Riley hugged her tight, whispering, “Victoria bought you a present. Look under your bed.” With that, he untangled himself from her and moved toward the window.
When he was out of sight, she stood and peeked under her bed. There was a medium-size box with a red bow glued to the center. With trembling hands, she slid the cardboard over the carpet and flipped open the lid. When she saw what was inside, she couldn’t help but laugh.
Hopefully, the night would end with a smile, as well.
ADEN STOOD in front of his bedroom mirror, studying his reflection. He wore Victoria’s gift. A costume. He was a knight in shining armor. The chain mail was thin and light, so it didn’t weigh him down. It covered him from neck to ankle, only broken up where the pieces didn’t quite meet: his elbows, wrists, stomach and knees.
“How do I look?” he asked Shannon when the boy soared into the room.
“Great, but Dan’s never gonna l-let you go to the costume party. We have g-guest. This morning Mr. Sicamore unexpectedly decided to p-pack up and go on an extended vacation, but he recommended someone new. Apparently Dan liked the guy and hired him on the spot. Mrs. Reeves just got done cooking a big dinner for us, so we can all sit down and get to kn-know each other. Dan told me to gather everyone up and bring them over to the main house.”
Great.
Victoria will get you out of it, Elijah said.
He relaxed. Tonight he wasn’t going to worry about the witches’ meeting or losing Caleb. Tonight was about proving himself to Victoria’s father and setting her free from her stupid betrothal.
“Tell Dan I’m sick, that I caught what you had,” he pleaded. “Tell him you had to help me into bed.”
“If I’m caught lying…”
“You won’t be. Swear.”
Shannon hesitated only a moment more before nodding and taking off. In the hall, Aden could hear the other boys mumbling about the dinner, then their dragging footsteps, then the click of the main door as it shut. He stuffed some pillows under his covers to make it look like he was in bed and switched off all the lights. Where was Victoria? She should have been here by—
A clatter of rocks hit his window. Heartbeat picking up speed, he strode to the glass and peered out. Victoria stood a few feet away, the moon glowing around her. He caught his breath at the sight of her. There were more blue streaks in her hair, half piled on top of her head, the rest curling down her back. She wore a gown of blue velvet that hugged her chest and waist and flowed freely around her ankles. Her sandals showed off her glittery pink toenails.
A damsel in distress to his knight in shining armor, he thought with a grin.
He climbed out the window, surprisingly agile for someone in chain mail, and joined her. Usually she would kiss him in welcome, or he would kiss her, but they just stood peering at each other, unsure. Since her announcement about Dmitri, they had lost some of their ease with each other, and he didn’t like it.
Finally, he said, “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. You look…edible.”
High praise, from a vampire. “Are you thirsty?”
She licked her lips. “For you? Always.”
“Then drink.”
Her gaze fell to his neck, and a deep longing entered her crystalline eyes. He’d fed her a lot this past week. “Not tonight. Tonight you need your strength. And mine,” she said, lifting the hand that bore that opal ring.
He held up his hands. “Do not cut yourself. I can’t stand to see you hurt.”
Take her up on the offer, Aden, Elijah said. Please. I have a feeling you’ll need it.
“Aden—” Victoria began.
“No,” he told them both. Even if he needed her strength to survive the night, he would not allow her to hurt herself like that.
Slowly she lowered her arm, her eyes narrowing. “I could force you, you know.”
“But you won’t,” he said confidently.
A moment passed. She gave a dejected sigh, the anger leaving her. “But I won’t. Not even for your own good.”
“Everything will be all right.” He hoped. He reached out and stroked her hair, the strands silky against his skin. “You’ll see.”
“Oh, Aden,” she said on a trembling breath. She rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m so afraid. For you, for us.”
He gave her the only reassurance he could. “I will never stop wanting you. We’ll find a way to be together.”
She wanted to believe him; he knew she did, but she gave no response. “So many things are going wrong, all at once. First the witches. Now a fairy is speaking with Dan,” she said, taking his hand and leading him to the main house. “Come. Let me show you.”
They reached the kitchen and he peered in through the window. Thankfully, it was dark outside and well lit inside, allowing him to see everything clearly without being seen himself. Dan was introducing the boys to a tall, muscled man with silver-white hair who had his back to Aden.
