"It's time to kill the lights and shut the DJ down. Tonight we're taking over. No one's getting out."

Tooth moved her body to the beat of the bass. The air was thick with heat and it made her skin tingle so she wiped a quickly wiped her sweaty neck then went back to dancing.

She didn't know how, she didn't understand why, but as all the guests of the gala danced with her for the past two hours, she didn't care!

Tooth flicked her fuchsia eyes across the moving dance floor, her energy on high. Her dark hair bopped on top her head and her royal shringar bounced in the center of her forehead. As she was holding hands with a friendly diplomat, she bounced on her feet and searched the crowd. The room had gone semi-dark, strobe lights flying across the hall and they filled her head with happiness.

She grinned and pushed her earlier thoughts from her head.

"I take back everything I said about these leaders being boring!" Tooth happily cheered in her head.

"They really know how to party!"

She then clapped when her favourite part came on and eyed the room again.

When she couldn't find the guy who had come up stage earlier to speak to the crowd, she frowned.

"I apologize for the interruption ladies and gentleman, but I've noticed that many of you look like you want to fall asleep in your shoes," the man on stage said and they all chuckled, releasing tension in the room.

Tooth smiled crookedly.

The man was young about her age with nicely combed brown hair and a charming smile.

"Would anyone be upset if I request some music to play during this break?" he asked boldly but no one objected.

"We would be upset if you didn't!" the Indonesian president cried heartily and the room laughed.

So the man on stage grinned handsomely and nodded his head.

"Alright my friends!" he spoke into the mic one last time. "Enjoy the rest of the break!"

And several people in the crowd clapped.

Tooth laughed as the diplomat twirled her in a spin, letting the memory leave her.

So after the quick dance during cocktail hour, the rest of the gala was rushed so that everyone could back to dancing at the end of the night. They finished their formal discussion around 10:30 p.m. and for the rest of the evening, Princess Thia was getting her jam on with the other South Asian guests.

And it was all thanks to that handsome hero that Tooth had been saved for the night!

But he was nowhere in sight.

Suddenly the music got louder and the whole room cheered and everyone stomped their feet.

Tooth grinned as she moved to the DJ's beat. After a while, the diplomat let go of her hand and waved as he moved deeper into the crowd to find another friend.

Tooth rocked her body to the jam of the song as she danced alone for a second. When she spotted Mr. Bangkot doing what looked like the jive with an older senator, she burst out laughing.

They looked ridiculous! Two old guys trying to keep up with what was basically club music was something she could not unsee.

But as she watched them fail miserably, she smiled sadly. Tooth wondered guiltily if all these rich and privileged people should even be allowed to enjoy themselves when so many were depending on them.

That's when something grabbed her hand and turned her around.

She gasped with a glare, ready to fight but it was unnecessary.

In fact, her body did the opposite reaction when she came face to face with the handsome guy who had called for the dance in the first place.

"Your highness!" he cried over the sound of the bass with a grin. "Dance with me?!"

Tooth nodded with a shy grin and let him lead her further into the crowd.

Like she was gonna say NO to a gorgeous brunette who wanted to hold her hand!

As they danced their way to the center of the crowd, Tooth's eyes watched all the dignitaries shuffle and jump. Their energy made her body unwind from all its earlier tension.

Maybe stuffy rich parties weren't so bad after all!

She then blushed with her mouth slightly open as the handsome guy holding her hand immediately stopped and turned to face her. He was grinning and with a warm bow, the two began to dance off-center of the crowd, close the left end of the hall. Tooth gave him a wide smile and for the next two songs the two of them were a pair.

Tooth never stopped to think about Mr. Bangkot, the guards or Tat upstairs.

Nothing! In this moment, she felt infinite.

She was just Tooth not Princess Thia, invited royal guest to the annual forum.

Here with this young man, trapped in a sea of people just being...human, she never felt more alive and at one with strangers.

By the last song, Tooth had her eyes closed.

She bopped her head side to side and bounced on her toes. She only focused on the pounding beat of the bass in her chest and the guy's hand she was still clutching.

Until, he pulled her toward him and wrapped his hand around her waist.

Tooth's eyes snapped open.

Her bare skin felt like it was on fire at the spot where his fingers pressed gently. She shivered under his touch when he laughed good-heartedly. As the song was ending, she stared up at him expectantly.

