The Talamasca Motherhouse

[.David Talbot.]

He laughed loudly, hooking her waist and lifting her chin with his fist. "I know, I'm just dreadful!" A broader and more wicked grin before his lips found hers and he kissed her with all the shamelessness of a true Mayfair boy, his fingers clutching at her hair, pulling her forward to him. He was like his father, his blood father that is, all too rash and immoral when it came to his most precious sister. And without that would he even be alive at the moment? Nope, never born. "You called," he stated breathlessly as he allowed her to slip away, "So I came! Khayman didn't want to come yet. He said to apologize on his behalf." He noticed Vikteren now, watched him with an impish grin, but said nothing about or to him.

 

[Rentetsu]

Rose petals gather in the room were Raid seem to be and the scattered everywhere blocking out everyones vision when the roses cleared Raid was gone. He took him back to Osiris streets.  

[Vikteren]

.David Talbot.

He laughed loudly, hooking her waist and lifting her chin with his fist. "I know, I'm just dreadful!" A broader and more wicked grin before his lips found hers and he kissed her with all the shamelessness of a true Mayfair boy, his fingers clutching at her hair, pulling her forward to him. He was like his father, his blood father that is, all too rash and immoral when it came to his most precious sister. And without that would he even be alive at the moment? Nope, never born. "You called," he stated breathlessly as he allowed her to slip away, "So I came! Khayman didn't want to come yet. He said to apologize on his behalf." He noticed Vikteren now, watched him with an impish grin, but said nothing about or to him.

Vikteren's eyes widened a little in recognition. This was the man from the graveyard. Antha's brother. The one who had practically dragged him from the crypts at Antha's command.
He gave Nicolae a slight nod. That was all the greeting he felt necessary; and with the way Nicolae had spoken at the graveyard, perhaps only what was due. He'd made his feelings clear, then.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"You always come when I call, but that doesn't mean you're going to speak to me." Her eyes glared, a pout to her face. "Useless big brother!" she complained, slipping form his grip and standing off to the side, her arms folded angrily. "Meanwhile, someone broke into Mayfair Manor. Malakai tried to restrain him until I could get there, but he escaped." She paused, looking thoughtful, and turned back to Nicolae with a sweet little smile. "You'll help me hunt him down, won't you big brother?" As she spoke she stepped up to him again, her fingers grabbing the front of his shirt to bring him forward a good inch or so. "After all, you are still a Mayfair." Very quickly she kissed his lips, trying vaguely to persuade him.

 

[Vikteren]

+Rotting Lunacy+

"You always come when I call, but that doesn't mean you're going to speak to me." Her eyes glared, a pout to her face. "Useless big brother!" she complained, slipping form his grip and standing off to the side, her arms folded angrily. "Meanwhile, someone broke into Mayfair Manor. Malakai tried to restrain him until I could get there, but he escaped." She paused, looking thoughtful, and turned back to Nicolae with a sweet little smile. "You'll help me hunt him down, won't you big brother?" As she spoke she stepped up to him again, her fingers grabbing the front of his shirt to bring him forward a good inch or so. "After all, you are still a Mayfair." Very quickly she kissed his lips, trying vaguely to persuade him.

Vikteren cocked his head at Nicolai. "He's your brother, isn't he?" He asked Antha after a moment, while his eyes had flicked back and forth between the two of them. At least, that was the impression he had gotten while in the graveyard.
He could understand how a Mayfair might wish to take a lover inside the family--so that if a child was born, the blood would be undiluted. Rather like the Italian Borgias.
But brother and sister was taking it rather far, considering the day and age.  

[.David Talbot.]

"The beauty of being Mayfair is that we don't distinguish between right and wrong." He grabbed his precious little sister, hooking her waist and pulling her close, his cheek pressed to her hair so that he could inhale the scent of her. This was all for emphasis. "Besides, only we can understand each other's pains, we creatures of the same cursed family. And the more closely related the blood, the more powerful the next generation. Besides, it's just our way." He had to grin, looking with cold, twinkling eyes over Antha at Vikteren. "If you go to Mayfair Manor you will find my father, Michael Mayfair, who bears to me no resemblance. And yet if you run across Oncle Julien, my mother's younger brother, you'll realize that he is my image in perhaps 10 years, that he bears also a striking resemblance to Antha---my precious little sister too like me to be my half-sibling---and you'll know that this likeness is ignored by my father because it would break his heart to accept it, that when Antha's father Leon discovered it he locked her away for life in the attic as a monster." His grin was maniac and he was laughing loudly before he even realized it. "Society is made of bumbling idiots. As long as it works well for us there's no need for them to know what goes on behind our closed doors."

