A Touch of Madness (A Recipe...

When the doorbell rang a bit later, I struggled awake and got to my feet. By the time I’d gotten to the door, whoever had been there had left. Sitting in front of the door was a bouquet of flowers. They were beautiful, all black petal with reddish highlights and an almost velvety feeling to them. They smelled intoxicating, a scent I couldn’t put a name to but it made me think of hot sex and cold champagne, which is weird. I shook my head and smiled. I swear Zeke does the most cheesy, romantic things for Cassie. I didn’t invade their privacy by reading the note, instead I carried the flowers to Cassie’s room and left the bouquet on the bed.

An hour or so later I heard Cassie come in the door. She was humming to herself. “Hey sleepy head, how you doing?” she called up the stairs. I was in the bathtub, enjoying a bubble bath.

“I’m pruning up nicely.” I yelled back, hearing Cassie tromp around the condo, doing her thing. Then I heard a girlie exclamation as she walked into her room and I smiled to myself, imagining her swooning like a little girl. So when I heard hysterical laughter coming from her, it was a little shocking. Somehow romantic flowers didn’t suit rampant laughter.

“Oh Cal, you’re an adorable idiot, an absolute thick head.” I heard her say through the door. “Next time, read the damn card.” She ordered me and slid said card under the bathroom door. I lazily stretched out an arm and grabbed it. Then I almost drowned in shock. The envelope that the card was in had my name on it so I opened the envelope, curiosity aroused.

Kitten,

We dance well together and I want to do so again, soon.

Hope these make you think of me.

Sebastian.

My mouth was opening and closing like I had something to say, but not a damn sound emerged. “You drown in there Cal? What does the card say?” Cassie asked whining tone and all. I numbly got out of the bathtub and handed her the card to read while I cleaned up the bathroom. Cassie had put the flowers in my room and the smell still made me think naughty activities but now it disturbed me. I sure hope that’s not what Sebastian meant by thinking about him. Cassie walked into my room to look at me, her expression guarded. Well, as guarded as she could ever be.

“Cal, I think you should be careful about Sebastian. Zeke’s Sire is a good man, for a Demon Lord but I don’t get his sudden intense interest in you. No offense.” She said carefully. I didn’t take offense, I’m naturally paranoid and it’s rubbed off on Cassie.

“I’ll be careful love, no worries. But I actually like the damn flowers, even if I’m not thrilled about who sent them.” I replied, frustrated. What I didn’t say out loud was that these were the first flowers I’ve ever been sent. Most guys were like Alex, never thinking of me as a romantic, well, woman. The beautiful, mushy flowers moved the girlie part of me even though I could barely stand Sebastian. Part of that was me remembering old hurts; his sudden attraction to me came after knowing Cassie for several years. Did he want me just because I looked like her? Though I could still vividly remember how it felt when he’d kissed me after dancing. My head started to hurt. “You know what? Whatever. They’re pretty flowers. That’s all I’m taking it as.” I said finally and Cassie smiled at me. I pulled on a pair of comfy pajamas and climbed into bed. It was early, but I was exhausted. Inevitably I dreamed of Sebastian, probably because of the damn flowers.

Blood loss takes a couple of days to recover from, but by the next day I felt as good as new. Though it took a while for my appetite to calm down, I’d been eating everything. Three days later and it was Thursday; I have this thing about Thursdays, I honestly do. They’re either really good, or really bad and the last few have been bad. I was sincerely hoping tonight would be good. In honor of the changers who had been attacked, tonight’s theme was Wild Things. Amanda gave me the option of either dressing in animal patterns or in an actual costume. Cassie immediately ‘borrowed’ my black leather pants and went as a black cat. She has a bit more curve to her frame than I do, so the pants looked painted on. I jokingly slapped her butt and it stung like hell.

