Chapter 3- Music of the Night

We arrive at the mansion in a little more then 20 minutes. The drive seemed endless and the jitters didn't dissapear from my stomach. There was a huge mansion in front of us, the driveway stretched in front of us with about twenty cars. The valets or the drivers took the cars somewhere to the back as the couples got out of them. We waited in line, which took another 20 minutes. When my turn finally came, there was someone to open the door for me and reach his hand out to take mine. I hold it, thankful for his help as I get out of the car, he greets me and I smile at him. I remember I had to act elegant and sophisticated as any aristocratic human invited to a vampire soiree would. I pulled my back straight, squared my shoulders and held my head up high. I picked up my dress from my knees to avoid tripping on the hem as I walked up the stairs. The mansion was indeed huge, made out of sand-stone bricks. There were multiple pillars in front of the house and the walkway and stairs were made of marble. I walk through the huge wooden door and almost gasp at the beguiling scenery. The women wore dresses of every color imaginable, the chandeliers were sparkling and caught the light from the glasses of champagne in peoples hands, there was an entire orchastra at the far end of the room playing soft music. Large windows aligned the room, the night sky could be seen.

I entered through the door and there were two staircases winding their way down into the throng of people on either side of me. I noticed women handing off their coats to a few men to the side of the entrance. I walk to the side and look down, there on the fifth step stood Zero. My heart skipped a beat. Though he would try and act invisible, he was the only entity in the entire mansion which my gaze wouldn't move away from. His eyes finally turn to mine, his face remains impassive, as if I'm like every other person in the room, contrary to the fact, his eyes don't leave mine and I see a familiar glint in them. I don't move my eyes or my head away from him as I unbutton my coat. His eyes remain on mine as I take off the coat. They instantly widen and his mouth opens slightly. He takes me in, almost hungrily. My heart rate picks up with the way he's looking at me. If he were not human, I would have thought he needed my blood. I blush at his stare and turn to the man beside me and hand him my coat. He appraises me, but I turn my head away. There are a lot more people looking at me, the men as well as the women, their eyes mostly stay at my neck which is completely bear except for the neclace Zero gave me. I make my way towards the stairs and notice a number of people stop talking to stare at me. I see them inhale deeply, some sniff the air, their eyes glowing red. I descend down the stair. I avoid Zero's eyes as they stay on me. When I reach him, I turn the slightest inch towards him and smile. His eyes are smouldering and I can see him clench his hands into fists. I continue going down, most of the people have stopped staring, yet I still notice people's eyes on me. As I reach the bottom steps I see a man extend his hand towards me.

'May I have this dance?' he asks, a hint of a british accent in his voice. He's wearing a black and white suit with a red tie. He was handsome with ash blond hair and green eyes.

I almost turn to look at Zero-instinctively- but stop myself, I smile and nod at him. He bows and I curtsy, willing myself not to make a mistake. He takes my extended hand and walks me to the centre of the room where people are dancing. I place my hand on his shoulder and my other in his hand, he places his on the curve of my waist. We dance for about 10 minutes and through it his eyes don't move from my neck, making me feel nervous and exposed under his eyes. When the song finally ended, another man made his way to me, he had brown tousled hair and brown eyes, he had a huge smile on his face and he wore a navy blue suit with a light lemon tie. Unlike the man before him, he kept talking and asking me questions, by the end of the dance I was out of breath and slightly annoyed. However, before I had time to catch my breath, another man came and asked me to dance. He didn't talk much but I realized he was human by the way his eyes were glued to my chest rather then my neck, mentally stripping me from the dress. I kept my body from touching his the entire dance. He would still try to close the distance and by the middle of it I made an excuse to go to the bathroom. I make my way to the side of the room and ask a waiter where the bathroom was. I follow his directions and make my way to a vacant hallway, after two wrong turns I find the bathroom. I enter and wash my face, fixing my makeup. I didn't have time for this, I had to find Usui Takemura, before the end of the night. I stay there for about five minutes then I get out. I walk back to the main floor when I feel someone pull me in a room and close the door. There are a few seconds of confusion in my head before I realize what happened to me, I take in a breath to let out a scream, but before I can a hand clamps down from behind me.

