SNAP: The World Unfolds

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

When my escort opened my door, Lisbet was building a fire.  She turned and her look said she’d been told to keep an eye out.  “Good evening.  Did you enjoy your walk?  Do you want to bathe now?”

My shower had been more to wake me up and a soak sounded good now.  It could relax me and erase the last of the dream.

“Please.  And I think the black and white tonight.”  I sank into water that smelled like spring in the lavender fields of France and closed my eyes.  A field of lavender was far preferable to dark Hungarian forests.

Lisbit had laid out underwear and my second great personal shopper’s choice—a vertical stripe black and white silk with a full skirt and fitted bodice.  A wide sash tied in the back, a look I normally wouldn’t wear, but the vertical stripes gave the illusion of height and with the last few pounds I lost, I had a decent waistline.  I swept my hair up and slipped into a pair of black evening sandals. I sure wasn’t an Ice Princess, but I looked good and felt wonderful.

And when Jean-Louis knocked then opened the door, his appraising look told me that others thought I looked good, too.

“You’re ready?”

“Let me get a wrap.” I grabbed a narrow shawl and made a last make-up check.  I was determined not to be under his spell tonight; he was just an escort.  Granted, a lot better-looking and much smoother than the demons.

He gave me a slow smile and just the beginning of a glimmer as we headed downstairs.  “I hear you had an interesting day.  Sandor said you asked lots of questions on your way to the river.”

“I did.  And he was full of information.  It’s a little like Wonderland or the Looking-Glass, though.  For every answer, it begs a dozen more questions.  I still find it difficult to just accept the things I’m told.”

Particularly that Jean-Louis is only acting as a bodyguard.  I thought I could pick up on a guys interest in me but  I’d never been around a vampire.  That apparently threw my intuition into park.

As we came into the salon, there was more chatter and everybody seemed a little looser.  By the second night of a house party, alliances had been made and friendships were forming.  The vampires were at their best again, glimmering and looking smashing. 

Carola chose an ice blue, Pen was in a complicated draped and tucked print in shades of mauve and lavender, Mira looked Brazilian in a vivid jungle print open caftan over tight red toreador pants and high heels up to here.  Maria, one of the stay-at-home family members, must not have stayed at home to shop.  She was dressed in what was certainly couture from Paris, but I didn’t recognize the designer.  It was an off-one-shoulder number in a peach colored sheer fabric that made her look like a Botticelli model.  And tonight the three men were sticking close.

Jean-Louis handed me a glass of wine and than excused himself to go over and have a quiet conversation with the Baron that consisted of a lot of shrugging, eye-rolling and Hungarian hand gestures that I couldn’t read.  I headed over to a clot of the regulars, including the two fishermen from this afternoon.

“My escort thought you two were crazy, catching fish and then throwing them back,” I raised my eyebrows.

The producers, who introduced themselves as Bruce and Rick, nodded.

“It’s important to get an invitation to one of the Baron’s house parties,” one of them—Bruce?—shrugged.  “But most of the people who actually work for the Baron are tied up all day.  You only see them at night, so it’s sometimes hard to find things to do during the day.”