The Fire Seer

7 - Smoke and Mirrors

Over the next day and a half, I watched caravans of luxury cars and sleek black SUVs roll back into town. This time, the numbers were triple what they were when other packs came to covet my presence, and a stampede made its way through. Most stayed at the hotel, while the prime guests stayed in rented mansions and properties just outside of town, courtesy of Elijah's endless cash flow. Investments in stocks and the monopolizing of surplus profits from the town did that for a man, but at least they were put to decent use.

I had never seen the Alphas and Betas and other high-ranking members of packs arrive like this for the Solstice. As a child, my parents kept me far from politics, more concerned with maintaining my childhood than building up their heir. Elijah had been different, attending every meeting from the time he was fifteen and on. The responsibilities grew heavier with time until the title of alpha was dumped on him just a year later.

I turned from the window to where Rebecca and two other women stood at a wooden vanity. The Solstice was today. The party started at six. They were here to prepare me like a doll. I sat down in the chair they beckoned me into, and they chatted boisterously among themselves about all the attractive people that were arriving for the party. One pointed out Alpha Carson of Silverflame Pack, a man in his early forties with a chiseled face and rough demeanor. Another pointed out Alpha Salvatore of Sangue Bosco, an Italian-American pack from New York, and how clean his suits were and that he must be a part of the mafia to look so mysterious. Rebecca sided with Alpha Carson, saying she liked her men older and rough around the edges. I did not comment, even when they pressed for one.

I yowled as they plucked eyebrow hairs and grimaced as they smeared on foundations and concealers and powders. My skin felt heavy with it all as they beat red back into my cheeks and colored my eyes and lined them with black and curled my lashes, and brushed them with a wand to make them darker. At the end of it all, when my lips were coated in a deep matte plum color, I was declared finished, and I stared at myself in the mirror as if viewing a stranger rather than myself. My skin was smooth, the freckles hidden beneath powders, which I would have preferred to have showing, had they not manhandled me into the chair. My eyes were painted with the same deep teal-greens as my dress and winged with black eyeliner. I glowed and darkened in all the right places with precise contouring. I looked otherworldly and yet so innately present. "Is this really me?" I asked. Rebecca took my shoulders. "All it does is take the beauty that is already there and amplifies it," She assured. I smiled as I looked at her through the mirror, and we stood.

I put on the dress carefully and with assistance, fitting into it snuggly. The lacey material felt strange against my skin, coarse in some places and soft on others where the lace replaced sheer material. My necklace of moonstone was placed around me, and I was stuffed into heels that took my balance several times. When they declared me complete, I stood as another person in the mirror. The fiery nature of my hair contrasted the rich greens of the dress, making every color of me stand out. The moonstones glittered at the column of my neck. My gold eyes shone a little warmer.

Rebecca clasped her hands together and smiled proudly. "You're ready."

Five-forty-five p.m. rolled by, and I was loaded into a black Nissan with Sam and Rebecca as my guards. Rebecca was dressed in a stunning black dress that slit at the thigh to produce the full breadth of her slender thighs. Black high heels curled in straps around her ankles, so high I thought she could spear a man through with each heel. Sam was in a sleek black suit, wearing black-out sunglasses and an ear piece I thought must have connected him with Delta Anthony and the other patrol squad members. I sat stiffly between them, twiddling my thumbs as Laluin spoke to me.

"You look beautifully, Vina," She said tenderly. "This will be a night to remember."

The drive was twenty-two minutes of awkward silence before the car came to a halt in front of the convention hall. Reserved for the largest events of the city, the convention hall was grand and covered in crystal chandeliers, plush royal carpets, and a million dollars of glitz and glam. Outside, every car in the city must have been parked in the large lot, boasting a Winter Solstice Ball turnout to never again compare. Sam held out a hand once he had climbed from the car, and I took it, climbing out. We were parked in front of the building, the entrance swarmed by people as the building's golden glow washed over the red carpet. For tonight, Redfield was the wolven Hollywood.