BUZZ CAME IN while they were adding the contouring powder to the base they’d already smoothed out. “I know this is like date night and Jean-Claude is the boss, but are you okay to be around the audience?”
I motioned the makeup brushes away so I could say, “I’m fine.”
“You sure? I’ve never seen you lose control like that here.”
I looked at him in the mirror and thought about it for a few seconds as the dancers descended with brushes and powder. When they were done and the only thing left was lipstick, I said, “I feel good now, solid in my head. I think I was picking up on Rodina and Ru.”
“They’re your Brides, Anita, you’re not supposed to pick up on them,” Ethan said from the doorway.
“I pick up on Nicky more.”
“You’re in love with him.”
“It’s their birthday, and only the second one since their brother died. I think that was too much emotion for me to be able to ignore.”
“Geez,” Buzz said, “they shouldn’t have been working tonight.”
“I’ll make a note so they’re off next year,” I said.
“I’ve already texted Claudia,” Ethan said.
“Thanks, Ethan.”
“Part of the job, and since Buzz brought it up, are you sure you’re good for being in public tonight?”
“I feel fine now. I really do think it was the twins”—I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh—“sorry, triplets, and their grief.”
Nathaniel said, “You feel normal now.”
“You do feel better in my head since they left,” Ethan conceded.
“Then let’s finish up the lipstick and get me out of here and back to my seat.”
“The audience is getting kind of restless,” Buzz said.
“Then no more talking,” Nathaniel said with a smile.
I might have replied but the tallest dancer leaned over me with my own lipstick in his hands. He told me to hold still and started painting back the perfect lines that all the kissing had wiped away. I might have interrupted it to squirm, or even ask the dancer’s name, because I couldn’t remember it. He was one of our newer vampires. Not new to being a vampire, but new to the stage. Jean-Claude breathed through my mind, “His name is Hart, let him finish your makeup so I may finally see you in person tonight.”
Hart shivered and drew back with the lipstick in his hand. “Our master’s power is all over you.”
“He’s telling me to let you finish my makeup, so our date can happen.”
“You are a lucky girl,” he said as he leaned back in.
“I am,” I said, before I had to hold still and let him finish drawing my lower lip just a bit wider than normal and color it in scarlet. The lipstick was the only thing I was wearing that was my normal shade. Again, I had that feeling of not being myself tonight. I felt Jean-Claude’s eagerness down the link between us. He was excited to see me in the clothes he’d so carefully chosen, and for me to see him. I almost thought too hard at him then, which would have meant I might have gotten a peek, but he blocked me so that emotion was all I could get.
“Honey, if you keep having that much power running through you I’m going to mess up this lipstick and have to start over with the base,” Hart said.
I apologized and Jean-Claude drifted farther away so that he wouldn’t make the other vampire shiver again.