The Monster Ball Year 2

by Heather Hildenbrand

  “You can’t die here. It’s forbidden.” He forces sound between his teeth. “This can’t be happening…”

  I fight the pain and the threatening dark, straining upward to reach for his arm, wrapping my fingers around it. Lock.

  His fist closes, holding the rubies tightly, but it’s taking everything left in me to maintain the spell.

  Mother Kadris shouts, “She can heal herself if she stops fighting me, Alex. If she doesn’t, nothing will save her. It’s her choice.”

  I try to catch his attention. “I can do this. I can hold on.”

  “What’s more important to you, Alex?” calls Mother Kadris. “The rubies or her life?”

  “I can do it,” I whisper again, my vision blurring, his gray eyes fading from my view. “I can…”

  His voice reaches me through a wash of pain. “I can’t lose you. I don’t need the rubies. I need you.”

  My heart is breaking. How can he need me if he doesn’t love me?

  Power grows around him, the power he used to drain mine before. It steals into my torso and arms, into my mind, drawing my power away, weakening the lock on his arm…

  My grip loosens. I try to hold on, but he bends his head, pressing his lips to mine, a terrible distraction.

  The lock breaks—

  His fist opens, and the gems fly right into Mother Kadris’s waiting hands. He deliberately let them go.

  She smiles and shuts off the pain spell. The emerald light fades.

  Alexei drags me into his chest, closing down his power, whispering to me, “Heal yourself.”

  The healing spell rises to my mind, golden words as clear as if they were written in the air in front of me. I give him a nod of permission, screaming as he wrenches the stem from my stomach.

  Words quickly slip from my tongue, and my healing spell glows around us, lighting up the worry in his eyes before I sense my wound knitting together.

  He drops his head to mine, pressing a kiss to my forehead, but as the pain recedes, I realize… I didn’t write a healing spell on the leaves attached to me.

  I search his eyes. I’m still weak, but I want to fight. “The rubies?”

  He shakes his head. “Let them go.”

  Craning her neck to hear us, Mother Kadris calls out, “Don’t you want the rubies back? I promise I’ll give them to you once I have her soul. I always honor my deals.”

  Alexei slides an arm around my waist, helping me rise. He brushes the hair from my face, plants a kiss against my cheek, and says, “I don’t care about the rubies.”

  Mother Kadris floats closer, frowning. “But your mother gave them to you.”

  He holds me tightly as he roars, “Give up already! My mother is in my past. Tansy is my future. You can’t have her soul.”

  Mother Kadris draws nearer, peering at him. “Why not, Alex?”

  “Because… I…”

  She scoffs. “Because what? You love her? You’re incapable of love.”

  He turns to me, ignoring her. “If this isn’t love, I don’t know what is.”

  I press my palm against the one he holds to my cheek. So many people tell someone they love them without ever being willing to give up everything for the one they claim to love. Alexei has always shown me more love than I ever expected.

  Mother Kadris taunts, “What about you, Tanzanina? Are you prepared to walk away, damaged and broken? You didn’t get the revival spell. You lost the rubies. Are you really prepared to accept that?”

  I close my eyes, then turn my cheek into Alexei’s palm, planting a kiss inside his wrist before I take his hand in mine and turn to her. “You were right, Mother Kadris. Part of me was broken, but it wasn’t my power. It was my belief in myself.”

  Spells whoosh through my mind, so many to choose from…

  “Through darkest night and brightest day, strongest heart will never stray, but stay the course, reverse the time, give back what’s lost…”

  Her eyes widen. She takes a step back.

  I smile before I complete the spell. “What’s lost is mine.”

  The rubies fly out of her hand, wrenched away from her.

  She tries to hold on to them, snatching at them as they fly ahead of her. Her feet race as she pursues them. She leaves the ground and leaps just as Alexei plucks them out of the air.

