It was a party day, and I got up early in the morning to eat. The day would take time as I would have to go to the sauna to wash myself properly to get all the pack scents off; Adam would wash, too, but after me. Then I would have to dry and brush my hair to be ready when Adam returned from washing.
We had a shampoo that Samuel had brought for this purpose, which covered our normal scents, my strawberry, and Adam's pear, leaving only the perfume and aftershave to smell so that no one would smell us and then be able to identify us by our scent.
My dress was gorgeous. Adam showed it to me in the morning. It was a ball gown with a huge tulle hem, and it came with a hoop skirt; the dress was fuchsia; the top was thick, luxurious satin, and it zipped up at the back, not a lace-up design, but luckily I had been feeding at night and was eating well, anyway. The hem was a tulle, a slightly lighter shade than the top. The top was just thin straps, and the neckline was very generous.
But I had a strapless bra to make my breasts look a bit more prominent. It didn't matter if I was a bit flat because my role was a student, a young one, and Adam was my 35-year-old teacher. He was the boss of the institution, and he liked to take young girls and manipulate them into entertainment for himself. So I would have to pretend to be dependent on Adam, on his attentions, and be very submissive, just wanting to serve and please him.
Adam was more suited for this role than Damon, though he would have been too good in his role, and I might have forgotten that it was just a role-play. Salvatore had a bit of an effect on me.
I went to the sauna, and while there, I washed myself with this weird soap, which really took away my strawberry scent. Then, after an hour and a half, I got myself clean and went to my bedroom to dry off and get dressed; I put on my regular clothes for a while and was getting my hair done when Adam walked in and started putting makeup on me first.
I was pretty surprised, but didn't resist letting him do my makeup for over an hour. After that, we went to dinner, and then he just started doing my hair. I felt like it took the most time to do my makeup, but I knew that doing makeup and hair is not always a quick job.
We would have some kind of drive, so we would have to be on the move in time, and Adam finally helped me put on my dress, zipped it up, and brought some more jewelry, earrings with pink stones, and then a pearl necklace, three rows. Finally, the towering high-heeled shoes are just the right color. I slipped them on and looked in the full-length mirror as Adam went to get dressed.
I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn't believe it. My hair was red and expertly arranged in a fine, curly bun on top of my head. I had been fed a little at night, so the dress fit like a dream. It didn't hang over me. The shoes were heels, and they made me at least a little taller so that if we were dancing, our size difference wouldn't be quite so great.
The clever makeup actually made me look almost beautiful. I say almost because I don't consider myself beautiful even with makeup on. My face is always so scared, unpredictable, and not terribly sophisticated. I look very young without makeup, and makeup kept me looking young, but not as a child.
Although my features are symmetrical, I am not a classic beauty. I'm too plain-looking, and my dark blue eyes, dark eyebrows, and lashes always make me look a bit surly or fierce. I just can't seem to look cute and innocent.
But I tried. We took Adam's car and drove there. The drive took an hour and a half, and Adam looked so handsome in his dark purple tuxedo. I practiced my facial expressions in the car with Adam's help, and I learned more and more. Adam was an excellent teacher.
It was an enormous mansion, and there was supposed to be a party for some oil company. Nobody would probably even recognize Adam because everybody was more or less human.
Adam stopped the car, and we got out. He handed the valet the keys and took me in his arms. I looked at Adam with proper adoring eyes, holding on to him and occasionally glancing at him.
My role name this time was Mia Bay. I had made it up myself, and Adam's people had actually made me an ID and a fake ID that would even pass the FBI screening, so I would carry it with me whenever I needed it. We walked in, and Adam handed me a champagne glass.
It was part of the deal that he decided everything, and I was just being a good little Mia. We walked around the party. Adam would nod to people and stop to talk to someone, and he had actually changed his speaking style and put a slight accent on it, a European accent, and his speaking style was softer and almost seductive as if he was talking to women and oh he kept me in check.
So when we stopped to talk to a couple, I had to be charming and talk to a male so that Adam would furrow his brow first and I wouldn't notice. Then next, he touched me, and again, I didn't pay attention.
Finally, he pulled me into him, squeezed my arm tightly, and murmured in my ear, " Try, Mia, to remember who you belong to; the master is not happy with his little girl."
