C U R I O U S
On hearing that they would no longer be retaining their monthly dinner guest to give them exposition in their own lives, Iloquil was more than a little upset. Of course, as an ancient, ardent vampire, it was in her nature to emote,
hard, so even for her being annoyed it seemed like the world would come to an end. Imagine how she acted when she felt like a toy had been taken from her through no fault of her own.
"Why do you think she declined our offer?" Iloquil asked her sister, genuine puzzlement in her voice. "Darling, did she say anything to you?" She looked up from the small card table she and Deja sat at, eyes focusing on her mate as he poured himself a drink.
"No, nothing," Justinian said. "She
did seem nervous, though."
"It's so... abrupt," Iloquil said, making a motion with her hands. She paused, reaching down to move one of her chess pieces, and then placed her hands in her lap, wringing the napkin she had stolen from beneath her glass to give herself something to take out her frustrations on. She looked back up at Deja. "You don't think someone
said something to her, do you?"
Deja shrugged, liquid gold eyes focusing on the row of pawns set before her. "I wouldn't think so, but then again..." she trailed off, moving a piece. "Verity did threaten her." That's right, Deja. Drop those dimes.
Justin stiffened. "And
I will have a conversation with Niall about that." He couldn't have his fledglings losing control of their mates - it wasn't a good look for him. He was still noble, in the end, despite how rough their transitions had been to the vampire realm. He set his jaw, tapping his fingers against his glass thoughtfully. "Perhaps Alexander has insight. He tends to be everywhere, and sees everything," he offered.
"For once I would welcome his supposed omniscience," Iloquil admitted. "Persephone, darling, could you run and fetch him? I'd like his insight into this."
The jaguar, who had been leaning on the wall watching the chess game, straightened out. "Consider him fetched," she informed Iloquil, giving her a half-bow sarcastically. She slapped her hands to her legs as she stood up again, and left the room.
"Hm," Deja said as the jaguar exited the room. "I can't tell if she's being disrespectful or playful."
Iloquil glanced up. "Sister," she chided. "Always, the jaguar is playful." And Persephone was - right up until she wasn't.
Ironically, Alexander could be described in similar fashion. Nice, right up until he wasn't. He'd been roused from his reading when Persephone gave the door to the library a solid rap with her knuckles. "Hey, the boss wants you," she said, lifting her chin in greeting to him.
"Why?" he asked. He was suspicious. He was only here for Justinian, and even then, he was still pretty mad about what had transpired in his absence. Iloquil had written it off as water under the bridge, like she so often did, but Justinian knew his oldest friend was
not happy with him. Still, he stubbornly refused to admit his shortcomings, because of that noble blood, and it put everything in a new, more real, and much harsher light.
"They're spitballing ideas about why the Good Lady Frost won't come 'round anymore and tell them bedtime stories," she said, rolling her eyes and examining her nails. Her polish had chipped when she'd punched Stefan square his mouth that morning. He punched her
first though. She'd have to redo them. Damn.
He sat forward, closing his book, and looked at her. "Alright," he said, conceding to her/their request. "I can't imagine why they think
I would know, though. I wasn't even on board with this shit to begin with. It's
such a play to their vanity, I just can't."
"I
knoooow," Persephone said, hissing as he stood up. "It's soooooo bad." She fell quiet, then, light yellow-green eyes focused on his motions as though she were looking at someone waving a tin foil ball in front of her.
"What?" he asked, looking at her. "You think me rolling up my sleeves is worth watching?"
"No, it's just - every time you roll up your sleeves, you mean business." She gestured with a finger. "The more slowly and deliberately you do it, the more serious you are. And when you button them, oh boy, you're about to out-argue someone."
Alexander rolled his eyes, waving his hand at her. "Let's go, enough of that," he said. She wasn't necessarily
wrong though. It came from an old habit of attempting not to get blood all over himself. Back in the day, he couldn't afford a new shirt every time he splattered someone's face and got it on him. And going to new places covered in blood didn't endear one to the new population much. He shuddered. There had been
so many pitchforks.
"Ah, Alexander, darling," Iloquil sang, holding her hands up to him as he came in. She wouldn't stand, though, because she was still engaged in the chess match with Deja, and she didn't trust her wretched sister not to cheat. "I trust Persephone filled you in?"
"She did," he acknowledged. "But, I don't know why you'd think I know any more than any of you," he said, shrugging.
Justin looked at him pointedly. "
Please," he said, laden with acerbity. "You're everywhere when you want to be. We just want to know if you saw or heard
anything that could have indicated something made her not want to come anymore." He tipped his glass back, the ice clinking in it as he did so.
