Chapter One
*L

I considered the ornate envelope that had arrived in my mailbox curiously, wondering why it'd been sent...without a stamp?

Oh, I hoped it had gone through registered mail...

I grabbed my letter opener and slid it into the corner—I'd watched Josh lick too many things with a naughty expression to want to chance envelopes. I'd found a cute little fake sword opener, and since I regularly received letters from Ryan, it was on top of my desk.

It looked like an invitation, and I wondered briefly if some friend was getting married. Or crap, maybe a family member.

I considered the pretty cover that gave away nothing, then folded it open to see a few pages of blank paper before finding the center and printed script.

Ella Simone, please do us the honor of attending our annual Mayday celebration on May the first, beginning at seven evening.

Seven evening?

I snorted slightly.

There was an address underneath that, and I considered it a long moment before turning to my laptop and typing that in. The invitation had remarkably little information on it. A small piece of paper slid out from somewhere inside the multiple sheets that noted that formal attire was required, and the venue was insured against jewelry theft up to...a lot of zeroes.

I stared at that number, tossing the envelope down as the venue's page opened to the Mayday Ball; the photo gallery consisted of pictures of stars and politicians. The final image was of Gable Bui sitting alone and proud on an outdoor bench. He was wearing an expensive suit, and for some reason had a cane. He was in a pose where both hands were folded around the top of the thing, but you could still see a red jewel peeking out between his fingers.

There was a knock on the door.

I glared at Bui's image a moment, then rose and moved to look out my peephole at Brian. The former bartender was wearing a pair of tailored slacks and shiny shoes, and for some reason had on one of those sweaters that had to belong to Ryan. It wasn't the pale one he'd originally gotten, it was a dark gray-green one that he'd shown up with after he'd gone to visit LA.

I pulled the door open a crack to look out at him skeptically.

"I'm supposed to convince you to come to the ball," he supplied. "For lots of zeroes. I will buy you pretty sparklies."

I snorted at that, unhooking the chain lock and stepping back while I looked at him. I made sure that my body language in no way shape or form was an invitation, but he walked in like any mortal should.

"Gable has a delivery service," he added, smiling at me and moving to dig into the fridge as I headed back for the couch. "He says that the postal service ruins the aesthetic of a proper invitation. The company only sees your address once, and since this is how they make their living they obviously don't do something creepy like steal your information—I'm pretty sure Gable has them investigated before and after each ball."

"That's not making this less creepy," I pointed out, taking the can he passed me as he moved to sit on the far side of the couch.

"I know, but I can't make it less creepy," he smiled at me, passing me his phone.

I read through the formal request the man had sent him to get me to agree, considering the end-numbers.

"Halfsies?" he asked. "And I'll buy you something sparkly and real that you can lose down the sink."

I snorted at him, looking back to the webpage. "What even is this? Isn't May day a pagan thing?"

"It's a fertility thing," Brian shrugged. "I'm not sure what culture Gable pulled it from, but I think there are a few of them that do it. Hell, Christianity threw zombie-day in the time-span so everyone stopped loving it so much."

I spluttered at that.

He laughed delightedly. Neither of us were particularly religious, but that sort of comment couldn't be ignored.

"Come, though," he urged. "Gable will ask you to dance at least once, and otherwise, I'll dance with you. I'm going to be bored out of my mind."

"Unless you get to meet the A-list," I pointed out, spinning the laptop so he could look through the gallery.

He clicked through it, looking impressed, then met my eyes briefly.

"You a wizard now?" I asked dryly. "Ry said my mind was unicorns and fluffy clouds or something equally inane."

He guffawed at that, then shook his head. "I was debating if I wanted to tell you."

"Hm?"

"I've met most of those people a few times," he supplied, indicating the screen. "I mean, not the celebs so much, but..."

I considered him, focusing on his sweater a moment, then looked back to the screen.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly. "I know my coming here to make money is kind of crappy, but...I mean, I mostly come to socialize and mention the money thing."

"I miss Ryan," I sighed, indicating the shirt with my head. "And I miss Josh."

"I think Josh is invited," he offered, thinking about it. "He still not talking?"

