The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 27

Elena felt up footsure and fitting a little light-headed as they set appear for the silver Nightingales gala. However, when the four of them arrived on swarms Damon with Elena, Meredith with Bonnie ( dame Ulma being forbidden by her doctor to go to any festivities darn she was pregnant) at the Honorable doll Fazinas palatial home, she was struck with whateverthing handle terror.The house was truly a palace, in the best of story-telling tradition, she concept. Min atomic number 18ts and towers soared preceding(prenominal) them, probably painted in dispirited and luxuriant gilt, entirely turned lavender by the sunlight, and imageing al or so luminance than air. To complement the sunlight, torches had been lit on either side of the path of the litters up the hill and some chemical had been added or some magic utilise to make their lights shine in varying colors so that they changed from golden, to red, to purple, to blue, to green, to silver, and these colors sh unm atched true. They withalk Elenas breath a appearance, as the solitary(prenominal) things that were not tinged with red in the unhurt population that she could butt against. Damon had brought a bottle of Black Magic with him and was almost comparablewise senior high-spirited no pun intended, Elena thought.As their litter stopped at the top of the hill, Damon and Elena were helped show up and d hold a hallway that cut kayoed much of the sunlight. Above them hung delicate, lighted paper lanterns some bombasticr than the litter theyd been in a moment ago brightly lighted and whimsically shaped which gave a festive, playful air to a palace otherwise so magnificent that it was a little intimidating.They passed by lighted fountains, some of which had surprises like the line of magical frogs that constantly leaped from lily pad to lily pad plop, plop, plop, like the sound of rain on a rooftop, or a immense gilded serpent that coiled among trees and over the heads of visitor s, winding from there to the principle and accordingly affirm up to the trees again. indeed again, it was the ground that would turn sheer(a) with all manner of magical schools of fish, sharks, eels, and dolphins cavorting, while in the dim blue depths far below loomed the figure of a gigantic whale. Elena and Bonnie travel quickly over this portion of the path.It was clear that the owner of this estate could hand any kind of extravaganza her liveliness desired, and that above all things what she enjoyed the chiefest was medical specialty, for in each area, splendidly some quantify bizarrely appareled orchestra were playing, or there index be only one famous soloist, singing from a high gilded cage perhaps twenty-five feet above the ground.Musicmusic and lights everywhereElena herself, although thrilled by the sights, sounds, and glorious scents coming from huge banks of flowers as well as from the guests, both male and female, felt a repulse fear like a small rock in h er stomach. She had thought her go under and rhombs so elaborate when she had left Lady Ulmas estate. exactly today that she was here at Lady Fazinaswell, there were also many rooms, too many people, as raw siennacifully and finely clad as herself and her child personal assistants. She was afraid that well, that that woman over there, dripping jewels from her delicate three-tier diamond and emerald tiara to her delicate diamond-circled toes, made her own unadorned whisker look frumpy or laughable, at such a grand affair.Do you go to bed how old she is? Elena almost jumped to notice Damons voice in her head.Who? Elena replied, laborious at least to keep her envy her worry out of her telepathic voice. And am I projecting that loudly? she added in alarm.Not all that loudly, but it never hurts to tune it down. And you know perfectly well who that giraffe you were eyeing, Damon replied. For your information, shes well-nigh two hundred years older than I am, and shes trying to look around thirty, which is ten years schoolgirlisher than when she became a vampire.Elena blinked. What are you trying to say?Send some Power to your ears, Damon suggested. And stop worryingElena yieldingly increased slightly the Power to what she still thought of as her irrupt ear nodes, and conversations suddenly became audible all around her.oh, the goddess in white. Shes except a child, but what a figureyes, the one with the golden hair. Magnificent, isnt she?Oh, by Hades, look at that girlDid you see the prince and princess over there? I wonder if theyd swapor or do a quartet, serious?This was more like what Elena was used to hearing at parties. It gave her more confidence. It also, as she allowed her eyes to sweep more boldly across the opulently enclothe crowed, caused her to tonicity a sudden surge of love and respect for Lady Ulma, who had purported and overseen the construction of three glorious dresses in only a week.Shes a genius, Elena informed Damon sole mnly, knowing that through their mindlink he would see who she meant. Look, Meredith already has a cluster around her. AndandAnd shes not playacting much like Meredith at all, Damon finished, sounding slightly uneasy.Meredith didnt seem uneasy in the least. She had her heart turned deliberately to show off a classical indite to her admirers, but it wasnt the profile of level-headed, serene Meredith Sulez at all. It was a sultry, exotic girl, who looked as if she might very well be able to sing the Habanera from Carmen. She had her devotee open and was gracefully, languorously fanning herself. The soft but warm indoor release made her bare shoulders and arms gleam like pearl above the black velvet dress, which seemed even more mysterious and striking than it had back at home. In fact, it seemed to have stricken one devotee to the heart already he was kneeling before her with a red blush wine in his hand, so hastily picked from one of the arrangements that a thorn had pricked h im and bloodline welled from his thumb. Meredith didnt seem to have find. Both Elena and Damon felt for the young man, who was blond and extremely handsome. Elena felt sorryand Damon felt hungry.She certainly seems to have come out of her shell, ventured Damon.Oh, Meredith doesnt ever really come out, Elena replied. Its all playacting. But tonight I think its the dresses that are doing it. Meredith is change like a siren, and so shes acting all sultry. Bonnies dressed like a peacock andlook.She nodded down the spacious hallway that led to a huge room in forepart of them. Bonnie, dressed in what looked like real peacock feathers, had a crowd of her own followers and that was just what they were doing following. Bonnies every movement was light and birdlike and her labor bracelets clinked together on her small rounded arms, her earrings chimed with each toss of her head, and her feet seemed to flame in golden sandals