I don't own the Carpathian series - just the awesome Kiera and Jaz!

Welcome to the next section... This is only the beginning of the party so don't worry. Enjoy!

"Well this house is ginormous," Jaz murmured as she slid off from the horse that she had been currently riding her way towards the home that was holding some sort of get-together for the males' population of people. It was clear that the two were clearly not of the humanish sort and did weird things that weren't, well possible when a life of a human is, well a ticking clock that usually stops when you hit old age.

"I'd think I would call it a mansion, not a house… Houses entail a smaller ideal quantity and this could very well be a little below what a military base would be sized at," Kiera murmured from the right side of her friend as she slid out of the saddle of her own horse as her feet hit the ground with a soft thud. She patted the black beast on the side of the neck as she walked in front of the animal to glance at her friend who had a peculiar look on her face as if she was thinking too hard that had Kiera smiling at her inner thoughts.

"Intriguing… But doesn't this place stick out like a sore thumb out here in the middle of nowhere? I mean no offense but come on... It's like putting a slab of meat on a teenage boy and throwing him in a lion pit full of ravaged felines. Not a good thought process here," Jaz waved her hands toward the mansion in a flare that had Kiera laughing as she looked back at the two men coming towards them, both dismounted from their own steeds as both faces held a stoic mask, unreadable as well as unsettling.

"This area is secured far better and what you may think the pentagon would be, we assure you," the male with deep red hair, Alaric stated boldly that had Jaz turning her head to glare at the male who she believed dripped and oozed chauvinistic characteristics. He may be good to look at but she didn't like his demeanor and 'I'm always right' vibe. She saw the side of his lip twitch in a smirk of something but she didn't know what since she couldn't read his mind. She wasn't sure if she ever wanted to either. A man's brain was a dangerous place to be, her mother always said.

"Let us make our way up to the door, shall we? We don't want those inside to be waiting on us to make our entrance," Thierry stated as he motioned for the girls to make their way up the stone staircase toward the old-fashioned entrance door. Both girls obliged the male as they made their way up the stairs at a jog and stopped at the top, glancing at each other on who should knock on the door.

The door opened on its own as both men came to join them at the top of the stoop as the motion revealed a tale male with piercing silver eyes looked lethal and ready to kill anything that wanted to breathe… or blink.

"Aye caramba," Kiera said as she took a step backwards and ran into a warm wall of a male body form behind her. She couldn't help the swallow reaction as she glanced toward her best friend to see that she wasn't the only one that was intimidated by the guy in front of them.

"Okay then… I so would go for the dark evil looking guy with the sunglass look right about now instead of seeing your X-men eyes," Jaz spilled out from her mouth that had Kiera dropping her head down so that her chin touched her chest as she shook her head once again at her friend's big mouth and no function of the brain.

"Greetings gentleman… I am aware that you know of me and will watch over the guests you bring," the male said coolly that had shivers running up Kiera' spine all the way down her arms and set her hairs up in warning. She didn't like the demeanor of the man at all and heard a small growl rumbling from the chest behind her in response.

"Gregori… Play nice. Let in our guests so that they may join us in the festivities," another male voice murmured from behind him before showing himself with the small movement to the side from the male named Gregori. The other male had dark hair like the other with blue eyes and to say the least he was rather handsome in his own way. His face was soft and warm with emotion which was the polar opposite with the guardian of a male that stood next to him.

"Why is it all the guys we're meeting have to be inhumanly pretty?" Jaz murmured softly to her friend's ear that had Kiera laughing in response as she fought the eye roll that threatened to follow.

"You should know that they probably can here you whispering…" Kiera joked in a whisper back that had Jaz forming an 'Oh' with her mouth in realization that they weren't among, well, normal people who didn't pry into conversations…or minds for that matter.

"We are able to hear you quite perfectly, my ladies… I can assure you that you will be quite safe here but do please refrain from offending anyone here," the other male murmured with a smile on his face as waved his hand toward the inside of the mansion.

"I would not like to clean up the mess of any fighting that would ensue," the other dark male, Gregori spoke in a darkish sense as he remained in a statue like pose and didn't really move his body except his head and his eyes.

"We are honored to be in your presence, Prince," Alaric spoke from behind Jaz that had her looking around to glance at him briefly with a slight frown on her face. Granted, she was thankful that his mouth had intervened from her saying anything else that would have gotten her in trouble but she couldn't get over the fact that they all were speaking kind of funny and not of the new age dialogue that she was kind of used to. The male moved from behind her as he grasped the Prince's forearms in that familiar greeting before doing the same to grumpy Gregori.

