The castle was beautiful, weeks of planning had gone into this party, and honestly it showed. The decorations alone had to have been days of work alone. Everything one would expect for a wedding celebration. The short brunette's blue eyes wandered around the castle as they headed towards the ballroom. It definitely screamed Helena and she was excited to finally get to see her best friend again. Of course there always had to be one spoilsport in the room, and for that, her father was master. She glanced at Issack as he made some comment about the lighting before they entered the room. Isabella couldn't help but roll her eyes at the complaint, like they weren't vampires that could see just fine. Her glance landed on her bodyguard Eve, who looked stunning in her orange and red dress, and was trying to keep a straight face. Sometimes it was like they shared the same mind towards him.

Of course once they entered the ballroom it was all pleasantries. As if Checkov wasn't smart enough to see it was all fake bullshit. Once Checkov had finished greeting her father and greeted her, Isabella smiled, giving as best of a courtesy. Though long, her green dress with silver and gold embroidery was not built for free movement as much as hugging curves. "Everything looks so wonderful, Checkov. I bet Helena is so excited." Izzy said cheerfully, glancing around the room hoping to see her as Issack started droning on. Trying to hide the disappointment when she didn't. Honestly most of the time when her father started talking she blocked it out. It seemed the only way to keep her own sanity in check. She caught herself trying to tuck her hair behind her ear as Checkov spoke to her again. Which probably looked ridiculous as she had it braided into a ponytail. Ever the gentleman though, he didn't call attention to her ignoring them. 

"Though she shouldn't be inviting people to a party she isn't hosting." Issack said, giving her a look before she even had the chance to answer Check. He was just pissed because she had invited a wolf and that she had run away to the south for a week. 

"I do apologize, sometimes my excitement gets the better of me." She said pointedly ignoring her father for Checkov. "Honesty I thought…"

"Why don't you go see if you can find Helena, Isabella." Issack cut her off, speaking to her in the tone you would a child. 

Izzy couldn't help the shooting side glance she gave her father. Eyes reddening a touch before glancing back at Checkov and giving a tight smile. "Save a dance for me as usual, Checkov?" She said before giving a small curtsy and leaving the two of them, heading straight for the wine. She needed to get her hand tightly around the neck of something. Quickly downing a glass and taking another one to sip, before looking around the ballroom for Helena again. Only to find Diana watching her instead, she smiled and gave a little nod in her direction. Izzy loved Diana, she had helped her sneak into Cass's carriage. However, she knew if she got into a conversation with her it would likely be a few, albeit fun, couple of minutes before she would get done. And she was on the hunt for either one of two people at this point.

After a few more searching glances around the room. She gathered that Helena must be in the halls somewhere, and decided to look for her. It only took a few moments to find her outside of the western entrance of the ballroom. Excitement took hold of her before even having time to think about why she was out here. Or who these two men she had never met before were, that was talking to her. "Hels" She called excitedly, the click of her echoing through the hall as she rushed forward and engulfed her friend in a hug. "Oh stars! You look so beautiful! I missed you!"

After a moment she stepped away remembering she might have just interrupted something. "Oh I'm sorry, I got excited. Didn't mean to interrupt." She said frowning a bit, eyes catching Eve, who had finally caught up with a bit of a huff.

—

A small quiet growl came from Nikolai as he fiddled with his tie in one of the mirrors in Cass's room. Even though he knew how to tie a tie, there were two reasons this was annoying. First he had managed to not have to actually wear a tie for 400 years, and second, who the hell thought making ties out of silk was a good idea? Either the look on his face. Or the thought of shifting so he could rip this fucking thing into a million pieces gave away his frustration, because next thing he knew the tie was tying itself. His brown eyes glanced around the room for a second before he found Oak, struggling to keep a toddler still so he could put on her little strappy shoes. 

Chuckling lightly he walked over and picked the distracted toddler up. Getting a giggle from her while Oak was able to get her shoes on her. "Thanks, she's a little over excited to be playin' in Cass's room." Oak said as Niko let Palsea down and she took off quickly. 

Niko laughed a little bit watching her. "No problem. You're gonna have a off of a t'me keepin' up with her ton'ght." He before Oak sighed and went after her to keep her from playing in Cass's closet. Shaking his head a bit, Niko went to check on his witches. Most of whom were excited to hang around with the witches from Cass's Coven. Or excited to get to be at one of these parties. He guessed this was still an important thing in witch culture, or maybe vampire culture. It had been a rather long time since he had been around this many vampires. Though it put him on edge a bit, he trusted Cass. Not to mention this Checkov seemed accommodating, while he of course didn't ask about bringing people from his pack, Checkov didn't have to agree to let him bring some of his witches. 

[I]"Well of course he agreed. That vampire leader has a hard on for witches. I swear, one of the girls from my Coven. She hardly got out before he grabbed her and forced her to join them. Probably wants to take ours too."[/i] The witch that gave him that warning of course didn't come with them. Not that he would have asked her. He wasn't worried too much about it though, his witches were part of the pack. If they choose to leave they were still part of it, just like Oak. 

When Cass finally joined them to get ready, he smiled a bit at her response to actually seeing him in a suit. "I feel like this tie is gonna end up chokin' someone by the end of the n'ght." He complained pulling on the tie a little before chuckling as she softly slapped his hands away and fixed the mess he had made of it. After making sure that everyone of his were set up, aside from makeup and hair, which he wasn't going to touch and mess up for them. He ran his hands over his dark blue shirt before buttoning up his suit. Putting a piece of spearmint candy in his mouth to block out the wolf smell from the den of vipers he was about to enter.

