No Masks Tonight

[HIDDEN EVIL]

Upper Level Sitting Room - Between Darien & Sevanni's room

He had come home quite peeved. Tossing black leather gloves down onto the rich wooden bench just below the stairs, ripping his coat off and tossing it on top before kicking of sneakers and moving upstairs. Two tiring nights of nothing but bullshit. A fight with Lars Trell. A rape. And on that night he had managed to run into an old enemy and had to come to terms with their history. Not that they fought or anything. They had talked. It was a horrible sight. Sevanni and an enemy coming together to form an alliance that he desperately hated to do. Both had known that each had kept their word. Both knowing there could be a loophole, but nothing had been found. No loophole. No what if scenarios. Just a mutual understanding that would benefit them both in the end.

Now it had been the next night, and due to his near death experience that morning before the sun came out, he had been sitting on that couch in the small living space between Sevanni and Darien's rooms. He had been so good lately and had done everything past perfection that Sevanni had privilaged him with his own room. Not only that, but he really didn't need PsiChi tormenting Darien in ways that could cause mental instability. He had made that mistake with Danielle.

Not only did he ear the right to his own room, but Sevanni had given him permission to enjoy the library once again. However; he did have to put them all in order since they had relocated once more. Probably not such a bad task for him to achieve since he loved that place so much.

So he sat there now with a device to pump blood containments into his system. Not blood, but that inside of blood that vampires needed to survive off of. It's nutrients. His right leg bent and kicked up in front of him as his heel hung off the edge of the couch. His ashtray on the coffee table with a cigar ready to be lit on it's side. His skin on the right side front was still trying to mend it's self back together. He could feel it tear shut underneath and in many different directions, but it was the randomness and consistency that had made it rather hurt.

That is why vampires do not go out into the sun. But it had to be done. Special reasons call for special measures, and there was no way he was retiring in the house without what he had wanted. So everyone in the mortal world had been making such a fuss over this new vampire movie. Sevanni loved watching them to see if they could get close enough to the truth.

Anne Rice had written the Chronicles, which had intrigued him in many ways. Lestat he wasn't too taken with, but the others who had ran through his life, they were interesting. It was sad to see the movie Queen of the Damned. Their queen looked nothing like that. She was young sure, but she wasn't labeled a queen, and even though she was quite young, she wasn't that destructive for her own personal reasons.

Now he sat watching this god awful Twilight. The pale faced kid who barely spoke had reminded him of PsiChi. The others were simply othersome, except he had liked the blond headed female of the family. He could use someone like her around for kicks. But the attitude he had been too familiar with. Maybe not such a good idea.

All he did was wait for him to wake up as he sat at home. Not bothering with the invitation to the ball. Even though he had been on that committee, there was no possible way for him to attend. Not like that, and not when he had to look at so many faces he didn't care to see. Not then anyway.

When the door opened, Sevanni had hit the stop button, aggravation settling in after the rather interesting game of vampire baseball. It was just too much stupidity, and he couldn't, for the undead life of him, figure out why everyone had liked that crap so much.

[Darien Greer]

Darien was in the library, calmly resorting the dear books that he'd so painstakingly arranged the first time he'd been allowed in this vast library. He gently placed a book into it's rightful place and reached down to the ground to grab another book off the piles on the floor.

He'd taken every single book off the shelves and carefully arranged them into neat stacks on the floor. Not that they all seemed as neat as they'd started out, a few of them were balancing precariously from his taking books off the tops.

The shelves were filling up nicely again, perfectly arranged by genre, author, and title. Darien loved things to be in their places, so he would know just exactly where to go for the type of book he wanted at the time. It would help him with research as well. He'd been doing his very best to behave since he'd returned to Sevanni.

Sharing a room with that PsiChi person had been scary for a while, but it had finally stopped being as intimidating, once Sevanni had granted him his own room.

Then when he'd received his own room he'd had to get everything in there organized the way he liked it. He'd been too afraid to do so with PsiChi, the man was so confusing and Darien never knew what would have made him angry.

His room was across from Sevanni's which Darien didn't mind at all, he liked to be close to his master, he dreamed of the days to come when Sevanni and he might meet in the sitting room between their rooms and just have friendly conversations or work together like they used to.

