Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Solos =&gt; Topic started by: CassandraNova on 13-11-2008, 00:36:29</h2>
		<dl id="posts">
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>13-11-2008, 00:36:29</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<em>Once upon a time...<br><br>Once upon a time, so far back that not even the first story had been yet written, stood a man apart.&nbsp; Stained with the blood of the primal elder's curse upon him, he defied the heavens and shared his damnation with man, and created the second race.&nbsp; Both blessed and cursed, the nightwalkers existed ever since alongside mankind, upon whom they both preyed and depended....<br><br>Once upon a time, hundreds of centuries later, in a place called England, a girl-child was born to the starving family of a bootblack and his wide.&nbsp; For all the gifts that blind random chance conspired to give this girl, and they were many, her three-fold curse prevented her from rising to the greatness that was her birthright.&nbsp; In the firstplace, she was a girl in a time and place where girls were treated as things of no account, never mind that the current monarch of the Isles was none other than Victoria, such egalitarian principles did not penetrate down the laddered rungs of society.&nbsp; Secondly, she was born poor, poverty of such spirit-crushing totality that the only comparable pictures are found in the writings of Dickens.&nbsp; And thirdly, she was the youngest child of her brood, always last to receive anything new, the weakest and slowest to eat from the communal bowl, the overlooked and disregarded runt.<br><br>Once upon a time, after twenty soul-blackening years of fighting daily for bread, to keep her virginity and sanity and purpose, this girl fell prey to a predator that turned her into an evening's entertainment.&nbsp; Human or immortal, the effect was the same. The girl, who would have been an Emperor had she been born a man, lay bleeding in a ditch.<br><br>Once upon a time, a member of the second race chanced upon a bleeding girl in a ditch.&nbsp; Mistaking beauty for skill, it was decided to induct the girl into the second race of immortals.<br><br>Once upon a time, the girl grew powerful in short order; block by block, district by district, she wove a web of blood, money, and favors.&nbsp; <br><br>Once upon a time, her enemies realized the error they'd made in underestimating her, and came to understand fearful truths; in the new order this girl brought, they were fast becoming irrelevant.<br><br>Once upon a time, her enemies put aside old differences to conspire against her, and brought her low for a second time, sealing her in a box behind a mortar wall in London's warren of catacombs.<br><br>Once upon a time, war came to London, and bombs fell upon many sites in the city.<br><br>Once upon a time, her box was found.<br><br>Once upon a time, a junior researcher at a less-than-prestigious London museum worked late in the lab, powering up the diamond-headed drill that would weave together all of the elements of this story...</em>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>14-11-2008, 02:15:22</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Graham Lassiter blew over the head of the drill, stared at it for a moment, blinked, and stopped to massage his brow. It seemed like he had been trying to open this box since he started his internship seven weeks ago. Apparently they had been waiting for someone junior enough to waste days on what the carbon dating had confirmed was a forgery. It was almost a century old itself, but certainly not the pre-Reformation piece that the elaborate carvings suggested.<br><br>He scratched at his head, smoothing down his short brown hair, pushed the protective glasses back over his grey eyes and picked up the datacorder.<br><br>"20.43 hours. Having removed the last of the plaster from the seal, preparing to open the coffin." He switched it off again, and added "I am hoping to fnd a fortune in gold doubloons, or possibly Lord Lucan."<br><br>With that, he started to carefully lift the lid.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 00:30:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The titanium head of the drill was no more than a millimeter in diameter, just enough to break the seal around the rim of the sarcophagus where a welder's torch had made a seal beneath the plaster.&nbsp; Whatever was secured inside was never intended to be recovered.&nbsp; With so many precautions, Graham's mentor had even gone so far as to ponder why the forger had not gone the next best step and dropped the box into the Channel, when interest was at a higher peak than at present.<br><br>Graham had to strain even with the microcracks in the seal; the box did not want to surrender its mystery easily.