Well, I then had to be apologetic and timid, hang on to Adam, and we danced. And while dancing, Adam led. Then I wasn't allowed to be jealous at all when we always approached women. Adam squeezed my arm hard, so I let him flirt with strangers. Yes, I did talk botany and studies with one or the other, especially when we approached John Constantine.
Constantine, however, was definitely the standout—blond hair, cheap suit, British accent, and always drinking. I also felt his power, as did Adam, and Adam had to restrain himself from turning on his headlights, meaning he let his eyes show what he really was.
But we had been slowly making our way around the hall, getting closer and closer to Constantine as Adam wanted to watch him. He knew that if Constantine was as good as Dresden had said he was, then he had noticed us, and Adam didn't want to ambush but to take this slowly and let Constantine decide whether to come to us.
It is unwise to ambush a strong wizard, no matter how benevolent the intentions are, and Adam simply does not know and does not yet trust Constantine. Besides, this also gave me time to observe Constantine as if in passing and see what my pretender side sees.
We stopped at a snack table, and Adam picked out a few snacks just for me to say loud enough for people to hear, " Mia, you belong to me, and I want you to stay slim and beautiful and not overeat, here, these have more calories than enough, but I'll make you burn off the calories at night."
I didn't blush. I nodded and said thank you. I ate them slowly and gracefully, nipping and staying in character, then started walking and socializing when I saw Constantine moving away and heading towards Adam. As we had agreed, Adam would take the initial contact, and I would watch for when Adam would give the signal to either come to him or stay away.
Constantine came over to chat with Adam, and I went off a little further to walk around and talk with Botany. There were several people I was chatting with about these things, and a couple of older ladies were keen on gardening tips, so I gave those, too.
Half an hour later, Adam was already laughing with Constantine and beckoned me closer. I walked calmly and went under Adam's arm as my role demanded, looking at him adoringly.
The wizard suddenly looked at me very carefully, and I realized that the whole lazy bum was a very clever disguise. No one would take a slacker like Constantine seriously right away.
I went closer to Adam, and he said: "Mimi, this is Constantine, he's good, believe me. "
I nodded, and Constantine said, " You're a pretender. I've never seen one alive. Only the couple I didn't have time to save. You're fascinating, and you're not really human. Don't worry, I have a little spell on. Nobody can hear what we're saying."
His voice was, well, a British accent, but it had pretty damn good intelligence and a sense of humor. But there was something dark underneath.
I shook the wizard's hand, but this time I didn't try to break his hand, it was reserved for Damon.
I said, "Mimi Springcove and I'm not human. I'm a super werewolf. My DNA has six threads and no human."
Constantine looked at me and said, " Oh, you are a special creature."
I nodded politely as Adam and Constantine were still talking about something. I stood next to Adam as he gave Bran's contact info to Constantine and briefly told him what I had already been through.
Constantine told me, "Did you know, young lady, that you are then resistant to magic? And very much so. Interesting. It would have been better if you hadn't been quite so immune, but I'll see what I can do. I'll contact Dresden and see what we can do together. I'll see if we can get you some kind of magic charm, tattoo, or something that would help you be found in less than ten weeks, but I'll get in touch and see what we can come up with."
Constantine sailed away, playing almost drunk and groping several women at the same time and talking obscenities.
Adam shook his head and said: "Wizards and that's who we should be working with."
Adam was very particular about how women were treated and respected. I could clearly see that Constantine's groping had hit Adam directly, and he felt he wanted to do something about it.
But now was not a good time to get into that sort of thing, and Adam might have the bad luck to expose us, so I had to improvise. Adam was not in the role now, but was planning to act for the honor of the women.
I decided to create a diversion and went in front of Adam, glued myself to him, grabbed his head, and kissed him. Adam froze, but only for a moment, and returned the kiss with a passion I hadn't expected. A pleasant diversion and I'd been practicing kissing Damon pretty fucking well, so I got Adam's attention, and he wrapped his arms behind my head, pulled me to him, and kissed me. He kissed me until my knees went almost limp, and I felt like I couldn't breathe.
