Miss Vial had grown to appreciate the serene setting of the Ministry gardens ever since the summer. But she didn't appreciate it now that it was approaching eleven at night and she was briskly walking through the sprawling maze of gardens, on the hunt for a sister that was about to raise the dead. The gardens were vast and intimidating, and the muffled ambience of the party seemed miles away now, even though they had only left the main chapel a few minutes ago.

Cardinal calmly led them through the darkness, often pausing to glance over his shoulder at her to ensure that she was staying close. Sometimes she wasn't and he waved her to follow him, the outline of his form the only thing visible in the pitch-black.

She was surprised how confident he was in the cool, eerie atmosphere - even though Aemelia had gotten to know the gardens well, she was nowhere near as comfortable as he was. She could feel the familiar stirring of dread within her and she trusted her instinctive feeling far more than the confident strides of the cardinal in front of her.

There was a sharp, forlorn edge to the autumnal breeze. It rustled the crisp, wilting plants of the arched framework above them, which caused a few departed leaves to gracefully float towards the anaemic grass below. Each of the arched tunnels were indistinguishable at night and now it was fall, the tall archways stood like identical lumbering mausoleums to display the disconcerting close of nature's cycle.

After a few minutes of the same, relentless tunnel - which happened to be the one they had often met under during the afternoons over summer - Cardinal abruptly paused. Consequently, his weighty silk-lined cape forcefully wafted behind him and the edges floated up into the air, quickly draping down to settle over the lower-half of Miss Vial's face. Copia's accessory had blended into the dark effortlessly and caused her to splutter in surprise until she batted the dense material away from her. She cautiously approached his side now that he was stationary, but decided to keep plenty of distance between them... she really didn't want to be attacked by his cape again.

Without hesitation, Copia leaned downwards and Aemelia squinted at him, attempting to focus on his actions now that her eyes were adjusting to the darkness. When she heard the unexpected noise of metallic scraping, she huffed out in confusion, dipping her head down slightly to try and see what had caught Copia's attention.

"You got a match?" Copia asked attentively, his strained voice hushed as he raised into his full stature, his leather glove guarding something he was grasping in his opposite hand.

She brushed her hands over her bare forearms like the cold of the outdoors had suddenly hit her, narrowing her eyes in bewilderment. His shielding glove fell away and revealed that he had hold of a modest lantern. He swung its door open and she immediately began to fish through her waistcoat pockets, understanding his request now that he wasn't obscuring the item with his hands. Soon, she had hold of her matchbox and shook it - she had formed a habit of checking the contents now that she was aware of Nekid's apparent addiction to consuming live matches.

Thankfully, it sounded like there were plenty and she slid the box open, swiftly picking out a single matchstick. Upon closing the box, she had already struck the match into ignition over the striking strip and Copia slowly lifted the lantern between them. She reached inside and the small flame of the match lit the wick of a thin crimson candle, which was snugly encased in the glass of the lantern.

"What a funny coincidence." Aemelia commented skeptically as she backed away to shake out the match, her pale complexion glowing a rich golden colour due to the fresh waver of the candle's flame. "It's not often that you find a lantern... lying on the ground."

Copia's incongruous eyes settled upon her, his ghastly features also illuminated by the warmth of the golden candlelight. He appeared stern for a few seconds as he considered her comments, until he finally cracked a smirk, taking the opportunity to blatantly rake his eyes over the shivering sight of her.

"Mm. Strange, isn't it, Miss Vial? It is almost like Sister Sulinus is expecting us..." he said ominously, his gaze still searching her features.

"You think she is?"

"Eh... you tell me, you are the one wearing the brainy glasses, ah?" he quipped boldly, unable to suppress the small smile on his mouth. He lowered the lantern to hold it in front of his chest and took a step towards her, the radiant candlelight from the lantern was fierce now that he had neared her.

"And, eh... for the record..." he continued in a low and undeniably flirtatious tone. "... you really suit the glasses... you certainly make me want to shout "Jinkies" but for a whole other reason, you know?"

"Right." Aemelia replied with disinterest, but from the expression on her face, he could tell she was already frustrated with him. "Are we actually out here to stop this sister? Because it really feels like you're stalling us from - "

"Hey, hey! Relaaaaax, Miss Vial!" Copia exclaimed confidently, ensuring his eyes met hers to show that he was completely sincere. "Necromancy is time consuming, like I said, ah? And what is the rush in getting to her? I know exactly where she will be and what she will be doing. We may as well let her try, no?"

Aemelia could tell that he was hiding something from her because of his flippant tone and the misleading innocence he was trying to convey. But she could plainly see the mischief glinting in his eyes, and such mischief infuriated her.

"Where is she going?" she questioned bluntly, tired of him purposely talking around what she desired to understand. She wondered where the playful mind games had come from but she could only assume that the Halloween spirit that had gone to his head.

Cardinal's small smile grew into an amused smirk as he confidently returned her stare. He then turned his head and began to follow the new direction of his gaze, his pace slow and casual. He held out the lantern before him, his arm stretching out a little to illuminate the damp, grassy path before them. Aemelia clenched her teeth in annoyance and grudgingly trailed behind him, hugging her arms around herself now that she was finally victim to the creep of autumn's cold.

"Where is she going, Copia?" she asked with annoyance and persisted to grit her teeth together, her exhales visible as wisps of opal amongst the blackness of the bleak air.

"You disappoint me, Miss Vial." he teased mirthfully, shaking his head as he continued to stare in the direction he was walking. "I thought you would have realised by now... you really don't know where we are going?"

"I can only assume... a graveyard." she retorted with stubborn frustration, clearly irritated with his amused tone.

"Correct. And ahm..." he trailed off, slowing his paces so that he could acknowledge her with a glance over his right shoulder. "Whatever you see here tonight, you... are not to speak of it to another soul, ok? We just keep this between us two... you can do that for me, can't you, Miss Vial?"

Her irritation vanished and was quickly replaced with a curious frown.

"Of course, Cardinal... you know that I wouldn't say anything." she assured truthfully, her blacked-out eyes gleaming with worry as her frown continued to deepen. "Why bother asking?"

"I just... wanted to make sure tonight, that is all, Aemelia." he murmured profoundly, reluctantly moving his attention from her to focus on the vacant stretch of grass before them. She studied him even though he had his back to her, and she could tell that he was refraining from disclosing anything else because his strides were suddenly far more tense.

After a few silent yards of pacing, Copia's eyes widened with realisation and he swiftly turned around to face her. She bumped into him slightly and his eyes lit up in amusement. He then thrust the flickering lantern towards her chest and she rolled her eyes, but despite her feeling of annoyance, she understood his wishes and snatched hold of the light source.

"Ah shit! I can't believe that I almost forgot!" he exclaimed, holding up the index finger of his left glove as he searched the insides of his coat pockets with the other.

"Da-na!" he announced highly as he splayed out his palm, the distinctive shine of silver and gold wrappers glistening beneath the dim light of the lantern. "Can I interest you in a tightly wrapped candy?"

"Sweets? You're seriously offering me fuckin' sweets?!" Aemelia snapped in a peaked rasp, her grip on the lantern becoming a little more fierce.

"Yes, Miss Vial. These little suckers are weighing me down - "

"What's wrong with them?" she questioned warily, briskly stepping around him to continue their delayed pursuit of Sister Sulinus.

"Eh... nothing." he replied in a suspiciously high tone, obediently twirling around to scurry after her.

"Then why haven't you eaten them?"

"They are the ones I am not so keen on, I am quite... picky when it comes to candy. I prefer the full sceptres of chocolate, you know."

"Ha, of course you do." she scoffed with amusement, confidently stretching out the lantern before her as she started to quicken her pace.

"So... eh... you want some?"

"Not right now, no."

"That is not a definite "no" so... I will check back with you later, ah?"

The Ministry's graveyard wasn't large or grandiose like Miss Vial had anticipated. It was a stretch of twenty yards and it seemed to only contain the graves of the most influential of the Clergy's deceased. It was enclosed by the edges of the neatly trimmed gardens and crooked, dehydrated willow trees that had their branches coiled into disconcerting twists. The most elaborate aspect of the place was the carved headstones that marked each grave. Each one was completely different to represent the person buried beneath, but none of them were particularly modest or subtle.

Copia coolly trailed through the well-spaced lines of the esteemed departed, his haunting cape flowing behind him now that the evening's breeze had gained strength. Aemelia cautiously followed alongside him and the ground in front of her was the centre of her attention. She held out the glowing lantern before her to illuminate the path, immensely unsettled by the faint sounds of whistles or wails that were slowly being carried through the tenacious currents of chilled air.

He shot a glance over his left shoulder, trying to see if he could spot any disturbed earth as they trailed past... but the ground was completely intact. Something about the untouched graves caused the corners of his mouth to twitch and he quickly turned his head, wisely heading in the direction of the quiet whistling wails. His silence was telling, but so was the mirth that was displayed in his eyes.

The cardinal knew exactly where the sister would be. Whenever the woman had lingered around his office, she had often reminisced about the late Papa Emeritus the Third. She had spoken of the playboy-pope so fondly that it had irritated him at the time. He had been certain that she had wanted to get a rise out of him... but now, he understood that she simply wished to raise her favourite Papa from his grave instead.

The conditions were perfect for it. Cold and dry, dark and desolate. She was sure to prevail with the resurrection, and Copia refrained from allowing a smirk to reach his lips.

Aemelia was growing more agitated now that the sounds of the resurrection ritual had grown into a monotonous hum, which only confirmed that they were far too late to steer the sister away from the dangers of Necromancy. She panicked and began to quicken her pace but Copia reached out a leather-glove and firmly caught hold of her right forearm, the lantern shrieking as it precariously swung back and forth in her grasp.

"Calm yourself, Aemelia." he breathed gently, clutching her more firmly as she slowed to sync with his strides. "If we rudely interrupt, it will be a lot worse for her..."

She shot her glaring eyes towards him but he was focused on the graves ahead, his irises glinting with knowledge she did not understand. She stabilized the lantern and set her jaw, averting her eyes from him. She was still confused and annoyed that they weren't hurrying to stop the woman, but considering that the unpredictable entity was still present in her eyes, she decided that Copia was being sensible, for once.

Soon, they were approaching the last few graves, which seemed to have the freshest soil of the lot. The headstones were difficult to distinguish in the lurking darkness, but the very last one was unusually illuminated with eerie ash-like mists of glimmering turquoise. The final headstone had been moulded out of onyx and was ornately finished with gold leaf engravings, but the inscription was impossible to read from afar due to a morphing shadow falling over it.

A shadow that belonged to Sister Sulinus, who was sat upon her stocking-clad shins and lifting her arms up as she praised the headstone in front of her. Her fawn hands were grubby from disturbing the ground she was sat upon and her black tresses spewed out into ripples behind her as she muttered incoherent incantations. Her russet eyes were squeezed shut and a frown of concentration graced her brow, and from how much she was trembling, she had been focusing for quite some time already.

As soon as Aemelia recognised the sight of the sister, she disregarded everything that Cardinal had said and stubbornly tore away from him, darting across the other burial mounds in order to reach the final grave. Copia frowned slightly and leapt after her, reaching out his right arm. He managed to catch hold of her again and she grumbled in annoyance as he yanked her back towards him, ensuring that she didn't near the sister's dubious ceremony.

"Will you stop fuckin' stopping me from stopping her!" she yelled out in frustration, elbowing his glove away from her now that she had halted. She shot him a venomous look before swivelling around to witness the sight of the ritual again - the turquoise mists had gained momentum and they were nimbly encircling Sister Sulinus, like they were finally listening to her muddled words. Aemelia widened her clouded eyes and took a step forward, but Cardinal prohibited her from advancing further by firmly grasping her left hand. He squeezed it tightly and stroked his thumb over the thin, sensitive skin of her wrist, which drew her attention immediately. He was aware that she was itching to intervene and he really couldn't allow that. As long as she was drawn to his actions instead of the scene playing out in front of them, the outcome of the ritual was certain.

The humming and the whistling wails converged as the mists morphed into powerful gusts, which caused Copia to observe the sister with his wily mismatched eyes. Aemelia wished to observe too and she struggled against him, but he kneaded his grip into her, holding her still. He watched with seething amusement as Sister Sulinus ceased her rambled incantations to pull Copia's serpent-handled letter-opener from its holstered position beneath her leather belt. He tried to resist a smirk and his irises widened in amazement as the sister opened her left palm to angle the sharpened tip of his blade towards it. He urged her to go through with it. Her audacity irritated him, the fact she had simply taken one of his treasured possessions hurt him immensely. But it was clear from his stern amusement, that he had far more reasons to dislike the woman...

The sister drew the blade across the diagonal of her palm. As a sleek incision darkly formed, it sprouted thin trickles of her red blood, which congealed and thickened as it drooled down her wrist and dried in the gaps between her fingers. Her other hand trembled and she limply lost grip of the letter-opener... it plummeted towards the ground and the tip was completely submerged in the soil, which left the gleaming handle exposed to the supernal turquoise glow.

When a meagre splotch of her blood settled into the dry, desecrated soil below, Sister Sulinus' russet eyes shot open and she froze. All ritualistic sounds vanished in the space of a few seconds. And it made way for a silent eruption beneath her, which had already started to rattle her bones. She gasped out loudly and leapt onto her grimy bare feet, wearing a hopeful expression as she stretched her arms out for balance.

Copia's eyes narrowed in thought and his grip on Miss Vial briefly slackened... she seized the unintentional opportunity and turned to face the sister, ignoring the fact her action had tightly forced Copia's arm to settle across her ribs. She watched in quiet horror as soil from the depths of the grave bubbled up to the surface. Sister Sulinus smiled in enlightenment, raising her chin towards the vivid Hunter's moon that was partially obscured by layers of murky clouds.

She was so focused on celebrating her success, that she failed to witness the first glimpses of the intangible corpse emerging from the grave in front of her. There was nothing remotely human about it, aside from the faint resemblance of a skull that was crudely fastened to a mishmash of bones of varying sizes. The sister only took notice of the revenant's presence once its arms were thrashing about, it was fighting against the surrounding soil in its attempt to grab hold of her legs.

"No, no, no no no!" Sister Sulinus yelped out, her overwhelming happiness replaced with streams of rejected tears and mournful screeches as the harsh, skeletal hands managed to clutch hold of her bare ankles. The revenant roared out with indisputable rage, its voice similar to the distorted whirr of a motor-engine.

Aemelia started to dart towards the scene but Copia circled his other glove around her opposite wrist and stepped in front of her, prohibiting her from interfering. She growled under her breath but her anger was swiftly replaced with startled shock due to the saddening sound of the sister's forced wheeze. It was a wheeze that went on for far too long and was certainly a sound that Aemelia would never forget. All colour drained from the woman and she gracefully collapsed over the grave she had disturbed, one last pitiful huff escaping her before she stopped moving altogether. Her russet were still open but... emotionless. They reminded Aemelia of the glass eyes of a doll, or a stuffed corpse.

Miss Vial fought against the cardinal's grip but his hold on her was too strong and she soon stopped trying, blinking away confused tears as she peered at the docile revenant over his shoulder. Her breathing was shallow as the unnatural creature turned to face Copia and bowed its skull in respect. Cardinal frowned deeply and glanced towards the strange amalgamation of bones, and it finally seemed to relax its formality in order to sink back into the damp soil of Papa III's resting place.

"Well... that was kinda... anti-climactic, don't you think?" Copia said casually, like he was already attempting to lighten the mood.

