After an hour of poking and prodding, of people pulling me one way and then another, and Thomas critiquing dress after dress, I was ready.
I had to admit he had good taste. The dress he’d chosen was silver, setting off my grayish blue eyes to perfection and turning them stormy. One of the humans, a male, grabbed my shoulder-length brown hair and pulled it back, braiding pieces of it so its reddish tint caught the light and shone.
In very little time, I stood there, makeup perfect, hair styled back in an elegant swoop. I had to admire their work. I would never have been able to pull this look off had it just been me.
I looked elegant, infused with danger, the type of person you’d treat with respect even while trying to figure out how you could get closer to their orbit.
To my eternal surprise, Thomas hadn’t abandoned me when the stylists arrived. Instead he’d tutored me on his expectations of me for the evening. It seemed a yearling vampire’s duties were much the same as children from an earlier time in humanity’s history—to be seen and not heard. I was expected to be a pretty ornament, gracing my master’s side until he decided otherwise.
In a weird sort of way, it made sense. Vampire society had many things in common with a feudal one. You wouldn’t want a page possibly offending important visitors. No, the page or apprentice was there to learn and observe so when they went off on their own, they would know what to do. In this instance, a yearling might see how vampire dealings were conducted so if and when they rose to a position of power, they could conduct themselves in an acceptable manner.
Only one problem. I had no plans to take my place in vampire society. There were no positions of power in my future; no circumstances where I would want something similar to what Thomas had.
It made me question why they’d gone to all the trouble of securing my presence at this shindig. It wasn’t like they needed me as a guard. Liam and his enforcers would be plenty of protection for Thomas.
I had no expertise to offer, no skills they needed. It was not a good place to be, when knowing your footing was paramount to surviving the shark-infested waters the vampires liked to swim in.
Not knowing where else to go, I ended up standing in the main entrance foyer. The one thing Thomas had forgotten to brief me on before leaving to get himself ready, was where exactly this event was supposed to take place.
I was all dressed up with no clue where to go. It left me wandering aimlessly, hoping to find someone who could point me in the right direction.
“Thought I might find you here,” a voice said from above me.
I turned to see Rick bound down the stairs toward me. Stairs I’d just come down, and I hadn’t seen anyone in the corridor. It left me questioning how he’d managed to arrive unseen and unheard.
The enthusiastic vampire reached the bottom of the stairs and gave me a courtly bow with all of the mannerisms of a born courtier. It was a gesture suited to his current attire. Like me, he was dressed to impress in a full tuxedo, his auburn hair styled and his curls tamed.
I still wasn’t sure where he fell in the territorial vampire hierarchy. He seemed to be on good terms with Liam’s enforcers, but I’d seen him act as an advisor to Thomas before as well.
His face was open and welcoming as he straightened, grinning. As a redhead who hadn’t seen a lot of sun since his turning, Rick had a smooth, pale creaminess to his skin I would have envied when I was younger. His bright green eyes stood out with his pale coloring, reminding me of a cat’s eyes.
Or the Fae, I thought, as those same eyes went unfocused and soft, as if they were looking at a scene only he could see.
I waited quietly to see if he’d return to the present. This had happened once before during the drama with Caroline. He’d given me a warning afterwards, one I hadn’t been able to make sense of until much, much later. At the time I’d simply thought him a little wacky.
He shook off whatever he was seeing to give me an even brighter smile than before.
He held out his arm. “Shall we?”
“What? No dire warnings this time?”
“Can’t make it easy for you every time,” he murmured gently.
I barked out a laugh. “I’m all dressed up. It would be a shame to waste all this work.”
“For the rest of us, as well,” he said roguishly, looping his arm through mine.
His arm was surprisingly sturdy under my hand, given he wasn’t muscular like the other enforcers I was used to hanging out with.
Rick was a warm presence at my side as we made our way through the mansion. The Gargoyle appeared big from the outside, but once inside, its layout threatened to send the mind into a tailspin. The interior was a maze of corridors, each neatly folding in on themselves. You needed a map just to find the kitchen.
I slid him a sideways glance, wondering how much information I could get out of him before he realized what I was doing. As part of the Gargoyle’s household and someone who probably interacted with my sire on a regular basis, he might know something that could prove valuable down the line.
“Have you met the visitors yet?” I asked, keeping my voice idle. I didn’t want to scare him off by seeming too interested.
His cheeks creased with a smile. “Indeed.”
“What are they like?” I asked. “Are they different from the rest of the Fae in the city?”
