Vampire University

Chapter 4

"What's that one?" Kate touched the screen as she watched Alexis scroll down, passing boat after boat on some site that said something about yachts for sale.

"House boat. We don't want that one. It might have a lot of space and a nice cheap price but we couldn't use it to escape here if we wanted. We would get swamped at the first little wave." Alexis kept scrolling down. "Do you have the pen and paper?" She saw one that might work out.

"Ready." Kate knew it was her job to write it down so they could go see it before they bought it.

"Okay, 2013 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 41DS." Alexis gave her the number to call so they could arrange a tour. "Pictures." Alexis started scrolling. "It's named Escape I." She kept scrolling. "The back deck has a cover, that might be nice. A single mast so one of us needs to learn how to sail. Except it's not a catamaran." That didn't kill it for her but Alexis gave it a strike nonetheless.

"Living room, wow that's a small kitchen, one bedroom, and one bathroom for $300k. NEXT!" Alexis backed out and went back to looking.

"That one looks nice. It's big." Kate pointed at one which made Alexis go back.

"At $995 thousand dollars it had better be nice and we can't afford it." Alexis returned to scrolling.

"Oh." Kate shut up since she knew that was too much money.

"This one is a Cat." Alexis clicked on it to bring up.

"So why a Cat?" Kate asked her.

"More stable, less likely to rock from side to side so we don't get seasick," Alexis said.

"That would be bad," Kate agreed since living on a boat that made one or both of them sick did sound bad.

"2015 Fountaine Pajot Mahe 36." Alexis gave her a different phone number.

"Dear God, the kitchen in this one is even smaller and I don't even see an oven." Alexis was dying here. "Living and dining combination, one bed, nice storage. They put the microwave in the bedroom storage and the toaster? Better controls, it has a launch hanging off the back; that's nice. 300K again. Okay save that one for now." Alexis backed up so she could keep looking.

"What's wrong with that one?" Kate stopped her as it was one of the first ones she saw yet again. "It's big and it's only $275k."

"It was built in 1976!" Alexis looked at her like she had lost her mind yet again.

"OH!" Kate could understand that.

"Okay, different site." Alexis had looked at all the ones on this site.

Alexis was scrolling till she went up and refined her search. As she scrolled down Kate was all set to get her to stop since that one looked nice till she saw the price. At $600k that was over half their money so she said nothing.

Kate watched Alexis pick one and brought it up. "HEY!" Kate liked the first picture she saw. "$380k is that too much?" It was a lot but was it too much?

"Let's look at it and we can talk." Alexis looked it over. "Two sails is going to make it more of a challenge for us. "I see solar panels so that's a plus. See the padded lounge up front?" Alexis pointed everything out to Kate.

"I don't see a launch but I do see a place to hang one from. Lots of outdoor seating with shade. Inside living. I think I see a TV. Kitchen finally. Double bowl sink, microwave that might be convection maybe, range top, not much storage." Alexis sighed but it wasn't dead yet. "One king size bed downstairs. Are you okay sleeping with me? And I didn't mean it like that!" Alexis cut her off and watched her grin at her.

"I'll be fine," Kate told her. "Just don't snore at me."

"ME! What about you?" Alexis fired back.

"I'm a princess, princesses don't snore," Kate informed her.

"A bathroom with a skylight. Nice shower, odd looking sink." It was long but narrow, though deep enough. "I see some towel storage. It's a Fountaine Pajot again. Isla 40 this time. Thirty-nine feet long, built in Dublin, Ireland which is interesting.

"What do you think? It's listed at $381,663. I think we can swing that. We're only a little under 1 million by now. Maybe it comes with sheets and everything we or I need in the kitchen." Alexis looked at her.

"Laundry, which we need to do really soon." Kate asked since she had no clean clothes at the moment.

"Laundromat." Alexis scrunched up her face since this one didn't have any laundry capability. Then she saw that lost look come over Kate's face. "It's a place Dad told me about. You take your dirty laundry to this place that does nothing but clean and dry. You have to do it yourself. You need lots of quarters and bring your own detergent or maybe buy enough for one load each time on site.

