Chapter 8 – Dance With Me
When you again start hopin'
With your arms wide open
Come on, dance with me, oh, dance with me
Into the colours of the dusk
[Ben Harper – In The Colors]
Laura felt cold, when she awoke the next afternoon. By the time she grabbed the bed sheet dozily, to put it tighter around her body, she realized not only, that she already was wrapped into it like a sushi roll, but also that something else was embracing her, which felt hard as stone, but simultaneously had a pleasantly smooth surface. It took her at least 10 more minutes in her sleepy state, until it dawned on her that this something was rather a someone.
Hesitantly she opened her eyes and was quite baffled to indeed find a sleeping vampire's face above hers. She couldn't remember falling asleep in this position, but she wouldn't complain about it. It was the first time she really had the chance to observe his beautiful appearance without feeling awkward, or being caught.
His hazel hair stood messily in all directions, as if he had had problems falling asleep in the morning. She couldn't resist brushing her hand softly through it, while she examined his peacefully slumbering face. His mesmerizing eyes were hidden behind closed lids, framed with soft looking eyelashes and his usually rather earnest lips were curved into a gentle smile, as if he had thought of something nice before he'd dropped off.
Her gaze traveled lower, over his exposed neck to the muscular shoulder with the rune tattoo on it. The hand that had been stroking through his hair, followed the trail of her gaze over his soft skin and traced the outlines of the mark with awe.
These tattoos were the only thing that constantly reminded her of his immense age, because although she had felt a certain aura of wisdom, that only came with age radiating off him, she soon started to ignore it whenever he spent time with her. Not once had he boasted about his knowledge, or given her the feeling that her experiences were just a mere drop in the sea of his.
She stayed like that for at least half an hour, gently caressing his smooth skin and admiring his perfect appearance. Only when she started to shudder, she carefully wriggled her body out of his tight embrace and refreshed herself in the adjoined bathroom – which looked similar to the ones in the guest rooms. She had supposed she'd find a bit of clotted blood still sticking to her temple, but to her surprise there was none. A bit irritated she still splashed cold water into her face and rubbed a few times, to speed the wake-up process up a bit.
After grabbing her possessions and writing a quick note for Godric, she tipped the code into the high-tech security-center beside the basement door and left the house the same way she had come: with the first cab, that stopped for her.
As soon as she had made herself comfortable on the back seat, she fished her cell phone out of her bag and turned it on to check if she had missed a call or message. And indeed, she had missed quite a few – all from the same person: The Giant.
18:03 – You look charming, Princess – keep me posted!
21:32 – Has master already unwrapped his tempting red present?
06:41 – Call me as soon, as you read this!
08:13 – You just send me a FUCKING message?! – and shut your cellphone off afterwards – ARE YOU SERIOUS?!
After she had read the last message, she also realized that he had obviously tried to call her right after she'd sent him a brief word about the last night. Well that had been poor timing, but nonetheless he had definitely overreacted. A bit irritated she began to type:
16:49 – I'm sorry Hulk, I was tired. But I have a lot to tell you – call me as soon as you're awake!
She hoped he wouldn't be a pain in the ass when he'd call, but she doubted it. Just as she was about to store her phone away again, it rang and a bit surprised, she discovered that the screen said 'The Giant', before she hesitantly pressed the green button.
"Who the hell do you think you are?! If I tell you to call me you should fucking do it!"
"Eric, calm down, I-"
"The hell I will! I stayed awake, waiting for your call and you ungrateful little brat had the audacity to fob me off with a lousy message! I was worried about you, you tiny – argh!", he bellowed, obviously lacking the right words to describe what he felt and left her totally speechless.
He had really been worrying about her? The Giant?! She felt an uncomfortable knot forming in her throat, as a sense of guilt started to nag at her. So Godric had been right...
"Laura?! If you hung up on me now, I swear-"
"Nononono! I'm here – still listening, just a bit baffled", she admitted and sighed before she continued softly, "I'm sorry I didn't call you back in the morning. I obviously underestimated your concern. I hope you didn't stay awake until now?!"
"No. I wrapped my cellphone in silver", he explained as if it was a common practice, but he still sounded quite pissed, "The vibration of your incoming message moved it towards my skin and the pain woke me up."
"Oh", she just muttered lamely, but continued in a honeyed voice, "Will you forgive me?"
She knew that she was still his only chance to keep an eye on Godric, without him noticing it – he simply had no other choice than to forgive her!
"Well, I'll think about it", he grumbled, but his tone betrayed that he wouldn't hold it against her anymore, "So what happened last night?"
She immediately started to recall the previous afternoon, evening and morning in detail (as she had been unconscious most of the night, she had no clue what Godric had been doing at that time), just interrupted by paying the driver and ascending the stairs to her apartment.
