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Castalia gave a nod, showing that she had heard and lightly swirled her newly acquired drink while looking into the amber liquid. Her eyes followed his actions, the way he threw back his drink. “Should be one hell of a hangover if he isn't careful.” She thought and took another sip from her glass, setting it down afterwards for the time being. The bartender returned after a moment and set down a basket of sample appetizers, another usual. She smiled towards the older man as he walked off.

Picking up a fry, she gestured for Cedric to help himself. “How are you enjoying the area?” Castalia found herself wondering about the vampire population in town and if he’d run across them. It made her wonder how many of them there were, too, and why only recently did they appear? Her head turned as the sound of shattering glass caught her attention, the familiar smell of blood causing her throat to burn in hunger. She swallowed and took a bite of her snack.

It didn't help much more than anything than to be a distraction, but she took it.

“I read The World as Will and Representation while I was still in school. One of my professors had made the recommendation.” She had left a copy of The Death of Ivan Ilyich behind one evening when she was running late for work, “Because I’m a fan of Tolstoy, he thought it would catch my interest.” And it had, to an extent. Castalia took another drink from her glass, pausing before she finished it off. “Something stronger, please.” She called to Frank and shook her head as she could still feel the discomfort in her throat.

Behind her, Castalia heard the glass being cleaned up. The smell grew stronger before fading, a man calling out a goodbye to Frank. She relaxed after a minute, the click of the door telling her that he had left. “What caused you to leave Brussels, was it?”

As they cleaned up behind her, she quietly thought about the ways in which her life had changed so drastically over the months that had passed. She and Nolan had been separated, he’d begun to date her. Castalia had returned to part-time schooling for business while maintaining her job at the emergency room as a nurse. And then one evening, she found herself searching for that blasted mutt only to get fed on by her sire. She had pulled away from her lifestyle, away from her children and away from her old life in fear of getting them involved.

As she swirled her drink, the woman considered the fact that it wasn't so bad. She had her likes and dislikes. She disliked the blood, and the fact she was dead in mirrors - a woman who loved her looks aside from the miserable colors of her eyes, this was the worse, but she liked the power, occasionally the attention it brought her. She had become more charismatic over the months and she worked on her businesses. A coffee shop had been created, her pride and determination working in her favor.

Lifting her gaze towards the door, she noticed Rhys entering and Castalia lifted her glass only to see he was carrying her jacket. She have him a look and the thrall only grinned at her before he stepped off to speak to Frank. “Thanks mom.” She thought and stretched out her legs idly before her attention turned back to Cedric. Her eyebrow lifted and she noted what he was looking at, Castalia thinking of Keagan and his music.

Taking a drink of the liquor, she nodded before popping another fry into her mouth, and chewing quietly. She could feel the alcohol in her system burning off, and as she picked up a fried pickle, she glanced towards the piano. Afterwards, she inclined her head towards the male as she listened to him speak. At the mention of murdering someone, she felt her lips twitch in amusement. “Careful with that one, the police here are pretty trigger happy.” Her eyes glittered with the fact she was clearly enjoying herself.

She took a bite from the pickle, not releasing the tips of her fangs would be visible before she started chewing and they retracted back to concealment. “I can’t blame you, it's a classic.” Castalia smirked and took another drink before she chuckled, shaking her head, “Though, I do think you may be on the run. Just perhaps not for murder, the past is something I’ve found easier to flee from.” Did she wanted to open that door? The man was human, she could hear his heartbeating, listen to his breathing.

Castalia thought about the word murder. She had done just that a few times, hadn’t she? Feeding? “But, if you are on the run for murder, I suppose perhaps I can't hold it against you. We all have our skeletons.”

“Eternal damnation?” Castalia wondered if that counted as a skeleton, but she knew she had more of it following for however long that she would continue. She had snapped the neck of a woman that had shot at her a few days before in rage. The sound resonating through her mind causing the woman to drop her gaze to her glass as she picked it up once more, swirling the amber liquid. Her fangs ached against her gums and she took a long drink, finishing it off after a moment to swallow. “It’s a long story. To make it short, I abandoned my children to the care of my ex-husband and his idiot girlfriend.”

Of course, Castalia omitted the fact she had done it for their safety. She didn’t tell him it was because a crazed woman turned her into a meal and she had later turned in her own bed. “I’ve hurt people.” She said cautiously and looked towards the wall opposite of her, “I’ve made my peace, but things remain beneath the surface.” Rhys came over afterwards and Castalia took her heavier jacket from the man, thanking him before he was waved away in dismissal without a word and her eyes went back to the man beside her. “My associate,” She explained, “He’s shy.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.

