Page 37 of Born Chaos

He’s wearing his usual attire: all black. But he’s wearing a black button-up shirt and a black sports coat. He’s dressed for a party and definitely knew it was coming.

“Thank you, everyone,” he says, looking surprisingly humble as he takes the hugs that come one after another. And it’s something I hadn’t thought about before: Roman is… liked. And as I watch him hug them back, converse like he knows details about their lives, I realize he cares about them in return.

It’s easy to paint people as villains. Everyone in my life was a villain until I was an adult. But sometimes, I’m wrong in my judgment.

Not everyone is as awful as I make them out to be.

“We haven’t met yet,” the blonde woman says as we both watch the party unfolding. “I’m Ivana.”

“Juliet,” I offer, shaking her hand.

“Oh, I know,” she says with a smile. “Trust me, everyone here knows exactly who you are.”

“Well, that’s not so great,” I say, feeling my face flush red. “I think I’ve just caused drama, so my reputation can’t be too stellar.”

“No,” Ivana corrects. “I mean, yes, you do seem to draw the drama. But it’s not like anyone blames you. It’s just the nature of what we are. This city.”

“Thanks,” I offer, truly grateful. “Do you work for Roman?”

She nods. “I work security in Old Town. There are three of us assigned to each part of the city, and we rotate so that someone is always on duty. I’ve been working at Rose Securities for three years now.”

“And before that?” I ask.

“I Resurrected in Salt Lake City,” she tells me. “My family was living there. But they kind of freaked out when none of us could make sense of what I was. Who knew I was adopted?”

“Yikes,” I say, chuckling with her.

“Oh yeah,” she laughs. “Anyway, I moved away, thinking it would make things easier. I spent a few months in Cincinnati. I met another vampire there. They told me that there were more like me in Chicago, so here I am.”

“Seems to be a common story. I guess I can be grateful I didn’t Resurrect alone,” I say, sliding my hands into my back pockets. “Though I kind of thought Roman was going to kill me before I spent twenty-four hours here.”

“You’re an important person,” she says. Her eyes slide over to meet mine, one of her brows arching. “Roman doesn’t drop everything for just anyone. He takes his job seriously. It’s been… weird having him kind of off the grid the last few days.”

I’m really not sure what to say to that. My eyes find Roman across the chapel. He’s standing with a circle of people. Every one of them looks happy, at ease. Roman is smiling, and that’s something I’ve only ever seen him do once.

We could have been considered enemies up until the last few weeks.

What kind of person drops everything to help their enemy?

“Enjoy the party,” Ivana says with a light touch to my arm before she walks away to join a group of people who just walked in the door.

Just then, Roman’s blue eyes shift across the space, catching mine. There’s something… contemplative there. Something light. Something… a little hopeful.

He waves me over and feeling like a socially awkward butterfly, I head in their direction.

“Juliet, I wanted you to meet my staff,” Roman says. “This is Jay Casper, my second in command.”

Oh. Jay Casper is something to look at.

He can’t have been more than thirty when he Resurrected, but his hair is completely white. It’s cut longer on top, shorter on the sides, and is slicked back. His skin is strikingly white. I’d almost think he was an albino, but those vibrantly green eyes prove that untrue. He has extremely chiseled features and lips that I’m jealous of.

“Hi,” I say, nearly stupidly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Juliet,” Jay offers. His accent has got to be Russian. He takes my hand, raising it to his lips, pressing the lightest and briefest kiss there. “Your reputation proceeds you, but it does not give justice to your beauty.My eyes were liars, then, because I never saw true beauty before tonight.”

“Ah, Shakespeare,” I joke awkwardly.

“Let up, Jay,” a woman standing across from him says. “The woman is engaged.”

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