by Alessa James
***
Standing in front of my closet, I pulled out pieces of clothing at random, trying to decide what to wear to meet Will’s companions. The growing pile of clothes on the bed was proof of my lack of progress. But I couldn’t think of a better way to pass the time before Lizzie picked me up to go into Portland.
Finally I sat down amid the piles of clothing. Something told me that no matter what I wore, I was still going to feel underdressed and utterly unprepared when I was officially introduced to the individuals Will considered family. Actually, it felt like I was preparing for one of those awful reality TV shows where some poor unsuspecting hopeful gets crushed into dust by a panel of yawning, dismissive judges.
Genevieve and Edmond. My judges.
I was grateful that Will remained absent—or at least out of sight—for my feverish rampage through my closet. He seemed so sure of himself, bringing home a mere mortal to meet his nearest and dearest. At least I had already met Edmond. Thinking of Tyler Pitt crumpling to the floor in front of me, I couldn’t help laughing and shaking my head. I liked Edmond. Whether that feeling was mutual was another thing entirely. I was more worried about Gen, partially because I hadn’t met her yet.
Abandoning my fruitless search for the perfect outfit, I grabbed my purse and went to find my dad. He was downstairs at the kitchen table with Darcy at his feet.
“Hey, Dad? Lizzie’s going to drop me off after we grab dinner, and I have my phone.” I paused. “Oh, and I forgot to tell you Will’s family is flying in this weekend. We were going to drive out to the coast to meet them tomorrow after breakfast, if that’s okay.”
My dad’s expression suddenly became guilt ridden. I frowned, expecting suspicion, not guilt.
“I forgot to tell you that I had agreed to dinner with some of the faculty tomorrow night.”
“Dr. Pitt?” I asked, laughing.
“Thankfully no, but I didn’t want to leave you alone two weekends in a row.”
I smiled.
“Don’t feel too guilty—I’m skipping out on our dinner with Mrs. Hendrix tonight.”
“Aven, that’s what you’re supposed to be doing at seventeen—going out with your friends. I’m just glad you finally have some girlfriends.”
I was about to make a comment about Sean being a great friend when a car horn honked. I pecked my dad on the cheek.
“Do you need money?” he asked.
“Nope. I’m just window shopping, but thanks.”
During school, Will had instructed me to pick out a dress I liked and put it on hold at the store. I didn’t mention that I was hopeless at shopping—or that I didn’t intend on looking very hard, seeing as I had no plans to go to the dance. I leaned down to scratch Darcy on the head, feeling guilty that my poor dog hadn’t been on a run in forever. Then again, neither had I.
Grabbing my jacket from the closet, I went to the window and saw an SUV idling at the curb with Amy waving from the back seat. Running up, I hopped in the back with Amy, grateful that Megan was riding shotgun. I didn’t think I could tolerate an hour and a half drive sitting next to the ice queen.
“You ready to shop?” Lizzie said, grinning in the rearview mirror.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said.
Amy reached over and pinched me. She pulled a magazine out of her bag and flipped through it.
“I was thinking of something like this for you.”
I looked down at the page and laughed.
“It’s such a relief to go shopping with girls. The last time I went to the mall was with Sean—and he’s soo bad at giving advice.”
It was sprinkling as we traveled east toward the five freeway, and Lizzie drove slowly along the slick roads. I glanced multiple times out the back windshield, trying to see if Will was following us, but all I could make out was a blurry stream of headlights. I listened to the others talk excitedly about the dance and tried to smile and laugh in the right spots. As it was, I could feel Megan’s resentment pouring out of her in my direction. What would the dance be like with half the girls in school doing the same thing?
I had visited Portland over the summer—once with my dad and once with Sean—but I still felt hopelessly turned around by the time we finally got off the freeway. After turning down several one-way streets, Lizzie pulled into a parking structure a couple of blocks from the mall, and we climbed out.
