Meres' gaze shifts again, and though there is still seduction, there is also threat seeping through his voice. "Oh, I am terribly sorry to hear that, I should have so liked to only borrow it, for my own edification... No, no, you need not apologize more, dear, clearly you have no power here." He takes a long draft of his wine, sinking back into his chair.
        Into the silence, Claude tries to make light conversation, but it plummets dully in the thick air. Where Meres has cast his disapproval, there is no recovery. I have been quietly resolving what I shall do, now that this diversion seems to be ending. Of course I might go with Meres, but I tire already of this hunt for information - oh I should like to know, certainly, but I hardly think it likely to succeed, and even if it did, it could not heal wounds already made. Surely not, it is silly to raise one's hopes so frivolously. If he finds something worthwhile, it will come out, and we shall all enjoy its benefits, there is no need for me to trouble myself with the process. I grow tired of this game - why does Meres not simply have Claude copy down the list and pass it along? He could claim some passing fancy for the sound of the names, and Mark would hardly question it, he so indulges the boy. At least we should then get some use of the child!
        But I shall go to the club - there are still some hours left to the night. And in the morning, I shall go to the nearest of Sadie's apartments. If she is not there, certainly I will learn of the servants or neighbors where she is. Whyever did I not simply do so in the first place? Really I don't know what got into me earlier, it must have been the rush of fresh air after the close, perfumed quarters of Rebecca's house... oh, the afternoon feels an age ago and more! What a brute Time truly is...
        I have neglected entirely Claude's fumbling conversation - what do I care for the chatter of some boy? And Meres is now in a horribly foul mood. I finish my wine, and rise to go - the motion feels pleasantly blurred, the numbing quality of the alcohol lying comfortably in my veins.
        "Are you going, Carey?" Claude asks, a note of anxiety in his voice. I believe he is frightened of what Meres might do, without myself there as - what, mediator? intercessor? pacifier? Hardly! He probably assumes Meres will not make a scene with me present - and he is correct, but not to the extent he believes himself to be. Meres will probably not commit a murder with me standing by, but that is only because he conducts even murder with such artistic flair. Why, I heard rumor after the rose party that---
        "Carey?"
        "Oh! My apologies, I... my thoughts were elsewhere. But yes, I am going, I am long overdue for an appointment. Was lovely to meet you more personally, Mark."
        He smiles and extends his hand, but I have turned already to Meres. "Meres, dear, do let me know the results of your inquiry, I am most curious."
        He sighs in exaggerated sufferance, and waves me away dismissively. "Certainly, darling."
        "Have a pleasant evening," I say, with an amused smirk at the miserable group. "I shall show myself out."

        I am already a block or two away when I find I have left my jacket behind. It is of no consequence, for the chill of the night will have little affect upon me. And I will soon be with Sadie, and her touch will warm this icy flesh which binds my soul. Ah, woman, your charms are unending! Through all your petty grievances and airy slights, there is an ineffable grace to your every motion, and eyes which are backlit by a kindling compassion. Ah, my Sadie, you are the loveliest of women, your hair so long and shining with a thousand shades of flame, your eyes which... ah, such eyes They seem to see all that I am, though I know they cannot, they seem to forgive all, though I know they could not. Your body so smooth and gracious, your every motion fluid and certain, your every touch of such brilliance that all this dull world falls away from me...
        Ah, Sadie, you are as that first woman was to me... never since those countless years ago had the pleasures felt so bright and new. Oh Sadie, there are those who believe in souls reborn, to visit again this earth, and darling you nearly bring me to believe it, so near you are to her... she, whose name left my mind a millenium ago, but her blood must have continued into you...
        ...but oh, if it did, you should be my child! My own daughter, after so many years... Perhaps that is why I am so bound to you, perhaps there truly is something of that other realm in you, as there is in me, though, oh, you shall never know the glory of the wings which ought to be your birthright! Oh my Sadie, I shall be with you soon, so soon, forgive me my neglect for I shall make it up to you, oh my darling that I could grant you wings as those I once had! But perhaps if Meres can find our Names, oh, if that than anything might be, Sadie Sadie I must find you! My emotion again consumes me and Sadie you are the only one who can hold it all, can embrace me that closely, Sadie, Sadie I must find you!

[end of Carey]
- - -
[Adir]

        I see Carey staggering, undoubtedly drunk, on the other side of the street. Disgusted, I hurry on, keeping to the shadows. Though he is silent I can hear his soul screaming desperate pleas, "Sadie, Sadie!" What a wretched thing he becomes! And all the more pitiful because he refuses to see his own weakness. Mephisto at least has the decency to be conscious of his fancies, and even seems to embrace his particular predilection, however demeaning it might look to become so ensnared.
