“Beautiful.” He spoke gently as he glanced to her now, lingering away from her so he wouldn’t interrupt. Dressed in one of his quasi-Victorian white suits, he was the epitome of elegantly handsome today as he watched her with his silver-blue eyes. “Summer Fae sigils of power. You learned much from your parents, it seems.”
“So it seems.” Ariana spoke as that oilslick-dark shimmer returned deep inside her, along with her sensation of churning. It wasn’t wrath she was feeling after a day of trying to process what her life had meant up until today; but it was a deeply unrestful sensation, like she was pouring over a problem she couldn’t quite solve. “I just wish I knew what to do with them. Right now, they just seem like pretty drawings on a page. Or in midair, I guess.” Ariana sighed as she glanced back to the place her danced sigil had been, gone now.
“It will come.” Curio spoke gently now as he neared, an oddly kind shine in his eyes as he smiled at her. “Faeanic sigils are difficult to master, and only the strongest of our kind even try. That you have made this much progress from what your parents taught you as a child is astonishing, Ariana. Truly. Fae hundreds of years old would kill to make as much progress as you just did, right now. For one must be a master of calligraphy, dance, drawing, fighting grace, concentration, level-headedness, and emotional balance before one can even so much as make a single sigil shimmer on the page. As you have been doing all day, it seems.” Curio smiled now as he glanced around to all her drawings littering the floor, many of them still shimmering subtly with that oilslick-black magic.
“Except they all look diseased.” Ariana snorted as she glanced around, feeling like black mambas slithered around her on those pages.
“It’s simply the Vampire side of your magic coming out, because you churn with dark thoughts right now.” Curio spoke gently as he crouched, running his long white fingers over one drawing. As he did, Ariana watched the sigil brighten with a wintery delight – suddenly becoming a shimmering snow-white as he traced it. With a blink, her lips fell open.
And he glanced up with a sly smile, then rose.
“Quinn has asked that you attend a party with him tonight.” Curio spoke now, without explaining what he had just done to Ariana’s sigil, nor how he’d done it. “Do you feel well enough for a little soirée? Nothing big or terribly fancy; just an opportunity for you to meet some people here in the Twilight Realm, and to adjust to our culture.”
“I mean, I guess it would be better than sitting in my rooms all day stewing about my future. Or possible lack thereof.” Ariana sighed as she glanced around at the mess she had made.
“The day is gone.” Curio spoke with a subtle amusement as he nodded to the tall windows of Ariana’s suite. “The night emerges.”
As she glanced over, Ariana realized the day was indeed gone, even the last golden rays of sunset fading out now as a luminous twilight settled over the city. Evening was impossibly beautiful in the Twilight Realm, and Ariana stared at it now as a glowing blue-white nimbus devoured the margin of the sky. Far above, diamond stars were already beginning to pop out in the darkness, though the beautiful blue-white rim of twilight still glowed below. Shaking her head as a wry smile crept to her lips, Ariana glanced at Curio. “Then I guess we better get to this party.”
“Not dressed like that. Though I must say, Quinn would probably like it.” Curio spoke rapaciously now as he grinned at Ariana, showing his delicate fangs and waggling his pale eyebrows at her silk robe and negligee. With a soft snort, Ariana shook her head; partly because she had forgotten she was only barely dressed, but also because she suddenly remembered her impossible attraction to Quinn last night – and what seemed like his for her also. But Curio said nothing, merely gave her a debonair wink and strode to her walk-in closet, and Ariana followed.
Watching him rummage through all the fine gowns in the same way Devi had just yesterday.
“Ah. Here we go. This should do nicely tonight.”
As Curio moved back out of the closet, Ariana saw he held a draping, dark crimson silk gown in his hands, plus a matching pair of silk stilettos with straps that buckled around the ankles and a small crystal case of jewelry. Setting everything out on the bed, he motioned for Ariana to get dressed as he moved briskly to her bathroom, and she heard him set up styling equipment. With a sigh, Ariana stared at the gown, then began shedding her negligee and slithering on the beautiful dark red silk. It felt like waterfalls of night, and she found it had a ruched sweetheart bodice like a corset, with a flowing bias-cut skirt that draped elegantly around her. Short in the front but long in the back, the gown made Ariana’s legs seem impossibly long as she buckled on the silk stilettos and stood.
As Curio called from the bathroom, she went, repeating her new routine of letting someone style her. But as Curio curled her hair and did smoky makeup, Ariana sat quietly, stewing. As she watched herself become red-carpet ready, curls of that oilslick-dark shine eased from her like smoke, before dissipating. Her hair pinned up now on one side by a clip of rubies and diamonds, Curio slid an elegantly filigreed ruby and diamond cuff on her left wrist and gave her a pair of matching earrings. And though her ensemble was somehow demure compared to yesterday, it was also far more impactful. Ariana smoldered in a darkly sexy way as she stared at herself, not a Fae of the woods this evening but a tall, elegant Vampire. If her skin had been slightly paler and her body a touch more lean, she might have looked like one.
But the effect was still notable.
