Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me it belongs to everyone else
including Laurell K. Hamilton and her publishing company. This is
just for your enjoyment between books.
Rating: PG-13
The weather was getting colder as the seasons changed. I was sitting
at a table outside a small caf�, when I saw a blue mustang park
across the street. I didn't need a physic to tell me who that was. It
was Richard Zeeman and he was meeting me here for coffee to try and
work things out between us. It had been six months since we'd meet
and it had been a bad first meeting. It was too long of a story to go
into right now, I was just glad things were working themselves out.
He got out of the car and my breath caught in my throat. No wonder
Alex fell in love with him. Richard Zeeman, local were-wolf king was
a hottie. He was wearing brown moccasin like shoes, no socks, pair of
tight blue jeans, and a white shirt with a few buttons undone. His
tan was to die for and he had his long hazelnut hair pulled back in a
pony tail. His eyes were hazel as well, but when the sun hit them
they looked like honey. I groaned and thought to myself, a person
could drown in those eyes. He walked across the street with a smile
on his face, while looking me up and down. I was wearing black suede
knee high boots, a pair of light blue jeans, and a black shirt that
cling tightly in all the right places. My hair was cut short in a bob
and I wasn't wearing any make-up. The only jewelry I had on was my
Bast and pentacle pendant. I was also wearing a Celtic bracelet and
three pairs of earrings.
Richard came over to the table and said, "Hey Crys." Then pulled out
a chair and sat down.
"Hi back," I replied.
"So here we are," he commented.
"Yep here we are," I said.
We sat there a few minutes before he asked, "So are you going to the
party tonight?"
I raised an eyebrow and asked a question of my own, "What party?"
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow before stating, "Jean Claude is
having a party at Danse Macebre tonight. He said he sent you an
invite."
"This is the first I've heard about it. I haven't seen an invitation
from him," I stated in an annoyed tone.
"Hmmm. It must be late or someone forgot to give it to you," he
commented.
Then a smile spread across his face as he reached over and put his
right hand over my left. My heart stopped and I didn't know what to
do. This wasn't what I had expected and I was starting to get a
little freaky. We were supposed to discuss how to solve problems, not
have him hitting on me, and I let him know it to.
"I hate to be a party pooper Richard," I said.
His face changed and became more serious as he replied, "Of course"
We spent the next three hours finally discussing the issues and found
some common ground. He said goodbye and then left. I sighed in relief
and wasn't sure what to think of the situation. It wasn't long
before I left as well and headed back to my small apartment over
Phoenix Rising.
Phoenix Rising was a pagan store for all the witches in the community
to buy things they can't find anywhere else. I opened the store a few
weeks ago after months of struggling with bankers, business leases
and all that other paper work that comes with starting your own
business. You got to my apartment by the alleyway. I had to walk
between my store and a flower shop to get to the stairs that took you
up to my small loft. The store was closed today due to it being
Halloween. I don't open up on Wiccan holidays. As I climbed the
stairs, something hanging over the top step caught my attention. I
quickened my pace to find a white envelope on the stoop and it had my
name on it. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know what that was.
My invitation to the party had finally arrived. Due to it being late,
I'd have to go back out to find a costume at the last minute. Picking
it up, I began to dig around my purse for my keys. I unlocked the
door and went in, being greeted by my three cats. They were purring
and meowing up a storm as if they were trying to tell me something.
I bent over and patted them all on the heads, then dropped my purse
on a table near the door. I had the invitation still in my hand as I
walked down the hall to my bedroom. Unzipping my boots and pulling
them off, I glanced at the invitation again, then decided to open
it. The card that I removed from the envelope read:
Madame et Monsieur
You are cordially invited to a fancy dress
All Hallows Eve party
Danse Macabre 8pm
Monday 31st October, 2005
Yours,
The Master of the City
I really hate wearing dresses because they do not like me one bit.
Every time I wear them, they some how get ruined and their prices was
starting to put a hole in my pocket. Tossing the invitation back onto
the bed, I got up to go finish my homework. I had an art piece that
was due tomorrow and it wasn't close to being finished. Turning the
CD player on, I popped five different CD's in that I'd recorded. They
were mixed CD's with rock, country, and some new age music on them.
