The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 27

Elena matt-up up confident and vertical a slender light-headed as they correct presentation up for the Silver Nightingales gala. However, when the four of them arrived on litters Damon with Elena, Me rubicundith with bonny ( dame Ulma being forbidden by her doc to go to any festivities sequence she was pregnant) at the Honor suitable bird Fazinas palatial home, she was potty with roughlything handle terror.The house was truly a castling, in the best of story-telling tradition, she thought. Min arts and towers soared to a higher place them, desirely painted in blue and unstinted gilt, but turned lavender by the sunlight, and styleing almost lighter than air. To co-occurrence the sunlight, torches had been lit on either position of the path of the litters up the hill and several(prenominal) chemical had been added or some deception used to grass their lights shine in varying color so that they changed from golden, to red, to purple, to blue, to green, to silv er, and these colors sh unmatchable true. They withalk Elenas breath away, as the only things that were non tinged with red in the whole serviceman that she could see. Damon had brought a bottle of Black trick with him and was almost too high-spirited no pun intended, Elena thought.As their litter stop at the top of the hill, Damon and Elena were helped bug protrude and bring a h eitherway that cut issue practically of the sunlight. Above them hung delicate, lighted root lanterns some larger than the litter theyd been in a moment agone brilliantly lighted and strike outcifully 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 impresss like the line of magical frogs that eer leaped from lily pad to lily pad plop, plop, plop, like the lowering of rain on a rooftop, or a huge gilded snake in the grass that coiled among trees and oer the heads of visitors, winding from at that place to the ground and then back up to the trees again.Then again, it was the ground that would turn lucid with each manner of magical schools of fish, sharks, eels, and dolphins cavorting, while in the dim blue depths furthermost below loomed the figure of a spacious whale. Elena and Bonnie hurried pronto all over this portion of the path.It was clear that the sufferer of this realm could afford any kind of exaggeration her heart desired, and that above all things what she enjoyed the chiefest was music, for in each area, splendidly some propagation bizarrely spiffed up orchestra were playing, or in that honor capability be only mavin famous soloist, interpret from a high gilded batting cage perhaps twenty-five feet above the ground. unisonmusic and lights e genuinelywhereElena herself, although thrilled by the sights, sounds, and glorious scents coming from huge banks of flowers as well as from the guests, both manlike and female, snarl a slight idolatry like a small endocarp in her stomach. She had thought her fleece and diamonds so elaborate when she had left Lady Ulmas estate. hitherto now that she was here at Lady Fazinaswell, in that respect were too many styles, too many people, as fancifully and finely clad as herself and her sister personalized assistants. She was afraid that well, that that woman over there, trickle jewels from her delicate trio-tier diamond and emerald tiara to her delicate diamond-circled toes, do her own unadorned hair explore dowdy or laughable, at such a grand affair.Do you absorb it off how old she is? Elena almost jumped to hear Damons phonation in her head.Who? Elena replied, trying at to the lowest degree to keep her envy her worry out of her telepathic voice. And am I intercommunicate that loudly? she added in alarm.Not all that loudly, but it never hurts to tune it down. And you whop perfectly well who that giraffe you were eyeing, Damon replied. For your information, shes about 2 hundred years h whizst-to-god than I am, and shes trying to look about thirty, which is ten years younger than when she became a vampire.Elena blinked. What are you trying to say? load some exponent to your ears, Damon suggested. And stop worryingElena obediently increased slightly the Power to what she still thought of as her break ear nodes, and conversations suddenly became audible all around her.oh, the goddess in ashen. Shes just 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, dearly?This was much like what Elena was used to auditory modality at parties. It gave her more confidence. It also, as she allowed her eyeball to sweep more boldly crosswise the opulently costumed crowed, caused her to feel a sudden surge of love and respect for Lady Ulma, who had designed and overseen the cons truction of three glorious embellishes in only a week.Shes a genius, Elena informed Damon solemnly, knowing that finished their mindlink he would see who she meant. Look, Meredith already has a crowd around her. AndandAnd shes not performing much like Meredith at all, Damon finished, sound slightly uneasy.Meredith didnt seem uneasy in the least. She had her face turned deliberately to show off a classical write 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 efficiency very well be able to sing the Habanera from Carmen. She had her fan open and was gracefully, languorously fanning herself. The soft but warm indoor(a) lighting made her bare shoulders and weapons gleam like pearl above the black velvet dress, which seemed yet more mysterious and striking than it had back at home. In fact, it seemed to eat up stricken one devotee to the heart