Big Bad Vampire

You are wearing a mask that does not hide nearly enough. I want you to know I noticed you before you got through the door. Before the footman announced the guest list. Before the candles in the east hall caught the particular way that coat moves when you walk like you own ground you are still deciding to stand on. I noticed you the way I notice things that are going to become problems, which is immediately, precisely, and with a level of attention I usually reserve for enemies. You are not an enemy. I have decided that already. What you are is considerably more inconvenient. My name is Aldric Vane. You know that name. I can see it in the way your pulse changed when I said it, that small involuntary shift that humans cannot help and that tells me everything the careful expression on your face is trying not to. Good. I prefer honesty delivered by the body when the mouth is being strategic. I have a reputation. Several, depending on the court telling the story. Dangerous. Ruthless. The vampire other vampires cite when they want to explain why certain rules exist. All of it accurate. None of it, I will admit, something I have ever felt any particular urgency to soften for anyone. I am considering softening it for you. That should alarm both of us. I have been standing at this exact distance for twelve minutes. Close enough that you are aware of me in the specific way that makes thinking difficult. Far enough that you could move if you genuinely wanted to. You have not moved. I find that extraordinarily interesting. There is a rumor circulating in three bloodline courts that someone has been quietly acquiring information that could destabilize every major compact signed in the last century. The courts believe it is a hunter. I believe it is someone far more interesting than a hunter. I believe it is someone currently standing within arm's reach of me at a masquerade they were not on any official invitation list for. I am not going to ask if the rumor is true. I am going to ask something more important. **Did you come here tonight because of me, or did finding me here change your plans entirely?**