When I sat down at my easel it was going on 3:30. The art project I
was supposed was of mountains and pine trees that covered the snowy
valley below. I was into my art, not realizing that time had flown
by, when I looked at the clock to find the time going on 6:30 pm. The
party was in an hour and a half and I have nothing to wear. Cussing
under my breath, I got up and ran for the door, grabbing my purse on
the way. I was barely out the door before I ran head long into
someone or something. Pulling back I glanced up to find an unknown
person standing there with a box.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to try to run you down, it's just I'm in
a hurry," I stammered.
He smiled and replied, "It's ok. I'm used to it by now." Then he
looked around with a curious look and asked, "You live here."
I glared at him wondering what he meant by that and answered, "Yes.
Why?"
He shrugged and said, "Just I don't know many people that live over
their own stores. Anyway I've got a package for you. It's from Jean
Claude. He had a feeling you were going to wait till the last minute
to pick out a costume so he had one made for you."
I glared and saw red. The nerve of that pompous ass, he had no right.
I remarked, "I was on my way out to find one. If he had gotten the
invitation here earlier, I would have had one by now."
I tried to get passed him, but he blocked my way and I was getting
aggravated and yelled, "Will you please move or I'm going to be late."
He smiled and stated, "I'm sorry but he insisted on you wearing this
one. If you don't wear it, I'll get into trouble for bringing it
back."
I was so losing it, but counted to ten and said, "Fine."
Stepping back into my apartment to clear the door way, I motioned for
him to come in. He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows as he passed me to
enter my apartment. I was inviting a guy who I didn't know into my
house. I think I'd totally lost my mind, but he couldn't go back and
get in trouble because of me. I would never forgive myself if
something bad happened to him.
I followed him in and asked, "So what's your name."
He turned with the box still in his hands and replied, "It's Tommy.
Tommy Bell. I'm a new employee at Guilty Pleasures."
I sucked in a breath and said, "Oooookay. Mine's Crystal and it's
nice to meet you."
"Same here," he said with a smile
Tommy handed me the box and I took it from him to sit it on the
table. Opening the lid, I groaned. There was no way in hell I was
going to wear that. Orange wasn't my color and I would sooner as die
than be seen in public in that. Tommy came over and pulled out the
dress. It was a floor length dress with spaghetti straps. Down the
back of it was lined with feathers that went down to the floor like a
wedding train. They were also orange and they were designed to look
like Phoenix feathers. I puffed out some air that had my hair flying
and groaned again. Tommy pulled out a pair of matching shoes and the
head piece that went with it. It was a mask shaped into the head of a
phoenix with feathers protruding from the top of it. I began to cry
and it wasn't a good cry cause that costume was going to make me look
ridiculous.
Poor Tommy didn't know what to do, so he sat the pieces back on the
table and went to sit on the couch. My cats decided to investigate
him and when they thought he was safe, demanded attention from him. I
just stood there looking at the dress like it was going to bite me
and made up my mind to wear the thing. Grabbing the dress I realized
it was made from silk and felt good to the touch. What would it hurt
to try it on at least? Taking it I headed for the bedroom. Once the
door was closed I slipped out of my clothes and into the dress. It
fit like a glove giving my chest area a boost. It wouldn't have been
too bad if it was another color. Orange clashed with my hair way to
much. The only other problem I had was it showed my pudgy stomach to
much. Other than that I looked okay in it and decided what the hell,
might as well put some wear into it and walked back into the living
room.
Tommy looked up and whistled, "Woo hoo. Looking good."
I wrinkled my nose at him and put on the shoes. They gave me a few
inches of height and they were kind of cute. The last piece of the
costume sat there in the box starring at me and I groaned one last
time before picking it up.
I slipped the mask over my head and turned toward Tommy and
ask, "Well how do I look?"
He smiled and answered, "Nice."
"Nice. Is that all?" I croaked.
"Well there is more, but I'm afraid you'll slap me if I say it, so
I'll keep it to myself," he replied with a hint of lust in his eyes.
