I sat back in my chair, letting the music and excited chatter wash over me. I watched the couples dancing and was enraptured by the way they almost floated over the floor. I was so enjoying watching them that, when a figure came to stand at our table in my line of sight, I frowned slightly before focusing on him.
The second my eyes reached his, my interest in the dancers was forgotten. It was Saul, Henry’s brother. There was no mistaking that. They looked so alike I wondered if they were twins. Saul had the same lean figure but I could tell, by the way his black shirt hung on his arms and chest, that he had a body that would make Daniel Craig look like he was nothing special. His face was the same shape as Henry’s, as was the fullness of his lips. The main difference was his hair; although it was the same shade of mahogany as Henry’s, Saul’s was short. Well, short compared to Henry’s but still long enough to see that a few strands would fall into his eyes if he looked down. The subtle difference was that his eyes were a very different shade to Henry’s green ones. It was the most unusual colour I’d ever seen and I realised it was the same frosty green of the peppermint creams that Mary had sold at church fetes.
I’d have felt rude staring at him, giving him such an obvious once-over, but he was doing exactly the same to me.
“Ah, Brother,” Henry said. “I was expecting you back sometime last week.”
“I was too,” Saul replied, sitting in the chair next to Henry but still keeping his gaze on me. His voice was smooth and masculine but had a steely edge to it that made me think he would be terrifying when he was mad. “Turns out old Billy was more intelligent than we all thought. Got out of my grasp twice before I finally caught up with him.”
Knowing what I knew about the role of enforcers, I had no doubt what Saul meant by “caught up with”.
“Blimey, well there’s a lesson to us all not to judge a book by its cover,” Henry said. “From the couple of times I’ve met Billy I’d have been surprised to discover he’d tied his own shoelaces.” Henry finally seemed to noticed that Saul and I were staring across the table at each other. “Ah yes, introductions. Faine, this is my brother Saul. Saul, this is the newest addition to Rillith, Faine.”
Saul gave me a nod and, just as I’d imagined, strands of his hair fell into his eyes. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” he said and even those simple words set my heart beating double-time.
I smiled, buying myself a few seconds to gather some logical words together. “And I have you. In fact Henry’s told me so many stories of your antics that I feel like I already know you.” I mentally rolled my eyes at the cheesy line but Saul didn’t seem to notice. He’d broken our eye contact and was now scowling at Henry.
Henry shrugged. “Hey, it’s all the truth. Besides you’ve nothing to worry about. Faine here has only been on the planet a fraction of the time that we have, but she seems intent on causing twice the trouble.” It was my turn to scowl at Henry. He seemed unconcerned by my stare and just grinned back. “In fact you should hear exactly what she did to her local vicar...”
“Henry!” It came out as a yelp and a few heads turned in our direction but I didn’t care, I just wanted him to stop talking. Henry gave me an evil grin. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t tell that story without my consent, but I wasn’t going to take the risk when I knew every vampire in the room could hear us and, even worse, Saul would hear too.
“Um...” I stumbled, trying to think of a distraction. “Ur... would you like to dance?” Henry’s grin became so self-satisfied, I wondered if that hadn’t been his goal all along.
“I’d love to,” Henry said, getting up and offering his arm.
I took it and let him lead me to the dance floor. As we started moving I dared to look back at the table. Saul was talking to Holt but his eyes were flicking over to me. I quickly looked away and noticed Henry was still grinning at me.
“I’m thinking maybe you asked the wrong brother to dance,” he quipped. I felt a faint heat burn in my cheeks. I was all too aware that Saul would have heard that.
“No,” I said. “I was just... well, the two of you... look so similar.” My words came out staggered because my mind couldn’t concentrate on speaking and counting steps at the same time. Henry shot me a look that told me he didn’t believe that for a second but thankfully he dropped the subject.
“See, that’s your problem,” he said. “You shouldn’t be counting; you should just go with the flow.”
“Well... that’s easier... said than done,” I mumbled.
