Club Kalon was Cherry’s pride and joy.
When Cecilio came back to Teria after years of training and brought her along, Cherry wasn't given as much freedom as she thought she would get following her release from that wretched box. Still, it was better than nothing. Cecilio was kind enough to prepare a space that was between the reality we live in and another dimension for her to do whatever she wanted. That’s how Club Kalon was born. Antares’ party was in the bar space, but there was also the pool and a beach, bedrooms that rivaled any five stars resort for whoever needed a place to stay, a theater, a restaurant, a café, and even a reputable kindergarten. Many spaces to practice different sports and for entertainment, all of them available if Cherry allowed you in and you paid a rather accessible membership that kept such elegant and chic establishment running, all within the building’s basement that Cherry could expand, arrange and use for whatever she wished to add. She enjoyed molding reality itself a lot!
The Callas and Cecilio too financed it, but Cherry was the sole owner, and for the past 5 years she’d turned the club into the It place for earthborns. A place that existed far away from threats and that also worked as a great place to organize parties, meetings, and whatever reunion that fell on the reservation’s book.
Being surrounded by loud music, laughter, the overall intense energy, and under the roof of the club that was a reflection of the starry sky, Cecilio and Antares caught up after a long time.
“I’ve been told your atelier is doing good, Antares.”
“Can’t complain. You open a pretty store at the golden mile, get some affluent clients after the word of my fantastic job goes around, and then I’m fully booked for weeks to no end,” Antares sighed, looking at the cup of wine in the lit-up bar counter. “Had I stayed in the family bussines I wouldn’t be working this much.”
“I warned you. Instead, you got kicked out of the will on purpose. A billionaire will.”
“It’s fine. I’m still getting something after the old man kicks the bucket.”
Cecilio looked over his shoulder at the party gathering before asking for a mojito.
“Haven’t seen your brothers and sisters.”
“They’re coming later since it’s still too early to take the place down,” said Antares, playing with the rim of the wineglass.
“I would love to see that happening,” interrupted Cherry, who appeared with Cecilio’s drink at the other side of the counter. “Got the bill for the damages prepared and all, we just gotta put down the number and signature~”
She looked starkly different than before with her summer dress and the, at times, sweet demeanor. Now she wore something resembling the uniform of the workers at the bar consisting of a latex red top and black pants. With a black latex pencil skirt and a cropped turtleneck, her arms were uncovered and the body glitter she had on her chest and breast could be seen through the heart-shaped cutout. The makeup was heavier, and the shade of red in her round lips darker. Antares immediately complimented her, ignoring the way Cherry blatantly blurted out how she planned to take away a big amount of his family's money.
“Here’s your drink love. I imagine you would be around so I started preparing it.”
Cecilio cheerfully thanked her and clinked his glass with his companion, ignoring how Cherry whispered to the girl behind the bar that she should keep preparing more of those for him.
“How long has it been since you came here?” asked the birthday boy.
“Hmm… two…no, four months probably?” he sipped on his drink, enjoying the sweet and refreshing taste of it.
“6 months, actually. Half a year. Remember what happened?”
“Wasn’t it Claudio’s and Jessica’s engagement party?”
Antares admired the way Cecilio played dumb, but it wouldn’t work on him at all. He was already 250 years old and had known Cecilio ever since he was a little kid, back when he used to call him “Uncle Antares” and he also avoided looking into his interrogator's eyes and dodged the question, pretending as if he wasn’t practicing secret elven magic or eating tres leches before dinner behind his grandma’s back. At that time Cecilio used to fancy grape juice, not drink down a whole mojito and act as if nothing happened while asking for a refill.
“Yes, it was dear Jess and Claudio’s party. So sad you couldn’t go to the wedding the week after.”
“I gave them my blessing and a potent fortune spell. Last thing I know they’re enjoying themselves working with the Caribbean branch of the Callas’ foundation.”
“Cecilio, please focus,” he whispered so he got slightly closer to the Grand Witch. “You went to the engagement party only to ask around since… those I will not name had been seen in the city.”
Cecilio sipped through the black straw before leaving the tall glass on the black coaster to then look at Antares from the corner of his eye. “Am I asking around now?”
“I’m fearing you will start at any point.”
The witch grinned and faced his long-time friend, “Didn’t want to ruin your day, but since you’re pressing this much, maybe I should start with you.”
