Kiss of the Ruby

    The young prince stood in the back of the grand ball room, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his handsome face.  He leaned his tall and muscular body against the wall as his eyes darted across the room.  He despised dances with all his being, why had his mother dragged him into this like she had.
His thoughts continued to question this event as he watched the many people dance to the lively music.  The dresses of the women fanning out as they twirled in and out of the arms of the men.  Both genders were dressed in extravagant costumes, complete with frills and lace.  Everyone donned even more extravagant masks upon their faces, hiding the identities of the many dozens of people in the room.
    He despised it all greatly, for today, Saint Valentine's day, was also his twenty-first birthday.  He had wanted it to be a quiet affair, but his mother would have no less for the future king of Aria.
    “Why must this always happen to me?”  He muttered to himself as he adjusted his mask, causing a few strands of his silky black hair to fall into his face.  
    The young prince's mask was simpler then many of the other masks around him, being made of a dark green fabric and trimmed in black and gold.  The almond shaped holes exposed his deep copper eyes swimming with golden flecks, which hardened from his annoyance at the scene before him.
    As he looked down at his outfit, he scowled even deeper.  For it consisted of black trousers and a loose, deep green shirt tucked in around his waist.  The shirt hung open by a few strings at his neck, slightly exposing his well built chest and bronzed skin.  His shirt, like his mask, was trimmed in black and gold.  To complete his look, shiny black riding boots, which reached just above his knees, adorned his feet.
    “Not enjoying the party, Your Highness?”  A slight and sweet voice asked.
    The young prince jumped, being so lost in his thoughts of disdain, that he had not heard someone approach.
    He quickly looked up, planning on answering the stranger, but his words stuck to his tongue as he took in the person the voice belonged to.
    The young maiden before him was slight in stature, small and delicate, her skin as pale as moonlight.  She wore a floor-length dress of ruby red chiffon and silk, the skirt flowing out from the tight bodice, shimmering like a waterfall of fresh blood.  No straps encased her delicate shoulders, leaving them bare and allowing her wavy, ebony tresses to flow over them and down to the small of her back, which was also exposed by a hole in the back of her dress.
    Her face was heart shaped, her lips full and red, just like her dress.  The bridge of her delicate and sharp nose was left exposed, for her mask only covered the top half of her face and rested on her rounded rosy cheeks.
    The mask was delicate, just like her, and made of carefully placed pieces of glass and rubies, which were shaped into small flowers, tear drops, and hearts. The round holes that exposed her eyes were lined with layered rubies, making her look as if she was crying shining tears of blood from her magnificent eyes.
    Her eyes, deep and ancient, yet still seeming young and innocent; her eyes, which shone just as bright as the speckles of light her mask cast, swirled with an array of grays and whites, making them look like a brewing storm.
    They unsettled the young prince and he wanted to look away, but at the same time, he felt the extreme need to stare into her eyes forever.  He felt himself growing lost in her ancient yet innocent gaze, and his thoughts became clouded as a result.
    “Did you not hear me?”  The young maiden asked in her mesmerizing voice, snapping the young prince's thoughts back into place.
    “Y-yes I did hear you.  I am having a marvelous time,” he answered too quickly.
    The young maiden then laughed, the sound like the flowers of spring bursting forth from the once dead ground.  “You know it is not polite to lie to a woman,” she said in a chiding voice.
    The young prince's eyes widened and a deep blush flooded into his cheeks as the young maiden began to laugh once more.
    “My deepest apologies, Milady,” the young prince said kindly and bowed formerly.  “Will you give me the honor of a dance so that I might make up for the rude manner I showed you?”
    The young maiden's gorgeous eyes sparkled from his question.  “Of course I shall,” she answered and placed her delicate, doll-like hand into the expansive one of the young prince.
    The young prince lead the young maiden out onto the dance floor just as the lively song ended, and a soft and slow song began.
    The young maiden placed her free hand on the young prince's shoulder while keeping the other hand securely in his, and his free hand captured her tiny and trim waist.
    The couple spun across the marble dance floor, completely in tune with one another as if they had danced together their entire lives.  The young maiden seemed to float a couple inches off the floor as the young prince carried her from step to step.
    “May I inquire your name?”  The young prince asked as he continued to dance with the young maiden, becoming lost in her eyes and embrace.
    “I think some details are best left a mystery, Your Highness,” the young maiden answered coyly and smiled.
    “Maybe you are right,” the young prince said and all speaking ceased and they fell into step together as the music began to swell.
    The many guests stopped their own dancing and watched in awe as the young couple floated across the floor.  The young maiden's mask sent showers of light across the walls of the ballroom and the guests' bodies as she and the young prince continued to move effortlessly across the floor.  Her dress fanned out around her body as she spun in and out of the young prince's arms, looking like a whirlpool of crimson blood was spilling out from the folds of the fabric.  As music swelled dramatically, the young prince lifted the young maiden up above his head before spinning and slowly lowering her body into his arms.
    The crowd of quests applauded as the music slowly came to an end and the young prince rested the young maiden into a deep dip, allowing her ebony tresses to touch the marble floor and her mask to send speckles of light onto his face and the ceiling.
    The young prince and maiden panted softly and gazed into each others eyes as the young prince slowly brought the young maiden upright and held her in his arms.
    The young prince began to speak, but the young maiden pulled away with a small smile.
    “Thank you for the dance, Your Highness, I wish you the best on your birthday,” she said swiftly before she curtsied and left the young prince just as the crowd of guests moved back onto the dance floor for the next dance.
