Minuet of the Night
Alice? I still hate you. :P
Yes, more vampires. -___-;;
Somewhere in Europe, 1263: Julian
The lilting strains of music carried through the open windows, flowing gaily past the cloaked figure who stood partially concealed amidst the lilacs. He listened in silence and stillness, observing the laughing figures within without their ever being aware of the eyes upon them. Long had he mastered the art of being unseen, observing without ever being observed, and this night looked to be no different.
Different faces, different costumes, but much the same as it ever was. The laughing and the talking, the exchanging of pretty words while testing one another for weakness. It was the way things were, in this era of religion and deception. Sometimes, he felt as though he had seen all that there was to see.
Yet not all was familiar, and it was that lone unfamiliar note that held his attention and prevented it from straying.
There, sitting out of the way of the so-called persons of importance, a musician played. Skilled fingers ran almost playfully along the long string of his harp, creating a sound of such beauty that Julian felt it wasted upon the wastrel within. Certainly they seemed to pay him no mind, though it was uncertain which was more striking - the musician or his music.
There was no disguising the care and skill which went into the song being played, so exquisite that it had captivated Julian's attention almost from the first moment the man had begun to weave his sensory spell. The style was both new and old, an enigma, and one he found himself becoming lost in the complexities of.
Yet the musician himself was almost as fascinating, a handsome face half hidden beneath the fall of golden brown curls, left unstylishly free to tumble as they wished. His clothing was of decent cut and style, yet was worn almost haphazardly, as though he cared little for how others might view him. Accident? Design? It was hard to say. Certainly he would stand out otherwise, for if he held himself with poise and aplomb he would turn heads wherever he went. That, more than anything, made him think that it was all a kind of disguise.
Then the man opened his mouth, and Julian knew nothing else.
Singers he had heard before, thousands of voices from thousands of lands, and all of them paled beside this one. It wrapped around him, a rich story of warmth and light and love, reminding him of things he had long since forgotten during his long journey through the night. So many voices, so many instruments, over so many, many years, and none had ever captured him the way this one man had.
Time ceased to exist. He had no notion of how long he stood there, enthralled by the music, before he finally became aware of a steady gaze upon him, unerringly fastened upon his window, despite all that he had done to remain invisible. The music's spell upon him was broken, yet before he could make his escape he found himself ensnared in an entirely different trap.
Blue eyes. Even across the crowded hall, Julian could make out the impossible blue of the musician's eyes as they locked with his own. Such a color he had all but forgotten, for beneath the wan light of moon and candle all colors lost their vibrancy.
Not so, those eyes. They watched him, held him, more powerful even than the music which never faltered. How long he might have remained trapped thus he could never say, but for the gradual awareness of the whispers and stares as the mortals began to notice the musician's gaze and follow it back to Julian.
Still he could not move until at last a shrill scream cut through the night, drowning out the enchanting music and allowing Julian to tear his gaze away from those mesmerizing eyes and flee into the silent darkness of the night.
France, 1410: Sebastian
The night was cool but pleasant, the breeze bringing with it a hint of sea air and the faintly pungent smell of oil lanterns burning through the evening hours. Overhead the sky was clear, countless stars visible alongside the merest sliver of a crescent moon. It was a good evening for hunting, as many a lass or lad could be easily enamored of such a picturesque night. Dinner and entertainment both should be easily come by with very little effort.
Where to begin looking? The dockyards generally held ample fare, but there was only so much fish flavor he could tolerate before looking elsewhere. Perhaps the merchant district, though their blood frequently tended toward the thick and fatty. Or mayhap he could indulge in a little bit of nobility, with all the varied treats to be sampled.
Of course, the last time he'd supped on one of those sorts, his chosen meal had gotten him more than a little tipsy...
Maybe if he made his selection early enough in the evening that the wine had not yet begun to flow freely, he could enjoy his delicacy without the problematic side-effects. If he recalled right, the Comte Auvergne was having a party this evening and that would make a fine hunting ground indeed.