Inclining her head, she tried to consider what else could be worse than murder. She wasn't entirely sure if she liked everyone in Acheron yet. Kika, yes. She was devoted to the woman, thankful now that the bitterness had passed. She was protective of her, cared for her. She thought Ambrose was hypocritical and it annoyed her, she had no problem pointing out things that she had issues with. “But I suppose that's really up the individual whether or not it's as bad as murder.” Castalia explained and picked up another fry before she took a bite from it.

Vampire. The thought still made her laugh as she shook her head, her dark hair brushing against her skin. It was still such a strange concept and as she could smell the alcohol on the man beside her, Castalia found herself wondering how well he could hold his liquor. “What do you do for a living?” She asked, collecting the drink in front of her as it was refilled.

She was confused when he slipped away, but his words remained with her and although it was something that she didn’t like to hear, it made her feel a bit better. Maybe it wasn’t too terrible of her to do so, even though Castalia knew her own parents hadn’t been pleased in the least for her to legally separate from Nolan - or allow him to do so. In the eyes of the Catholic church, the two were still married. She pressed her lips together at the thought and lifted her hand to grasp at a gold cross resting beneath the cloth of her shirt.

As he walked over to the piano, she considered the one that she’d once had and the southern woman adjusted to fully adjust and face him. Her thrall, Rhys, lifted his eyebrow as he glanced in her direction and then he nodded towards Cedric. Dinner? He mouthed and she shrugged. Her back rest against the bar, although she knew if she leaned too far off her seat to the left or the right, she’d fall off it with her luck. Frank refilled their glasses before he folded his arms in front of his chest, too, to watch.

It took her a few minutes to register what the song he was playing and behind her, Castalia heard Frank mention something under his breath about having to need to clean it so the guy wouldn’t get sick next time from the dust. “I’m sure it’s not that thick.” She stated, even though she could see the way it sat from her perch. The older man snorted before going to tend to another couple and Castalia kept her gaze on Cedric as the two fell quiet and they listened.

Collecting her cardigan, she slid it on over her bare shoulders before sliding off her stool until her feet touched the floor and made her way to the piano and Cedric. There was something interesting about this man, a kinship, perhaps, in the fact they both shared the distance with their children in such an unforgiving city such as Harper Rock. Behind her, Castalia heard Rhys and Frank talking but she paid no interest to their conversation. She was enjoying the piece being played and that much was evident across her pretty features as she waited for the music to cease before speaking.

“How long have you been playing?” She questioned, the habit of resting her arms above things clearly being restrained as she eyed the dust mark. She liked this sweater, the way it was clean and she had no intentions of touching the wooden surface until it was cleaned properly. Castalia lifted her hand to rub at her mouth lightly as if she had an itch when in reality, she felt as if one of her fangs hadn’t gone entirely up. “That was beautiful.”

She flinched, too, but for an entirely different reason - the sound resonating around her and hurting her ears as her hearing was sharper. The music had been played beautifully, showing that his practice had paid off and Castalia, who played rarely for anything other than relaxation. She didn’t like playing in front of crowds, but for friends and family, it had been different. Her daughter enjoyed playing, too, where her son had been more of a bookworm like his father.

“I get that.” Castalia said only to the love-hate relationship, eventually making her way back to the bar as she listened to Cedric’s order. The maternal instinct in her considered suggesting the male slow down, but something smothered it, the instinct to feed telling her to ignore it and let him do as he pleased. “He’d be easier to control.” She heard a small voice whisper and a frown played across her lips, both at the voice and Cedric’s words.

It had been more than what she was expecting to hear from the man, but she had asked, after all. That didn’t mean that she minded, however, as it gave her an understanding of the lost man that she had been spending her time with. “Haunted apartment, haunted man.” She chuckled, the sound out of tune compared to her laughter earlier in the evening. She considered that he had nothing, that he had lost everything because of his music.

Castalia couldn’t help but compare it to the curse that Kika had given her, even if she knew her sire hadn’t done it intentionally. The thirst had driven the young vampire to attack her, turn her into a meal. She, herself, had done the same to several rats that she didn’t even want to think about. “Not exactly nothing. You’ve got an apartment that has a quirk with the windows that could be fixed properly - even a temp fix with plastic wrap.” She hesitated before she reached out to grasp his shoulder and prayed she wouldn’t feel freezing to him.

“And right now, you’ve got a pretty woman willing to buy you drinks to numb your tortured soul as she does her own while enjoying your companionship.” Letting go of him, Castalia moved. She took her seat once more and rolled her shoulders idly, feeling the pull of one muscle tighter than it should be before she turned to face him. “When you lose something, it makes room for new things. You just need to find them.”