The Homecoming Masquerade

by Baum, Spencer

  It was Renata’s fault that everything was changing. Renata was the first of the Samarin clan to break her bond, and nothing had been right ever since. Now Daciana was missing. What would become of them all if Daciana never returned? Who would be clan leader then?

  Tradition gave the right to the oldest among them, which of course would be Sergio, but he had no interest in such things. Next was Aaron, but if Daciana was gone, that would mean that Aaron killed her in the fallout from their breakup, and if that was the case, all bets were off. The clan would break into factions, with some wanting to follow Aaron out of tradition, and others, Renata being one of them, wanting to kill Aaron and take over the top spot themselves.

  Yes, that was the real story here. Why hadn’t Melissa seen it before? Renata was thinking about a coup. Renata was hopeful that Daciana and Aaron were done, and intended to make a play for the top spot in the clan. The way she responded when the others wanted to speak of Daciana, the way she was so dismissive of the whole topic, the way she had become such a different person after her own bond with Chad had ended…

  Someone had to put Renata in her place. To remind her that she was no better than the rest of them. Aurora was within sight now. Melissa and Renata were neck and neck. They would be on the girl in seconds. Melissa allowed her anger to drive her feet, and she pulled ahead. Her mouth was open, her fangs extended, the taste of Aurora’s delicious flesh practically on her tongue, when Renata tackled her from behind.

  The two of them, both moving at speeds more suitable for a race car than a formerly human body, went tumbling to the forest floor in a violent heap that broke through branches and left a trench in the dirt. Melissa caught sight of Renata’s face in the heap and roared in anger.

  She was surprised at the venom of Renata’s response. Renata’s eyes had turned a shade of red as vibrant as her hair, and her fangs were all the way out.

  In that instant, had Melissa responded in kind, these two former best friends would have fought to the death, then and there.

  It wasn’t worth it. Melissa retracted her fangs. Renata seized on the moment of weakness and threw Melissa into a tree, then leaped from the ground and came down on Aurora, winning the most delicious prize for herself.

  “Good Lord, Renata, what was that all about?” Melissa said.

  Renata took a deep inhale of the girl’s blood, her back expanding as she sucked the life out of her former slave, then she tossed the girl’s body aside and stood up.

  “All in good fun, no?” she said, wiping the blood from her lips with the back of her hand.

  “It didn’t feel very fun to me,” said Melissa.

  Renata smiled. “That’s only because you lost. But I had a great time. I’m so pleased you tried to challenge me. You made it so much more fun and interesting.”

  Melissa looked into Renata’s eyes. Was she serious? Was that moment of murderous anger all in Melissa’s head?

  No. It couldn’t have been. Melissa had never been in a fight with another immortal, but her instincts told her that the look in Renata’s face was entirely real. Renata would have taken this as far as Melissa was willing to let it go.

  With that thought, the anger of the hunt morphed right back into anxiety. So much was changing. So much from the past had to be answered for.

  “I’ll go back to the trailer and prep your new slaves,” Melissa said, eager to get away from Renata.

  “And get us some wine glasses while you’re over there,” Renata said.

  Melissa closed her eyes and shook her head. “Sure thing,” she said. As loser of the night’s game, it was her job to give everyone a wine glass so they could fill it with the blood of their kill and carry their own drink into the ballroom.

  A moment later Melissa was unlocking the door to the horse trailer she and Dominic had parked on the east end of the property. She led eight teenagers outside, each of them dressed in the black and white outfits that were distinctive of Renata’s mansion. To make Renata the supreme master of these slaves, Melissa had to look into the eyes of each one of them and let them know they were off the Farm and Renata’s commands now superseded her own. As she went down the line, searching deep into the minds of her slaves, she thought about her first encounter with each. Six of these slaves were born on the Farm, and came under her control as soon as they could talk. One of them was the child of parents suspected of illegal activity, and was taken to the Farm after her parents were killed. And one of them was picked up as a stray off the streets.

