A fine layer of dust coats everything inside the old church, except a path of disturbed dust that weaves through the center aisle to the small door in the back, leading to the catacombs.

However, a few rows from the front, a space on a pew has been cleared of its coating of age, and it is here that Nicodemus sits.

There is barely any light in the old church, but none the less his pale skin seems almost to shine, especially to vampiric eyes. His burnished orange hair is brushed back behind his ears, held in place by the sunglasses which are perched atop his head-- in this comfortable darkness, he has no need for them. His shoulders are hunched beneath the tight-fitting black shirt he wears. His expression is blank, bordering on pondersome. He seems to be looking down at something in his hands. It's a mirror.

Nicodemus tilts the thing slightly, reflecting the pew he's seated on. He doesn't appear in the sliver of glass-- not from this angle, nor from any other.

Erika pressed through the doors of the old church. Nicodemus had told her to come here after a while... she figured that it had been enough time. She did not want to wait any longer, regardless. Shaking her head lightly, she moved further into the church. Having her hands shoved into her pockets of the black leather coat that she was wearing, she seemed to just stare at the ground at the dust and dirt that covered the floor. The coat nearly touched the ground below her, and the dust was already beginning to collect at the very bottom of it.

Looking up as she entered the sanctuary, she saw Nicodemus, staring at the mirror in his hands. She tilted her head slightly, wondering.

"I am here, Nicodemus. What is it that you wanted to tell me? Or... what is it that you wanted me to do? You were not very specific..."

Nicodemus slips the useless mirror into a pocket as Erika comes down the aisle of the church. The pensive expression slides off his face to be replaced by his usual roguish expression as he turns to acknowledge the other vampire.

"Nice to see you, Erika... have a seat." he sweeps some dust off the wood of the pew beside him.

"Hm. A pleasure to see you again as well."

Erika simply shrugged, sitting where she had been asked. She looked around the church momentarily, then looked over at Nicodemus, tilting her head.

"Do you come to this place often? It is... quite dirty. My hair will be a mess."

"It's quiet." He pauses. "A good place for meetings."

One arm is thrown up over the back of the pew, not quite encircling the younger vampire.

"Been feeding well?"

Erika leaned back a bit, moving a little closer to Nicodemus without even realizing it.

"As well as could be expected. It is getting eaiser each time... if that is what you are asking. And yourself? How have you been doing?"

"Good, good... feeding does not have to be all of our existance." This in blatant contrast to the fact that it seems to be all his.

He smiles at her. "As for me, I'm good as always."

"I know that feeding does not have to be all of what we do. I would much rather feel greater pleasure. Feeding is nice... but there are always other things that are always better..."

She smiled again, crossing her arms.

"Try them in combination with feeding," Nicodemus suggests. With more than just a hint of a good-natured leer.

"Hm... I have never thought of it like that. Have you ever done that...?"

Knowing that the answer was probably yes, she still asked him. She said it quite sarcastically, and looked him in the eyes as she did so.

He grins at her. "Luv, I've been doing it that way for more years than you've yet been alive."

He pauses, and then strokes the back of her head with the hand that had been resting on the pew.

"Hm... when you put it that way, it sounds... interesting..."

She closed her eyes, letting him play with her hair.

"Are you going to tell me why I'm here....? Or are you going to make a girl wait?"

Running cold fingers through equally cold hair, Nicodemus smiles.

"I was wondering what you had learned about the covens."

"I know what I have been told, I suppose... Another vampire explained to me that there were five here in this city. He told me their names and... their strengths, and their weaknesses. That is all I know."

She shrugged slightly, eyes still closed. For some reason that made her feel more comfortable than she already was.

He shrugs, still playing with her hair.

"We have similar strengths and weaknesses, at least... no two vampires are the same, after all."

He pauses. "I was considering bringing you into the Nephim."

"Bringing me in...? Why would you want a weakling like me? And of course, you're the head of the coven... I figured as much."

Erika still allowed him to play with her hair, actually liking it.

"But... don't I get a say in this? You should explain your coven with detail to me.... so I know what I'm getting myself into."

Nicodemus leans close to the younger vampire.

"I feel you need to be taken under someone's wing," he murmurs, then moves away from her again.

"Of course you get a choice. What would you like to know about us?"

"And you supposed that your wing would be the best for me... I see."

She smiled again, tilting her head.

"I was only kidding you Nicodemus. Apparently your coven is as close as I'm going to get to something I need... so I suppose that the choice I make now is 'yes, I will join'. I know enough, and I know what I need to know."

"But do you have any questions?" his fingers twirl twists in her hair.

"I'd be happy to answer."

