*Maria* 

     I stand outside on the front porch as my mom waters her garden and she does it with a smile on her face. Her garden is what makes her calm my hand glides over the american dogwood and the once pale flower is brought back to it's original color which was purple. I take a deep breath when I hear a knock on the door and I go to see who it was it couldn't be faith she would just walk in no questions asked. I open the door to reveal 'Valerie Michaelson' she and her family have been living here for almost a month now and she holds up a box and she says "we are having a masquerade ball at our mansion friday the 13th my brother wants you to wear this mask and this dress".

I smile at her and she raises a eyebrow like she was waiting for me to invite her inside and I remember vampires have to be invited in and I say "oh come on in". She smiles at me and I help her with the giant box dang this dress must be huge I sit it down on the bed and I open it and a smile crosses my face the dress was completely huge and the corset was dark blue and had stars going down the corset and it was strapless. I take it out of the box and lay it onto the bed and see the skirt was huge and then I see it comes with a cover with stars it was absolutely breathtaking.

Damn he can pick out a dress the dress in itself took my breath away valerie she walks over to me and she says "he will be the only one without a mask so you'll know exactly who he is". She hugs me and walks out of the room and she says "tell faith be expecting a invitation as well" I smile and I hang up the dress on my closet door and this was the first time since the whole abel break up that I will go out.

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When the night of the ball finally got here I was a ball of nerves and faith was getting ready as well my hair was pinned back and curled. I walk inside my room after getting my hair and makeup done and I see a black velvet box on my bed. My eyes must had shown how confused I was with a white bow around it I undo the white bow and open the box to come face to face with a diamond bracelet. I grab the note that was under the box and I smile when I read the note 'Wear this with your dress love I must say your gonna look ravishing tonight love:Jagger'.

I smile and place it on my wrist over the white gloves I had on and the diamonds was so huge there's no telling how much this cost. I get in my dress and faith pulls my corset tighter and I show her the bracelet that jagger left on my bed and she gasps and pulls my arm closer "mia this is a 14K gold cluster diamond bracelet these things cost $9,729 online". I gasp and look at it again and I ask "it is? what type of bracelet is this? what designer?" she giggles and tightens my corset "it's a tennis bracelet I think it was probably imported from italy or something".

My eyes widened and I start to remove the bracelet and I say "I can't accept this it's to much I don't want him spending money on me this dress probably didn't cost as much as that bracelet". She giggles and she says while putting the bracelet back on "no he gave it to you mia but if you wanna give it to him tonight then the choice is yours". We leave my room and we get inside my moms truck and she puts the address inside the gps she couldn't remember where the mansion was at. When we finally arrive I grab my invitation I put the mask on and we all go inside and the foyer alone was beautiful.

I look up the stairs and I see 'Ben,Jagger,Valerie,Evie and Elijah' standing side by side I remove the cover and the guy by the entrance hangs it up and when the masquerade ball started and they proposed a toast. I take a drink and my eyes fell onto jagger and he took my breath away his tuxedo was solid black with a white shirt a blue tie to match my dress no doubt. He walks down the staircase towards me and he grabs my hand and kisses my gloved hand and he whispers in my ear "you look beautiful love no girl in this room holds a candle to you". I smile at him and grab his hand and lead him to the dance floor and he chuckles when I hear a slow song start to play.

He pulls me closer and I say "thank you for the bracelet it's beautiful but I can't accept it". His eyes show confusion and then he asks "why can't you love?" I gasp and I lose my breath everytime he calls me love and I reply "because it's to expensive faith said this was a $9,000 dollar bracelet and you don't have to shower me with gifts jagger I just wanna get to know you". He lays his forehead against mine and he says "maria you truly have a heart of gold did you know that?". I close my eyes and smile when he pulls me closer and I say "no I didn't but if I keep hearing it from you then I believe you".