“No, it’s easy,” Henry insisted. “You’re trying too hard, just think about something else.”
I shot him a look that told him I didn’t agree with his theory.
“Look, think about... hmmm, let me see, what can I talk about that I know will stop you from focusing on counting?” He gave a look of mock concentration and then a very deliberate look over towards Saul. I didn’t dare look, for fear Saul was watching and had guessed Henry’s obvious intent. Instead I deliberately stomped on Henry’s foot, gentle enough not to really hurt but hard enough that he knew it was intended. It only made him laugh.
Chapter 20
The piece of music probably lasted only a few minutes but it felt like a lifetime; I felt so self-conscious. When it finally slowed to a stop, I quickly made my way back to my seat before another piece started and Henry could keep me hostage.
As I sat down I noticed that our table had another new member. A human girl was now sitting on Thomas’ lap, giggling as he murmured to her. When I’d entered the room, I’d been surprised by the number of human staff. They were milling around with trays that held glasses of drinks and even more humans were casually loitering around the room. Every now and then, they’d be approached by a vampire and the two would leave the room. If I hadn’t guessed what they were leaving for, it would have been clear when the vampire later returned by himself and new members of staff were sent to replace the ones who’d gone missing. The scenario was more than a little creepy, so I tried not to focus on it.
As I looked around, I could see a few more situations similar to Thomas’. It made sense really. I was guessing that all the female vampires who lived at Rillith were attending the ball, but there couldn’t have been more than fifty of them. So the male vampires who were feeling a little frisky were naturally turning to the female staff who seemed more than willing to comply. I knew that, in the presence of a vampire, the human staff would be affected by their Attraction, but I assumed it wasn’t morally wrong. The staff would have been given a choice to come here or not and, as they knew all about Attraction, they’d have only chosen to come if they themselves were also looking for some night-time company.
I noticed that a female vampire was making her way towards us. She was still halfway across the room, but there was no mistaking her intent because her green eyes were firmly fixed on Saul. I wondered if she was Saul’s partner; she certainly seemed to fit the bill. She was beautiful. Her auburn hair fell in flawless ringlets and the shades of green in her dress seemed to light up her face. She sashayed over swaying her hips in a way that caught many appreciative glances.
On reaching our table she took a seat next to Saul and gave him a perfect little smile.
“Saul, you’ve been away too long,” she said in tone that was deeper and sexier than I’d expected. As she spoke, her hand touched his and she leant forward ever so slightly, not enough to be obvious, but just enough to give Saul a good view of her cleavage. She reminded me of Jessica Rabbit. I tried not to scowl at her.
Saul offered her a smile but it didn’t touch his eyes. “Monique.” He nodded his head in greeting but wasn’t tempted by the peep-show she was offering. I mentally cheered. “Business took a little longer than I’d planned,” he continued.
Monique pouted. “Well, you could always make up for your absence by asking me to dance.”
To my complete surprise Saul glanced over at me, as if checking my reaction. For a split second I stared back at him and then quickly looked away, as
hamed that I’d been caught watching him.
“Maybe later,” Saul said.
I saw Henry’s eyebrows rise ever so slightly and I knew that Saul’s reaction towards Monique wasn’t the usual; she must have done something to annoy him. Curiosity got the better of me and I dared a quick peek back at Monique to see how she was taking the news and found that she was glaring at me. The anger in her look made me flinch. Why was she annoyed at me? I wondered if she was angry that a half-vampire had witnessed her humiliation. She got up and left without a word.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Saul so, instead, I watched the girl sitting on Thomas’ lap. She was a pretty blonde, probably a couple of years older than me. Thomas’ hand stroked up and down her spine in such a gentle way that you’d have thought they were a couple in love. Thomas placed a gentle kiss on her neck and then whispered into her ear. It wasn’t quiet enough, though, and the words “naughty” and “spank” carried over to me.
