Luna walked into the diner and sat down in a booth and ordered a glass of water from the waitress. Luna saw a man in a booth across the diner from her watching her intently. Luna rolled her eyes in plain view of him so he would not get the idea to come over. She scanned through his thoughts and found nothing but vulgar images and thoughts of her. She grimaced at them.

Luna knew she was very attractive to the humans and vampires around her. It was something that she had to deal with even in human life. She sighed and stuck her finger in the water and swirled it around. She wondered if there were any vampires around this place that would sense her. Luna was an innocent in so many ways, and yet she was not a goody-two-shoes. Luna continued to swirl her water waiting to see what the night would bring her.

The bell tinkled a warm greeting as he stepped through door of the homely little diner. He didn’t even hear it. Neither did he hear the friendly greeting of a nearby waiter and consequently didn’t register the curious glance she shot him as he walked right past her. His excuse: he didn't have one, other than he was having a shit night. In addition to the dull, persistent headache- courtesy of last night's drinking-feeding binge- he was feeling restless and more than a little tense.

He slipped into a booth with a muffled sigh and shrugged off his coat, placing it aside. It wasn't necessary to wear and even some mortals were walking around at night without a coat now, but it was an old habit to carry it along. A waitress- not the same one he'd ignored a minute before- approached his table with a weary smile. It was late. Her name tag read Melanie.

"'s a pretty name," he nodded absently towards the tag when she arched a confused brow at him.

"Oh! Thank you," she blushed cutely and nearly dropped her pen. "Um, what can I get you tonight?"

He stared at her for a moment until she looked about ready to wriggle under his gaze, then glanced at the menu.

"Water's all for now, thanks."

"Be right back with that."

He shifted in the cozy booth, casting a cold, wary glance about the little diner. People. People talking and flirting and laughing and thinking. People moving. Within moments it was back, that low, keening desire to lure one away and methodically tear their life out in slow gulps. It was always there, barely latent. Always.

A pause. His eyes caught on one young woman in particular. A vampire, and far older than he. He glanced away quickly, feigning interest in his menu, but his gaze inevitably wandered back to her again.

Luna sensed the vampire walk in. She didn't bother to read his thoughts, she knew he didn't see her. She continued to swirl her finger in the water, thinking that maybe if she did long enough the water would be absorbed into her. He sat down and she could hear the waitresses thoughts thinking about him. Luna chuckled slightly as the woman almost had a brain anurism when he said her name was pretty. Luna looked back down at her water.

A few moments later she heard his thought clear and distinct. It was about her. She looked straaight at him and caught him looking at her. She smiled slightly, not really happy. She was bored and wondered if she was being to straight forward as she stood and walked to his table. She could tell he was having a bad night. She stopped in front of him and looked at the other side of the booth. "Is this seat taken?" she asked with a noticably fake smile plastered on her face.

He immediately looked away when she caught his eye, not really in the mood for company. However, it just so happened that what he was in the mood for didn't really matter. She crossed the little diner to his table anyway. She didn't smell like he did, in the sense that she was indeed older, more experienced, and probably not exactly the hunt-and-slaughter type. Great. The last thing he needed was some immortal chick telling him about the mortality behind vampirism.

When she spoke, he glanced up at her, the cold stare melting away into a baffled one. What was with the Barbie grin? Blinking away the confusion, he gestured for her to sit.

"No, it's quite vacant," he muttered, brushing the back of his neck in mild irritation. "Sit down if you'd like."

Melanie returned, a glass of water with a lemon perched atop it in her hand, and set it down before him. It was terribly near impossible to miss the bafflement in her eyes when she noticed that Vivian was no longer alone, and that his guest was indeed female. But she was young and she prided herself in being a decent actress. Flashing Luna a smile, she pulled out her miniature notepad.

"Can I get you something, ma'am?"

Luna smiled at his thoughts as she sat. "I'm not here to bother you so don't get irritated. Or to talk about the 'morality of vampirism,'" she quoted his thoughts, "to each his own I say." she flopped down int the booth. "Okay, I don't care what you think I'm here for I can tell your having one hell of a night," she said sarcastically. She watched as the waitress reappeared. Why is there a woman with him now? she thought.

She gave the man his water and looked at Luna, who glared at her. "Can I get you something ma'am?" Luna thought a moment before responding. "No ma'am, I'm quite alright." The way she said it was cold. She could tell the girl was slightly protective of the vampire next to her. She glared at the woman.