"Anti-climactic?!" Aemelia snapped in a shrill, frustrated tone, which caused his eyes to instantly settle on her. "She's dead, Copia! Why the fuck did you insist on stopping me?! If you didn't, she would have still been alive!"

"Oh, yes. I am well aware of that, Miss Vial." he replied softly, easing his hold on her. She glared at him and yanked her arms away from his gloves violently, dumping the flickering lantern by his feet. She then sprinted across the two neighbouring graves to reach Sister Sulinus' corpse. Her adrenaline had set in and as soon as she approached the sister, she immediately checked for a sign of the woman's pulse. From how pale the sister's complexion was, it seemed that Miss Vial's first aid checks were futile.

Cardinal sighed and his amusement was nowhere to be seen as he strolled towards Aemelia. Instead of assisting her, he approached Papa III's elaborate headstone and strangely, he wiped the front of it clean with the backs of his leather-clad fingers. He crouched down a little and his eyes skimmed over the engraved epitaph - it was something he had trailed his eyes over countless times already. He sighed out loudly once he reached the last word and lightly patted the top of the headstone before he eased himself up from his crouched position. It was unclear whether he was merely reminiscing about the late Papa or merely thanking the abomination that was place-holding the grave - either way, it caused him to wear a warm smile.

"No pulse..." Aemelia murmured worriedly, pushing up her infuriating lens-less glasses to stop them from falling down the bridge of her nose.

Copia sighed again and it almost sounded relieved this time. He stepped away from the headstone and skulked around Miss Vial - who was now crouched beside the sister's body - and stooped down slightly. He easily grasped onto the serpent-handle of his stolen blade, which was sticking out of the soil like some kind of enchanted sword. He pulled it out and the force of his action caused him to stumble forwards slightly.

"Gak! I am going to have to have this cleaned now..." he complained quietly, observing the deep scarlet that stained the edge of the blade, before he wiped it off on the red silk lining his cape.

"Poor you." Miss Vial scolded, shooting him a hostile glance. "Least you're not fuckin' dead."

"True, true... ahm... you do realise that we are here to dispose of her, right?" he gently asked with innocent eyes.

"You mean... we never came here to stop her?!" Aemelia questioned, her irises hardening as she raised to her feet and clenched her hands into fists. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?"

"Eh... maybe." he said in a quiet voice, sliding the letter-opener into the discreet holster of his right sleeve. "There is always one like her every Halloween... either way, we need to move her as soon as possible... before she starts to stink, you know? I think it would be best if we - ahem - burned her. That way... we could make it dignified for her..."

Aemelia glared at him like he'd just grown a second head and he chuckled nervously, flicking his apprehensive eyes to Sister Sulinus' lifeless corpse.

"And to ensure that there is no evidence that this ever occurred, heh heh." he hurriedly added with a stuttering chuckle.

"How lovely of you." Aemelia retorted darkly, shaking her head with disgust. It was clear that she was utterly uncomfortable with the situation and she was surprised that she hadn't punched the cardinal for his childish, disrespectful behaviour yet...

"Come, we shall do it in my quarters, we cannot attract any eyes by constructing a bonfire out here..."

They were thankful that Sister Sulinus was still somewhat fresh... her limbs were easy to manipulate and with the simple close of her eyelids, the corpse could have been mistaken for an unconscious sister. They were also thankful that the revenant had simply drained the woman's soul from her body, for there wasn't a single mark upon her... if there had been, it would have seemed extremely questionable to anyone who happened to pass.

The Ministry's wide corridors were a blessing as the weight of the body swayed from side to side. Both of the sister's limp arms had been outstretched to cling across the backs of their shoulders and her torso tilted forwards, her head dipping low. To anyone that passed, it would look like the sister had simply consumed too much alcohol, especially if they took into account the two well-established members of staff that were escorting her...

Copia winced into a smile as they entered another marble-clad hallway of the newer complex, nodding his head as a few costumed Siblings bowed their heads in acknowledgement. After passing the polite Siblings, he tried to match the speed of Aemelia's strides, which were picking up pace like she knew the exact location of his private quarters. She had been completely silent since they had lifted the sister's corpse from Emeritus the Third's disturbed - and alleged - resting place. Although Copia could tell that she was livid with herself for assisting him with the disposal of a fresh cadaver, she was tolerating it without complaint. She could have refused to help him, but there she was, aiding him with yet another grim circumstance that he wouldn't have managed to handle so easily if he had been alone.

When they passed into the next corridor, Aemelia shot a glance towards Cardinal, who looked composed despite their current predicament. When she allowed her accusing stare to linger upon him, even as they continued to shuffle their way forwards, his eyes eventually flicked towards her - he was unable to resist the dark, abyssal pools of her eyes.

He held onto her attention and lowered himself slightly, which caused the sister's body to roll towards him. For some reason, he suddenly desired to carry most of the sister's weight and sure enough, the corpse lurched downwards, swivelling around until the head flopped down to rest its chin over his left shoulder.

Miss Vial frowned with disappointed irritation, but she couldn't look away from the soft emotion in his mismatched eyes. She parted her lips in order to finally speak, but before she could, the high pitched shriek of rubber soles over slab stone rang out and abruptly convinced her to abandon her intentions.

Copia was the first to halt, and the first to break their unusual stare, firmly latching his right glove to the corpse's side... he needed to ensure that it remained somewhat close to him or the person before them was certain to notice. Aemelia reluctantly came to a stop too and had a similar reaction, siding up to the sister closely... she hated the feel of the limp arm that was still poised over her shoulder blades but she gritted her teeth to refrain from complaining. She mirrored the cardinal's casual demeanour and wore a slight frown, following the direction of his eyes.

A youthful priest stood before them, wearing a look of bewilderment. He towered above the two of them and stooped down to politely acknowledge their presence. His hair was styled into messy spikes and had been crudely sprayed with black dye to match his smudged corpse paint. Despite his grungy attire, he adorned a Grucifix rosary around his neck, which was strange considering that most of the Clergy preferred to disregard their standing on the night of Halloween. Copia recognised the young man from his weekly sermons, and vaguely recalled the priest visiting the confessional when he had recently attended his fortnightly confession duties.

"Cardinal! I-I did not think you would be... away from the party so soon!" he greeted nervously in a muddled accent, wringing his hands together, which were stained with streaks of black and white paint. "Oh, please forgive me! I did not wish to intrude, I can see that you are busy."

The priest wasn't uncomfortable with the fact he had interrupted the cardinal. Copia knew interference was simply a trait of the young man, so the pastor's reluctance was unusual. However, if Copia had looked to his right, he would have seen the turbulent, glaring eyes of Aemelia Vial... and her expression alone was enough to deter the priest from his persistent prying.

"You are... Father... Ramio... no?" Copia asked highly, narrowing his eyes as he tried to recognise the man's face underneath the thick layers of grease paint.

"Yes! Yes, your Dark Excellency! It means so much to me that you remembered my name - "

"A young priest should not be missing out on the night's... festivities, ah?" Cardinal kindly hinted, not wishing to prolong the journey to his quarters as the body was already starting feel... heavier.

"N-Neither should a cardinal... "

Copia's approachable expression dropped into one of disapproval, his mismatched eyes hardening as his lips pressed into a stern line. The young priest gulped as he widened his grey eyes.

"W-What I meant was... that I am confused what brings you out here. Forgive my rudeness, I do not usually interact with such esteemed Clergy!"

"That is quite alright, Father Ramio." Cardinal assured in a serious tone, his voice subdued like he was trying to play down his true annoyance. "Miss Vial and I... we are... escorting Sister Sulinus back to her quarters. She has... how do you say...? Ahm... sozzled herself, you know? She is absolutely shit-faced. She was necking shots like they were melted ice-pops."

Aemelia trailed her clouded eyes towards him, and from the emotion she displayed, it was clear that his jovial poke infuriated her.

"O-Oh. You do realise that you have passed the hallway leading to the sisters' dormitories?" Father Ramio politely pointed out.

"Ahm... this sister will be staying in my quarters, this evening." Copia swiftly added, squinting at the priest in an imposing manner.

"Oh yes, yes, of course! No need to explain, your Dark Excellency!" the young man spluttered out, swiping his nervous hands about to dismiss his superior from revealing anything else. "I-Is there anything you... require? Or anything I could assist with?"

"Eh... if you could just... move, that would be... extremely helpful, Father Ramio..."

"I would have preferred to give you the tour of my pad via... less icky means, but ah... nevermind..."

Copia elbowed the ebony door open and shimmied backwards, allowing the corpse's weight to fall onto him completely. Miss Vial rolled her eyes and swiftly grasped her hands around the sister's shins, where the skin was noticeably grubby from the graveyard soil. Copia grunted with effort as he paused and clumsily reached up his right arm towards the closest wall, feeling for the main light switch. Aemelia raised the corpse's legs to rest them by the sides of her waist, her features expressionless. He shot her a short, thankful glance for sharing the weight of the sister and flicked on the light switch.

With the vast space behind them illuminated, they cautiously shuffled into his quarters, their shoe soles - which were heavily coated in damp soil - screeching over his pristine floor of black and white tiles. Miss Vial kept her attention on the ground below their feet, narrowing her eyes in protest of the sudden brightness of the electric lighting. Copia directed them to the nearest lounger, which happened to be on the left. He had been very tempted to dump the sister over the floor in front of the fireplace, but they were already trampling enough soil over the polished tiles for his liking... content with the choice of his sofa, he swayed her body to-and-fro to gain some momentum, before he finally released her from his grip, discarding the sister over the plush velvet cushions.

Deciding to act before the sister's carcass tainted the condition of one his precious loungers, he turned on his heels and darted towards the fireplace, leaving Aemelia holding the ends of the corpse's legs. She huffed in annoyance and manoeuvred the sister's legs until they were settled over an arm of the sofa, easing her grip once she was content that the woman looked somewhat dignified. The sister looked like she was merely asleep from the slouched position she was in, but of course, Aemelia knew the sad truth. And her arms started to itch as she contemplated their immoral actions.

The scraping of heavy wood chunks caused her to ignore her conflicted thoughts and her hollow eyes shot towards Copia, who was knelt down and casually stocking up an extravagant fireplace. She hadn't had faith in Cardinal's strange disposal plan, but now she saw the size of the fire, she understood completely. It was grand and massive, with a thick varnished mantlepiece that had an uncanny resemblance to the ebony door they had entered.

His quarters were entirely different without the obscuring veil of blackness and she couldn't resist her curiosity... she scoured her cloudy black eyes over her surroundings, sighing deeply as she tried to forget the reason they were there.

Located to the very left of the large room were the two tall stain-glass windows she had seen the night prior, both were arched and peppered with a mixture of red and opal shards. They each depicted a hellish character, but Miss Vial was too curious to see the rest of the room and decided to decipher the windows another time. The fireplace was in the large expanse between them and it dominated the room, serving as an eye-catching piece of craftsmanship.

Positioned neatly in front of the fire, two identical sofas faced one another. They were bound in a lavish scarlet material and had an assortment of velvet cushions resting over them. Miss Vial thought they looked quite inviting and intriguing from the clash of cushion colours - which were mismatched reds and greys - but considering a corpse was currently occupying one, it put her off sitting down.

In the large gap between the comfortable-looking loungers, was a cartwheel chandelier fashioned from wrought iron and beneath it, a much more modest black coffee table. It was slim and although the glass surface was immaculate, it was obscured by a large spread of crumpled magazines. Certain front covers were obscene and caused Miss Vial's cheeks to pinken as she averted her eyes in horror, whereas others - such as the music magazines - intrigued her.

Deciding not to focus on Copia's magazine preferences, Aemelia trailed her eyes towards the right side of the room. The presence of his record player caught her attention first. It was surrounded by deep cabinets filled with neatly arranged record sleeves, and she could only speculate over their actual contents.

Her attention shifted to the wall behind the record player, which was impossibly dark. As her black eyes explored the rest of the wall, she realised that the entire thing was an oil painted mural. It stretched across the whole width of the room and faded out towards the rafters of the ceiling. For a wall in the Ministry, she thought it was rather impressive, for there seemed to be an infinite amount of details and perplexing nuances to explore.

From what she had spotted so far, she could tell it was a beautified representation of a diseased city. The style was satisfyingly classic, but the subject was distinctly modern. The city's buildings were being battered by an attractive onslaught of raindrops, as winding trails of dead lined its twisting streets and pokey alleyways. Hooded cultists kneeled before bonfires, masked plague doctors warded panicked civilians away, glowing eyes glinted from the slits of sewer openings...

And in the centre of it all, were two figures who had their backs to the room. She squinted and slowly wandered closer, hoping the proximity would help her understand the painting. Her brow furrowed as she could just about make out the silhouette of an umbrella in the shadowed hand of the figure on the right, and the figure on the left had their fingers contorted as they tilted their palm upwards. Her frown deepened and she squinted her eyes to focus... and sure enough, she recognised the faintest wisp of black smoke hovering over their palm...

"You like my place, ah?" Copia piped up loudly, smirking proudly as he added the last few logs to the generous accumulation of firewood. "I would have... cracked out the fresh incense if I had known that I was having visitors..."

His peaking voice caused her to lose concentration and she quickly averted her eyes from the fascinating mural, turning towards the corner closest to the door. Amusement briefly swept over her features as she laid eyes upon his beloved tricycle - it was polished to perfection and parked at a cool, jaunty angle like it was some kind of art installation, or perhaps a stylish motorcycle.

She decided not to linger on the tricycle - she knew that bursting into laughter was inevitable if she did- and trailed her attention to the left wall instead, which was painted a deep shade of cardinal red. A few coat hooks were strategically placed over the wall closest to the door and held the weight of his black tailcoats that he commonly used from day to day. To Miss Vial's amusement and surprise, a make-shift wooden holder had been crudely nailed beside it. From the snippet of its contents - and the neighbouring Grucifix - she knew that there had to be wooden stakes inside, and she honestly didn't blame him for being so paranoid after his last unforgettable encounter with vampires.

In the centre of the left wall, and off-set from the main entrance of the lavish room, was a thin hallway that led towards what she could only assume was Copia's chamber. The door had the same style as the main entrance, with twists of silver woven into the handle. After seeing the wooden cradle of stakes, she got the feeling that his door handles weren't just silver to reflect his importance or style...

In the farthest left corner of the room, there was a slender oak bookcase with a vast selection of books on science and demonology and beside it, a modest drinks cabinet that also had silver handles.

"Come help me with this?" Copia called hopefully and she had to blink to make sure she had really heard him. After a few seconds, she acknowledged him and due to the baffled look on his face, she must have been exploring the layout of his room for longer than she had realised.

He was stood beside the sister's corpse and had a glove gestured towards it, furrowing his brow worriedly. Aemelia quickly paced towards the lounger, ensuring that she ignored the mass of lewd magazines scattered over the coffee table behind her.

"Ok, ok... we lift on three." he whispered with a grimace, clutching his gloves around the sister's waist as Miss Vial grappled her hands around the sister's shins.

"One..."

They tightened their grip and bent their legs, preparing themselves.

"T - ah, fuck it... three."

They hoisted the sister upwards, the right side of her upper back resting over Copia's left shoulder as her arms limply stretched out by her sides. As Aemelia raised the woman's legs higher, the arms only seemed to straighten further and they carried her gracefully towards the roaring fireplace, which was now spitting ravenous golden flames. Aemelia was fairly certain the size of the fire was probably a hazard, but she was through with caring, and felt the weight of the corpse increase as Copia let go to scurry out of the way... which left Aemelia to push the lower half of the woman. After a few seconds, Aemelia leapt back as the flames engulfed the corpse, and for a split second they seemed to grow in size.

