Dark Awakenings (Danse Macabre Book 2)

by Christina Quinn

  “Bathtime!” Garrett chuckled as he sprinted with me into the bathroom and literally threw me into that massive marble tub.

  “Shit!” Evan practically yelped as I hit the water and splashed bubbles everywhere. They both shared a laugh as Garrett jumped into the bubbles beside me and pulled the hair out of my eyes.

  “Nik, if you don’t come in here… I swear… I’ll…I can’t think of anything at the moment but I’ll get there!” Garrett yelled at the door before flashing Evan and I an impish grin. Evan pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me and I let him. “I promise neither Evan or myself will fuck you unless you beg for it.” Garrett continued to snicker even as Evan splashed him with water and they shared a little laugh even as Evan rubbed my arms.

  After a few minutes Nikolai walked in completely in the nude and slipped into the water beside me and Evan without so much as a word.

  “Well…you’re quite gifted aren’t you?” Garrett commented with a wink and it was my turn to splash him. “Oh, c’mon, Angel Face, smile. You know you were thinking it.” I rolled my eyes and as always, Garrett pulled that smile from me. “And all is right with the universe!”

  “Welcome to the Garrett Show, Niki.” Evan chuckled out shaking his head.

  “Pfft, I’m not that self-centered.” Garrett scoffed. “And to prove my point! Niki, come taste your first werewolf!”

  After the bath, with both vampire’s fed we all went to bed wrapped in the thick comforter. Garrett, let Evan have my side. I think it was the Garrett show comment that won him the selfless gesture. So I dozed off with a hand on Nikolai’s waist, and Evan wrapped around me like he was trying to merge with my body, and Garrett behind him, lazily making jokes all the while about the inevitability of the unlikely.

  Though again in the middle of the night I was woken up by that shadow standing at the foot of the bed. But this time I was trapped under a web of masculine arms so I couldn’t exactly sit up. Yet there was no mistaking it even through the haze of sleep. Something was definitely there in the dark, watching me almost too carefully.

  10

  ACCEPTANCE

  REALIZATIONS ARE OFTEN SLOW TO HAPPEN. AS MUCH AS THEY SEEM to just hit me out of the blue more often than not the most painful ones sneak up on you. Something felt wrong. For weeks we played at happiness, I fell asleep sandwiched and exhausted between Evan and Garrett and woke up to coffee and quick morning runs. It was all so familiar, even Nikolai’s presence wasn’t unwelcome…but something felt off. I felt incomplete, almost like a caged animal. I should have been happy, but I wasn’t. Nothing felt right. Even after I found a routine, even after I took a step back towards normalcy and started working again on my dissertation I still felt off.

  Nikolai and I were sitting at his place, Elizabeta had put him in Aleksi’s old apartment. Much of the furniture was the same; Nikolai even kept those ballet slippers and Pointe shoes ringing the floor of the dance studio. We sat on the new black suede couch in near silence, I had my laptop on my lap as I tinkered away at the keys trying to pull and paraphrase a quote from a book open beside me. Nikolai was stretching on the floor idly checking his phone from time to time.

  “Garrett and Evan have the Amateur Ballet stuff tonight… so it’s going to be just us.” That semi-nasal accented voice of his broke my train of thought.

  “Oh, I guess I’ll head home.” I saved my work and slipped a little neon sticky note back between the pages of the book. The press of his disappointment was almost stifling, but still I packed up my things and slipped my books back into my huge black purse.

  “You don’t have to go.”

  “Oh, but Niki…I do.” I looked over at him and smirked. “I don’t… I need to go home. I’m sure Garrett and Evan won’t kick you out of bed if you show up at their place. Actually, I know for a fact it would beyond delight Garrett.” My smirk slid into a small but genuine smile and I stood fanning my fingers through my hair. Garrett had developed a very obvious crush on Nikolai, but nothing had come of it. The first impediment was that Nikolai wasn’t interested in anyone except for me, the second was that I wasn’t certain how fluid his sexuality was compared to other vampires.

  “Autumn.”

  “Nikolai.” I sardonically purred his name.

  “I’ve accepted that you don’t trust me enough to let me top you… and that you don’t want to top me. I’ve accepted it. But you need to find someone to help you express that side of yourself.”

