Chapter 6
Time seemed to take pleasure in how nervous I was for this evening, and so it had passed with cruel speed. Virgil’s gala was tonight, and I felt like I was being thrown in without enough preparation. At least my sisters were a halfway welcome distraction.
“Okay, be careful with that,” I hissed when Amanda was getting too cavalier poking around my eyeball with the eyeliner. “At least stop giggling before you do it.”
Amanda composed herself, even as Lily snorted back a laugh. “I still can’t believe you’re going to a gala, though.”
“With a vampire,” Lily said in mock displeasure.
“With a cop,” Amanda added with disgust that may not have been a joke.
“I know, it’s weird,” I said. Facing vampires who actively wanted to rip my throat out in the night was less daunting than this. “I should call him and cancel.”
I grinned when the girls shrieked at me in unison. Nico’s wife Subin popped her head into the bathroom to check on the racket, and Amanda informed her of tonight’s event. I’d kept quiet about it for as long as I could.
“A gala?” Subin lit up, then frowned. “What are you doing with your hair?”
She squeezed in behind the desk chair my sisters had set up in the middle of the bathroom and searched through the cabinets, assuring me she knew just the right style.
I was happy for any help I could get. While she worked, she told us the story of her first “date” with Nico — when she’d come to the ranch to interview him for a project she was working on as a graduate student at the university.
“That’s not a date,” Amanda said.
“It was romantic!” Subin insisted.
Nico peeked into the bathroom from the hallway and did a comedic yelp. “What are you guys doing to Fallon? Ritual sacrifice?”
“We’re getting her ready for her date,” Amanda said.
“Date, huh?”
“She’s going to a galaaa,” she explained with a ridiculous “fancy” accent.
“Doesn’t she look pretty?” Subin asked, wrapping her arms around my neck and angling me towards her husband. I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“She’s very pretty. You know, for a sister-like figure of a happily married man.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I think.”
Nico leaned on the doorframe and watched the girls work on transforming me into a woman suitable for a gala — if that was even possible.
“Get into your dress so we can see the whole look,” Amanda demanded once she and Subin were finished.
I hadn’t seen her so enthusiastic over anything since I first met her as a spunky 13-year-old, so I followed her orders and disappeared into my room.
It was nice to have a moment of peace to myself.
I’d chosen an emerald green dress with a jewel-like sheen, one that Amanda and Lily had said made my hair and eyes pop.
I shrugged off my robe and slipped into the dress, staring at my unfamiliar reflection in the mirror over my dresser.
All of it — hair, makeup, outfit — looked beautiful, but strange on me, like it wasn’t my reflection.
I’d never worn anything so poorly suited to fight in.
I was going to a vampire charity event tonight, though.
I had to leave behind all my instincts as a Hunter.
They would even be checking bags at the door, so I wouldn’t be able to carry in a stake, or any wood at all, not even a pencil.
Like a true Hunter, I considered strapping a weapon somewhere under my dress, but the tight fit made it impossible to get away with that.
I opened the door and was met with a chorus of “ooohs.” I only just resisted the urge to slam it shut again. Everyone stared at me, including Gabriel, who’d shown up while I was getting dressed.
“Okay,” I said, channeling Amanda’s unenthusiastic teenage energy. “It’s not a big deal.”
The compliments started flying my way. I looked beautiful, gorgeous, so pretty, stunning.
Gabriel teared up, and when Subin saw him with teary eyes, hers went sympathetically misty as well.
Amanda said something entirely inappropriate, though I only knew that by the way Lily’s face burst with shock before she covered her open mouth with both hands.
“Thanks, everyone,” I said, then acquiesced to the next phase of their adoration — way too many photos.
I posed with proud, puffy-eyed Gabriel, with Amanda and Lily, just with Lily, with the Hope boys, with everyone, and then by myself, moving around the house to the front door, where we took even more photos in the golden light of the setting sun.
My rescue finally came in the form of a driver in an SUV, who dutifully got out and opened my door to the back seat while my family chattered about how fancy this all was.
I gave one final wave, feeling like I was going off on a dangerous odyssey and would return a different person.
Gabriel put on his most fatherly tone and asked the driver to keep me safe.
When he got into the driver’s seat, the older man met my gaze in the rear-view mirror.
“You’ve got a really nice family.”
* * *
The last sliver of the sun had dipped below the horizon by the time we got to Virgil’s house.
He stepped outside, and I was glad the driver was out of the vehicle so he couldn’t hear my embarrassing gasp.
Virgil looked amazing in his suit and tie.
His shoulders appeared even broader, his arms even bigger, and the slick way he’d styled his hair brought out the strong, fine features of his face.
I’d never seen him look so much like a vampire, and the odd tickle in my belly at the thought should have probably concerned me.
However, Virgil’s serious countenance faded away when he gave our driver a hearty handshake and made some friendly small talk before the door opened.
Virgil’s eyes scanned up my body, and his mouth fell open. The goofiest grin slowly formed, and he brought a fist up to cover it.
“Sorry, miss, I must have — this is, um… this — you’re — wow. I’m speechless.”
I was so light I could have floated away. “Get in here, Virgil. You clean up nice yourself.”
I jumped in surprise when he let out a “woo” into the night air before slipping into the SUV.
“You kids are cute,” the driver commented before shutting the door. Virgil raised his eyebrows at me, delighted at being called a “kid.” He really looked like one now.
“This feels like the Homecoming Dance, and I somehow convinced Grace Kelly to be my date.” His grin was cute enough that I didn’t question who the woman was. “Is the penguin getup okay?”
He reached a hand across the seat for me to hold, and the same feeling finally hit me.
I felt young again. I may not have gone to school or had a Homecoming Dance, but I’d had my own bubbly teenage feelings even living in the middle of nowhere in a house full of women.
My crushes just happened to be from books instead of classmates or celebrities.
I’d keep my embarrassing fantasies about Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester and Raskolnikov to myself, though.
My cheeks heated just remembering that time in my life.
“Very handsome,” I assured him. “It looks great on you.”
I barely registered that we were moving again.
I admired the unusual sharpness of Virgil’s smile and the warm pools of red that were flooded with admiration of his own.
We mostly just stared and smiled at each other, but somehow it wasn’t awkward at all.
I was already drunk without even a sip of alcohol when we pulled up to our destination.