It caused her to grin, when he praised her as his 'witty little accomplice' after she had told him about her gift for Godric's new home. But when she came to the part, where they had talked about the Second World War and the ancient vampires whereabouts back then, Eric had first been suspiciously silent.
After a few of her inquisitive queries he had admitted that he had been in Augsburg as well – with his maker. But he nibbled every further question in the bud.
By the time she mentioned the ball taking place in less than three days, the tall vampire reacted quite unexpectedly. She had thought he would be joking that it had been high time that Godric made a move or something like that (because he used to do exactly that, whenever he had the chance to). But in fact, he was almost being angry – and stranger than that fact itself, was the reason why he was upset: because there were only 2 nights left, to obtain a dress for her, worthy of the occasion.
"What gives you the impression, that I need your help when it comes to my wardrobe?", she asked him dryly while she made her way to the bathroom.
"I had a look at it..."
"Well – thanks a lot!", she exclaimed with feigned indignation, but had trouble stifling a laugh. His dislike for her style of clothing was just too hilarious!
"I'll send a professional to you – she'll attend to this problem", she heard his pleasant voice tell her and she just sighed in surrender, "I'll also send some AB- blood units with her."
"Why AB-? He's always drinking 0+ when he's visiting!"
"Why would he drink something as ordinary as 0+?!", Eric exclaimed in a disbelieving tone, "He's always been in quest of special flavors – why would he suddenly be satisfied with the most common blood type?! Only if he- … aaah … interesting."
She had listened to his reasoning and could downright picture his self-satisfied smirk, when he obviously had come to a conclusion. But to her dismay, he apparently had no intention to share it.
"Wanna enlighten me too?"
"You'll find out soon enough", he just answered vaguely and even had the audacity to chuckle.
"Well, if that's the case, I have to stop this unsatisfying conversation now", she declared in mocked annoyance, but didn't have the heart to dismiss him like that and continued, "I really need to shower before Godric shows up!"
"Unsatisfying? – Now I'm truly hurt! No woman has ever had a reason to use this word to describe anything she had done with me!"
"HA!", she laughed out loud, "I doubt that – you probably just ignored such comments, or chose not to hear them..."
"I'm actually glad you need a shower – I have no desire to keep this conversation going", he noted with a rather displeased voice, but interposed a quick suggestion before he hung up, "– and don't use too much shower gel, it drowns this pleasant scent of yours..."
"What?!", she asked in shock, but all that answered her, was the peeping sound of the dead line.
Hours later she sat on her couch with Godric beside her and just talked about the pictures in his bedroom and how one of them didn't really make sense in her opinion, when suddenly her bell rang.
"Do you expect someone?", he asked her gently, while she got up to answer the door.
"Well – sort of. Eric said he would send someone to help me with my wardrobe – because it is obviously not glamorous enough for the ball in two days", she explained, while she looked at him over her shoulder and sighed before she opened the door.
The woman standing in front of her was extraordinarily good looking and wore a rose colored ladies suit. Her full lips were coated with a fitting color and her piercing blue eyes stared at her in a bored manner, while her arms were crossed in front of her chest. A big expensive looking bag hung from her shoulder – also rose – and her stiletto tapped on the floor, as if she had already been waiting too long.
"Thank god you're not really that chubby thing from the photograph Eric showed me!"
Her voice sounded smooth and had a pleasantly low tone for a woman. She tucked one of her long, blond strands behind her ear and eyed her expectantly.
"Well – thanks?!", Laura replied, not really sure how to react. If that comment had been meant as a compliment, she could have phrased it more carefully …
"You're welcome", the woman before her just noted with a dismissive hand-movement, "Will you invite me in now, or what?"
"I don't even know who you are!", she exclaimed a bit taken aback, "I don't invite just every vampire into my apartment!"
"And you could have been a tad friendlier Pamela!", Godric's low voice stated matter-of-factly, before the woman could have replied and when Laura turned her head in it's direction, she realized that he was already standing directly beside her.
So this was this ominous Pamela – or Pam – the two had mentioned...
"I had hoped to see you!", the female vampire admitted in a much friendlier tone now and her piercing glare also softened remarkably, while she examined Godric.
"Would you please invite me in, Laura?", the blonde woman tried again, much more polite this time and turned her gaze back to her, "– so I can greet my Granddaddy in a suitable way."
"Granddaddy?!", Laura echoed, baffled and looked shocked from the woman in front of her to Godric and back.
"Did Eric never mention me?", the female vampire asked with feigned shock and laid one of her hands flat against her chest to emphasize the expression, "I am his only progeny. Pamela Swynford De Beaufort."