When he drew close to the estate, however, something drew his attention away from the brightly-lit windows and the moving figures he could see within. A shadow where none should be, made all the more intriguing for the way it appeared to blend almost effortlessly into the background. Were it not for his own heightened senses, he suspected he would never have seen it at all.
Sebastian drew closer, curious, gradually able to make out a figure within the shadow, dark color of clothing impossible to make out by starlight, but the so-pale hair that spilled down that elegant back could not be missed. Like a frozen fall of moonlight, it shone unlike anything he'd ever seen. Beautiful.
"See anything interesting?" he asked, unable to help himself and wanting badly to see to whom that hair belonged.
The figure at the window started, whirling around on silent feet, fangs bared in automatic response to a threat, though a moment later his eyes widened.
Sebastian could do naught but stare, taken back over a hundred years (two hundred? so hard to remember) to a night he'd never been able to forget, a face in the window forever burned into his memory. To find him again, here, in a different time, a different place... did vampires dream?
The beautiful, pale-haired stranger was staring back at him, mouth hanging open just enough that Sebastian could see the points of his teeth. Perhaps he remembered Sebastian as well as Sebastian remembered him, although Sebastian was far from the impossibly unforgettable vision of his pale beauty.
"You seem to have a fondness for looking through windows," Sebastian said, wanting to kick himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
But the pale stranger only blinked, his startlement melting away into a distant mask as he glanced briefly over his shoulder at the brightly-lit tableau inside.
"It suffices," he said, voice like golden honey despite the chill he attempted to give it. Beautiful sound to accompany the beautiful sight.
Sebastian wanted more.
"If you are so fond of watching," he asked curiously, "Why not simply join them inside?"
Ripples cascaded through that enchanting hair as the pale man shook his head. "I am but content to watch."
That made little sense to Sebastian, for why witness the merriment of others when you could partake of it yourself? Why skulk about in darkness when it was all too easy to step into the light?
All of a sudden, he realized he desperately wanted to know what his mysterious beauty looked like in real light, and not this pale, starlit imitation. He was hardly aware of moving until he had the other man's wrist clasped firmly in his grasp, and up close it was startling to note how very tall his pale stranger was. Strange, that it didn't make him at all ungainly. Rather, it seemed to give him a certain remote elegance.
"Come on," Sebastian said, pulling the reluctant man toward the manor's entryway. "If it's fun to watch, it's more fun to join."
"I... that is..." That rich honey voice protested, although surprisingly the man made no move to free himself from Sebastian's grip.
As they neared the doors, Sebastian slowed and held a finger to his lips. "Don't raise a fuss," he admonished. "You'll attract attention."
He hadn't really expected it to work, but to his further surprise the man fell silent, only a faint furrow between his brows betraying his unease with the situation. It faded into surprise when the doorman greeted Sebastian by name (well, the name he'd built up to be better able to walk about in these circles) before fading back into an expressionless mask once they were through the doors.
They were granted a few polite nods and a smile here and there from those few whose closer acquaintance Sebastian had made, but he acknowledged them only absently. All of his attention this night was for his mysterious stranger, standing hesitantly at the threshold between entryway and dance floor. A slight tug on the wrist Sebastian still held captive brought the man away from the shadows and into the light, and Sebastian suddenly found it hard to breathe.
Ohh. If he'd thought his mysterious stranger beautiful by starlight, he was utterly captivating in the warm glow of the candles and oil lanterns scattered about. That hair, nearly colorless before, took on the faintest of golden sheens like gold dust scattered over new-fallen snow. His skin was still pale - hard for a vampire to be anything but - but his eyes, oh, he hadn't gotten a good look at those eyes before, and if he'd thought that voice reminiscent of golden honey, those eyes couldn't be described as anything else.
Sebastian wasn't really aware that he was staring until his beautiful stranger fidgeted, imperceptible to a human eye but unmistakable to a vampire, and he came back to himself all at once. With his most brilliant smile, Sebastian released his captive's wrist and offered his hand instead.