Copia stepped beside her and observed the cremation solemnly, but soon, Miss Vial growled with annoyance and he frowned, as she swiped the novelty glasses away from her face. His eyes widened as she violently tossed them into the fire, breathing heavily. At first, Copia seemed disappointed but when she continued to witness the flames with deep, frustrated breaths, the corners of his mouth twitched, like he was resisting the urge to smirk at her actions.

"I really don't want to say anything, Cardinal..." she began in a wavering voice, her opaque, black eyes reflecting the warm, unfathomable golds and oranges. He studied her intently and patiently waited for her to continue.

"But... this has to be the most memorable Halloween that I've ever had." she confessed in a vacant tone, staring down at the bubbling spit of melted black plastic and of course, the woeful, combusting corpse of Sister Sulinus.

"You say that like it is the end of the night, Miss Vial... when in fact, it is only just beginning..."

8 : Raising the Stakes

Disposing of Sister Sulinus' dead body ended up having very adverse effects on the two of them.

Aemelia Vial was visibly dishevelled and distressed - not to mention concerned that she had even gone along with the cardinal's absurd plan. But she had, and as the two walked side-by-side in the candle-lit corridors, she was amazed that such a plan had been surprisingly successful and discreet. Her eyes flicked about whenever anyone happened to pass them, hoping for the absence of interaction - even the simplest polite nod from a Sibling that passed was enough for her dark eyes to falter. The looming music from the party swept down the hallways, pulsing against the stone and marble-clad walls, echoes upon echoes of bass and melodies reassuring Miss Vial slightly. Even though the lyrics were indistinguishable to her, she took comfort in the presence of the music, trying to focus on every note to distract herself from the reality of their actions.

Cardinal, however, was not remotely bothered, and noticing her apprehension, led the way back towards the party, wordlessly returning any polite greetings they received from anyone they happened to pass. They didn't speak a word to each other but Copia didn't mind, for he too was listening to the muffled music, eagerly anticipating being part of the festive atmosphere once again. His strides were elegant and efficient, and he ensured that he acknowledged his peripheral vision every so often, hoping to see the faintest outline of Miss Vial trailing beside him... the corners of his mouth twitched whenever he caught a glimpse of her, but the hint of the warm smile wouldn't last long enough for anyone to truly notice.

Soon, they were a few corridors away from the main chapel, and the ominous, carnal tones of synth music had grown substantially in volume. Copia's pace noticeably slowed and Aemelia frowned at his actions, but she found herself following suit, regardless of her confusion. As she glanced ahead of them, she recognised the looming entrance to the courtyard and swallowed - it was strange how she associated the doorway with the immorality of their recent actions, but she did, and the hairs on her arms stood on end. Yet once they started to pass the entrance, she halted and dipped her head down, loose strands of burgundy hair falling in front of her eyes.

Copia had quite a delayed reaction and had made quite a few strides before he realised she was no longer following him. He furrowed his brow slightly and peered over his shoulder, immediately turning around to face her. He could tell that she was perplexed - she hadn't gotten her head around recent events, and it was clear that she was confused about what she was supposed to do with the rest of her night. She certainly couldn't relax now.

He took slow, cautious steps towards her, lowering his own head slightly once he came to a stop in front of her. He knew the cremation of the sister had been a lot to take in and the last thing Miss Vial had expected to assist him with... and as much as the permanent lack of Sister Sulinus' presence appeased his stress immensely, he truly hadn't wished to ruin Aemelia's night, so he felt obliged to cheer her up at the very least.

"I'm gasping for a smoke." she confessed in a stubborn mutter, more wispy strands of red tumbling down to cradle around her pallid face. She scowled at the faint shadow that had fallen over her grubby shoes, assuming that Copia was now stood right in front of her. She didn't lift her head to acknowledge him and instead swallowed, distracting herself from the urge of drawing a cigarette from the inner pockets of her waistcoat.

"Then... ah... go smoke?" Copia reassured optimistically as he comfortably clutched each leather glove around the hems of black cape-fabric, which was coolly draped over his waistcoat's lapels. "You will be returning to the party once you are done though, right?"

She sharply and slowly raised her head, stray hairs falling away from her face to unveil her stern, accusing glare. He blatantly stared back at her despite her intimidating distaste for his optimism. He knew she probably thought he was mad for assuming her actions.

"Fuck no. I wouldn't be caught dead going back there..." she shot back curtly, her annoyance for his expectations morphing into confusion - it was like he had already forgotten that they had recently left a corpse to burn to ash in his fireplace.

"C'maaaan, the party will take your mind off... whatever we did not just do." he quickly pushed out in a nervous rush of hopeful persuasion. "I... insist, Miss Vial. I insist that you come back to the party with me, or... or this whole night will be ruined for me."

"Oh, really?" she asked doubtfully, her black irises steeling over with reluctance. She was resistant to his manipulative charm but she couldn't help furrowing her brow with fascination when he dipped his head a little more, peering at her with the softest expression of pitiful longing she had ever seen. He merely stood there a while and persisted with the ridiculous puppy eyes - she was expecting a sob-story any minute, luckily he seemed set on staying silent. The hypnotic synth-lines and thumping beats continued to filter through the corridor and Aemelia tried her hardest to focus on the music instead of the pining cardinal in front of her, but it was impossible to tear her eyes away from him.

"How would I ruin it for you?" she finally managed to ask, her voice devoid of any emotion like she was paying too much attention to the yearning in the cardinal's eyes to realise what she had just uttered. "I can hardly ruin anything by staying up in the attic on my own - I might play my records a bit loud but - "

"Exactly!" he exclaimed with a degree of irritation as he finally dropped the pitiful longing and backed a few steps away from her, clenching a glove into a passionate fist in order to gesture it along to his words. "Exactly, I... I want you to be with me tonight... please. This is like... Christmas for me. I know that I pestered you to dance earlier but it... ah... you know what - nevermind, nevermind. This is fucking stupid. I am asking too much - "

"No, you're really not. I mean... you've asked far more from me before." she stated sincerely which caused him to freeze, his eyes darting to settle upon her expressionless features. "I just... don't know how I'm supposed to act at parties."

"You don't act. You just..." his voice strained over a whisper as he smoothly glided towards her over the slab stone floor. He extended his arms out in front of him and gently grasped each of her hands with his own, lifting each of her arms upwards until he stepped a little closer, trapping her hands against his chest.

"... let the atmosphere capture you, Aemelia. Let the music flood into you, then you can guide your body to the rhythm."

He winked at her confidently before he took a step backwards, swiftly lowering her arms down until they loosely draped by her sides. His hands lingered around her wrists as he studied the doubt in her charcoal irises. She wasn't apprehensive about returning his gaze or showing her own lack of self-confidence - she was just surprised that Copia was trying to encourage her out of her comfort zone. He always did, in a variety of ways that were worthy of an eye-roll, but for some reason, she knew that something about this instance was different. For there was something prodding her subconscious, something telling her to follow the little persuasive scrap of reassurance he'd given her...

Feeling that her silence spoke volumes, Copia exhaled in a shudder and immediately took a step away from her, raising up a glove to the left-side of his head to bashfully stroke back his slicked chestnut hair.

"Eh... I... ahm... I will be waiting there if... you... do decide to join me, Aemelia."

She nodded and he reached behind him to clutch at the ends of his bat-cape, extending it out gracefully. He averted his gaze to the ground as he stooped down into a bow, his head lowering in an exaggerated gesture of respect.

"I'll see you there in a minute." she stated simply with a sigh and a shake of her head, unable to refrain from snorting in amusement at how he treated his cape like it was a paraglider. His eyes widened in amazement and he sprung up from his bow instantly, the thick fabric of his cape majestically swooping down to drape limply behind his back now he was standing so straight.

"Ah shush... I knew you could not resist, ah?" he teased playfully, his eyes twinkling as he pointed knowingly at her, the lines around his eyes crinkling as he wore an excited smile. "You see, this night always brings out the positivity in everybody... even you, Miss Vial."

He winked again and she furrowed her brow - she wasn't so content with him assuming her pessimism - and with that, he swung his left arm back and clutched at the material of his cape, draping it forwards in a sharp swipe. The black sheet of fabric obscured most of his form - it covered the tip of his nose and finished just above his knees. She snorted again at his movie-worthy mannerisms as he skulked in the direction of the main chapel in an unbelievably buoyant manner.

---

Upon Aemelia's return from her well-earned smoke break, the spry style of music had changed, and a much slower tempo of song haunted the hallways of the Ministry. As much as she wasn't enthusiastic about attending the party again, she supposed she was at least curious about the music being played. Her pace quickened as she rounded the end of a corridor, heading towards the direction of the main chapel. As she grew close to the entrance of her destination, there were quite a few costumed individuals casually leaning against the walls of the corridors. She wasn't certain why they were there but she really wouldn't have been surprised if they were the Ministry's local gang of busybodies that were taking note of arrivals and departures. She could think of far better ways to spend the evening, she even supposed disposing of a dead body was preferable.

Ignoring the curious side-glances she was drawing, Aemelia cautiously entered the cathedral's archway. The entrance's elaborate metallic embellishments of imps, witches and ghoulish apparitions didn't seem so stark with all the festive decorations around it - or perhaps it was simply the lack of electric light that made it less imposing.

Now that she had crossed into the boisterous, roaring atmosphere of the celebration - which she thought was noticeably louder in volume compared to when she had left earlier - the clamour of party guests subtly simmered over the slow, punching beat of the music. The foreboding bassline and revving guitars of #1 Crush by Garbage shook against the stone walls to create a much fuller, fascinating sound and Aemelia decided to cling to those very walls, avoiding the main bustle of the party.

She skirted around untidy tables, discarded chairs, precariously placed wine-glasses - even strewn material from abandoned costumes - until she found a bit of free space to loiter. With a sigh, she casually leaned against the unpleasantly cold wall of the cathedral. She had to remind herself that she was present in a place of worship, but she supposed, as she looked upon the sea of dancing individuals, that the celebrations would have probably pleased their deity quite a bit. The crowd of Siblings and Clergy conducted their hypnotic dance moves in unison, each costumed body a colourful paint splash amongst deep velvet reds and purples and generous helpings of black fabric.

Despite the mass of dancing bodies and how far away from the heart of the party she was, it wasn't long before Aemelia spotted Copia, who was completely distinguishable, even amongst the shadowy bulk of dark costumes and swaying limbs.

His conflicting irises reflected the violet rays of the lighting rig uniquely, and so did the rim of a wine glass, which gleamed vibrantly as he pressed it to his lips. He clumsily shuffled his form around the variety of enthusiastic manoeuvres being executed around him and eventually managed to suck up the tiniest sip of his beverage. Why the man thought cutting through a dance-floor with a full glass of red wine was a good idea, Aemelia would never know.

Before long, he subtly elbowed his way out of the pack of dancing worshippers, lowering his glass so that he could clutch it to his chest. Aemelia frowned with intrigue - he must have noticed her presence far before she had even noticed his, because it was clear to her that he was already headed her way. Copia found the woman impossible to miss, even when she was trying to remain inconspicuous as she awkwardly hung around the outskirts of the party. She seemed so lonely as she raised her head to reciprocate his confident stare, and the surrounding graveyard of neglected drinks and untidy pop-up furniture only stressed her aura of discomfort.

His winkle-pickers seemed to pick up speed as he began to approach her more directly, his eyes fixed to her as he smoothly raised his glass to his lips once again. He took a more generous sip of wine this time and slowed his strides in order to snake his way through the messy obstacle course of discarded tables in order to get to her.

"Ahhhhh this original mix cannot be beat, can it, Miss Vial?" Copia exclaimed over the resounding ambience, adorning a crooked grin as he clutched his beverage to his chest. "It is creepy and haunting... but a very sexy song too, ah?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and shrugged, wondering why he had greeted her with an awkward morsel of small talk. He held his grin as he rounded another accumulation of discarded furniture - and being so captured by Miss Vial's presence, he had failed to recognise the existence of a chair in front of him. The chair's edge abruptly jabbed into his right knee and he clenched his teeth together, letting out a quiet squeak of misery. He continued to grin but it seemed more like a grimace in the end due to the way his eyebrows knitted. He inwardly wheezed and briefly paused to shake his right leg before he rounded the offending chair, and eventually, he completed the last few strides of his approach.

"I knew that you would return!" he proclaimed excitedly, his contentment returning as a small smile over his face. "You have warmed to the party, just like I had hoped..."

As he came to a stop in front of her, she noticed that the black paint around his eyes had thinned slightly. His crow's feet became more prominent as he narrowed his eyes at her and bunched up his lips into a tactful pout, his moustache was slightly obscured from such an expression.

"Do... do you want me to get you a drink?" he asked with a hint of confusion, his voice not as booming now that he had neared her. He tilted his left ear towards her to make sure he caught every syllable of her reply.

"Cardinal... you know that I don't drink." she replied shortly and firmly, which caused him to drop his pout to instead wear an inquisitive frown.

"Ah shiiiiit... of course, of course! I just... it slipped my mind, you know?" he disclosed honestly, confidently scouring her features with subdued admiration. "You are just... so... enchanting, I... I have already had the pleasure of dancing with you tonight, so... what else am I to offer you? Ahm... "

He paused and he squinted at her thoughtfully, his gaze almost daunting from how intricately he studied the lines of her face. She figured his flippant demeanour was probably an effect of the drink he held in his glove, for the tops of his cheeks were tinged with rosy merriment and over-confidence oozed from him. She hadn't witnessed the latter for quite some time...

"What... what can I offer you, Aemelia?" he continued to ponder, slowly shuffling a little closer to her. "Do you want anything - a back massage, maybe? No? Ahm... ahhh, maybe a backstage pass to my bedsheets?"

"No, definitely not, thank you." she snapped in disinterest, scowling at him now that she realised he was extremely close to her - so much so, he was blocking view of the surroundings in front of her. His brazen offer of a suggestive encounter caused him to chuckle lightly, but his irises had the slightest hint of disappointment shining in them.

"It might be wise to space out your alcohol a little more." Aemelia politely suggested, hoping he would take the hint and leave her be.

He deftly raised his brows at her advice and drastically overestimated how much he was leaning - he floundered forwards which caused him to close even more space between the two of them. He wasn't coy or apologetic about his stumble, even when she leaned away in surprise, pressing her back against the cold wall of the cathedral once again. Deciding to embrace his accidental action, he raised his left arm up, cautiously grasping the wall beside her head with a flat, leathery palm. She scolded him with her dark glare, setting her jaw once he casually raised his right hand up, poising the rim of the wine-glass against his bottom lip.

He slowly drew out his sip as his curious eyes explored her face so assuredly, it was clear he was revelling in the closeness. It seemed he had lost all awareness of his self-doubt and that was likely due to the drink in his hand and the festive atmosphere. Needless to say, he had no consideration for any future consequences that were to arise from his own actions. That being said, he did have one particular consequence in mind, but even slightly tipsy, he knew that the consequence he desired was completely out of his reach - however, it didn't stop him from toying with the idea.

His right arm lowered and he stretched it behind him, blindly discarding his glass onto the surface of the nearest table. Now that his right hand was free, he inched himself even closer to her, rising the backs of his leather-clad fingers to stroke the side of her left cheek. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion but she continued to match his stare, her expression softening slightly when he flipped his hand over to caress her skin with the leather-pads of his fingertips.