"It's hit or miss," I muttered, looking to my phone. "He has to be drunk to do it, but he's being a dick anyway. He decided that I don't care that he loves me...sent me a damn dick pic the other day."

Brian sighed, sobering entirely. "I wish I could do something to help him. He doesn't even talk to me anymore. I tried to get him to do lunch and he told me that I had a few dangling bits in the way. I thought he was joking around at first, but that was all; it was a wall."

I leaned against the back of the couch, feeling tears in my eyes again and wondering if sleeping with someone else would help our situation. I wasn't so sure I'd still be protected by his love afterwards, though. Not anymore.

"Well," Brian sighed, gesturing to the laptop. "Don't worry about this. Gable didn't only invite you because he likes you. He knows you're my friend, so there's that at least."

I smiled slightly at him, debating if it'd be worth it. Going to that sort of glam party might be fun...but it just made me think of going to Secrets the first time and realizing the whole thing was about sex and drugs. It'd sounded exotic and exciting until I'd gotten there. Would this be any better?

My phone started ringing.

I sighed, leaning over and seeing that it said 'Ryan 2'. "Ry!" I said happily.

"It's Kev," Kevin returned. "Ryan's staring at an invitation we got earlier and I'm on my way to class. Call the house?"

"Alright," I agreed. "Have a good lesson."

"Thanks," he returned, hanging up.

"What?" Brian asked.

"He said that Ry got an invite," I blinked at my friend a moment, then hit the button to call Ryan's home-phone.

"Hey!" Ryan said happily. "Sorry, I didn't want to walk downstairs and he was going."

"No worries," I hit the speakerphone button. "I've got Brian here, too."

"Brian?" Ryan asked curiously. The connection seemed a little fuzzy, but not too bad. "Hey!"

"Hey," Brian leaned forward to look at the phone. "You got an invitation to Mayday?"

"Yeah, it's fancy," Ryan noted happily. "I'm invited as the guest of Gable Bui to attend the festivities of Mayday on May the one."

I snorted at that.

He laughed. "It also notes that I can stay at his hotel for free. Kevin and I both got official invites to stay at the hotel in this thing. Single rooms or a double."

"Cool," I muttered. "Get a double and me and Bry can crash with you."

"Still no Josh?" Ryan asked hesitantly.

Brian sighed. "No; he was invited, but I don't know if he'll come or not. I haven't gotten L's final say on this, so you should definitely come. If you come, she'll come."

Ryan snickered wickedly.

"Better be more'n once," I informed the bartender.

Brian beamed at me.

Ryan laughed again, then sobered slightly. "Should I?" he asked. "I mean, I have no idea...this isn't to us as wardens. It's to us as people. I'll need help with formal attire, I'm helpless at it."

"That'll be fun to shop for," I noted, wondering if I could get him and Kevin to do a fashion show for me.

"I'm not good at formal," Brian noted with a concerned look. "Hoc is going to pick my outfit for me—maybe we can get him to help?"

"I don't want to bother anyone," Ryan said quickly. "I can figure it out, I'm sure."

"I'll see what Hoc says," he reassured me. "Is there any date for your stay?"

"It says that I can stay a maximum of nine days, eight nights," Ryan noted, obviously reading. "I mean...are we doing this?"

"I'm hoping so," Brian winked at me. "I'm going to be bored as hell if not."

I considered the invitation again, deciding I deserved this. Especially if Ryan came. "I want to," I noted. "I mean, I don't know about dresses or anything, but..."

"I need to double check with...um...Kevin," Ryan had sounded distracted as he started speaking, he hadn't been about to say his friend's name. "Call me back in about three hours?"

"If I remember," I agreed happily.

"Even if...Kevin...says no," Brian muttered, meeting my eyes, "you can come for at least the ball night, right?"

"It depends on my work shifts," he muttered. "I think I can, but they're a little harsher about taking time off. Like, I could be dying and they'd expect me to show up."

I realized, a bit belatedly, that they were talking about whatever organization Ryan worked with. I thought Josh'd called it 'the council', and I wasn't supposed to know anything about it.

"I just want to know if I can get L to RSVP," Brian supplied.

"I wish I could just do it," Ryan sighed. "But yeah, call me in a few hours and I should have more information."

"Alright," Brian did something on his phone. "We'll call back."