I turned away quickly not letting him see how red my face was
getting. I wanted to take one last look in the mirror to make sure I
didn't have to make any adjustment, so I went to the bathroom and
looked in the door length mirror. Glancing at myself I had to admit
that I looked absolutely fantastic, but needed to do something about
the hair. I lifted the mask off and did my best to tuck my hair
behind my ears. Putting the head-dress back on so it covered most of
my hair, I liked what stared back at me in the mirror.
There was a knock on the door and Tommy spoke, "It's 7:30 Crystal.
You might want to hurry it up or you'll be late anyway."
I opened the door to find him standing there with a huge smile on his
face. He gave me a once over and stated, "You look absolutely
amazing. However I am wondering why Jean Claude picked the phoenix
costume for you to wear."
I rolled my eyes and remarked, "Because that's my wiccan name. I go
by Phoenixfirecats in the pagan community."
He raised an eyebrow and asked, "You're a witch?"
I shook my head and answered, "Yes I am."
"Wow," was all he could say. He then turned around to go back into
the living room. I followed him to the door and said good bye to my
cats. They weren't happy that I was going out and showed it by
attaching themselves to the feathers on my dress. Do you have any
idea how hard it was to get the dress out the door, let alone de-
clawing a cat from the thing? Tommy wasn't much help because he
thought the whole thing was funny. It took us ten minutes to get the
cats off the dress and out the door.
He helped me down the stairs by holding up the back of the costume so
I wouldn't trip or get it caught on anything. After we got to the
ground, he held out his arm for me and asked, "May I escort my lady
to the car."
My eyebrows shot up as I replied, "What car?"
He smiled mischievously and stated, "Jean Claude also sent you a
limo, just in case you didn't have any other transportation."
I glared at him suspiciously and wondered what the master vampire was
up to this time. I let it go and took his arm. His chest puffed out
with pride and I just groaned. We headed out of the alley way to the
front, where a long black limo was waiting for us. The chauffer
smiled as we made our way over and opened the door. Bowing, he tipped
his hat and said, "Good evening Ms. Phoenix."
I smiled and replied, "Good evening to you as well sir."
He smiled and went to the driver's side of the car. Tommy helped me
in with my dress. While I got comfortable on the back seat, he got in
and shut the door, tapping the car for the driver to go ahead and
move out. It took us twenty minutes to get to Danse Macabre and it
was just going on eight o'clock. The driver stopped in front of the
club and got out. A few seconds later the door opened and Tommy got
out. He turned around to hold out his hand for me and I took it. He
helped me out of the limo and lights flashed everywhere.
Photographers lined the red ropes to get an exclusive of the party. I
smiled and waved and more bulbs flashed. Tommy led me to the doors
and the bouncers opened it up for us. He stopped us inside of the
doors and turned to me. Tommy took my hand and kissed it, then
said, "It was my pleasure to have escorted you here tonight, but I
must leave you now. I'm on in an hour at Guilty Pleasures. Have fun
Phoenix."
With that he left before I got to say goodbye and thank him. I turned
my attention to the party and whistled. Jean Claude went all out and
the decorations were outstanding. I walked around and found a few
friends. Esther was waltzing with Jean Claude while Tam was watching
the children. Spring's cat was fighting with a bobbing head cat and I
had to smile. I glanced around and couldn't figure out if anyone else
I knew was here, so I heading to the punch table. I hadn't realized
someone was stalking me until they grabbed me around the waist and
pulled me to them. It was Zorro.
He smiled and said, "Glad you made it Crys."
My mouth dropped and I reached up to take a peak under the mask. It
was Richard playing Zorro. I raised an eyebrow and stated, "I'm
surprised you're here. I didn't think you would be into these events."
"Well I wasn't going to come, but changed my mind when Jean Claude
said he had invited you as well," he commented.
"Oh," was all I could say.
Chris Le Burg's version of Lady in Red came over the speakers and
Richard got a look in his eyes that made me wish I had stayed home.
He dragged me onto the dance floor, and then pulled me into his
arms. "May I have this dance my pretty little phoenix?"
My mouth was dry and I croaked out, "Sure."
We danced way too close in silence and all I was thinking was please
someone come and save me from The Werewolf King.