Lust in the Moonlight

Chapter 12

So many things were said, many more destructive things were done. There wasn’t any time for me to process any of it. By the time I reached the ballroom, my hand was still burning from striking Malachai and my v****a was still tingling from the thought of him. I was a complete and utter mess. Thankfully, the classical music and the variety of conversations was loud enough to cover my horrendous hyperventilating. Moving through the crowd of guests who were visibly more under the influence from when I left. Coming to a full halt, I took in my surroundings, people were on the dance floor dancing with their significant others, at the bar filling themselves up with more alcohol, or at a table chatting with a small group. I didn’t know where I fit into this equation. Right at that moment, a pair of arms slipped themselves around my waist from behind, the individual dropped their head into the crook of my neck. From the touch, I knew it wasn’t Malachai, from the stench of alcohol and the sloppiness I only had one other guess.

“Heyy babyy, I was looking for youu” Isaiah slurred in my ear, burning my eardrum with his alcohol ridden breath. Great. My eyes rolled faintly before slipping out of his grasp to turn around and look at him. His once perfectly groomed hair was all over the place, his tie was loose, his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and he could barely hold himself up. You would think he had done a line of cocaine in the bathroom.

“Hi honey, how much have you had to drink?” I placed his arm around my shoulder and held him up by his waist for support. I guided us to our designated table, along the way I received a few looks of amusement from men, from women I got looks of sympathy knowing they’d have to deal with the same thing.

“Oh you know..” Isaiah mumbled as I dropped him down to his seat. Isaiah messily motioned to the bar, I took a seat next to the drunken i***t and sighed deeply.

“A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a whole lot of everything…” Isaiah broke into a chuckle nearing the end of his sentence. Pressing a smile onto my face, I waved over a waiter and asked for water.

The night consisted of me babysitting Isaiah and trying him to drink water, like a child he put up a fight and refused to drink non alcoholic beverages. I have never seen Isaiah this drunk before, I didn’t know him to be a heavy drinker, maybe he wasn’t and that it was just the banquet and the free booze encouraging him. Thankfully Renya came by, she dropped down in a chair next to me and sighed deeply. I definitely noticed the lack of positivity in her presence and saw that something was going on in her mind.

“You okay Renya?” I asked, Renya brought her eyes up to me and nodded her head faintly. It was either she was a horrible liar or I knew her too well. Something was up, my foot nudged hers underneath the table and she gave up on trying to hold back.

“Malachai, my dad, and the other members on the board are having this super secret meeting away from the banquet. I know that I’m not part of the board, I'm just tired of being left out all the time when I would probably do a better job than half the other weasels..” This was a soft subject for Renya, all she ever talked about was wanting to be on the board, but she was often overlooked, especially by her father.

“If they don’t see the crazy potential you have, it’s their loss. You deserve better than that..” Renya smiled at me, her mood quickly picked itself back up. Her eyes fell upon Isaiah and his drooped head barely hovering over the table.

“And you deserve better than that. Call it a night, go home, you deserve the rest-” She started, I nodded my head and grabbed a hold of his arm, Renya quickly reached out to me shaking her head.

“I will take the poor soul home. Now stop embarrassing yourself and leave” She chuckled at my attempt to get Isaiah out of his seat, he was heavier than a stone and the last thing I wanted to do was dump my drunk boyfriend on her, but she gave no room for arguments. As I collected my belongings from the table and stood up from my chair Renya stopped with a sudden hint of curiosity in her eyes.

“Where’d you get this?” She said tapping on the book in my grasp, I really thought I was free from the events that happened earlier. She didn’t seem suspicious of anything. Malachai was her date and I did something extremely inappropriate with him, I wouldn’t dare tell her the truth. I looked down at the book and smiled faintly.

“Oh, this one dude promoting his antique bookshop gave this to me, to read. Yeah, he wanted to speak to you directly but you were off elsewhere..” I tried to be as nonchalant as I could, but I hated lying to her. Renya peered at the book for a long time before locking eyes with me.

“Oh nice, I know how much you love those things. Get home safe” Renya reached out and squeezed my hand. I wished her a goodnight and walked off. Before she could second guess my answer my pace sped up until I reached the double doors, exiting the rousing party.