I actually don’t own much in the way of animal prints or even clothes that look animal like, except the black leather pants. So Amanda just told me to come in, she’d have Dominic paint me up. I should have worn the damn zebra striped dress that Cassie has. I arrived early, because Dominic said he needed lots of time. I started to get suspicious when I saw a nude coloured dance leotard. Over the next couple of hours, Dominic ironically painted me up to look like I had freaking tiger stripes, he even had colours to put in my hair. I admit that I looked good, but it was a little weird for me to wear tiger stripes and I just hoped that Barry wouldn’t come tonight. No such luck, he walked in, saw me, and promptly burst out laughing. He actually started to cry he was laughing so hard. I think he would have made a scathing remark except he couldn’t catch his breath. He had decided to go tonight as, of all things, a bunny. Large, floppy ears drooped on his head and he’d stuck a bushy tail on his ass so he really wasn’t one to laugh. Finally he calmed down and saw the look on my face. I was one chortle away from violence and apparently, it showed. “You look good.” He said instead of any other comment. Other dancers had been painted up as well, so I wasn’t the odd man out.

I took it easy tonight, remembering how running had exhausted me on Monday. I stayed off the stage, in the crowds where people danced around me, but mostly ignored me. I could only wish that everyone had ignored me but I felt an almost familiar tingle start up the back of my neck. I turned around slowly, hoping that my instincts were wrong. Sebastian was watching me with an almost predatory gleam in his eyes, somehow even with a pound of makeup on my face, he had recognized me.

“Why kitten, I must say I wasn’t expecting this.” He smirked, touching one of the fake colours in my hair. I frowned at him and he caught the confused look in my eye. “Oh, so this isn’t your response to my flowers?” he asked, sounding disappointed.

“No, it’s really not. Thank you for the flowers Sebastian, they’re beautiful, but this is entirely a work thing.” I said as politely as I could. He didn’t take the hint.

“Ah yes, you work here as a dancer. Then let’s dance, kitten, and show these mortals how good it is to be a true wild thing.” He said smoothly. With a resigned sigh, I let him pull me into a dance. His hands were surprisingly warm, but dry. I could feel the hand he kept on my back even through the body suit and paint, and I could also feel a weird buzzing in my hand that was clasped in his. As we danced, I noticed that where our hands touched, they were actually glowing.

“What the hell?” I asked, trying to pull back. It was like trying to pull a mountain. No matter how I struggled, he kept dancing. “Sebastian, seriously let me go right now.” I demanded, voice angry. You may have noticed that whenever I get scared, I quickly cover it with anger. This situation was no different.

“Shhh kitten, it’s alright.” He murmured into my ear. He had to be high or something; his voice had a weird, almost dreamy quality to it. “That’s a side effect, nothing more.” Somehow that wasn’t comforting.

Since struggling achieved nothing more than making my arm hurt, I stopped fighting and kept dancing. “It’s a side effect of what?” I almost growled.

“Power. The power that’s between us. Our magics touching, merging.” He said, his voice thick. I’m guessing that the little buzzing I felt was an entirely different sensation to him. He seemed almost orgasmic whereas I couldn’t get past the freaked out feeling. I’d heard of things like this before, people who had distinctly suitable magics having reactions like this, but I’d only heard of it between people of the same species. Not for a single second had I forgotten that Sebastian was a Demon Lord. I tried pulling away again but Sebastian just held me closer to him. He had his lips right by my ear and I could hear him humming to himself. This had the effect of putting his ear close to my mouth.

“If you don’t let go of me right now, I’ll set your left testicle on fire and be damned the consequences.” I warned, almost growling in his ear. Apparently the specific nature of the threat got through to him. Good rule of thumb, when dealing with a crazy person, be specific; it confuses and distracts them. Sebastian pulled his face back to look and me and let go. I could see the shock and confusion in his eyes.

“You shouldn’t have been able to do that.” He stated in a confused manner.

“Do what?” I demanded, a wave of anger chasing away the last of the odd glowing. There was still power between us, but apparently skin to skin touching was required for the nifty nightlight effect. I glared at Sebastian, making the mistake of looking him in the eyes for too long. I could feel him actively use his power to try and capture my mind. My breathing started to come in labored gasps and my heart rate tripled but from in the pit of my stomach, anger flared. With it came the power to chase him out of my head. He looked surprised at that, and downright shocked when I punched him in the stomach. Demon Lord or not, that knocked the breath clear out of him.

Before I could do anything else suicidally inclined, I turned and worked my way out of the crowd. I stepped behind the bar and felt the ward close behind me, it made me feel infinitely safer. Amanda gave me a confused look, but then she smiled comfortingly. “Not as spunky as usual?” she asking, misinterpreting my retreat. I let her believe that so I could stay back here where I was safe. Well, safer. I could still feel the faint buzz now that I knew what to look for. I looked over and saw Sebastian smiling at me from the edge of the dancing crowd. He blew me a kiss and disappeared into the crowd. Asshole.

