Hellfire | Hayley Marshall

Chapter 4

For now, Eisa was doing just fine.

She looked like a goddess and she knew it. The party's theme suggested outfits ought to be accompanied with a mask over the eyes, but Eisa would rather not wear one— she looked too good to be covering her face, and after all, everyone important already knew who she was.

Klaus escorted Rebekah and Eisa into the Compound, one sister on each arm. Inside, the atmosphere was dark, with a purple hue as acrobats moved on aerial silks, all dressed in extremely revealing outfits.

"This is my kind of environment," said Eisa, smirking as she looked around, seeing confetti was steadily raining over the crowd.

"A fitting backdrop for tonight's events, I must say," agreed Klaus. "Who'll be your victim, sister?"

Eisa held her finger up to her lips, pupils dilating with malice. "Don't speak of such things, Nik, I haven't yet decided which one of these lovely attendees will be my blood bag for the night. Ask me again later."

He made to laugh, but suddenly tensed, seeing a blonde woman across the way, dressed in white with the wings of an angel hanging on her back. "What's she doing here?" he asked.

Rebekah looked pleased with herself. "What better way to distract Marcel than to put his very human new girl in a room chock full of vampires?"

"Well played, Bex," praised Eisa. "She's such a lovely little thing..."

"She's off limits," growled Klaus as Rebekah moved up to greet the woman.

"Hello, darling," she said kindly. "You look precious."

"This party is ridiculous," mentioned the blonde, "but I think I went a bit splashy with this dress." She looked back at Klaus and Eisa, who were approaching, though she mostly stared at the hybrid. "Is he the infamous on-again, off-again?"

Klaus smiled. "He's the brother, actually. And my sister is right. You do look stunning."

The woman appeared to be mildly flustered. "You clean up pretty well yourself."

"Well, don't be fooled, love," said Klaus smugly. "I'm the devil in disguise."

The woman laughed lightly, then turned to Eisa. "I'm sorry. I don't want to make any assumptions, so I'll just ask—?"

"I'm their big sister," said Eisa, shaking Cami's hand. "Eisa. And you?"

"Cami," the woman replied. "Wow. That dress is gorgeous, seriously, where did you get it?"

Eisa winked. "Versace, unreleased. I'll get you one, if you'd like, when the line comes out."

"I'd love that," said Cami, "but I couldn't ask you to do that— it looks extremely expensive, and I'm still trying to pay off my student debt."

Eisa cast her brother a look, as if saying, 'pay it off for her, at some point,' then said, "Nonsense, darling, I wouldn't charge you for it. It'll be my gift to you for... your next five birthdays and Christmases, how about that?"

Cami blushed, and Rebekah patted her siblings' shoulders. "You three chit-chat, I need booze."

She walked toward the bar, and Klaus offered Cami his arm, leading her away. Eisa decided to slip into another part of the crowd, trying to figure out who all was in Marcel's inner circle.

She was leaning back against a pillar, eyes darting through the crowd, when she remembered the last time she'd been at a party like this.

"I despise this," sneered Eisa, looking around as servants set up for the ball that Esther wished to host. "Esther has never been the type to like such extravagance. Why now? I don't trust her."