Vivian watched the interacting with detached amusement. Of course, it didn't show. Not much showed up on his face these days, not because he was into being the moody-shadowy type but because it was the way he was. He'd always been reserved, closed off. It was in his nature. And being turned had only integrated that mindset further. He pulled his glass nearer but didn't taste it. The waitress lingered for a moment longer, then ducked her head and turned to go. Apparently Luna's stare had done the job, which meant it was just the two of them.

Glancing around, Vivian leaned forward a little, his eyes flicking over the vampiress's face with a curious, scrutinizing intensity.

"So what the hell is this, you just break into my thoughts and spit them back out at me, or what? What do you want, then, if you're not here to lecture me about what I am and what I'm not?"

He bit his tongue before he spewed out another dose of bitter Vivianesque anger on her. It wasn't her fault he was in a bad mood, anyway. But he didn't appreciate the mental violation she'd apparently just done on him. He hadn't even noticed it- that was odd. What did that mean? That she wasn't just a few years older than him, but decades? He couldn't say. He eased back into his side of the booth and continued regarding her from there.

"Who are you?"

Luna leaned back in the booth. "Well some thoughts are stronger than others and I don't like irritation for no reason." She smiled with a slight amusement. "Personally, I don't cae what you think you are or you're not. I don't like to put people down if I don't have to. And might I add you're in one hell of a foul mood." She cut off her power and there was an eerie silence in her head. "There I'm not reading thoughts anymore. Happy?"

Luna watched him as he continued to scrutinized her face. she didn't break her stare. He leaned back into his booth and asked, "Who are you?" Luna smirked. "Well, who are you? I'll tell you if you tell me." She sighed and leaned back further. "My name's Luna. What's yours?"

"Vivian. And thank you."

Perhaps there was the slightest jealousy factor. Being a fledgling in a city where older vampires were no rare commodity meant living at a constant disadvantage. He'd come to strongly dislike the older types. They were proud, oblivious. And plenty of them sported scathing holier-than-thou attitudes that were amusing enough when not incredibly annoying. He turned his glass in a slow circle, finally breaking their mutual stare in favor of glancing around the surprisingly busy diner.

"So can you read anyone's thoughts?"

He glanced back at her, genuinely curious but unwilling to show her just how interested in the subject he was. He was young, after all, and he'd never had a real sire. There were many pieces missing from his knowledge of what exactly he was, and he wanted to know what they were.

Luna smiled at his question. "Yes. I have read vampire's thoughts older that me. Some say it makes me seem older than I actually am." She sighed. "It's actually really irritating. Being able to read thoughts. But it's like my own personal radar." She smiled as she said the end of the sentence.

as he looked back at her she could see the curiosity in his eyes. "Is there any thing that you would particularly like to know?" she asked. Now she was curious of his question.

"Irritating for you?" He scoffed, looking down into his lightly sweating glass. "What about blocking them? You said you can close them off, right? Can't you just choose not to listen to 'em?"

Melanie drifted by for what had to be the third time within the last five minutes. Then again, it was also the third time she'd caught his eye within the last five minutes. Perhaps he'd ask her when her shift ended. Perhaps they'd leave together and take a nice walk. Perhaps he'd kiss her. Perhaps he'd take her life in some scummy back alley and leave her body for some passerby to stumble over the next morning...

Vivian blinked absently, forcing his attention back to the vampiress sitting patiently across from him. Who was she? Her name meant nothing to him. What was she like, really like? A mortal-lover. She had to be. Any vampire with the intense thought-reading had to be the empathetic type. Hell, he probably would be too if he had that sort of power.

"Yeah, I have a question." He leaned a little closer, skimming her pale eyes with his own. "What kind of vampire are you, Luna? What type, exactly? So you can hear things that I can't. What else can you do? These people," he angled his head towards the rest of the diner, his eyes remaining steady on hers, "what do they mean to you?"

Luna listened to him patiently. "Yes, I can choose not to listen, but when something involves me. Something... bad. I like to know what it is." she glanced pointedly to the men on the other side of the diner that were still glancing over at her now and then.

Melanie walked by again. She didn't need to enter her thoughts to find out what she was thinking. Melanie was thinking about Vivian. She looked back at Vivian to see him catch her eye. He blinked absently and looked back at Luna. "Yeah, I have a question. What kind of vampire are you, Luna? What type, exactly? So you can hear things that I can't. What else can you do? These people, what do they mean to you?"

Luna looked back at him and thought for a moment. "I think they're......souls. You probably think I'm empathetic, many people do. I know they are beings, the same as us. I wish to perserve them and my power doesn't let me drink from them, because of the specific characteristics of it." She looked coldly out of the window of the diner. "I guess you could say I watch people. I'm a Watcher, I exist only for certain purposes and then I am of no use."

