Shattered Skies: Beginning's End (3 page)

            
By 8:30PM, I was in full costume and parked outside the Noir hotel, where this big event had taken place for the last seven years. After checking my makeup in the visor mirror, I slipped the scarf over my nose and mouth leaving only my eyes visible. With the bright and bold makeup covering every inch of my face that the scarf didn’t, I couldn’t even recognize myself, and that worried me. If my own reflection wasn’t recognizable to me, how in the world was one of the guys supposed to pick me out of a room full of other strong framed, wavy haired, blue eyed women? I was able to take solace in the fact that Darien gave me his word that he would find me at midnight. He promised me that he didn’t mind giving up a night of sex when he could spend the night having fun with me. I felt guilty that out of the three years I attended, on two of them Darien gave up his fun to take care of me. It was quickly becoming a tradition that I was happy to be part of. It wasn’t very often that me and my best friend in the entire world just got to let our guards down; for an entire night we were locked away in a room and for once we were completely safe. Since it did no good to argue with him, I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him. I was really lucky to have him and sure as hell didn’t deserve him. Darien’s word meant more to me than a promise from anyone else, and I knew that nothing short of a major catastrophe would prevent him from keeping his promise and the night would end with me safe and sound with him.

I had no idea what any of the men in my group were dressed in. It wasn’t something that I had to worry about.  Darien knew every detail of what I was wearing and that was as far as it went. I didn’t even know what his mask would look like, and that fact was a little unnerving. However, it was always important that we didn’t know much about the others when we were all out in the same place, especially when there was a chance of being found out. It would be horrible if one of us got caught and tortured into admitting there were more free range humans running around planning decades from now to take back the planet. Not only would that be bad, but it would be the end of all of our lives; and that would be the best case scenario. 

Walking into the ballroom was like stepping into another world. Everything was so big and overdone. The hotel was transformed into something so surreal that you could easily forget where you were and be swept off into another dimension. It was a night that dreams where made of, an event where you could just forget who you were, lose classes and ranks, and just be. It was easy to get caught up in the magic of it all if you weren’t careful, but then again none of these beasts had to worry about being careful. 

The costumes were as unbelievable as ever. The men’s were simple; they wore a suit and a mask. Oddly enough, looking around from man to man, it was clear that none of the masks were alike. That was pretty impressive in itself. There are only so many different faces in the world; well, I guess in the universe, but then I guess when cost isn’t a factor in this event, you don’t have to worry about how truly expensive unique can be. Even though the men could take pride in no matching masks, once you looked from the men t
o the women you could tell that the game was on. There were females dressed in clothes that would make a stripper blush. Some of them left nothing to the imagination and were merely created from a few pieces of cloth strategically placed to barely cover all of the right areas. The point of the night was to be noticed; the more men that noticed you, the better chance you had at getting your claws into a royal. While all royalty was nice, there was no secret to the fact that every woman there wanted to be the starlet of the party. They wanted to be the lucky girl that ended up on the arm of the King himself. They all had dreams that he would take them for the night, and this would be long enough to win his heart forever.  Well, every girl but me. I, on the other hand, had no intention to be anywhere near the King, because accidently attracting him was last thing that I needed to have happen. Drunk, locked up and deadly in a room with the ruler of the new world? No thank you!  I didn’t need that kind of grief on my hands; taking out the leader of the new world would be a death sentence, one that if I was lucky would be fast and painless. That being noted, you would think I would dress down a little and hide in the shadows just to make sure that there was no way that I would attract the King, but the competitive part of me couldn’t let the other females show me up. 

The belly dancer costume was made to fit like a glove in all the right places. My breasts looked great, my legs looked toned, the short skirt gave off the illusion that they went on forever, and the rest of me wasn’t too shabby either. I knew that there were more complicated
costumes in the room. Some women started planning what they would wear to the next year’s ball the minute after the ending of the current party. I had better things to do then sit around and play dress up, but this costume, though a last minute decision, just screamed “
look at me!
”, which was just what I wanted.

Even though I had no intention to be anywhere near any of the royal family, tonight I still needed all of the attention I could get from the normal monsters. This dance wasn’t just a night off for me. Tonight, I would work the room, going from monster to monster, filling my little black book with strangers’ phone numbers, since identities couldn’t be revealed, I would have to spend the next few days tracing down the names that belonged to the digits. I would only contact the monsters that were of no social importance; in the weeks to come, the
greater of the species would waltz willingly into my bed with the promise of death. Not a glamorous job, but hey, it keeps me alive and free for now, not to mention the sex is never bad, and the cleanup is a snap; just a little dusting and the men are gone and soon forgotten. So, I guess I really can’t complain, there were a lot of humans that would die for just one day of freedom.

I spent the three hours before midnight dancing, drinking, and flirting the night away, I was a woman on a mission. I don’t think there was a single male in the room that didn’t try to talk to me and as each one of them whispered in my ear my ego and self-confidence grew. It was even more than a little flattering to admit there were a few women looking my way too.

When the music was loud and upbeat, and the lights were high and alive, you could just get lost in the crowd; everyone was alive, and they were just being. A change in the tempo brought with it a slow dance and dim romantic lights. During the slow dances, it was easy to see why the monsters loved this night, loved it so much that they spend the entire year planning for it and waiting for it like it was the best night of their lives. It was a night were the royals could just be plain and forget all of the responsibilities that they are forced to deal with every day. The lesser class monsters used the night to feel important; there was nothing standing in their way to stop them from feeling great. No one knew who you were; they didn’t know your social standings. For the low class, this was a night to pretend and to live out fantasies, and for the royals, it was a night to just live without the pretenses of fame. It was a night that you could meet someone that for whatever reason, you would never get to meet in your normal life. For just a brief moment every now and then, whether it was the music, the lights, or the smell of desperation or sex in the air, I would forget who I was. I just belonged. For that moment, there were no monsters; there was no need to fear for my life, no bad guys were there to hurt me. There were just other beings trying desperately to cling to the illusions of the night. 