"As well as I. It is a great pleasure to finally meet you in person, Prince Mikhail…" Thierry murmured as well as he came to follow the same pattern of greeting as Alaric had done as both girls stood off to the side and looked at them with uncertainty. Neither one wanted to say anything else as they fiddled with their new clothing. Kiera loved the dress that she was wearing – a simple purple dress with straps that cross in the back that hangs just above her knees in a cut that makes the material longer in the back just slightly. Jaz's was a bit more of a bolder color of a deep red, much similar to the color of Alaric's hair that had thick straps, a high cut neckline and hung to a similar length to her knees in one length. Both girls chose simple flat, black ballet flat slippers for comfort since they didn't know if they would be standing for long periods of time. They learned the hard way at the prom…

"Please come in and make yourselves comfortable," Prince Mikhail said warmly as he turned around and made his way back into the mansion with Gregori right on his heels. Jaz looked at Kiera with a perplexed look as Kiera shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to say. Kiera looked up to Thierry, her heart hammering wildly in an unknown fashion as he smiled at her and waved his hand for her to accompany him. She moved slowly and grabbed onto his elbow that he handed out to her in an old fashioned way as she watched her friend follow suit with Alaric with a wary glance on her face and a stoic expression on his. She couldn't help but smile at her friend's uncomfortable stance even though the girl had a mouth on her bigger than Texas…

The place was magnificent, the colors and textures of the furniture and walls were dazzling to the eyes. It seemed almost a blur as Kiera tried to take in the area with her eyes. The continued to walk until they found some sort of ballroom that was full of people of similar ages to the males' escorting them as well as looks. The majority of the population seemed to be of the dark bluish black hair and deep blue eyes that seemed to be a dominant trait of the people in Romania. Each person seemed to be engrossed in some sort of conversation yet some eyes from other males would glance briefly towards them, nod and continue to scan the room before either returning their gaze to loved ones or just plain staring around. As if they were looking for any danger, constantly alert.

"It's true… We never let our guards down. It's our nature," Thierry murmured to Kiera next to her ear and she jolted, leaning away from him as she stared at him with shocked sea-green eyes as she looked at him as if he had said what she was thinking about…which he did.

"How…how did you know? What I was, well-"

"Thinking?" he finished her sentence with a smirk on his face as his deep blue eyes twinkled with mischief. She couldn't help but frown at him as she tried not to think of anything else.

"You know that is an invasion of privacy…" she warned to him yet he continued to smile smugly at her and she couldn't help but stare back at him and his handsomeness shining through. He had tied the long mass of black hair back from his face in a leather queue and he wore the same crisp white shirt unbuttoned on the top three buttons tucked into a nice black pair of slacks.

"Remember what I told you, Kiera. We're lifemates which you will come to understand in due time… For now, enjoy the night with me," he spoke matter of factly that had her huffing out a breath in annoyance as she took her gaze off from him a little reluctantly as she looked around the room.

'You are always welcome to gaze upon me. I know you cannot resist' he whispered in her mind that had her eyes widening as she whipped her gaze toward him.

'Out of my mind. Now.' She warned him, her eyes growing darker as a storm was raging in the colored hue as she took her arm from his and took a few steps away from him. She gave him a mental push out of her mind and slammed it shut, shocking herself that she could do so but it seemed so natural and she didn't want to focus on things that she didn't understand. Turning around on her feet, she walked toward her friend and grabbed Jaz's hand and dragged her away without a word from the two men who stared at the two girls as if they had been placed in a battle that they didn't know how to win…

"Well that is unexpected of you. Where are we heading in your spit of anger?" Jaz murmured softly as she let her friend be dragged away from the freakishly tall brute with deep red hair to die for that she had been glaring at. He had spoken so dominant and brutish to her that she had contemplated on whether she wanted to kick him in the shin or punch him; neither would have hurt him he had told her and any touch from a lover was better than being alone for the centuries he had endured. The last had confused her but before she could ask him about his remark, Kiera had stomped over and had ceremoniously dragged her away.

"Oh shush… I don't need you ragging on me right now. Besides, there's food and I'm hungry so we're going to eat and be merry," Kiera growled out as she stopped in front of the food table, ignoring the awkward/curious stares from the other people in the room as she let go of her friend's hand and rubbed her own together in anticipation. It was true that she was starving, her stomach growling at the thought of filling her stomach full of delicious food and the variety in front of her was astounding – from turkey to strawberry shortcake, she didn't know where she wanted to start.

"Oooo… Cherry pie. I love cherry pie," Jaz cooed as she did a happy little twirl as she grabbed a small plate off from the table and went for the spatula before Kiera slapped her hand before she grabbed it.

"Real food first, remember? Mom always said that," Kiera reprimanded as she put a little bit of everything of a dinner sort on her own plate. Jaz just glowered at her friend and fought what she wanted to say to her friend in her mind as she grumbled to herself about how much she hated that rule. Once they were satisfied, they walked over to the nearest empty table and sat down to eat. Happy and full after a few minutes of eating in silence and their satisfaction of eating two cherry pies, one for each of them, they both looked around the ballroom to see that the people still stood in small groups talking to one another. The people seemed to be happy to see one another and it was a calming atmosphere that had both girls sighing in peace.

"Hey! You must be new people," a young male spoke enthusiastically that pulled the girls out of their stupors as they whipped their eyes around to see a young teenage boy with greenish hair and piercings in his nose and lip as well as several in his ears. With a raise of Jaz's eyebrow, she couldn't help but stare at the male strangely because he wasn't at all like the other men in the room.

"And you are…" Kiera stated lightly, looking at the male warily as she assessed him to see if he was any danger to them. Seeming quite harmless in baggy pants and a decent black button up she gave him a weak smile as he plopped down in a chair across from them.

"The name's Josef."

Muahaha... I'm so bad. Another cliffhanger *go me!* I hope you liked it! Please review - I don't know whether you guys are liking it or not so give me a heads up! Any suggestions if you want to give are always welcome as well (I am always opened eared for greatness from fellow minions!).

I promise a ton of humor this next one with Josef and maybe a peek at Skyler *wink wink*...