Excerpt: Tremors

The maid brought them their salad plates, already fixed up the way that each of them were accustomed to eating it. Eleazar shifted the contents around with his fork to mix the dressing in a little more, and took a bite. Claudia’s cook was one of the best, and hardly ever disappointed him, even on the salad course.
“Since I’ve got you here, I might as well ask now,” his aunt said, after they had eaten a little while in silence. “I received an invitation today from the Wellingstone compound. Apparently there is going to be a black and white dinner hosted there at the end of the month.”
“Are you planning to go?”
“I think I should, barring any illness that may come up between now and then.”
Eleazar knew well that Claudia had no real desire to go, but that they had too many ties with Wellingstone, Inc. to decline. He merely nodded. “I assume you’d like an escort.”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Let me double-check the date. I doubt I’ll have any commitments then.”
“Commitments when?” His younger sister burst into the room without ceremony, as usual, and dropped a kiss on her aunt’s cheek before sliding into the seat opposite Eleazar and dropping her purse on the table next to her. He took in her somewhat disheveled appearance and groaned slightly. “Sorry I’m late. The subway’s a mess this time of day.”
“That’s fine, dear,” Claudia beamed. “I’m glad you’re here. Sit down and take a moment to breathe, will you?”
Oriana laughed and settled in. “What are we talking about?”
“There’s a black and white dinner being held at the Wellingstone compound at the end of the month,” she explained, before Eleazar could cut in with his usual reply of ‘Nothing important.’
“Ooh, can I go?”
Claudia and Eleazar simultaneously shot her an incredulous Look. “You want to go?” Eleazar asked.
“Of course I do. I’ve never been there, which is dumb because we’ve been doing business with them forever, right? So I’m curious. Plus a black and white dinner sounds like fun. Good excuse to break out my new black cocktail dress.”
“I assure you, Oriana, dressing up will be the high point of the evening, and you know how I feel about that,” he said dryly. “But if you really want to be bored to death, feel free to join us. Far be it from me to tell you where you can and can’t go.”
She rolled her eyes. “Maybe it’ll be boring for people like you who wouldn’t know a good time if it came up and bit them in the ass.”
“How dare you—“
“Stop, you two,” Claudia said gently. “Oriana, you’re welcome to come with us. It will be nice to have both of you come along.” Oriana smiled at her aunt and then turned a triumphant smirk on Eleazar, who snorted and ignored her in favor of finishing off his salad.
The maid then brought out the main dish, filet mignon made with dry herbs in the seasoning, served with sautéed vegetables and mashed potatoes. Eleazar happily took a bite, chewed it, and frowned a little. Superb, the meat certainly was, but he liked his steak very well done and tonight it was not cooked quite as well as he usually liked it. He surreptitiously stole a glance at Claudia and Oriana, and finding that they seemed deep in a conversation about dresses and shopping, quietly stretched his right hand out until it was flat and passed it, palm down, over the steak. Small flames began to dance over the surface of the meat, and he grinned in honest satisfaction.
“Eleazar!” Claudia’s exclamation of horror made him jump and look up, guiltily. “No fire at the dinner table! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“I apologize,” he said, waving his hand over the plate once more to stop the fire. “It wasn’t as cooked as I like it.”
“Burnt, you mean.” Oriana waved her fork at him, talking through the mouthful of potatoes she was trying to swallow. “Eating the charcoal’s going to give you cancer someday, too.”
“Shut up.”