Free The Vampires' Birthright by Aiden James Page B

to be a regular person, with regular friends.
    I had to admit I was deeply curious about what awaited me in the box. When I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised to find a pearl sequined gown. As beautiful as it was, I worried I’d likely freeze my ass off in it.
    “That is why you will also wear this,” said Armando, beaming as he brought a beautiful white mink stole over to me.
    “And this.” Garvan pulled out a dazzling diamond necklace along with matching earrings and bracelet from his coat pocket. He smiled shyly as he brought them over to me, and requested the honor to put them on me once I had changed clothes.
    “And don’t forget these!” said Raquel.
    She brought over a pair of stunning white satin Manolos for my feet. Wearing her patented seductive smirk, she motioned for me to go ahead and change into my wardrobe for the evening―with all of them standing right there in front of me. Of course, I still have far too much modesty to do that in front of a mixed crowd—even when all of them had surely seen me in some stage of undress before.
    “Let’s give her a moment of privacy, shall we?” said Chanson, placing her arms around Raquel’s waist to get her to come along.
    They all followed her out into the hallway, but Tyreen also had something to give me, as well.
    “You’ll definitely be needing these,” she said, and handed me the sheer hosiery I needed to make the dress look right. “And, I remember you once said something about dressing up like Princess Di when you were a little kid.”
    She pulled out a pair of elegant white gloves from a small bag she carried. The gloves came up an inch past my elbows.
    By then, I had figured out something grand was going down. A very big vampire celebration was about to happen. Certainly, Tyreen had heard about the ones held in France on a regular basis, where le Chateau de Douleur would rock as hard as the Playboy mansion in California ever has. Only vampire-style. I am sure she was as excited as I was, though perhaps for a different reason. This would be her first real soirée as a member of the vampire culture.
    The question in my mind was where in the hell would a party like that take place in this sterile, soulless God-forsaken monastery?
    Tyreen left me to change into my wonderful outfit―the beautiful gown and accessories fit for a queen. It really touched my heart and lifted my mood. But, still there was a feeling of foreboding I couldn’t shake. I was on borrowed time… borrowed time against what fate had in store for me. The image of me in spending the evening in some sort of macabre dance party with a room full of walking corpses sent a series of rapid chills up and down my spine. Perhaps it was the deepening cold air seeping through the window-wound on the third floor of Xu Zheng Palace.
    I shook my head to clear it of the dark images that threatened to ruin my evening and resolved to make the best of whatever time I had left there… And, to try and embrace Christmas with my friends.
    Party on!



’m glad you let me put these on you.”
    Garvan’s cold fingers grazed the back of my neck while the clasp to the even colder diamond necklace was set in place.
    I didn’t even need a mirror to tell me the necklace looked fabulous. No telling the worth of the piece, but the artisanship was so refined and the individual stones so brilliant that it would enhance any woman’s beauty.
    “Thank you so much, Garvan, they are quite lovely,” I said. “I’ll return them to you in pristine condition when the party’s over.”
    Even though he couldn’t be roused that afternoon to come to my rescue, I still considered him my chief male protector.
    “Now, will you escort me to the place where this gala is to be held tonight?” I fluttered my eyes while fanning them as if I held a Chinese paper
shànzi
.
    “It would be my ultimate pleasure to do so!” He beamed while casting a proud glance toward Armando. Tyreen had her left arm hooked inside