Gwen looked thoughtful. "I suppose we can't kill anyone," she said with a disappointed sigh. She inspected her brightly painted fingernails, admiring the shiny red color. "It really is a shame we're suddenly so restricted. When I came here all those years ago, I practically ruled this town."

----

"I say!" Lucetta said, horrified at Kes's temper-tantrum. "Throwing things around won't get you anywhere. Dead or not, you're a lady and you should act like one." She sniffed slightly. "Now, isn't there a party downstairs or some such nonsense? Perhaps you should go. Might cheer you up a bit." And keep me from having a heart attack, she added inwardly. Then she wondered if talking mirrors could even have heart attacks.

----

Caerwyn shook his head and pulled back slightly in order to wipe his eyes on his sleeve. He pressed into her mind, finding that easier than having to listen to his guttural voice.

It's part of the curse. If we could find away for me to speak normally, then everything about me would be different. I wouldn't be this . . . creature.

He walked over and threw himself face-first on Curse's bed, wrapping his arms around the pillow as he buried his face in it. He breathed deeply, taking in her scent. Mostly it just smelled like feathers, but Curse was there, faintly.

----

Brick was reliving his worst day. The day his sister was taken from him. It rarely occurred that he dreamed of that day, usually being very careful about his thoughts when it concerned Magenta. But in his weakened, drugged state, he was unable to block the memories.

He scrambled up and suddenly he was human again and this was not a memory, but a dream. A horrible nightmare. She was lying in a pool of her own blood, her blank eyes staring at him. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen, save for the death of his sister. It was his worst fear. To lose Lark like he had his sister. He could not lose her, not like that. Not ever.

"Lark!" Brick called, still unconscious but thrashing now in the back of the van. The men scrambled to inject him with more tranquilizer. Finally, after three more hefty shots, the boy lay still.

----

Pavel leaped forward and grabbed Satin as she was suddenly shot out of nowhere. His eyes widened as he took in the blood and his fingers trembled as he inspected the wound. Frightened, he looked imploringly up at Graeme.

"The smell . . . I can't . . ." He could not finish, but his bright red eyes begged for help.

Indigo instantly dropped Cotton to the ground, going into a crouch.

"Did you bring them here?" he demanded of the bounty hunter, suddenly realizing he had no idea where his brother was. Fear filled him as he watched the darkly clothed men swarmed the camp from all sides. No! his mind screamed. This wasn't right! They were supposed to be safe here!

----

"Thanks," Thomas muttered, following his half-sister, willing his cheeks to cool. Already the tie felt too tight, and he tugged at it uncomfortably as he and Katherine and Elisabeth rode the elevator down. When they reached the first floor, Thomas stepped up to stand beside his mother's right hand, the place of honor. The place where the future king stood.

He was not looking forward to the evening.

----

Jason frowned slightly. "Must be," he muttered. "Well, keep an eye on him. We don't want any 'accidents.'" He gave her a pointed look. "I'm going to make my way around the room," he added after a moment.

"You stay here and keep an eye on the door." With that he turned and began to walk the perimeter.

Ian continued snapping pictures of everyone and everything. He began to move about the room unconsciously, forgetting for the moment that he was supposed to be watching his sister.

Melanie watched her brother go apathetically. "He's forgotten about me again," she said wistfully. "He likes to do that sometimes. It's hard for him to be around me." She gave a soft sigh and moved her shoulders up and down briefly. Glancing down at her dress she smiled slightly.

"Do you like my dress?" she asked Cyrano, twirling the skirt back and forth with her hands. "It was my mother's. She wore it on her wedding day. She looked beautiful in it. Do I look beautiful?" She looked up at Cyrano seriously.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

"Let me guess, Brick?" Neal said as he continued to eye the mansion. Somehow he felt better with Pepper here now, which was strange since he usually could handle most situations by himself.

"O.K, if you can be a lookout, I'll go ahead and get inside. Shouldn't take me too long...." Neal said turning to Pepper and pulling his gloves on tighter. "Wish me luck." He said as he walked over to a particularly dark area of the woods. For a moment there was a strange rippling of the shadows as Neal stepped into them and then nothing.

----------------------------

"Where's the fun in that?" Karl said as the elevator doors opened. "Yes.... I'm used to introducing chaos wherever I go, not being held back by coven rules." He said with a sigh as he stepped into the elevator.

Adam had been sitting on the porch dousing when the men came running into camp, he woke up when he heard yelling and cursed himself for not feeling them sooner. He grabbed his small semi-auto that he had gotten from Mark and began shooting.