I did my best not to snarl at the customers as I served them drinks. Cassie sauntered over to see what was wrong but I didn’t feel like telling her about it, yet another secret I felt strangely obliged to keep to hide how very messed up I was. It was a long night, but after Sebastian left, I had hopes of it becoming somewhat normal. It wasn’t bad, and I started to have fun again. At 2 am, the bar closed and we started to slowly chase dancers out. Barry had lost his bushy tail sometime during the night and his floppy ears looked deflated.

“Cal, I’m done, take me home.” He whined at me. He rested his head against my shoulder as he sat on a stool, fake snored soon issued from him.

“I was gonna ask you to carry me Barry. My feet hurt, my arm hurts and I’m starving.” I complained to him. I felt his chuckle rumble through him.

“Oh we’re a pair.” He sighed, standing up. “Anyways, our ride should be here, outside waiting. Come on.” I tiredly followed him outside.

It wasn’t until I actually smelled Alex that I realized who he’d been talking about. Alex was staring, looking shocked. Which was fair as I was staring at him in shock too. The fact that I could smell him let me know that he needed a bath; he had to have literally gotten off of work. He had on low slung black jeans and a zippered sweater with no obvious shirt on underneath. I could see the sweaty t-shirt in his hand; he’d used it to dry himself off a bit. I’d forgotten that Alex was a fire fighter. After staring for a few seconds, I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“You look like a rent-a-man ad. You really should think about investing in a better fitting pair of pants. Those look a little porno.” I teased. I was expecting some kind of acidic retort in response but he just grunted and started the car. Barry gave me a chiding look; I felt bad enough to actually apologize a little. “Ok, maybe it’s not too bad a look Alex, but it’s still a little surprising to see your hip bones.” I could see his eyes flick to the rear view mirror for a moment, so he could see me. I couldn’t tell what emotion coloured his eyes but it shut me up real quick.

The rest of the ride went quietly. Barry got dropped off and I climbed into the passenger seat for the trip to my place. It was another tense ride, I seem to be having a lot of those lately. I tried to watch Alex out of the corner of my eye, but his body language was stiff. Guess I had hit a nerve with my earlier criticism. This boded well for our… challenge thing. I didn’t want to call it a date, because it wasn’t. It was a competition, and as such, it needed rules. That gave me an idea. “We should establish rules for Monday. That way we know exactly who was right.” I said into the strained silence. Alex’s low chuckle gave me goose bumps.

“Nervous? Thinking you might lose?” he taunted.

“Not even a little. I’m more concerned that you might cry unfair if we don’t have rules at the outset. It’s not like I want to go through this all over again.” I retorted. He parked in the lot where I lived.

“Fine. Rule one: whoever has to ask the other to dance flat out loses. We score points by tallying how many dances we do in total.”

I thought of another point. “Rule two: loss of control loses the game. I don’t need you getting all angry and picking a fight just because you can’t find a dance partner.”

“Rule three- winner of this gets to make any one demand from the other. So when I win, be expecting me to demand that you call me sir.”

“Rule four- what happens at the Ball, stays at the Ball. I do not want to listen to you whine about it after it’s over.”

We looked at each other for a moment. “Anything else?” I asked. Alex mulled it over. I opened the door and got out for some fresh air, all I could smell was sweaty Alex and it made my stomach hurt. He rolled down the window to keep talking to me.

“I can’t think of anything else. So are we agreed?” he asked.

“Agreed.” I answered and turned to go inside.

“Callahan,” Alex called, I turned around. He grinned at me, “You look good as a tiger.” He drove off with that, leaving me confused a little. I shrugged and went inside. I had work at my day job tomorrow so after I got cleaned up, I slept like the dead.

As if to apologize for the last couple of weeks, my weekend was mind numbingly boring, thank all five aspects of the Goddess. Monday came crawling in and suddenly my stomach was uneasy. It wasn’t nerves; I had no worries about the competition with Alex. I finally shrugged and put it down to excitement about going to the Ball. Cassie helped me get ready, when she had found out what my dress looked like, she’d gone out and come back with shopping bags. That had made me nervous. Inside the bags were sheer black thigh highs and black lingerie that was pretty much just strings and lace. I pulled the contraption trying to be a bra and matching underwear out of the bag and then I started laughing.