He missed his old relationship with Sevanni, and these past few weeks he'd begun to really resent Schuyler for ruining it.

But things were slowly returning to normal, he could tell because Sevanni had given him back the library. But at the same time, Darien could still feel the bite of the collar every time he moved his head. A constant reminder that things weren't back to normal, that Darien had failed his master, that Darien didn't really deserve for things to go back to the way they had been.

Darien decided to take a break and headed down the stepladder he'd been on in order to reach the higher shelves. He grabbed and straightened a book stack that had begun to fall and smiled as he saw the full shelves he'd completed and then smiled wider as he saw that he still had more work to do.

He really was a workaholic.

Stepping out of the library he headed up to his room to maybe lay down for a bit. When he entered the sitting room however he saw Sevanni sitting there. He straightened the suit he was wearing, making sure that he looked presentable. Tightening the tie he'd loosened whilst reorganizing the library.

"Mr. Black, you've returned." He walked carefully over to where he stood in front of Sevanni and smiled. "How was your evening Sir? Is there anything I can get for you?"

[HIDDEN EVIL]

Things were just getting rediculously out of hand. The wost of the news had come from a higher power than him. His attraction to one person had to be tamed and nullified, thus causing Sevanni to act out in a way for the one thing that could end it all. But no, it had been taken away and he had to be dragged in the house by Marcus and Annaliah.

His back was severely burned, the side of his upper torso. Legs. It had been hours since the incident but it was gone. Destroyed in front of his very eyes and now there was nothing left of the girls he had used as supply.

The intrusion down at the plant had caused for some major turbulence between board members, and Sevanni had resigned from further findings with that company. He sold his shares, which had accommodated as fun money for the current house they were in. Not because he needed the money, but because it was there and all it would do was sit in an account somewhere in the Caymen's.

Now he had to sit there and not only mull through what he had to do, but how he was going to feel about it in the end. He was losing someone he cared about and hated at the same time, but it had been a commodity long aquired for.

"Mr. Black, you've returned." He walked carefully over to where he stood in front of Sevanni and smiled. Fortunately for him Sevanni was finished with the dreaded movie, otherwise he'd block his sight path. "How was your evening Sir? Is there anything I can get for you?" He was about to shake his head but all he could do was lower his eyes from the boy and not want to think about what if he had to lose Darien by no choice of his own? A pushing point to the end of New York's destruction. One day it would happen, he would see to that.

"Why don't you put in a movie.....join me for the evening." He knew that he didn't have to ask. A simple informative suggestion was all the encouragement Darien needed. If anyone knew how to lower Sevanni's sadness it was surely that of Darien Greer. His most favored slave. The only person within a house hold dwelling of his that he had treated like family. Not that family members wore collars and were deemed slave, but all in all, before their split, Darien had been like a son to him, with the exception of a few lingering thoughts that shouldn't have been thought of.

He was kind to Imogine. She had been born into the house due to some family problems. Her father had been a good friend of Sevanni's, but she had been delivered to him in the night with a note. She had yet to meet Mallie, which would not be such a good idea. Mallie was by far too aggressive and so conformitive into her vampyric ways. It was too soon, and neither of them would understand about the whole daughter to daughter concept.

[Darien Greer]

Darien smiled in return to his request and went to look at the movie collection. It was a treasure trove, truly a sight to behold. Darien sighed unhappily, he had always hated having so many choices, except when it came to books. Rather than debate about the choice for hours, Darien simply closed his eyes and grabbed a case.

He didn't even look at the choice he'd made, it was more about spending time with Sevanni than actually watching a movie. He walked over to the television and inserted the DVD. He walked back to the couch and took a seat beside his master.

"So did you have a fruitful evening sir?" He appeared to have gotten in a fight, so the answer would probably be yes. Sevanni had always seemed to enjoy his little vendetta's against others, Darien didn't quite understand it.

He knew that the need for power was a great one, that Sevanni enjoyed being the one in charge, the leader, the man. But Darien himself would never have wanted that. Too many choices to be made, so much work to stay at the top. No wonder Sevanni needed slaves, no wonder Sevanni liked slaves. One didn't have to work quite as hard to keep slaves beneath you. It gave an instant sensation of power.

