As soon as the gargoyle took the invitations, Lucas led me forward into the passage.
“I can’t wait to see what else is real,” I whispered.
We continued down the tunnel, the light growing dimmer instead of brighter until, suddenly, thumping music filled the air. The light grew brighter again, and we stepped out into a massive ballroom. Large black chandeliers hung from the ceiling lit with long flickering candles. Tiny figures moved around the barely discernable lights.
As I squinted, trying to focus on what the figures were, Lucas leaned close.
“Pixies,” he said.
The minuscule creatures twinkled a multitude of colors as they moved, adding to the weak candlelight.
I tore my gaze from the ceiling and noticed the people moving around us. One woman wore a short dress, see-through like mine except for a few beautiful embroidered vines and butterflies. Her boots looked like a curled leaf wrapped around her calves with the heel made out of a blunted thorn. Sheer wings jutted out from between her shoulders and fluttered behind her as she spoke to a woman with a golden snake holding her dress together at the back.
To prevent myself from staring longer, I shifted my gaze to the outskirts of the room. A long bar ran the length of the wall on either side of the entrance from which we’d emerged. The purple light coming from the glass shelves of booze made it easier to see in the immediate area.
“Would you care for something to drink?” Lucas asked.
“Please.”
He guided me to the bar on the right and motioned to the man there. The startling silver color of his eyes matched his silver-white hair.
“What can I get for you?” he asked.
“Your specialty for the lady,” Lucas answered.
The bartender nodded and moved away to start pouring several shots from bottles, moving too quickly for me to see what exactly I was going to drink. However, I didn’t miss the way the glass iced over when he picked it up to hand it to me.
“Enjoy your evening,” he said before helping the next person.
I turned my back to the bar and looked out over the ballroom. Seating sections mixed with curtained round beds around the outskirts. People moved around everywhere. There was so much to soak in as I took my first sip. Fairies, elves, dragon-shifters, and things I couldn’t even guess at all mingled together in conversation on the outskirts of the space or danced in the center of the floor before the stage.
A man carrying a platter stopped before me, a momentary distraction from the glamor and glitz around me. I looked down at the tidbits of food and picked something at random. A barbecued meatball by the taste of it.
“Well, are you glad you attended?” Lucas asked, studying me.
“It’s too early in the evening to tell.”
He chuckled.
“Would you care to walk the room?” He offered his arm again, and together, we started our slow stroll.
We’d barely made it to the end of the bar when a man turned and saw Lucas.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” he said stoically.
“Until I am sitting in the chair, any congratulations are premature.”
The man’s gaze flicked to me.
“I see.”
Lucas’s hand covered mine on his arm, and he led me away.
“Why do I feel like that was some kind of insult?”
“His congratulations were sincere,” Lucas said.
“No, I meant you.”
He chuckled. “I was a bit rude.”
“Why? And what was he congratulating you for?”
“I was rude because he reminded me why I didn’t want to attend. And as for what he was referring to, it’s of no importance because it will not happen.”
“What, you don’t plan to sit tonight?”
“You’re purposely impudent.”
I grinned at his profile.
“And I can see you like it.”
He looked down at me, his gaze flicking to my mouth and sending a spike of heat through me. He inhaled slowly before answering.
“I do. Very much.”
The song switched from rock to ballad, drawing my attention to the stage at the front of the ballroom. On the low platform, a woman sang a sultry song, her voice more compelling than the words. The man with the dark beard beside her played a shiny, black guitar in time with the drummer’s beat. Another played a blood red guitar to her words.
The singer’s long blue hair seemed to be her only cover, making me feel very modest with my see-through skirt and midriff. However, the glint of crystal on her belly hinted at a sheer material, much like mine.
“Dastardly Deeds,” Lucas said. “They’re the hottest non-human band right now.”
I glanced at the band name on the drums then watched the drummer. His messy hair stood up in fashionable disarray as he beat on the drums. As I studied him, his gaze swept the crowd and our eyes locked. In that moment, something felt oddly familiar about him.
“Would you like to step outside for some fresh air? You look flushed.” Lucas asked.
I tore my gaze from the drummer’s.
“No, I’m fine.” Another platter bearer walked by, and I snatched an appetizer off of the tray.
“I apologize,” Lucas said.
“For?”
“Locking you in a room with no food.”
“There was food, just not my type.” I ate the appetizer with relish. “Now, what exactly goes on at this ball that makes it so great?”
“Dancing, drinking, and other things.” He pointed toward the ceiling where I spotted circular beds suspended above the crowd. The lighting was too dim to see any real detail, but a few swayed.
“Other than impossible to reach floating beds and bartenders that can cool your drink with a touch, what makes this so special? I mean, you can dance, drink, and have sex at a lot of parties.”
I sipped my cocktail and watched the crowd as we continued to walk.
“This is where the who’s who of my world come to rub elbows and stab backs once a year.”
“I hope that last part wasn’t literal.”
