Karolinna sat before the a large looking glass applying generous amounts of blush to her colourless face. Dragging the soft-bristled brush over her high supple cheekbones she twisted it in her fingers, allowing the rosy-pink powder to blend into her complexion. Placing the brush onto the glass surface of her bureau next to a tube of unopened lip-stick she had purchased the day before, and an almost desolate vial of clear nail varnish, she admired her work.
“I definitely see why they call it a vanity mirror,” Perched on the bed behind her, Villahr sat on the edge wiping away at the trickles of blood running down his arm with a cool cloth. The flesh had returned to it’s natural colour just as he promised, and other than the scarring memory of the previous night’s events, there was no evidence of injury. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough preening, Kar? You do realize you’ve been sitting there for about twenty minutes now, right?”
“Fak Ouh, Villahr. Nothing wrong with wanting to look good,” Karolinna cursed, throwing her head back to give her friend a dirty stare, scrunching up her nose and narrowing her pretty almond-shaped eyes.
“Of course not. But it looks to me like you’re striving for fairest of them all,” Villahr teased. “Where are you off to at this hour anyway? Little early to be preying on poor defenceless humans to satisfy your urges, isn’t it?” Villahr grinned and re-clasped the chain around his neck; the blade on the end hit him flat in the chest as he got up and walked towards her.
“Work,” the faelna replied, slicing into the plastic, that encased the tube of coral stain, with a long nail.
“Work?” Villahr scoffed, resting his strong hands over the curve of Karolinna’s bare shoulders. Karolinna shivered at his touch but tried to make it as if she were simply adjusting her position, pulling the excess fabric of the green towel wrapped around her, over her knee.
“Yes, work! I’m not the spoiled little brat you think I am, Lahr. I don’t just sit around sponging off my parents.”
“Oh please! We both know your only doing it because Mother threatened to cut you off, and if you could, you would definitely be lounging on your bed right now barking at the maids for sweets and entertainment,” Villahr retorted, giving the warm skin beneath his hands a firm squeeze. “Namely of the hunky male variety.”
Karolinna opened her mouth to retaliate, but found no venom left in any of the words she could think to voice, and none proving Villahr’s accusations false, so she said nothing. Her laughter soon followed her lack of intelligent requital and she shook her head, demolished.
“Okay, so your right. Don’t get too big-headed about it.” Giving the chuckling male a small defeated smirk, she turned her attention to her reflection and pursed her lips. Karolinna carefully slid the cosmetic stick in her hand over her pouty mouth, obviously pleased withe the colour it left behind and it’s buttery-smooth smear judging by the toothy grin she gave herself.
Her process for buying makeup was frequently extensive, and she almost always insisted on trying the products before she would commit to buying. This occasion, however, she hadn’t the time — no, scratch that, she was just too indolent — and resorted to sending out the help. Had something less than exemplary been brought home to her, Karolinna no doubt would have sent them right back, no matter the time of day or the inconvenience. Fortunately in this case the product was divine. An excellent investment.
“If you hate humans so much, why bother going to all this effort? Or is there someone in that little group of yours who’s caught your eye?” Villahr wondered, lifting a hand to her hair. He bounced one of the the elegantly curled spirals off the pads of his fingers until Karolinna slapped his hand away, muttering something along the lines of ‘Screw off. You’ll ruin them’.
Karolinna made a sour face at Villahr’s estimation, as if she’d just guzzled an entire carton of week old dairy.
“Ew, no! As if I’d ever get involved with a repulsive—”
Villahr interrupted before she could finish, clearing his throat “You know my mother was human?”
“And I’m sure she was wonderful.” Karolinna redirected her sentence to a more beneficial conclusion, rather than the one that would likely earn her a smack to side of the head.
“Nice save.”
It was no secret that she didn’t exactly like the humans, and it wasn’t a new revelation either, it was how she was raised. Judging by the majority of the behaviours she’d witness from the inferior species, they didn’t exactly make her feel she’d been mistaken to disapprove of them. Villahr on the other hand didn’t share her loathing.
The attitude he held towards of the humans was more similar to one’s distaste for a house fly. Sometimes it dive-bombed your head for no apparent reason, or drove you insane with it’s incessant buzzing to the point where all you wanted was to grab the nearest item and smack it against the wall, but overall it was harmless.
The mortals were a substantially greater threat than a small winged insect, but when it came to combat they were simply ants to a Vicio boot. They didn’t stand a chance, and for the most part weren’t harming anyone, so why bother dedicating so much energy to expressing detestation when ignoring them was the easier option?
