The setting sun touched the back of the crypt briefly, leaving long shadows that seemed to go on forever and inspire nightmares about the dead that resided within. Down the long, winding staircase into pitch-blackness, with no torches to guide the way, lay the countless coffins of every shape, size, and design. One such coffin, littered amongst the many that rested upon the ground, held small noises that only just barely penetrated the thick, heavy lid that would have been completely impossibe for any mortal to lift.

The shining black coffin was well-made, with silver trim and a single image carved into the top of the lid, in the upper half of the rectangular fancy box that served as Elias Marinus' bed: a crow in flight, with a diamond-topped scepter clenched in its beak and a severed human forearm clenched in its talons. The symbol truly had no meaning, save for being a motto: serve your master, or suffer the pain of mortality.

Inside the red velvet padding of the coffin, thick and soft as it was, Elias was having sex with a mortal he had recently taken as a slave. And she was mortal, for Elias had no interest in vampires he could not control at this point. And he wouldn't be able to control them if they rallied others against him. Why would they do this? To show that fledglings were not slaves to other vampires, when in truth, all must bow before their elders. It would be only an annoyance, of course, but one he didn't feel like crushing at the moment. Besides, he liked his place here in the Crypt, and where were there places for vampiric slaves that could easily escape? Best if they were fed and left to serve him as mortals when he desired to use them.

Finally, however, he was done. He rose from the coffin and resealed the lid, though the tired mortal was now sleeping. Part of the reason she was tired was that Elias had drained most of her blood, of course - but she would survive for another day or two with as much blood as he left in her body. He would finish her off tomorrow night.

For now, though, he wanted some air. He had redressed himself in the oversized coffin, big enough to hold himself and two women - and each of the three comfortably, at that. And that wasn't even considering the hidden compartment below the false bottom of the coffin's innards, which held his wardrobe and the few weapons and artifacts he held from anywhere from a few hundred to a couple of thousand years old - and all in mint condition. Now he headed upstairs. His footsteps echoed on the stone steps. He took his time, not having any need to rush. If the sun was still up, he would be burned, but not badly enough to be killed; there would be no direct sunlight this late, after all. But he knew the sun was not up. He could 'feel' the minds of several hundred mortals in the immediate vicinity of the graveyard with barely an inkling of it, and he knew that sun had only just sunk beneath the horizon.

He stepped outside. Darkness filled the sky, with the faintest twinkling of distant stars here and there that seemed like large lamps more than distant stars to him. He surveyed the graveyard. No one was in sight, but there were several vampires nearby - four of which were actually in the graveyard. He took a stroll along the grass, his loose-fitting black cotton shirt nonetheless revealing enough of his chest and arms to show the muscle that rippled beneath. His boots made no sound on the grass, nor did his snug-fitting cotton breeches. Three gold chains hung around his neck and there were several large rings of gold and silver on his fingers, bearing various gems.

He had neared one of the vampires after a few minutes of walking. He had not intended to do so, but neither had it been pure accident. He had simply walked where his feet carried him. He sat on one of the tombstones nearby, though, enjoying the night.

"Beautiful sky, is it not?" his deep, rich, Egyptian-accented voice, so reminiscent of the centuries he spent in that country, said quietly. Yet of course, vampire ears - even those of a freshly-turned fledgling - would be able to hear all too well.

Chi had spent most of her night walking in the graveyard, reading the tombstones and enjoying the peace. She knew that the Ishak lived here and knew exactly where the entrance was, but steered clear of it. She wasn't Ishak but the graveyard was open to all including any other vampires. Even though at her age she could fight any vampire and most likely win, she preferred to not do so, which is why she stayed away from the entrance of the Ishak coven. Besides it wasn't like she was linked to any other coven, she had loyalties to no one but herself and her close friends.

She had settled herself on one of the larger tombstones to be able to stare at the night sky. There were very little clouds and many stars could be seen as well as the moon. The beautiful moon that was her sun and a being she prayed too. Her silver hair had been left loose and it shone as the moon hit it. It was also complete natural, a genetic mutation. Despite her physical young age, she was a lot older than she looked. After living six millenniums, she had seen many things and had also accumulated an amount of riches that made her the richer than many people and enabled her to buy what she needed.

