"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Ludovic said, warily eyeing the selection of makeup and brushes laid out on Roux's dressing table.

Roux lifted an eyebrow. "Do you doubt me?"

He didn't answer that, which was probably a wise move.

"I promise I'm not going to mess up your pretty face. I'm just going to make you a little less recognisable," Roux said. "We won't get far if you get mobbed by screaming fans the second you set foot outside the gates."

She guided him into a chair, and placed a finger under his chin, turning his head this way and that. Being this close to him, examining every line and angle of his face and looking into his sapphire-blue eyes, made the tiniest flicker of heat stir in her stomach.

She'd noticed him as soon as she arrived at Belle Morte. Of course she'd known about him before then, but online pictures and televised appearances weren't the same as seeing him in the flesh. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been attracted to him from the moment she walked through the front door and saw him properly for the first time, but that was all it was – an attraction.

And who could blame her? Ludovic was six feet of hard muscle and blond hair and chiselled jaw. His eyes were as deep and blue as the ocean.

But, Roux firmly reminded herself, this was not the time to entertain a little crush. They had a job to do. Nothing else mattered.

"Can vampires grow beards?" she asked, studying the edge of his jaw.

"We can, but it takes a very long time."

"Really? I never imagined vampires shaving."

"We only have to do it very rarely."

"Good to know."

"Why do you ask?" Ludovic said, a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Just curious. Facial hair would change the shape of your face, but we wouldn't have that kind of time even if you were human." She tapped her chin, thinking. "I might not be able to give you a beard, but I reckon I've got enough skills to pencil on some decent-looking stubble. Is that okay with you?"

He silently nodded.

"Great," Roux said, and turned her attention to the array of makeup.

Like most vampires, Ludovic's skin was ivory-pale, and that was the first thing that needed to change. If they'd had more time she'd have pushed him into a tanning booth to see if that made a difference but, like the beard, it wasn't an option, so makeup was the answer.

Ludovic didn't say a word as Roux used a damp sponge to carefully apply a layer of foundation to his face and neck. When she first started, she worried that he was the kind of guy who considered makeup to be only for girls, but Ludovic didn't seem to mind. Then again, if he was anywhere near as old as Edmond he'd have seen the rise and fall of all kinds of fashion. Makeup on men had been commonplace throughout various periods of history, so it was unlikely that Ludovic was unfamiliar with it.

Roux carefully blunted the lines of his cheekbones and the edge of his jaw, and used subtle eye-shadows to alter the shape of his eyes. Then she very carefully pencilled on the stubble. It wasn't perfect, but it would fool anyone who didn't look too closely.

On the list that she'd given Seamus, she had requested a pair of Clark Kent style glasses, and he hadn't disappointed. The thick-framed glasses sitting atop the pile of Ludovic's new clothes probably wouldn't flatter anyone, but in this case they weren't meant to. They were just part of the disguise.

Roux slid them onto Ludovic's face and stepped back to study the effect. Coloured contact lenses would have been even better, hiding his blue eyes, but glasses were quicker and easier.

"Almost there," she said.

Reaching one hand around his neck, she carefully released Ludovic's hair from its usual ponytail. He stiffened slightly.

"I'm not going to cut it, if that's what you're worried about," Roux said.

When it came to styling hair, Jason was the expert, but since he wasn't coming with them, there seemed little point asking him to help now. He wouldn't be there to perform his magic every day, so Roux needed to do something that either she or Ludovic could replicate themselves.

A tousled look would be best, she decided. Ludovic had a geeky surfer thing going on, thanks to the glasses and the stubble she'd drawn on his face, and mussing up his hair would only add to that.

He sat rigidly in his chair as Roux fiddled around with wax and hairspray, coaxing his normally straight hair into loose waves. When that was done, she took the beanie that Seamus had picked up with Ludovic's clothes and put it on the vampire's head.

Then she stepped back to admire her handiwork. Ludovic still sort of looked like himself, but it was more like he was a human who happened to bear a vague resemblance to a famous vampire. That shouldn't get more than a passing glance.

"You look adorable," she said, and Ludovic scowled.

