Cast yourself (you are the spell)

Chapter 25

Hope nods as calmly as she can, feeling oddly flushed. The mental images she had gotten from that statement alone were more than enough to distract her.

"Should we go now?" she asks, trying not to sound too eager, her voice husky where it hadn't been before. The lucky voice in her head hints that sounding eager was perfectly fine.

The girl must pick up on her enthusiasm anyways because she shakes her head with a quiet smile. Instead, she tells Hope, they should slip out after the song ends as to not ruin the dance for other people by running into them.

Hope almost says that she doesn't care about ruining the dance for other people, but Felix Felicis would not allow her to say that. As a result, they continue to dance until the song ends.

Hope finds that she had never danced so intimately with someone before. Usually-as a rule-she had kept her dancing partners at a cold, formal distance, but in the past couple of minutes she had held the brunette barely three inches from her own body.

When the song finally ends, Hope leads the masked brunette away from the dance floor and to another part of the room that was separated by a slightly transparent curtain. She knew that they could hide behind it for a long time without anyone finding them.

The second they're adequately concealed, Hope tries to step forward and claim the girl's lips with her own. She smelled so good, and Hope dearly wanted to figure out if she tasted the same as well, but it seems that the stranger has other plans.

She darts shy of Hope's lips, parting her own to speak.

"So, a vampire," the girl says, moving her head back. Her eyes catch on Hope's fangs. "I can't say that's very original."

She was teasing Hope, once again.

"And yet, I still caught your attention, didn't I?" Hope leans forward, putting a hand on the wall to box the girl in. She places her other hand at her hip, which skimmed soft skin whenever the slit of the dress moved the right way. Every touch sends jolts straight to Hope's spine, leaving her entire back to tingle restlessly.

"Not exactly," the girl murmurs, removing Hope's hand with delicate fingers. Hope grows annoyed but doesn't comment. "I would say it's more that I caught yours."

"Yes, you definitely did," Hope agrees, moving forward to try kissing her for nearly the fourth time that night. The girl backs away yet again, and the pureblood grabs her wrists roughly and pins them above her head.

"Why won't you let me kiss you?"

The girl frowns, her lips forming into a pout. Hope's eyebrows furrow, her eyes fixating on the small action, wondering why it was so familiar. No, she was being ridiculous. Surely, many people she knew pouted, right?

Hope's lips hover over the other girl's own as she waits for her to answer.

"I-"

"Josie?" a masculine voice came from outside the curtain. "Are you in here? Josie? We've been looking everywhere for you! Josie?"

Josie?

Hope's entire body goes rigid, and her jaw slackens. She takes a large step away and drops her hands, separating herself the instant she figures out the girl behind the mask. Her blue eyes go wide as they meet Josette's brown ones. How had she never seen it before?

"Saltzman?"

Before she can think about anything else, she sees movement out of the corner of her eyes and backs up just as Rafael Waithe appears from the other side. His gaze focuses on Josette, allowing Hope to slip out through the curtain without him noticing.