Dreams of What Once Was ((open))

[Vlad]

It always reminded him of his age, standing amongst crowds. Leather clad and scantily dressed men and women bopped subtly to the faint sounds of music originating from the club in front of them. Lovers held each other close and showed their affection in ways that, in his time, had belonged only in a bedroom with one's betrothed. It truly was tragic, the frivolity of modern societies youth. In a world such as today's, how was one to know real love or passion?

The building stood tall and proud before the line of waiting "goths" and "rockers". A stone testament to the desecration of the beauty of the past. Though, he supposed if it was the only way to get young men and women to enter an opera house then it was not completely unforgivable.

One might ask why he was here if what the beautiful building had become saddened him so? It was simple really, because the club had once been an opera house, some of the patrons had taken to dressing in period style clothing. It was pleasant not to be the only top hat in the crowd for once. He could feel a part of society and not worry about the sun if he stayed through the night because his top hat and glasses were already with him. No one would be the wiser to the ulterior motive to his wardrobe.

He took a seat near the back of the club and swished the liquor round his glass, forming a small whirlpool in the center, and listened to the music, so different then what he had grown accustomed to over the centuries.

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme bumped around the club in an attempt to find her friends. She had come to this club with a few of her classmates because they thought that she was now living a meaningless life. All she did was go to classes, go back to her loft and vegetate, what they weren't aware of was the fact that she truly spent her time in back alleys attempting to learn the art of magic.

Her so-called friends had taken hold of her after classes and stuffed her into a cab, driven her to the nearest shop, one that Esme was convinced was a costume shop, and stuffed her into a frilly dress. Not much longer after that they dragged her into an old run-down building, placed a cocktail in her hand and left her to spend their time in the crowd.

"Where did they go?" Esme groaned to herself as she fended off drunken groping hands and slurred pick-up lines. She had fought her way to the back of the club and could faintly make out the hem of one of her friend's skirts when someone stumbled into Esme drunkenly. Knocking her into a table that was occupied by a cute man and causing her to spill her cocktail all over the front of her dress. She groaned as she looked up at the man's face to apologize, but there was something slightly off about him, what it was she did not know.

[Vlad]

It was truly fascinating to watch the different types of humans as they interacted. From those hanging drunkenly against one another to those dancing as if it was their last night upon the earth. From the obviously veteran party goers to those leaning against a wall as if they were trying to melt into it completely.

His eyes followed a young beauty as she fought her way through the intoxicated crowd. The look of apparent disgust adorning her delicate features was thoroughly amusing and an unconscious smile spread across his face as he watched. She was almost to his table when she was pushed aside by a heavily drunken man, her drink covering the front of her elaborate dress.

He held up a hand as she began to apologize and shook his head minutely from one side to the other. The small smile still dominating his features. He hoped to put her at ease, the look upon her face was one of confusion. A small flame of power flickered within the girl, he would bet a large amount she had sensed whatever energy identified him as not quite human. "Nothing has transpired that would require an apology even in the strictest manners, my beautiful dear."

He stood fluidly and produced a napkin seemingly from nowhere, offering it gallantly to the woman. The hat tipped forward slightly as he peered over his glasses at her. "Though, if determined to make amends, you might repay me with the honor of your name."

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme almost blushed when the man called her "beautiful," she had heard the compliment so often, from people who wanted money or a trip to her family's cottage at the Alps, but there had never been a person who had seemed so sincere about this small compliment as this man. She took the napkin gratefully and began to pat away the dampness on the bodice of the dress, she began to hope her friends weren't expecting to get it back anywhere near the condition it had been when she had gotten it.

"My name's Esme... Esme Lolland," Esme said, looking at the man. He wasn't unattractive, but he wasn't a Prince Wills or anything either. But he seemed to be entirely at home in this odd place; not exactly at home with the pounding music or the multitudes of people, but with the architecture, with what the building might have been.

He was dressed as ridiculously as Esme was, but there was something about him in those clothes. Unlike everyone else who probably got their clothes from a costume store or put together whatever period looking clothing they had in their closets, this person looked like he belonged in those clothes. He looked... right. "And what, pray tell, is your name? I mean, it's only fair that I learn the name of the person to whom I should return this handkerchief."

