Honeymoon fading with you

[amandaseyfrieddd]

[lucianavulpe]

renxfields​:

@lucianavulpe​ location: Thistle House :) notes: kiss kiss fall in love

Vampires were casual in their cruelty, they sunk euphoric fangs into flesh and had those they fed from addicted to something the thrall didn’t feel they could live without. Called themselves superior. Called themselves heroes. In the end they were beasts, monsters, predators that stalked the vulnerable and the misled. Hundreds of years Ren had been a thrall, his mind entrenched and tethered to a man that was more beast than person. A self proclaimed scientist. Vampires were a plague, a foreign body that landed here and spread out like a plague: they blanketed the world and now they sat at the top of the food pyramid looking down at everyone below. For all that he hated, Ren Fields despised vampires most of all. He had taken great pleasure in replicating Theneras’ formula, in helping to drive so many insane and to have played a part in their demise. 

“Divorce suits you.” Ren commented, he was buying flowers to lay on his neighbors grave, a casualty of the red wedding. “What are you on now, marriage number five- six?”

Now that it was all over, Luciana had time to go to actually grieve for one of the many people who had lost their lives that day. The beautiful bride, she could still see her in her head in that beautiful gown that was so…She hadn’t really known Elmira all that well, but knew she was a pillar in the community. All of the flowers that surrounded the shop was a testament to that. It wasn’t fair, none of it was and she couldn’t imagine the pain the Venus vampires must be feeling. All of them, everyone was just-It was like a quiet had settled, an eerie calm after the storm. The dust had settled and the supernatural community was in pieces and it would appear Romulus was trying his best to put it back together and while she’d like to think the senate was sound, she knew better. Power changed people, men with power in particular were capable of many atrocities, she’d seen it. “I’m single at the moment actually, working on myself-” It’s the usual way she answers such bullshit. People know who she is without having to tell them, there’s many a book, many a movie and television adaptation at this point that depicts her and two other women (Van Helsing had been both fun and mildly insulting, The Invitation had gotten her name right but the story wrong) clamoring for the affection of a monster. She’s brave enough to laugh it off but when her eyes leave the flowers at the front steps of the flower shop, she is met with a man she has not thought of in… “They’re doing a movie about you, you know. Where you’re finally not just some sniveling coward this time. Nic Cage is going to be in it.” The words are cool and so is her gaze, her posture rigid. They’re in public, he is not stupid and yet it feels like there is a hand holding her still heart and squeezing, the telltale tightness of panic. A man enthralled to a master that had fed her cruelty was no friend of hers. “You are far from home, Renfield.”

[lucianavulpe]

Location: Luciana’s Place Person: The LADY @bloodyrhiannon​ “What if I told you I want to be a marshal?” There’s no safety on the gun she’s toting, by posing the question she’s let Rhiannon know that. But she sits across from one of her oldest friends in the living room of her finally finished home in Rome of all places on her blush colored couch, a foot tucked beneath her. “I know I’m not….” Luciana is a lover and not a fighter, that is something she knows for sure, that’s what she’d thought for years. But love could make a fighter out of her, that was for damn sure. Dorian had been a marshal once, and Rhiannon would be her coworker, a trusted friend would be at her side. Not to mention she liked Theo, the hand of the queen had been someone she liked checking in on whenever he happened to be around, even if it was just to tease that if that man of his didn’t marry him, she would. “Quite the fighting type. But I learned a lot after I went back to Valencia, I’ve never not kept up with what’s going on with our politics. I want to help after all of this, Rhia.”

[lucianavulpe]

dcrixn​:

Dorian moved with Luciana, though mostly he was being hauled away by the woman. The strigoi didn’t need to drink blood, it was no longer necessary – and for once, perhaps he was grateful that he hadn’t given into the temptation as of late. “Luce – Luce, look at me,” he put his hand on her cheek when they made it out of the middle of the floor. “You need to find Gabriel. Get him out of here – you can protect him better than I can.” He turned as a vampire descended upon a random human, or perhaps halfblood, his murmur stopping them in their tracks. When blood manipulation became one of the few things he relied on, it was easy to cut off the circulation, watch as it crumpled – they weren’t dead, just taken out for the time being. “Please find him. I’ll look for Angel and Rhia. They need me.” 

