Vampires

Surprised, again. However, I can't say that I didn't expect to be confounded once again. Odd girl, I thought. "No, I haven't." I murmured, glancing around at our surroundings once more. I counted the seconds as they quietly went by. One, two, three...
I turned back to her with the tiniest bit of excitement rising up in my chest. I was determined not to talk myself out of it before I could even ask. I had to try. Worse came to worst, I could just skip town. I'd been meaning to leave anyways. Too many memories that I tried hard to forget. She was still standing there as I thought of this, so about five seconds after I'd last spoken, I spoke again. "Would you like to dance?" I asked and held a gloved hand out in a gesture that she could appraise however she wished. Whether it be denying it, or accepting. I didn't allow myself to lean toward either one. "I'd be honored." I added and smiled lightly, waiting.

I nodded and looked away, but soon after he spoke and I looked up, maybe a little too hopefully, I scolded myself mentally, I probably looked desperate. I looked at him just as he was offering his hand and asking if I'd like to dance. I smiled as a small blush rushed to my cheeks when he added that he would be honored. "Why thank you, I would love to." I said holding my hand out and taking his, playfully mimicking ladies from the olden times, I probably looked stupid in the process, but joking was my way of easing my nerves. For some reason unbeknown to me butterflies started to flutter in my stomach as I took his hand. Something about him seemed vaguely familiar, but I still couldn't place it.

I chuckled lightly at her joke and gently took her hand, leading her to the dance floor. I snuck a glance or two toward her, too quick for her human eyes to catch, and tried to assess her expression. She seemed pleased that I'd asked her. Excited, even, and that feeling started to rub off on me even more than before. I smiled loosely as we finally made it to a gazebo with a shiny wooden floor. Lights were hung on the roof above, large speakers discretely placed all around streamed a smooth and pleasant slow song. It was vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place it. Not that I was paying much attention to the music anyways. I turned my eyes back to Ivy at a human pace that felt sluggish, to me. I placed my hands gingerly on her hips, careful not to move too fast or come across as pushy or demanding. I patiently waited for her to assume the traditional position, with her hands over my shoulders and linking behind my neck. "So, are you having fun so far?" I asked, almost idly, just to get some conversation started. The music continued, and I marveled at my luck that night. I'd hate myself later for putting her in danger, and even more so if things went south and I had to skip town. But for now, I forced myself to memorize the moment. And tried not to pay attention to how irritating it was to stop breathing, but pretend to.

I trailed along behind him as he lead me towards the gazebo that was illuminated by sparkling white lights, a disco ball hung in the center that cast colorful lights around the floor as well. The fast paced song that was playing changed to a slowish one that I recognized to be Hold On by Micheal Buble. The rustle of gowns filled the air as people switched partners or walked off the stage. When he finally stopped walking and turned towards me, he placed his hands on my hips, and I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck, smiling a little. He began to speak as we swayed to the music, and I nodded enthusiastically in reply. "Definitely! I love how they designed the whole thing, it's so beautiful! How about you?" I asked smiling up at him. For some reason as I stared up at him something inside me was being drawn in and wanted to know more about him, but something else was uneasy and telling me to be cautious. I rolled my eyes internally and pushed all those thoughts away, waiting for his reply.

As she wrapped her arms around my neck, I began sliding my feet back and forth across the slick hard wood rather than just swaying. "I agree completely. They've done an outstanding job setting this whole thing up. I haven't seen anything so well managed in some time." I rolled my eyes a bit at how nobody seemed to know how to do anything right nowadays, but still smiled at her. "Yes, I'm enjoying myself too. Very much." I answered composedly. I quickly slipped in a deep breath as I felt a fresh wave of air waft toward me, a gentle breeze from our left. With that one small breath, I knew it was going to rain that night. I could easily point out the smell of the coming rain, and the pressure from the clouds, though very subtle and nearly unnoticeable to humans, was just as blatant to me as if someone were stomping on my toe. I ignored that little fact, set it aside with the excuse that we were 1) under a gazebo, and 2) there was a very good chance that we'd have stopped dancing, possibly even gone home, by the time the first rain fell.

I nodded, "I agree one hundred percent. Lots of things are just kind of half put together, this is definitely not one of those things though." I smiled. "Well I'm glad you're having a good time." I said and felt a little happier, since I was the first person he danced with at the masquerade. "You know it's the oddest thing, you seem very familiar, but I don't know where I've seen you before.." I mused and shook my head. "My brain resembles that of a Goldfish, with a two second memory span." I laughed lightly, i was pretty forgetful at times.