That night she had again opted for a skirt. The skirt was dark, simply because she preferred dark colors, it was a dark green and swirled around her ankles and there were trees that grew from the base of it. It was something of her own creation. She was quite good with a needle. Her shirt was a plain black tank top which was covered by a white zip up sweater. All in all quite plain.

Chi looked as the other vampire sat next to her, younger than her. Everyone was younger than her. "It is a very beautiful night." Her voice was equally soft as if to not disrupt the magic of the night. Her voice held the traces of many accents, each from a different time period and area, yet it suited her quite nicely.

Elias supposed that if one had listened closely enough, his own voice wouldn't have placed him. He'd simply have been called 'Middle Eastern'. But that was irrelevant. Titles such as that were reserved for mortals. He identified with Egypt only because it was the country he enjoyed the most. The artwork, the culture - it was something fascinating to him.

But now, the desert was far from his mind as he watched several stars seem to grow brighter. Of course, he had seen them before the mortals had - but that was to be expected. One as old as he should see everything before a mortal did. Mortals were fools meant to either be turned or controlled, and then fed from after.

There was a light breeze playing gently upon his skin, his hair, the grass beneath his feet. A mortal would have given off sweat and other such traces that they'd just had sex. But Elias was a vampire, and a very old vampire besides. He gave off no scent of sex or or anything else. Yet the mortal woman's body, on the other hand - no doubt she could be smelled upon him, regardless of what clothes he was wearing. He wondered briefly if the woman behind him played with mortal men as he played with mortal women. He touched her mind briefly. Ah, so she was as old as he - older, in fact.

"And what have you seen in your six thousand years that I have not in my four millenia?"

It took him a moment to realize he had spoken aloud, but then he shrugged inwardly. If she responded, very well. If not, it made no difference. He decided to close his mind again, sealing it off and preventing himself from reaching out once more. It was easy and natural now as breathing. He didn't even think about it - he just did it.

Chi continued to watch the sky. Her mouth moving as if she was reciting some prayer. One could say that she wasn't completely sane, so sometimes people had to be cautious around her, she could lash out at anybody and it wouldn't be pretty. She stopped her mutterings and closed her eyes momentarily, made a sign with both her hands and the placed them at her side.

It was only after all that, that she turned to her companion. She watched him for a moment not knowing what to say, but she felt him brush against her consciousness. She was about to lash out at his probing but he was almost gone in the same instant and raising shields around his mind. Her eyes that were on him, were flat with disinterest. She simply stared at him before answering.

"I was there when there were no cities and the only thing that was important was to survive in a land without soldiers or the police. Protecting yourself from the wild beasts was the only thing that mattered and what we had to do to survive." To her her mortal life had been simple and she had seen civilizations being created. Cities being built, when cities were simply beginning to exist. The Greek empire coming into existence and the destruction of Crete.

She had looked at the sky when she told him about what she had seen that he might have missed. Now she returned to look at him. "Just on a side note, stay out of my mind and yes I do smell the mortal woman all over you."

He smirked, amused. So he had let down his guard a moment too long, after all.

"I remember little of my childhood or mortal life. What I do remember was hardly important. It is odd...these younger vampires think they know everything, but most of them - only a few hundred years old - have never seen the wonders that you and I have no doubt witnessed. The birth and fall of empires. The changes of the world on such a drastic level that nothing was the same. I slept at one point for four hundred years, and when I was awakened at last by my servants, mortals had given up armour and swords for guns and simple garb. Their talk was so different...

"Those of younger generations know nothing of the ancient ways. They know of only the last few centuries of this world, yet they would deign to think they know more than us. It is quite amusing, really."

Perhaps he was mad. Perhaps not. Perhaps it was simply an expression of his thoughts. Regardless, he was merely making conversation with the fellow ancient - whatever the reason.

"And when was the last time you enjoyed the pleasures of a man's embrace, hm? Or perhaps you're too far above the mortals. We all are, really. But they can be useful at times - for their blood, of course, but for other reasons as well."

