After their talk, Max and Bell decided to ride the elevator again and go down to the ground floor, where the party was being held.
The elevator doors slid open, and the sound of the ballroom rolled in like a wave. There was soft violin music, the clink of glasses, and a hundred conversations all happening at once. The ceiling was covered in golden chandeliers, and the marble floor was so polished that it reflected the lights in long, glittering streaks. Waiters in white gloves moved between the guests with silver trays, and the air smelled of expensive perfume, roasted meat, and old money.
Bell stopped at the entrance. Her fingers tightened around Max's arm without her even noticing.
"You're squeezing," Max said.
"I'm not squeezing."
"You're squeezing hard. I think my arm is losing its color."
"Your arm is fine. You're a vampire," Bell whispered back, keeping her eyes on the crowd. "Just walk."
Max smiled and walked slowly, matching her small steps. Bell held onto his arm the whole time, as if the floor might disappear if she let go.
They stopped near the center of the ballroom, where there was a little more space to breathe. Max looked across the room and saw the usual groups. The old aristocrats stood in tight circles, laughing politely at jokes that were not funny. The businessmen swirled their wine and talked about numbers. The few young guests stood awkwardly near the walls, looking like they wished they had stayed home.
"...Hmm, they're still talking, huh?" Max said, touching his chin as he watched them in boredom. "Well, what did I expect from aristocrats like them? Give them a drink and a stranger to impress, and they could talk until sunrise."
Bell didn't reply. She was too busy searching the crowd for her father, standing on the tips of her toes and looking between the shoulders of the people around her. Then she found him near the far wall, standing with a group of wealthy older men in dark suits. Otto was easy to spot. He was tall, his hair was slicked back, and his magenta eyes stood out even from far away.
Bell waved at him.
Otto noticed her and waved back with a small, tired smile. Then he turned back to the businessmen, who had been waiting for him to continue the conversation.
"He looks busy," Bell said, finally relaxing a little.
"He always looks busy," Max said. "Your dad is the kind of man who goes to a party and treats it like a meeting."
"That's not wrong," Bell admitted.
While Bell held onto Max's arm, Max kept glancing at the watch on his right wrist. The hands were getting close to the hour. He tapped the glass once, then twice, and let out a long sigh through his nose.
'Where is my crazy auntie?' he thought. 'She's usually the first one here. She can't miss her own party.'
Then, without any warning, the lights went out.
"-AHH!" one of the guests shouted.
The whole ballroom fell into darkness. The music stopped. Glasses clinked in confusion, and somewhere in the crowd, a plate hit the floor and shattered.
"What the fuck is happening?!" one of the old aristocrats cursed. He had dropped his wine, and it splashed onto his shoes and the floor. "Who turned off the lights?!"
The other guests followed, whispering and muttering as they wondered what the hell was going on. Some of them took out their phones, and small white lights flickered on here and there like tiny stars.
On the other side of the room, Otto only lifted his magenta eyes toward the stage. They glowed faintly in the dark. He let out a quiet breath and murmured, "Sigh... her and her grand entrance."
Bell, on the other hand, was not calm at all.
She gripped Max's left arm with both hands and pressed herself against his side. Her whole body was shivering. "Eeek! What's happening?! I hate the dark!!!"
Max didn't panic. He lifted his free hand and patted her head, slowly and gently, the way someone would calm a nervous cat. "It's all right, Bell. Everything's all right. Don't worry."
"What do you mean 'don't worry'???" Bell hissed. Her voice cracked in the middle. "Everyone is screaming! Somebody dropped something! What if there's a bomb? What if it's a thief? What if it's a ghost?!"
"It's not a ghost."
"You can't know that!"
"I can. You will find out soon why." Max kept patting her head. "Just stay with me for a bit. You'll see."
Bell did not look convinced, but she stayed where she was, holding him tighter.
Then, at the far end of the room, a single light turned on over the stage. It was a soft spotlight that lit up a small circle on the floor. A moment later, a thick cloud of white smoke began to pour across the stage, rolling and curling toward the edge.
The guests gasped. Some of the younger people took a step back, afraid of what might come out of it. But the older guests only sighed and shook their heads, as if they had seen this show many times before. A few of them even smiled.
They finally understood. This was one of the Host's theatrics, and it was the exact thing they had been waiting for.
