Fangs of a Butterfly

CHAPTER 2

The next morning it rained, too. The rain from yesterday didn't cease, and I had to keep the window closed for the rain was so heavy it would wet the floors, too.

Adalyn and Bernadette came in and dressed me up in a red dress that I supposed the Elders dug out for me, and dolled me up. They never touched my face, but braided my hair up and gave me pearl earrings and a choker to tie around my neck.

"I wish you the very best," Bernadette said. She was freckled and had a gentle face. People often said she wasn't extraordinarily pretty for a vampire of the Butterfly Clan, but she was only fifteen, and hadn't matured yet.

Then there was Adalyn, also fifteen, who was quiet and never opened her mouth, and pretty with a mysterious air about her. However Lark, at ten, already blossomed into a beautiful girl with straight black hair and almond eyes.

The two girls left, and then there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Rowena and Selma opened the door like two twin mechanical dolls, and Agnes strolled in before she turned and showed the guests in.

I inspected each of them carefully.

The first was tall and brown-headed, with glasses and a long face. He looked like the oldest, but seemed wary of us—particularly me, as he narrowed his eyes at me. He would be a hard one to seduce.

The next was a smiling man with long brown hair at his shoulders. His coat had many frills, and his boots were of black leather and reached his knees. He looked easy but I didn't like him. I didn't want to give pleasure to a man like that, much less have his child.

The man behind him was a tall and pale ginger. His hair was curly and his lashes blonde. He kept looking down like he was afraid of seeing him. It might be fun playing with him, and he had a somewhat feminine form about his face, maybe it was the soft jawline.

Next was a man with dark skin. I rarely saw people such as him in our land. He looked at me in astonishment—a face I always saw. Then he brought his eyes away, slightly ashamed, but glanced at me once more before turning to whisper something to the ginger. He wasn't bad, either.

I stood up, ready to introduce myself, and at the same moment, the last man entered the room.

I stopped.

Sabine—?

No. That couldn't be.

I looked at him again, but I couldn't shake off the resemblance. He had her hair, cornflower yellow, the yellow I saw on the sunflowers that children outside picked, the yellow on a butterfly's wings, not too bright, but soft, like sunlight streaming through the curtain.

It was a color I loved, as it was so rarely seen in my dark tower.

He had the same soft waves, and although his hair was short, only up to his neck, it framed his face. He looked like the painting of angels I saw once, from some book the Elder's showed me.

His eyes met mine. They were just a shade or two darker than Sabine's milky ones. His were more alert, less delicate.

"Seems like you've taken a liking to someone."

I looked over at Agnes, who smiled pleasantly. She was a splendid actress. I mirrored her and Rowena and Selma snickered. The men only stiffened. They were such cowards, but I didn't mind that. My eyes turned back to him, and he didn't flinch or pull back. He stared back at me. Then he gave a wry smile.

"Now let me introduce you gentlemen to the most beautiful girl in the Butterfly Clan." She always called us "girls" instead of "vampires" in front of guests. To let their guard down, she said. "This is our Margery, twenty-four this year, and of pure blood. She's a quiet one, but loves humans."