As it had happened much too often in the past two weeks, Laura's mouth involuntarily opened and she just stared dizzily at the woman in front of her. When the female vampire started to cock her brow in an Eric-like fashion and coughed to remind her of her request, Laura blinked a few times and averted her gaze as soon as possible.
"Sorry for staring", she muttered sheepishly, but continued in a much more confident tone, "May you please come in, Ms. De Beaufort?"
The female vampire rushed inside, came to a halt between her and Godric and stood in front of him for a moment, as if she had to contemplate her next move. But when Godric's lips started to twitch ever so slightly upwards, she obviously forgot about etiquette and simply embraced him in a tight hug.
"It has been much too long...", he chuckled, while he patted her shoulder in a fatherly manner.
"You're damn right! I still don't know why you two parted ways – but don't dare to ever do it again! Eric was a pain in the ass the first couple of years!", she scolded him when she slowly broke away from his loose hug. She deliberately smoothed her skirt out before she muttered something in a language Laura couldn't understand, but obviously it was something nice, because Godric's barely noticeable smile grew wider.
After Laura had closed the door, she and Godric reverted to the couch, while Ms. De Beaufort made herself comfortable in one of the armchairs. They stared at each other for a few moments, until the female vampire lost her patience.
"We should get started – you're not getting any younger", she stated while she inspected her perfectly manicured nails, "I suppose Eric informed you, why he sent me?"
"Because he has a very specific taste my wardrobe doesn't cater to?!", Laura tried dryly and cocked her brow in a challenging manner. When she suddenly heard Godric chuckle beside her, she turned her head and eyed him in confusion.
"I really can not comprehend, why it is of such importance, what Laura is going to wear", he mused, while he shot her an apologetic glance.
"Men!", Ms. De Beaufort just snorted and shook her head, "You definitely are susceptible to visual appeal, but don't give a damn about how much time and thought a woman has to invest, to look attractive for you!"
Well, Laura had to admit that she had a point there. But Godric didn't seem very interested in appearances in general – he had complimented her a few times, but she wasn't really sure if it was because he honestly found her attractive, or because he thought it was the polite thing to do.
His own style of clothing wasn't exactly the most stunning either. He usually wore simple linen pants and shirts, mostly in earth tones varying only in their brightness. She was more than eager to see what he would be wearing at the ball – she almost expected him to turn up with his usual, modest attire. But she wouldn't complain, as that was stunning enough. It wasn't important what he was wearing, he would look breathtaking nonetheless…
"I will take my leave then. I suppose Pamela does not really care to involve me in this dress-decision?", Godric's voice ripped her out of her musings, when he stood up.
"No, not really!", the blonde vampiress admitted without batting an eye and also got up from her seat, waving her hands in a shooing motion.
"You're always welcome to rest at my home", he assured her, smiling and obviously not the least bit hurt by her rather rude answer.
"I will gladly take you up on it!", she replied and gave him a wide smirk.
By that time, Laura had gotten up too and eyed the two a bit taken aback. She watched as Godric approached her and felt her heart rate rise, when he bent forward. His lips nearly touched her ear and she could feel his breath when he whispered a "Good luck!" to her. But before she could have replied anything, he was gone.
Not a second later Ms De Beaufort zipped to the fridge and was standing expectantly beside Laura the next moment. A bit baffled, she eyed the female vampire, who just muttered something about storing the blood. She had switched to examining Laura from head to toe, which didn't really add to her self-assurance.
"Now that he's gone I can admit, that I don't really see a problem with your outfit either", Ms. De Beaufort stated, while her gaze trailed Laura's body up and down, "You could show more skin, but it's not like you're dressing like a hipster or something… – You should show me your dresses!"
"Thanks – I guess", Laura just replied and turned to stride into the direction of her bedroom, where her clothes were neatly stored.
When Ms. De Beaufort finally browsed through her entire wardrobe, she didn't say a word and just grabbed each piece of cloth, examined it and snatched the next. Only when she came to a plum-red coat, she extracted it to take a closer look. She seemed to look for something but obviously couldn't find it and just stared at Laura with a reproachful look.
"Where's the point in removing the labels?", the blonde woman asked her wryly and cocked her brow, "Is it Prada – or Gucci? How I could have overlooked this piece is beyond me!"
Laura just looked at her with big eyes and let her gaze dart to the cloth in the woman's hands and back to her beautiful face. She tried really hard, but couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter.
"Gucci or Prada?!", she snorted between laughing and taking breaths, "I suppose that's the first real compliment from you – I made this!"
Ms. De Beaufort's expression slowly changed from indignant, to annoyed and finally stuck to flabbergasted. Even her mouth was slightly agape – it was a vision to behold, to say the least!