  “I’m fine, it’s not like I’m so stupid as to cover my body with scars and tattoos.” You should apologize! That was too far. I ignored Miss Manners and snatched up my phone from the coffee table. “I went years without it. I’ll be fine.” I asserted texting the car service.

  “Will you? Because even now you’re starting to act like a bitch.” That word coming from his lips sent me on auto-pilot. My brain didn’t even catch up with my body until I felt the sting of my hand slapping his cheek. I gasped shaking out my tingling fingers staring up at his pinkening cheek as I realized what I had done. All he did was raise his eyebrows at me in the consummate I-told-you-so. Guilt took whole chunks out of me as I stared at the perfect small hand print on his cheek. Even as it started to fade I still felt astoundingly guilty.

  “I am so sorry.” My tiny hushed voice lingered between us as my hand covered my gaping mouth. I couldn’t believe I slapped him. Well look at you. Congratulations! You’re now the exact opposite of the person you were before you got mixed up with vampires. Mortified didn’t begin to describe how I felt as I covered my face in shame. Someone needs to put you over their knee! The silence that settled in the room was deafening. “I… I… I have to go.” It probably goes without saying that I ran out of the apartment so fast that I had possibly left my shadow behind.

  When the car service dropped me off in front of my building I stood in the bright noonday sun and felt…disoriented. Cars passed with a rush of wind that kicked up my loose locks and ensconced me in an inky cocoon of near black tresses. The bag on my shoulder felt like an anchor dragging me down. Across the street, Garrett and Leslie left the Westley as they laughed and joked teasing each other mercilessly. I turned towards the building and smoothed my hands over my skirt.

  “Autumn!” Leslie bellowed my name through traffic and I practically cringed. “Autumn Sadie Darling, get your ass over here!”

  Groaning I turned and trudged across the street to my waiting friend and… whatever Garrett was. Leslie pulled me into a tight hug the moment I hit the sidewalk. The embrace was suffocating, and to make things worse she refused to let me go. So I stood there on the sidewalk as Leslie tried to squeeze the life out of me.

  “Les is having a day.” Garrett sighed out as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  “He’s just so…” Her voice was lost in my hair as she held me hostage in the vice of her arms.

  “Tristan has turned into a grade A dickhead.” Garrett finished for her. “He spent all morning screaming at Leslie. He chucked that clipboard at the mirror in B and left. The reality is I’m not Aleksi. He expects me to dance like Aleksi, but I can’t and never will. Marguerite and Armand wasn’t in our repertoire when I left for London. When I was in London, Niki danced Armand. He’s done six productions? He does that tortured romantic thing better than I do. And, well Niki is a more charming version of Aleksi.” Garrett snorted and patted Leslie on the back.

  “I feel like I’m missing something, if you’re to blame why did he yell at Leslie?”

  “He’s insecure because he lost his region. So he thinks that my general terribleness is because Leslie asked me to fuck up so she can dance with Niki with the intention of seducing him.”

  “How did he lose the region?” My brows furrowed, I was so confused.

  “Vlad took the region from Tristan.” Leslie sighed out pulling away from me.

  “It speaks!” Garrett snickered.

  “I was in B all day so I’m done until they clean up the glass. So glad this is my last produ
ction until Fall.” She smoothed her bun back and pouted.

  “Wait… I thought you were taking Colette’s roles?”

  “Pela is taking Colette’s roles and I’m sitting out the Summer productions. Originally it was supposed to be so I could go on vacation…but I have a feeling the bastard’s about to knock me down to Soloist or stick me back in the Corps.” The malice in her voice was real, but I sympathized with Tristan on some level. I knew Nikolai wasn’t to be trusted.

  “Maybe he’s still grieving? They were really close.” I offered as we filed into the Diner. Garrett chortled at the notion and shook his head.

  Life is funny sometimes, if I hadn’t turned my head to look at Garrett in that exact moment I would have missed it. The window of opportunity was so small I was almost rendered mute by it as I glimpsed a Sun Cross tattoo on the wrist of one of the patrons seated on the far side of the small diner. That damning stigmata was visible for a fifth of a blink as the well-dressed man in his khaki colored blazer adjusted the cuff of his blue thatched shirt. My hands practically vibrated as I trailed my fingers back through my hair. Think of a reason and get out of there.

