“You’re not taking a bag?” she asked me.
“Not in the mood, and there’s nothing to fill it with.”
She gave an alluring little laugh. “Darling, a bag is an accessory.”
“I say she doesn’t need one.” Blake winked at me and took my hand, linking it through his arm. Prom.
“Shall we ladies? I’m kind of hungry.” Tibor said, taking Julia’s arm through his own.
The reception was on the top floor of the main building that housed Baldur’s offices. The room was breathtaking—a spacious ballroom in brandy and gold. Rich but elegant, with several marble pillars supporting the high ceiling. I felt like I was in a royal court with all the sophisticated guests attended by suited waiters offering sparkling drinks and fancy little hors d’oeuvres. Beautifully attired porcelain dolls everywhere.
The room was filled with a melodic murmur. I accepted the offered champagne. There were many eyes on me, but I was prepared for that. I had promised myself that I would not look frighten again. Since I already looked good I might as well enjoy it. It was about time, after all that insecurity that came of the Kyle-Selene drama—I’d almost lost myself to that one. I was determined to enjoy myself, and it was nice to feel the appreciative looks of other people. People? . . . Whatever.
“Blake, what did you mean when you asked me about the moment that I met my Vocati?” It had been bothering me ever since he had asked me at lunch.
“So much for chitchat.” He grinned and leaned toward me. “It’s just a theory, but it matches each of the seven Inquirers’ cases. It’s like, when each of us met with our Vocati our frequencies connected with him or her. The strongest emotion within us in that exact moment was reflected on their faces. My guess is to create a stronger bond between us.”
A string quartet played modern songs, including the latest rock and pop and MTV hits. It sounded surprisingly cool.
“What did you come up with when you compared tests?” I asked, spurred on by our common interest in how we became Inquirers.
“What tests?”
“The ones from Psychology classes.”
“I couldn’t get access. I’ve been told that they cannot give me the results because it’s an invasion of privacy. But the vamps wholeheartedly assured me that their people were looking into it but that no pattern has been found,” he frowned.
“Have you asked the others to give you their consent? Maybe then the vamps would give in.”
“I must admit I haven’t.” His brows rose at the prospect.
“Or we could steal them.” I flashed a crooked grin.
“Now, that had crossed my mind, but it’s pretty much unfeasible. Baldur keeps them in his office, and I’m not sure how one could trick him, or any vampire.”
“Well, it just got little more feasible with me in the equation, I’d say.” I winked.
“I’m so glad someone is interested in this stuff. And I’m glad it’s you.”
I gave his shoulder a friendly shove.
We’d split up near the dessert table and I searched the room for Julia. When I finally found her, she was speaking to Mr. Matthews, and I noticed that when she laughed, she touched his arm.
Tibor was engaged in conversation with Lyndon and two porcelain dolls. Behind them, next to a marble pillar, stood Andrei Belun, all in black. He was talking with a honey-haired doll who seemed fragile and shy, and he was—different. He was drop-dead gorgeous, and serious and relaxed at the same time, like some king, or master, or something. I couldn’t stop staring. Belun looked like a fallen angel who’s seen everything, from the monstrous to the sublime, and that little smile on his face….That was not my team leader! That was some other guy who looked exactly like him!
“You look like you stepped out of a dream.” I turned and faced a doll who looked to be my age, but was a bit taller than I was.
“Luckily, you don’t look anything like my nightmares,” I offered.
She had dark, asymmetric, hair with straight bangs, and the most joyful brown eyes I’d ever seen. Her thin silver dress stopped just above the knees.
“Doris Lazar.”
“Nika Young.”
“The dream thing wasn’t a pick up line, your face really does look very familiar,” she told me.
“My dreams these days are an endless labyrinth of scary stories I can’t escape. Forests of black eyes, stoning . . . .”
“So you’re the new girl?”
I nodded.
“God, I can only imagine how you must feel. I mean, if I had to live alone among humans I’d freak out. You have my sympathies. I guess one needs huge bravado in the first couple of weeks.”
“I wouldn’t really know, each of my days seems to last a week.”
“Spoken like a true pale face.” We laughed. Yes—I actually managed to laugh with this vampire girl. There was something familiar about her, and not in a physical way, just…some strange sense of home, of San Diego.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“I live here in downtown Tromsø, for now. My father has responsibility on the Council, so we had to move. And since he’s a lawyer, he’s used to living among humans, unlike me, which is why he took an apartment downtown and not here in the compound. My guess is he’s teaching me a lesson, because I couldn’t get over the fact of mass burnings and lynchings. He figures that total emersion will help me to evolve and get over it.”
“Like total emersion will help me with your fangs,” I said, and her gaze lingered on me. Then she gave me a wide smile and took my hand.
“I want you to meet someone.”
Her touch felt pleasant, and, surprisingly, it didn’t scare me. She moved like a butterfly, fluttering through the crowd with a smile on her face. I followed without complaint. Actually, her strides were so long that she practically dragged me, until she stopped in front of a tall boy.
“This is Aidan. I couldn’t bear existence without him.”
Their eyes met and their deep mutual affection was clear. It was utterly captivating.
