Bad Taste (Part II) // Colby Brock

205 - Rebecca

"Colby, Julian," I hissed without taking my eyes away from the monster on the balcony above. I saw a number of heads twist in my peripheral, but I was scared that if I looked away, he'd run off. He didn't, even when there were so many more pairs of eyes on him. He just waved, a smirk covering his face as the blood dripped down onto his white shirt. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest; my whole body unsure of what to do or how to move.

Familiar hands pulled me back into a familiar body after a second. Julian disappeared from up above so I looked back at my boyfriend, who was glaring in the same direction. He noticed me looking and spun me around to face him. Maybe he could tell I was freaked out because he didn't say a word about it as he comforted me. His thumbs rubbed up and down on my bare skin, setting off tingles.

But it wasn't enough to distract me.

"Colby-" Sam started but he was cut off.

"Griffin, go upstairs with Xepher," Colby ordered and Griffin nodded. Xepher gave me a reassuring smile as she hurried away clutching her boyfriend's hand. They were soon lost in the crowd, leaving the rest of us with nothing to do but wonder.

"I need to find Angela," I whispered when my mind clicked into place.

"It's okay," Aryia told me, "I can still hear her." He paused, reading that I hadn't calmed at all. "Do you want me to bring her over here with us?" I nodded so he walked away. He came back within a couple of seconds.

"Julian's here?" she asked immediately.

"We all just saw him," Corey confirmed.

Her face paled and she looked at me, an expression of dread on mine. I didn't know who Julian had hurt to be bloody like that; who he'd been seen by; who he'd manipulated already. He could have this whole room compelled to turn against us. Sometimes Julian was just too unpredictable.

Amid my thoughts, I happened to glance over Dad, who was standing alone talking to a small group of old friends I vaguely recognised from when I was younger. He looked lost, as though he didn't even know Mom wasn't with him.

Because Mom wasn't with him.

My gaze shifted around the room now, searching for her. I had Angela but what about my mother, who was still charmed by him and still constantly bitten by vampires? Would she be so stupid as to allow him to bite her in this setting? She cared too much about all of this, right? She had to. She wouldn't-

Mom's hair and makeup team was left alone across the room from me. I saw them partly disbanded, a few scattered among the models and designers. They, like Dad, seemed to have no clue that Mom was missing. Did anyone notice—or care?

When I looked up at Colby again, I knew I looked worried. I could feel my own heart beating too fast as I considered the possibility of Julian getting his fangs back into my mother. I was sure my voice cracked but I was too focused on searching for her still. "I can't see my mom anywhere."

I brought Angela's attention to me. She spotted the makeup crew just the same, only her reaction was much less controlled. "She doesn't go anywhere without them at these events!" she almost yelled, grabbing Aryia's arm. "Becca, you don't think-"

"It's Mom, Angela. Of course I think," I replied gravely.

"Wasn't Julian all bloody?" Reggie asked as he glanced up at Griffin and Xepher looking over the balcony. "Not to worry you or anything."

"Too fucking late for that, Reggie," I growled at him and looked at Colby. He wasn't sure what to do still—none of us were—but when he met my gaze, he furrowed his brows and glanced at Sam. Whatever they communicated set off the rest of the group. In pairs—mainly the couples, they walked in the same direction around the room.