Alexander exhaled sharply through his nose. "You mean, a
mortal declared that she no longer felt safe among a hotbed of ancient, and
vicious, vampires?" He put a hand to his chest, the mockery palpable in his tone. "I can't imagine why she wouldn't want to attend any further.
Iloquil hissed at him. "Don't be stupid," she snapped. "Cerberus said he saw her before the last dinner looking - what's the word he used?
"Shaken, " Deja reminded her helpfully. She put her into check in the process.
"Right,
shaken. Something
had to have happened," she said again, this time her voice more insistent. "And I want to know what, or on account of whom, so I can act accordingly." She glanced down at the board, moving something, only for Deja to check her again.
"Sure, I understand," Alexander said. "But if you've already got this much information, you don't need me. I didn't
see or
hear anything that night, because I wasn't even here until the middle of dinner," he reminded them. Yeah, because he had a fucking life outside of these pompous assholes. A job. Shit to do. Shit that didn't involve them. Good luck explaining
that, though. He'd tried, and the lack of understanding had been enough to drive him to drink. Even
Samantha wasn't that obtuse.
"Maybe you could follow her?" Iloquil suggested helpfully. She knocked her king over with a long finger, irritated, and leaned back in her cushioned chair, folding her arms over her chest like a petulant child.
"What? That's ridiculous, I don't have time to dedicate to that," he exclaimed. "If you want to know so bad, why don't you just call her up and ask her? Why are you complicating this so much?" he demanded, making fists with his hands.
Justin cleared his throat, and leaned in a little. "We actually
did call her," he informed his friend, eyes squinting a little as he spoke. "The problem is, my compatriot, she wouldn't say. She made up an excuse about not having any room in her schedule, and I
know a lie when I hear one."
"Justinian, I do
not want to get involved in this," he insisted.
"Just for a few days," Justin said. It was like he'd already decided for Alexander, which pissed him off, but Justinian
was still his sire, and so some part of him was inclined to obey. Justinian was surely
proper fucked the day that changed, though - and if one asked Alexander, it was definitely closer on the horizon than it had
ever been before.
"Fucking
fine," he spat. "I'll give her the long weekend. And if I can't find out why, I'm
out. I'm not involved with this anymore. Do you agree?"
Justinian frowned, then opened his mouth to say something smart, but Iloquil interrupted him. "Yes!" she said emphatically. "Yes, of course darling, we agree. We just want this
one tiny favour, and then you can go back to being disinterested and play at hunter with your rude lady partner," she said, speaking of Samantha with disdain.
"Fine," he said again. "I'll come back when I know something - IF I know something," he added, pointing a finger at them as a whole. "But after that, I'm out."
"Of course, of course," they all said, holding their hands up in surrender.
When he left, Iloquil smiled to herself. She was confident that he would find out what she needed to know, and she could handle it from there. The thought hadn't crossed her mind that she might have to deal with someone she considered a friend, but even if it did, it was fleeting. Supposing she did feel too attached, she could always let Deja do it. She turned her attention back to her sister, who was arranging the chess pieces again, and went back to her game.
"Curiouser and curiouser," she muttered to herself, pushing her white pawn forward.
W I T N E S S
"Do you know how I got my fire?" she asked, pouring herself a drink. She didn't seem to be watching Aurora as closely as the hunter was watching
her, but Aurora knew better than to mistake her polite disinterest for lack of awareness.
"No," Aurora admitted. She shifted uncomfortably in the shackles that they'd put in her, and the irons rattled in an annoying clattering.
"Ah," Iloquil said, as though she'd just realized the bindings were there. "Cerberus darling, could you?" she asked, gesturing with her glass. Iron may not harm Iloquil anymore, but that didn't mean she wanted to debase herself by touching it. The dog didn't care one way or the other, so long as the iron was not on
him.
"I suspect you had help getting in here," Iloquil said to Aurora, now studying her as Cerberus worked. She tapped her finger against her glass, as though considering who, but the truth was, they both already knew. Only
one person would have told Aurora what would get Iloquil's attention. "I won't ask you to tell me who. I'm not mad, either - in fact, I'm actually rather impressed." She paused, reaching out to move stray strands of Aurora's hair back from her face. When the hunter flinched, Iloquil made a
face.
"Please," the vampire said flatly. "If I wanted to hurt you, you'd be dead. This cringing, docile behaviour doesn't become you."
"There you go, all free to ambulate," Cerberus said, irons in one hand as though they were weightless. "Ladies," he said in parting.
"Have a seat," Iloquil said. "I'll hear what you have to say."
"What?" Aurora said, confused.
