Page 7 of I Dated a Golden Vampire (Blind Date Corporation #21)

F our members of the salon entered with equipment and supplies. Pria and Cabree laughed as they were each waxed, buffed, and rubbed to a high shine. Pria had never done this in the Sethir-Nin territories, so this was a lot of fun. She didn’t have body hair, but she went through the motions.

She held to that until the waxing was done, and then she exhaled. “Why do I think that will make me more hydrodynamic?”

The waxer laughed. “Is purple hereditary?”

“No. I am the only one in my family. The eyes as well. I was immediately surrendered to the program in the capitol as there wasn’t anything I could do at home. They don’t like active females that aren’t omegas. I was close but not close enough, so off I went.”

The waxer tutted. “You had a good job?”

“I was injured at work and just recovered. It’s been a while, and I have to figure out my next steps.” She grinned. “Do you think I could get work on a cruise ship?”

The ladies laughed.

Pria shrugged. “I am an excellent lounge singer. I am also an on-water sunset extravaganza.”

The manicurist stared at her. “Are you Waterdance?”

“I was. Now I am Pria.”

Cabree was groaning as she got the massage. “I am still just Cabree.”

They chuckled.

By the time the ladies were finished, packed, and gone, Cabree had been waxed, plucked, massaged, and manicured, and so had Pria. They were both gleaming and ready to seek out dinner.

Cabree chuckled. “I will pick your gown, and you can pick mine.”

Pria laughed as she went to the wardrobe and cocked her head as she looked over the options. Peacock blue with gold trim was suited for the evening. She found the matching shoes and turned to see Cabree holding a brilliant emerald dress and matching heels. “We are going to be so hard to miss.”

Pria laughed and went to get changed. This was going to be a first for her. She hadn’t even gotten dressed up for her last day in Sethir. All formal events had been done in a formal uniform. Being pretty and frivolous hadn’t been in the cards.

She got dressed and smoothed her hands down her torso to her hips.

Her mother always said she had an enviable figure, but Pria had never seen a positive response to it.

Khytten’s breasts were slightly larger, but Pria considered hers slightly perkier.

It was all the upper-body workouts she had engaged in since Khytten had healed her.

She was ready to get back in the water, and that meant muscle.

She wasn’t as ripped as she would like to be, but she was halfway there.

Pria brushed the long purple hair until it hung to her lower back. It was very pretty, but when she had been at work, she had bound it, braided it, and twice, she had cropped it. It always grew back below her shoulders. Four years basically immobile had let it reach its current glory.

She looked at the com that had been installed the moment she had been able to move her body. It was plain, but it was waterproof, and she had spent a lot on getting it installed.

She walked out to see Cabree, and she looked splendid. “Wow. You look amazing.”

Cabree closed her mouth with a snap. “You are... spectacular.”

“Oh, I’m a spectacle all right.” The dress draped gently over her breasts, wrapped in at the waist, and was attached to the skirt by small rings that let the skirt flow weightlessly as she moved. It looked like she was underwater.

Pria smiled. “Ready to go?”

“Can I show you something that will irritate you?”

“Absolutely.”

Cabree handed her a set of earbuds and showed her a tablet that had a compilation of that day from the apprentices’ point of view.

Pound. He had been the one to mess with her kit.

He didn’t like taking no for an answer, so he thought that turning her into a failure or a disaster would make him a better choice. She would need him around.

“Why, that little prick,” Pria muttered.

The recording continued until they realized that the people were gone, but the water hadn’t come.

Roil arrived and asked who had heard from her.

Sonar turned on his com, and they heard her voice, “ Are they clear? Am I clear? ” The exhausted whisper of sound made Roil’s eyes widen, and he ran toward the shore where she stood, one hundred metres from the edge.

Arms wide, legs braced, she held a fifty-foot wave back.

She swayed and began to collapse as Roil ran toward her.

When the water crashed down, he dove under the wave, and it turned into chaos.

She watched as he looked for her and then found her, eyes blank, limbs at the wrong angles, and caught in the storm surge.

He moved in a flicker and pulled her against him, swimming for the shore before he held her and ran to the medics. She listened and realized that he was breathing for her until they could get her hooked up.

His hands reluctantly handed her over, and she was lost in a swarm of bodies that were trying to keep her alive. It was his last view of her.

“Oh, that must have been horrible for him.”

“What?”

