(A/N): We're back in 1966 with Evie and friends. We learn a little more about Nicholai and Grey.

January 16th, 1966

Evie

I was still mad at Nicholai, and I'm sure he was even more upset with me, but I pushed that aside, in order to do what I had to do; I leaned over, and wrapped my arms around him in the most comforting hug I could muster. Unfortunately- and I wasn't sure if this was because he was still holding a grudge, or if he just wasn't used to being hugged in general- he reacted almost as though I'd tried to attack him.

"What the-?" He tensed to the point of being nearly statue-like in his rigidity, but what little movement he did make, it seemed like he was trying to pull away, but didn't want to hurt me in the process. He probably didn't want to risk Nuria's wrath again, and seeing his genuine discomfort made me pulling back slightly, so I could look up at him. He stared back at me warily, his eyes torn between wide-eyed shock and narrowed suspicion.

"You're not abominations, though." I told him, in case he didn't already know, and that suspicion leeched away just a tiny bit. "I don't know much about vampires-"

He snorted, and I felt his breath stir my hair- saw his eyes track the movement as though some sort of weapon might be hiding in it; like a serpent under a flower. "Clearly." Okay, if he kept being so rude about things, I was going to have to revoke his hug privileges.

"I mean, it's not like I grew up with it, or have been dealing with it for more than three hundred years, or anything- not to mention the fact that less than twelve hours ago, I didn't even know magic existed- so I think it's pretty fair of me to want to be able to ask questions without being treated like I'm willfully ignorant, don't you?" It was incredibly pointed, and Nicholai appeared appropriately apologetic.

Grey snorted, but there was an entirely different tone to it than Nicholai's. "Ask your questions. If Nick can't answer them, the rest of us will do our best to fill in the gaps." Can't... or won't? "I've dealt with my fair share of Hunters- even on good terms with one or two. It's not the same as growing up with the expectation of becoming one, but it'll get you where you want to go." I had a feeling there was an innuendo on the top of his tongue, but he managed to keep himself from voicing it.

"I'll answer them," Nicholai said, his voice tight, and I wasn't sure if it was because the subject was uncomfortable for him, or our position. "I'm at your disposal, Miss Wright." It felt weightier than I thought it should but I pushed forward anyway, too excited by the prospect of getting answers to be willing to dwell on it. Of acquiring much-needed knowledge.

"Why do Hunters think you're abominations against nature?" He opened his mouth. "And if you say 'because we are', I swear to God." And closed it, the movement accompanied by the click of his teeth.

It took a second for him to open his mouth again and when he did, I became intimately aware of his fangs, and the way they extended past the rest of his teeth. They didn't scare me, they were more of an interesting oddity- unfortunately for me, every single person in the room possessed the ability to smell said 'interest'. Nicholai's nostrils flared and his eyes widened, but then he seemed to recover from his surprise, because his eyelids fell to half-mast. It took another second for him to realise what was happening, and for whatever reason, he abruptly turned rather bashful.

Blood rose to his pallid cheeks, and he coughed awkwardly- turning his head politely so he didn't just cough straight in my face. My own cheeks were already flaming, but seeing as there wasn't much I could do about it, I made the conscious decision to accept it. "Yeah, yeah, I find you attractive. Why is anyone still surprised, at this point?" Grey snorted.

"Careful there, Evie. You're hitting all the sweet spots." Sweet spots? Oh. Oh. For him, or for Nicholai? Nicholai was the one blushing, but I don't think Grey was the type of person that blushed very often. "Khal says the universe gave him the gift of visions... I say the universe gave me the gift of direct women." Ah. I suppose that answered my question, then.

"The universe gave me the gift of women in general." Nuria muttered, and Nicholai hummed in agreement- I could feel it in my chest, pressed against him as I was. Maybe the answer wasn't as simple as I thought.

I pulled on my best attempt at a frown, pretending to be putout. "I don't understand how I'm the one being singled out for my interests, when everyone here is just so..." I trailed off, knowing they knew what I was getting at.

True to form, Grey huffed out a laugh. "Desperately randy, all the time?" He asked rhetorically, grinning, and I shrugged against Nicholai's body. Hm, I should probably let him go at some point, but he hadn't released me yet either, so maybe he needed the hug much more than he was letting on.

"I mean, I wasn't going to say it, but I'm glad you're self-aware." Grey rolled his eyes at me, even as the corner of his lips quirked up further.

He crossed his arms over his chest, pinning me with a look as though he was trying to imitate a disapproving authority figure, like a teacher who was about to reprimand one of their students. "Evie. Dear, sweet Evie," None of my teachers had even started a scolding like this, that's for sure. "I regret to inform you that I like it when women are mean to me. Really, really like it. In fact, I'd say it's one of my defining qualities." This was not surprising to me in the slightest.

"Considering who your sire is, I don't suppose you had much of a choice." Nuria sniped, expression dark, and Grey shrugged. He didn't look offended, but he did look a little tired.

"My sire is-"

Nicholai cut him off. "Your sire is a conversation in and of itself," He said, and Grey's eyebrows furrowed, like he wasn't sure what to make of that. Whether he should be relieved, or irritated. "I'd like the opportunity to answer Evie's questions about Hunters, if that's alright with you. I do have things to do after this, you know." Grey snorted.

"No, you don't." Nicholai glared at him, but I patted his chest before I pulled back.

I withdrew my arms from around his trunk, but let my hands rest on his thighs, instead; I needed to be able to see him, but I didn't want to end the physical contact so suddenly. I think it also helped keep him nice, since you couldn't really antagonise someone you were hugging- or touching- at least not without making things extremely awkward. "So, about the Hunters." He nodded somewhat stiffly.