Luna looked back at Vivian. "Much more to who I am, but that was probably the part you wanted to hear. Am I right?"

As she spoke, Vivian shook his head, his fingers inadvertently twisting and shredding a napkin into a messy pulp.

"But they aren't the same! Not at all. We come from them, sure, but the blood...it changes everything. I was nothing like this before I was turned. I didn't know such anger...such passion. When I was human, I lived because I was told to live. Now I live because I crave it. It's monstrous- but I bask in it."

He paused, glancing out again at the people scattered amongst the booths and tables. He closed his eyes, picking out conversations, expressions, laughs, worries. People. They were just people, not one of them special in any way. Out of the thousands of people in this city, he had yet only encountered one, one out of thousands, whom he had truly seen and felt and loved. Only one, out of thousands. He looked back at Luna, ignoring her last question because, in truth, he wasn't satisfied. He wanted to know more.

"You do not feed on them? How do you survive? Animals? Blood banks?"

Luna listened to his little speech. "Well, I know we aren't the same. I feel it now, too. The passion, the change of emotions. I love it. I never felt it either when I was human, that's what sets us apart. Well, that and the thirst for blood." Luna looked at him with distant eyes. She probably knew how others felt more than most. Luna watched as he thought about something. Vivian looked around the diner. She would not invade his thoughts without good cause or permission from now on.

"You do not feed on them? How do you survive? Animals? Blood banks?" Luna thought about it for a moment. She did not want to tell him all aspects of her powers. "I do not feed on them and have never tasted human blood. I fear if I do it will damage me permanently." She thought for a moment longer. "The characteristics of my gift, I'm afraid, won't allow me."

"But...you would, wouldn't you?" He studied her closely, his hands finally falling still as he watched her watch him. "If you could, you'd feed on them?"

A vampire that refused, no, was unable to feed off of humans? The idea was nearly incomprehensible to him. Vivian was a fervent hunter and, often times, a remorseless murderer of whosoever happened to be near him when the call for blood set him off. And she was older than he, much older. Had she truly spent decades without even wondering what she was missing?

True, he was young. True also that many fledglings seemed to be more violent and unpredictable than their elders. But they still killed, or at least fed. She did not.

"You've...never even tried?" He shook his head and looked away. "I don't understand."

Luna shrugged at this young vampire. "I don't know that I would. I still see what it's like to be human from them so I can remember my time as a human. If my power wasn't what it was.....I guess it depends. I don't know if I would feed on them or not." Luna looked down at her hands. she had been careful to not let the skin come in contact with anything in the diner except the water. She looked back at him to try and gauge his face and see if he had noticed. She gave up and looked down.

"No I never tried. I almost did it a few times when I was young, but......" Luna stopped herself before she said anymore. She smiled sadly at him. "Let's just say it was not a happy thing when I tried to feed from them. I got my teeth on one's neck once but that was as close as I'll ever get." She sighed. "Animals are easier, but sometimes some of them are hard too."She twisted her fingers around themselves.

"Animals?"

He flashed her an incredulous look before again diverting his attention elsewhere. This he really could not comprehend, and so he did not even begin to try. Instead he loosely ruffled his hair with both hands and caught sight of Melanie flitting around from table to table, washing, cleaning, taking orders. She glanced up at him once and their eyes met- in that single moment, he smiled, and the heightened look of bafflement in her stare was enough.

He'd have her.

And in that single piece of knowledge, a faint and growing sense of wickedness stirred in his veins. He grinned at his gentle companion.

"So it's the pity thing, huh? Feel bad for them and all because you used to be one? They don't much care, you know. If you ended any of their lives tonight, what difference would it make? Not many of them die screaming. They die with a sigh on their lips, limp in your arms. Not many of them fight. Almost like you're doing 'em a favor."

Luna looked at him with her eyebrows raised. "No it's not the pity thing. It's the thought and memory thing. For someone like you to tell me that you are completely ingnorant of my power." She knew he was thinking something about the girl, but ignored it for now.

"I don't drink from them because I have my own thoughts and memories, my own life, and they have theirs. I don't want theirs, I want mine." Luna was stern now. She hated everyone thinking she was a sensitive good-for-nothing vampire because she chose not to drink the blood of humans.

"I see the thoughts and memories of beings through objects, blood, and different substances. I can catch them through the wind sometimes. I can read thoughts away from people too, but what's really bad is the other part of my power." Luna paused, wondering if she should really tell him. "I can read every thought you have ever had. Once an elder called me a memory keeper. It's pretty bad." Luna was glaring and hissing at Vivian through the last part of her sentence. She couldn't resist to ask anymore.