“What?” Cassie demanded. “That way if you get swept off your feet by a handsome Elf Prince, you’re properly prepared. I even bough condoms.” She explained. Which made me laugh harder. I was still laughing softly to myself when I put it all on. No one was going to see it, but I like pretty underwear; it makes me feel sexy. Once the dress was on, Cassie did my hair and makeup. I even put one of Sebastian’s flowers in my hair as it suited my dress. After that, Cassie started to go nuts taking my picture. Edward snapped in at 7:45 to see me off. He almost fell over when he saw me, a wistful expression on his face.

“Good gift.” He commented, smiling at me. There was a weight to his smile that made me remember that I needed to tell him to stop thinking he had a chance.

I strode past that slightly discomforting comment by announcing. “Well my ride will be here any minute, so you two can get going about your own things.” I hadn’t actually told anyone other than Amanda who my ‘date’ was, I hadn’t a clue how to explain it to anyone without them drawing the wrong conclusions. But of course neither of them would leave. Sighing under my breath, I grabbed the lapel flower I’d grown; I’d put some effort into growing this tiger lily bloom to pin to the tiger. Cassie recognized the flower, it’s actually one of my favourites, and I think she put two and two together because she started laughing. “It’s not like that Cass. It’s a competition, nothing more.” I warned, trying to get her to drop it.

“Sure Cal, whatever you say.” She replied, giggling a little. Edward just looked at us in confusion. I was about to explain but the doorbell rang, Edward opened the door and revealed Alex. I gave Alex a quick, almost dismissive once over, but it took in every detail.

He had on a full tuxedo, and the modern style looked amazing against his Indian colouration. His cummerbund was not the classic red, but instead an amber that almost matched his eyes. I’d told him my dress was black and I guess he had a flare for the dramatic I hadn't anticipated. I couldn’t read the expression on his face as he took in my appearance so I ignored the weird sensation in my gut and handed him the lapel flower.

Alex smiled brilliantly as he recognized the flower. That surprised me, I hadn’t imagined him liking botany. “A tiger lily, how appropriate.” He teased, but pinned it to his lapel anyways. He held his arm out to me, a sarcastic smile on his face.

“Let the games begin.” I retorted, taking his arm but rolling my eyes. I tried to ignore the slightly possessive look on Edward’s face as I said goodbye. When Alex and I walked out of the building, I stopped dead in my tracks. “You rented a limo?” I asked, incredulous.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Amanda and Dominic are inside it, waiting. It was actually her idea. Makes sense as we’re all sitting together anyways.” He explained, tugging on my arm to get me moving. I slipped inside the limo and grinned when I heard Amanda whistle.

“Damn girl, now that I know you can walk in three inch heels, I’m gonna make you wear them more often. You look fierce.”

“Oh Goddess no, please no.” I replied laughing. “I can walk, dance and even run in stilettos, but they hurt my feet. Have mercy.” I begged jokingly. “You look awesome.” I added. And she did. Amanda’s white hair was piled up in a complicated series of loops and braids, with crystal beads scattered throughout. Her gown was all light weight veils in the palest ice colours possible, she looked as delicate as a soap bubble. Dominic had chosen a white tuxedo to go with his wife’s pale colours and his cummerbund was an icy blue. They looked good together. She’d pinned a moon rose to her husband’s lapel. The silvery rose glittered like it was actually made out of metal. Since the Fae have no problem with silver, like the Changers do, it very well could have been real silver, which reminded me.

“Umm, what are the utensils going to be made out of?” I asked, realizing we might have a small problem. Everyone frowned at me a little.

“Silver, why?” Amanda responded. I felt Alex go still next to me. She caught the increase in tension. “Oh yes, you’re a changer aren’t you?” she asked him. “Not a problem, we can ask for crystal utensils. Some of the Fae find silver leaves an aftertaste in their food.” She explained. Amanda then went on to explain the rules of Underhill as we drove and she also gave us fair warning about Fae wine. “Drink it at your own risk. It’s an inhibitions killer and it tends to make everything more extreme. The Fae drink it because we like the excitement it offers, and our society has different rules than yours. So for tonight, forget about your human culture and try not to be shocked.” She warned. Well that was ominous. We drove through a gate and our limo stopped.