"Well?" he asked, striving to keep a light tone to his own voice. "Shall we dance?"
Those honey-brown eyes widened briefly, then narrowed. If they hadn't been surrounded by a room full of humans, he'd probably have gotten the bared fangs again. "What?"
"Dance," Sebastian repeated, ignoring the very probable threat to his continued existence to pull the pretty blond into the thick of the dancing and right up close where Sebastian wanted him.
"What are you doing?" his pretty stranger hissed, flashing a fleeting hint of fangs. "Men do not dance together in this era."
"Oh fie," Sebastian scoffed. "They're all used to my little eccentricities by now."
Much to his surprise, no further protests arose. Indeed, his lovely vampire seemed rather shocked by something, though Sebastian wasn't really sure what. It didn't matter, as long as it got him what he wanted - them, touching, dancing, moving with the music. The first few steps were halting, and Sebastian wondered briefly if his mysterious watching stranger had ever danced before, but it didn't seem to take him very long at all to pick up the pattern.
Like everything else about him, he moved like no one and nothing else Sebastian had ever known. He was like grace personified, elegance and majesty and a lingering hint of that remote air, and if Sebastian hadn't already known him for a vampire his dancing would easily have given him away. Nothing human could ever move like that.
They were nearly to the end of the set and the beginning of the next before that honey voice finally spoke again, the slightest of frowns making its way back onto his brow. "How can you live amongst humans?" was the question, and it took Sebastian a moment to remember what he'd said to prompt such a query.
"Why not?" he threw back, confusion over the odd line of questioning unable to overcome the deliriously pleasant feel of getting to meet and touch his beautiful mystery man.
That frown deepened, though not once did his stranger fumble his steps. "It is madness," he stated, with the firm conviction of one who is absolute in his belief. "They will all die and leave you alone in the world."
"All things die," Sebastian responded automatically, even as he wondered what had happened to make his beautiful stranger so fearful of being alone.
"Not us," came the quiet reply, pitched so that only vampire ears could hear.
"Yes," Sebastian agreed, feeling a reckless amusement bubbling up within him. "I'm glad for that, at least. This world would be far less beautiful without you in it."
That, apparently, was enough to halt the pretty blond in his tracks. His eyes were wide as he took a step back, away from Sebastian but not so far that Sebastian couldn't reclaim his hand if he wished. "You are mad."
Sebastian blinked, then laughed. "Maybe," he said impishly, "But I still speak the truth."
If he wasn't imagining it, the slightest dusting of color seemed to flush those pale cheeks. His blond stranger opened his mouth, closed it again, shook his head, and tried again. "That... you..." Another head shake, and then he stilled, eyes darting to the curious mortal eyes that had been drawn when they abruptly ceased their dance.
His pretty, apparently, did not at all like to be the center of attention. Sebastian gathered his power, hoping to perhaps entice a few of the important ones to draw attention away, but before he could do anything at all those honey-brown eyes flashed with impossible power.
All around them, people resumed their dancing and conversations as though nothing at all had happened. Not a single person in the room was looking their way, and Sebastian made a slow circle to stare about in awe. It was impossible, and yet the truth of it was before his eyes. He'd thought his pretty vampire's skittishness to be a product of youth and inexperience, but that kind of power proved him to be anything but. On a good day, Sebastian could hypnotize four or five people at once, but no vampire he'd ever heard of could affect an entire room.
He turned back, questions on his lips, only to find that during the distraction his beautiful blond had fled, leaving behind only Sebastian's memories as evidence he'd ever been there.
Amusement warring with disappointment, Sebastian glided smoothly through the crowd, looking for the dinner and amusement he'd originally begun this night in search of. He managed to go through nearly three full dance sets with his chosen prey before abruptly realizing that the woman he'd chosen possessed long, pale golden hair and he had to stifle a laugh.
Well then, their paths had crossed twice now, so perhaps they would meet again.
And next time Sebastian would actually remember to get his elusive beauty's name.