"What are you going to do to her?"

Vivian stared across the semi-dark room to where she stood, her profile just visible from where they were seated, and hardly heard a word the other vampire spoke to him. When she ended with an unsettled question, a slow smirk crossed his lips.

“I think I’ll kill her. Might have a bit of fun with her, first. You enjoy your evening, Luna.”

Flashing Luna another grin and a quick wink, he slipped from the booth and crossed the diner to where she was standing behind her counter, untying her apron.

“Excuse me, Miss?”

Her eyes flicked up from the counter and locked with his, that charming look of surprise flashing across her sweet face, once more filling it with gentle, rosy color.

“I’m sorry if it seems out of line of me, but I’d really like to know…what time d’you get off work, Melanie?”

“Oh,” she breathed, her lips softening into the shyest smile, “um, now, actually. I was just…signing out for the night. Getting ready to...uh...to walk home.”

"Not alone?"

"Well...," she smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear, "yeah, actually."

"At least let me walk you out?"

"Sure. Sure, I'd like that. Let me just put my apron back."

She turned and vanished into the back. Vivian glanced Luna's way as if to flaunt how very easy this dark game of theirs was, the discreet smirk still showing through as a glint in his brilliant eyes. The girl returned only a moment later, and he led her out the back way, holding the door open for her as they exited the closeness of the cozy little diner.

Luna rolled her eyes and followed Vivian and the girl out. She followed them, hoping that Vivian wouldn't kill her. She hissed just low enough for him to hear. "Vivian, please don't do this to me. Dying thoughts hurt more than anything." She didn't know if he would head her warning so she just followed him.

Luna didn't know much about the young vampire that she was watching, though she felt a slight attraction toward him. She wanted to be his friend if he would let her. Luna shook her head at herself. Why were these thoughts going through her head? she b\never needed a friend before, why did she need one now?

Maybe since he and her were both in a bad mood she understood him slightly and got attached to that fact. She sighed quietly. I need to go to a doctor. I'm talking to myself. Isn't that a sign of madness?

He could hear her behind them, tracking them like a shadow.

"Then get the hell away from us!" He growled, not bothering to glance back at her.

Melanie glanced up at him, her soft, green eyes regarding him with the faintest look of worry.

"I'm sorry...did...did you say something?"

"Not a thing, love."

The girl did not look convinced by his answer, but she kept by his side regardless. They rounded a corner into yet another alleyway, and Vivian slowed to a halt. Melanie did the same, the puzzlement in her expression rising.

"What's the matter?"

Turning towards her, he slipped his hands about her waist and slowly pushed her back, back, until she her heels clicked sharply against the wall. The confusion melted into fear, her green eyes filling with panic.

"P-please...wait..."

He cut off her protests with a kiss, his fingers curling into her sides as her entire body tensed in unison, feebly resisting his advances. Tearing his lips from hers, he bowed his head to her ear and his voice was a ragged whisper.

"Don't scream."

Her doe eyes were bright with rising tears, her body frozen except for the minute tremble convulsing through each and every external muscle. He took her jaw in his hand, tilting her head to the side and exposing her slender throat. Bending to kiss her neck, he slowly pressed his fangs into her skin but did not break it. His eyes flashed to the shadows, to where Luna stood, pale-faced and staring.

"Do you see? How easy it is to be what you were made to be? Don't tell me you don't want it, don't crave it, Luna."

Luna watched in slight bemusement as he pushed her against the wall. Vivian told the girl not to scream. He leaned down to her neck and when Lna thought that he was going to bite her he stopped and looked up at her.

"Do you see? How easy it is to be what you were made to be? Don't tell me you don't want it, don't crave it, Luna."

Luna lost all senses in her anger. "I do crave it Vivian!" she yelled. "I am cast out from my own race because of how I am! Don't tell me anything you think you know about me! The blood taunts me, like my own personal curse formed from my deepest desires! Do not taunt me Vivian!" Luna approached him and the girl. She stopped right at his arm. She leaned toward his face to where she was just an inch from his lips. "Don't you ever taunt me with blood! I can make you relive your most horrible moments in life, Vivian! don't do this!" she hissed it at him like a snake.

Her eyes glinted dangerously and she had started to curl her shirt around her hands. Her shirt had rode up showing her well-defined stomach muscles, she continued twisting the shirt in her anger. she knew if she attacked him she could very well knock his fangs into Melanie's neck herself.

Luna emerged from where she'd been hovering in the shadows, and Melanie did her best to twist her head to regard the newcomer.

"P-please! Help me!"