Shocked, I quickly looked away and ended up staring straight at Saul again. He gave me an amused look. He’d been watching me watching Thomas.
“You’ll have to forgive Thomas,” he said. “He’s rather a ladies’ man and sometimes he forgets that he’s in company.”
Thomas looked up at the mention of his name. “Hah, ladies’ man? You’re one to talk!”
Saul’s smile was as guilty as hell. It was strange, I’d heard Henry’s stories, I knew Saul’s reputation and usually that would have been a massive turn-off for me, but seeing Saul’s smile of admittance only made my heart race faster. He leaned across the table towards me.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked.
Oh God. Why? Why did he have to ask? I could think of nothing better than being pressed up close to him, with his hand on my waist, but nothing would be worse than stumbling round the dance floor and constantly stepping on his toes. After he’d just turned Monique down, I should have been eager, but I knew I’d be a hundred times clumsier with Saul than I had been with Henry. With regret, I shook my head. Surprise flickered though his eyes and he leaned back in his chair.
“Don’t take it too hard, Bro,” Henry said from his seat next to Saul. “She won’t dance with anyone except Holt and me.”
I offered an apologetic smile and Saul seemed to understand my reasons. It was then I remembered that Saul had the same ability as Henry and he could sense my emotions. It was time to start reining in my feelings so that he couldn’t tell how much he affected me.
There was a bump against the back of my chair and I turned to see a male vampire I didn’t know hovering behind me.
“Whoops, I’m sorry,” I said and turned back to the table, pulling in my chair so that he could get by. It was only when I realised everyone at the table, including Thomas, was staring at me that I wondered what I’d done wrong.
“What?” I asked.
Nobody answered. I looked behind me but the vampire had gone.
“What?” I asked again and again nobody answered. Instead they all looked away, trying and failing to hide their smiles. I sighed inwardly, wondering what faux pas I’d committed now.
Half an hour later I was thoroughly pissed off. The same thing had happened three more times, all with different vampires, and I was completely paranoid that they were playing some sort of stupid game that made me look like an idiot. It reminded me of those boys at school who’d stick a sign saying “kick me” on some poor sod’s back and watch as everybody who passed him either kicked him or burst into fits of giggles. Everyone at the table wasn’t even bothering to hide their amusement now and they openly chuckled every time I squished even closer to the table. I was now wedged in so tight I could hardly breathe.
I saw the fifth vampire approaching out of the corner of my eye and, before he could bump into my seat, I jumped out of it and faced him.
“Don’t mind me,” I snapped. “There’s plenty of room, so just keep on moving.” I flourished my hands in a way that motioned him to go away and, after a few startled moments, he did. I slumped back into my seat, shaking my head in frustration. Henry roared with laughter.
I gave him a pleading look. “Switch seats with me?” I asked.
“Why would I do that?” Henry said. “This is so entertaining to watch.”
“Please,” I begged. “Your back’s closer to the wall so nobody needs to get past you and, if you were sitting in my chair, people wouldn’t keep bumping into you.”
“I don’t think switching seats is going to help,” Henry answered. Before I could ask what he meant, Saul reached out and pulled Henry’s chair out.
“All the same, Henry, better remember your manners and do as she asks,” Saul said.
As I sank into Henry’s chair, I felt a flutter of excitement at being so close to Saul. Yes, the main reason I’d switched seats was because I was fed up of looking like a prat but it had also crossed my mind that it would bring me closer to Saul.
I fussed over smoothing my dress down, but I was really trying to stall until I could think of something really intelligent and interesting to talk about. Before I could come up with something, there was a bump against my chair. I looked round in amazement. There was another bloody vampire standing behind my chair.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” I said, mostly to myself. Okay, enough was enough; it was time to put a stop to this. I stood and glared at the man. “I’m sure this is all very entertaining to you, but I’m getting a little fed up with it so maybe you could stop your stupid little games and back the fuck off because the next guy who knocks into my chair is going to get a fist in his face.” I glared around the room at all the people who were now giving me appalled looks. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to threaten violence when ninety per cent of the room’s occupants could beat me with their hands tied behind their backs, but I’d always had a short temper and a quick tongue and that wasn’t about to change. The vampire standing in front of me gave me a filthy look, like I was the one being rude, and stormed off.
