Eternal [HS]

Chapter Ten

BASED ON HIS OWN TASTE IN CLOTHING, Jo knew he wouldn't let her arrive at a party by his side in anything less than perfection, but what he ended up buying for her at a boutique he frequents in Westbrook soared past her wildest expectations.

The night air is chilly against her skin as it blows gently down the sidewalk they hurry down. Their impromptu dress shopping only took forty minutes but cut into tonight's plans enough to make Harry pull her along a little faster from where their arms are linked together.

Part of her wonders if his powers include super-speed, which she's slightly embarrassed to admit comes from her adolescent obsession with vampire folklore that seems quite ironic now, but he hasn't said anything about his abilities yet. They were too busy delving into the intricacies of human-vampire politics to bother anyway.

He did, however, answer her question about why it's so gloomy all the time. The more powerful, ancient vampires can control the climate in this realm, and, since they avoid sunlight and heat, they chose perpetual darkness and overcast as the backdrop to their world.

Her heels click with each step on the cement leading up to the house, and she's so caught up in matching his swift pace, she almost walks right past the front steps when they arrive. Without acknowledging her awkward slip-up, he guides her back in the direction of the stairs and, before they go inside, gives her one single piece of advice.

"Never leave my side tonight. If you do, find Niall and stay with him. I don't trust anyone inside that house except for him and you shouldn't either."

With that, he turns the knob and opens the door before she can formulate a response other than a nod.

The faint sound of music playing eases through the room on a warm gush of air that soothes the goosebumps raised from the walk over here from his parked car. Upon her first impression of it, based on the front hallway they enter, is that whoever owns this home must have an abhorrent amount of money to their name. Sure, Harry may be rich enough to walk her into his favorite dress boutique and buy her the best gown she's seen in her entire twenty-five years of life, but this person is old money.

She can't help but turn her head in all directions to observe the scenery in quiet awe. Her family was never close to this level of wealth, so being here in this house, wearing something that likely costs more than everything she owns, is a shock to her system.

Amongst the music, she picks up conversations coming from the set of ornate, white doors they're approaching and hardly has the chance to prepare herself for what's to come by the time they reach them.

When they walk in, it feels to her as though every head in the room turned to look at her. Her, she noted, feeling her face heat up from the sudden attention, not him. Even though he's the kind of person your head turns to when he walks in, for some reason, multiple people in the room's eyes latched into her instantly. Her hand grasps tighter where it rests on his back, balling up the back of his suit jacket as they greet people and pass by a woman that gawks at her with a flirtatious gaze.

It's clear to sense the energy that ebbs and flows like a current through the main room shift in reaction to her arrival, but she doesn't know what to make of it. Is the dress too revealing or over the top? Is she making them uncomfortable? Perhaps since they were born and raised in older times, they retain those modest, backward standards to which women used to be held. If so, a warning would've been nice.

She leans up to him and whispers, hoping to be as quiet as possible as to not attract additional attention, "People won't stop staring...Is it because I'm a human?"

Harry's mouth tips up at the end in an infuriatingly charming half-smile, and he turns to meet her worried face with a hand moving to rest on the small of her back. The feeling of his cold palm against the skin left exposed by the cut of the dress sends a shiver rolling down the length of her spine until it reaches where their bare skin connects.