I think I can guess... If you're
getting requested to meet him so formally, it's gotta be to meet his advisor."
Beruche said and frowned.
"Advisor? You mean the little twit has someone AGREE
with those damned ideas of his? Hmm... did that guy advise him about kidnapping
me?" Alex asked, tying her cloak's strings loosely around her neck.
"I think so." Saffiru answered, "Why?
"Did the guy have anything negative to say about
it?"
"I don't think so. Demando usually goes by what
the guy says, and you're here, right?" Beruche said and put her hands on
her hips.
Alex checked to make sure the cloak was covering
enough and gave a grim smile, "I hate the guy already..." Both of her friends
stifled a laugh about that. "All right, then, let's go meet mister bad
ideas." Alex said brightly and slipped by the both of them with a careless
grace.
"Please don't let her try anything... the wiseman
might not like a smart aleck." Saffiru sighed and followed with Beruche
right next to him.
"Alex isn't a smart-aleck, she's a downright smart-ass
around Demando. Those two are oil and water, I swear..." the silver haired
lady said and sighed, then giggled. "And one of these days Alex is gonna
drown him."
*******************************************************
Alex took a second outside the doors to compose herself.
Okay,
just don't look directly at the jerk or flame-head if he's there and don't
get a 'tude. Last thing I need is the REAL prisoner treatment. Then again,
maybe that'll wake Beryl up and get some warriors over here to save me....
she sighed and brushed a wild strand of hair out of her face then opened
the door.
Alex stepped into the room and glanced around, no
flame-head, not even the lady with the fan. Just Demando and some guy in
a dark cloak that covered even more than hers. "You called?" Alex asked
sweetly and smlied with just a hint of malice.
Demando obviously caught the sarcasm. "Enough of
the acting, you're terrible at it."
"Am I really?" Alex blinked innocently. "We'll see
about that. So what'd you want anyway, besides the obvious." she
gave him a harsh glare and a frown.
"I thought Saffiru or Beruche would have told you."
"Yeah yeah, to meet your adivsor who obviously has
bad advice. Did he actually approve of kidnapping me or did you
not tell him you were gonna do it?" Alex asked angrily and her glare darkened.
"Calm down or you'll regret it. This isn't your
home, Alexandrite." Demando said coldly.
Alex growled softly below her breath and sighed,
"Fine then, so let's get this over with. What does this advisor need to
know?"
"He already knows everything about you." Demando
told her, "Including things you don't know."
"Oh what a load of--" Alex caught herself, "How
could he?"
"Come closer and I'll show you." the cloaked man
said. Alex felt a twinge of fear and apprehension. She didn't like this
guy, possibly hated him more than Demando. His aura was scaring her, and
that was a rarity, she never got scared of someone she knew nothing about.
"Scared of me, are you? I thought the Dark Kingdom trained it's warriors
better than that."
"I'm not a warrior, I'm a princess." Alex said stubbornly
and walked up to the man until she was just beyond arms' reach.
"We'll see what you are when your time here is done."
the man said and the crystal he held glowed.
"You mean I'm not going to be here forever? Tell
that to D-Boy over there." Alex said and thumbed over to Demando.
"He knows you'll leave, and he knows you'll be back.
Of your own will." the man told her
"As if. I'd never come back here!" Alex
said and crossed her arms, letting the cloak fall back a bit. She could
sense Demando's lust and immediately pulled the cloak back over her, shooting
him a glare out of the corner of her eyes.
"You say that now, but you will. And you will be
here for quite a while." the man told Alex.
"No way in hell. If Beryl doesn't get off her ass
and send help, Jacinth and Zoisite will."
"If Jacinth invades he'll start a civil war. And
Zoisite can't do anything without Beryl or Malachite's orders. Neither
of them would order your return." Demando said coldly.
"I believe that." and she did too. Her father
and her queen didn't give a damn about her, she'd known that since she
was three.
"So why bother trying to leave?"Demando asked, "Just
enjoy it here."
"Yeah. I suppose you've got plans on how I can 'enjoy'
it here, right? Sorry, not interested." Alex said with a jagged tenseness
in her voice.
"You'll surrender soon enough." it wasn't Demando
who said it, it was the cloaked man. For some reason that seriously frightened
Alex and gave her a feeling of dread and doom.
"What do you know? I'm twice as stubborn as anyone
here. No way could he ever break me."
"He won't. But he'll have you broken." the cloaked
man said and suddenly the crystal flared.
Alex gasped and grabbed her head, her forehead burned.
"What the hell are you doing to me?!?" she growled loudly.
Even Demando looked shocked and stood up, "Don't
hurt her for the love of the gods!" he yelled, "I don't need her hurt!"
"It doesn't hurt her, she's just scared."
"Damn you, it does so hurt! My whole forehead
burns!" Alex snarled. Then all of a sudden, her forehead stopped burning.
It flared brighter than the crystal and felt much cooler.
"What the hell?" Demando was even more shocked.
"What did you do to her?"
"Simply tested her, she's strong, but not strong
enough to fight forever." the cloaked man said then vanished.
Alex gasped and the light from her head suddenly
stopped. She felt weak and fell forward, catching herself on a knee and
hand. "I... remember something like that before... but.." she shook her
head and the slight memory was gone, probably nothing major anyway.
"Are you all right?" Demando asked.
"I'm fine, why should you care?" Alex snapped and
stood up weakly. "Now if that's all you needed me for."
"It wasn't, but the rest can wait." he said and
waved a hand to dismiss her.
Alex rolled her eyes, she'd always left with or
without a dismissal. It was annoying when he tried to pretend he could
control her. They both knew he never would... despite what that damned
wiseman said.
Yeah yeah I know..." where's the rest?" Well you'll have to read
the other add-ons to find out. Don't forget to send any rave's, hate mails,
etc, to queenalexandrite@hotmail.com