Blood Lines

24. Art

And so the night of the art show came. Jess had insisted on helping her with her wardrobe, picking her out an indigo cocktail dress from Samantha's collection with a shallow v-neck, short sleeves and a mid-thigh hem. She felt a bit sheer in this outfit and hoped she wasn't overdressed. But these art shows were usually quite sensational and most people liked to dress up. She called her dad and let him know she was on the way, then took a cab to the Echo Gallery. It was a large old fashioned theatre building. Inside the main stage, backstage and auditorium area had been converted into gallery spaces, as had the balconies above on the second level. It was quite beautiful and Clae felt a small surge of excitement. She missed these events, mostly because she missed hanging out with her dad. And speaking of which, there he was.

"Hey darling," he called, wrapping her in a hug. "You look beautiful. I've never seen you so dressed up for this sort of thing before."

"Hey dad," she said, beaming. "Well I'm sort of meeting my date here actually."

"Ah," he said, winking. "I knew you must be interested in someone. Well don't let me hold you up. You enjoy yourself. I'll come find you later."

He headed off after giving her a swift kiss on the forehead. She grinned and gazed around, wondering where to go. She supposed she should stay close to the front so she could meet Lena, although she was early by twenty minutes. She wandered around for a short time before she decided it would be best to head to the front again. By the time she got there, she was expecting Lena to have arrived. Yet the girl didn't show. She started to feel rather nervous at that. Maybe she wasn't going to show at all.

But at that point she found a distraction in the form of the only vampire artist in the show, a ceramicist Lily Austin who had become famous for her particular style of wood fire pottery. She managed to talk to Lily for about ten minutes about her influences and a residency she had recently been to up north. She had just left Lily to see if her father needed any support when she abruptly noticed Lena, who had just arrived. She was wearing a long-sleeved black dress, slightly ruffled as well as a simple emerald necklace. Clae just stared at her for a moment. Even in a less flashy dress Lena was absolutely stunning. They made eye contact and Clae grinned, she couldn't help it. To her delight, Lena smiled as well.

"Hi," Lena said, gazing at her as they came even.

"Hi," Clae said, feeling the now familiar tongue-tied sensation. "Thanks, ah for coming."

Lena nodded. She was drawing quite a bit of attention, Clae saw. Not a few guests were gazing at her, perhaps mistaking her for an artist or celebrity. Clae inadvertently drew her closer.

"You look amazing," she said, blushing as she spoke.

Lena smiled, slightly pink as well. "Thanks, so do you."

"Well, do you want to look around a bit? I'm pretty much here as a spectator and all. We can just enjoy the art if you like."

"Sounds wonderful," Lena said.

And so they spent a pleasant hour or so of wandering through the various rooms, examining the sculptures and vessels. Lena wasn't unappreciative at all, even though she didn't have any apparent background in art. She seemed quite inspired by various pieces and often remarked over the ones she found evocative. Clae was pleasantly surprised by how engaging the evening was. It was almost effortless. She was eager to hear whatever Lena had to say and she felt that Lena was interested to know what she said as well.

It wasn't until they met her father in the rotation that things began to get interesting. For her father's part, he did amazingly, not missing a beat upon noticing that her date was a woman.

"I'm Merel Lomond, Clae's dad," he said, extending a hand to Lena.

"Lena Urea," she said, smiling broadly, enough to just barely expose her fangs.