-

She should have known. This was a man who had ran his entire life, one that was good at it, one who had continuously survived far longer, maybe he’d even thought he could. Of course he’d tell her to go and the moment his lips start moving, she is shaking her head in his hands, eyes wide. Gabriel was a fair point, she’d give him that, what he was, it was bound to be some kind of commodity for the rest of them, halfbloods always were to an extent and Luciana thinks of those big doe eyes in that bakery and she doesn’t think the boy has a chance. But she’d glimpsed him there with the faiman marshal, another man, that was three of them and Angel and Rhiannon were more than capable of looking after themselves. Her hands go to his forearms and they don’t have a lot of time, not with the growing disarray around them. “I’m not leaving you again.” There’s determination in her voice where pain once might have been, in the furrow of her brow. “Together, we’ll find them together.” Somehow, in all of the chaos that only seemed to get worse as mere seconds ticked by. There’s the smell of blood in the air, fresh, not something produced from one of the many beverage tables and her gums ache, her fangs desperate to join the fray and yet…. “There’s something in the blood.” Tearing her eyes away from him, to look at her fellow vampires she realizes the blaring contrast between herself and them, the few Juno vampires she recognizes in the crowd trying to pull people apart. “Gabriel doesn’t…?” She didn’t think dhampirs needed it, but she doesn’t know him all that well and the idea that he might be participating in all of this. Asking questions wasn’t going to get them anywhere though, not when they were still so close to the fray and she’s quick to look over her shoulder. She’s good at running too, she has Dorian to thank for that. It’s an old church at the heart of it, right? There’s passageways that are bound to be- “Through here!” She doesn’t really give him any time to question her, she’s too fast but she’s careful, her fingers laced with his as she all but kicks open a door at the edge of the hall. Servant’s quarters, something like that at least, it’s not what she wants but it is a start. “The Passetto, whatever they use to smuggle the Pope, it’s got to be around here somewhere.”

[weryourlegacy]

“I’m not the silly romantic you think. I don’t want the heavens or the shooting stars. I don’t want gemstones or gold. I have those things already. I want a steady hand. A kind soul. I want to fall asleep, and wake, knowing my heart is safe. I want to love, and be loved.”

— To Be Loved / Love (via writingllama)

[amandamseyfrieddaily]

Amanda Seyfried for the Collection «Clé de Peau Beauté» Autumn/Winter 2016

[lucianavulpe]

bloodyrhiannon​:

She laughed as her arm was swatted, then chuckled at the idea of Theo playing champagne beer pong. “Good luck with that, Luce. Poor, sweet, serious Theo has got his hands full with the wedding today. He’s either trailing behind the Queen and Queen Consort or he’s with his… little faiman boy toy. I say boy toy as if those two haven’t been doing soulmate heart eyes at each other for like a million centuries at this point.” She sighed. “At this rate, we’ll never be bridesmaids.” 

-

“Me? A bridesmaid?” She scoffs, her tone incredulous but playfully so. She’d sent so many invitations, so many gifts to close friends over the years to be in her own bridal party and the list got smaller and smaller every time. It’s not like she didn’t have friends, Luciana was old, she was arguably too friendly, but she’d reached a point where she felt like she was annoying those close to her with her many marriages. “I haven’t met him yet, the boyfriend. I have heard he’s quite handsome.” And she was excited by the idea of him having a stable relationship at all. “He’s kind of two for two right now, business man, boyfriend. I think he’s got his shit together more than the rest of us.” 

[lucianavulpe]

dcrixn​:

It had been so long since he’d been in the presence of so many vampires. The terror was truly hoping that his presence would just fit in, that maybe he was just another little extra that held no appeal to the vampires around them. That was true at least. But he didn’t have blood lust like others around him did. Even Luciana looked a little nervous, like she could feel it around them. Perhaps it was difference in her desire for souls. Sexy, wasn’t it? “Are you even still a fan of weddings?” It was a joke, one that Dorian had no problem making. After all, there was nothing he enjoyed more than making fun of the woman in his arms. “Did it live up to your standards?”

“I think they mean a lot to the people involved and everyone likes a good party.” It’s sort of steering around the actual topic, it’s a very diplomatic answer. There’s still a lot unsaid between the two of them and Luciana imagines they’ll get down to it eventually, for now they have to get through this, someone else’s wedding. There’s been something in the air for weeks, it could very well be all of the excitement with the queen being in the city, the knowledge that the party would be huge. It’s a vampire wedding, there’s bound to be all sorts of blood and hedonism to get up to, she was sure Angel was in a room somewhere having the time of his life. Aside from that is all the staring, the vacant looks of her kind seemingly dissociating or throwing longing glances towards other guests. She is old enough to discern bloodlust from pining, she often experiences one of those things on the regular. “You know-” She doesn’t get to finish the statement, there’s this scream from just inside and she freezes in Dorian’s arms. Dorian who is not a vampire, Dorian who has spent ample time on the run. “We have to go.” Dorian that she had to protect this time. Her hand on his shoulder moves to his forearm and she hauls them from the dancefloor, immediately kicking off her heels and leaving them there. “Do you know where Angel was?” She thinks about Gabriel as they move, blood a hot commodity and something in her seizes. 

