Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) (17 page)

I grabbed a book and leaned against the dresser to wait. The tail made sitting difficult, although not impossible. For now, I would stand.

There was a knock at the door. "Felicia," I heard. "It's Andrea. I want to see."

I walked to the door. "No," I said.

"Are you dressed?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm waiting for my grand entrance."

"Felicia, darling, your boss wants to see your costume."

"You did not just play the boss card!"

"Yes, Felicia, I did."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

I sighed and unlocked the door, then turned on the tail and stepped back. "It's just you?"

"Yes," she said.

"Then you can come in. Close the door."

She opened the d
oor and slipped in, closing it. She was dressed as a witch complete with black robe, dark makeup, and pointy hated. She
looked at me.

"Holy shit!" she said.

"I kind of get into Halloween," I said. "Is it too slutty?"

"It's amazing, but lose the pashmina."

"I don't want to be slutty."

She walked around me. "Oh my god, the tail is moving." I looked over my shoulder at her and grinned. She stepped up behind me, avoiding the tail, and carefully removed the pashmina.

"Don't be a wimp," she said. "If you're going to dress like this, don't tone it down."

She walked around me a few more times. "Okay, that is definitely worthy of a grand entrance. You're going to be fighting a few people off."

"I have my whip."

She laughed.

"Are
you going to be in character
?"
she asked.

I smiled at her,
then
turned it into a leer. I looked her up and down and licked my lips. "Thank you can handle it?"

She didn't say anything. I pulled the whip from my belt and threw it over her, pulling her towards me. She put a hand between us, but didn't stop me. I reached up and firmly kissed her neck, leaving a very visible lipstick mark.

Then I pulled away and giggled before refreshing the lipstick for the next victim.

"I have lipstick all over my neck now, don't I?" she asked.

"Not all over," I said. "Just a very clear pair of lips." She stepped to the mirror and looked at her neck, laughing.

"Is that too much in character?" I asked. "It's not very professional behavior."

"It's a Halloween party," she said. "Just be careful you don't bite off more than you can chew."
She paused. "Am I going to see lipstick marks on all my guests by the time the evening is over?"

"Just the ones I like, and who act like they won't be offended. Anyone who tries to get dirty with me is going to get ignored
."

She laughed and said she'd text me when I should come down. She left, and I locked the door behind her and grabbed my book again.

She'd taken my pashmina with her. She was so getting another lipstick mark.

I stayed upstairs for another thirty minutes. From the noise, I could tell the house was starting to fill up. I could also hear kids coming to trick or treat. My phone buzzed, and there was a text from Andrea. "Petra here. Come down in three minutes." I started a timer
and
texted back, "Ok."

I checked everything one more time, making sure my lipstick was good, my hair was good, and the tail was turned on.

When the timer went off, I silenced the phone, unlocked the door, and turned the light off. I opened the door and stepped to the top of the stairs.

It took a moment for people to start to notice me. A few glanced my direction and turned away. Others saw me and began to stare.

I searched the crowd and made eye contact with several people. I licked my lips for one of them.

Petra finally noticed me. Andrea was standing next to her. I stared straight into Petra's eyes and began walking down the stairs.

Petra had come as a vampire.
She looked pretty hot
,
I had to admit
. There was a white streak running through her hair, and she was dressed all in leather with stark makeup and a line of red running from the corner of her mouth.

I stalked straight towards her, slowly, and she watched me the entire way. When I was about four feet from her, I veered to her side and said in a husky voice, "There you are, my pet. I was getting... lonely." I tossed the whip over Andrea and pulled her
t
o me again. She was still sporting my lipstick mark on her left side, so I leaned forward and gave it a matching
mark
on her right.

I let her go and looked around. "I see you have brought me more pets to play with."

I turned to Petra and pointedly looked her up and down, being incredibly obvious about it. "I may decide to play with this one," I said, glancing over at Andrea. I looked around the room. "And perhaps others."

And then I walked away with my tail slowly swishing back and forth.

Petra never said a word.

I worked the room. The entire house, actually. I stepped into the powder room for a moment and refreshed my lipstick, then went looking for Karen.
S
he was also a witch. Her costume
wasn't bad. When I found her, she was manning the door, letting guests in and passing out candy to the kids. She had her back to me when I approached her, so I reached out with the end of the whip and tickled her ear.

She turned around and stared.

"Felicia?"

I wrapped my whip around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Hello, pet," I told her.

She began to blush.

I stepped closer and adorned her neck
with my lips
. She stood there, stunned, when I stepped away.

The doorbell rang. I answered it.
Three little kids were being taken around by their mom
. The kids shrieked at my costume. I handed out candy to the kids and leered at their mom. I think she blushed before she hurried away with her charges.

I answered the doorbell twice more. The first was another set of kids, a little older, and no one with them old enough to tease. The third was a client with her husband. I looked them both up and down before letting them in.

Karen has a glass of wine and kept staring at me over the rim of it. I turned to her, then reached out and pulled on her hand holding the wine. I left a clear set of lip prints when I drank from her glass, my eyes never leaving hers.

When no one was looking, I applied a fresh supply of lipstick.