in front of her peacock train.You know, its strange, Elena murmured, as they reached the large room and at last sound was muted so she could hear Damons physical voice. I didnt realize it, but Lady Ulma de suckered our dresses at different levels of the living organism world.Hm? Damon was looking at her throat again. But fortunately at that moment a handsome man dressed in formal Earth clothes tuxedo, cummerbund, and so on came by with Black Magic in large silver goblets. Damon drained his in one gulp and took another from the gracefully bowing waiter. Then he and Elena took seats on the outside of the back row, even if this was a boldness to their hostess. They needed to be free to maneuver.Well, Meredith is a mermaid, which is the highest order, and shes acting like a siren. Bonnie is a bird, so thats the next highest order, and she is acting like a bird watching all the boys display themselves while she keeps laughing. And Im a flit so I suppose Ill be a social squelch tonight. With you beside me, I hope.Howcute, Damon said heavi ly. But what exactly makes you think youre supposed to be a butterfly?Well, the designs, silly, Elena said, and she lifted her mother-of-pearl and gold and diamond fan and gave him a tiny butterfly rap on the forehead with it. Then she opened it to show him a masterly sketch of the same design as her necklace on its front, decorated with tiny dots of diamond, gold, and mother-of-pearl where they would not be harmed by the folds.You see? A butterfly, she said, not displeased with the image.Damon traced the outline with one long, tapering figure that reminded her so much of Stefans that it hurt her throat, and stopped at six stylized lines above the head. Since when do butterflies have hair?His finger moved to two horizontal lines amongst the fly. Or arms?Those are legs, Elena told him, amused. What kind of thing with arms and legs and a head has six hairs and wings?A tipsy vampire, suggested a voice above them and Elena looked up, surprised to see Sage. May I sit with you? he asked . I couldnt manage a shirt, but my coffin nail godmother did conjure up a vest.Elena, laughing, scooted over a seat so that he could take the aisle seat by Damon. He was much cleaner than when she had last seen him working around the house, although his hair was still in long wild unruly curls. She rased however, that his fairy godmother had scented him with cedar and sandalwood, and provided him with Dolce & Gabbana jeans and vest. He lookedmagnifique. There was no sign of his animals.I thought you werent coming, Elena said to him.You can say that? Garbed as you are in celestial white and gold? You mentioned the gala I took your wish as a command.Elena giggled. Of course, everyone was treating her differently tonight. It was the dress. Sage, murmuring something about his potential heterosexuality, swore that the image on her necklace and fan was a phoenix. The very polite ogre on her right, who had deep mauve skin and small, curling white horns, submissively submitted that it l ooked to him like the goddess Ishtar, who had apparently sent him to the Dark Dimension a a few(prenominal) millennia ago for tempting people to sloth. Elena made a mental note to ask Meredith whether this meant tempting them to eat sloths, which she knew were some kind of wild animal that didnt move around much, or something else.Then Elena thought that Lady Ulma had called the dress a goddess dress, hadnt she? It was certainly a dress you could only wear if your proboscis was very young and very close to perfection, because there was no way to fit corsetry into it or even to drape it to minimize an unflattering feature. The only things under the dress were Elenas own firm young physique and a pair of scant, soft flesh-colored lace underwear. Oh, and a spray of jasmine perfume.So its a goddess I feel like, she thought, thanking the demon (who stood and bowed). People were taking their seats for the Silver Nightingales first performance. Elena had to admit to a longing to see Lady Fazina, and besides, it was too early to try for a restroom trip Elena had already noticed that guards were posted at all the doors.There were two harps on a dais in the middle of a great circle of chairs. And indeed suddenly everyone was on their feet and clapping, and Elena would have seen nothing, if the Lady Fazina had not chosen to liberty chit down the same aisle Elena and Damon had taken. As it was, she paused right beside Sage to confess the roar of acclamation, and Elena had a perfect view of her.She was a lovely young woman, who to Elenas surprise looked hardly older than twenty, and was nearly as small as Bonnie. This diminutive creature obviously took her sobriquet very seriously she was dressed entirely in a gown of silver mesh. Her hair was aluminiferous silver, too, swept high in front and very short in back. Her train was barely attached to her, by two simple clasps at the shoulders. It floated horizontally behind her, constantly in motion, more like a moonbeam or a cloud than like real textile until she got to the central dais and ascended it, then walked once around the tall reveal harp, at which point the suspended part of the cape fell light and gracefully to the floor in a semicircle around her.And then came the magic of the Silver Nightingales voice. She began by playing the tall harp, which seemed even taller in comparison to her small body. She could make the harp sing under her fingers, wheedle it to cry like the wind or make music that seemed to accrue from heaven in glissandos. Elena wept throughout her first song, even though it was birdsong in some foreign language. It was so piercingly sweet that it reminded Elena of Stefan, of the times they had been together, communicating by only the softest words and touchesBut Lady Fazinas most impressive instrument was her voice. Her tiny body could generate an extraordinary people when she wanted it to. And as she sang one poignant, minor-tuned song after another, Elena could fe el her skin break out into gooseflesh, and a trembling in her legs. She felt that at any moment she might fall to her knees as the melodies alter her heart.When someone touched her from behind, Elena started violently, brought back too quickly from the fantasy world the music had woven around her. But it was only Meredith, who despite her own love for music had a very practical suggestion for their group.I was going to say, why not start now, while everyone else is listening? she whispered. flush the guards are out of it. We agreed on two by two, yes?Elena nodded. Were just having a look around the house. We may even find something while everyone is still here, listening, for nearly another hour. Sage, maybe you could sort of liaise between the two groups, telepathically.It would be my privilege, Madame.The five of them set out into the Silver Nightingales mansion.