&nbsp; The young historian might have noticed the almost imperceptible dim creep over the bright florescent lights as his muscles strained over the tipping point between which the lid would remain sealed, or burst open.&nbsp; And then with one last brust of exertion, the seal broke with a decisive and thunderous CRACK.<br><br>Many things happened at once.&nbsp; There was a rush of air, cold air like a Siberian kiss, towards the box, enough to scatter the papers Graham had left on his workstation.&nbsp; The bank of lights over his head exploded in a cascade of sparks that rained down over his head, licking him with sudden, harmless heat.&nbsp; The room was plunged into momentary darkness, darkness that fled when the crimson emergency lights burned on.<br><br>And last of all, a figure stood up from the sarcophagus, a figure shrouded in shadow but with a pair of gleaming cold eyes that pierced Graham even as he felt a hand, small and cold and hard like marble, close around his throat.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 00:40:11</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Graham shivered at the chill creeping through the room as he worked. He paused and adjusted his grip on the controls for the drill, not wanting to scratch the work more than necessary.<br><br>He naturally flinched at the crack, hoping he hadn't damaged anything - then jumped with a yell as the lights exploded. He jerked his hand away from the drill, in fear of sparks. <br><br>Then he suddenly felt a cold hand around his throat.<br><br>"Jesus! What - " He grabbed at the wrist with both hands, struggling for breath as he tried to pull free. As he did, his fear and shock mingled with disbelief. This box had been sealed airtight for all the years it had been in storage - how could someone be in there?
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 00:54:52</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The hand showed no more sign of yielding than an iron bar, and Graham felt like a chicken being jerked towards the chopping block as he was brought violently over the side of the box by whatever had emerged from within.&nbsp; Incongruously, he caught sight, of all things, of a shred of a lace collar beneath a slender, pale neck.&nbsp; The young historian had no time to wonder about it before his head was turned to one side, his neck exposed.<br><br>The feel was like fine, needlesharp razors that had been warmed in a fire.&nbsp; There was a pain from the tearing of his flesh, and a sudden, intense heat that seemed to race into his center along the pathways of his veins.&nbsp; But in less than a moment, the pain faded into a morphine-like numbness that sapped the strength from his limbs, the sharpness of terror from his mind.&nbsp; But then even the numbness itself receded as he was lifted up like a child, and placed atop his worktable with a hand on the small of his back to ensure that he would not fall.<br><br>"Now then," said a woman's voice in a soft whisper of an East Ender accent.&nbsp; "I will thank you not to blaspheme from this point forth.&nbsp; "And would you kindly extend the loan of your jacket to a woman whose modesty is threatened by lights stronger than a candle?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 01:08:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				His cries of terror and pain fell to a low moan of dulled shock as the sharp kiss became a warm numbness, and he drifted, eyes unfocusing as he gazed down at the inside of the sarcophagus. Then he was set aside,a dn shook his head to try and clear it, staring at the glistening red fangs and lips of the thing which had attacked him.<br><br>"Wh-what?" he asked, deep in shock, then slipped out of his plain suit jacket and offered it up, his hand trembling with cold and fear, not wanting to meet the gaze of this... whatever she was.<br><br>It was black cotton, lined with a thin veneer of silk, bought off the rack. A little large for him, and definitely for her.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 01:18:08</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Thank you," came the answer, with genuine sincerity behind it, as if Graham had truly done her a favor.&nbsp; The thought that she would not deign to steal his clothing when she had treated his body and blood with such liberty was contrast enough to snap Graham out of the blissful stupor her lips had imparted.&nbsp; The lights overhead flickered back on, sans the single bank that had exploded, and he saw his attacker beneath the healthy glow of the lamp.<br><br>It was a woman of indeterminate age, made so by the combination of youthful features with a mature set of face that transcended her apparent youth.&nbsp; Her skin was white as fallen snow, save for her lush red lips that still glistened with blood.