Aftermath (23 page)

“You’re going
through a lot right now—“

“What does that have
to do with us?”

My eyes slid closed and
a tear was forced out. It slid down my cheek, veiled from my mask. “I
get it.” I had become numb; emotionless and calm. “You think I’m
vulnerable?”

“Why are we here?”
I looked at Hayden, wondering if this was some kind of joke or if he
really just had something else planned for us.

We were pulled up out
front of the Le Petite Theatre Vieux Carre.

“The ball…” he
looked at me suspiciously.

“I just thought it
would be held at school.”

“The gym at Ecole is
still under renovation since Katrina—is everything okay?”

“Yes,” I nodded,
recovering from my shock. “Of course. I was just surprised, that’s
all.”

He pressed a button on
the console above him, “Give us a minute, Troy.” He looked back
at me. “Are you sure?”

Was it too much to hope
that this was a coincidence? Probably not. But what else could we do?
Go home, and let the underworld, once again, dictate our lives? Or
possibly leave my entire class vulnerable to a ghost? No, it would
definitely be better if we were there. In case Christine decided to
pay a visit again…

“Are you worried
about your dream with Christian’s murder?” Hayden’s words
brought up another predicament. He didn’t realize I had already
been to this theatre. Both in my dreams and in real life after trying
to investigate what it was trying to tell me. No, he was referring to
the dream I had of the ball, where Luke ended up murdering Mr.
Christian.

Were the two related?
“Um, yeah,” I said, distracted.

He nodded. “We’ve
sorted this out. Christian won’t be anywhere near here and neither
will Luke. Ana, I won’t let anything happen. ”

Although his words were
comforting. He still had yet to touch me or hold me. I didn’t even
think to share with him the connection I'd made with the two dreams.
It was a completely foreign feeling to me as I had always told Hayden
the first thing in my mind. But suddenly, the distance between us
that I felt earlier seemed to magnify.

I exhaled. “I know,”
I nodded, trying to convince myself. “Let’s go.” I was glad
Hayden couldn’t see behind my mask. I knew now that in the
underworld there were no coincidences. And I may be walking into a
trap but what else could I have done? Run away? I couldn’t do that
anymore. I had to figure it out. Somewhere inside me, I was a Hunter
and the very definition of a hunter is to search for, to pursue.

What a disaster.

I was walking in one of
the most beautifully decorated, historic theatres in the world,
holding the arm of the greatest guy in the world. I was at my
school’s masked ball, about to meet my best friends, and I was
dressed like a queen. It should have been the perfect evening.
Except, everything felt like it was crashing down. The “beautifully
decorated theatre” was haunted, the guy whose arm I was holding was
cold to me, at least one of my best friends was a voodoun, and Queen?
Well, I was just informed that I was a full-blooded hunter and Queen
of the Underworld.

Ugh.

I forced a smile as I
walked by a group of familiar students, desperately trying to hang on
to the first illusion. That I was just at a normal school function,
with my normal friends and my normal boyfriend.

I could hear my heart
pounding in my ears and I took a few deep breaths to slow my heart
beat. Hayden looked at me uneasily and I turned my attention away
from him and towards the scene around me.

I needed to appreciate
this.

I loved the
decorations. The dark blue and white scarves that hung from the
ceiling gave the theatre a darkly romantic feel. There were round
tables with matching tableware in the same colors in the lobby. A
small stage they had set up was empty; most of the tables were, too,
and we passed by them as we walked out to the populated courtyard.
Music streamed through the French doors and I saw the sway of fine
gowns and tuxedos. The courtyard had been rearranged since I had been
here a few days ago. Room was made for dancing and garden benches
lined with ivy and flowers were set up. Lanterns lined the balcony
and starry lights lit the plants. I looked straight up to the dark
blue sky, the perfect backdrop and the perfect weather for a night
like this.

I wanted to enjoy this
but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t shake the nagging
feeling. This evening was supposed to be
fun
. It wasn’t
supposed to be about anything supernatural. No hunters, no voodouns,
no ghosts. Just Hayden, Nikki, Marie and I as normal students.

Hayden and I stopped
walking when we got inside the courtyard. I looked at the intimate
embrace of couples dancing to the gentle fusion of jazz and modern
singing. I smiled longingly then shifted uncomfortably next to
Hayden. “I'd better find Nikki and Marie,” I said after Hayden
stood there, seeming completely unaffected by the silence between us.

He nodded and I left,
weaving through students until I caught a glimpse of familiar dark
hair.

“Ana!” Nikki called
out from behind me just as I reached Marie. I turned around to find
her in the arm of a freshman and looking well into her twenties in a
purple sequined gown with black smoky eyes behind a matching mask.

I hugged her, my heart
swelling with pleasure. “You look gorgeous!”

“Oh this old thing?”
She mockingly waved the compliment away with her hand. And I smiled,
happy that she was happy. “Look at you, are you kidding me? How you
managed to make a creepy antique dress gorgeous is beyond me!”

I elbowed her. “It’s
not
creepy.” Then I leaned toward her to whisper, “I see
you've found a date.”

She shrugged, with a
secret smile. “Marie!” she remembered, and we both turned toward
her talking to a group of people.

Now, Nikki leaned into
me. “Wow, voodoo looks good on her.”

I elbowed her playfully
again. But she was right. Marie looked
new
. She wore her hair
up elegantly and a simple white floor-length gown. The only jewelry
she wore were dangling chandelier earrings that complimented her bare
neck. It was the boldest outfit I had even seen her wear but, most of
all, she looked confident in it.

I smiled at Nikki’s
comment.

“Hey y’all.” She
hugged us both at the same time.

