The supposed southern gentleman, Percival de Burgh, watches his two housemates toying with their food indifferently. He murmurs to the other vampire beside him, speaking in their Draugar language.


    "I wonder how long Selena will let Kofi keep this one."


    The other vampire–a young-looking woman with bright blonde ringlets of hair–laughs softly as if it''s a running joke. She makes sure to respond in the same secretive language.


    "It''s almost unfair, your Grace. But I think they might keep this one a little longer than average–it''s like a pitch-black wolf in a litter of normal ones. You must admit that something is alluring about keeping the unique and special."


    Percival inclines his head in acknowledgment of the woman''s words. He glances over the woman next to him like one would inspect the quality of meat or fruits. Perhaps she''s an acceptable company for him in the future.


    "Miss, you were introduced to me by your maker, and yet I''ve foolishly forgotten what you prefer to be addressed as."


    The woman doesn''t even hesitate.


    "Calliope Hollis. But, if you wish, just Calliope is fine."


    "Calliope, then. Would you care to walk the grounds with me?"


    The young vampire jumps at the chance, maybe not realizing that, much like Tallulah, she''s being sucked into the orbit of the three vampires in control of the house of vampires. As Percival and Calliope depart, Tallulah barely registers it.


    The kneeled servant continues carefully, ensuring Tallulah''s feet and calves are covered every inch in soothing massaged skin. With Selena''s lips tracking on the opposite from Kofi''s, Tallulah is truly moments away from being overwhelmed with sensation. Kofi pauses just above the jugular, and Tallulah tenses ever so slightly. Almost as if it were anticipated, Selena casually lifts the glass away from Tallulah''s hand and sets it aside, but she doesn''t release Tallulah''s hand. Instead, she raises Tallulah''s arm to her mouth and presses her lips along the underside of Tallulah''s arm until she, too, is placed above the ulnar vein. When Kofi bites down, piercing Tallulah''s skin without effort, Selena sinks her fangs into the faerie at the same time. The sensation of being pinched and bitten in two separate places at once makes Tallulah writhe between the pair of vampires. For the two vampires, having willing fey blood straight from the vein is one of the rarest things in the world, and they sup and savor with the same sort of reverence that a death row inmate puts into choosing his last meal. While Tallulah exists in bliss, the two vampires digest only a few sips of the potent and inebriated blood of the faerie in their grasp.


    Before too long, as they don''t want to damage the goods, the two vampires pull themselves away, using their tongues to close the wounds inflicted by their fangs. They don''t even take quite enough to give either of them a life-like look. For them, the magic starts while Tallulah rests in a state of both near-ecstasy and near-slumber from the unique liquor and now sudden blood loss. Selena leans past Tallulah, knowing the fey can''t likely move just yet, and she brushes her bloody lips over Kofi''s face along the bear-inflicted scars on his chin. Kofi immediately returns the kiss, smearing some little bit of Tallulah''s blood across Selena''s red lips and further down, across the alabaster skin of her chin.


    "I believe–" Selena murmurs to Kofi in their shared vampiric language, dragging her red lips and tips of fangs just lightly across his smooth, dark skin. "–you''ve picked a lovely one for us. I can feel the world around us, the beams of the moon–every part of you."


    Kofi doesn''t initially respond, letting the smooth rolling sensation of Tallulah''s blood both enliven him and make him aware of the moon and everything nearby touched by its light. It''s a cold yet refreshing feeling, different from the feeling that other sips of fey blood have given him. He finally murmurs a response in their language.


    "I believe so, too. Her blood differs from the others we were gifted in those bottles years ago."


    Selena responds with an "mmm" noise as if remembering it, and she looks over at Tallulah much like one would look at a favored pet–exactly what Kofi said he wouldn''t do. Selena raises one hand and brushes it over Tallulah''s silvery gray braided hair before pulling off the bloom of one of the woven flowers. Tallulah is only partially aware but smiles groggily at Selena and feels no danger. Selena spins and turns around the flower bloom between her index and thumb, then shifts forward and tucks it against Tallulah''s ear on her side. When she speaks again, it''s still in the same vampiric language that they know Tallulah won''t understand.


    "Yes, this is different. The other made us feel like we were in the sun''s warmth. This feels like a walk in a crisp, clear, beautiful night like tonight."


    "She must be one of the moon faeries, and I bet the bottled blood we were gifted was from a sun one."


    And just as smoothly as they slipped into speaking their vampire language, Selena resumes speaking in the same language that Tallulah can understand.


    "I think you''re right, Kofi. We''re lucky that fate brought her here."


    Tallulah smiles, catching exactly the end of the conversation–the compliment that Selena obviously intended her to catch. Selena leans back from Kofi and slightly from Tallulah.


    "You are special, Tallulah. I believe we''ll have a lot of fun together."


    "I hope so."


    Selena smoothly stands from the lounge sofa and once again pets a hand over Tallulah''s silvery gray braided hair. Tallulah doesn''t seem to be too bothered by it, and indeed, she''s still riding the sensation of having imbibed far too much of Wilds'' wine and having less blood to dilute it in her bloodstream. Selena''s dark eyes seek out Kofi''s, and once again, she speaks in the vampiric language in front of Tallulah.


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    "Velvet glove for this one, I think. It''s a shame she''s one of the older ones. Maybe we can keep one of the younger ones just in case."


    Kofi laughs, which Tallulah doesn''t know what about, but seeing him and hearing his smooth voice in laughter feels good to her. She turns ever so slightly to look at him while he continues to speak with Selena in their unique language.


