Sunny had a blast of a time dancing with her friends from all the
different factions and showing off her dress. At her first party at the
Raven, she had been too jetlagged and too focused on their troubled leader
Kyer to have any fun or meet anyone. She had been forced to stay at their
table all the time and had gotten sleepy so fast that she had to leave
early. This time it was different. Not only was she in top shape, she also
felt in familiar ground with all her wonderfully UFfish friends around her
and the place blasting with her favorite music. She sipped at her drink
with a sigh and leaned back against the bar, surveying the room with her
eyes. This was fun she had to admit. However, she also confessed that even
though she had met most of her friends, danced and chatted with them, and
had a blast of a time, there was still something missing from her overall
FK war enjoyment. It was her first war and she had had a lot of adventures
so far, but all things carefully measured, she still hadn’t had a real
conversation with a single FK character. True she and the others had met
Nick earlier on for the measurements, but in addition to the fact that he
wasn’t really himself, she hadn’t quite had a chance to talk to him, and
the visit was as quick as a breeze, leaving her with just a fuzzy memory
of what Nick really looked like up close and personal.

Nicole walked up to her holding a cherry drink in her hand, “I bet you’re
having a great time aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am.” She sighed a little less enthusiastic than she looked.

Nicole leaned forward and took another sip from her drink while fingering
her friend’s trendy dress. What was her count so far? How many different
ones had she seen her wearing up to now? She pursed her lips and decided
to tease her a little.

“Looking for Nickie, aren’t you?”

“I’m just looking for anyone. Like to play a game, guess whose body is
with whom.”

“Any luck so far?” Nicole asked, feeling a little tipsy from her drink.

“No, in fact, I haven’t seen any of the vampires yet.” she sighed again.

Just then she saw her. Standing tall in her elegance and beauty, in her
darkness and shimmer, was her idol in all things flair, the vampires
Janette.

Nicole was still looking at Sunny when she saw her eyes focus past her
shoulder and on a spot at the far side of the bar.

“Wh…what is it.” She turned and glanced in the direction of her stare, “Oh
nice. Isn’t that Janette?”

“Yes, it’s her indeed, the queen of fashion and grace.” Sunny said
distractedly.

Nicole raised her eyebrows, “Well I don’t know ‘bout you, honey stick.
Sure she’s into style, but I’m not sure I would elevate her to the lofty
title of a fashion goddess.” Ewe, what was in this drink? She felt her
head spin there for a second.

“I want to talk to her.” Sunny said, not taking her eyes off the
dark-haired vampire.

“Be my guest. She’s standing there all by herself anyway.” She waved with
her hand and quickly grabbed the edge of the bar that was dangerously
moving toward her. Sunny was already on her way to Janette when something
came to Nicole’s mind. Woozily she looked up and at her friend’s
retrieving back as she struggled to form the words in her mouth, “Do you
know who she is though?”

Sunny stopped in her track and turned back to the other CotKer, “Who?
Janette? Of course I know her. She’s Nick’s sister and lover and ex-wife
and…”

“No, I mean now. Do you know with whom she has switched her personality
with? Are you sure this is safe?”

Sunny dismissed her with a gesture of her hand, “Who cares, I’ll make it
part of my game, guessing who she is. I’m more interested in seeing her
gorgeous outfit from near. And who worries about safety? The worst that
can be is that she’s switched with LaCroix, and I don’t think even that
will bother me.”

Switched with LaCroix? Something clicked in Nicole’s mind, a mind that had
been following the recent war events more closely than her fashion crazed
Knightie friend. Hurriedly she looked back to warn Sunny but saw that she
was already past her vocal reach and approaching the smug vampiress ever
so insistently. She also saw the glint in the eyes when the proud head
rose up to look at her, a spark that suggested anything but a friendly
welcome.

---------------

LaCroix, in Janette’s body was doing his best not to attract too much
attention when s/he saw the young brunette approach him/her. Although the
approaching woman looked remotely familiar to him, the camouflaged master
vampire decided to ignore her, thinking—hoping—that perhaps she’ll change
her course and go somewhere else. But as the other continued her stride
along the bar, it became progressively apparent to him that he, or rather
her daughter’s form, was what the slender young woman had in mind as her
ultimate destination. He looked up and met her eyes, she looked so hyped
up and all jolly, so much in comparison to his own stance.

Finally the woman came to stand in front of him and extended her hand to
shake his. He hesitated before he accepted the friendly gesture.

