The flight and the bus ride had tired Lexie – she was lucky to have even gotten a flight to Canada at such an ungodly hour, but fate (a winning smile and a fistful of twenties) seemed to be on her side for once. The bright lights of the airport, the plane, the Canadian airport and finally the rickety silver bus had trampled her newly heightened senses and left her with a slight headache. She was thankful that it had been night, and that she had arrived after dusk in Demaitre – she had seen hundreds of vampire movies in her time, and though she had not been informed of her aversion to sunlight, she suspected it at least. Lexie did not like the idea of burning her pale, icy flesh, and as her rather pretentious sire had not bothered to explain what gifts and curses he was bestowing, her young mind was spinning with images of sizzling flesh, six inch fangs and Bela Lugosi…

More than anything, Lexie was hoping that this journey would lead her to knowledge… knowledge, and perhaps comfort. She was grateful that she did not feel an urge to bite the first person she came across, but was terrified that it would come all too soon.

The bus ride had led her to the place where she supposed she would find the Nephim – listening to a couple at the front of the bus as it neared Demaitre gave her an idea of where to look. Lugging her suitcase behind her, sporting combat boots and grotty black jeans, with her blonde hair scraped back into a messy ponytail – a far cry from her usual elegant suits – Lexie sauntered through the streets, searching, all the while hoping her arrogant sneer would keep her from harm and hide the fear that ate away inside her.

***

Upon nearing the church, something inside Lexie seemed to hum with excitement. She didn’t understand how, but she instinctively felt that there were others close by. Very close. She could not see them outside, so after a deep breath (force of habit, yet to be stripped from her nature) she approached the door. The small church looked ominous – it reminded her of the tiny churches she knew in England. The kind with a very close knit community, and a strong, dependable leader. A small part of her hoped she would find something similar inside – Lexie had an overwhelming desire to belong to people, yet made efforts to hide this in her day to day life. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, taking in the grimy pews, a scuttling rat, and a musty old-person smell. Biting her lip, she took a few steps forward down the aisle.

Nervously, Lexie called out –

“Hello? Anyone? Hello?”

The lack of response unsettled her, yet still the electric hum inside told her that someone was there. Someone was watching… she stood her suitcase up against the nearest pew, and untied her hair to shake it loose. Looking around, eyes adjusting to the murky light, she called out again, careful to keep her voice steady to disguise any signs of apprehension –

“I know someone’s there… come on. Give me a break. I’m new and confused and I just left my bloody country on a total whim. Stop playing with me!”

(OOC: I’m still unregistered if you look at my profile and whatnot, but Skirr okayed me as Nephim in my character description. I hope I’m not stepping on any toes by posting this in here =\)

Amadahy's ears perked. She was resting on the floor between to pews, reading a book about vampires. She was about to laugh outloud at a silly mortal comment about garlic when she heard someone call out. At first, the young one did not move. Recent arguments with her sire and her sire's sire made her uneasy. She had quickly learned that not all vampires were kind to one another. But this one seemed alright. By the sound of it, Amadahy would like this one. She stood up, revealing herself to the stranger. She tugged at her long black dress. The goth wore no make-up today, at Morrigan's request. Her black hair fell softy around her green eyes.

"Hello," Amadahy greeted the other, nodding. Great, she was picking up Morrigan's habits. She tossed the book on a pew and walked to the aisle. "I'm Amadahy. Sorry it took so long for me to answer. Strangers around here cannot always be trusted," she said, sounding cheerful. The vampiress was in a good mood today. She stepped closer to the other and smiled.

"Do ya need something?" Amadahy asked.

Lexie laughed, not nervously, but with relief. She felt that the smile Amadahy gave was friendly, and it was very welcome. After feeling abandoned by her lover, and her sire, then abandoning all that was familiar, a cheerful voice and a smile were just what she craved. She smiled at the pretty girl in front of her and held out her hand –

“I’m Lexie, I only just arrived here. My sire mentioned the Nephim and told me I’d fit in perfectly – he mentioned this city, so I came. I have no one. Really – it’s a messy story, but I am alone now. I came here hoping I’d find, well, anyone. I found you. My God you’re pretty.” Lexie smiled, then looked down at her feet. This was one of her nervous habits, complimenting on whims – she cleared her throat and stood straight.

“You can probably tell I’m new – I’m really frazzled still. Confused, even. I’m sorry, I’m babbling. Do you maybe think I could stay here?” she asked, hopefully.

