Chapter 27: 25 - The She-Demon Who Once Was

The whole world seemed muted as I stepped inside the building. I could hear the sound of my heels hitting the floor, and the swish of my dress, and the unignorable presence of Rian by my side. But the fundamentals—the colour, the spirit, the very life of the place—escaped me.

How many times had my family and I come here? The hallway was one I'd seen on many different occasions, usually while I was nestled between my mother and father as a young child. Rian and his family would often tag along. Those outings, with all of us together, were some of my most cherished memories.

Until now, that is. The tasteful decorations, the shimmering chandeliers, the dozens of rooms designed for every kind of enjoyment . . . it was all bizarrely familiar, but the absence of those fundamental people—my family—meant that this place could never be the same. At least not for me.

All of this, plus with the added weight of tomorrow, made my head spin with worry. The next day would be hard enough—it always was, every year—but throwing this place in too seemed too cruel.

"Hanna!" My pained silence was interrupted by Rokim, who jogged up to Rian and I. He brushed past Rian entirely, settling his hands on my shoulders with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

I forced myself to get it together, smiling warmly at him. "Yeah, I am," I said, feeling a twinge of guilt for lying.

Rokim sighed in relief, but still looked at me warily. "And . . . are we okay?"

My smile softened. "Definitely," I responded, more sincerely this time. "Tell Lis I said so too. Is she here yet?"

"She's on her way." He sighed again, then patted my arm. "I know this place isn't ideal," he said ruefully, "but Leo booked it a while back. By the time Prof found out it was too late."

I shook my head. "It's fine. I'm really okay." Rokim and Prof were the only ones who knew all the details of the incident—other than Rian, of course. I had to keep my head if I didn't want any pitying glances thrown my way.

"Let's go," I said encouragingly, gesturing to the dance hall entrance.

Rian, who had been ignoring our exchange indifferently, stepped away when I attempted to walk in at his side.

"This isn't the Victorian era. You don't need an escort," he said coldly. "But if you really want one, feel free to go in with him," he finished, with a nod in Rokim's direction.

Rokim scowled and opened his mouth to respond, but I simply shrugged. "You're right. I don't need an escort."

With that, I walked past both Rokim and Rian and entered the hall myself.

As soon as I came in, all gazes turned to me. There were only about a dozen people, but I assumed they were all parts of the ecomp in some way. A few eyed me enviously, and others disdainfully, but the rest sported the proper expression: awe.

I smirked, hiding my inner turmoil with false confidence. I strode over to Prof and Adrian, acutely aware of eyes following me all the way there. Rokim and Rian trailed in after me, scowls on both their faces.

Prof was was using crutches, and he looked a little strained. I frowned as I reached him, looking over at Adrian worriedly. "Is he alright?" I mouthed, but Prof scoffed.

"I can see you, Hanna," he muttered. "And yes, I'm fine. I just need to be here to supervise the rehearsal, but tomorrow I won't be here for the real thing. You'll be on your own." He looked at me meaningfully. "Which means you might want to get along with your date."

"He's not my date," I rebutted with a scowl. "He's barely even a colleague. Not to mention that neither of us even wants to be here right now."

Prof raised an eyebrow at my outburst. I sighed apologetically. "Sorry. It was a stressful morning."

"I can see that."

Adrian took this opportunity to jump into the conversation. "Anyways, you'll have to get over your aversion to him, at least for the time being." His turned me to face him, and I blinked as he examined me from all angles.

"Wow, Hanna," he said appreciatively. "Did you do your own makeup?"

A blush burned across my cheeks as I remembered the scene from this morning. "Not exactly."

"Well, whoever did, they're amazing." He nodded in approval. "You look like a goddess."

He paused and considered his words, then turned to Prof. "Don't worry, Damien," he whispered consolingly. "I'm still very much gay."

Prof closed his eyes in exasperation. "I know, Adrian. We've been through this before."

"Just wanted to remind you," Adrian said innocently, before planting a kiss on Prof's cheek.