"Alright, later."

The call ended.

"Yes!" Brian jumped up and bounced around the room a bit. "I mean...it should be. I want to text Gable and tell him already."

"Don't, because if Ryan can't come I'll feel...whorey."

He blinked at that, then nodded his head. "I know, sorry, I'm just excited. You wanna go shopping? I can buy you a pretty sparkly for saying you want to go."

"Why do you want to buy me jewelry?" I asked skeptically. "You realize that's a girlfriend thing, right?"

"Aw, don't do that," he pouted at me, sitting down again. "I have a credit card, and Hoc was saying I should buy some small things on it and pay them off the next month. He says that if my credit score is good I can get house loans or car loans, you know? I might even be able to go to college."

"It is expensive," I noted dryly, studying his hopeful face and snorting slightly. "What kind of sparkly thing were you thinking? That doesn't seem to fall under the category of 'small things'."

"Well," he hesitated. "There's this store at the Galleria..."

"A mall store?" I asked blankly.

"I'm not loaded yet," he protested happily. "That'll take you RSVPing."

I started laughing at that, looking back to the invitation blankly.

He leaned over and pushed a few of the sheets aside...to show a URL. "Gable hates these," he admitted happily. "He says URLs lack the elegance of simplicity, and he didn't want to include the option at all. Hoc insisted because the celebs won't do it if it's not available."

I gave him a blank look.

"Sorry," he shook his head. "I've been sort of excited since they started planning. I'm going to be in the reception line with Gable. Depending on who wants to talk to him, I might go around with him a bit, but he thinks he won't need me that long. This thing is huge," he added happily, shifting so he could mess with the web page. "It's one of the biggest yearly events, and the venue gives him deals because the clients who rent the place are usually drawn to it because the social pages."

"Social pages?" I asked blankly.

"Uh, there used to be entire sections about the aristocats in..."

I smirked at him.

He blinked at me, evidently not noticing what he'd said. "Uh...Victorian newspapers or something."

"The forerunners of cat videos," I agreed happily.

He gave me the blankest look I'd ever seen.

I started laughing hard, then focused on typing up the URL.

"What did I say?" he demanded, obviously thinking.

"Aristocats," I supplied. "That old Disney cartoon."

He snorted, giving me a look.

I laughed, indicating the webpage.

"Okay, I won't complain," he half whined at me.

I laughed and started filling out the information. I wasn't sure what I thought of Gable entirely, but I had to admit that Brian's enthusiasm seemed promising. If Ryan couldn't come, it'd suck, but how often in my life would I be able to say that I was invited to this sort of party?

I hit the submit button, and after a moment my computer dinged that I had an email. I clicked to see the confirmation email, then blinked as Brian's phone started ringing.

His eyes were sparkling. "Gable! How can I help you?" He listened a moment, smiling more at me. "Yes, I'm on her couch. We've been talking about it. Ryan has to check his calendar before he can agree. You didn't tell me he was invited." He listened again and laughed almost boyishly. "Well, friends confer with each other about this sort of thing. We like to plan our outfits, our time schedules..." he listened a moment. "I suppose you'd have to list it as a surprise or contact the person first. Huh? No, I'm thrilled. L and I are going to go look at a few shops and see what they have." He listened again, smiling briefly to me. "No, Hoc is taking me to be sure I get something suitable. I figured I'd ask him if he could help at least Ryan...huh?" He blinked, looking away from me. "I'm sitting on her couch. Yes...no, yes."

I smirked at him, wondering what the dragon was trying to ask him about.

"Maybe Hoc can come help her, too?" he nodded, then made a confirmation noise. "Alright...what? No. That is beyond our budgets entirely. I mean, I suppose I could use it for that, but that seems...no. Well," he hesitated. "Gable, the way we earn our money is intertwined with our morals and sometimes our self-worth. You giving us money to give us money is one thing, but the sort of money that would take..."

"What?" I asked curiously.

He shook his head, waving his hand at me. "No, it makes me uncomfortable to even suggest it to her."

I wondered if he'd offered me an expensive dress or something.

"Yeah, we can talk about it more tonight. Sleep well." He closed the phone and sighed tiredly.

"What?" I asked again.

