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The Silver City

Francis adjusted his ruffled cuff, and slilass sculpture in the hallway, he grinned He absolutely adored hiain at the large, glassy thing The Parliaiant edifice of the lion-their official symbol Its horrid roar reflected their lack of htened his satin ascot that was neatly puffed under his throat Intricately stitched into the fabric with shiain They&039;d done well to fix hiainst dark ly infinite spell would condeinally promised A simple ritual performed by the elders washed away the deep, raven-colored flesh that the Wizard painted hiht of the battle Vladislov was so dramatic Francis was happy to be his old, pale, fabulous self once more

Oh, poor Vlad Francis scoffed and sarcastically ht of his late coood years together before Vladislov fell off his rocker

Closing his eyes, Francis inhaled once before winding his talons around the massive, onyx door handles He tore the double doors wide, revealing the splendid, grand hall before him

Prior to these last several h a few ht tales from his blood-drunken creator, let alone actually seen the place Legends existed even in a world coends, and this place had once only seeiime Francis chuckled quietly to hih it was overn the time spent with the this place Though, leave it to a worldly Wizard such as Vladislov to exile him here Smart, Vladislov, very smart Vladislov had his issues, but he knehat he&039;d created in Aiden-knehat a danger he could be He knew Francis narrowed his eyes at that thought The Parliaime, for if Vladislov knew of Abeli to destroy it during his reign? Why had he sent Francis to a society he kneould help?

As he walked into the grand hall, he found himself surrounded by even more stacked pillars of luxuriousthe walls, and nificently intricate tapestries Was that all really necessary? Abelih he did appreciate the richness of the materials they used But even so, the place could have done with soothic He shuddered His mind flashed to Valek then, and he sht A swell of sadness surged through hih he shoved it back into the depths of his mind He didn&039;t miss hied

The heels of Francis&039; polished boots clicked on the onyx floors as he moved deeper into the hall Still, with all of the ominous decor, Francis could not help but to feel quite at horound, it almost reminded him of the days he&039;d holed up in his base hi htly, was the outside The trees The wind off the Vltava The crisp siant crypt that lacked even the santly clad Vaed at the end of the hall These Va-people, lovers Basically anything the elders desired at any givenwaited upon every moht of Sarah, and his black heart tightened Once the coast was clear and the dust settled, he&039;d be es back home

One of the Vampires in particular eyed him as he passed her, a deviant smirk spread across her shiny, black lips She was tall with legs that went on for unh Her eyes flashed a brilliant azure, her angular face fraht black hair that could easily have been braided and used for a whip

Francis merely smirked back at her "Thanks, but I&039; forward, the elder members of the Parliament were strewn across various, armchairs and table surfaces The term "elders" definitely didn&039;t match their appearance, however They weren&039;t like the Regime They weren&039;t hairy and old They didn&039;t sit stoically for hours on thrones atop a grand pedestal, barking orders at lowly surfs The Parliament had a much different style, one Francis could definitely adapt to They were all young looking and absolutely, devastatingly beautiful in a deadly sort of way He swore one look fro would melt the mortal flesh off a person&039;s face They were even a tad intih he would never admit it out loud They were all too monstrously beautiful Yes, Valek would do nicely here

"Francis"

One na his attention away from his chess tournalanced up only slightly, though quickly averted his gaze back to the board Francis frowned, frustrated with the silence that emanated from that particular area of the room The elders had apparently hts and e last the tables were turned, and Francis empathized with his human victiht without hi aware of theirs in return

"Cicero," Francis returned the greeting bitterly and shoved his hands in his trouser pockets He aze flickered again to Aleksandr, whose eyes hardened just a pinch, his lips pressing together Francis noticed his stare a down the corners of his hts forward one square, causing hiain the upper hand

Aleksander&039;s eyes flashed fiercely to Francis&039; face, his eyes sinking into a darker sort of cobalt shade Was he blushing? Angrily, and without even one word, the tall, stealthy Varand room Francis frowned after him

"Don&039;t mind, Alek He&039;s just a little shy He&039;ll war, sending one of Aleksandr&039;s knights crashing to the floor The thing broke into powdery pieces "Checkto offend him?" Francis tried to remain as lackadaisical about the situation as he could possibly seeined, for whatever eh to cause Cicero to throw his head back in a cackle

Cicero whipped a blood tear away from his eye "No, no Any offense that vexes hih" He beckoned "This is trivial Come and sit with us"

Cicero was tall and drawn, as the others were, with a sculpted forht and lean, rather than overtly puffed One would underestith, which probably worked to his benefitof the group Even in death, he soed to maintain a little of his earthly color, as his paleness possessed ablack curls were thick and lustrous around his perfectly square face He was perhaps the eldest, and by far the cleverest and most lethal

Francis followed as they est chairs he had ever seen They sat diagonally before a fireplace that was carved about five h the hearth was cold and unlit

"Francis, as you are well aware, it took the best medical treatment we could offer in order to fix you and return you to back to your original state I would say we&039;ve done a rather fantastic job in caring for you during your exile here Would you agree?"