Pannic and Dragon

They ascended the stairs, and her pace quickened, the orange liquid pulsing through her veins. She turned to her right, and headed down a long hallway on the second floor. This was the floor he was apparently allowed on, when he had permission. At the end of the hallway were two ancient looking wooden doors. Bridge pushed, and though forced to use her shoulder, got them open.

The room was large. Large and open. It was much bigger than Pernas' bedroom, or even the kitchen. Windows were everything. Actually, there were less walls than glass. There was an enormous piano in top condition, and various other instruments about the room, some on velveted armchairs, a few on a velveted lovecouch. Bridgette strutted over to a chair near a harp and collapsed.

"This is the music room. We dance, sing, and play in here. I figured you'd like this the best, so I decided to show you it first. I mean, I know what it's like to be a slave, but Kristof isn't such a bad master," she said. Her voice was light, as if she hadn't a care in the world. Her obsidian black eyes flickered to his face, to judge his reaction.

"My favorite's the harp," she commented quietly, one of her hands tracing the line of the golden instrument before her.

Kid. In. A. Candy Store.

Okay, maybe not that extreme, but Pernas hadn't seen a piano it quite some time.

"Oh, wow..." Pernas said, walking up to the piano. He sat down at the bench, slowly put his hands on the keys, and began to play the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique.

Or, tried to. He was a bit rusty, and he missed a few notes. So he started over. And he still missed some notes. This went on for a bit, until he finally asked.

"Er... you wouldn't happen to have the music for it, would you?"

Bridgette nodded, and crossed over to a mirrored wall. She tapped on the mirror three times, and it swung open to reveal a rather large cabinet. She rustled through some papers for a while, and finally emerged with the correct sheet music. She sat down beside Pernas, and adjusted the sheet music in front of him.

"That's a beautiful piece, and you're pretty good. You'll need to be perfect though, for Kristof. I'll give you a heads up on his mood and what to practice though, so don't worry," she said. She sighed, and closed her eyes. She was so still, she seemed asleep, but with the sound of the front door swinging open, obsidian eyes flew open.

"Sorry, you'll have to practice later," she apologized, stuffing the sheet music back in the mirrored cabinet. Before they could descend the stairs, a tall, unusually pale woman entered the room. She was carrying gawdy decorations, the kind one might use for a rave.

"You're still here? You've certainly lasted long, but he'll get tired of you soon. He's fond of you though. He might even bury you, instead of throwing you out with the garbage," the vampire woman sneered.

"Just set up for the party. I'd hate to have to burst into tears at your insensitivity. Kristof might get upset, you know," Bridgette sneered back. The woman's face lost it's smug look, and she hurried about the room, transforming it more quickly than any mortal.

"Come on, Pernas. I need to dress you. You can't wear that to the rave tonight," she sighed. She started down the stairs and towards his room. But the woman gazed at Pernas with a hungry gleam in her eye.

ooc:// I feel like that was horrible. I had a surprise paper sprung on me, and I still, of course, went to the Harry Potter movie premier, so I'm going on no sleep. XD

"Heh. Sorry." Pernas said as she put the sheet music in front of me. "It's been a while since I've had a chance to play at a piano." he said, chuckling a little.

Then he looked down at his hands to check that they were at the right keys, and when he looked up, the music was gone again.

Someone had entered the house. Is Kristof back already? he thought.

No, it was another vampire. A woman. He always got really nervous around vampire women, for reasons he didn't understand, and... that was certainly a loud outfit. If outfits could make noise, that is. Well, I guess they could if your attached...

Oh, never mind.

He just sat there as the vampire uttered some condescending remark which was shrugged off. He got up as he saw Bridgette approach him. Well, it stood to reason - if he couldn't play music now, that meant there was something else on the agenda. He just followed and nodded as she told him what to do.

He cast a glance at the vampiress... That look she was giving him made him feel very awkward.

"oh, okay..." He muttered. "Rave?"

Bridgette looked over her shoulder as he followed her.

"Yeah, Kristof woke up this morning in the mood for a rave. The whole vampire community's coming," she explained. She said this calmly, as if a vampire master's mood swings that dictated the schedule of an entire immortal community were completely normal. Then again, in her world, they were.

She stepped into his room and opened the door to his walk-in closet. She emerged with a pair of jeans that looked two times larger than Pernas' waist, a baggy black t-shirt, and a black baseball cap. She threw the clothes at Pernas and sat herself on his bed nonchalantly.

