maniac's paradise

He was happy to know that he hadn’t stepped on anyone’s toes when it came to what was meant to be a compliment. Every single person was different, and Henry wasn’t about to claim himself to be an expert, despite his advanced age. Clearly there was more to learn. Almost too much to learn. Perhaps it was time for the world to simply slow down once more, and enjoy riding a horse in one’s own backyard. Maybe then Henry wouldn’t feel like every move he made was wrong.

There was no telling where the final answer might land in the conversation, only that Henry was interested in keeping it going. “If we believe in something enough, that always lends to the possibility that it’s now fact. Lies become truths. Something akin to that. Objectively it could be wrong, but we all have our subjective opinions. We all can be right. We all can be equally incorrect.”

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Xireli knew all too well about that very thing. It was part of the trick to being deceitful as a fae. A fae may not be able to lie, but it didn’t mean that what they said was objective truth. It didn’t mean that a fae couldn’t be wrong. What a fae believed to be true was going to be their truth. In fact, Xireli had discovered the trick to lying as a fae was to simply avoid framing what she said as something in relation to herself. She might believed love was pointless and a distraction and could not say anything otherwise, but she could bend her truth by simply framing it as a general statement. 

“I think this is why I enjoy those who have lived as long as I have, there’s always far more insight.” Xireli hated the idea of putting herself on even playing field as a vampire, though bending that truth had been easy enough. 

She stepped back from her partner, and gave a little curtsey. “Talking to you has been most illuminating,” she told him. “Until we meet again in the real world.” And just as suddenly as she had arrived, she sank back into the crowd of others and disappeared.

“Then, if I may, you look excellent for being a few centuries older than me. Though, I guess the compliment rings hollow when I can’t exactly see your face.” He realized then that he could have pushed against his own boundaries and broken free of whatever restrictions he placed on himself. No one would know. They were all dressed to the nines, faces covered, minds altered. The only difference was, Henry would know. Disappointment in one’s own self was harder to get over than anything else anyone else believed.

Henry thought on the question, not believing himself to be an expert enough on the subject to give it a worthy response. He’d try. That was the polite thing to do in any case. They were still dancing. “Yes, I do believe you’re right. But then that begs the question, how do you know if you’re falling in love at all? When does the meaning begin? Before you realize it, or once the right descriptor has been used?”

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“Don’t worry, I promise you the compliment rings true,” Xireli assured him with a gentle pat on his shoulder. Xireli would never consider herself arrogant or vain. No, she simply saw things as they were and the fact of the matter was she had looks that might be considered conventionally attractive, even if she had been born so long ago, she kept up enough with the times to keep with the trends. That was simply a fact.

“You do make a good point. I suppose the other thing is, people can think they’re in love and then realize later on it wasn’t really love so much as it was lust. That probably also factors in there.” And Xireli could really only speculate. “Does lose meaning because you realize it wasn’t love or is there still something to it just because you thought you were?”

It wasn’t often that anyone could call Henry young, and he found that he quite enjoyed not being considered vintage for once in his life. “So I take it you have a few centuries on me. It’d be rude for me to ask you for your age, so I’ll just take this as a sign that you deserve my utmost respect.” She would have gotten it anyway, Henry was all about manners. There was no point in being rude to anyone unless they had made the effort to be horrible first. And right at this moment, his dance partner had proven to be nothing less than an excellent conversationalist.

“Some have. It’s a rarity. I suppose I’m rather picky, or hard to impress.” But Silver managed to do something for him, hadn’t she? Her nervous energy, the way she reacted around him, it stood out among the other meetings he had dealt with along the way. With most he could feel when they were simply trying to use him, and for most, he couldn’t bring himself to provide more than surface level politeness. “I don’t want to simply fall in love to fall in love. I’d like it to mean something.”

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“Maybe a couple of centuries,” said Xireli mysteriously. She couldn’t help but think she almost liked him. Almost. She wondered if this was some sort of maneuver to make sure that she was in his good graces or if this is simply who he was. Of course, Xireli did not know the vampire well enough to know one way or another, but if it was a ruse, it was rather clever of him. Not that she’d fall for something so easily seen through. 

