Star Child

Chapter XIII: Party in Flames

"Mom..." Theo whispered slowly, drawing out the one syllable word to make it rope-like and reaching. The woman Theo recognized was hiding behind an identical mask to his, though she couldn't hide her large, messy hair, even if she tried. It's probably full of secrets. Next to Theo, Selena looked back and forth between the two behind her warped eyes.

"Hello, Theo," hummed the woman behind her mask, staying in tune to the jazz music while also maintaining an aura of disappointment and anger. Yup, it was definitely Matilda. Approaching slowly, she held her hand out to Theo, who just stared at her without breaking contact. "Come with me," she prodded.

"No," Theo whispered back. "Nicolas is dead, and now I have to help this human," he pointed out Selena, who was now standing a few inches away. Unmasking her, Theo revealed her true appearance to Matilda, who remained stationary, though her building anger could be felt by the two teenagers.

"Then you leave me no choice," spoke Matilda firmly as she lifted her mask, turning to Selena. In the palm of her hand was a small glass bottle with petals of nightshade, dumped them out, and then blew on them in the direction of Selena. Ducking quickly, Selena rolled out of the way and kicked the backs of Matilda's legs.

"Don't touch me, witch bitch," growled Selena as she grabbed Theo's hand and led him through the crowd. Behind her, Matilda gained her footing once again and began to push through the crowd as well.

Theo watched his mother shove people aside as they ran off through the party, pushing aside dancers and servants to grab him. They wouldn't be able to outrun her forever, so they needed some way to halt her in her tracks. Looking ahead, Theo saw only the masked faces of the vampire elite swaying to the playing jazz, in their garments that mixed 18th century France with the American Jazz Age. The sparking reds, blacks, golds, and silvers dazzled like starlight under the guise of Mardi Gras. Everything draped like cloth over each other, including the curtains, the garments, and the people, as the glittering room with its golden and painted décor of Revolutionary France spun wildly.

While they ran through the dancing crowd, something seemed to shift in the atmosphere as shimmering confetti rained down on the guests to cover them in glittering starlight. The partiers cheered and danced wildly through, spinning and twisting, letting their ball gowns and flappers' dresses flutter in the excitement as the blue coolness of the exterior Ashland juxtaposed silently and coolly with the interior golden party.

They needed a way to distract Matilda.

But now it seemed unnecessary, as when Theo looked back, she was gone.

***

Nicolas made it through the invitation phase swiftly, and found himself in the dazzling golden party room, his red mask glimmering wildly in the champagne atmosphere. The dozens of vampires that danced across the room paid no attention to him, instead interrupting his flow as he attempted to pass through the crowd.

Nicolas wasn't the best at parties. There were too many people, and he felt out of place. It was generally uncomfortable; Selena was better at them than he was, and was invited to many more. Though she often took him with her in order to expand his horizons, he would much rather be stargazing or sleeping. It wasn't anything personal toward Selena; in fact, they had planned to hang out the day that Nicolas was lured into the woods. That reminded him; his phone was still in his pocket, a lump of the outside world that Nicolas had left accidently when falling into this wonderland.

Its inert physicality sat motionless as Nicolas waltzed slowly through the crowd, searching for Theo and Selena. His mind then shifted to his mother and cat, who he had left the morning... how many days has it been now? Two or three days? Nicolas couldn't remember which made the urgency of getting home even more intense; and like dominos, these emotions led to the numb feeling of loneliness.