Chi lifted an eyebrow. "I was born at a time where empires didn't even exist. There were no emperors, no Caesars, not even pharaohs. There were only families striving for a living and we did have leaders but it was more for a community than anything. Most communities were quite small and comprised of about two maybe three families." Chi remembered the time, though faces were erased and voices distorted by time, she could still remember the activities, births and burial. She kinda missed the simplicity that her life had been.

Chi shrugged to that statement. "They know things and I feel that the younger ones, know different things. When it comes to television, internet and video games, you have to admit that we are somewhat lacking in that knowledge or at least I am, though I try to learn. That is one thing that mortals are good for." Eire had thought her a lot about being a teenager and some of that knowledge could prove useful later on.

Chi narrowed her brown eyes at him and then the blankness returned. "It was a while ago and enjoy the company of immortals when it comes to bedding another person. Though I wouldn't mind a woman's embrace either." Chi was open in her sexuality. Her sire could have been considered her first lover and they had had many sweet times together. Her sire had been a female, so Chi was open to either side.

Elias' lips curled into a sneer that was almost a scowl. Homosexuality...it wasn't natural. Perhaps pleasure was needed by everyone, but that...he found himself shaking his head slightly. His mental shields were still up, but he checked them anyway - just to be sure.

Elias had always seen homosexuality as a mortal activity, perhaps he disagreed with the practice himself and saw mortals as far beneath him - cattle for the herding or pigs for the slaughter.

Then again, vampires weren't exactly natural. Which brought him back to the other woman's statement about the lack of vampires when she was mortal.

"If there were no vampires, then how were you turned?"

It was half-sarcastic, but also meant to direct her back to her own statement. Despite her age, she was still apparently a fool.

((NOTE: I have no problems with homosexuality OOC, just so you know. Don't hurt me. :eep: ))

Chi turned to him as she heard him sneer. Apparently he hated homosexuality. Many thought it unnatural, but it the past, around the time she had been born, women and men had children together in a mating ritual, but it was not unheard of for women to like other women or men to like other men. She had simply kept up the practice was didn't quite understand why it was so awful. Her eyes never left his face. "Why do you hate homosexuality? It is not as unnatural as you think." Chi knew that she was going to brew problems, but as her age she was interested to see what made him tick.

Chi snorted. "There weren't many vampires, but there were some. Vampires evolved next to mortals. As mortals evolved into their present forms, the same happened to us. So I met a few vampires in my trek from the Far East to Europe, yet not as many as there are today."

"Why do you not join a coven?" he challenged her. "It is all in the way we are made up. You prefer individuality, it seems. I dislike homosexuality. It's as simple as that. Reasoning is for the mortal mind. We vamires are above mortals. It matters not what they think, and we should not have to give reasons - even to each other - for anything that we say, think, or do."

Fools. They were all fools. Mortals were meant to be dominated. They were fodder, and sometimes tools, nothing more. Their practices had certainly filtered into the vampiric lifestyle, but it was not for Elias.

Chi tilted her head to one side. Coven were a waste of her time, she was alive long before covens existed and had decided that she didn't need one. Besides not a single one suited her needs the exact way she needed them to do so, there fore they were of no use to her.

"Why are you so against homosexuality? Did something happen to you in your youth that turned you away from homosexuality or do you simply hate it, because of a religion that was created after your turning?" The only true religion that was against homosexuality or sodomy as they called it in the past was Catholicism. The fact that he would think the same made her curious.

She shook her head. "You are a fool to think that we are above mortals, they could destroy us if they ever found out about us. They are not fools, nor simple food. Besides weren't we like them before? Weren't we mortal? They aren't all that different from us."

"What we were is in the past. What we are is what we are now. End of story. The Ishak seem to agree with me on this point, so I decided to join them when membership was offered. I was taught much of the other covens and the so-called 'vampire underworld' - a term meant as a jest, of course, but it fits in a way. As to homosexuality, I simply have no use or love for it. I don't see the point of it, and I generally dislike anything that I do not see the point of."

What the woman did, of course, was her own decision. It had no bearing on his opinion, for it was not his business. He disliked the act of homosexuality, true enough, but he wasn't about to step into another vampire's life to just to prove it - especially a vampire who was obviously older than him.

