Nico and I walked side by side down the long hallway leading to the ballroom that I didn't even know existed.

No leash, no collar. We just walked together with some more vampires that were making their way to the ball.

Nico's black suit was differing from all the other varying shades of navy and grey that all of the other vampires were wearing.

And well, as far as I had seen so far, I was very overdressed as a pet.

I inched closer to Nico as we walked, trying to ignore the other glances from both Vampires and pets.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about tonight. I already knew that I couldn't just hang out near Nico all night and that I was going to have to socialize with the other pets and slaves.

Not to mention that I was going to have to dance with them.

What if none of them ask me to dance?

My focus was shifted as soon as we entered the ballroom, pausing as I took it all in.

More vampires and people than I could count were spread around the large room.

My senses were overloaded with a variety of scents, plus the many conversations happening within that room.

I quickly notices a small band of humans playing calm, classical music towards the front of the room.

As I had suspected, the pets and slaves were all gathered in the back corner, whereas the vampires had the rest of the room.

And still, I was the most over-dressed pet there.

Well, at least the pets still had a large table of food in our corner.

I barely had time to glance at the obvious blood slaves in the opposite corner before Nico had pulled me off to the side.

I met his eyes as he took hold of my shoulders.

"Okay, this ball is going to end at midnight and is going to have one slow dance every hour. You'll be safe tonight, but please don't stray too far away from the other pets. And if you need me for anything or if anything happens to you that you don't like, just say my name and ill hear you and be there."

I was surprised by his sudden concern, but thankful none the less.

It actually eased my nerves a small bit.

"Okay," I responded quietly.

"Aye Nico!"

We both turned at the sound of Xander's voice, Nico removing his hands from my shoulder.

He strut right over to us, slapping a hand onto Nico's shoulder.

"You made it! I was beginning to lose faith in you, dude." He began, "We've been waiting forever."

Nico glanced around behind him, like he was looking for Layla.

"The ball only started like 15 minutes ago, h-"

Xander quickly cut him off, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him away towards the crowd, "That's not important, now hurry up, we're gonna get you drunk!"

"Yea, that's not happening," He replied flatly.

Nico, being obviously annoyed, did little to retaliate against his brother's force, probably knowing that it would just be easier to give him what he wants. However, he did send me one last reassuring nod before he disappeared into the crowd of vampires.

I just stared at where he disappeared for a short while before taking in a deep breath.

I really wanted to try and have fun tonight.

It would be a shame if Nico had spent a fortune on a dress that I didn't even have fun in, so I began to carefully make my way over to where the other pets and slaves were.

All of the castles slaves were dressed nicely in their usual tuxedos, whereas the pets varied in types of clothing.

Some were in skirts and plain dresses, and some weren't even dressed up. Many of them weren't even wearing shoes.

Needless to say, I felt very out of place and a bit too showy. The common gawks and murmurs in my direction made me feel even more so.

Despite that, all of the pets and slaves were a bit... awkward.

None of us really knew each other, and socializing wasn't really one of our strong suits.

I was just glad to know that I wasn't the odd-one-out in that category.

I hadn't even noticed that I was making my way over to the table filled with food until I was nearly there.

The table was filled with many different kinds of hors-d'oeuvres and small desserts, and it was very evident that the slaves and pets had been taking an abundance of it.

I guess they were all going to take advantage of the free all-you-can-eat food.

And well, so was I.

~~~

The lights in the room dimmed before the first slow song began to play, signaling the beginning of the first dance.

I swallowed the delicious cream puff I had been eating, looking out to the mass of people as my body suddenly filled with nervousness.

I was actually very surprised by the number of eyes that were set on me by various slaves.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the vampires each picking a partner to dance with.

A couple slaves asked some pets, but as for me, I was frozen under the stares I was getting.

Especially when I noticed that a couple of the slaves were making their way towards me.

I don't know why I was so nervous, I had nothing to be scared of. It was just the immense attention that I was getting that was throwing me off I guess.

I flinched when someone lightly tapped on my shoulder.

I turned to see a friendly looking slave boy that I had seen once or twice around the castle.

His deep blue eyes were what I remembered him by.

He was actually pretty handsome. His honey blonde hair contrasted nicely with his eyes, and despite my heals, he still had a couple inches on me.

He gave me an affable smile, extending his hand.

"Would you care to dance?" He asked.

My own smile made its way onto my face as I placed my hand within his own.

And just like that, we began dancing to the music.

He was surprisingly easy to talk to, which I really enjoyed.

I found out that his name was Marcus and that he worked mostly close to the royal family, but dabbled in practically everything around here. .

He had worked here for most of his life.

I told him a little bit about me, how long I had been a pet and who I belonged to. I decided to leave out the fact that I was a rogue, unsure of how he would take it.

This was actually a lot more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be.

I was also very proud that I hadn't stumbled in my heals too much either.

And although Marcus was a good dancer, he wasn't anywhere near Nico.

Nico... I wonder what he's doing right now.

As if something was suddenly telling me to, I quickly turned my head to the right.

I didn't even know what to do when, through the crown of people and vampires, I saw him... somehow looking directly back at me.

He seemed to be surprised by this as well, his eyes growing wide once he spotted me.

As fast as it started, it was over and he was lost to me in the crowd again.

In the short amount of time I saw him, I could see that he was dancing with Layla.

And for some reason, it made a weird sensation boil in my chest.

"Hey, are you okay?" Marcus asked me, bringing my attention back to him.

"Oh... uh, Yea!" I told him, "Sorry, I just thought that I saw something."

He seemed to accept my answer and we just continued to dance.