"You'll need to wear that. And please, for the love of God, don't go anywhere without me tonight. Most of the vampires know not to mess with any of Kristof's...slaves, but well, you haven't been here that long, so..." she said. Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged her shoulders. Apparently, a shrug of her shoulders in this context meant his death would come quite sooner if he didn't follow her instructions.

"I'll have to perform, of course, so stay near Kristof when I do. That should keep you safe enough till I'm through. Oh, and remember - don't speak unless spoken to, and if it's not Kristof speaking, you may just want to shut up anyway," she said. She raised her eyebrows at Pernas, waiting to see if he had any questions. It seemed she had forgotten all about his changing clothes.

ooc:// I figured we would just do a couple posts here and then skip forwards to that night. Feeling wolfish already, or do you want to hold that off? I could easily have Kristof change him tonight.

Pernas looked at the clothes. Huh. Not the sort of thing he normally wore.

I'll look like a rapper in this... he thought to himself. Hopefully he doesn't ask me to rap.

"Okay, so I stick next to you and Kristof... keep my mouth shut..." he said to himself, examining the clothes. "That way I don't get killed."

How on earth are these pants even supposed to stay on? he wondered, looking at how wide the waist was.

He was a bit nervous. He didn't go to many parties. Not very good with them.

"Anything else I should know?" he asked.

Bridgette, or Bridge, as she was today, gave a sort of understanding smirk at the look on his face. She couldn't read his thoughts, of course, but facial expressions were another thing.

"You're going to have to get used to it, dressing differently from day to day. I actually find it a bit amusing, you know, once you are used to it," she said. And here there came a sort of awkward pause. Either Bridgette didn't notice it, or she didn't care. She simply stared at Pernas in silence, obsidian eyes flickering and dancing with her own private thoughts. Finally, she sighed heavily, and lifted herself off his bed with obvious effort.

"No, nothing more you need to know. Well, stay away from Asura," she said, jerking her head towards the upstairs. That must have meant the vampiress she had a short tongue lashing with.

"She's a bitch, and while she won't kill you, she won't think twice about draining a couple pints, and take my word for it, you'll want to avoid that, if you can," she said. Her voice was a bit darker, and she looked away from him more quickly than usual.

"I'll wait here," she said, stepping out the door, "I don't want Asura slipping in while you're changing."

ooc:// I have hatched a beautiful idea on how to turn Pernas. Not at the rave, but I will give you a clue:

Dog fighting.

"Ahh. Okay..." Pernas said. He didn't like that look Asura had given him. Well, so long as he stayed near Bridgette and Kristof, that probably wouldn't be a problem.

After Bridgette had left and closed the door, Pernas changed his clothes.

Well, it wasn't all bad. Nice and roomy. Though it was a bit awkward having pants that seemed on the verge of falling off. Oh, a belt would be nice.

But then, he remembered he didn't really like belts all that much.

"'lo?" he said, stepping out of his room.

((ooh))

Bridgette snorted in laughter as Pernas emerged. She covered her mouth, and tried to look apologetic.

"Sorry, but you look ridiculous," she giggled. She twisted her hair up in a bun, and although curls fell about her face, she pinned the majority of it above her head.

"Kristof won't be back until the party. Let's get out of this madhouse for a few hours while they set up," she said, motioning towards the back door.

ooc:// Um, maybe we can fastforward to tonight? I suppose you can just post something like they spent a few hours talking, Bridgette being rather pleasant and extremely intelligent, and the house becomes very noisy once the sun is gone. Sorry that post was so short and crappy. X(

((No probby))

"Ah, well..." Pernas said, looking at his outfit. "Could be worse..."

He followed her to the back door.

It was odd. She seemed so different when Kristof wasn't there. When Kristof was there, she was really mean and disparaging. But when he wasn't around, she was very helpful to him.

It occurred to him that she'd probably be in "mean-mode" during the party. Though he didn't bring that up in conversation. He didn't bring much anything up in conversation. Not too good at words, he just let her do most of the talking. She was smarter than him. He. He wouldn't know the proper grammar, anyway.

*skip?*

ooc:// I'm spending the day at my grandmother's, but I will post late tonight.

"Damn," Bridge cursed. A stretch limo had just driven into the driveway. Kristof had arrived. She stood up from the park bench where they had spent the last few hours talking, and straightened her black mini-skirt. She looked back at Pernas, though something darker had already entered her facial expression.

"Stay close, and..." she stopped, and for a moment, her obsidian eyes softened, "I'm sorry."

