Mayfair Manor

[Vikteren]

"Perhaps," he said. It was a thought he himself had considered many times over, long ago, before his hatred for Cyrus had burned itself out. Now it only smouldered, lurking within his being like a sullen ember, sparking up occasionally with memories like...that...
"I think--I did not dare to. I was still very young, and Cyrus was many times older than I...what he had taught me did not even begin to tap his stores of knowledge. I am still not wholly aware of the effects our...bond..." The word was reluctantly said, tinged with distaste. "...has on our seperate existences.
You fear to destroy the coven-master who held you for similar reasons, do you not?" He looked at her. As venom could seep from a wound, so had that otherworldly, frightening edge to his gaze seeped from his eyes while he spoke. Now he was again familiar, Vikteren, distant and cryptic as ever.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"I've seen what the breaking of such a blood tie can do to a witch," she answered solemnly, meeting his poison gaze with one so sharp some before him had thought she meant death for them. "Witches are mortal beings, so the break is deadly. But vampires are a completely different story. It isn't very rare to hear of a vampire slaying their maker---I've even watched it once. Afterwards, he put a hand to his heart and said he had felt a quiver, a minor pain, but it didn't come again." Faintly she sighed, rising to her feet and withdrawing to the balcony to look over the garden, deadened by winter, with the splashes of moonlight over it. "Malakai, do me a favor," she asked, beckoning him forward with a curl of her fingers, "See who else stays the night here. Wake them and tell them to wait for me in the kitchen. You too, Malakai. I need to speak with the lot of you."

 

[.David Talbot.]

He stepped forward as she wished and listened quietly. "Of course," was all he replied. He left the room quickly, shutting the door behind him, and made the quick round. He woke Lawrence, Eleanor, Armand, Dolly Jean, and Courtland. Dorian wouldn't wake up no matter how hard he tried to shake him. But regardless of him, Malakai crept into the kitchen and took a seat at the little wooden table, waiting for Antha.

 

[Hell Is Upon Us]

Quietly Lawrence, Courtland, and Dolly Jean crept out of their rooms and went silently to the kitchen. Lawrence almost screamed when Courtland snuck up behind him but quiet they stayed. "What is it?" Courtland asked with a yawn. "I'm tired. What do you want?"
Lawrence ad Dolly Jean took their seats politely. "It's Antha, I believe. Who else?"
"Oh! Antha? Antha always has something good to say." Dolly Jean's voice was soft and amused and it never changed. Her eyes lit up at the mention of her favorite cousin and she looked around the little nook expectantly.  

[.David Talbot.]

"She told me to get all of us here together." He turned his eyes on Dolly Jean, whose mental handicap tired him. "She's not here yet, Dolly Jean. She's in the library with Vikteren."
"Vikteren?" Armand asked as he descended the last steps. "Another lover? Weird name. Antha always does like the freaks."
Malakai's lips turned down into a frown. You're one to talk... "I don't think so. Just a companion, like Zero or Atticus." His brain hurt trying to think of the people Antha hadn't slept with. Such a large database should have given him more. "Or Khayman."

 

[Hell Is Upon Us]

"Like you!" Courtland beat his fist against the table as he cackled. "Ooooh...just insulted yourself and half the town."
"I think it sounds poetic," Lawrence stated while he sat down with a cup of fresh coffee. "You should appreciate that of all people, Armand." He turned to Malakai. "I went to her earlier today. She was witht he Talamascans and she had bonded herself to the other world. It was after the intruder." He stopped to blow on his coffee. "Say, did she ever catch him?"
"Gotta' feel sorry for that poor son of a b***h." Courtland leaned his chair back, folded his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes.
"People shouldn't take things from Antha," Dolly Jean said dreamily while she chewed on a lock of hair. "Don't people know Antha's temper? They should know."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Giving a little sigh, Antha returned to Vikteren's chair and knelt down beside him, touching his shoulder very carefully. "I have to go speak with my cousins," she said softly, her eyes accessing his expression, "I'll be back in a few moments. Or so I hope. Until then, there's a hundred books in here I'm sure might strike your interest, if you want." She almost stood, but instead hesitated, watching him. She did leave after a moment, much as she didn't want to, and hastened down the stairs and around into the kitchen. "Alright, alright, we all know I spend half of my time tacked to a mattress. Enough of this chatter." With a sly grin Antha seated herself at the table beside Courtland, commending him on his commentary with a broad grin. "So tell me, who hasn't heard about what I did last night? If that's possible, with Oncle Julien prancing around shouting obscenities and cursing my name."

 

[Hell Is Upon Us]

"Whatever you did he didn't mention it," Courtland replied. He took a minute to stretch and returned the chair to four legs. "And YOU didn't mention you were bringing a vampire home. Kinda' kinky eh?"
"Oh please!" Lawrence hissed. "Antha Evelyn Mayfair, you have some explaining to do. Vampires, Talamascans, spells, and God knows what else." Lawrence had been there when Claire had called Julien and he knew where she ahd gone to.
"No more kinky than Nicolae," Dolly Jean whispered at Courtland over Antha and giggled. "Or David Talbot. He's Antha's full-grown man!" Her giggles turned into a soft fit. "He looks like he'd be strong. Is he, Antha?"
"Stop that!" Lawrence hissed at simple little Dolly Jean. "Antha! Some answers, please!"  

