Ethereal Kiss {Lesbian Vampire Romance} [ON HOLD]

Chapter Ten

By midnight, most of the vampires were drunk on blood, spinning around and roars of laughter echoed around the Great Hall. I sat in the vacant wooden throne, ignoring the odd looks being fired my way. Whilst Sir Reedley and his lady were not in the room, this was just a chair and even a low vampire such as me had every right to sit in it. I stroked the chair next to me, my fingers yearning for any trace of its previous occupier. Adele had long since vanished and my mind yearned to connect with hers again.

"Will I be honoured to have this dance?" My head snapped up. Amber stood above me, her red hair cascading freely over her bare shoulders. For a vampire, her skin was oddly sun-kissed. 

My fingers crept beneath my mask and wiped away small red tear.

"Of course," I sighed, offering her my hand which she took willingly and pulled me away from the edge of the hall. The dance floor was emptier than before especially as the King had retired half an hour previously. Natasha remained but she only sat on her throne at the top of the hall watching the action commence and sipping on a glass of vintage blood. 

Amber was like a cat. Her chin was small and pointy with small lips and big cat-like eyes. Even her golden mask was done in the style of a cat with a small cat nose and whiskers alongside two little triangle ears. Though she was younger than me, she was naturally speedy and in training, we were equal matches. Like when she fought, her dancing was fluid and beautifully executed. The orchestra began to play a slower song and yet she managed to slow her movement perfectly to the tempo.

"Did you see the blond girl? Did you see what she was wearing? I would rip a guy's balls off if he ever tried to force me into something like that," she laughed, spinning me under her arm. My eyes went to the floor and she must have noticed something was up as she changed the subject pretty quickly.

"So is this your first ball here?" she asked, pulling me closer into the centre of the dancing couples. 

"It is actually. Is it yours?"

"Second actually. My first was my vampire cousin, Isabella's, coming-out ball. Now that was a failure."

The tale of Isabella's coming out ball was still fresh on everyone's lips when I first joined the palace. Isabella had been a young girl, barely thirteen, when the King's brother, Augustus, changed her. He already had seventeen vampire offspring and had been ordered to not change anymore but he still broke his promise, causing his immediate exile to Eastern Europe- Dragomiria, I mean, Eastern Dragomiria. 

Vladimir was kind enough to host a ball for his vampire niece due to the fact that, in theory, she was nineteenth in line to the throne or something like that. On the night, the scent of blood being served sent her insane. She slaughtered seven human servants before they managed to calm her down. The scandal only ended when a few days later, she foolishly stepped in broad sunlight without her portion of earth to protect her and burnt to ashes. 

"Didn't you have a coming out ball then?" I asked.

"Me? Hello? I'm the random vampire offspring of the King's seventh brother. If they had a ball for each of us, we might as well live in these gowns." She turned impatiently. "I hate this music. I love how my uncle views modern music as Mozart and Beethoven."

"Don't complain," I smiled. "It beats the lute!" We both laughed at that. The lute, a medieval form of guitar, seemed to be the only instrument ever played and it drove us, younger vampires, mad. 

"I miss decent music. Rock music. Like Linkin Park and Paramore." 

"Finally, someone who knows these bands! Everyone around here thinks Autumn Massacre is some name to describe a war in their lifetime."