My reflection bears a resemblance I never could see possible. Long strapless fabrics of scarlet and pink ombre colors conceal me into the form of a luna, bejeweled to its finest in the corset in flower-like lace appliques tracing down the pale creases. The long skirt, made of endless layers of light pink and scarlet tulle falls to the floor in delicate scallops. For once, I see why people take joy in such lavish festivities.

In my combat boots, I have hidden a small trinket to give to Keanna as a gift of farewell. I heave a sigh. Keanna's leaving for Buffalo today. The bottom of my soul aches as I imagine my life without her. Still, just like I did at Kyran and Eileene's wedding, I just have to suck it all up and be happy that I still have a few more hours left to her.

I turn around to see Keanna looking down, a glum frown hanging just like the rest of the zombie version of herself. Her dress is a simple rose-pink gown with a top decorated with accents of blush-colored stones, silver beads, and crystals, and skirt swooping down to the floor in a cloud of chiffon. Meanwhile, her long dark curls are held back by a single flower pin. 

As she pulls up into an upright position, I notice that she's biting down on her lower lip, holding back brown eyes of tears. I open my mouth to say some words of comfort to her, but she wipes her face and composes herself. 

"Ready to go," she asks me. She throws a small cinch-sack over her shoulder and reaches down to adjust the bows on her tiny flats. When she peers up at me, I give her a nod. It's time to let go. She squeezes her eyes as she stands up and makes her way to the door, me following her. 

The Mess Hall transformed into some daydream. I might as well be walking on some cloud inside my imagination. Everything seems condemned to a heavenly pastel state - the velvet tapestries, the free banners that come from the very tip of the ceiling, the tablecloths, everything. Although, I will admit the best part already is the platter of donuts sitting upon a dessert tower at the refreshments table. 

Meanwhile, from the stage, a DJ hits up some sick throbbing pop beats that make my hips sway without my consent. I turn away to look for Keanna in the crowd, but she's already off by the stage chatting it off with Grace who apparently has not received the memo because she's donning a similar outfit to what I saw her wearing the other day.  

I feel a hand latch softly onto my shoulder. I turn around to see Aurelia in no other than a long, plain black gown. Although, she seems to have put a lot of time and effort into her hair. It's styled in a beehive and decorated with small rose petals. Still, she manages to allow to hanging curls to frame her snow-colored skin. 

Unlike the rest of her coven, her eyes are barely a red pigment while Athan, Calamity, Caleb and Maxwell make it their most noticeable feature. Her eyes are a reddish-brown hue - mahogany almost. Although, on the other hand, she and Athan have that same warm smile that welcomes you in for a mile and never let you go.

"Oh, my word." Her jaw drops down to the floor as her eyes trace up and down my dress. "You're looking so beautiful today. I love your gown."  

"Thanks." I'm slowly backing away from her. My heart is already telling me this is not a good idea to acquaint myself with the adoptive sister of the guy I'm seeing. I mean, our whole friendship would be built upon the fact of me dating Athan ... Or whatever it is we are right now. If I dump him, I also put the friendship I have with her in the garbage and deal with his adoptive sibling's wrath. 

I look over my shoulder at Keanna who appears to be getting down on the floor and doing the twist with Caleb. She's the epitome of someone having a good time. I can't blame her for wanting to steal one last kiss from her ex-fiance. If I were her, I would too. She needs closure. Not just with Caleb, but with everyone. 

I make my way over to the concessions table to grab a donut and divulge into some conversation with Aurelia. Unfortunate for me, I haven't even made it one minute into the conversation, and I've already said something I shouldn't have. "Where's Athan?" 

"Knowing him," Aurelia says, stifling a soft laugh into her wrist, "he's probably searching for cheesecake. I can't fathom why, but he has a weird sweet tooth for cheesecake, but none of them suit his tastes, no matter how many here he tries."

"Why?" 

"He prefers ricotta over cream cheese," she says in a scoff. I laugh and roll my eyes. On the other hand, siblings are the key to all the embarrassing secrets your significant other keeps to themselves. "Something having to do with his Italian lineage. But, I've always wondered how ricotta tastes. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it in between?" 

"Try for yourself," I say in a snarky tone. "I'm not that big of cheese-consumer, you see, as I'm lactose intolerant, so I have to manage my dairy intake. I'll eat dairy on occasion, but not a lot." 

"Well, I can't ingest anything," she says, her voice going solemn and grave. "Since I was seventeen my food source has been blood. When you're a vampire, your entire system shuts down. Nothing works. My body can't digest anything, but drinking blood provides us an energy source to keep on persisting. 

"And my life didn't get any better for drinking blood before tradition would allow. So my punishment is my powers - I can heal anyone and anything, but the catch is, a small piece of me is taken away from me every time I use my powers to heal. 

"It's hard to explain, but let's just say, I take the pain off someone, but the pain can only transfer to myself," she explains. "I'm likely to fall to into nothing but a pile of ashes someday."

"That's horrible," I mutter. Aurelia nods and walks off. Is that why she wanted to have that conversation with me? So she could tell me the backstory of her powers? Then finally, I begin munching upon my donut glazed in pastels as I watch the minutes fly away. 

I catch Kyran and Eileene slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor. Her head rests on his chest while they slowly rock from side to side. I can just imagine that all that girl hears is Kyran's heartbeat right now. I also see that Keanna has gotten that well-deserved closure kiss from Caleb. Still, in the middle of all this, no sign of Athan. 