"I think we're going to have to keep the bike. We're going to need it to get around with," Alexis explained. "Hopefully the marina has parking for motorcycles."

"You remember I can't swim," Kate said anxiously.

"Swimming lessons for you and sailing lessons for me or both of us. We can't afford to stay in this place for months. We need a place to live and a way to escape if we need to," Alexis kept telling her.

"Ask them if we can go see it," Kate said and suddenly found herself being hugged and even got a kiss to her cheek. Then suddenly Alexis was up with the laptop that came unplugged and died on her soon after making the call. The battery had been sold dead so she had to plug it back in to charge it.

"Tomorrow at 3:00" Alexis smiled at her. This just had to work or she was going to need a new plan.

\0/ V-V \0/

Alexis had all of their dirty clothes down at the check in desk to find their laundry site. Sure enough she found 2 washers and 2 dryers. She definitely needed the quarters she got from the front desk and bought a Tide Pod and dumped it all in. Then she changed her mind and took the bras back out. All four of them since both of them were going braless for now.

Right next door was a small exercise room that had mostly just treadmills so Alexis went there to wait for the washer to be done.

Alexis cycled everything and put the bras in along with another Tide Pod, set it for delicate and turned it back on, and then went back to running.

Kate was outside on the deck looking at the Garden View their unit had. It was more money for the pool view. "What kept you?" Kate watched her sit down to join her.

"Two loads to wash and one to dry. Your wet bras are hanging in your bathroom while mine are hanging in mine. Your clothes are all folded and are on your bed waiting for you," Alexis said. "I need a drink. I'll be right back with maybe a snack." That was one more thing she found downstairs. A soda dispenser and a snack machine. She just needed the cold hard cash.

Alexis was soon back with a bottle of Power-Aid and something else. "What are those?" Kate watched her open the package, take one out, and pop it in her mouth.

"Cookies. Want one? They're bad for you," Alexis mumbled with her mouth full and even offered a cookie to her.

"I'd rather barf if I even knew how." Kate ignored her offer and went back to looking at the view.

"Suit yourself." Alexis sat there and ate her cookies and drank her drink.

Kate suddenly felt the urge to look after her. "Is that your dinner?"

"Yes. This place has a free breakfast every morning so I'm going to binge in the morning," Alexis said. "Go drink your blood. I don't want you getting weak on me." Alexis watched her actually get up to go do just that.

"Was it tasty?" Alexis queried since she was back.

"I put it in the microwave to warm it up which helped considerably. This boat does have one of those right?"

"Yes." Alexis was content. They had gotten away from the University nice and clean and their motorcycle was still clean of bugs. She had tried to pay attention all the way down here and hadn't seen anything. So they should be good.

But Alexis felt naked. She didn't have her black suit. Though she did have all of her weapons including that Glock her dad had given them. She just couldn't find where to hide all of them dressed like this.

"So what's after we have a boat to live in?" Kate inquired since Alexis was clearly in charge. Kate was fine with that. She needed Alexis now more than ever.

"Shopping for anything the boat doesn't have that we need. Most definitely more clothes. We don't have much. Food for me to cook, obviously. Then we can start looking around and see where we're living. Get used to the area. Learn how to exit the marina if we need to." After that she wasn't sure. "We just need to get used to our new home."

\0/ V-V \0/

Kate was sitting there watching Alexis eat her way into a quick trip to the bathroom to vomit. "Aren't you done yet? Two waffles…you called them. Scrambled eggs, sausage, bagel with some white stuff you spread on it after toasting it. Now a bowl of cereal and you still have two bananas and one orange to eat." Kate was about ready to ask her to please stop.

"I was hungry. I didn't eat anything at all yesterday and it's free." Granted it was built into the cost of their room but it was still free. "I'll stop and eat the fruit later…Mom."

"You could at least use that word like it meant something instead of making it sound like you hated the word," Kate argued.

