A painting with two stories Part 1 (Nathayen POV)

My cell phone rang. Amused, I focused on the name displayed on the screen before I accepted the call. This time, his patience seemed to have left him earlier than I expected. 

“Well, Dam? Can’t you endure the Gala any longer? This must be a new record.” A sigh greeted me from the other side of the line. 

“No, Nate. That’s not why I’m calling. It’s something important.”

“Something important?” He probably heard the grin in my voice. “Well, then tell me, what is his or her name?” 

“No, something actually important!”

Dam’s voice had a serious undertone, untypical of him. I raised my eyebrows. What had happened? Did he accidentally throw someone off the balcony? Did we have to get rid of a body? So much for my planned evening program, consisting of another training session followed by a relaxing bath. “Ok, what did you do?”

“Nothing, but there is a picture here you have to see. Come to the gala, I have to call Lyras and Ju.” Dam’s sigh grew louder. What in the world did he spot in this event that it was important enough to call everyone? 

“Fine, I’m coming. But I swear, if this is another retribution because you’re mad you had to visit the event, you’ll be hanging from the highest building I can find. Head down.” I snorted amused and hang up on him, before I could hear his retort. With a jump from the sofa, I landed on my feet and stretched at large.

It didn't take long for me to prepare for the event. The expensive suits awaited me ready to go in my wardrobe and since I hadn’t started my evening training yet, I didn’t even need a shower first. I just checked if my long hair fell neatly down my back. It still confused me to stare at black hair, despite the fact my natural hair color was lilac. Also, the brighter skin which lacked the grayish nuances was something I couldn’t get used to anytime soon. I smoothed my hair back behind my ears, whose pointed ends I had hidden from humans. All measures which were necessary for operating in the human world, so I could mingle among their kind unnoticed. Still, even after all the time I had spent here, the person in the mirror remained foreign to me. 

I put on one of the Rolex I had bought for such occasions. Why the pillars of society in the human world attributed so much worth to useless plunder as status symbols was eluding me. But whoever wanted to associate with the rich and mighty had to meet certain expectations.

As soon as I finished preparing, I took my sports car and used the event’s parking service, so I didn’t have to bother wasting time searching for a parking spot. That was the only good point of such extravaganza. They offered personnel for every tiring task. I still couldn’t comprehend how it could be so difficult to manage preparing big enough parking lots for all the vehicles. One of the many questions for which answers I couldn’t spot in town. In the end, I had to attribute it to humanity’s shortcomings. 

Damahir already awaited me close to the entrance. Only those who knew him managed to see his shoulders had tensed beneath the suit. Whatever had happened seemed to actually irritate him. Until now, I had expected a joke from our group’s fledgling, but it seemed his call had an actual reason. His brother Juliel, as well as Lyras, another member of our group, had arrived on the scene before me. 

The three of them contrasted from the surrounding crowd. It was hard to determine if the humans instinctively noticed to keep their distances from them. As Dam stood there, with his brown hair loosely falling over his shoulders, he monitored me with his the bright-green eyes. I was surprised to see, that he hadn’t kept a single person to flirt within his proximity. 

Lyras seemed professional as always. Still, his black hair and the blue eyes were a sight I just couldn’t get used to as his true looks differed greatly from our camouflages. Juliel was probably the one of us to blend in easiest with people. That wasn’t due to his appearance, which didn’t fall short compared to our imposing statures. Even though his shoulders weren’t as broad as my own, he still gave off an intimidating atmosphere beside his younger brother. The short black hair and the dark-green eyes he presented couldn’t live up more to his original visage than our disguises. 

It was his calm demeanor that took him out of the picture. He could melt into the background without anyone realizing he still remained in a room. At least for creatures as dull as humans. 

Ju greeted me with a nod. 

“I see we have all gathered.” I gazed upon them and motioned him to elaborate. “So, why did you make the call?” 

“This way.” Dam led us through different corridors with many paintings I didn’t deign to look at. I didn’t know what I anticipated. Maybe some kind of conspiracy going on behind the curtains? A public attack on our company? Many thoughts were coming to my mind, but I didn’t expect to end in front of a painting. 

“Do you see what I see?” Dam pointed to the canvas before us, which had been created by a Jonas Krewood according to the metal plate beneath it. 

Lyras only murmured a silent “Interesting” as he studied the painting. 

Yeah, I definitely noticed what Dam had hinted at. It couldn’t be a coincidence, the details were too intensive. I met Lyras meaningful gaze, which clearly told me he interpreted it the same way as me. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Juliel nodding to confirm the overall assumptions in the room. 

Lyras pulled his checkbook and handed it to Dam. “Buy it. Everything else in the office.”

“Got it.” Dam nodded while Lyras left the event. 

“Is this the only similar picture here?”, I asked.

“The only one I found, yes. While I was waiting for you, I checked them.”

Well, at least there weren’t any more bad surprises awaiting us during this gala. 

“Alright. We’ll see each other in Lyras’ office.” I nodded towards Damahir and Juliel on parting and turned to leave myself. Even though this matter interested me greatly, there wasn’t anything I could do here in person. No two people were needed to buy a single painting.