But Curio only smiled at her kindly now, letting her have her pensive silence as he escorted her from her suite. Moving through the Hotel’s halls, they took stone staircases that wound into the underground again tonight, and Ariana saw the Hotel wake for the evening once more as impressively gorgeous Vampire staff and guests moved about the halls. Taking a new hall, they came to a vast set of wrought-iron and ebony doors not unlike the ones that had guarded the fencing hall and bathing area.
But as they stepped into a lovely underground space of vaulted marble catacombs, Ariana was astounded by the strangely intimate hall. It was a beautifully-lit art gallery they had entered tonight; and entering the foyer, Ariana’s breath caught as she paused. Before her in the fantastic underground gallery, case upon case of artifacts were nestled in blue silk and fashionably displayed. Decorated to the nines with crystal chandeliers and floor candelabra, the hall was ornately gilded all through its white marble reaches, blue velvet drapes framing scandalously sexy portraits and sprawling Italianate landscapes around the walls.
Statuary occupied the open spaces, and flanking the foyer were two fantastic sculptures in recessed alcoves – what looked likeThe Pietàby Michelangelo on the left, along with a white marble statue of a goddess like theBirth of Venusby Sandro Botticelli on the right. Strangely, both statues were Michelangelo’s style, though thePietàhad a hauntingly different pose, Mary weeping with bared fangs over her dead son and a massive hole through Jesus’ heart like he’d been staked. Shocked, Ariana admired both statues, noting the incredible details and reaching out to run her fingers over them.
Completely missing that people stood in the hall – watching as she reveled in the statuary at the entrance.
“Ah! You made it. Welcome.” Quinn had suddenly appeared in the gallery’s foyer, flanked by the statuesque Devina, wearing a gorgeously sleek little black dress and spiked blush heels. Dressed in an exquisitely-cut dark red tux with rounded black lapels and black accents in a slim, perfect fit, Quinn was incredible this evening; Ariana stared as he leaned in to Curio, kissing him effetely on both cheeks before turning to her. His jacket was the exact color of midnight blood, and Quinn was pure decadence as he watched Ariana with his beautiful dark onyx eyes, his complementary gold and onyx rings flashing on his fingers.
His gaze was fiercely elegant as he took Ariana in tonight in her crimson dress – dark like midnight honey yet searing like a firebrand. As Ariana’s gaze met his, she saw a hot flash of magic in his onyx eyes as his luscious mouth quirked. Ariana felt the deep discussion they had shared last night as a connection flared between them again, as Quinn’s magic flowed subtly all around her and something inside her own bright-dark magic answered it. Something about the way he interacted with her, so firm and intense yet with deep honesty, reminded Ariana that he was so much more than he seemed.
Which only made her flare hotter – as she wondered who this Master Vampire really was and why he cared about her situation so much.
Smiling with rapacious delight now, Quinn turned to Devina. “Devi, please deliver my gift to Ariana and then take her on the rounds for introductions. Curio, give her some background on everyone as she meets our guests tonight. I need to circulate, but drinks and small plates shall be served soon. Curio, Devi – please keep your eyes and ears open, as usual. And note any… additional responses to Ariana, please. I will check in with you anon.”
But even as Quinn smiled with his host’s delight and moved to flow away through the small gathering, Ariana snagged him by his sleeve. Suddenly, she didn’t want to let him go; and raising his dark eyebrows in surprise, Quinn’s full lips fell open as an answering heat flared in him. Ariana didn’t know why she’d just suddenly reached out to him. But as Quinn hesitated to leave and Ariana hesitated to let him go, she felt that dark, pulling energy whirl between them again as if their magics were connecting.
And she knew why she’d stopped him – to feel it longer.
But now he was staring at her and a number of his guests had turned, pausing in their fine couture as they watched Ariana with interested gazes. So she made up an excuse for stalling him. “These statues in the foyer… are they both Michelangelo?”
“Yes.” He smiled softly down at her now as pleasure beamed from his eyes, rather than their former intensity. “Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni and I were very close friends, centuries ago. Because of his devout Catholic faith, he could not understand what I was – something he considered a demon but possessing power he considered quasi-angelic – and it sparked many late nights together, talking about all things metaphysical. He was fascinated by the Twilight Realm, and visited many times… but the works he created here he could not bring back to the human world, or be branded a devil for the subjects he explored and the things he learned. I was… a patron for him. But the works he gifted to me will never grace any auction-hall, for I am quite fond of them.”
“Amazing.” Ariana blinked now, undone as she suddenly faced the truth of Quinn’s age, and that he had lived through not just the Renaissance, but many other eras besides. Both Fae and Vampires could be quite long-lived, but she knew for certain now that Quinn was at least six hundred years old as he watched her, a feeling of ancientness breathing from him as he waited. Swallowing, Ariana released his sleeve as she fought to smile. “Sorry for accosting you. Please see to your guests.”
“We will have time to speak about my collection later. Privately, if you like, after tonight’s event.” He spoke personally to her now, even though Devi and Curio waited nearby.
