Floor 68.

XXXIV. - Bloodlines.

                                        __________

The devil is real. And he isn’t a little red man with horns and a tail. He can be beautiful, because he’s a fallen Angel, and he used to be God’s favorite.

                                        __________

La Duchesse was the city’s favorite destination for a prestigious dinner. Unlike most Fridays, the restaurant wasn’t as crowded as usual and so, Stonecrest Lake elite enjoyed a calm dinner, taking pleasure in the restaurant position overlooking the city, giving the assembly a beautiful scenery to admire. Mystery smiled mischievously at the looks her friends had been giving her since she showed up with Ajax Tate-Mayer while Heidi grinned with wickedness at Sady, who discreetly was mentioning towards Ezekiel Sørensen with her chin. After months of silence and complete absence, it seemed as if Heidi Montgomery was finally back and this time, she decided to bring a friend.

“Isn’t this a nice gathering?”, Chace smiled before elegantly sipping on his wine. Most of his friends agreed all smiles. Weirdly, they seemed to get along despite their differences and it was nice from them to collaborate to make Sady’s dinner a success. Amethyst silently sipped on her wine before discreetly watching towards Thunder and Adrianna, who were discussing God knows what. They seemed to get along despite the absurd circumstances under which they got to know each other. Eli has declined her offer to accompany her to this dinner and she let him be; lately there was something that seemed off about him but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.

“It is impolite to stare, dear.”, a smooth voice snapped Amethyst from her thoughts and she didn’t need to turn to recognize this voice. She straightened her back and slightly looked over her shoulder with a smile that was all but true.

“Can’t we admire the groom to be?”, the bartender rhetorically asked, raising her perfectly arched eyebrow and Heidi’s blue irises gleamed before she hypocritically took Amethyst’s arm in hers, as if they were good friends.

“Admiring what you can’t have anymore, Miss Aarons?”, Heidi seethed in a fake fruity tone, making Amethyst involuntarily raise her eyebrows at her.

“I’m not sure I get what you’re insinuating, Heidi.”, the lovely brunette smiled, showing a range of perfect white teeth while the blonde just wiggled her eyebrows at her, seemingly not buying a single word.

“Oh honey, I’m sure that storage room would tell us a different story.”, Heidi fired, her voice taking a hint of aggressiveness. If smiles were ever meant as weapon then Heidi and Amethyst would be at war. “I’m not sure our friends would appreciate your little adventure with our sweet Thunder.”

Amethyst felt anger building up as she stared at the spiteful expression that was all over Heidi’s face.

“After all, he is to be married and how can you treat a fair innocent maiden such as Adrianna with so little consideration?”, Heidi resumed her talk with a cunning smile, naturally applying more pressure on Amethyst’s pale skin. Instead of letting anger get the best of her, Amethyst gently patted her companion’s hand, making their entire conversation seem as friendly as it could get. From the other end of their table, she could see Cihangir giving her a puzzled look but the bartender nodded her head ever so slightly; there was no need to turn this nice gathering into a competition. Heidi was only speaking from her impossible love to Thunder and from the pain of seeing Chace finally brush the dust off of him and publically getting with her ex-best friend.

“Must be hard for you being around us.”, Amethyst finally spoke, her voice deep but strangely alive. “You’re surrounded with people you can’t have; Thunder for instance, who is getting married to, — may I use your words —, a fair innocent maiden and Chace who finally acknowledged that you are merely deceit in pretty packaging.”