"Don't tell me you made this!", the vampiress exclaimed and brandished the coat, "This is tailoring at its best – sewed exceptionally neatly – and also the fabrics are high quality!"
"My mom bought some of the fabrics", Laura admitted and pointed at a few silk dresses and skirts, "But I don't have the money to work solely with such expensive materials."
"So you're being serious!?"
"Yep!", she simply answered, popping the 'p'.
The stylish vampire before her just looked at the coat in her hands, as if Laura's statement just had turned her whole worldview upside down, before she shook her head and stored it away again. Without another word she reverted to browsing through Laura's clothes again.
"This dress looks like it would be suitable for a ball", she stated when she had obviously found something and retrieved a grey-blue shaded dress from the hanging rail, "And it matches your eye color perfectly."
The cleavage was relatively generous and as it was a neck-holder dress it would also show quite a lot of her back. But other than most of her creations, the fabric nearly reached the floor, which made the dress more suitable for events like balls.
Around the cleavage and neck-holder, ornaments in darker blue-shades accented the fabric and decreased towards the lower end.
"Yeah. I actually made it with that motive in mind", Laura admitted slowly and grabbed the bottom of the dress to feel the smooth fabric, "But then my parents forbade me to attend the prom – I never wore it."
Ms. De Beaufort eyed her for a while and for a short moment, Laura thought she'd even seen something like pity cross her face.
"We should change that. But I think some adjustments are necessary – you dropped weight since you sewed it?"
"I'm afraid you're right", Laura sighed, but was happy, that she wouldn't be forced to wear a close-fitting much too short dress. As lovely as the ruby-red dress Eric had bought for her was – she didn't really feel comfortable wearing it...
"Thanks Ms. De Beaufort. I really appreciate your efforts", she muttered when she withdrew the dress from the woman's hands, "I'm not really keen on wearing something extremely revealing ..."
"I feel old when I'm called like that – just call me Pam, Sugar!"
The last two nights Pam had helped her to find fitting accessories to the dress. They had ended up with a light blue leather purse, a hairpin jeweled with blue gems and high heels in the exact same color as the ornaments on the dress. But as they had Eric's credit card with them, they had certainly bought a few other things too (just because Pam had insisted on making use of it of course)...
Other than that, they had adjusted the dress, which meant: they had pinned, unstitched and resewn it tighter. Pam also convinced her to unstitch the seam at one side up to her hip, so that now most of her left leg would be shown.
When the night of the ball was finally there, Laura had already showered and waited eagerly for Pam to arrive. As soon as the bell rang, she hurried to the door to let the female vampire in – wrapped in only a towel.
The blonde woman urged her to put the new lance lingerie on, which they had purchased the night before. It had a simple white to make sure it wouldn't be seen through the thin satin fabric of the dress – and, as Pam had put it, 'to emphasize her 'purity'' (as if anyone would get the chance to see it...).
The female vampire steered her to sit down on a stool in the bathroom and started to adjust anything she thought was necessary and thanks to her vampire-speed, she was finished with her make-up within a few minutes (which Laura was extremely grateful for). But Pam didn't allow her to examine how she looked and immediately turned her attention to her hair.
She curled it, drew a side parting to her right head side and pinned the side with fewer hair up with the beautiful hairpin. After she had arranged the untamed locks on the other side like she wanted them to stay, she sprayed some setting lotion into it and took a step back to examine her work.
When she was obviously pleased with the result, she helped Laura into her dress next and left the room to fetch something. They had agreed that the silver necklace of her Gran would fit nicely to her outfit (as Pam had told her, that even Eric had mentioned liking it), so she turned to the mirror to put it on.
When she saw what Pam had conjured out of her, she had trouble holding her tears back. Never before had she looked that beautiful. Her eyes were shaded in a grey tone and outlined by grey eyeliner. It emphasized her eyes, without looking too offensive or glamorous, which made her feel quite comfortable and in fact really pretty.
Her lips were tinted in a light rose tone and a bit rouge on her cheeks made her appear healthier. Her honey colored locks cascaded down her head like a dark golden river and the hairpin created an interesting accent.
Just when she realized that her hands and ears looked somewhat bare, Pam appeared behind her and leant against the doorframe for a moment.
"It's a shame you're Godric's. You look good enough to eat."
"Thanks Pam", Laura simply muttered and rolled her eyes, but couldn't prevent a warm feeling flushing her cheeks. She ignored the statement about being Godric's, as Eric had mentioned something like that too on several occasions and she supposed it was just a vampire thing to say.
"Cute", Pam simply noted and chuckled, while she strode to her side to show her something. "I brought these with me, as Eric has told me about this necklace of yours. I think they should match."