 

[Vikteren]

.David Talbot.

"The beauty of being Mayfair is that we don't distinguish between right and wrong." He grabbed his precious little sister, hooking her waist and pulling her close, his cheek pressed to her hair so that he could inhale the scent of her. This was all for emphasis. "Besides, only we can understand each other's pains, we creatures of the same cursed family. And the more closely related the blood, the more powerful the next generation. Besides, it's just our way." He had to grin, looking with cold, twinkling eyes over Antha at Vikteren. "If you go to Mayfair Manor you will find my father, Michael Mayfair, who bears to me no resemblance. And yet if you run across Oncle Julien, my mother's younger brother, you'll realize that he is my image in perhaps 10 years, that he bears also a striking resemblance to Antha---my precious little sister too like me to be my half-sibling---and you'll know that this likeness is ignored by my father because it would break his heart to accept it, that when Antha's father Leon discovered it he locked her away for life in the attic as a monster." His grin was maniac and he was laughing loudly before he even realized it. "Society is made of bumbling idiots. As long as it works well for us there's no need for them to know what goes on behind our closed doors."

Vikteren didn't respond to Nicolai's crude implications for a moment, keeping his glass-green gaze steady on the other vampire. That was exactly what he wanted, after all--for Vikteren to flinch, to turn away, to mutter words of disgust and disbelief.
But all his time on this earth hadn't been spent in hiding, and his sensibilites had never been what one might refer to as 'fragile'.
So Vikteren merely smiled, dazzlingly, and said, "Yes, I can see the resemblance. Antha must be delighted to have such a lovely older brother."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

A long, gentle sigh came from Antha as she detached herself from her brother, the tips of her fingers pressing him back just slightly, and quietly she sat down again on the edge of the bed. "Mayfairs have always done it," she explained gently, inclining her head in Vikteren's direction, "Ever since Charlotte, the third generation witch, bore her children by her own father. It's hard to explain, but it's just too natural to us." She stopped briefly, her lips pressed together in a hard line as she looked over her brother's form. "It's because we can understand each other better that we can become closer to one another---too close obviously." She dared a little laugh, partly at herself, the foolishness of her own words. She knew it made no sense to outsiders. And it helps nothing that I once thought myself in love with him. She cut her eyes at Nicolae before settling them again on Vikteren, the strangest smile on her face. I had that trouble often when I was younger. Lust and love were inseparable within my mind. Another little laugh and she was silent again.

 

[Vikteren]

+Rotting Lunacy+

A long, gentle sigh came from Antha as she detached herself from her brother, the tips of her fingers pressing him back just slightly, and quietly she sat down again on the edge of the bed. "Mayfairs have always done it," she explained gently, inclining her head in Vikteren's direction, "Ever since Charlotte, the third generation witch, bore her children by her own father. It's hard to explain, but it's just too natural to us." She stopped briefly, her lips pressed together in a hard line as she looked over her brother's form. "It's because we can understand each other better that we can become closer to one another---too close obviously." She dared a little laugh, partly at herself, the foolishness of her own words. She knew it made no sense to outsiders. And it helps nothing that I once thought myself in love with him. She cut her eyes at Nicolae before settling them again on Vikteren, the strangest smile on her face. I had that trouble often when I was younger. Lust and love were inseparable within my mind. Another little laugh and she was silent again.

If only it were that simple.
He wondered whether Antha had ever really loved someone. She said she knew the difference between the two now, but such a claim rung oddly...hollow. Or rather, it sounded as though she would only allow herself one of the two, now. Or that she believed they were still inseperable, and one could not love another without also lusting after them.
"It is your way," he said noncommitally. "No doubt there is reason for it."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Perhaps," she admitted musingly, eyes hazed in a dreamy sort of trance, "But really I doubt it." All at once her eyes were focused again, cutting at Vikteren as if she wished them to pierce through him. It's too easy for me to fall in love, she admitted sharply, And why not? I can see into people, pick apart every little piece of their personality within moments, and so I know from the beginning how I'm going to feel about every last person I come across. She paused only to sigh, her hand pressing carefully to her forehead and her eyes sliding closed. Lust is another matter. It took me some time, but they became painfully different within my mind. "Nicolae," she whispered finally, breaking out of some small daze it seemed, "I want to find him. I wish to rip him apart." Her eyes were calm, calculating when finally they fluttered open, her hand falling so that the light overhead could play upon their glassy surfaces. "You'll take me after him now, won't you?" Thoughtlessly she almost continued, said something to Vikteren, but came to her senses before she could utter a word. She had warned him, but still she couldn't imagine him sticking around if he happened to see anything Antha might do to this creature. So she said not a word of including him in this little hunting trip, not able to imagine Nicolae making such a suggestion.