    The young prince's heart beat quickly and he immediately took off after her.  He lost her in the crowd of dancing people, but only momentarily.  He saw a flash of crimson red cloth just as she headed up the grand staircase leading to the large terrace outside.
    “Wait!”  The young prince called as he watched the young maiden stepped outside, the train of her dress trailing behind her before it too disappeared from sight as she went into the night.
    He quickly followed her, the moon full was bright in cloudless night sky.  It shone down on the large stone terrace, illuminating the figure of the young maiden, skin pale as the moonlight that touched it.  She had her face turned up towards the moon, her eyes were closed softly and her full ruby lips moving as she spoke inaudibly.
    “Why did you run away like you did?”  The prince asked her as he approached her, still mesmerized by her immense beauty.  Just the sight of her soft features made his heart dance in his chest.
    The young maiden's lips curled up into a smile as she stopped speaking and turned toward the prince, causing her ruby and glass mask to shimmer, casting an eery glow around her now shadowed eyes.  “Your Highness,” the young maiden said in her sweet voice, “What are you doing out here?”
    The young prince's heart began to beat quicker in his chest as he came closer to the young maiden.  “I came to find you.  Why did you leave?”
    “Our dance was over, so I departed,” the young maiden whispered and looked up at the young prince, her eyes shining behind her mask.  “Why did you follow me?”
    “I wanted to ask you something,” the young prince chuckled.
    “What is that?” the young maiden asked as she looked up at the young prince, her gray eyes swirling into mesmerizing patterns.
    The young prince only smiled softly and raised his hands up to the young maiden's mask, preparing to remove it.  His progress was halted by his wrists being snagged by delicate hands.
    “Don't,” the young maiden commanded.
    The young prince lowered his hands.  “I want to see your face.”
    The young maiden's full lips curled up into a small smile as she released the young prince's wrists and placed her delicate hands on his cheeks.
    “What are you doing?”  The young prince asked softly as the young maiden inched closer.
    She didn't answer, she only pressed her soft lips to his.  For a moment, the young prince was surprised but soon fell into the young maiden's kiss.  He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss as he pressed her against the railing of the terrace.
    Immediately though, a deep and sharp pain raced through the young prince's abdomen and traveled up into his chest, creating a vice around his heart.  He gasped in pain and tried to break the kiss, but the young maiden dug her nails into the skin of his cheeks.  Tears of crimson blood were drawn and rolled down his cheeks, before they splattered to the stone floor.  
    The young maiden held him in place using strength a girl of her size should not have possessed.  “Stay still,” she purred in her sweet voice, forcing the young prince's lips open with her tongue and inhaling deeply.
    As she inhaled, a bright and warm light exited the young prince's mouth and washed over her face, entering the pieces of ruby and glass of her mask.  The pieces grew brighter as more of the soft mist exited the young prince's mouth and entered them.
    When last of the mist flowed out of the young prince's mouth and the young maiden released him.  He fell to a twitching heap on the ground, his mouth ajar and his eyes wide in pain and fear.  The vice around his heart clenched violently and he screamed once again as the pain became unbearable.  His heart felt like it was being compressed, it struggled to beat as it grew tighter and tighter in his chest.
    His wide eyes reeled before focusing on the young maiden standing over him.  The mask on her face was now glowing so brightly it hurt to look at it.  It continued to glow before diminishing to reveal the smirk that covered the young maiden's face.  If it were possible, she looked even more beautiful and young now then she had before.  It was eary in it's unnaturalness. 
     The young maiden curtsied fluidly, but there was a mockingness in her movements.  “Thank you for your sacrifice dear prince,” she said, her voice innocent and sweet, as her ruby lips twisted into an even bigger smile.  She
    “Why... did you... do this...?”  The young prince choked out through his pain.  His heart faltered as it continued to constrict in his chest, struggling to keep him alive.
    The young maiden laughed, the sound beautiful, bright, and deceiving.  She approached the young prince, her crimson dress looking just like blood flowing down her body.  She crouched down beside him and her gray eyes sparked, making it look like lightning had flashed in her eyes.
    “You were unfortunate to be turning twenty-one on the night of Saint Valentine's Day.  Due to that unfortunate truth, your life force will now help keep me alive for another century, Your Highness.  I wish you a good birthday and a heart breaking Saint Valentines,” the young maiden spoke softly as she watched the light in the young prince's eyes die and his heart cease its beating.
    The young maiden righted herself and ran a delicate finger over her mask.  “Yes Madam, the deed is done.  I was just about to depart,” she spoke to an unseen member.  “I will see you shortly.”
    The young maiden then turned and hopped onto the railing of the terrace just as voices sounded from the ballroom behind her.
    “Where has the prince gone?”  One person asked.
    “I believe I saw him go out to the terrace,” another said.
    “I believe I heard a scream come from that direction!” said another.  
    “Guards!  Find the prince!”  An older woman shouted.
    The sound of a large crowd moving toward the terrace reached the ears of the young maiden and she glanced back at the young prince once more.  Behind his masked, his once handsome face was now frozen in an expression of pure agony.  His copper eyes were wide and barren, while his mouth was contorted into the position of a final scream.
    “Such a shame,” the young maiden said before jumping off the railing and descending quickly to the ground.
    As soon as her feet hit the cold ground below, a scream of fear and grief pierced the air, causing the young maiden's ruby lips to pull into a lovely smile as she disappeared into the night.