Raving Moon, Lords of the Night Book One

Chapter 9: Celebration

I didn't have to wait long for the Wolfblood Initiative to move forward. Two days after my meeting with the Praetor, the main hall of HQ was opened to House Agatha and the Avatars for Houses Bruce, Thayde, Grover, and Slaint. A lottery was held and those thrones whose names were chosen were invited to participate in the ceremony. Donors were brought in from the city's premier blood preserves, crates of synthetic blood were purchased from Tanner & Bones, and New Bedford's top caterer provided an eight course affair. Decorators sheathed the halls in Agatha Red and trimmed it all in the black and silver of the thrones. All the ingredients for a grand display were assembled before the rulership of Gorgon City.

Six Long rectangular tables, set with ornate candelabras and shining silverware, covered the perimeter of the hall. Each was surrounded by two dozen round tables, equally ornate and pleasing to the eyes. Guests arrived first as a trickle and then as a flood of red on red. Business moguls and politicians arrived wearing red as a sign of allegiance to House Agatha. I made note of those who sat together. Fey Duning, a member of the American Commission, caught my attention as she strolled in. Her badge of office sat proudly upon her chest, a beautiful broach symbolizing her political affiliation and the power her organization wielded.

The Committee was a rogue body never ratified by The Council. Although their influence didn't extend beyond the new world, their activity always drew the attention of those loyal to the old ways. Her decision to wear her committee badge so freely intrigued me. The whole building would be full of thrones, representatives of the body politic she hoped to circumvent.

Mr. Red, House Agatha Avatar and voice for the House Patriarch, Guillermo De La Rosa, arrived with a troop of Agatha lieutenants. They were flanked by fifteen lycanthrope bodyguards, each huge armed and broad backed. Simone Jandova, Rat King of the largest rat pack in Stygia, directed them to create a perimeter around the heads of their House.

The avatar of House Grover, Mr. Green, arrived not long after, dressed in a white business suit with a single olive green sleeve. His escort was a pair of gremlins dressed in matching attire. They appeared like child sized caricatures of the avatar, but no one was fooled. The duo were House Grover enforcers.

The avatar of House Thayde, Mr. Cyan, arrived with Mr. Coal, House Slaint's avatar, on her arm. The two women were making a statement about the recent alliance between both Greater and Lesser Houses. Flanking the two women were four vampire assassins armed with elven rift warden spears. The coveted weapons were capable of banishing a creature from outside our plane of existence back to the world from which it came or slaying an ancient vampire. Yet another statement..

House Bruce made the biggest spectacle of all. Mr. Gold entered the hall alone dressed in a gaudy gilded tuxedo and wearing a mask carved in an intricate likeness of his patriarch Anubis Priest. Among the patriarchs of Gorgon, Priest was the most feared. No one would dare publicly threaten a member of his House for fear of a public and messy retribution. I could feel Anubis' power rolling off of Gold's every step. The hall filled with the presence of House Bruce, despite its single representative.

Despite the erstwhile guests in their House colors, the room remained dominated by the red of House Agatha. I wore a black and silver trimmed zoot suit. My black fedora sat in the chair beside me, a silver feather sticking out of the silver band. Black and Silver were the second most abundant colors.

Gates was carrying a glass of steaming synthetic when she found me. She liked to drink the stuff as a treat, enjoying the somewhat sweet and floral hints added to Tanner & Bone's new Sweet Life line. She wore a short sleeved buttoned down shirt of black with silver buttons and piping. Her pants were designer, her riding boots were excessively polished, and her jacket was a double-breasted black on black. Her red hair was tied into a trio of long cherry colored braids.