by Heather Linn
I was Catalina; the human that had enough characteristics to truly pass for one of them. I had the same ice blue eyes, even the dark blue streaks that shot into the pupils. Eyes that nightmares were made of, eyes of the predator that stalked you in the night. All the guys were forced to have streaked stained film surgically placed over their irises; a very painful surgery that I was lucky to have missed. The guys also had to wear contacts at all times in order to match the color perfectly. Even the women were to wear contacts, even when they were asleep, just in case they were ever spotted. The Dominus eyes with their perfect DNA were way more superior than any human could even dream of; they could see in the night and for miles. We couldn’t mimic that, but at least thanks to the Doc, we had the technology to look the same.
My similarities with these creatures didn’t end there. I had the same wavy hair and the same strong build as the females of the species. Weak, frail little sex symbols that the humans use to measure themselves against were something else that was lost in the takeover. The women of the monster world could take care of themselves and you could tell that by looking at them; they screamed power.
Just looking at me, there would be no reason for anyone to think that I wasn’t one of them and that fact in itself was a little unnerving. The only thing that I had to have added was, of course, the retractable fangs. They were not my own, but when they were drilled into my gums, the deal was sealed. I went from human to monster in no time at all. I was just as convincing as the males and then some, and most of the guys resented me for it. They had to work constantly to make sure that their mannerisms matched the monsters and for me it was natural, something that I never even had to think about. I was literally born to play this part and there was no way I was going to let Dr. Walker or any of the others take that away from me. Of course, while the guys hated me for the ease of my life, most of the girls hated the fact that I didn’t accept the role of baby factory as easily as they had. I don’t know if it was because they were jealous or because they had been so brainwashed that they thought it was disgusting to play with the big boys, but they never went out of their way to befriend me; in fact, for the most part I was completely avoided. I was truly the black sheep of our little family unit. Of course, in all fairness, the males were raised to see all women as helpless tiny little frail creatures that lived to serve their every want and need, and the girls were raised to live up to that expectation. I guess I was an enigma to all them.
Other than Dr. Walker, the only other member of our group that actually acknowledged me for the first sixteen years of my life because they wanted to, and not because they felt that they had to, was Darien. Darien was the only one I was close to. He was my best friend, the only person that I have ever trusted; he was the most important person in my life. No matter how hurt I was by being the outsider, he was the only one that was allowed to see it; the only one allowed to see the almighty Catalina cry. Hell, he was the only one that deserved to see the real me. Darien was a pure heart with a deadly brain, he was as hell bent on revenge and just as fueled by hate as I was; we bonded on that. As we got a little older, some of the others accepted me to the point that they didn’t go out of their way to avoid me, but not all of them. The twins, Jaden and Jewel, thanks to Darien, eventually joined out little group of misfits, and there it is; they are the only three people that I consider friends now, other than them, and of course Dr. Walker, I am completely alone. Sometimes, you have to give up certain things in order to make your life what you want it to be. I had to give up the family bond that Dr. Walker so promptly promised me if I would just fall in line. There comes a time when you just have to be willing to decide what is more important to you and leave behind the things that stand in your way or hold you back from being yourself.
Chapter Three
It was nearly seven when Darien’s phone call woke me up, so dusk had already fallen, which meant that I was late as usual and would have to rush around like crazy to get ready. Lucky for me, I work better under pressure. Even luckier for me was the fact that Darien knew me well enough to know that I would not wake up on my own. “You know Cat, you wouldn’t be able to survive without me.” I could hear the smile on his face.
“You are probably right, but on that note I would probably get to sleep more.”
“Go get ready beautiful and I will see you tonight, and Cat try to stay out of trouble until I get to you.” With that he chuckled and hung up the phone.
Tonight was the biggest Dominus social event of the year. The Midnight Masquerade was the one and only night that the low class Dominus could mingle with the ruling class. Everyone that was anyone would be there along with the nobodies that would give anything to be somebody. It was a night of desperation and imagination. Every year that I attend the event, I find myself thinking how sad it must be to be the rulers of the planet and still want to be something else. I mean they have everything, wealth, power, and the ability to abuse it all on a regular basis, and they still want to go to the dance and be normal once a year, a place where no one will judge them, where no one will fear them, and where no one will go out of their way to avoid them. Some monsters are just so selfish.