The kiss lasted forever. When we pulled away from each other, we both almost gasped for breath.
Adam looked at me and said, "Fucking pleasant diversion, Mimi, really good. I didn't know you were so good at this."
I said nothing as I tried to catch my breath. The rest of the party went well. We couldn't leave yet as the official dance part was about to start, and then we could leave at some point as the other guests were leaving. Here, though, was the intention to blend in. We danced and drank wine.
We had just finished a very intimate waltz when he bent me backward like a Gone with the Wind movie, and we kissed once more. We continued to exchange for a while after our kiss had gained such an audience before Adam decided we were leaving the party.
On the way, we didn't talk about any kissing. We talked about Constantine and what he could do to help our pack. Adam shared his observations of my behavior, mostly complimenting how well it all went. When we finally drove up to the house to the parking lot, I saw that Damon's car was neatly parked.
Okay, no problem. No one ever told me not to kiss if I wanted to. That's a nice thing. I'm not going to advertise it, but if it came out, I'm a grown woman, and I can kiss whoever I want.
We went inside, and Damon looked at me like I was a piece of meat. And he smelled like a wet dog again. I knew we all had our own smell, which could change depending on our mood. As an example, I already knew that if a vampire has a strong bloodlust, meaning he wants to drink you hard, he will always smell like something burning or even like ashes.
It doesn't matter who the vampire is. It's part of the blood lust, and it's just a vampire pheromone, and when I was a werewolf, I smelled good and accurate. Nick and Elias have shown it to me a couple of times.
That wet dog smell comes when Damon is cranky or nervous, so it must have something to do with emotion. It might also have something to do with his wolf's side and I thought Damon didn't show, even if his wolf's side was on the surface.
I actually didn't even know if my strawberry scent would change if my rage was on display. Maybe I should ask sometime, but not now. I said nothing to Damon, but I was nice and went upstairs, not downstairs, to my room to take off my dress and put on my nightgown to go to dinner. I really didn't eat at the party, and as the drive took its time, I was hungry.
Damon followed me and said. "Let Adam put you downstairs to bed. I'll be on the phone all night so that I won't be up for bed. I still have crises to deal with, so I don't bother playing sleep toy."
Strange, I thought, but good to let it go then. I changed out of my dress into my nightie and went for a midnight snack, not thinking twice about it as I washed my face off my make-up and got into some comfortable clothes.
When I got to the kitchen, Damon didn't even feed me; he was already eating and on the phone. On a cell phone, I didn't have a number. But I wasn't even going to ask. If he didn't want me to call him, I couldn't help it. We're not in a permanent relationship, so I didn't take too much pressure. Besides, I remembered Adam's kisses and compared them in my head. When I finished eating, I went to read and wait for Adam.
While I was already reading, I heard Damon yelling at Adam about our kiss. I also heard the front door slam shut and Damon leave the yard with his tires squealing. Adam didn't come in for another hour, and I didn't even ask any questions.
He didn't say a word when he came to the bed and took me in his arms, but didn't hold me as close as he normally would. Adam injected the drug almost immediately, and I felt him get out of bed before I was even really asleep, but the drug took effect, and I was able to sleep even though I wasn't dreaming.
Damon didn't come back for a week, and Adam was like a teacher when I practiced shooting. Now, Adam didn't talk about anything but aiming the right grip, how to hold a gun, what a magazine is, what a clip is, how to load a gun that I hadn't been taught, and the different bullets we went through.
Adam was now the teacher. A strict, punctual teacher, and it was all business. I didn't start to grieve or worry, but I felt something was changing between us, between me and Adam, and maybe time would help. I wasn't going to push Adam. He was teaching me about 10 hours a day, so I was pretty exhausted all the time, and I was reading anatomy or whatever medicine downstairs in my room, and I did go out to eat.
Samuel had gotten Damon's velvet in capsule form, so I didn't need any help sleeping; I took a couple of capsules, went to read, and fell asleep with no problem. I just knew that when Damon came back, I would keep taking the capsules. I don't need him either if two kisses make him that angry.
Adam often went away after he had finished the day's doctrine, and when he returned, sometimes in the early hours of the morning, the smell of strange women's perfumes on him, but that was his life, his choice.