~1929~
Claire spent the majority of the roaring twenties doing the best she could to help Kirielle recover from her own death, as well as Reeve’s. After all, Claire was quite aware of the guilt that came with ending someone’s life while in frenzy. Even after 330 years, she still felt those pangs of guilt over Viola’s death during her darker moments.
By the end of the decade, Kirielle had returned to her starring role in Claire’s Cabaret, despite that incessant melody that the girl would be cursed to hear in her head eternally. Of course, all the time spent helping Kirielle return to some semblance of her mortal life also involved spending a whole lot of time with Lucian as well.
Most of Claire’s nights were spent at the club. Then she and Kirielle would make their way back to Lucian’s home. There Claire would spend the rest of her night in Lucian’s bed more often than not. However, not all nights followed the same routine.
Tonight was one of those occasional nights when neither Claire nor Kirielle had to be at the club. A couple nights each week there was a smaller show there, which actually featured some of the newer performers instead of their usual line up that Kirielle led.
On this particular night, Claire made her way back to the estate and up to she and Sean’s chambers. She was searching her huge walk in closet for just the right ensemble that night when she turned toward the bedroom door.
“I thought I felt you here tonight,” Sean smiled at her from the doorway. That sire and childe bond still always let them know when each other were near, just as it had for over three centuries.
“Evening,” she smiled back at him before returning to her search.
“So you’ve only come to raid the closets then?” he accused, though his tone was playful.
She smiled at his words before answering, “We’re going to the ballet tonight.”
Sean moved closer and placed a gentle kiss upon those beautiful raven colored locks as she continued looking through the vast amount of dresses she had acquired over the centuries.
“We?” he couldn’t help asking, as he still stood close behind her, his hands gently resting on her shoulders.
“Me, Kirielle, and Lucian,” she answered, her volume dropping on that last name, as she was quite aware of the distrust Sean would always have for Awsha’s childe.
“Lucian again, huh?” Sean stated, doing well to keep any emotion from coloring his tone.
“Sean,” she said, preparing to have to leap to Lucian’s defense once again. But before she could add anything, Sean spoke again.
“I can’t even remember the last time I saw him. Which is ironic, considering how much time he’s been spending... at the club,” he settled on.
“Well, I’m pretty sure he knows you’re not his biggest fan,” she reminded, though gently.
“Or is it he that’s not my biggest fan?” Sean couldn’t help replying in a wry tone.
“Don’t be silly. You’re the Prince. Everyone loves you,” she smirked.
“And you’re still a terrible liar,” he teased as he turned her to face him. He then leaned down to kiss her, as if to soften the blow of his last comment, despite how teasingly it had been made.
“What was that for?” she asked, looking up into his eyes once the kiss ended.
Sean couldn’t help a small chuckle, “I need an excuse?” In response, Claire just looked down. He then supplied an answer anyway, “I just miss you, love.”
“You’re feeling rather nostalgic tonight, aren’t you?” Claire asked, though she couldn’t help the smile his words produced.
“I am actually,” Sean stated thoughtfully. “Another thing I can barely remember is the last time I even watched a ballet. What kind of Toreador am I?” he smirked.
Claire allowed a tiny chuckle, “Maybe you should ask the Prince for a night off.”
Sean was quiet a moment before smiling back down at her, “I think I may just take that advice... Tonight even.”
After she and Sean both dressed in some of their finest attire for a night at the ballet, they made their way down the spiral staircase together. Upon reaching the main hall, Claire looked back up at him.
“I should probably call them,” she told Sean as she glanced toward his study.
Sean followed her gaze, “Oh, you mean on the telephone?” he raised a brow at the idea as he followed her into his study.
“It’s the twentieth century now. We should probably at least try to fit in with all the mortals who are obsessed with those things, shouldn’t we? Masquerade and all?” Claire chided.
“Go right ahead. Maybe someday I’ll even attempt to use that thing too,” Sean stated as he wrinkled his nose at the thought, which couldn’t help but produce a small giggle from her as she moved to make the call, the new-fashioned way.
