Twin Curse: Kissing The Witch (Book 1 )

Shall we go?

"Do you see the same things I do?" Chloe smiled broadly as she walked up the stairs.

"It's a fairy tale." Lucy's eyes wandered around the inside of the huge castle.

"There are so many people here." I poked Chloe in the arm.

"Where first?" Chloe glanced at Lucy and me.

"We're occupying the dance floor." Lucy smiled widely.

Luckily for me the music changed to a slightly faster slow waltz. A few minutes later, we were already mixed in amongst the countless people. Everyone here looked spectacular in masks, dresses and costumes. After a few minutes of dancing in a circle, Chloe left to fetch the punch.

"I see Amerry. I'll be right out." Lucy shouted over the loud music.

The fast-paced song faded and I retreated slightly from the dance floor.

A slow waltz song came on, and I eagerly began to look at Chloe. .

"Can I ask you to dance, lady...?" A rich male voice reached my ears.

My eyes quickly darted to the man standing in front of me. He stood out in his outfit. His suit was black with vintage yellow prints, his jacket longer than usual. His dark hair, slightly longer than usual, was neatly styled. A broad white smile played on his face.

"Miss Willow. Surely I would be honoured sir...?" I extended my hand towards the man.

"You may call me by my first name." The man's gentle fingers took my hand.

"And your name?" I looked at the man looking at me.

I could feel him looking at me as if there was nothing else around. Even though dancing wasn't my forte, I felt strangely possessive.

"Dillan." A rich male voice at my ear.

We moved lightly waltzing to the music on the dance floor. My hand rested lightly on his shoulder - and his on the line of my back. I looked slightly over his shoulder and could smell his cologne.

"Miss Willow, let me ask you, why doesn't such a charming lady have a dance partner?" Dillan looked into my eyes.

"As you can see Mr. Dillan, I do now." I looked into the man's dark eyes.

"No need sir, for you I'm just Dillan." He directed his gaze over my shoulder.

The waltz music in my ears faded and letting go of my waist Dillan stepped back. Then, with a gentle movement, he brought my other hand to his lips and kissed it. At that moment, my eyes were drawn to the masculine ring adorning his little finger. A massive rectangular crimson stone with silver ornaments.

"Thank you for the dance, Miss Willow." Dillan released my hand.

"The honour is all mine." I dipped my eye, smiling.

Dillan turned and disappeared amongst the other standing or parting couples. Some went to the toilets, others to the table, others to get some fresh air.

"I thought I'd never find you. There are too many people here." Chloe's voice reached my ears.

"Hey, the earth is calling Sarah. What just happened here?" Chloe started waving the cup in front of my eyes.

"Nothing, it's fine. Let's go find Lucy." I grabbed the cup in my hands.

"And where did she go?" Chloe looked around.

"She left me because she saw Amerry and wanted to say hello." I shrugged.

We grabbed hands and headed deeper into the event.

"There she is!" Chloe exclaimed, pointing a finger in our direction.

After a few pushing past people we entered a slightly larger space. Then my eyes fell on my sister who was sitting at a table all alone. After a few more quick steps, I could already see her up close.

"Lucy What happened?" I gave my sister a questioning look.

The sight made me gasp. Her dress was stained with khaki red and her eyes were blackened from running mascara.

"Leo here." Lucy said weakly.

"What did he do to you?" Chloe's angry voice filled the air.

"It doesn't matter, I don't want to be here anymore." Lucy rolled her eyes up at me.

"It's all right Lucy. Come on let's go, Chloe will take you home." I took her hand.

We walked towards the exit at a brisk pace. Suddenly, I felt someone's hand on my wrist and a tug on the other side.

"Come on, who's in such a hurry to get home?" Leo's voice reached my ears.

"Get lost Leo, you've done enough." I glared angrily at Leo's face.

I honestly didn't like him, he was just a guy who broke my sister's heart and was a cocky arrogant jerk.

"Oh don't you think the older sister is defending the younger one. How sweet that I'm about to throw up." Leo joked mockingly.

"Come on, let's go." Lucy patted the spot impatiently.

Without waiting for anything, we turned away from Leo to walk further towards our destination. Nevertheless, another tug on my arm stopped me.

"Where are you going in a hurry, Ash? Are you afraid the carriage will turn into a pumpkin?" Leo laughed.

"Let go, Leo, and you'll be sorry." I angrily glared at him.