Brand jumped down from his limb and put himself in-between the men and the rest of the camp. With one spout of his fiery breath he incinerated four men… Not even leaving bones to tell the story.

Rebecca had been taking a stroll around the camp when a needle was injected into her neck; she screamed and then passed out; cutting off her mind connection with her brothers.

Josh was sleeping on top of Brand when he jumped down and tumbled to a branch far below, grabbing a hold of it he pulled himself up onto the slim limb and seeing what was happening drew his pistol and aimed. But wait... that stupid human girl had gone and got herself shot! She was bleeding! he thought and knowing what that meant he contacted Adam "The girl is bleeding and someone is helping her, get them out and keep an eye on that on that vamp, make sure he doesn't try anything!" Adam was supprised at how calm his younger brother was but did what he was told started covering the three with his bullets.
---
Mark felt his connection with Becca broken and felt the pain she was experiencing; he almost fell to his knees but steadied himself on a chair.
(((My best post ever... Has lots of subtance yay!))

Stella was reading, Hunter by her side, when she heard gunshots outside. She jumped off her bed and rushed out to the porch. "Adam, what's going on?" she asked worriedly.

"We are being attacked!" he yelled. "Get Will!" he said while pushing her back in the chapel "And don't get hit! Any wiff of our blood and every vamp in ditto town will be after us" he jumped down from the porch and started running towards the three people when his mind connection with Rebecca was broken. He fell to his knees "No!" he yelled, an arm wrapped around his neck but he went into a roll puting himself on top of the man were he started pounding him with his fists. Adam was then pulled off of the man by another guy whom he elbowed in the face. The man dropped him and Adam scrambled for his fallen gun but before he could reach it some one jumped on his back and injected a dose of the drug into his neck; the last thing he knew he was being half picked up half drug away.
((Nothing wrong with a little hand to hand combat eh??))

when Mark felt Adam go it was two much for him, he turned to the vamp "I gotta go" and then started pushing through the crowd and towards the door. When he got outside he threw off his dress coat and pulled on his regular jacket as he was running he unstrung his tie and began searching his brain for the magic.

"Is everything alright in camp?" Curse asked, wondering why Caerwyn was suddenly so depressed. She sat down on the edge of the bed, resting a hand on the small of his back.

---

Pepper was about to say it had actually been Indigo causing the problem when Neal left to enter the house. She watched him disappear into the shadows and then began her watch, carefully prowling the grounds for any sign of guards. On her second round she noticed a carefully positioned security camera- she concluded it must have been unmanned because no one had sounded an alarm yet.

Face devoid of emotion, she quickly disabled the device and continued watching for any trouble.

---

Zaref could smell blood. He wasn't starving- so why was the smell entering his sleep? The thought woke him up and he climbed off of the cot he'd been curled up on with a restless sigh. It was then that he heard the sounds of fighting from above ground.

Above ground, Satin was breathing harshly, panicking a bit as she saw the look in Pavel's eyes. She didn't want to put any of the resident vampires in danger but knew the blood would bring them quickly. Muffling a cry of pain, she pulled the scarf off of her neck and began wrapping it around the wound, pressing down to try and staunch the flow...and the smell.

Terrance looked at Satin a moment before suddenly transforming into a giant white tiger. Kitten form abandoned, he growled loudly and leapt at a nearby soldier who's weapon was aimed at their group. How this had happened, the Unnatural leader had no idea...unless this was some sort of consequence of their earlier visit with Richard.

He tore into the soldier at the thought, sharp teeth being bested by the armor until they found an opening at the neck.

Cotton looked at Indigo, bewildered, "No, I didn't!" he exclaimed, eyes wildly following the fighting figures of black-armored men and Unnaturals.

Savage stood at the edge of the chaos, intrinsic but aloof to the horror being dealt under the pregnant harvest moon. His glasses flashed, the reflection of the yellow orb showing briefly as he turned to look at a figure that approached. He started, stared, jaw opening and closing as if to form a word.

Ms. Crazy looked up at her son with a smile, "Howie, Howie- you've gotten so big, just like the little weeds." She let go of her dog, letting it run terrified into the night before looking back at Savage with a dreamy smile.

Surprise gone, Savage reached into his pocket for a needle and stepped forward to pierce it deep into the immortal woman's neck. She fell limp in his arms, eyes fluttering.

"He knew," Howard muttered, thinking of Edmond's sudden wish to help, "He knew she'd be here..."