Darien didn't begrudge Sevanni his power, it would keep Darien safe, and it made Sevanni who he was. Darien liked that, who Sevanni was that is.

The movie began playing in the background but Darien still payed little to no attention to it, all of his attention was fixated on his master. On the cuts and burns that were scattered on his person, on the blood that seemed to cover almost every inch of his clothes, on the smell of that blood around him.

Darien caught a hint of werewolf blood and wondered what Sevanni had been doing with werewolves this night. Probably torturing them, Sevanni loved torturing werewolves. Or so it seemed. But Darien had never presumed to understand what Sevanni hid with his outward 'devil may care' appearance. For all he knew it could kill Sevanni to torture the wolves, he sincerely doubted it but all things were possible with Sevanni.

That thought struck Darien as odd, the words sounding almost like scripture to him. He smiled outwardly as his mind laughed, so if his thoughts about Sevanni were scripture that must make Sevanni his god.

Not too far from the truth after all. Darien believed in Sevanni to protect him and to show him who and what to be. He also believed in Sevanni to punish him for the wrongs he committed.

In a way, Sevanni was Darien's god. And Darien didn't mind it one bit, he had no use for the god of others, so he would have his own.

[HIDDEN EVIL]

Making his choice didn't seem to best suit him. He was adorable that way, but eventually he used a method that had helped many people through the spance of his life. Darien slipped in the movie, making his way toward Sevanni to sit on the couch beside him. He was glad that he had come through the door, glad that he decided to join him in the evenings affairs. Eventually he would have healed and been able to go to the torrid affair off in the city, but he was rather comfortable then and there. With Darien.

"So did you have a fruitful evening sir?" A little huff of a chuckle and he looked onward up to the screen as he spoke. Broken skin evident. "Absolutely not." No, it wouldn't have been. Somehow someone had gotten in and tried to get out in the early morning to get the serum that turned species human. He had paused in the shadows of the doorway and leapt out at the persons as they fled out of the door.

Then the worst happened. The very last elements of the serum had gone crashing to the ground. No more twins to redo another batch. They had been murdered soon after he had a full supply. Everything was gone, and Sevanni had been left on his stomach reaching out. Then Marcus and Annaliah had pulled him in the house and placed it all on lock down.

All that was left to be mended was his upper chest portion above the breast line, and his entire shoulder. "Those son's of bitches stole and then ruined the last of the serum......." Fortunately he had managed to turn Nixie back to mortal and turn her to be apart of him before it all happened.

Darien had known about certain elements of it all. After showing him much of his work, Darien pretty much knew about the more....important aspects of his more important work. A heavy sigh was given as the rolling credits hit he television. His arm moving over the back of the couch behind Darien as he shifted his attentions to him.

"How about you? How has your evening been? Enjoying your new room yes?" It hadn't been Sevanni's distrust in Psichi, but it had been his mental stability that he didn't want Darien exposed to. The two just wouldn't be compatible to stay in the same room. He was much closer to Darien as far as room location, which in it's self was a relief. At least he could hear if he was turning anyone else.

A sarcastic inward roll of his eyes made mentally rather than expressed outward for anyone to see. The collar still wrapped firmly around his neck, a constant reminder of why he shouldn't go against the grain.

[*Phoenix McKenzie]

She knew he was here, she could smell him. Smelled him when she first came out of her room, having locked away her sketch pad in a safe she kept in her room. She didn't like people looking at her drawings, especially when they weren't finished, and the one she was working on at the moment was definitely not finished. She was taking her time for this drawing, making every single shade, line, and detail perfect. She was even considering putting this one in color, while most of her drawings were strictly black and white.

She had seen the invitation to the Ball, and had instantly decided she wanted to go. She had never been one to go against her first impulse, she was slightly self destructive like that, and she had heard that new born vampires often acted on their impulses, but it was hard to tell if she was doing so or not, since this was not far from her usual behavior. She also wondered if she was going slightly insane also, even more so now that she didn't have the constant presence of her lupine companion to comfort and calm her.