  Her hand closes over his. The air sizzles, and her eyes widen. Her lips part, she inhales, tries to wrench backward, starts to scream—

  Crimson light explodes between them, knocking me to the side. I tumble and right myself, jumping to my feet, ready to defend Alexei.

  I freeze.

  Their hands are still locked, both of them kneeling, facing each other. But now Alexei’s hands are closed over hers. Tears stream down Mother Kadris’s face, her free palm pressed to her heart.

  Alexei’s expression is stunned, fierce, his eyebrows drawn down. “Mother.”

  “Alex…” She gasps, a broken sob, trying to pull away from him. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  He reaches forward to lay his other hand on her shaking shoulder, supporting her. “What was supposed to happen?”

  Her shoulders slump, but she doesn’t shake him off. “I was supposed to make up for what I did. I was supposed to make it right. You weren’t meant to find out who I am.”

  I draw near, approaching cautiously, but she isn’t accessing her power now. Satisfied that she isn’t going to try anything, I settle quietly onto the floor.

  A stern expression descends over Alexei’s face, an assassin’s countenance. “Explain.”

  “It’s a long story,” she whispers.

  Alexei glances at me, his stern mouth softening. “We have time.”

  Her voice is soft, barely a whisper. “Hundreds of years ago… I was cold and cruel, ambitious. I traded favors for souls without a second thought. Then I met a powerful man and wanted his soul more than anything. He was willing to give it to me in exchange for a particular magical power. I didn’t care why. I didn’t even ask. I took his soul and gave him what he wanted, and he… did unspeakable things to innocent supernaturals.”

  Alexei’s gaze flashes to mine. “You’re talking about the man who created assassin’s magic. You gave him the power that started it all.”

  She nods. “He used his power for evil. I couldn’t live with what I’d done. I found a coven that would take me, and I hid among them, only coming out at night, until one day… I met another man—an ordinary man, rough but kind, who ran a boxing ring. Imagine my surprise when I found out I was pregnant.”

  She reaches for him. “But I became so sick, Alex. You started killing me from the moment of conception, draining my power until I could barely walk, barely breathe. Your father cared for me…” Her voice breaks. “He was a good man, Alex.”

  Alexei frowns. “Why do you call me that? I’m Alexei.”

  She shakes her head. “That’s what your father called you. I named you ‘Alex.’”

  “Why did you leave us?”

  “Because the other witches would have killed you if they knew what you could do. The nature of your power means you have no aura—you don’t project energy, you take it. I had to protect you. I told them that you were born powerless. I convinced them that was why I was so sick. They told me I was useless, that I was weak because I refused to take any more souls. They cast me out.”

  She searches his eyes. “You have never used your power to its full extent. If you wanted to, you could drain the energy from every supernatural in this place. A power like yours is incredibly rare.”

  His voice is gentle. “Why are you here now?”

  “Because I wanted to reunite you. I thought that if you saw each other again, you would realize that you were meant to be together. I thought Tansy knew what the rubies meant to you, so she would never take them. I wanted you to…”

  She chokes back a sob. “I wanted you to find happiness. Dance. Love. But then, she came back. I realized that you would never believe the truth unless you fought f
or each other.”

  Taking his face in her hands, she compels him to look at her. “You turned Tansy away because you thought you couldn’t love her when actually her love broke your curse long ago. You just didn’t realize it.” She spins to me. “And you… Tansy… you locked yourself away, believing that you had nothing to give. When really you have more natural power than I ever had.”

  Alexei is frozen beside me. “What happens now?”

  She smiles, a real smile for the first time that lights up her eyes, gentle, gray like Alexei’s. “Now, you live your life.”

  “And you?”

  She draws back on her heels. “I will leave you in peace and live out what life I have left.”

  He considers her for a moment.

  He reaches for my hand. Then he tips his chin at his mother and says, “Our children will need a grandmother.”

  She startles, blinking at him.

  I do, too.

  Alexei casts me a smile that makes my heart flip and my stomach flutter. I scoot into his side without hesitation, and we stand together, all three of us.

