This was another elegant social gathering that he hadn’t been invited to once again. But then again, why send an invitation to a total stranger? Though most of the people gathered here really didn’t know one another, they were at least acquaintances. He, however, was a complete mystery… back up by umbrageous good looks… And that is what allowed his trespass without question. Like most of those around him, he was dressed in the finest of materials with much regal splendor woven into it. His identity lied behind a simple white mask that only showed off his alluring eyes…

Unlike those who came to quench their thirst with liquor or euphoria, he was looking to settle his with a bit of flesh… This ravenous figure wanted to spend his night in luxury. He wanted a well-breed meal…

Orbs the color of blood coated rubies danced along with those in the crowd watching, searching for his maiden. Though he was attracting somewhat of what he was looking for… no one stood out…

But then, amongst the crowd, he heard a voice that made his dark ears stand straight up. It was soothing and gentle… like of what angels would sound of… The sweet melody kept repeating a word over and over as if to be calling for someone…

Setting his vision ahead, his crimson orbs spotted a pink hedgehog female dress in a sleeveless ivory dress with a puffed out skirt that end a few good inches above the knees curving out along side her long slender legs. A large bow sprouted from the back with ribbons dragging along the linoleum floor. From her forearms covering down over her fingertips she wore a pair of fancy type gloves that matched her dress. Those bubblegum quills of hers curved her face gracing it beautifully. What really grabbed his attention with her were her shimmering emerald orbs…

A soft smirk graced a pale muzzle as the male made his stride over to the rose. As he had found himself doing, it seemed that she was in search of someone for the night as well. Once more, she brought a delicate gloved hand along side her mouth and called for the person she was in desperate need to find… And once more as well… no one came to her calling…

“What brings you to such a place of affable alone?” Spoke the penumbral hedgehog with malevolence within his low voice.

Jade eyes shot up at the mane when he had spoken to the rose female. They came into contact with harder deeper eyes glistening of the tint of blood… Even though she was searching for her hero… she felt herself drawn into these haunting eyes… It made her feel as though she was drowning inside them…

“I’m not alone…” Was her response, which was quiet sounding awe-struck. “I came with someone.”

“Then why does he not answering to your beckoning?” He questioned with his eyes pierced thru hers and seizing her soul.

“I-I don’t know…” Were her words in truth as she lowered her gaze from his. A small touch of blush tinted her fair cheeks. “I’m sure he has a reason…” Was what she hoped having her hands fidget in one another.

That is when a pair of gloved fingers trailed downward dancing along the side of the hedge-female’s muzzle. Then they curled underneath her chin directing her head upward to make their visions entwine once again.

“While you wait for him, can I interest you in a dance? A rose shouldn’t be left alone…” Is what he asked with his free hand reaching out to be taken.

Once more, the female hedgehog was snared into the flame in which his eyes churned. And she was but of a helpless moth who couldn’t flutter away…

“Sure…”

A hand fell gently into the one held so patiently for her. It delicately grasped hers, while the one whose finger held her chin up, made a bee line for a clothed waist.

Hesitantly, the pink female motioned her slender body to where it was up against the onyx male’s. Her free gloved hand reached upward setting itself onto a strong shoulder. The side of her face brushed along a dark neck taking a deep enticing unnamable scent…

Not only did she resemble a rose wrapped within the color representing innocence… this particular girl’s scent was of one… It was so intoxicating… so… sultry… He was tempted to just sink his teeth into pink flesh, but kept his carnivorous urge at bay! He’d get his chance. All he had to do was lure her from the others…

This sigh of content emitted from painted lips while the rose kept herself so close to the man she was dancing with. It felt so right to be in his arms…

And as the two continued their dance, they were accompanied by the instrumentals of a classical band. They played so swiftly yet so lowly… Their tune held this morbid elegance to it that fit into such a dance… A dance of the phantom and a rose…

“I think the mood would be set much better if we went out onto the balcony. The nightly breeze would feel nice.” That was the whisper spoken so deeply yet softly into a pink ear. The hand that had itself encased around the one in its grasp released it before sensually stroking down a fair arm down to then around the woman’s waist.

“That sounds like a great idea…” Agreed the rose behind half-lidded eyes. Her entire attention was solely on this hedgehog, and on no other! She had completely forgot about the other male hedgehog she had arrived with.

Smirking to himself, the shadowy figure turned them in the direction that would take them to their destination. The balcony area was hidden behind a velvet deep cerise curtain tied with a golden colored rope tassel. Pulling the fabric from out of its capturer with ease, the hedge-male got them past the obstacle and outside.

It was eerie to the hedge-female how the sky was as black as the hedgehog male’s fur lacking stars. The only thing lighting the marble balcony was the illuminating moon light from the full moon hanging alone in the night sky. A light chilling breeze would blow on by every few seconds sending shivers down a bare pink back.

He guided her to a spot along the edge of the balcony where she could sit and get an entire view of the area ahead and below them. Getting onto one knee, he leant forward with his hands seizing one of hers. His nose skimmed slowly along one side of her neck sending new found shivers down her back as well as through out her body.

“For quiet an amount of the evening I have been searching for the one rose of the ball that could wet my taste buds then feed my appetite…” That smirk that had formed on his lips not too long ago grew in size, with a pair of fangs now glistening in the light of the moon. Painfully slow kisses were lavished upon the vicinity he had found himself enticed with. He could feel her fingers curl up in pleasure within the two that held it. She made a sigh that was also showing how she felt.

“I’ve actually connected with you than all the other girls that have captured my interest…” Withdrawing his mouth from her neck, he pulled his head away from her to where he was now facing her. Emerald orbs gazed up so innocently yet desirably up at him waiting for anything more he had so say.

Removing his mask from its place upon his face, the ebony hedgehog revealed himself to her as he then leant back over seizing sweet lips. But that kiss was only for a few long sweet forget-me-not seconds…

After embracing her lips with his, he made his way back to her neck where he had originally set his course for. “It’s a shame…” He began while trying to rid his thought of fresh memories of her loving gaze. “That I have to continue with had brought me here in the first place…” And with that said, a sharp gasp impregnated the silence… While sweet fresh blood of the color of rubies flowed onto moon lite shimmering fangs…

And this was a bittersweet taste that he would always behold the memory of…