“This is Nika,” said Doris.
“Oh, you work with Belun.”
I nodded, stretching my hand into his, hoping my face didn’t show how I actually felt about Belun. Aidan had strikingly dark hair and thick eyebrows, and looked the same age as my team leader. I didn’t know what to actually say to him, but Doris broke all the barriers of uneasiness and silence.
Just with her facial expressions and smiling eyes, she was already growing on me. She felt completely familiar to me, even though she was a vampire whom I’d just met.
“I see you are managing well,” said a familiar mealy-mouthed voice. Baldur approached, nodding in Doris’s direction. “Lazar is from some of our best blood.”
Doris gave him a serious look. I gazed at him not knowing what to say.
“How are you feeling?” he asked me.
“Well, I guess.”
“I thought you would like to know that you can freely communicate now with your friends and family. Story is that you are taking an advanced course abroad. Oh, and your parents are very proud of you.”
The mention of my parents twisted a knot in my stomach.
“All right.” I forced myself to be polite.
“Enjoy, children.” He turned and left.
That vampire was trouble. No matter how polite he tried to sound, it always came out twisted. Something was very off about him.
“And that’s over,” Aidan announced.
“Right,” I exhaled. “So, you’re of good blood stock, huh?”
Doris rolled her eyes, catching my grin. “My father and Baldur are not exactly on the same page.”
“Concerning this Project?” I asked.
“Concerning many things.”
Soon, Doris left to get a drink, and I gave Aidan a polite smile and moved on. Where were the other Inquirers? Scanning the room, I managed to see only Max, and he was hanging out with a vamp guy.
I walked through the room and found my way
to the balcony. People were smoking cigarettes and the lights were dim. The sound of the string quartet playing a cover of a rock song I’d recently heard on TV caught up with me.
That night I’d seen younger vampires for the first time. There were even some kids running around behaving like any average child would. I assumed they were vampires, since Matthews had told me that vampires are born not created.
“You look breathtaking.” The whispering voice behind me was Set’s. I startled a bit and grinned, making space between us.
“And your best suit is really good,” I said.
“Ah, you’re just being polite. It is unfathomable that you could notice anyone else’s beauty. Yours is so blinding.”
“Flatterer.” I rolled my eyes with satisfaction and smiled.
He stood looking at me with the same curved grin as the previous day.
“I thought I would not have the pleasure of talking to you, without the watchful eye of your companion.”
“Who, Blake?”
He looked confused. Then he grinned and opened his hand to reveal a red rose bud.
“What poor vase did you wreck?”
“So young, and yet so dead.” He looked at the flower, ignoring my gag.
“It’s not dead until it dries.”
“You think?” Something glinted in his eyes.
I didn’t know what he meant by that. “I don’t like flowers taken from the garden. By picking it you kill it, and it can retain its beauty only until it dries and dies for good,” I said.
After a couple of minutes, he broke the silence.
“I am that flower,” Set said, quietly, fixing the rose bud in my hair.
Okay, now I got the whole flower metaphor.
The intensity of his gaze calmed a little, and even though I was enjoying this little exchange, I didn’t think it was serious. His peculiar interest in me still remained a mystery.
“Apius.” It was Doris.
“Lazar,” he nodded, reverting to nonchalance.
“I didn’t know you guys knew each other.”
“Ditto,” he returned.
Doris grinned and handed me a glass. “Where did you disappear to? I looked everywhere for you! You’ve got to try this cocktail.”
It was turquoise and purple, and as I was studying it, Set muttered his apologies and walked away.
“Where did you find him?”
“He found me.” That seemed to be good description of our association.
The cocktail was very tasty.
“I told you.” She winked, seeing my approval.
She took my hand again, insisting that I should meet some more of her friends. I didn’t mind her dragging me all over the place. I felt nice and safe in her presence. Maybe that first champagne was helping, but overall, I was having a good time.
Two other dolls, Mia and Bryn, completed Doris’s trio. Mia seemed a little too snobbish for my taste, but Bryn seemed like a tender and quiet person, even a little insecure. They both were very polite to me. Apart from them, there was a guy named Tyler, whose hand Doris also took, though nothing seemed romantic about it. She apparently really liked holding hands.
That night she made me smile and laugh a lot, which I was thankful for. I really needed it—I had to stop being self-conscious in that place. No fear, no embarrassment—nothing but easy enjoyment.
We exchanged cell phone numbers and promised to see each other soon. Saying our final goodbyes, she kissed me on the cheek, and, feeling me freeze a little, offered a big reassuring smile.
Filled with positive emotions, I strode the hall back to my suite. Turning right I walked right into something huge and black.
“That’s the second time.”
I stared in shock up at Andrei Belun’s frown-free face.
“What do you mean?” Then the memory of kick came back, and I barely held down a grin.
“You bumped into me yesterday, in the dining room.”
Was that him who I bumped into while avoiding Set’s eyes?
“Sorry,” I said confused.
“Not at all.”
He stood in front of me, blocking my way. His dark, moss-green eyes were piercing. His gaze was so intense, it felt like he was reading all of my childhood memories and made me shift on my feet. The pressure in my chest grew; he wasn’t moving and I couldn’t take my eyes off of his. And then, suddenly, he broke the gaze. Looking at something in my hair, his eyes stiffened. Belun’s fingers touched the rose bud. He stared at it.
