The conversation between Sebastian and Pazel was abruptly cut short when an intoxicated boy stumbled his way over to the two, mumbling incoherent nonsense. Something about hunters getting a person or thing named Gran and he emerging from it. Was the kid attempting to summarize the story of Little Red Riding Hood or was he composing poetry about a phoenix emerging from the ashes? Pazel had no idea what the blonde was saying, but he did know this: there was no way this kid was 21 or older. “How old are you?” Pazel asked the second the young drunk finished his sentence. Surprisingly, the blonde, Matthew was his name, was apparently 18 years old. He looked barely 13, but Sebastian confirmed Matthew’s claims. Pazel had no choice, but to believe them. Had this been any other country, Pazel would have stopped pestering Matthew about his age, but this was the U.S. and the legal drinking age in all 50 states was 21. With how inebriated Matthew was, however, Pazel would have made Matthew stop drinking regardless of his age. “Why are people in this party allowing a teenager to get this drunk? I hope you didn’t drive here alone. Never mind. Come here Matthew.” Pazel passed his dessert plate to his aunt before guiding Matthew to a nearby chair. Once he managed to get Matthew seated, Pazel kneeled down to Matthew’s eye level. Pazel spoke slow enough to be sure the blonde could hear and understand what he was saying. “Stay here. I’m going to get you some water okay? If I’m lucky, I might find that pizza you wanted. It’ll probably be ridiculously fancy, but it’s still pizza.” Pazel stood up and looked to Sebastian, “I’ll be back as soon as I can, Mr. Jung.” Then he was off with Sophie close behind him.

Expecting the unexpected must be a prerequisite for working at this party; when Pazel asked if he could have a cup of water and whether or not pizza was on the menu, the staff took Pazel’s order, disappeared into the kitchen, and came back with a tray with a glass cup, a water jug filled with ice cold water, and a miniature pizza with expensive toppings sprinkled all over it. That was unbelievably fast. Not even refrigerated pizza could be prepared that fast. Maybe the staff members were having their own pizza party in the back. Pazel thanked the overworked staff before heading back to Matthew. 

On his way back, Pazel bumped into a well dressed woman, an encounter which ended with some of the water jug’s contents to splash on to the woman. The woman, on the other hand, managed to save both of her drinks without spilling a single drop. The damage was nothing serious, but Pazel quickly apologized to the black haired woman. Accepting the handkerchief offered by Sophie, the woman wiped herself dry. From how carefully she dried her silver necklace, he began to worry if he had ruined something priceless. “Don’t worry about it sweetheart. No harm done.” She smiled at Pazel until they heard Beauregard call out. “Carmilla!” The woman called Carmilla turned to Sophie, holding up the handkerchief. “I’ll be sure to clean this and send it back to you.” Sophie shook her head. “No need.” Carmilla smiled once more, before walking away, towards Beauregard. When Beauregard opened his arms to welcome her, Carmilla dodged Beauregard entirely and headed straight towards a group of people who were waiting for her. “What’s the word youngsters use these days?” Sophie suddenly asked her brother. “Burned?” He offered. “Ah yes,” Sophie repeated. “Burned.”

Pazel watched Carmilla pass one of the drinks in her hand to a man, who Pazel recognized being the man who was yelling at Beauregard earlier. “That’s Carmilla’s husband, Croglin Vlad.” Beauregard informed Pazel.

“Wasn’t he yelling at you earlier?”
“Indeed he was. Aside from having an affair with Carmilla, going out with his mother, and taking his daughter’s virginity, he accused me of making his son gay. Which is ridiculous, because no one can make a heterosexual man gay. He was just in the closet.” While Pazel was at a loss for words, Beauregard continued. “I am very disappointed with Carmilla though. I thought we had something special. All those long nights together. The mind blowing sex. The sweet nothings we would say to each other. I said ‘I love you’ at least twice already and this is how she treats me? For shame.”

As fun as it was to watch his grandson’s dumbfounded face, Sophie’s expression was more accurate to what Beauregard was feeling: confused and worried. Beauregard exchanged body fluids and said “<I love you>” twice to Carmilla Vlad, yet she had completely evaded Beauregard. Impossible. Well, not impossible, but highly unlikely. There were ways around Beauregard’s “charms”, but the Carmilla Beauregard knew could not have met any of the requirements. Sophie turned towards Pazel. “Why don’t you go deliver that water and pizza?” Remembering his original quest, Pazel rushed back to Matthew with the tray. 

After Gloria Anderson made her speech, the siblings watched the leader or representative of each family follow Gloria to the main attraction no one else would have the chance to participate in. Stealthily Beauregard fished out his smartphone to take a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Vlad before Croglin vanished with the others.

[i]Click. [/i]