        How far they have fallen, how much they have forgotten! They have adapted too well to this human guise, and have not had the strength to keep themselves above it. Pathetic little fools.
        When all danger of encountering Carey has passed, I emerge from the shadows, to openly saunter from one pool of lamplight to the next. I have no set agenda for the remainder of the evening, but I am restless and hungry, though I just left Sadie's embrace. Carey you fool, did you think she would wait so long for you, and refuse to be consoled by one who did meet her upon her return? I do wonder if you properly enjoy her charms, so tangled in emotion do you become.
        Ah, those delights which so entice the senses! I have lived on them so long, and they sustain me still. A panther prowling the endless night, searching out its meals with senses acute, every motion honed to smooth perfection...
        There is a girl near.
        I pause as though reading her scent on the air, for she is behind me. There is some disturbance around her, and I am unsettled. This of course only draws me closer, for it has been some time since someone put me at such unease, yet there is a familiarity to it all the same... This girl seems far too young to be able to feel so to me. I slow my stride, that she will gradually overtake me. As she comes nearer, my mind sorts through the thousand minutiae of her presence, seeking her identity. The lightness of her step - she is indeed young, there is an innocent confidence in it, an unconsciousness. She wears no perfume, but has a bit of honeysuckle somewhere about her. Her breathing is soft and slightly anxious - wherever she is going, it is not a place of comfortable habit. Her presence feels familiar, I have met her before...
        She draws just ahead of me, and I see the gentle curls of her long, flaxen hair.
        "Cerise, dear child, is that you?" I inquire, my voice as polite and unobtrusive as it can be made. Being so young, she will be easily impressed with a suave demeanor, a gentlemanly manner.
        She stops and turns - and oh, I had forgotten his strikingly clear her eyes are! The brightest of blue-violet, as the illuminated sky just before dawn, as polar waters untouched by man.
        "Why, hello! You will forgive me, but though I remember your face, I cannot recall your name."
        I smile indulgently, taking her gloved hand - so small and delicate! - and pressing my lips gently to it, lingering just long enough that I know her skin will long tingle from the contact. "Adrian, dear child. Do not feel embarrassed, you met so many of us that day! I am glad to meet you again, but whatever are you doing out so late at night?"
        "Could I not as the same of you?" she asks, with just a touch of slyness to her voice, her eyes sparkling as she grins.
        I laugh lightly, and take her arm as we begin to stroll down the street. "Of course you could. But being a bit older than you, it would be rather impolite, and anyway I have more plausible reason to be out." I had forgotten what a charming mix of delicately proper and naively bold she is!
        "And I do suppose you asked me first," she sighs with delightful dramatics. "Very well. I am on my way to a meeting, rather a secret one if you must know," she adds in a confidential tone.
        "Oh? And what sort of a secret one? Oh but I do not mean for you to tell me all! Only I wonder what sort it is, a political rally, a rendezvous with some charming young man..?"
        She laughs, and I am truly taken with the freshness of her beauty. I must find some means of waylaying her, and then, quite simply laying her. She is such a fetching thing, but there is that intangible air of virginity about her, that I know I should be her first. "No, no, though I suppose it is equally as scandalous. If you will be so kind as to escort me there - for it is quite dark, and I really oughtn't to be on the street alone - I will tell you."
        I smile warmly down at her. "However could I refuse an offer to walk beside such a lovely thing as yourself, dear? I should be more than glad to do so, even without the promise of hearing the sweet song of your voice."
        She blushes, and the warm rose glow is visible even by the fickle light of the dull lamps, for her skin is such a flawless porcelain. Ah, I can see what a lovely warmth it should draw from candlelight, and imagine how that flush should spread all over her naked skin, as it trembles with exquisite pleasures...
        "Dear sir, you are far too kind."
        "Not at all, child, you are far too beautiful for me to refrain from such talk."
        She eyes me curiously for a moment. "Sir, do you flatter me toward some object?"
        Startled, I laugh. "Ah, you see through my devices far more easily than I would have guessed! Forgive me, my dear, I assume too little of your age. But you must know, I wish only to gain enough of your favor to spend a little more time with you - not only are you lovely, but I find your personality positively engaging."
        "That is not mere flattery?"
