The Lottery II: Prologue (RP)

-"Hey, wake up! I hope you had a good drink yesterday. It's going to be a loooong run."

-Grace woke up from torpor with the sound of a fist hammering on her hideout. It would not stop until the source of disturbance heard about the sleeping vampire. Once she got out, she found her Sire waiting for her, a few filled satchels near the door.

She had no clue about what her Sire was talking about.

-"Don't look at me like this... you will appreciate this trip. We'll pretend we're on vacation, like a true family... although this is not that common for a sire and childer..."

He then left outside to put his luggages in the old Chevy in which originated so many... souvenirs.

-"Pack your things, I don't know when we're going to come back." He added, taking a peek inside to grab a few more things. Then, he continued from outside the door: "We're going to see your Grand-Sire and as every vampire must take heed of the Second Tradition, you are coming with me since I do not feel I can leave you alone yet... you have so much to learn first."

Did she want to travel with him to go visit some old dude she obviously didn't care about? Not in a thousand years. But would she dare to voice her thoughts? Probably not. It's not like she had a single chance to make him change his mind...

She could have asked for five more minutes but it wouldn't have worked either. If he had something in mind then... she was left with no other choice but to follow, again. She stretched, even though it hadn't been necessary, lazily following the other as he stormed around for the luggages or whatever he had in mind.

''My things,'' she mumbled with a slight frown. Next came a sigh as she unwillingly did as she'd been told, taking random clothes at first before she had a thought about how unpleasant her previous trip had been. And what about this one?

It was better to be prepared than left without resources, right?

She took a few strings along, just in case, and tied her hair with one as the others were put into her main bag. She might have wanted to bring a couple more things a lot more useful when it came to self defense or killing or whatsoever, but there was a limit to what could be considered as ''subtle''.

I don't know when we're going to come back , he'd said...

A pocket knife was added under a bunch of socks. She didn't know exactly what kind of traveling he was aiming for. What about slaughtering their way to grandpa's house? She wasn't so used yet to... travel as a vampire... or in fact, to do anything as a vampire. In the end, she tried to make it quick before reappearing by the Chevy, hoping that she hadn't forgotten anything important.

Well... it couldn't be that bad, she thought. As long as there are no zombies...

Oh, bowels... sweet

''Now you tell me what's that Alma place,'' she mumbled as she stared by the window beside her, chin resting on one hand.

She simply looked at the night's lights melting together as the car kept speeding on the highway, or road, she couldn't tell with the frantic way Allan drove, as if the reaper was soon to be seen on a motorcycle right behind the car and...

Or maybe not, since they both were already dead.
She would always forget that part.

''And by the way,'' she added, glancing briefly at the other. ''Why the haste?''

He'd seemed so... agitated. It wasn't his style to get overexcited with things. Whoever that grand pa vamp was, it seemed to be enough to make her Sire a bit too weird to her liking.

Where was the cool and composed Allan when she needed him? It certainly didn't help her to feel comfortable...

She raised one finger as Allan spoke, poking the glass where her reflect should have been, like she hoped that it would make it appear. She only half listened to what her Sire told her. Control...
She'd hoped that she would never lose it again and there she was... Her freedom had been so brief.
It left a bitter taste to her mouth as it had been cruel to let her have what she'd always wanted and then take it away. She couldn't have done a thing about it. She'd been too stupid. Whoever was behind this didn't deserve to...

Whatever. What could she do now but to listen to mister almighty? Nothing much. If she attempted something, she knew that she would end up with a stake through the chest.

Or suntanning, as he'd said.

''I see,'' she sighed. ''Something is going on.''

Mister almighty didn't even know what he was getting into. Unless he was lying?
She didn't let a thing show, just kept on thinking as she poked the window over and over; she'd never been a big talker anyway.

There's always something going on.

Presentations. Oh, nice. She was such a people person anyway... or wait, she wasn't even a person to begin with... but neither were they. Nevertheless, the whole thing sounded extremely weird to her, and most of all, wrong. So very wrong.

But who could say no to her Sire? Certainly not her, not now, even though she felt that nothing good would come out of their little Alma escapade.

Allan would rather they introduced only to the so-called lord of a town with what? Five vampires? Ten?

Big deal.

Unless it was another trap
No, it couldn't be, could it? Allan wouldn't do that...
Or maybe yes, he would.

Zombies had definitely made her paranoid.

She shook her head as she paced inside the garage, desperately trying to clear her thoughts. She couldn't stop herself from thinking even if she wasn't master of her destiny anymore. She ended up sitting in a corner, throwing rocks and bypassing rats.