What she was apologizing for, Pernas could only guess would be for the rest of the night. The two walked into the mansion, and it looked nothing like it had that morning. Everything was modern, even the kitchen had been turned into a bar. Bridge gave the pale vampire bar tender a look, and he slide her a cocktail. A rather, orange cocktail. She downed it in a single gulp, and looked over at Pernas. Her face was hard, arrogant, and bitter. Nothing of the girl he had talked to in the gardens now remained.

"Come on, you worthless piece of shit. I can't believe my Master has let you live this long," she hissed. The bartender chuckled, and Bridgette grabbed his collar, pulling him roughly towards her.

"But no matter. I'll just tell him I don't like you. Then we'll see how long you last, stupid lap-dog," she spit. The bartender laughed harder, and shook his head. Crimson red hair flouncing around her shoulders, Bridgette walked into the entry hall.

"Bridge, nice job with the place," Kristof called, swinging her around until she was so close to him they might have been Siamese twins. She gave a sort of smirk, and pointed a finger at the dark haired vampiress that had looked at Pernas before.

"She's a total bitch, and more trouble than her...limited skills are worth," she snapped. The woman began to hiss, but one look from Kristof had her silenced.

"I'll have to remember that next time; now what's say we have a dance, eh?" he asked. Bridge nodded, and leaned in to plant a sloppy, passionate French kiss on his lips. Some of the other vampires looked away, but not one had enough nerve to cringe. Kristof was above reproach. The entire group headed up towards the dancefloor. Neither Kristof nor Bridgette acknowledged Pernas' presence. Asura, however, smiled at him, though it was a sickening sight.

Sorry?

"Uhh... okay, I guess..." Pernas said. Then it came again. The verbal abuse that came whenever she was in public.

Fine, I guess. He could take that.

Though whole mansion makeover creeped him out. This was the rave. He just felt really uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. Bunch of vampires gathering in this place, and the change of decorations was just jarring.

He stood there as Bridgette continued to insult him, and the Bartender laughed at her comments.

He must've had something to drink, too. He thought, as he watched her drink. It was that orange drink again... what was that?

But he was yanked from his thoughts by her, grabbing his collar. "Ah!" he said softly, from the surprise.

Act or no act, it made him feel bad.

She finally let go of him when she met up with Kristof. He was thankful that Kristof ignored him for the most part. He just just stand around them, per her advice, and...

He lost his train of thought. He just didn't like the look of them... kissing. He didn't know why, he just didn't like it.

Now they were going to go dancing. Alright, fair enough -

Wait. If they were going off onto the dance floor, should Pernas follow and hover around them? That would look awkward. Dancing couples and some human kid just walking around, following one of the pairs...

He saw Asura looking at him. That smile... He cringed slightly. He did not like the way she was looking at him.

Pernas was soon to discover he was not the only mortal at the party. Once on the dance floor, the mirrored room Bridgette had showed him earlier, there were several girls, human girls, hanging on male vampires.

Blood dolls. You could tell by the teeth marks all over them. Not one of them looked half as well taken care of as Bridgette did. Most were dressed in old, tattered clothes, and none of them looked healthy.

It wasn't hard to stay near Kristof and Bridgette. The floor was so packed that it would have been more difficult to move through the crowd away from them. Though, if the sight of kissing had been uncomfortable for Pernas, the dance moves of Bridgette were much worse. She and Kristof danced so closely it looked a bit as if they were having sex with clothes on. After a few dances, all hip-hop and rap, had passed, Kristof clapped his hands. The music stopped immediately.

"Let's have a show, shall we?" Kristof asked the room. It was a command, and the room responded appropriately, with rousing applause. All the blood dolls took center stage, while the rest of the crowd stood along the sidelines. Bridgette stood out more than ever, especially when the music started. In fact, she stood out so much, the other girls looked as if they would hardly pass for her back-up dancers. While Bridgette was dancing, Pernas was suddenly touched on the shoulder by an all too familiar face. The vampiress with the dark hair, Asura, Bridgette had called her.

"Hi there, sweetheart," she said, fangs gleaming, "Why don't you and I go find a quiet place in the gardens, hm?". Her voice was sweet, but her eyes, crimson red, were hungry. Too hungry. A couple pints was not what she had in mind.

ooc:// I doubt I have to tell you, Pernas going with her, is a super bad idea that he totally shouldn't do. Though, I am about to introduce another character, so you can have him be stupid if you like. But I have several ideas on how to introduce that character, so choose whichever humors you best.

Thankfully, Pernas managed to get through that whole dancing thing rather uneventfully. And then...