Karen finally pulled herself together enough to say, "Holy shit, Felicia."

I leered at her then stepped closer to her and said, "I'll find you again later, my pet."

She giggled when I stepped away.

I found my own glass of wine,
then
went back to finding people to tease.

Renea
Impressions isn't long on men, but there were three at the party I'd met before. They were standing together talking. I walked up to them and they all turned and stared at me. Two of them were cocky and I hadn't really liked them at work, but the last one was kind of quiet. I walked straight to him and said, "I had a nice time the other night." Then I adorned his neck before walking away. I completely ignored the other two.

I kept my hands off the clients, but I eventually got my ass pinched. I turned around and there was what is best described as a little old lady standing there trying to look innocent. I kissed her cheek then fixed my makeup.

"If I were forty years younger," she said as I walked away. I grinned.

I completely ignored Petra for the first two hours, although I made sure she saw me. At one point I found her in the living room talking to someone I didn't know. I walked past her then stepped up to
Ben,
one of our clients I knew was gay
,
and flirted my ass off with him.

Halfway through the conversation he stepped very close to me and quietly asked me with whom I was really flirting. I laughed and asked if anyone was watching me. He scanned the room over my shoulder and said, "I'm not sure. Some of the guys have been checking out your tail.
Or your ass.
I'm not sure which."

I laughed.

"Petra keeps glancing at you."

I smiled.

"Petra? Really?"

"I'm not her type," I said.

"Oh honey," he said. "Tonight you are everybody's type."

I said quietly. "I had a pashmina to, well, tone this all
down
a little, but Andrea stole it."

"Next year maybe a faux fur stole," he suggested.

I grinned. "I think it's time to work the room again."

"She's right behind you about ten feet," he said, winking at me.

I'd been nursing the same glass of wine for the entire evening. I finished it off and set it aside. I didn't want to get sloppy and would switch to water or soda next.

I turned around and caught her looking at me. I hadn't used the tail for anything except letting it swish back and forth on it's own, so I reached down with my left hand and held the switch. The tail swished to my right then pointed straight ahead.

"You," I said quietly, advancing on her. "I caught you checking out my tail."

"Felicia," she said quietly once I was standing in front of her. "It wasn't your tail I was checking out."

"Maybe it's time to play with you for a while," I said, staring at her cleavage. I used the tip of my whip to herd her backwards. A sofa was free, and I guided her straight to it. She sat down, and I perched on the sofa next to her, one hand casually playing with her hair.

I flirted with her
outrageously. She flirted back. She let me leave a bright red lipstick mark on her neck. She smelled wonderful.
I took her wine from her and left bright red lipstick marks on the rim when I drank it half down.
I handed it back to her and smiled.

"Did you drive?" she asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Did you drive?"

"No. Karen did."

"All right," she said.

I eyed her suspiciously. "I've had one sip from Karen's, one glass of my own, which I've nursed for two hours, and a partial glass I stole from you. Why are you being a fuddy-duddy?"

"Oh hell," she said. "You didn't notice."

"Notice what?"

"Dillon and Mike have been taking turns refilling your glass. I saw them do it three times."

"Seriously?" I asked. She nodded. "Oh hell. I thought I could trust everyone here. Did they put anything in it?"

"No, but I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Am I drunk?"

"I don't think so, but I wouldn't want you driving."

"Those assholes. How do they know I'm not driving?" My eyes started to burn. "Am I going to get fired or embarrass Andrea if I go embarrass the hell out of them?"

"No."

"Can I be crude?"

"Yes."

"Will you flirt with me some more after?"

She laughed. "I'd love to."
She looked around the room. "The clients here won't get offended."

I slowly climbed off of her and stood up. I felt pretty steady, but now that Petra had told me, I could tell I'd had more to drink than I would have preferred, and I hadn't been eating. I wandered the room once more. I collected a fresh glass of wine. I teased Karen for a moment then whispered to her, "I'm about to kill Dillon and Mike. Please go warn Andrea."

"I think Petra already is," she said.

I glanced over and found them. They were standing next to each other. I raised an eyebrow and Andrea nodded.

I turned and found Mike and Dillon. They were watching me. Assholes.

I turned back and kissed Karen's neck again and used it to warn her, "I'm not drunk, but it's about to look like it." Then I pulled away and examined her neck and grinned at her.

I turned back to Mike and Dillon and began walking to them, intentionally just a little bit unsteady. I took a sip from my wine. I really didn't want it.

"Mike," I said. "I saw your girlfriend the other night." Then I pulled away. "Or was she Dillon's? Oh, that's right. You're both paying her. Mike, did you start using that cream she told you about." I gestured and splashed wine down his front. "And Dillon, is the therapist helping you with your little, well, your little thing?" I splashed the rest of the wine on him.

"What the hell?" Dillon said.

"
Oopsie
," I said. "I think I've had a little too much wine. I could have sworn I only had one." I paused. "I'm sure no one would have been filling my glass when I wasn'
t looking.
Because that would
be dangerous if I were dri
ving
.
I'm sure there's no one in the room who has to try to get a girl drunk to have a chance with her. You two, after all, just have to pay the girls to spend time with you."