The next day, I am organizing my portfolio in the little library in Ms Pink’s castle when I hear her calling my name. Looking up from my art work, I meet her gaze and give her a smile but she grabs my hand and pulls me up without as much as a smile or hello.

“Where are we going?”

“To bed.”

“What? Like right now?” A glance at the majestic grandfather’s clock in the corner tells me it’s barely past three in the afternoon but strangely, Ms Pink’s apparent urgency sparks sensual desire in my body too. I guess I should consider myself fortunate to be in tune with Ms Pink in this way. I mean, it’s not like I can overpower her and stop her from taking me to bed, can I? And it helps that Ms Pink is such a good lover in bed. After getting almost three hundred years’ worth of practice, Ms Pink has acquired goddess-like skills and knowledge in and I am the lucky beneficiary of her . . . expertise. So I can’t complain, since she is always mindful of my pleasure and not just her own.

The door closes behind us. Woah, when did we get to Ms Pink’s bedroom?

“Strip,” Ms Pink commands as she strides to the bed and sits at the foot of it.

“With a tease?” I ask, half in jest. But Ms Pink merely frowns. “Okay. No tease. Strip. I get it. Stripping now.”

“Turn,” Ms Pink commands when I’m finally .

I turn a full circle and face Ms Pink again. “My body is ready. Tiffany.”

A burst of pink flares up in Ms Pink’s eyes and she stands. “You don’t know what you’re up against,” she says, and the next second, I find myself lying on the bed, pinned below my princess vampire.

“I know what I’m up against,” I say when Ms Pink releases my lips from hers. Arching my back and pushing up against Ms Pink’s body, I grin and add, “I can hold my own.”

Ms Pink ravages my lips again, making me breathless with her tongue. She fills her hands with my derriere and squeezes. Hard. Unapologetically. But it only makes me moan as pleasure surges from deep within.

“You are a dirty girl for me.”

“Yes,” I gasp, as Ms Pink brings her fingers closer and closer to where I need them. “Yes, I’m your dirty girl.”

“Who’s dirty are you?”

“Yours. I’m your dirty girl. I’m yours. I’m yours, Tiffany.”

Lips clamp over mine again and arms wrap around me, holding me closer to Ms Pink than ever.

And then we’re falling.

Any sound I might have made because of the shock is absorbed by Ms Pink who kept her lips on mine the entire time. Our landing is hard and all my breath is slammed out of my body. “Oh my God,” I exclaim. “What was that?” Ms Pink hauls me into a sitting position and I look around us, seeing only dark, cold stones and recognizing nothing in the least. “Where are we?” I ask, fear stabbing me in the guts.

“The dungeon.”

“The dungeon? In your castle?”

“Yes. But we don’t have much time.” Ms Pink stares deep into my eyes, her pink irises expanding and contracting at an alarming rate.

I clutch her face in my hands, terrified. “Ms Pink, what’s happening to you?”

“Nothing I can’t handle. Now, listen to me. Right now, captes are creating the illusion that you and I are having outrageous on my bed.”

“What? The captes are what?”

“You remember why we had to stay in Summer’s apartment for a while. My castle may have been compromised again. My office definitely has been.”

“What? But how? Who—”

“Qas.” Ms Pink huffs impatiently and grips my shoulders harder when I exclaim again. “Shut up and listen. I will form an alliance with Qas Sogok. But it is only a front. And you are to stay out of this. Completely.”

“I-I don’t understand.”

“You will go to the interview. You will do your best to get hired. Then you will work very hard and stay clear of everything else.”

“But why—”

“Taeyeon, promise me.”

I have never seen Ms Pink in such a state before. Her pink irises are erratic and her body is trembling all over. Out of fear and sheer worry, I nod and declare it a promise, even though the thought of a fake alliance with Qas Sogok unsettles me to the core.

“Good. Now we go back.”

Ms Pink’s lips clamp over mine again and the oddest, most uncomfortable sensation dives deep into my body, pulling me out from the dungeon and when I open my eyes again, I am lying on Ms Pink’s bed, writhing from what must be ual pleasure even though my mind registers none of it.

“Scream for me, my dirty girl,” Ms Pink growls in my ear as her fingers move wickedly in my most intimate space and I respond with a shrill scream as I arch one more time, before falling limp in Ms Pink’s arms.

“Ms . . . Pink . . .” I gasp. “Tif . . . fany . . .”

“Is this how you hold your own?” Ms Pink asks with a smirk.

I blush, despite the multitude of questions in my head right now. “I-I just need some time.”

“Always asking so many questions. Always so slow.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Ms Pink gets to her feet. “Time, I will give you. I have plenty of it.”

Suddenly terrified of the future looming up ahead, I cling to her legs and close my eyes. “Ms Pink,” I say mindlessly, hoping for a miracle to enlighten my cluelessness.

“Stupid human.”

The tone of love is back. I can hear it and it calms the turbulence in my heart instantly. “We’re not done yet, Ms Pink,” I say, pulling her back down. Then, with renewed confidence, I climb over Ms Pink and kiss her where her still heart is. To hell with Qas Sogok and the sickening, rotten politics of the supernatural-human world. There is only one truth I hold dear to me and I want to express it right now. So with a firm hand, I push Ms Pink flat on her back and give her a soulful kiss.

“Let me show you how I hold my own.”

X

Eyes are watching. I can sense it as I walk towards the multitude of colours adorning the walls of Rainbow. The