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Chapter Sixteen: Part 2

“Is it just me, or are there a lot of Vampires here?”

            “He’s on tour with a Vampire rock group right now,” Lacy informed them.

            “Wonderful.”

            “Let’s mingle,” Altair said reluctantly. “Perhaps he won’t notice we’re here.”

            “I doubt we’ll have that luck,” Gabriel muttered.

            They waded into the crowd, sipping wine and sampling cocktails.  It was evident that all the most “fashionable” people were here, and Alice met a great many shiny painted creatures as the night wore on. Megaria and Alecto were there flashed their glittering wings and white smiles at her.

“Alice,” Megaria gushed, “So good to see you...”

“…splendid you’re here,” the other sister finished.

“How are you?” they said together.

            “Well, thank you.” Alice forced out small talk as best as she could knowing her cheery voice sounded fake. “How are you two? Lovely party isn’t it?”

            “Marvellous,” both sisters chorused, and Alice thought it would have been amusing if they weren’t so damn scary looking.

After a short, empty conversation with the Fury sisters, they moved on to weirder company still. She met several ghosts, a Fairy couple, a company of Elves that seemed to think they were far superior, (which Gabriel said gave him a bad reputation), a Goblin that hadn’t been invited but freely admitted to gate crashing, and a Centaur.  The last Alice found slightly alarming as he was nearly ten feet tall. They met him at the tables munching on h’ordurves and remarking upon how tiny everything was.  Alice found it fascinating that one half of him (the man half, of course) was dressed in a suit jacket, tie and top hat, and his horse half had on a fine leather saddle and silver stirrups.  

“Damn tiny cheese and crackers,” he was saying to a small man who resembled a frog in a suit.

            “Yes,” said the Frog man, disinterestedly. “I imagine they are.”

            “Tiny chairs too. Don’t know how I’m supposed to sit on them without breaking them into kindling.”

            “Don’t sit then,” said the Frog man unkindly.

            “It’s alright for you, isn’t it?”

            “I don’t think so, everything is so dry.” The Frog man turned to walk off and Alice saw with astonishment that his leg gave a little twitch every few steps, as if he were suppressing the need to hop.

            There were several giants in the crowd too, standing head and shoulders above everyone else awkwardly, mumbling into their drinks, or looking around a little desperately for someone to talk to. And in one corner of the ballroom an outgoing young woman with black and purple hair and a long, curve-hugging black dress was surrounded by a growing crowd.  She was amusing them by shape shifting into the people that went by and copying their motions.  Alice watched in astonishment as the girl morphed into the stuffy old woman that had just swept by them, casting them all a glare.  She imitated the woman’s huffy mannerisms very accurately, and her audience roared with laughter.

            “Oh! Do me!” Tricia pleaded, and gave an astonished cry as the purple haired girl rapidly changed from the woman, back to herself and then into Tricia.

            “Oh my goodness.” Alice put a hand to her mouth.

            Tricia stood there in her pink dress, hands on her hips, mouth hanging open - across from her stood her identical twin in a black dress. 

                        “Oh no!” the real Tricia cried. “Tell me my nose doesn’t look like that.”

            “Sorry,” said the other girl, and with a blur of subtle movement she changed back into herself, “It does.”

            Alice stifled a laugh as they moved on, noting that Tricia sulked and kept her fan over her face for the next several minutes. They spotted the gate-crashing Goblin running through the crowd, ducking between people’s legs, a silver platter piled high with cream puffs wobbling precariously on one hand.

             “Put that down!” one of the waiters called after him.

            “Now we know why he crashed the party,” Altair laughed. “He’s absconding with the cream puffs.”

            “Hey look,” Lacy said. “Those girls on the far side there, those must be more Sirens.”

            Alice was going to ask how she knew that, but when she turned around she spotted two tall, pale blonde women surrounded by a large crowd of dazed looking men.

            “They’re not even that good looking,” Tricia said grumpily.

            “They don’t have to be,” Gabriel replied. “They talk to you and you’re hooked. It’s the timbre of their voices. They say two words and you have no idea what hit you.”

            “You speak from experience.” Altair smirked at him. “You go googly-eyed every time Allira talks to you, not to mention spilling wine on people.” 

Gabriel blushed angrily and Alice shot Altair a look of warning.

They watched as the women walking by glared at the Sirens, one Witch stormed over and pulled one of the men away from the crowd of admirers. They could hear her hissing lecture as she dragged him away.

            The group went to get more wine and try some of the desserts at the giant tables.  Alice noticed several extremely hairy men standing around, and guessed they must be Werewolves. She was startled to see one of them eating rolls of sushi from a tiny china plate, lifting them up delicately and nibbling at the rice.  She heard him comment to his companion about how “Delightful” the cucumber sushi was. His companion had a china saucer and tea cup, and he was holding the tea cup up to his lips, taking small, dainty sips. His pinkie was stuck out to the side as he did so, though the gesture was ruined by the large, dirty claw on his finger.

            “Um…” she said quietly, and Gabriel smiled at her baffled expression.

            “They were probably excited to be invited to a fancy party; they’re trying to be civil,” he whispered. “It doesn’t come too naturally.”

            “Do tell,” Alice said faintly. Her amusement tapered off as she spotted Alexie Ambrose, trailed by his usual lackeys. She watched him nervously, feeling her stomach start to churn. He greeted people as the crowd parted in front of him, waving and smiling, laughing at someone’s joke. He was making straight for them.

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