[Vikteren]

He stood after Antha left, but did not move to examine any of the books, as she had suggested. Merely their presence was comforting enough, the dry smell of old words and older knowledge, suspended like dust motes in a shaft of sunlight.
Instead, he went to the window, and put his hands behind him so that he might better resist the urge to press up against the glass like a walled-in animal.
Vikteren was almost surprised at himself. It had been a very long time since he had--lapsed--like that, and been even longer since he had been forced to give any sort of plausible explanation for it.
And he was halfway bothered by it.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

The rush was sudden, the familiar ease of being with her Mayfair cousins. This was the one domain where Antha held every card, controlled every little detail of life, and she did so love it. So with the adrenaline going and her anxiety gone quiet, Antha threw back her head, laughed, leaned over towards Dolly Jean, and put a hand between her lips and Courtland's gaze. "Very strong, expecially for a scholar. But vampires are the incredible ones, you know---even the weakest beat out any mortal man in strength." In emphasis she bit her bottom lip, her smile broad, then giggled a little before turning and trying to set her mind on the matters at hand. It didn't show; her eyes sparkled and a reserved grin lingered on her lips, completing that wickedly amused face. "I went to fetch my book---our book, actually---from Sleet's chambers. And I got it, too." Her long fingers slid into her pocket and withdrew the old sheet of folded paper, smoothing it out on the table and tracing the red crayon letters with her fingertip. "If he had seen this---and nothing's to say he didn't---then we'd be done for. Right now, no one has any link to connect us to any of the disappearances, none of the half-bloods or, fortunately, Savannah. He could break us with this." A vague sigh emitted from her pouting lips, her hand went up to cup her cheek, and her eyes were deep and distant as she stared at the ragged sheet. "Sleet will be after me as soon as he thinks he can snatch me up with some ease. Vikteren says he'll stay with me, but I don't expect him to last long. And my business at the Talamasca, Lawrence, is none of your business. Oh, and leave Vikteren alone. He's not a lover, frustrating as it is to admit, so you have no quarrel with him. None of you, I mean."

 

[Hell Is Upon Us]

Lawrence was speechless sitting rigid in his seat. Courtland reached over and traced the S in Rules. "Evie, we're in trouble aren't we?"
Dolly jean whimpered softly. "It...it's too much trouble! We should have just...just put them back!"
"They knew who we were Dolly Jean, how could we put them back?" Courtland watched her and for a few moments an old shine came into his eyes. It was the look that the airship and the Red Crayon Aristocrats only gave him, sending him out of his mind. "And why should we have let them go? What right did they have?"
"Both of you shut up!" Lawrence shouted. "Antha, you need Claire. Vampires only have their strength. Claire has a building of armed men. Knowing him he's also got a few grenades in his pocket." He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "Antha, please. Go to Claire. Let the vampire go before you scar him for eternity and go to Claire."  

[.David Talbot.]

"Dammit!" Armand shouted, banging his fist on the table. "Oh hell no."
"Armand, calm down!" Malakai muttered, panicked.
"We have ot do something," he said, calming enough to put a hand to his forehead and look down at Antha with solemn eyes. "But what do we do? What?! What do our rules say...about vampires?" He ran off immediately up the stairs and ot the library, ignoring the vampire at the window and ripping books off of shelves. "Where is it? Where is it? ANTHA! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE OLD RULES?!"
Malakai jumped up and went after him, grabbing his shoulder to try to stop him. "Armand! Please! Just calm down, we'll be ok!" Armand threw him off.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

For a moment Antha watched silently, mildly astonished, but after a few seconds she jumped up and ran after the two, giggling madly. When she came through the library door, her movements were all a wild dance, mostly twirls. "Oh, I don't know!" she replied with a loud laugh, her head thrown back. "They're somwhere in the house...perhaps." She leaned forward, balancing on her heels, and took a meaningful look at Armand with maniac eyes. "But what does it matter? I'll die soon, whether I whither away or fall onto the dark side, and the curse will hit then, so who cares? Let him ruin us!" Giggling madly, Antha continued her little dance over to Armand and grabbed his hands tightly with her own. "If he dies, we die. If he tries to break us, we'll make him pay. So let him! How much fun will it be," she said with a laugh, lacing their fingers and stepping forward to obliterate the space between them, "To hang him from the rafters and stuff him in a chest with all the spiders we can gather? Personally, I'm thrilled."

 

[.David Talbot.]

Armand spent a second resisting and then gave in. He took Antha in his arms and grabbed a handful of soft curls. "I don't want to be ruined," he said, seething with anger, "I worked hard to get this far. Just because we're a little worse than the past generations and all the other Mayfairs, why should we suffer so much? It's not like we wanted to..." He kissed her forehead, looking down into immense emerald eyes. "You and all your damned secrets." It wasn't a complaint, just a statement. "Your insanity. Everyone's compensated for it. Even Oncle Julien realized that psycho Claire Leonelli is the only match for you."
Malakai eased in and tried not to break the comfort. "We couldn't take him to the airship anyway. The original rules say we can't take someone without killing them. We can't just kill him. For our own sake." Malakai sighed.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

A smile softened her, and out of her infinite charity Antha reached out and touched his cheek. "One day," she reminded him, and her eyes were teeming with unexplainable emotions she knew her Mayfair cousins would understand, "We'll be like them. One day, we'll find our place. And I promise you, it will be soon. My heart won't hold out for long, nor my lungs and liver for that matter. One day soon, Armand. Until then," she stopped long enough to grin her little wicked grin, break apart from him, and drop herself into a chair, throwing her legs over one armrest and leaning against the other, "We're only young once---let's screw it up right."