  That stray, a handsome lad named Francisco, brought back memories of another time of anxiety, just like this one. Francisco was one of two kids brought in that night. The other, a little girl, had gotten away. In all her years running the Farm, that girl was the only one who had ever escaped. What a strange night that was. For some reason, Melissa’s mind control had malfunctioned with that little girl and she’d walked right out of the Farm and was never found. For weeks, Melissa had been terrified about what that little girl’s escape had meant. If Daciana had found out…that would have been the end of Melissa’s reign on the Farm, probably the end of Melissa altogether.

  But nothing ever came of it. The little girl was somewhere at the bottom of the Florida swamp, and no one but Melissa knew that she once had a human ignore her mind control and walk out the front door.

  “Francisco, your new master is named Renata Sullivan,” said Melissa, looking into the eyes of the boy. “She is coming to meet you in a moment.”

  “My new master is Renata Sullivan,” Francisco said.

  Such a handsome boy this one was. Olive-skinned, perfect teeth, emerald eyes…

  It was too bad that little girl got away, because she and Francisco were quite a pair. Beautiful specimens that would have ripened together. They could have been presented as a matching set to Daciana herself.

  Nicky. Just thinking of the name made Melissa angry. Little Nicky. The one that got away.

  Part 5

  A White Orchid Corsage

  22

  Music during the second half of the Masquerade was more modern than the first. Guests were still expected to follow the formal etiquette of a ballroom dance, but no longer were they required to know the specific steps of a waltz, minuet, or cotillion. Following the intermission, the orchestra returned with their folders full of contemporary pieces, pieces written specifically for the Homecoming Masquerade. The most renowned composers in the world wrote new music for the dance. It was swirling and ambitious music, with sounds from multiple centuries blended together in a modern way. It was the kind of music Renata liked. Beyond romantic, the music was downright hypnotic. With everyone already buzzing from the wine, their bodies warm and loose from the first hour of dancing, the music put the ballroom in a kind of trance, creating the perfect background for the immortals to make their entrance.

  And at some point during the second hour, they would. Until that moment, Jill had work to do. According to the new plan she and Nicky had concocted, Jill worked her way over to Art Tremblay and made sure she was his dance partner when the second hour begin.

  Getting a dance with Art was the easiest thing Jill had done tonight. Coatless, with his head down, smelling of wine, Art all of a sudden found himself an outcast, and was glad for Jill’s attention. Finding dance partners for the rest of the night was going to be a challenge for him.

  The music began, they picked up their feet, the ballroom was in motion, and Jill delivered the line Nicky had scripted for her.

  “I saw what you did earlier,” she said.

  They were spinning around the floor, their feet moving with a simple grace to match the four-beat bars of the music.

  “Everyone saw,” Art said. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

  “I think it’s pretty cool what you did, that’s all.”

  “Pretty cool? What are you talking about?”

  “The way you stuck it to Kim like that,” said Jill. “I’ve been waiting for years for someone to stand up to her. I was talki
ng to Nicky and some of the other girls during intermission. They were totally impressed. I am too.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Art. “You were talking to Nicky? What did she say?”

  “She told us everything. She knew she wasn’t supposed to tell – I guess you asked her to keep everything a secret – but please don’t be mad at her. What you did was so amazing. Seriously, half the ballroom is thrilled at what you did, even if they’re afraid to admit it. The fact that Kim has a real competitor now, thanks to you. It’s so awesome.”

  Art didn’t say anything. He was waiting for Jill to tell him more.

  “You know, I think you’ve played this exactly right,” Jill continued. “Kim may be in the driver’s seat right now, but we’re just a few hours into the night, and already Nicky has peeled off a good chunk of her support.”

  “You think so?” Art said.

  “Everyone I’m talking to wants to go to Nicky’s party tonight, not Kim’s. We’re all a bit nervous though. Once we go, we’re committed. We needed something to push us along. Your courage is what did it.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say it was that courageous,” said Art. There was still a lot of confusion in his voice. Now was the time to help him understand what Jill was trying to tell him.

