School resumed the following Monday. Returning to my life was like returning to a dream--everything I considered important before my magic now seemed hazy, and less vibrant. In class, I was a hostile mute, sketching ugly, demon-like caricatures of my teachers, dancing in flames along the edges of my notebook. I was tired of burning alone.
At lunch in the campus courtyard, I revealed to Addy that I had acquired my magic, conveniently leaving out the part where I died. I gave her a demonstration, concentrating on a girl's flat wedge boots that I happened to envy. She shrieked, hopscotching her way to the nearest trash can to dispose of them, the soles still smoking.
"Ho-o-o-o-ly..." Addy couldn't finish the sentence, or look at me the same. But it wasn't my powers alone that shook her, nor the Rogue-like strip of white in my hair-it was the flashback of me dancing at cotillion with a Vampire-son of the Vampire.
The pack was beginning to whisper, the Leadership included. With the Elder absent, and his granddaughter acting out in disturbing ways, it was only the dual presence of Alpha Ethan and Lucas Blacklock that kept the Garou from descending into absolute chaos. But the ataxia caught up with me again later that afternoon, when Addy and I met in the campus lot after classes.
"What's this?" She plucked a hot pink flyer from my car's windshield, and smirked. "'Party at Castle Teped, bitches'. Hm, the color's kinda loud, isn't it?"
"That's the point." I marched around the car, pushing my shades to the top of my head and squinting at the flyer. "Well, that's interesting." I glanced at the sea of cars, spying flyers on each one. The culprit was probably long gone, giggling at their handy work. "What a shame we missed the host. I need something to sharpen my claws on."
"You know, you've been talking like a creepy stepford wife all day. I'm assuming your friend didn't do this?"
"We made plans to have sex and plot against Catherine. Ti wouldn't break our date without a heads up. Someone's screwing with him. Or me. I am popular these days..." As Addy rolled her eyes in disgust, I concentrated on the flyer... The edges singed and smoked. "But, I dunno, could be fun. Maybe this person wants to play hide-and-seek..." I nipped at my bottom lip, enticed by the chance to utilize my power. So what if I didn't know how to wield it? Claudia knew nothing.
"Jesus, Mimi!" I hadn't realized--the flyer was up in flames. Addy grabbed it from my hands, sacrificing her baby blue Docs to stamp out the fire. "Are you trying to draw attention to yourself? I don't know what's going on with you right now, or what the hell you're doing with the Prince of Vampires, but you ask me, this party's a bad idea. Whoever did this is asking for trouble--or they wanna cause it. You're on every hit list in town, dude. You need to be careful."
I scoffed at her concern, dismissing it at once. "I'm five-by-five on a Sunday morning. I don't need back-up, all I need is anger: Catherine won't fix the rabid, she's out to steal my magic, the Alpha has a death wish, and Tidus doesn't take me seriously." I slipped my shades back in place. "As you can see, I have plenty of material."
"Should I be upset I'm not on the list?"
"Get in the car, sweety."
Surprisingly enough, it isn't difficult convincing a Vampire to open his doors to an all-human buffet. Tidus beheld the utmost respect for Human lives, but he revered his appetite more. He wasn't one of those cliché Vampires, feeding piteously on rabbits in the woods. Tidus was too busy embracing his dark side to pine for humanity--while each minute that passed my own became less and less apparent. I was as heedless of the Humans' safety tonight as I was my own. The castle would draw the flyer's culprit like a fly to honey. Little else mattered to me.
* * *
No need for decorations, the castle's extravagance spoke for itself. Though the fasthold appeared unfortified, it's gothic design lent an air of dangerous impregnability even Humans couldn't ignore. A sprawling grey mountain, Tidus' home was situated right outside the Village, on a remote stretch of foggy moorland perpetually overcast. The castle towers, and the peaks of the turrets, bit at the sky like hungry needles of darkness, imbued by rain from the clouds.
Welcome to Castle Teped.
The castle interior was less dreary, but uniformly haunting, an knotty display of glamorous portent. Electric lanterns offered an eerie, penumbral glow, revealing only what the human eye perceived. Lurid paintings of sex and destruction aligned the walls, tapestries and murals expressing similar themes of transgression. Follow the heady path of the winding stairs--Supported by wrought-iron rails twisted in elaborate designs, the steps stretched upwards, to dizzying heights, and prolapsed, to depths unknown. Every landing was the doorway to spectacular rooms, like the parlor with the dimpled, red-velvet walls and the library with grape-crystal chandeliers. Pick a drawing room and have a seat. Kick-back on the Victorian-style furniture as a sexy maid pours you a scotch, neat-but don't close your eyes. She might be thirsty too...
There's no place like Castle Teped.
By seven that evening, the upper tiers had been cordoned off to guests, leaving them free to peruse most of the first floor. Collegiates explored with greedy consumption, nursing red plastic cups served by the pale, obedient staff. Supplying liquor on such short notice was no problem-the butler kept the castle well-stocked: the bottles were stored in the cellar, right across from the refrigerated blood bags.
Tidus stood in the center of his drawing room, watching with disappointment as strangers scuffed their shoes on his furniture, quaffed his alcohol, and adjusted his sound system with no sense of shame.
"Oh, lighten up, Ti. Even if this party wasn't happening, our lives would still be in mortal danger. We might as well enjoy ourselves when we can." I grinned, my bad behavior encouraged by the image of Addy, who had already forgotten her promise to stick by my side. Instead, she was holed in the corner, giving my only surviving study-buddy a lap dance to Bishop's Wild Horses. She moved her body like a siren, French-inhaling what Collin eagerly respired.