He turned in his chair, seeing his reflection for the first time since Roux had started working on him. His hands gripped the edge of the dressing table.

"Hey, I know it's weird, but it's only temporary," Roux said, softening her voice.

All the time she'd known him she'd thought that his aversion to the modern world was simply because he was more technophobic than his fellow vampires, but maybe it was more than that. Maybe change was something he seriously struggled to cope with.

Then again, if that was the case, would he really have volunteered for this mission?

"I look human," Ludovic said, and there was a wealth of emotion in those three words – surprise, disbelief, and even regret.

"Are you okay?" Roux said quietly, and he nodded.

Tearing his eyes from the mirror, he turned to her. "Why are you doing this?" he said.

It was so abrupt that Roux blinked. "This as in the makeup thing, or this as in helping you at all?"

"Helping me at all. This isn't your fight. You could walk out of this House and not look back, so why are you still here?"

Roux leaned a hip against the table. "You really think I could walk away as easy as that?"

"It's not your problem."

"I'm part of this too, you know," Roux said, an edge creeping into her voice. No, this wasn't her House the way it was Ludovic's, and no, whatever happened to the vampire world wouldn't directly affect her. But she was still a part of it, and she wasn't backing out of anything.

Ludovic studied her, and even through the thick-framed glasses his gaze was intense. "But why do you care?"

"I care because these people are my friends. I care because they're a part of my life. And I care because most vampires don't deserve whatever shit might be coming their way thanks to Jemima and Etienne." Roux folded her arms. "Besides, you saved my life once. Let me return the favour."

It had only been days since that first attack on Belle Morte, but it felt like forever ago. Roux and Renie had been ordered to hide out in their room, but Renie, overcome with the realisation that she was in love with Edmond, had gone after him, determined not to stay there and hide when who-knew-what might be happening to him. It hadn't taken Roux long to realise that she couldn't let her best friend do this alone. She'd gone after Renie and joined the fight in the ballroom. Humans in a vampire fight were always at a disadvantage, and Roux had quickly found herself in trouble. Ludovic had charged to her defence, killing her would-be attacker with one swing of his sword.

He'd saved her life, and Roux hadn't forgotten that.

"Thank you," Ludovic said quietly, not meeting her eyes. "For caring, I mean."

"You sound surprised that I do."

"I think things are going to be difficult for vampires for quite some time. We're going to find ourselves up against prejudice and hatred, and we may need to face the possibility that our time in the spotlight is over. Not everyone is going to care how we feel about any of that."

"But you don't think that all humans are going to turn on you, do you?"

He didn't say anything.

"That's ridiculous," Roux declared. "If you assume that all humans are prejudiced and illogical, then are you really so different from the humans who might now assume that all vampires are bad because of what Jemima and Etienne did?"

Ludovic looked startled, his blond eyebrows rising over the rims of his glasses. "I hadn't really thought about it like that," he admitted.

"Try not to jump to the worst conclusions yet. We don't know what's going to happen."

Roux had told Seamus to get them clothes in dark, solid colours, nothing with any patterns that would make them stand out, and he'd done just that. They both had their own piles of plain, cheap clothes, mostly jeans and long-sleeved shirts – very different to the tailored cuts and luxury fabrics that occupied the wardrobes of Belle Morte. All these little touches would scour away any physical links to the vampire world and make Roux and Ludovic seem like a couple of ordinary people.

While Ludovic went into the bathroom to get dressed, Roux turned her attention to her own disguise. She loved makeup and she knew she could carry off dramatic smoky eyes and bold lip colours, but all that would have to be toned down when she was outside the mansion. She needed to fly under the radar, not turn heads. In fact, it had occurred to her that she should ditch makeup altogether. A long dark wig lay on her pile of clothes, and that was already a huge departure from her usual pixie cut. Wearing a wig and going makeup free might be all she needed to do. It would certainly be easier that way.

Her hair was short enough that she didn't bother with a hairnet; she tugged the wig over her head and arranged the thick, blunt fringe across her forehead.