Since the men out numbered the women five to on
e, my job tonight was incredibly easy for once, and of course, I was sure that the alcohol that was running through my system had something to do with just how much fun I was having working this event. Men were falling all over themselves trying to connect with a female. The closer that it got to midnight the more attempts to be spoken to I received. I loved it. There was something empowering about seeing all of them scurrying around trying to catch the willing eyes of someone else. I couldn’t explain it but it made me feel less alone, I fed off this feeling, and tried desperately to hold onto it so I could remember it for as long as I could. 

By midnight, I had drunk, danced, and flirted my way to 55 phone numbers, beating last year’s record by twelve. I had the confidence to sway to the music, to stand there proud and unwavering, and let them bump and grind against my body, getting their fill of my curves, but at the same time, I had the intelligence to keep up with the ones who wanted to talk about more than just what they promised to do to me if they were the one that got me all to themselves for the night. My body was craving one of them to keep their promise
s so very badly, but that rational part of me knew that one by one I would go to them and I would collect.  It was this mixture of excitement and lust that was allowing me to prey on every single man close enough to hear me and see me. They were all practically lining up to talk to me. I mean, I am good and I have no problem admitting that, but I am sure as hell not worth dying for. That thought mixed with all the drinks that I had been slamming made me giggle out loud, which was more than a little alarming. Had I really drunk that much?

“May I have your attention please.” the voice that startled me back to reality belonged to a female Dominus who was dressed in a French maid outfit, at least that is what I thought it was supposed to be. It was only about the size of a tissue, and the feather duster that she was carrying, which was bigger than the rest of the costume put together, complimented the black and white squares of material perfectly. Her face was covered by a beautiful butterfly mask t
hat covered more of her face than the outfit did the rest of her.  With a body as perfect as hers, I guess there was no reason to hide it. It is amazing how you can go from happy and gleeful to jealous and catty in two seconds flat. Even though I was meant to look just like her, there was something about her that screamed power. Somehow I knew that she wasn’t royalty, but there was something about her that made you think: important. She carried a power that I would never have in this lifetime and I instantly hated her for it, more than anything I hoped that one of my guys got to her before someone else. 

For a brief second, I wondered if they thought of themselves as the monsters. I mean, after all she was standing up there having the time of her life and it was me that was plotting her painful death, wishing for it so badly that I could almost taste it. Was I a monster too, maybe even more so than some of the rest of them? Did the beautiful woman on the stage lie in bed and cry because she was a horrible beast? Would she give anything to change places with one of the humans that she fed off of on a regular basis? Somehow, I doubted it. She looked like the type that took it all for granted, even the fact that billions of innocent people died just so she could exist. That fact almost made me walk up on the stage and slap the beautiful smile right off her perfect face. I almost had myself convinced that the two seconds of joy that I’d get from doing it before she snapped my neck would be well worth it and then she started to talk again.

“It is almost midnight; I need all the men on one side of the room and the women on the other. Remember men, since there are more of you than ladies, not everyone will get a date this year. Please be respectful and leave quietly. There is always next year.” 

As the words came out of her mouth, the dance floor opened up and parted seamlessly. It was like her voice was controlling the crowd, and her words alone had the power to move people where her mind wanted them to go. When she was sat
isfied that the men and the women were where they belonged, she started to speak again. 

“I think everyone knows the rules by now, but here is a quick review just to make sure. No talking until the last couple is in their room and no masks are taken off until the alarm sounds. Simple, right? Anyone that breaks these rules will be asked to leave.” Making her point known, she paused for a moment. I looked around, trying to sober up a little. Darien was across the room; he would get to me; I would be
OK. I told myself to soothe the little voice in my head that was telling me at any moment this could all go very wrong. “OK on your mark, get set; go find your sex kittens men.” 

The room went from calm and patient to wild and chaotic in two seconds flat. Men were running like crazy after th
e most desirable women. The women were standing and waiting for the men to claim their prize. Every time one of them was chosen, a little gasp of delight would slip out between her lips. Every woman other than me had her heart thumping to the thought of who was on their arm. Each and every one of them was holding their breath and hoping that it was the prince of darkness himself that would whisk them away and make them feel important for the night. There is nothing sadder than a woman that is so desperate to feel important that she needs to bed a King to matter in her own mind. I, on the other hand, was just hoping that someone would save me before a monster gobbled me up whole.

It didn’t take long for Darien to find me. I felt safe and protected the minute he grasped my hand. It had to have been the alcohol, but as soon as he touched me, I felt calm. The rest of the room was buzzing all around us, but it was like we were the only two people standing there, unmoving and almost as one. There was no need for the excitement; I was where I needed to be, with who I was meant to be with. I knew that and so did he. There
is a calm understanding in knowing you belonged with someone and never had to speak of it. I was at ease with Darien and I felt that everyone else was disturbing my peaceful feeling; it was really starting to piss me off. Whatever it was that I was drinking, I was going to have to see about getting some for the long lonely nights, because for the first time in my life, in one of the most dangerous places I could be, I felt happier than I ever had in my life.