---

Elisabeth entered the ball room with her head held high, glad that at least for tonight she was evoking admiration.

Kanti nodded and watched Jason leave before turning her attention to the royal entrance. She examined the family, wondering how they felt to be at the sudden center of attention.

Hastily avoiding a blush, Cyrano nodded with a small smile, "I think you look very pretty," he offered, scarcely believing that he'd said anything at all.

Caerwyn turned slightly, in order to look over at her. He frowned suddenly then, thinking about the camp and when he had left it. It had been quiet . . . almost too quiet. But then there was nothing particularly strange about that. Little creatures such as birds and rabbits and such generally did not stick around when there were vampires in the area.

He shook his head slowly. Nothing wrong. I just . . . when you're not there I feel like even more of an outcast. He sighed. They just . . . don't understand me.

----

Selena started out of her stupor when she heard Zaref get up from his cot. As she sat up slowly, the smell of blood and the sounds of screams from above registered and she stood in one fluid motion.

"Something's wrong," she stated obviously. Without a glance at Zaref, she tore up the steps to the chapel's sanctuary, heading straight for the doors to the outside. What she saw shocked and horrified her. They were being invaded. For a moment she was torn. Should she join in the fight? Or get herself and Zaref as far away from there as she could?

Taking in the different sides and how well each were fighting, she made a quick decision, hoping it was the right one. Turning around, she ran back to Zaref and grabbed his shoulders. "Quick, we have to get out of here!" she cried, knowing she would never forgive herself if she let anything happen to him.

Pavel's fingers shook as he did his best to help Satin with the scarf, tying it the best he could. His fingers instantly became slick with blood and he stumbled back, staring at them. Whimpering slightly, he ducked to the ground and wiped off the scarlet liquid in the grass before he gave in to the temptation of tasting it.

"You have to get out of here," he said, standing again and taking her good arm. His eyes flickered back and forth between her face and her wound. He swallowed hard.

Indigo growled in annoyance at the bounty hunter. "Well then don't just stand there! They'll take you as well if they think you're an Unnatural. Don't you always have weapons on you? Use them!"

He spun away then, transforming into his wolf shape in mid-air as he launched himself on one of the black clothed men. It was then that he realized he could not sense his brother's presence. Either Brick was too far away to communicate with, or he was unconscious. Indigo hoped it was the former.

----

Queen Katherine was all smiles and gracious mannerisms. She immediately went around the room, greeting people and making small talk with them as though they were equals. She used all the feminine charm and charisma that she had to win friends and influence people.

Thomas, on the other hand, headed straight for the refreshment table. He stood there for a moment, looking lost. Picking up a cheese cube, he inspected it with boredom.

Katie stepped up quickly. "We have several kinds of dip for that. Would you like to try some?" She grinned widely at the prince.

Slightly unnerved by the girl's dark glasses, pale skin, and somewhat feral smile, Thomas stepped back with a shake of his head. "No, thank you," he said, retreating to Elisabeth's side.

Melanie grinned, pleased. "Thank you," she said. "You do too." She giggled slightly and swept her hands over the white, lacy skirt.

"It can't be helped, I suppose," Gwen said with a sigh as she stepped out of the elevator. Her eyes swept around the lobby briefly before she headed toward the ballroom.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

"Will!" Stella shouted as she raced back into the chapel.

"What's the matter, Stel?" Will asked.

"We're being attacked!" she told him.

"Attacked?" Will said as he grabbed his pistol.

"Yes, though I don't know by whom," Stella answered.

Even walking through the Shadow Realm where he always felt more comfortable, Neal could still sense an unnerving presence around him as he walked through the Savage estate. It has to be a residue of Savages presence..... the Darkling thought as he continued his search. It did not take long for him to find what he was after: the security room with the controls for the security cameras. There appeared to only be a small skeleton crew working tonight, four men sitting around drinking coffee and chatting. "Typical...." Neal muttered as he pulled his fedora brim down to cover his eyes better before he stepped out of the shadows.

Four men vs one Unnatural. The odds were slightly in Neal's favor to say the least. It only took a few seconds for the Unnatural to dispatch all 4 guards, it could have been quicker, but Neal refrained from killing the men and only knocked them unconscious. After pushing the limp form of one of the men off of his chair, the Darkling sat down and pulled the map that Emmaline had drawn out of his trench coat pocket.