After a good fifteen minutes of upbeat pop tunes, the DJ decides to take it to the slower side. I look up at the clock above the stage to see that I only have fifteen minutes left with Keanna. Just as my thought finishes, she is coming barrelling towards me. 

"We should dance together to this song," she suggests. As I suspected, she's back to her usual chipper self. I don't have time to protest. She's already taken my hand, and we're dancing in slow circles. Her hands are soft on mine. 

"You gonna be okay," she asks. Biting down on my lip, I nod. I reach up for my hair and scratch the back of my neck. She squeezes her eyes and nods as well. I hear her breath draw in heavily. Her voice sounds hushed all of sudden. "It's gonna take a lot of donuts to get me through a plane ride to the northern parts of the country." 

I laugh hesitantly. "Knowing you, you'll be okay. Those rascals don't stand a chance against you."

She reaches into her cinch-sack and pulls out a small trinket I forgot I once possessed - the wolf charm necklace. Her hands meet mine and the chain in my palms. "May this symbolize our eternal friendship, Betrys." 

I reach into the back of my boot and pull out the ring Rylan gave me when he almost successfully blackmailed me into making Athan take a hike. Looking away, I drop it into her palm. I say, "May this remind you of our friendship." 

She pulls me into a hug after placing the ring on her index finger, tears crawling down her cheeks in heavy rainfalls. "I'm going to miss you so much." 

"Same goes to you," I say under a heavy breath. I squeeze Keanna tightly by her back. I'm just not ready to let go. I need one last moment with her. "You have given me the greatest friendship anyone could ask for. I shall cherish it for the rest of my days. Thank you." 

"Promise me one thing," she says in a soft whisper. Her tears soak into my shoulders. "Promise me that as long as I live that you shall never draw your weapon. Instead, you shall use your words in battle. If they command you to fight, you drop your sword. Can you promise me that?" 

"I promise," I say with a nod. With that, Keanna pulls away from me and tears start rolling down from my eyes. I watch her as she walks off into the distance towards the exit. The door opens, letting the light attack, and she steps out, the world is enclosed in darkness yet once again. 

I collapse onto the floor in tears. Keanna's gone. Grace must've noticed because she's helping me to a quiet corner of the room. Her hand is on my shoulder, and I can just feel my body heaving. 

"There's still texting," she suggests. I look up at her as if to remind her that I don't have my phone on me. When going through security, they confiscated it. She nods. "I work security, so I can quickly snatch your phone back like I did for Keanna." She places a smug smile on her face as if she works with forces of evil. "Please tell me I have permission to snoop around for your found." 

"You have my permission," I say with hesitance. Grace's smile brightens but still by a significant distance and darkness. A shadow overcomes our darkness with even more. I peer up to see Athan in a tuxedo, and his hand outstretched towards me. My voice cracks under pressure, all of a sudden. "You came."

Flabbergasted, I take Athan's hand and he pulls me to my feet, leading us out into the center of the dance floor. He twirls me under his arm until he has a firm hold on my back. With that, he pulls me to his chest. He then makes his voice audible over the soft pop music. "Beatrice, why did you even doubt I wouldn't show up?" 

"You avoided me since that moment in the Sound Room," I say with a sour taste. I spin so my back is facing him, and his arms are wrapped around me. His heavy breath casts down on my hair. "I was in need of your presence but you wouldn't show up." 

"What do you mean?" His voice conveys shock as if no one spilt the beans between the time I found out about Keanna leaving for Buffalo up until now. It then hits me - he doesn't know. 

"I guess you haven't heard, but Keanna left for Buffalo," I fill him in. I pull away with igniting fury and start walking off, only to turn around to him, fuming. "My best friend was leaving, she kicked me out of her room when she needed my consoling and you weren't there. What kind of boyfriend are you?" 

His face goes completely still, eyes wide and startled. After a second of staring at me, his arms fly to his side. "I'm the kind who didn't know what we really were." 

"And you never will," I finish him off. I whirl around and storm off to the table to grab myself another donut. Donuts have always been there for me. In fact, donuts are better than any boyfriend you could have. Donuts never abandon you, they never oppose your opinion, and they're great listeners. 

Only half way to the table, due to having to push through the crowds of unhappy vampires, I'm stopped by Athan's firm hand. He spins me around and brings me to his chest yet once again. "Give me one moment to make this up to you, please." 

I sigh with a shrug, conceding. He presses his lips to my ear, his hand caressing my cheek. His voice, nothing more than a soft whisper. "Remember this?" 

"Yes." 

I close my eyes and remember the moment as if it were yesterday. I recall how I liked the feeling of his lips. Smooth and warm, every spark of passion lingering on mine. It's so real. As I break back into reality, I find myself crushing my lips onto his. 

For the few moments we're one, my soul takes over in a sensation that makes me feel like walking on air as I kiss Athan. Maybe it's the euphoria taking over, but I'm in some other world. Even though I know that Athan tricked me into kissing him, I honestly don't mind it one bit. 

The darkness of the room comes back to me and I pull away, breathless. I can't help but let a smile creep up my face when I realize that I actually have a boyfriend, something the entire clan thought I'd never have. 

"Wanna take this back to the dance floor," he asks with a foolish smile. I squint my eyes with a blush as I nod yes. 

~

Hey everyone. Athan and Betrys are now official. SQUEE!

Donuts. Am I right? XD

Also, what are your thoughts on Grace? 

If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. 

X Shay X