Laura quickly glanced at the female vampire beside her, who wore her usual mischievous smirk, before she directed it to the two little jewelry cases in her hands. One contained earrings with light blue, cut gemstones, formed like drops of water, the other a delicate looking ring with the same jewel.
"They're mine. I expect you to take good care of them, because I want them back afterwards!", the female vampire stated bluntly, while she examined her nails in a bored manner, like she often did when she said something that could've been interpreted as nice.
"You trust me enough to lend me something?!", Laura asked, baffled and observed her with big eyes, while she put the cases down beside the sink.
"Obviously."
Laura didn't really think before she simply embraced the fashionable vampire in a tight hug. "I really appreciate it. You won't regret it!"
"Hope so", Pam just muttered while she patted Laura's head awkwardly, as if she wasn't sure how to react.
As soon as Laura had calmed down, they put the jewelries on to finish her outfit – which happened not a moment too soon, because the bell rang within the next few seconds.
The young woman eyed the female vampire beside her self-consciously and bit on her bottom lip, before she reluctantly made her way to the apartment door. Her heartbeat increased with every step she took and when she finally stood in front of her entrance, she had the feeling, as if it would jump out of her chest at any moment.
This would be the first and probably only ball she'd ever attend to – and Godric would be her cavalier! She definitely had more luck than judgement...
"You look enchanting, Laura", was the first thing he voiced, after she had opened the door. And she was speechless.
He definitely wasn't wearing his usual attire, like she had expected – he wore a black suit, with a white shirt underneath and a blue-grey tie (as if someone had told him, which color she would wear). His hair was styled into a hinted side parting and stood off a bit messily, which gave him a boyish appearance.
His skin looked as pale as ever, but as she wasn't keen on starting an argument, she didn't mention it.
"And you look breathtaking", she uttered after a few moments of silence, "I actually expected you to turn up with your usual linen-clothes."
She heard Pam snort beside her and turned her head to eye the beautiful woman a bit puzzled.
"What would that have looked like? Men should also make some efforts once in a while!"
Godric simply chuckled at that statement and retrieved something out of his suit coat, which looked suspiciously like a jewelry box...
"Pamela told me you could need a bracelet", he stated and opened the case without hesitation, "I hope it is to your liking..."
On the velvety lining of the box lay a delicate silver – or rather silver looking – bracelet with numerous pendants. All were formed like water drops and were obviously made of the same gemstones as Pam's earrings and ring. If they hadn't coordinated this, she'd eat her hat...
"It's lovely Godric", she whispered in awe and smiled shyly at him, "Would you help me put it on?"
Wordlessly he took the jewelry out of its case and opened it with subtle fingers. When he looked at her, as if he'd ask for permission again, she simply nodded and held her arm out towards him. Gently he placed the delicate bracelet around her wrist and closed the clasp, before he took her hand and lifted it to his lips, to place a soft kiss onto its back.
"Are you ready Ms. Freeman?", he asked her and a lopsided grin emerged on his face, when he discovered her rosy cheeks.
The drive to the venue was relatively silent – Laura was too excited, to start a proper conversation, but apart from that she also had the impression that Godric rather enjoyed the quiet anyway (probably because he already had an idea what to expect at their arrival).
When they finally stopped and Godric helped her out of the limousine, there was a quite long queue in front of the entrance, which meant: many people and a high noise pollution. Laura sighed a bit irritated, when she thought about the time they'd waste waiting to get inside the building.
"I think we can skip that", Godric suddenly whispered into her ear, obviously to ease her displeasure, "Fortunately I know a few advantageous tricks for such situations."
He winked at her and grabbed her hand to trail her behind himself. She met a few resentful glares along the way, but she couldn't care less – at the moment she was on cloud nine. After all she was at a ball – with Godric – AND she didn't even have to wait for admission! She felt like a spoiled child playing princess...
"Oh sheriff!", the woman at the entrance exclaimed with excitement, ignoring the other guests she had just tended to, which left the man beside her to take a look at their entrance cards, "We didn't expect you to come personally!"
"There have been a few replacements – I am not in the position of the sheriff anymore", Godric stated calmly, as he retrieved his entrance-card from his jacket and Laura immediately started to fiddle with her purse too, in search of hers, "But I am not here for business – at least not entirely."
He darted Laura an apologetic glance, which she probably received due to the fact that he had refrained from telling her the real reason for their attendance to this particular ball. But to be honest, she had already suspected something like that. Why else would he drag her to a police ball? It was quite obvious that it had something to do with his former job of sorts...
She gave his hand, which was still wrapped comfortably around hers, a reassuring squeeze and smiled softly at him. He had absolutely no reason to look at her like that – she was extremely happy that he had taken her with him. He could have asked Pam, or this Isabel he had mentioned a few times, or any other of the certainly many women he knew – after all, this lady in front of them obviously was an acquaintance of his too...