"There is honestly... nothing, you want?" he murmured hoarsely, his expression sincere as his eyes silently urged her to reply positively. "Nothing that I could... do for you?"

She parted her mouth to answer and he inhaled sharply, his heart pounding that little bit faster as he anticipated the words she was about to say. Words he knew were on the very tip of her tongue...

As he patiently waited for her to reply, the last screeching notes of the music rang out, which was curtly cut off by the distinctive intro of the next song - Daddy Cool - which was an unusual, optimistic contrast to the music that had been played so far.

Copia appeared to freeze before her very eyes, his eyes widening due to the presence of such a song. Strangely, he backed away from her like he'd instantly forgotten about their recent interaction, completely content with allowing the disco classic to distract him. The corners of his mouth twitched into a knowing expression of excitement, his eyes gleaming with sheer mischief.

"The time of the pit is upon us! " he whispered enthusiastically with a smile of anticipation, quickly casting a glance over his shoulder towards the packed dance-floor - where a large circular mosh pit was forming, all manner of Siblings and Clergy eager to fling themselves around. Desperate not to miss any more bars of the record, he quickly returned his playful gaze to Aemelia, who was wearing a skeptical scowl. He extended out a glove towards her, but she could tell from the look in his eyes that he wasn't expecting her to accept his invite.

"I will make sure I keep you safe?" he said in a high-pitched tone, his bashful hope causing her scowl to deepen - for some reason she felt disappointed that she was set on declining his offer. She blamed her curiosity.

"I'll... pass, thanks."

"Ah, suit yourself, Miss Vial. There is always next year. You will simply have to behold the spectacle instead..." he taunted flirtatiously with a wink, swiftly turning on his heels to make a dash for the ever-growing circle of party guests. He was surprisingly fast when he wanted to be and all Miss Vial could do was observe the bizarre scene taking place in front of her, with a hard, scrutinising stare.

Once Copia had finally reached the outskirts of the pit, the beat of the song had finally picked up and limbs and torsos began to bash and sway. Some Siblings opted to take a run-up before they collided into another person, whereas others bounced from body to body like they were trapped inside the internals of a pin-ball machine. Copia sleekly slid into the first tight gap he happened to spot, swinging his shoulders side-to-side as he hurriedly invaded any other fissures that accumulated in the huddle of rough movements.

It wasn't long until a Sibling flung themselves at him and he was forced to swiftly side-step, his cumbersome cape swishing violently behind him as he did so. The hem of the fabric whipped against the forearms and backs of those that happened to surround him at that particular time. It seemed that Copia enjoyed the challenge of avoiding collisions, rather than partaking in the traditional fun of a mosh pit. He continued to consistently dodge anyone that attempted to launch towards him, a smirk reaching his lips every time. With every elegant slide of avoidance, gasps and hisses of annoyance emerged from those that were victim to the painful whips of his cape's flow. He didn't notice the verbal outbursts of pain at first, but he did when it persisted and seemed to coincide with every one of his well timed dodges. The eagerness of his movements faded and he slowed a little as he furrowed his brow in bewilderment, his cape limply draping behind him.

Miss Vial was still leaning against the wall of the cathedral - heavily, this time - blinking in unimpressed amazement at the rather outrageous mosh pit. In that moment, she had to remind herself that she was present in a satanic church, and that the people before her, worshipped Satan on a daily basis... she then had to remind herself that the strange, goofy man causing the most disruption and confusion amongst the chaotic cluster of the pit, was in fact a satanic cardinal. A highly revered cardinal, too.

She considered that she was living in some kind of vivid dream and after a few seconds, she pincered her thumb and forefinger around the taut skin of her left forearm, administering the nastiest pinch she could manage... the pain was unpleasant and she actually seemed disappointed when she realised that she was indeed present in reality.

As shoulders bashed and chins collided, the more energetic of the Siblings circled the crux of the pit, slamming their feet in time to the disco beat. Copia had now begun to add refined dance moves into his well timed dodges, overly confident that he could avoid anything that happened to be thrown his way. He ducked, he leapt, he spun, he shimmied, he swayed, he wiggled, he retreated... all the while displaying arm and leg gestures that looked like he had been possessed by the very spirit of Saturday Night Fever.

"Does this song ever end?" Aemelia muttered quietly to herself, unable to tear her eyes away from Copia's impressive evasion techniques. What she truly meant, was that she wished the embarrassment would end. Everyone was oblivious to how visibly mortified she was for merely being a witness to such an inexplicable event. They were too caught up in the fun of the unspoken tradition of the Ministry's disco mosh-pit, and from how the majority reacted, it was like they had been waiting since last Halloween to spectate such a thing.

Miss Vial cautiously trailed her eyes away from the dance-floor, glancing towards the raised platform, where Papa Nihil and Sister Imperator were located. Nihil was beaming a toothy grin, an expression that even Aemelia could recognise from such a far distance. Sister Imperator also had a distinctive expression - her mouth was in a stern line and her gaze was sharp, though it was unsettling because her dismay seemed to be aimed directly towards Aemelia Vial. Despite the fact Sister appeared calm in her seat, her pale emerald eyes seared through all obstacles between her and the alchemist like something was deeply troubling her. Her glare grew more devious the more she allowed something to eat away at her. Although Aemelia didn't feel intimidated by the disconcerting stare, she could only assume the woman disliked the fact she wasn't participating in the traditional entertainment... then again, she could have been completely wrong.

The song finally drew to an abrupt close, prompting the surreal dispersal of the mosh pit. To save any awkwardness now that the pit had ended, the next track started to play, a track that caused Papa Nihil's eyes to widen in excited accomplishment - the less said about Sister Imperator's reaction, the better. A lot of Siblings were worn out from their zealous moshing and stumbled to the nearest place they could perch, catching their breath. Most of the others stayed on the dance-floor, their rough movements transforming into more ethereal and sensual dance moves, which befitted Kiss the Go-Goat quite well.

Copia, still high on over-confidence, dashed through the bustling crowd, emerging from the edges of the huddle in order to advance towards Miss Vial as fast as possible - he didn't want to lose more precious seconds of the song than he needed to. She scowled in confusion when she realised that he was briskly headed her way, slightly concerned by his look of excitable madness. Once he was nearing her, he hurriedly kicked most of the discarded furniture away from him, wishing to reach the reserved alchemist as quickly as possible. When he finally did reach her, he didn't seem to acknowledge her stubborn bewilderment, and simply grabbed hold of each of her hands, forcibly tugging her as he turned away.

It was clear that he fully expected her to dance with him. He was ensuring that declining him wasn't an option this time by simply dragging her towards the dance-floor, whether she wanted to or not. It seemed his heightened thrill from the atmosphere of the party was blinding him slightly, because it was clear from the sneer of annoyance on Aemelia Vial's face, that she was far from happy that she was being yanked towards the heart of the celebration.

By the first verse, they'd arrived at the outskirts of the dance-floor, and Cardinal deemed they were near enough now. His grip on her arms eased slightly as he turned around to face her, sliding each of his gloves upwards until he could grip the folded sleeves around her forearms. He could tell she was beyond irritated at his behaviour, but he honestly didn't care. He wanted her to be relaxed and loose like he was, he didn't want to exclude her from the fun of the celebration.

As she glared at him - with the sadistic hope that he would do her a favour and fall over - he only grew more confident as she purposely tensed her muscles to stop him from directing her into some kind of dance move. That didn't stop Copia from conducting his movements however and he dipped his head slightly as he began to roll his hips side-to-side, using his grip to sway her stationary form in unison. She tried to keep as still as she could, matching his mismatched eyes with a dark, unimpressed glare when his shoulders joined the rhythm of his hips.

His lack of speech was unusual, but she supposed that the effects of the wine were finally setting in - not that it excused his current behaviour. She thought she was making it fairly obvious that she was completely uncomfortable with the situation, and she knew that he was blatantly ignoring how she felt.

Soon, he grew impatient with the fact she was so uptight and continued his movements as he started to back into the swarm of the dance-floor, until they were completely surrounded by costumed individuals. She really didn't want to make a scene, that's why she wasn't making a massive fuss about how uncomfortable she was - but he was giving her very little choice to resist him now that a mass of dancing guests surrounded her. She stuck out like a sore thumb to those that were spectating and she rolled her eyes, deciding that she would have to play along with the cardinal's pathetic actions.

As she slowly swayed in time with his movements without the persuasive guidance of his gloves, his grip eased even more as a victorious smirk slyly graced his lips. Secretly, he was curious to know how much she would put up with, and now that she was slowly relaxing into every little movement, he decided to raise the stakes. He dropped his arms away from her to let them hang limply by his sides. He continued to reciprocate her gaze - which was hard and spiteful - and bent his knees, sinking down without moving his top half. He gyrated his hips towards the space between them and it was clear that he was excited for the next stage of the dance sequence.

When he was a little more settled with the swinging motions, he reached up his hands and slid them over the tops of her shoulders. He pushed down in encouragement, and she narrowed her eyes in defiance. He widened his eyes at her and tilted his left ear towards her, nodding for her to dip down slightly. She supposed there was hardly any point in resisting now, and did as he wished, but still wore a glum expression to let him know she wasn't happy about being forcibly pushed out of her comfort zone. Now she was in a more desirable position, he centred his head, brazenly enduring her piercing black irises.

He closed the gap between them and rolled his hips into hers, the tip of his nose brushing against the end of her own. She grimaced due to his suggestive movements and braced her determined gaze when she felt his gloves gently settle around her waist. She clenched her teeth and snatched herself away from him by retreating a few steps, scolding him with every fibre of her being. He paused and flicked his eyes around them, knowing the guests surrounding them must have noticed Miss Vial's reluctance by now. Nevertheless, he closed the space between them again, lowering his head next to her right ear this time, deciding that it was best to simply sway to the beat for now.

"Hey, Miss Vial... this is just how they danced in the sixties, you know?" he murmured in reassurance, his warm breath lingering across her nape. "I do not make up the rules. Now come on, grind against me."

"I am not fu - "

His hands firmly slid down to grasp the tops of her hips to guide her lower half into a rolling movement, which he gladly met with his own. She glared at him but he merely returned her eyes with sincerity, his palms adding pressure to encourage her to manoeuvre more naturally towards him.

"C'maan, Aemelia." he encouraged boldly, his voice straining over a whisper. "The song will be over before you grasp this move, ah?"

"Thank fuck for that."

He narrowed his eyes as his grip continued to firmly assist her movements towards him, now impatient with her lack of enthusiasm. He was slightly disappointed that she didn't share his love for dancing, and he appeared to overlook that they were very much surrounded by strangers and under the watchful gaze of his superiors... two things that Miss Vial was utterly aware of.

Despite Aemelia's discomfort, she subconsciously found herself settling into the rhythm of the dance move, and that seemed to please Copia immensely. She felt absolutely ridiculous but she supposed that everyone else around them was doing the exact same kind of dancing - or worse - so she decided that she couldn't exactly feel embarrassed about joining in.

Before long, his gloves merely clutched at her waist to ensure she stayed close to him, and soon, the distance between them shortened as he smoothly swung his hips to meet hers, allowing himself to adorn a prideful expression of fascination. He was undoubtedly attracted to her from the way his eyes explored her pallid features, regardless of her irritable mood - and regardless of the prying eyes of surrounding Siblings.

Succumbing to the lure of her presence, he decided that he would encourage the grinding further and grazed his lower half against her with much more vigour, using the power of his thighs to steadily brush his crotch against her. He trailed his eyes to hers again, which were narrowed in challenge when she started to meet his daring thrusts more enthusiastically - mostly to prove that she was sick of his mischievous behaviour. His grip on her waist slackened further and his lips parted, a deep breath escaping his mouth every time their movements lingered for a little longer than he had expected.

Copia's eyelids lowered to obscure his captivated irises, and the emotion he held was somewhat familiar - to Aemelia's dismay, she realised that she recognised the expression from the strange, lucid nightmare she'd experienced the night prior.

Although her eyes were soft as she reciprocated his stare, he could tell she was looking straight through him. His grip around her tightened which caused her to blink out of her discomforting thoughts. He dipped his head to close the thin space between their faces and this seemed to draw her away from her disconcerting epiphany entirely.

"Grind those hips, Miss Vial." he instructed playfully, savouring the softness of her gaze as the tip of his angular nose briefly bumped the end of hers. She cautiously brought her arms up and placed her palms over his chest, finding the feel of the thick cape-fabric beneath her fingertips somewhat comforting.

"Do not be afraid of being a lil more... forceful. I can take a lot, you know?" he added confidently, his voice straining in volume so that he could be certain she had heard him correctly.

She gritted her teeth at his words, but she wasn't truly uncomfortable with his suggestion because if she had been, she would have pushed him away or scolded him, at the very least. It was like she was purposely exaggerating her distaste to make it seem like the cardinal's attempts to impress and seduce her were failing miserably... when in truth, she had quite enjoyed how much effort he had made so far. The fact he had persisted to ensure that she was executing the dance moves properly had shown her that he was quite patient - she knew how stubborn she was when it came to letting herself go, but somehow, Copia had managed to entice her out of her unsociable shell.

He continued to study her features with intoxicated eyes and once he rested them upon her black irises, he only saw her distant expression again. His mind forced him to decide that it was probably best to step away from her and he actually leaned back - he figured that he had pushed her too far...

But before he could complete his retreat, she leaned herself in the direction he was backing towards. Sliding one of the hands she had settled over his chest, she firmly took hold of his cape's clasp and tugged it towards her, backing away to yank him into his previous position. She'd completed such an action so firmly that he clumsily stumbled towards her, gulping loudly as he bumped noses with her. She peered at him with indifferent mirth, and his eyes widened at what her insistence on him grinding even inferred... was she simply bored of him having control of the situation? Or perhaps... she was into it, though if such a notion was true, he was even more bewildered...

He easily returned to the suggestive movements of the twist, but his eyes were wary of her neutral expression as her hands glided up his front until they came to a gentle rest over his shoulders. He could have openly asked her what she was truly feeling in that moment, but he didn't, for he was secretly fearful of her answer. His pulse quickened as the end of the song drew near, but their movements didn't seem fade at all. He found that he was only becoming more engrossed in the presence of the woman before him, each of his grinds lasting longer and longer.

As the next song materialised, a few Siblings abruptly skirted away from the pair, which distracted them from one another. They glanced towards the parting crowd in unison, their brows furrowing in confusion. They silently agreed upon letting go of one another, though Copia still kept his hands firmly on her waist.

Soon, it was apparent what had caused the Siblings to shuffle around them - it seemed they were making room for an approaching sister, who appeared to be in her usual habit but from the way it was creased, it looked like she had thrown the garments on in a hurry. Her bright blue eyes were wide with apprehension and from the manner of her wobbly strides, it was clear that she was dealing with a great amount of anxiety.

It was clear from the way her daunted eyes loitered on the pair, that she was in need of their assistance. She eventually came to a stop by the side of them, shakily curtseying and dipping her head down in respect of Copia's presence. When the sister trembled back into her usual stance, her large azure eyes then landed upon Miss Vial.

"F-Forgive my intrusion, your Dark Excellency!"

Copia reluctantly lifted a glove from Aemelia's waist to wave a humble gesture.

"Ah... do not worry, sister, it is quite - "

"Miss Vial, I am in great need of your assistance!" the sister interrupted, seemingly ignoring the cardinal now that she had greeted him respectfully.

