Celeste had lost sight of her target. Her eyes glanced around to find him again but she wasn’t concerned. As far as she knew, he was planning to stay here for a bit and like any predator, sometimes it was best to bide your time before you play with your food.
All good things came to those who wait.
Celeste glanced towards the servers and had a sudden urge to cause problems. That was a risk she cannot take in case it would cause this dance to abruptly end. Then she saw him, the mask with the suit. Tattle-tale black hair with the white streak. The music had changed to a slow tempo. This was perfect as some dancers had left the floor to catch their breath. Celeste approached Vincent with a charming smile.
“Will you dance with me?” She held out her hand for him to take, her nails sharply trimmed and painted black.
Vincent looked the woman up and down, hiding a moment of hesitancy as admiring her look. She was a sight to behold; wearing a gorgeous black gown and mask. Beneath the mask was one piercing blue eye and one pale gray eye. He found her offer hard to resist, but internally chastised himself for feeling that way. He had spent decades turning his heart into cold, black iron so that no one could ever hurt him again. Even her nails were perfect.
After a brief moment he extended his hand, taking hers.
“If you insist.” he said with a smile.
He had come here to gather intelligence, but it wouldn’t do to look unnatural in the setting. It was just one dance. What harm could come from it?
Celeste’s smile showed off her pearly whites as she was escorted to the floor. She remembered the first time being taken to watch the Pits. She was terrified and scared, while she stood beside Nik’s chair alongside with Isla.
Isla…
The moment Vincent had stepped into the battlefield, she instantly admired him. The muscles, the raven black hair, and his strength.
Celeste never knew the color of his eyes would be so visiually striking. She never got to see him that close. The last time she did was…
She pushed that thought away. She will ask if he remembered that moment. But first…
“I wanted to thank you,” the woman started. Her free hand on Vincent’s shoulder as her arm relaxed on his arm. His hand on the small of her back. While Celeste follows Vincent’s guide with the slow temp, the Force started to warn him about her. She’s relaxed but deadly. Yet… she gave no hints that she was dangerous. If anything, she almost felt like a comforting presence. Perhaps it was just her being a Sith.
“My Master loved you in the Pits. Every time you won, we had peace for a few days,” she looked at him and gave him a genuinely warm smile while observing his reaction.
Celeste’s eyes actually soften for a moment as she peered over to other dancers. Some were engaging in conversations, other was just embracing another presence.
Celeste couldn’t remember the last time she was being held so tenderly until now. It was nice.
No. She kept thinking back to Isla. She was not going to let her guard down.
“Do you remember?”
Celeste inquired as she tilted her head, her sandy blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. Her hand that rested on his shoulder left as she dared to slide her nails over to his beard for a gentle scratch.
“There was a battle you were losing. He went for a killing blow. I had never such heard an angry scream from my Master. I got scared and focused on the slave. Next thing I knew, I was possessing his body.”
The realization hit Vincent hard. Of course he remembered the fight. How could he possibly forget? He had fought countless men his own size or slightly larger and he had made easy work of all of them. The slavers had begun to lose credits, because Vincent was a safe bet. They had decided to make their money back in one fight.
They put him against the biggest man he had ever seen at that age. He was easily two feet taller than Brujah, and likely just as much wider. Vincent hadn’t been trained in the Force at that point in his life. All he knew was that he was special; that he could tap into something that would make him extra strong, or extra fast, or even make an item jump to his hand. Even his strongest of punches had no effect on this man. He wouldn’t even bleed. He just smiled and stalked the young fighter, waiting for him to make one wrong move that would allow him to crush him into the sand.
Then it happened. In his haste to get away from the man, Vincent lost his footing and slipped to the ground. He was hit harder than he’d ever been hit in his life. He felt the world spinning. He saw the man reach for a sword and he thought that he was finally free. The crowd screamed and booed, and for a moment Vincent had looked up at them to see a Mandalorian screaming obscenities at him and two younger girls next to him. One of the girls seemed to be having some kind of medical emergency. She was shaking. Vomit dripped from her mouth. The other young girl tried desperately to help her.
The familiar sound of metal hitting sand brought his attention back to the fight. The big man had dropped the sword and he seemed to be out of it, grasping at his head. With a sudden urge of adrenaline, Vincent pulled the sword into his hand and jumped up thrusting into the big man’s throat. Blood sprayed. The big man fell to his knees. The crowd erupted.
“YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME?!!” the young Brujah screamed as he yanked the sword out of the man’s neck. With one wildly fast and ferocious swing the sword took the man’s head off of his shoulders and sent it rolling onto the sand.
Then he was back in the present. At the masquerade. Dancing with this beautiful woman who knew entirely too much about him.
“That was you?”
“You do remember,” Celeste whispered before she gave a small nod.
“It was. I didn’t… know what was going on or how. All I knew that I was able to control him. He fought hard to keep me out and it did work but those several seconds was all you needed. I was sick for a while.” Celeste admitted as her hand slipped back over to his shoulder. If she knew what she was capable of then, everything would had been different.
Vincent’s story. Isla’s story.
Her story.
“You certainly had grown more powerful. Why, the Hand of the Empress! What is a man like yourself doing here? And without a woman by your side?” she asked.
There it was, the Force sending him warnings again. Again, he would ignore them.
“Wow, you seem to know a lot about me… both from the past and the present…”
He smirked slightly. He was playing a dangerous game, and he knew it… but this almost felt fun.
