Tonight was the masquerade dance at the mansion for all vampires to come. Adrien was not looking forward to this because he knew his father was trying to make him pick a vampire bride. They all may be pretty but he's not into them, especially when they try to get very sexually attracted to him. For the masquerade, Adrien wore a simple opera mask with a cape and fancy suit. Not caring how he looks in his lack of reflection, he has to defend himself from his father pressuring him. This isn't the life he chose but the life to be free.

"Worst day ever," Adrien thought.

"More like the worst night ever, my dude. Your father had to invite a mummy that can also blend in like a human" Nino said.

"What?" Adrien raised a brow.

"Hello there" A mummified Egyptian queen appeared, noted by her headwear it was Cleopatra.

"Hey Cleopatra," Adrien said.

"You look familiar. Have we met?" Cleopatra asked.

"No. And you haven't looked decayed enough" Adrien said, judging how she looked almost human by the skin tone but she had mummified bandages on her chest and arms.

"Just my luck," Cleopatra said.

"In over 5,000 years dead" Adrien rolled his eyes.

"Actually over 2000 years for me," Cleopatra said.

"And the last and only Egyptian ruler that came to an end," Adrien said, drinking a glass of blood.

"Everyone says I took my life but they were wrong," Cleopatra said.

"Whatever. I'm not into royalty but independence. If you'll excuse me, I have a masquerade duty to do. You're lucky I can't bite a mummy because your blood is very dry like sand" Adrien said.

"Only dust remains, Adrien," Cleopatra said.

Adrien may know her from the store but obviously, she has no manners in everything, "Why blend in with the human world?" Adrien asked.

"I love their style," Cleopatra said.

"Just don't think you're not alive," Adrien said, heading downstairs to the lobby, "She's still snotty as ever," He said.

"So handsome"

"So sexy looking"

"Be mine, Agreste"

But Adrien ignored them. The only thing he can't ignore is their sexual desires. Lucky for him as a vampire, he's never had sexual desires. So far Marinette was his friend. She's nothing like those vampire girls.

He saw Felix walking with an Asian-looking vampiress. He sighed in relief when he thought it was Marinette but it wasn't her. She had a different hairstyle too. His father was still pressuring him to choose but Adrien still refused to pick since he rather has a wooden stake stabbed in the heart.

"Son, you need to choose," Gabriel said.

"And I don't want to," Adrien said, muttering in Latin, "Ego magis nunc confodietur" which means "I rather be stabbed right now"

"Don't say that, son" Gabriel said.

"Tum me vivam inmortuam vitam" Adrien said, translating as "Then let me live my own undead life"

"It's for your own good" His father persisted.

"For my own good? For my own torture or for your own future you wanna make?" Adrien growled.

Gabriel glared at him but Adrien was much stronger with his stare intensity.

"You win for now," Gabriel said.

"And I like my 'kingdom' to be at peace, not by your war," Adrien said with a metaphor.

"You're really your mother's boy," Gabriel said.

"And I'm proud of it. Even God would want us to be friendly" Adrien said, knowing his father doesn't believe God but the devil.

The dance began but Adrien chose to not dance with any vampire girl, "I'd kill to have Marinette here" He thought and imagined her in a red dress with black polka dots.

His imagination was cut short when Nino snapped him back to reality, "Dude, wake up. You almost stared at the vampire bride she thought you would choose"

"Huh? What?!" Adrien snaps back to reality.

"There you are. Have a drink. I know vampires never drink wine" Nino said.

"Because we don't. You seem to enjoy that girl with glasses. You said she writes the reports in papers?" Adrien drank blood from a wine glass.

"That's right, she's a journalist," Nino said.

"Mmhmm....still keeping an eye on my princess? As much as you like to see the journalist" Adrien said.

"Yeah, Alya and I meet Marinette every week," Nino said.

"Man, I so wanna meet them but I get nervous if she knew what I am," Adrien said.

"Maybe when the time is right," Nino said.

"She's too innocent, Nino," Adrien said.

"And I thought you're a badass with badass ideas" Nino reminded him.

"I know," Adrien said.

"So stick to being a badass," Nino said.

"Of course" Adrien said.

"I mean It. You always drag yourself back to hell a lot" Nino said, offering him another blood drink.

"Yeah, I know" Adrien replied.

-

Later on, Adrien was out on the rooftop. He had to get away from the girls trying to be seductive with sexual fantasies. It was just too much to get him angry that he was not interested in any of them when they didn't even love him as himself.

"They never see me as a person," He said.

"I knew you would almost get pissed off than pissed on" Felix snickered.

"Yeah, I'd rather smell fresh than smell bad" Adrien replied.

"Technically we are undead like corpses. It's the same thing" Felix said.

"Except we feel more alive," Adrien said.

"The only reason you think we are alive is because we have human feelings," Felix said.

"Of course," Adrien said.

"Your dad is so not gonna be very happy that you ruined his masquerade ball" Felix snickered.

"Nope, not one bit" Adrien said, deadpanned.

"Why do you always do that thing?" Felix asked.

"What thing?" Adrien asked.