[Vlad]

"A most sincere pleasure, Ms. Esme Lolland." He smiled and brought the back of her hand to his lips, a brief, chaste touch of skin. She seemed so at odds with their setting and the company kept in this now popular night club. The girl was like the physical embodiment of the discomfort he hid deep within himself. The hand was withdrawn back to his side as Esme began to wipe the drink from her clothing and again he sat, fluid and more graceful than any ballerina. "I would much enjoy an extension of your company if you would care to join me." One, pale hand waved in the direction of the empty seats next to his and across the table. Where she sat, if she did indeed choose to sit, was her choice.

A musical, infectious laugh spilled from his lips which were delicate for a man at the phrase pray tell. It was refreshing indeed to hear those words come from someone other than himself or the other council members. "Vlad. Just, Vlad." He replied as she asked for his name. "Your speech is uncommonly refined, my compliments." Even one's grammar was a preferable subject to details of his existence. Avoiding a secret was simpler than dancing about it.

He spoke with a rich, rolling accent. He knew that, combined with his foreign name would betray him as the outsider he was. That at least when asked, he could speak of freely, remembering of course to alter the names of towns to their current variations. "Forgive my saying, but you seem out of sorts. Am I correct in assuming that this.." A gesture here to the club in general. "..is not a setting you would have chosen if left to your own devices?"

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme sidled into a seat far enough away from Vlad that it didn't seem extremely awkward that she wanted to sit near him even though she didn't know him that well but not so far that she couldn't hear him. "Thank you very much," she said as she took a seat, both to the seat he had offered her and then she later repeated it for the compliment he paid her. Most people thought her strange because she enjoyed using 'whom' rather than ending her sentences with a preposition or that she used rather outdated phrases, but they were normal in the home she was brought up in.

When Vlad asked her about her current setting, Esme smiled sheepishly. "I've never actually ventured into a place like this, maybe it's my sheltered life, maybe it's what my parents called 'culture' but I'd much rather be at a ballet or the theatre before I ever ventured into a disco. Or is this a club? Oh, I don't know. That just shows you how much I know about my current situation."

Esme twisted her mouth to the side, a habit she had gotten into since she was younger when she had shown how little she knew about her current situation. Perhaps he was just as clueless about the correct name for this rave, or perhaps he did know, hopefully he could clear that up for her. "And yourself? Do you typically frequent establishments such as this one?"

[Vlad]

"Sheltered life? I'm curious, were mother and father worried about strengthening the demons within or you falling prey to those demons that walk abroad among us?" The liquor in his glass continued to swish, though he couldn't drink it. Most, close to all, the humans held a drink in their hands so he would hold one as well.

He chuckled at the rants of humans, saying more than was needed to answer a question. It was truly one of their most endearing qualities. Esme's speech was uniquely graceful upon the ears, however, there were still phrases that betrayed just how young she truly was. The mixture of ancient and new slipped, easy as silk, from her lips. He would imagine it would have sounded rather awkward coming from anyone else.

"Then why this, club, tonight? Why are you not dressed in your finest garments and enjoying the seductive sounds of foreign tongues?" It pleased him to hear that her preferences for the arts fell more in line with his own than with the masses of her generation.

"Do I come here often?" He grinned at the reference to the common place flirtation, the modern phrases awkward in his accent and ancient mind. A glance down at his swirling drink before he answered. "On occasion. I enjoy the opportunity to watch the crowds of people without the requirement of myself joining them."

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme's eyes widened at the question of whether or not her parents were afraid of demons, as far she was aware they didn't even believe that the female of only two generations before them belonged to this world in which Esme now found herself. But then it occurred to her, people would normally call vices like drugs, sex and alcohol 'demons' as well. "No, I highly doubt my parents feel that I'll fall prey to drugs or whatever else is considered a 'demon' of today. They merely preferred to raise their daughter in the world of crystal and diamonds like they had been."