"My only interest in this party is the person responsible for it. I look forward to our meeting. In the meantime, perhaps I'll have a snack..." His hungry gaze was diverted to a passing blonde, who raised her shoulder at him in coy invitation. Tidus rarely mentioned his craving for bloody girls, but it was always in his eyes. "Does it bother you? Me feeding on other people?"
"We all survive some way, don't we?" I smiled, cuffing his chin in fond reassurance. "You can feed on whoever you want. It'd be silly to limit your meals to just me. I mean, once or twice is fun, but dying all the time? Kind of a drag."
Tidus took my elbow and drew me close. My blouse was low-cut, a large, triangle of material missing at the small of my back. This was where his hand pressed, his fingertips playing hide-and-seek beneath the fabric as he whispered in my ear. "Sometimes you sound so much like your old self, I almost forget how dangerous you've become..."
Two nights ago...
"...know your allegiance. And you can tell your boyfriend it was a bad move letting me go: you don't fuck with the Alpha." Ethan stormed from the bedroom.
Tidus dropped his Glamour, stepping from the corner and into plain sight, glowering at the empty doorway. "Message received."
I rolled my eyes at the fireplace. "You're not going to take him seriously, are you?"
"I'd be a fool not to."
I sprang from my chair. "You'd be a fool to go after him. If you do, see if I don't tie up Claudia and throw her in this fire." I shimmered, re-appearing before him. "Then I'll really test your conscience. Save her--or play with me as we watch her burn. You decide." I extended my arm to his beautiful face, but he caught my wrist in an iron grip and forced it away. His chest swelled as his featured blackened with rage.
"Naomi, I beg you, listen, for you test my patience. I come from a place where laws don't spare a woman from being punished by a man. It is only my affection for you, and utmost respect for your father, which prevents me from acting on my baser instincts." His fangs extended with a warning click. "I would lay down my life for you, but if you think I'd abandon my pride for your vanity, you're worse than the Alpha suggested."
"Maybe I am. Hurt Ethan and we'll find out." I shimmered around him, striding quickly from the room. In the hallway, I collapsed against the wall, heart-racing like a league of wild horses. Quickly, before Tidus could interrogate me, I wiped away the noseblood...
"I'm dangerous, huh? You ain't seen nothin' yet." I winked, leaving Tidus to his bidding. Five minutes later he had joined the pretty blonde in the center of the room. They caught the music's vibe, dancing amid the Humans, whose snippets of trite, meaningless conversations passed through my Wolf ears. They may have joked to one another about the castle-name's tacky throwback to Dracula, and the silly legends about Vampires on the moor, but I knew Tidus truths far more than they. I squinted, concentrating until his spell was broken. Each time the bass dropped, his glamour was unveiled. They weren't dancing-he was feeding on her.
Putting a rein on my jealousy, I cheered myself with thoughts of my small victory-it was no easy task seeing through Tidus' glamour. It sucked the energy right out of me. I hurried from the room, dabbing at my dripping nose, more concerned that the mess would ruin my dress than the fact that I was woozy and bleeding. I navigated through the doorway, head down in the effort to avoid notice--and stumbled into a familiar figure.
"Barry! I mean--Chandler!"
"Hey there, long time no see, partner... Who-o-o-oa." He took a gentle grip on my upper arms, ensuring I didn't fall. "Hey, you don't look so good. Come on... let's get you somewhere quiet..."
There were many somewheres quiet. Chandler found a billiard room down the hall, banishing the couple making out on the Tiffany pool table. He bade me take a seat on the edge, running back down the hall for toilet paper. He returned, dabbing at my noise with a doctor's attention. "Nope-nope-nope, don't tilt your head."
"Oh. I thought you were supposed to."
"Actually, that'll just make it worse." He paused, inspecting my face, trying to spot the change. "Are you okay? I dunno, you seem... different since the last time we met."
"How would you know? We've only met twice."
"That's true. But the last time I saw you you didn't have a bloody nose. And you were smiling."
I straightened, disliking his attention. "I'm fine. But maybe you can do me a favor--since I'm helping you with Leda."
"Y'know if you want, you could just twist my arm for real."
"So, what's under the hood?" I examined his clever brown eyes, intent on uncovering what made him tick.
"Um. What?" He frowned, grinning in puzzlement.
"Your magic--I'm curious. How does it work?"
"Oh, that's what you're interested in." He scratched his chin, smiling as he debated his answer. He sighed. "I'm an Incubus--which means I survive on chi and sexual energy. The preferred method of extraction--"
"Sex."
He winked. "Consider me a Jedi master of kama sutra. Seeing as how you have such an interest in my magic... care for a demonstration?" His eyes, they were so much darker than first I thought...
I smiled back, nodding slowly.
Chandler stepped forward. My legs dangled over the side of the pool table; he pressed himself between them. He brushed my curls from my shoulders, replacing them with his careful, steady hands, adept as a surgeon's. Where his fingers touched, my skin tingled pleasantly. "You have a natural resistance. You're shielded from me because you're powerful too--I figured that out when we met." He smirked. "Long story short, my magic won't work unless you want it to. The only question is--can you handle it?"
"Guess we'll find out. Bring it on, slick."
* * *
Hey, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please VOTE and don't forget to add SF to your library so you don't miss out on any updates! More SF ahead! <3 <3 <3