The Vampire's Mafia Princess

Chapter 6

Nikki was already there when I walked in, she took one look at me clutching the cold brew growler and smiled.

“That good?”

“That good” I confirmed with an eye roll, taking a swig of the coffee. She snickered. I briefly told her about my glorious faceplant, the red diamond and my near meltdown. She let out a low whistle.

“You’ve had a day, but damn girl” she draped an arm around my shoulders. “You sure you up for this?”

“I’m sure I don’t have a choice” I said, mustering a smile.

“True” she nodded “and it should be fairly simple right? We know you don’t want to look like a puffball!” I laughed and nodded. That was true. The big puffy gowns and lacey things could stay on their hangers, I was going to go for something simpler. Cade had not said anything about the venue or attire, and to be honest I didn’t care. I was at least going to wear the dress I wanted, the rest be damned. Besides who could even use the bathroom properly in a giant puffy tulle from hell dress? The saleslady floated over to us and smiled, taking my measurements, and informing us that typically wedding dresses were two sizes above the bride’s normal size. Talk about adding insult to injury. It wasn’t enough stress that we were picking out a wedding dress, but now to find out they usually ran so small just seemed like a cruel joke. No wonder women went crazy dieting before their weddings. She brought an armful of dresses in my size and Nikki and I got to work. We quickly figured out that the mermaid cut was not flattering for me, and that buttons were the enemy. I was getting disheartened as we had gone through several armfuls and hadn’t found anything. The saleslady had scurried off and said she had a few more selections and would be right back.

“Let’s hope we find something” I groaned to Nikki, flopping down on the couch beside her. The fitting rooms were nice, once changed you could come out and see yourself in a long and curved mirror to see all angles. This area was raised, like a stage, with a small couch and a few plush chairs below it. Of course, whoever was with the woman probably needed somewhere nice to sit as it took a while with this sort of thing.

“You and me both” she said, “but I gotta say some of those looked alright, we definitely haven’t found YOUR dress yet.” She wasn’t wrong, some of them had been decent enough, but none that really won me over. Exasperated I shook out my low ponytail, twisted my hair, and shoved it up into a sloppy bun on the top of my head. I heard a gasp and turned to see the saleslady staring at me. I realized, belatedly, that my tattoo was visible. In the mob, or mafia as it was typically called, we had distinguishing marks; one of the most frequent being strategically placed tattoos. This way it was easy to tell who belonged to what, and in a way also served as protection. The women who were active participants, like myself and Nikki, were marked right behind the left ear with the Triquetra. A triangular Celtic knot made of three interlaced arcs. This signified we were under the protection and active in the Irish mafia. I moaned inwardly, great now she knew we were mafia and would be freaked out, I looked at her, willing her not to freak out. To her credit, she schooled her face and smiled, appearing unruffled after her outburst.

“These are some I found that might be more what you are looking for ma’am” she said, holding several dresses out to me. I smiled. She was built of sterner stuff; most respectable people would have either been quaking in their shoes just knowing we were mafia or treated us as less than. Not this woman though. I studied her. Light brown hair in a classy chignon, a crisp pencil skirt with a nice blouse and simple accessories.

“Thank you,” I paused, looking at her name tag; “Noelle.” I grinned. “I appreciate your help.” She visibly relaxed, hopefully realizing we were harmless, at least in this capacity.

“If they look ugly, we promise not to send a Grim Reaper for you!” Nikki drawled from the couch, waving her hand flippantly. A Grim Reaper was our version of a hitman, and I rolled my eyes at Nikki while Noelle visibly paled.

“She’s just kidding. We are just here for a dress” I soothed. Cursing at Nikki in my head. Noelle gave me a tight smile.

“I understand, if you need anything please let me know” and she all but ran off.

“Nikki” I said, chiding my friend who was grinning wickedly.

“What?” She said, feigning innocence. “She needed to know in case she was holding out on us with more dresses.” I sighed and headed for the fitting room. Nikki was one of a kind. I studied the dresses she had given me and could rule a few out without even stuffing myself into them. That cut down the pile nicely. The first few I tried on were nice enough, but again nothing that jumped out at me. I was down to the last one, but this one held the most promise. It was also the most simplistic of the lot. Not pure white, slightly off white. The straps were tank top thick, and the neckline was a deep V neck, ending midway between the breasts; the bodice was form-fitting to the natural waist. After the waist the dress naturally flowed down to the floor, folding, and flaring beautifully. The best part? It had pockets. I took a deep breath and hoped that this was it, I had a good feeling as I slid it on. The material was smooth against my skin as I pulled it on, easily getting the straps over my shoulders the V neck settled just between my breasts, I tugged the bodice down slightly, it was a bit tight, but nothing I couldn’t get altered. The dress flared beautifully down my legs, pooling at my feet a little too much, another thing for the alteration list. Sliding my hands into the pockets I sidled out to where Nikki was sitting. Her eyes immediately flicked to me, and she grinned, letting out an enthusiastic wolf whistle.