Vivian's fingers crept across the girl's lips. He chuckled darkly at Luna's heated outburst, slowly running his thumb across the trembling girl's neck. The vampiress moved closer; he bit down a little harder until Melanie gave a tiny whimper and squirmed beneath him. Grinning, he retraced this fangs just far enough to speak.

"So there is more to you after all. A darker side. I wasn't sure for awhile. Thought you might be one of those 'noble' types. Pretending to sympathize, looking down on me all the while because of all the things you know and all the things I do not."

"G-god...please...," Melanie twisted in his arms, the tears now evident as they spilled across her cheeks and down over her jaw.

Vivian tightened his grip on her and she fell silent, but his eyes did not leave Luna's livid face.

"But I don't understand why you care if I kill this girl. You can shut her out, close her off. You don't even have to glimpse her dying thoughts. Why are you still here?"

"I only care about people's souls! I sympathize for the good ones that die!" Luna barked back at him. She looked at Melanie silently pleading with her to shut up for a minute.

"Of course there is a darker side, Viv! I admit that I would love to be noble for choosing not to drink from them, but I will admit lso that I crave the blood also!" Luna was almost yelling in his face. she knew Melanie would probably be wondering why they were arguing about blood.

"But I don't understand why you care if I kill this girl. You can shut her out, close her off. You don't even have to glimpse her dying thoughts. Why are you still here?"

"It doesn't work like that!" Luna screamed at him. She turned and walked a few feet away and looked back at him, crouched over the girl. Luna started pacing. "When someone dies a soul leaves the earth. Dying thoughts branch out and are more powerful than almost any other thought. The emotions travel through thought. I would essentially die again as she is. See it through her eyes, through her mind." She twisted her shirt tighter. "Even if I cut it off I could still catch the thoughts on the wind or the air, or that building she would die against. Objects hold memories. But that is not what would hurt." Luna stopped and looked at Vivian. "Her sould leaving the earth would hurt, those last memories." Luna slumped on the ground, still grabbing her shirt. Vivian was in complete control.

"It hurts to die more than once." she whispered. she looked up at him, her navy eyes meeting his. "I can't stop you, so kill her if you wish, but don't leave me here." She looked back at her hands ready for the pain that would rip through her mind soon.

Of course there is a darker side, Viv! Viv. For a moment as he looked at her, she was not Luna, but someone else, someone he knew who had called him that...

"Maybe you didn't notice. People die all the time, sweetheart," he growled, his steely gaze flicking down to Melanie. "Don't they, babe?"

The girl closed her eyes and gave a feeble whimper as he moved in once more to kill her. Her soft skin offered so little resistance, offering to easily give in as his fangs skimmed the surface. But again and again his eyes strayed and he would catch sight of Luna, her face waiting, intent on his decision. He snarled and tried again, but the mischief that had snared him before in the diner was waning- he was tired of this. He'd been tired of it for a long time.

Cursing under his breath, he pressed his fingers to the sensitive nerves behind her jaw. She struggled for maybe a second before falling limp in his arms, unconscious. He eased her to the ground- she'd come around in a few minutes, and she was of no more concern to him. He turned his back on both of them and walked a few quick, restless paces, every nerve, every muscle wired with the thrill of a near-kill but with no outlet, no relief.

"How can you stand it?" He snapped, turning to glare at her over his shoulder. "Death is everywhere. How do you survive?"

Luna was ready for the pain as he got closer to Melanie's neck. He almost bit her but pulled back. He pressed his fingers into her nerves making her go unconcious. Luna was completely shocked at Vivian's decision. She was sure that he would bite her and kill her. She watched in shock as he lowered her to the ground and turned to walk away. Luna stood up quickly hoping to follow him if he sould run. He stopped and turned toward her.

"How can you stand it?" He snapped, turning to glare at her over his shoulder. "Death is everywhere. How do you survive?"

Luna slowly walked toward him. She looked down at the ground. "I can't stand it and I don't survive," she whispered sadly. She looked up at his eyes again. "I have so many memories that aren't my own. so many lives that I never lived. They're there in my mind. To haunt me for eternity." Luna twisted her hands around her shirt again, it was almost to the point of tearing.

"I never get to know anyone because I have to get away from death every so often. I merely pass through this life as a creature of darkness that steals the memories of the dead and dying. And unfortunately see those of the living." Luna sighed and dropped to her knees again, right in front of Vivian. She almost couldn't stand. She looked at him with deep relief and sadness. "Thank you...for not killing her. It's horrible to die again."