Antares’ expression immediately soured. To think The Order was around, and on his birthday too? This would ruin the mood for everyone at the party. Most of the earthborns that now enjoyed themselves at Club Kalon came to Teria searching for safety. A refuge. Many lost family and friends trying to find this home, and the Callas foundation was created with that goal in mind. Maybe not all earthborns in this world could be in Teria, but to try and make it safe for them to live in their home countries was what they strived for. Very philanthropic, but it was easy for the Callas who knew firsthand what it was to be chased, and had more money they knew what to use it for. Creating the foundation was the only idea the original patriarch, Antares’ great grandfather, saw fit.
Antares trembled as the cold air of the club hit his slightly sweaty body, waiting for the worst question to come out of Cecilio’s pretty lips.
“Have you lost a dark magic book lately?” Asked Cecilio, removing his drink with the straw.
“...Excuse me?”
“Dark magic, or simple magic, even a small spell book Antares. That’s what brought me here.”
Antares relaxed his shoulders, scratched the back of his head, and felt like screaming words that would scandalize even his mother. Mind you, she’s the one that taught him how to swear. He glared with his red eyes, carefully decorated with a subtle golden eyeliner, at Cecilio, seeing how Cherry brought him some tequeños since he didn’t have dinner.
“Aw, you got them for the party! I’m so happy you liked them!” he ate one in two bites and cleaned his mouth with a black napkin. “So, spells. Know of any human getting hold of those?”
“I don’t know man you’re the witch here! Shouldn’t you be asking other witches?”
“This is why I didn’t want to ask you, yet you were persistent with your questioning.”
“I think I have the right to be persistent if it's them who we’re talking about.”
“Never said it was. I’m asking if someone has lost a spellbook. I don’t know, misplaced it at the bus stop, and maybe some human took it and started following the steps without them knowing what they were doing.”
“Thought you witches were super jealous with your grimoires.”
Cecilio took a sip of his drink, “Some of us are and keep them hidden within our workspace, others use the notes app on their phone to have it always with them. Still, witches can be forgetful."
“Doesn’t seem that responsible…”
“I don’t wanna hear that from you. I remember when I was eleven and you lost the golden key of your family’s sanctuary.”
Cecilio giggled at the memory of Antares climbing up his bedroom window as he was doing homework, looking disheveled and asking to hide in his bathroom. If you knew Antares Callas, he would never allow anyone to look at him in such a poor state. He took pride in his appearance, his poise, and how he presented himself to the public, even daring to scold some of his oldest siblings over how their poor social skills would hinder bussines for the family, and demonstrated more than once he possessed a good eye for understanding people.
That’s why his father always thought he would be a great asset in the public relations aspect of the family company. Instead, he got a boy with no direction in life that spent years being sheltered by his family’s money. The black sheep of the family to say, but they still loved him. Then there were days like that when he lost a really expensive, important, and unique key that opened the sanctuary where the remains of the founder were with many of the family heirlooms, and Antares’ father rethought his love for his middle son.
Antares looked shocked at how Cecilio pulled such a dark memory from his past. He was a reformed man now and, in his father’s words, a perfectly functioning member of society. It just happens that he needed some years to find himself and on the way, he found many girls he wished to impress. One of them stole the key from him and disappeared from his life. Oh well, sometimes in love you lose.
“Mind you, I worked 3 fucking years for my father to repay it!”
“Must’ve been traumatizing, yet you’re overreacting,” interrupted Cherry who started preparing a Cuba libre in front of them and handed it to a tall man surrounded by shadows. “I checked and for a key like that to be remade you would have to work 3 human lifetimes. 3 years were a blink for you.”
“Darling, you say that because you’ve never worked with my father,” he sighed.
“Maybe if you arrange a meeting with him we could do something about that,” she whispered in a sweet tone, leaning over the bar and resting her round face on her palm. “I could be a great asset for the Callas.”
"I don't doubt it. Let's do it."
Antares didn’t even try to hide the way he smiled like a fool while getting lost in Cherry’s eyes, admiring the way her red lips shone because of the gloss. 250 years old and still such a flirt. Cecilio was already asking for a third mojito, not feeling the effects of alcohol at all, and also not wanting to alert Antares that danger was approaching. The moment Antares was about to speak, he felt a tug by the neck of his shirt, first, it was gentle, so he ignored it, then it pulled him back so strong he almost fell from his chair. Thankfully, the wide and strong chest of a man caught him.