"He said for me to buy your gown and he'd pay me back," he explained. "And he told me that if my credit had a limit, he'd give me a company card."

I smirked at that.

"I'm willing to do it if you want," he noted. "But keep in mind this is a gown you will wear once."

I shook my head at him. "I didn't say I wanted to do it, I just had the dollar sign eyes for a second. You're right, I can't accept that sort of thing."

He nodded, making a face. "I hate having to dissect the money morals for him, because if I say one thing wrong and correct it, I have to go over it all again with that correction from the start. You want to go? We can at least look around. I'll buy you the dress, a sparkly thing, and give you half of what I get."

"You don't have to do that," I reassured him. "Just give me all of it."

He grinned at me.

I laughed, rising and moving to get shoes. "And I don't need half, maybe a quarter. Buy me sparkly things and a fat stack, huh?"

"I'm not sure how long it'll take to get the money, I'll let you know and we can discuss how much you want. Right now I have about eight hundred fluid."

I blinked, turning to look at him. "Why that much?"

"Because I've got a kickass salary and no social life to speak of."

"Coming to see me doesn't count?" I pouted at him.

"It would, but you don't want to sleep with me."

I started giggling in spite of myself.

He grinned, downing the rest of his can. "Um, nude underthings," he looked away from my eyes. "I hate that I thought to say that."

I blinked, then pulled my shirt out to check which bra I had on. I realized that it was the cow-spot one under my...white...shirt. I smirked at him. "You don't like my moo-bra?"

He grinned at me.

I laughed, then turned to bounce into my room to change.

*Brian

Running around with L was fun. We ate, wandered through shops, and then she decided to play like I was her boyfriend when we hit the jewelry store. She giggled inanely at me about engagements rings, pointing out the most expensive ones before moving on to other thing.

The attendant gave me a curious look.

Stupid girl. She'd actually managed to fluster me with that one, I needed to figure out how to get her back.

It took her a while to decide between a bracelet and ring, and after considering that I'd just made bank for her agreeing to come to the ball at all, I bought them both.

She was actually leaning into me as we walked away, and I realized after a minute that it was because she was watching the ring—it was not one of the engagement ones.

"L," I complained finally, stopping to look at her.

She giggled, pulling back to study my eyes with her own sparkling ones.

I kissed her nose, rolling my eyes and passing her the little bag—she'd worn the pieces out, but the boxes and paperwork needed a thing.

She laughed, catching my hand and looking around. "What now?"

"At this point I'm half worried that buying you something works."

She guffawed, letting me go to stare at me with her hands on her hips.

I laughed, giving her a contrite look immediately. I wasn't some great thespian or anything, but I had thought to be an actor at one point. I used those skills with Gable to give him physical cues to things, but L was not the dragon.

"Sorry," I said seriously, smiling more at her and gesturing. "I want to go look at clothes. We can see if they have the tops I want, then swing through the formal stuff to see if anything catches your attention."

"Alright," she moved to walk with me again. "This is just...so pretty," she added, considering the ring again.

"I wonder what will happen when we get into the sunlight with it," I noted. "How much more it'll sparkle."

Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at me.

I wondered if I should actually ask her out as we moved toward a Macy's. Her relationship with Josh had been in place when I'd met her, I'd known exactly what she was to him when he sauntered up to the bar with her in tow dressed in white. There'd been a lot between them when they'd saved me from Ethan...there was still a lot between her and Ryan at least, but Josh...

I couldn't really do it to Josh. Not without him there to make it messy and complicated. It was bad enough that Gable was still interested in her.

"You have friends, right?" I muttered as we got through the perfume section at the entrance.

"What?" she demanded, her tone disbelieving.

I realized that she was not privy to my thoughts and smacked a hand to my mouth as I started giggling. "Sorry! That sounded bad!"

"Of course I have friends," she noted, raising an eyebrow at me. "What the hell kind of thing is that to ask?"

"I'm woefully single," I retorted, heading for the escalator. "I was thinking I should ask you out, but then things would get complicated."

"Since you're still trying to convince me to have another man's child," she agreed.

"I am not," I complained. "I said my piece on that, and it'd be a dick move on my part since Josh and Ryan exist in this little picture."

She cackled, bouncing where she stood. "Three at once! I don't think I could manage it!"

