Instinctively knowing that if Casey stayed this close to her, Sylvie handed her partner back the brush and gently pulled away. “You smell too tasty to let you invade my senses, so you brush your hair.” Sylvie snickered and went over to the dresser and saw ten tiny blue-gold barrettes and smiled. “These are gorgeous, I was so happy we went shopping when we visited your mother, Virginia Beach has almost anything you could possibly want.” Sylvie picked up the metallic clips and began snapping them in pce. “We had over a hundred people sign up for my Blood Ball, so the grand opening with something formal is going to be great.” While the entire bar and its connecting shops had been burned to the ground, it was Sylvie’s influence and lots of Casey’s monetary investment that made it so the old stores had been bulldozed and a pristine and upscale set of shops had been developed, with After Dark becoming the center attraction of the newly created quarter-moon shaped stores. “We have a lovely new crew and no need for beled security like how the pce used to be.” Sylvie walked over to Casey’s closet and moved things until she found the champagne colored dress. “This one right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Casey ughed and pulled on her cream stockings. “Yes, I know. I went to lots of the beer smelling clubs when I was much younger and less refined.” Casey smiled and fluttered her long shes pyfully. “My idea wasn’t what you turned it into, Sylvie.”

  “It’s almost like it was, which you enjoyed by the way.” Sylvie id the silky dress in an open spot on the bed. “It’s still the restaurant and speakeasy that it used to be, except I have themes now.”

  After clipping her stockings in pce, Casey grabbed her bra and sighed. “This has more fabric than the dress I think.” She slipped the straps on and situated her breasts into the undergarment then turned to Sylvie. “If you please.”

  “Sure.” Sylvie spotted the dainty little silk tag and noted the little ‘G’ and shook her head. “Don’t worry, Casey. I have no intention of remaking After Dark like the way it was and having it smell like beer and sweat. You’ve seen it. I put in an actual marble dance floor and a stage for live bands. The themes are just another way of bringing a little css to the pce.” Sylvie finished snapping the four hooks in pce, then affixed the remaining butterfly clips. “Tonight is formal, next month might just be a masquerade ball. Whatever the case, it will be by reservation only. I’ll let you pick the third theme.”

  “That’s easy.” Casey walked over and picked a set of shiny bck heels and set them on the bed. “Seventies night. Get that disco boogie night going.” Casey winked and held up her dress to her frame. “What do you think?”

  No matter what Casey wore, Sylvie found her mate stunning. Pushing herself past the obvious voluptuous nature that Casey emanated, Sylvie reached out and felt the light silk and how it was a thin strapped ‘V’ neck with a form fitting corset that spread to the length of the floor with a side draping that showed off Casey’s delicious right thigh. “You know it looks great, I was there when the tailor came here to fit it.” Sylvie winked and unzipped the shiny champagne colored dress and held it open for Casey to step into.

  “You know…” Casey wiggled the dress over her frame and set the thin straps on her wide shoulders. “...I started swimming in order to try and…lose enough weight to make them smaller.” Casey smoothed out the tight corset and faced Sylvie. “It didn’t work. I think the chlorine made my breasts bigger as I got older. How I made swim teams I will never know.”

  Often amazed with Casey’s ability to keep a high spirit with regards to her body’s shape and talk freely about her experience, Sylvie also knew that there was always that underlying question of whether or not she was adored for her looks or personality. A quick decision to graft a bit of humor into Casey’s partial loathing, Sylvie giggled-snorted and spoke her mind. “Sweetheart, you made the swim team because your coaches wanted to see those massive boulders in a swimsuit.” It was the outburst of ughter from Casey that let Sylvie know that her comment was well received. Taking the time to slowly zip Casey’s to allow her wife to adjust and wiggle to get the corset in pce, Sylvie leaned forward and kissed Casey’s open back and massaged her shoulders. “You look ravishing.” With a little hop, Sylvie came into Casey’s golden vision. “Are you ready for a lovely evening out? I promise you will have fun.”

  Standing in pce as she watched Sylvie zip around the room and put all of her accessories away, Casey waited until Sylvie was done before handing her lover an eyeliner pencil. “You have specific wants, so you do it.” Casey closed her sunlit eyes and smiled. “You get to decorate your doll.”

  “I should make you look like a glittery goth girl.” Sylvie ughed then tossed the bck pencil on their vanity and picked up pink eyeshadow, a blood red eyeliner pencil and a small set of ruby rhinestones. “If I get to pick, then here we go.” Within a couple seconds, Sylvie had applied the maroon eyeliner with a lovely elongated feather and shiny pink eyeshadow that filled in the remaining shape of Casey’s eyes. With a flourish, Sylvie pressed the tiny ruby rhinestones just under each eyebrow. “There we go. Perfect. I wish you could see yourself in a mirror.” Sylvie giggled.

  Given her dress color and her gold eyes, Casey knew that her hair and eyes looked absolutely heavenly. “Okay, the rhinestones are a great addition. I can picture all of this in my head.” Casey winked. I could give Vivienne a run for looks tonight.” A smile crept over Casey’s face as she watched Sylvie’s full-moon eyes glow in admiration. “Perhaps I am prettier…” Casey applied matching red lipstick and a thin gloss to her lips, and then puckered her lips for a teasing blown kiss. “...I love the way you look at me, Taini.”

  “I can’t help it, Zia-Suhu…” Sylvie cooed and took Casey’s hand. “...I love you. There’s no comparison.”

  While the twin vampires could have easily shifted into their flying forms and made the trek back to the skeletal remains of Colonial Heights, Sylvie made other pns and they took a limousine, where Casey made polite conversation with the driver, Paul, that she’d met upon her nding a few weeks prior. Leaving Sylvie’s formal tribal nds, it was an uneventful ride to the outskirts of the city before Paul dropped the privacy window to speak.

  “Missus Mikoda.” Paul smiled.

  “Yes?” Both Sylvie and Casey answered at the same time.

  “Ladies, While I did that on purpose…” Paul ughed, “...I certainly think the former Miss Rivers is a lovely woman to chat with, I wanted to speak with Sylvie Mikoda.” Paul winked at Casey with a longing twinkle in his hungry eyes.

  Satisfied with Paul’s little speech, Casey settled back in the plush leather seat and began looking out of the window.

  “Sylvie, we will have a few pces where the time for arrival will be affected by dense traffic.” Paul pointed to the plethora of blinking orange lights. “I do apologize, I had intended to take the highway but the exits are still closed for repair.”

  Anticipating a slight wait, Sylvie nodded her head once. “Fair enough, Paul. I will just have to suffer back here with the other lovely Missus Miakoda.” Sylvie waved once as the privacy window went back up.

  “Suffer?” Casey ughed and turned away from staring bnkly at the scaffolding that surrounded The Swift Creek Mill Pyhouse. “I see it every night and I am still amazed at how much work has been done in just a couple of months.” Casey then purred and leaned over in order to get closer to Sylvie, “How are you suffering? Paul certainly wasn’t. He was ready to come back here and make a dreamy night of it.”