Yes, more vampires. -___-;;
Somewhere in Europe, 1263: Julian
The lilting strains of music carried through the open windows, flowing gaily past the cloaked figure who stood partially concealed amidst the lilacs. He listened in silence and stillness, observing the laughing figures within without their ever being aware of the eyes upon them. Long had he mastered the art of being unseen, observing without ever being observed, and this night looked to be no different.
Different faces, different costumes, but much the same as it ever was. The laughing and the talking, the exchanging of pretty words while testing one another for weakness. It was the way things were, in this era of religion and deception. Sometimes, he felt as though he had seen all that there was to see.
Yet not all was familiar, and it was that lone unfamiliar note that held his attention and prevented it from straying.
There, sitting out of the way of the so-called persons of importance, a musician played. Skilled fingers ran almost playfully along the long string of his harp, creating a sound of such beauty that Julian felt it wasted upon the wastrel within. Certainly they seemed to pay him no mind, though it was uncertain which was more striking - the musician or his music.
There was no disguising the care and skill which went into the song being played, so exquisite that it had captivated Julian's attention almost from the first moment the man had begun to weave his sensory spell. The style was both new and old, an enigma, and one he found himself becoming lost in the complexities of.
Yet the musician himself was almost as fascinating, a handsome face half hidden beneath the fall of golden brown curls, left unstylishly free to tumble as they wished. His clothing was of decent cut and style, yet was worn almost haphazardly, as though he cared little for how others might view him. Accident? Design? It was hard to say. Certainly he would stand out otherwise, for if he held himself with poise and aplomb he would turn heads wherever he went. That, more than anything, made him think that it was all a kind of disguise.
Then the man opened his mouth, and Julian knew nothing else.
Singers he had heard before, thousands of voices from thousands of lands, and all of them paled beside this one. It wrapped around him, a rich story of warmth and light and love, reminding him of things he had long since forgotten during his long journey through the night. So many voices, so many instruments, over so many, many years, and none had ever captured him the way this one man had.
Time ceased to exist. He had no notion of how long he stood there, enthralled by the music, before he finally became aware of a steady gaze upon him, unerringly fastened upon his window, despite all that he had done to remain invisible. The music's spell upon him was broken, yet before he could make his escape he found himself ensnared in an entirely different trap.
Blue eyes. Even across the crowded hall, Julian could make out the impossible blue of the musician's eyes as they locked with his own. Such a color he had all but forgotten, for beneath the wan light of moon and candle all colors lost their vibrancy.
Not so, those eyes. They watched him, held him, more powerful even than the music which never faltered. How long he might have remained trapped thus he could never say, but for the gradual awareness of the whispers and stares as the mortals began to notice the musician's gaze and follow it back to Julian.
Still he could not move until at last a shrill scream cut through the night, drowning out the enchanting music and allowing Julian to tear his gaze away from those mesmerizing eyes and flee into the silent darkness of the night.
France, 1410: Sebastian
The night was cool but pleasant, the breeze bringing with it a hint of sea air and the faintly pungent smell of oil lanterns burning through the evening hours. Overhead the sky was clear, countless stars visible alongside the merest sliver of a crescent moon. It was a good evening for hunting, as many a lass or lad could be easily enamored of such a picturesque night. Dinner and entertainment both should be easily come by with very little effort.
Where to begin looking? The dockyards generally held ample fare, but there was only so much fish flavor he could tolerate before looking elsewhere. Perhaps the merchant district, though their blood frequently tended toward the thick and fatty. Or mayhap he could indulge in a little bit of nobility, with all the varied treats to be sampled.
Of course, the last time he'd supped on one of those sorts, his chosen meal had gotten him more than a little tipsy...
Maybe if he made his selection early enough in the evening that the wine had not yet begun to flow freely, he could enjoy his delicacy without the problematic side-effects. If he recalled right, the Comte Auvergne was having a party this evening and that would make a fine hunting ground indeed.
