The city was beautiful tonight. She had needed a release from Kain recently and decided to return to town. She didn't bother to stop by the mansion, Malcolm would be there for quite a while now and she felt she could catch up with him as soon as her guest was returned home. She needed to be alone.
She climbed to a rooftop overlooking the city, sitting with her one leg swung over the edge. She watched the passing humans beneath her, going to and from various places of business. She could hear the loud noises of the street beneath her, but it was muffled by the time it reached her, creating a gentle back sound to her current perch.
She savored her time up here, knowing that all too soon she would have to return home and face Kain again. Her lips made the ever so faint impression of a grin though at the thought of her recent time with him. He was quite the distraction. So different from the average vampire. Despite his lack of people skills, it was refreshing to be around someone such as him. Intelligence and dignity...hard to come by these days.
She wondered what life would be like after he was gone. Would she tell Malcolm of her little adventure? No, of course not. She loved him but if he were to know anything of the past few nights he just may lock her in her room and weld the door shut, refusing to allow his dear sister to place herself in such danger again. No, preferably this would remain between Kain, Michael, and herself.
"Enjoying the view?" the voice brought her out of her meditation. How did he find her? She felt her hands clench.
"Hello Jonathan. What do I owe this pleasure?" She didn't turn to look at him, knowing already the sinister grin that he would have on his face, that he always had on his face.
"I was simply out. Home can get sooo boring at times." he sounded like he had moved closer to her, his feet shuffling against the rough surface of the roof.
"And you find our conversations any better?"
"Oh my dear sister. I always find you very entertaining," He was sitting besides her now, far too close for comfort. She found the thought of pushing him off the roof a delightful idea, but knew from experience that it would harm him little. "If not a little predictable anymore."
She turned to look at him, his face was shrouded by his dark bangs. "Predictable?"
He snorted slightly. "I must say you haven't done much with yourself these days. Leeching off of the scraps that our Master gives to you is a long way away from the fine wines and good breeding of your former life. Isn't it aristocrat?" he spat the term, gently moving a stray hair away from her face. She slapped his arm away.
"Don't touch me!" she snarled, baring her fangs at him. She swore, if he kept up with this for much longer he wouldn't be eldest for long.
He smiled, completely satisfied in his successful attempts to fire her blood. It was the history of their relationship. Many times before he would succeed in driving her to the breaking point. On a few occasions she even would strike back, always to be reminded of why he chose to pick on her above the others. She was younger, much younger then he, and therefore weaker. The few times she did beat him back, their Master would be sure to come in and straighten things out. Usually by punishing her. She tried to hold her tongue as much as she could, but he had a way of finding her weakest points. She just wished that he wouldn't bring up the past like that.
He suddenly drew back, his expression telling her why. He was being whispered. "The Master wants me," he stated, bowing slightly in mock respect. "Shall we continue this later?"
"Don't hold your breath." she threw back as she watched him leap from roof to roof until he was finally out of sight.
She was fuming. She lashed out at the first thing in her way, and placed a significantly sized hole in the metal side of an air conditioner.
"Having fun?" his accented voice broke into her rage. She watched as he stepped from the shadows, his new leather jacket keeping him warm from the bitter chill of the air.
"Kain?" she was surprised to say the least. "How did you get here?" And were you watching all this time?
"You left the keys to the other car."
He drove here? She briefly wondered how her sports car was now faring. She laughed. "When exactly did you have time to learn how to drive?"
He smiled slightly. "It's actually not so difficult."
There was a lengthy silence between them minus the sounds of honking horns and people chattering below. Her cheeks flushed against her wishes. She knew he had seen all and was embarrassed to have been so throughly dominated by someone like Jonathan in front of him. What little respect Kain may have had for her she was sure was now completely gone.
"Who was he?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"My brother. My Master's firstborn," she answered. "And one of the ones looking for you."
He laughed. "Perhaps I should consider coming out of hiding then."
She wished he hadn't of brought the subject up, but she smiled anyway. She knew that even if she wasn't strong enough to take on her brother, Kain certainly was. Besides the frustration of him, Kain could bring such pleasant thoughts to her at times. Still, she rapidly changed subjects.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"No, actually. Rather bored though."
