'This is extremely monotonous.' Vlad thought dourly. He was currently at a cocktail party, and was not enjoying himself. He had better things to do as opposed to making idle small talk with people who didn't have enough neurons to tell the difference between a ecto-residue sample and green jell-O.

He plastered a fake smile on his face when he saw two people headed his way. 'Perfect. A rich couple, intending on some small talk with no actual substance. Marvelous.'

"Ah, Vlad Masters, I've waited a long time to meet you." The man said as he held his hand out. "My name is Marcus Greystone. I'm the Founder and CEO of Greystone Productions."

"Oh, yes," Vlad said as he took Marcus's hand. He looked to be about forty, had dark hair, and wore glasses. "And who is this young lady?"

"This is my niece, Mary-Lynn Greystone."

"Hello Mr. Masters. It's a pleasure to meet you," the young 20-something said. She had dark brown colored hair, and it fell to her mid-back. Her face was round, and she wore a pair of black, rectangular-shaped glasses over her light blue eyes. She was wearing a knee-length black dress with a single strap on the right side.

"Likewise my dear." Vlad replied.

"Mary-Lynn here just graduated from Case."

"Really? What was your major?" Vlad asked, his attention finally caught. Case was quite an expensive school, and it only accepted the best students.

"I majored in Architecture and History. I have a Masters Degree in those, and I have B.A.'s in Business and Psychology. I also studied art for several years." She said placidly.

"Ah, an interesting combination. Now, why Psychology?"

"Playing mind-psych is one of my favorite hobbies, along with art and history."

"And what are you're favorite eras of history?"

"Ancient History, the Middle ages, the Italian Renaissance, Early American History, and the Victorian Era. I've studied all of them and find them quite fascinating."

"Quite an extensive area, I must say." Vlad remarked, quite surprised. 'I'm not surprised she's a historian.'

"I also studied world wars one and two." A shocked look appeared on Vlad's face. Laughing, Mary-Lynn stated, "I studied those for more of a personal endeavor. You see, my father is a major history buff when it comes to that time period, and it rubbed off on me, but I'd also like to study the Cold War. You know, Vietnam and the nuclear race with the former USSR."

"Wow. How old are you?" 'She doesn't appear that old, but then again, appearances are deceiving... I've never met anyone who knew this much about History of any kind!'

"I'll be twenty-four come January." 'HOLY BUTTER BISCUITS! I'm almost twice her age and I haven't gotten a THIRD degree! This is definitely a woman I'll have to pursue a conversation with.'

"Yessir, my Mary-Lynn is sharper than a pair of scissors and has a creative spark. Not a bad singer either. "

"Uncle! Stop, please, I'm sure Mr. Masters would much rather talk of something more interesting than my singing capabilities." Mary-Lynn said, blushing. "You'll have to excuse my uncle. He tends to get a little overzealous when it comes to things like this."

"Actually, Marilyn, I-"

He was cut off however, "My name isn't Marilyn. It's Mary. Lynn. Mary-Lynn."

Vlad was shocked. No body had, excluding his old college mate, Jack Fenton, and his family, ever interrupted him like that.

"Now Mary-Lynn, that was quite impolite."

"It was also impolite of him to call my Marilyn when that's not my name." She replied sharply. Vlad found her to be more interesting the longer he spent with her.

"I, um, sorry. They sound quite similar."

"And you consider that a satisfactory reason?"

"Yes, I do," Vlad replied, squaring his shoulders.

"Well, considering the fact that you have heard my name no less than three times, I'd say that it isn't." Mary-Lynn retorted sharply. Vlad almost withered at the fire in her glare. 'She isn't even wearing heels and she can look almost straight into my eyes, and I'm tall.' However, he was quite surprised with what she did next.

Inhaling deeply, she held her breath for a moment and let it out slowly. A smile returning to her lips, she said, "I must apologize. You'll sometimes find that I have a rather short temper."

"It's quite alright. I shouldn't have mistaken you're name." Vlad said, extremely confused. iHer mood changed twice in the space of two minutes.

"Go ahead and tell him about the languages May."

"Mr. Masters doesn't care about how many languages I speak."

"Actually,-"

"See May? He wants to know!"

Mary-Lynn gave what could be interpreted as a groan and a sigh at the same time. "Fine. I speak Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Ukrainian, Greek, Latin, Polish, and Portuguese. I can also read and write all of them."

Vlad's eyes went wide. "How long have you been studying foreign languages?"

"I started with Spanish when I was thirteen. I took French starting in my Junior year in high school. After that I took the rest of my languages in a mix of college courses and with the Rosetta Stone programs."

"My, my, my. What is you're current occupation?"

"Right now I actually work part-time at a museum, and as a guidance counselor for teens at a summer camp as well as volunteering at a local library."

"My, you remind me of another young woman I know. She's attending to Harvard for her Psychology doctorate. She only knows French and is working for just a doctorate in Psychology, however."

Mary-Lynn gave a sheepish grin. "Doctorates take a long time and a lot of work. She's definetly going to have her hands full, but thank you."