  “You know what? Let's go to that little café by the Sala Building. My treat.” I smiled at my friends trying to keep the worry from my face. My heartbeat in my ears, and Garrett raised that emerald gaze to mine. He could probably hear my pulse.

  “Why not.” Leslie cast a smirk in my direction and we left the Diner.

  “Don’t stop walking,” Garrett whispered as he wrapped his arm around the small of my back.

  “What?”

  “Oh, nothing.” The fear that laced Garrett’s usually vibrant timber caused Leslie to glance at me. He led us back to the Westley, up the stairs and into the grand atrium. He didn’t stop walking until we passed the Statue of Aleksi that now adorned the great sprawling Lobby.

  That statue held my attention hostage. It was magnificent in its lifelikeness, though it was larger than life—like everything about Aleksi. Everything was so detailed it looked like he was about to step off of the pedestal. The artist even captured the way the elastic of his ballet slippers laid across his feet, and how he had a few worn holes in the thighs of his tights. They were those same tights he wore the first day I saw him dancing after Swan Lake. Shallow shaky breathes passed through my lips as I remembered that chance meeting. My fingers reached up to play with the pearls I always wore and found nothing there. My eyes focused on my distorted reflection in the shiny bronze plaque. That face staring back was unrecognizable, my hair was pulled into a sloppy bun, the only makeup adorning my frowning face was a bit of eyeliner and lip gloss. My eyes travelled down to the clothes I wore. The tasteful charcoal gray mini skirt was wrinkled and the soft purple boat neck angora blouse looked like it had seen better days. You look like a hobo. I couldn’t argue with Miss Manners as I looked down at my hands and found chipped polish. Greif had eaten me alive and finally spat me back out. I covered my face in shame and turned away from that massive monument to Aleksi’s contribution to dance.

  “So what the hell was that about?” Leslie inquired crossing her arms. Apparently she had gotten over being yelled at and had returned to her normal overly observant self. I envied her as she keened her eyes at Garrett, nothing ever fazed her for long.

  “Guns.” Garrett’s voice was little more than a hush almost consumed by the cavernous room.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Seventy percent-ish, maybe…kind of.” Fear and uncertainty made his voice quite a bit higher than normal. I kept quiet and watched my friends interact.

  “Awe, fuck.” Leslie sighed out before she took off at a fast clip for the door that lead to the rehearsal rooms.

  “Where are you going?” He called after her.

  “To find my husband and tell him to stop being a bitchy little girl.”

  “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Garrett’s voice was cut off by the closing of those heavy gray doors as they both disappeared into the hallway beyond, forgetting about me. Somethings are returning to normal at least.

  Shortly after being abandoned I went home and checked my mail. As I rode the elevator up to my floor I opened a handful of envelopes, mostly bills. Two of the envelopes were black with red embossed calligraphy on them. I was invited to Du Nuit’s summer masquerade gala and the festivities at Crimson Hill after. It was tempting to throw the invitations away, but I didn’t. Because you know better than to tempt Vlad. I did however, paint my nails as soon as I got in right before I sunk into a bath with a highlighter, a pen, sticky notes, a glass of blush wine, and a copy of Marquis de Sade’s Justine.

  The end of June brought a red foil wrapped box to my doorstep and weeks of me avoiding Nikolai, Garrett and Evan. When I came home from the University Library to find that box with its intricately tied red ribbon my heart stopped in my chest and sat on my lungs like a lead weight. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. All I could do was stare at that box. After the shock wore off I took my phone out of my purse.

  [Not funny.] I sent to Nikolai. He was living in what had once been Aleksi’s apartment. He helped pack and dispose of all of Aleksi’s stuff. It only made sense that he came across the ribbon and the wrapping paper.