Having finally gotten as much of the cocktail off of the front of her dress, Esme resorted to fiddling with the napkin in her hand. Unlike her companion, she didn't have a drink to play with absentmindedly so the napkin became her vice.

"As for this club, it was the diabolical plan of my classmates. I'd actually spend my time discovering London on my own, I've seen almost any and every thing on stage at least twice. Plus, Daddy promised we'd spend a weekend seeing the newest performances sometime next month, so I can't ruin that night."

"How about yourself," she continued, "The type of English you use is much too refined for a place like this, even more so than a night at my parent's home and they most definitely have the most hoity toity people in the country. Why don't you spend your time at the ballet? Is it really that much better to watch drunken twenty-somethings stumble around and grope one another?"

[Vlad]

He watched with intense curiosity as her eyes widened at the mention of demons. Did she know something that she should not? Had the small power within her led this young girl to poses knowledge of the beings he and The Council strove to conceal? Curiosity pressed him to ask questions he knew he could not without raising suspicion. He would bide his time and see if he might have the chance to inquire inconspicuously. Or...

"And what do you consider to be the demons of today?" Innocent enough of a question, it should not get him into to much trouble or at any rate nothing he could not talk his way out of. Though, if another member of the Council had heard, they surely would have disapproved of taking even this small risk.

He laughed, a sound so deep and rich one could almost taste it. The laugh faded and it left some trace of humor behind in the air, like the lingering taste of chocolate along the back of the tongue. Diabolical it seemed, was one of those words that had changed in meaning, or at the very least lessened in the severity of it's meaning over time. That coupled with the childish name for father struck him as wonderfully amusing. He was beginning to enjoy the sound of this strange girl's voice, so different from her peers.

"Indulge me Ms. Esme, if you would, which play is your favourite? Do not answer lightly, for I wish for the one dearest to your heart, not a temporary effect of humor." Each syllable was defined and pronounced and his eyes still held a twinge of amusement over the glasses which he had not bothered to replace over his eyes due to the dim lighting of the club.

"Hoity, toity?" He asked, a trace of that delectable laugh lining the words like a sweet glaze. "Let us say simply that this manner of setting provides the opportunity to meet interesting people. Among the bouncing drunks and groping hands, so like pigeons and gulls, it is an easy matter to pick out the swans." One, pale hand moved in a sweeping gesture towards Esme at the word swan. This girl was indeed a swan among gulls, a diamond amidst stones.

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme smiled slightly, maybe Vlad was attempting to hint at something by keeping on with the talk of demons. But she was not going to be the first person to test this by asking about demons outright. As far as she knew he could be a demon and she highly doubted what little magic she knew would be able to protect her. She started to wish she had skipped the party to go find a new teacher that day.

"I'm not quite sure," Esme began to answer the question as innocently as possible. If she were a normal human she would talk about a human's demons as many humans knew them and that she would do, "I guess a person's demons can be described as anything that haunts them. Whether it be drugs, or sex, or alcohol or, God forbid, video games. Just anything that prevents a person from living life from day to day like a normal human being."

Esme watched as Vlad's eyes lit up as he became more interested in the conversation. It was nice to see so much amusement on his face, and in a way, she had gotten much more comfortable with speaking with him. His laugh sent shivers down her spine, it was something that she may not become acquainted with in quite a bit of time. She thought deeply of what her favourite play may be, "Well, I have always found myself attached to musical theater. The music is always so catchy and the themes so diverse. But truly, I think the play that I enjoy the most is William Shakespeare's 'Midsummer's Night Dream'. It's an extremely entertaining play, but the idea of a person being so blinded by their love, and a bit of magic, that they can't see what they truly want is something so many writers have attempted to figure out, but haven't had the ability to capture like Shakespeare did."

Vlad's laughter at Esme's less than appealing choice of vocabulary made Esme slightly self-conscience. But that was quickly forgotten when Vlad called her a 'swan'. "Surely you kid. There's no chance that anyone could ever think me a swan. Perhaps a hippo in swan's feathers, much like a wolf would take on the clothing of a sheep, but never a swan."