Niko sighed a bit when asked if he was ready as he and Cass made their way out into the hall. "As I'm gonna be, not rea'ly as worr'ed about your boyfriend as the other two." He said softly. Though he didn't really get time to say much more before she saw someone she knew and wandered off, leaving him standing there awkwardly staring after her. Frowning a bit he decided to just follow after Mercy and the witches.

—

Mitchell ran his hands over his suit one more time as he looked into the mirror. It had been years since the last time he had been to a ball like this. The last one actually being right after he had joined Checkov's coven. What a shit show it was too. Not because of Checkov but because of the way Issack had reacted when Checkov brought him in. After that he pretended to have reasons not to, then Lia came around and he actually did have one. He checked the clock quickly before heading into the hall. Atty had probably beat him outside to wait for the girls. They had plenty of time since the girls insisted on getting ready at the cabin. Still he didn't want to be too late, he would be lying if he said the idea of seeing Lia all done up didn't excite him. 

Blinking a bit when he heard his name called, he looked behind him in time to see Cass catching up with him and stopped to wait for her. It was definitely a surprise to see her not in a dress already. "Hey Cass." He smiled a bit. *Your hair looks gorgeous." He added before chuckling as she complained about his suit but started to get onto him about the tie. "I'm actually allergic to silk, it makes my throat close. Checkov remembered from before and gave me two approved ties to pick from." He explained as he walked her to her room, before going outside to wait for the girls. 

Mitch glanced at the doors where Atticus finally joined him, before shaking his head. "No, it will probably be a couple minutes still." A small smile played on his lips as he watched Atty's nerves show on his face. Lia had told him how she was teaching Atty how to dance this weekend, when he brought up he had been teaching Kat. It was kind of sweet honestly. "Are you excited or nervous to dance with Kat?" He asked, before the carriage finally came into sight. 

Once the carriage stopped and the door opened, he stopped dead in his tracks, hand offered out. Lia in her dress, all made up, he had known she would of course look beautiful. Even he hadn't expected just how breathtaking though. [I]"That bad, huh?"[/i] Mitchell cleared his throat a little and blinked, he was staring, he couldn't help it. "You look…..absolutely beautiful." He answered softly before shaking his head and helping her by the hand she had already taken. As they walked towards the entrance he still couldn't help but stare a bit out the counter of eye. Catching the necklace that he had given her a few weeks ago around her neck.

When Checkov stopped them and told them about the unexpected guests. Mitch couldn't help but frown a bit, a little bit of worry coming through. One didn't simply show up unexpectedly to one of Checkov's parties without a death wish, so at least he had been informed. He glanced at Lia and her reaction soothed him just a little bit as he offered his arm once more. 

—

Kat couldn't help but be excited as Lia helped her with her hair for the ball. Though she had been to one before, this was different. She had her own dress, her hair was going to be pretty instead of just fiddled with at the last minute. She had someone to dance with…that thought brought a kind of warmth to her heart that she wasn't ready to look at though. She had asked Mitchell to dance though so she wouldn't be embarrassing to dance with. 

Lia's question brought her back to the present, she hadn't even realized that she had even flinched when she got poked a little. "No, it feels fine. It just poked me a little." She asked before smiling as she looked at her hair. "Thank you, it's so pretty." She said looking at Lia in the mirror before nodding when asked if she wanted some tea. Kat looked at her dress as Lia made their tea, it was so pretty. Long, strapless, and flowy, starting a dark blue and ombreing down into a tealish green and then dark green at the bottom. The seamstresses had seemed a little unsure while they were working on it. However, she had been so proud when she brought it to Kat, and it had to be her favorite dress from now on. Lia had chuckled when Kat said she would find more reasons to wear it, but it hadn't been a joke. 

The tea was a nice little nerve smoother as she sipped it. It wasn't that she was nervous, but she did feel a little jittery. There was so much they had to do and there were going to be so many people. Vampires. Lia had put down spells to keep her safe, but still anytime she got too close to Checkov's vampires there were problems. Shaking her head a bit, Kat decided she would rather focus on getting ready, and went to get her makeup and earrings for the night. Leaving the lipstick for last so she didn't ruin it on the tea cup. Then came time for dresses, and she was so thankful for Lia's help. Most of her dresses didn't require zipping or tying like this. "I think I'm in love with it." She giggled twirling just a little as Lia said the colors fit her.

"Wow….you look so beautiful Lia." Kat said after helping her with her dress. If Kat looked pretty then Lia looked like a goddess in hers. She definitely caught the smile that flashed on Lia's face before she hurried her to get everything. Kat didn't even argue with the jacket after the cold she had gotten over, and put her heels on with Lia before leaving the cottage. Though getting into the carriage was not an easy feat and was happy to get in first, someone could catch her if she fell. 

"Ready, but a little nervous I'll step on Atty's foot." She said with a little laugh as the carriage started moving. It was only a ten minute drive to the castle, but their dresses and heels would have been ruined if they had taken the walk. [I]Wow! You look great!"[/i] Kat couldn't help but blush and she smiled as Atty helped her out of the carriage. "Thanks, you look so handsome." Kat smiled when Checkov greeted them, but honestly his unexpected guests didn't really worry her any. After all, she knew how protective Checkov was over her and Lia. Taking Atty's arm she nodded, and headed into the ballroom with him. 

The room was beautiful and she couldn't help that getty feeling again as she looked around the room. It definitely wasn't full but there were people still coming in through both doors. Most of the people already inside were grouped up or talking. A group of witches hung out near the other doors talking. Diana was talking to some woman and a child, while Cass was talking to some man she didn't know so she guessed he was with her coven. "I didn't even know this room could look so pretty." Kat said more to herself with a smile before looking at Atty. "Let's see if we can find some drinks."