 

[.David Talbot.]

He glanced at Vikteren and then to Antha several times in turn his hands clasped behind his back and gradually an elven smirk appeared on hsi face. You WANT him, he taunted, eyes focused on his little sister. The way he directed this thought he might as well have made the accusation aloud. Lust, love, who cares. You actually WANT him. Nicolae was very much like his little sister. Khayman himself teased him and called him a slut. Of course she had reasons. Nicolae only liked it. So Nicolae couldn't really be jealous, not like those who were so wholly attached to her. Not like Singe. Now tell me, he began slyly in a tone reminiscent of middle school, eyes and thoughts directed only at Vikteren, shielded from Antha, Do YOU like HER? Hmmm? Do ya'? "Fine, fine," he sighed aloud, "We'll be off then. Vikteren? Care to join us? It'll be a good ol' gory time, I bet."

 

[Vikteren]

.David Talbot.

He glanced at Vikteren and then to Antha several times in turn his hands clasped behind his back and gradually an elven smirk appeared on hsi face. You WANT him, he taunted, eyes focused on his little sister. The way he directed this thought he might as well have made the accusation aloud. Lust, love, who cares. You actually WANT him. Nicolae was very much like his little sister. Khayman himself teased him and called him a slut. Of course she had reasons. Nicolae only liked it. So Nicolae couldn't really be jealous, not like those who were so wholly attached to her. Not like Singe. Now tell me, he began slyly in a tone reminiscent of middle school, eyes and thoughts directed only at Vikteren, shielded from Antha, Do YOU like HER? Hmmm? Do ya'? "Fine, fine," he sighed aloud, "We'll be off then. Vikteren? Care to join us? It'll be a good ol' gory time, I bet."

Vikteren flinched back from the bluntness of Nicolai's questioning, his defenses instinctively raising around his mind. Rather like a dog raising it's hackles.
I hardly see how that is any of your affair, he responded coldly. Unless you would plan to warn her away from me, should it be necessary.
But what fierceness had been in his tone was not reflected in his face, nor in his voice or smile when his lips curved upwards and he replied, lightly, "I'd be delighted."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Quiet! she commanded hastily, the habitual softness of her tone drained rapidly away and only an angered sort of bitterness left behind. Against her will the slightest of a blush colored her pale cheeks, remembering faintly that silly little kiss. By the power of the umbra she forced Nicolae away, through the doors, and locked him out. "And don't come back until you have Khayman with you!" she called sharply after him. Khayman would keep him in check---he always did---and he would act as judge to Antha, lest he otherwise decide that she had acted far too rashly. "He can't keep his mouth shut!" she vented randomly, not particularly to Vikteren but seemingly to the very air, perhaps the umbra who liked the sound of her voice. "Really! I don't see why he has to pry into everything! Useless!" The heat in her voice was obvious enough, evinced with every new syllable, but the softness returned the moment he was out of sight.

 

[Vikteren]

+Rotting Lunacy+

Quiet! she commanded hastily, the habitual softness of her tone drained rapidly away and only an angered sort of bitterness left behind. Against her will the slightest of a blush colored her pale cheeks, remembering faintly that silly little kiss. By the power of the umbra she forced him away, through the doors, and locked him out. "And don't come back until you have Khayman with you!" she called sharply after him. Khayman would keep him in check---he always did---and he would act as judge to Antha, lest he otherwise decide that she had acted far too rashly. "He can't keep his mouth shut!" she vented randomly, not particularly to Vikteren but seemingly to the very air, perhaps the umbra who liked the sound of her voice. "Really! I don't see why he has to pry into everything! Useless!" The heat in her voice was obvious enough, evinced with every new syllable, but the softness returned the moment he was out of sight.

Vikteren watched her, his head put a little to the side, before he moved forward and caught her around the waist, stilling her movements. His hands crossed, flat across her stomach, his hold just slack enough to not feel threateningly confining. His breath stirred her red hair; he pressed his lips to her throat, very gently, once.
"Antha, calm yourself."
He spoke rashly, but it does no harm.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"It does plenty of harm to me," she replied simply, going just slightly rigid though her voice calmed considerably, "And why should I calm myself? Someone took off with my books and now my brother is being completely obnoxious and...and..." She gave up on words finally, breathless for a split second, a pout flickering across her face for a prolonged moment, her head tilting forward a bit and the thick mass of crimson curls sliding down, brushing her thin shoulders. She thought very vaguely of locking him in place, keeping him like this for a few minutes, but ultimately decided against it. What would really be the point?