What Not to Do (Kallisti)

[Oriena]

"Seems you’ve caused quite the stir, sweetheart."

She was dressed in black, like shadows summoned to the call of a cruel mistress, still adjusting the earrings in her lobes as she entered the back room. It wasn’t unusual for Oriena to help herself to the decadent costumes as it suited her. The stem of a pale leg peeked between the high split of her swirling skirts; the hideous one, webbed with a pale tracery of scars. Hair fell like spilled ink down her back, smoothed away from her face. Her dark-painted lips sharpened into a cutting smile.

The security screens around them were state of the art. Kallisti had been making good money for a while, long enough that Oriena had grown bored with it. At least until the inconvenient twists in her life since the ball had begun to make it feel like the beating heart in her chest; something as vital to her as fucking or breathing. But while she had directed Carmen to spare no expense in the club’s protections, it was additions like Nox Durante that were the real weapon. An open smirk marked her judgement of his costume, though the way her attention raked him up and down did not speak of disapproval. On the contrary. Though perhaps her sultry interest now was because she knew he would not like it.

Ori was dressed like a goddess, but she had no real inclination to circulate the floor tonight. She sank into a leather-backed chair and crossed her legs. The slit was scandalously high. "Are you nervous, Nox? I could suggest a way to ease you up if you are. There are a lot of people waiting out there." Her gaze brushed against the screens in illustration, a brow half-raised, but the smile on her face was both savage and sensual. She wanted to see him flinch.