Chapter 4: Deadly Dinner Date and the Worst Love Confession Ever
Ari never thought she'd attend a dinner where both the steak and the guests wanted to kill her.
The dining table stretched longer than her entire high school. A chandelier hung above, probably cursed. Mafia elders sat along the table, glaring like she'd personally robbed them.
On her left: Zayne, dressed in black, looking like a literal romance novel cover.On her right: Lucifer the cat, currently gnawing on a breadstick like it owed him rent.
Ari stabbed her fork into a suspiciously bloody piece of meat. "So, uh, anyone gonna mention the ghostly voice threatening me last night, or are we just gonna vibe through the attempted murder?"
Silence.
Then Beefcake — her new favorite nickname for one of the giant guards — sneezed so loud a chandelier crystal dropped into someone's wine.
Zayne sighed. "Ari, we're handling it."
"Handling it? Bro, this is a literal horror movie mansion. I've seen this in anime — next thing you know, someone's head's in the soup."
Right on cue, a shadow darted across the wall. The room flickered dark for a second. When the lights came back, a message was written on the tablecloth in what looked suspiciously like blood:
"RUN."
Ari blinked. "Okay, that's mildly concerning."
The council panicked, guards scrambled, but Zayne? He calmly sipped his wine like he wasn't the type to casually stare down death threats.
Ari scooted closer. "Not to be clingy, but if something jumps out, I'm using you as a human shield."
He side-eyed her. "And you think I'll let you?"
"Oh, baby, you won't see it coming," she winked.
And for the first time ever — Zayne actually laughed.A low, deep, dangerous sound that made Ari's stomach do weird somersaults.
Then came the scariest thing yet:A pale, corpse-looking woman appeared behind her in the mirror's reflection.
Ari yelped, leapt onto Zayne's lap, knocking his drink over.
"WHAT THE— NOPE. I'M OUT," she shouted, clinging to him like a baby koala on an emotionally unavailable tree.
The ghost vanished.
Everyone stared.
Lucifer purred smugly from her abandoned seat.
Zayne… well, the man was somewhere between amused and furious, but his arm stayed around her waist a second too long.
"You good now?" he murmured.
Ari looked up. His eyes were so close, she could see her own panic reflected in them.
And like an idiot, her brain short-circuited. "You've got… really nice eyelashes."
Zayne choked on his own breath.
Ari facepalmed. "Cool, okay, yeah, I'm never speaking again."