Even though it was a night of fun, the ball, like every other Vampire thought up event, had rules. Everything had to be orderly, and what better way to achieve this than structuring everything. The three rules that went along with this function were pretty cut and dry and mainly for the women, not the men, to abide by. Rule number one: you didn’t remove your mask or disguise until the ball ended and you were in your private room with the man who selected you. Rule number two: never under any circumstances reveal your name or your identity. And rule number three: every woman had to drink. They had to get so drunk that they could barely stand; apparently the evening is more fun that way. The last rule is the one that bothered me most. In my line of work I can’t afford to be judgmentally impaired. Drinking could slow me down and make me run off with the wrong Dominus, to whom, with enough alcohol in my system, I could very well spill my every secret. I get very, very honest when there is alcohol in my blood. Every year it got harder and harder to convince Dr. Walker to let me go. The guys were not expected to drink as much; no one would think anything if they slowly sipped the night’s poison. Yet, every year, I fought my way into attendance. It was the biggest event of the year, and I know it really makes no sense, but I wouldn’t feel normal if I wasn’t there. It isn’t every day that you can pick and choose which monsters you are going to take your vengeance on. I am like a kid at a candy store at this event.
After a lot of convincing and begging, Dr. Walker gave into me just like he always does. I like to think that my father would have been like him, stern, smart but also understanding, loving and unable to tell me no. Being the smart man that he is, he’s always one step ahead of the crowd. He called a brief meeting to inform the guys exactly what my costume would be. So come midnight, when everyone paired up for one night of no strings attached sex, one of the guys would quickly attach themselves to me claiming me as theirs for the evening, ending our night there. To say the least, no one was jumping up and down at the thought of losing a night of hot drunk sex to protect me.
I was glad that one of our guys was coming for me, I didn’t want the responsibility that the four that ventured out on their own for the night had. It was very important that the guys that did get to spend the evening ridding the world of more hideous female monsters made sure that the female they chose wasn’t a power head, because just like any other war, it is statistically bad to take out the leaders of the enemy because then you have a lot of angry little monsters on your hands with no one to control them. So they had to make sure they were well aware of their surroundings at all times. That sounded like a lot of unwanted responsibly that would put a damper on my night of fun. I was a hard working girl; I deserved at least one night, right?
By 8:30PM, I was in full costume and parked outside the Noir hotel, where this big event had taken place for the last seve
n years. After checking my makeup in the visor mirror, I slipped the scarf over my nose and mouth leaving only my eyes visible. With the bright and bold makeup covering every inch of my face that the scarf didn’t, I couldn’t even recognize myself, and that worried me. If my own reflection wasn’t recognizable to me, how in the world was one of the guys supposed to pick me out of a room full of other strong framed, wavy haired, blue eyed women? I was able to take solace in the fact that Darien gave me his word that he would find me at midnight. He promised me that he didn’t mind giving up a night of sex when he could spend the night having fun with me. I felt guilty that out of the three years I attended, on two of them Darien gave up his fun to take care of me. It was quickly becoming a tradition that I was happy to be part of. It wasn’t very often that me and my best friend in the entire world just got to let our guards down; for an entire night we were locked away in a room and for once we were completely safe. Since it did no good to argue with him, I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him. I was really lucky to have him and sure as hell didn’t deserve him. Darien’s word meant more to me than a promise from anyone else, and I knew that nothing short of a major catastrophe would prevent him from keeping his promise and the night would end with me safe and sound with him.
I had no idea what any of the men in my group were dressed in. It wasn’t something that I had to worry about. Darien knew every detail of what I was wearing and that was as far as it went. I didn’t even know what his mask would look like, and that fact was a little unnerving. However, it was always important that we didn’t know much about the others when we were all out in the same place, especially when there was a chance of being found out. It would be horrible if one of us got caught and tortured into admitting there were more free range humans running around planning decades from now to take back the planet. Not only would that be bad, but it would be the end of all of our lives; and that would be the best case scenario.
Walking into the ballroom was like stepping into another world. Everything was so big and overdone. The hotel was transformed into something so surreal that you could easily forget where you were and be swept off into another dimension. It was a night that dreams where made of, an event where you could just forget who you were, lose classes and ranks, and just be. It was easy to get caught up in the magic of it all if you weren’t careful, but then again none of these beasts had to worry about being careful.
The costumes were as unbelievable as ever. The men’s were simple; they wore a suit and a mask. Oddly enough, looking around from man to man, it was clear that none of the masks were alike. That was pretty impressive in itself. There are only so many different faces in the world; well, I guess in the universe, but then I guess when cost isn’t a factor in this event, you don’t have to worry about how truly expensive unique can be. Even though the men could take pride in no matching masks, once you looked from the men to the women you could tell that the game was on. There were females dressed in clothes that would make a stripper blush. Some of them left nothing to the imagination and were merely created from a few pieces of cloth strategically placed to barely cover all of the right areas. The point of the night was to be noticed; the more men that noticed you, the better chance you had at getting your claws into a royal. While all royalty was nice, there was no secret to the fact that every woman there wanted to be the starlet of the party. They wanted to be the lucky girl that ended up on the arm of the King himself. They all had dreams that he would take them for the night, and this would be long enough to win his heart forever. Well, every girl but me. I, on the other hand, had no intention to be anywhere near the King, because accidently attracting him was last thing that I needed to have happen. Drunk, locked up and deadly in a room with the ruler of the new world? No thank you! I didn’t need that kind of grief on my hands; taking out the leader of the new world would be a death sentence, one that if I was lucky would be fast and painless. That being noted, you would think I would dress down a little and hide in the shadows just to make sure that there was no way that I would attract the King, but the competitive part of me couldn’t let the other females show me up.