“It’s been known to happen,” he said. “But not here. The proprietor ensures a night of delight. At the Monster Ball, there’s nothing to worry about. However, outside of this place, that’s another story altogether.”
“Good to know.”
I took a bigger drink and continued to look around the room. A partygoer from across the way caught my eye. He was watching us hard. As soon as he saw he had my attention, he and two others started crossing the floor.
“Is this someone not to turn my back on?” I asked.
Chapter Five
Swept Away
Lucas
I followed the direction of Joseline’s stare and silently swore.
“That is most certainly not someone to turn your back on,” I said softly, drawing Joseline closer to my side as my father and mother approached.
The gaze of the woman with them narrowed on my arm around Joseline’s waist, a sure indication of who she was.
“Mother. Father,” I said formally when they reached us.
My mother’s gaze shifted to Joseline before returning to me. The woman I now called mother may not have had a hand in my creation, but she treated me as if she had given birth to me herself. And I cared for her as if she had.
Age hadn’t touched her face since the day Vlad, my father, had created her. Pale skin. Golden blonde hair. Light blue eyes that he always said reminded him of the daytime sky.
“Lucas, darling. I was worried when Julia said you were playing with the windows again.”
Playing with the windows as if I were an errant child who had no idea what sunlight might do to me.
“I’m fine, Mother. No need for concern.”
“That is good news,” Father said. “I’d worried that we would need to cancel tonight’s planned festivities.”
“Ah, Father, you know I’m never in a festive mood.”
The conversation around us quieted. Mother looked anxious and Father unreadable.
“Perhaps that will change over the course of the evening,” he said, finally. “Allow me to introduce, Annice Leontine.”
I forced myself to look at the woman my parents wanted me to join. Her light blonde hair was artfully wrapped and pinned in swirls around her head with twin ornate hair sticks. Diamond studded chains draped her shoulders, dangling down between her nearly exposed breasts thanks to the deeply plunging valley of her dress that dipped down to her navel.
“Hello, Lucas. Your parents have spoken very highly of you. I look forward to making children together.”
Joseline, who’d been mid-sip of her cocktail, choked and spit her drink out at my parents and Annice.
“Oh my gosh,” she managed between coughs. “I am so sorry.”
I couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out of me. I plucked the drink from her hand and set it on the tray of a passing server.
“It’s quite alright, my dear. Their clothing will dry. Let me escort you outside for that fresh air.”
I nodded to my mother and father then did the one thing I warned Joseline not to do. I turned my back on all three of them. Father would likely be furious over my easy dismissal of the weeks of planning and meetings that had resulted in Annice’s presence at their side tonight. Mother would be worried more so than upset. I hated worrying either of them, but I couldn’t go along with what they wanted. Ever.
Joseline and I passed through the curtained arch to the left of the stage and out onto a grassy expanse of lawn that disappeared into nothing. I steered her to the side, away from the rest of the party-goers needing air, and waited for her to stop coughing.
“Are you all right?” I asked when she seemed finished.
“Are you? I think I’m beginning to understand why you didn’t want to come here. Do they expect you to make a baby with her tonight? Like on one of those floating beds? Is that what the ball is for? Making more little monsters?”
When she said the word with notes of laughter in her tone, being a monster didn’t seem like a bad thing.
“No. I will not make a baby with anyone. They want me to have children. As in, they want me to kill and turn humans. Become their sire, like my father is to me.”
“Oh.”
She looked out toward the nothingness and rubbed her arms.
“Are you cold? Are you ready to go back inside?”
Joseline
I shook my head, trying to come to terms with what I’d just learned. Lucas’s parents wanted him to give them grandvamps with that woman we’d just met.
I played with the emerald stud in my earlobe for a moment.
“So Annice is supposed to be your partner at a human buffet party to repopulate the vampire world?”
He chuckled again.
“No. They want me to bind myself to her for all eternity.”
“Marriage?”
“Much worse. There’s no death to ever part us. Once we’re bound together, we would create our children over the next several centuries, selecting humans who…” He shrugged. “I have no idea what qualities I would look for to pass on this curse of eternal night.”
And just like that, I knew I’d been right. He hated the night and missed the sun. And he didn’t want to bring anyone else into his little world of misery.
“Someone who likes working third shift?” I asked playfully.
He shook his head at me, the remnants of his humor quickly fading.
“I have no desire to create children of my own. Or to bind myself to someone who does.”
I felt so much relief at his words. Not about the children but about binding himself to Annice. She seemed perfectly fine if maybe a little politely reserved and distant. However, for a first meeting, what more could I expect between two people. Sparks to fly? Looking up at Lucas, I realized that was exactly what had happened when he and I met. Well, at least for me.
“Based on the fact that this was your first meeting, I’m guessing Annice doesn’t know how you feel about this whole thing. What about your parents? Have you told them you don’t want to bind yourself to another vampire?”