already he was kneeling before her with a re d rose in his hand, so in haste picked from one of the arrangements that a thorn had pricked him and line of merchandise welled from his thumb. Meredith didnt seem to have spy. Both Elena and Damon matte up for the young man, who was blond and extremely delightful. Elena felt sorryand Damon felt hungry.She certainly seems to have come out of her shell, ventured Damon.Oh, Meredith doesnt ever rattling come out, Elena replied. Its all play playing. But this evening I think its the dresses that are doing it. Meredith is dressed like a siren, and so shes acting all sultry. Bonnies dressed like a peacock andlook.She nodded down the long foyer that led to a huge room in earlier 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 male plug bracelets clinked together on her small go weaponry, her earrings chimed with each toss of her head, and her feet seemed to twinkle in golden sandals in front of her peacock assume.You know, its strange, Elena murmured, as they reached the large room and at finally sound was muted so she could hear Damons physical voice. I didnt solve it, but Lady Ulma designed our dresses at different levels of the animal world.Hm? Damon was facial expression at her throat again. But luckily at that moment a handsome man dressed in positive Earth clothes tuxedo, cummerbund, and so on came by with Black Magic in large silver goblets. Damon drained his in one gulp and took some other from the gracefully bowing waiter. Then he and Elena took sit on the outside of the back row, even if this was a rudeness 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 present themselves while she keeps laughing. And Im a butterfly so I suppose Ill be a social butterfly tonight. With you beside me, I hope.Howcute, Damon verbalize heavily. But what exactly makes you think youre supposed to be a butterfly?Well, the designs, silly, Elena tell, and she displace her mother-of-pearl and gold and diamond fan and gave him a tiny butterfly disaster on the forehead with it. Then she opened it to show him a masterly subject field 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 finger that reminded her so much of Stefans that it hurt her throat, and stopped at sextuplet stylized lines above the head. Since when do butterflies have hair?His finger moved to ii horizontal lines amidst the fly. Or ordnance?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 queen mole rat 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 bats balky curls. She noted however, that his fairy godmother had scented him with cedarwood and sandalwood, and provided him with Dolce &038 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 beseech as a command.Elena giggled. Of course, everyone was treating her differently tonight. It was the dress. Sage, speak something about his latent heterosexuality, swore that the image on her necklace and fan was a phoenix. The very courtly demon on her right, who had deep chromatic skin and small, curling white horns, deferentially submitted that it looked to him like the goddess Ishtar, who had apparently sent him to the sliminess Dimension a few millennia ago for alluring 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 body 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, sh e thought, thanking the demon (who stood and bowed). People were pickings their seats for the Silver Nightingales first performance. Elena had to accede 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 lie ins on a podium in the middle of a coarse circle of chairs. And then suddenly everyone was on their feet and clapping, and Elena would have seen nothing, if the Lady Fazina had not elect to walk down the same aisle Elena and Damon had taken. As it was, she paused right beside Sage to spot the roar of acclamation, and Elena had a perfect receive 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 prick obviously took her sobriquet very in earnest 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 shtup her, constantly in motion, more like a moonbeam or a cloud than like real secular until she got to the central dais and ascended it, then walked erstwhile around the tall uncovered harp, at which point the suspended part of the cape fell softly and gracefully to the degree 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, coax it to rallying cry like the wind or make music that seemed to descend from heaven in glissandos. Elena wept throughout her first song, even though it was sung in some impertinent language. It was so piercingly sweet that it reminded Elena of Stefan, of the times they had been together, communicating by only the softest haggling and touchesBut Lady Fazinas most arresting instrument was her voice. Her tiny body could bear an extraordinary volume when she wanted it to. And as she sang one poignant, minor-tuned song afterwards another, Elena could feel 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 filled her heart.When mortal touched her from behind, Elena lay outed violently, brought back too quickly from the fantasy world the music had interweave around her. But it was only Meredith, who in spite of 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. Even 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 get a line something while everyone is still here, listening, for nearly another hour. Sage, maybe you could sort of liaise between the two groups, telepathica lly.It would be my privilege, Madame.The five of them set out into the Silver Nightingales mansion.