“Back off,” growled André before pushing him back into his seat.
Cherry laughed loud enough to get some curious eyes on them, and Cecilio only waved at the woman that André was escorting. Tall, dark, and handsome, wearing a champagne satin slip dress with her long blonde curls gathered in a high ponytail and those red eyes that looked at Antares with a little hint of pity. That was Vela Callas, who quickly saluted everyone except her brother.
“Well, this is a surprise. Cecilio Terán in the flesh.”
The Grand Witch only made a reverence to her. “I’m more surprised to see the oldest of the Callas at this party.”
“Politics, child. And someone has to sign the bill when they start breaking things.”
Cherry swooned, and André asked her to prepare a cocktail with a tiny smile on his face.
“Vela! So happy you’re here! Where’s the rest?” Antares forced a smile under the critical eye of his sister.
“Still fighting at the door over who makes the great entrance. I slipped in because it was a waste of time.”
“What wouldn’t you consider a waste of time…?” he murmured.
“Time not invested in working is lost money and progress… But I craved one of Cherry’s special martinis so here I am.”
“And because of my birthday.”
“And you happened to be born on this day, 250 years ago, yes I remember. You wailed so hard the whole night over being born in this cruel world. What a shame. Here’s your gift.”
She was straight to the point, and you could never find out what she felt since her expression seldom changed. Vela pulled from her bag a black ring box and put it on Antares’ hand. He opened it carefully, not really knowing what to expect from her, and was pleasantly surprised to find a gold thumb ring with the Callas crest on it. It wasn’t a simple gift, but part of the heirlooms of the family. Antares found himself speechless, looking for Vela to say something. She was too focused on the taste of her drink to care and say something uplifting to him. That’s what made her so lovable to Antares, though.
“I won’t lose it.”
“I trust you won't,” murmured Vela before leaving the bar to find someone else to enjoy her evening with.
Antares put the ring on and admired it for a while before Cecilio cleared his throat to get his attention.
“I’m glad for you, Antares. But if we could go back to the thing about humans practicing magic.”
“I promise, I haven’t lost anything like that. I try my best to not get myself involved with those tricky things.”
Cecilio seemed disappointed at the answer. He wished to be over with that long night already, but it wouldn’t be as easy as he thought. At the disappointment on Cecilio’s face, Antares dared to pinch his cheek before grabbing his wine and standing up, enjoying how Cecilio looked at him with a frown.
“I’ll ask around a little for you so you can go to bed early.”
He left before Cecilio could even tell some lie and pretend he wasn’t being a little rude, and Cherry shook her head in disapproval.
“You’re lucky he knows you, anyone else would take your behavior as an offense.”
“... I make an effort.”
“It’s not enough, tell him, André!”
The demon kept quiet, not knowing who to please. There was Cherry on one side wanting some backup, and then his boss, who looked at him with fire in his eyes, daring him to say something that could enrage him. André simply took his drink and walked to where the vampires were to see if they wanted the insight of a hellhound.
“You scared him off,” complained Cherry. “You look miserable at the party, while also making Antares do your job! What’s with you tonight?”
“... I had a nightmare.”
“About what?... About who?”
The tone of her voice softened at the visible sadness Cecilio struggled so much to hide. That explained why he was drinking this much. Thankfully she made the mojitos alcohol free and he was so distracted to even notice the strong taste was Cherry’s secret recipe for mocktails.
“Maybe I’m being too delicate… it’s been almost ten years,” he played again with the straw of his drink, twirling the sliced lime inside the tall glass. “I should let go, but I don’t know how.”
“Honey, was the dream terrible?”
“...No, it was lovely.”
“Then focus on that.”
“What a great way to alleviate my pain,” he chuckled.
“I don’t know much about that guy, but to make someone like you get so down… He must’ve been really good, at least at the beginning.”
Before Cecilio could confirm that, a loud explosion of confetti in the back of the club startled them, one of the doors fell, and you could hear Antares laughing as he saw the rest of his siblings walking in with an assortment of gifts to add to the spectacle of this party. Cherry wrote down the cost of repairing that door.
The party finally started.
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