Alexis dropped her spoon in her bowl and pushed it away. "You're right and I'm sorry. I've never had a mom before and I don't know what to do with one. And you're Royalty."

Kate nodded. "Apology accepted and if it helps you could stop thinking of me as Royalty."

"That's not going to happen. I'm your protector and if I have to I'll die for you. If only one of us can get out of this alive it's you," Alexis insisted. "You're the last of your bloodline. I don't even know what mine is. I just know it's not Royalty."

Alexis waved her hand at her when Kate opened her mouth to argue.

"I don't plan to die but you're the one that's going to live. If I go home and tell Dad that I lost you I might kill myself. Dad likes you, he just can't do anything about it and neither can you." Alexis picked up her bananas and left the orange since they had a bowl full of them in the room and got up.

"I feel like a walk on the beach. You coming?" Alexis was ready to leave.

\0/ V-V \0/

Both of then were soon carrying their shoes in one hand and walking the beach barefoot with no real destination in mind.

"Castle actually likes me?" Kate asked her. Yes, Alexis had said this before but now they had time to talk about it.

Alexis decided just what to tell her. "Dad has had a crush on you for a while. You didn't notice that he went out of his way to be where you were?" Surely she had to have noticed that.

"I thought it was part of his job," Kate admitted. "He seemed to always be there and I found myself wishing for him to show up. It's just I was Royalty and he wasn't. It wasn't proper to talk to him except like he was my protector which was part of his job." Kate really couldn't believe this.

They were both wishing they were someone else. Then Kate stopped forcing Alexis to stop with her. "What am I going to do, Alexis? I can't even kiss him. If we get caught the Queen might throw me out. Banish me and we've both learned I wouldn't last a day out here on my own."

"You can't abdicate or something? Give up being Royalty?" Alexis inquired but doubted it greatly.

Kate shook her head. She couldn't change who she was. She was a mortal Vampire and she couldn't change that. Rick and even Alexis weren't and couldn't change that either.

"It doesn't work that way." Kate began walking again. "The best I can hope for is to at least like the Vampire I marry and have children with to extend my bloodline. I really can't be the last of my bloodline and let it die out because of me. It's too important." Kate really couldn't believe this mess.

"We have time," Alexis assured her. "Maybe we can talk the Queen into deciding something. Who cares what the other Universities think."

\0/ V-V \0/

"Ms. Rodgers?" He saw two lovely women headed for him and stopped them since this was where they were supposed to meet.

"Alexis, please, and this is my mother, Kate." Alexis spotted Kate trying to hide her grin.

"I'm Patrick Connor. If you'll follow me and I'll show you the Maestro II. That's the boat you're interested in." He used his pass to open the pontoon walkway that allowed them access to the marina and the one this boat was tied up at.

He walked for a while then stopped. "This is her or him depending on your point of view." He handed the keys to Kate. "Keys, help yourself. I'll be right here for your questions and point things out for you after you look it over."

They both walked down this short ramp to a bottom step on the boat and used the ladder on one side to help them up to the boat deck. Alexis stopped right there. "I think this thing detaches and goes here so we can climb up out of the water."

"You are correct." Patrick was still close enough to hear them.

There were three sofas to lounge on and while the boat was all white these were a dark gray. Alexis even tried one out to sit on to see if it was comfortable and then laid down on it and saw it was long enough for her.

Kate tried one of the others but found she was too tall for that one. The other sofa had a table where they could eat. There were steps up to the pilot station with this big wheel.

It had a built-in seat that was molded into the roof. The control looked simple enough. "It has a tiny diesel engine to get around the marina with it looks like. So no sailing required." Alexis was happy for that.

Kate used the keys to unlock the door and slid it open so they could go inside.

It looked just like the pictures. A large U-shaped living area inside with colorful throw pillows that was a sort of beige with windows all the way around so they had lots of vision.

Alexis took the kitchen while Kate began opening things. "Pantry, I think." Kate opened both drawers and that got Alexis to turn and look and saw nothing but food.

"Storage." Kate had a seat lifted up and found storage under the U-shaped living room.

