I was headed to the kitchen, walking along expensive paneled halls of marble and oak and doing my best to follow Matthew's directions exactly. After we (the vampires and I) had found a nice windowless sitting room, my stomach gave a loud rumble and I was given the perfect excuse to be alone. God knows I needed it. It is quite unnerving to know that the individuals beside you see you as a meal more than a conversationalist. I found the kitchen, entered it, and breathed in.
All the scents of spices, herbs, breads, fruits, meats, everything, flooded my nose, and for a moment I stood there, savouring the sensation. It was like a subtle perfume, not too strong, but noticeable. I don't know how I didn t notice this before when I was in here. I suppose I was still in a sort of daze at that point. I opened my eyes, and found Mercurio and his dark blue eyes studying me. He was leaning against a counter, finishing a sandwich. I sniffed once, twice: cold ham, fresh lettuce, and tomato all caught between two slices of whole grain bread. Mercurio gave me a knowing wink. "Pretty cool, huh? Your senses are a bit sharper, you're stronger and faster, and you don't age." He said between mouthfuls."Then I guess that I can safely assume that you're a ghoul?" I said, a little surprised. "Yup. And that makes us partners. Welcome to the family."
I searched around for something to eat. After sniffing around and opening some cupboards, I located a treasure trove of semi-junk food in a tall cupboard: low calorie popcorn, rice crackers, sugar free jello, baked chips, the works. I was having a craving for popcorn, but it was up about a half a foot out of reach. I bent my knees a bit, and jumped. And soared past the popcorn. I managed to grab the side of the door before my head hit the roof. I stared, unable to believe that I had just managed to jump four feet up into the air with relatively little effort. Mercurio looked at me and raised an eyebrow, which I felt was a little insensitive at the time.
"Told ya you're stronger." he said, looking somewhat amused. "Thats why you gotta be a bit more careful, ya know." After a moment, I managed to pry my fingers off the wood and drop to the ground. I looked around, and realized that my eyesight had improved; I could more easily read the small print on a can on the other side of the kitchen. Intense feelings of shock and amazement went through me. I had brought the wineglass from LaCroix's office with me, and now I took that glass and swallowed what remained of the wine. I'm not an alcoholic, I've been dealing with my emotions without that sort of help for eighteen years, but I wanted to see just how strong my sense of taste was now. As the drink washed over my tongue, I went rigid with amazement. I had thought before that the wine was just strong, but as I paid attention I could seperate each flavour as it flooded into my mouth: the grapes, the alcohol, the artificial flavouring...
CRUNCH!
Searing pain went through my hand, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that I had shattered the glass with what I felt was only a small bit of pressure. Transparent shards cut into my palm and fingers. "Oops." I whispered, shocked by my own strength. "Ah, its alright, let me just get the first aid kit." Mercurio said, hurrying to a white box set into the wall. I stared at my hand, the blood dripping onto the white tile of the floor like a dread rain. What glass was still embeded in my hand felt extra sharp somehow, digging into the muscle, making this experiance even more painful. I also felt the most curious sensation, a sort of itching in my wounds. As I watched, I noticed the glass moving minutely out of my hand, like it was being pushed. I told this to Mercurio, who had come back with the some bandages and gauze. He smirked. "Yea, thats your healing abilities kicking in, kiddo. This should be all cleared up in a few hours, but I'd best patch it up to stop the bleeding."
It was then that Matthew and the Malkavian came into the kitchen. "Jeez, how long does it take for-" The vampire stopped, his gaze locking on to my hand. I looked at him with warily, unsure of what he would do. After a moment he gave himself a shake, offering an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I can usually can keep my gauking down to a minimum. Don't worry, I've already fed tonight." Mercurio finished bandaging my hand and started cleaning my blood off the floor. I bent to help, but he waved me away. "Best not to keep the vamps waiting, kid." He said not unkindly. I hurriedly grabbed a bag of popcorn and heated it up in the microwave, and as soon as it was finished the Ventrue, the Malkavian, and myself headed back to the sitting room.
