BEWITCHED & BOTHERED

16 ✰ Evening, October 8th

Damiano De Angelis, I thought, should wear red more often.

Not holly red. In my opinion, that colour was exclusively suited to heavy-set men with cloud-like beards and the penchant to go 'Ho, Ho, Ho!'

No, Damiano looked exquisite in deep, blood red — the same colour of the long overcoat he was wearing at present. It brought out the rich chocolate tone of his skin, making his eyes appear darker than usual, and infinitely more tempting.

So it was no wonder why he was the first one I noticed when I entered the drawing room of the opulent De Angelis mansion. As the de Facto leader of our ragtag organising committee, Damiano had invited all of us that evening to discuss the progress we've made for the Ball.

Which, in mine and Magnus' case, was zero, considering our last meeting ended in tears (on my part), following another disastrous tryst.

But I wasn't particularly worried, because I was sceptical that the others had a head start on their own divisions, especially Kaiser and Tara.

"Lady Leonora Winterhaven," a brooding, vampire butler announced my arrival to the room. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in, once I detected an absence of a pair of grey eyes. When all of us got the text from Damiano yesterday, Magnus had informed via the chat group that he'd be too busy to make the last minute meeting.

The worst thing was when I texted him to ask if we should get started on planning the decorations soon, he ghosted me.

Either he was avoiding me, or he really was busy. I had a feeling it was the latter.

Other than Magnus, Tara and Ylvaine were also nowhere to be found, leaving only the five of us. Genevieve and Damiano were seated on the bench near the window while Kaiser was splayed over a nearby armchair, a leg hoisted over one side of the chair. Thankfully, there were vacant seats on the floral settee where Nicky sat.

"Lady Winterhaven." Damiano was the only one to rise at my presence, bowing his head slightly with a pleasing smile on his full lips. Really, the vampire was made for regency-era erotica.

I made a sorry attempt at a curtsy, earning a condescending snort from Genevieve, and then quickly moved to the sit beside Nicky on the settee.

"Hey, Lena," Nicky's face broke into a friendly grin that I couldn't help returning.

"Babycakes, looking good as ever." Kaiser said with a smirk, and I rolled my eyes at him and his tacky muscle tee.

"Alright," Damiano cut in with a sharp glare at Kaiser's way. "Let's wait a few more minutes for Tara and Ylvaine before starting." He clasped his slender fingers together, his back ramrod straight in a perfect posture. "In the meantime, let's engage in friendly conversation."

A long pause.

"How is everybody's week so far?" Damiano asked after a rough throat clear.

Another pause.

I felt really bad for Damiano, so I spoke before the silence stretched even further.

"Mine was good," I said, even though it'd been a shit show up to this point.

Chuckling came from Kaiser that stopped short when I looked at him. He shot me a wink, before saying, "I'm sure it was eventful."

I frowned, considering asking him what he meant when I was interrupted by the De Angelis vampire butler appearing in the threshold.

"Ylvaine..." the butler paused as if thinking of the right designation for Ylvaine, then coming up with a defeated, "the Tree Nymph."

Ylvaine's eyes were bloodshot, and the skin around them was puffy, like she'd been crying for a millennia. Her eyes were already large, so she kind of looked like a sad goldfish. I noticed that she was wearing muted clothing. From previous observation, Ylvaine always wore pastel and the occasional neon.