Nikki felt the skirt of
Marie’s dress, “I love this.”

“You look beautiful,
Marie,” I agreed.

“Thank you, you
guys!” she beamed, definitely not looking like she had just
destroyed a demon the night before. “I see you rounded up a date,
Nikki! And here I thought we were all going as friends.” Marie
pointed a look at the tall boy behind Nikki with sandy blonde hair.

Nikki’s mouth popped
open to protest.

Marie cut her off. “I’m
kidding! It’s fine.” She turned her attention on me. “Where’s
Hayden, I thought he was coming?”

I adjusted my mask
nervously, grateful that I was wearing it. “He’s by the lobby. I
just left him to find y’all.”

“I heard Stephanie is
a no-show!” Nikki changed the subject, whispering conspiringly.

Marie and I just looked
at each other wide eyed, forgetting that she hadn’t known what
happened last night.

Should we tell her?
I looked at Nikki who was smiling with childlike joy. I shook my head
inconspicuously at Marie. Nikki should just be able to enjoy her
night and not have to have that plague her thoughts like it was
plaguing mine.

“Y…Yeah, well that
will be good for our next Queen,” Marie recovered.

“Queen?” A
sophisticated voice joined our conversation.

We turned toward the
sound.

“Oh, hi Miss Vitale,”
Marie didn’t miss a beat.

Nikki gave a tight
smile, then looked back at me with wide eyes. I could just hear her
asking why a chaperone was interrupting our fun. She didn’t know
who she was, she just thought she was some teacher.
Of course, why
would she think otherwise?

I swallowed and looked
at Rachel. “What are you doing here?” I wondered what happened to
the “time to adjust” I thought she’d given me. And I was a
little annoyed that I now had something else to keep from Nikki.

She gave me an innocent
smile, “I’m chaperoning.”

Oh. So when she left my
house earlier, she already knew she would be at the dance tonight.

I blew out a breath and
Nikki looked at me funnily. Clearly, I was in no position to argue
with her. “Nice to see you again,” I tried to dismiss her.

She ignored my send-off
and asked, “Are you girls having a good time?”

My heart twinged a
little, it was something a mother would say. I thought maybe I had
been too hard on her.
No,
not after everything.

“Yes, ma’am.”
Marie answered for us. “I’m going to get something to drink, does
anyone want anything?” Marie asked Nikki and I. Was she
intentionally making her escape? She was unreadable, I couldn’t
tell.

I frowned. “No, thank
you Marie.”

“Nikki won’t you
join me?”

“No, thanks. What?
Ow—ohh… Yes, I am actually quite thirsty.” Marie was standing a
little too close to Nikki and I knew at some point during her words
Marie must have pinched her arm. I shot them both a traitorous look
and then watched as Nikki followed Marie, happily walking away, with
a little too much relief.

When they had
successfully crossed the courtyard to the lobby, I saw a smile tug on
Rachel’s lips. “I’ve always liked her.”

I titled my chin. “So
have I.” I knew she was being nice, but the way she said it had so
much more meaning.

“Adriana…”

There she went
again…scolding me.

I let out an
exasperated breath. I was getting tired. She looked down at her feet,
letting the aura of power that was her true self slip and leaving her
looking wounded.

“So…” I looked
everywhere but her. She would not make me feel guilty.

“I really hadn’t
planned on coming tonight, even though I wanted to,” she gave a
nervous laugh. “But they really needed volunteers. I didn’t want
anything to get in the way of this magical night you’re so adamant
about having.”

I could imagine it was
hard to understand why this was so important to me. When you are
immortal—and royalty, I can imagine how irrelevant it all could
seem. Then I thought of Hayden. He understood. I looked to where I
had left him by the lobby only to find he was no longer there. My
heart sped up as I looked around the room for him.

Rachel picked up on
that. “See, Adriana. This infatuation you have with each other
isn’t going to last forever. That’s why I want you to come home.
We’ve wasted enough time.”

My throat ached. “You
don’t know Hayden.”

“But I know you.”

I whipped toward her,
“Do you?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You know me under
false pretenses. You aren’t the person I thought you were and
neither am I.”

“It was the only way
I could stay close to you and still keep you safe. Do you know how
hard it was for me to be in your life but not really
in
your
life?”

“Do you know how hard
it was for me to not have a mother? Oh wait, you did know, because I
told you nearly everything.” I looked around me, hoping no heads
were turned because of my outburst. Couples continued to glide to the
euphoric jazz, booming from the speakers around the courtyard. I
turned toward the sound of laughter that was coming from a group of
students and teachers alike. No one had heard our disagreement; no
one seemed bothered by anything at all. They were just happy. I
turned back to Rachel, biting my lips to keep it from quivering.

“Adriana…” her
voice was calm and controlled. “You have no idea what’s at stake.
Everything I did, I did to protect you. You are royalty. There are
many people who want you dead, who would love to see our family
fall.”

I flinched. It was
never easy hearing that there were people that wanted you dead. “The
Vasquez?”

“I am talking about
the entire Underworld. Well, the rogues at least. The ones who don’t
want to coexist with humans. The ones who are at a great disadvantage
if someone predicts their transgressions before they happen and is
able to stop them.”

“So being a princess
or queen—or whatever I am-- there will always be people after me?”
I had come to accept that already. When we thought I was human,
Hayden told me that being with him would mean people would want us
apart.

Her lips quirked.
“Well, we are not completely defenseless.”

“Ha.”

“And I can teach you.
I can train you to use your skills so you will be completely
untouchable.”

“Like you?” I asked
carelessly and adjusted my mask. I couldn’t believe we were having
this conversation here.