Copia raised his brows and turned his attention to Aemelia instead, returning his glove to her waist - he subtly squeezed his grip on her and she briefly frowned, but her attention remained on the deeply troubled sister. The crowd continued to dance around them, but it was clear that many of them had started to eavesdrop.

"Please, come quickly!" the sister pleaded, beckoning for the alchemist to follow her.

"Hang on, what seems to be the problem?" Aemelia asked with genuine concern, studying the fright on the young sister's face.

"No time... I will show you when we get there."

Relieved that she finally had an excuse to leave the party, Aemelia hurriedly side-stepped towards the sister, which prompted Copia to reluctantly remove his gloved hands from her. Cardinal stared at her with such saddened desire as she left him to quickly follow the frightened sister through the pack of curious costumed guests. He had been extremely tempted to simply trail behind them, but he knew from the sister's manner alone, that his presence wasn't required...

9 : Nekid the Mischievous

The party was still in full, spellbinding swing and the entire place was packed with dancing guests. In fact, there didn't appear to be a soul that wasn't dancing now - aside from Nihil, who had fallen asleep due to the comfortable upholstery of his unhallowed throne, and Copia, who was wallowing in his unwelcome solitude. The lack of Miss Vial's presence had caused him to crash down from the high he had been experiencing. He had dragged a pop-up chair from the outskirts to use it as a bar-stool. His head was low as he perched his elbows over the drinks' table, staring down at the contents of his modest glass of emerald absinthe like he was peering down a telescope. He'd needed something stronger to numb his disappointment - after all, Miss Vial was unlikely to return to the party for a third time...

Sadly, he wasn't so accustomed to the stronger spirits and his intoxication was inevitable. In his eyes, he had no reason to stay sober now that he was going to be alone for the rest of the night.

He winced slightly and carefully reached his right glove towards the glass of absinthe. Once it was in his gentle grasp, he steadily raised it towards his lips and closed his eyes, preparing himself for the next potent sip. He frowned in slight protest as he swallowed the green liquid down and slammed the glass onto the table, sighing out thankfully. The strong alcohol took his mind off the fact he had failed to win Miss Vial over... he had been so close, so very close...

He clenched his teeth and frowned deeply, tightly squeezing his eyelids closed when a commotion of giggles and gasps broke out amongst the groups of people behind him. He would have simply ignored them, were it not for the bizarre doting cries that added to the amused giggles. His grip around the glass tightened as he sharply peered over his left shoulder, his eyes flashing open dangerously.

"Shit... you have to be fucking kidding me..." Copia grumbled glumly, narrowing his disgruntled eyes at the circle of eager women behind him, who were all peering down at something with foolish awe. The sisters were reacting like they were observing something adorable, and Copia's interest peaked, but his features didn't show it at all.

As he persisted to witness the strange, motherly behaviour of the diverse circle of costumed sisters, he eventually saw the subject of their attention as a few women backed away...

There, amongst the cooing crowd of overwhelmed Siblings, was the small, nimble presence of Copia's familiar, Konekid. And to Copia's horror, the miniature gremlin-like being sauntered about the circle in a make-shift outfit that was incredibly similar to the clothes he was currently adorning. It was fashioned out of black silk handkerchiefs that had been crudely stapled together, but both costumes were almost identical.

The cardinal widened his eyes and flung himself around to face away from the sight of his popular familiar. With a large intake of air, he then downed the rest of his absinthe, wincing as it burned the back of his throat. He slammed the glass back onto the metallic surface of the table and suffered through the sharp taste, dipping his head down slightly so that he could cushion his forehead with the leathery palm of his left hand.

"Yeeeesh! You look like a rat's ass, Cardinal! And how dare you steal my costume idea!"

Copia scowled into his glove, tiredly shutting his eyes... he was truly hoping that Nekid's presence was only something he was imagining, but he figured there was no way of repelling the demonic pest if he kept quiet. He expelled a single bitter chuckle, and felt himself slumping forwards now that the alcohol was starting to catch up with him.

"Heh, I think you will find that I was wearing it first, Nekid. You were too slow off the mark, ah?" Copia quipped slowly, drawing out every syllable as a wry smile appeared on his face.

"Hey! Fuck you!" Nekid yelled, and Copia felt the slightest vibration as the small creature grappled his slim hands around the metal leg of his chair to shake it. "Unlike you, I was busy laying down cards and fucking bitches... and now I have arrived to ignite this party!"

"Sure, sure... whatever you say." Copia muttered in disinterest, slowly moving his left leg backwards to deter Nekid from persisting with the chair wobbling. Sure enough, his chair stilled and he huffed out gladly, but his disheartened expression returned.

Nekid peered up at the cardinal with his devious eyes, licking the palm of his hand to smooth back his thick mohawk of spiked white hair. To his disappointment, it sprung back up into its usual fashion and he grunted in annoyance, eyeing Copia's slicked hair with envy.

"You are so blue, ratto." Nekid jeered in a grating, spiteful tone. "You look so sad and senile, what has you so glum? You are jealous of Nekid's charm with the ladies?"

"Ah... no, Nekid. Far from it." Cardinal sighed out, cautiously glancing down to acknowledge his familiar's presence.

"Oh-hoh! C'mon! This party is wild, you should be enjoying yourself... yeesh you look like you are at a vampire's funeral - hey! I could deliver a sister for you." he rambled crudely, sticking out his slender forked tongue to complement a mischievous wink. "Gimme five minutes, I will have a sister here to dance with you in no time - "

"I don't want to dance, Nekid."

"Oh." he responded highly, scrunching his defined brow into a frown. "Why not?"

"I fucked up." Copia murmured quietly, returning his attention to the empty glass that was still tightly in his right hand's grasp. "So... I am hoping that Miss Vial returns so that I can... make it up to her. I... overstepped the line, you know?"

"Ick. You are no fun!" Nekid exclaimed with a grimace, reaching a slender hand behind him to blatantly scratch at the black silk covering his buttocks. "If you are too depressed to hit the dancefloor - so be it! I will hit it instead - with ten times as much stage presence and... ssssexual charisma."

Copia frowned with incoherent irritation and briefly acknowledged the crude creature again, before Nekid narrowed his large eyes and blew an obnoxious raspberry, bolting off towards the group of amazed sisters, his bare feet slapping over the checked tiling.

"Heh, whatever you say... little shit." Copia muttered bitterly, ensuring that he kept his back to the dance-floor to hide his empty expression. The swift slam of a flat palm over the metallic surface in front of him caused him to briefly gaze upwards and he reluctantly raised a leather-clad index finger.

"Whiskey." he requested in a subdued tone, and the Sibling obliged, gently prising the empty glass from his hand. Copia was numb to his surroundings, but he flinched when a fresh glass slid across the metallic surface to settle in front of him. He licked his dry lips then immediately clamped his right glove around it, slowly raising the rim to his lips.

Before he could take the first sip of his beverage, his ears pricked up at an abrupt change in the music being played. His mismatched eyes widened at the recognisable introduction of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell and he froze, vividly recalling a memory he disliked very much.

A memory in which he was draped across the back seats of Miss Vial's black sedan, suffering from a worrying number of nasty bites. His body was heavy. His bones ached. His pulse was weak. His skin was ashen. He was struggling to stay conscious...

Copia threw back the entire glass of whiskey and shut his eyes as he swallowed it down, gritting his teeth as a consequence... he would need a few more glasses before the song ended, he just hoped there was enough whiskey available...

By the time Copia clamped his glove around his third glass, the song had reached the second chorus and the circle of sisters - who were still surrounding Nekid - giggled gleefully. Copia tossed back his beverage, wearing a piercing gaze like the laughter grated his nerves. He shot a quick glance towards the source of the noise and his eyes widened in alarm. Nekid ripped his outfit away from his pale grey skin like it had been made out of paper and the women roared with cheerful laughter.

Averting his eyes from the mortifying scene, Copia hurriedly lowered his gloved hands to delve into his suit pockets. He huffed out in depressed impatience and grabbed fistfuls of the assortment of wrapped candies. He dumped them on the surface in front of him and began to unwrap candy after candy, carelessly shoving them into his mouth. He had hardly finished one before he shoved another one in - he was desperate to distract himself from the chaotic presence of his familiar, by any means necessary...

Although Nekid was now running riot amongst the bustle of the dance-floor - and embracing his natural form while doing so - he was revelling in the cardinal's depression. It spurred the little creature to behave as sinfully as possible, and he smirked wickedly, pattering towards the catering table. He arrived at one corner and latched his mitts around one of the legs, hoisting himself up like it was simply climbing a rope. He grunted with determination and let out a squealing fart as he scrambled himself up onto the varnished surface.

The table was littered with a sublime spread of snack-bites, dessert cakes, golden pastries and punch-bowls. Nekid's eyes widened with amazement and he licked his lips, darting towards the nearest bit of food - which happened to be a rounded dessert pie that was topped with a generous amount of clotted cream... he tensed his hands into claws and swiped the cream into his mouth, shaking his behind in victory.

The familiar's attention span was as short as he was and soon, he grew bored. With a beard of clotted cream smeared across the width of his oval face, he grabbed a twelve-ounce can of beer that had been conveniently discarded over the table's surface and effortlessly dragged it behind him as he bounded towards the centrepiece of the table. The centrepiece was a curvaceous ice sculpture of a buxom succubus and it towered above him in obscene glory. His needle-like teeth clamped into a grin as he narrowed his eyes in challenge, clambering into the slim dish it was set upon. He rounded the back of it and yanked the beer can towards him, stretching up until he was balancing on his tip-toes. He tipped the last golden remnants of the beer down the lower back of the sculpture and chucked the empty can away. He then nonchalantly laid over the thin layer of ice water, opening his mouth wide to capture the stream of beer... which was being filtered through the succubus' sculpted buttocks. He lapped up the contents enthusiastically, and eventually sighed out in approval once he had consumed the lot.

He belched out loudly as he scrambled to his feet. He began to pick up his pace, his bare feet slapping as he gained the momentum he desired. He tittered to himself as he leapt forwards, ensuring he lifted his feet from the table. He landed on his stomach and impressively slid across the length of the rest of the table on his belly, flippering his feet in the air for extra speed.

Nekid was completely oblivious to the fact his mischievous antics had now gained spectators and he cackled out, enjoying the thrill of the belly slide as he kicked his legs out to the sides, ruining platter after platter. Soon, his journey came to an end... he collided with an empty tray and it propelled him upwards. He squeaked with excitement... which soon transformed into gargles when he landed in a bowl of fluorescent green liquid. Punch sloshed out from the edges as he surfaced, and he was already lapping at the solution with his forked tongue.

Nihil's eyes certainly weren't what they used to be... but he couldn't miss the strange beast bobbing about in the cider punch. And neither could Sister Imperator...

"What in Nema's name is that... monstrosity, Sister?!" the old man exclaimed with a pointed finger, his mouth agape with disbelief.

"I do not know, Papa... but it is ruining the spread! I will see about replacing the lot at once!" Sister replied in a shrill tone, quickly rising from her seat.

Upon Sister leaving, Nekid cackled proudly and clumsily scrambled out of the glass punchbowl, shaking his lanky legs like a wet dog. He then shook his behind and raised a slender hand to ruffle his sopping hair, which caused it to pop up into the usual coned mohawk. He blinked and frowned in confusion when he caught sight of his hand as he lowered it from his head...

"Gah! No no no no! Not green!" he cried out in disgust, outstretching his spindly arms in front of him to study the garish shade of emerald that had stained his pale grey skin. "Shit! If I had known I would have aimed for the purple bowl instead!"

---

Aemelia closely trailed behind the trembling sister. They entered corridor after corridor, the flow of the blue-eyed sister's black vestments rather unusual... Miss Vial could tell they had been slung on in a hurry.

She pondered over the nervous woman's desperate plea for help... she could have simply asked what she was getting into, but there was not much possibility of her receiving a coherent answer. She began to consider possible scenarios instead, like hoards of imps, mischievous manifestations, spectral wolves... even the terrifying concept of one of the ferocious vampires escaping from the undercroft. All scenarios were extremely possible in her eyes, especially when she considered that it was the night of Halloween... and it often caused irregular behaviour in all manner of supernatural beings.

As they passed beneath an elaborate silver framed archway that was unfamiliar to Aemelia, she began to assume that she was being led in the direction of the Sibling dormitories. She hadn't visited the area before, but once they left the silver-framed entrance behind, the hallways looked like any other section of the Ministry. It was a wonder how the Siblings managed to navigate their quarters without getting lost.

Before long, the sister skidded to a halt by a plain oak wood door, swivelling on her heels to knit her eyebrows at the alchemist.

"In here! Quickly, Miss Vial! We do not wish for it to escape! Please capture it!"

The sister fumbled around for a moment and eventually, a key emerged from the blackness of her vestments. In a panic, she unlocked the door and creaked it open. She desperately beckoned for Miss Vial to enter. Aemelia calmly obliged and entered the chamber, ensuring that she subdued her own apprehension... it was not much help if they were both panicking.

The first thing Aemelia noticed was how dark it was. The only source of light appeared to be the puny flames of candles, which were sparsely located along the entire length of the small dormitory, and suspiciously, generously arranged into a circle in the centre of the space.

The floorboards groaned as she took a few more confident steps inside and her actions earned violent hushes and terrified whispers. She paused and frowned, peering about the darkness to search for the source of the noises... and to her surprise, she managed to distinguish the slightest snippet of a pale arm reaching out over the floorboards. She could just about make out the outline of a bed obscuring them from view. She scowled in confusion as she glanced towards the rest of the concerned hushes and whispers, and sure enough, there appeared to be at least five or so sisters located in various hiding places around the room. She wasn't sure why they were hiding, but from the distinct amount of bare skin on show, they could have simply been concealing their dignity.

Miss Vial wasn't shallow enough to believe that the nervous sisters were embarrassed by their lack of clothing, especially when her hollow, black irises acknowledged the faint sight of a five-point star, which had been neatly formed out of trails of crimson powder. The telling shape spread across the central floorboards of the space and branched out until the star's points abruptly cut off due to the presence of thick shadows.

In the vacant middle of the pentagram, was a large pile of familiar black and white fabrics - due to the distinct presence of bare flesh peeking from beneath and around the few bits of furniture, Aemelia could tell that the pile must have contained the sisters' vestments.

The insistent sister's desperation for Miss Vial's assistance instead of Copia's suddenly made an awful lot more sense to her... but naked or not, she still didn't understand how she could help. From what she could see, the sisters had attempted to summon something - if they had been successful, she couldn't really see anything...

Aemelia took another few confident steps towards the summoning circle and the sisters hushes grew in volume, some reaching out from their hiding spots to wave towards her, motioning for her to keep her head low.

"It will see you! Keep down! Keep down!" one of them whispered fiercely, and Miss Vial froze, slowly searching the darkness of the room with her eyes.

"What? What will see me?" she asked quietly, not bothering to whisper which caused the sisters to hush her again. "Oh come on, sisters. What's got you all so fri - "

Aemelia cut off and frowned in bewilderment, for there, perched on the farthest edge of the powdered pentagram, was a single, sly-eyed crow... it cocked its head inquisitively and simply returned the look of perplexion.

Aemelia sighed out with disappointment, but cautiously began to approach the ebony-feathered bird. She supposed it was a more pleasant problem to face, and it was certain to take her mind off the immoral assistance she had already provided to Copia that night...