&nbsp; Hair the color of a lover's bouquet of roses fell in a tangled mass of ringlets.&nbsp; Upon her, his jacket was huge, hanging down to her knees, and beneath the hem Graham saw tatters of lace and ruffled petticoats, bleached by dust and age to the colorless color of rainwater.&nbsp; <br><br>Her eyes, which had been looking at the florescent lights overhead, fell back to him, and looked at him carefully as small hands and delicate fingers fastened the buttons of his jacket from cuffs to collar.&nbsp; "Now then," came the same accent not heard these days except from the lips of midshoremen.&nbsp; "Kindly inform me who sent you to my aid so that I can repay their loyalty."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 01:36:49</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Ahh... no-one. No-one sent me to find you. I was just opening... the... We found the... box you were in. Years ago. You're in a museum. It's... you've been in there all these years?" <br><br>He could hardly grasp the idea. One thought rose to the forefront, but it seemed too much to even imagine.<br><br>"How... how did you survive?"<br><br>He gingerly touched his throat where she had bitten him. he could feel nothing but a pair of slight dents, which themselves were almost completely numb, itching ever so slightly. Like midge bites.<br><br>She couldn't be what he was thinking. It wasn't even possible.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 19:39:26</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Then I owe the museum a debt of thanks," the pale woman said, apparently unperturbed by the implications Graham had raised; the sheer volume of years that might have passed between the time the box had been found and this night.&nbsp; She looked again at the lights overhead, as if they were object of indescribable fascination.&nbsp; Her lips were not clean of his blood, though he had not seen her wipe her mouth nor lick the stray droplets away; the blood was simply gone.<br><br>"I am the Honorable Lady Loretta Hawkridge.&nbsp; You are to refer to me as Lady Hawkridge."&nbsp; She looked down at the boy, and smiled at him, a cool, calculating smile that had little humor in it.&nbsp; "You have the look of a boy about to ask a question he cannot restrain himself from asking.&nbsp; I will indulge you for the moment, my sweet.&nbsp; Ask me what I am as you are so keen to."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>29-11-2008, 20:09:41</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He stared at her lips as she spoke, then blinked with surprise and tore his eyes away.<br><br>"Lady. Uh... Hawkridge." He paused, swallowing hard to make himself speak - and feeling the numb ache at his throat as he did. <br><br>His voice and face were clearly filled with doubt, but little trace of disbelief. He already knew the answer, much as he wanted to think otherwise. "You're a... are... are you a... vampire?" 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>30-11-2008, 01:20:55</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Mmmm," said Loretta.&nbsp; "There's a term I never fancied, my dear.&nbsp; But for the sake of simplicity...yes."<br><br>The woman came to the lab table, taking Graham's chin in her left hand and turning his head to the left and right.&nbsp; Head back, then down, then in his eyes, and she only refrained from opening his mouth to look at his teeth by taking the identification badge from his neck.<br><br>"Graham Lassiter.&nbsp; Would that be Doctor Lassiter, or Professor?"&nbsp; Without an answer, she lifted the badge over his neck and rubbed her finger over the hard plastic case over the magnetic key-card.&nbsp; "Issued August 14th, in the year 2006?"&nbsp; Her voice trailed off, and her cold eyes grew wide in shock.&nbsp; "No...it cannot be so long.&nbsp; Not so long as that...."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>30-11-2008, 03:08:54</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				As she smiled and approached, he tried to back away, but his feet wouldn't rise from the floor. He held stil, quivering with terror, as her steely fingers grasped his skin and turned his neck about. He closed his eyes, expecting the burning sting again, then opened them again as he moved him from side to side and pulled off his badge.<br><br>"It's - " He trailed off as she stared at the date. <br><br>"I... I'm sorry," he whispered. Hoping against hope that this would give her pause. Imagining her nails slitting his throat in a sudden outburst of rage. He kept as still as he could, as cold fear coiled in his gut, praying that she would ignore him if he was silent and still.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>30-11-2008, 03:36:05</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"No," she said, and her voice, so quiet and calm, so inhumanely cold, was heavy with promise and rage.