I sighed at her.

She continued laughing about whatever mental image she'd conjured until we reached the head of the staircase, then thought as she put the tip of her thumb between her teeth.

"Can we talk yet?" I asked skeptically.

"I'm just...they're either skanky or with guys," she supplied, looking back to me. "I mean, Nita would be a good time, but she's sort of a good time for this sort of thing," she flashed the ring at me. "I try not to say it because that's bitchy as hell, but dollar signs get her off."

"I could use that once in a while," I noted happily.

"I'm sure you could find a prostitute that wouldn't be linked back to me, too."

I snickered at that, nodding. "Here, hold on."

We turned into the wall of nice shirts, and I moved to the pile I liked best. I honestly had enough shirts and slacks, but the slim cut fit better. Like the fitted slacks, I could wear the tops all day and be comfortable.

"This one," L stated, picking up a dark purple top that was out of the package.

"Huh?" I asked, blinking at her.

"Ooh, this," she corrected, picking up a striped one with that same purple color. "And look," she cooed, leaning over to dig out another one. "Here, take the sweater off and let's look."

"These won't fit," I pointed out dryly as she kept trying to push one of the open ones onto me.

"You know your size, right?" she asked, stopping to look at me. "Just take the sweater off and whatever shirt you have on..."

"It's the wife beater," I realized, a bit embarrassed. The shirt was on my mind because the one I'd had on was uncomfortable. I'd left it in the car and the sweater was my go-to as soon as I could after work.

"Good," she retorted, stepping forward and yanking the sweater up.

I spluttered at her as she stripped it off me, trying to duck away from the jewelry bag that was smacking my face. The store felt cold without the sweater, and I huffed as I took the first of the shirts she'd been trying to foist off on me. I moved over to the section's mirror as I buttoned the thing up.

"That will look good," she noted, coming up behind me and pinching the edges back so we could get the idea of my proper size. "And with a tie with teal? Or maybe something clashing like orange."

I considered the idea, frowning at my reflection. "Here, try this," she added, stripping the stupid top off of me. She'd set the sweater and bag on a nearby shirt display, and proceeded to take me through the process of trying on probably ten shirts as I tried to argue her out of it.

"Listen to your girlfriend," an older man noted somewhat fondly as he gathered up a few shirts from a nearby stack. "My wife tells me exactly what to get, and I get complimented all the time."

I gave him a look.

He laughed warmly, winking at L, then walked away.

"Yes, listen to your girlfriend," L agreed brightly.

"I thought we just talked about that," I protested.

L laughed more, then passed me the last of the shirts.

"I meant to pick up two shirts," I informed her dryly as I buttoned the last one down. "And then go look at dresses for you. I figured I'd sit there on my phone while you tried on ten or fifteen of them, why am I the one trying stuff on?"

She laughed, then nodded her approval as she looked me over.

I sighed, turning to the mirror and stopping.

The color...looked good. It was a navy blue, which I tended to avoid. She shifted the back of the material, and I wanted to sigh as I realized that I had about three pairs of slacks that would go with it.

"This color suits you," she noted, tilting her head at me.

"I just avoid navy and white," I muttered with a sigh. "I don't think I'd wear it, even though it does look good."

I saw her eyes go sad in the mirror as she nodded, turning to pick up our stuff.

I frowned, wishing I hadn't reminded her of the asshole vampire. I moved to take my sweater from her and went to grab the proper sizes of the two shirts I'd liked beyond the blue.

"So, Gable knows a few designers," I noted as we headed for the formal area—I could tell she was ready to go, but I also wanted to distract her if I could manage it. "And they do this thing where they lend jewelry. If you want to feel like a starlet on the red carpet, I bet you he'd rent you jewelry that cost more than your apartment building."

She laughed at that, brightening.

"I have this idea in my head," I added, smiling at her as we stopped near the dresses. "Of you stopping everything when you come in, you know? Have all the hot actors coming to greet you while the actresses gnaw out their livers. One of the politicians might even rent you a flat somewhere to be their mistress."

She guffawed at me, evidently willing to be distracted.

"So you'll have to tell me what you actually like," I added, looking the area over. "Because I'm drawn to cleavage, and that's not actually helpful."