Vivian stared hard at her for a long moment and did not speak even when she had finished and sunk to the dirty alley floor. She was an irritation, really. She'd guilted him out of what would have been an immensely satisfying kill. But she had also taught him a considerable amount, and she'd told him much about herself that he suspected not many knew. With a relenting sigh, he crouched before her and gently loosened her fingers, tugging her crinkled shirt from her grip.

"Look, I know it doesn't mean much, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry. Sometimes I'm a presumptuous bastard," he shrugged and offered a mirthless, crooked grin. "But sometimes I'm not."

He took her hands in his and slowly helped her back to her feet, linking one of her arms with his lest she need help standing. Vivian began to walk with her, leading her along with slow, purposeless steps. As far as he knew, neither of them had a destination.

"You got a home, Luna? Somewhere you need to be?"

Luna was careful to block her powers as he removed her fingers from her shirt. She looked up at him at his apology. She had a feeling he didn't apologize to anyone often. She smiled at his joke. Her navy eyes watched him as he helped her to her feet. She wasn't sure she could stand on her own and was glad that he linked his arm with hers to keep her steady. Her outburst of anger had left her slightly weak. She was confused as to why he didn't kill Melanie but she was glad he didn't. She definitely didn't want to 'die' tonight her first night in Demaitre.

Hel led her along with no apparent destination in mind. Their steps were slow barely making any sound on the ground.

"You got a home, Luna? Somewhere you need to be?"

Luna blushed briliantly and looked down at the ground, swaying a little and almost losing her balance. As soon as she regained it she remained looking at the ground, trying to think of a good reason of why she didn't have a home yet. She was a part of the Enashe coven but she wondered a lot lately if she should just leave it, there was almost noone in it here. "I don't have a place to stay right now. So....no home. This is my first night here in Demaitre." She was embarrassed that she wasn't staying anywhere yet, but she was used to it by now.

In truth, Vivian wasn't much one for apologizing. At least, not anymore. Perhaps when he had been alive it would have been more in his nature, but it'd been awhile since he'd felt even remotely guilty. He tightened his arm a bit as she swayed, a faint edge of concern softening his dark eyes.

"This is your first night?"

He raised a brow at her, noting the very human blush fading from her cheeks. If he hadn't felt particularly guilty before, he was beginning to now. Likely he was the first vampire she'd met in Demaitre, and he hadn't exactly been...hospitable.

"Well...look, uh...if you haven't a place to go, I sort of have an apartment not all that far from here. I mean, I know I wasn't exactly good company, but if you have nowhere to go you're welcome to stay with me. You know, just for the night."

He half wanted to add that he'd behave- or something to that effect- but the gesture sounded way too comical and, truth be told, he wasn't so sure he would be able to avoid upsetting her completely. He was crass. He was a fledgling, rough around the edges and with a pretty touchy temper these days. But he could certainly try.

"But if you have other plans or would rather not or something, it's fine," he shrugged. "I'm sure you'd have no trouble finding your own place to stay."

"This is your first night?"

Luna nodded. "Yep. Never been here before tonight and I'm a little surprised at the knowlege of the humans around here. I didn't know there was a place with this much vampiric activity." She looked at the street they were walking on. She was truly shocked at the city of Demaitre. There were so many vampires in this city and humans knew about them and didn't have any desire to move.

"Well...look, uh...if you haven't a place to go, I sort of have an apartment not all that far from here. I mean, I know I wasn't exactly good company, but if you have nowhere to go you're welcome to stay with me. You know, just for the night."

Luna looked at the ground, hiding her blush. She didn't dare look into his thoughts to see what he was thinking, but he seemed to mean it in honesty. No implications. She looked back up at him. "Well, I was planning to find a good alley and curl up in the dark away from the sun." she thought for a moment. "If you have a couch I could borrow though, I would be extremely grateful to you." She was feeling better, now tht she didnt have emotions running through her.

She looked back up at Vivian. "So....where is this apartment of yours?"

"It's weird, isn't it?" He glanced at her quickly. "The city, I mean. I didn't live in Demaitre when I was human. I came here...looking for someone. But when I got here," he shook his head slowly. "It was hard to believe so many of our kind even existed, but all here in one city? And there are even mortals who know of us, which I've never understood. I would have thought...they'd be...taken care of."

He trailed off uneasily, aware of how uncomfortable she was likely to be with where he was going. So he dropped the conversation altogether.

"I've done the alley thing before. Never took a bed for granted again after that," he tried a crooked smile, but it faded after a moment. "My place isn't far, just a few blocks."

And they were already well on their way. Vivian looked across the street- away from her- and continued in silence. He'd never been much of a talker, and his recent lifestyle hadn't much helped. And on top of that he wasn't sure what he should say to someone like her. Anything he could think up would likely sound idiotic to a vampire with the kind of experience she had. But when the silence became a bit too lengthy for comfort, he tried again.