"The... Hunters." He swallowed thickly, taking a second to prepare himself. "I wasn't... I was a bit of a disappointment to my family, if I'm honest." Good Lord, I thought I'd asked about the Hunters, not his life story- I really would've preferred not to have to feel bad for him at all, but I suspected I would soon. "My parents both came from long lines of Hunters- Ellwood and Fletcher, respectively- and while my mother was less involved than my father was, that wasn't always typical. There are definitely female Hunters- even at that time- my mother just preferred to stay on the sidelines a bit more than most. At least when it came to actively Hunting." What that mean, 'actively' Hunting?

"What's the difference between 'active' and 'inactive' Hunting?" I asked, and the corner of Nicholai's lips quirked up slightly.

"I don't know if there's such a thing as inactive Hunting, so to speak." Oh. "There's 'trying to kill vampires', and then, 'pretending you're not a Hunter'. I was the second one, when I was a human- which was only one reason I was a disappointment to my parents." Well.

"And the... others?" I asked rather hesitantly, and Grey snorted again.

"I bet I can take a running guess at one," He said, and Nicholai rolled his eyes at him. "Thirty-two and not married? Disgrace."

That didn't seem so disgraceful to me, but I suppose Nicholai had been born in a different sort of time. "You were only three years younger than me when Sidonie turned you," Nicholai pointed out- well, pointedly. "You weren't married either- although I'm sure it wouldn't have deterred her any, if you had been." Grey shrugged.

"I was a poor provincial peasant- you, my friend, very much were not." Jerremyah had said Nicholai has a 'Hunter-relic filled mansion', so I guess that made sense. "And if I'd been married, I wouldn't be here today, because I wouldn't have accepted Sidonie's offer." And what did this... offer, entail?

Nicholai narrowed his eyes at Grey like he didn't believe him. "I don't believe anything could possibly be more important to you than what you bargained for." Grey hesitated for the barest second, then shrugged.

"Maybe if I'd married for love, I would've been content continuing to live my life in the dark. But without that..." In the dark? What was that supposed to mean?

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but..." Grey turned his attention to me, and Nicholai turned his attention back to me. "If you ever felt like explaining anything you're talking about, that would be very helpful."

Grey snorted quietly, his lips curving up. "Sorry," He said, not looking sorry at all. "What did you want to know?" I didn't hesitate; I knew what I wanted, and if Grey didn't want to answer, then that was up to him- the only thing I could do was ask.

"What was Sidonie's offer? What did you bargain for?"

His lips rolled inward as though he was trying to stop himself from grinning, instead of just smiling; he seemed amused by my question, for whatever reason. "Her offer," He practically purred. "Was that she would turn me, if I agreed to join her clan." Her... clan? "I could only join her clan if I agreed to her conditions." That... sounded fair enough to me, but I still wasn't sure what he meant when he mentioned her 'clan'. Was that a vampire thing, or...? "The main condition being that I serve her... sexually." But he'd said he bargained- this just sounded like straight out accepting, more than anything else.

"You said you bargained; what did you bargain for?"

His smile turned from amused to something surprisingly genuine, and almost... wistful? "I bargained for knowledge," What in the ever-loving fluff was that supposed to m- "I made her teach me how to read."

(A/N): Grey: 'Thirty-two and not married? Disgrace.'

Nicholai: *choosing not to remind him that he was thirty-two when he was turned, but Jonothan murdered their parents a few years before that, and thus they were clearly disappointed by him before that point*

also

Evie: *getting turned on by Nicholai's fangs*

Nicholai: *getting turn on by Evie getting turned on by his fangs*

Evie: '(...) his (Nicholai's) eyelids fell to half-mast.'

Nicholai: 'And something else ROSE to half-mast.'

also

Grey: 'Direct women, amiright?'

Nuria: 'Women, amiright?'

Nicholai: 'Mmhm.'

Khal: 'Men, amiright?'

Evie: 'You're all absolute geniuses. No notes.'

also

Evie: 'I have no idea what's going on and I'm just rolling with it, but if you could be a little bit nicer about it, that would be great.'

Nicholai: *mean*

Grey: *cryptic*

Evie: 'Is there like... a guidebook or something? Heck, I'll take a pamphlet-'

Leo: 'Trust me, you don't want the pamphlets...'

Info:

The 'serpent under the flowers' line is from Macbeth: "Look like the innocent flower,/ but be the serpent under 't".

Also I don't know if I've mentioned the fact that Grey specifically agreed to be turned into a vampire so he could learn to read, but if I have... well, here it is again, for Evie. And there's a very real possibility that I HAVE mentioned it before, because I thought up an 'entirely new' concept to do with Grey's story the other day (I'll be able to talk about it after the next chapter), but when I checked the wiki page I created for him, it listed that exact thing, albeit missing a part and with less detail. I... had no idea. I thought I'd just come up with it, but apparently I'd already had that idea, and put it on paper, so if you see something in the next (Evie) chapter where you're like, 'hey, wasn't that a thing already?'... yes, yes it was. Nothing should contradict itself, though, so I think we should be good, whether I've mentioned it or not. (I went looking and didn't find anything actually in the posted story but... you never know. Or more accurately, I never know.)

Also x2, I'm pretty sure the Halloween chapter is going to be the chapter I originally planned to be chapter 400, since I think now that the never-ending conversation has... ended, I'll be able to get to where I need to be in time. I'll keep the other idea on the back burner though, since I think it could still be really interesting.

So I'm rereading this particularly chapter (30/12/24), and came across this line by Grey: 'I like it when women are mean to me.' and came to the realisation that, uh... it runs in the family?