“Seeing his apprentice fail.”

“Fail? You saved a city of twenty thousand from being wiped off the map. They hold a day of memory in your honour.”

She blinked. “Really?” That was news to her.

“Yes, and they took donations, which got you your walking suit.”

Pria blinked. “I feel embarrassed. I didn’t know.”

“I think they would appreciate seeing you again.”

“Maybe I could send them a message. How much did the suit cost?”

“Two million credits.”

Pria stared. “No, way.”

“Way. I think they are trying to get a statue of you holding back the ocean for the harbour.” Cabree smiled. “I am getting the urge to contribute to it. I hear the new queen of Hyreno does lovely sculpture work.”

“That’s just embarrassing.”

“Of course it is. That’s the fun of it. You were made into an icon of self-sacrifice.

Pound got five years of banning from being a team active.

Sonar got two years of the ban. Their masters were ordered to keep a closer grip on their apprentices.

No mission was ever done after without a guaranteed working com.

No apprentice was sent out alone after that. ”

“Well, that’s something.” Pria put a hand on her stomach as it growled. “Okay, time for dinner.”

Cabree grinned. “Absolutely.”

They walked side by side to the stairs instead of the lift, and the stunned looks that they got made them smug. Pria saw a few folks of both sexes taking pictures of them. “Doesn’t the exposure get to you?”

“Oh, sweetie, they are all wondering if you are really Waterdance or just a really hot active. Have you thanked Salat and Khytten for their help?”

“I have. Do you think I should do it looking like this?”

Cabree laughed. “I think you definitely should. I will take an image of you and send it to you so you can include it with your chat.”

Pria snorted. “What is this sudden obsession with my appearance?”

“I work for a company that matches up actives for the purpose of sex and companionship. I made the algorithm and know what they are looking for. Blind Date Corp would love to get their hands on you.”

They were greeted and seated by deferential staff. The server said, “Ladies, you look divine. Celebrating anything special?”

Pria laughed. “Her bank account.”

Cabree laughed.

They ordered, and Cabree took the photo, sending it to Pria and a few other people.

* * * *

S alat looked at the image and groaned. “Holy gods.”

Khytten was changing one of the babies. “What?”

“Do you remember Waterdance?”

“Yes.”

“I have a picture of her all recovered and definitely all grown up. She just wanted to thank us for getting her on her feet.”

“Send it.” Khytten set the toddler back on his feet, and Ciro made a run for it.

The woman in the curve-hugging evening gown with strategic cutouts and the wild wave of purple hair was definitely not what she associated with the quiet and shy Waterdance.

“Wow. Too bad she didn’t get a three-sixty shot. I would have it sent to Ledia for the erotic sculpture garden.”

Salat grinned. “Even by herself?”

“I’d wrap myself around her. I know you would.” Khytten laughed. “Her rack is seriously impressive. Strictly decorative, but one helluva decoration.”

“She swims, so her pecs lift everything.” Salat was staring. “So, if she was pictured in this, there has to be more out there of her. Oh, I am going to do a deep dive.”

Khytten chuckled. “Call it what you will, let me know what you find.”

Salat went into local sightings of Waterdance, and they were all coming from half a world away. “She’s on a cruise with Cabree.”

Khytten slipped into a negligee. “Programmer Cabree?”

“The very one. Cabree was seen in the company of Denog, the golden vampire, and she was hauled out of his casino by Waterdance this morning around six.”

Khytten blinked. “Damn.”

“I have to ask Denog what he thought of that. I am guessing that he was insulted or infuriated.” Salat typed a query and then glanced up at his wife. “I would like to compliment your figure now.”

Khytten grinned. “Bring the cuffs.”

* * * *

T hey ate their meal while giggling at the positions people in the more advanced dining room were putting themselves through to take a picture.

“How many actives are on this cruise?” Pria asked.

“Out of the fifteen hundred passengers? Sixteen, including us.”

“Oh, that explains it.”

Cabree grinned. “Does it?” She wound her pasta on her fork and took a bite. “I count seven people watching us, and two are doing actual surveillance. I am guessing Denog is one of them, but who could the other be hired by?”

Pria paused. “Is the other one an active?”

“Yes.”

“Hyreno?”

“Yes.”

“Master Roil then. He was always into tech. Strange that a Hyreno is on a cruise, though.”

“He’s with an irritated-looking young lady who looks human.”