“Gabriel!” I was immensely relieved to finally set eyes on my friend. “I was beginning to think that you’d forgotten that I was even coming!”

“I was beginning to think that you’d forgotten to come.” He replied, “But we’ve already agreed that forgetfulness isn’t a hanging offense, so we both would have been fine.”

“I disagree, Sir Locke.” Prince Ed shook hands with Gabriel, which I thought was odd because Gabriel never shook hands with anyone, if he could help it. “I must say that it would have been a crime for you to have forgotten that you were escorting this beautiful woman tonight.”

I felt my face flush red at this. “Perhaps you’re right.” Gabriel said, taking his place at my side. I felt the slight pressure of his hand gently alighting on my waist, pulling me a little closer, “You look lovely, Joan.”

“Mrs. Widley’s dress is wonderful.” I told him.

“I should think it’s a might bit more than just the dress!” Prince Ed laughed.

I saw a vein pulsing in Gabriel’s temple, and realized that he was struggling to curb his annoyance. If I didn’t get him away from the Prince soon, we'd be in trouble very quickly with the royal family for Gabriel’s smart-mouthed comments.

“You’ll dance with me, won’t you?” I asked Gabriel quickly, putting my hand on his arm, distracting him, and steering the conversation away from my appearance. I wasn’t comfortable with the topic anyways, though it seemed like that was all Ed was capable of talking about…

“I’m supposed to ask you.” he said, his shoulders wilting a little.

“When have you ever cared for societal norms, Gabriel?” I laughed, shaking my head.

My date shrugged, and smiled once more. “That’s a good point. Come along then, Joan.” He pulled me towards the dance floor.

“It was nice to meet you, Ed!” I said.

“You’ll have to promise me another dance, and to meet my elder brother!” Ed exclaimed.

“Perhaps.” I laughed, but was glad to be back with Gabriel.

Pulling me closer than I had been to the Prince, Gabriel ‘s hand settled on my waist. The man’s familiar scent washed over me, immediately putting me at ease. “You seem to do fine without me…” He said quietly.

“I wish that I hadn’t been without you…what kept you?” I asked, frowning.

“I was seeing to the various entrances, making sure that they were secure…then I was in the kitchens, solving a minor problem…and then amongst the servants, listening to the idle talk…then looking for you for a good while, but there are so many people here that I couldn’t find you. Then Myles found me, and told me that he’d seen you, and what area he’d left you in, and so I went searching for you, and well, here we are.”

“I’m just glad you’re here now. I don’t like dancing with strangers.” I shook my head.

“Well, you were doing a fine job for yourself, I must say, if the second person you danced with was a prince, the first being my brother…And now, this the point that I must mention that I would follow up my previous recounting of events with the observation that you look lovely tonight, but not only would I only be repeating what Prince Edmund has probably said for the entire duration of your conversation, but I think that you would grow cross with me for reasons I can’t understand, probably because saying something like that would rather imply that you’re not typically lovely, which would then lead me to insist that you are, and try to eat my words, and only dig myself a deeper grave…am I correct?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at this rather complicated, long-winded bit of speech, and try to ignore the fact that I had turned bright red. “Maybe. But I rather think you forgot the part I insist that I am only of average looks, and above average intelligence.”

“I disagree with the first, and agree with the second, but would request that you alter the statement to far higher than average intelligence.”

“Let’s agree to disagree, shall we?” I rolled my eyes at him.

“I’ll do whatever you want.” He said quietly.

My face couldn’t blush a darker shade of red, I was certain of it, but he didn’t seem to care, since his sharp eyes didn’t move from mine for the remainder of the dance, which was almost a little distracting from the rest of our conversation.

When the dance was over, he was about to pull me into another dance, but something distracted me. “Gabriel?”

“Yes, Joan?” His voice was soft.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on the lookout for…possible vampiric villains?”

“Yes. Did you see something?”

“Maybe. I know you said that they could cover their pale skin with makeup, but makeup can only do so much.” I told him. “And don’t look just yet, glance over towards the pillar on the left side of the room the next time we spin, but there is a particularly attractive woman who is pale, maybe not pale enough, but she may have darkened her complexion with makeup…it could be a false alarm, but I just noticed and…” As we spun again, and he glanced in the direction of the column, I felt him pull me closer than I’d been before, his grip on me tightening, alerting me to his worry. “What is it?”

“Something worth looking into.” He said, and then with a grimace, spun me around again, pulling me entirely against his chest, which made my breath catch a little.

“Oh!” I exclaimed quietly. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” I heard him gasp, clearly not fine, so I pushed away.

“What’s wrong, Gabriel?”

But he only shook his head, gritting his teeth, and tilting his head to the side, I heard his neck crack menacingly. “I…It’s nothing. But I do need to look into what you saw.”

