Blood, Smoke and Mirrors (2010) (13 page)

When I returned to my room, I stood standing in front of the intimidating array of outfits, having absolutely no idea what I was doing. Like I said, dresses are not my style. I pick my clothing based on comfort, durability and machine washability. I don't iron. I don't dry clean. I wasn't even sure how to get into most of these outfits, much less the undergarments that went with them. There were no less than three corsets, and the mere sight of them made me want to run screaming from the room.

As I contemplated which one would be the least torturous I found my mind wandering. Lex's favorite color (aside from black) was red, and there were several dresses in various shades of it. Would he like me better in the dress with the ridiculously low-plunging neckline, or the anorexically tight dress that would push my girls up so high the tops of my breasts could almost brush the bottom of my chin? The train of thought continued on to consider if the bright scarlet fabric emanated a woman-of-ill-repute vibe.

"Ooh, ooh, the pink one!" Portia squealed from behind me. "Pick the pink one, he'll just
love
it."

"Pink?" I frowned. "Not going to happen. This thing is a nightmare dipped in Pepto-Bismol."

"It's pretty." Portia pouted as she hovered over me, literally.

"It's got ruffles! I don't do ruffles." I shook my head in a firm no. The faerie sighed, the weight of the world in her tone, and poofed the offending dress out of existence in a puff of shining dust. "Is there slinky? Maybe slinky that flows into a twirly-skirt-type thing?" I suggested in my "I know nothing of fashion" speak. "And maybe long evening gloves. I like those, the silky kind."

Portia nodded, pressing a petite finger to her lips as she plotted. "What color?"

"Black."

"Not black. Black is not a color."

"Geez. Red? Like garnet red maybe?"

"I can work with that. Stand still." Tilting her head to the side, she paused for a moment, and then I felt a tingling rush of prickly heat flash across my body in the blink of an eye. Glancing down at myself, I discovered the green and silver gown had been replaced by sleek scarlet silk. I gasped, my torso now constricted by an oxygen-depriving torture device that had to be a corset.

"Ow! Bloody hell, Portia, I can't breathe."

"You don't need to breathe. You look fabulous, see for yourself."

At her direction I turned toward the mirror and blinked. The evil device had sucked me in and fluffed me out, giving me ample cleavage and the illusion of a slender waist. Slowly I approached my reflection and did a series of half turns, amazed at the effect a little torture had on my figure. Maybe breathing was overrated after all. The skirt of the gown fanned out just under my knees, flowing with a fluid grace every time I moved. Strapless, the gown bared my shoulders, and matching silk gloves stretched up my arms and ended just above my elbows, marred only by the bump of my wristwatch concealed beneath one.

"Wow," I said numbly.

"Am I good or what?" Portia grinned, and I nodded in mute agreement. "We should do something about the glasses."

"Don't touch the glasses."

"But they don't ma--"

"You're not touching the glasses." With my luck she'd accidentally screw up the prescription and I'd spend the night stumbling around half blind.

"Fine. Okay, now we just need to do your hair, and I was thinking maybe a diamond and ruby choker with matching drop earrings, and I have such perfect perfume, you have no idea, and a matching evening bag studded with crystals..."

The music floated up around me as I approached the grand ballroom, and I paused at the unique combination of snow falling indoors mixed with a multitude of small, crystalline spheres that waved and danced in the air like soap bubbles blown by a child on a summer's day. They caught the soft light and reflected it in rainbow patterns throughout the hall. As always it was cold, and I wished Portia had thought to add a wrap of some sort to my ensemble.

I almost felt like Cinderella about to enter the ball as I walked down the stairs, but there were too many important differences keeping me from embracing that story. This party was held in my honor, and I already had a place here, a home. I wasn't a poor scullery maid looking to escape her dreary life--not that my life was glamorous, but it'd certainly been exciting the past few days.

I needed the support of my clan, and I needed their protection from the vamps that wanted to tear my throat out before I could become Titania. The purpose of this party was politics, and the fact that a guardian with a sexy southern drawl was probably somewhere on the other side of those huge double doors meant nothing to me. Honest.