“I don’t hate them, by the way. I strongly dislike and want to immediately lobotomize myself after spending an evening with them, but don’t mistake that as hatred for the entire human race,” Karolinna clarified, then rolling her lips a few times, making sure they were both evenly coated before getting up from her chair and stepping towards her wardrobe.
“Oh wow! Well now that you’ve put it that way I don’t know how I could possibly have come to that assumption.”
Karolinna disappeared without another word into the great dark expanse that was her closet, and then reappeared with two outfits in hand, holding them up for Villahr to see.
“Definitely the red one,” he said, pointing to a knee-length dress with slightly billowy sleeves and a sewn in black belt. “It says, distinguished, clever, white-collar…”
“I was going more for, seductive, quick-witted, harlot,” Karolinna replied, tossing the red to the floor of her closet and heading towards Villahr. “The black one it is!”
Karolinna laid the dark garment on the bed with the rest of her ensemble and smiled.
“Perfect!”
“You know, you ask me every time what one I like best and then you just end up going with the opposite. Why bother with my opinion in the first place if you’re going to ignore it?” Villahr questioned, picking up a pair of white lace panties whilst averting his eyes so Karolinna could dress.
“It’s not my fault you always choose wrong,” she answered, her cheeks dimpling faintly as she smiled, then dropping her towel shamelessly.
Karolinna had a body that all the men drooled over, and the women positively envied, and she knew it too. She was a vision, and had been since her twentieth birthday when her form had fully matured and coincidentally, her libido. Two hundred and eighty years had passed since then; she hadn’t change a bit. Karolinna remained a delectably refreshing, tall glass of water; and not the kind from the well, the kind you paid one-hundred devin a bottle for, and had shipped half way across the world in the finest of aircrafts.
Often she would lounge around her room in the buff — a scene Villahr had been fortunate to witness many a time — and every so often even went as far as to walk the long halls on her way to the kitchen for a midnight snack with no care in the world for who saw her in all her glory. She did it on purpose, obviously, and so far no one had objected but her Mother. Villahr had a feeling even if there were more complaints, Karolinna wouldn’t pay them any mind anyhow.
Grabbing a small piece of material, hardly enough to keep anything concealed, Villahr examined its ornate cream stitching.
“Lace? Nice! And you maintain your testament that there’s absolutely no one in particular whom you wish to see these?” Villahr swung the showy white underwear back and forth on his extended index finger.
“Can’t a lady dress just to feel sexy without physical expectations?” Karolinna snatched her skivvies from her friend’s hands and stepped into them. Villahr’s eyes were shut tight, but there was a grin on his face so large Karolinna expected it to tear into his cheeks.
“Sure she can!” he said, “But there’s no way that’s you!” The elna broke into laughter, waiting for the click of Karolinna’s bra clasping prior to turning around. Before he was a man, he was gentle, and close friend or not, the sight of Karolinna’s nude body would surely send him into a frenzy. “You haven’t been classified as a lady for some time, sisienta.”
Karolinna thought to shoot back a nasty remark but the walls of her head were as far as the retort went. She gave Villahr a charming smile before shimmying into her dress, lifting her blonde locks off her neck and back so he could do up her zipper.
He wasn’t wrong.
Sitting as straight as her dress would allow, Karolinna used all her strength to make her exterior appear attentive. A woman with a faded, red pixie cut, in a rumpled green dress, sat a few seats from her and was crying as she spoke. She looked like Christmas, Karolinna thought, and she had to stifle a chuckle. Not the holiday picture you’d expect, with bright, colourful lights, presents and St. Nick; more like, burnt out, flickering bulbs, charred rocks and trampled reindeer. Not exactly a pleasant image.
Her voice was low and it sounded as though every word she uttered pained her — and they probably did. Her face was red and blotchy, contorted into the most unpleasant of expressions, and her cheeks glistening with salty tears and hopelessness.
Around the small room, many other women completed the circle made up of rickety wooden chairs that seemed to match their decrepit states perfectly, with worn legs and splintery backs. Karolinna sat with her legs crossed and a clipboard on her lap. Her pen was moving furiously, but she was hardly paying any attention to what she wrote.
The breath-taking faelna stood out in the room like a rose amongst a sea of prickly cacti, and as she adjusted her position in her own uncomfortable chair, the row of vertical buttons lining the centre of her form-fitting frock dug annoyingly into her abdomen.