"So where do you come from, Luna?"

".....I would have thought...they'd be...taken care of."

Luna nodded. "I would have thought that the vampires wouldn't have let them know about us in the first place. Everywhere else I've been has never had humans know about us." She thought back to New Orleans, and remembered two humans that knew about them. Luna had befriended one of them.


"I've done the alley thing before. Never took a bed for granted again after that."

Luna smiled. "When I was a young vampire I used to live in the streets. That why I said if I could borrow your couch I would be eternally grateful." She smiled a crooked smile, but let it fade. She was tired of sleeping in the streets. "I was sleeping in alleys and streets on my way here. It was a long way." Luna liked where she was living before. She could tell vivian was getting nervous and uneasy. She couldn't figure out why.

They had both stopped talking and a long silence had come between them. Vivian spoke to break it.

"So where do you come from, Luna?"

Luna smiled. "I wander around everywhere. I don't really think I'm from anywhere." She shrugged and looked at him. "Recently I have come from New Orleans, Louisiana. I live there and in the surrounding states when I can." She looked back down at her feet as she walked.

"They're not supposed to. There's a coven here. Made up of older vampires. They're supposed to keep that sort of thing under control. Or, so I heard," Vivian shrugged and tried a half grin. Wasn't really his field of expertise. He was more likely the one to be causing the problems than the one solving them.

He cast a brooding glance over her pale, downcast face at mention of her younger years. He'd heard so many similar stories from other vampires. It made him wonder- did all fledglings end up starting out this way? Out on the streets, sleeping in alleys and passing each solitary night without a real purpose? And if so, when did that turn around, or would it ever?

Perhaps for some.

"All the way from Louisiana? What brought you way up here? Kind of a drastic change," he nodded his head towards an upcoming perpendicular street and began to lead her towards it, his arm loosening around hers- she seemed to be doing all right now, and likely she would appreciate the space.

"They're not supposed to. There's a coven here. Made up of older vampires. They're supposed to keep that sort of thing under control. Or, so I heard."

Luna smiled at his grin. She had a feeling that he was the one that would usually cause trouble. "I have a strange feeling that you would be the one they would have to watch," she said jokingly. She wondered why Demaitre was so out of control if they were supposed to keep it a secret.

"All the way from Louisiana? What brought you way up here? Kind of a drastic change."

Luna felt his arm loosen around hers as he led her off to an upcoming street. "Well, I belong to a coven, but I'm of almost no use, and I don't like staying with them. I try to help as much as I can but I'm not that social." She said this last and looked back down at the street. Most vampires thought it was only normal to band together. She was never social and still isn't.

"I have a strange feeling that you would be the one they would have to watch."

Vivian flashed her a look that might have qualified as almost apologetic, but when he laid eyes on her she was smiling and the tenseness in his expression eased a bit, his shoulders softening from their rigid, defensive pose.

"A coven?" His brow raised in genuine surprise. It was true- she didn't much seem like the socializing type, which he understood. He wasn't much one for crowds anymore either. Never really had been. "Can I guess?" But he didn't wait for permission. "You're an Enashe. Am I right?"

Having lived in Demaitre for a while now, Vivian had heard the coven names passed around from vampire to vampire many times. Though he wasn't fully certain what each particular group was about, he knew enough to have a general idea, and he knew enough to stay away from all of them.

"What's it like? The coven, I mean. I've never even seen one of the houses."

Luna listened as he asked about her coven.

"You're an Enashe. Am I right?"

Luna smiled. "How did you guess? Am I that obvious?" she asked with her smile still in place. "I really was told to join it be my nonexistant sire. I only joined because of that. Maybe an inkling of hope that he cared." She shrugged and looked straight forward. "I never lived with them but they still treated me as part of the coven. I guess with my 'gift' people are wary of me."

"What's it like? The coven, I mean. I've never even seen one of the houses."

Luna thought then looked back at Vivian. "Well, they are like family. Well, to everyone except me.. They offer protection if you're in trouble and will try to help you with almost anything you want to do if they want to help. The houses are big and grand. Everyone has a room that lives there. I never really was like that, or belonged in one. I am doomed to be a loner." She smiled at Vivian, then looked at the ground again. what was sad was that she actually thought she was doomed to be alone forever.

"Well you're obviously not Tarepha. You're not haughty enough to be Ishak. You seem too reserved to be a Nephim, though that would have been my second guess." He studied her moonlit profile for a moment, his cobalt eyes flicking across her face. "And you don't strike me as the Amman type. Again, too quiet. Not domineering enough."