[visualtraining-deactivated20240]

Daughters of Darkness (1971, Harry Kümel)

[dcrixn]

@lucianavulpe​ Location: Wedding​

They were dancing. It was a slow one, something perhaps meant for a gentler soul than Dorian’s, but it was reminiscent of a time way before. He’d been a new strigoi, still living on the edge of new violence, of memories of hell, before he’d started running. Luciana had been swept up in that whirlwind, and his grip on her waist only tightened subtly at the memory of her leaving. Even now, he wondered why he wasn’t bitter – why there wasn’t more anger in his heart, but he would look at her laugh during the dip of the song, and remember why he was never all that upset by seeing her again, “I requested Dancing Queen, you know. Just for you. Not sure if they’re taking requests, but thought I’d muscle my way to the front of the line to hear them play it.”

[lucianavulpe]

“Yeah?” Somewhere in all of this, in their finery, seeing the ceremony, she’d stopped worrying that things were strange between them. Luciana has a lot of feelings about weddings, at one point she’d gotten sick of going to other people’s, she’d made her own ceremonies smaller, she’d stopped inviting people. It’s not like she didn’t think they’d come, it was more like how many times did they need to see her get married only to wind up single again fifty years later? None of her actual weddings had mattered all that much after she’d gotten the one she thought she really wanted, it’d all just been for fun. Maybe that was why none of them had worked out after she’d left the man whose arms she currently occupied. “I appreciate it. Apparently it’s frowned upon to play beer pong in the Vatican, but vampire between dead people are fine.” Her eyes roll playfully as they move across the floor but she can’t bring herself to do anything but smile. “The ceremony was nice at least.”

[bloodyrhiannon]

Time: Day Location: The Vatican, Royal Vampire Wedding Characters: @lucianavulpe & @bloodyrhiannon

“If it isn’t my favorite sister,” she said, sidling up to Luciana. “Ever had a wedding as fancy as this one?” She smirked. Her eyebrows raised conspiratorially as her voice lowered. “… Between us, how long do you think they’re going to last? Forever is a long time for an immortal.”

[lucianavulpe]

It shouldn’t be so funny, it’s a royal wedding and Luciana doesn’t think Rhia means any harm but she does nearly spit out her mouthful of champagne as her fellow Juno vampire’s brow rose. “They’ve been together for years, they’ll do just fine.” Her free hand lightly swatted at the other woman’s arm. “As for me, I am done with big weddings. I am channeling all of my energy into getting Theo to try to play champagne beer pong in the corner of the reception hall.” 

[lucianavulpe]

dcrixn​:

The joke didn’t hit, Luciana looked confused, and Dorian had to reign it in. Clearly he wasn’t good at this anymore. Love came quickly and it left him quickly, that was all too obvious. When did he become such a dad friend that it killed every other aspect of him? With Luce, it was fun. Until the risk was too much, and as a strigoi, as a terror, there was too much uncertainty, perhaps. He’d chosen this. Lived as a vampire for long enough until he just couldn’t. Dorian felt like he’d made decisions to benefit everyone else in his life except himself. This was the one decision he held onto, but running was tiring, so Rome would simply be the strigoi’s last stand. 

The question was warranted, and it wasn’t like Dorian could explain anything away. “I got tired of running,” he admitted finally, though tired was perhaps the synonym of Dorian at this point. “I realized Angel, Rhia – even Gabriel, I guess, deserved something more out of me. The Eye is here, though. They’ve been here for gods know how long. And if there’s anything I can do to protect them, then I’m going to. Seems like a sad fuckin’ existence, right?” Luciana had left – it’d been too much for her, too much risk, and Dorian couldn’t blame her. He’d have never forgiven himself if something had happened. The smile he managed was small, but there was nothing he could say to make him feel better about it all. “I don’t know how long I’ll have left, anyway, Luce. It’s…all irrelevant to how I feel, I guess.”

-

The thing about Dorian was that despite everything, she always felt like there was a part of him that ached in some way. Like this little sadness in his eyes that just sat there, she caught glimpses of it from time to time. He’d seen a lot, she thinks he’s been plagued by guilt for probably centuries but she understood that such a thing wasn’t quite remedied with other people. Even if Angel, Rhia, and now Gabriel, even herself, even if they forgave him, Luciana didn’t think he’d ever really forgive himself for all the turmoil all the hiding, all the moving around, had brought them. Gabriel was still a mystery to her, she didn’t quite know the history there aside from what she’d pieced together, but she figured that the young man was just happy his father was around. “None of that now, you’re here.” Hiding in plain sight wasn’t a bad plan, The Eye clearly had other things to deal with in Rome if all of the whisperings were true. She took it all with a grain of salt, people liked to tell stories, but Dorian and her had ran before, she knew there was truth to all of it. “We’re gonna be here with the roaches.” The waiter brings about two glasses of wine and she nods her thanks before smiling at the man before her. There’d always been a kind of weariness to him, he’d ran a long time, and now it almost seemed like he was throwing caution to the wind. She thinks they all get like that eventually, at least a little. Or maybe he was throwing the towel in for the sake of his son, Gabriel wasn’t going to have as much time as they did, but she’d never quite met a dhampir in person before, there were things she didn’t know. “And if we’re not, at least we tried, right? We’ve lived full lives already.” One hand on her wine glass, the other reaches to lay a hand over his and she ignores the ache in her chest that the action brings her. “I met him you know, Gabriel. By accident. All he could talk about was you. And as for Angel, Rhia, and I, we’re old, time heals all wounds and all that.” And now it’s her time to offer a pained smile from behind the rim of her glass.