        "I swear on my life, I mean every word." Oh what easy play is this! I feel almost as a child again myself, this is far too simple. I have only to dissuade her now from her destination, or at least detain her from it for a time. I shan't need to bother actually going with her, and waiting until afterward - I will not need to build up such an elaborate pretense of companionship with this one, I have won her trust already. Sober words and a hand pressed against the breast are all the sign she needs of my honesty.
        "Well, then, I am glad of your company, Monsieur Adriàn," she answers, readjusting her arm to rest more comfortably in mine. "It is a lovely night, but I must admit I feel better with someone to walk beside me. Darkness can make one so lonesome, wouldn't you agree? All the world hiding away from your timid gaze..."
        I pat her hand comfortingly, and when she looks up at me, she is met with a soft, understanding smile, and eyes which gaze so deeply into hers she will think they see through to her very soul, and in that sight, understand and love what is found there. I can sense that her heart flutters, for her step falters ever so slightly, and her grip on my arm tightens just a bit. I can feel her skin warming, with that radiant flush of emotion which so quickly leads to affection. She is young enough yet that she will understand none of this, yet her heart will beat more rapidly with a yearning she cannot name.
        I shall teach her that name.
        For ah, the child is no child but a young woman, and I shall show her a blossom she has not yet seen. Though her wide eyes have taken in all the world around her, there is so much of it she knows nothing of.
        "But you know, you never did answer my question, and I do think it only fair," she pouts petulantly, fluttering her lashes in a mimicry of persuasion. Though the act is only a thoughtless mime, it is effective all the same, for her lashes are long and her eyes are truly striking.
        "Oh! I had entirely forgotten, my sincere apologies. But I really was headed nowhere in particular, I have only recently left the residence of a friend, and had not yet decided quite where to go next."
        "Not home and to bed, at this late hour?"
        I laugh aloud, and she cannot help but smile at the mirth in my voice. "Ah, but my dear! This is the hour when I am most myself, these hidden hours are those I most delight in. For what is new in the daylight? All is seen and all is known, all is made pale and dull by the vapid sunlight. But the night, with its silvery cast of moonlight and starshine, where all is shrouded in secrets and mystery... the night, where all is wrapped in the warmth of tender shadows, where all is silver and violet, gold and indigo... that is the loveliest time, the most delicate and sensuous of times."
        I can feel her draw closer to me - in such subtle motion that I know she is not consciously aware she has even done so. She looks at me now in open admiration, in tender awe, entirely captivated. I glance down at her, feigning shyness, and she smiles so warmly, so openly, that I almost - almost - lose my posturing, and allow that compassionate affection wash over me and consume me, and pull me in to the sweet innocence of her world... but why should I not? Surely it would do no harm, it might even be interesting, it has been so long since I visited in such emotion.
        But no, no! I cannot return to a place I have left so far behind me, I am not Mephisto I am not damnable Carey, I have no confusion as to who I am, what I have been and what I am now and ever shall be. I am no child, who can forget in a moment the sufferings of a lifetime.
        "Why do you not come along with me? I am... oh!" She bursts into a rippling fountain of laughter, holding to my arm tenderly and looking into my face with embarrassment. "Why, dear Adrian, I never did tell you where I am going! And after all of that! Oh I am sorry..."
        I join in her laughter, and it sounds as though I am as full of mirth as she, though my heart has in truth grown heavy again within me. "Sweet Cerise, I had forgotten as well, you had so distracted me with your charms. But it does not matter to me, so long as I am allowed to walk beside you. Is it some distance from here? I must say that I do hope so."
        "I do think it is not much farther, really... dear me, it has taken far less time to arrive than I had anticipated, I do hope no one will think me terribly rude for arriving so early!"
        Oh dear one, you make it so easy for me I find it hard to believe this is not some dream, or some set-up of Luce's, or anything but the truth! But I see that you mean every word you say, there is an earnestness about your every word and motion. You have slowed your walk, and look perplexed.
        "Then may I suggest a brief detour? I know of a lovely little park just over on the next block, where we might walk for a time, before you need arrive."
        She smiles brightly, and it seems the sun has for a moment returned to the night. "What a perfect suggestion, thank you ever so much! I really... I must admit I am rather nervous, and a walk in a park ought to help calm me. Though, really, you are doing a wonderful job at that already."
        "I aim only to please, my darling," I murmur, allowing just a hint of seduction into my voice now, as I turn her aside from the street and toward a small, undoubtedly deserted area of lush gardens and dense bushes, where our privacy will be assured. There is even a fountain there, which is just loud enough that it covers over most low sound from the park - such as the murmur of voices.