„So, tell me more about that place. If we walk straight into the lion's den, I at least want to know what awaits me", Peter remarked as he took place next to her in the car and buckled up. She couldn't help but notice the spark of … yeah, of what? Excitement? Teasing? Annoyance? … in his eyes as their looks met, and in her head she still heard his words. „A date?". Now wasn't the time to be thinking about him like that; she hadn't told Rachel yet and Emily's death weighed heavily on her shoulders. But she couldn't help it. She was eternally grateful that he had decided to tag along and couldn't even begin to express how much she appreciated that he could make her laugh even when she felt like she was falling into a black hole, and all of her feelings just got mixed up inside her and confused her.
„Uhm...", Peter began and woke her from her wave of emotions, „I don't think the car drives by itself."
„Very funny", Olivia shot back and turned on the engine. "And the lion's den, as you call it, is a new club that opened last month and has been quite successful already. It has introduced itself as the place for the – and now don't laugh – Children of the Dark..." At that, she could see how Peter actually tried to stifle a laugh, and she even smiled herself at the choice of words being used by the club's owner. „They have gotten quite a lot of publicity, because they do a lot to create the perfect atmosphere like furnishing with black and red velvet on the walls and tables, using coffins as sofas and hiring actors to play vampires and victims. They even got a special permit to use candles and torches in there. I have read a few articles and blogs about the place, and they have all been very favorable. Especially young women seem to be quite fascinated by the whole vampire masquerade, and a few stories were even written by completely enthralled customers who couldn't really remember anything else than 'the best night of my life!'..."
For a moment, they drove on in silence, then Peter made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. „Vampires. Seriously?"
„Must be the whole Twilight meets Vampire Diaries meets True Blood thing", Olivia replied with a side-glance at him. He looked as skeptical as she felt herself, and if Emily's body hadn't been discovered as close to the place, she would have discarded the whole idea as ludicrous.
„The best night of my life...", Peter repeated. Then he grinned and added: „You think they've been glamoured?"
XXXX
Glamoured. The words stirs something deep inside her and connects it to the sting of the scorpion. Glamoured. There is a reason for her dark appearance. Olivia. She has to be Olivia. And then, suddenly, it makes sense.