Having her life endangered more than once, being told by some disturbingly attractive lunatics that she was the founder of a vampire clan, and watching her most precious treasure lose consciousness once again were things that made it impossible for her to focus on her job. Not even the most responsible, skilled person in the world could handle it all so smoothly.

  “It’s not like you’re in any position to give me lessons on responsibility,” Yuna retorted after a quiet sigh.

  “Yes, yes! You’re right!” her friend laughed, rummaging through her bag. “Well… Didn’t you get the invitation? It should have arrived a few days ago.”

  “Maybe…”

  “Well, about a month ago…” Carol began, pulling the invitation from her bag and handing it to Yuna. “Our store and all its franchises were acquired by Dev. Corp Group. Since the change happened so suddenly, they decided to throw a presentation party.”

  “Oh, right! I completely forgot! Now that I think of it, I have nothing to wear.”

  “Well, I haven’t bought anything yet, either.”

  “And those bags you’re holding?” Yuna raised a skeptical eyebrow at her friend.

  “These? Just appetizers, you could say. A little something to start with,” Carol replied with a mischievous grin.

  It was typical of Carol to make comments like that. She was a wonderful friend, but their tastes couldn’t have been more different. Atmosphere, guys, fleeting moments—those were her passions.

  “If you want, we can meet up tomorrow and look for something together,” Carol continued with a familiar sparkle in her eye.

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  “Great! I’ll talk to my sister.”

  “You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to ditching that unfeminine style of yours.”

  “What?” Yuna asked, flustered by the comment, as her friend laughed and waved goodbye.

  ━━━━━━???━━━━━━

  At the same time, on the outskirts of Sorine, in the gothic mansion of the Dokovic family, a meeting was underway with nearly all its members in attendance.

  “It seems Devon is one step ahead of us,” remarked Ronnie, who appeared in the form of a child.

  “That won’t last,” Vincent responded, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

  “And how will we manage that?” asked Ronnie.

  “We’ll go to that party,” answered Patrick, seated on the piano stool.

  “You do realize it’s at Devon’s mansion. It’s impossible—we’d be detected in minutes,” the child warned.

  “It’s a masquerade…” Vincent said slowly.

  “A… what…?”

  “A masquerade ball, you dimwit,” snapped Annie, irritated at Ronnie.

  “But that doesn’t mean they won’t sense us,” he replied.

  “Are you forgetting Annie’s skill?” Patrick added, closing the piano and rising from his seat. “She’ll be able to mask our trail for a while.”

  “Great! Let’s pick partners,” Ronnie said eagerly, turning toward Annie. “Would you like to…?”

  “I already have a partner,” she cut him off immediately, linking her arm with Patrick’s.

  The relationship between Annie and Ronnie was somewhat complicated. At times, they’d help each other; at others, they only seemed to want to strangle each other. Especially Annie, the fiery redhead, who was unaware of the true feelings hidden in the deepest corners of Ronnie’s heart.

  From the first time he saw her, long before he became what he is now, from ages past—or simply, from forever—Ronnie had always loved her, with his entire being and his very soul. But his playful, extroverted personality, which often made people dismiss him, the knowledge of Annie’s feelings for Patrick, and, ultimately, his loyalty to Patrick himself, kept him as nothing more than a spectator, though he clung to the hope that one day she would see his true feelings.