'Shh Yuki, its me.'

I breath a sigh of relief and the hand retreats from my mouth. I turn around and come face to face with my kidnapper.

'What is it Zero? I'm not getting in your way so you shouldn't care what I do, right?'

I turn to leave when he suddenly takes my shoulder and turns me around. He pushes me to the wall, his body pressed against mine. His hands take hold of my wrists as I try to push him away.

'Zero move, I have-'

Zero's lips crush against mine and my resolve to ignore him falls and I kiss him back, he lets go of my wrist and I wrap my arms around his neck. He kisses me hungrily, I open my mouth and his tongue plunges into my mouth and plays with mine. I move my hands down his body, unbuttoning his shirt. I feel his muscle tense and he shivers under me as I run my hands up and down his body. He roams his hands over my body. After a few minutes, we both separate from each other, breathing hard.

'Do you know how hard it was to not just jump on you when I saw you? Do you have any idea how much self-control that took? Sustaining my blood lust was a lot more easier.'

I laughed shakily at his angry voice. Kissing him again. Suddenly we both hear footsteps and freeze. We separate from each other. I fix my dress as he closes three of the buttons on his shirt that i had managed to open. The footsteps disappear and we look at each other, I let out a giggle and we both quietly laugh at our secret intimacy in the eyes of a whole party. He takes my hand and kisses it.

'I'm sorry about the way I acted, I just wanted to protect you.'

'I understand Zero,' I nod at him, 'I'm sorry for acting so childish.'

'Can I ask you a favour though,' he says opening the door, the light that comes inside blinds me for a few seconds.

'What is it?'

'Can you please stop dancing with every guy that asks you. That last guy was harder to hit than the other o-'

'Zero!' I say, incredulous, 'did you bother them?'

He shrugs, 'I didn't like them.'

'That doesn't mean you have to beat them up.' I say, though I felt somewhat smug and happy inside about his posessive nature.

He shrugs again, opening the door for me. 'They got what was coming to them.'

I return to the hall and Zero follows 10 minutes later to seem inconspicuous. After his talk, I rejected every guy that came to ask me to dance. I told them my boyfriend was possessive. They give me a weird look and walk away. I giggle inwardly. I walk around the room, admiring the womens dresses and the rooms alluring beauty. I took a galss of wine and hold in it my hand, like I see the other women doing. Nobody tries to talk to me, except for those who ask me to dance. Others give me looks with raised eyebrows, as if to ask, 'What're you doing here?'. Their gazes travel from my head to my toe. It makes me feel self-conscious, but I try to ignore the feeling. Half-way through the evening I spot Usui Takemura. He's wearing a black and white suit with the top three buttons open, and a lazy handkerchief in his breast pocket. He looks unkept with his dissheveled brown hair and drooping eyes. He has his arms draped casually around a womens waist, the same women in the picture the chairman had given me. I stand at the back of the room, leaning against a wall, my eyes stay on him. Suddenly he turns his head and turns towards me, staring directly into my eyes. His seem to darken and turn a shade of red. I don't avert my eyes and take a sip of the drink in my hand. He smile, almost maliciously and turns back the women, he brings his mouth to her ear and whispers something to her. She nods, her eyebrows furrowed. He leans away, letting her go and starts walking towards me. I don't know how I could remain so calm. My heart was steady and so was my gaze, maybe it was because Zero was here so I knew I was safe. I was really taking advantage of him. His eyes didn't leave mine, the smile still on his face. I knew he didn't look any different than the other vampire in the room , but he protruded a bad vibe that I didn't like. He stood in front of me and stared at me and I stared back at him, taking a sip of my drink. His eyes came to rest on my neck. He gave me his hand. And bowed.

