Chapter 29: Chapter 29
Chapter 29: The Event
Anaya’s P.O.V:
I had already known that Lance would look breathtaking today; after all, it was his party. But no matter how prepared I’d thought I was for full impact, it was nothing compared to the real impact I got when he entered the room.
He was wearing all black, from jacket to pants to shirt and even shoes; the only prominent feature that stood out was his pure gold tie and his topaz eyes. His hair was gelled back to give a sleek look and it brought attention to his square jaw and sharp nose. I’m not really a fan of men with gelled back hair but on Lance, it looked pure heavenly.
“Wow!” We both said at the same time.
He shook his head. “There’s nothing special about me, Anna. But tonight, every woman in the part will be jealous of you.”
Rather than pleasing, that compliment was rather horrifying. “I don’t want to stand out, Lance.” I told him. “Especially with so many Incubi attending the ceremony.”
“You have nothing to worry about,” was Lance’s straight answer. “Anyone even looks at you inappropriately will have their eyes plucked out and their brains smashed to a bloody pulp.”
I grimace at the images in my head. “No thanks. I don’t need anyone to die just because they laid eyes on me.”
“If they’re intelligent enough, they’ll know better to stay away from what’s mine.” Lance looked directly into my eyes as he said it and the possessiveness in his voice made a shiver of pleasure run down my spine.
“Am I your property now, Lance?” I asked despite myself.
“You’ve always been mine, Anaya Johnson. And you always will be.” Lance strode over to me and extended his hands. “Now, do you want o want to sit here asking silly questions or should we go down to the banquet hall and show everyone who owns the night?”
I smiled a big, wide smile at Lance and placed my hands in his. Lance pulled me up from the bed and right away placed a scorching kiss on my lips.
“Hmmmmm!” I complained as Lance let me go. “Don’t ruin my make-up!”
But even as Lance dabbed his fingers across his lips, I saw that Tobias had applied some non-transferrable lipstick. Nice! I definitely needed to get this one from him, well, in a lighter color at least.
“Come on, Princess. Let’s go.” Lance held out his hand and hooked mine through his elbow as we went out of the room.
The banquet hall was on the third floor with its own elevator, so Lance and I got into one and pressed the button for the third floor. At a time like this, I really did wish that the banquet hall had one of those iconic stairs like in the Cinderella movie so everyone could see Lance coming down the stairs with me. But I guess not every dream comes true.
“Your hands are trembling,” Lance noted halfway through the ride.
“Oh!” I gulped. “I guess I’m a bit nervous.”
The night was absolutely perfect and for the first time, I actually felt like I deserved to be next to Lancelot, the Incubus Prince. But for some reason, I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that something might go wrong. And it didn’t help matters that I just saw my dead father yesterday and Lance had been speculating that he might show up tonight. What was I even going to do if he did show up? And why did my father show up after ten whole years? If he was alive, why not return sooner?
“Don’t be,” Lance told me then. “I’m sure your father had good reasons to stay away from you. And if he does show up tonight, we might get to know the reason why.”
“I guess so.” I nodded, feeling a bit relieved to have Lancelot by my side.
The elevator announced our arrival to the third floor and I corrected my posture before the doors opened to the grand banquet hall.
The first thing I noticed was how beautiful the banquet hall looked. It was absolutely stunning. The chandeliers were all lit with and the drapes were pulled back so there was more room in the corners for anyone who wanted a quiet corner to themselves. There was a champagne fountain right at the centre, which seemed a big hit and refreshment table at the end was crowded with people who wanted a quick snack. It felt wonderful to see all the hard work pay off.
And all the guests looked stunning in their attire. It did make me a little insecure to be around so many beautiful people but knowing that they were mostly immortals with super-human beauty as a part of their genetic make-up did make it a bit easier to digest. And while I was scanning through the guests for people I would know, who else would be the first to stand out other than Melinda?
Melinda was wearing a golden silk dress that looked to be made out of liquid and clung to her body in all the right places. It was tied on only one shoulder with a bow and for jewelry; Melinda wore a choker made of two layers of rubies and a huge ruby drop earring in each ear. She also had red lipstick on which looked more like she sucked the blood out of someone’s veins than actual lipstick and she had styled her hair to cover her bare shoulder in loose ringlets.