  When he didn’t reply I took the box inside and set it on the breakfast bar. Tonight was the gala and the celebration at Crimson Hill; I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. This wasn’t like before, I wasn’t protected by anyone now. After what I saw happen to all of the servants with less than vigilant Masters I wasn’t sure it was smart to go. The Gala I would go to, it would be rude to not be there for Leslie. My phone vibrated on the counter and I checked it. It was a media message from Garrett, a picture of him and Evan kissing while clearly getting ready for the Gala. The phone buzzed again.

  [Wish you were here :*] Garrett texted after. I didn’t respond. You’re being rude, even for you. I knew I was being rude, but I didn’t know what to say to them. I cared for them, they’d always have a special place in my heart, but I rebounded with them. I was ashamed that I had done that to people who deserved so much better. It was fun, but it ultimately wasn’t for me.

  It wasn’t until almost two hours later that my phone vibrated again as I was wrapping my hair up in my clamshell curlers. I sighed at my reflection in the vanity mirror, but I didn’t get up until I had finished securing the heated plastic clips. Padding out to the kitchen in the nude I snatched up my phone with my eyes lingering on that curious box. I had a new text from Nikolai.

  [no clue wat u mean pls take my # out of ur phone Mistress wants me 2 cut ties]. After deciphering the text gibberish I blinked at the message. Something inside of me twitched as I stared at the text. Was I angry? I shook my head and set my phone back down before returning to my task at hand. Twenty minutes later I had my makeup done but I was still without a dress. Honestly I didn’t have a clue what to wear, so many of my cocktail dresses and evening gowns were in that bright red color of Aleksi’s. I settled on a black floor length off the shoulder gown with a high slit.

  After I pulled on my dress I took the curlers out of my hair and looked at myself in the mirror. You look like a high priced prostitute in mourning. Frowning at Miss Manners’ accurate assessment I turned to my jewelry box and took out that thick collar of rubies and diamonds that Aleksi had given me last year. With a slight smile I affixed the monstrosity to my neck and glanced at the small mirror in the lid of the small white box. Now you’ve elevated yourself from prostitute to concubine, congratulations. My frown deepened but I didn’t take the necklace off. It made a very clear statement—my neck was off limits. Shoes were easy at least, I had the perfect shoes for the dress. The black peep-toe stilettos even won me silence from Miss Manners as I passed the mirror and walked back out into the hall.

  That box seemed ominous, even from the shadow of my bedroom door. The light cast sinister shades on that ribbon and the foil reflected slashes of red light on the dark counter top. The clock on the wall mocked me, I couldn�
�t even make up an excuse not to open it before I left; I had plenty of time before fashionably late turned into pure rudeness.

  Thud. Thud. Thud. The sound of that slight platform of the toe of my shoe kicking against the floor. I stood in front of the breakfast bar staring at that box that was inches away. Thud. Thud. Thud. Stop it! You’ll ruin your shoes. Swallowing I stopped and took the edge of that achingly familiar soft satin ribbon and pulled it free. Looking down at the black dress and then the ribbon in my hand I got an idea and wrapped that slick satin around my waist and tied it in a neat bow. The dangling ends framed the slit of the dress perfectly, stopping just at my ankle. You can delay all you want but that box will still be here when you get home. My fingers caressed that achingly familiar stiff expensive foil paper and carefully untaped it. Underneath was that same white cardboard box, with its neat lid with no indication of what could be inside. I almost didn’t lift the lid; I almost left the box there on my counter. Without the wrapping the similarities between boxes could be completely ignored. It was just a white cardboard box now, something utterly banal and…I couldn’t even fool myself. I snatched the lid off and inside found almost the same red tissue paper. Luckily, once I pushed that aside I didn’t find a book and Pointe shoes. What I did find didn’t make my stomach sit any easier. At the bottom of the box, cushioned carefully by a bed of tissue paper was an ornate black half domino mask with little bright red roses of ribbon, and little beaded crystal hearts affixed to it. Under the mask was a little card that simply read in neat raised print…

  Looking forward to seeing you tonight.

  The card had no name attached to it. There was in fact absolutely no indication at all who could have sent the package. I thumbed that expensive thick cardstock for a moment before I set it aside. Still I knew enough to know that masks were important, and wearing this one to me seemed smarter than not wearing one at all. It’s probably from Vlad. So after a few brief moments of reasoning away my doubts I tied the mask on and left my apartment.