“Hello?” Lucian’s voice greeted her cautiously at the other end of the line.
“Hey, it’s Claire,” she began.
“Can’t say I expected to hear your lovely voice when this thing rang. It’s usually only my wealthier patients that ever reach me this way,” Lucian replied with a smile. “Why are you calling instead of heading here to meet us at the moment? You’re not canceling, are you?” he added worriedly.
“No, no. I can’t wait to get there. I have a feeling it’s going to be a really beautiful performance.” She then smiled back at Sean, who still waited in the doorway. “I hear the Prince might even come,” Claire told him with a teasing tone.
“I’m sorry, what now?” Lucian asked, that statement getting his full attention then.
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“She’s not canceling, is she?” Kirielle asked as she stepped out of her bedroom in response to the sound of the telephone.
“Um, Sean’s coming?” Lucian asked with a slight stammer.
“He is?” Kirielle asked with a surprised smile.
“Yeah,” Claire responded with her own smile, “I told him where I was going tonight and I guess he figured he could take at least one night off this century.”
Lucian was quiet a long moment as he pondered his next words. “Actually, uh, Kirielle can give him my ticket and meet the two of you there. I just remembered I do have a patient coming in tonight after all. It was a last minute thing. A doctor’s work is never done, right?” Lucian attempted a smile. “You three have fun tonight.” And with that he hung up the phone with a deep sigh.
“Lucian?” Kirielle asked him with a perplexed look.
“Have a good time tonight,” he told her with a forced smile as he moved to hand her the tickets and kiss her cheek before turning toward the door that led to his practice.
“What the hell, Lucian?” Kirielle asked, not swayed that easily. “You’re doing this again?” she asked with disbelief.
“Doing what? My job?” he attempted to defend.
“Why are you so damn afraid to ever even be in the same room as Sean?” Kirielle asked, her stubbornness remaining.
Lucian scoffed as he looked away, “I’m not...” he just shook his head, knowing that sentence would be futile. “Is it really that strange that I don’t want to spend time with my lover’s husband? Never mind the fact that he’s a three hundred year old vampire Prince,” he added with another scoff, still not able to make eye contact.
“Try again,” Kirielle stated bluntly.
“God, you’re relentless,” he mumbled.
“That may be because you haven’t ever given me a straight answer any of the dozens of other times you’ve done this,” she told him pointedly.
“I believe I just gave you an answer,” he retorted.
“You’ve never given me an answer,” Kirielle returned angrily before heading out the door to make some attempt to still enjoy the night, despite his refusal to explain his strange behavior in regards to Sean.
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The ballet that night was beautiful, despite any negative moods suffered by any of them earlier that night. Once the lead ballerina took the stage, the three of them were entranced by the rest of the performance. This reaction was even more literal for Sean and Claire than for Kirielle. Troubled as she was, her clan, The Daughters, were only part Toreador and her weakness was that incessant music in her head, while Claire’s and Sean’s was the tendency to get utterly lost in the beauty they found surrounding them.
As the show came to an end, Kirielle smiled over at her companions who both seemed to be suffering from that very literal entrancement. But more worrying than that, was that the performance had touched Claire so much that there were tears now threatening to escape the corner of her pretty eyes.
“Claire,” Kirielle attempted to bring Claire back to a more lucid state before the house lights came up around they and the mortals surrounding them that night.
Receiving no response from either Claire nor Sean as their eyes remained on the stage while the curtain closed, Kirielle looked around worriedly. Despite the distraction she suffered every moment of her life now, she still knew that something had to be done. She quickly reached up to wipe away Claire’s tears before any mortal eyes witnessed them.
Luckily that soft touch of Kirielle’s fingers upon her pale face did manage to break Claire free as she finally snapped back to the present, now looking over at the girl questioningly.
“I was crying?” Claire whispered with embarrassment.
Kirielle let out a tiny, relieved laugh at the statement, having managed to safely keep the Masquerade in place for the moment, even if her clan traditionally didn’t care for the laws of the Camarilla. Then again, after her introduction to their world, Kirielle didn’t care much for her clan, either.
