Page 108 of How to Seduce a Slender

But not more than a second, she can only fake it so much.

Smith let out a short chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Elyth sneered from behind Melody’s pretty face.

“That you doubt them all so highly…and yet, when you came to face me…you removed Melody? Why?”

“I needed an invite to the party.” Elyth rolled Melody’s eyes.

“But I did invite you. Why wouldn’t I invite my summoner to my birthday party?” He cocked his head to the side, sizing her up in his arms. Melody’s face fell as he watched Elyth brewing from inside. “No, you’re wearing her as a disguise to get me all to yourself. Melody was right.You are obsessed with me.”

The false Melody snarled, a hand wrapping around his throat. The crowd ripped away from them with a gasp as the world went still. Smith held up a hand, knowing exactly how primed and ready everyone on his side was to jump in. Dahlia was held back by an arm of Austin’s and an arm of Sebastian’s. Agatha shattered a champagne glass.

“If you think for a second, this is all about you, then you’re just as foolish as that stupid girl who lets you feed on her.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re jealous?”

“Jealous!” Melody’s hair stood on end as Elyth filled the room with shadows. Smith felt the room tense as if waiting for a signal.

“Is that why you must stop at no end to capture me? There are other monsters out there to do your bidding? What do you need me for? Unless…you want no one else. In that case, Elyth, I truly am flattered, but I must decline. You see, I’ve got an agreement with this sweet girl named—”

“Shut!” Elyth, not to the strength of his Melody, but still wearing her arms, tossed him across the floor, into the wall, and onto the floor. His back hit the ground with a heavy thud. The wind was knocked out of him just as he’d forgotten he didn’t need to breathe. The false Melody seethed, fists shaking from the middle of the floor. “Your lying mouth, you shameless beast. You belong to me! You’ve always belonged to me! And I will suffer your insolence no longer!”

Smith wheezed as he climbed to his feet.

“You’re going to have to suffer it a little longer.” Smith caught the glint of the knife in one of her clenched fists. He wasn’t sure what part it held in the ritual to collar him. But being stabbed wasn’t on his to-do list. “Kevin!”

“Roger, roger!” Kevin popped up from under the appetizer table, flinging whole raw potatoes at the false Melody.

Smith had a plan for every plan. A backup plan for every backup plan. And despite his preoccupation, the thought that Elyth would show plagued him for the last few days. So, what better plan than no actual plan. There was no net. No hunt. No strategy. Just him and the sheer ridiculousness of the manor.

Unfortunately for him…that seemed to upset his enemy.

A roar of terrifying caliber escaped from the fake woman at the center of the floor. The room filled with screams and bones began to crack. Guests rushed from the room, led by Agatha and ushered out by Havershum. Austin began to swing at anything and everything that burst out of its skin. Kevin switched from raw potatoes to hard utensils as he ran away from the table. Carl galloped after him while the pair was chased from the room by a beast made of nightmares and ichor.

Smith needed to get the guests to safety, but there was no telling where Elyth put more monsters or where they would come from. And there was no telling where she’d stolen away Melody. He couldn’t rip the fake face off her body until he knew where his sweet girl was and if she was safe. Which led to his current conundrum as Elyth flew across the room in a mockery of Melody’s skin. He hadn’t prepared for her to pounce on him like a cat. Clearly no one else did either, as a house brimming with undead roaring to life and his family watched in slow motion as Smith and Elyth ripped through a crystal windowpane and descended toward the yard.

“No!”

Wings sprouted from her back as the false skin began to fall off her body. Smith hit the ground like a sack of concrete rocks, scattered and jagged, while she loomed over him. The woman he’d left behind. The love he mourned. The very necromancer who turned his world upside down.

Elyth Rosemont, peeling one last sliver of fake skin from her pale form, pinned him to the ground. An oval face with a sharp nose, high cheek bones, and a royal air of self-righteousness about her. Blond hair in silky waves haloed around her in the setting sun. Massive bat wings stood at attention behind her while she spoke around long fangs. “Now, now, I thought we didn’t want to make a scene.”

“Where’s Melody?” Smith held still, calculating his success for a moment. Before him, many outcomes were lined up. If he tried to toss her from him, there wouldn’t be time before she pounced again. If she tried to take off, there wasn’t that much on this side of the yard to anchor him down. If…if…if…

That’s when he saw flashing crimson eyes as his favorite wraith slithered out of the manor wall. Blades rose above his head, Smith had only a split second to react.

It’s a good thing Havershum liked to play wrestle all the time.Smith exploded into a cloud of electricity, throwing himself away from her as the wraith buried his blade deep between her shoulder blades. Elyth grabbed him by the boney face, shrieking in pain as she chucked the wraith away from him.

“Havershum! Get the guests to safety! Sebastian’s going to need a portal, you’ll need to guard it.” Smith scrambled toward the cloaked figure rising to the air again.

“What about you?” he growled, nodding his chin at the woman peeling one of his blades from her flesh.

“Let me deal with her. The army of undead inside the manor needs to be your concern.” Smith ushered Havershum back to the house. “Tell Kevin and Carl, I need them to find Melody.”

Havershum gave Smith another look. It lasted an eternity. There was worry. There was question. There was pleading.Don’t make me leave you here by yourself.But Smith knew better. Sebastian would need to keep the portal open, Dahlia would need to get the guests through the house and into it. Agatha and Havershum were needed to protect the portal as their claws were needed to slice through undead and beasts.

“Send me Austin!” Smith caved, knowing that they wouldn’t leave him alone. His family was too clingy.

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