"This" Felix demonstrates the posing that Adrien does all the time whenever he comes down from the ceiling, "Are you some kind of poser?" Felix snickered.

"I'm not a poser" Adrien denied it.

"Oh, come on. Every time you take a nap from the ceiling, you always come down like a poser. Almost like you do a fighting pose. You're a total poser" Felix stands up.

"Alright, maybe I am a poser," Adrien said.

"Heh, I crushed your ass" Felix smirked.

"I guess you did," Adrien said.

"But come on, there are great poses but it's like you want everyone looking at you like all the time," Felix said.

"I don't know what I was doing but for centuries when I started posing, I was just doing something good, not to be scary like a monster to humankind. Maybe I just want to be a very friendly one but I can't" Adrien explains why he's a poser

"Except for your princess," Felix said.

"She doesn't know I'm a vampire," Adrien said.

"And she thinks you're handsome and charming like a prince," Felix said.

"Yeah," Adrien nodded.

"Or you just became her pet cat?" Felix snickered.

"Her friendly neighbor kitty" Adrien joked.

"Did she give you a bowl of milk?" Felix making fun of him.

"Yeah," Adrien replied.

"Don't you know that cats have far sharper senses than dogs? That's what Chloe, a.k.a, Cleopatra used to say that her ancient people used to worship cats. I just thought their goddess made her cats very sacred to her" Felix said.

"Believe it or not, that's what I love about cats. You just love dogs far too much. Especially Dalmatians in London that you admire so much" Adrien drinks his glass of blood.

"They are spot on good" Felix made a pun.

"Funny. Just make sure Gabriel doesn't get in my way again" Adrien hates to call him his father.

"Got it" Felix nods.

"Come along. The dance is almost over. Please let this horror end" Adrien prays to God.

The two vampires headed back down. They see Chloe offering the amulet curse of the 10 plagues that one of the plagues can help turn water into blood so vampires don't have to waste on feeding from humankind. She demonstrates it by dipping it into a bowl of water, turning it into blood. Making the vampires exclaim at the curse it does.

"Magnificent," Gabriel said.

"Yeah. You bloody idiots sure like to waste on feeding corpses and make a mess everywhere. So utterly ridiculous. But with this, you can drink as much blood as you want" She held it up.

"And what do you want in return, Cleopatra?" Gabriel asked.

"Gold and jewelry, buffoon. I am the queen even when dead" Chloe said.

"I will give them to you, but watch your tone" Gabriel felt offended.

"You have no idea how it's the same being in a sarcophagus for 600 years dead" Chloe scoffed.

"We sleep, not get preserved. There's a difference" Gabriel said.

"Right of course" Chloe replied.

"Hey, handsome. You look gorgeous when you're grumpy. Like my parting gift?" Chloe flirted with Adrien by handing him the cursed Egyptian amulet.

"This may be useful, thanks," Adrien said.

Chloe tried to kiss him but he put his finger on her lips, "I like personal space, thank you. But I can only do this to ladies" Adrien kissed her back palm.

"Fair enough," Chloe said.

"Now please get the hell out of here. I like peace and quiet" Adrien said, not in the mood for the dance.

"Very well. You remind me of someone that is very dominant" Chloe giggled.

"Like what? A monster hunter?" Adrien replied.

"A mighty human who dares try to go against me," Chloe said.

"Really?" Adrien replied.

"Unless you want a human to take your fangs out of your mouth like a devil tooth fairy" Chloe taunted him.

"Excuse me?" Adrien glared at her.

"Scared, handsome?" Chloe snickered.

"No, my fangs are built to look sexy and mighty like a dangerous bat," Adrien said.

"Oh, I quiver in fear," Chloe said dramatically.

"And you should for real" Adrien morphed into a bat to fly to his room.

-

With Marinette, she was in her room thinking of Cat Noir. She woke up early that morning and she was so into his charming but cocky charm. She got into the bathroom to shower before preparing for her day. Once dressed up she tied her pigtails and headed out. She was on her way to buy more design supplies but bumped into Chloe who she accidentally had coffee stains on her shirt.

"Hey! Do you know how much this costs?!" Chloe exclaimed.

"I'm sorry!" Marinette backs away.

"How dare you be such a klutz!" Chloe was about to hit her when someone caught her wrist.

"It's not nice to take your anger out on her. I told you that my bad side won't show mercy" Adrien as a human came to the rescue.

"Get off me you punk!" Chloe struggled to get free.

"Okay," Adrien released her as she stumbled on the puddle of the street.

"AAGH! You'll regret this!" Chloe cried in anger.

"Talk to my stare intensity" Adrien does his creepy stare. Marinette looks in surprise seeing this boy defending her.

"Okay! Okay! You win! You weren't kidding!" Chloe tried to stand up but was too scared of that stare.

"Good. Now leave her alone" Adrien said.

"FINE!" Chloe walked away.

Adrien smirked in victory that she was so foolish to barely recognize him as a human.

"Thank you so much" Marinette thanked him.

"Uhh....you're welcome" Adrien never felt so flustered. His pulse was quickening.

"What's your name?" Marinette asked.

"Adrien, Adrien Agreste" Adrien said.