The belly dancer costume was made to fit like a glove in all the right places. My breasts looked great, my legs looked toned, the short skirt gave off the illusion that they went on forever, and the rest of me wasn’t too shabby either. I knew that there were more complicated costumes in the room. Some women started planning what they would wear to the next year’s ball the minute after the ending of the current party. I had better things to do then sit around and play dress up, but this costume, though a last minute decision, just screamed “look at me!”, which was just what I wanted.
Even though I had no intention to be anywhere near any of the royal family, tonight I still needed all of the attention I could get from the normal monsters. This dance wasn’t just a night off for me. Tonight, I would work the room, going from monster to monster, filling my little black book with strangers’ phone numbers, since identities couldn’t be revealed, I would have to spend the next few days tracing down the names that belonged to the digits. I would only contact the monsters that were of no social importance; in the weeks to come, the greater of the species would waltz willingly into my bed with the promise of death. Not a glamorous job, but hey, it keeps me alive and free for now, not to mention the sex is never bad, and the cleanup is a snap; just a little dusting and the men are gone and soon forgotten. So, I guess I really can’t complain, there were a lot of humans that would die for just one day of freedom.
I spent the three hours before midnight dancing, drinking, and flirting the night away, I was a woman on a mission. I don’t think there was a single male in the room that didn’t try to talk to me and as each one of them whispered in my ear my ego and self-confidence grew. It was even more than a little flattering to admit there were a few women looking my way too.
When the music was loud and upbeat, and the lights were high and alive, you could just get lost in the crowd; everyone was alive, and they were just being. A change in the tempo brought with it a slow dance and dim romantic lights. During the slow dances, it was easy to see why the monsters loved this night, loved it so much that they spend the entire year planning for it and waiting for it like it was the best night of their lives. It was a night were the royals could just be plain and forget all of the responsibilities that they are forced to deal with every day. The lesser class monsters used the night to feel important; there was nothing standing in their way to stop them from feeling great. No one knew who you were; they didn’t know your social standings. For the low class, this was a night to pretend and to live out fantasies, and for the royals, it was a night to just live without the pretenses of fame. It was a night that you could meet someone that for whatever reason, you would never get to meet in your normal life. For just a brief moment every now and then, whether it was the music, the lights, or the smell of desperation or sex in the air, I would forget who I was. I just belonged. For that moment, there were no monsters; there was no need to fear for my life, no bad guys were there to hurt me. There were just other beings trying desperately to cling to the illusions of the night.
Since the men out numbered the women five to one, my job tonight was incredibly easy for once, and of course, I was sure that the alcohol that was running through my system had something to do with just how much fun I was having working this event. Men were falling all over themselves trying to connect with a female. The closer that it got to midnight the more attempts to be spoken to I received. I loved it. There was something empowering about seeing all of them scurrying around trying to catch the willing eyes of someone else. I couldn’t explain it but it made me feel less alone, I fed off this feeling, and tried desperately to hold onto it so I could remember it for as long as I could.
By midnight, I had drunk, danced, and flirted my way to 55 phone numbers, beating last year’s record by twelve. I had the confidence to sway to the music, to stand there proud and unwavering, and let them bump and gr
ind against my body, getting their fill of my curves, but at the same time, I had the intelligence to keep up with the ones who wanted to talk about more than just what they promised to do to me if they were the one that got me all to themselves for the night. My body was craving one of them to keep their promises so very badly, but that rational part of me knew that one by one I would go to them and I would collect. It was this mixture of excitement and lust that was allowing me to prey on every single man close enough to hear me and see me. They were all practically lining up to talk to me. I mean, I am good and I have no problem admitting that, but I am sure as hell not worth dying for. That thought mixed with all the drinks that I had been slamming made me giggle out loud, which was more than a little alarming. Had I really drunk that much?
“May I have your attention please.” the voice that startled me back to reality belonged to a female Dominus who was dressed in a French maid outfit, at least that is what I thought it was supposed to be. It was only about the size of a tissue, and the feather duster that she was carrying, which was bigger than the rest of the costume put together, complimented the black and white squares of material perfectly. Her face was covered by a beautiful butterfly mask that covered more of her face than the outfit did the rest of her. With a body as perfect as hers, I guess there was no reason to hide it. It is amazing how you can go from happy and gleeful to jealous and catty in two seconds flat. Even though I was meant to look just like her, there was something about her that screamed power. Somehow I knew that she wasn’t royalty, but there was something about her that made you think: important. She carried a power that I would never have in this lifetime and I instantly hated her for it, more than anything I hoped that one of my guys got to her before someone else.