"O.K... I need to turn off the cameras for Savages office and... Eh, I'll just turn off all the cameras." Neal said as he looked over the map and then the control panel in front of him. "Camera controls... camera controls..." He muttered as he looked over the maze of switches before him. Finally noticing a line of switches that said "Camera on/off", Neal turned the row of switches down towards "off". One-by-one, the wall of small TV screens in front of Neal went black.

"That was easy enough." The Darkling said as he stood up, put the map back in his pocket and left the security room heading for the stairs to the lower level and Savages office.

(((Yay! Substance!! )))

-------------------------------------------

Karl gave a nonchalant shrug as he stepped out of the elevator and headed for the ballroom. There was already a large crowd in the room and.... the royal family had arrived. Karl's gaze drifted over the room and landed on Elisabeth for the second time that day. The Hybrid smiled as he enjoyed admiring the attractive figure of the Princess. The smell of all the delectable food and humans was also quite pleasing. Though, there was another smell here too....

"I believe there is another vampire here, dear." Karl said to Gwen as he continued looking over the crowd. "And he doesn't smell like any of Talullah's pawns either."

Graeme glanced down at the kitten investigating his boots then followed with his eyes as the kitten wandered away. Everything that happened next, happened so fast that Graeme almost wasn't able to process things fast enough. He heard the slightest sound, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, before he saw Satin's sleeve stained with red. Seconds after that, the camp was invaded.

Snapping from his daze, Graeme stared down at Pavel with an exasperated look. Screams came from behind him, making him turn just in time to catch sight of a large scaled beast incinerating everything in its path. "Idiot. He'll set the entire forest on fire," he growled, running his fingers through his hair.

Shots rang out next. Graeme instinctively flinched at the sound. Who would be stupid enough to-? He saw who was doing shooting, then decided that since the kamikaze elves were insistent upon going down in blazing glory, he would use the provided cover without argument. Talullah had taken his weapon, thus he had nothing to defend himself with... unless he planned on using Pavel's fangs.

Turning back to Pavel, he looked down at the vampire, "We need to get her out of here," he decided. Graeme led the way back towards the woods, passing Cotton, sure that he had seen him somewhere before. "Do you know your way out of here?" he asked Cotton, glancing behind him as Mr. T tore into a solider.

===

Grimacing, Hook gave Emma a withering look before heading for the hotel entrance. Just get it over with, he thought to himself in repeated mantra. He was then nearly bowled over by a patron leaving the building in a hurry. It looked as if he wasn't the only one who wasn't looking forward to being at this function.

Heaving a sigh of relent, he headed inside. Music was filtering from the ballroom where there fundraiser was being held. Approaching the doors with trepidation, Hook wondered if he would be noticed if he turned tail and ran for it as well.

===

Turning, Kes paused, feeling the same familiar presence again but at a much stronger level. It hadn't been a dream. He was here, in this building. Looking somewhat alarmed, she shook her head in response to the voice. "No... No, I-I... need to go," she murmured, backing up towards the bed with her hand pressed against her aching forehead. It wasn't how the game was supposed to go.

He wasn't supposed to find her. Not now, not here. It would ruin everything. "I need to go," she repeated, heading towards the closet with unsteady motion. Tearing the doors open, she flung her suitcase on the bed before throwing everything inside that she had brought with her (plus the few items that Cotton had left behind).

Barriers that she had built up around her mind were starting to crumble faster with each pain she felt, reminding her of her weakness. If he was this close, he would be able to break through with little effort... then he would know everything.

"Here, take this." Will handed his pistol to Stella. She grabbed it and headed outside. "Be careful."

Raine walked up the steps to the darkening building in front of her. She concentrated on the door right in front of her. She nodded as the door-man opened it for her. "Thank you." she said nonchalantly. She paused at the top of the stairs and glanced around trying not to look for to long at the unnaturals she noticed. She found her target, and descended the stairs and took a seat.

Slowly finding sleep in this new surrounding Risika drifted off to sleep. She woke up to the smell of blood nearby. Used to the ability to feed from human blood, she rushed to the site of a guard, laying on the ground with blood pooling around him. Not knowing or caring who or where this blessing had come from she quickly locked her mouth around his wrist and drank.

Johnny walked into the tattoo parlor. The lights were still on and the door unlocked. He had never gotten a job and worked within the same hour, before. He knew there was something wrong with this but frankly if it put money in his pocket , he didn't really care.

Stella and Will rushed outside, each one with a pistol and hand. "We need to be ready," Will told his sister.

"I'm ready," She said. Although Stella was acting calm, inside she was freaking out. Even though she was fantastic with weapons, she had never been in real combat before.