10 : Raising the Stakes (II)

After calmly capturing the crow that had terrified each of the sisters, Aemelia had gently released it into the pitch-black grounds of the courtyard. Her mind was still racing with everything that had happened so far, and as much as she wanted to spend the rest of the night in solitude, she knew it would be impossible to relax, let alone sleep. To her dismay, she decided that it was sensible to return to the Halloween celebration.

Naturally, Miss Vial's return to the cathedral was unexpected, even the shady guests that loitered by the entrance frowned at her with curiosity. Upon her arrival, she quietly lingered around the outskirts of the party, frowning with interest at the bustle of Siblings and Clergy. From her quick scan of the dance-floor, she noticed the presence of a few masked Ghouls who were pushing through the crowd and dipping their heads down like they were scouting for something over the ground beneath their feet...

Oblivious and utterly smashed, Copia was in the centre of it all, slow dancing with a fresh-faced sister, that adorned an intricately embroidered Victorian dress. The maroon skirts cascaded over her bottom half and occasionally, Copia would stutter his movements as the soles of his soil-covered winkle-pickers slipped on the very ends of the material - apparently his usual finesse wasn't so achievable when he was intoxicated.

Aemelia crossed her arms over her chest and wore a small smile, shaking her head in amusement at the sight of him. The mirth in her eyes became more prominent as the presence of her entity finally disappeared, unveiling her charcoal irises and the bloodshot whites of her eyes. She barely noticed its visual absence and continued to observe the cardinal with mirth-filled eyes - she could see the delighted expression on the sister's face, but Cardinal's features looked distant, and that only amused Aemelia further.

Unfortunately, she was only able to observe the pair for a few more minutes, as Copia seemed to lose interest in the woman before him entirely and turned his head away from her to shoot a sweeping glance around the room. When he caught the slightest glimpse of the alchemist, he bluntly discarded the sister before him and swiftly backed away from her, allowing the swaying of the crowd to escort him to the edges of the dance-floor.

Eventually, he staggered away from the outskirts, slowly wandering towards Aemelia. He had to pause occasionally to ensure his feet were heading in the direction he was facing, but soon, he arrived in front of her, hope blatantly shining in his eyes despite the strong presence of his drunkenness.

"Ahhhh... Aemelia, baaaby! Where you have been... eh, have you... have you?"

Aemelia scowled at how he had addressed her but she decided not to scold him. He was already heavily intoxicated and drawing attention to himself, so she felt that he was suffering enough without a lecture from her. He stepped - stumbled - towards her and now that he was close, she noticed that he was far more dishevelled than she remembered. Chestnut tufts were resisting the slicked restraints of his hair, his cape was slightly askew over his shoulders and the black paint around his eyes was starting to wear thin. She wondered what on Earth had happened in the space of forty-five minutes, but she certainly wasn't going to ask him.

"I was helping a sister, remember?" she responded softly, keeping her voice quiet to avoid any unwanted attention.

"Oh... oh yeeeah! I remember now, heh heh... it went.. well?" he asked incoherently with a crumpled smile. He started to lean forwards but miscalculated his balance and began to stagger towards her instead. Aemelia struck out her arms, firmly latching hold of his shoulders to ensure that he kept his distance, and his stability.

"Let's get you something to wash down the drink... " she murmured with a wince, firmly steering him in the direction of the drinks' table. "... the last thing I want is you vomiting everywhere."

"Nooo, no, Meees Vial, I am fiiiiine..." he whined in a strange high pitch of voice, gesturing a limp hand at her to display that he really didn't approve of her sensible suggestion. "My belly is like... an oiled up heavyweight... it can... take the spirits quite... well, you know?"

She wore an indifferent expression and started to back away, dragging him with her as she went. He frowned at her in defiant confusion and his head gently swayed from side-to-side as he simply allowed her to manoeuvre him. It seemed like Copia wanted to remain heavily intoxicated for some reason, but Miss Vial could tell - from the dazed, sad manner he peered at her - that he was very close to reaching a state where he lost all control of himself. The sooner she helped sober him, the better... because she knew that she wouldn't be able to explain or excuse the cardinal's behaviour... especially if his hands started to combust with the vivid, cyan flames of his hell-fire.

That very notion caused her to drag him more swiftly, the tips of his winkle-pickers squeaking over the checked flooring. She felt like she was escorting a heavy lump instead of an elegant and nimble cardinal, and grunted in annoyance as she turned to the side. His front slowly collided with her left side and she rolled her eyes as he balanced against her heavily. She wondered why he had insisted that he was fine, because from his limp, dazed state, she could only assume he'd been on a forty-five minute bender...

Soon, they arrived at the drinks' table, where Aemelia propped him up against the table edge. She pressed her hand over his chest and stepped closer, ensuring that she had him trapped in a somewhat upright stance so he didn't sway all over the place. Copia's head dipped slightly and he blinked in disbelief, staring at the firm hand she held in place over his chest.

"You are... so... warm..." he quietly mumbled with a crooked smile, and she rolled her eyes at him. She then shifted her gaze to silently acknowledge the Sibling - who was currently on bar duty - across from them, but patiently waited for them to turn and face her. Copia's body wavered slightly as he tried to lean into her line of sight, already desperate for her attention again.

"Nekid has ruined the food... by the way!" he exclaimed blatantly, her dark eyebrows framing her glaring eyes with a scowl as she hushed him loudly. "What? Eh! Do not shush me, Miss Vial. The entire table is ruined, the little shit. He had the same fucking outfit as me too... can you believe that? And he stripped it all off... right in front of the... eh... come si dice? Congratu - no, no, congress?"

"The congregation?" she asked in a deadpan tone and he nodded his head vigorously.

"Si, si, that is the one I meant." he said cheerfully, staring down at Miss Vial's hold on him with a hopeful expression.

"I wasn't planning on eating here anyway. But thanks for the heads up, I guess." she stated emptily, returning his gaze with disinterest.

"Yes... his little cork-screw winkle infected the lot, you know?" he muttered with disgust.

"Yeah... I figured, Cardinal."

"Couldn't we just - ahem - put him down? You can... make something for that, right?" he whispered frantically as he slowly cupped a glove around his mouth. Despite his intoxication, she could see from the sincerity in his bloodshot eyes that he wasn't just playfully joking about the demise of his impish familiar...

Aemelia's black eyes widened at his question, but soon trailed from his innocent, incoherent expression to settle on the Sibling, who was now facing her and waiting for orders. Aemelia really hoped that they hadn't been stood listening to the ridiculous banter from start to finish, but from their startled expression, she could only assume that they probably had...

She leaned forward slightly to address the woman in front of her, who was wearing an autumnal dress and impressive wicker pixie wings. From Aemelia's actions, the sister knew that she desired discretion and leaned towards her. The sister cast a dark, lingering look towards Copia before settling her gaze on the alchemist.

As Aemelia parted her lips to speak, Copia struggled against her hold a little in order to swivel around. Miss Vial's mouth quickly shut as he mirrored her actions as best as he could, only his imposing mismatched eyes studied her features intensely. She huffed in annoyance and administered a loud pat over his torso which caused him to involuntarily inhale. Her actions caused him to back away slightly, and as much as his head was still low to stare at her, she was more content with the amount of space between them.

"Sorry about... him..." Aemelia began, rolling her eyes as she returned her attention to the sister. "As you can probably tell he's had one too many... I was just wondering if you had anything non-alcoholic. Might help sober him up."

The sister sniffed as she considered the alchemist's request. She brought up a slender hand and tapped her chin thoughtfully... until she smiled wickedly and said "Milk?"

"Yeah that should do." Aemelia replied gratefully, backing herself away from the metallic surface now that the sister was setting to work. The sister hastily obliged Miss Vial's request but adorned an expression of brazen disdain throughout her actions. As Aemelia waited patiently, Copia continued to stare at her with quiet yearning but she ignored him, even when his head eventually lolled downwards to near her face again.

"You don't have to... do this... you know?" he slowly slurred, keeping his tone hushed as best as he could. Her eyes hardened at his words but she didn't acknowledge him. Soon, to her relief, the sister gently slid the requested glass of murky white liquid over the table's surface.

Aemelia swiftly collected the beverage with her left hand and nodded towards the Sibling politely. The sister narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest like she was suspicious for some reason. Miss Vial frowned at the woman's sudden change in attitude and decided to gently tug Copia away from the table by his cape-clip. Unfortunately, their quick departure from the drinking area caused them to miss out on hearing a quiet - and distinctive - stuttering titter that came from the underside of the drinks' table...

Guiding Copia towards a sparsely populated space on the outskirts of the dance-floor, Miss Vial ensured that she cautiously avoided the stray elbows from anyone they happened to pass... she certainly didn't want the fresh glass of milk to spill everywhere. Before long, they came to a gradual stop and still holding him in place, she handed him the glass of murky liquid.

"Get that down you, it'll do you some good." she assured, her grip on him finally falling away. He winced at the absence of her hold and swayed slightly, peering down at the contents of the glass in his gloved grip.

"Mmmm, yes, Miss Vial." he muttered enthusiastically, raising the glass to his lips with trembling hands before he took the first, overly loud sip of his beverage. His mismatched eyes squeezed shut and he frowned in protest at the poignant sensation at the back of his throat. He was bewildered and repulsed by the taste - he knew he had been given some kind of undiluted spirit instead of milk, but he felt that he had already bothered Miss Vial with enough burdens that night... so he kept quiet and slowly sipped his way through the vile concoction.

As Copia grimaced his way through each sip, Miss Vial closely stood beside him like she was quietly minding him. Her gaze, however, was elsewhere, as she didn't want to make her concern for him too obvious. She quietly watched the lively dance-floor, but after a while, she grew bored of the sight and glanced towards the catering table, where Nihil and Imperator were located. Amusement filled her eyes as she began to notice the devastation that Nekid had caused - platters were overturned, scatterings of crumbs and pastry flakes littered the table's surface and wide lakes of vivid punch pooled to drip down the table's edges. She shook her head at the destruction, and instead shifted her attention to Nihil, who was soundly asleep in the comfort of his throne, despite the loud atmosphere of the place. And then, her eyes trailed to the seat beside him, and sure enough, Sister was present. For some reason, the woman looked disgruntled - then again, Miss Vial thought the woman always looked disgruntled - but this time, it was clear that something was deeply troubling her.

To Aemelia's discomfort and surprise, Imperator's eyes sharply flicked to settled upon her. Aemelia furrowed her brow in confusion as the older woman's expression became skeptical... perhaps even scornful. But before she could return the same, hostile emotion to display her confusion, a familiar gleam of amber distracted her as it cut through the bodies over the dance-floor.

Miss Vial desperately scoured her eyes over every inch of the dance-floor, hoping to understand the amber flash she was certain she had witnessed, frowning in annoyance when Copia thrust his empty shot glass into her hands. His actions caused her to glance at him and he licked his lips as he arrogantly stared back at her.

When the corners of his mouth turned upwards, he took a step towards the dance-floor... her left hand latched around the glass fiercely and her right arm stretched out like a barrier in front of him, prohibiting him from going any further.

"You really think that's a good idea?" she questioned firmly, raising a brow when he chuckled and stuck out his tongue in reply. She glared at him with concern as he gently pushed her arm out of the way to return to the heart of the party, confidently swaying as he went.

She scowled at him as he shuffled himself into the crowd again and began to shortly side-step to the rhythm of the music. Somehow he could still effortlessly dance in time. She clenched her teeth and recognised the sudden feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach as she watched him, and it grew when a woman approached him, fluttering her thick eyelashes as she blatantly rolled her body against his.

Miss Vial scowled at such contact, focusing on the woman's unusual advances. After all, the current state of Copia was hardly enticing, and his dance moves weren't exactly aiding his appearance either. The woman's flawless olive skinned arms snaked over his shoulders and he raised his chin up a little, exhaling deeply when the woman leaned forwards to flirtatiously whisper into his right ear. Copia's movements became a lot more mechanical as his back promptly straightened at her words, and due to this, Miss Vial knew that he must have been enjoying the attention.

But something persisted to unsettle Aemelia as she studied the way the brunette was interacting with him. She observed quietly, her grip on the empty shot glass tightening as she narrowed her dark eyes in concentration, trying to make sense of her feeling of foreboding. Her heart started to gain speed when she realised Copia's stiff-backed stance wasn't dropping, and his jarring movements repeated over and over like he was stuck in some kind of loop.

The brunette woman wore a serious expression as she rested her chin over his shoulder and opened her eyes, peering out at the oblivious guests that surrounded them. Her amber irises blazed vibrantly before she inhaled sharply, rolling her head to the side so that she could brush her angular nose over the skin of Copia's neck. She then backed away a little, before dipping her head down again to deeply inhale his scent like she found it irresistible... or delicious.

Aemelia widened her eyes in realisation and her hands suddenly felt incredibly clammy. The empty shot glass slipped from her damp grasp and shattered over the checked tiling... heads turned at the ear-splitting sound but Miss Vial was already storming towards the dance-floor, shards of glass crunching as she picked up her pace.

Panic threatened to take her over as her fists balled at her sides. She tried to focus on Copia, already going through a myriad of complicated solutions to the problem in front of her. As she approached them, she could tell the attractive woman had him under some kind of spell due to his unnatural body language. He distantly stared up towards the high ceiling, granting the woman more access to the skin of his throat...

Panic took control as Aemelia began to push displeased Siblings out of her path with the heels of her hands...

She couldn't allow the woman to feed on him. She may have had a lack of stakes on her person, but that certainly wouldn't stop her from intervening. Now nearing the couple, she started to devise a plan to repel the vampire instead. However, her panic was starting to blind her to reason, and all she could think about was how territorial the creatures were when it came to their prey...

She forced herself to stop pushing guests out of the way and instead, casually sauntered towards them. Her heart was pounding but she masked over her expression of concern, sliding through a last small crevice in the crowd to finally reach them. She stood still for a moment to gaze at the cardinal with worried eyes, before she smeared her worry over with feigned desire.

Aemelia then darted forwards and elbowed her way between them, ensuring that she jabbed the creature in the ribs. The vampire immediately backed away in confused horror, her amber eyes widening with alarm as Aemelia sent a dark glance of warning over a shoulder. Miss Vial knew that her own actions shouldn't have worked so easily, but she didn't question the vampire's strange acceptance of defeat.

She could sense the woman was still loitering behind her and returned her attention to the cardinal... who was completely frozen in place, his eyes unblinking as he stared through her like he was in some kind of trance. She kept calm and decided to close the space between them, sliding the palms of her hands over the layers of fabric covering his chest.

"Oh... there you are." she said softly, encouraging him out of the strange trance by pressing him with the pads of her fingers. The sound of her voice and the unusual feeling of her firm fingertips seemed to pull him back into reality. He blinked a few times and his form relaxed under her hands as she gently eased her grip. Aemelia refrained from releasing a sigh of relief - she never thought she would have felt glad to see his inebriated state again, but it really was a welcome sight.

Now that Copia was truly present - and still very intoxicated - he finally acknowledged how close she was, and he found the strange expression on her face impossible to ignore. His mismatched eyes widened in fascination as they frantically searched her face for an explanation. When he recognised her expression to be plausible desire, he looked like his lottery numbers had come up - his mouth parted in amazement, his eyes twinkled with bashful surprise and his eyebrows lightly knitted together.

He closed his eyes and a deep breath escaped him as she firmly stroked one of her hands across the centre of his chest. She firmly grasped hold of his cape's bat-pin, and forcibly yanked it towards her so that his entire lithe body followed. He was like putty in her hands as she tightly held him close, their noses barely touching before she brazenly kissed him... and although Miss Vial considered herself to be acting the part of a loving partner, she certainly wasn't holding back...

