As the snowfall grew heavier, it whitened the glass dome above and the guests were eventually led back inside the mansion.
The room they entered was larger than the one before, softer too. Fire burned brightly in the fireplace, filling the air with the smell of burning wood and warm spice. Velvet chairs sat around low tables, and candles flickered against polished walls.
"Do you enjoy playing cards, Mrs. Belmont?" One of the women asked as the others settled around the round table. "Though perhaps cards are less appealing in your household. I heard your husband favours them a little too much."
Ruelle saw the tightness in her stepmother's smile.
If not for coming along as Ruelle's chaperone, Mrs. Belmont would have never entered this place or bothered to mingle with these people.
"Ruelle, you should come to the soiree I'm hosting in four days," another vampiress spoke up. At those words, Mrs. Belmont rubbed her forehead as though the thought alone wearied her.