The young people in the ballroom were still confused, and Bell was one of them. She stared at the stage with wide, nervous eyes. Then more lights followed, some from above and some from below. They lit up the stage from every angle, and the smoke glowed in gold and purple. Behind the curtain of mist, a sound began to echo through the room.
-STEP!
-STEP!
-STEP!
It was the sound of high heels, slow and confident, clicking against the stage floor. The footsteps grew louder with each beat, and the whole ballroom grew quiet to listen.
Then a voice boomed from the speakers above.
"INTRODUCING OUR HOST TONIGHT!"
Bell jumped a little. Max only smiled.
"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL!"
"THE MOST GORGEOUS!"
"THE NOT-A-DAMSEL-IN-DISTRESS, BUT THE ONE WHO WILL SAVE YOU FROM YOUR DISTRESS!"
"THE QUEEN OF HIGH SOCIETY!"
"INTRODUCING!!!!!!"
The music swelled. The smoke parted like a curtain.
"JULIETTA FRANCINE DEL ALBERO!"
The old members of high society began to clap, one after another, until the applause filled the whole hall. Max joined in, and so did Otto, who clapped twice with the look of a man who had already seen too many of these entrances.
Max leaned down toward Bell's ear. "Told you. You shouldn't worry over nothing."
Bell didn't answer. She couldn't, because the spotlight had just landed on the woman standing at the center of the stage.
She was breathtaking.
She was so beautiful that even the young women in the crowd froze in shock. A few of them stared at her outfit and almost started to drool.
She wore an elegant violet gown that flowed down to the floor like liquid silk. A brooch with blue sapphires sparkled on the chest of the dress, and each stone caught the light and sent it back in tiny sparks of blue. On her ears hung a pair of amber drop earrings that shone like drops of honey.
But what stood out the most was her face. It was so young and smooth that it was hard to believe the rumors about her age. People said she was already in her mid-40s, yet her body looked like that of a fit woman in her mid-20s. And the most unforgettable part of her was her hair. It was wavy and golden, the color of the morning sun, and it fell around her shoulders as if it were glowing on its own. Beneath it, her turquoise eyes shone like the water of a tropical sea.
"Woah!" Bell breathed out. Even though she was a woman, she was completely in awe. She had never seen anyone so beautiful in her entire life.
She remembered the girls in her high school, the ones who loudly called themselves the most beautiful in the whole school. They had bullied her and laughed at her. But now, looking at Julietta, Bell knew those girls couldn't even compete with this absolute MILF. Next to her, they would have looked like little kids playing dress-up.
"That's my aunt, by the way," Max said proudly.
Bell turned to him so fast that her neck almost cracked. "HER?! That's your crazy auntie?!"
"Not technically my blood aunt," Max said, laughing at her stunned expression. "More like she's my godmother. But I've called her auntie since I was a kid, and she never corrected me. Honestly, I think she likes it."
Bell opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. She looked just like a fish. Max thought it was the funniest thing he had seen all night.
"Well, I guess it's about to start, the welcoming party and all that," Max said, crossing his arms and nodding at the stage. "Not gonna lie, she really pulled this off well. This is even better than her last big performance nine years ago."
Bell finally stopped staring and turned to him, still confused. "Wait... is this a regular thing? She does this kind of extravagant entrance every time?!"
Max laughed and nodded. "Yeah, it's a regular thing. That's why most of the old people here are used to it. They don't even flinch anymore. It's the young ones who panic." He gave her a sideways look. "Including you."
"I wasn't panicking!"
"You almost took my arm off."
Bell pouted and looked away. Then she looked back at the stage, where Julietta was smiling and waving at the crowd like a queen greeting her people. Her shoulders dropped a little.
"Sheeessh... I wish I could pull that off too," Bell said in a gloomy tone. "But what a shame. I'm not as beautiful as her."
She expected Max to say something kind. Anyone would have. But Max only shrugged and said, "Yeah, you couldn't pull off something like that. You're anti-social like me, not a goddamn extrovert like her. So don't expect to pull off something like that."
Bell's right eye twitched.
She turned her head slowly, very slowly, and punched Max's left arm. Then she let go of him and crossed her own arms, looking away with a huff.
Max only laughed. He didn't even say sorry. But he knew the punch didn't mean much. Bell was sulking, and she already knew he was just joking. If she were really angry, she would have hit him harder.
He reached over and patted her head again. "I'm sorry, all right? It's a joke. But, not gonna lie, you really couldn't pull off something like that."