When he drew close to the estate, however, something drew his attention away from the brightly-lit windows and the moving figures he could see within. A shadow where none should be, made all the more intriguing for the way it appeared to blend almost effortlessly into the background. Were it not for his own heightened senses, he suspected he would never have seen it at all.
Sebastian drew closer, curious, gradually able to make out a figure within the shadow, dark color of clothing impossible to make out by starlight, but the so-pale hair that spilled down that elegant back could not be missed. Like a frozen fall of moonlight, it shone unlike anything he'd ever seen. Beautiful.
"See anything interesting?" he asked, unable to help himself and wanting badly to see to whom that hair belonged.
The figure at the window started, whirling around on silent feet, fangs bared in automatic response to a threat, though a moment later his eyes widened.
Sebastian could do naught but stare, taken back over a hundred years (two hundred? so hard to remember) to a night he'd never been able to forget, a face in the window forever burned into his memory. To find him again, here, in a different time, a different place... did vampires dream?
The beautiful, pale-haired stranger was staring back at him, mouth hanging open just enough that Sebastian could see the points of his teeth. Perhaps he remembered Sebastian as well as Sebastian remembered him, although Sebastian was far from the impossibly unforgettable vision of his pale beauty.
"You seem to have a fondness for looking through windows," Sebastian said, wanting to kick himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
But the pale stranger only blinked, his startlement melting away into a distant mask as he glanced briefly over his shoulder at the brightly-lit tableau inside.
"It suffices," he said, voice like golden honey despite the chill he attempted to give it. Beautiful sound to accompany the beautiful sight.
Sebastian wanted more.
"If you are so fond of watching," he asked curiously, "Why not simply join them inside?"
Ripples cascaded through that enchanting hair as the pale man shook his head. "I am but content to watch."
That made little sense to Sebastian, for why witness the merriment of others when you could partake of it yourself? Why skulk about in darkness when it was all too easy to step into the light?
All of a sudden, he realized he desperately wanted to know what his mysterious beauty looked like in real light, and not this pale, starlit imitation. He was hardly aware of moving until he had the other man's wrist clasped firmly in his grasp, and up close it was startling to note how very tall his pale stranger was. Strange, that it didn't make him at all ungainly. Rather, it seemed to give him a certain remote elegance.
"Come on," Sebastian said, pulling the reluctant man toward the manor's entryway. "If it's fun to watch, it's more fun to join."
"I... that is..." That rich honey voice protested, although surprisingly the man made no move to free himself from Sebastian's grip.
As they neared the doors, Sebastian slowed and held a finger to his lips. "Don't raise a fuss," he admonished. "You'll attract attention."
He hadn't really expected it to work, but to his further surprise the man fell silent, only a faint furrow between his brows betraying his unease with the situation. It faded into surprise when the doorman greeted Sebastian by name (well, the name he'd built up to be better able to walk about in these circles) before fading back into an expressionless mask once they were through the doors.
They were granted a few polite nods and a smile here and there from those few whose closer acquaintance Sebastian had made, but he acknowledged them only absently. All of his attention this night was for his mysterious stranger, standing hesitantly at the threshold between entryway and dance floor. A slight tug on the wrist Sebastian still held captive brought the man away from the shadows and into the light, and Sebastian suddenly found it hard to breathe.
Ohh. If he'd thought his mysterious stranger beautiful by starlight, he was utterly captivating in the warm glow of the candles and oil lanterns scattered about. That hair, nearly colorless before, took on the faintest of golden sheens like gold dust scattered over new-fallen snow. His skin was still pale - hard for a vampire to be anything but - but his eyes, oh, he hadn't gotten a good look at those eyes before, and if he'd thought that voice reminiscent of golden honey, those eyes couldn't be described as anything else.
Sebastian wasn't really aware that he was staring until his beautiful stranger fidgeted, imperceptible to a human eye but unmistakable to a vampire, and he came back to himself all at once. With his most brilliant smile, Sebastian released his captive's wrist and offered his hand instead.