I mustered all the dignity I could and sat back down. Henry was laughing so hard I thought he might fall off his chair. Holt looked slightly paler than usual. I lowered my voice and leant closer to Saul.
“I just did something awful, didn’t I?”
Saul leaned even closer to me. I remembered Thomas’ kiss on the girl’s neck and shivered. “Nothing awful, but if you didn’t want to dance, you only had to say so.”
My brow creased in confusion and then, as realisation hit, my eyes became wide.
“What?” I hissed. “They were asking me to dance?”
Saul nodded. I buried my head in my hands and I could feel the heat flaming off my cheeks. Henry was laughing so loudly now that I thought I should go and push him off his chair.
“Oh God, why didn’t they say anything?”
“They didn’t really get a chance,” Saul said. “When you turn your back on a vampire, it’s considered a very clear signal. And the last two, well, being shouted at and told to leave is an even clearer signal.”
I groaned in embarrassment and lowered my head onto the table where it landed with a small thud.
“See, Bro,” Henry said, “a fraction of our age and twice as much trouble.”
Chapter 21
I stood in the hallway, desperately trying to keep out of the way of all the people filing through the doors to my right. It was the morning after the Autumn Ball and, in a few minutes, I’d be attending my first MM.
At the beginning of every month, The Sénat held a meeting to discuss the events of the past month and to cover anything important that might be coming up in the month ahead. Unsurprisingly, MM stood for “monthly meeting”. Both Henry and Holt had warned me that these meetings were long and usually tedious but, as I’d be the topic of discussion for part of the meeting, it was decided that I should be there. Luckily I didn’t have a part to play; I’d simply be a member of the audience.
I swore under my breath as I pressed random buttons on my mobile. My old mo
bile didn’t get any network coverage and, as my examiners had wanted to ensure that they could get hold of me at any time and in any place, I’d been issued with a fancy new phone that I had no idea how to use. I’d just about mastered how to make calls and send texts but, search as I might, I couldn’t find the damned button that would turn it off.
For the hundredth time, I eyeballed every button, desperately hoping to see the universal symbol that stood for “power on and off” but it wasn’t there. Turning the thing over in my hands, I sighed. It seemed extremely unlikely that I’d receive a phone call or text during the MM, seeing as most of the vampires at Rillith would be in the same room as me, but I wasn’t going to tempt fate.
I was just about to give up and take the phone back to my room, hoping that I’d make it back in time, when a shadow fell over my hands.
I looked up and my heart skipped a few beats.
“Having trouble?” Saul asked.
“Um, yeah, actually I can’t turn it off,” I admitted feeling like a complete idiot. Saul smiled and I almost dropped my phone.
“Here.” Saul took it from me and, after a minute, he handed it back. I looked at the screen to see the menu still there.
“It’s still on,” I pointed out.
“It’s on silent.”
“Oh. Well, thanks.” I slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans.
“Not a problem. You should get in there before it starts.” Saul nodded at the doors and I remembered exactly why it was I was here.
“Oh yeah, well thanks again.” I gave him one last smile and left.
The MM room was huge; its layout made me think it had once been a theatre. The doors I came through led me to a balcony. The balcony was shaped like a horseshoe and, from this angle, I could see that the lower half of the room also had a horseshoe of seats around the edge of the room as well as many rows of seats in the centre.
Wanting to keep out the way, I picked the back row which was mostly empty and sidled right up to the far end. I mumbled apologies as I edged my way past the few vampires that were sitting this far back and finally managed to get to the vacant seat. I’d wondered why this seat been free but, now I was sitting in it, I realised it wasn’t in a very good position for viewing the stage.
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