My pace decreased as I walked down the corridor. Tonight was not at all what I pictured. It fell between a dream come true or a nightmare come to life. For starters, I was completely and utterly disappointed in myself. How could I let Mr. Lennox sway me so easily? I must’ve looked like a fool to him, nothing but a passion hungry girl. Renya was proud of how I was able to handle myself among the higher up professionals, and I was too but all of that was overshadowed by what happened with Mr. Lennox. There wasn’t a single soul I could tell and already this was eating me up right. I just needed to get out of here to detox from the evening.

As I neared the entrance I first came in from, there was a group of individuals whom I’ve never seen in my life. It consisted of two males and two women. They were talking in hushed voices in a circle, the sight was suspicious and mysterious. Although their outfits did not correlate, they all wore dark brooding colors. The two women stood tall, one was redheaded, and the other was a vibrant artificial platinum silver, the way her black hair would ombre into the silver was beautiful and well done. Noticeably their attire was quite different from what I’ve seen tonight. Medieval ball gowns were what the two women were dressed in, with a touch of modern elements, waist high slit which the redhead took pride in, and a cape which concealed the body of the woman who had platinum hair. The men wore discrete tuxedos, and looked like they too also had capes but they were draped over their arms. Another similarity they all shared was that they all wore sunglasses, of different styles and frames but all concealing their eyes. My eyes narrowed considering it was nighttime….and inside. Maybe they missed the memo. Observing them took up too much of my time, I resumed making my way through the entry hall.

Something about me caught their attention, was it the sound of my heels against the floor? Did they catch me stealing a few looks? Was I thinking out loud? I don’t know but whatever it was it caused them to all snap their heads at me in unison. My heart jumped and a small involuntary yelp left my lips. Standing like lifeless statues they stood without a hint of movement and stared at me through their ridiculous but cool shades. Confused I looked around the vicinity before clearing my throat, if they were looking for a staring contest they would have to kick rocks, all I wanted was to get out of here, Right when I was about to turn my heels away from them, one of the girls broke away from the group and took several steps towards me.

“Hello, my name is Amelia..” Amelia was the one with the dashing silver hair and wore velvet gloves concealing her hands. Her tone was welcoming and serene, and made me feel less intimidated. I would’ve liked for her to remove her sunglasses but she seemed content with them on. I offered her a smile and nodded my head.

“Hi Amelia..” There wasn’t anything else I could say, this woman was a complete stranger to me. She looked at me for a long time before looking over her shoulder to her group of friends that had been inching closer to the two of us.

“Um, we are personal guests of Mal-” Amelia started, she snatched her words back up and cleared her throat looking back at me.

“We were personally invited by Mr. Lennox, the host, but since our arrival we have not seen or heard from him. Could you tell me where I could find him?” Amelia asked, her tone had a slight change, I picked up small traces of concern in her voice. The matter seemed urgent, as much as I wanted to help I wouldn’t indulge to a single soul what I had done with Mr. Lennox. Just thinking about him and hearing his name being spoken made shivers travel up my spine.

“I haven’t seen him, sorry, I should go” I mumbled, her mouth opened but I took a step back exiting the conversation. I turned around and approached the double doors that were left open. The chilling breeze of the night crept into the manor, I should’ve packed some kind of jacket. I saw two valets standing at their podiums right outside the door, hopefully getting to my car would be an easy task.

“Mortals are absolutely infuriating..” A girl hissed quietly from behind me, the voice didn’t belong to Amelia but the other women that stood in the group. Slightly I looked over my shoulder and felt her eyes branding painfully into my skin. Her comment was not only confusing but also awfully rude. What did she mean?

“How are we supposed to find him? Something could be wrong..” Amelia whispered, I guess these people didn’t pick up on the fact that their voices carried throughout the entry hall. Amelia’s tone got to me, she was obviously worried. Although truly I hadn’t seen Mr. Lennox since I departed from him, I could still offer a bit of ease in their minds. Hesitantly I turned around and swallowed nervously. The last thing I want is for people to find out what I did.