Chi watched him, her eyes blank. She wasn't homosexual, not quite, she had a love for both sexes. She liked everyone equally. She truly wasn't difficult, when it came to the sex of the person, it was after that, that she raised the stakes. It all depended on what she wanted, whether it was quick fling or something more long term. So far her long term hadn't done her much good, so lately she had stayed on quick flings, it made her feel better.

"I suppose that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, especially in the vampire world." There were people from every ethnicity and every background, it was truly amazing, but led to differences quickly. A lot of fights came from them, but it was natural.

He nodded silently. Indeed, everyone had an opinion. It was why he had been so surprised when he'd first come here that all five covens were located in such strength in one place. The Ishak had clearly held New York for over a century, never letting up and killing any vampire that had deigned to enter it without their express permission or invitation, or without the intent to join the Ishak. So, there had never been any problems there, and so far as Elias knew, the Amman had left them alone. From the couple of Amman that he had spoken with, they seemed to agree with his reasoning: if anyone was stupid enough to walk into a viper's nest in naught but their skin, they had better expect to be bitten.

Finally, though, he turned to regard the woman from his perch. He thought a moment before responding to her previous statement.

"I do not judge. I care for few people - no one that I can think of, certainly - but I respect those of equal or greater power and I don't pry into the lives of other vampires unless I know they're idiots. You're certainly no idiot. You, as I, have lived far too long to be considered such. We do not live so long withought growing very large brains."

He stood up.

"What one does in the bedroom is their own business. I may not like it, but there's an old adage that I find useful in discussions such as this: if you don't like what someone's reading, don't read it."

His smile was almost imperceptible, yet amused.

"Care to walk with me? I could use a good conversation."

He didn't want to talk about anything in particular. No, he just wanted to talk. Not because he needed therapy, but because conversation was a good way to kill time. He hated being bored, and as he'd already fed and fucked for the night, he didn't have much else to do at the moment. That was both the advantage and disadvantage of having no real ties to the world, material or otherwise: you didn't have obligations to others, but you were sometimes left in the cold, so to speak.

Chi watched him. she had done many things in her lifetime. She had slept around with powerful, not Caesars but close enough to them. She had used her telepathy to give them ideas about how to rule their countries or ideas that could they could share with their political co workers. She was a powerful and exotic force that she used over many men.

Large brains? Is that what he thought? "I beg to differ, our brains do not grow larger, but we become wise and our brains have more synaptic connections. Our brains aren't larger. That is a common mistake that people make, but for you to make such a mistake, especially with the Ishak library right under this area. Shame on you." Was she judging? No, teasing was the better term, she liked to poke fun at people, she could be serious if she thought she needed to be.

"I glad that you don't mind me to be an idiot." She drawled. She knew that already, you couldn't live six millenniums and survive while being a idiot unless you were extremely lucky. She didn't quite have that luck. She shrugged her shoulders and got up to follow him.

"I'm surprised that your coven leader doesn't say much about you have mortals in the coven itself. I thought that there was a law against that in the Ishak coven. Of course if no one finds out then it is fine, but it would be very upsetting if the leader somehow found out." Threatening? Nope, Chi was simply pointing it out. She truly couldn't care less. The coven leaders didn't even care what she did. She had alliance to no one but herself, though she would agree to an alliance with a coven. She simply had no need to look for one.

"I thought you, of all people, would recognize the presence of a metaphor."

Was she truly an idiot? Of course the brain didn't grow larger. To say one had brains didn't mean that they had more than one in their head, after all. It meant that they were intelligent. Clearly, he had overestimated this vampire, regardless of her apparently elder age.

"Not one of the vampires around me is anywhere near my age or power. Perhaps there are a few Ishak that come close, and possibly even one or two - probably even the coven leader, whom I've never met personally - that surpass it. But those that I've slept with this past night would not be much of a threat to me. They could not throw me out if they wanted to, and they know this. They can almost feel it. Besides, there is no way that the human can escape. How can a girl of less than a hundred and twenty pounds lift a coffin lid that weighs almost three hundred? It makes no sense to me, especially since the girl is slender and rather skimpy. But she makes a nice meal regardless, and I'll have her disposed of by the end of tomorrow night.

"What about you? Where do you sleep? I find coffins rather useful for more than just sleeping or sex. Do you take a bed or a coffin for your sleep and - other activities?"

