Enslaved

Chapter 36

"STOP!"

But being ourselves, we giggled and kept running, ignoring the pleas of the maids and servants to slow down.

The footmen bowed and opened the doors. With a musical metal creak, they drifted apart. I was so lost in the extravagance of the ball that I didn't realize that Nick had stopped moving and ended up bumping into him. Losing my footing, I tripped on my pink skirt and fell backwards. That got his attention as he started laughing at me.

"You are so clumsy!" His red eyes mocked me.

I stuck my tongue out and took his hand, deliberately tugging it to make him stumble. Scowling at me, he marched to the stalls that were lined along the walls. We carefully wound around the vases and pillars, not wanting to be spotted at this hour of the night. The ball had been organized in honour of my brother's tenth birthday; he was a fully transitioned vampire now. Regardless, he was still a child and not allowed to stay past his bed time, like me. And so, we both devised a plan to sneak back into the ball, stuff all the delicious food and stay under the radar. So far, it was going great. That is, until we heard our parents' voices as they moved around indulging in talks with the guest.

They were near.

Staring at each other wide-eyed, I and Nick used the elaborate ball gowns of the ladies to obscure our view. Like rabbits, we stealthily hopped from behind one ballgown to another. I once gain fell into Nick when he didn't jump further. Holding me from falling, he pressed a finger to his lips and motioned to where a soldier was standing, taking in the scene stiffly. I longingly looked at the chocolate pie stall that was right behind him. Nick pursed his lips and waited for the soldier to move but he stayed at his post.

We were comically half crouching, half shuffling around to keep up with the movement of the gown hiding us. I caught our nanny hurriedly walking towards mother and frantically shook Nick's arm who threw me an irritated look which soon morphed into alarm on seeing where I was pointing at. Quickly turning his back, he motioned me to climb it. Crossing my arms, I stubbornly shook my head. His red eyes glared at me. We paused, stealing a glance at the nanny hurriedly talking to mother. Her thunderous expression was enough to make me jump on Nick, who was crouching; ready to run.

Now that he was a full vampire, he was fast enough to blur past other vampires without coming into notice and he took advantage of it. Securing me with his arms, though I was convinced he would drop me, he sped through the remaining distance and dived under the nearest stall. He clutched the tablecloth to the floor so it didn't wave suspiciously, and not give us away. Once surrounded by the safety of being under the stalls, concealed by their floor length clothes, he dropped me unceremoniously. I fell on my back with a little oof and glared at his grin because I couldn't make a sound and that brat of my brother knew it. Wincing, I stretched and sat up. Motioning me to stay, he crawled further and slipped out of the table cloth; pressing himself to the wall.

Pouting at my stinging behind, I laid and wondered why I begged him to let me come with him in the first place. A small nudge to my left foot along with the delicious aroma of sweet nothings made me looked at my brother. Sitting cross legged, he started munching on his food and held out mine. Not wasting a second, I snatched it and started devouring it greedily. My eyes darted to Nick who had finished his share and now sat smiling at me; his fangs gleaming.

"How long are you going to look like this?"

"I don't know, dad says around a week maybe."

"You look funny."

"Gee thanks! You are the best sister in the world." Annoyance flashed through his eyes.