Josef slowly hauled himself out of bed. He ran his hand through his hair once more and walked into his bathroom connected to his bedroom. He slipped out of boxers and stepped into the shower turning the water ice cold. He washed, ruffled his hair and rubbed his eyes. Stepping out, he wrapped a towel around his waist and let his hair air dry out.
Walking back into his bedroom, he visibly jumped when he saw azure eyes staring up at him from her perch on his bed. He blinked and she was gone. Letting out a loud groan, he dressed, pulling on an indigo dress shirt and dark blue slacks.
Running a hand through his hair in a nervous action, he closed his eyes. Deciding he needed some breakfast, he headed out of his room and down the massive highly decorated staircase. After that, he'd bury himself in his work.
- - - - -
"I knew I should have took the limo." Josef muttered to himself. He walked on his way home, the cool wind brushing against his cheek, sounds of cars at the next intersection all amplified by his vampiric senses. He didn't miss the quiet giggle behind him but when he looked over his shoulder, nothing was there. Burying his hands in the pockets of his Hugo Boss coat, he looked forward, ears pricked for the little giggle again.
Again he heard it, and whirling around, his arm shot out and lifted the little body up in the air by the collar of her white dress. He assumed that only with his vampiric speed, he would catch her.
"Brother!" She grinned at him, unafraid. Large blue eyes twinkled in mischief.
"You!" He growled. She had appeared sitting by the office window, standing on the limousine hood, perched on his bed. The little girl, not eight years old, was burning Josef's patience to very little. "Why have you been following me?" He snarled, his feral gaze pinning her down.
"Please put me down, Brother, people will think odd of you if they see you holding up a defenceless little girl by the scruff of her neck." She said, her gaze directed downward and her voice the barest of whispers.
Josef could hear it though so, very reluctantly, he placed her on the ground. He kept his grip on her, her small black-shoed feet tapping onto the sidewalk as they hit the ground.
"Now release me." She said in the same voice, so solemn and sad.
"How do I know you're not going to vanish?" Josef growled, distrusting.
"It took me awhile to find you. I'm not going to let you go." She looked at him then, a small almost dark smile settling onto her pale face.
Josef stiffened at the sudden implications. "Who are you?" He snarled, his patience coming to an end. His voice was quiet but both of them could hear the aggravation in it. Instead of releasing her, his grip tightened on the snow white collar.
"Brother, don't play games, of course you know me. Please release me," She let a bit of whining into her voice and raised it several octaves, her eyes becoming watery.
Josef unclenched his fist, taken aback by how quickly changing and volatile her emotions were. She looked only eight, aren't most eight year olds supposed to be disgustingly chipper? The unclenching of his hand was all she needed, it seemed. A fit of giggles was heard behind him. Whirling around, he watched nonplussed as she started skipping down the sidewalk, in the direction of his apartment.
"C'mon Brother! Stop looking like a dope and let's go home already." She grinned cheerfully as she stuck her tongue out. His eyes didn't miss the slightly sharpened and elongated canines but they were quickly hidden as she twirled around and kept going.
He shook himself out of his shock and briskly walked to keep up with her. "Why do you keep calling me brother?" he asked as he fell in stride with her. He was surprised that she easily knew which way they had to go to get to his apartment.
"You are, silly. If you can't even remember my name, Brother, it starts with an M, but I like the L part better." She said in a cheerfully childish voice.
"I haven't met you once in my life, I can't know the name of someone I haven't met," Josef argued his tone exasperated.
The little girl just giggled. "You have a meeting with Mick, tomorrow, right?" She asked.
Josef was again surprised and he narrowed his eyes at her, aura growing dangerous. He was getting tired of all of these surprises and he was still exhausted. "How did you know that?" He asked her warily.
"I know a lot of things Brother," She smiled up at him and tilted her head. "We're here." She announced.
Josef abruptly looked up, finding himself in front of the apartment building. He was so engrossed his conversation with the little girl he hadn't noticed their arrival. He briskly climbed the front steps and entered through the spinning doors. The little girl giggled as she went around twice. She arrived at his side moments later.
They were in the expansive lobby, a young male manning the reception desk. He was a vampire too, his name Malcolm, Josef recalled. He quickly crossed the threshold, the young girl trailing behind him as she took in everything with wide eyes. He arrived at the elevator and pressed the topmost button to lead them to the penthouse apartment. The girl was right beside him as he stepped inside.
Malcolm gave them an odd look as the elevator door shut. It was rare that Mr. Konstantin brought guests but he'd never seen the vampire bring up a little girl before.
"Why do you want to know about my meeting with Mick?" He asked the little girl, watching her play with the sleeve of her dress.
"I'm going to talk to him. Is he bringing Beth? I'd love to formally meet her." She said, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.
"He probably will," He didn't even ask how she knew Beth, as he supposed that he would just get another vague answer from her.
"Okay!" She grinned.
The elevator gave a ding and opened up to reveal the entrance hall. There were doors along both sides, but they only led to closets. The end door led to the living room of his apartment. They entered through it and the little girl beside him let out a gasp.
"Pretty, Brother!" She grinned. "I call the couch." She slipped off her black shoes, untying them and placing them neatly next to his. She then raced to the large sofa and curled up on it.
"Hey! Are you saying you're staying with me?" Josef frowned, disgruntled at how she wormed into his life so quickly.
"Duh," She said and closed her eyes as if she deemed their conversation over.
Josef at a loss of what to say for once, sighed and went into his room to change into silk pyjamas. Smoothing the shirt over his chest, he flopped onto his four-poster and curled up into the crimson sheets, banishing all thoughts and falling into a dreamless sleep.