[amandaseyfrieddd]

[lucianavulpe]

Luciana Vulpe

Is campaigning that they play champagne beer pong at the reception.

[hotgirlmuseboard]

[allblackerrthingus]

X

[lucianavulpe]

dionbaudelaire​:

          “You know, if Cloe knew you were my friend you’d never live without another pastry in your life again,” a finger was wagged in the air as if such idea would be both torturous and wonderful for Luciana. He’d always had friends in higher places to ensure those within his circle would be taken care of and it was humorous to figure he even had a pastry enthusiast turned Senator in the midst of such connections. “But, please, any bistro would do. Though it is a special occasion to find that you’re thinking of moving in and staying; it’s monumental in fact,” Dion is teasing though it’s not often he finds people he genuinely likes to be around and Luciana had somehow pervaded such exclusive list with ease.

“It has actually taken everything in me not to befriend her. I’ve been following her campaign for senate for what feels like years.” It was touching how Senator Omaira had come to get her own seat,  that the halfblooded children of the supernatural now had some sort of representation at last. Luciana gives a little wave of her hand to dismiss the statement and brush off the word ‘monumental’. Her moving for what felt like the hundreth time was hardly anything to celebrate, but  her smile is bright anyways, reaches all the way up to her eyes. Rome has always been one of her favorite places and she’d danced around it for years for fear it’d be too easy to get swept up in, that she might never leave. But there’s friends here, there’s a constant stream of news both good and bad, and she was too curious to look the other way. “I think that calls for brunch.” A mimosa or two, whatever they could add an umbrella to.  * “So Mr. Senator,  what is good as the kids say.” She’s quick to take a sip from the fruity little drink the young man waiting on them hands her. “It sounds like it’s getting pretty rough out there from what I’ve gathered.” 

[lucianavulpe]

dcrixn​:

He’d thought about that hug all day. It had bled into his thoughts even as he’d left her behind, the museum hallway doing nothing but separate them for the time being. Dorian wondered if he should’ve felt better about having her here – where he could try and keep an eye on everyone that he cared about. But it was difficult when he felt hunted at every turn, where the Eye had a grip on Rome’s throat. The Asphodel coven making themselves known during Halloween was perhaps the icing on the cake. In the end, though, he found himself staring in the mirror, wondering if he looked good enough to go out for drinks. 

The jacket he chose was new, having picked it up on the way home. Nothing in his closet really lasted long, and now Dorian felt like he wasn’t ancient and nearing death, but was young and ready to marry the love of his life on the beach in Crete. That thought was what got him out the door, the only pictures of that day in his memory now. 

“Hey,” he breathed as he saw her, standing in the light beneath the entrance of the restaurant. There was so much he felt like he’d wanted to say earlier, having dropped the news of a living dhampir child, of a life after her, but he felt like it wasn’t the right time. “You know this is the first time I’ve been asked out on a date in like centuries. Feel special?” It was a mild joke, only because this wasn’t a date, but he couldn’t help himself at times.

“It’s a date?” Her eyebrows shoot upwards in surprise that is genuine, but brief. He looks like he’s dressed for it, the whole ‘French Tuck’ thing gives away that maybe he’d agonized over what was appropriate for the occasion. Her own dress was something more for spring or summer, but the cardigan she’d grabbed from one of her trunks saved her from being too out of place. Surprise gives way to a fond smile as she playfully offers an arm to him. It wasn’t her intention, to make it into anything more than catching up, but he was the one who’d said it, he’d brought it up first. It’s not like she’s opposed to the idea, she’s single and even if she wasn’t....Luciana had never been unfaithful to any of her partners, but she had been wistful a time or two, but Dorian was different. He was the man who’d made her doubt that she could give her heart to another when it’d already found home. “But yes, yes I do.” It’s not something she wants to linger on, all of the ‘what ifs’ or ‘what nows’, this is truly to see what he’s been up to, if he’s been safe.  Still, she keeps tucked close to his side as they enter the building, as they’re ushered near a nice spot in the back where they aren’t likely to be bothered by other patrons. “How long have you been in Rome?” The question was out of her mouth before she’d even really settled into the booth opposite him. “That’s a bit risky, isn’t it?”