I might have laughed out loud had I not been worried that she'd think I was insane. Instead, I laughed on the inside and just chuckled mutely. "Is that right?" I asked, feeling a little amused. "Strangely, I could say the same for you. But surely I would remember a girl such as yourself." I said. It wasn't lying, not technically. Just stretching the truth a little bit.
"Those must be your friends," I said, subtly changing the subject before she could think about it too much. If she was being honest about having the memory of a fish, it would work out in my favor. I nodded toward three people standing across the way, barely visible (to human eyes) through the crowd. Still, I could see them perfectly. One boy and two girls. The man didn't seem particularly interested in what the girls were seeing, but their eyes were nearly popping out of their heads as they tried to catch Ivy's attention with suggestive expressions. Once they noticed me looking, they pretended to look away and talk with each other. But the wide grins on their faces said enough... They'd ambush her the moment I took my hands off her hips and ask her who she was dancing with. I smiled a little wider and chuckled.

I laughed lightly and felt myself blush. "I'm flattered." I said with a playful smirk. I turned my head in the direction he was looking and furrowed my eyebrows. "I don't see them, oh wait, there's Katie!" I said as I glanced her curly blonde hair through the many heads. I couldn't make much out and shrugged. "Yeah, those are the people I came with." I said and looked at him curiously, that must mean he was watching me when I came in. I smiled a little more, "So, did you come alone? or with some friends?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

The moment that the words left her mouth, my thoughts sped up and I wondered what to say to that. I as perceived as a freak of nature for most of this life. I wasn't complaining, of course. I accepted the good and the bad of it, even expected it in most cases. But she was different. Did I really want to scare her away so quickly? Of course, along with that, I considered the consequences of lying and saying I came with somebody. Perhaps worse than saying I was alone and making her uncomfortable, in many cases. Again, I considered the idea also of just leaving her alone. Why should I come along and ruin her life? She'd never be like me, and I would never be like her. We were two different beings, entirely. It wouldn't work out, no matter how many facts I ignored or how much I hoped. A second had passed since she spoke.
"No, I came alone. My friends aren't the type to come to this sort of ordeal. In fact, they might laugh at me if I told them I came." I said with a small laugh. True enough, I'd met other vampires. They'd laugh and think I was ridiculous for coming and not eating anyone (assuming that temptation wouldn't wind up getting the best of me), or laugh that I put myself in that much pain for no real reason. Or maybe laugh at my petty hope for some sort of companionship. While my mind was on that thought base, the next breath I took was even more excruciating. White hot flames creeping down my throat, the pain taking it's sweet time to begin to fade away. However, I kept my face composed. I'd become better at that other the years, so much so that it was no longer even noticeable to humans.

I nodded. "Ah, nice.. That's weird.. That they'd laugh I mean, not you coming alone!" I quickly mended and blushed biting my lip. I hoped he didn't think that was offensive to him, or his friends, I didn't mean it like that of course. I absently let my eyes scan around me, and for the first time I took in what he was wearing. "Oh look," I said and reached one hand from around his neck and touched his red tie then his vest, "We match!" I laughed lightly and motioned to my dress which was almost if not exactly the same red he was wearing. "What a quinkydink." I mused quietly.

I laughed at her unnecessary attempt to set her own words straight. "I know what you meant." I assured her, and then added under my breath. "And yes, they're... Odd. That's for sure." Next, she pointed out that my vest and tie matched her dress. My eyebrows lifted as I glanced down. I was surprised that I hadn't noticed that. "I guess you're right, Ivy." I grinned, secretly marveling at how wonderful even such a light brush of her fingers felt against my chest. If I'd ever been distracted in this life, regardless of the endless room in my mind to think of every detail around me, it was at that moment. Two seconds later, I realized I'd slipped up. I tried to console myself with the idea that I'd said it quietly and she might not of heard, or noticed, but I doubted that she'd let it slip. I tried to keep my expression cool.

I laughed lightly and watched as he looked down, looking slightly surprised. When he spoke I stared at him for a long minute. "Uh... how do you know my name?" I asked, looking down, I was pretty sure I wasn't wearing anything with my name on it, and he couldn't have possible heard my friends taking to me, it was possible but I could hardly recall if they ever said my name. I pulled my eyebrows together in a confused frown. "Well?" I pressed.

