A loud boom followed by the heavy crash of the black doors of the club falling to the ground interrupted the joyful party, even the DJ stopped her set as she saw the golden confetti raining down on the extravagant group of people entering the dance floor. She fixed her headphones over her short and bright red hair while imagining how amusing it would be to put on the funeral march as the Callas walked in. She desisted only to not ruin Antares' party and opted to continue playing some House music.
A grand entrance that was fitting for such a distinguished group of people. That's the Callas way. It was Antares' party, yet he stopped himself to applaud his siblings.
The other eight siblings were finally here. Vela, who’d been enjoying her evening with some trolls and their particular sense of humor, rolled her eyes and pretended to not know any of them. Antares was different in this aspect because he very much liked to be bothered by the presence of his family, at least most of the time. The birthday boy ran towards them and jumped on two of his brothers, a pair of big, dark-skinned brawny men that resembled each other so much to the point many people thought they were twins, those were Alcar and Aldebaran. The attack Antares launched their way was nothing for them, as they needed to bend a little so Antares could reach them.
Everything for their older brother.
“I thought both of you would be too busy at the mines! Especially Alcar, you workaholic!” exclaimed Antares with a wide smile, ruffling the short blond hair on both men.
“Even if I wanted to stay, most workers are here at the party and I wouldn’t dare to miss your birthday!” replied Alcar, already feeling pain in his lower back from holding this uncomfortable position.
“Liar,” interrupted Aldebaran. “I pulled him out of his office so you wouldn’t get mad on your night.”
“Your tongue is kinda loose tonight asshole,” reclaimed Alcar, straightening up at the same time his brother did and lifting Antares several centimeters off the ground. “You promised you would keep quiet!”
“I can’t stand a liar, and this works as payback for getting me late to the party!”
Both men started bickering, while Antares hung from their shoulders and tried his best to reach the ground again. A loud sigh caught their attention, and the three of them turned their heads to see a beautiful woman with a stern expression on and her red eyes glaring in their direction so they made way for her to step into the party. It was Situla, the second of the Callas.
“Both of you stop playing like you’re kids!” she yelled. “Make better use of your time and get a nice table.”
They fulfilled an order that was spouted so harshly without complaining, carefully leaving Antares on the floor and searching for the empty table reserved for them. Antares looked from the corner of his eye at the woman that was slightly taller than him and had a short bob of straight blond hair, fixing the neck of his shirt and preparing his words carefully before speaking.
“Aw Situla, no need to be so strict! It’s a party!” he looked at her whole outfit, a form-fitting, backless purple dress, and she tensed up. “And you look so good. Maybe you will find a boyfriend tonight.”
She sighed and ignored the last thing he said. “You made this dress, of course, it will look good in your eyes. All you know is to flatter yourself. At least now, Antares, we have an excuse to flatter you back.”
“I imagine that in your mind what you said sounded like ‘Thank you for this beautiful dress’ right? Always as sweet as honey.”
“Happy birthday, fool.”
She flicked him on the forehead then left a box inside his pocket pants before leaving, and Antares smiled pleased at himself for annoying her at least a little this evening. He then accepted the hug and gifts his other two, less difficult older sisters, gave him. Sarin and Salm were kinder and more expressive in comparison to Vela and Situla, and quite different too. If the first two were serious and came off strong, the latter two could charm you by simply bating their long lashes and smiling with their thick lips. Both ladies possessed a demeanor that was reflected perfectly in the outfits they wore for the evening. Gorgeous cream-colored chiffon dresses that looked beautiful against their dark brown skin, with embroidered flowers for Sarin and stars for Salm. The fabrics in them flowed with each movement the same way the free and voluminous curls from Sarin’s hair did, Salm instead opted for a high bun to show off more of her stronger features compared to her sister and her doll-like face. They twirled two times in front of Antares, who had sparkles in his eyes as he admired his creations.
“I didn’t think you guys would put these on tonight. I’m touched!”
“But we love them! And the fairy folk does too,” murmured Salm as Sarin pointed at the many fairies admiring the designs from afar.
“Consider this promo as another gift,” continued Sarin before grabbing her sister and pulling her to the dance floor towards their dates, a pair of handsome male fairies that had been waiting for both girls.
Antares smiled pleased at them and how their dresses grabbed the attention of many in the party and the way they proudly pointed out it was him who made them. He even considered maybe giving them business cards so they could hand them to whoever asked. A loud bang made Antares get out of his thoughts, and when he turned around he noticed the ruckus his youngest siblings were causing. Besides the big duo from earlier, there were the triplets who were barely turning into young adults and worked hard on shaking off the awkwardness of those terrible teenage years.
Keid, his favorite sister, was now getting pushed by Kraz and Kuma, his rowdy younger brothers, into the club. She was the shyest in the family, and that's why Antares immediately went toward them to lend a hand.
“Trying to break what was left of the door?”
“Maybe if she stopped being such a baby and let go of it!” said Kuma, pulling his sister in while trying to not break anything else. “I don’t get why throwing away the door was necessary!”
“To make an entrance is Callas tradition!” yelled Kraz while pushing the girl. “So please make your entrance so we can get to the bar!”