&nbsp; "You are not.&nbsp; You have no idea what sorry is.&nbsp; But you may see it, if any who put me in that box live still to this night.&nbsp; They will <em>regret</em>, my pet.&nbsp; They will regret."<br><br>Her bare feet padded across the floor to the sarcophagus once more, her hand in a tight fist.&nbsp; She regarded the box that had been her home for more time than she had spent free of it, and it seemed that her entire form trembled with suppressed fury.&nbsp; She lashed out, a single fist into the side of the thing, and it echoed with a hollow thud.<br><br>And then she turned, and her face bore upon it a smile of distant amusement as she returned to him, extending her hand.&nbsp; "Come Graham.&nbsp; We have much to do this evening yet.&nbsp; I need more sustenance than you can provide me yourself, bless your heart, and I shall need suitable attire, and we shall need a roof over our heads as I get my bearings...come love, don't stand there agape, spring to when your Mistress gives you an order."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>30-11-2008, 04:12:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He cringed as she struck the side of the coffin. She could break his neck with a single strike like that.<br><br>He stared at her, trying to control his breathing, as she addressed him. "Y-yes... my lady," he finally managed to whimper, nodding in agreement to her demands. Anything to avoid her anger. "Wh-where to start?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>30-11-2008, 18:08:43</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Loretta's eyes flickered to her outstretched hand and back at Graham; clearly, she was expecting him to take it.&nbsp; "Well my dear, first we shall need to find the services of a catamite; as I doubt you can match the hunger that more than a century of forced slumber has engendered.&nbsp; I know not the haunts that are claimed by my kind in this year, and so we may find ourselves poaching upon the territory of another, but mainly I need you to guide me to a place where I may find a paramour who will not be missed."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>01-12-2008, 02:03:26</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Seeing her look to her hand, he reached out and took hold of it. It was barely above the ambient temperature of the unheated storeroom, but still felt as soft as the hand of any girl... any living girl. <br><br>"Uh, I don't... really know the... catamite scene. We can probably call for an escort. Ah, by phone. Telephone. But... will there... be a body?" he asked, fearful of the response.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>09-12-2008, 03:17:01</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"I am afraid so, poppet," she told him with cheerful aplomb.&nbsp; Though she put her hands on the crook of his arm as if he were her chaperon, it was very much her initiative that led them towards the security door at the far end of the workshop.&nbsp; Casting a last glance over her shoulder, Loretta gave the coffin which for so long had been her prison an emotionless glance before once more letting her hungry eyes take in Graham.<br><br>"An escort you say?&nbsp; By telephone?&nbsp; Mmm, I trust that your judgement is clearer than your choice of verbiage.&nbsp; I have only a faint idea of what you speak.&nbsp; But I put myself in your hands and trust that you appreciate the role I have in mind for you as means of thanks when I have acclimated myself to London of to-day."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>09-12-2008, 05:57:36</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He felt her small but steely hand on his arm, and nodded. More a shiver than a nod, really.<br><br>"Is... is it necessary to, to, to kill your, ah... when you... Because killing will attract a-attention. But if, if you don't, will they... will I... am I going to... change?" <br><br>He ran the trembling fingers of his free hand across his neck, where she had bitten him moments before.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>09-12-2008, 15:51:36</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				No reply came, because at that moment the two of them emerged from the main doors of the research facility, and Loretta saw the lights of London against the black night sky.&nbsp; She stopped and stared, still as a marble sculpture as the lights of the city reflected in her eyes.&nbsp; A brief tremble rippled through her form that Graham felt only because every curve of her body seemed molded to his, so close was she to him at the moment that the full impact of the changing century stopped even as assured a creature as Loretta in her tracks.<br><br>"So bright," she said in a whisper before the trembling stilled and she surveyed the city.