taking night-school courses, and I have to keep my cell switched off while I’m in class.” While her explanation was closer to the truth than anything else she’d told him so far, it was still a lie.
“Great news! Karl saw the frames I took last night 116
and decided you’re perfect for the Maison d’Ombres launch! So you need to get your sexy butt to the loca-tion by nine tomorrow morning. I’m going to text you the address. But first, I want to make sure you get a good night’s sleep, okay? You don’t want to look like you’ve been up all night when you’re in front of the cameras. Oh, and don’t bother putting on your face beforehand, either. Stylists will be there to handle your makeup and hair.”
“Do you think this is a good idea, Kristof?” Lilith asked, making sure her voice had just the right amount of girlish quaver.
“Kid, it’s the best idea I’ve ever had! Tomorrow’s going to be all kinds of crazy, but you have nothing to worry about. Just leave everything up to me.” Lilith smiled as she hung up. So far everything was going perfectly. Aside from pushing that bitch Gala down the stairs, she really hadn’t had to cheat all that much in order to get her way. Still, it was frustrating not being able to talk to anyone about what was going on in her life.
After all, what was the point of being a fashion model if you couldn’t brag to everyone you know and make them jealous?
“I brought new flowers, Granny,” Cally said as she removed the withered bouquet from the memorial vase and replaced it with a fresh one. Her head was buzzing 117
from all the stuff that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and tending her grandparents’ grave helped organize her thoughts.
She found herself thinking about the attack on the pier the night before. She’d been so focused on saving Melinda, it had never crossed her mind that Peter might be one of the strike team. She had been so close, so terribly, terribly close to firing raw lightning into his back.
Praise to the Founders she stopped herself in time, but what if she hadn’t? What if she’d accidentally killed him? The thought made her chest tighten up. Maybe it was all the stress and emotional turmoil from the last few days that had made her lose control and nearly fry Lilith in class.
It was times like these that she sorely missed Granny’s wisdom. Sina Monture had worked hard to give Cally as normal a childhood as any kid with a vampire for a dad, an alcoholic for a mom, and a witch for a grandma could possibly hope for. Even though her grandmother would not have approved of the decisions she’d made or the individuals she was involved with, Cally had no doubt Granny still would have known exactly how to make things better.
Cally opened the invitation Madame Nerezza had given her and read the formal chthonic inscription.
Cally could easily see that her name was in a different scrivener’s hand than the rest of the invitation.
The Presentation Committee requests the honor of 118
presenting Miss Cally Monture at their three hundred and eighty-third annual Grand Ball this coming Rauhnacht, on the stroke of midnight. At the pleasure of the Count and Countess Orlock, King’s Stone, East Hampton, Long Island, New York.
Initially Cally had been excited about being invited to the Grand Ball, but now that the thrill was starting to wear off, she wondered how she was going to actually be able to attend.
There were three things a vampire debutante had to have to be presented at the Grand Ball: a full-length black evening gown, an escort, and a father. She had already started work on a dress, but the escort and the father were going to be considerably harder to come by.
Cally had imagined that discovering her father’s true identity would solve all her problems. But as it turned out, knowing who he really was could gener-ate more trouble than not knowing. Cally wasn’t sure which would be worse, her father discovering that she was
“Great news! Karl saw the frames I took last night 116
and decided you’re perfect for the Maison d’Ombres launch! So you need to get your sexy butt to the loca-tion by nine tomorrow morning. I’m going to text you the address. But first, I want to make sure you get a good night’s sleep, okay? You don’t want to look like you’ve been up all night when you’re in front of the cameras. Oh, and don’t bother putting on your face beforehand, either. Stylists will be there to handle your makeup and hair.”
“Do you think this is a good idea, Kristof?” Lilith asked, making sure her voice had just the right amount of girlish quaver.
“Kid, it’s the best idea I’ve ever had! Tomorrow’s going to be all kinds of crazy, but you have nothing to worry about. Just leave everything up to me.” Lilith smiled as she hung up. So far everything was going perfectly. Aside from pushing that bitch Gala down the stairs, she really hadn’t had to cheat all that much in order to get her way. Still, it was frustrating not being able to talk to anyone about what was going on in her life.
After all, what was the point of being a fashion model if you couldn’t brag to everyone you know and make them jealous?
“I brought new flowers, Granny,” Cally said as she removed the withered bouquet from the memorial vase and replaced it with a fresh one. Her head was buzzing 117
from all the stuff that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and tending her grandparents’ grave helped organize her thoughts.
She found herself thinking about the attack on the pier the night before. She’d been so focused on saving Melinda, it had never crossed her mind that Peter might be one of the strike team. She had been so close, so terribly, terribly close to firing raw lightning into his back.
Praise to the Founders she stopped herself in time, but what if she hadn’t? What if she’d accidentally killed him? The thought made her chest tighten up. Maybe it was all the stress and emotional turmoil from the last few days that had made her lose control and nearly fry Lilith in class.
It was times like these that she sorely missed Granny’s wisdom. Sina Monture had worked hard to give Cally as normal a childhood as any kid with a vampire for a dad, an alcoholic for a mom, and a witch for a grandma could possibly hope for. Even though her grandmother would not have approved of the decisions she’d made or the individuals she was involved with, Cally had no doubt Granny still would have known exactly how to make things better.
Cally opened the invitation Madame Nerezza had given her and read the formal chthonic inscription.
Cally could easily see that her name was in a different scrivener’s hand than the rest of the invitation.
The Presentation Committee requests the honor of 118
presenting Miss Cally Monture at their three hundred and eighty-third annual Grand Ball this coming Rauhnacht, on the stroke of midnight. At the pleasure of the Count and Countess Orlock, King’s Stone, East Hampton, Long Island, New York.
Initially Cally had been excited about being invited to the Grand Ball, but now that the thrill was starting to wear off, she wondered how she was going to actually be able to attend.
There were three things a vampire debutante had to have to be presented at the Grand Ball: a full-length black evening gown, an escort, and a father. She had already started work on a dress, but the escort and the father were going to be considerably harder to come by.
Cally had imagined that discovering her father’s true identity would solve all her problems. But as it turned out, knowing who he really was could gener-ate more trouble than not knowing. Cally wasn’t sure which would be worse, her father discovering that she was
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