Sevanni was proud of her for one thing at least. She didn't feed off of animal blood or from blood banks. No, she had decided to feed off of human blood. Sevanni had been only too happy with her choice, relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with her defiance in food preference as well. She didn't tell him the reason behind her choice, though. While technically she was partially human, she had never considered herself one. Her entire family had been werewolves, she had known nothing else. The only human she had ever cared for was her childhood friend Victor Ambrose. Other than Vicy, she really had no love for humans... And since she used to change into a animal, she wouldn't have been able to stomach feeding from them. So, human blood was the natural choice. However, she did manage to make herself feel like less of a monster, going after men who would not be missed by the rest of the world. Bad men, homeless men, men who no one cared about. But she would be damned if she would be damned if she would touch a woman or, god forbid, a child.

She was dealing as best as she could. Around everyone else, she was taking this change fairly well... But in reality, she wasn't. She was possibly in just as bad a mental state as she had been when Sevanni told her Tarus was dead. Once again, she had lost everything in her life that she loved, and she was having a hard time adjusting to that... But she mostly kept those emotions locked away, until she was in her room by herself.

She was looking for Sevanni to inform him that she wanted to go to the Ball, and she was going to go with or without him. She already had her outfit and mask and everything. She would do whatever she had to do in order to convince him to let her go, should he try to say no... And if he still said no, she would go anyway, to hell with his orders. She would tell him she wanted social interaction with vampires or something. Feed him some kind of ridiculous excuse... But in reality... She wanted to see one of her friend's there, anyone who she knew for a fact that loved her no matter what... She was afraid of what would happen when she saw Kat or Damien again... But she knew that Rose or Ali wouldn't look at her like she had betrayed them. That much, at least, she could count on.

She searched the entire house looking for Sevanni, searching for his scent, before finally finding it, Darien's scent over lapping it. She didn't really know the guy, she had been really avoiding everyone these last two days since her world had yet again been turned upside down. She had no problem with him, not really, other than his blind devotion to Sevanni. She remembered the times when she was under the collar, and she also remembered her hatred and resentment towards Sevanni for degrading her in such a way. She didn't understand how, with Sevanni having a collar firmly wrapped around his neck, the vampire could still look at Sevanni as though the sun and moon rose on him and him alone. It was kind of disgusting, really.

She walked to the sitting room, hearing the tv playing with some movie or other. She knocked twice, hearing them talking and waited on a answer. When she got one, she opened the door and walked inside, leaving the door open, since she didn't plan on staying for long. The first thing she noticed was that Sevanni was not nearly as well kept as he usually was, he looked haggard. Blood was visible on him, and he looked like he was in a bit of pain, despite sitting there and having a conversation with Darien like nothing was wrong. She also smelled something, lycan blood. An involuntary hiss of anger slipped past her lips that she couldn't stop before it slipped out. She clamped her mouth shut, closing her eyes and counting to ten. She had to be nice, and if she wasn't, then she would get a negative answer from Sevanni... Or worse, she could piss him off enough that he would put one of those damnable collars around her neck again.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, reaching up with her right hand to move her blond hair behind her ear. "Welcome back. I see you had a... interesting... night. I came down here to tell you that I would like to go to the masquerade tonight. I wanted to know if it was okay that I go... Please?" She added as a after note, wondering if the polite request would earn her a yes or not.

[Darien Greer]

So his evening hadn't been a good one, that was unfortunate. Sevanni deserved to have one day when things didn't go wrong, where he didn't have to play the part of big bad vampire man. Then Darien recalled what else Sevanni had said, the serum was gone. All of the serum. Not even enough that he could study and perhaps someday replicate. Of course, he hadn't been around enough recently to tell Sevanni that that could have been an option.

Now, with nothing to go off of, Darien had absolutely no idea where he could even attempt to start. Which meant it was pointless to even try. He might have all of eternity but it would take twice that to build a new serum from scratch with no knowledge of how the serum itself had worked.

Damn. He would have loved to have given that power back to Sevanni. It would have earned him his spot back.

