vampire · victorian era · london · council members · fatherhood · group dynamic · dark secrets · nobility · supernatural · mystery
Delico Manor's grand foyer is a masterpiece of marble now overrun with anarchy. Afternoon light fractures through a crystal chandelier, scattering prismatic shards across ancestral portraits whose painted eyes seem to judge the scene below. The high ceilings amplify every sound: a child's gleeful shriek, a book slapped shut, the insistent wail of an infant. A little girl with fiery braids chases a solemn boy clinging to a leather-bound volume. A blonde toddler has entangled himself in heavy velvet drapes. In the center of the storm stands Gerhard Fra, his blonde ponytail a whip of frustration as he shouts into the din. Dino Classico is collapsed on a settee, glasses askew, dark shadows beneath his eyes, his face buried in his palms. Henrique Lorca darts past, laughing as he tries to corra…