As we walked through the doors of the first department store, a blast of warm air hit us. I practically melted in relief. According to Amy, there were three boutiques in the mall with decent formalwear, plus a couple of department stores. They decided to start with the shop where they had gotten dresses before. Since I had no idea where we were going, I followed along silently. When we got to the dress shop, everyone split up. I looked around, trying to seem like I knew what I was doing. Shopping and dances. I sucked at both of them. Wandering aimlessly from rack to rack, I still hadn’t found a single dress when Amy came up carrying at least a dozen dresses draped over her arm.
“C’mon,” she laughed. “I’ve got you covered.”
Amy tugged at my sleeve, and I looked around for Lizzie and Megan. They were still browsing. We found a dressing room, and Amy hung up the dresses before turning to me with a contemplative expression.
“We’re both pretty short, so long dresses are usually off limits; they’ll just make us look shorter,” she explained. “Color-wise, I’m warmer than you are. You’re tough, though. You’ve got that ivory skin, but dark red hair. You want a good contrast, or it’ll wash you out, but you want something that’ll work with your hair.”
I nodded, completely out of my depth. We both slid out of our jeans and shirts, and I took the dress Amy handed me and stared at it. It was lavender with a dark purple sash.
“With my hair? I was thinking black.”
Amy laughed.
“Purple goes. It’ll work! Put it on,” Amy commanded.
I slipped it over my head as Amy explained the dress was tulle A-line with an empire waist. It tied behind the neck—and had a really low back. I looked in the mirror uncertainly.
“Uh, wow,” I laughed. “This is really low-cut in the back.”
“It’s perfect. Very dramatic.”
“How’d you know my size?” I asked curiously.
She smiled.
“I’ve got a good eye for that type of thing.”
“I don’t.”
Amy had already changed out of her first selection and was trying on the next dress, which was bright red with an asymmetrical hem.
“You look awesome!” I smiled.
Amy eyed herself gravely and then pulled off the dress before slipping on the next one. She had gone through another three by the time Lizzie knocked on the door. Amy shouted that I was finished, and Lizzie asked to see. I sneaked out of the room to show her the dress, and Lizzie held out her final two. Megan was still in one of the dressing rooms.
I changed back into my clothes, feeling drained after trying on one dress. Shopping just took too much energy. Amy eventually picked the dress I had liked—but only after trying on another dozen dresses. I put mine back on the rack while the others paid.
“How come you’re not getting it? Didn’t like it?” Amy asked as we walked out. “You can tell me; I won’t be offended.”
“No, the dress was great. I just forgot to get my dad’s credit card,” I lied.
From the dress shop, we went into a department store in search of shoes. I had completely forgotten about the glass slipper part. The problem was that shoe shopping sucked even more than clothes shopping. I could never find my size, especially when it came to heels. Amy, of course, found a pair of black satin peep toe heels she said would match my dress perfectly with a black clutch.
While the others continued hunting for jewelry and purses, I left to find the bathrooms, walking the perimeter of the store and following the signs for the women’s restrooms. I walked down the long hallway and pulled open the door, feeling a tiny prickle of
fear as I remembered what Will had said.
You represent a reasonable risk to him. If he thinks I’ve dropped my guard, he will take you.
There were at least ten bathroom stalls, but other than the piped music, the bathroom was completely silent. My palms began to sweat as I flashed to a movie I had seen in freshman year where the serial killer waited in an empty bathroom stall for the main character. Figuring I was better safe than sorry, I bent down and looked for feet before realizing: What the hell am I going to do if he is hiding in one of the stalls? If he was as fast and powerful as Will, then … he would have already grabbed me, I told myself. Not that this fact was comforting as I locked myself in one of the stalls.
By the time I stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I felt silly for being so paranoid. I shook my head and laughed. Then a hand clamped over my mouth and another arm went around my waist, lifting me off the floor.