"Oh that's a pity! You were so competent!", the woman gushed, while she tore the entrance cards apart, Godric and Laura had handed her and affixed a stamp on the back of Godric's hand without warning, before she addressed Laura in a rather rude tone, "I need to see your ID Miss!"
A bit annoyed that she hadn't thought about it herself, she dug around in her purse for a few moments, until she finally found the card and handed it over. The woman tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear and tilted her head, which exposed her neck quite obviously, while she examined Laura's ID.
When she received it back, Laura also got a stamp affixed to the back of her hand, but it had a different color than Godric's. His was dark blue, while hers was red – it probably had something to do with the drinks she would be able to (or rather not) consume inside.
With one of his fake smiles attached to his lips, Godric nodded curtly at the woman and turned to enter the building, ushering Laura inside with a hand on the small of her back.
The ceiling of the entrance hall was extremely high and huge chandeliers ensured the necessary light. A cloakroom was located to the left side, while people rushed past it to the right.
"I am sorry for that", Godric apologized again – verbally this time – while they entered the big hall, "I had hoped it would take longer before the first officer would recognize me..."
"So she was an officer?", Laura asked in a disbelieving tone and eyed the vampire beside her with surprise, "Well, at least you weren't forced to manipulate anyone with your dubious vampire tricks!"
She winked playfully at him, before she let her gaze roam about the classically decorated room. Tables and chairs were positioned at the sides for those who wanted to relax, but most of the center had been left free to provide enough space for the majority, who came here to dance. At the other end of the room, a band was situated on a little stage and ensured a great atmosphere – to Laura's amazement the dancers didn't seem to be in each other's way, despite their great number.
The huge windows to the right side revealed a lovely inner yard with a few green areas with trees and bushes. Candles on the tables, as well as a few torches here and there and an open fireplace – where a barbecue got going – illuminated the area and evoked a romantic feeling for those who needed a bit of fresh air.
"Would you like to drink something?", Godric asked politely, wearing his emotionless mask again. She was glad that he showed it less and less often in her company, but when they were in public, he tended to fall back into old patterns.
"Yes please", she answered with a smile and he was gone within the next second. She just chuckled and shook her head, while she observed the dancing crowd. Most of them were just swaying to the music, but some really showed off.
It just took Godric about a minute, till he stood beside her again, with a glass of orange juice in his hand. She accepted it gratefully and took a few hasty gulps, but when she became aware of how unwomanly she just had behaved, she felt a heat rise to her cheeks.
"I'm sorry – I was really thirsty", she admitted meekly and bit on her lip, "With all this dressing up, I completely forgot to drink something..."
"There is no need for excuses – it is rather entertaining to watch you drink with such a craving, to be honest", he chuckled and she felt her cheeks turn an even darker shade of red.
"Well, I'm glad my behavior is at least entertaining for you", she stated dryly, as she had calmed down again and emphasized her statement by gulping down the rest of her drink.
"Another one My Lady?"
"Yes Sir – at least one!"
It took him even less than a minute and he also handed her two drinks this time. She just grinned and shook her head disbelievingly, but thanked him nonetheless.
"Would you like to dance, Laura?", Godric asked her gently, as soon as she had finished her juices and a pleasant shiver ran down her spine at the sound of her name.
As she had spent a lot of time in his company during the last almost three weeks, she had become quite accustomed to his looks (at least if he was dressed), but his voice was still something else entirely – especially when he said her name in this low, almost whispering voice he had just used.
"I'd love to. But I have to warn you – I'm not exactly a natural, to be honest ..."
"I bet you are much better than you give yourself credit for", he chuckled and took her hand to lead her onto the dancing floor, "Otherwise I would be pleased, if you would allow me to teach you!"
He adjusted the way he held her hand as soon as they were among the dancing crowd, now not just gripping it to prevent losing her, but gently enveloping it in his own. His other hand was placed on the small of her back and he used it to reduce the space between them with a careful, but unexpected pull. Laura's eyebrows twitched upwards in surprise, but she didn't utter a word.
Dancing with Godric was much easier than she had expected. She had already feared she'd tread on his feet or something similarly clumsy, but although they spent quite a lot of time on the dance floor, she never found herself in such an embarrassing situation.
In fact, the movements almost felt natural, while he led her across the parquet and she didn't have to concentrate at all. It was the exact opposite of her former dancing experiences – which narrowed down to the few dancing lessons she had attended with Patrick a few weeks before his prom (and when she still thought she would go there too).
