Blood Rebel [COMPLETED]

Chapter Seventeen - After Dinner Treat

The night before the ceremonial dance Hector always hosted a dinner at Cadogan Place, inviting a select group of his closest allies. This year he wanted it to be special: even more so than normal. 

Mrs Landon was in charge of organising the decorations, and the house was bedecked with gaudy fairy lights, flashing throughout the night. A red wreath hung on the door and red streamers were wound around the white columns of the porch. 

Because Hector owned several of the houses on the square which he had knocked into one, creating a much larger house, the doors on either side of the main entrance were also decorated in the same fashion. Elsewhere in the square the inhabitants had decorated their houses too, but none was as exquisite as Hector’s; although his was the only one that lacked the posters of Selene stuck in the windows and draped from the upper balconies. He didn’t need to use pictures of her because he had the flesh and blood version, and everybody knew it.

This year there were to be twelve guests; six men and six women. The house was alive with anticipation and excitement, the servants and slaves whispering as they scuttled about the house, cleaning and tidying.

“The Great Matriarch is coming, the head of the Grand Chamber,” said Mrs. Landon, as she ran a gloved finger along the skirting boards and over the tops of picture frames, and then inspected it for dust. She was quick to inform anyone that would listen of this fact, because it meant that everything had to be perfect.  It wasn’t often that the Great Matriarch came for dinner.

It was well known that the Vampire who had turned Hector was the Great Matriarch herself, but when or why were facts that were shrouded in secrecy. She was the reason that he had risen to hold such a powerful position in society. He had had her support at every step of the way. She had turned him into the Vampire he was today, training him, teaching him, educating him in the customs and ways of Vampires.

Red and gold decorations hung from every conceivable projection in the hall, and the banisters all the way up were interlaced with greenery, and dotted with even more red fairy lights that twinkled like a night sky full of sparks.

The table was laid in the dining room, the deep maroon table cloth freshly pressed, the gold insignia of the Stanley household emroidered around the edge. Crystal glasses sparkled in the candlelight that emanated from three large candelabra which forked out into many arms, twisting and turning like the entrails of an offering, each capped off with a red candle. The flames flickered and puffed out thick belts of black smoke for a moment, before relaxing and settling in to a heat that melted the wax and caused it to drip languorously onto the tablecloth like thickened blood. Next to gold plates were sharp knifes and forks, glittering, waiting to slice and carve the human flesh.

In the kitchen the finest human bloods from around the world had been decanted into serving bottles and set on the side, a rainbow of reds, prepared for pouring by the slaves, and the raw flesh was sliced and arranged on platters. It was rare that Vampires would actually eat raw flesh, but if it were prepared in a specific way, requiring an expensive and exclusively trained chef, which of course Hector could afford, it was delicious: the ultimate delicacy.

The smell of so much meat and blood was foul; Selene couldn’t stand it and wanted to leave the house, but Mrs Landon had expressly told all the girls to stay inside that evening, in case they were needed later.

Selene sat on her bed, not doing much of anything. It had been a few days since she had screamed at Jackie, and she still found it difficult to think about. She had humiliated herself and lost control in front of the others. How could she maintain their respect if she acted that way in public? She wrapped her fingers into her hair and tugged on it, before letting them slip out of the silken strands.