Trash Panda

~Bonsoir~

Works for me! Vail and Sylvia are friendly enough with each other for something like that

~Bonsoir~

Sure, we could work it that way. So she would arrive right after Vail and Sylvia get there?

~Bonsoir~

I'm planning to just briefly summarize the rest of Vail's time with Sylvia in my next post to catch up. By the time Victoria gets to the Hygrace manor, he'll be back in his room taking a nap to catch up on sleep.

~Bonsoir~

Katherine’s forewarning about Peter proved to be true when the leader of the Hygrace clan appeared at his son’s door at noon on the dot. Vail was expectedly irritable about the announcement that he needed to get up and make himself decent for Sylvia’s arrival, but he didn’t resist the plans his father had made for him. Even though he had no intention of leaving Victoria for the other vampire, he would have pitied Lady Macey for coming all the way to the Hygrace manor just to be turned away because he refused to see her. Besides, it was just one day with her, and they were under no obligation to do anything other than spend time together. He could tolerate that for a few hours knowing that their outing wouldn’t impact his relationship with the woman he actually desired to be with.

So, he bathed and dressed himself and strode down to the foyer as soon as he heard a knock at the front door, stifling a yawn that threatened to escape his lips. He had gone to sleep earlier than usual, but he was still accustomed to slumbering until the evening, and the effects of rising sooner were weighing down on his psyche. He hoped he would grow more alert as the day dragged on.

“Vail, look who’s here to see you,” Katherine, who had come to the door after one of the servants had answered it first, turned toward him with a bright smile as if he didn’t already know Lady Macey was coming for a visit. She stepped out of the way to let him by, but it didn’t slip past him that she was lingering like she expected him to bolt at any second.

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Vail swept them over his guest instead. It was undeniable that Sylvia was a beautiful woman. She wore a deep purple dress that cinched at her tiny waist and flared at her voluptuous hips, showing off an hourglass figure that not all female vampires could boast of despite their superior genes. Her inky black hair had been teased and curled to fall in thick waves over her left shoulder in a way that framed her diamond-shaped face and contrasted starkly with her white-blue irises. As their gazes met, her scarlet lips pulled upward at the corners in a playful smile that he remembered well from the last few times they had crossed paths. “It is good to see you again, my lord,” she curtseyed to him politely with a grace that was difficult for humans to match. As she dipped down, the frilly umbrella in her hand shifted, and sunlight fell on her flawless, alabaster skin, which nearly seemed to glow in the afternoon light.

“And you as well, Lady Macey,” Vail bowed to her in return. He could feel his mother’s unrelenting gaze on his back, and he stepped outside as soon as he righted his posture, eager to get away from his overbearing parents.

Sylvia said a quick goodbye to Katherine before joining him on the way to her waiting carriage. “You’re brooding,” she observed, an amused smirk twisting her full lips as she fell in step beside him. “Was I too formal? You know that display was just to please your mother.”

“I know,” he sighed, pausing to wait for the coachman to open the door for them. Although he harbored no romantic feelings for the woman standing next to him, they were friendly enough that he was less restrained with his emotions in her presence. They had known each other almost as long as he had been alive—she was about fifty years his senior, not that it mattered to their kind—and had seen quite a bit of each other since the Maceys were informal allies of the Hygraces. The long history had formed a level of comfort between them that allowed Vail to let his guard down and trust her.

“It isn’t you, Sylvie,” he explained vaguely, taking her hand to help her climb into the carriage. As he did, his hazel eyes traced the pristine cosmetics that painted her face and the luxurious fabric that hugged her curves. “But you are taking this engagement rather seriously, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t you?” she returned as she settled down on the back seat. “We both knew this was coming. Our families have been alluding to our marriage for decades, so it was only a matter of time before they started planning it.” She shrugged carelessly, twirling a lock of shiny hair around her finger. “We might as well embrace it. Wouldn’t you rather marry me than some other woman you may not get along with?”

I’d rather marry the woman I love, he thought bitterly as he sat down across from her. “You’re really fine with all of this?” he frowned, quirking a brow at her. “We get along, but I know you don’t look at me like a potential partner, and I don’t see you as one either.”