“Hi Jane…I mean Ms. DuCharme. My name is Sunny LaCountess. I’m with the
Cot…I mean the cousins of the Knight, but I’m also a great fan of yours. I
think you have the best sense of style among all the characters.”

<Great! > thought LaCroix. As if the actual followers of his posh daughter
weren’t trouble enough, where did this “legally non-blond” chick come
from? Cousins of the Knight? Didn’t that faction involve him? At least by
%50? Why didn’t she take off and go to find *his* body and bother the real
Janette? He suppressed the urge to hiss in her face.

The female vampire’s stillness disconcerted Sunny, and as always, drove
her to fill in the gap of silence with more words of her own, “You know, I
love the two of you together. You and Nick I mean. And you have to teach
me your enchantment tricks, if we meet again of course. You know I figured
you must be a real master of the art, to be able to woo him in that dark
tavern in 1228, wearing those—how should I say it?—none- revealing *nunly*
clothes you had <hehe, that sounded nice.> But you still got him anyway.
And then the two of you went to the back and…” she immediately shut her
mouth when she realized that she was probably stepping into prohibited
premises by the fiery look the dark vampiress gave her. What the hell is
wrong with her? Talking about people’s private lives in a public place,
not to mention in her first meeting? She must have had a little too much
to drink.

Fiddling a little with herself, Sunny finally managed to produce another
happy face and delicately changed the course of her speech. <Talk about
clothes. It is always better to talk about clothes.>
“You know, I mean like you guys do always dress up great. Even in the past
centuries. Although I must admit that LaCroix is a little bland in his
choice of clothing. Wearing the same color for 2000 years. Not that it
doesn’t suit him or anything; he is, as a matter of fact, a very sexy guy,
if you don’t mind me saying so. But I mean, you’d say, after so many
years, he would go to a different tailor, wouldn’t he? Now please don’t
tell him that I said this, he’ll probably flip out considering I’m a
Knightie and…” this time, cutting off her monologue was more her
unexpected fear than her returning embarrassment as the beautiful pair of
green-blue eyes suddenly changed into a dangerous shade of crimson red.
Before she had time to figure out exactly which one of her remarks had
caused that reaction, the lips parted to reveal needle sharp, extended
fangs and a low growl was heard escorting the threatening voice, “Am I to
endure a Knightie telling me how to dress?”

LaCountess blanched right there and then. This was that worst thing that
she had thought would happen. Not only had she failed to pay any respect
to the ancient master vampire, who was now obviously inside the body
standing in front of her, she also had intended to mock his clothing
behind his back and had obviously admitted that she didn’t want him to
know about it. She swallowed hard and backed a few steps away as the
bright red orbs continued to stare at her.

That did it. Sunny thought with a fierce determination. This was the last
straw of her patience and now she could easily feel how she was starting
to hate the confusion of this particular war. Not that she minded meeting
the ancient one; he, in himself, did carry a certain charm that attracted
her. But not when she was the least prepared for it and *that* had already
happened twice in the past few days. No matter where she turned or whom
she met, she would eventually bump into LaCroix. She went to see Nick, and
sitting in his body was LaCroix, she came to talk to Janette and boom,
there was LaCroix, again.

Anger welled in the Knightie’s heart and she prepared to snap at the
seething vampire, ancient or not, regardless of the consequences. Just
then, a gentle hand rested on her shoulder and quiet words were spoken in
her ear, “Why don’t you come outside and join us? We are talking about the
switches and what has caused them and I thought you might be interested.”
She turned and saw one of the Ravenettes, standing behind her and looking
past her shoulder at LaCroix/Janette, an unspoken appeal of forgiveness
dancing on the tip of her tongue and shining plain in her eyes.

“Sure,” she replied as a sudden rush of returning party-groove overwhelmed
her. She tightly clung to the other woman’s arm and walked with her to the
front doors doing her best to swallow her fear, anger and disappointment
and not to look back at the one she had reasonably mistaken as Janette,
her favorite seductress. Inwardly, she was both glad and surprised that
she had gotten out of that awkward situation so easily. Of course her
friend was a Ravenette, and they probably had faced the problem of
personality switched a few many times. As they were about to walk out of
the house, she once more turned toward where the vampiress had stood, and
saw only a half filled glass of dark red ‘wine’ sitting on the bar table.
It looked like a miniature statue reminiscent of the slender form that had
held it before. Sunny stole her eyes away, and walked out.

The End