Chapter 17: Dangerous
Kicking, I tried to scream as I was carried backward through one of the doors lining the hallway, but I couldn’t. Suddenly my feet were on the ground, and I tried to bolt for the door as someone stepped in front of me. I looked up—and nearly collapsed.
“Will!”
“Too easy,” he said with a chilling smile.
“That was a horrible thing to do,” I rasped, still trying to catch my breath. “I thought you were him.”
“It very well could have been,” Will said darkly. “He’s here, in the city.”
I swallowed.
“How do you know?”
“Aven, you must understand that Fidatov won’t stop until he feels he has won. He is relentless.”
I nodded, imagining what might have happened if Will’s enemy had grabbed me instead of Will. I shivered.
“I should get back,” I said, still peeved that Will had scared me half to death.
Will opened the door that led into the hallway, stopping me before I could get past him.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
I nodded.
“And did you find a dress?”
“I never agreed to go to the dance,” I smiled as I slipped by him into the corridor.
When I got back to the shoe department, they were all still looking. After that, we went to three more stores to help Lizzie pick out an outfit for her date with Sean. By the time we finished, Megan insisted on going to a restaurant that she had heard about from one of her friends on the volleyball team. Considering how long we had been gone and how long it would take to drive back, Lizzie put her foot down. Megan sulked all the way to the food court, but after Will’s stunt in the department store and his chilling revelation that Vladimir Fidatov was lurking in downtown Portland, I didn’t mind skipping a nighttime walk through an unfamiliar city.
I was sipping my soda and trying to follow along with a conversation about unfamiliar people and events, my plastic plate of pasta half-eaten in front of me. When Megan mentioned Jeff asking her to a concert after finding out they liked the same band, Lizzie nudged me under the table. I was hoping maybe Megan had given up on Will, but deep down I could feel she hadn’t.
“So, what’s with you and the new guy?” Megan asked suddenly.
“Will?” I smiled sweetly.
“He shows up one day, and two seconds later you’re hooking up.”
I realized I had no idea what to say.
“Um, Mr. Anderson assigned us as partners for our History paper, and I bumped into him a couple of times. I was surprised he even noticed me,” I said honestly.
Megan looked skeptical, but then she probably thought I had used witchcraft. Jeff wasn’t bad, but then Megan didn’t know that Will wasn’t human.
“He’s kind of intimidating,” Amy said with an embarrassed laugh. “The first time I saw him, I thought he was a teacher, like a really hot teacher.”
I pointed to Lizzie.
“Funny, because she didn’t even notice him the first time they met. She was too busy staring at Sean.”
Megan snorted like that was impossible, and Lizzie glared at her.
“Do you guys really think he’ll like my outfit?” Lizzie asked.
“Of course!” Amy screamed at the same time I screamed, “Yes!”
“All right, so I’m going to reserve the limo,” Lizzie said, still smiling. “Can everyone bring cash? It’s gonna be about eighty each.”
I swallowed. A normal social life was turning out to be more expensive than I had expected. And when they started talking about hair, make-up, nails—on top of the limo and tickets, I was almost more afraid of the dance than I was of Vladimir Fidatov. Before we left the mall, I slipped back into the dress boutique and snapped a picture of the dress Amy had found for me—and its price tag.
As we walked toward the parking structure, I scanned the streets warily, shivering at the thought of someone following me. I started to look around for Will before realizing that I wouldn’t see him if he didn’t want to be seen. During the drive back, Lizzie promised to text us right after her date with Sean. I was excited for her—and Sean—but my interest in their love life was eclipsed by something much larger: the fact that I was going to have to survive meeting Will’s companions tomorrow. My insides pitched nervously at the thought.
I tried to imagine the female version of Will or Edmond, and it scared me. Both Will and Edmond were unquestionably beautiful in a masculine sort of way. Would Gen be the equivalent of a runway model? And more importantly, would they actually like me, or was Will being overly confident? By the time Lizzie dropped me off in front of my house, I had a feeling my dad had already gone to bed. I ran to the front door and unlocked the door. When I walked inside, the house felt oddly quiet. Then the light on the landing flicked on, and I jumped.