    "Yes, well, she''s the one who wasn''t afraid to step forward. The other ones outdoors seem to be the weak, scared, and basic ones. Perhaps in time, she''ll bring us more like her, and we''ll grow our strength from that–and have good celebratory meals on hand."


    Selena laughs in response to Kofi, then murmurs again in a language Tallulah can understand.


    "You are so bad, Kofi darling. Tallulah, my new love, enjoy the rest of your night. I believe I feel like walking outside for a while. You''ve made me appreciate the moon tonight." Selena moves past Tallulah and traces a fingernail across Kofi''s chest. She leans down to murmur in the old vampiric language beside his ear. "Don''t spend too much time with her. And don''t break her; she''s old and frail. Come and find me when you''re done."


    After her little murmur, Selena breaks contact. She moves away further into the homestead, leaving the room with just Kofi, Tallulah, the servant still massaging her feet, and the one standing dutifully at the wet bar for the parlor. Kofi clears his throat, gathering the attention of both servants and guards.


    "Leave us."


    As expected, the two domestics exit the room as fast as they can without looking like they''re rushing about the homestead. Once they are completely alone again, Tallulah focuses her emerald eyes on Kofi''s dark ones.


    "I was mad at you earlier."


    Kofi shifts his weight slightly, turning towards Tallulah when she starts speaking. He denotes her sluggish manner of speaking–the slight slurring clearly from the specialty liquor she was served, on top of the effect of blood loss on someone already inebriated. Still, he smiles at her in such a way as to set her to smile in return.


    "Mad? What on earth for?"


    "You didn''t tell me you ruled with two other vampires."


    "I suppose you''re right in that I didn''t. We have ruled together for a… large amount of time now, what comes as second nature to me I sometimes forget is unusual for others and outsiders."


    "Am I an outsider, Kofi?"


    Tallulah leans up from her sunken state on the parlor''s plush sofa, drawing closer to the handsome man with his ornate snake-braided hair. He doesn''t react, nothing like just earlier before he bit her in tandem with Selena. She hesitates but overcomes it by slowly reaching her hand up to touch along one of Kofi''s immaculate braids with her fingertips. He doesn''t draw away from the older fey''s touch.


    "Of course not, you were, but now you are certainly not. Do you know how many jealous vampires you left behind tonight in that ballroom? Their desires and wishes mean nothing; it''s all the same nonsense from month to month. You? You are different. So no, Tallulah, you are not an outsider here."


    "You''ll make me blush if you keep complimenting me like that, Kofi."


    "Too late, I think."


    Tallulah grins a little, which is reciprocated by Kofi almost exactly. He''s not wrong, though, she realizes; she does have a pleasant flush to her cheeks and body. Resolved now that this is what she wants, Tallulah leans forward and presses her lips against the slight smear on his chin caused by Selena. Having killed her internal warning siren earlier, she doesn''t seem to mind much when he stands and offers Tallulah his hand. She places her hand, which was just touching his head, in his and lets him draw her onto her bare feet. He seems to realize she''s not wearing her shoes–because of the earlier massaging–and starts to move to pick them up for her.


    "No, Kofi. You can leave them."


    "Oh, I don''t know, you probably don''t want to walk around without–"


    "–I''m fey, Kofi; we run through the Wilds barefoot all the time. I''m sure I can safely walk around on your fine polished marble and carved stone."


    She steps closer to the man who looks like he could be old enough to be her son but who she knows is far older than she is. She places her free hand on his bare chest since he''s once again elected not to wear a shirt underneath his suit''s jacket, choosing to ignore the numbing cold that radiates from him along her skin. Her fingers trace the three ragged scars marked on him by some bear in the long-lost past. Tallulah takes a few seconds to look at him directly in the eyes before lowering her head and pressing her lips against his dark chest, just underneath his collarbone. Kofi takes the hand he''s already holding and presses his lips to the center of her palm.


    "Do you want to come with me somewhere even more private, Tallulah?"


    The tone of his voice suggests sensualism–the raw draw of the classic vampire–and Tallulah welcomes it and the spell that she finds herself wrapped up in.


    "Yes, I would like that very much, Kofi." Her voice is soft, nothing like the practiced vampires'' sultry tones, but clear enough in her desire.


    "I''ll have to drink a little more from you to give you what you''d like, but that will sort itself out; I''ll make sure not to take too much."


    "I don''t care if you do."


    He slowly steps back from her, still holding her hand, and moves to walk further into the homestead with Tallulah in tow. They stop next to a suite similar to hers until she realizes it is hers and laughs softly. She reaches over and touches her hand to the security panel, which unlocks the door for them both. She starts inside the room and then pauses, which makes Kofi pause behind her.


    "What did Selena say to you before she left?"


    The abrupt question seems to catch Kofi off guard, but Tallulah, in her mostly inebriated state, is impressed at how quickly he recovers.


    "She gave me her blessing and told me to enjoy my night."


    "Are you two…"


    "Don''t feel jealous, Tallulah. The three of us are intertwined in a way that is too complex to describe, but we''re also our own person. I choose to do as I like, just as she does."


    "So, Percival, too?"


    "It''s complex, as I said, but he''s our maker."


    "Good, I won''t be jealous then."


    Kofi doesn''t add anything to Tallulah''s talk of jealousy. That seems to both satiate and end Tallulah''s questions. She steps backward, gripping Kofi''s hand to pull him inside the room with her. As soon as he''s behind the closed door with her, they acquaint themselves physically with each other''s bodies; Tallulah''s passionate tension leads the way for the pair during the rest of the night.


    Several hours before dawn threatens to rise, Kofi Freeman departs silently from Tallulah''s room to go elsewhere on the homestead''s grounds.