"You went pretty far to ensure that you had my attention, specifically. And, darling, the one-word, confused, lost-girl approach really doesn't suit you, either. I need you to make your points, and quickly. I'm sure our mutual friend did tell you that I have an
incredibly short attention span." She gestured to Aurora to sit down in a chair, and Iloquil took her place across from her. It looked more like a Barbara Walters interview about to take place than storytime with an ancient.
"Okay, "Aurora breathed. If Iloquil wanted Aurora at full throttle, that's what she was going to get. Well, what she could manage, anyways. She didn't even know what
day it was, to be honest. She'd sat in the black cells for a long time, worried that the gimmick she'd used to get her in would wear off before she got Iloquil's attention. It
had, but not before her objective had been met. Now, of course, was the grand finale.
"I was hired by someone - "
"A mutual friend," Iloquil interjected.
"Uh, yeah, if you want to call them that," she said, frowning a little. She'd never consider vampires
friends, especially not these ones in particular, but whatever. "Anyways, I was hired to kill Bacchus," she concluded, just dumping it all out there.
A range of emotions crossed over Iloquil's face, the majority of which Aurora could only label as "angry", but the vampire was so old that there was a more nuanced way that she expressed herself visually, it seemed. She squeezed her glass so hard it fucking broke, though, and looked at her hand, almost as though she weren't sure what had happened. "Not again," she muttered.
She stood, calling for someone to come and clean the glass, and while they waited, a second ancient entered the room. Aurora didn't know who she was personally, but she knew
who she was. Short blonde hair, honey-amber eyes, thick accent that was hidden between snaps of gum -
Deja. For FUCK sake.
"Deja, darling," Iloquil greeted, holding her arm out to her sister. Her hand was already healed, of course. "You're just in time for us to learn why we had a Guild guest in our midst."
"Oh?" Deja asked, turning to look at Aurora. "How
interesting."
"I wasn't hired by anyone through the guilds," Aurora said quickly. The last fucking thing she needed was a guild war again, fuck. "I was hired independently by
our mutual friend. And anyways, if you knew what he did, he deserves it," she said, looking to the side, annoyed but unwilling to elaborate.
Deja held her hand up, tilting her head. "Well come on, darling, you can't tease us like that. What's he done to incur the wrath of a hunter? Aside from the usual, of course," Deja said, her melodic voice hinting at both curiosity and amusement.
"What
hasn't he done," Iloquil muttered into her drink, rolling her eyes. It
almost went unnoticed by Aurora, but not quite.
"He attempted to force himself on my client," Aurora said tersely. "He wanted to bite her and pull her into his thrall. To
collect her," she spat.
"
Did he," Deja breathed. There was something happening with her expression that was reminiscent of the same thing that went on with Iloquil's - it was a deep, seething sort of anger, but it mostly reflected in her eyes. Aurora had always been told that Fae had incredibly unique eyes, and Deja's were no different, but at the moment, they were positively burning, the amber seeming to have a lit-from-within glow that made her look so much more otherworldly than she already did.
Iloquil tapped her foot for a few seconds, as though she was trying to decide how to act. Then, her head snapped to look at her sister. "Deja. Get Kronos. Tell him to fetch me Bacchus," she commanded.
"It would be my greatest pleasure," Deja said, and there was a darkness in her voice that had not been there previously.
Iloquil glanced back to Aurora. "Stand, hunter," she commanded.
Aurora stood. She swallowed, hard. What was about to happen? Were they going to put their words against one another? Did they not believe her? They acted like they had, but she couldn't be sure. She wasn't considering this a success, yet.
Iloquil got in close on her, regarding her
very much like she were sizing her up. "You know, he will be mad that you used him to get in here," she said.
Aurora was caught
completely fucking off guard, naturally. She had anticipated Iloquil would say something about Bacchus, or her word, or Jillian's word, or something more pertaining to what was about to happen when Bacchus showed up, but no - she went for the throat.
Of course. "He will," she agreed.
"He might even leave you," Iloquil observed.
"That's a possibility," Aurora acknowledged. "More like a likelihood," she added, frowning.
"She really didn't tell you how I got my fire, did she?" she asked, looking into Aurora's eyes. She was searching for something, but what was anyone's guess.
"No," Aurora said. "She really didn't."
"You'll see," she said cryptically, reaching out to touch her arm. "Don't worry, darling," she added with a smile. "We knew something had happened; we just didn't know what, or with whom. I consider you a guest, handling some unfinished business. So, have a seat, and relax." The door opened, and Justinian came in, brows furrowed from his run-in with Deja in the hall moments prior. He went to Iloquil, hands up in a "what is going on" sort of way, not even acknowledging Aurora's presence.
"Darling," Iloquil said, leaning in to kiss his confused face. "So glad you could make it. We have something you need to witness."