Nefertiti

I walk back to my room with Kade and Talen after lunch. They are going to try to help me pick out my outfit for tonight. When we get to my room both boys lay down on my bed.

“Guys, it’s not naptime,” I tease.

“I know, but I’m so tired…from doing nothing today,” Kade groans out. “Why do we even need to help you anyways? Just pick out a dress and be done.”

I roll my eyes. “What if something happens and I would need to fight or something like that? I can’t really do that in a dress or heels.”

“Yeah you can,” Talen pipes in. “Just don’t wear one super tight. Duh.”

I roll my eyes again. The amount of times I roll them when I’m with them is ridiculous. They are going to get stuck in the back of my head someday.

“I’m going to give you a fashion show and you have to rate each outfit. Sounds good?”

“Yep,” Kade says. “Hurry up.”

I pick out my first outfit and go to my bathroom to put it on. I strap my holster on my thigh and sheath my gun in there. The dress covers the gun but I don’t know if my upper body can move. I walk out and show the boys.

“No,” Kade says immediately.

Talen just makes a face.

“Why?” I ask.

“Too much cleavage. If you have to start fighting someone, they are going to pop out.”

“Kade!” I exclaim and cover my chest. “Fine, I’ll change.” Kade and Talen are laughing.

The next outfit is another dress that covers my gun on my thigh but when I move in certain ways you can see the outline of the gun.

“Maybe,” Talen starts. “just bring a knife instead.”

“No, Talen. Not doing that.”

Talen throws his arms up in the air. “I don’t know then.”

I try on two more dresses and they both say no to them. On my fifth dress, their mouths drop. It’s a navy blue dress with some sparkles. There are spaghetti straps and the neckline goes down into a V. The dress flows down to my feet, and it’s loose enough to hide my gun. There’s a slit, but it doesn’t go as high as my gun, so you can’t see it. I’m wearing white, sparkly sandals.

“That’s the one,” Kade says, wide eyed.

“Yep,” Talen agrees, also wide eyed.

I giggle. “Do you guys have a crush on me or why are you looking at me like that?”

They both immediately close their mouths and rub their eyes in sync.

I giggle some more.

“No, Beatrix, you’re just pretty. Since we are your best friends, we are allowed to act that way,” Kade points out.

“Aww, well thanks guys.” I go back to my bathroom and change back into my clothes I had on earlier. “Okay, now that that is out of the way, what do you want to do?”

The boys look at each other and I know what that means.

***

I look over at Talen and Kade who had fallen asleep while I was starting on my makeup. Talen is laying on my reclining chair; mouth wide open. Kade is sprawled out on my bed and snoring so loud. I feel bad for his future wife who has to listen to that every night. Actually, he’s never going to have a wife.

I spray my setting spray and look at myself in the mirror. My makeup took me forty-five minutes to do. I go to the bathroom and plug in my 3-barrel curler. While that’s heating up, I check my phone for any messages.

Kade’s mom texted me.

Maddy: Is Kade with you? He’s not answering my texts.

Me: Yeah, he’s with me. Him and Talen passed out while I was doing my makeup.

She replied almost immediately.

Maddy: Okay, that boy never stays awake.

I chuckle and walk back to my bathroom to start on my hair. Us three went horseback riding for three hours, and then came back to my room so I could start getting ready. We all love horseback riding so much. We’ve been riding together since we were little. Now we are all grown up. I’m eighteen and the boys are both nineteen, and we still love riding together.

I get done with the bottom half of my hair when Kade walks in the bathroom.

“Hey sleepyhead,” I greet.

“Stop, I’m tired, and I have to pee.”

“No, not in here. I’m doing my hair.”

“Okay, so either get out or don’t look.”

“Eww, gross.” I walk out of the bathroom and wait a minute to go back inside. I give him a disgusted look when he walks out of my bathroom.

Another ten minutes and I’m all done with my hair. I asked our cooks to make me a bowl of soup before I leave so I head down to the kitchen. Talen got up to train, and Kade is still sleeping. When I walk into the kitchen, the smell of tomato soup hits me like a punch in the gut.

“Hi Beatrix,” Macy—the head chef—says.

“Hey Mace. How are you doing?”