Sweetheart? Nobody had ever called him that. He turned around. It was Asura. He kept thinking in very short, fragmented sentences.

The look on her face was even creepier than usual. She... if he went with her... no. Even he wasn't that stupid. He thought, and -

"I'm not allowed." he said quietly, inching a bit closer to Kristof.

Stay close to Bridgette and Kristof, stay close to Bridgette and Kristof, stay close to... Man I don't like this music. It makes me feel like I'm at some... some...

And then he stopped walking, trying to think of a correct word.

The mini-show ended, and Bridgette crossed the floor. Quickly. She had spotted Asura.

"Something my master and I can help you with, bitch?" she hissed, leaning on Kristof's shoulder. The blond vampire chuckled, but Asura hissed.

"Bitch, am I, girl?" she whispered. Her crimson eyes landed on Pernas, and there was some new malice obvious.

"Kristof," she said loudly, getting almost the entire room's attention, "You haven't been at the fights lately. We've been missing your purse. Maybe you could join us tomorrow night? After all, you do seem to have...". Asura paused, looking at Pernas once more. She smiled at the boy.

"More help than necessary around anyway," she finished with a polite smile in Kristof's direction. Bridgette's smirk faded, and so did the color from the rest of her face. She looked more ghostly pale than any vampire in the room. Kristof noticed, and frowned.

"You know, you're right, Asura. Bridge, you miss the fights, I'm sure," he said. There was a warning in his voice now, something deadlier even than Asura's malice. Bridgette forced a smile, and cocked her head to the side playfully.

"Yeah, I do. And tomorrow's a full moon too," she chirped happily. Kristof watched her very carefully. She was acting her part perfectly, but her pale, sweat beaded face was giving her away.

"Perhaps you would fancy a drink?" he asked. It was a command. Bridgette responded by planting another sloppy French kiss on Kristof's mouth.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, smiling. She turned, and obsidian eyes flashed in Pernas' direction. They held as much, perhaps more, of a command than Kristof had uttered. He was to follow her.

The two descended back to the bar, and the bartender looked at Bridgette as if confused.

"I need another-"

"Out, I shall fix it," a strong French accent said. Bridgette whirled around to see a middle aged woman dressed all in black. She was beautiful, though her best years had obviously been before she was changed. She had the same look of perfection the other vampires did, of course, but she looked as if she had seen more life, more hardships than they had. Her hair was a faded blond, with traces of soft gray. Nothing in her face nor mannerisms made her look ominous, yet the bartender obeyed without question. Either she had been here before and had some authority, or she was, in vampire terms, very, very old.

Bridgette was silent as she took a seat at the bar. It seemed as if with the appearance of this new female vampire, Bridgette had forgotten Pernas existed for the moment.

"I didn't expect you to be here," she said, through gritted teeth. The French vampire was silent, though her sweeping black dress trailed out about her. She was elegance embodied. Taking a flask out of her pocket, she tipped three drops of a clear substance into Bridgette's special, very orange cocktail, and slid it over to her. The girl downed it in one gulp. The woman took a seat across from her, and the two stared at each other in silence.

"You look terrible, my little song-bird."

Her voice was soft, and she now spoke in French, her pronunciation perfect. Bridgette squirmed in her seat, and frowned.

"I'm doing fine," she responded, in the same exquisite French. The older vampiress shook her head.

"I have seen many dolls perish because they did not play their part well enough. You shall be the only doll to ever perish for playing their part too well," she snapped. Bridgette rolled her eyes before looking down in silence. The woman continued to stare at the girl, as though she were seeing through her.

"There is something else. What is it? You are good enough to keep secrets from him, but not from me, my little song-bird," she asked. Bridgette looked at Pernas, and her obsidian eyes shimmered brighter than they should have. She glanced back at the woman.

"Marie, mother, he is going to take the boy to the dog fights! He will throw him in the ring to be bitten! Can't you do something? Anything to change his mind? If the turning doesn't kill him, the arena will! Look at him, for God's sake! He's not a warrior! He couldn't hurt a fly, but his heart, mother, his heart is beauty and song and purity. You must-"

Marie, the vampiress, held up her hand, silencing Bridgette's French plea. Clearly, neither knew Pernas could speak it.

"I am sorry, but I am not his superior. You know Kristof has none. He will not listen and if he even suspects he is being persuaded to look after the boy, he'll slaughter him without a second thought," she responded, still speaking in French. Bridgette closed her eyes, this time the tears clotting her mascara. Marie sighed sadly, and looked at Pernas. Her eyes were a soft blue, and filled with a gentle kindness he had never seen in vampires.

