Sorry it's been so long! I've rewritten this so many times, I just cant seem to get it to go the way I have planned in my head, but I think I should just bite the bullet and post it, so here it is! Gala night!
Chapter 20
Butterflies erupted in my stomach as the time to leave for the gala grew nearer. I was excited, yet terrified for what was to come once the full moon rises. Don't come into work today. Quint's words had haunted me all afternoon, was it for my safety? Was it to avoid his father? Or was it simply to give me plenty of time to change from peasant girl into fabulous princess. If only I had a fairy godmother to watch over me, maybe then I wouldn't be in all this mess and I'd still be a clueless assistant living desperately from one paycheck to the other. Then again if I hadn't got myself mixed up in all this I'd probably be decaying slowly in a hospital bed right now. I guess things have to get worse before they get better. If Snow White had never bitten that apple, she never would have found her prince.
"I'm home biatch! You better not be hogging that bathroom, I need to seriously get a move on to be ready in time!" Tasha yelled as she swung open the front door.
"Bathrooms free," I giggled, popping my head out of the spare room, heated rollers flopping around on my head. "Hope you don't mind I borrowed these," I smiled sweetly. Tasha snorted at my roller clad head.
"Look better on you than they do on me, besides they're not powerful enough to curl this mane," Tasha giggled running her hands through her thick black hair.
Tasha took a quick shower before starting on her hair, straightening her curly locks and slicking them up into a sleek high bun. I applied my makeup as I waited for the curlers to cool. I went with a simple winged eyeliner and a classic red lip. The dress was far too pretty to distract from with heavy eye makeup. I pulled on the gown slowly, it fit like a glove. "Tash could you give me a hand with this zip?" I shouted out the room.
"Ooh girl you look fine," Tasha purred from the doorway, wiggling her brows as I held the front of my dress to my chest for dear life. Tasha tiptoed over and zipped me in effortlessly. I smiled and turned to Tasha, she was head to toe gold sequins and looked like she belonged on a red carpet.
"You look hot, like seriously hot, if I didn't have to go with Quint, I'd so want you on my arm," I winked at her. Tasha looked incredible, her ebony skin glowing, her eyes painted with golden glitter, finished with thick black lashes and a swipe of pink lipgloss.
"Says you! That dress is a perfect fit! I decided to go with the gold long sequin dress, the one I wore to that New Years Eve party? Yeah so I thought why not spruce it up with a gold glitter eye," Tasha said, fluttering her lashes and shimmying in the light.
"You look beautiful," I smiled, hugging her tight like it was the last time.
"You sure you got everything?" Tasha asked as we stood shivering in the cold wind, she locked the front door and we dashed to her car. I eased slowly into the passenger seat, being careful not to rip my gown as I sat. "You got your purse? Lipstick?" Tasha asked going over her checklist, "Condoms?" She winked.
"Not happening," I snorted shaking my head.
"What? You're gonna let him buy you a dress, take you on his arm and you're not going to repay him with a bit of ass?" Tasha gawked.
"No definitely not, I can't be bought," I laughed.
"Your loss, he's so tall, I bet he's got a massive…" The conversation went a lot like that for the rest of the journey.
Thankfully we eventually made it to the Antigen office, which meant I could finally escape Tasha's girl talk and walk right into another toxic surrounding. Tonight's the night I gulped to myself, no turning back now.
"Where is Quint meeting you? The court yard stairs? I'll drop you off, I'm gonna head into the multi-storey and meet you in there okay chick?" Tasha smiled as she pulled over at the bottom of the Antigen Court yard. My heart started beating quickly in my chest, as if I was heading to the gallows.
"Thanks Trish, see you soon," I smiled at her. I leaned over for one last hug before exiting her banger of a car; she soon pulled away and turned into the multi-storey leaving me eerily alone. I could hear the party commotion from here, the music, the laughter. I looked around awkwardly, there I was at the bottom of the courtyard stairs, and the time on my phone had just hit 7:32.
"Exquisite" A velvet voice cooed from behind me, I turned around swiftly but there was nobody there, just the empty building across the street and the darkness that engulfed them. My lycan ears scanned the shadows; I could hear a rising heartbeat from the shadows.
"Quint you're not funny," I scowled, shaking my head. Sure enough his contagious smirk emerged from the dark alley. He walked towards me confidently, hands in pocket.
"Victoria," Quint greeted me, looking me up and down. "You wore it," He noted.
"It's not like I have an arsenal of gowns to choose from instead," I half smiled, crossing my arms across my chest, the wind was icy cold and I'd stood here long enough, "Shall we head inside now you've had your fun and games?" I asked.
"Of course, would you like my jacket? You're shivering?" Quint asked, he really was laying on all the charm.
