They all get to their feet. I’d forgotten it was evening. Being underground with no clock, I’ve lost all concept of time.
“I think I’ll just stay in the room while, er, you all party,” I say.
Lucian’s eyes narrow. “Why?”
“I have nothing to wear. Not even any makeup to put on. And as much as I’m grateful for the few clothes you got for me, they aren’t really party clothes.”
“Party clothes?” he repeats, like it’s a foreign phrase.
“It’s okay for all of you. You’re all good-looking, in jeans and T-shirts that cling, or that black shirt you wear with the first few buttons undone, exposing the hint of your muscular chest,” I ramble.
“My muscular chest?” he presses, his lips twitching as he fights a smile.
I roll my eyes. “You know you’re attractive. You all are. Scary, but you have this aura.”
“Because we are the predators,” he says softly, “and you are the prey.”
He’s out of his chair in a blur. Before I can react, he’s behind me, his presence overwhelming.
“And what better way to catch you,” he murmurs, “than to lure you in. To make you crave our mouths on your skin.”
My breath stutters as his lips skim my neck, barely there, teasing. Heat coils low in my body, every nerve alive beneath his touch.
“You desire me, don’t you?” he rasps against my ear. “My prey.”
I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry, my thoughts dissolving until there is nothing left but him.
“Yes,” I whisper.
Lucian disappeared after that. I turned in my chair to see the room empty, and it was the quickest rejection I think I’d ever received.
I scuttled back to the room, relieved he wasn’t there when I entered. After a few minutes of hiding under the covers in pure mortification, I decided to shower, make myself look as good as I could, and join the party before it got all freaky.
Lucian may have made me feel like a complete tit, but if nothing else, I was stubborn. I refused to allow any man—dead or alive—to make me feel like that.
I step out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around me, my hair dripping down my back, to see clothes laid out and a large box on the bed. I glance around the room, expecting Lucian to be standing there watching, but the room is empty aside from me.
I move closer to the bed and suck in a sharp breath at the clothes: a black dress, tops, and jeans. I stub my toe on something and glance down to see a shoebox. Smiling, I crouch and open it to reveal a pair of blood-red stiletto heels.
“Very in theme to attend a vampire party,” I scoff.
Standing, I turn to the box on the bed and see a handwritten note placed ontop.
My Petal,
For you.
Lucian x
P.S. Apologies if the products are wrong. I’m a man. An undead one at that, and to add a biker. What the fuck do I know about makeup?
I burst out laughing at the last line. Placing the note down, I lift the lid off the box to find it full of products for skin, hair, and makeup.
“Wow, did he raid the entire cosmetics store?” I murmur as I go through each item.
Once I’ve gone through it all, I take out what I need, keeping it simple because I have no idea how much time I have left to get ready. That’s when it occurs to me. There isn’t a single mirror.
“Shit,” I breathe, panic rising.