“Since when does that matter?” Sylvia stared at him bemusedly. “I’m not sure when you became such a romantic, but this isn’t about us. It’s for our families. And I do think we would make a good team, by the way. We already know each other well, we have similar ideals, and we enjoy each other’s company. If it’s physical compatibility you’re concerned about, we could test the waters at the end of today,” she added nonchalantly. “I won’t be fertile until next summer.”

Vail coughed into his sleeve. “That isn’t what I meant. I just…” he trailed off with a troubled look, unsure how to tell her that his heart had recently been taken by another. He knew she would just pester him for details if she found out, but she was perceptive enough to figure it out for herself.

“Vail Matthias Hygrace,” Sylvia chirped with a knowing grin, flashing her wicked fangs. “You’re smitten with someone, aren’t you?” She leaned forward in her seat, taking his silence as confirmation that she was right. “Well, now out with it. Who is she?”

“That’s a bit of a sensitive subject,” he diverted. Even though he loved Victoria and wanted to be able to declare it proudly, he was certain that Lady Macey would be just as disapproving as the rest of his family. For the sake of having one less vampire breathing down his neck about who he chose to be with, he wouldn’t tell her the truth just yet. “My father isn’t supportive though. She’s the reason why he reached out to yours about hurrying our marriage along.”

“Oh,” Sylvia deflated, noticing the frustration in his voice. “I’m sorry, Vail… We may not be in love, but for what it’s worth, I’ll do my best to be a good partner to you.”

“Thanks,” he turned his head to stare out the window, falling quiet again as his thoughts found their way back to Victoria. But it will never get that far.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

True. Mine are both quirky in different ways, haha.

My schedule got rearranged yet again, so I had time to squeeze in a post this morning ^^

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas wished he knew what was on Iris’s mind that made her so unhappy that evening. To his best guess, it was probably something to do with her still-missing memories or the fact that no one had yet come to claim her from the mansion. Though he wouldn’t say it to her face, he was starting to find it strange just how little progress they had made in almost a week. He had toured her around the capital to bring her to places that most high borns visited at least once in their youths, but nothing had sparked any recollection in her fuzzy brain. Similarly, someone had to have noticed her disappearance by now, but there were no calls on the line asking if she was still there, and no missing person reports had come through with her photo attached. He didn’t know what was preventing her from getting home, but even he was beginning to feel the frustration that was probably bringing tears to her eyes now.

As she whispered something ominous, the prince frowned concernedly. She really was losing hope if she thought something even worse was still yet to come. “That’s just the fear talking,” he shook his head adamantly in denial of her prediction. “There’s no reason for something dreadful to happen. The attack was nothing to do with you. It was just an unfortunate coincidence, and now that it’s been taken care of and security had been boosted, you’re completely safe here. My dad isn’t going to kick you out because he’ll realize he overreacted, and you can stay as long as you need to in order to make sure you’ve got a roof over your head until you’re able to go home.” He squeezed her hand as he spoke, trying to comfort her. Despite the strangeness of her blocked up memories and the mystery of why no one had come out looking for her, he chose to remain optimistic.

“You’re welcome,” he returned her smile when she thanked him, though he noticed that she wasn’t finishing her food. At the follow-up question, he glanced down at his watch again. “Soon, but Jacob will come fetch me when the car is ready. He said he was going to meet me in the kitchen, since I hadn’t eaten yet.” Reminded of his own dinner, he lifted another forkful of salmon and rice to his lips. He’d already finished more than half of the plate, but he didn’t want to waste what was left by running out of time before he could eat the rest.

“Well, I was planning to swing by the bar for a whiskey after I get back,” he admitted with a smirk. “I’ll come to your room first to check if you’re awake before I go there. How does that sound?” Truthfully, he was exhausted, and he was mostly planning to have the drink to help him sleep more soundly, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend more time with Iris. He’d barely seen her all day. It was terrible timing since they had just professed to like each other the night before.

When she said that she couldn’t stomach the rest of her food, Cas just nodded. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was tossing a dish that would be worth easily sixty credits at a gourmet restaurant and a glass of white wine from a five hundred credit bottle. At least the kitchen staff would probably finish off the latter once they were gone, since she hadn’t touched it at all. “Try to get what rest you can,” he advised, returning the favor for the mothering she had done to him earlier. “At least there’s one benefit to being stuck in this place: You can sleep all day if you’d like.”