She couldn't believe her good luck as she gazed into his dark, green eyes.

What a moment to tell Tat!

Tooth didn't feel her body gradually stop dancing as she started to get lost in the dark shimmer of his pupils.

She was so enthralled with his attention to her, she barely heard the last note play.

And she was so nervous about how they would dance next...that she didn't notice all the lights go out or see his gun until he set it off above her head.

The gunshots fired at the ceiling set off the entire crowd into a frenzy.

Tooth screamed as the blast from his rifle rang in her ears. When she tried to lift her hands to cover her ears, the guy quickly moved to grip her arm. Her bracelets jingled madly against her dark wrists.

"Don't move!" he hissed darkly and Tooth automatically obeyed.

Her body shook like a leaf as she became frozen.

After a few seconds, the emergency lights turned on at the sides of the hall. They blared loudly but didn't give enough light for normal people to see with.

In dizzying shock, Tooth watched as all the guests around her ran in different directions. They looked afraid and alert, trying to find their groups or where the sound had come from; no one had registered the gun he was holding in his hand to even notice it yet. The music had stopped as the DJ made a dash for the exit too.

Tooth whimpered slightly as his grip got tighter.

The excited thumping in her heart from the dancing was gone, replaced with a painful throbbing. He wasn't looking at her but was searching the crowd like mad for someone.

She desperately wondered where Mr. Bangkot was and hoped that her guards were looking for her.

When she felt him move, the guy tugged her forcefully with one hand, his other still gripping the gun to the ceiling.

Tooth wobbly tried to fight back. It was impossible though with his strength and all the people who kept bumping into her to get away. She kept trying to meet their eyes to signal for help but to her terror, everyone was too busy worrying about their own lives to see her properly. Their fear heightened as the shadows grew around them without the hotel's lights.

Then, as quickly as he was walking, the man suddenly let go of her arm. Her skin felt raw and tender but she didn't have time to rub it with her shaky hands.

The guy had immediately pushed her in the middle of the back and she went flying forward.

Tooth cried loudly, watching in almost slow motion as the colors of the hall and the people running around her were rushing at her sideways.

She instinctively threw her hands out in front of her to balance her stumbling. At any moment, she knew she was going to get powerfully T-boned by someone from the side.

But it never came when a figure dressed in all black suddenly appeared in front of her. He caught her easily and broke her fall.

Tooth rapidly heaved in deep breaths as she clutched onto the mysterious figure gratefully. The room started spinning slightly and her ears still rang from all the chaos.

"Princess!? PRINCESS THIA!?"

She faintly heard the scream from far away but when she looked up, all the color drained in her face and her adrenaline peaked with anxiety.

The figure that caught her was dressed in an all-black uniform with thick gloves and a bulletproof vest. From the size, she knew it was a tall and full-bodied man.

But she was only guessing...she couldn't tell because he had a black gas mask covering his face. With his two golden, yellow goggles staring down at her, Tooth shrunk in his grip.

She tried to scream for help but she ended up stammering pathetically.

Her heart felt like it was going into palpitation.

The man wasted no further time just like his partner did. He lifted her easily, clutching his hand across her mouth so she couldn't scream.

Tooth tried to squirm out of his arms but the tightness of her skirt constricted her legs from kicking out and he was able to storm through the crowd toward a darker exit of the hall.

As she was being carried out, another man had got up on stage and was clapping loudly into the mic.

People in the room instantly turned their heads to the sound and cowered in fear at the sight of the visitor and at his face, several cried out in terror.

They knew who he was.

Pitch Black finished clapping and placed his arms behind his back in his signature posture.

His creepy golden, yellow eyes were like a cat's reflecting in the dark against the crowd. He watched like a master as all his hired hitmen suddenly appeared mingled within the crowd. Their weapons were pointed at all the hired guards and security for the event.

Before he leaned into the mic, he smacked his pale lips thoughtfully.

He then gave the people a twisted smile.

"They don't call me a TERRORist for nothing, my dear friends," he said in a deep, English voice.

By the time Pitch's goons had begun unleashing havoc on all the party guests, Tooth was long gone, having been pushed into a black van and driven away from the horrors going on inside the Bangkok hotel.

Chapter's soundtrack: "Blow" – Ke$ha