"I am sorry, my little song-bird. The best thing you can do is try and prepare him for what is to come," she added. Bridgette gave a sort of snorting laugh.

"He'll be scared shitless, probably try to run away," she snapped bitterly. Marie stood, and stroked Bridgette's crimson curls.

"I am going to speak with Kristof later about his treatment of you. You have been taking far too much of the stimulant. It will kill you before he is tired of you," she said. She walked towards the door, looking at Pernas only briefly.

"The poor children..." she lamented in French before exiting. Bridgette stiffened at her departure, though she wasn't as callous as before.

"You want something to drink? Don't mind her; she's an...old friend," she said.

ooc:// It's going to be hilarious when she realizes that Pernas heard that entire conversation.

Fights? Pernas wondered. Huh. Must be a rich snob thing. But why on earth was Asura looking at him again? It made no sense? What did he have to do with fights.

And then, dragged away again. Pernas could get terribly confused with everything, conversations he was catching snatches of. Eh, probably nothing that bugged him. Back to the bar. And another vampire.

Hmm... maybe if I stop paying attention to things, I won't be stressed... he thought. Ooh, bottles he thought, noticing all the stuff at the bar. Let's see... one, two, three...

He stopped at eight for two reasons. One, he found the spelling of "eight" very odd. Then he thought about "W." "Double-u?" Then he realized what their French conversation was about.

Wait... he'd be in the dog fight? But he wasn't a dog -

Holy crap. That was... something. He sat there, still for a minute.

Then Bridgette asked him softly if he would like a drink.

"I would like a wine drink of fine country" he replied, in broken French.

Bridgette stared at Pernas for three very long minutes of silence. Her face was completely stoic.

"Sit," she finally snapped, pointing to the barstool next to her. She glared at him, and her finger began to trace the edges of her empty glass in agitation.

"How much of that did you understand, specifically?," she asked irritably. She refused to look at him, just stared at her finger tracing the empty glass. Her color had returned, a bit too much actually. Her cheeks were flushed a rather rosy red.

"I'm going to be turned into a dog or something, entered into dog fights, and there's nothing you can do about it." Pernas muttered, stoic as she was. He looked at her. A bit of time passed. "No wine? Oh well, I'm too young for the stuff, anyway."

Bridgette opened her mouth, but shut it quickly. Instead of responding at first, she stood up, and popped open a rather dusty looking bottle.

"Pe'itaou, best stuff in the house," she said, pouring him a glass and sliding it over to him. She leaned down on the counter so they were facing each other, eye to eye.

"They aren't dogs. They're werewolves. We just...er, I mean, vampires....vampires call them dogs," she said, stumbling over her words. Her cheeks grew a bit brighter, but she continued.

"It's a favorite sport of the rich vampires, enslaving werewolves and having them fight. San Diego has one of the biggest arenas in the world. They'll start off with having the dogs fight each other. After they've torn each other to shreds, they'll usually only be about one or two left standing, they'll throw humans in the arena," she said. Her voice was strained, and she was grinding her teeth. Normally perfectly smooth, her brow was furrowed in disgust, and even her nose was a bit wrinkled.

"The dogs are usually too beat up or just down right exhausted to actually...eat the humans, so they just..." she paused. She stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Well, they maul them, which is the part that I figured you'd be scared shitless about," she snapped irritably. Clearly, she did not appreciate his hesitancy to tell her he spoke French.

"But unfortunately, that isn't the worst part. If you're weak, you'll die. If you aren't that lucky, you'll be turned into one of them, and Kristof will fight you till you're killed by a bigger, older dog. Now are you scared shitless, cause I sure as hell would be," she retorted angrily. She ran fingers through her tossled crimson hair, and collapsed on the barstool next to him.

"I'll think of something. I'll think of some reason why Kristof would want to keep you around, even as a dog. He hates the smell, and you'll be a bit...well, hard to control every full moon. Plus, you probably won't get the hang of controlling when you transform for a few years, but still...I'll....I'll think of something, ok?" she said. She sounded desperate, but somehow sure of herself. As though she were making him an oath.

Pernas sat there, quietly, looking at his drink. At the end of Bridgette's explanation, he was quiet for a bit.

"Well..." Pernas said. "We'll see. Somehow... I don't know why, but I'm not too scared." he said, taking a small sip and making a face, not out of disgust, but more of the surprised 'never tasted that before' thing.