'May I have this dance?' he asked, a hint of a Russian accent in his voice. I nodded, placing my glass on the table and took his hand. He smiles at me, showing his teeth, deliberately showing me his canines. I didn't flinch away as I thought he had expected me to do. His smile widened as I kept my face straight. He pulls me to him when we reach the dance floor, wrapping his arms around my waist and taking hold of my other hand. We start the dance, his eyes somewhat red and burning with an intensity that made me nervous, I keep my eyes away from him. I'm looking around the room until I find what I'm looking for, Zero leans against the wall, his arms crossed. I blink once and he nods understanding my silent message. Suddenly I feel something warm on my neck, I turn my head to find Usui with his face inches from my neck and his hot breath hitting my skin, sending shivers down my back. My heart rate picks up, and my face reddens at his proximity.

'Mmm, you smell so... exquisite.'

Before I can even gasp, I feel Usui's arms ripped apart from mine. I blank out for a second, I'm pulled by my elbow and follow where it leads me to stand. Then I find broad shoulders in front of me, holding me behind them. It's Zero, I move a step so I can have a better look at the situation. He has his bloody rose pointed at the vampire. I gasp and clutch at Zeros sleeve. Usui stands a few steps away from us, a malicious smirk on his face. I blink and the women Usui had in his arm at the beginning of the party is suddenly standing beside Zero, a small knife extending from her arm towards his neck. There is 5 seconds of silence, the entire ballroom is looking our way and the orchastra has stopped playing. All the while Usui smiles and Zero glares at him.

'It's alright Rose,' he turns to the girl, then turns back to Zero. 'My mistake.'

He raises his hand in surender, Rose drops the her hand to her side and bows to Usui. Zero lowers the gun and turns around abruptly, taking my hand and leading me off to the side.

'Zero,' I say, my voice cracks. 'Your hurting me.'

He loosens his grip but doesn't pull his arm away. He leads me up the stairs and through the door, taking me outside. I stand in the cold, shivering, while Zero asks the valet for his car.

'Zero, I'm just going to grab my jacket,' I say, pointing inside.

'I'll go get it,' he says, walking towards the door. I pull his hand.

'They wont know its my coat, and you have to wait for the car anyways.'

He nods and I smile at him to show him I'm fine before going back up the stairs. I return to the ball room and go to the side for my coat. The man hands it to me and I thank him. I walk to the door, busy putting on my jacket when I'm suddenly pulled into a dark room. This seems to be happening a lot today.

I sigh frustrated. 'That's getting kind of old Zero.'

'I'll remember not to do it again.'

I freeze. It wasn't Zero, it was Usui's voice. I turn towards the door ready to sprint out but I'm suddenly pulled back, I fall back towards the ground. Everything is dark, my fear rises and I shakily get up, my heart accelerating. I wave my hands in front of my face, idiotically, until I feel the wall. I follow the wall, hoping it will lead me to the door. I can't hear anything except my quick and heavy breathing and the dull sound of the music in the ball room. Suddenly, I feel a sensation across my shoulders, I shiver as I feel Usui touch my bare back. He slides my zipper down, trailing his finger along with it. I whip around, hoping to slap him, but my hand makes contact with thin air. I keep moving, my breathing now coming in gasps, my tears threatening to overflow. I finally feel the handle of the door, relief washes down on me. Suddenly, I feel him in front of me. I can't see anything but I feel him, he moves his hand over my neck line. I gasp.

'Please,' I whisper, pleadingly, 'Please don't hurt me.'

He moves his hands across my cheeks.

'I'm not going to hurt you.'

My breathing slows, I take trust in his words since I have nothing else.

'Are you afraid of me?' he whispers. His voice neutral.

My thought come to another person who had asked me the very same question, I almost smile at the memory, but given the circumstances I didn't.

'Yes,' I said. Honest and true.

He traces his thumb over my lips softly. I feel nauseus, I didn't want his touch, I wanted Zero's. I wanted him right now. So much that tears come to my eyes.

'I said I won't hurt you.'

'Then let me go.'

Instantly, he moves away. I turn around, I feel his hands on my back, zipping my dress back up. I open the door, wiping my tears.

'Yuki Cross. I'll remember your face,' I hear him say before I sprint out of the room and out of the building.