{"id":3343,"date":"2026-05-29T12:51:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/?p=3343"},"modified":"2026-05-29T12:51:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:51:36","slug":"the-vampire-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/edinburgh-1880\/the-vampire-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vampire Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is late May. <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/penance-adler\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3209\">Adler<\/a>\u2019s laboratory is ready. But Balthazar receives a letter from Oxford warning him not to trust her, as she is said to have caused damage at the prestigious university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The end of the month also marks the Prince\u2019s Ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The coterie is getting ready:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pidge goes to see his sire and finds a very stylish costume to go with a Venetian mask. He will bring a Venetian fan as a gift.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Balthazar dresses smartly, in the style of two decades ago. He will bring one of his signed books.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meical dresses as an Egyptian priest, complete with make-up, jewellery and a bare chest. He will bring a mummified baby crocodile. He is certainly looking to test the limits of the court.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ducky stays at home and plays dominoes with Prunella.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost all the local vampires are here at the castle, along with some distinguished guests. The exhibition is drawing in the crowds. There\u2019s also a band and some blood dolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the focal points of the evening is the envoy from London: <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/theo-bell\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3310\">Theo Bell<\/a>. A former American slave who serves as a diplomat and is trying to find out why Edinburgh no longer wishes to remain under Mithras\u2019s sway. Moreover, whilst <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/besse-dancort\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3142\">Besse<\/a> remains polite but firm, the <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/william-hamilton-marquess-of-lothian\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3302\">Marquess<\/a> makes no secret of the fact that he would welcome intervention from the capital, which is strange for such a staunch defender of Scotland. Besse lets him get on with it; one must never interrupt an enemy who is in the wrong. No one else here wants to see the shadow of Mithras fall over the city again.<br>Theo talks to Balthazar about spirits, voodoo and dark music, and promises to organise a concert for the coterie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of spirits, the coterie has let several people know that those in Edinburgh are in hiding or have disappeared, which does not bode well.<br>The famous <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/cuthbert-beckett\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3314\">Beckett<\/a> reports several recent cases of possession here, which Willow can confirm.<br>Pidge makes contact with <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/fritz-langhans\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3316\">a Tremere from Hamburg<\/a> who knows little about the spirit world but more about mages. He tells the Nosferatu that the Tremere were once mages, and became vampires because magic was fading; mages are now weak and harmless. Pidge provides a way to be contacted via <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/arthur\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3235\">Arthur<\/a>.<br>Meical spends the whole evening talking to <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/vivant-denon\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3312\">Vivant Denon<\/a>, the father of Egyptology and Villon\u2019s ambassador. He realises that Denon is a Sethite disguised as a Toreador, and that he is searching for the artefact. A Sethite ritual instructed him to come to Edinburgh. Meical will make enquiries about Denon through his contacts; there is nothing more treacherous than a Sethite, even towards his fellow cultists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ball is in full swing, but suddenly two dolls start screaming in ancient Egyptian. Spirits have just taken possession of them, seeking to protect themselves from something. And Balthazar can see that something: a spirit in the form of a giant jackal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lights flicker, panic sets in, the vampires flee\u2014but not the coterie; that\u2019s what they\u2019re here for: to fight occult dangers. The Prince stays too. With <a href=\"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/persos\/grace\/\" data-type=\"persos\" data-id=\"3224\">Grace<\/a>\u2019s help, the coterie manages to exorcise the spirit in a burst of energy that shatters the ballroom windows. Besse lets them go because Balthazar\u2019s beast is on the verge of breaking free, but she wants a report first thing tomorrow morning! Discretion is over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A ball, with politics and a spiritual attack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-edinburgh-1880"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3345,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions\/3345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}