Alexis was finding everything in the kitchen. She opened the doors under the range top and saw pots and pans and even a few Tupperware pieces. She found mostly cleaning things under the double bowl sink.

The microwave was indeed a convection oven so she could cook using it. Above that she found cookbooks and dry goods. But there was something on the countertop at the end that she couldn't explain. It was round and looked vaguely like a hot plate built into the countertop.

"Charts," Kate called out after opening one of two more doors that turned out to be a filing cabinet. "The bottom one has something." She left it open so Alexis could see.

"Toaster and coffeemaker," Alexis said.

Next came the bathroom down the stairs with the bed beyond. "Alexis, what's this?" Kate was behind her and just one step down, making Alexis come back.

"It's a safe. We need a key for that." They couldn't open it so she went down.

The bed was that way and the bathroom was that way. Alexis took the bed while Kate took the bathroom.

It was just a big bed to her. A small window above the headboard and a side window that had a small section that could be opened and a skylight in the ceiling. Then she had a thought.

"STORAGE!" Alexis lifted up the bed and saw a shit load of clothes meant for a guy and he had it all sectioned out using panels.

Kate was finding storage before she even entered the bathroom. "Closet." She opened this tall but really narrow door that held some clothes on hangers including a man's suit. She found a small desk-like place that was missing a chair. It had a shelf above that that held books to read.

The bathroom itself was rather small but it had everything and it was actually clean and didn't stink. If anything it smelled like it had just been cleaned. There was a mirror and a shelf over the sink. Under the sink was just cleaning supplies and other things that she was going to have to ask Alexis about.

The shower only accommodated one person. There was a skylight over it and a mirror in the shower which was interesting. The toilet she found was in this tight little room all its own.

Somehow she missed a door on the outside against the hull that was shallow but held nothing but towels. She joined Alexis in the bedroom. They looked at each other and silently questioned one another.

"Lay down, let's see if this works." Alexis watched her climb onto the bed from the foot end which was the only way to do it and laid down on her back. Kate watched Alexis climb in and join her. "It's tight on this thing," Alexis admitted.

"It is. They do seem to have used up all the space they can for something. Where do our clothes go?" Kate hadn't found much and Alexis pointed at the bed. "Oh!"

"Well the bed works, Mom. So does the rest of it work for you?" Alexis asked her.

"If I ever get mad at you you can sleep up there," Kate teased her and heard her burst out laughing. "Three sofas outside and that U-shaped one inside. You have to eat outside so if it's raining." Kate wasn't sure. "Did you find the refrigerator?"

Alexis nodded. "Yeah, it's a small under the counter type. No real freezer but it's enough for me since all you need it for is some blood bags. Not much color anywhere but all I found is men's clothing so maybe he doesn't care."

"Typical man," Kate commented. "It has enough space for me even if it doesn't look anywhere near fancy enough."

Alexis grinned since she suddenly remembered her suite back at the University. "We could change the black curtains and change the sheets to something better. Maybe find a way to change the cushions upstairs to get rid of the gray and add some color."

"Is it worth the cost? You're in charge out here. I go where you go. I'll never survive without you." Kate reached across to take her hand in hers.

"I have a few questions for him. This diesel motor; how big is the fresh water tank; the size of the waste tank; diesel fuel tank; when was the last time the motor was serviced; are there any extra sails since we have two. And most important, does he know anyone that can teach us how to sail." Now that one had Kate laughing. "We need to have it inspected by someone, too. I don't know much about boats."

\0/ V-V \0/

Alexis had her answers and he was ready with data sheets for them to read. No extra sails and while he was a little surprised, yes, he knew of someone that might be willing to teach them how to sail it. He was also expecting the inspection request. He even knew of someone they could hire to do it. Yes, that cost was on them.

They offered full price IF he left everything behind save for his clothes and personal items. And they wanted the diesel tank full, the fresh water tank full and the waste tank to be empty.

"I'll pass on your offer and I think he'll take it." They weren't asking for much after all. Nothing he wouldn't ask for.