Gilded Life

 Since her purification ritual had been interrupted, Isabella was left a little more agitated than normal. It took a great deal of energy to not say ‘Oh, no come on in…’ in a tone that was often reserved for a slew petty cousins that resided in the Sandoval manor alongside her growing up. There was a part of Isabella that also couldn’t help but wish that whole myth about Vampires being unable to enter a place without being a invited was true in that moment, but there’s was nothing she could do about it. 

Instead she swallowed that bitterness, know that it was a temporary thing, took another deep breath and prepared herself to ask what Derek wanted. However, she was interrupted yet again. But, Isabella was confused yet again. She had no idea that he was talking about the sketches she had accidentally discovered the morning she awoke in his body and uncovered in a desperate attempt to figure out who she was since the mirror bore no reflection. 

“Where’s what, Derek?” she asked, closing the door behind her and following after the Vampire. 

“Must I spell it out for you?”  He waved his hand, shoulders tense and defensive. But on further observation Isabella looked as defensive as he felt. He took his own deep breath, trying to be more coherent in his demands. Apparently she wasn’t on the same page as he was in this whole ordeal. 

 “My own private drawings, ones only I should know about seeing as they never leave my room. Oh but that body swap must’ve given you a great opportunity to go snooping.” He took measured strides towards her, using his taller height to look down on her. “I didn’t think you would be the type to nose into other belongings but I suppose the resident balloon-witch isn’t as straight laced as everyone thinks.” 

There were only a handful of places she could hang around away from the endless stream of patrons and grads while still doing her job and Dracula’s castle was the closest, making it the best choice. Slipping through the employee door, Suzy let out a sigh, though only feeling a small amount of relief. 

Apparently she wasn’t the only one whose nerves were getting a little fried. The fox barely had to slip around a wall and get into space to feel the irritation that radiated off him like a clinging smell. She didn’t spend a lot of time around any of the vampires but that didn’t mean the tone of his voice wasn’t caught by her careful ears. Lips curled up into a sly smile. It’d been a long time since she’d heard a satisfying scream, true and bloodcurdling. 

“Scary doesn’t cover it.” When it came to these particular guests, no punches should be pulled. They had a vampire at their disposal after all. It gave her an idea. “Just because Dracula can’t hurt them doesn’t mean they can’t think he did.” A little trick of the eyes and some fake blood on their necks was a good start.

He liked the way she thought. “It’s been awhile since I properly got to bare my fangs. not to mention a little compulsion goes a long way.” He said the last part with his eyes flickering into slits, the only tell of the power he had to hold back when on duty. The park was busy as is, he doubts any higher ups would notice if he manipulated the guest a bit. Chalk it up to the guest’s thrill. 

e stepped close to the other, looking her up and down. “So are you suggesting you’ll be my helpless victim for the night?” 

“Can’t really help you with that last bit.” Jaeger replied casually over a slight sigh as withdrew a short key from his pocket and unlocked a door that sat parallel to the shops front entrance. His station was a decent size for what it was worth, easily holding half a dozen visitors and all the supplies necessary for its operation. Behind the door was his supply closet, which had come to double as his break area as well. Jars of paint spanning the entire color spectrum piled high, bundles of brushes left and right, cleaning supplies, etc. The smell was rather strong but there was a pair of chairs nestled against an empty wall, a small cooler beside one with a bottle or two of water within.

“Make yourself at home.” He offered, knowing he probably didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

Upon opening up to the back room the smell of paints were more pungent. It was oddly familiar despite Derek never having been here before. He entered the place, running his hands over the semi-dried bristles on the brushes. Not what he’d prefer but not the worst spot either. “More paint than I’d like but it’ll do,” the vampire settled back into one of the chairs and reclined. He picked at the amulet dangling from his neck, the ruby stone looking as polished as ever. He had half a mind to chuck it for how much it wasn’t working. 

A stressed sigh huffed it’s way out of him. “How slim of a chance would it be if you knew had an extra sun replant amulet at hand. Or something to fix this stupid thing.” He shook the charm for good measure like one would with a broken watch. Useless.

Normally, Isabella would rush to the door, but right now wasn’t the time. She kept her eyes closed as she knelt in the middle of her apartment floor and focused on the smell of the sage burning in bowl before her. The young witch had remained perfectly still in this position for almost two hours now. For those two hours she drew her focus inward and put all her effort into purifying the last of, what she described as, ‘bad energies’ in her spirit as a result of consuming blood while in Derek’s body.

The process to purify herself was long and had taken almost a month to complete since she had to divide it into different parts because of work, but she was so close to finishing the rituals that Isabella could almost see the finish line. But that vision of completion was constantly interrupted by the periodic knocking at her door. Whoever was outside seemed bent on knocking despite the fact that she had placed a small “do not disturb” sign on it.

KNOCK KNOCK

It came again. Isabella furrowed her brow and focused on the scent of burning sage as she tried to push the sound out of her mind, but the knocking persisted until Isabella’s focus was completely broken. With a frustrated huff, she bolted up off the floor and quietly marched over to the door and roughly yanked it open.  "What is it?“ she asked, her voice a bit more frantic and more forceful than it’s normal gentle tone.