&nbsp; Her attention drew close, to the more minute details of their surroundings; the halogen lamp in the car park, the paved asphault of the streets, the brilliant neon sign of the neighborhood bar.&nbsp; Her gaze swept from one to the other of these without pause for comment until it seemed that she meant to look at every discarded cigarette wrapper and wire-framed trashcan on the street.<br><br>"You will not change unless I will it so," she told him.&nbsp; "But yes, it is necessary.&nbsp; Because there is an alchemy about our bite that engenders feelings of subservience, desire, and goodwill.&nbsp; It grows upon successive feedings until it borders on obsession of the kind that would make the Romantics shudder to contemplate.&nbsp; It indoctrinates those upon whom we feed until they are useless, and death comes as a relief from the embarassment they cause."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>09-12-2008, 16:16:54</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				As she froze, Graham knew that he could escape, not evben noticed, if not for her grasp on his arm. He shifted it, but she held fast without even seeming to notice him. It was hopeless.<br><br>"Surely... one bite would not be enough?" he asked, fearful of the response, feeling the dull ache of his own wounds.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>09-12-2008, 17:49:43</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Of course not," she told him, with a pat on the head as if he were a child who needed reassurance that there were no monster beneath the bed.&nbsp; "You act entirely of your own free will.&nbsp; Your actions are not influenced in the least by the 'kiss' we shared below.&nbsp; Now summon a carriage, Graham.&nbsp; I hunger for this escort you have promised me."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>09-12-2008, 17:57:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Of... of course." He managed not to flinch from her familiar pat, and instead took out his mobile phone, finding the number of a taxi company. "Phones can be much smaller now," he explained.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>13-12-2008, 00:37:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Loretta made no reply, but Graham felt, but could not explain why, that her mood took a turn for the black upon his statement.&nbsp; Even though she made light of it earlier, it seemed that she did not enjoy being reminded of her ignorance at the scope of change that had come over the world in so short a time.&nbsp; <br><br>Within five minutes, a cab had pulled to the curb, five minutes that had passed with Graham's new partner investigating the touchscreen of his phone, asking for more explanations about the fundamentals of modern communication that he had not even gotten past the point of explaining "wireless" to her.&nbsp; Wonder of wonders, the driver, by the looks of him, a Pakistani, got out of his car to open the door for her.<br><br>"Listen," the driver said when he had quite snubbed Graham by letting the young researcher close his own door behind him.&nbsp; "You are in the right cab.&nbsp; This part of town you don't want to be wandering by yourselves after dark.&nbsp; There are dangerous people here.&nbsp; You take it from me.&nbsp; So where are we going?"<br><br>Again, Graham felt, even if her face did not hint so much as an iota of her feeling, a twist of amusement following the warning of the people in the neighborhood.&nbsp; "Yes, my pet, where are we going?&nbsp; I quite fancy accommodations befitting my station, but I'm sure you know the best lodgings in town."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>13-12-2008, 01:24:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Graham ignored the snub - he had expected the driver to open the door for Loretta himself.<br><br>He froze as Loretta turned to question him. "I, ah, don't have the funds for anywhere fancy," he admitted nervously. "And we should, uh, get some things for you first, like you wanted? So, um, back to mine? Highgate. Then we can arrange something better, ah, once you've had... something t-to eat."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>14-12-2008, 22:07:36</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Graham," she said, in a tone of voice so full of patience that it was instantly and painfully clear that he was being condescended to.&nbsp; "I will confess a certain degree of...unfamiliarity with the mores and customs of your time, but one thing of which I am quite certain is that the class of companion we seek will <em>not</em> appear at a flat in Coleridge's opium den."<br><br>She leaned forward in her seat, speaking to the driver through the wire-mesh security screen...and paused in mid-question to the Pakistani.