An Acquired Taste (The Valentine Society)

Chapter Thirty-Two

I t’s nearly midnight when I make it to the ball.

This one is held at the same mansion as the Valentine’s Day Ball, and it is just as dazzling. All glittering crystal and startling beauty, goblets of blood and wine, bite marks on necks and flashes of fangs. But this time, as I stand at the top of the stairwell and look down on it all, I don’t feel dizzy or overwhelmed. My heart pounds, but it’s with excitement rather than fear. I feel confident, even without Benjamin hovering at my side as my chaperone. I take a deep breath and adjust my bodice. I know my worth and I know my assets, and I am not afraid to show it off in this curve-hugging yellow gown. The color stands out in a sea of valentines dressed in red and pink. So do the sneakers I’m wearing with it.

Six months ago, I would’ve been self-conscious. But now, I feel confident. In control. This is my world now, and nobody is going to make me doubt my place in it.

I am aware of eyes on me as I descend the staircase, and I keep my chin high. The room is all glitter and gold, perfect vampires and valentines on their arms—and I belong among them.

I spot the familiar, tall form of Viktoria de Camelia, elegant as she swoops around the dance floor, leading her painfully handsome poster-boy valentine Jonah in a waltz. An unexpected pain jolts through my chest at the sight. A burst of jealousy. They look so thoroughly enamored with each other, a perfect pairing.

Can Sebastian and I ever be like that? I don’t know. But then I remember all of the anonymous messages I received on my blog and realize that maybe even these two are not as perfect as they seem on the surface. For all I know, they’re a mess behind closed doors. I can’t compare the private details of my relationship with my surface-level understanding of theirs.

Besides, I’m beginning to realize that relationships aren’t just about how you’re suited to one another. They’re about putting in work. Making concessions for the needs of the other person.

I fiddle with the pin on my dress as I search the room for Sebastian. He’s not on the dance floor, not that I expected him to be. He’s not near the bartender or the buffet tables, either, nor on the chaises where vampires are feeding on valentines eager for their attention. More shockingly, he’s not in the library, either. I step outside, feeling frazzled and wondering if I’ve made an enormous mistake in thinking he’d be here.

My eyes wander to the open back doors.

Of course. The garden. If he’s waiting for me, that’s where he will be—the place we first met.

My sneakers are far more effective for walking on grass than my heels were that night. I wander into the hedge maze, searching for the bench that Sebastian and I sat on during our first meeting.

Before I can find it, a prickle on the back of my neck tells me I’m being watched.

“You’re here.”

The familiar voice sends a shiver down my spine. I turn to see Alexander, imposing in a pure white suit, with hunger in his pale eyes.

I freeze, unsure how to handle this. “I am…”

“I had hoped you would be,” he says, his gaze drifting down to my cleavage. “You left so abruptly after our lovely night out.”

I resist the urge to pull my dress up. I felt empowered when I first put it on, but now the cool air against my skin makes me feel vulnerable. Instead, I reach up to fiddle with the black heart pin that marks me as having a patron, drawing his attention there. “I’m here with Sebastian. My patron .”

He meets my eyes again and his smile widens. Sharpens. There’s a flash of fangs, barely visible. “I don’t see him.”

My heartbeat picks up. He’s looking at me like a piece of meat, and I’m suddenly aware that I’m here based on a guess. I thought Sebastian would come because he expects me to be here. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe he’s already back at the estate, wondering where I’ve gone—or maybe he doesn’t even care.

Maybe I’m here alone, without a patron or a chaperone, or even a crowd to witness us, like we had in the nightclub. I take a small step backward, and Alexander takes one forward, his eyes burning into me.

Benjamin warned me that a valentine without a contract is vulnerable. I do have a contract with Sebastian… until midnight. But I have no idea what time it is. Nor do I think the vampires would truly care to investigate too deeply to find out whether I died at 11:45 or slightly later. I could be in real danger.

A blink, and suddenly Alexander is gone. I step back again and meet the hard wall of his muscular chest behind me.

“Don’t be afraid,” he murmurs into my ear.

I yelp and lurch forward, but he yanks me back against him.

“What are you scared of, little valentine?” he asks. “If you’re here with a patron, there’s nothing to worry about, so…”

Fear makes my mouth go dry and my chest tighten. I have nowhere to run, nowhere to turn to, no one to save me.

But I do have my silver jewelry.

I twist in Alexander’s grip, rip the thin silver chain off my neck, and shove it into his face with all of the force I can muster. His flesh sizzles at the contact, and he shrieks in pain and fury, stumbling back and clawing at his skin.

I turn and run. He’s between me and the mansion, so I have no choice but to flee deeper into the gardens. But as I lose myself in the hedge maze, there is no one here to help me. There is no one at all. I pull my phone out of my pocket, dialing Benjamin’s number—

But Alexander appears again from the shadows, teeth bared, an ugly slash of red marking the spot my necklace touched him. He grabs my wrist and twists until I cry out with pain and my phone falls into the grass.

“You bitch ,” he snarls. There’s nothing human in his expression now, it’s all violence and fangs as he shoves me to the ground and pins me beneath him. I try to fling my necklace at him, but he keeps my wrist in an iron grip. “You could’ve made this easy,” he spits. “You could’ve come willingly. That would have been revenge enough. He took Etta from me, so I’ll take you from him. But now?” It only takes one of his pale hands to wrap around my throat. “I suppose I’ll have to settle for killing you.”

His thumb digs into my skin as I writhe and choke. His expression is impassive, the way he grips me almost casual.

“It should be easy enough to frame him,” he muses aloud. “After I expose the identity behind your blog.” He grins at me. “It was stupid of you to leave your phone lying around my apartment when you had so much incriminating information on there. All I have to say is that you found the truth about Etta, and he killed you just like he killed her.”

I kick and struggle in vain. My vision goes dark around the edges.

But then the pressure disappears from around my throat. I suck in a desperate gasp of air. For a moment, I think I’ve been saved, but I see Alexander leaning down toward my neck, his fangs out. “Still, I think I deserve a taste after all of that hard work,” he murmurs. “I have to know if it’s true. If you taste just like her…”

I feel the prick of fangs and try to scream, but it comes out as a hoarse croak. I squeeze my eyes shut.

Then, in an instant, the weight on top of me is gone. I gasp for air, vision rushing back, and roll over onto my side. A tall figure steps up beside me, glaring at Alexander where he’s been thrown against a bench.

“Keep your hands off my valentine,” Sebastian snarls.