I grinned at the two of them, but not before feeling that familiar twinge of envy. I was here, after all, in a place I'd visited with my family several times before, but this time I was alone. Prof and Adrian's shining romance didn't exactly make it easy to forget that.

"Anyways," Adrian focused on me again. "This little gathering is basically an overblown dance class. These people? Small fries," he said dismissively, gesturing around the room. "The really important ones will be at the real thing tomorrow, so Damien and I will be coaching you through the process today."

I forced a smile, less genuine this time. "Sounds great. When do we start?"

Adrian grinned back at me. "I'd say right about now."

"Alright, everyone gather round, please!" a high, feminine voice rang out. I frowned, dragging my eyes away from Adrian's smiling face.

Where had I heard that voice before? It sounded familiar. Really familiar, actually—

I turned, finally laying eyes on the person, and gasped.

No. Fucking. Way.

Rikki stood at the head of the room in an pale green gossamer dress.

She offered a glowing grin, and I realized it was the first time I'd ever seen her smile. Which made sense, considering that every other time I'd seen her she'd been trying to kill me.

I stared at her, stunned, as she surveyed the room. Her gaze landed on me, and I tensed as her mouth fell open in a shocked 'o'. One moment passed, then two, then three.

Then she looked away.

I let out a breath as she once again smiled at the party like nothing had happened. I searched across the room for Rokim, who looked stricken and was hiding behind a large potted plant. As discreetly as possible, I made my way to his side as Rikki addressed the others.

"I'll be hosting a quick refresher course on basic ball room dancing," she said pleasantly. A couldn't help but take a second to marvel at how completely different she was. It was almost hard to believe that the last time I saw her she'd been chasing me out of my own apartment building.

She continued to speak on the mechanics of ballroom dancing, and I finally got to where Rokim was hiding.

"Rokim!" I whispered, keeping my eyes trained on Rikki.

"Oh god," he groaned, seeming too distracted to listen to me. "She's here. I should have known. I should have realized—"

"Rokim!" I hissed again, more forcefully this time. His head snapped up, looking relieved to see it was just me.

"Hanna!" he said. He pulled me behind the plant with him so we could speak in peace, and I angled myself so we couldn't be seen.

"What's Rikki doing here?" I asked desperately. I didn't want to die. At least not in this place.

"I forgot, I'm sorry," he moaned. "I met her through Adrian. She's his niece."

"What?"

"I know!" he groaned again. "She's an assistant at his clinic. But I didn't expect to see her here. Adrian never told me she was a dance instructor!"

"You never asked," someone chirped behind us.

We both stifled screams as Adrian seemed to materialize out of thin air. Pressing a hand against my thundering heart, I gave Adrian an incredulous glance. "Where did you come from?"

"Well, my parents are from Ireland," he said with a sly smile. Upon seeing our frustrated expressions, he changed tack.

"What?" he asked innocently. "I saw you sneak over here and thought I'd swing by, see what all the fuss was about."

"You know what it's about!" Rokim whisper-yelled accusingly. "You invited Rikki here!"

Adrian laughed. "Oh, is that all?"

I gaped at him. "What do you mean, 'is that all'? No offence, but your niece is batshit crazy!" I hissed, throwing a cursory glance in her direction. "She's tried to end my life on multiple occasions!"

Adrian raised one elegant blond brow. "Multiple, you say?"

"Multiple!" I insisted. "She has talons, you know? Like a hawk! Or the three Furies!"

"I wouldn't say I'm that bad," another new voice smoothly interjected.

Rokim and I jumped again at the intrusion. In unison, we turned to face the newcomer. I nearly died when I saw who it was.

Rikki stood smiling at us, one blonde eyebrow raised, just like her uncle. I gaped at the two of them in disbelief.

"Does sneaking up on people run in the family or something?" I asked incredulously. They both simply blinked innocently and shared matching grins.