“Not that strange a thing, honestly. Unless of course, you’re us,” she smiled back at Claire, comfortingly touching the older woman’s hand as she spoke.
That was when they both looked to Sean to see if he had any words, or at least looks, of disapproval at the near breach of their most important law. After all, it was his very job to make sure all their laws were upheld, though that one most of all. However, he seemed to be still suffering his own entrancement. Though fortunately, without the tears.
“Sean?” Claire stated his name worriedly as the rest of the audience slowly began rising from their seats around them, murmuring about the show as they made their way out of the theatre.
“Try touching him,” Kirielle advised, then shook her head at the statement. “I just mean, when I wiped away your tears, that seemed to bring you back,” she attempted clarification.
Though Lucian may have been the one to unceremoniously avoid spending the evening with Sean, again, it was still somewhat of an awkward situation for her as well. Claire was her boss, technically. Sean was everyone’s boss, more or less. And the man who had raised her from birth was indeed sleeping with Claire, despite her rather strange marriage to Sean. The whole situation left Kirielle rather close to all members of this decidedly strange love triangle of sorts.
Moving her hand to Sean’s arm, Claire gently squeezed it, then shook him slightly. Upon receiving no response, her eyes filled with worry. “Doesn’t seem I have the magic touch after all,” she tried to play it off as a joke, but there was real concern there.
Kirielle looked worried then as well. True, it wasn’t as detrimental as Claire’s bloody tears having possibly been seen by anyone else, but having their Prince unresponsive while out amidst the mortal world was not exactly a comforting thought either.
“I suppose... there’s one thing...” Kirielle bit her lip slightly as her pretty blue eyes watched as the last several audience members moved through the exits.
“One thing?” Claire asked as she looked back at her.
“This happened to Lucian once, and I couldn’t get him to come back til I... tried something?” she told Claire hesitantly.
“Well, then, try it,” Claire told her with an encouraging smile through her otherwise worried tone.
“He may not like it very much though,” Kirielle warned.
Claire gave her a questioning look, “Well, regardless, we can’t leave him like this, can we?”
Kirielle nodded, though her hesitation was clear. She took one more look around the theatre to make sure they were alone there now. “You may wanna leave too Claire.”
“What?” Claire gave her a shocked look, “We both know that isn’t going to happen,” she assured her.
Kirielle nodded again, honestly having expected that answer, “Then at least try to cover your ears, as best you can. Trust me,” she stressed.
Claire gave Kirielle another questioning look, but shook her had and clasped her hands over her ears tightly. Claire had honestly expected the girl to shout loudly or something, and assumed she was simply worried about the overly sensitive hearing their kind had. Of course, all those senses of theirs were magnified even more when they were in this entranced state Sean was now suffering. So it made some sort of sense that Kirielle may have been able to do something such as that to bring Lucian back. And Claire could easily see how it would be indeed unpleasant while in that state. But it was still strange that she didn’t just suggest Claire try it herself, if that was what she had intended to try to bring him back.
But instead, Kirielle took a moment to prepare herself. She then closed her eyes and opened her pretty lips. Out came the sound of her humming the tiniest musical note that was so ethereal it was bordering on otherworldly. As the note left her throat upon reaching its crescendo, a few of the nearby house lights even shattered around them. They all startled then, including Sean, who had indeed been yanked out of his entrancement by the most haunting sound any of them had ever heard.
But more disturbing than the lights shattering at the sound, was the blood now dripping from Sean’s ears. Kirielle let out a shocked gasp as she took note of the damage her voice had done, though Claire barely heard the gasp, as she found her own hearing muffled as though she were listening to it from under water.
Trying to ignore the way her senses seemed to be slightly impaired in that moment, Claire followed Kirielle’s scared eyes back to Sean. Claire quickly spoke his name as she couldn’t help moving her fingers to the trace of blood now dripping through his long locks and down his neck from his ears. Though Sean did not seem to hear his name on her lips, or anything else at all in that moment.