"Well?" he asked, striving to keep a light tone to his own voice. "Shall we dance?"
Those honey-brown eyes widened briefly, then narrowed. If they hadn't been surrounded by a room full of humans, he'd probably have gotten the bared fangs again. "What?"
"Dance," Sebastian repeated, ignoring the very probable threat to his continued existence to pull the pretty blond into the thick of the dancing and right up close where Sebastian wanted him.
"What are you doing?" his pretty stranger hissed, flashing a fleeting hint of fangs. "Men do not dance together in this era."
"Oh fie," Sebastian scoffed. "They're all used to my little eccentricities by now."
Much to his surprise, no further protests arose. Indeed, his lovely vampire seemed rather shocked by something, though Sebastian wasn't really sure what. It didn't matter, as long as it got him what he wanted - them, touching, dancing, moving with the music. The first few steps were halting, and Sebastian wondered briefly if his mysterious watching stranger had ever danced before, but it didn't seem to take him very long at all to pick up the pattern.
Like everything else about him, he moved like no one and nothing else Sebastian had ever known. He was like grace personified, elegance and majesty and a lingering hint of that remote air, and if Sebastian hadn't already known him for a vampire his dancing would easily have given him away. Nothing human could ever move like that.
They were nearly to the end of the set and the beginning of the next before that honey voice finally spoke again, the slightest of frowns making its way back onto his brow. "How can you live amongst humans?" was the question, and it took Sebastian a moment to remember what he'd said to prompt such a query.
"Why not?" he threw back, confusion over the odd line of questioning unable to overcome the deliriously pleasant feel of getting to meet and touch his beautiful mystery man.
That frown deepened, though not once did his stranger fumble his steps. "It is madness," he stated, with the firm conviction of one who is absolute in his belief. "They will all die and leave you alone in the world."
"All things die," Sebastian responded automatically, even as he wondered what had happened to make his beautiful stranger so fearful of being alone.
"Not us," came the quiet reply, pitched so that only vampire ears could hear.
"Yes," Sebastian agreed, feeling a reckless amusement bubbling up within him. "I'm glad for that, at least. This world would be far less beautiful without you in it."
That, apparently, was enough to halt the pretty blond in his tracks. His eyes were wide as he took a step back, away from Sebastian but not so far that Sebastian couldn't reclaim his hand if he wished. "You are mad."
Sebastian blinked, then laughed. "Maybe," he said impishly, "But I still speak the truth."
If he wasn't imagining it, the slightest dusting of color seemed to flush those pale cheeks. His blond stranger opened his mouth, closed it again, shook his head, and tried again. "That... you..." Another head shake, and then he stilled, eyes darting to the curious mortal eyes that had been drawn when they abruptly ceased their dance.
His pretty, apparently, did not at all like to be the center of attention. Sebastian gathered his power, hoping to perhaps entice a few of the important ones to draw attention away, but before he could do anything at all those honey-brown eyes flashed with impossible power.
All around them, people resumed their dancing and conversations as though nothing at all had happened. Not a single person in the room was looking their way, and Sebastian made a slow circle to stare about in awe. It was impossible, and yet the truth of it was before his eyes. He'd thought his pretty vampire's skittishness to be a product of youth and inexperience, but that kind of power proved him to be anything but. On a good day, Sebastian could hypnotize four or five people at once, but no vampire he'd ever heard of could affect an entire room.
He turned back, questions on his lips, only to find that during the distraction his beautiful blond had fled, leaving behind only Sebastian's memories as evidence he'd ever been there.
Amusement warring with disappointment, Sebastian glided smoothly through the crowd, looking for the dinner and amusement he'd originally begun this night in search of. He managed to go through nearly three full dance sets with his chosen prey before abruptly realizing that the woman he'd chosen possessed long, pale golden hair and he had to stifle a laugh.
Well then, their paths had crossed twice now, so perhaps they would meet again.
And next time Sebastian would actually remember to get his elusive beauty's name.