As soon as she saw Lance, her eyes lit up like a vixen, but then her eyes fell on me and her expression turned into a sneer.
Keith stood beside her like a dumbfounded statue with his mouth gaping and his eyes bugged out. Ace was wearing a pristine white suit with a black shirt underneath and he looked utterly pleased with the way Melinda had reacted. Mary stood next to him and she waved excitedly as soon as our eyes met. It didn’t evade my gaze that her arms were looped around Ace’s and that he had a protective arm on top of hers. Hmm…could there be something going on there?
But just as we were about to move towards the centre of the hall to make the welcome announcements, a woman strode over to us in a vivid scarlet bodycon dress that has a plunging V-shaped neckline that reached just below her breasts. Her hair was in a tight bun on top of her head, her lips a vivid scarlet and she wore gold hoop earrings and a thick gold chain necklace that reached between her breasts in the form of a heart shaped locket. To say that she looked breathtakingly beautiful would be an understatement, but there was also something about her that buzzed on top of my skin. Like too much contained power, almost similar to Lance’s.
To my surprise, Lance loosened his hold on me for a second to bow down to the woman slightly before he regained his posture and held onto my arm, tighter than before.
“You look lovely, dear. Just like your father.” She said in a soft yet firm voice.
“Thank you, mother. Meet Anaya, my-”
“Scribt.”
My jaw literally hit the ground as Lance called her his mother. How on Earth is that fucking possible? The woman looked like she was a Goddess, not a day older than 25! And goodness, if looks could kill! She was looking at me as if I was a fly in her soup that she was going to tear apart cell by cell just to hear me scream. I wanted to run out of the room screaming at this point, the banquet be damned.
“Girlfriend.” Lance told his mother firmly and that only intensified her glare, but before blood could be spilled, Lance simply sidestepped her with a ‘if you’ll excuse me; and walked up to the centre of the room.
“Can I have your attention please?” Lance spoke into the microphone that one of the waiters handed t him. Instantly, all gleaming eyes were on him and Lance began his speech. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the grand opening of ReefWood-“
Right then, three shots were fired on the ceiling and all the guests started screaming and running towards the exit. Lance grabbed onto me and ducked out of the way towards a nearby pillar so we didn’t get stamped over by the rushing crowd. To add fuel to the fire, two large chandeliers at the end of the hallway fell to the floor and shattered to a thousand pieces and several guests got injured from the shattered shards.
“Ah!” I yelped as I felt a jab on my arm as a shard flew across the room and stabbed me.
“Anna!” Lance immediate spun us around to shield my body with his and without warning, pulled the shard out of my upper arm. “It’s alright, just a tiny cut.”
But I saw the glass that he threw to the floor before it was crushed under the foot of a woman running too close to us and it looked about two inches long, most of it covered in my blood. I could feel the blood trickle down my arm, but I held in my scream by biting onto my lips. There was no need causing unnecessary panic when there was so much of it all around.
It didn’t take long for everyone to vacate the room since most people decided to use the stairs rather than wait for the elevators. And only when everyone was gone did Lance and I come out of our hiding spot, along with a few others. Ace and Mary came out next, along with Melinda and Lance’s mother and there were quite a few waiters left too. But on closer inspection, I figured out that they weren’t waiters but a part of Lance’s security.
“What on Earth just happened?” Melinda screeched to the room, Keith having taken the exit at the slightest sight of danger.
“How did someone get in after such tight security?” Lance asked Ace as we all moved to the centre. Even in the midst of all chaos, Lance had never let go of my hand and he still didn’t.
“I’ll find out-“
“No need for that, Second Prince.” Called out a male voice from behind us…an eerily familiar male voice. “Hunters know how to make a first impression very well.”
We all whipped around to see who it was and what I saw made all the breath rush out of me.
Twelve men were standing towards the back, blocking the exits with a sword drawn in each hand. They were all wearing black clothing that covered every inch of their body except their faces. And right at the very centre of that line…was my father.