Beneath A Casanova {#1}

Part 7

Part 7

Dante was terribly amused by Lexi’s reaction to him. Even onstage, standing before spotlights that bathed them in terribly flattering lighting, he could hear her whispering to herself senselessly.

The camera turned on somewhere, shooting from the darkness of a pocket of shadow casted by the stage, but it appeared to him that none of the contestants were aware of this. He guessed it was only understandable that the producers of the show wanted to film a rising star’s potential even when caught off-guard.

“It’s only natural. It’s only natural.” She kept on whispering to herself; thinking no one would hear her, but his vampire hearing picked up her words alright.

A mike was given to the first contestant in the line, and while Dante maintained his entirely amused smile, fixing his eyes quickly on the judges that he’d met during the first round of auditions, Lexi continued chanting quietly. The first contestant began to self-introduce with her name, age, and job and why she wanted to win the competition.

Dante wondered what Lexi would say as he tried his best to prepare his own answer. Whatever would he say for his age? Whatever would he say for the reason of desiring to win the competition? He could hardly tell the human world that he was a little over two hundred years old. He could hardly look into the camera and speak out that he was venturing out into the world as a vampire, to prove that vampires could thrive under human attention and fame.

“It’s only natural. It’s only natural.” Lexi kept on chanting, and Dante felt himself get a little worried as the microphone was quickly passed from one contestant to another. Two more contestant, and it would be Lexi’s turn, and the woman didn’t seem to be thinking or preparing her lines at all.

He inched ever so closer to her and gave her a light nudge. Apparently that touch must have shocked her out of her wits because she literally jumped. He hoped the camera hadn’t caught that embarrassing moment of her, as he leaned sideways subtly.

“It’s going to be your turn. You should prepare your lines instead of convincing yourself that everything is going naturally.” He whispered, keeping steady hold of his amused smile when she flashed him a fierce glare, pushed him and forced him to step back to his original position.

He returned to turning his amused smile on the judges, one of whom –the music critic Christine Reynolds –could not remove her eyes from him. He sent a subtle nod to her, and he was replied by a wide smile from her, with her totally ignoring the contestant that was speaking and self-introducing.

Soon enough, the microphone was passed to Lexi, and Dante waited expectantly.

“Err…” The first uncertain words from her beautiful voice resonated through the speakers, and Dante struggled not to turn his head towards her with worry.

“My name is Lexitonia Davis. It’s a strange name, because I come from part-Scottish, part-Hawaiian background. I am twenty eight. My daytime job is a clerk at the local bank, but I’m currently on long-term leave and working part-time as a night-shift barista in the café down the street. I want to win this competition because…” She started strong again, but trailed off hesitantly. Dante fought hard against his urge to grab the microphone to save her from doing something she was so obviously uneasy about.

His urge shocked and surprised him at the same time. Why would he feel so protective over her? He understood that he was interested in her, that he was thinking about chasing her and courting her, but he had never really thought about truly wanting to treasure her.

“I actually was forced to enter this competition. I made a bet with my friend, and I lost. But I’ll try my best to win, because I want to try pursuing a new career with my voice.” She ended off strongly, and Dante strangely breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t even sure what made him feel like that, but his legs felt jelly with relief when he accepted the mike from her.