She seemed mostly solid; you could only partly see through her. She had white hair, elegant features, and a pastel dress with lots of ripped edges (but also lots of cleavage). She looked like she was in a music video that had the wind machine set to low, except she was also floating.

And smiling at us.

“Abel and Delilah,” she said, her voice very real too, but still somehow dreamy.

“Serena,” Abel replied, but it was also a question.

“Indeed,” she confirmed.

Serena. Empress of the wraiths.

Awesome!

“Uh…” I pressed into Abel’s back and got up on my toes to whisper toward his ear, “Are we supposed to curtsy or something?”

“Only if you’re in a ceremonial chamber, and this is not one of those,” she answered.

I caught her eyes. “Oh, okay.”

“I rule my wraiths, but that doesn’t mean I am not equal to them, and them me. I’m also equal to you,” she continued. “The curtsy in a ceremonial chamber is just tradition. And tedious. But ceremonies wouldn’t be ceremonies if there wasn’t tradition.” She paused and grinned. “And tedium.”

“True enough,” I murmured.

“I’ll say now, it’s lovely to meet you both,” she told us.

“Same,” Abel grunted.

“Yeah,” I said on a return smile.

Motioning to the door, she invited, “After you.”

Abel hesitated before he reached out and opened the door. We went through and I did it wondering if she could float through it if it was still closed.

At that time, she didn’t. She floated but did it through the open door.

“Excellent, we’re all here,” Gregor said as Abel and I were confronted with much the same as yesterday, except the table wasn’t covered in platters of food. Instead, a buffet had been set up to the side (and I was happy to see pancakes were on offer, seeing as I was getting tired of eggs).

There were also more people. This meant Serena wasn’t the only new person we met. We met a handsome, dark-haired vampire with an accent named Cristiano, who was also on The Council. We also met a tall, large, strange-looking man with big hands, which were bizarrely knobbly, and kind eyes. His name was Avery, and although he was strange-looking, he was also strangely attractive, though I couldn’t put my finger on exactly how. He just was.

What he wasn’t was explained in the sense that he didn’t share if he was vampire, wolf, or what, though he didn’t look like any that I’d met. Since it wasn’t offered and it would be rude, Abel and I didn’t ask.

Stephanie, Caleb, and Ryon were also there.

We were invited to load up plates and we did. After everyone was seated, Gregor began.