Outside I could see hundreds of will’o wisps floating around. We got out of the limo and followed Amanda. She led us to a seemingly simple door that stood in the middle of an open clearing but when the door opened, I could see a candle lit ballroom. A silly grin spread across my face at the obvious magic. I stepped through and left the human world behind. The Fae magic thrilled through me as I entered Underhill. In Underhill, magic is stronger and can have some unexpected side effects; as I walked in, every flower near me burst into full bloom and the rich scents of spring filled the air. At Amanda’s startled look, I laughed. “I can make things grow, remember?” I teased. I was glad that it was earth showing off, because the other three elements tended towards messes and destruction more often than not. I could feel Alex’s second gift trying to dampen mine. His dominant skill was that of shape change, but what made him an invaluable leader was his second gift; he could shut someone’s gifts down. It worked on newly found Changers and let them be safe, here in Underhill, I could feel it trying to curb earth’s enthusiasm so not every flower would go into throes of ecstasy whenever I came near it. So I directed my attention to the tiger lily on his lapel and he sneezed when the pungent scent suddenly engulfed him, after that I let his gift quell mine. I wished that I could just let go and enjoy but with all this extra power floating around in the air I was worried that I might lose control of my often dangerously volatile gifts.

“Children, behave or you’ll get no dessert.” Amanda chided. I stuck my tongue out at her and Dominic laughed. The only sign of Dominic’s gift were faint flashes of colour flitting through the air, he was a painter and all his gifts were tuned into his art. It was Amanda’s gift that proved the most stunning. Here in her own realm, I found it nearly impossible to even think about disobeying her; she radiated absolute control. On earth Amanda commanded but we always had the option to ignore her, here it was a struggle to even contemplate the idea. She made people want to follow her. I managed to keep myself from tagging along behind her like a puppy, and after that initial pull her magic seemed content to leave me be. I could feel Alex shrug her magic off as well so I turned and looked at him.

“Shall we?” I asked, tucking my arm into his. He led us over to our designated seats, playing the gentleman. I grinned at him. “Hard isn’t it? Having to treat me with respect like that?” I teased.

“Hard isn’t it, having to act like a lady?” he retorted. We stopped our play fighting as the first round of food arrived, guests were served as they arrived so that the food was always hot and fresh. I tried everything except for the wine, instead I drank water. I’m enough of a control freak myself, so the idea of the wine gave me the willies. I noticed that Alex avoided it as well, so I didn’t feel too paranoid.

“Ok, rules of the night go into effect after dessert ends. However you two have to have the first dance together and the last as well; let’s keep this competition friendly.” Amanda commanded. I raised an eyebrow at Alex, I’d agree to that if he did. He nodded his acceptance but said nothing. The dessert was a gelato carved into the shape of a unicorn and I felt a little morbid, cutting it up to eat it. I took a drink of my water as I finished and tried not to stall as I felt Alex waiting. I couldn’t label the feeling in my belly at that, but I rose to my feet and followed him out onto the dance floor.

Alex was actually a damn good dancer, I was more than a little impressed by it actually not that I’d let him know it. We followed the patterns of the dance around the floor until the musicians started another tune. We broke apart, I think both a little stunned at how fast that had been, Alex bowed stiffly to me and strode away. Before I could get offended by Alex's brisk departure a tall, willowy man asked me to dance. He was definitely Fae and chatty as hell. His name was Jensen and according to him, he was the youngest brother of the Heir, which made him an Elvin Prince. I managed not to laugh at him or even roll my eyes. But he was fun to dance with; as we twirled by other couples, he’d mention who each were and added a comment that described them. I had to fight not to laugh a few times.

“I shall let some of the others, so patiently waiting, have a spell around the floor with you.” He said, several dances later. I blinked at him, and as soon as he stepped back from me, another partner replaced the spot. Luckily Amanda was keeping score of how many dances I completed. Dominic was doing the same for Alex. To make my night even more entertaining, Jensen would slip over to tell me little tidbits about the ladies that Alex was dancing with, and about the gentlemen I danced with. I was having a blast when a cold swirl of magic sent goose bumps plunging down my arms and froze me in my tracks, I turned shocked eyes on Sebastian and said a naughty word.

