Lucien's manor was... imposing. At three stories tall, it dwarfed the surrounding buildings. The outside looked grand as it was, with tall towers, balconies outside the second and third floor and great glass windows rimmed with brass. The stones were a nice white colour and the roof a midnight blue, but in the darkness, the whole thing looked terrifying.
"Welcome" he proclaimed as he opened the door "to my humble abode."
The inside was anything but humble. The first thing anyone got a glimpse of was the grand marble staircase, right in the middle of the house. The floors were hewed from stone, covered in the middle by a deep red rug and the walls were panelled ebony. The whole room was ridiculously spacious, as most of the furniture was set up against the wall, again cut from fine ebony. The walls, suprisingly, were devoid of paintings or decoration, save a few lamps that lit up automatically when Lucien walked past. Hanging from the windows were long, purple velvet curtains, all drawn over to keep the light out.
"Well? What do you think?" Lucien grinned like a shark "I hope you like it as much as I do."
"I'm going to head to my office. Rosa, I trust you'll treat Sarah and Rhone well?" Lucien shot the girl a meaningful look, before heading up the grand staircase, out of sight.
Typical. It was the same every night. During the day, Lucien was a social butterfly, meeting with friends, clients and city guards, usually to investigate demonic influences. At night, however, he just shut himself away in his 'office' and asked Rosa not to disturb him. What was she meant to do in a big, empty house all by herself?
She'd often questioned what he kept up there that was so secretive. She could do, say and go anywhere else, but he never gave her a straight answer when she asked about the mystery office.
But now she had Rhone and the winged girl to talk to. Well, maybe the winged girl - Rhone didn't seem to want to talk much. She would have to get her story tomorrow.
There was a distinct differance between the winged one (Sarah, Lucien had called her) and Rhone that wasn't just looks. While Rhone was more the strong, silent type who just got his head down and went to work, there was some rebellion in Sarah. She could almost feel the defiance emanating from her. In this way, it seemed, they were kindred souls.
"Are you guys hungry? There's some food in the kitchen. And I could run a bath for you if you'd like. There are some spare clothes for both of you when you're done." she winked at Rhone "Don't worry, there's plenty of guy stuff."