"Watch out!" She heard Will shout. She looked and saw a bullet whizzing straight for her head and ducked.

After some confusion, Stella found herself fighting a bunch of men. They seemed to have alot of weapons. She called Will's name several times, but she couldn't hear anything.

Just then something hit her in the head, and everything went black.

Edmond Song stood in the middle of his sparsely furnished residence, staring at a monitor that he'd summoned from one of the many men on hand to tend to his every whim. It had been turned on and now showed the recording that Edmond had been interested to see. The light from the moving images reflected onto his face, creating an eerie image in the empty and darkened surroundings. Outside the world glittered on, pinpricks of light, far below the place where the puppet master stood, absorbed.

Howard's face flashed between the movement of men fighting. The soldier who had the camera installed on his armor moved forward to get a better angle without seeming to obvious. Edmond watched with amusement as the woman approached his little player and smiled at him. Savage looked fragile for a moment, as breakable as he'd been when Edmond had pinned him to the couch in that very room. Very soon Savage's expression turned back to normal and Edmond, bored, switched over to the recording of what Savage's security cameras had picked up.

They had been disabled quickly and there was only a short video. Edmond watched once and then, brow suddenly furrowed, hit the button to play it again in slow motion. A figure flashed on the screen, reflected in the widened eyes of the watcher. He paused the image and stepped closer, nose almost to the screen. His hands twitched at his side.

Having set up this whole affair- the Unnaturals to be attacked and conversely Savage to be open to invasion, Edmond had not expected to be surprised by anything that would happen. He was rarely surprised by anything in this little game where he chose the moves. But now an unfamiliar player had entered. An unfamiliar player with an all too familiar face.

His fingers traced the image, distorting the picture briefly. No matter how he switched the angle or enhanced the zoom, there was no evidence to show it was just a figment of his imagination.

"Jules..." he whispered, thoughts of the playing board wiped from his mind temporarily.

---

"Understanding anyone is hard," Curse replied with a bit of a frown, "But you don't always have to understand someone to be their friend. Maybe they just need time to get used to you."

---

Zaref half-nodded, distracted by the smell of blood all around him. He knew this was probably some raid for another collector like Mr. Button or worse a organized raid by the hate group in town. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he nodded to Selena and allowed her to drag him through the confrontation.

Spotting Risika and a few other vamps sidetracked by the prospect of fresh blood, he called out a warning to them, "Get going! Leave them!" he managed before disappearing with Selena into the woods.

Cotton looked at Graeme dumbfounded but found himself woken up by the sight of Satin bleeding and half-conscious.

"This way," he said suddenly, helping to drag Satin back through the woods. He stopped suddenly and looked around, "They wouldn't be stupid enough to leave this place open for escape, we'll have to go back through the path that leads up to the gorge in werewolf territory."

Even as he said the words his hands quivered. The idea of submitting themselves to the mercy of the werewolf pack was not something Cotton liked to consider. Though, perhaps he'd be able to slip away before any of them realized that he'd captured or killed some of their number before.

Terrance continued the attack, heedless of the weapons that never seemed to find their way to his flesh. The soldiers were learning that a kitty was a force to deal with and had backed off to figure out another strategy. While they continued to cautiously attack the shapeshifter, more headed inside the chapel and down to the underground level to attack and capture what Unnaturals they could.

Savage watched the men enter the chapel as his mother was dragged off to the vans. Frowning, he discovered quite a hatred for the building rise up in him. Memories flashed suddenly like lightning before clouds.

"Take this Howie," Mrs. Savage said, bending down to put the communion wafer inside her son's mouth.

The boy Howard looked up at the unchanging face of his mother. "Someday I'll be better," he muttered with a twist of his lips a dark spark in his eyes, "Someday you'll wish you asked me."

Howard pushed the comm device in his ear, "Abandon the building and burn it down- then return to the vehicles. Repeat, burn and retreat."

He stood there until the first flame enveloped the wood shingles of the decrepit building. Then he turned his back and walked, flanked by guards, back to the vans.

---

"Thank you...I think," Cyrano replied to Melanie with a smirk. He watched the many officials arrive, thinking that it was time to be in the thick of it. "I think I better go find a story now," he offered to Melanie, "See you later?"

Kanti continued her rotation around the wall of the ballroom, watching as the musicians started up the first dance tune. Her fingers tapped the side of her leg in time with the melody as she continued to watch.

Eslatar grimaced at the feeling of being shut out suddenly. He looked around, glad to know that nobody had noticed his sudden mental pain. The thought made his expression grow solemn and he stood in a corner with an intense look of concentration. What is she hiding?