“Well, isn’t the act of falling in love meaningful in and of itself?” Xireli asked. As someone who was incapable of it, she truly had no idea what the answer might be. Her own honest answer would be that she didn’t think love was worth anything at all. It was a distraction. He would have more insight there judging from the way he spoke. 

Believe it or not, this could have been the safest place to have this conversation. Elba remembered being greeted by security coming inside and if you squinted, you could spot cameras in various spots of Limbo, now Lust. It was intense fighting the urge to kiss Xireli again, the room’s aura begging for the unconventional and the dangerous. This caused Elba to deeply gulp, the taste of the fae laced inside of her saliva. She stuttered in response to the undeniably electric. “My-my soul will never be captured by you. I’m glad we were able to catch up this way.” She understood the raw magnetism the species possessed all the more. To never get entangled with them, was the best advice to follow. Elba already felt on fire. Actively, she fought the pull of others’ bodies. If this circle was not fled quick, she’d burn. Only one offered the refreshing waters of safety. He was nowhere to be found. Her chest heaved with each deep breath.

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“Oh, I’m not looking to capture something so precious as your soul, believe me,” said Xireli. She could nearly hear the fear in her voice. It fed Xireli in a way nothing else could, and it was probably part of the reason she kept Elba round if only to toy with. 

She had her fun, though. Xireli may yet wander down into some of the other circles just out of curiosity, to see where it was she became bored, but at least she knew that she had her fun. She could only wave at Elba as she seemed to work to pull herself forward and onward to the next challenge. Xireli thought she might hang around here a bit more, haunt a few others before she decided she might on. Besides, this would give Elba the chance to put some distance between them. For now.

“The 19th,” Henry responded easily, never being one for secrets. He had always been comfortable in who he was, and how he moved throughout the world. There was nothing to be ashamed of here, not so long as everyone understood that his own practices didn’t have to be forced upon them, as uncomfortable as that was turning out to be. A few more dance cards at this ball might have led to a few more meaningful connections than were currently happening. Henry figured no one here was searching for anything long term, anyway. Not when they all were wearing masks to shield identities.

He nodded, agreeing without a second though, his thoughts being spoken back to him. “I’ve always found that anticipation usually breeds more interest than obvious gyrating, but what do I know? I’m not exactly married, nor attached, and never have been in my entire life. Perhaps they know something I don’t.” 

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“Oh, aren’t you a young one,” said Xireli. She felt after a while, those varying ages were almost meaningless among the island’s immortal population. However, nothing was quite as revealing as what he told her next. Xireli might have almost looked giddy if most of her face wasn’t already obscured by a mask that only left her lips visible. 

“Really? Never been attached in such a way?” she asked. It was funny that she found this reveal so compelling because Xireli herself had never been attached either. Though her own reasons had to do with a lack of any feeling of love moreso than anything else. “No one ever cross your path to make you think there might be anything there?”

The atmosphere shifted vastly with each step nearer they took. Elba was unsure if she was leading anymore because if she’d known better, they were magnetized to this door. She had entered this mansion with the intention of letting herself choose, but the house had chosen for her. Elba assured herself by stealing a look at the skeleton mask and the black tint underneath. This was for her sake too. Purity is how Elba presented herself, but the taste of darkness was all-consuming and one she’d never set foot inside wholly. Entry was earned. Their kiss fueled a decade-old feud, the match finally igniting the building gasoline. And though the energy of the circle did not emit intense energies of anger, Elba held onto the back of the skeleton’s neck rather forcefully. Her body would know before her brain would. Elba pried herself away, her mask pushed to the top of her head during the process. She did not need to see Xireli’s face to recognize the negative entity, even if her own was revealed. Somehow, the fae sucked the power from the room of Lust. Or perhaps, it was Elba’s own fear.

“You’d know about being alone, wouldn’t you, Xireli?”

Xireli’s black lips met hers. Even their lips seemed to clash, her harsh black ones against Elba’s softer style. It wouldn’t be them, though, if they melted together like butter. As Elba moved away from her, she had pushed her mask up, revealing herself, though Xireli had already known who she was. It was still nice to know she had been right. 