“Your Highness.”

At the sound of Jacob’s familiar voice, the prince slipped his hand out of Iris’s and peered over his shoulder. The security guard was standing by the door with his head inclined as his future king’s eyes fell on him. “Are you ready to leave?” he inquired.

“Give me two minutes,” Cas replied, turning back to his dinner to shovel down the rest of the food quickly. As soon as the last grain of rice had disappeared, he swallowed the rest of his wine and stood up from his seat. “I’ll see you later, Iris,” he offered her a smile. “Wish me luck.” With the address fast approaching, he turned and followed Jacob out the door that led to the landing pad for the hover car.

~Bonsoir~

I’m on board with that idea! Cross gender friendships are more common among vampire clans than they would have been among humans in the Victoria era, so Vail wouldn’t realize how Victoria perceived his spending time with Sylvia until communication between them suddenly stopped

Cirque du Sombre [Siaya Dragalorn & Summer]

“I’m a man of many talents,” Rayth shrugged, flashing a toothy grin at Lune over his shoulder. Though he made the statement carelessly, he was aware of the way most people took his words when he insinuated that he wasn’t just a boy. His eternally youthful face and the energetic pitch of his voice were deceiving. Humans always assumed he was on the upper edge of his teenage years even though he was well past that point of his life. By vampire standards, he was technically still quite young, but he had enough life experience to consider himself a seasoned adult by now.
At Lune’s following assertion that she wasn’t going to leave because of him, he bit the tip of his tongue to keep himself from pointing out that she had almost left once because of him already. He didn’t know what had brought her back the second time around, but just in case the thread was fragile, he didn’t want to upset her and make her change her mind again. If he had to tell Frieda that he’d scared off their newest member twice, he’d be mortified.
“I guess not,” he agreed congenially instead.
Lightening the mood, her last quip earned a bark of laughter from the half-vampire. “Giant mosquito?” he repeated incredulously. “I’ve heard a lot of crazy names through the years, but that one’s a first, Smurfette.” Ending the nickname on a hard ‘t,’ he shot her a waggish wink. If it was a battle of wits she wanted, he’d gladly stand toe-to-toe with her. Most of the other monsters in the circus were too serious to banter, so maybe there was a benefit to keeping a human around after all.
Sensing that the tension had lifted, Rayth stood up from the bench and glanced at the large fabric flaps that curtained off the backyard. Between his nap and the conversation with Lune, the other troupe members had probably made some decent headway on packing up all their gear. He didn’t want to wait until they were done before he showed her to the train. Someone might mistake her for a lost after party invitee on the way and pounce.
“Now that you’ve made up your mind, do you want me to show you where you’ll be staying?” he asked, turning back to the blue-haired girl. Just in case she was still wary of going anywhere alone with him, he chased the question with an impromptu piece of motivation: “If we beat everyone else back, we’ll get first dibs on the showers.”

~Bonsoir~

True, haha. Vail and Sylvia already know each other and are sort of family friends. If Victoria hadn't come along, she's the one Vail would have eventually married, because their two clans had been considering forming a union for some time. He gets along with her well enough, but they don't have any romantic chemistry, which is why he was never interested in pursuing her before.

I'm thinking that later on in the story, Sylvia could become a more major player. Not as a love interest, but as a potential ally and/or friend since she isn't particularly interested in marrying Vail either. She isn't opposed to the marriage (since they're already friends, he's not the worst option for a husband to her), but she's definitely indifferent at best. After the Wynters take over London, she would want to help Vail and the rest of the Hygraces get back on their feet to retake their place at the top of the food chain because they were better leaders than the Wynters would ever be.

~Bonsoir~

Yeah, they're always fun to throw into stories cx
Plus, I figured that this would be the most realistic ace up Peter's sleeve. If he managed to marry Vail off to someone else, he wouldn't have to worry about Victoria anymore. He doesn't believe Vail is actually in love with her, so it's a foolproof plan in his mind, because Sylvia is beautiful too and he's hoping that Vail will end up losing interest in Victoria once he starts spending time with a vampress instead.