  “Are you kidding me?” Jill said. “Kim asks you to make Nicky crash into Rosalyn, and you do it yourself instead? It was perfect. You made Kim think she had it all worked out, you lulled her into a state of inaction, and she did nothing about Nicky all the way to intermission. Then when you protected Nicky and threw yourself at Rosalyn instead, Kim was screwed. Kim bet everything on you, and when you turned against her, it was too late for her to try anything else. And having you take the wine spill instead, making that big scene, and then Nicky got to look at Kim and say ‘You missed.’ My God, that was one of the best moments of my life. It was perfect. You changed the whole nature of the contest in a single move. Every one of us has wanted to turn against Kim from the beginning, but we all were scared. In one courageous act, you showed us the way. You might have won Coronation for Nicky Bloom tonight. Who knows? The way Nicky was talking about you, you might have won yourself a bond with a future immortal.”

  Art was looking around now. His eyes found Nicky dancing with Xavier Lincoln, and stayed on her, no doubt imagining himself with her, imagining an immortal falling in love with him and arranging for him to live forever.

  “How much did Nicky say to you about what happened?” he asked.

  “She told me everything,” Jill said. “Or, I guess I thought it was everything. You’d know better. She said that as you were dancing you whispered to her that Rosalyn was waiting with a goblet of wine and you were supposed to push Nicky into it. Then you told her you were going to crash into Rosalyn yourself. You told her that a lot of people in the ballroom knew Kim was going to try something, and you had a plan that would make sure everyone knew that Nicky got the best of Kim. She said it was your idea for Nicky to look at Kim after it was over and tell her she missed. That part’s my favorite. You are so ballsy.”

  They danced in silence for a bit while Art processed this gigantic lie.

  “Nicky told us you were coming to her party,” Jill added. “I’m going too. So is Annika. And you know how many people Annika will bring along.” She was improvising now. The plan was to feed Art a story about the wine glass incident being his idea, about the ballroom buzzing over his heroics. Jill figured, if she was telling a lie of this magnitude, she might as well lie about everything. She might as well pretend that her own part of the mission hadn’t failed, that Annika was bringing a crew to Nicky’s after-party.

  “I’m beginning to wonder if Nicky’s party is going to have a bigger turnout than Kim’s,” she continued. “And with you going, she’ll have one of the big money players. I can’t believe this is happening. Kim Renwick is going to lose. You are so fucking amazing, Art Tremblay. I could kiss you.”

  Now Art was looking at Kim, who was dancing with Terry Reese.

  “It was so smart of you to ditch her,” Jill said. “She was using you. She uses everyone. And now…oh my word, the things she’s saying now. You couldn’t get away from her fast enough.”

  “What is Kim saying?”

  “Just her typical morbid fantasies. She thinks she’s immortal already and gets to kill anyone who bothers her. She’s totally delusional. The poor girl has been raised to think Coronation is her birthright or something, and all of a sudden everything’s going wrong for her. Nicky’s the new favorite to win. Wow. It feels so good to say that. Nicky Bloom, not Kim Renwick, will be the immortal from our class. And we owe it all to you. You are so totally my hero.”

  Jill was aware she might be going overboard, but was caught in the moment. Art was buying everything she was selling, and it felt good to have something going right, since everything had gone so wrong with Annika. Even with Art on board, the night could not be called a success if Annika didn’t come around. Art had lots of money, but they needed more than one person with money to have a good party.

  Blackmail. The word sent a shiver down her spine, so closely was it tied to the Renwicks and their treachery. To bring Annika along, Jill was going to have to blackmail her.

  She decided not to think about it right now. One thing at a time. She was still dancing with Art. Her story was going over well, but hers was only part one of a two-part plan to bring Art on board.

  She could feed this lie to Art all she wanted, he still knew the truth. He was there. He had tried to push Nicky into Rosalyn and had failed. If Nicky was telling people otherwise, Art had to know why.