“Pretty good. Your soup is done.”

“Mmm,” I pat my stomach. “I’m ready to eat.”

My dad walks in the kitchen with the other seven people and they all grab a bowl of soup. I guess soup is just on the menu for everyone tonight.

“Eat up, change, and then we will leave,” my dad informs.

After I’m done eating I thank Macy and her group again for supper, then head to my room to change. Kade is awake now, but he’s still laying on my bed watching T.V.

“What are you doing?” I ask, crossing my arms.

“Watching The Vampire Diaries. Wanna come watch with me?”

“No,” I roll my eyes. “I have to change and then I’m leaving.”

“Okay, your loss.”

I put my dress on in my bathroom and strap on my thigh holster. I check over my outfit again, spray some perfume, and saunter out of the bathroom.

“That looks really nice Beatrix.”

“Thanks, Kade. Okay I have to go, but I’ll see you later. I’ll text Talen goodbye on the way there.”

“Sounds good. Be safe Beatrix. Please.”

“I will. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“You know Talen and I always do.”

“Yeah, I know. Right back at you both.”

***

“Everyone leave your phones in here. You all have your earpieces and that’s how we are going to communicate,” Michael explains. We are all sitting in our limo. “Our goal is to get Malfors to side with us. No one—and I mean no one—is going to start any violence. If we should have to use violence for anything it’s for self defense. Understood?”

Everyone nods their heads.

“Good.”

My dad pipes in now. “Michael and I will be in charge of talking to their boss. Everyone else is going to mingle, and look for anything suspicious, especially if there are any signs of Mors Navis here coming to crash the party.”

That sounds easy enough. When we pull up to the front entrance of the Malfors mansion we all get out. Walking up the steps to get to the front door, I get a little nervous. This is my first mission like this. I’ve never been to a party like this and I’ve never had to do anything like this before.

They have a huge living room and it’s decorated from ceiling to floor with lights, sparkles, and they even have servants walking around with a tray of wine. I grab a glass and walk to the back. They have a ginormous pool in their backyard and there are people talking back here.

“Good evening, miss,” a voice says from behind me. I turn around and see a guy around my age.

“Good evening,” I say politely.

“You’re Beatrix Black, correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Hm, I knew you looked familiar but I didn’t know for sure.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” I ask.

“I’m Eric Malfor.” That’s right. The son of Malfors boss. I had forgotten what he looked like.

“Oh yeah, I remember that now.”

“So are you enjoying our party so far?”

“Yeah, I am. I never realized how big your home is.” I want him to leave now. His flirtation tactics aren’t working.

“Yeah, once you’re inside you realize how big it is.”

“Mhm.” I look around his backyard. I can’t get distracted. Eric is starting to piss me off and I want him to leave. I’m avoiding eye contact with him so that he knows I’m not interested in him. I look across the pool into the trees, just outside the fence. I swear I see a pair of eyes, like wolf eyes, but when I blink they’re gone.

Hm, weird.

I turn back to Eric that’s rambling about his house and I don’t know what else. He changes the subject and asks me a question.

“What’s your family like?”

“Uhh, well—” I was interrupted by a loud explosion coming from the east side of the house. A chunk of the building is on fire, and people are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. People dressed in all black with a ski mask over their face jump over the fence and start shooting at people by the pool.

I immediately run and take cover behind a couch that’s outside.

Why do they have a couch by their pool?

I shake that thought away and grab my gun from my thigh. I peek my head out from behind the couch and there is a man standing in front of the couch, with his gun, aiming at a child. I jump out from behind the couch and hit his wrist, knocking the gun out from his hand, and it slides into the pool.

He swings at me first and I duck, but as I raise my gun to shoot him, he kicks it out of my hands. I take a jab to his throat, then take a punch to his face. He bounces right back and attacks me.

We continue fighting for a couple more minutes and then I hear someone yell, “Just finish her already!”

Everyone is watching us. I kick his stomach hard, and grab his mask. I pull it off and this man is about my age. He has blonde hair, but that’s not what hit me first. He has two different colored eyes. One is a hazel color, and the other is a sea green color. The wolf eyes.

I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head and then everything goes black.