“You’re not alright!” I said, seeing pain written on his face.

“I’ll be perfectly alright in about two minutes. Now, this dance is about over,” he said as the last few notes floated through my ears, “and when it’s done, go stand by the edge of the dance floor. I won’t be long.”

“What if it is a vampire?”

“Myles is monitoring my movements from a higher vantage point, and if something is amiss, he’ll be here in thirty seconds, tops. Alright?”

“Alright.” I said, but had no intentions of actually leaving his side for even a moment.

The song ended, and he let his hands drop from my waist. As we walked off the dance floor, I noticed, from my place about five paces behind him, that he was limping a little, which bothered me, especially when I saw him start to clench and unclench his hands, rub his fingers together repeatedly, as if they were bothering him as well.

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We reached the woman as the next song started. I hung back to make it seem like I wasn’t necessarily with him as he went to attract the woman’s attention.

To my surprise, Myles materialized almost immediately as Gabriel walked away. “Joan.” He said in his usual, cool tone.

“Myles.” I replied, with a nod.

The elder Locke brother didn’t say anything else, and I realized that he was watching Gabriel, as I was, which bothered me, perhaps I really had seen a vampire.

But as Gabriel talked to the woman, slowly getting her to migrate away from the rest of the ball attendees, I saw him rub his neck with an increasing intensity, and I saw him shudder just the slightest bit a couple of times. Suddenly, he had to put his hand out, placing his palm against the wall, for balance. The woman he was speaking to looked confused for a moment, and I saw Gabriel waving his hand, probably trying to explain away the lapse in his balance.

“What is he doing?! He should not have come tonight! Especially not in this state!” Myles hissed upon seeing his little brother nearly fall over.

He quickly strode over to Gabriel, and put his hand on his shoulder, interrupting Gabriel’s conversation with the woman, whose eyes widened in a pleased sort of way as the second, elder Sir Locke appeared.

I crept closer, wanting to hear the conversation, and now a little concerned.

The woman pouted, “Oh, both of the Locke boys in one ballroom…very, very fun indeed!”

“Why don’t you join us for a drink?” Myles suggested, suddenly the picture of amiability. Apparently he was an excellent actor as well. Perhaps that’s where Gabriel had learned it…

“In a more private setting, perhaps?” The woman said, fluttering her eyes seductively. “I would love to get to know you both more. I’ve heard stories about the pair of you, and I am extremely interested.

“I think that’s quite in order.” Myles said in an uncharacteristically jovial tone.

Gabriel nodded in quiet agreement, but was very pale, and I sensed the smile he wore was forced, though an excellent reproduction of a real one, otherwise.

“Excellent!” The woman smiled, flashing a pearly white smile, and I saw what were most certainly fangs. My blood chilled, I had been right. And what was scarier was that I remembered Gabriel’s voice telling me that vampires’ fangs only appeared when they were getting ready to feed.

Though I didn’t doubt that the vampire woman thought that she had the Locke brothers in control with her supposedly hypnotic gaze, I knew that wasn’t the case, given their own magical capabilities. But I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, or what their plan of attack was, if there was one.

The three of them paid me no heed as they headed towards a nearby hallway. I tagged along, walking quietly and staying far enough behind not to be noticed.

Just as the ballroom was out of sight, Gabriel gave a quiet cry, and collapsed to the ground. Much to my surprise, I could feel magic welling, uncontrollably, in him.

My desire to remain anonymous evaporated, and I hurried to his side, crying “Gabriel!”

But my surprise was quickly replaced with alarm, as the vampire had suddenly leapt into action, literally.

The bloodthirsty creature jumped at Myles, who waved his hand almost lazily, and blasted her back with a surge of magic, causing her to screech in surprise, thankfully, the music in the ballroom was a rather loud, fast-paced dance number, and masked the sound of her scream.

The elder Locke brother then produced a wooden stake from some deep pocket in his suit, and leapt forward, easily pinning the vampire down with his free arm.

I stared, shocked at seeing such energy and force from a man of Myles’ age. Of course, he was a magician, so perhaps that explained it…although it didn’t explain why he looked as old as he did.

My thoughts about Myles’ age were driven from my mind as Gabriel’s older brother plunged the stake into the vampire’s heart without a second’s hesitation.

Much to my horror, the dying vampire gave a weak, cackling laugh, “M wishes you well.”

“Who is M?!” I saw the elder Locke brother twist the stake in the vampire’s heart. For a split second, Myles seemed to somehow flicker, which I found entirely odd. But when it didn’t happen again, I shook myself, people didn't just flicker, it had to be my eyes tricking me.