*Ryan

When I got the confirmation that Kevin and I weren't on rotation for the week around May first, I wanted to crow. I reported that the pair of us had been invited to the dragon's gala, and that we'd agreed to attend. I hadn't had a choice about being redirected to the captain, and I figured I was lucky I hadn't been given to a member of the senior council.

I'd had to explain why I'd been invited to the dragon's party, then why I was agreeing to go. I had to reassure the man that we weren't invited as wardens and would only act as wardens if the situation required it. We'd talked for most of an hour about the situation, because no one knew that L existed at all, or that the dragon's supposed new lover was actually a former bartender-friend that also happened to be my friend.

Of course, when I'd read him the actual formal invitation we'd been sent, he'd finally given over. The council was supposed to be allies with the dragon, and a formal invitation meant that refusal would be rude.

I flopped back on the bed, rubbing at my face. I'd half dozed after we'd finished talking, but the idea of going back to Vegas was exciting. I ignored the part of me that hoped Ethan would show up and let me beat the shit out of him again, and ignored the part of me that thought hunting Josh down and beating the crap out of him would be satisfying...

"What's up?" Kevin asked as he stopped in the door and looked at me.

"We're free," I supplied, shoving myself up and blinking at him as I frowned around to the wind-up clock on the desk.

"Seriously?" Kevin persisted, perking up. "Like, both of us?"

"I talked to Captain Taylor for an hour," I agreed dryly. "I had to explain to him why we'd been invited—which was because we met up with him for the apprentices, and not because L and Brian. I had to explain that it was a formal invitation to us as people instead of wardens...but he was letting me talk."

"Do you suppose he'll realize that?" Kevin asked curiously.

"I honestly hope not," I grinned at him, then frowned at the phone.

Since we'd realized that L and Brian could call me, we'd bought a fifty-foot phone cord. The phone tended to sit on my nightstand.

"What?" he asked, looking around the room.

"I asked them to call me back in three hours and it's going on four."

"Go call them from the payphone," he suggested. "What do you want to do? Go early and stay the whole eight nights?"

I rubbed at my face, realizing I needed to shave again. "I'm not sure. I think they'll want us to, but I wanted to get us all in on it."

"Well, me being home now counts," he noted, grinning at me. "And do you think we can bring guests?"

"Probably," I blinked at him. "We'd have to do the single rooms, but we can double check the information. Why?"

"Collin might show up," he grinned at me.

"He alright?" I asked, sobering slightly. He'd been spending more and more time with us, which was fine since he was Kevin's twin, but it wasn't exactly normal.

Evidently, he'd gotten into some huge fight and his entire team had nearly been killed. He'd come to see us to take a break from it. Considering that we'd had a huge run around that ended in a dragon showing up, I wasn't so sure he'd gotten the break from stress he'd needed.

"I think so," Kev frowned slightly. "It's part of why I want him to come. Besides, I think we should do single rooms so we can do things like find women."

"If Collin is there, how would you work that out?" I retorted.

"What's the likelihood of us both getting girls on the same night, honestly?"

I snorted at that, rolling my eyes.

"Why did you want to do the double room, anyway?" Kevin asked, leaning against the door as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"L wanted us to," I supplied. "I imagine so we could sit up and talk for hours. It'll be fine."

He nodded. "I'm going to start food, am I cooking for us both?"

"I'd appreciate it," I reassured him.

He turned and headed away, and I jumped hard as the phone rang.

"Hello?" I said quickly.

"Sorry, we were trying on dresses," Brian said happily.

"You need to do a saucy low-cut," I suggested.

He started laughing.

"So we're clear," I noted happily. "Barring something fun like a warlock showing up, we can come."

"Yeah," Brian noted beyond the phone.

I heard L cry out happily, smiling.

"So, I guess we can make plans, then," Brian noted brightly. "Hoc pointed out that you two should just do a rental place for suits."

"If they have my size," I noted dryly.

"Hm, yeah," Brian sounded almost smug. "I've never had to worry about that."

"It's okay," I reassured him happily. "We call you fun-sized."

Brian started laughing.

A/N: Hey, all, figured I'd put this up. Hope you're enjoying it. Leave a review if you're enjoying it, have a good day! ~kye