“My my kitten, what a mouth you have.” He smiled as he said it. He stepped a little closer to me as he carefully looked me over. I ignored him and eyeballed the babe he’d brought as his date. She had blonde hair with brown hair as an under layer, a ridiculously tight pink satin cocktail dress and a vacant look in her eyes. At least she wasn’t ridiculously proportioned, though I felt like I could snap her in half. She felt like a Normal to me and I guessed that she was just arm candy to the Demon Lord.

“Angela, why don’t you go have fun on the dance floor.” Sebastian suggested, disengaging her from his arm. She bounced her way out onto the floor, where I spotted a familiar face ask her to dance. I snickered a little, wondering if Alex would figure out whose date she was. My laughter ended as Sebastian pulled me onto the dance floor. Here in Underhill, I could feel my skin buzz as our magic mixed and it was almost painfully intense. I just knew that my skin was glowing under my clothes where he touched it, and he had that wicked gleam in his eyes again.

I couldn’t seem to look away from his vibrantly blue eyes. I didn’t struggle when he pulled me closer to him than the dance required, and my heart was in my mouth pounding like a rabbit spotted by an owl. The hand on my back slid lower to rest at my hip and I was pressed close enough to him to feel his heart thud in his chest. I hadn’t realized that demons had regular heartbeats. “I am surprised to see my flower still blooming in your hair, they usually start to wilt shortly after being cut.” He said softly, breath brushing gently across my face.

“I can manipulate the elements so it’s a simple thing for me to keep a flower in bloom.” I replied helpfully. It was getting hard for me to think straight and I felt vaguely like I was drowning. “I need some air.” I managed to say.

Sebastian led me to the side of the dance floor, where a hidden little balcony was. The break in eye contact helped me to feel a little less like drowning. I walked over to the balcony railing and leaned against it with my hands, my eyes closed as I let the sweet wind blow around me; it carried luscious scents of flowers I didn’t recognize. I could feel Sebastian standing close behind me and I felt it when he used magic to shroud us in privacy. No one else would think of coming out here to intrude, and I was betting no one could see or hear us either. Frowning, I turned to look at him.

“I thought you might like a moment to compose yourself with no one but me watching.” He explained smoothly. There was a happy little twinkle in his eyes, I knew I should look away but the drowning feeling returned. Sebastian stepped in that little bit closer to me, standing a mere half inch away. “You’re shivering kitten, are you cold?” he asked running his hands slowly up my arms. Our mixed magic prickled and danced between us, no longer painful. “I can warm you up. Let me stop your shaking.” He said softly against my mouth, then he gently kissed me. I couldn’t think, couldn’t even breath properly; magic surged and rolled through me as Sebastian deepened the kiss, pulling me to him. I was letting him control the kiss, hands resting on his hips and not understanding what the hell was going on. His need poured into me, stealing what was left of my short breath away. He pressed us against the railing and I could feel him hard against my leg. He lifted me up and sat me on the railing, forcing me to press forwards so I wouldn't fall backwards. I was losing track of time, something was seriously wrong but I couldn’t think. I moaned into his mouth as he slid a hand up my thigh, tracing the line of the garter holding my thigh highs up. He chuckled as he slid his finger up, feeling the brand new lacy underwear I was wearing. He meant to have me, to take me right then and there, and even magic drunk I was furious. He had rolled my mind, making it hard for me to think, to deny him. As his finger slipped under the edge of my panties, I concentrated my magic and fire flared from my skin to burn his fingertip. He jumped back with a startled cry, the magic and the feeling of drowning broke with an almost audible snap.

“Walk away.” I growled as my elements started to streak the air around me and he stared at me, angry, shocked and throbbing with need.

“I almost had you kitten. Someday soon, I will have you. We belong together. Even your magic agrees, you wanted to hurt me but instead it warned me off. You can’t deny me forever.” He warned, then walked back into the Ball.

I started to shake and swallowed a big lungful of air. A few minutes later, and I felt like I had control of myself again. That had been too close, it’s hard to resist a seduction that part of you wanted. It wasn't that I wanted Sebastian, it was the simple fact that I wanted someone to want me that much and he had used that pathetic need against me. Now I didn’t want to go back inside; I just wanted to go home. I kept my back to the arch way but I heard someone walk out onto the balcony.