"I'd rather freeze," I smirked as we ascended the stairs to the Antigen headquarters. The whole front of the building was lit with red up lighters, and festoons were laced in and out of the trees. I guess Hell can look beautiful with the right lighting. A gun wielding guard pulled open the large glass door, bowing his head slightly as we headed inside. The lobby was bustling with ladies and gentlemen wearing their finest threads, some were schmoozing, some were dancing, and others were eyeing up the buffet table or chugging down glasses of champagne.
"This way," Quint murmured as he pulled my arm around his and guided me through the crowd. I looked around for Tasha but there was no sign. "Did I tell you that you look beautiful?" Quint asked, smiling at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Shut up Quint," I hissed through my smile.
"You're quite snappy tonight, I hope you're not going to be this rude when it comes to meeting my father's friends," He huffed. My anger had boiled over, I had tried to contain it but Quint was adamant at getting a reaction out of me. I pulled sharply on his arm and threw us both into the gentleman's restroom.
"You already want some privacy? I thought we could at least have a drink first," Quint smirked, checking under each stall. It was empty.
"Just stop it! Okay! Just stop! I am tired of playing games Quint, yesterday you told me to leave the city, today you're Mr Charming throwing on the moves, and I am ready to throttle you!" I shouted. Quint leant against the wall, silent, his beady eyes staring into me.
"Say something!" I yelled, growing impatient.
"I don't know what to say, you get angry when I push you away, you get angry when I try pull you close, I told you to leave for your best interest, if I wanted to be selfish I'd of asked you to stay, to come back to the Lane House. You think I'm playing games but I'm not, well not anymore. I thought we could have a few nice hours together before the full moon, our last few nice hours," Quint huffed.
"You see?! That wasn't difficult, you actually said something with meaning, and you showed an ounce of humanity," I sighed pushing my hair behind my ear. "Yesterday when you told me to leave it hurt a lot, I don't know why but it was like a dagger through the heart, like you were sending me away," I sighed turning to face myself in the mirror.
"I know it hurt you," Quint admitted, I heard his footsteps clop on the tiled floor towards me. "I wanted to soothe you, but I had to be strong," Quint whispered in my ear as he stood behind me. We both stared at our reflections in the mirror. I felt a light hand on my hip before I was being spun around to face him.
"My fathers waiting," Quint said as he stared into my eyes. I nodded slowly before allowing him to lead me out of the restroom and through the crowd once more. We headed to the back of the lobby where a group of middle aged men stood with Dr Lane away from the rest of the partgoers, they looked deep in conversation.
"Father," Quint greeted Lane in a low voice as to not be overheard.
"Ah Quint there you are, and Victoria too, lovely," Dr Lane smiled. "Quint you know our guests, why don't you introduce your new friend," Dr Lane smiled toothily, he was such an arsehole and I really wanted to just punch him straight in the face. Quint looked around the group of men, all of whom were very well built, a little rough around the edges and had their eyes pinned on me.
"Of course, Victoria meet Shane, Clayton, Sebastian and Nicholas." Quint said going around the circle. "They lead the four main Lycan packs left," Quint said lowly.
"Is this your new specimen then Jacob?" Clayton sniggered. "The one going through the change tonight?"
"Yes this is she," Dr Lane smiled proudly.
"It's fascinating how she has inherited some of your abilities Quint," Sebastian commented.
"Yes it just shows that future generations won't need to inject to hold onto their mutations," Dr Lane smiled, "It's groundbreaking really,"
"I'm guessing you're going to lay claim to her Quint?" Smirked Nicholas.
"'Her and 'she' is stood right here and doesn't appreciate being talked over, and no I haven't been claimed," I quipped.
"Victoria do you know who these-" Dr Lane's shocked outburst was cut off.
"It's quite alright Jacob, she shows fire, we like that," Nicholas purred, eyeing me up and down.
"As you can see Victoria's quite a force; she would never allow herself to be claimed by anyone," Shane raised his brows at Quint's words, for they sounded more like a warning.
"Pity its not up to her, she'll be claimed by the end of the night, it's what we do," Clayton spoke dangerously. I narrowed my eyes on him, no one had ever mentioned 'claiming' or what it meant, but I had a pretty good idea from the way it sounded and where this conversation was headed.
"Oh I don't think that's possible, Victoria is special," Dr Lane yipped.
"Special or not, she is still Lycan, she will go through the change and she will be claimed as any other female would be,"
"What's going on what does claiming mean?" I asked, I felt like the stupid kid in class asking the most simplest of questions only to be laughed at by the entire student body.
"Lycans lay claim, like ownership, to newly changed females, if there's multiples claims then the last standing claims the female,"
"Victoria is not being claimed by anyone," Dr Lane said confidently.
"You've changed your tune old man, it was you who informed us about your new prize breeder, she is the only reason any of us are standing here," Shane growled.
Hope you all liked it, please leave a review I love hearing your thoughts! 3