She only smiled at the use of her name. “Oh, you say that like it’s a bad thing, Elba.” 

Henry raised an eyebrow, slotting together the pieces that standing quite in his arms was a Fae. He held no opinion on the longstanding feud between species, mostly believing himself to be above, or below such squabbles. His life was far removed from all of the intricate reasons why they should hate one another. In his relatively naive opinion, they should be doing nothing more than getting along, especially if they were to live in eternity together.

“I wasn’t born in this century,” Henry smoothly replied, his feet not missing a step as the music switched to something even less appropriate, and the bodies around them began to grind. His entire body felt uncomfortable, like it had just witnessed some new form of torture device. Was everyone so open these days? So willing to breakdown barriers and lose all sense of decorum? He couldn’t see himself ever tossing away what he believed in.

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“What century were you born in, dare I ask?” Some moved along with time more easily than others, though Xireli got a feeling this particular vampire was stuck a few hundred years or so in the past. Xireli herself was all about progress. However, only if that progress served her and her causes.And regardless of who he was or how old he was, Xireli was always eager to cross paths with vampires. She was always looking for someone new that could be snatched up for their research and testing. After all, hadn’t she and Gabriel just talked about this exact thing, and somehow this one had wandered so willingly right into her arms. 

“The dancing truly has devolved, hasn’t it?”  She did note the way he seemed confounded by the way others danced around them. It was almost cute. “There’s no real talent or skill behind it anymore. Nothing sacred about the way they move.” 

Definitions all merged into one these days, inside a frazzled mind. The ghosts who wished to appear to her did. Those few were rather quiet and kind, even the couple she did not know. To her, that felt rather angelic. To choose to trust a stranger with your afterlife so calmly. Elba was a patient woman, but even that took courage she’d yet to receive. She nodded slowly, as they crossed the dance floor. Soon, they twirled toward the edge. Elba only stopped because another door was rather enticing, having been here long enough not to have traveled through many. Patience, she must’ve been trying to learn even more. For those sweet angels who visited her. “No, I don’t. I’ve been discovered, rescued, loved,” she didn’t lie or weave a woe-is-me tale. “I’m alone because I need to be. How else does someone grow?” Elba’s arms might’ve not been around the woman’s neck any longer, but her hands had drifted to hold the skeleton at her wrists. “Do you want to explore further inside? I’m curious how far I can go alone, but I’ll need some help for the next.”

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Xireli listened with interest, taking in every word she had to offer. After all, even without realizing it, people were always revealing something new about themselves, some weakness or other that could be exploited. Xireli was always ready to exploit those pieces of people. How could she not when some so willingly offered it up on a silver platter. 

“You seem like someone who’s made some new discoveries about herself recently,” she said. She looked over at the next door that required a kiss to pass through it, though it seemed like not just any kiss. It had to be something meaningful. Xireli couldn’t help the smile that graced her visible lips. “Don’t worry, I think by the time you get to the end, it’ll be something that requires you to go it alone.” Xireli didn’t have any kind of prior knowledge as to what lay ahead, but given the Hellish theme, it made only sense when anyone familiar with the circles knew what possibilities lay there.  

She turned so that she could catch the other woman’s arm in hers, gently leading her to that door, a devil and an angle arm-in-arm. It was almost cute. 

“I assure you, Miss, while there may be many things I’m bad at, dancing was never one.” Henry could claim to be lousy in many areas of life. Most notably, his tendency to be a loner. But when it came to offering out a hand, and leading someone in a waltz, it was quite literally easier than breathing. Or on the same playing field. He couldn’t claim to be as immediately enraptured as he was when he laid eyes on Silver, but Masquerades were hardly places to truly get to know one another. They were all hidden behind layers of clothing and plastic. Pretending at being someone else.

He pulled the Mistress of Death onto the dance floor, and while it may have been too on the nose to say he was dancing with death, would he have been wrong in saying so? “I swore to myself that I wouldn’t try and dig into anyone’s true identity,” Henry began, the music around them not exactly classical, but in time enough for the waltz to work. “And yet, you seem familiar to me.” Had Henry known he was dancing with a Fae, he may have conceded that this was a poor idea indeed.