“Symbolism of vampirism, if I got it right.”
“Fleur du mal.” His voice quiet, still looking at the flower. “I’ve already seen this one.” Then he looked at me again in quite a different way. It was as if he had found something in the rose bud that unnerved him deeply, and I was the messenger. He stepped aside, letting me pass.
“Goodnight,” he said, and left with the flower in his hand.
Okay, that was about all I wanted to experience from the two of them. It was enough that I was living among vampires; I didn’t want to get between them as well. I had neither a death wish nor the bravado for something like that.
Back in my suite, I removed my makeup and, trying to forget about Belun, I cuddled up in bed with a small feeling of satisfaction. Overall, it was a great evening, and Julia was clearly off enjoying it since her bedroom door was still open.
I closed my eyes, slipped into sleep, and Belun’s mossy gaze drifted before me. It peeled away the layers of my being, until I stood before him, completely naked in the snow. His eyes continued to disentangle my being, leaving me to disintegrate until nothing was left but an ethereal presence balanced upon a slowly cracking ground. I slumped, slipping over the moss, falling from one height of abyss to a lower one . . . eternally falling.
Chapter 6
The Incident
Waiting for one of my parents to pick up the phone, I went through a whole series of strokes and heart attacks. And then, suddenly, there was Dad’s voice.
“Hey, Dad.” I tried to sound casual and not at all like a captive of lies.
“Hey! Honey! Congratulations!”
Oh, right, advanced classes.
“Thanks, Dad. How’re you holding up?”
“Same old same old. We’re having a barbeque, the Kleins are here.”
“Oh, lucky you, enjoying yourselves.” I thought of the warm sunny day back home and wished I was with them.
Mom’s excitement was evident as she high-jacked the receiver. “Nika, honey!”
“Hey, Mom.”
“I was just telling Mary Klein about your academic success. Congratulations! How’re you?”
“Mostly fine.”
“When are you coming home?”
I knew she meant Thanksgiving, which was the reason I had made the call.
“I won’t be able to, Mom. I’m already behind the other kids who started the course at the beginning of semester.”
“Ah, too bad; we miss you. And I knew you’d squirm this year!” she laughed, and I imagined her kitchen filled with delicious smells.
I closed my eyes and let myself just be with them. It felt good, but again—the decision to stay in this horrid place seemed more palatable than before. Finally, I felt I was making a choice, and not being pressured or forced into something against my better judgment—into some sort of supernatural duty. A smile crept onto my face, and I basked in this new sense of relief.
“We love you, hon. Be happy!”
“Love you too, Mom. Kiss Dad for me.”
There were noises coming from the common room; Blake and Tibor had arrived and apparently had brought some DVDs with them. Movie Day, cool. I didn’t know our suite was a regular meeting place.
I checked my email accounts and wondered if vampire magic could prevent against spam. Something that Belun had said the night before . . . right, I looked it up on the Net. Les fleurs du mal, poems by Charles Baudelaire. I clicked through the web pages. Why did Belun mention the book? None the wiser, I join
ed the movie party.
“Good morning.” Blake said.
“Slept well?”
“Like a silenced lamb,” I offered to Tibor, and they all laughed. It wasn’t a bad joke, considering it was Movie Day. “The word is you two brought some movies?”
Julia handed me the DVDs.
“Let’s see: Mad Max 2, Stay, Superbad, and . . . Hannibal.” Blake and Tibor burst into laughter.
“Hannibal? Really?” I eyed them both.
“Tibor just couldn’t resist.”
Hah, good one. We opted first for Mel Gibson followed by Superbad.
“You asked me about Set and Belun yesterday; well, I heard there was some commotion between them at the reception. Some argument,” Julia said.
“So that’s why the crowd was a bit off at the end. I didn’t know it was two of them,” Tibor added.
I listened carefully, replaying the previous night’s events. Tibor sat on the floor cross-legged, Julia spread out like a cat over the other couch, and I sat near Blake.
“You smell nice.”
“Thanks, Julia ordered some fancy shampoos and lotions for me.”
We ate popcorn from a huge bowl that was sitting on the glass coffee table. At the end of the first movie, I received a text:
Hanging at my place tonight. I’ll find you a ride. Doris
The sight of her name made me grin. Yeah sure, I texted back, and she replied, saying her Dad’s chauffeur would pick me up at 7 p.m. Cool!
“So when do you start to get used to all of this?”
“You met someone interesting?” Tibor grinned.
“I saw you with the Lazar girl last night,” said Julia.
“Yes.”
“She seems nice,” she added. “I’m glad you found yourself a friend.”
“Isn’t her boyfriend that Warrior guy?”
I shrugged at Tibor’s question. “His name is Aidan, and I’ve no idea if he’s a Warrior. Doris asked me to hang out tonight.”
“Cool. Where’s she staying?” Julia asked.
“In downtown Tromsø. She’s already found me a ride.” Then something occurred to me. “Do we get any transportation here?”
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