“It was the Empire that saved me. I do not know who, but someone bought my freedom and transported me to the Brotherhood headquarters when I was 19. They had noticed my skills and knew that with the proper training I could be an instrument of destruction for them.”
Vincent pulled the woman closer, leaning his head closer to hers.
“Perhaps they didn’t consider that I could also become the instrument of their destruction…”
He smiled a big, genuine smile at her.
“But for now, I work to repay my debt to the Empire. I owe my life and my freedom to them. Unfortunately, that has left me with little time for relationships. Why, I can’t even remember the last time I shared a dance with a beautiful woman such as yourself.”
He leaned back, giving her just a bit of space, but wrapped his arms around her waist as they swayed with the music.
“But where are my manners? It seems that the Empire is not the only thing I owe a debt to, and I don’t even know your name. What can I call you?”
“What can I say? You were my hero. I was able to practice my flute and hang out with Isla whenever you won.” She then was furious at herself. How dare she admitted that much to him?
No matter. Celeste listened and wished she could kill him. He was stirring emotions in her that she had fought to keep at bay. She pulled her anger back. All she had to do was to remember those soft brown eyes that was Isla’s.
He had a massive goal and she admired that. It was such a shame that he had also abandoned them. Her mask hid the faint hint of pink of being complimented and it puzzled her. Anyone else? She didn’t care. She knew she was beautiful and was constantly reminded by many.
Yet, when it left his lips, it was different.
Her hand returned to his beard, slightly lower towards his neck.
“No, that was rude of me. I’m Celeste Obscura. Magistrate of the Voice.” It was clear. With his association of the Brotherhood and wanted to repay his debts, she trusted he would not make a scene. Because she also could not.
Her nails went to between his red collar and his neck, icy cold sharp and started to dig in slightly.
“And when you were bought? It was hell,” Celeste hissed. Her heterochromia eyes changed over to crimson. Blood red like his skin would spill if he made any sudden movements.
Perhaps she had expected Vincent to flinch. Maybe even cower away. As sharp as her nails were, they were nothing compared to the dagger that had left the long scar down the right side of his face. Instead of flinching, he leaned in just close enough for the nail on her middle finger to lightly pierce his skin. He grinned as he felt a small amount of blood exit his neck and run down her hand.
“Let me ask you something, Celeste. Do you think that I had a choice in the matter? Did you?”
He leaned in more until her index finger pierced his skin as well. His mask seemed to light up as his own eyes began to glow.
“I won’t pretend to know what hell you have been through, but I do know that you know what hell I am capable of unleashing on anyone that would threaten me.”
The red in his eyes faded back to gray, but his intense stare never moved.
“It would be such a shame for this lovely dance to end in violence. Don’t you think so?”
“And how exactly do you not know what I am capable of?” Celeste purred as she was enjoying this immensely. The stared between them lingered as she brought her nails away and licked up the blood. Her tongue stuck out and she licked from her wrist up to her nail.
“I have watched you…”
Her eyes changing back to one deep blue and one dark grey.
“But you have not watched me. Not yet.” Celeste pressed her body against his and her hand was back on top of his shoulder.
Just then, the song had changed and she decided to let Vincent decide.
Another dance or had they had enough to play?
“It would be a shame,” she agreed.
Vincent pulled her in tightly, wrapping his arms around her waist and clenching her hips with his hands. Their bodies moved like one to the rhythm of the music. Vincent’s smile returned.
“You are right, my dear. You seem to know much more about me than I know about you. You have watched me… you have loved me… you have hated me… and me? I didn’t even know that you existed until tonight.”
He leaned his head in close again, close enough that she could feel his breath on her neck as his lips nearly touched her ear.
“But you’ve opened my eyes…” he whispered before leaning his head back just enough for her to see his wicked grin.
As the song reached a high note Vincent dipped Celeste backwards and then lifted her back up, pressing her body close to his.
“You can count on seeing these eyes a lot more in your future. Whether that be for pleasure or that be for pain… well… that’s for you to decide.”
Celeste’s arms went around his neck as he pulled her close. It was good that he didn’t even now she existed until tonight.
Until she made sure she made herself known.
That was her job.
“People forget shadows exist until one day they are consumed. Empty. Dark. Cruel.” Celeste smirked. Maybe Vincent had more uses for her. For her goal. His breath sent chills. She wanted to see his blood spill on the floor. And yet, she wanted him alive.
The adrenaline rushed as she was dipped back, her heart was beating faster. This excitement was almost the same as it was when she breaks her enemies’ minds and will.
It was becoming addictive.
“Tell me, Vincent, why can’t I just play with my food? Let me play with you to see what brings both to those pretty eyes of yours.” Celeste smirked. She would love to mess with him. See what makes him tick. Maybe even find more of his weakness and slowly break him over time.
And why not have fun doing it? Pleasure and pain was both a very fine line she knew of.
“Ms. Obscura-”
Her head snapped towards a server.
“Y-you have a call. F-from the office.” There was a moment of pause.
“Hm.” Celeste glanced back to Vincent, her hands to his collar as if to adjust his tie. She leaned forward and licked his neck to remove the small trail of blood.
She rose her head to whisper to his ear. Turnabout was fair play.
“If you really do want to get to know this shadow…” She pull back with a grin as she licked her lips to make sure there was nothing on them, before flashing a sultry smile, “you can seek for me later.”