Rokim, in the meantime, had turned pale with fear. Although he'd never had a run-in with Rikki after their breakup, he'd heard my stories. He was right to be afraid.

Adrian, noticing that Rokim may very well have been on the verge of passing out, laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, I guess I should come clean," he said ruefully.

"Come clean about what?" Rokim asked, still warily eyeing his ex.

Adrian scratched his head. "Rikki and I were kind of messing with you."

We both snapped our eyes to his. Rikki let out a tinkling, harmonious laugh at our surprise.

I blinked. Harmonious? That didn't sound like the she-demon I knew and feared.

"What are you talking about?" I asked slowly.

Adrian gave us another apologetic grin. "When I heard that you and Rikki had broken up," he began, addressing Rokim, "I sort of encouraged her to play the part of the crazy, jealous ex. For fun, of course."

"For fun?" I echoed, dumbfounded. "Then how come you only ever targeted me?"

Rikki rubbed the back of her neck. As she did so, I noticed that the talons were gone. My eyes bugged out in shock. Everything I thought I knew was a lie.

"Yeah, Uncle Ade told me about you," she said, smiling apologetically. "I actually kind of wanted to ask you out, but he," she jutted her thumb in Adrian's direction, "wanted some entertainment and thought teasing you would be the best way to do it. He was all pouty because Damien was too busy preparing for your return to pay him any attention."

I blinked. Too much new information. Rikki, the previously thought she-demon, had wanted to ask me out? Me?

"I wasn't pouty," Adrian protested.

"Yes, you were," Rikki and Rokim said in unison. They looked at each other in surprise, before glancing away with awkward grins. "Besides," Rikki continued, "I wasn't totally averse to messing with Rokim for a while. Even though we were never that serious, we didn't exactly part on the best terms."

"Ah," Rokim said, nodding sheepishly. "Right. Sorry about that."

Rikki grinned again. I still wasn't used to seeing her smile. "Next time you wanna ditch in the middle of the night, make sure you pack all your things," she said teasingly, tilting her head in my direction. "So that this poor girl doesn't have to clean up after you."

"Noted," he responded, smiling back at her.

Adrian slung an arm over my shoulder. "Great! Then we're all good!" he said cheerily.

Rokim and I shared an exasperated look, but there really was no winning with him. How Prof managed to rein him in, I had no idea.

As a group, we returned to the main area. To my surprise, I heard music and saw several pairs of people already dancing.

"Oh, right," Rikki mentioned. "We started already, so grab a partner and I'll lead you through a basic waltz."

Rokim nodded. "Thanks. I'm gonna go find Lisa," he said, then turned to me. "You gonna be okay on your own?" he asked.

I smiled back at him. All the Rikki business had distracted me from the memories that swarmed this place earlier, but I couldn't help but tense up again. If only forgetting were so easy. "I'll be fine," I said genially. "Tell Lisa I said hi."

He patted my arm before walking away. I glanced at Rikki, who had busied herself coaching another couple on their repartee. Adrian had gone off to find Prof, who was probably chewing him out right about now. It seemed, for all intents and purposes, that I was alone.

A hand tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, looking up at the hand's owner. Rian stared back at me, one hand extended cordially.

"Care to dance?" he asked smoothly.

I simply studied him for a moment, surprised, before remembering that this was the whole reason we'd come here—dance practice, and nothing more.

With that in mind, I slid my hand into his, allowing myself to be pulled into his embrace. Rian didn't pay a speck of attention to Rikki's instruction at the front of the room. Like everything, he seemed to have the art of the waltz mastered.

As we began our dance, I heard Rian murmur, "don't worry. Just focus on me. It'll be fine." I frowned; his words couldn't possibly be meant for me. His tone was far too soft, almost caring. But then again, who else could he be speaking to?

For the first time, a thought occurred to me, one I'd never dared to entertain before. As Rian's grip tightened over my hand, and I gazed into those enigmatic black pools he called eyes, I couldn't help but wonder: perhaps I wasn't quite as alone as I thought.