I sat down in one of the large, overstuffed black leather chairs and opened the back of popcorn. Steam spewed out, and with my uninjured hand I scooped out a handful and almost stuffed in my mouth. At the last moment, I remembered I wasn't at a casual occasion, and instead placed the delicious food in my mouth piece by piece. I could taste the salt and the dusting of artificial butter, and the soft texture of the popcorn on my tongue felt amazing. Matthew, seated on a matching leather couch adjacent to me, raised a fair eyebrow. The Malkavian was also seated on a couch, perched on the edge and picking at the edge with black nail, humming to herself. "So... how do you know LaCroix? Did he make you?" I asked Matthew, wanting to break the silence. The vampire snorted. "No, he found me and my sister after our Sire was killed. And to be turned into a vampire is called the Embrace. Sire... the maker of the vampire..."These days, Jane and I run errands for the Prince, along with the Malkavian and the others. You'll probably meet them all later." I looked at the Malkavian, who had stopped picking and humming and was now staring straight ahead at the wall. Without warning, she spoke.
"The old one has pretty hair."
Her voice was eerie and girlish, a softness to it that cut through any other sound like a knife. She turned her head a little bit towards me, and I could see that she was looking at me out of the corners of her eyes. Matthew gave a nervous chuckle, and I could see that he was about to say something, when she spoke again.
"...And pretty lips, and pretty teeth. But convoluted and twisted is your long, long past, the dark voices tell me."
I was too shocked for words. Matthew started to sputter something, but again the Malkavian cut him off.
"I'm Stacey. No one else knows this, Little Widow, so make sure to hide it well in your web. We shall make great friends, you and I."
She looked at me earnestly, looking like she was about to burst from happiness, and it took me a moment to realize that she really meant this. That we would be great friends. The Malkavian then glanced at Matthew, saying:
"My name is beyond recall in your brain's wrinkles."
It was odd; was there a double timbre in her voice? The other vampire appeared to be in a daze for a moment, then seemed to wake up. "Maybe we should head off to bed. Here, I'll escort you back to your room, Ms. Kepler." Matthew spoke as if nothing had happened, which gave me the idea that maybe he just got mind-wiped or something. The Malkavian went the other way down the hall from the sitting rooms, but right before we turned the corner, I glanced back down the hall to find the the girl staring back at me in her eerie way. Matthew seemed to notice. "Malkavians..." He sighed. "Their an interesting clan. I hope she didn't creep you out too much. Their often labeled lunatics because their blood makes them crazy, but it's always worth the effort sorting out the wisdom from the bull. They have this thing called insight, which grants them special knowledge about pretty much everything. She and her brother might walk up to a stranger and greet them by name, even thought they have no way of knowing it before hand." My eyes widened, both out of wonder for her abilities, and... "She has a brother?" "Yup, a creepy bastard, if you'll pardon my language. A bit a sadist, and just down right wierd, even for a Malkavian."
"What do you mean by 'brother' and 'sister'? Were you related before the Embrace?" I had a disntinct feeling that this wasn't the case, and I was right. "Jane and I weren't even aware of our existence until after the Embrace. I think its the same with the Malkavian and her brother Joelle. No, what I mean by brother and sister is that we were both Embraced by the same Sire."
We finally arrived at my room. It took us a good 5 minutes to navigate LaCroix's penthouse from the sitting room to my bedroom. It felt strange, thinking of anything so fancy as mine. I suppose it was then it really hit me, as I said my farewells and entered my room, that I would be staying here in Venture Tower, immersed in the supernatural world of vampires and who knows what else, at the side of a powerful vampire leader. As I found a beautiful set of silk fuscia pajama's and changed, I felt small, wild shivers of strange excitement run through my body. Before I shut the heavy drapes on the tall windows, I picked up LaCroix's note and sat on the now clean bed, studying it. His handwriting was strong and confident looking, if that makes any sense. It was like a mix between printing and caligraphy. I wondered briefly how old he must really be to have that sort of writing; you certainly couldn't learn to write like that in this day and age, unless you went to a caligraphy class. A huge yawn cracked my jaw, and so I twitched the drapes shut, crawled into the tall bed, and promptly fell asleep.
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morgan145: Hello all, just a short chapter this time. This may be the only chapter in which there isn't a section from someone else's point of view, whether it's LaCroix's or someone else. I really hope you enjoy, remember, all reviews are welcome (except flamers, though. Obviously. ;D )