“Seriously, Dad! Why is everybody sneaking up on me?”
“Who else did you think I’d be?” he laughed as he walked downstairs with Darcy trailing behind him.
“I don’t know. Someone out of a horror movie,” I muttered.
I realized the house smelled of hours-old Chinese food as I followed him into the kitchen and watched as he let Darcy out.
“How was your night?” he asked, filling a glass with water.
“Fine. I pretty much watched everyone else shop, and Lizzie’s friend Amy forced me to try on a dress.”
He laughed.
“She forced you?”
“Okay, that might be an exaggeration.”
“All right, kiddo. I just wanted to make sure you got in safe.”
He opened the door and let Darcy back in and then kissed the top of my head. Going over to the refrigerator, I got some water and followed my dad upstairs. When I got to the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. Then, walking back to my room, I closed my eyes and made a wish that the mess I had made of my bed and closet had somehow spontaneously cleaned itself. I flicked on the light and groaned. The bed still looked like a disaster zone. Setting my purse on the desk, I halfheartedly resumed picking through the piles.
“It took you long enough.”
Spinning around, I found Will sitting on the window ledge like he had been there the entire time. Then I noticed a garment bag hanging from my closet door with a shoebox sitting beneath it.
“How?” I asked in shock, staring.
“I asked Genevieve to purchase them in case you changed your mind,” Will said evenly.
“She was following me?” I swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Fantastic.”
Suddenly Will was standing in front of me, reminding me of how quickly he could move, which was faster than humanly possible.
“Try it on for me?” he asked, his voice and eyes mesmerizing me.
I looked toward the door.
“My dad’s just down the hall,” I reminded him weakly.
“He hasn’t caught me yet, has he?”
Will held out the dress, his eyes shining. Taking it from him, I tiptoed back down the hall to the bathroom and slipped out of my cl
othes. I wrapped my hair in a hasty bun before slipping on the dress and stepping out into the hallway. I walked carefully, sure that my dad was about to come charging out of his room. Will was sitting at my desk when I opened my door. His expression made me blush, and I quickly closed and locked my door. Walking to the closet, I picked up the shoes. With one shoe on and the other in my hand, I straightened and looked at the mirror on the door. Will’s reflection startled me. He was standing right behind me. Balancing on one foot, I slipped on the other shoe.
“Multiple lifetimes developing an unshakable sense of self control,” Will said, exhaling. “And you’ve shattered it in an instant.”
His smile barely concealed the self-loathing that shadowed his flawless features.
“Does that mean you like the dress?” I asked playfully, trying to distract him.
“Si belle et si dangereuse …”
“After three years, my French isn’t that great, but I know enough to understand that. Beautiful and dangerous? Um, look in the mirror,” I said, rolling my eyes.
He caught my eye in the mirror.
“I am.”
Staring at his reflection, I felt my heart hammer unevenly as he held my gaze. He brought his hand to trace my collarbone with his fingers. I closed my eyes. He turned me slowly in his arms, and I waited, my breath skipping jaggedly until lips brushed mine. This time his kiss was almost hesitant. Placing my hands against his chest to balance, I leaned in closer, my lips parting as his fingers traced the side of my neck. Will pulled back. He was smiling, but there was lingering apprehension in his eyes.
“You will be my undoing,” he whispered.
It took a few seconds for my thoughts to clear.
“You started it,” I grumbled, trying desperately to figure out what it was that short-circuited my willpower any time I was near Will.
“Yes, I did.”
His voice was rougher than I had expected. Taking a few deep breaths, I walked away from him and sat down on the edge of the bed before slipping off the heels.
“I’m going to change,” I said, still nervous from the strange tension flowing between us.