“They are well aware. However, they believe I am attempting to end my existence because I’m lonely and not because I—”
He tucked his hands into his suit pants and looked away for a moment.
“So burning yourself with the sun wasn’t some weird need to inflict harm on yourself. You really wanted to die?”
“That wasn’t an attempt to end my existence. It was an attempt to get out of coming to this damn ball where Mother and Father intend to bind me to some unknown woman. Had it been a real attempt, I would not have chosen the sun to try to end me. It’s never worked in the past.”
I was relieved he wasn’t suicidal but still wondered about his infatuation with the sun if it constantly hurt him. Why keep looking at it?
I thought of the paintings in his room.
“You miss the sun.”
“I miss the sun like a fish misses water. I exist in a lifeless cycle of night.”
I could see how hooking up with Annice would just perpetuate the cycle in his eyes. She was part of the night he didn’t want anymore.
I studied the moonlit area. The low fog that clung to the ground. The other party goers having quiet conversations in their conveniently shadowed areas. The stars that twinkled so very brightly in the sky. And the moon that glowed with a powerful light.
Yes, it was dark and had an untouchable coolness to it. But there was still so much beauty.
“I understand you miss the sun, but is there really nothing about this that you like?”
When there was no answer, I turned and found him watching me. There was a flicker of orange glinting in his eyes as he considered me.
“There’s something I’m starting to like very much,” he said quietly.
He reached out and brushed the backs of his knuckles across my cheeks. A tingle of pleasure rushed through me. This time, I leaned into the gesture and closed my eyes. My relief over his disinterest of Annice had nothing to do with what was good for him but what I wanted for me. But why was I so interested in Lucas?
“You do steal my breath, Joseline,” he said softly.
He stole so much more than that for me. Like sound judgment. Why was I so attracted to him? We’d just met. This couldn’t be normal. I almost snorted. When was I ever normal.
My heartbeat skipped at the feel of his thumb stroking my skin, and I had a moment of clarity. I looked up at him, his attraction to me suddenly making sense.
“But that’s not why you wanted me to come tonight, is it?”
He exhaled heavily and looked out over the dark expanse.
“Julia said I smelled like sunlight. Is that why you wanted me to come?”
He chuckled lowly, not humor exactly. More of a sad acknowledgment.
“I do enjoy your scent, Joseline. But if that were the only reason, I would have asked for a taste. I didn’t lie when I said I wanted you to join me because you’re obviously part of this world in some way. But mostly because you aren’t.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you.”
“You’re not invested in the outcome of tonight’s events. You won’t manipulate me into an outcome that’s favorable to you.”
“Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” I said, nipping the pad of his thumb and making his eyes flash orange. “I was honest in the moonlight before we came here. I feel very attracted to you, and against all the common sense I should feel, I’m hoping to manipulate you a lot before the evening is over.”
He went back to stroking my skin. “When you look at me, I don’t see manipulation. Just honest emotion. The same things I’m feeling and wanting but reflected back at me.”
The need to touch him in return consumed me, and I reached up to place my palm against his cheek. His skin was cool and smooth. And touching it only made me burn for more.
“That still doesn
’t explain any of this. Why do I feel this way about you? Or you me? Has this ever happened before?”
He closed his eyes and turned his head to kiss the palm of my hand before carefully removing it. When he looked at me again, there was even more flame in his eyes.
“I’ve never felt this level of burning need before,” he said.
“Funny that you should say burning. Your eyes are glowing or on fire or something.”
“And it doesn’t frighten you?”
“No. We both know it should. Just like we both know I should have been a crying mess the moment I saw you on the floor or when you asked me to serve you a glass of blood.”
“Just more proof you belong here.”
I glanced at our hands, the way his wrapped gently around mine, holding it close to his heart.
“Here at this ball or here in your arms?”
“Perhaps both.”
His gaze dipped to my mouth, sending my pulse into overtime. The flames flared brighter in his eyes. Slowly, he lowered his head. I forgot to breathe and reached up to steady myself on his shoulder with my free hand.
“Joseline,” he said softly. “Tell me to stop.”
“Stop what? You’re not doing anything yet.”
I leaned toward him, inviting him to finish what he’d started. He groaned, the soft sound making me burn with need to know what his lips would feel like against mine.
My hand slid from his shoulder to the back of his neck.
“I’m afraid once I start, I might not be able to stop, Joseline.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” I breathed just before his mouth met mine.
A shock ran through me. Complete joy, need, and desire collided in my middle causing an explosion of heat as his lips tested mine, a soft brush of contact. He pulled back and looked at me, his eyes completely aflame. I knew he’d just felt the same thing.
“More,” I whispered.
This time his mouth crashed onto mine. A growl of need shivered through him and echoed into me. I gripped his shoulders tightly, and his hands cupped my face as he deepened the kiss. The first taste of him swept me away. A hunger like I’d never known consumed me. I pressed closer, needing more. His tongue toyed with mine. Testing. Teasing. Tasting.
The Monster Ball: A Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 65