I saw people starting to crowd around because of our raised tone of voice. I jerked my arm to pull out of his grasp and turned towards the exit. As soon as I felt another touch on my arm, I slapped him without waiting. The sound of slapping spread through the hall, and the people milling around watched in dismay.

"Now you'll regret it." Leo's angry voice echoed through the hall.

I stood in front of Leo and saw him clasp his hand. I stood in front of him and looked him straight in the eye. Even though my thoughts were racing that I needed to run because he was going to hit me, I ignored that fact.

"Enough!" A man's voice came from across the hall.

My eyes slowly drifted from Leo to the man who was standing just half a metre from me. My thoughts went from how he got here to what would happen next. When I got a better look at the guy's outfit, I realised it was Dillan.

"Who are you to one. Their bodyguard" Leo's gaze killed Dillan.

" You don't have anything nice to say to these ladies, don't ruin the evening and get out." Dillan's cold voice rang in the air.

"And she won't what are you going to do?" Leo crossed his arms over his chest.

"It wasn't a request, it was a demand." Dillan took a step closer to Leo.

I couldn't see the expression on Dillan's face, but to my surprise Leo walked away without saying a word.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Chloe's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I turned around and without saying a word, I followed Lucy and Chloe as they headed for the exit. Before taking the last step through the door of the building, I turned back over my shoulder to see if Dillan was still there. I saw him standing facing me with a serious expression on his face.

"Thank you." I thanked him soundlessly.

I could see the corner of his lips lift before he disappeared from my view.

"Sarah are you out of your mind?" Lucy walked in front of me.

"What's wrong?" I pretended to be stupid.

"He could have hit you." Chloe sneered at me.

"He could have, but he didn't." The words sounded somewhere under my nose.

"Who's this mystery guy?" Chloe opened the car door.

"No idea, but we're lucky he showed up." Lucy's voice sounded much calmer now.

"Come on, that's enough for tonight, let's go home girls." I made myself comfortable in the car seat.

I rested my head against the glass and closed my eyes. I could hear the engine running quietly in the background of the music. The next sound that reached my ears was the rain drops hitting the glass, soothing me.

"Sarah, why did you give that guy that look?" Chloe's suspicious tone rang out in the car.

"What look?" I wrinkled my forehead.

"Well, the kind of look that said you knew everything was going to be okay." Chloe smiled broadly.

"No kidding." I shrugged.

I closed my eyes and memories flashed through my mind. Brown eyes looking up at me, his hand holding my waist, the ring in red and him kissing my hand. I smiled.

"Is she smiling" Lucy said curiously.

"Yes, yes she does." Chloe almost laughed

"Girls stop it now" I laughed out loud.

"We've arrived." Chloe parked the car.

"All right girls." Chloe exclaimed, waving out the window.

I looked around the house and didn't see a single light on. I took my keys out of my hand and after a few tries, the lock clicked. The next thing I saw was Lucy disappearing behind the bathroom door.

"Don't wait for me." Lucy shouted from the bathroom.

Without saying anything, I stepped out of my high heels and headed to my room. Turning on the light, I stood in front of the mirror to find the zipper of my dress. I raised my eyes to look at myself again. Everything was perfect, but something was missing. The red pendant did not adorn my neck. I quickly grabbed my phone from the table.

"What happened?" Chloe's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"I lost my mom's necklace." I said, sitting down on the bed.

"Don't worry. I'll try to look for it in the car." Chloe sighed.

"Chloe I'll never wear it." I panicked.

"I know Sarah, we'll find it." Chloe tried to reassure me

The sound of the doorbell ringing reached my ears.

"You got guests at this hour?" I could squeeze out as Chloe furrowed her brow.

"It's probably Dad. He left his keys at home when he left with Finn." I climbed the stairs to the first floor.

I opened the door wide, saying:

"Dad, next time don't forget the key, I was getting ready for bed.

Dillan was standing in front of me. He was looking straight at me with his brown eyes.

"You." I looked at Dillan with my big eyes

"Sarah what's going on in there?" Chloe's confused voice rang on the phone.

"I'll call you back." I ended the phone call.

"I hope I didn't wake you up so late tonight." Dillan smiled.

"What are you doing at my front door?" I stared intently at Dillan.

"I thought you wanted to retrieve your necklace." Dillan's face fell.

At those words, I saw him reach his hand out in front of me and slap it away. In his hand was my necklace.

"Where did you get it?" I wrinkled my forehead.

"Before you could accuse me of stealing it, you lost it." Dillan explained simply.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me." I reached out my hand to grab my necklace

My eyes went from his hands to his face. The dim lighting allowed me to see the hard lines of his face and his hair dripping with water.