  From the corner of my eye, movement makes me turn.

  A woman in a black feathered gown watches us from the shadows. She stands tall, a graceful figure, a mysterious smile on her lips. I frown in confusion because nobody else should be moving right now. Unless she’s…

  The Proprietor.

  She arches a brow at me, giving a gentle wave of her hand in the air, and my protection spell immediately disappears.

  Movement around us resumes, the music starts up right where it stopped, and the supernaturals continue their conversations as if they were never interrupted.

  When I look again, The Proprietor is gone.

  Mother Kadris squeezes Alexei’s hand. “I will find you again soon, but right now… this is your night.”

  She steps back into the crowd, quickly disappearing through an illusion of mistletoe that rises into the air above us.

  The smile Alexei casts me broadens as I turn into his arms, tilting my head back to meet his gaze. I always feel overly tall around others, but with Alexei… I feel perfect.

  He gives me a lazy smile, tipping his head and running his hand down my arm to wrap around my waist. He begins to speak, but I stop him with a kiss.

  Soon the night will end, and the magic will transport us home. If the stories are true, fireworks will light up the sky before we leave, but nothing will compare to the journey that lies ahead of us. We have a lot to work out, but I know we can make a life together.

  He lifts me off my feet, wrapping me up in his arms, and I don’t care that I’m glowing so brightly with happiness that the nearby supernaturals squint against the light.

  He loves me, and I am whole.

  I whisper against his lips. “Alexei Mason, I’m yours… if you want me.”

  “Forever,” he says. “Always.”

  The End

  Turn the page for more Monster Ball…

  A Note From The Proprietor

  I sigh as I sink down onto the couch and slip off my heels. Tucking my aching feet under me, I prop my chin on the back of the couch and revel in the view from the rooftop this time of morning. The sky is coated in cotton candy colored clouds, and I smirk at the fitting goodbye to my electric rave. Tomorrow I’ll have to start planning for next year, but I don’t want to worry about that now. After all, there’s still one last ritual that we need to complete before this year’s Ball is officially over.

  “Hey, Boss Lady!” Dec’s voice breaks through my reverie, and I turn to see him crossing the dance floor. “I come bearing libations. A Proprietor for The Proprietor,” he says, holding up a highball glass filled with the drink they named after me this year.

  I roll my eyes at him and accept the drink with a smile as he descends into the conversation pit and takes a seat next to me. Imperia trails behind him, shooting me a wink and gesturing over her shoulder. My eyes follow the path of her finger and land on the twins working their game on our new unicorn bartender, Nova. I’m not sure if she’ll be back next year, so I let them have their fun.

  “You know it’s sort of a double your pleasure double your fun situation,” I catch Bronx murmuring. My eyes fly back to Imperia, and we both burst with laughter as she sinks down onto the couch to my left.

  “You’ve gotta admire their persistence,” Dec says with a chuckle before taking a drink of his Dragon’s Breath.

  “They are tenacious. I’ll give them that.” I laugh, waving to Marina. She holds up her glass, waving one finger at me before grabbing the hand of her Drummer, Flint, and pulling him along, the rest of the band trailing in her wake.

  “Oh my goodness, tonight was crazy,” she exclaims, setting her drink on the table before sinking down in the middle of her band on the couch across from Imperia. “Did you guys hear the banshee scream?” she says with a delicate shiver. “It still gives me chills just thinking about it. Definitely a sound I could live without ever hearing again. I think I missed a note or two I was so distracted.”

  “You didn’t miss a note, Mar,” Bardou says, picking up her glass and holding it out to her with a raised brow. “But you’re going to be missing a lot of notes if you don’t take care of your throat,” he finishes. She takes it with a soft smile, patting him on the cheek before taking a sip.

  “Ooooo, this really does hit the spot. Thanks for whipping me up something to soothe my throat, Onyx. It normally takes me a couple of days of vocal rest after the Ball to feel this good.”