“Now that is THE dress!” She clapped her hands excitedly. Hearing the commotion Noelle, the saleslady, came over immediately. She looked at me and her face broke into a genuine smile.

“You look beautiful ma’am” she said, taking me in. “A few alterations and it will be perfect for you!” She paused for a moment, “I can make the arrangements if you’d like?” I looked in the mirror and did a twirl, it did look good in its simplicity. No matter the venue Cade picked out I would be neither over nor under dressed in this. I smiled at Noelle and nodded my head in the affirmative, I could see this with nice silver jewelry. I got measured for alterations and would be able to pick the dress up within a few days, Noelle falling over herself to assure me it would be perfect. Thankful my Cade related chores were done for the day, Nikki and I decided to have a late lunch and pal around for a bit. There was a new movie she was interested in that didn’t look bad, I agreed to see that on the condition she would go to the bookstore with me afterwards. Nikki wasn’t much for reading, but she did support my habits and would happily go to the café in the bookstore, getting her fix while I browsed.

After a busy day I was happy when I arrived back home. Overall, it had been decent enough, my perfect nosedive notwithstanding. Cade had been oddly tolerable, despite his stiffness; and boy did he drop a whopper of a bomb on me with that red diamond. He sure was going all out, wasn’t he? There wouldn’t be a person who doubted his commitment level to me after seeing that diamond. When we divorced, I wondered if I would have to give it back, because I was assuming we would divorce at some point right? I stretched my body out on the couch and grabbed the remote, flicking the TV on. I was going to vegetate, after the long and productive day I was going to switch my brain off a bit before work in the morning.

The morning came much too early, and found me still on the couch, remote in hand and drool crusted to my chin. Just wonderful. Thankfully it was still the weekend so my rather unglamorous awakening could happen slowly. It would be one of those picturesque mornings, if you were a morning person. The sun streaming in, the birds chirping, the bright blue sky, great for anyone who liked that sort of thing; spoiler alert, it’s not me. Groaning and wiping the drool from my mouth I slunk toward the bathroom and plopped myself on the pot. I scrolled through my phone, updating myself on all the social media happenings before hauling myself up to wash my face and get dressed. Today was the day I was determined to do nothing other than work out, relax, and catch up on my shows and books. Yeah, today was going to be good I thought, splashing my face with water, then pulling on a loose tank with some fat pants. Strolling into the kitchen I turned the coffee machine on and began to start my day. What could possibly go wrong?

Hours later I sat on the couch, disgruntled and annoyed. Both of those were an understatement. I would say downright pissed would describe it more accurately. Tomorrow was work, but for me it wouldn’t be. Why? Because tonight there was an exchange going down and dear old dad was one person short, which meant he volun-told me my presence was needed. It was simple enough; I would be a lookout while the trade was happening; nothing I hadn’t done before, and I never minded getting my hands a bit dirty. But on a work night of all things? I groaned. I knew he wouldn’t cut me any slack the following day for having been up ungodly late the night before to help, meanwhile he would take a nice little catnap in his office at some point. I angrily took a sip of my water and set the cup down just a touch too hard. Switching the TV back on I settled down into the couch, quickly setting my phone alarm. Nothing I could do other than hope I could catch a nap before go time.

The alarm rang earlier than necessary in my mind, it felt like my eyes had just closed. I got up and quickly got dressed, not the typical all black; but in casual clothes as I was a lookout and not actually participating. This would be our first deal with the Amata’s, using one of their hotels as a base point for the trade. My job was simple, look inconspicuous and make sure they weren’t disturbed. Sounded simple enough and would be provided there weren’t any hiccups. Given that it was at the Amata’s hotel I doubted anyone would suspect anything, but we still had to be safe. To blend in I was dressed in casual clothes, nice ones; to pretend I was there for the bar on the lower floor. The same floor where the exchange was to take place, the noise of the bar would mask anything as it did get quite busy. My role was to stay at the bar, the actual bar part of it. Sitting on the high chairs at the bar would allow me a clear view of who came in and out, as well as allow me monitor the hallway to ensure they weren’t disturbed. The room adjacent to the bar was typically used for storage and had a nice loading dock in the back. This would serve as the exchange point.

Pulling up to the hotel I was shocked to note it was the same hotel I had met Cade at. The bar would be the same bar where I had first seen him. An unsolicited twinge of desire coursed through me at the memories of that night. Of course, the Amata’s owned it, one of the fanciest hotels in the city. I had never really been one for celebrities, or news, instead preferring to live in my own world; so, I supposed I needed to turn the news on every now and then to stay current. Vowing to myself to research the s**t out of the Amata’s I headed for the bar. I already knew I needed a rum and coke badly, and while I didn’t want to get drunk on the job I did have to blend in, right? I perched myself on a dark wood chair at the bar and ordered a plain coke to start with, tossing in a lime from the little caddy beside me and shooting the bartender a grin. I swiveled around so I had a clear view of everything I needed to, and then saw something I didn’t need in my view. One Cade Amata, and he was headed straight toward me.