He showed her a genuine grin, an expression that tended to morph his entire look into one of knowing, boyish amusement. It'd been awhile since he'd spoken with another vampire, other than his brother. It was...it was nice. But the light look melted away into a furrowed brow and a much harder stare as she continued.

"Is it so bad to be a loner? You don't have to take care of anyone but yourself, and if that's not enough then at least you don't have to bother with keeping up or slowing down for someone else. Change happens. I don't know of too many of our kind who have the luxury of knowing someone who moves through time exactly as they do. I imagine that's why there are so many failed sirings and fledglings without teachers."

He turned with her down another, smaller street and led her along a row of increasingly wider-spaced houses. At last he slowed to a stop just in front of the secluded drive of one such house and turned to her.

"Besides, even if being alone does bother you, you're not alone now."

After a pause, he nodded towards the door.

"This is it. Home."

Luna listened to him speak of being a loner. she looked at him as he finished. "My sire left me and I had to teach myself. I do think it is better to be a loner, but you haven't lived long enough to actually experience it." She looked at him as she spoke. "Not that that's a bad thing mind you. You seem to be a good fledgling. I spent my first one hundred years completely alone with little to no human or vampire contact. After a while being alone wears onto you."

She stopped as he did in front of a house.

"Besides, even if being alone does bother you, you're not alone now."

Luna thought about that for a moment. [/i]What does that mean? Demaitre?[/i] She looked over to Vivian as he nodded toward the door of the house they stopped in front of.

"This is it. Home."

Luna looked over to the house. "Home." she said quietly. She looked back at Vivian. "I've never had a home before. Many houses and apartments but never a Home. Maybe I'll get one here in Demaitre." Luna then realized she sounded like a six year old. She sighed and looked to the ground. "Sorry," she muttered.

”… you haven't lived long enough to actually experience it."

He knew what she had said was true. Really, there was no contradicting it. Why, then, did the words seem so hostile to him? Why did he mind the fact that she- that anyone- so diligently noted his age seemingly above all else. Opting to dismiss it, he watched her muse over her apparently nomadic past. But her apology caught him off guard. He studied her curiously for a moment before resolvedly leading her up the short drive to the door.

“Sorry for what? You haven’t done or said a thing to apologize for. Not really sure this place could qualify as a ‘home’, actually. I live here, but it’s just a house. They’re just walls. I could sell it tonight and wouldn’t miss it at all.” He shrugged, slowly releasing her arm to fish out the proper key from his coat pocket. “But it’s a place to stay.”

The place itself was quite old. The lock he’d noted to fix a hundred times before still stubbornly resisted for a moment or two before the door swung freely inward. Leading her inside, he flicked on the lights and hung up his coat. Such a normal, civilized gesture never really ceased to strike him as ironic and amusing when months before he’d been living in alleys like a loose dog.

“Sit down, if you’d like. Sorry the place is still a little bit in chaos. I don’t know that I’ll ever completely move in. Anything I can get you, Luna?”

“But it’s a place to stay.”

Luna smiled. "That's what I meant. Just walls." She thought to herself for a moment quietly. Vivian led her inside and hung up his coat. Luna looked around. "I wonder if vampires ever really have homes. Its certainly something to think about....." Luna trailed off, thinking. She looked around again.

“Sit down, if you’d like. Sorry the place is still a little bit in chaos. I don’t know that I’ll ever completely move in. Anything I can get you, Luna?”

Luna shook her head. She was still standing in the door. She didn't know where to go or sit. This was one reason that she was never social. She never liked going to others houses. She was curious about the house. "Hey Vivian. What made you decide to get this house?"

While he searched out a space for his coat and placed it away, Vivian cast a quick, curious glance her way. She looked uncomfortable. Not just 'shy' uncomfortable. Like 'about to bolt' uncomfortable. He knew the feeling--he wasn't much one for hanging around with complete strangers either.

"This house? Or just a house in general?"

He led her back further into the house into the living room and gestured for her to take a seat if she wished. He himself was only too glad to sink down into his armchair. Perhaps it seemed a bit primeval, but familiarity was a big thing with Vivian.

"I bought a house because I like the privacy, the security. It's somewhere to go where I know I can be alone and out of the way. I bought this house because it's not too close to the middle of the city, but it's close enough to get there quickly to hunt--"

He cut himself off abruptly and shot her another semi-apologetic look. It'd slipped out. Easing a little further down in his chair, he proceeded with a bit more caution.

"And it's small. I didn't want a big place, knowing it would just be me here."