Both boys resembled Antares the most out of all his siblings. Their mother had even joked that maybe they would share the same carefree soul as Antares when they grew up. She was kind of wrong as Kuma was the strictest young man and put Antares and his past poor decisions to shame whenever he had a chance, and also the golden boy of the family. Kraz on his side was the most charismatic young man you could find, almost as charismatic and well-liked as Antares himself, and so proud of their family and what they represented. Then there was Keid, a late bloomer, but that for a Callas simply meant she would be great whenever she found herself.
“Come on Keid, I worked hard on those clothes, you should let the rest see you!”
Finally, she let go of the door but still needed to be pushed by her brothers inside the club. Keid had a blonde curly pixie cut and the tips were dyed pink, she tried to hide her figure even when she was the most excited when she asked for this slightly revealing black sequin jumpsuit with a deep neckline. When she caught the eyes of some boys passing in front of her, she immediately wanted to go outside to the mysterious nebulous fog that surrounded the club, yet was pushed back in. Antares saw her looking not like a little girl anymore but a lady and knew what to say.
“I’m honestly a genius. I poured my soul and heart on this one, and both your suits too, kids. You guys are doing your best first impression right now because I haven’t seen a group with people this good-looking at the party yet. Counting myself out of course!”
The triplets couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed, mumbling their thanks and slowly walking inside the club together as the good kids they were.
“Thank you for that,” Kraz was the first one to shake off the embarrassment, fixing his golden floral suit jacket and a braid on his shoulder-length hair. “I wasn’t going to let her ruin my first time at the club.”
“We never made it to this part of the club. It’s rather exciting,” blurted Kuma while looking around a little cautiously.
Antares put his hands on his brothers’ shoulders and brought them closer.
“About that... The 3 of you are, yeah, not little children anymore, so technically allowed to be here. That still doesn't mean that you guys can do whatever you want here. Cherry let you in just because it’s my party and I asked her to make an exception.”
“We won’t be lame if that’s what you’re worried about,” murmured Kraz, doing his best to hold his tongue and what he thought.
“If I see any of you intoxicated at the end of the night you’ll find I’m scarier than Vela. Have fun!”
Antares pushed the triplets towards the table where the rest of his siblings were pleasantly enjoying the evening, wishing that his efforts on sounding threatening would stick with them whenever they felt that maybe they were drinking more than what they were ready for. Cecilio approached him after some of the club workers managed to fix the now flimsy door to avoid accidents, he was drinking probably his fifth mojito and looking at the party with curious eyes.
“It’s been a while since I saw them all together. Your parents are coming too?”
Antares chuckled. “No, I had lunch with them earlier, but this is more than enough.”
“Why do you say so?”
“See their clothes? I confeccionated them. There’s Alde and Alcar who refuse to wear suit jackets, but I think those shirts are quite good and fit their personalities well. Then Kraz and Kuma were more of a hassle, since they had so many ideas but knew practically nothing about how to dress for this type of party. The girls were dolls, no surprise there. Is most men that tend to be so unimaginative when it’s time to dress.”
Cecilio noticed how Alcar had on some black pants and a green shirt with a minuscule pattern of black dots all over that seemed more subdued like his calm nature compared to Aldebaran and his loud, colorful shirt that had three buttons open to show off his thick golden chain and bare chest, he was already slightly inebriated, laughing and hugging some girls while trying to make Situla drink more. The golden embroidered flowers on Kraz's jacket were kind of obvious for him since he stuck to the theme too much at points, and Kuma kept it simple with a brown suit and a bowtie of a darker shade, yet the way it fit him did make him seem neat and older.
“They all look really good, Antares. You must be proud of your work.”
“When I opened the atelier they were mad at me, each one of them for different reasons, but with time they came and asked for my work, probably to support me. That’s why I put all of my efforts into each piece and hadn’t seen them come to life until tonight.”
“Even Vela?”
“Even Vela’s dress! You wouldn’t believe how ticklish she is when you’re taking out her measurements. The real gift has been seeing all of them wearing what I do… Makes me feel like I didn’t make the wrong decision.”
“I’m glad there’s peace in the Callas household, then.”
“Ah! I’m sure they would love to say hi to you after so long!”
Against his will, Cecilio was dragged towards the table where the most popular elves in the city were and had to stay there for a while exchanging anecdotes with Situla, who mellowed a little after a drink and a chat with a friend, and having a good time until Antares himself took him out of there before he fainted due to exhaustion.
“About that thing with the grimoires. No one I’ve asked knows anything about it.”
“That’s bad because I trust you asked half the party by now.”
“I did my best!”
“Did you ask the vampires yet?” he questioned, pensive with his hand on his chin.
The green eyes wandered to that corner of the club where the table filled with vampires was, dark and loud as he saw shadowy figures discussing. Antares was surprisingly quiet for a moment, not knowing what to say, and Cecilio caught that instantly, yet the elf was quick to go back to his usual demeanor and smile.
“Haven’t gotten there! They'd been arguing before the party started and I didn't want to go there and interrupt them.”
“On your birthday party?”
Antares raised his hands, “I’m no one to butt into their legendary discussions. That sounds more like a thing the Grand Witch should do.”
Cecilio rolled his eyes and Antares sent him off inside the vampires’ den before going for another glass of white wine.
Comments (0)
See all