Godric even managed to twirl her around a few times, without the least effort of either of them. It didn't need an expert to see that he was an extremely skilled dancer and knew exactly what he was doing.
But the attention she didn't need to invest in her movements, slowly but surely drifted to fields she better should've avoided. Like the fact that his cool hand felt really nice on her back, or how his breath stroked her skin, whenever he whispered a warning into her ear, before he twirled her again.
She was glad that he started a conversation when the music slowed down and the couples around them moved even closer together.
"How do you feel – is it as you had expected?"
"No", she stated without thinking, but when she caught a wave of disappointment washing over his usually indifferent face for a second, she quickly explained, "It's much better! Thanks for this lovely night – I really appreciate it!"
"Thank you for joining me!", he replied and gave her one of his warm, real smiles before silence settled again between them. But as soon as Laura caught herself slowly feeling much too comfortable in his arms again, she sought to distract herself and tried to revive their conversation.
"You mentioned you'd need to do business here?", she started carefully and eyed him, while they slowly swayed to the music.
"Only if someone approaches me", he replied calmly and while his glance roamed about the dancers around them, "Isabel ordered me to enjoy the night and avoid the business related part as much as possible."
"She ordered you to do so – is this Isabel your boss then? Is she the new sheriff now?"
"Yes, she is in charge now. Nobody would have been more qualified for this job."
"Did you often work with the police?", Laura asked and eyed him curiously, "I mean, the woman at the entrance knew you – have you been working on a case together?"
"No, we do not work together like this", Godric explained and sought her gaze with his, "The police simply contact us whenever they assume that a vampire is involved – whether as victim or as culprit. We usually take over from there. Since the Great Revelation we have established this strategy and it has proven to be quite a success."
She nodded understandingly and let her gaze wander into the distance for a few moments.
"... Do you miss it?", she asked hesitantly after a short pause, "I mean - being sheriff."
"Not at all", he chuckled and squeezed her hand gently for a moment, "I really enjoy spending time with you, Laura – that would not be possible, if I still were in charge of this area."
She bit her bottom lip and felt this much too familiar heat rise to her cheeks again. "I enjoy your company too Godric", she admitted shyly and averted her gaze in embarrassment, before she abruptly changed the subject, "How's your new bonsai doing?"
"Oh, it is fine", he chuckled, while she felt his eyes lingering on her face, her own still stubbornly glaring over his shoulder, "I think it feels quite comfortable at its new location – as I had more time to play the piano during the last two nights, than usual."
"Because you didn't have to visit me."
"No, because I was not allowed to", he corrected calmly and Laura's gaze slowly turned to face him again, examining him baffled. "Pamela forbad me to", he clarified with the hint of a smile, "Although I would have avoided your place anyway, as long as you two were occupied, searching for your perfect attire. It was definitely worth the invested time by the way."
"Thank you", she simply uttered and averted her gaze again.
"Pamela mentioned you have sewn the dress yourself?", he asked gently, obviously not intending to let the topic slip.
"Yes, but I never wore it before", she admitted, while she observed other dancers over his shoulder, "I'm glad she decided to give it a chance, I really like it."
"It shows the color of your eyes off to its best advantage – I like it too", he stated matter-of-factly and she was grateful that he sounded rather casual this time.
While she was still at school, she had been quite chubby and boys tended to tease her about it, not once having a single nice thing to say to her and while she had been home schooled the last two years, her only male company was Patric, who had never really complemented her for anything either. She wasn't used to receiving compliments – she didn't know what the others expected of her in return (if anything at all) and that made her feel quite uncomfortable.
Obviously Godric had realized as much, because he started to approach the topic differently now. Whenever he let something slip, that could have been interpreted as a compliment, he used some sort of business-tone – not his usual, soft voice – which caused the said words to sound like statements and not pleasantries and coaxed Laura to really believe his words, without blushing every time.
When they decided to pause for a few minutes, Laura took the chance to excuse herself for a human moment, but when she returned to the hall, Godric was crowded by a few people who eagerly talked to him. When she took a closer look, she also recognized the woman from the entrance. She assumed the people were all police officers and therefore she decided to give them a few more minutes alone with him.
She made her way out to the inner yard and enjoyed the romantic atmosphere there, glancing inside every once in a while, to look if Godric was still occupied, until a young man beside her caught her attention.
"Some people obviously don't know, when it's better to stop", he noted with an amused tone and gestured to a couple, who claimed more than four times the space others needed. Both were probably in their forties – she was dressed much too revealing, he was styled with a ton of hair gel – and danced around with frantic movements, sometimes obviously offbeat. Their faces showed deeply concentrated expressions and a rather red color – not very surprising, considering the (unnecessary) speed they moved with.