  That was part two of the plan: Nicky dances with Art and tells him why.

  The music came to an end and the dancing stopped. Art’s moment of truth was coming up right now. Jill made sure to arrange herself so Art turned in the proper direction to find his next partner.

  “Hello again, Art,” Nicky said, with a seductive smile that made Jill jealous. Why were some girls just born with the ability to do that?

  “Nicky. We were just talking about you,” Art said.

  Nicky took his hands in hers. “Nothing bad, I hope,” she said.

  “No,” said Art. “Nothing bad at all.”

  Jill turned to her next partner, Eddie Miller, and left Art in Nicky’s hands.

  23

  Rockwell Transport had assigned a man named Julien to be the driver of Nicky’s limo. Julien was well-mannered, impeccably dressed, well-trained for his job, and a little bit short. It was that last part, his height, that made Julien of interest to Nicky as she pondered ways she might quickly turn Art Tremblay from foe into friend, and before intermission had ended, Nicky ran out into the parking lot and had a brief conversation with Julien. She outlined a plan to him, a plan where Julien, of all people, had a role to play in Nicky’s mission tonight.

  Now, as Nicky stepped in front of Art, putting her hand in his and beginning the dance, she thought about Julien, and hoped he was in position. Nicky had told him to line up at 10:15. It was 10:20 already, and Nicky’s dance with Art was just beginning. Hopefully Julien would be patient, as Nicky’s plan for him didn’t start until her dance with Art was over.

  Nicky pulled close to Art, creating points of contact between them at the chest and hips. It was a much friendlier posture than she took with him on their last dance. Art’s white shirt was meant to have a tuxedo jacket on top of it. Without that jacket, only a few millimeters of cloth separated Art’s skin from Nicky’s. Her hand on the small of his back, Nicky allowed her fingertips to dance ever so slightly. When she spoke, she did it in a quiet voice, close to his ear, so her breath tickled his cheek.

  “I’m guessing Jill was sharing my little story,” she said.

  “She was.”

  “It benefits both of us. You understand that, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know. It’s a lot to process. Are you really telling everyone that it was my idea to crash into Rosalyn?”

  “I’ve only
told a few people. A few well-placed people. I’m letting them do the rest. By the end of the night, everyone will think one of Kim’s most trusted allies has left her for me.”

  “You might have signed my death warrant.”

  “Only if Kim wins. I don’t intend to let that happen. With your help, I can jump way out in front on this one. The minute people think Kim might lose, they’ll leave her in droves. She doesn’t have any real friends, Art.”

  The music was heavier on this dance, with a rhythm that landed hard on the downbeats. It was mesmerizing, even a little erotic.

  “Do you think you might be a bit overconfident?” Art said. “The contest is about more than the school. Kim’s family is so connected in this town.”

  “So is yours,” Nicky said. She put some force into the words. It was time for Art to grow a pair and realize that he didn’t have to be Kim’s whipping boy. As she spoke, she moved her hand up his back, allowed it to rest on the nape of his neck.

  “My dad is friends with Galen Renwick,” he said. “This is going to get tricky for me.”

  “You father’s friendship with the Renwicks ended the moment I pushed you into Rosalyn. Kim was so disgusted with you. That girl’s temper is short and she holds a grudge like you wouldn’t believe.”

  “I know all about it,” Art said. “You totally screwed me.”

  “No. You were trying to screw me. I was just looking out for myself. Now I’m looking out for you too. You know the part of the story Jill and Annika liked the best?”

  “The part where you told Kim she missed.”

  “Yes, and I told them it was your idea. Art, if we were telling people the truth about what happened, then you would be the guy who got pushed around by a girl. You would be the guy who spends hours and hours in the gym but still wasn’t strong enough to push me into Rosalyn. But we’re not telling that story. Now the story is that you are the guy who had the courage to pull one over on Kim Renwick. And, like it or not, there’s no stopping it now. The story is out. Why even try to deny it? The minute people hear that it was your idea, they think you’re a badass.”