It was only a matter of time before he had to confront the witch about switching bodies and by extension living in the opposite’s personal space. While he didn’t like it couldn’t be helped. But even then he thought Isabella would’ve had the decency to not mess with his belongings. Derek banged on the door again, keeping his calm if pissed off looking demenour. Internally he was nervous- no that wasn’t the right word. He was antsy, restless and defensive. He wouldn’t be so insistent if he only realized now the pictures- his pictures were missing. To have gone on this long without realizing they were gone- his ire was understandable.

At her opening the door he instantly breezed past her, making his demands quite known. “Where are they,” he turned back to her shoulders tense and mouth set. The apartment was familiar and not at the same time but I tried to pay little mind to it.

“You were the last to officially be in my space, even if you were in my body. So don’t think I wouldn’t have noticed if you went snooping. So I’ll ask again, where are they.”

He had little choice in the matter though. Mr. Mammon had made that perfectly clear.

Taking advantage of this brief moment of reprieve he began to clean up his area, taking a handful of brushes he had been working with and rinsing them with warm water. He had only been at the park for a handful of weeks, and though he had used different mediums in the past the weight of the brushes paled in comparison to the weight of his tattoo gun that sat idle miles from his present location. His hands were still submerged in the basin when he caught sight of a shadow approaching near the shop’s entrance way.

Jaeger sighed internally, anticipating another band of guests but found only a single person coming his way. They seemed slightly familiar, definitely not a guest. Perhaps he had seen them around the employees quarters, “What can I do ya’ for?” He asked casually as he went about his work, capping his containers of paints.

He ducked into the closest shop in the square that looked empty. Finally shaded from the heat be began to see the shop was little more than a glorified hut with an overly heavy scent of acrylics fumes. And the painter that wielded them. “I assume nothing,” his voice clipped. Derek rubbed at the bridge of his nose under his sun glasses, the migrain from all the light growing by the second. He moved further into the hut without little mind or care of what the painter had to say on the matter, “Is there a sitting room in this place? or ice? I assume blood bags would be hoping for too much.”

Casey had drifted off to sleep herself and suddenly and somehow had woken up in Jace’s body. She had no idea how it happened or why, but all she knew was she wanted out. She had woken up in a panic that morning and accidentally knocked the magically amulet that kept Jace awake and in his human form during the day time. Once the amulet was off, Casey was frozen completely in place until nightfall came and she reanimated with a gasp and stumbled out into the hallway as she yelled and regained her breath.

“Oh my god, oh my god! FUCK” she cursed under her breath. In all her years of hunting, this had never happened to her. Suddenly she was taking off down the hallway as best as she could because her new found rocky body was so much heavier and for some reason felt incredibly restricted beneath the magical disguise. “JACE?! WHERE ARE YOU?!” she yelled hoping that the gargoyle would have some answer before stopping for a moment when she realized that wasn’t her voice coming out of her mouth.

“Watch it!” He snapped at the person. And with his small flair of annoyance a spark of Isabella’s magic flickered out. It spread throughout the carpet and caused it to ripple. Then it bunched enough to have the flailing man fall flat on his face. Oops. 

Derek for the most part refused to apologize- technically it wasn’t his intention and therefore not his fault. Yet he still shuffled foreward to see the prone body. “Serves you right for flailing like that.” he pointed out, doing his best to be calm and leveled. Someone had to be in this situation. “I take it you’re one of the unlucky ones to wake up in a different body, hmm?”

“Oh, you look plenty do you?” she teased, quirking an eyebrow at him as she crossed the room and reached for the incriminating costume, holding it up against herself as she looked in the mirror. Their flirty sort of banter was one of the best things about this prison Mei was trapped in. “You’re making it seem as though I came up with this costume! I don’t want the audience to be blinded, but that happens anyway when they see my beauty.” Grinning, she glanced up at him once more and winked playfully.

“Of course it’s ‘not the shade you would pick.’” With an exasperated sigh, she gave him yet another irritated look. “It’s going to have to do for now, because I’m content with my appearance at the moment. Are you staying to watch the show?” As much as she loved being around Derek, she hoped he’d say no. She already knew he thought her costume was ridiculous, and didn’t want to have to worry about his playful judgement on top of that. But, she kept her exterior calm and relaxed, acting as though she wouldn’t care one way or another.

He mirrored her earlier expression, eyebrow quirked when she held the costume against her figure. No, certainly not forgettable. Through an objective eye Mei was visually pleasing than most in the park, but Derek always assumed that was- at least in part -due to her faerie other worldlieness. “You’re still blinding them one way or another, mind you. I don’t see why you don’t put up more of a fuss about these things.” he smirked towards the shimmering garment. “I would. It’s the exact reason why you don’t see me walking around with a gaudy dracula looking cape.”

He brushed off whatever hissy look she was sending his way. If she didn’t want to look her best then so be it. It was no business if his in the end. He looked at her side ways when she mentioned her show. On one hand he could actually be a good...friend and watch the thing for once. The idea of sitting among a bunch of human spectacles bored him to tears. If he were honest with him self he had zero interest, even for the fae’s sake. “Hmm, perhaps another time. As fun as it’d be to see you cast smoke and mirrors for an hour I’m simply here for the before show looks. When exactly do you go on stage anyway?”