Standing straight and proud, I approached the doors and breezed through them confidently when they swung open for me. The room was beautiful, as expected--the Silverleafs don't do anything halfway. More falling snow and crystal bubbles floated overhead, mixed with multicolored balls of light that darted to and fro in time with the music. Though they have a love of all varieties of music, a classical selection had been picked for the occasion, a symphony of strings, reeds and percussion instruments weaving together to form an entrancing waltz. Not my typical style of music, though I do have an appreciation for some classical pieces.

A woman in a rich purple gown glided up to me, her face lit with a bright smile, and it took me a moment to recognize Portia without her wings. The confusion must have shown on my face, and she giggled at me.

"They ruined the line of the dress so I took them off," she explained as she took my arm. "The wings get in the way when I'm dancing too. I'll put them back on later."

"Oh. Well, that makes sense then."

With Portia on my arm I surveyed the room. A large percentage of the clan had decided to attend, both full-blood faeries and mixed blood mortals like myself, creating a virtual sea of glittering finery that moved and hummed with excitement. There were several familiar faces in the crowd, but I continued scanning it until I realized what I was doing and then mentally kicked myself for looking for Lex. Apparently he was still upset, and a cold knot of guilt formed in my gut. Yeah, he should've told me what was going on, but it couldn't have been easy watching a vampire paw at the woman he'd spent the night before with.

Pretending everything was all right in the world, I allowed Portia to lead me around the room. I smiled, I laughed, I chatted, I nodded, and smiled some more. I danced when asked, and eventually sat down and had a glass of wine with a circle of Portia's friends, listening to their gossip.

I didn't enjoy myself. My eyes kept wandering over the crowd, looking for a long black coat and listening for a familiar drawl. The tension caused the urge for a cigarette to loom larger and larger in my mind, until finally I decided to sneak outside for a smoke.

The faeries wouldn't have cared if I smoked indoors. I could've smoked an entire pack like a virtual chimney in the middle of the room and it wouldn't have fazed them. Faeries are immune to disease, so they had no worries of cancer from secondhand smoke. But I'm used to living in a world where smokers are right up there on the popularity list with lepers and felons, so when I feel the need to light up I find somewhere to hide. Excusing myself, I slipped out of the ballroom and then outside into the courtyard.

The moon hung high above in the night sky, and I took a moment to stop and stare. There aren't as many stars in my neighborhood, where the constant light from the city drowns them out. My first night in Faerie I spent hours just staring up, mesmerized by the sight of all those stars and how large and bright the moon was. The moon is important to me and my magic. It's the second tarot card I wear tucked in the band of my top hat, the planet that rules my sign of the zodiac, Cancer. Now it was a bright, shiny reminder that the full moon was approaching, and the time left before the third test was running out.

Ducking into a shadowed archway, I dug my pack out of my tiny handbag and grabbed a cigarette. My hands shook from the cold as I reached for my lighter and fumbled with it. This was the replacement for the one that had exploded in my hand, and I hadn't broken it in yet. I have a love/hate relationship with my lighters: I love to smoke, they hate to light. The long gloves weren't helping matters either.

"Sure you're allowed to use one of those after what happened last time?"

I glanced up to spot Lex as he wandered toward me across the courtyard. Under his long black coat he wore a black button-down shirt tucked into black slacks. He would have blended right in to the darkness if the moonlight hadn't been so strong. I gave him a dry look as I continued to fight with the lighter, and then the flame finally caught, allowing me to light my cigarette.

"We're safe as long as no vamps try to jump us," I assured him after I took a long drag.

"Then I guess there's nothin' to worry about. Didn't your fairy godmother think to give you a coat?" He slipped his duster off and draped it over my shoulders. The coat was heavy, and I resisted the urge to poke through it and search for hidden pockets and concealed weapons.

"No, and she'll freak out if she sees me in something that doesn't match this outfit."

"You look beautiful."

"It's not bad." I brushed self-consciously at my gown. "Though I think I'm going to buy Portia a set of Barbies so she'll play dress up with someone else next time."

We stood together in strained silence for several moments as I smoked my cigarette, and then he finally spoke up again. "Smoking is bad for you, you know."