I kept my eyes down and felt my forehead pucker. Yes, she noticed. "You, uh..." I said under my breath, my brain running a thousand miles an hour to try and think of a logical excuse. After a couple of seconds, my savior came. A tall and lanky, slightly handsome although it took some time to notice, man wandered up to us. I realized that the song had ended.
"May I cut in?" He asked with slightly awkwardly practiced etiquette and held his hand out. I bowed my head at him, smiled once at Ivy, and then removed my hands from her hips and backed a few steps away. I turned around then and cut through the crowd, declining a couple of offers to dance, and found my way to a bench off to the side. I could afford to sit for a while and observe the people dancing in the gazebo. It'd take a few seconds to recover from that slip.

I raised my eyebrows expectantly, but before I could get an answer a tall slightly handsome man walked up to us, asking if he could cut in. The man I was dancing with nodded and pulled his arms from my waist and stepped back, then turned and walked towards a bench to the side. "Odd," I murmured under my breath. I looked up at the other man and offered a polite smile as the song changed to more fast paced one. Sway by Micheal Buble. We soon started dancing and may I say that he was a really good dancer to this kind of music. I soon got so caught up I sort of forgot about the other stranger that had called me by my name.

I sat down on that bench for around twenty minutes before deciding to get up and join the action again. I pushed my luck by dancing with one girl, and then one more when she asked, and then I offered to dance with a few more. I kept my eye out for Ivy, dancing to the other end of the gazebo when my partner and I would near her. I made sure that she couldn't see me for several hours, until the masquerade began to die down. I was doing a quick step with an elegant woman in her early twenties when the crowd began to thin. She wore a deep violet dress that went down to her ankles and swayed to the rhythm as she danced, with a matching deep purple mask with black lace and a eather decoration to her left, between her eye and ear. This was our second dance together, as she seemed to fancy my style as I did with her's. She was experienced and smooth on her feet, yet, she didn't hold nearly as much interest for me as Ivy had. The song came to an end and I bowed to her as she curtsied to me. Not a word was spoken between her and I, but we both preferred it that way.
I moved off the dance floor quickly and went to a different bench than I was on before, closer to the trail that led to the parking lot. It was out of the way of the traffic as people migrated two-by-two toward their cars, and just barely in the shadows, away from the glow of the twinkling lights. I rest me elbows on my knees and watched as my two-time dance partner rejoined with her significant other, and then left. I tried hard not to let myself look for Ivy. I wouldn't see her again, I'd decided grimly.

The time had passed by relatively slowly, and I had danced with five other men multiple times, none of them being the stranger from earlier. Not that I was paying attention of anything, of course. As I danced with my latest dance partner, Josh, I finally caught sight of the man I had danced the first dance with and felt the need to go talk, to him, or maybe dance with him one more time before the dance completely ended. I watched him as he walked off stage and settled himself slightly in the shadows. As the song came to an end, Josh bowed and I curtsied then we went out separate ways. I quickly made my way towards the man sitting on the bench, as I drew nearer I cleared my throat quietly to announce my arrival and then sat down beside him. "Long time no see." I said with a small smirk.

I'd known she was coming, so why didn't I stand up and quickly walk away like my mind knew I should have? I stayed placed on the bench, looking at the ground, and pretended to just notice she was there when she cleared her through. She sat down beside me and I felt the burn in my throat. So much for a few seconds of breathing time.
"Hello." I smiled back at her, turning my head slightly to face her. Stand up and walk off, pretend she never existed, my mind told me continuously. Yet something else was telling me to stay. Under different circumstances, I might have thought it was my heart. But I knew better than that.

"So, how did you like the dance?" I asked, "I personally loved their taste in music, it was like they were playing a playlist from my ipod or something." I laughed and looked at him with a warm smile. The white lights that hung around cast illuminated dots all over his face and made his eyes sparkle in a way, and made him look even more handsome despite the mask. I shook my head, Come to your senses, you barely know this guy. I scolded myself.

I was surprised that she was making casual conversation, rather than treating me like a freak. Or.. stalker. Did she remember my earlier flub? I decided to go along with her regardless of my wondering. Might as well while I still could... The questionnaire was bound to begin before long.
"Yes, actually. I enjoyed myself very much." I said truthfully. "It's hard to find anybody who can dance well anymore, but I came across quite a few." I added in, glancing around for a few moments before looking back at her. I took in a scalding breath before continuing. "What about yourself?"