"Hmm..." where could she take him that he wouldn't find equally tedious? Coming up with nothing good, she chose something many humans do when bored. "Do you want to go see a movie?"
He didn't seem too sure what exactly she was talking about. "Movie?"
"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you. Never know, you might like it."
He seemed...tense as they stood in line at the theater. There must have been fifty humans around them, some even coming so close as to brush into them. He complained a few times of the smell. Neither one of them would have bothered to turn into their Disguise form, the modern teenaged fashion statements had taken care of that little obstacle, but she didn't wish for him to be sighted. Despite his own ability at the spell, he had a tendency to stand out. She couldn't sense any other vampires around, so she felt safe enough to bring him here. The others were more then likely at the large feast they were having back home. They had one every so many months and no one living there missed it. Except for her, usually.
It had required some pleading for him to leave the sword in the trunk however. She convinced him that they wouldn't need it for the short time he would be separated from it.
Not really knowing what he would enjoy, she eliminated the idea of a romantic comedy and went for what she hoped was the sure thing. Passing the box office, they made their way to the ticket receiver. She suppressed a giggle at the look they both received from the obviously old fashioned man who did not like her belly ring.
"25 to your right." he rattled off as he handed them their ticket stubs.
She looked up in time to see Kain curl his lip at the man before she tugged on his arm and lead him down the hallway, surprised he didn't say something about her touching him. She quickened her pace, not wanting a scene, as she heard the man behind them mutter "freaks" underneath his breath. If only you knew sweetie.
The theater wasn't overly crowded, but they were hardly alone. She led him down to near the front of the seats, closer to the screen. She always had liked it closer, ever since she had seen her first film. Back then however they never had surround sound...or even color.
She settled him in the middle aisle, just a few rows back from the direct front. Checking her watch she realized they were still a good fifteen minutes early. She looked over at Kain, thinking on how she would pass the time with him. She did hate those awkward silences between them.
"It will be a few minutes, they'll show commercials until then."
He made a movement with his head that seemed to be a nod, he looked bored.
She was already mocking herself for her decision to bring him here. She should have known that this was a bad idea. What would lead her to believe that he could enjoy something as mundane as this? Still, she tried to make the best of the night.
"So tell me more about yourself." she said.
He stared at her with what looked to be amusement. "What specifically do you need to know?" he asked.
She shrugged. "What do you do back home? Are you a warrior or something?" She assumed by his previous attire.
"Something like that."
She turned away, annoyed. "You enjoy being the mysterious one don't you?"
A laughed momentarily sounded in his throat, low enough that you could barely even hear it. "If it's so important to know then I rule over a section of land,"
She turned back to him. Somehow that statement didn't surprise her. "A King, huh?"
He grinned, the light of the screen reflecting off his fangs. "Something like that."
Another Elder. Figures. Arrogant bastards are all alike. Now, now, Leandra, play nice.
"I see," she said, running out of things to talk about. "So what's Nosgoth like?"
He didn't answer right away. She wasn't sure he had heard her until he finally spoke. "It's...difficult. But preferable to here."
She understood. No matter what here was like, it still wasn't home for him. Even for her, after a hundred years, this hardly felt like the ideal place to be. She would have escaped long ago, but she felt she had nowhere to go. Each city had it's own unique tastes and styles, but it was all the same in the end. It never gave her much motivation to change. Or so she told herself.
"What are the vampires like where you are from?" she asked.
His expression turned hard. "They are few."
"Few?"
"Yes. Humans in Nosgoth are not as...ignorant of vampires as they look to be here. You are fortunate in that you don't have too many who know what you are and that they don't have an entire army against you."
"What do they do?" She had an idea, but she wanted details.
He turned to her. "Their preferred method of execution is impalement. Although sometimes they burn vampires alive for show."
She was taken aback by this. There were tales of a time, before they mastered the dark gift of Disguise...a universal feature now amongst her kind... when individual vampires were run out of their homes by small mobs of men pretending to be great warriors of light. But she had never heard of an actual army of these people, killing great amounts of her kind. She once again began to doubt his sanity in wishing to return to such a place.
"You have still yet to tell me your name." he said.
She looked at him, currently watching the advertisements as they flickered across the screen. "It's Leandra."
He now seemed uninterested in their talk, still bristling at the throngs of humans around them.
No matter. The movie was starting now.