"I probably don't look like it, but I've been through alot." he said, looking at her. "I've gotten into messes, and somehow got out of them. You know, a demon once tried to kill me, and right as he was about to deliver the killing blow, he was struck by lightning. Dead, just like that. I don't know..." he said, thinking. "It just seems like, just when everything is at its worst, something just happens that leaves me high and dry. Who can tell? Maybe Kristof will decide he isn't interested in going to the dog fights. Maybe he'll be in the bathroom when they start throwing humans in. Maybe the werewolves won't feel like mauling, or I'll be left unharmed. Maybe I'll be injured badly so that everyone thinks I'm dead, but I escape. Maybe I get turned into a werewolf, and for some reason he decides not to use me for fighting. Maybe my luck's just finally run out. Who knows?" Pernas babbled, with a nervous laugh. Then he looked down at the counter.

Bridgette arched an eyebrow so high it looked comical. She shook her head in wonder, and dropped her head down to lay it on the counter.

"Well...I suppose you're taking it better than the other slaves who are normally scared shitless..." she wondered out-loud. She sighed, and straightened up, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"I mean, you do understand everything I just told you, right? Like...unbelievable pain followed by almost certain death?" she asked. She seemed to figure he did understand, because she waved him off before he could answer her.

"Well, whatever. If you wake up screaming in the night, and Kristof kills you in a rage, I'll understand. Sometimes I feel like throwing in the towel too," she sighed wearily. Flouncing her top and skirt, she checked herself in the mirror. Suddenly, two pair of footsteps sounded on the stairway. Bridgette stiffened. Obviously, she recognized the sound. Kristof walked in, and swept her into his arms.

"Marie here seems to think I've been abusing you, darling. But you'd tell me if you...needed a break, wouldn't you, Bridgette?" he asked with gritted teeth. Bridgette smiled brightly.

"Marie has always been...overprotective of me, but you can't really blame her. She did raise me," she giggled lightheartedly. Marie scowled at her, but said nothing. Kristof smiled in victory, and twisted Bridgette back into a standing position.

"Well, the party's over, and I'm sure you have pressing matters to attend to, your highness," he said, bowing to Marie. The vampiress wrinkled her nose.

"I left that title behind me when they chopped my head off," she snapped. She glanced once more at Bridgette, worry clouding her eyes, and left the room abruptly.

"Shall we, my dear?" Kristof asked, motioning towards their bedroom. Something like disgust flashed in her obsidian eyes, but nothing but a smile crossed her face. She nodded, and the vampire carried her upstairs without so much as a second glance in Pernas' direction.

ooc:// Marie will be waiting for Pernas in his room.

"Well..." Pernas said to Bridgette. "I don't really know. We'll see what happens."

Well, the party was pretty much over. Nothing left for him to do but go to his room and worry about tomorrow.

Hoo boy, He thought, taking that cap off. This won't be pretty. Well, in any case, I can get out of these ridiculous clothes. Managed to survive one day in the keeping of an evil vampire, I figure I can, um... he stopped with his hand on the doorknob. Well, I dunno... he thought, turning the knob and opening the door. Sleepy...

ooc:// Sorry this took so long. Had some personal problems, but I'm all right now. I do have to write a paper this weekend, but that shouldn't take all weekend.

bic://
Marie was seated on his bed. When he came in, she did look surprised at all. Then again, she had most assuredly heard him coming. She stood, and crossed the room to stand in front of him. She was taller than him, though just barely. If Kristof had spoken the truth, and she had once been royalty, she had lost none of regality.

"Take this," she said, pulling out the little silver flask. It was the same flask that she spiked Bridgette's orange drink with.

"Do not use it unless absolutely necessary. In fact, unless she is sick or dying, do not even let her know you have it," she said, pushing the flask into his hand. Her cold green eyes swept over Pernas' face and she sighed, stroking his hair absentmindedly.

"Oh, my boy," she cooed, now in French, "My little song-bird is right about you; I can tell. You remind me so much of my sons...if they had lived to see your age...". She hastily wiped at her eyes, and looked away from Pernas.

ooc:// Also - if Pernas wants to ask /anything/ about Bridgette, Kristof and/or Marie herself, now would be the "opportune moment."

Pernas was greatly surprised. He had been expecting he could just get to bed. Now there was a vampire.

He opened his mouth in surprise, and was about to say something, but she had something more important to say than anything that would've come out of his mouth.

Previous description transpired.

Pernas took the bottle and examined it, and then looked up at Marie.

"I don't understand." He said. "Who are you? How do you know Bridgette?"