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time." I said truthfully. I smiled and nodded, "I enjoyed myself as well, I danced with quite a few people who danced really well, but then there was one who kept stepping on my toes.. It was painful needless to say, and he was really embarrassed after wards and didn't ask me to dance. He was nice, but my toes were thankful when the song ended." I laughed gently recalling his embarrassed expression whenever I'd wince when he stepped on my foot. I heard the DJ announce over the speakers that the last dance was going to start and he told us to grab our partners. I looked over at him, "Well, I know it's not normal for a girl to ask a guy to dance... Would you like to dance?" I asked curiously as I stood up and looked down at him, I was hoping he would say yes, but there was always the chance he would decline.

I smiled a bit at her memory, though I was really unable to understand her pain (an elephant could step on my toe and it wouldn't phase me). when she asked for the last dance, I nodded and stood. "Of course." I smiled. "And actually, although a century ago it was frowned upon when a woman asked for a dance, it's customary now." I informed her, then offered my hand to her with my palm up and grinned.

(I'm going to PP)

I smiled and blushed a bit, "I'll remember that." I said and reached out to take his hand, they felt unusually cold, maybe that had always been like that, but I didn't notice before because I just wasn't paying attention. Maybe he was getting chilly. He lead me out to the dock that was now vacated and still surrounded by dim lights and streamers. It was romantic, of course, but I convinced myself that I wouldn't think about how much this was like a movie. Dancing the last with a handsome stranger at a masquerade? On a dock dance floor area with twinkling lights all around? Yeah it was kind of like a fairy tale. I shook my head and cleared my thoughts again. "No extravagant dance moves, otherwise knowing my luck I might just end up in the water." I laughed lightly and looked up at him as we assumed the general position for a slow dance. A Moment Like This by Kelly Clarkson came on and we started to dance.

I couldn't help but think about what a coincidence it was. At the beginning she sings 'It's almost that feeling that we've met before.' and it applied sooo much! Because I felt like I'd met him before and all, and I had just thought how much this whole thing resembled that of a fairytale moment. It just applied so well, minus the kiss part of the song of course. But it still applied very well, strangely enough. I felt a blush pull across my cheeks again as he looked down at me while we danced. I didn't want to say anything stupid and ruin it so I clamped my mouth shut.

I chuckled at her comment as we made our way to the dock, adorned with lights. There were two speakers out here, playing a Kelly Clarkson song that I remembered came out almost ten years ago. "No extravagant moves, got it." I murmured under my breath, still smiling, as I placed my hands on her hips and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I carefully slid my feet back and forth along the wooden dock, wary not to step on her toes. I subtly observed her expression, trying to understand it. She looked like she was enjoying it, at least, as she was unable to keep the smile off of her face. Still, I couldn't help but notice that she was keeping quiet. "You're awfully quiet. Tired?" I asked her after a few moments, near the middle of the song. I glanced over her shoulder out to the lake. It sloshed around eerily, and far out into it, I could see the very faint reflection of the moon as it illuminated the clouds that covered it. The storm was closer now. I ignored that fact and looked back to Ivy, patiently awaiting her reply.

I sighed quietly as we danced and almost jumped out of my skin when he spoke because I wasn't expecting it, I didn't show my surprise though and smiled pleasantly. "Just.. thinking, and I really don't want to open my mouth and say something I might regret later." I chuckled lightly, "But I guess I am a bit tired, but just a little." I added. I looked up and met his gaze. Where had I seen those eyes before? I wondered. I continued to move with the music, enjoying the slow rhythm of it and dancing with someone who actually knew how to dance, and didn't step on my toes. I smiled a little and tried to mask it, I didn't want to see like some idiot who couldn't stop smiling just because she was dancing with a man who seemed to be quite the gentleman.

I chortled again. "Am I really that intimidating? I should work on that." I said in a low voice, still humorous. I felt a small drop of rain on the top of my head, though it was barely noticeable even to me. I continued to dance regardless, enjoying the moment all too much to cut it short so quickly. It was uncomfortable not to breathe at that time. Not really because my body wasn't getting oxygen. It didn't need it. Just because I relied on smell almost as much as sight or hearing. I felt vulnerable in the strangest way because of it. But the agony wasn't worth it.