"Well if they enjoy what they're doing, we shouldn't bother about it", she simply chuckled and shrugged, smiling at the young man. Despite her high heels, he was about a head taller than her and had chin long, dark and curly hair, partly tied together at the back of his head. When he approached her, his warm smile immediately caused her to smile too and his brown-green eyes were fixated on hers.
"Wanna take a bite?", he asked casually, when he had stopped beside her, still observing the dancing crowd, but holding a skewer out to her, "They're quite delicious!"
"I'm vegetarian, but I wouldn't mind a bite of pepper if you can live without it"
"Definitely – I don't really like vegetables anyway", he chuckled and started to rearrange the pieces, till the meat was located on one side of the spit and the vegetables (mostly peppers and onions) on the other. When he had finished, he handed the skewer to Laura, who immediately started to nibble at her end.
"This one was definitely put on a diet – but as his woman is currently absent, he takes his chance to eat whatever he wants", he chuckled and gestured to an elderly man to their left, eating off at least four spits in his hands, when Laura handed him his skewer back.
"Maybe he merely enjoys the delicious food here", she mused, but still laughed about his comment – his assumption wasn't entirely far-fetched...
"William! What are you doing?!", a woman shouted, as she approached said man, who let the food slip out of his hands in shock.
Now Laura really started to laugh and the young man beside her joined her promptly.
"You're really good – are you a detective or something?"
"Nah – just studying law", he clarified and took the last bite of meat, before he handed Laura the spit with the remaining pieces of pepper, "I work for a law office part time. They sent me here to spread a few business cards here and there..."
"Sounds fun", she noted dryly, chewing on the last pepper.
"Exactly", he admitted and sighed, "But I think I've already slipped them enough cards. It's time to have some fun!"
He rubbed his hands in anticipation and let his face roam about the crowd in the big hall. His eyes darted from the dance floor to the dining tables until they stuck to the bar area.
"Look at those two: she couldn't hit on him more obviously", he pointed out and gestured at a woman, who deliberately played with her black hair and tilted her head to bare her neck a bit more. "How old is she anyway?", he asked a bit disgusted and scrunched his nose, "Probably at least twice his age ..."
"I'm not so sure about that – I think he's a vampire...", she stated and darted the handsome man beside her a mischievous glance.
"Well, I suppose it's not pedophilic then...", he muttered and narrowed his eyes, taking a critical look at the two, "We still should check it out – to be on the safe side..."
"Yeah, but I'm quite sure – just for the record!", she noted with a grin, while they crossed the hall and slowly approached the pair. When they were only a few feet away, Godric suddenly turned his head and sent Laura a relieved look. Obviously he had sensed her presence with his vampire sensors or whatever...
"There you are, Laura!", he greeted her and took a few steps into her direction, to close the gap between them, turning his back on the black haired woman in the process – who was the one from the entrance by the way, "I was already looking for you – what took you so long?"
"I thought it was better to let you do your business for a few minutes", she admitted and shrugged her shoulders in an apologetic manner, "There were a few men talking to you earlier and I didn't want to interrupt..."
"So you really knew – that's unfair!", the young man beside her suddenly stated and crossed his arms in front of the chest. He even pouted a bit – he looked hilarious!
"Well, I wasn't aware there were any rules!", she pointed out and poked him in the chest with a lopsided grin on her face.
"You made a new acquaintance?", Godric wanted to know and glanced at her in a way she wasn't really able to read.
"Well, yeah – sort of. Godric this is-", she started, but stopped mid-sentence, when she realized that she didn't even know his name.
"James McCarthy – should you ever need a lawyer, I'd gladly be of your service!"
AN: Hey there :)
I'm sorry it took me so long - unfortunately I was really busy (still am, to be honest ...). But I hope you're not too disappointed with the way I portrayed Pam - I just had to let her help Laura with the preparations. I hope she isn't too much out of character ...
I'm also really sorry, if you're displeased, that this ball-night didn't turn out to be very romantic - but there is still so much to come! There will definitely be a few romantic scenes in the future (probably just not in the near future ...).
Again, thanks a lot to downbelowgirl, TheLunaGoddess, Pelawen Night, galwidanatitud, JamesNorthman96 and tanseynz for their lovely reviews - I really appreciate your encouraging words!
tanseynz: this time I had to look a few words up again, I hope I chose the right ones... there'll be a few more historical segments in the future, but they'll mostly involve the Second World War (because of Lauras Grandpa and his background - and to explain the situation that caused Eric and Godric to part ways, of course ...)
I'll try hard to find time to write the next chapter as soon as possible ;)
I hope you liked the chapter and will leave a few words for me - and if you didn't like it, please tell me why. I definitely appreciate constructive criticism!
Thanks for reading!
last update: 05/2021