"I know. I tried to quit. A few times. Besides, trying to become Titania's been bad for me too, and yet I signed up for that."

"You'll be good at it."

"Should I live that long, I suppose," I replied, trying to sound flippant about my imminent demise.

"I won't let anything happen to you." The sincerity in his gaze sent a tingle down my spine, and I nodded.

"I know you won't. I'm a big girl though, I can take care of myself. More or less." Trailing off, I itched at the side of my throat with my free hand, remembering the sharp slice of fangs piercing my skin. "Lex, I'm sorry. I didn't know what would happen."

"You should've left Simon's lair when I asked you to." He scowled and pointed an accusing finger at me for emphasis.

"My problem, my responsibility." I exhaled a long stream of smoke in his direction, and he waved it away in annoyance.

"It was my idea to bring you there, the payment was mine to make."

My face turned nine shades of red as I blushed, and I was thankful for the concealing darkness of night to hide it. I ground out the cig under my ridiculously impractical high-heeled shoe and immediately lit up another smoke. "So it's okay if the big, bad vampire molests you but not me? Forgive me if I'm not convinced by that."

"He wouldn't have done that to me. I'd already agreed on terms with him."

I blinked, not understanding. "Wouldn't have done what to you?"

Lex sighed, folding his arms across his chest. "It's my fault, what he did to you--I should've been more careful in namin' conditions, but I never thought you'd volunteer to be bitten. Vampires--and chroniclers--can vary the pain or pleasure in their bite. Simon wouldn't've made me experience what you did, because he's not attracted to men, so I didn't think to mention it when I agreed on the price. He bespelled you in order to hurt me. I'm sorry. You're right, I should've told you what the price was."

"Wait a second, he did it to hurt
you
?" I blurted in disbelief. "
I'm
the one who got molested, how did that hurt
you
?"

Stepping away from his spot in the doorway, Lex moved toward me, almost pinning me against the wall. He snatched the half-finished second cigarette out of my hand and flicked it out into the middle of the courtyard. Frozen and wide-eyed, I stared up at him, and he placed a gentle hand upon my cheek and ran his thumb across my lips.

"It did," he said, his voice low and strained. "What happened to you was my fault. Just like...it was my fault you were attacked that night. I should've been there. I was going to stop by the cafe, drive you home, but I got a call. If I'd been there, I could've done something."

My heart sank--I'd never thought of it that way. "Lex, it wasn't your fault. You know my neighborhood, it could've happened at any time. You couldn't be there all the time."

"I wanted to be."

Swallowing nervously, I struggled for something to say as I tried to decipher his expression, but my thought process ended when Lex kissed me.

I closed my eyes as he drew me into his arms. One of Lex's hands slid up my back beneath his borrowed coat, while the other tangled in the upswept mass of curls Portia had styled my hair into. My hands rested against his chest as he pressed me close to him, and I moaned low in my throat. Lex made a noise in response that sounded surprisingly like a growl, and it startled me enough that I pulled away from him.

"Catherine," he whispered against my ear. As he trailed kisses down the side of my throat it triggered a sudden flashback to the sensations of being bitten, and I tensed in reflex. "I'm sorry," he apologized, misreading my reaction.

"For what? Kissing me? Don't apologize for that. I'm still a li'l annoyed about the macho 'I should've fed the vampire' thing, but the kissing I won't complain about."

Encouraged by my words, he grinned and then kissed me again, long and thorough, until I was so intoxicated by the feeling that it made me weak in the knees, and I had to tighten my grip on the front of his shirt to steady myself. With my gown and my high-heeled shoes I felt a bit like a girl who'd snuck away from the prom in order to make out with the school bad boy under the bleachers.

Oblivious to everything but Lex, I lost track of time. I'm not sure how long we stood there in the archway.

"Is your room close?" Lex asked when we pulled away from each other.

"Fairly."

"How 'bout you give me a tour?"

"I suppose I could arrange that."

Taking Lex's hand, I led him through the castle to my bedroom, doing my best to appear calm and collected on the way there. When we arrived Lex shut the door behind us and glanced around the room. "Nice. Bigger than mine."