[center][color=9e0b0f][h2]A I D A   D R A K O S[/h2]
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[color=9e0b0f][b]Hotel, Azure[/b][/color]
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[indent][sub]With Simon [/sub][/indent]

The old blood’s gaze tracked Louis, Audrielle and Rene until the trio eventually disappeared from her line of sight. Aida remained tense despite now being alone. Rene was clearly planning something. Exactly what though was impossible for her to figure out at the moment but she was certain it wasn’t something she’d approve of. Audrielle was still at such a weak state, no memories and no powers that a normal source blood should have. Having been by Audrielle’s side for centuries and the one to raise her when she was reborn, it was needless to say how deeply Aida cared for the source blood. If there was anything that would risk Audrielle’s safety, Aida promised herself that she’d find a way to protect the sourceblood from it. 

With Louis on Rene and Audrielle’s trail, Aida set off to do some work of her own. Though it was a masquerade, she found that she was still able to recognize a decent amount of the vampires around her, based both on their voices and figures. Unfortunately, she wasn’t particularly fond of most them. They were the types that hung were known for willingly hanging around Belmont, which was to be expected since he was the host. Still, Aida held onto hope that there was at least a few people of worth amongst the guest there that night. Traveling further into the crowd alone, she eventually found what she considered to be a decent group of vampires that were conversing. The group consisted of a few lesser blackbloods. Most were old enough or near old enough to be considered old bloods themselves. Despite not holding a high power, Aida found them respectable enough. 

Hoping one of them might be fit enough for the task of intervening with Belmont’s plans or to hear any potential gossip about his plans, Aida smoothly joined the group of vampires. Elegant and known for her closeness to the council, her presence appeared to be well received as she was easily welcomed amongst the group and quickly joined in the conversation. The conversation was rather lacking though and before Aida could truly see if it would lead anywhere, a newcomer stepped into the mix and addressed her. Aida blinked and turned her head to look over at the vampire, quickly recognizing him to be Simon. She also noticed that he was accompanied by another vampiress, one she knew to be the head of the Cain house. Aida paid her little attention though as Simon addressed the matter of her not chaperoning Audrielle. The words made her tense slightly, unsure how Simon might react to the fact that neither her nor Louis had been able to stop Rene from escorting Audrielle. The old blood opened her mouth to reply when Simon excused himself from Sophia to motion for Aida to step away with him. Following his lead, she excused herself from the group and moved away from them to join Simon separately. 

“Belmont’s escorting Audrielle right now.. I believe they went towards the dance floor. Audrielle insisted that we not accompany her.” Aida explained with a heavy exhale. “Right now, Louis is tailing them to keep an eye on Rene and intervene if need be. I was hoping I might find someone here that could qualify as Audrielle’s guardian to hopefully pull her away from whatever he has planned.” Aida knew they likely weren’t in the best situation, since Audrielle seemed to be happily following Belmont’s lead making it difficult for anyone else to steer her away. The old blood just hoped that Simon had come there with a plan that would get them back on the offensive rather than continuing to play defense to everything Belmont threw at them. 

As he emphasized needing to put an end to the nonsense, Aida gave a stern nod of agreement before her visage took on a expression of interest as Simon speculated knowing what the other sourceblood was planning. “What do you think he’s planning?” she asked with a raised eyebrow under the mask that she wore. Standing a little straight and looking away from Simon’s face to glance in the direction of the dance floor, her gaze narrowed slightly as she pondered what angle Rene might be playing at. Regardless of what it was, it couldn’t be good. “And what should I do to help stop it?”

[center][color=9e0b0f][h2]A u d r i e l l e   M i s t m o u r n[/h2]
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[color=9e0b0f][b]Hotel, Azure[/b][/color]
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[indent][sub]With Rene[/sub][/indent]


Audrielle’s gaze continued to sweep over her surroundings with excitement as she let Rene guide her. The party was lively and the thought of gaining even a spec of freedom thrilling. There may have been reasons to not trust the sourceblood that was currently escorting her but they currently weren’t a point of focus for her. As Rene lead them closer to the dance floor, Audrielle felt a bit confused. She had thought that Belmont intended to take her to meet some of the candidates first rather than go straight for a dance. However, as he turned to ask her for a dance, she decided not to over think it. 

“Of course, though I must warn you I haven’t completely mastered the movements yet.” she told him with an amused smirk before stepping with him out onto the dance floor. Aida had gone over the steps with her in the past. It had been a test of muscle memory that had turned into genuine lessons since Audrielle had taken an interest in learning. Once she got the basics of the movements down, Aida had insisted on them moving on to more productive things since clearly it hadn’t stirred any memories. She’d just have to take a bit more precaution with her movements. After all, the last thing the young source blood wanted to irritate Belmont because she accidentally stepped on his foot one too many times.

Louis trailed along the edge of the dance floor, clenching his jaw in frustration as Rene and Audrielle stepped out to dance. He folded his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes as he watched the pair. For a moment, the old blood debated finding a dance partner of his own for the sake of getting closer but decided against it. Feeling certain that if he took his eyes off Belmont for a second that he would find some way to weasel away with Audrielle, Louis decided to remain at the edge of the dance floor, tracking Rene and Audrielle’s every step so that the two always remained in his line of sight.