It was casual conversation, nothing more. If he'd really been trying to pry information out of her, he could have done it far more covertly.

Chi simply lifted an eyebrow at him. "You are talking to a vampire that is going senile. I don't do metaphors all that well anymore. Yes I will admit that I'm going senile, there is no shame in that, simply another step in my life."

Chi snorted. "Some vampires can surprise you, besides not everyone flaunts their power. I remember meeting an Ishak that is older than the leader here, cruel monster that he was." She remembered what he had done and how fast he had left, with his tail between his legs. "Of course, mortals are not a threat, unless you underestimate them. some mortals are intelligent and rightly so. They don't like being used, of course much might not realize it."

"I prefer a bed, one of those big canopy beds, red and black. I find that the colors have aphrodisiac properties. Besides I think that an open space might have a different feeling that a closed coffin would. Besides in an open space, you have more space to frolic." Chi didn't mind telling him, her life wasn't that much of a secret and she didn't mind sharing. She was a very open person.

Senile. Yes, of course. That made sense. Someone that old - why, even he supposed he was going senile to some extent. Then again, perhaps it was just that he didn't care and couldn't remember his past anymore. So much had happened in his lifetime, and he couldn't remember his childhood at all. He barely remembered his turning or those first years as a vampire. Yet at the same time, the more he thought about it, he didn't really care if the Ishak threw him out. Perhaps that was part of his own senility, or perhaps he was just too damned old to care. Either way, the conversation had changed.

He nodded at her mention of more open space.

"I don't do much frolicking when having sex, myself. I have sex, and sex only. But I suppose I've never been one to waste time having fun. I've always felt that approaching something directly was the best course of action. I can see how more space can be a benefit, though."

Chi remembered everything that had happened to her and that was perhaps part of her senility. She remembered so much that her mind had forgotten other more essential things, which ended up making her quite different from any other vampire. Her age contributed to that quite a bit.

She shook her head and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "There are different things to say sex, I simply use the frolicking term. I find it fun." In so many ways, Chi acted like the sixteen year old she looked to be, but at others she was the responsible ancient who was aware of what you were doing and would hunt you down if you did anything wrong. She didn't find it difficult to destroy incapable vampires, though many were allowed to plead their case, she gave them at least that much, before exacting her judgment.

She smiled at him and amusement flickered through her eyes. "I like a bit of a fight when I have sex, there is no fun if you get to the point of it, besides it gets repetitive and boring. Putting a bit of mystery in it, makes it entertaining." She continued smiling, thoughts from anyone in the area flitting through her mind. "I'm sure that the Ishak leader would enjoy to make your blood boil. She can do that you know."

"A bit of mystery on whose part? Mine or the mortals'? If on the part of the mortal, it would make no sense. There would be no fight. If on my part, what would be the point? Mortals are for food and some entertainment now and again, nothing more."

He had no trouble disposing of a great number of mortals in a single fell swoop, but others - especially the meddling Amman - would have a coniption fit. Regardless, he could still have his fun with them on occasion. He, after all, did not find sex redundant. He found it a natural activity that was a tool for both pleasure and feeding alike.

Several vampires began leaving the graveyard now as the night deepened even further. By the time he'd crossed the way to another row of gravestones, he and his companion were the only two left in the cemetary.

"Seems we are finally alone, unless you count those below that have not yet left the safety of the Crypt."

Chi shook her head. He was completely missing the point, but then some immortals were oblivious. "That is why you sleep with other immortals; they bring the mystery in the world of sex. You need a bit of surprise or else it will always ends the same. Don't you ever get bored?" Chi would. She needed a little more energy in any relationship, whether it was long term or one night fling. She got bored really easily.

Chi noticed the other vampires that left the graveyard yet they were irrelevant. Any vampire in this town was irrelevant compared to her, yet she searched the company of others. It was simply who she was. "It seems that we are alone." A wicked gleam entered her eyes. "So what do you do when you find yourself alone with an older vampire?"

"That, my dear, depends on the older vampire. And as to your previous question..."

He thought a moment. He supposed the excitement had gone out of his life to a great extent. There were no great wars anymore, no major battles, no supreme overthrowings to take advantage of. A few thousand years ago, constant turmoil in a given country was all too common. Here, it was something that hadn't happened for a few hundred years - unless you counted the sixties, of course. He didn't.