He probed lightly at first, feeling the connection strongly. She was here after all. Somewhere near, and in the process of fleeing. A hunter's smile woke on his lips. Where are you going little girl? he asked with a mental purr and struck deeper, looking for the key to unlocking the story.

Emmaline felt her heart racing as they entered and joined the mass of people enjoying or pretending to enjoy the festivities. Quickly spotting Richard among the throng, she tried to avoid looking noticeable. A ball was the last place to be discussing her extracuricular activities with her husband.

Gwen glanced around the ballroom, taking in every scent in the room. There was one that smelled distinctly different. A light smile curled her dark red lips.

"Yes, I know him," she said smoothly. "Or I knew him. We had a chance encounter once, a long time ago." She moved through the crowd then, eyes set on the other vampire, whose attention was clearly elsewhere.

----

Lucetta rolled her eyes. "Always running off or getting yourself killed, aren't you? Why don't you have fun for once? You would look lovely in a nice dress. You never wear nice clothes. Wouldn't it be a shame not to wear something nice and go to a party?" In reality she wanted Kes to lead her to the ballroom, thinking that she might find someone she recognized, or at least someone who might be able to help her in some way.

----

Caerwyn sighed and sat up. Well, I have all the time in the world, don't I? I'll never grow old. Or die. At first I thought this curse would be useful. I can't count how many humans I've known who wished to be immortal. But when it comes down to it . . . it's the loneliest thing in the world.

He reached up and touched Curse's cheek with his fingertips, brushing them down her face lightly. "Neve uoy lliw evael em ni emit," he said softly, his normally bright blue eyes dimmed with sadness.

----

Selena glanced behind her only once as she ran through the trees, holding tightly onto Zaref's hand, putting as much distance between them and the smell of the blood. However, she knew that even when the blood scent faded, they were not safe. She stopped short after a moment, listening. It had been far too easy getting out of there.

Sniffing, she could smell smoke behind them. Whirling, she saw smoke rise from where the chapel was. Swallowing hard, she tightened her grip on Zaref and dove into the trees again, not stopping until they had reached the end of the forest on the opposite side of the edge of Ditto Town.

Werewolf was all over the place, but she did not let that stop her. She dropped Zaref's hand and began to pace agitatedly, threading her fingers nervously through her dark hair.

"How did they find us?" she kept murmuring, over and over again.

Pavel looked up from Satin's wound. "Werewolf territory?" he repeated with some fear, his eyes wide.

He was about to protest, when the smell of smoke rose from behind them. Swallowing hard, he looked around him at the men, and then down at the injured girl beside him. Clenching his jaw determinedly, he bent and picked Satin up, one hand under her knees, the other supporting her back. Lifting his head, he nodded to Cotton and Graeme.

"Lead the way," he said, his voice steady for once. However strong his tone was however, his hands were still shaking and he hoped they would get out of there soon.

----

Melanie looked slightly disappointed for a moment before covering it up with a small smile. "I'll hold you to that," she said pleasantly.

Placing her fingers lightly on his shoulder, she leaned up and put her cheek a hairs-breath away from his in a strange embrace that was not an embrace as she barely touched him. She remained there for only a second, before she whirled away and melted into the gathering crowd, the skirt of her wedding dress billowing out behind her.

----

Jason remained close to the wall as well, his eyes roving the room. He adjusted his tie after a moment, uncomfortable wearing it. Once it was loosened enough to be more comfortable, he let his eyes stray for a moment to Kanti, standing near the musicians. She looked . . . breathtaking.

The moment he noticed this, he tore his gaze away, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Tonight was not the time for foolish feelings. Besides, the woman annoyed him . . . and that was on his good days.

I must be having an exceptionally good day, he thought ruefully.

Thomas pressed close to Elisabeth, preferring to stay there than anywhere else. However this meant having to put up with all the young men coming to ask the princess to dance. Growing more annoyed with each one, he moved away. He meant to only step aside a couple steps, but the current of the people pushed him farther away.

When he found himself in front of a far wall, he decided to stay there a moment, figuring he was safe there. From this vantage point he could see virtually everyone, but he doubted any of them would notice a thin, young boy hugging the wall. Subtly, Thomas removed the royal sash and folded it into a small square, stuffing it into his pocket.

Now he looked like any other person there. If anyone asked, he was just a regular guest. That would keep the media hounds at bay . . . hopefully.

P.S."Brooklyn!"