"Argh! You asshole!" Bell snapped. "Instead of consoling me, you're literally teasing me even more!!!"
She punched him again. This time it was strong, because her anger was growing with every one of his jokes. Her fist landed right in the same spot.
Of course, it didn't hurt. Max was strong to begin with, and his vampire blood made his body much tougher than a normal person's. He just ignored the hit and kept patting her hair as if nothing had happened.
"Stop patting me like a dog!"
"You're making it very easy."
"I'll bite you!"
"I'm the one with the fangs here, Bell."
Bell groaned and covered her face with both hands, but Max noticed that the corner of her mouth was trying very hard not to smile.
Meanwhile, Julietta lifted the microphone on the stage and tapped it once. A soft thump echoed through the speakers, and the room turned toward her again.
"Good evening, everyone," Julietta said. Her voice was smooth and warm, and it carried through the whole ballroom without any effort. "Or should I say goodnight? Hahahaha!"
A few people in the crowd laughed along with her.
"Thank you all for coming, my esteemed guests. Tonight is our annual year-end ball, and this year it is also the anniversary of my company, the Alberian Peninsula Beauty Corporation, or as most of you know it, ALPEBCORP."
Applause rose again, softer this time. Julietta bowed her head slightly and smiled, and the light made her golden hair shine even brighter.
"Many years ago, this company was only a small dream in a small room," she continued. "Today, it has become something I am proud of. And none of it would have been possible without every person in this hall. So please, eat, drink, and enjoy tonight as if tomorrow does not exist."
While Julietta continued her speech, Otto felt something vibrate inside his jacket. He took out his phone and looked at the screen. When he saw the name on it, his face became serious.
"Excuse me," Otto said to the businessmen around him.
The rich old men nodded without complaint. They turned back to the stage and kept listening to Julietta's speech, and none of them noticed how quickly Otto's expression had changed.
Otto walked toward a quiet corner of the ballroom, far from the crowd and the music. He stood beside a tall marble pillar, turned his back to the room, and answered the call.
"Hello. What is it?"
A man's voice answered from the other end of the line. It was low and tense. "Sir, it seems the Witch Organization is making a move. They are surrounding Irmela's apartment."
Otto's eyes widened. "What? Really?! Fuck... Keep an eye on them-"
He stopped himself and shook his head. This was not the time to only watch. He touched his forehead and spoke again, this time in a cold and sharp voice.
"No. Kill them first. Make sure to shoot them in the head, including those rogue Witch Hunters."
"Yes, sir," his trusted aide said without hesitation. "And don't worry. We will keep watch, and if they attack her home, we will eliminate them immediately."
"Good. Make sure you give me regular news of the situation," Otto said.
"Yes, sir. For HARKIA!"
"For Harkia," Otto said, and he ended the call.
The corner was quiet for a moment. Only the faint sound of applause reached him from the ballroom.
"Shit..." Otto muttered. He ran his hand through his slicked-back hair, and a few loose strands fell over his forehead.
He had not come to this ball because Julietta invited him, although she had invited him. She had even been shocked that a man like Otto would travel all the way from Germany to the United States just to attend a party. But the invitation was never the real reason.
The real reason was the Witch Organization. Otto wanted to keep an eye on them and find out why the Witch Hunters, who were supposed to be their enemies, were now openly working together with them. That alone was strange enough to keep him awake at night. But there was more. He wanted to make sure his daughter Bell was safe, and that his sister-in-law Irmela was safe too.
He owed Irmela a great deal. If she had not helped him back then, he would have died for certain during the experiment that changed the color of his eyes.
Otto looked down at his hands. For a moment, he remembered that night. It was cold. There was pain in every part of his body, and the world had turned red and then magenta before his eyes. He remembered a woman's voice calling his name, again and again, telling him to stay awake.
"Shit... I mean, she wasn't alone when she saved me," Otto said quietly. "It was her and her sister. My dear wife."
His chest felt heavy. He had never been able to repay them properly, and now one of them was in danger again. He would not let it happen a second time.
Otto clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
"I need someone's help," he said. "Maybe that brat Max? No. Someone stronger. Someone who could put Dietrich on a leash. Someone who is also his mentor."
He took a slow breath. When he spoke the name, his voice was almost a whisper.
"Alejandro Theodoro Tepes Van Wilhelm."
"The Strongest Elder of the Vampir Councir."