&nbsp; Her gaze was riveted to the road ahead of them, where the fires of neon signs burned brightly in her sight.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>15-12-2008, 01:38:53</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"It... it's not so bad now..." he said slowly, quietly, as she was mesmerised by the streaks of red and white through the windows, under the dull orange of the streetlights turning the clouds in the night sky a muddy brown. <br><br>He looked out himself, gauging the speed. Too fast to jump... and even if he did, could he pass up the chance to learn what she knew. She was history itself, risen from a tomb.<br><br>"Anyway," he continued as softly, "we should find something you can wear before we check into the Ritz-Carlton or something... people talk, there are cameras..." <br><br>He doubted she cared, and the idea of her being captured and him being able to question her was appealing, but he doubted even more that he would survive the catching.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>17-12-2008, 18:26:37</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Loretta turned back towards Graham, and the look in her eyes was speculative.&nbsp; How much of what he said was born from an uneasiness with the prospect of aiding and abetting a murder, and how much from genuine wisdom of the things that he spoke of.&nbsp; She considered the position, the resources at her disposal, and decided, for the moment, to heed the advice of her guide.&nbsp; She nodded, once, and turned her eyes to one side.<br><br>"Here," she said.&nbsp; "Stop here."<br><br>Along the boulevard was a high-end clothing boutique.&nbsp; The mannequins in the window were dressed in colorful layers of designer fabrics; the sort of place where even the cappuccino went for a hundred dollars.&nbsp; Before Graham could voice another objection, the helpful Punjab had pulled over, and bounded out to open the door for his passenger.&nbsp; "Wait here," she instructed the man, who nodded happily and leaned across his seat to turn the meter back on.<br><br>"You come with me," she told Graham.&nbsp; Pretense at following the decorum of another age put aside, she strode purposefully on bare feet, wearing nothing but his jacket and her tatters, towards the boutique.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>18-12-2008, 01:58:19</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Graham nodded fearfully and followed even as he started to voice an objection. "I don't have this sort of money... I could maybe buy you a <em>belt</em> here... if it's on <em>sale</em>..." He trailed off as he stepped over the threshold of the store, and tried to determine if she was listening to him at all.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>19-12-2008, 23:22:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Loretta waved a hand in dismissal of Graham's objection before turning left and beginning her quest at the display of evening wear towards the front corner of the shop.&nbsp; <br><br>Emerging from the back came a shopgirl, a pretty blonde waif of a thing dressed in her store's wears.&nbsp; Her smile died on her lips as she took in Loretta's bare feet, the man's jacket that was her only intact item of clothing.&nbsp; She sniffed derisively.&nbsp; "Listen love, I'd like to close up shop in ten minutes.&nbsp; Is there something I can be helping you with?"<br><br>"Graham," Loretta said, not tearing her eyes away from the clothes in front of her.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>20-12-2008, 04:44:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Graham blanched. "My, ah, client needs a new outfit. The... shoot went south. Creative differences. You know how it is," he added weakly. He turned and glanced back at Loretta as she flicked through a hanger, looking almost suspicious of the clothes on display.<br><br>"I assure you, money will be no object." He didn't sound entirely assured of this himself, but smiled all the same.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>21-12-2008, 10:09:42</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Apparently finding a dress in a style she appeared to like, Loretta took something black from a hanger and draped it across one arm.&nbsp; She turned towards the rear of the store; ladies shops had not changed so much that the nature of the experience of shopping in one was fundamentally different, and she quite guessed that fitting rooms would be in the rear.&nbsp; She strode towards the back of the shop while the shopgirl was still trying to make up her mind whether or not she was a rich but eccentric model or a loon.<br><br>Pausing just before she passed the girl, Loretta turned her head and made eye contact.&nbsp; Graham heard a noise that sounded like a gasp or a squeak pass from her throat, and her knees went soft.