Darien focused on Sevanni's questions about his evening. "Mostly I've spent my time this evening rearranging the library, be careful by the way, there are piles of books covering the entire floor of that room." He laughed softly, and then continued to answer the other question. "I am quite enjoying my room yes. It is nice to have my own space, thank you very much for granting me that. It is also nice to be near you sir, so I can be available to help you."

That was truly what he wished for, to be able to help Sevanni with anything he needed.

A knock at the door broke into their happy evening and it opened to reveal Phoenix McKenzie. She didn't smell like wolf anymore, so Darien saw that Sevanni hadn't been joking about turning the werewolf into a vampire like them. She was a pretty vampire, blonde curls quite becoming around her face. He could see why Sevanni liked her, he was a collector of beautiful things after all, Sevanni that is.

Darien smiled at the newly turned vampire and listened to her words. There was a masque? That would be entertaining. Darien had never been to such a thing but he'd read about them. It would be a good experience for him, something he longed to try. A dance, a masque, other vampires, it would be fun and very interesting.

"Sevanni, sir, could we go? I've never been to a masque before." His face was full of child-like curiosity, lit up from the inside in a way few vampires ever were. The silent plea on his face likely to be irresistible to any lesser man, but he didn't know how Sevanni would react to it. Hopefully he'd give in, though suddenly Darien remembered his collar and wondered how he would feel wearing it in public.

It would be a little degrading, but if that's what Sevanni required of him Darien would do it.

[HIDDEN EVIL]

"Mostly I've spent my time this evening rearranging the library, be careful by the way, there are piles of books covering the entire floor of that room." The two had shared a chuckle, Sevanni had imagined what it had looked like, the night prior things had looked a bit clunkered, but he knew Darien was having the time of his life going through some of the titles, and not only that, but Sevanni had slipped in a few new titles that Darien hadn't yet seen, or hoped that he hadn't read. He wouldn't mention that though.

"I'll remember to avoid the room until your finished." He was so calm and relaxed, grateful that he had taken the time to just sit with him. It seemed that he had been catering to nearly everyone but Darien, and even though he was being punished, he did want to spend some time with him. "I am quite enjoying my room yes. It is nice to have my own space, thank you very much for granting me that. It is also nice to be near you sir, so I can be available to help you."

A nod of his head as a gesture of saying you're welcome, a tightened smile as lips formed, but mustered no actual smile that normal people would be privy to do. "Well, I'm glad you like it, I put you closer to me just for that very reason......but of course, there are a few other reasons why I did so....." PsiChi of course, but there were other factors, and he'd keep that to himself.

She had managed to remain cooped up in that room of her's doing demon knows what, and though there were cameras' all over the grounds, he never wanted to violate their own personal space by putting them in their rooms, or even his. Well, there was that exception of recording certain aspects that he enjoyed while in the company of his females, but that wasn't the point.

So was it a shock to see her enter that room that he had chosen to re-cooperate in? Of course, seeing as how she had tried her best efforts in avoiding him. "Welcome back. I see you had a... interesting... night. I came down here to tell you that I would like to go to the masquerade tonight. I wanted to know if it was okay that I go... Please?"

Ahh, the little invitation that laid on the open table for eyes to see, but to hear that she wanted to go was a surprise. Be around those that were like them? But of course her friends would be there, and why deny his little ones the disappointment of not being able to do anything? It wasn't like him.

He turned his head toward Darien, his eyes seemed to have lit up with joy and anxiousness, and he knew then and there it was incredibly impossible to deny them no matter what. Not when they had asked so politely. "Sevanni, sir, could we go? I've never been to a masque before." A drawn out sigh was blessed from that throat, looking over the I.V. tubes and then averting those eyes to the flesh now fully restored with a bit of a few minutes that could have made it better.

"I guess we can go." Pursed lips and darting eyes given towards Phoenix....."I assume you've known for a while then and have something to wear? Mask and all?" A little smirk, he'd already knew because every charge she made he had been notified of simply because her name was not on the card.

He turned back toward Darien, a little gesture. " I'll have something sent to your room, just......take these out and then you can go get ready." He directed toward the I'V' in his arm, the cells had been completed, his appetite was also supressed by the fluids, and his skin was much better.