  “No problem girl. I’ll whip you up a batch to keep on hand for after shows, and you’ve got my number now for when you run out,” Onyx says before turning her attention to me. “I had so much fun tonight! Keep me, please!”

  The group bursts into laughter as she holds up her hands and wiggles her butt like an eager puppy.

  “The Boss Lady doesn’t make any decisions about next year until tomorrow,” Lex says, turning to offer Nova a hand into the pit. Nova’s amethyst eyes widen, and her cheeks flush a color similar to her hair, making her glittering freckles stand out even more. She really is quite a beautiful Monster. I can’t blame the boys for shooting their shot. “Yeah, or else she’d just decide to never host the Ball again, and we’d all be out of a job,” Bronx jokes, following Nova into the pit. The trio settles next to Onyx, and I hide my smile behind my drink. Nova isn’t their match, but it looks like she might be for the night.

  “Hurry up, newbies,” Imperia shouts, waving to the circular bar where Ransom is finishing mixing drinks for the remaining crew. “Unless you don’t want to be invited back next year?”

  The Spanish bartender blanches before mixing the drink with more vigor. I laugh, reaching over to swat Imperia on the leg.

  “Stop it, you minx. You’re going to scare them.”

  I look up in time to see Ransom slide out from behind the bar, drink in hand, before the last of our little gathering joins us.

  Rake crosses the pit and settles on the other side of his clansman. Milo follows with a nod before settling on his opposite side. Dec turns toward the duo, murmuring words of praise for their rooftop performance.

  “Over here, lover boy,” Imperia says, patting the empty space next to me and her. “I won’t bite...unless you want me to.” She winks at Ransom, who shakes his head with amusement before sinking into the spot.

  “That looks remarkably like my Tio Arturo,” he says, gesturing to Imperia’s bat tattoo. “Perhaps you knew each other.”

  Imperia sputters and chokes on her drink, and I catch a glimpse of the Spanish bartender’s dimpled smile before he hides it behind his glass. Cheeky bat.

  “Looks like you’re over here, big guy,” Onyx says with a wink. Barassa’s eyes trail over the group, landing on the only open space. With a sigh, he takes his spot next to Onyx.

  “So, you can admit it. My boys killed it this year, didn’t they?” Dec says, reaching across me to bump fists with Ransom.

  “Well, I’d say you’re abo
ut half right,” I muse, casting a glance in Rake’s direction.

  Dec groans, and Rake clears his throat before averting his eyes and taking a drink.

  “What did you do now,” Dec says, rubbing his hands down his face.

  A snap of my fingers, and the table in front of me overflows with all manner of sparkly trinkets. I sigh as I reach forward to grab a golden pen that dangles precariously close to the edge of the table. I can’t decide if I’m more annoyed or amused at the haul Rake was able to procure tonight. Damn dragons and their love of treasure. To be fair, not all of the items now littering the table were pilfered. Some guests happily gave up their shiny baubles to the charismatic flame wielder.

  “What? Every party has favors,” Rake grumbles, and laughter breaks out around the table.

  “To The Monster Ball,” Lex cheers.

  “And to The Proprietor for bringing us all together,” adds Bronx.

  I laugh as my crew cheers, glasses clinking, and drink to another successful year.

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  Acknowledgments

  Huge thanks to Amber Shepherd (Bam!) and The Monster Ball Year 2 team! I couldn't have asked for a better summer project. Sending love to my loyal Sweeties for following me on my journeys, wherever they might take me. I hope you all had as much fun at The Ball as I did!

  -Wendy Higgins

  “Agents of Night” is dedicated in loving memory to my dad, Karl. Like Sunshine, he died in his sleep, only it was way too young, of a heart attack. He was sunshine in my life. He loved baseball, jokes, funny T-shirts, and would have gotten a total kick out of Sabine’s tank tops. This novella was written two months before he received his silver ticket to the afterlife, where I know he’s having a grand old time, enjoying the next adventure.