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CEMETERY GIRLS

Someone small brushed by Genevieve

&039;Past that child&039;s bedtiht,&039; said Bond

She looked around but saw no child

&039;Naughty little devil,&039; the spy e by looks, Corandmother-in-darkness, is one of those forever children, turned as a six-year-old She&039;s been "fwightfully cwoss" for the best part of a thousand years&039;

She wondered if Melissa d&039;Acques were here Genevieve hadn&039;t heard of the old girl in over a hundred years Once, that would have ested she was one of that circle who disapproved of Dracula&039;s showboating Soive il principe for taking the public stage, shattering forever the exclusivity of vampirism

The ent round that Dracula was expected soon

Penelope was receiving orders froed her outfit twice already during the party Two hundred years hadn&039;t altered her imperious looks The odd creation she noas as apt for Mongo as Moldavia

Asa had a savage, alol face Currently, it was framed by a demon ruff of lizard-like material, which served as collar for a turquoise satin train supported by a pair of dwarves made up as turbaned blackamoors Under the cape, she wore an abbreviated brass Valkyrie breastplate and a short skirt of chain th jackboots added as ht as her topiary tower of hair The Princess carried a coil of bullwhip, the like of which she ood old days

Bond was taken with the Royal Fiancee Genevieve thought the Princess looked ridiculous, but in this company it took a lot to stand out And Asa Vajda certainly stood out

Penelope nodded curtly as she accepted each royal decree There would be truued that it ht be more politic for the cannons to be pointed out to sea rather than over the town

&039;A fall of chain-shot is a poor substitute for confetti, Princess,&039; she said

&039;Pah!&039; declared Asa &039;What care we for rateful to bleed and die in commemoration of my happiness If we fire out to sea, ill happen? Only fish will die I like not fish&039;

Penelope looked at the end of her rope Genevieve had an ilishwouns to fire at the sea,&039; she put in &039;To avenge the flood of 1469, which cut off the retreating Turks and prevented Vlad&039;s ar the foeood Very fifteenth century Asa swivelled her enorirl,&039; she said &039;Carmilla Karnstein&039;s little friend&039;

&039;So pleased to see you again, Asa&039;

Three hundred years ago, Melissa d&039;Acques had called a gathering of female elders in the Black Forest They were supposed to debate some point of nosferatu protocol none could understand, but Genevieve alone realised it was because her grandmother-in-darkness was lonely for new play huntsmen in the woods Princess Asa hadn&039;t liked Genevieve then, and wasn&039;t about to change her opinion now

&039;Chut,&039; Asa said, whichor a deadly insult

&039;Chut to you too, cherie&039;

&039;This flood of 1469?&039;

She had made it up, of course

&039;A rebuke to Poseidon Il principe will be honoured&039;

&039;Very well,&039; decided the Princess &039;Englishwoman, you may boula, she could now claim victory over the sea

A red ball bounced off the dance floor Asa looked at it as if it were an interloper

&039;And have this ball burst,&039; she ordered

The point of tyranny was to be arbitrary Asa had probably read her Machiavelli and was trying to surpass his less commands to see hoiftly one&039;s retainers snapped to

Kate Reed stu the ball She was in a state Her eyes were enlarged and red There was blood on her mouth and down the front of her dress She was so fixated on the ball that she tripped

Genevieve caught the wonised her

&039;If it isn&039;t Mademoiselle Perfect,&039; she said

Genevieve knew better than to be hurt Kate ell gone into the red madness

&039;Do you kno you make the rest of us feel?&039; Kate continued &039;You, the lady elder, the vampire saint, the marble adventuress? Sixteen and enerosity of spirit caged up inside you?&039;

Genevieve looked at Penelope and Asa Neither commented

&039;I&039;m like you, Kate,&039; she said &039;I&039;hed bitterly, to the point of tears

&039;It&039;s no wonder you won him,&039; Kate said &039;None of us had a chance You&039;re like a statue Beside you, we&039;re all ratty little kids We change and shrivel and die, and you go on and on and on, always perfect, always e left behind&039;

&039;I think you&039;ve had enough to drink, Katie,&039; said Penelope

&039;Yes, I know I&039; h Kate was drunk, but could still think Perhaps drink only freed her to say what she&039;d always thought Perhaps Genevieve was an impossible presence In the end, everyone she knew suffered