𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

A flash of red

Elias and Sera retraced their steps back up the main entrance of the manor, a strange quiet had filled the halls.

There was no doorman or butler to greet them at the doors or to usher them back into the ballroom.

The entire manor seemed empty, it was quiet. Far too quiet.

"Where is everyone?" Sera clutched Elias' arm tightly. If he hadn't already been extremely pale, his face would have turned a shade of deathly white.

Only his strange yellow eyes remained.

They continued down the corridor, the sound of their heels against the stone. The ballroom they had previously been in was now empty, not a single trace of a party left.

"Now this is freaky," Elias mumbled under his breath. "How can a group of people that large simply vanish?"

Sera entered the room and spun in a circle, her blue skirts twirling around her hips.

"It's not so bad, is it?" She stretched out her hand to Elias. "Care for a dance, My Lord?"

Elias closed the distance between them, taking her fingers in his. Bending down he kissed her knuckles lightly, letting his lips over over her bones.

"I'd be honored, My Lady."

He pulled her close, her palm in his left hand and his right hand on her waist. They moved as one to an invisible tune, bodies moving in harmony and rhythm.

"Where do you think they went?" Sera asked again, after several moments of silence. "Should we be looking for them?"

"Perhaps they went to the opera room, I heard Lord Beverton has a taste for exotic women with high pitched voices."

Sera snorted in agreement. "He no doubt believes me to be exotic with my brown skin and violet eyes."

Elias spun her in a circle before pulling her close to him again. "Yes, but can you sing?"
"Only if you wish for your ears to bleed," she replied with a smile.
"I quite like my ears the way they are, thank you. Perhaps another time."
"Perhaps."

Elias hummed an old tune to match their dance, it was light and merry. Sera remembered her father humming a similar one whenever he would tuck her in as a child.

Her father was always humming. He preferred humming to singing. Her mother was the singer.

Elias spun Sera around before dipping her low. A sudden flash of movement near the door caught her eye and she nearly fell from his arms.

Bolting to her feet her eyes widened. "Did you see that?" She asked, pointing to the door.

Elias shook his head. Of course he had not seen it; he was too busy staring at the gentle curve of Sera's neck and the slight flutter of her lashes.

He straightened his back, taking a step back as she released his hands and made her way over to the door.

"It looked like the hem of a skirt or a coat. It was bright red, you couldn't miss it." She ran out into the hall only to find it empty.

A look of disappointment crossed her face and Sera drew her lips back into a tight thin line.

"I'm not going insane," she whispered more to herself than to Elias. "I know I saw something."
"Shall we take a look for ourselves? Perhaps it was a stray guest who happened to get lost on their way to the opera room."

Sera shook her head. "No one was wearing that shade of red this evening, I would've remembered if they had."

She pressed a hand to her chest and beneath her dress she could feel her heart racing as if she had just run a mile or so. She turned away from Elias so he didn't see the look of confusion on her face.

The feeling in her chest grew until her entire body burned. It reminded her of a feeling similar to when a limb fell asleep and she had to work it back and forth to get the blood flowing.

She felt the inexplicable urge to chase after the thing, that flash of red. The feeling in her body didn't seem to be going away but the desire to run only grew.

Where was it? What was it? What was happening to her body?