It's the day of the ball. For two weeks, I stayed locked up in Tristan's room. There was no attacks and no sign of Julian since he walked in on me and Tristan. The King was right, no more vampires have tried to kill me since he took them out at their hideout. I also have had no more dreams about Tristan or Eretria, which was strange. Tristan and I spent almost that whole time together. We watched movies and talked. We haven't kissed since that one time, but every time I would look at him, I would imagine grabbing him and crashing my lips against his. Thankfully, he's not a mind reader like Julian.

But, every time I would get close to Tristan, I would think about Julian. I mentally scolded myself for it, but I couldn't get his obnoxiously attractive personality and brown eyes out of my head no matter how hard I tried. My mind and heart were at a constant war. My heart is telling me to feel guilty, but my mind is telling me I have done nothing wrong because Julian never said he liked me. I couldn't help but sigh at my conflicting emotions.

"What are you sighing about over there?" Celine's voice came from behind her room divider.

"It's not important," I mumbled.

"If it wasn't important you wouldn't be sighing," Olivia butted in while curling a piece of my hair.

My eyes darted to Olivia and our eyes locked.

She knows. I know she does.

I chewed on my bottom lip. "I'm just kind of nervous about the ball, I guess."

Celine peeked her head out from behind the room divider, causing her dark, curly locks to cover some of her face.

"Are you a bad dancer?"

"What? No," I immediately responded and looked at her. "I mean, I'm not the greatest, but that's not it."

"Is it my brother?"

She got me there. My heart fluttered at the thought of him, and I didn't respond. I looked down at my feet and pursed my lips. My eyes shifted and caught Olivia's, who stared at me knowingly.

It's not just him though...

"It is!" Celine yelled before going back behind the divider so I only saw her silhouette. "Qu'est ce qu'il a fait? What did he do?"

He didn't do anything. I did...

I paused before answering, "Nothing. He just makes me nervous."

I guess that's not a total lie.

I heard a sound that sounded like someone clearing their throat and looked over at the source. It was Olivia, of course. That simple sound made me feel guilt all over again.

What does she want from me? To choose?

"Yeah, he can be a little intimidating." Celine stepped out into view. "And serious."

Would I be strong enough to choose?

"Wow," is all I managed to say.

Celine was wearing a black and silver ball gown with a split down the middle of the bottom that showed some of her tall, tanned legs as well as a vibrant purple skirt lining the inside. Her diamond necklace dangled perfectly above her sparkly, strapless, v-neckline that extended almost down to her bellybutton. It was one of the most gorgeous dresses I have ever seen. If the ball was going to look half as good as Celine's dress, then it was going to be a magical night.

"What do you think?" Celine spun in a circle causing the ball gown to twirl and expose the purple underside.

"I think Olivia really out did herself this time," I complimented her.

Celine clapped her hands and squealed while Olivia stood in front of me.

"I try." Olivia winked at me.

"You do more than try, Olivia. Look at Little Eclair's hair!" Celine praised Olivia as she made her way to me. "Your hair is going to look so good with your dress!"

I winced at the nickname. "You think?" I asked, biting my lip and turning to the mirror.

My hair was in a curly, half up, half down style. Two curls framed each side of my face as one side turned into a braid to hold half of my long, brown curls up.

"You have really out done yourself today, Olivia," I murmured under my breath as I touched the curls.

"Thank you," she chirped. "Now, it's dress time for you."

Before I knew it, my skin was wrapped in lace. Olivia grabbed my shoulders and faced me to the large, floor-length mirror. I was speechless. Navy blue clung to the top of my frame perfectly and flared out at my hips. It was a ball gown, but was shorter in the front to show my legs. The entire dress was lace, and my favorite parts were the sweetheart neckline and lace, half sleeves. The dress was breathtaking and more than I ever imagined. I thought that I loved the dress from the first ball, but this one takes the cake. With the hair, the dark makeup, and the dress, I didn't look like myself. I looked like an entirely different person.

"Wow..." I whispered, transfixed on my reflection.

"If you don't like it, I could fix some—" Olivia began to say, but I cut her off.

"No. It's absolutely perfect! Thank you!" I pulled her into a big hug. I felt another presence next to me and looked to see Celine watching with a huge grin.

"Is this what you pictured for the masquerade ball you've always wanted?"

"Well, I never imagined something like this." I motioned at the dress. "Or in a castle with royalty...or vampires, so it's much more."

Celine's grin grew until she began to scream excitedly, "Yay! I'm so happy you like it! Now, it's about time to go. We are fashionably late, of course."

Celine began to walk to the door, but Olivia stopped her.

"I almost forgot! Here," Olivia handed Celine a black and silver mask that was accented with purple diamonds. She quickly put it on Celine and then approached me. She handed me a black, lace mask with navy blue accents around the eyes and navy blue diamonds placed around the top. The mask was shaped similar to a crown with the top going into a pointed shape. Olivia tied the mask onto my face. As I looked in the mirror, my smokey eyes stood out behind the mask; it was beautiful.

"I love it. Thank you, Olivia."

"You're welcome! Now it's time to get going. Introduction is the same as last time." Olivia and Celine were already at the door ready to leave when I began to walk towards them.

Claire.

A strange voice popped into my head, stopping me in my tracks. I immediately looked to Celine and Olivia to see if it was them. When I realized it wasn't, I looked around the room. There was no one else there. I waited for a moment to see if I would hear it again, but nothing happened. I hesitantly joined Olivia and Celine to leave the room and looked back one last time, but the room was empty.

As we approached the area where we would descend down the stairs, my heart began to beat faster. I was nervous, and it wasn't because of the ball. It was because I would see Julian again after two weeks—the first time since Tristan kissed me. Olivia placed us in our same spots as last time. Because I was last to descend, I couldn't see much in front of me to the other side of the stairwell. It was as if everything else was blocked out as my eyes searched the area. I didn't even notice that they introduced the King and Queen, who had already descended down the stairs. When my eyes searched the room, they landed on a pair of blue eyes behind a black and purple mask.

Tristan stared intently at me, giving me butterflies. A small grin reached his lips before he linked arms with his sister to go down to the ball. With Tristan's and Celine's absence, I caught sight of what I was looking for. Julian stood in front of me. It was like time stopped as my eyes met his brown ones behind a navy and black mask. Tristan gave me butterflies, but Julian gave me a different feeling that I couldn't comprehend. Julian clenched his jaw, making the muscle flex slightly. I couldn't tell if he was mad or not because he still hadn't tried to talk to me both in my mind and out loud.

In the distance, I recognize my name being called. In sync, Julian and I greeted each other and linked arms. The contact made my body heat up. From the corner of my eye I saw him briefly glance at me. Before I knew it, we were making our way down to the ball.