Amadahy smirked, shaking the girl's hand. The new one seemed cool. Morrigan would want to know about her. It seemed Morrigan was training Amadahy for something. A spy, maybe. Amadahy winced inside. Did Morrigan know it was she that killed Darkle, Morrigan's pet spy? Hopely, not.

Stupid, Morrigan, Amadahy thought, I could just not tell her about this new one! She blinked. As soon as the idea hit her it left. Not telling Morrigan something was a foolish idea. Besides, that ancient could tell if she was keeping something. Even though, she did seem to get away with the bird thing.

"Welcome! I think you could stay here. It might be best to talk to the leader of the coven first," Amadahy said. "If ya want, I think my sire would let you stay at his place. It's a house."

His place? What was she thinking? It was Morrigan's place. Well, Morrigan would not care. Actually, the old vampiress might like the idea of making her home open house. Morrigan was always letting vampires in and out at will.

Amadahy

“Really?” Lexie asked, smiling and tilting her head to one side. She was beginning to feel very relaxed around Amadahy, she had not expected to meet a friendly vampire. She didn’t really imagine they existed. “That’d be great – I mean, I’d like to get to know some people in town, and I need a place to keep my things…” She laughed, becoming comfortable in her environment.

There was a slightly awkward silence for a few seconds, and Lexie shuffled her feet. “So, uhm… who was your sire? I don’t even know mine’s name… heh.” She sighed wistfully.

A small part of her clung to the sickeningly romantic notion that he might have loved her. They could have stalked the streets and bars in London together, brought the prettiest ones home, played with them until they were bored and then thrown them back out onto the streets.

Lexie sighed internally – I suppose you’ll just have to find someone new to play with. There will always be people out there to indulge with. She was still disappointed though, and a little angry. She thought it was rather cheeky of the man to have left her to figure it all out on her own, and he was a pretty one… Ah well. I guess it’s not like the movies…

"A man called Bliss is my sire," Amadahy answered. "He's nice, for the most part. We live with his sire, Morrigan. She's really, really old and can be grumpy. But she's very kind to young vampires. Don't know why."

Amadahy pictured the argument Morrigan and Bliss were having earlier. Morrigan always seemed so serene during those moments. Bliss always seemed like he would burst into flames. She smiled. Their arguments were fun to watch. They usually ended with Bliss kissing Morrigan. Watching them made her stomach turn sometimes, but she had Drakeon to stalk now. Weeks ago an argument ended with Amadahy getting a coffin of her own. She slept at the house, but lingered here, at the coven place, more often. Now that she thought about it...she had not gone out for a long time.

"So," Amadahy said after clearing her throat, "Do you want to meet my herd or try to find the coven leader?"

The thought of meeting more people appealed to Lexie – the one thing she feared most was being alone. Especially now, being left on her own now would probably result in a breakdown of some kind. “I’d like to meet your herd.” she smiled. “I suppose I can always meet the coven leader another night – it seems pretty quiet around here, it’d be nice to have a few more people to talk to.”

Lexie liked the sound of Morrigan – someone old who was kind to new vampires? This sounded perfect – someone with experience and the wisdom that comes with it, and who would maybe tolerate Lexie’s naivety. A silly part of her hoped that Morrigan might turn into a kind of mother figure – another part of her didn’t want to risk hoping.

“Where do we go?” Lexie beamed, full of nerves and excitement.

Pleased, Amadahy began heading towards the doors, then she remembered her book. Without complaining she hurried to the pew were she left it and grabbed her purse that laid nearby. Shoving the book into her scary looking black bag she envied the vampires with object-moving mind powers. She hung the bag over her shoulder and gestured for the new girl to follow; she headed for the doors again.

"It's not far from here. Our house is tucked away in a nice, mortal neighborhood. We could take a taxi or walk. Which ever you prefer," Amadahy answered Lexie. Again, she envied the vampires that could "fly" to where ever they wished. Or turn to shadow and slip through the streets at the speed of light, like Morrigan. Maybe Amadahy would one day have such abilities. Until then, she walked out of the church and stopped, waiting for Lexie.

"Need help with the suitcase?" Amadahy asked.

Lexie grabbed her suitcase from beside the pew it was leaning on, and hurried through the doors to meet Amadahy. “I’ve got it, thanks.” She smiled and paused. “We should walk – it’s a nice night, and I’ll see more of the city this way.” Lexie enjoyed city life – she had loved her flat in London, the clubs, the people… she was hopeful that Demaitre would have a similar atmosphere.