His initial lack of reaction didn't surprise her. But she could tell from the hot exhales puffing out over the skin of her face, that her actions were pleasing him immensely.

His lips were damp due to his tipsiness and she could taste the bitterness of the vile spirits he'd been necking down over the course of the night. She refrained from wincing through her actions at first, but soon, her discomfort seamlessly transformed into indifference, and then eventually, into the most authentic contentment she could feign... if she had been honest with herself, she would have confessed that it had been incredibly easy to slip into the character of Copia's affectionate partner. But that very thought terrified her. She reminded herself of the reason she had carried out her brash actions - she was warding off an immediate threat to him, but that seemed like a convenient excuse.

After a few abnormally quick seconds, she gently guided them into a much deeper kiss... after all, she really wanted the affection to seem believable to the vampire behind her. She pressed herself against Cardinal's remarkably warm body even though he was still frozen in astonishment, his eyes large and saucer-like as she continued to hold him in place by his silver bat-pin.

However, Copia's shock eventually faded and as soon as he simply accepted what was occurring, his painted eyelids fell down like heavy window-shutters. He cautiously met her confident kisses with idle instinct, too amazed and too inebriated to match her brash, excitable manner of kissing. Nevertheless, he was revelling in the moment - why she had decided to kiss him was a mystery to him, but he definitely wasn't complaining. Hope filled him from head to toe as he hummed in appreciation, his temples pounding from his amazement, intoxication and impending arousal. He wished he was sober in that moment and started to pay more attention to the texture of her lips, wanting to savour every little detail in his mind.

Miss Vial cracked her eyes open and to her surprise, the brunette vampire roughly pushed by her shoulder, squinting her amber eyes in a hostile manner. Although the creature was annoyed that its prey had been claimed by someone else, it almost seemed apprehensive as it skulked away from her, delving further and further into the mass of costumed Siblings.

Aemelia started to back away from Copia to keep sight of the vampire, but he sensed her movement due to the angle of her mouth and he frowned in refusal, taking a careful step forwards to ensure their kiss remained intact. He hummed again and his reactions to her lips were a lot more coherent now that he was sure he was present in reality. He mirrored her kisses as best as he could, but the drink was affecting his reflexes and he started to stagger to the right. Knowing that he was losing balance, she dropped a hand from his bat-pin to firmly hold onto one of his shoulders, ensuring he stayed still.

Now that he was balanced, she closed her eyes with a light frown and eased her grip on him, sliding her palms down to the bottom of his waistcoat where she patted him, politely inferring that he could stop playing along now... but he hummed in stubborn refusal, and she felt his gloved hands gently grazing over the tops of her hips as he gently settled them around her waist...

She couldn't quite bring herself to pull away from him... so she decided to just let him kiss her. It wasn't feverish or forceful in any way, it was gentle and not at all what she had anticipated. Then again she hadn't anticipated doing such a thing... ever.

11 : His Crutch

Copia's kissing never seemed to cease. It was slow and cautious, and had gone on for far too long. The leather gloves around her waist were more alert than his lips and they clutched above her hips tightly, the tips of his gloved fingers gently rubbing circles over the red fabric of her shirt like he was quietly implying something.

Realising their charade had probably lasted long enough - as a lot of the guests around them were starting to take notice of their actions - Aemelia smoothly drew herself away from him, leaving him frozen in position. His eyes reluctantly cracked open and they were framed by knitted eyebrows. His lips remained puckered, like he was fully expecting her to continue kissing him. He tensed his gloves around her waist, fearing that she would leave him altogether.

His conflicting irises were hazy as he relaxed his mouth into a thin line, the mixture of his drunkenness and his attraction to her finally catching up to him. Despite his heavy inebriation, he was extremely certain of his desire and adoration for her, and didn't even think to question her reasons for making the first move. He was too overwhelmed by the fact the kiss been completely real, and not some fleeting mirage...

"No, no... don't leave..." he murmured quietly, his eyes displaying a soft emotion as they searched her face - perhaps he was finally beginning to look for something that would explain what had just happened.

"I have to." she breathed sincerely, keeping the distance between them short as she could feel his balance teetering again. "I can't let that... vampire get away..."

"Vampire? What... vampire? Heh... where is the vampire, Miss Vial?" he loudly chuckled, which caused her to hush him quickly... she could feel fresh sets of eyes settle on them and she ensured the gap between them lengthened slightly.

"Eh... I say let it fuck off, ah?" he said with a crooked smile, leaning his weight forwards to close the space between them again... but he lost control of his balance and started to collapse onto her. She widened her eyes and swiftly extended a leg out behind her before his fall was halted by her right shoulder. She firmly supported his weight to stop him from tumbling down any further, wearing a determined expression.

"Whoaaaa you are a lot closer than I intended, heh heh!" he slurred out in amusement, wearing a grateful smile as she continued to hold the weight of his slouched form. He exhaled sharply and wondered why she continued to assist him, he was honestly surprised that she wasn't embarrassed by his behaviour at this point - truthfully, she'd been more mortified when she'd witnessed some of his sober actions.

"I think you've partied long enough, Cardinal. How about I help you back to your quarters?" she offered politely when he sank down slightly, his chin coming to a gentle rest over her right shoulder as he let out a groan of disapproval.

"Pleeeease, Miss Vial... I am fine, really. I am fine here. I am right where I want to be. Maybe not... doing who I want to be doing but ..."

She raised a brow as he slowly draped his arms around her to lightly slide the palms of his gloves down the length of her back. His head on her shoulder became heavier as his arms tightened around her to lock her in an embrace... which she didn't respond to.

As much as she knew that Copia was quite fond of her, she felt uncomfortable reciprocating anything now that he was no longer in immediate danger. After all, the man was heavily intoxicated, he wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind to make any rational decisions. However, she was thankful that he was drunk, because it was unlikely that he would remember their kiss once the alcohol wore off... if he'd been sober he would have never allowed her to move on like nothing had ever happened.

The crowd around them began to change their style of dance as the intro of another song began to play. The song caused Copia to crack into a playful smile and his embrace eased slightly... but he certainly wasn't letting go of her. He slowly raised his heavy head from her shoulder until he could stare at her closely, deeply huffing out a sigh. The more he looked at her, the more his head began to dip downwards and soon, his forehead met with hers, her charcoal irises searing into his very drunken eyes.

"You... ah... you like Abba?" he asked in a quiet voice, letting out a breathy chuckle as he revelled in the closeness of her eyes. "If you don't... by the end of this song... you will."

He winked at her and lightly snorted in amusement, half-listening to Lay All Your Love On Me as she reluctantly sighed out in defeat. She slid her hands up his arms and grasped hold of his shoulders to gently push him away from her.

"If... " she paused, letting out a sigh of frustration. "... if I dance with you to this bloody song, will you please let me take you back to your quarters?"

"Ohhhhh, Miss Vial!" he moaned out in a breathy rasp, blush starting to coat his cheeks. "I thought you would never ask. Of course of course of course I will allow you to do that. In fact, I encourage you to do that - "

Cardinal gulped down an involuntary blast of air as she firmly dragged him closer, bluntly cutting his excited chatter short. He poorly attempted to lead their movements, swaying to the right... but he heavily staggered instead, which prompted Miss Vial to dart forwards, hooking her arms under his armpits to pull him upright. He wore a crumpled smile and wiggled his hips from side to side now that she was holding him in place. Unfortunately, her thoughtful actions had made them incredibly close again. As a consequence, Copia was basking in her presence, lazily searching her eyes with his own to check that he was the centre of her attention... and he certainly was, but mainly because she feared that he would fall over again.

He slowly and shakily closed the space between them, but rocked his head to the right, dipping it downwards so that he could rest his chin over her shoulder. His arms subtly rebelled against her firm hold as he heavily raised them to snake them around her waist, his eyelids falling shut as he let out a single contented sigh. His hips continued to sway, as Aemelia guided their steps, her black eyes darting about to make sure they weren't about to stamp on anyone's toes... or head into a vacant space where they would be easily seen by the wary gazes of Nihil or Imperator.

She wanted to spare Copia of his superiors' attention while he was in a vulnerable, inebriated state. The man had worked hard for his position so far - she hardly wished from him to be overlooked or dismissed because he'd happened to overestimate his alcohol tolerance.

"See?" he murmured calmly, his head seeming heavier and heavier the more his chin relaxed over her shoulder. "I told you that you would like Abba..."

"What? What are you talking about?" she questioned quietly, furrowing her brow in confusion. She suddenly wished that she hadn't encouraged him to continue the conversation.

"You are leading the dance... no?"

"That doesn't mean anything." she retorted hurriedly, her frown becoming one of slight annoyance.

"Ohhhh... but it does, Aemelia... you are even... jiggling your hips in time with mine, heh heh heh heh. Very good... very, very gooood."

He reminded her of Nekid in that moment - clearly the cardinal had reached the stage of intoxication where his subconscious was allowed to roam free... the sooner the song ended, the better... because she really didn't want him saying much more than he already had.

---

Aemelia was thankful that Copia was only a few inches taller than her - it made escorting him through the corridors of the Ministry much easier as he simply balanced against her like she was a reliable crutch. Other than him chuckling to himself or slurring out some incomprehensible nonsense, they spent most of the journey to his quarters in pleasant silence. To Miss Vial's relief, the hallways were completely vacant and that enabled her to pick up the pace slightly, but Copia's legs couldn't quite match her speed, so the tips of winkle-pickers scuffed along the slab stone as she guided him back to his chambers.

The distinctive, silver-handled door to his personal quarters appeared faster than Aemelia had anticipated and she had to back track slightly, before she carefully traipsed up the few iron steps, lugging him with her like he was an exhausted toddler. Now level with the door-frame, she finally let go of him and her sudden absence caused him to topple forwards, until he uncomfortably planted his face against the ebony wood of the door. He scrunched up his face and groaned loudly in discomfort, leaning against the wooden surface like he was unable to move. His pathetic reaction only showed that Miss Vial had made a sensible decision by bringing him back to his own room.

She rolled her eyes when he let out another muffled groan and reached an arm towards him, sliding her hand across his front in order to delve into the pockets of his waistcoat, in search of the key to his door. His expression relaxed into a crumpled smile and he tittered at the tickling sensation of her hand as she wiggled the key out from the depths of his pockets. He hummed appreciatively when her fist slid over his chest as she withdrew herself from him. She gently patted his left shoulder with her free hand, silently inferring that she wished for him to move away from the door... but he didn't budge.

"I can't get this in with you stood in front of me, Cardinal. Could you shuffle over there a bit?" she asked, her voice hushed in case someone happened to pass by.

"Ahhh... no." he quipped playfully, which was soon followed by a series of breathy chuckles. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and lightly pushed his right side, hoping that it would encourage him to move over... but he eagerly seized the opportunity instead. He clumsily staggered towards her and cornered her against the right sight of the door-frame, a single wobbly glove rising to the door's surface to steadily support his wavering form. He loomed before her, dipped his head down and blatantly left a lingering kiss wherever his lips happened to land.

"Copia..." she warned in a threatening tone, her entire body tensing due to his abrupt actions. He moaned quietly in acknowledgement but his damp lips proceeded to travel across her left cheek. He inadvertently groaned deeply once he arrived at the side of her mouth and pressed a soft, sincere kiss to the edges of her lips. She huffed and gently pushed him away from her, ignoring his disappointed expression as she shoved the key into the door, firmly twisting it until it unlocked with a loud clunk. She struck an elbow out and it creaked open unveiling the darkness of his quarters.

"You can lean on me, if you like." Aemelia offered sternly, hoping it would subtly persuade him to forget about kissing her again - he accepted her offer, though his incoherent mind was still considering the feel of her lips. With her steady arm clutching across the width of his ribs, his body slumped against her left side, and she guided him through the open door, slowly entering the vast pitch-black of Copia's room. He adorned a wet, crumpled smile as the door heavily slammed shut behind them. Miss Vial briefly froze at the sound, and frowned as she continued to shuffle forwards, steering him towards the left side of the room.

"Ooooh... where are we going, Miss Vial? The... the sofa is right there - "

"You're gonna want more than a sofa to cushion that head of yours, trust me. You'll thank me in the morning." she grumbled, escorting him towards the off-set hallway where his chamber door was located. As they neared the end of the short corridor, his weight lifted from her slightly and she was silently fascinated, for he suddenly seemed to stand somewhat competently. She released her hold on him and they turned to face each other.

She couldn't see much of him through the darkness - aside from a slash of light bouncing from his mischievous eyes - but she could tell he was managing to stand perfectly upright without trembling at all... she narrowed her eyes at his sudden lack of intoxication, but they soon widened when he confidently stepped closer, his leather gloves creaking as they cupped around her jaw. The scent of wine and absinthe was strong now that his face lingered before her own and for some reason, she felt compelled to allow his proximity.

"You are most kind for doing this, Miss Vial." he whispered, his painted eyelids shrouding the gleam of his mismatched irises. "Please... allow me to repay you... I am still in debt to you, after all."

"You don't have to do anyth - "

"I insist." he breathed firmly, the smooth tips of his gloves caressing the sides of her jaw. "I will do anything you ask of me. Anything."

"You're drunk, Cardinal. Of course you're willing to do anything - "

"Yes... I am, but... " he trailed off and heavily sighed, a warm cloud of his alcoholic breath puffing out into her face before he hummed in hesitation. "I have asked... so much of you tonight, Aemelia. And you have exceeded all of my... expectations. And ah... no one has ever... minded me before. Surely I should repay you for that, at the very least."

"So... what? This is yet another debt you've accrued?" she questioned in a stubborn tone, setting her jaw as he continued to caress the skin there.

"Sure, a fresh one that... well... I guess I could always clear this one tonight, ah? Name your payment."

"You can repay me by going to sleep." she replied, determinedly squinting at the familiar glints of his widened eyes.

"No no no! Not like that, Aemelia... ehhhh... like... "I'd like to sit... on the bed so that you can pleasure me, Cardinal..." or even... "Undress me!" or... something along those lines."

"You never deemed the terms of these debts to me before, what if I don't want that from you?" she inquired in a hushed, sincere tone.

"You... don't want pleasure?"

"Not from a shit-faced git, no." she swiftly snapped, impassively staring into his gleaming eyes.

He chuckled lowly at her dismal response and eased his gloves down the sides of her neck, hastily leaning towards her before she could understand what was happening. His eyes shut and he carefully lowered his head, trapping her in place with a wistful kiss. He hummed deeply with satisfaction and he swore - though it may have just been his drunken imagination - that he felt her lips lightly pressing back...

12 : The Unfortunate Sermon

The Ministry's corridors were deserted for the majority of November first. Most Siblings were sleeping off their colossal hangovers, and even members of the Clergy were purposely keeping to their rooms, pretending they were hungover too... when really, they were trying to avoid attending Papa Nihil's traditional post-Halloween sermon. The hour-long afternoon preach was infamous for being dull and far too long, so most of the Ministry had learnt to come to life after four-o-clock to ensure they weren't roped into witnessing such a thing.

And every year, Cardinal Copia was left with the gruelling task of gathering at least some people to fill the chapel's pews, to make sure that Papa Nihil remained content with his own traditions. The cardinal's persuasion was often enough to have some Siblings turn up, but this year, considering that he was also immensely hungover, his persuasion was quickly turning into panicked desperation.

