Blood Rebel [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty One - Bids for Blood

The car drove through a dark archway in the facade of Central Control, and swung into an inner courtyard and drove round a large bronze statue of the Great Matriarch, which was lit from below by great blue flames. Selene watched as the light flickered and swirled over the huge features of Marianne’s face.

The car drew to a stop at the bottom of the stairs that led into the main building. Here, behind the facade, they had some privacy from the public, but all the high and mighty of Vampire society filled the courtyard, waiting for their arrival.

A guard stepped forward and opened the car door, allowing Selene to step out. The applause began, rippling out from an epicentre closest to her, until it flooded round the courtyard and filled it. She waved and smiled, and a moment later Hector was at her side, escorting her up the stairs where Marianne waited for them.

She looked like a statue, tall and thin, and dressed in a silvery robe that shimmered like a lake in the moonlight. Selene, although tall herself, felt small and insignificant in comparison. Richard Mason hovered nearby; his camera flashing at them like a child trying to get attention.

Marianne’s back curved as she bent to clasp both of Selene’s hands in hers, and her smile was enticingly wide.

“Entertain us well, my dear,” she said, only just audible over the applause. Selene nodded and moved inside, leaving Marianne to talk to Hector.

Selene remembered her way around Central Control from the year before, although she hadn’t been the lead dancer then. It had been a girl named Annalise who had quite simply disappeared one day. Hector had put out a search for her but she had never resurfaced and they had assumed she had died, killed by a vagrant on her way home.

The corridors were lined with guards who stood with their backs to the walls, wearing black uniforms with red piping. They didn’t even look at Selene as she passed, but she knew they would move faster than she could imagine if she did something wrong.

The Vampires, led by Marianne and Hector, would be filtering through behind her, and taking their seats in the main hall; Selene could hear their excited hubbub frothing up behind her.

The disadvantage of performing at Central Control was that there was no opportunity to rehearse prior to the performance: the place was on such a tight lock-down that they would never allow a troop of human dancers in, no matter how much Diana had pleaded.

She moved into a narrow back corridor that ran behind the main hall.  She could hear the noise of the other girls, and Diana’s voice shouting over them. She increased her speed and entered the room that had been assigned to the dancers as a preparation area.

Cecily smiled on seeing Selene; and Jackie scowled, turning away and continuing to fix her hair in the mirror.

“You look fantastic. Edible,” said Cecily, winking.

Selene smiled and nodded, scanning the room. The other girls, in their matching dresses, blurred into one many-limbed being. Diana was pushing them about and speaking sternly, pulling at their skirts and hair, adding rouge to their cheeks by pinching them. But when she caught sight of Selene she stopped and stomped towards her, grabbed her and dragged her towards a dressing table.

“This isn’t good enough. We need to fix your make-up. You need more, much, much more.” She turned and beckoned one of the make-up artists, instructing her to supplement Selene’s make up. “Dramatic. It needs to be dramatic. More around the eyes.” As she spoke she drew her fingers across Selene’s face as though she were drawing on it. The make-up artist nodded, and Diana stepped away. With a few strokes of the artist's brush Selene's eyes took on a new ferocity.