“I hope Morrigan likes me. And Bliss, for that matter. I really hope I’m not going to be unwelcome – I don’t want to impose.” She trilled nervously, as the pair walked through the little churchyard. It really did remind Lexie of England, but small town England – the thing she hated most about the place. Sure, the idea of community and a leader was appealing, but she really hated the creepy villages with their creepy vicars – she was thankful that her parents were never really religious, but her grandparents on her father’s side were.

She had already decided that she liked Amadahy – she was pretty and friendly, and seemed to be on a level with Lexie. She just hoped that Amadahy felt something similar, she hoped that they could grow to be friends.

((ooc: Shall we take this to Demaitre at Large/Living Spaces??))

Amadahy paused and looked both ways. At night, in this part of town, traffic was not bad. No mortals were in sight. Quickly, but not at vampire speed, she crossed the street. Half way across her bag began to ring. She dug through the endless pit and pulled out a cellphone. A new, shiny one for that matter.

"Bliss, stop calling me!" She blurted into the phone. She was not angry with him, just embrassed that he kept playing his new toy. Morrigan would smash the thing if she knew. "No, I didn't look the screen. I just knew it was you. Okay. Bye." Amadahy sighed and rolled her eyes.

Shooting a smile at Lexie she said, "Bliss has the habit of becoming obessed with random things. This month it's cellphones." She laughed. Last month is was baking. Morrigan was a little ticked that Bliss filled her kitchen with stuff they could not eat. Well, Morrigan could consume some mortal food, but it could make her sick. By the end of the month, Bliss was trying to create "blood" recipes.

"What led you to Demaitre?" Amadahy asked, wanting to know more about Lexie.

(OOC: Sure, I’ll let you start it, if you don’t mind ^^)

Sticking close to Amadahy, Lexie jumped slightly when she heard a mobile phone ringing. She had left her own in London, wanting to sever all ties with her old life. Lexie smiled as Amadahy barked into the phone and rolled her eyes. She found it strangely endearing, and giggled while she listened to her talk about Bliss.

“What led me here? Well, a failed relationship and my sire, to be honest.” She paused for a second, wondering if she should explain with perfect frankness or maybe tone it down. She decided to go with a happy balance of the two.

“I’d been arguing heaps with my ex Liam, I just wasn’t getting what I wanted from our relationship.” She said, placing emphasis on the final few words of her sentence. “After a long argument, I decided to go out and drink and find my own fun. Too much drink mixed with a nameless stranger, and I woke up the next night in a bed I’d never seen before. I vaguely remembered him mentioning Demaitre as I was drifting off, and saying something about covens and Nephim and all these other things I didn’t really understand. I woke up on my own, Liam had decided to leave me as I’d been seen by one of his friends, so I came here. It was a snap decision – I’m yet to decide if I’ll regret it.” She laughed slightly, walking beside Amadahy.

“Oh God, you’ll think I’m a drunk now!” She giggled, shaking her head. “I’m really not, I was just mad with Liam and really, really wanted to go out for some… spice. I mean, Liam was lovely and all, but nothing special – he was so unimaginative – he could never give me what I needed. The guy I met that night was amazing – really. He knew what I wanted, down to the last detail.” Lexie stopped suddenly and bit her lip.

“Oh God, I’m sorry!” She cried out. “You didn’t need to know that, I’m really sorry. I’m usually much more quiet about that kind of thing.” Lexie was embarrassed, and mentally cursing her nervous babbling. She always did this kind of thing, which was why she never really had many close friends back in London. She hoped Amadahy wasn't mad.

Amadahy smirked. "It's alright! Out of the two of us...I'm the bad one. Your everyday alcoholic, American, college student. That is...until I met Bliss. He dragged me out of that life style. Now, I'm addicted to blood," She said all this hoping to make Lexie feel better. Amadahy should be the one embrassed. Of course, out of her household...Morrigan was the one with the worse tales. That vampiress had all kinds of stories.

"You should ask Morrigan to tell you her stories," Amadahy mused. "They're wild. Bliss has a few good ones, too. But nothing bets Morrigan's Japan experience."

Amadahy smiled. She was so glad to find another vampire she could get along with. Most vampires she ran into were too old to care about her. Sure, she had fun with Bliss and Morrigan, but they had a thing about laughing at her "young vampire" ways. They hardly ever took her seriously. Next to Lexie she like an equal. Not just another no name, weak vampiress.

"We're almost there," Amadahy stated.

((ooc: Next stop: Living Spaces/Amadahy's Surprise.))