8. Hide ((Warning. language and implied violence.))

No one knew who I was. It was the most freeing sensation I had felt in a long time. I needed to make this night last and take full advantage of my obscurity. I wouldn’t tell anyone that I was Eve Ingram, the host’s daughter and heir to their vast fortune.

People danced on the shiny floor, and I wanted to join. Instead of standing by waiting for someone to notice Eve Ingram in need of an escort and being bombarded by men trying to kiss up to my parents through me, I looked around the room for a dance partner. Some people chatted in small groups, others watched the dancers with mild curiosity. Most people were only here because they wanted to juggle themselves into a better position with my parents. I wasn’t interested in them.

Towards the back, partially in shadow, I saw the man I wanted to dance with. His tux was clean and crisp. Beneath it I knew there was lean, hard, muscle. You could tell just by the way it fit him. His mask was hardened leather in the shape of a primitive bird, and his long black hair hung down his back. Together I would be the golden eagle and he the dark raven. What a pair we would make.

“Excuse me?” Someone said.

I turned away from the raven man, and found myself face to face with a Zorro masked stranger.

“Hello?”

“I can’t help but notice that you are the most beautiful woman in this room.” He smiled showing his white teeth. “Would you dance with me?”

I didn’t like him, nor want to dance with him. I already had my raven man picked out, but when I glanced back to the area he had been, the man was gone. I sighed inwardly, pasted a smile on my face, and said, “That would be lovely. I would be delighted to.” At least I would still get a dance in.

Zorro guided me onto the floor, held me a little closer than I wished, and began to move us in time with the music. My partner was too tall for me to dance with properly, and I found myself staring at his chest more than his face. Good. At least he didn’t have to see my grimace. He wasn’t the best dancer.

“My name’s Joe.” He said quietly. Intimately. “What is yours?”

I bit the inside of my lip. “Names don’t matter tonight. Only dancing and music. I could be Eve Ingram for all you know.” I looked up at him, willing him to shut up.

He stared down at me, as if confused. A lock of dirty blond hair had fallen forward and covered part of his blue eyes.

“Ok.” Joe said. And picked up the pace of our dance by a tiny fraction. We began to move towards the edge of the dance floor, towards the back. His grip on me was possessive and the look in his eyes told me that he was danger.

“I’m sorry, Joe.” I said. “I must cut out of our dance early. My friend should be meeting me here any minute and I don’t want to make her wait.” It was a lie. But he didn’t have to know that. I just wanted away from him.

“But the song isn’t over yet.” He didn’t let go.

“I am sorry. But I must find her.” I said, pushing against his chest. “It is very important.”

“Just finish this dance with me. Please.” It was an order and not a question. His grip was as steely as his eyes.

We continued to dance closer to the edge, and away from the crowd. If I made a scene everyone would know my identity. I still needed this night to be mine! I wanted to be nobody special. Just a masked girl. Just me. Not my mom and dad’s daughter. Not someone in need of sucking up to. Not that spoiled little rich kid!

I tried to move us back towards the center of the room, but he wouldn’t let me. Still we spun farther away from safety.

“Let me go.” I said, angry and a little scared. If I needed to I could scream, but that would bring everyone running. I didn’t want that.

“Just let us finish our dance. The song is almost over.” He purred in my ear.

No one seemed to notice us. They were all absorbed in their happy little worlds. I glanced around wildly.

“You need to stop that little Miss Eve Ingram. Put your head on my shoulder and pretend you like me.”

“What the fuck did you just call me?” The curse slipped through my lips before I could stop it. Proper girls don’t talk like that, but he wasn’t supposed to know my name and I wasn’t supposed to be a proper girl tonight. I was supposed to be anyone but Eve Ingram.

“If you don’t put your head on my shoulder and stop looking around like I’m going to kill you, I really am going to kill you little bitch.”

I gasped and stared up at him. Joe was not kidding. His face was set in a cruel smile, and his eyes shone like a lunatic’s.

“Now.” He said with such finality, that I put my head against his chest. Joe’s heartbeat was a steady drumming, ticking away the last minutes of my life. Thump-thump. Tick-tock.

“I can tell you how I will do it.” Joe said. “First I’ll strangle you just to the point where you lose consciousness.”

He brushed his knuckles across the back of my neck as if moving my hair. Goosebumps raised along the trail he had touched. I didn’t want him near my neck, or any part of me.

“Then I’ll take my knife,” he flashed the inside of his jacket and I saw the 8 inch blade sheathed there. My knees buckled but he caught me and forced me back up before I could fall. “And slice you open from navel to collar bone. So that I can rip out your heart, and take your pretty little soul. It will be sitting in the cavity where you heart used to be. Souls are so much stronger if the person doesn’t die until the very last moment. You might feel a little pain.”

Joe was smiling, already enjoying what he would be doing to her later. The scream was building inside Eve. He saw it and snorted.

“Don’t scream little girl. I’m being kind. If you scream I’ll kill everyone in here. This place is wired with explosives. Your parents would be blown to little bits of pulp. Don’t you want them kept alive?”

“But we would both be killed too.”

“Weigh your options.” He said. “Die by my hand, or cause everyone in here, including your family to be murdered?”

“Is this about money? I can give you money. Plenty to spare.” My voice was tight and I was talking too fast.

“No little girl. It is about good business, nothing more.”

The song ended.

Joe swept her off the dance floor and towards the back door. They would be hidden out of sight as soon as the door closed them off from the ball.

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