When he'd first cracked his eyes open, he'd groaned loudly due to the uncomfortable pulse of his temples and the bitter taste of alcohol that coated his tongue. It had taken him quite some time before he'd actually prised himself out of bed, his dishevelled, creased suit uncomfortably clinging to his aching form. After some time, he idly slid his cape from his person, and finally exited his chamber. He cautiously wandered through his vast quarters, cupping his gloved hands over his face now that stark rays of sunlight were confidently bursting through the stain-glass windows. His tawny brown hair was completely askew and the coats of black paint covering his top lip and eye-sockets were thin and faded. He turned his back to the sunlight and lowered his hands from his face, frowning into a drawn out yawn. He sighed deeply and reluctantly rolled up his right sleeve, squinting in protest as he tried to make sense of his wrist-watch...

It was past noon, and that left him with very little time to complete his annual duty.

"Ah shiiiiiiit." he hissed in displeasure, hastily dropping his sleeve. He grumbled in discomfort but lugged his heavy bones in the direction of the door - he had no idea how he was going to fill those pews... but he was going to make damn sure his superior didn't arrive to an empty chapel.

---

At one-thirty, Nihil promptly arrived. The main cathedral was still covered in festive party decorations, but the additions of the speaker system, drinks area and catering table, were nowhere to be seen. In their place were the usual symmetrical rows of pews and an overwhelming silence as the entire venue waited with patient eyes and ears now that Nihil had graced them with his unholy presence.

The only thing audible was Nihil himself. As he rounded the rear of the sparsely occupied pews and glided down the wide central aisle towards the pulpit, his embroidered robes rustled, his right hand clutching his oxygen mask to his chest. He leisurely dragged an oxygen tank behind him and the wheels squeaked highly. The ear-piercing sound echoed throughout the entire church and caused most who were present to wince in discomfort. To each of his sides, were two pale, blonde-haired children, who were dressed in sharp black suits and had thick black paint outlining their eyes. They walked beside him eerily, their faces blank as their hands calmly clutched to their matching ties.

Soon, the twins veered away from him to take their seats on the first two pews and Nihil halted, parking his tank by a heavily eroded step. He slowly scaled the few steps up to the pulpit, seemingly unaware that he was about to face an extremely empty cathedral...

Before the old man managed to ascend the final step, there was a commotion of whispers and footsteps. Heads quickly turned to the source of the sounds, and Copia wildly glared his bloodshot eyes, hurriedly nodding his head forwards to quietly direct their attention to the anti-pope, who was now addressing the sparse audience with squinted eyes.

The cardinal exhaled sharply, his leather gloves creaking as he tightened his grip around the black shirt collars of two limp-bodied Ghouls. Their masked heads lolled from side-to-side as he forcefully guided them towards the nearest row of pews. He swiftly dropped them onto the seats - with a tremendous thud - and dipped his head towards the edges of their masks, wearing a look of authority.

"You sit here for a good ten minutes, then you get up to walk back and forth, ok?" he instructed in a subdued tone, his stressed eyes flicking between the two of them. "We want to make it seem like there are lots of late arrivals, so make it real noisy... really draw out your footsteps so he can hear them."

The larger of the two Ghouls, who was sat on the right, tipped up his palms in confusion and tilted his head inquisitively like he was asking a question.

"Do not worry about that, ah?" Copia calmly replied in a flippant tone, narrowing his eyes as he backed away from them slightly. "His sight is not so good. You just make sure your feet can be heard. I do not want my ass on the line because you have marshmallow feet, ok?"

He wore a smile that was reminiscent of grimace and both Ghouls quickly nodded in understanding, which caused him to smoothly back away from them. His forced expression dropped and was replaced with a wince as he clumsily stumbled out from the pew. He held his hands out by his sides to regain his balance, the clatter of his scuffed winkle-pickers echoing loudly. When he managed to steady, he cleared his throat like nothing had ever occurred and tugged the lapels of his dishevelled suit jacket, heading over to the very rear of the cathedral to ensure that he was definitely out of Nihil's view.

As the old man's speech droned on, Copia silently observed, reaching his gloves up to his head to frantically smooth back his unruly chestnut hair. To his disappointment, his locks raised back up into horn-like tufts once his arms draped by his sides and he huffed out in annoyance. When ten minutes passed, both Ghouls peered over their shoulders at him like they were silently making sure that it was the time Copia indicated. He raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at them, crossing his arms over his chest expectantly.

Both Ghouls immediately stood due to Copia's stern body language. They paused, standing stiffly as they apologetically looked at one another... and then they began to carry out Copia's task. One darted to the left and the other darted to the right, slamming their soles down as hard as possible to ensure every single step was heard.

Cardinal's eyes widened as they briskly walked from one side of the cathedral to the other, splitting the mass of pews between them. Their pattern soon changed and they began to add in more rows, their pace increasing with every bellowed word that Nihil expelled. Copia's apprehension grew when the Ghouls began to jog, and soon, the thinner of the two started to cross over, darting into the lines of pews that the larger Ghoul was happily taking care of.

Although the cardinal was astonished by the strange sight of his energetic Ghouls, his ridiculous idea seemed to be working, for Nihil was grinning through every syllable he uttered. But that didn't make the scene of the Ghouls any less surreal, or worrying now that they had almost reached a sprint...

Concern washed over his features as he went to step forwards, but a flash of burgundy in his peripheral vision forced him to swivel to his left... and sure enough, Aemelia Vial was stood beneath the arched entrance, wearing her usual attire and a quizzical expression. His eyes widened into saucers when he realised that her confused black irises were glued to the sprinting Ghouls, and he began to step towards her.

"Fuckin' hell." she muttered emptily, and she quickly turned on her heels before he could even approach her, swiftly exiting the cathedral before she found herself in another ridiculous scenario due to the puppy eyes of Copia.

Cardinal gritted his teeth in annoyance. He was grateful that she had turned up to help him, yet again... but it was understandable that she had abandoned him after witnessing the absurd antics of his Ghouls. His gloves balled into fists and he turned to face them, his expression hateful as he began to stride towards the central aisle with purpose. The Ghouls had started to enjoy their task far too much, for their sprinting was now turning into a game of tag... and Copia shook his head in disapproval, striding closer and closer in order to scold them...

But as he passed by the second to last row of benches, a set of crafty, pale grey hands reached out from the underside of a pew and latched onto the hem of Copia's right trouser-leg. The hands violently tugged and Copia's leg jutted outwards, forcibly causing the softest part of his shoe to collide with the sharp corner of the pew. He yelled out an agitated hiss of "Fucking shit!" and was so taken aback by the pain over his foot that he stumbled forwards... face planting the cold checked tiles of the central aisle.

It was then, that he suddenly wished he'd never decided to leave his bed that morning...

13 : The Insufficient Conclusion

Copia's hangover persisted to linger the next day, and so did his feelings of discomfort and embarrassment. He blamed his age mostly. He knew he had gotten carried away with the Halloween festivities, and it had caused him to forgot that he was no longer the spry, reckless young Copia... who used to nimbly hop out of bed with bright eyes after a rough night of heavy drinking... he certainly wasn't going to repeat his actions anytime soon.

The day prior, he'd returned to his living quarters after the cringe-inducing events of Nihil's sermon, and he'd been in such a rush to do so, that he'd ended up crashing out over the cushions of one of his plush velvet sofas. His lack of energy and his desire to disconnect from the rest of the Ministry for a while had blinded him to his true disappointing reality. He overlooked that Miss Vial, the woman who he had been arduously pursuing for the past few months, had finally refused to help him out. She had tolerated all kinds of situations so far, and more importantly, had still aided him even though she had feelings of extreme unease or confusion when the circumstances had become highly questionable.

After the shambles of a sermon he wasn't surprised that she had simply left. He understood that there were only so many shenanigans she would put up with now - he only hoped the mischief from Halloween was fading, for he knew he wouldn't be able to rely on her if he kept thoughtlessly throwing her out of her comfort zone... he decided it was probably the best time to make amends, before she got used to the lack of his presence...

Now freshly groomed and smartly dressed in his pristine red tuxedo - a complete contrast to the sore sight of him the day prior - he politely waited in front of the door to the alchemist's attic with bated breath.

He swallowed apprehensively and shifted his weight to his tiptoes, leaning himself forwards to rap his leather-clad knuckles against the wooden door. He then fell back onto his cuban heels, anxiously anticipating the sight of her black eyes. After a few seconds of waiting, he shot a nervous glance over each of his shoulders like he was checking whether anyone else was nearby... which was rather strange. It was strange because it was early morning and most of the Ministry didn't bustle into life until nine-thirty. He was also present in the most remote part of the entire Ministry, most people avoided the old complex, given the dilapidated nature of the building and the incredibly dim electric lighting. Nevertheless, he continued to check for the presence of others...

After a minute or so, Copia was confident that he was completely alone, and he peered down at his freshly polished winkle-pickers, hoping that he hadn't arrived too early. Rudely awakening her was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He swallowed nervously as another minute passed, and he quietly debated whether to knock again...

To his surprise, she was indeed awake, for the doorknob abruptly swivelled, the metallic twisting sound causing him to clear his throat and face forwards, his gloved hands clutching the lapels of his tailcoat.

The door creaked open and the presence of Aemelia Vial had him instantly captivated. From what he could tell, she was half-way through dressing herself - she was noticeably a few inches shorter due to the absence her shoes and her burgundy tresses were free and messy. She was in the midst of fastening a few buttons of a white dress shirt she adorned, and an ebony tie draped across the back of her neck to loosely settle over the sides of her chest.

"Oh... it's you." Aemelia said bluntly in downplayed surprise, narrowing her curious eyes as she quickly trailed them over his vibrant outfit.

"Yes... ah... forgive me for visiting you so... early, I..." he trailed off and let out an irritated sigh, uncomfortable with how formal he sounded. "Can I come speak with you for a moment?"

"Well that depends how long you'll be. I have an important meeting soon, don't want to miss it."

"Eh... I won't be too long... wait... a meeting? What kind of meeting? A meeting with who?" he quietly asked, trying hold back how curious he truly was. He was silently envious... after all, someone else could have managed to charm her for all he knew. She backed away and disappeared from his view, but left the door wide open. Copia took that as her silent acceptance of his presence and he obediently entered, quietly shutting the door after himself.

"Honestly... I haven't a clue. Something to do with the Ministry's board or... some other boring collective of people." she explained in monotone, ascending the couple of steps up to her bed.

"The board?! The board are here?" he questioned in a shrill tone, his panic blatantly obvious as he quickly trailed after her, the gloves by his sides tightening into fists. He was fully aware that the board's presence was never a good sign.

"One of them is... apparently." she replied with an unenthusiastic sigh, scooping up a discarded comb from the crumpled expanse of her black bedcovers. "I won't know for sure until I attend... it's the only reason I'm going to be honest with you."

"You... you should have said something about this, Aemelia. I would have been more than happy to... enlighten you about the Ministry's board."

"Well, there has been very little time recently. A lot of... things have gotten in the way." she mumbled darkly, spinning around to face him with a hardened stare. He knew exactly was she was referring to and he suddenly felt guilty.

"Ah, yes... I... never intended for you to do so much for me, Miss Vial. The amount of bullshit you endured in the last two days... it is all on me. I am very... sorry for that. This Halloween brought out something... strange in me... I assure you that I never intended for the events to go in the ways they did."

"They weren't your intentions? Because to me, you seemed pretty fuckin' content with most of the shit that happened." she brashly remarked, hopping down the small set of stairs as she clutched the comb to her chest. He obediently scampered after her as she trailed about the room, purposely changing direction to see if he would follow her.

"I... I know, I was. From what I remember anyway." he replied quietly, furrowing his brow in contemplation. She abruptly halted in the centre of the room and he stopped short of bumping into her... she spun around to face him, raising the comb to guide the teeth through her wavy strands of maroon hair.

"How much do you actually remember?" she questioned in a calmer tone, boring her dark eyes into him without a single blink as she continued to comb through her tresses.

"Teensy bits." he lied nervously, and from his high-pitched tone and wide-eyed expression it should have been obvious that he was being dishonest. But strangely, he had effortlessly fooled her into believing him.

She finished teasing her hair, ensuring it parted in the middle and then launched her arm back, forcefully tossing the comb across the room. It landed over the covers of her bed and he gulped, intently watching her as she began to overlap thick locks of her hair to form her first plait.

"You don't recall grinding on me, then?" she inquired, her face expressionless though her black eyes were filled with mirth as she brazenly returned his stare.

"Aaaaaahm... yes, I do recall that actually. It is a little... hazy but I think I can... just about make it out." he squeaked with blushing cheeks, inhaling sharply as she raised a brow at him and entwined her locks more tightly than necessary.

"Alright, alright. I remember every second of it, ok?" he admitted hurriedly, sighing out in defeat. "I apologise for... going along with the theme of the song, you know? I got kinda... carried away with the spirit of the sixties. I should have probably made you aware of that before I started to grind, ah?"

Her eyebrow relaxed and she twisted the end of her first plait, tethering it in place with a black band she slid from her left wrist.

"Generally speaking, absolutely, Cardinal. But no, I wasn't so bothered by it. Like you said, it's just how they danced in the sixties."

His mouth fell open slightly and he studied her expression for any signs of joviality... but to his surprise she was deadly serious.

"Huh, you... really did not mind?" he shrieked in disbelief, trying his best to keep his breathing steady. Indifference had been the last thing he had expected.

"Why would I? It was a simply a style of dancing."

"So you - ahem - did not think I was coming on a little... strong?" he murmured bashfully, averting his eyes from her to stare at the tips of his winkle-pickers.

She rolled her eyes and started on her second plait, appearing disinterested when she was truly loving every second of his amazed bewilderment. He couldn't keep himself from avoiding the sight of her for much longer... it was only a few more moments before his eyes were on her again, searching her pallid features while he patiently awaited her response.

"Oh, you were. But then, you always come on too strong. I do know you, Cardinal. You're a horny kind of bloke... I get it."

He blushed furiously at her casual tone. However, he was somewhat disappointed, because she was still missing a fundamental fact... the fact that his utmost desire was to adore her and satisfy her. He was very tempted to tell that to her in that moment... but he couldn't quite bring himself to do so.

"I-I deserve to at least... explain my actions, Aemelia." he stuttered nervously, his exhales shallow.

"Well... do you really have to do that now?" she asked wearily.

"Yes, yes I must. I... will only feel shitty if I do not."

He paused and she scowled at him, securing her second plait in place.

"Out with it, then. I need to be out of here soon." she scolded, glaring her black eyes at him.

"Okay, okay!"

He exhaled deeply.

"After our... dance was interrupted, I thought that my actions had driven you away. Even when you came back to the party... I remember feeling... kinda ashamed, you know?"

She was quiet and her hands lowered to settle on her hips.

"And for that, and every other shitty mess I have pulled you into... I am in debt to you, Miss Vial. I owe you something, at the very least. Whatever you want, just name it, and I will give it to you. In any form that would be of use to you."

"Yeah, you made that quite clear to me the other night." she responded softly, sighing out deeply like she had been refraining from breathing out. "But you owe me nothing. You've kept my secret, Cardinal. And you're continuing to keep it. That's enough for me."

He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and reluctantly nodded in understanding, "Yes, Aemelia. And you are abiding the promise to keep mine..."

Her expression softened as she tried to decipher the emotion in his mismatched eyes. He swallowed and took a step forward, raising his chin upwards in a defiant manner.

"... but I am afraid... that is no longer enough for me."

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