&nbsp; She swooned backwards, leaning against the counter, and her eyes took on a vacant, glazed stare.<br><br>"Lock the door, Graham," Loretta told him.&nbsp; She turned to look at him, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth.&nbsp; "Here is an excellent chance to convince yourself that your will is still your own.&nbsp; Run away if you're of a mind."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>21-12-2008, 17:57:38</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He looked up from the stunned girl to Loretta, going pale. He swallowed, his throat going dry as he took the key with a trembling hand.<br><br>"And... and what would you do, if I run?" he whimpered.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>21-12-2008, 22:10:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"To you?&nbsp; Nothing."&nbsp; She meant it, though she did not care if he believed her or not.&nbsp; <br><br>"To others?"&nbsp; She looked at the blank-eyed shopgirl, and over Graham's shoulder to suggest the waiting cap driver.&nbsp; "Probably nothing that I would not have done to them regardless."<br><br>"But you never know what it would have been like, to serve me.&nbsp; The gratitude I would have shown for freeing me, for being my guide.&nbsp; It is your decision.&nbsp; If you intend to stay, come into the dressing room after locking the door.&nbsp; If not, then goodbye."<br><br>She turned her back to him, and disappeared into the back of the store. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>21-12-2008, 23:53:47</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He shuddered as she held his gaze, desperately wanting to back away, not believing she would let him but still ready to flee. But she would kill these other people if he did.<br><br>As she disappeared behind the door, he clapped a hand to his mouth as he felt his stomach heave. He stumbled to the door, gripping the key tightly in his other hand. He looked out at the waiting cab, back at the assistant sitting slumped at her desk. <br><br>"Oh God," he whispered to himself, having lost religion around puberty but never losing all of its habits. And with that, he locked himself in with the vampire, and turned to walk to where she awaited him.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>CassandraNova</strong> on <strong>03-01-2009, 20:44:14</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Good boy," she told him when he joined him in the dressing room.&nbsp; The words were almost like a caress against his cheeks, a warm brush of a kind hand, but the tone of her voice suggested that it was the same sort of praise that a well-trained spaniel would have earned.<br><br>But Graham had other things to think about than the words from her mouth or the tone in her voice.&nbsp; Because the sight that met his eyes was enough of an issue that other men than he had been divorced of their reasons at the sight of it.<br><br>Loretta stood naked before the trio of mirrors in an open dressing stall.&nbsp; If ever he had any doubt what she was, it could not have persisted in the face of seeing her before the looking glass, <em>sans</em> reflections.<br><br>Her body was endearingly curvy in an understated way, as if the development of her full womanhood had not been completed before the transformation.&nbsp; Her breasts were small and firm; he could cup them in her hands without stretching his fingers.&nbsp; A tuft of reddish-blond hair decorated her pubis like a lickfire spit.&nbsp; At the end of a proffered arm she held the dress to him.<br><br>"You can always tell yourself that it was the narcotic of my bite," she told him.&nbsp; "If you ask yourself why you stayed."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Serving a Vampire (Beatrice Black and CassandraNova)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Beatrice Black</strong> on <strong>04-01-2009, 11:04:46</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				He nodded, taking the dress and gripping it tight by the shoulders to keep his hands, and the soft fabric, from trembling. "Of... course." He looked down at the dress, away from her pale flesh. "Is there... anything else you need?" he asked in a meek tone, which came to him quite naturally. "Uh-underwear?" he added with a terrified twitch that might have ben a smile.
			</dd>
		</dl>
		<div id="footer" class="smalltext">
			
			<span class="smalltext" style="display: inline; visibility: visible; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?action=credits" title="Simple Machines Forum" target="_blank" class="new_win">SMF 2.0.19</a> |
 <a href="https://www.simplemachines.org/about/smf/license.php" title="License" target="_blank" class="new_win">SMF © 2021</a>, <a href="https://www.simplemachines.org" title="Simple Machines" target="_blank" class="new_win">Simple Machines</a>
			</span>
		</div>