He chuckles and he says "you wanna know where I got the bracelet?" I nodd at him as we glide across the dance floor and he says "I got it from the empress of russia 1492 she told me that if I ever found someone who I thought was worthy of this bracelet then give it to her". My eyes widened and I smile at him and I ask "did you ever give it to temperance?". His eyes soften and he says "I did back when I was in love with her" I sigh and we stop and he leads me outside into the backyard and I see wild horses run along the fence. I gasp and his hand finds mine and leads me to the wooden fence and we stay in silence we don't talk we just look at the wild horses.

Then I feel my shoulders shiver and I turn to him and smile his thumb glides across my cheek. I lean into his touch his touch alone is so soft and gentle I know he would never hurt me. I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding and he says "yours and temperance's personalities are completely different the only thing you have in common is she's your doppelganger". I shrug and he says "come with me I gotta show you something" I send him a smile and I ask "where are you taking me?".

He holds out his hand and he asks "trust me love" I bite my lower lip and I guess it's now or never I feel like Christine from phantom of the opera when the phantom asks her to come with him. My hand interlocks with his and i'm waiting for the music to start because I trusted him he leads me inside and upstairs and we go inside what I assume is his room. He goes over to the dresser and brings out another yet again velvet box and he says "open it" I raise a eyebrow at him "this isn't like pretty woman is it? your not gonna pop my hand as soon as my hand reaches for it right?".

He chuckles and shakes his head at me "no love I won't although it is tempting" I open the box to reveal a bright glowing green heart necklace and it looked like a tree growing branches on the heart. I gasp and I say "it's beautiful but why do I sense magic coming from this?" he grabs the necklace and it starts to glow bright green. My eyes widened and he says "there is vervain inside it if your wearing it no vampire or original will be able to compel you it's very harmful to vampires but as long as I don't touch it".

I smile at him and he puts the necklace around my neck and I look at it in the mirror and he says "it also glows in the presence of a vampire or anything supernatural". I smile at him through the mirror and I say "thank you jagger" I turn around and look at him and his eyes crash into mine and he asks "so what's your favorite romance movie?". I raise a eyebrow at him and I follow behind him and I see he leads me onto a balcony and I sit down on the ledge to stare up at moon. I soak up the rays of the moon and he sits beside me and I say "Titanic" he chuckles and I ask "what about you?".

He turns to look at me and he replies "my favorite romance movie is most likely phantom of the opera". I raise a eyebrow at him and a smile crosses my face and I ask "oh that's a good one what's your favorite book?". He leans closer to me the more time we talk the more cold it gets and he removes his jacket and places it over my shoulders. I slip my arms through the sleeves and he sends me a smile and he says "why don't you come over tomorrow and I will help you learn new spells".

I smile at him and I say "thanks jagger it's only been faith and myself ever since lucian,abel and jax left we lost our training buddies". He moves closer to me and wraps his arm around me and I say "jagger I am flattered with you doing this with me but i'm still hurt after abel and I breaking up and-". He smiles at me and he nodds "strictly professional love and listen to me when I say a very wise person once told me 'Don't take a good woman for granted someday, someone will come along and appreciate what you didn't'. I smile at him and I start to remove the necklace and then he says "those are a gift darling that necklace looks alot better around your neck than in some dusty jewelry box".

I stand up and I say "I should go see if my mom hasn't left me" he chuckles and holds out his arm out to me I loop my arm through his. He leads me down the hall and down the staircase and I see almost everyone either gone but I see my mom talking to jagger's brother 'Ben'. I see faith standing beside him and he grabs a rose from the vase and he hands it to her and she blushes. His thumb glides across her cheek and her chin and smiles at her I feel a hand touch my waist I turn to smile at jagger as well and I see faith wearing as exact necklace like mine except her's is  blue.

After the dance and I got home and I had looked in the mirror and see the necklace jagger gave to me and my thumb glides across it. I don't remove it I put my pajamas on and just lay down with my finger holding the necklace and I fall asleep to me holding the heart necklace.