The pictures on the wall were almost all portraits of various landscapes throughout time. Images of cities and castles were among them though the majority were of natural features. Mountains with flowering forested valleys or waves crashing upon a pristine shore. Some of the canvases, as beautiful as they were, bore a strange mark upon them, a smudge. Almost as if something had been erased from them or there had been an attempt to cover up some mistake, though they did not distract from the picture’s quality. What the others did not know aside from his two familiars was that this room was a den of traps masked as an overly embellished and there by distracting parlor. A countermeasure in case the witch were to try anything against him. Cersie had just happened to come just in time to replenish him, yet he was never without his own tricks.<br/><br/><br/>Iseulith had been prepared for her visit long before he felt Cersie drawing closer through their bloodlink, though he had not realized that the pair would show up within mere moments of each other. It was unfortunate happenstance that they even end up in the same room together as the parlor would have looked much different otherwise and certainly not fashioned with magical boobytraps. The witch stood next to one such trap at this very moment, though she was not foolish enough to reach out into the converted space with her own abilities to check. She held it tightly within her, as protection. This was good, as otherwise she would have been snatched into a portal the moment she released it, like many of her kin come long before her. Iseulith did not play games when it came to his own safety and she posed him more of a threat than he would have liked to admit.<br/><br/><br/>They spoke for a while longer, until they could stomach the pleasantries no longer. The vampire had made his offer and named its price. The witch accepted both without much complaint. She was selfish, but fair in her dealings with the vampire. He never offered her any more or any less than what she would have felt she deserved and when he named his price he would not often budge, it was more effort to her than she thought worth it to argue.<br/><br/><br/>Iseulith gave Venrya a small bow of his head and turned to find his familiar wrapped precariously around his new ward, though the mammoth cobra’s face did not hold the distinct glare of concentration they always carried when feeding. The vampire controlled his urge to dash forward and rip the snake from Cersie by the back of his neck. He must exhibit control now, in the presence of others. He merely laughed instead walking over to the pair with Venrya in tow. She was confused by the behavior as well and leaned forward to examine the pair further, to decipher what was happening. When she realized that the snake was not making an attempt on the vampire’s blood doll she lost a great deal of interest. The boy was so pale he looked half dead anyway.<br/><br/><br/>Iseulith thought the two of them were quite the pair with Utaa’s lack of magical illusion. The vsmpire’s eyes roamed to the green glass snake sitting upon a near by table. It seemed that his familiar had quite liked the gift, though the blatant show of affection was even a surprise to his master. Iseulith had never seen one of his darlings react to anyone other than him with the gesture. “Cersie, my love, what have you done to my precious Utaa? He appears to be so suddenly smitten with you.”<br/><br/><br/><i>“Funny thing to do in a dark parlor with no windows at night...”</i>Venrya commented on Cersie’s attire,<i>“Sunglasses?”</i>The vampire slid his bright ruby eyes sideways to her, “I prefer my wards to play dress up every now and then, so that I may dress them down. I did tell you that you caught me in the middle of feeding.” His statement was matter of fact and drew no more suspicion from the witch. She seemed instead to be offended by the idea of the two men playing dress up together and wished to be rid of even the memory of the knowledge of it.<i>“Yes, well, I will bid you farewell and good day now that I might retire to the hovel you’ve no doubt provided and be rid of this garish display.”</i><br/><br/><br/>Utaa uncoiled himself from Cersie just a short moment after he had heard the vampire’s voice, dropping to the floor in a heap of muscly scales. He had been quite lost in the petting on his body by Cersie’s fumbling hands as he thanked the strange ‘not’ food procured and protected vehemently by his master. He undulated his long body, unfurling himself to slither softly past Cersie’s legs and into the waiting arms of his creator. The vampire accepted the touch and he wrapped himself delicately around the man’s waist squeezing him softly in greeting. The witch had moved away upon his approach. She seemed to be repulsed by him in his true form alone as when they had walked together earlier in the night she had held no such disgust in her eyes. Only mild resentment.<br/><br/><br/>Iseulith tapped the snake on the nose to get his undivided attention and spoke softly to him, “Take our guest to her rooms, make sure they are comfortable as she knows the rules about using witch magic here. Then, find Cixathe and see to it that my request has been granted in full. You may only return to me when this is done. I expect you back before next midnight.” The snake almost seemed to give him a nod before lowering himself to the ground again to regain his human form. He did not imagine the witch would follow him otherwise. He grabbed his little glass trinket and stared unblinkingly for a moment at Cersie before departing with the egregious witch. Smiles did not come as naturally to Utaa as they did to Cixathe and even then, the smiles usually meant something awful. It was why he did not provide the strange man with one. He did not want him to get the wrong impression, though he appreciated the gift immeasurably. Kindness was not something practiced often in his home, the inhabitants were largely uncapable of it in most cases and unwilling in others. He found that some part of him enjoyed the rather different quality Cersie brought with him when he arrived.<br/><br/><br/>Iseulith watched as Lady Venrya and his bizarre acting familiar had left the room before turning back to Cersie with a grin. “I’m absolutely amazed by your continuous devotion to exhibit strange reactions from my familiars. I dare say that Utaa may even like you as more than a mere snack at this point.” As the doors closed behind them the ancient reached up to remove Cersie’s glasses and tossed them delicately a nearby table, revealing his striking eyes once more. “I find myself curious now... would you dress for me if I asked you to? It is a strange question, I know, but it was spoken and for some reason I wish for it to be true.” He smiled as he ran a finger down the front of the elemental’s black trench, allowing it to graze the almost translucent flesh now hidden away again from view.