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Xireli let him take her hand and pull her into a waltz. It was a far cry from the dancing that most were doing, but in a way it was a welcome change. She could still remember when this was the dance of the day. 

“Well, I’ve been on this island quite a long time,” said Xireli with a smile. “I’ve managed to get around in my day.” Which was to say she had gone around through all the territories in her efforts to do more research, particularly where her shared goals with Gabriel lay. “I definitely know I’ve seen you around. You’re not young, are you?” It also helped that, despite the extravagance and elegance of the event, he still stood out to her, like someone who wasn’t quite in the right place or right time. 

Their looks contrasted each other in every single way. A speck of makeup not even existed on Elba’s hidden face, but she was rather entranced with the rich color of the skeleton woman’s lips. Lips, lips, and lips. Everything which called to her to uplift was the same thing that’d knocked her from a minuscule pedestal in the first place. Piece by piece, this evening was meant to put Elba San Luis back together again. Long arms settled around the skull’s neck, fingers intertwining as they swayed in tune with the beat of the DJ’s tunes. “I never thought I’d see an angel again, honestly,” but there was relief in knowing you were your own angel, the one who looked out for yourself, the only one to blame when anything went haywire. The more people referred to her as an angel, the further she believed what used to feel impossible. Implausible. “You don’t need saving, do you?” she whispered between them.

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“Again? You’ve seen one before?” she asked almost sounding conversational. Her black lips curved into a smile at her question. Despite the ethereum she had taken to get into the party in the first place, a fae’s tolerance was quite a bit higher than most so she could not tell lies, but that didn’t scare her. It never did. “No, I’ve never needed saving. I find that’s the trick to surviving around here, to save yourself. What about you? Have you come here by yourself? I can’t imagine someone like you would need saving.” 

“I do love the way your mind works, have I mentioned that lately?” It was nice, being equals with someone. Something Gabriel was usually loathe to admit with anyone else. Already most of the island felt so beneath him and his true aims and goals. How lonely, to be a creature of immortality and solace, among others that had long ago accept their position in life. Gabriel wanted to accept nothing but the best. Always an eye on the horizon. “Anything else? Or have we managed to kickstart things into motion once more.”

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“Yes, but it is nice to be remembered for what I contribute to this partnership,” said Xireli with a tilt of her head and a pat of his cheek. She tilted back the drink he had offered her when she had first arrived and then held out the empty glass to him. “I think we’ve managed to kickstart something here, but I could do with another drink, if you don’t mind.” 

He raised an eyebrow, liking where this was going. “You make an excellent point, Silks. We’ll need to find more experts to make sure the final results are exactly what we’re looking for. No point in going through all of this primarily with our research assistants.” The question would then become, who? Who could they grab over to their side, and what would they have to do to keep them quiet? The threat of murder usually did the trick.

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Xireli nodded. “Exactly. We want to make sure we’re actually making progress and that our conclusions and methods are correct and concrete. Someone with some knowledge into the anatomy of vampires could help illuminate that for us. We just need to find someone to help us.” Whether it was a willing or unwilling participant didn’t matter. Willing might be easier, but unwilling would work just as well. Xireli had methods to ensure they’d cooperate. “I think we should start looking for someone sooner rather than later.”

He always wanted to hear her thoughts. To see how her mind worked, every deranged inch of it. There was nothing more exhilarating than being a part of a battle plan, and where Xireli was involved, the brilliance seemed to shine. “I’m listening.” And he was, oh he was. They, who so easily could have been enemies in their pursuit of power and conquest, had joined forces. And what a decision that turned out to be. Nothing could stand in their way, not with the resources at their disposal, and their own ability to sway a crowd.

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“Well, obviously, as much as I know and have learned about anatomy with regards to vampires and even some of the other species, I’m still no doctor,” started Xireli. “Could be useful to have one, you know. A doctor who might be able to elaborate on certain principles that we might haven’t cracked yet. Maybe illuminate things for us or even contribute in a significant way to our cause. Doesn’t even have to be a doctor, anyone in the medical field, really.”