"No questions about your coven. Perhaps I could think of a few questions about you?"

She opened her eyes, looking over at him.

"Are you... seeing anyone right now? Or should I ask, how many women are you seeing?"

She almost laughed, but held it in. She figured him to be that 'type'.

"Just women?" he asks, contemplatively, rubbing white fingers over a smooth chin pensively. It's an act, of course.

"Oh, please..."

She shook her head... smiling still at him, staring into his eyes.

"Are you going to tell me otherwise?"

"I don't see any reason to limit who I feed from." He shrugs, with a smile.

"Mortal relationships... are something else. You'll find it's hard to be just friends with a mortal, with their life calling you closer all the seconds you're together." This is said not in a reflective tone but in the usual advice-giving one.

"I was not speaking of feeding from anyone, Nicodemus. That is not what I was trying to ask you."

She tilted her head again, her pale blue eyes studying his face now.

"Or would it seem that you've mixed the two things together permanently?"

He shrugs, the mouth pulling up into a white-toothed grin.

"Not exactly. The modern definition of a relationship is a bit different from the ones I'm more used to."

"And what are you used to? What is your definition of a modern relationship?"

She smiled right back at him, wondering how far the conversation would go.

"I don't think that my definition is the issue, here..."

The hand in her hair emerges to stroke her cheek. Only a mortal's warmth would mke them feel it as cold. To another vampire...

"A relationship other than blood and sex is a hard thing to form when that's all there is, with mortals."

"Hm... I am not a mortal, now am I?"

She tilted her head in the other direction, posing a striking question. Her eyes locked onto his now, emphasizing it.

"Hm?"

"No, not any longer." He smiles.

"You asked who I was seeing. The answer is 'a number of mortals.' Enough that I don't have to feed from any one too often."

"Is that what you want? A number of mortals? Or could there possibly be anything more tempting?"

She leaned all the way back into the pew now, rubbing her eyes.

"It's what I have, at least." He shrugs. "You'll find that the hunt does become a large part of your life."

"I can only imagine that. I have not yet lived it."

She wondered if she would change extremely after a few years, or even months... it was somewhat frightening to know that she had eternity to change...

Hearing perhaps a bit of that fear in her voice, Nicodemus moves closer.

"You will live it... but don't resent it. There are those who look at their new natures and are repulsed-- there are those who shy away from themselves in fear." He shakes his head, perhaps in pity, perhaps in contempt.

"But every species needs its predators. Just be yourself, even when that self changes."

A half-shrug, using only the shoulder closest to her.

He's doing his best at comfort, that much is apparent-- even if he can't read her mind to find the source of her need for it.

"I can accept it... if you would have only seen me the moment after I was turned... I wanted to kill myself, after I had found out what I was. But now... I enjoy it more..."

She shrugged back at him, the fear leaving her very quickly. She wouldn't think about eternity anymore. She did not enjoy showing fear.

"I only need time before I am completely into this.... 'life'."

He pauses as though getting a taste of his next words while they still sit on his tongue.

"Mortal nature fears us. Mortals fear becoming the enemy." He pauses again. "Mortals are also attracted to us and will allow us to take them, like a deer in the bushes waiting for the hunter's shot."

"But though we change when turned, our minds don't, not right away. Prey's mind in its predator' body. Prey's sympathies with a predator's instincts. It doesn't work."

"Eventually, it works. You have to get used the being a predator. Mortals-- humans-- aren't, naturally. They're scavengers."

"Being a predator is always better than being prey. I need to shift my mind to that mindset... I know that what I am is better than what I was. It should not be difficult."

She shook her head, sighing. Sooner or later she would be a full predator. She hoped it would be sooner.

"Do you know what you need?" Without waiting for an answer, he continues, "A kill. Take some scum-of-the-earth if it helps, but you need to experience a kill, ride your instincts, and christen-- if you'll excuse the term-- your new beginning in blood."

He says this in the way someone might advise their stressed-out friend to get laid.

"A kill... tonight? Would tonight be a good time to do such a thing...?"

She sounded as if she were eager, as if she wanted to do it right away. Like a child that had just found out that they could do something that they 'weren't supposed to do'. She smiled.

"Oh... Nicodemus... I have almost forgotten. There must be something more, than just 'saying' that I am in your coven... that seems much too simple."

He stands and offers Catherine his hand, in best gentlemanly form. "Yes, tonight would be good. Any night would be good."

He smiles and leans in close to her. "As for bringing you into my coven... we can do that once we've both fed."

Erika took his hand, standing to her feet.

"Wonderful. I need to get this overwith tonight. Or I will dwell on it until I do. Where shall we go?"