At the Bell [INVITE]

[Caligrace]

She could feel the nervousness that hummed through his muscled form, the way the electricity sparked through his veins and threatened to burn him alive. It was one of the numerous downfalls to her power. She could feel it all – but there was no guarantee that she could control it. If she could, she would have reached across the table, covered his hands with her own, and pulled the nervous energy from him. She would have allowed it to seep into her own blood, to electrify her own soul, but she couldn’t. Instead, she was forced to sit back, her hands still pressed to the cool surface of the table as her amber gaze watched every flicker of his gaze and every tic in his jaw. In a way, it was endearing.

“That was probably a good idea. If he’s as handsome as you are, he would have been eaten alive by these vultures,” she laughed, one hand moving to indicate the room. All around them, the chatter swelled, and with it, the shrill laughs, the gasps of outrage when something went wrong. She could feel it deep within her bones, the influx of the emotions. Even the mixed scent of perfume and desperation was beginning to become too much for the empathetic vampire. Working her tongue along the soft flesh of her lower lip, she kept her gaze transfixed on the man across from her. There was something about him that seemed to soothe her, and she felt… comfort. When he spoke again, his worry still in tune with her own, she allowed her lips to curve into a secret smile.

She knew why she had been sent here, why she was now seated across the table from the man. It was because of him. It was because of the one she had allowed herself to trust, the one that had vanished into the night with only an e-mail to comfort her. Useless promises written in a systematic font that she told herself every night meant nothing to her, but she still found herself with the wrong men. This way, she figured, her sire would be able to monitor the one she chose – if she chose one at all. So, she knew the why of how she came to be here, but not how she was supposed to react.

“I agree. You can’t get to know someone in the five minutes between the chime of the bell. You could get to know if you find them physically attractive, but the actual information you need to make an informed choice is too much to compile into a handful of minutes.” She trailed off, then, her teeth pressing into the tip of her tongue as she tilted her head. “I don’t know if we’re supposed to continue to cycle through the list if we find someone that piques our interest, or if we’re allowed to leave,” she spoke as her gaze dropped to the small timer in the center of their table, watching as the minutes quickly ticked away.

[Arun (DELETED 9048)]

Arun tried to imagine what Vasili would do in this situation.

Vasili, who looked like one of the cool kids, who was definitely more handsome than Arun, or so Arun always thought. It was the way they had been brought up. It wasn’t that their parents were unkind and nor was it obvious to anyone looking in. But things were handed to Vasili, and Arun had to work for it. Everything came naturally to Vasili. If it were Vasili sitting at this table he would have swept Caligrace off her feet. That merest suggestion of leaving before they were due, and he would have done it. Vultures? If that’s what these women were, then Vasili would welcome them, one and all. He’d relish the attention, would turn those vultures into swooning turtle doves.

Arun sucked in a breath, considered it. He considered the words his brother might say, charming and yet sincere, the way his big eyes could swallow a woman whole. He might twirl his finger in her red hair, whisper something ludicrously compelling, and she wouldn’t be able to resist him.

Instead, Arun held his breath and nothing came out. His shoulders were hunched and his hands were clasped in his lap. His ears were still ringing with that compliment that she couldn’t possibly mean. Handsome? Him? No. She was just teasing him, clearly. And her argument didn’t hold true, regardless. He clearly was not being eaten alive by vultures.

”I uhm…. I don’t know. I mean, I doubt they’d make you – us stay? They can’t really… we’re not in school. We wouldn’t get detention if we just… walked out,” he said. He’d wanted to say you. You, because he did not think that she thought he was the one who’d piqued her interest, that he was the one she’d want to walk out with. Maybe she wanted to meet Vasili. Maybe Arun shouldn’t have mentioned him.

”Do you want to leave?” he asked, finally. He’d wanted it to sound like an invitation. Instead, it sounded like a simple enquiry. He tried on an awkward smile to match.

[Karma]

The Latina gave a loud huff, her irritation with the blonde’s words still evident as she pushed a stray curl behind her ear, hair darker than midnight just the right contrast against her bronze skin. The twins’ complexion made even Freyja envious, and they knew it.

She let her hand move to rest against the table and she gave a quick nod. “Shopping, of course,” she murmured, her eyes moving to where Caligrace sat with the strange man. She ran her tongue across her teeth before her gaze wandered again, drifting across the faces that had filled the room quickly after she had arrived. She lifted her other hand and adjusted her dress across her chest, legs moving to shift the leg that had been on bottom to cross across the top of the other, instead for a moment.

She let her brilliant, sapphire gaze meet the icy stare of her mistress and she smiled.

“But, that isn’t what you want to hear about. I’ve been pushing a new club with some pretty tremendous success. But you know that already, you have Violet watching that inventory manifest like a hawk, mami. Specks of dust don’t depart your possession without her notice.” She gave the woman a twitch of her brow, her full lips pursed as she rapped her nails against the surface of the table.

The ***** had made it impossible to sneak even a taste for a party of their own. She would have to pay, or she would have to ask. She didn’t do well with either.

She squirmed uncomfortably and glanced at the bar, then, and again at the woman across from her. “Could I go? I’m pretty sure clingy over there is going to try and follow me home. I’d like to leave while she’s busy.”

[Freyja]

The tall blonde sighed, and nodded quietly to Karma’s assessment of the business.

Violet was, indeed, very good at her job, but it was the way she worked with Amanda that made her so very effective. Bexley was the muscle to Violet’s brain. The two were a dynamic pair that she was unsure of how she would proceed without.

Karma’s request floated in the air between them, the words of fear in her voice were almost laughable. She didn’t know what had overcome the woman to make her so spineless that evening, but it was… somewhere between amusing and irritating. She had half a mind to have the Latina stick the little redheaded pig on her way out that night, but, she supposed that there were other things that could be done to remedy the situation.

Karla, she was more than sure, would have cut the woman’s throat without asking permission. She was more the… ask forgiveness later type. And Freyja admired that. She was glad that the two managed to balance one another, rather than simply playing into one another and spiraling out of control. She supposed that was why they were so easy to control.

She sighed, then, and flicked her wrist. “Go. But if I catch your *** working, I’ll beat it blue, understand?” The Latina nodded quickly, the first sign of actual fear in her eyes at the vampire’s threat. She’d seen Freyja lose her temper before, she knew how dangerous she could be, and she didn’t want to cross a woman with such utter control over her own mind. She shook her head as the curvy figure of the woman rose, and without a glance at her admirer from across the other table, she rushed for the door, hurrying out into the night.

With an annoyed sound in her throat, the Dane quietly listened in on her progeny’s conversation as she gave a quick signal of her fingers to the barkeep, a drink already on its way. Should the two choose to leave as well, then she would have an interesting evening of her own.