Stay-At-Home Brat

Show Some Respect

The next 4 chapters will include several characters from the prequel, so if you've read it, you'll recognise them🤍

Sophia's POV

The Halloween masquerade birthday party has begun and the place is teeming with people!

The manor has been spectacularly decorated—inside and outside, and a simple description wouldn't do justice to it.

I'm wearing my glorious 18th-century Katherine Pierce costume Bella made me. If you wonder where she is—I don't know. I came here with Sebastian and Alexander. She said she'd make her way here on her own and sneak in. So far, I haven't seen her or heard from her.

Now, you may think I'm just here to party and show off my fabulous dress, hair and makeup. That's not the case. I'm here to network for my future business.

After hanging out with Sebastian and Alexander, and Oliver and Wesley for a bit, I've strolled away on my own. I'm searching for the right people. As said, the place is buzzing and most of the party participants, I don't recognise. They are all wearing costumes as well, so maybe I've passed someone I know without knowing.

I've spotted Archie with friends in the living room. Carved pumpkins with candles inside flicker in the fireplace, and the TV displays a Halloween ambience. The men sit around the table and seem to be playing some drinking games. Archie's dog is there, too. Clark, the Airedale Terrier, trots up to me when I approach them. He wears a vest-type of clothing resembling a pumpkin. It appears to be popular to dress up your pets and small children as pumpkins for whatever reason. I saw Harriet in a pumpkin costume downstairs with her grandparents who went for a Harry Potter theme. Eleanor is Bellatrix Lestrange tonight, whilst her husband is George Weasley, and of course, his best friend is Fred Weasley again.

Anyhow, Archie and his friends are dressed in dark suits and masquerade masks—some covering their entire faces. I have a burgundy mask that matches my dress, but it only covers the upper half of my face.

The room is dimly lit with candles, decorative lamps and fairy lights. Still, I can see the contemptuous expressions on their faces. The one whose entire face is covered by a mask runs his eyes up and down disdainfully.

I remember Archie doing that the last time I was here, but that was after I angered him and practically set our lives and his horses' lives at great risk. Besides that, he was very nice—a bit infantilising and quite starchy but overall friendly.

''Hello,'' Archie says. ''Is it little miss Sophia behind that costume?''

My face twists into a slight frown upon hearing that nickname. ''Soph is fine,'' I articulate. ''Guess who I am!'' I raise my skirt a notch before whirling around to show the entire dress.

They look at me in silence for a moment, not seeming very interested but trying to be polite. They kind of make me feel like a child who's shown a bad magic trick for the umpteenth time.

''A harlot,'' one of the men, who I've never met, guesses.

My frown returns stronger in a beat. ''No! I'm Katherine Pierce from the 18th century!" I exclaim. "From the Vampire Diaries."

''Oh...'' He scans me. ''I don't have much experience with vampires and their world.''

''But you do with prostitutes,'' I retort.

He chuckles arrogantly as he grasps his liquor from the table, tapping his fingers on his glass, hinting at his wedding ring. ''No, but I've learned what to watch out for. What do you do for a living then?''

''I'm a business owner,'' I reply quickly and proudly.

''Oh, really? In which field?''

I hesitate for a second. I probably should censor myself a little so as not to make things indecent. ''Toys and small clothes."