"I supposed...I do tend to find myself bored on occasion. I have, perhaps, lived far too long to recognize anything more than a decent amount of pleasure anymore. Perhaps I am going senile in my old age."

It depended on the older vampire? She mulled that over, well she supposed that it made sense. Every vampire was different and she supposed that you would react differently to every vampire. It was interesting, she always acted the same with every vampire, because she didn't fear any repercussions.

Chi snorted. "It's simply because you sleep with mortals. They don't have the same stamina that vampires do. They get tired faster and they simply don't provide enough fun in the long run." Well that was entirely her opinion, some mortals provided great fun, but it simply got boring after the initial day or so. A vampire on the under hand was agile and extremely limber, being with one was interesting, especially when the more aggressive side came out. "You should try with a vampire."

"Ah, but you see, therein lies the problem. I would prefer to be with someone at least as old as I am, or close to my age at any rate."

He chuckled at that.

"Perhaps I really am senile. But that is my preference, whatever the reason. Everyone has theirs, mortal or vampire alike."

He shrugged.

"At any rate, there are few that I have personally met that are as old as me. There's you, of course, but I hardly know you. Mortals I don't have to get to know because they only last a few days - long enough to feed. I derive pleasure from them during that time, of course. But vampires - they last much longer."

The statement was an obvious fact, of course, and so said dryly.

Chi raised an eyebrow. "Does that make me too old or do I look too young to be appealing to you?" It was an innocent question. Most people looked twice because of her age. She looked young and innocent, she of course wasn't, but sometimes looks were everything, to most mortals anyway.

She had never thought of herself as too old, but perhaps she was a little too old. She felt young and beautiful, but of course vampires saw her age and mortals the same, except that it was at two different extremes.

She frowned. "So you have to know the person to sleep with them? Where's the fun in that? I like one night stands. You know nothing and have a better chance of being surprised, that's why sleeping around is fun, besides you can get diseases and women can't get pregnant. Why waste such an opportunity?" She didn't understand it, but shrugged it away.

"Your youthful appearance means nothing to me. I suppose I would rather get to know someone I am going to sleep with if they are a vampire. Mortals are merely food and tools for pleasure, but fellow vampires - they are citizens of the night. They are like my brothers and sisters, now, and have been for over four thousand years. As I said, I hardly know you. I'm not about to piss off some ancient god of a vampire just to get a few hours of fun. I like to know what I'm getting into, you see. With mortals, that isn't a problem."

Quite. Mortals could be manipulated, played, deceived if need be. They could be ignored or destroyed. Vampires were another matter altogether. He should know - he was one.

"In truth, I suppose I don't really need sex anymore - not as I did in previous centuries, of course. Perhaps it is because it so pervades modern mortal society that I now see it as a fickle thing, but whatever the reason, I do it only as an aside to feeding. It's pleasurable, certainly - would it be done so often or advertised so blatantly in the mortal world if it were not? - but not a key focus of my immortal life anymore. Mostly," he said, almost as an afterthought, "I wonder what I'm even doing here."

He was searching for something to do. That was it. And not just for a day or a week. He was searching for a reason to continue. Not that he was suicidal or anything. Not at all. But mortals only lived so long; they had plent to make their lives meaningful. What did four-thousand-plus-year-old vampires have to keep them interested in the world around them and their own lives?

Chi watched him over carefully. "So one night flings with other vampires mean nothing to you?" Chi was all for it, but then again, no one was capable of hurting her, unless she let them. She wasn't a violent person unless who ever she was with wanted her to be. She was one of those vampires that was open to everything and she would apply different attitudes to different people. "Pity really, you need to be reckless to keep the adrenaline flowing. What is life without risk?"

She looked him over critically. "You know what your problem is, you have nothing to do. You simply survive to survive. You don't have anything to look forward to. Every night is the same to you. You have to find something that gives your life purpose, even if for a little bit. I've done many things in my life, some didn't last very long, but it let me do something, kept me going."

She then shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sure that you'll find something, you simply have to find it. Think about it, maybe you can find something worthwhile."