of the prettiest girls I’ve seen all night. What are you supposed to be? An angel?” the one I ran into asks, his breath making me a little queasy. “You sure look like an angel.”
“I need to go,” I say. “My father is waiting for me.” I have no idea where my father is honestly, but it’s the best I can come up with. I try to pull free, but he tightens his grip, and the other man is behind me. Too close behind me.
“Lost your daddy, little angel? Don’t worry, my friend and me will be your daddies tonight. Ain’t that right?”
“Sure is,” the one behind me says, and we’re doing this strange dance where I’m trying to get away but we’re all just turning in a circle one behind me, one in front of me, turning and turning with no way out.
“Please let me go,” I say, trying to sound in control and not as terrified as I feel.
The one behind me touches the wings at my back, fingers caressing my shoulders when he does. He chuckles, and I yelp when his other hand wraps around my middle and lifts me off my feet.
“Light as one of those feathers on that dress,” he says, spinning me around as the other man laughs.
“Let me go!”
Someone clears their throat in the distance, and I wonder if there’s a third wolf-man.
“I believe the lady asked you twice now to let her go, asshole,” someone says. A different man with a voice that’s strangely, vaguely familiar.
Whoever it is, he’s behind me so I can’t see him.
“Can any of you actually hold your liquor or does it make you stupider every time you drink?” another man asks. “You know, they say you lose brain cells with every sip.”
“Well, there you are, Brother. I was wondering where you’d gone off to.”
“Oh, here and there. You know.” This one has a skull mask over his face that’s scarier than any of the others, but when he pushes it off his head, I feel a momentary relief because he looks normal. Not wasted like these others. But then his gaze drops down to the tops of my breasts, and when he returns his eyes to mine, he grins and puts his thumb to the corner of his mouth like he’s wiping something away. Probably drool.
“Hey man, we didn’t mean any disrespect. If she’s with you,” the one I ran into starts, backing off, hands in the air like someone’s pointing a gun at him.
“Get your hands off the lady,” the first man repeats and the one who was holding me around the middle releases me. The instant my feet touch ground, I run a few feet away, only then stopping and turning to look at the scene, to see the two men who just probably saved me from something terrible happening.
My heart races as I look at the first one, the one who sounded familiar. I can’t see his face because his mask is still on, and it hides more than half of it. But his is a Phantom of the Opera sort of mask. Not sinister like the others.
I watch as they exchange words I can’t hear, and I don’t know what they say but my assailants go running back toward the house, to another door near the one I came out of, then disappear inside.
The remaining two turn to me, and I find myself taking a step backward. As soon as I do, the one with the Phantom mask raises his hands, palms toward me.
“Are you all right?” he asks, bending to pick up my shoes which I must have dropped.
I nod.
“Probably not a good idea to be out here alone,” the other one says, and I can see him look me over in the moonlight. I can’t see the color of their eyes, but I take in other details, like a tattoo that’s creeping out of the collar of his shirt.
“Don’t worry, he looks scarier than he is,” Phantom-mask man says, and I turn to him, try to school my features.
“I didn’t mean to stare,” I say quickly, and as if the weight of what just happened, what could have happened, combined with the champagne I’ve drunk, hits me in that instant, I feel my knees give way as I drop to the ground, unconscious.
3
Salvatore
I catch her just before she hits the ground and lift her in my arms, the feathers of her dress tickling my face when I do.