“That’s probably the new tutor.”
“Let me guess, the old tutor suddenly decided to relocate?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Standard operating procedure for a fairy. And with him inside, I can’t tell Dan to allow you to go to the party. The fairy would attack me and I would attack him, we wouldn’t be able to help ourselves. Our kinds hate each other too much. We would injure each other.”
“What does he want with Dan, do you think?”
“He probably followed your energy here. Though it’s likely he doesn’t know which of you boys has been summoning his kind, or why.”
“This is such a mess. I wish—” His voice cut off abruptly as the fairy turned, gazing over at the window.
Aden and Victoria ducked, but not before he’d gotten a glimpse of emerald-green eyes, a face so perfect angels were probably singing to celebrate its creation, and ears that were just a little pointed.
“Let’s go,” Victoria said.
“I can’t leave them with a fairy. I haven’t forgotten what you told me, that a fairy’s beauty hides its evil.”
“Fairies are evil. To vampires. As I told you before, they consider themselves protectors of mankind and vampires destroyers of it. That is why they hate us so.”
“So the boys will be safe?”
“Without a doubt. The only time a human has to worry is when a fairy thinks it’s being usurped. They value power above all things. And you, they won’t understand. You, they’ll consider a threat. But the others? No.”
Okay, then. Off they went, striding around the house and toward the road. Aden would deal with Dan later, if need be. “Is there anything I should know about your dad? Any customs or rituals that I could possibly ruin, thereby bringing a death sentence upon myself?” Like a stabbing, he thought, recalling Elijah’s vision.
She twirled a curl around her finger. “He is used to reverence, so bow when you are introduced to him. Do not speak to him unless he asks you a question, and do not look him directly in the eyes. That makes him feel challenged. Believe me, you do not want to challenge him. There is not a crueler living being on earth.”
Why was he attending this party again? “And the other vampires? What will they do?”
“Stick to my side. Never leave it. You will be viewed as my property and left alone.”
Up ahead, headlights flashed, ending their conversation.
Victoria increased her pace. “That’s Riley and Mary Ann.”
The car he soon found himself entering did not belong to Mary Ann’s father. It was black and sleek and sporty. A model he’d never seen before. Stolen? He and Victoria got in the very small backseat. As he moved back there, he was given a glimpse of Mary Ann’s costume. It was a red and white checkered dress that cut off at midthigh, complete with a long red cape and white high heels.
Riley, he noticed, wasn’t wearing a costume.
“Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, I take it,” he said with a laugh. “Nice.”
On the drive to…wherever they were headed, he lost his amusement in favor of nervousness. Elijah’s doom and gloom mutterings didn’t help. So much depended on tonight. His life, his time with Victoria. What if he blew it all?
“Will the vampires try to drink from us?” Mary Ann asked.
“They shouldn’t, no,” Riley told her. “They will have their own meals.”
Blood-slaves?
All too soon, they pulled up to a towering monstrosity of a house. It was the only one in sight. Five stories, sprawling, consuming acre after acre, the windows painted black to match the brick. A wrought-iron fence creaked open, allowing them inside. Two wolves stood sentry as the car eased past.
“Wow. I know you said you lived at the edge of town, that your home was hidden and I probably hadn’t ever seen it, but I never expected this.” Mary Ann pressed her nose against the glass.
“We had to renovate it to suit our needs,” Riley said.
The moon seemed to shy away from the house, casting its rays elsewhere and leaving the place in total darkness. Because of the car’s headlights, he could see that there were no other cars present, and no one but wolves lingered outside. Were they the first to arrive?
“You ran back and forth between school and this place?” Aden asked. “Between the ranch and this place? Every day?”
“Kind of,” Victoria answered. “I’ve been working on my…teleporting skills. I think that’s what you humans call it. Moving from one place to another with only a thought. I’m getting better.”
Wait. What? She could teleport?
There wasn’t time to question her about it. The car stopped at the end of the drive and they emerged. The moment their doors slammed shut, the front doors to the house opened and a tall figure stepped out. Aden recognized the figure immediately and scowled. Dmitri. A red haze of fury clouded Aden’s vision.
He stepped in front of Victoria. Dmitri bared his teeth, the only sign he gave of his displeasure.