"Good evening and sorry for the disturbance, Miss Willow." Dillan smiled.

As he turned to leave, I closed the door to the house and grabbed my phone from the cabinet. I snuck into the living room and quickly texted Chloe that I'd talk to her in the morning. I curled up in my bed and soon fell asleep. I was woken up by a phone call. I pressed the green button and put it to my ear.

"Hello?" I stepped through the bedroom door.

"Where did you go last night?" Chloe's voice on the other end of the phone.  

"I got my necklace back." I quietly climbed out of bed

"How? What happened?" Chloe wondered.

"I'll tell you when I meet you for coffee, okay? Be at Joe's coffee shop in half an hour." I looked at the clock on the wall.

"Sure, bye." Chloe said goodbye.

I put on my jacket and took one last look in the mirror and walked out the door. I took the well-known route to the café where Chloe was waiting for me. Finally I reached the café and went inside.

"Eyy Sara." Chloe's voice soon reached my ears.

With a quick jingle, I walked over to the table next to Chloe.

"So what happened yesterday? Chloe leaned in closer.

"The mystery guy showed up at my door." I looked out the window.

"He took your necklace?" Chloe furrowed her brow.

"He's not a thief, he said I lost it in the incident with Leo." My eyes went to Chloe.

"Drink anything?" Chloe changed the subject.

"Something caffeinated." I laughed.

"I'll get it right away." Chloe stood up from the table.

I scanned the bar out of the corner of my eye, where Chloe's Aunt Joe was nowhere in sight. The doorbell of the café rang and Leo and his girlfriend walked through. They cuddled affectionately and pulled up a table to sit down. I couldn't take my eyes off them and I could just feel the anger boiling inside me

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Chloe sat down and placed two hot cups of coffee in front of her.

"That's what was missing." I turned my eyes away from Leo and his new girlfriend.

"The wrong people in the wrong place." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe he's already with another girl." I sipped my coffee.

"Guys like that give me the creeps." Chloe wrinkled her forehead.

The loud laughter of Leo's new girlfriend caught my attention and spread around the café. I'm glad I couldn't hear what they were saying. A monotonous tinkling in the air that was extremely annoying. I noticed that it was Leo's new

girl was jabbing insistently at the wall of the cup. Suddenly, all the sounds in my ears stopped and I could only hear my heartbeat. My eyes closed for a second.

"Damn, it burns." Leo's girlfriend squealed.

I heard the girl drop the ring on the ground and it clattered across the café floor. It stopped somewhere under one of the bar stools.

"Hey Sara are you okay?" Chloe's anxious voice reaches my ears.

"Yes I'm fine." I return my gaze to Chloe.

"Do you have any plans today?" Chloe changed the topic of conversation.

"Nope. Do you have a proposal?" I raised an eyebrow, smiling.

The doorbell of the café rang again. My eyes shifted from Chloe for a second to the guy standing in the café's hallway. The guy was wearing black sneakers that matched his dark jeans. A grey sweater covered a black long coat. I looked up and his brown eyes were looking straight at me - he was smiling.

"Sarah, can you hear me?" Chloe's voice made me pull my eyes away from Dillan.

"Yes I do." My eyes returned to Chloe.

"Do you know that cute guy who's coming straight towards us?" Chloe whispered as she leaned towards me.

"That's Dillan." I turned my eyes towards the window.

"He's really handsome." Chloe didn't take her eyes off Dillan.

"Chloe will do..." I laughed out loud.

"Good afternoon ladies is this seat taken?" Dillan stopped at our table.

"Still a gentleman. Well I'll be on my way." Chloe rose from the table.

"You where?" I stared at Chloe, rolling my eyes.

Without saying anything, Chloe quickly walked out of the café.

"Have a seat," I waved my hand at the chair in front of me.

"Mistress Willow, since our time together yesterday was limited for her I'd like to change that today." Dillan looked me in the eye.

"You'll call her Sarah, then I agree." I smiled half a smile.

"Maybe we can get out of here?" Dillan glanced at the door.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"I want to show you something." Dillan's eyes returned to my face.

"With a guy I'm seeing for the first time?" I laughed.

"Sarah has free will to choose." Dillan pulled her hands away from the table.

In one simple motion, he sat up from his chair. Then he stepped a little closer to me and extended his hand, inviting me to kneel with him.

"Shall we go?" Dillan's eyes glanced at my hand, then back to my eyes.