“You smell like anger and frustration Callahan. The night not going as well as you’d like? Let me guess, no one wants to dance with the clumsy ape.” Alex taunted. I spun around and actually slammed him against the wall as I felt earth flare out behind me as a set of thorny wings which I think that surprised me more than him. That close I could smell Angela all over him. I wanted to tear his throat out, almost as much as I wanted to do the same to her.

“You smell like cheap sex. I managed to reject a Demon Lord whereas you go and fuck his sloppy seconds. That’s pathetic Alex.” I snarled and let go. His body language radiated anger, shock and another emotion I didn’t understand. I didn’t wait for him to respond; instead I got a finger nail’s grip on my anger and went inside, pulling the thorn wings apart with a last snarl. I stuffed all that seething rage down so I didn’t flare out at anyone then I grabbed my wine glass and downed the lot of it in one go. Amanda raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I lost.” I replied tersely. My tone of voice let her know that I didn’t want to talk about it. She watched me cautiously.

“You ok?” Jensen asked me, stepping carefully beside me. I took a deep breath.

“I need to dance. Would you do the honors?” I asked him with a false smile. He looked a little concerned at my tone but danced with me anyways. He was perceptive enough to realize that what I needed was a pleasant distraction from my smoldering temper so he started his inane chatting again. This time he told me all the naughty stories he and his siblings were up to as children and eventually my anger faded.

“Are you actually a Prince?” I asked, ready to forgive him his lie.

“Yes.” He replied. “Remember that the Fae cannot lie.” My eyes widened because I had honestly forgotten that. He laughed at me kindly. “You didn’t believe me! My eldest sister, Isabeau will be Ruler when Father dies.” He explained and I just blinked at him.

“So what is a Prince of the Fae doing dancing with a human like me?” I asked, amused.

“Well, having a good time mostly. Since Isabeau is pregnant there’s no chance I’ll have to ever worry about becoming Ruler and that means I can dance with, and enjoy the company of whomever I please.” He answered honestly. The Fae have a tragically low birth rate. Even though all of the realms are physically compatible for sex, we don’t interbreed; we can’t. That should let you know how much Amanda loves Dominic because even though I’d swear they are soul mates, they’ll never have children. It breaks the heart a little.

“Wait, are you propositioning me?” I asked, laughing. He smiled brilliantly.

“I wouldn’t hesitate to try and wile you into my bedchamber except for the fact that I have no interest in any sex for the evening.” He replied with a wink. “Besides, I saw you have some of our excellent wine and I’d rather it be the real you in my bed if I did decide to try anyways.” I laughed again.

“You’re so sure of yourself. What if I said no?” I teased. “Have you never been rejected?”

“Many young Fae ladies have experienced the Prince’s touch, I don’t mean to boast but I am quite an excellent lover.” He admitted playfully.

“So you’ve seduced Fae ladies, all hoping to bear a child. You’ve never tried to seduce a human have you?” I guessed.

“No, you would be my first.”

“Well I’d be honored. But even if you were interested I’m going to say no, so at least I’m your first rejection.” I laughed at his jokingly hurt look.

“The last dance is next. Cousin Amanda explained to me the deal you have with young Alex so I’ll let you fulfill your bargain.” He kissed me on the back of my hand in a friendly but not demanding manner. As he walked away, I saw Alex standing stiffly. I think he was waiting for my anger again. But thanks to Jensen, I was no longer furious.

Alex relaxed a little as we danced and I didn’t blow up. “You alright now?” he asked cautiously. I could still smell traces of Angela on him, but mostly he smelled like soap; guess he had cleaned up a little.

“Yes. I’m sorry about earlier, and I cede the competition to you. Sebastian was here and he, well he was a Demon Lord. I got very angry and you walked in on the tail end of it. You didn’t deserve that.” I apologized painfully.

“Friends again?” he asked, voice odd.

“Are we friends?” I countered. He thought it over.

“Well, you’re a disrespectful pain in the ass.”

“And you’re an overbearing, narcissistic control freak.”

           “So yeah, we’re friends.” He answered laughingly so I smiled too. The Ball officially ended shortly after that. I saw Alex casually grab an unopened bottle of the wine. The glass I’d drunk from earlier hadn’t made me do a damn thing, so I was hoping to try some more. The four of us made our weary way to the waiting limousine.