“Amelia?” Immediately she turned around at the sound of my voice, we approached one another swiftly and I told her what I knew.

“I haven’t seen Mr. Lennox in a while but I do know that he is in a secret meeting with the board of directors. As far as I know, it won’t be anywhere near the banquet but that’s all I know truly..” Amelia nodded, although it wasn’t the news she had hoped to hear, she smiled at me warmly.

From there I parted ways with her and her odd group of friends. My attention was focused on the two young valets who stood across from each other behind their small podiums. I smiled at both of them. They asked me for the make and model of my car, I told them every intricate detail about Bertha even the unnecessary. The two young men chuckled at my excessive detail.

“Alright, just wait right here and I will go get your car Ms. Farris” One of the young men crouched down and rummaged through whatever was behind his podium, he emerged with my car keys jingling in his fingertips. The night breeze, although cold, soothed my nerves, it was refreshing, being rid of the heat Malachai brought upon me earlier. Something buried deep inside of me to take advantage of the moment and absorb the night.

“No that’s okay, I’ll walk, I need to clear my mind anyway” I reached over for my keys, the nameless young man looked at me with hesitation. It took a bit of convincing but the young men let me have my car keys and told me specific directions on where they parked my car. I thanked them for their service, with the bit of cash in my clutch I tipped them before taking my leave.

My car was parked along the cobblestone driveway further down. After five minutes of walking in heels with my car nowhere in sight I deeply regretted my decision. The driveway was long and everlasting, both sides of the driveway were lined up with various cars, surrounding the driveway was an ocean forest. The polluted night sky showed nothing but a luminous full moon, the night grew colder and longer as I trooped further down the driveway. Surrounded by nothing but darkness, I was left to confront my thoughts.

I can’t seem to wrap my head around the events of tonight. His touch, his kiss, his words. Everything about him was a blurred line between two different personalities. What happened in the library between us seemed unreal, like I dreamt it up, but every time I thought about it, about him, every single part of me ran loose and wild. Feeling this way about my boss is immoral and wrong, feeling this way about a man who has done nothing but made me feel insignificant was ludacris. Everything about this was confusing.

Being so caught up in my mind, I hadn’t realized that I was slowly approaching my blue chariot eagerly waiting to whisk me away from this event. In the distance, not too far away, I could see the large bass metal open gates surrounding this place. Once I got to my car, I unlocked it. Throwing my clutch and the book into the passenger seat, I let out a fatigued sigh. It was like my body was growing more and more weaker, small little tingles shocking my body all over, and a booming headache. Maybe it was the liquor, or the guilt. Right when I was about to crash down into the passenger seat, something sounded right behind me. It sounded like a twig branch breaking in the distance. Slowly my body turned, I was standing right on the edge of the forest, but I couldn’t see anything, a consuming darkness it was. Could it possibly be one of the servants?

“Hello?” I asked quite foolishly, my eyes scanned the nocturnal forest. The only response I was given was the hooting of owls, the ruffling of the trees being moved by the wind, and faint music coming from the banquet. Faintly my eyes rolled, I was driving myself crazy, nothing but a good night's rest-

“Help me..” As I was turning my body around to my car a voice emerged. Instinctively, I whipped my body around. The voice was chilling, so clear as if it was right beside me but no one was in sight, not a thing. As much as I wanted to get in my car and speed away, I couldn't. A huge wave of fear, desperation and pain wrecked me. I was drawn to the night forest, refusing to part ways with it.

“P-PLEASE!” I couldn’t pinpoint where the voice was coming from, I was staring into eternal darkness, it brought a sharp pain swelling throughout my entire body. I drew in a sharp breath trying to contain myself. It felt like pieces of glass were raining over me, striking me continuously all over my body, piercing every inch of skin. Using my car for support, I leaned against it and grasped at my chest, trying to ease my racing heart.

The night forest was calling out to me. It was a feeling I couldn’t explain, but there was a pull into the nocturnal wood. As if I needed to be there. The feeling wasn’t something I couldn’t ignore. Regaining all my strength, I pushed off my car and stared down the uncanny forest. The voice was no longer apparent but I didn’t need any more convincing.