"No thanks necessary my dear. In fact, I was thinking of offering you a job. I'm looking for someone who can head up a project, and I've employed some foreign architects, but the problem is that none of them speak English and are unable to converse. I was looking for a someone who knew their way around a blueprint and was multi-lingual. Trust me, that is hard to find."

"No," she said simply. Marcus, who was shocked at Vlad's proposition, stared at her.

"What she means is that she doesn't know enough about the position to make an educated decision, right May?"

"No Uncle, I do not want the job."

"Where will she be working, what are the hours, and what nationalities are the other architects?"

"Miss Greystone will be working at the Headquarters in Madison, nine to five, and I believe the other architects are French and Japanese."

Marcus nodded. "When does she start?" He asked

"As soon as she can."

"WHOA, WHOA, WAIT A SECOND!" Mary-Lynn said. "I have already said I do not wish to partake in the offered job. I am not a piece of meat, I am an intelligent adult. I can make my own decisions."

"May, go talk to those Hilton girls while Mr. Masters and I talk."

Mary-Lynn grew livid. She stalked off muttering "Dumb, drunk, crack head, blonde, sluts."

"She doesn't have to accept the position," Vlad said.

"Oh, she will, just give her some time."

"Okay then, so when can she start?"

Three Weeks Later

Vlad looked at the complex the limo stopped in front of. 'Apartment four zero three. Four zero three.' Vlad walked up the concrete steps and walked into the apartment building. He buzzed up to the apartment and waited. "Who is it?" a voice crackled over the speaker.

"Vlad Masters."

"Mr. Masters? My uncle said that, never mind, I'll be right down."

Vlad stepped back and waited. Not more than a minute and a half later, Mary-Lynn was down the stairs and let Vlad in. He followed her up the stairs and to her apartment. It was bare, as almost all of Mary-Lynn's belongings were at Vlad's castle in Madison. "I just have a couple things I need to grab, and I'll be ready to go." Vlad watched her retreat into a room. He put his hands in his pockets and waited.

Mary-Lynn reappeared with a purse in hand and a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. "Ready to go?" Vlad asked the young woman. She nodded and proceeded past him to the door. She walked out of the apartment and Vlad followed. Mary-Lynn locked the door and said, "I'll meet you at the front, I just need to drop my keys off with the landlord."

"Let me take your bag." Vlad offered.

"No, I've got it."

"Just give it to me."

"No," she said more forcefully, "What's with you're obsession with my bag?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to be courteous. It looks heavy."

"Fine. Don't open it, or you will lose body parts in an extremely slow and painful way."

"I shan't take a single glance, don't worry."

She handed him the bag and briskly walked down toward a room at the end of the corridor. 'What the hell does she have in this bag? It weighs a ton!' He made his way down the opposite way to the stairs. 'You know what? I'm just going to phase down there. This is pointless.' Vlad looked around making sure the coast was clear, and turned himself intangible. When he reached the bottom floor, he checked again, and reappeared. He walked to the limo, and placed the bag inside. It fell onto the floor however and the contents scattered.

He was surprised with what he found inside. Notebooks, pencil pouches, and papers. There was also a laptop, a tablet, a case that must have held CDs, a portable CD player, and a green Ipod. Vlad started to gather up the contents, but couldn't resist looking in the notebooks. He found lots of writing, and sketches. On the individual pieces of paper, he found more drawings, some finished, some not. "Um, excuse me, but what are you doing?"

"Whoa!" Vlad started, "Oh, sorry, you're bag fell, and all of you're things fell out, I was just picking them up."

"Mm-hm, so why were you going through my notebooks?" she asked. Her arms were crossed, and her right foot was tapping.

"Just curious."

"You know, if you would have asked, I most likely would have let you look at them." she said quietly, "But I really don't like it when people just go through my stuff," she added, gathering up the rest of the papers and carefully filing them away into folders.

"You're quite good." Vlad said, hoping to make amends with the young woman.

"This stuff? This isn't that great, but thank you." she added, recognizing the attempt. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, the only sound being Mary-Lynn's mechanical pencil running over paper. Every few minutes, Mary-Lynn would stop, and look at it. Then, she'd take a look at Vlad, who was deep in thought. 'I wonder what he's thinking about. He seems confused.' His eyes met hers, and the slight smile she wore dissapeared. 'She looked back to her work. Mm. Now let's see, that's a hard line there, and this one is going away...'

Vlad continued to observe her discreetly all through the flight. Her legs were crossed and she had her side swept ponytail over her shoulder. Her head bobbed and her foot tapped out a beat to a song on her Ipod. Her lips mouthed the words as her hand moved slowly across the page she had on the portfolio in her lap. Her eyebrows were drawn together and she lifted her left hand to smudge something. 'Well, that answers that.' Vlad mused when he saw the ring on Mary-Lynn's left ring finger.

Mary-Lynn took one final look at her work. 'God, why is he all I can draw?!' she thought as she looked at another portrait of Vlad. This time it was just his head and neck, and he was smirking at something.