Hours later he awoke to rustling in his bed. And he wasn't the one doing it. Opening his eyes, he quickly pulled out a dagger from a secret compartment in his headboard and held it in front of him. He then saw the little girl, standing by the side of the bed tugging on the sheets in an effort to wake him.
"What do you want?" He growled groggily, placing the knife on his bedside table. He realized he was a little hungry so he slipped out of bed.
"I had a nightmare, Brother." She explained herself to him and for once he took notice that it was the whole truth.
It didn't help his mood of getting woken up in the middle of the night, or rather, day. "What the hell am I to do about it?" He growled, frowning at her.
"Can I sleep here?" She asked him in earnest.
He groaned and looked at her in exasperation. "Haven't you given me enough trouble?" He asked her, nearly wanting to pull his hair out in frustration at the thought of how much trouble she had given him in the amount of time he had been in her presence.
"You're right." She looked down as if ashamed but he caught how her eyes were tearing. He knew she was trying to guilt him into it but he couldn't help but feel a little pity.
"Fine, you can, I just need to get a drink, you stay in here." He looked at her, searching for any mischief or deceit within those blue depths.
"Okay I will. I promise Brother!" She smiled and perched on the edge of the bed.
He exited his room and headed to the fridge. He pulled out a glass of blood and downed it in one swig. He put it in the sink after rinsing and headed back, licking his lips for any traces. He then came back into his room, to find the little girl curled up on one of his pillows, seemingly asleep.
He carefully slipped under the covers and closed his eyes, feeling rather drowsy. He felt her wiggle her small body through the covers, her back touching his. The last thing he heard before surrendering to slumber was a small whisper.
"Thank-you Brother."
- - - - -
He sat on his chair with a leg crossed over his and his arms crossed-over his chest.
"What's up?" Mick looked quizzically at his friend, seeing the dark shadows under his eyes. He knew that sometimes vampires missed out on sleep but Josef seriously needed to catch up on it.
"Well..." Josef started, at a loss of what to say. He was trying to figure out a way to broach this subject.
"Go on," Beth prodded him, giving him a smile of encouragement.
He smirked and looked back to Mick. "We have a little problem." He started.
"Wait—we?" Mick asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, by 'we' I mean I have a little problem and I'm dragging you into it." Josef explained quickly.
At that moment, the little girl slid onto Mick's lap from behind the couch. She had clambered to sit on the back of it and simply jumped, intending to land between the two but ended on Mick. "Hi!" She greeted him with a big grin on her face.
Mick visibly jumped and after looking at her for a few minutes they flew to Josef. "You call this little?!" He asked him, feeling very taken aback by having a little girl on his lap. He looked at her once more but she was looking at Beth, waving her little hand at the reporter.
"Hi, you're the pretty news lady on the computer!" She chirruped adorably.
"Yes I am." Beth replied, wondering how she knew that. What child watched the news?
"Well okay so I lied, not a little problem per se," Josef was grinning, particularly entertained by his friend's reaction.
Mick was silent for a few minutes, watching her grinning up at him. Then it clicked and his gaze flickered back to his friend. "Josef do you know who this is?" he asked tiredly.
"Well, she calls me—"
"Brother! You are Brother." The little girl pouted, jutting out her lower lip and crossing her arms over her chest, mimicking Josef.
"Her name is Melanie Lawson." Mick stated. "Her parents came to me a few months ago, asking me to find her."
"NO!" All three were startled by the loud outburst from the little girl. They looked at her expectantly when she turned red and buried her head in her arms.
"No?" Mick asked, looking at her quizzically. She didn't move and kept silent.
"It starts with an M but you prefer the one that starts with an L." Josef said quietly, remembering the little girl's words the night before.
Slowly she lifted her head to look at him, big eyes watery and cheeks flushed. She was clinging onto him in a hug in second. "Yeah Brother," She kept hugging him, her voice muffled by her face buried in his stomach.
Josef stiffened and then awkwardly patted her small back. She sat back up and got off of him and stood on the floor.
"Melanie—" Mick started but he was interrupted.
"Laine." She said it so quietly Beth couldn't hear it but both vampires could.
"Laine, your parents wanted me to find you." Mick explained gently.
Laine looked up at him and then looked at Beth. "I know. They couldn't ever find me. I was the best in my class at hide and seek." She said, looking down.
"Laine, how old are you?" Beth asked her. Laine looked up at Beth's voice and she slowly lifted her hand.
She held up three fingers.
Beth's eyebrows immediately rose. She got up and knelt beside little Laine. "Don't you mean this much?" She made Laine hold out one hand and three fingers, counting eight.
"No." She pouted and held up three fingers again.
"You can't be three." Beth said. "You wouldn't be able to walk and talk as well as you do."
"Uh, uh. Brother, what does this look like to you?" She turned and looked at Josef, holding her hand out to him.
"Three fingers." Josef answered sarcastically.
"Mister Mick, what does this look like?" She held out one finger.
"One finger." Mick was nonplussed at the girl's antics.
"So what's this?" She asked, holding up a finger on one hand and three on the other.
"Three ones?" Josef asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh huh. What does that make, Beth?" She asked the reporter.
"One-hundred and eleven." Beth's eyes turned to saucers as Laine grinned at her, canines elongated and defined. Her blue eyes turned a turbulent stormy white.
"And that makes me?" Laine asked with childish glee at Beth's response of horrified shock.
Beth let out a long, loud breath; heart beating a mile a minute. "A vampire."