The horrible creature gave a croaking cry, but then went still, the life now gone from its body. Myles stood, and the body burst into flames, dissolving almost instantly. He looked disgusted. “M…” he said, sounding thoughtful.

Gabriel cried out, struggling in pain, alarm etched on his features. “Brother!”

“Myles!” I shouted, when Gabriel’s cries didn’t catch his brother’s attention.

“Oh, yes.” The elder Locke brother shook himself, and then sprang forward, ordering, “Come with me, Joan.”

I hurried forward as Myles hauled Gabriel to his feet. “Let me help…” I put one of Gabriel’s arms across my shoulders. The younger Locke brother gave a quiet moan as we started down the hallway again.

“Hang in there, little brother.” Myles muttered. “You’re in for a painful night.”

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked as Gabriel whimpered in pain, and I heard a slight cracking noise from his back, and could still feel magic welling in him. My friend groaned, shifting around and shuddering violently as we pulled him along. “Is he sick?”

“No, he’s not sick.” Was all Myles said.

We entered a bedroom, and I helped put Gabriel on the bed in the middle, pulling the blankets up over him as he shivered in pain, while Myles went to the door, locked it, and used some sort of magic on it.

“I didn’t even know you were a magician as well until just recently.” I told Myles quietly. “It’s odd to have three human magicians in such close proximity to one another…”

“Three?” For a moment, Myles looked surprised, and then realization dawned on him. Apparently Gabriel hadn’t told him yet, nor had he deduced it from his observations, which was surprising, as Gabriel had once confided in me that Myles’ observational skills were more advanced than his own prodigious abilities. I guess he really hadn’t paid much attention to me at all, not that it surprised me. “That’s why he trusts you so much. How old are you?”

“Not older than I look yet.” I shrugged, trying to keep my mind occupied from the strangeness that was going on.

Gabriel shifted, sitting up, putting one of his hands to his head. “I…I thought I had weeks left…” He moaned, grimacing in pain.

What was going on?

“You shouldn’t be here! You felt the signs, you should have come to me immediately!” Myles said, shaking his head vehemently, dropping our conversation.

“I had other more important things to think about! A-and I didn’t think that things would happen this quickly!” Gabriel cried angrily, I heard his back crack again, this time more loudly. Gabriel whimpered, covering his face with his hands.

“That’s the problem, little brother, you didn’t think!” Myles was angry, but also seemed genuinely worried, much to my own surprise. “And you risked blowing our cover to everyone here!”

“Blowing your cover?” I asked. “Myles, what’s going on?”

“I-I feel horrible.” Gabriel shuddered, pulling off his suit jacket, and tossing it aside, tugging weakly at his shirt. Suddenly, I could see his muscles and bones shifting slowly about in a way that wasn’t consistent with how he was moving. “Th-the spell is coming off so quickly!” he gasped, and then screamed as his shoulders snapped loudly. My friend curled into himself, shivering violently.

“Spell? Please, just tell me what’s going on!” I cried, now scared and confused.

“Sh-show her, Myles!” Gabriel coughed, his voice hoarse. Much to my own terror, I watched, horrified, as his eyes rapidly clouded over, seemingly blinded. His hair faded from its usual black to grey, and his shirt somehow seemed oddly tight. The poor man plucked weakly at the buttons, and appeared to be struggling to breathe.

Myles started talking. “The spell that keeps him in human form is wearing off…I did tell him that glamours, though a little inconvenient, would be the better choice, but he insisted on a more permanent spell…” His annoyance was eclipsed by his worry, thankfully, or I would have slapped him for not caring more about his little brother.

“H-human form?” I blinked, utterly confused and taken aback. “He’s not human?!”

“Neither am I.” Myles shook his head, rubbing his neck, clearly stressed and worried for Gabriel.

“Wh-what are you, then, if not human?” I asked as Gabriel sobbed in pain, shifting about on the bed, apparently uncomfortable in his skin, and moving very oddly.

“Elvish, if you must know.” Myles sighed, rubbing his forehead, seeming distressed. “Here.” His image flickered, and then disappeared.

An impossible being stood in Myles’ place.

This person was tall and pale. He had long, dark hair, pitch black, catlike eyes, gracefully pointed ears, and was far better looking than the Myles that I knew. Nor did he look any older than twenty-five.

What surprised me the most was that he had fangs that were visible when he spoke. “See?”

I sat down on the couch, hugging myself tightly, not sure what to think anymore, but certainly very confused and frightened. “I-I…I…”

A piercing scream from Gabriel drew my attention away from my own shock. Every orifice in his head appeared to be hemorrhaging, and blood dripped down onto his now disfigured hands as he clutched weakly at his head, choking and coughing pitifully, the crimson liquid stained the sheets around him.

“Why aren’t you helping him?!” I cried, leaping to my feet again.