With all honesty she had hoped someone would show that would meet her standards, whom she could coax to the bar down the road for a few drinks and then eventually back to hers for a romp. But pickings were slim tonight. Karolinna felt a little guilty for such thoughts, which was odd because when it came to the humans she didn’t hold much compassion.
She thought about Villahr for a moment, who was almost rolling on the floor with laughter when she first told him about her new job. “I’m pretty sure you have to have some semblance of sympathy to be an abuse counsellor,” he said, almost crying. Karolinna hadn’t thought of that initially, but took the job anyway. To be frank she probably only did it to prove to Villahr that she could, but after four months of snivelling, no alcohol and little progress, it was starting to weigh on her.
Karolinna was lost in her own thoughts for some time before she realized the redhead had stopped talking and the entire group was focussed on her.
“Oh.. Thank you for sharing, Diane,” she spoke softly, picking up a box of tissues from the floor by her discarded orange pumps and passing them down the line until it reached the sniffling female. Diane nodded and ducked her head down again, avoiding any eye contact.
“Would you like to go next, Katrinn?” Karolinna’s eyes fell to the next in the row.
Katrinn was a regular, and had been coming since the beginning, almost ninety days ago. She was always the last to arrive and the first to leave, and hardly said more than a few words. Today her shoulder-length, auburn hair was down, and her bangs fell like a curtain over her hazel peepers. She was actually quite pretty, even with her long oval face and tiny nose, but Karolinna wouldn’t dare make a move on her. Decency had nothing to do with it, it was just that she didn’t expect it would get her anywhere if she tried. Even if she wanted to talk to her, Katrinn remained mute, so what would be the point?
Katrinn was silent for a long time, as per usual, so Karolinna picked up her pen and made a note next to ‘Participation’ under the brunette’s name and looked next to a stout, older woman on Katrinn’s immediate left. Before Karolinna could repeat her question, a voice cut the awkward stillness.
“Yes,” it said. Karolinna’s eyes darted promptly to Katrinn, who’s gaze was actually straight ahead instead of on her shoes. “I want to share.”
“She actually spoke to you?” Villahr questioned, dropping the infradai he’d been carefully carving at, twirling around in his chair. He looked just as jolted as he sounded.
Karolinna nodded.
“Mhm,” she answered, turning the dial on the furnace whilst waiting for her friend to clean up.
“What did she say?”
“Oh, nothing more than a few sentences. It wasn’t anything really eventful, but for her it is progression.” Karolinna walked towards the door and stood in the frame, watching a couple of humans strolling down the sidewalk hand-in-hand, as she stared out to the almost abandoned streets. Night would be upon them soon.
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you any of this, but …It was too good not to. I’m getting through to them, Lahr. Who’s not fit to be a leader now?” Karolinna scoffed, turning up her nose and and batting her long eye-lashes as she handed Villahr his cloak. He took it with a smile and flipped a switch by the door, bringing darkness down upon their heads.
“Still you,” he replied, pinching her cheek hard. Blood rushed to the surface, staining the area a pale blue before spreading back out into her face. Nudging Karolinna out the door, Villahr pulled it shut behind them and locked it. Pushing in front of her a couple steps he turned to face her, continuing to walk backwards in the direction of the estate. “I’m proud of you though, Kar,” he said, “There not so bad after all, eh?”
Karolinna laughed and trotted up towards him, her high heels clicking against the cement of the path.
“Now I wouldn’t go that far,” she laughed, looping her arm around Villahr’s and pulling her hood town snug over her face. It was still light out but the sun was fading fast.
As they walked in silence, as they always did, enjoying each other’s company and the feeling like they had the whole Region to themselves, Karolinna looked up at the sky. Villahr knew she had a tendency to daydream, and so he didn’t bother asking what she was looking at and kept his gaze dead ahead to make sure she didn’t crash into anything.
Unbeknownst to him, Karolinna wasn’t simply paddling down the river of thoughts, enjoying the sights and the sounds around her, but barrelling, like over uncontrollable rapids without a paddle. Her focus held firm on the sun, it’s blaze growing more dim by the second, and her mind took her to a place she promised Villahr she’d never go.
Karolinna may appear to be marvelling the splendour of the sun, but her thoughts did not match what she saw. In her mind it was not the sun pouring it’s essence down on her face, like storm clouds releasing a heavy rain onto the earths inhabitants, but the even more spectacular sphere of light that would soon replace it.