"Hmm," she murmured, looking at herself in the mirror. Without bragging, she knew that she had the bone structure to completely rock the pixie look, but she was pleased to see that she pretty damn good with long hair, too. The ends of the fringe kept tangling with her eyelashes, so that would need a trim, but the important thing was that she looked much less like herself. She'd look even less like herself once she'd scrubbed off her makeup. But, considering that she'd left her makeup remover in the bathroom, she'd have to wait for Ludovic to finish dressing.

She and Renie might know each well enough to waltz into the bathroom when one of them was buck naked, but Ludovic probably wouldn't take it so well.

Roux allowed herself a mischievous grin. It was a shame really, because he was one guy she wouldn't mind seeing naked.

Since she couldn't take off her makeup, she quickly threw on some of her new clothes. None of them were remotely her style, but that was the point. She wasn't supposed to look like herself. Still, it felt very strange to erase so much of what made her who she was.

The door opened and Jason poked his head in. His eyes widened as he saw her.

"Oh wow," he said.

"Good wow or bad wow?" Roux nervously touched her wig. She'd thought it looked okay, but maybe she was biased.

Jason grinned. "Roux, my darling, you're beautiful enough to carry off any hairstyle under the sun. You could shave your whole head and men would still be falling at your feet."

Roux rolled her eyes, but she couldn't stop a smile from playing around her lips.

"Where's Ludovic?" Jason asked, scanning the room.

"Getting changed in the bathroom."

"Can we talk to you for a moment?"

"We?"

Renie's head popped around the door, just below Jason's.

"Let's take this into the corridor," Roux said.

Ludovic's vampire hearing meant that he'd probably be able to hear everything that they said, anyway, but at least it felt like they were getting some privacy. They didn't really have time to hunt out a place in Belle Morte that was completely free from vampire ears.

"Everything okay?" Roux said, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Jason gave her a smile, but it was small and tight around the edges. "We're worried about you."

"Are you sure you've really thought this through?" Renie said.

Something about the tone of their voices and the way they stood shoulder to shoulder made Roux suspect they'd rehearsed what they were going to say.

"Guys, it's okay. I know what I'm doing," she said.

"Do you, though?" Jason pressed.

"Yes. I'm not stupid enough to rush into something without actually thinking it through first."

"But this could be dangerous. Those vampires are not going to want to come back to Belle Morte, and I can't imagine that any of them will go down without a fight," said Renie.

"You think Ludovic can't handle it?"

"He's not the one I'm worried about right now."

"Ludovic's the one who'll be doing all the fighting, remember? I am not getting involved in any of that." Roux tapped the side of her head, and almost got her fingernail tangled in her newly long hair. "Not a complete idiot, remember."

"We know you're not stupid, Roux, but we're still worried about you. It's not like you wouldn't be worried about us if the roles were reversed," Jason pointed out.

He was right, of course. Roux adored her friends. Even though she hadn't known them all that long, they'd become the best friends she'd ever had in her life, and the thought of anything happening to them made her blood boil. So yes, she could completely understand where they were both coming from, because she probably would react in exactly the same way.

"I'll be okay, I promise," she said.

"You can't make a promise like that when you have no idea what's going to happen," said Renie.

"Okay, then I promise to be exceptionally, extraordinarily careful with everything I do from the second I leave the mansion."

Renie's mouth pulled down in an unhappy shape. "This isn't a joke."

"I know. I'm being serious. I'm not going to rush into anything, and I'm not going to put myself in danger."

Roux pulled Renie into a tight hug. "Everything's going to be okay," she whispered into Renie's hair. "This will be over before you know it."

The second she let Renie go she found herself in Jason's arms, mashed tightly against his chest. "Make sure Ludovic takes care of you, okay?" he said.

Roux laughed. "Outside the mansion we'll be in my world, not his. If anything, I'll be taking care of him."

"Taking care of a hot vampire," Jason said, his expression wistful. "Sounds like my ideal job description."

Roux swatted his chest, and he grinned, unrepentant.

She gazed at them both as they stood in front of her. Less than a month ago, she'd never met them. Less than a month ago, she couldn't honestly have said there was anyone she'd truly call her best friend. Then Renie and Jason had come along. They'd got under her skin and into her heart and now she could not imagine her life without them.

"No matter what happens, I'll come back to you both," she said.