''Dawn is long... and boring,'' she sighed. She should be sleeping by now but she couldn't find the will to do so. Not yet. She would soon drop dead anyway, quite literally. So what was the use of lying down and nicely wait? She had decided to spend her last hour mentally complaining and sitting in darkness.
It was a lot better.
It would also prepare her to look just as depressed for the ride that was to come.

For now, all she did was to wait for sleep/death or however it had to be called. Wait. Throw more rocks, mumble something then wait some more.
And she'd thought that being dead would put an end to her occasional insomnia issues.
It hadn't made her life easier. Just less... alive.

Ok, and how am I going to introduce to a vampire?

She didn't know a thing about the others. All along, she'd simply been living as an hermit with her Sire, doing what she was told to do which ended up being most of his nasty work. Not questioning. Not learning much about herself or the others. That world they lived in. She'd never met anyone else and now...

She was surrounded by them.
She followed, not minding at all what might happen around her, who that woman was and where they were heading.

She would have laughed at all their royalty-names-crap if she hadn't been so busy thinking.
She still had hope that her sire would come out with a book named ''Vampire Etiquette 101'' out of nowhere before he went in the Sene-whatever's office.

But he didn't. He was simply gone.

Soon, it was her turn.

''Hum...,'' she sighed, glancing around. ''I...''

She closed her eyes an instant. What the hell was she doing? She wasn't nervous but unable to think of what could be the right thing to say. She didn't want to mess up but she hadn't been prepared.

Her Sire should have known better than to dump her in front of some ancient-dude for an introduction.
Ah, guys. Alive or not, they were still inconsiderate.

''I'm Grace''

The man sighed:

-“Well then, Grace, would you care to tell me what is your clan, bloodline and lineage?”

He over articulated the words, clearly making her feel as an idiot. He seemed really rude, staring at Grace like she was clearly an unwanted guest.

-“…And you shall proceed by stating me the reason of your visit and where do you intent to stay”

The Seneschal did nothing to hide the coldness of his voice. These formalities were all but enjoyable.

(HRP: désolé, ça m'a pris un certain temps avant de répondre)

The more she heard, the more she had to fight against the urge to rush out of the room, find her Sire and strangle him, regardless of how dead he already was. She was infuriated to the point she would certainly find a way to make him even dead-er.

No matter what, it would have to wait... unless she lost her head before having the opportunity to get out.
That was also an option, with how pissed off her new friend looked. He definitely wasn't trying too hard to hide it, not that she would have missed it even if he'd made an attempt at sounding a tiny bit friendly.

Talking about him, it would probably be better for her health's sake to start answering mister crankypants' questions already.

Well...

''Mekhet...''

That she knew, at least.
As for the rest...
Why had her Sire decided to consider her as someone who needed an introduction all of sudden?
Up to now, she'd been killing things and that was it. Nothing else intended. No bloodline or whatsoever. No small talk.

''I don't know about the rest.''

Now this was going to sound dumb but it's not as if she could have invented something.
Damn Allan and his damn plans. For all she knew, this could all be a big comedy. Maybe all her Sire wanted was to see her dead. By someone else's hands while he was a it.
Must have been giving him the chills.
Bastard.

''He brought me here. I don't know why.''

Visiting grand pa vamp, that's what they were doing, for all she knew. It looked that by the same occasion, she'd been dumped into the lion's den.

Way to go, little red hood.

Mumbling to himself, the seneschal added a low, condescending “great…” before showing her the way to the door.

-“Etiquette would dictate me to welcome you to the Prince domain, but I won’t: You are not welcome here. But since you are the Sheriff’s grand childer, I shall endure your presence. A Shadow with so little knowledge is somehow pitiable… and useless. Tell your Sire to remember the Second Tradition… for your sake. You can go now, do not waste more of my time.”

Time: he had plenty, but he did not seem to be cursed by undeath to socialize with lowly Neonates. Important responsibilities were eschewing to him, but “proper education” was the task of a caring Sire.

Grace could then get out of the room with a bitter taste in her mouth. On her way to the car, she crossed the blonde girl again. She waved at her, and as tough she did not smile, she had a strange, sympathetic expression on her face.

- “Welcome” She simply said.

Pissed off!
These two words monopolized her thoughts as she dashed down the hallway and stairs.

Not welcome my ass. I don't even want to be here, you idiot. It's not like I'd asked to meet the old man.

It was a miracle that she hadn't attempted to shred the man into pieces. She couldn't help but to think about how good it would have felt to hit his ugly face with a shovel. However, she wasn't stupid. He didn't look like the type of person she could get rid of easily. She wouldn't attempt it, regardless of how appealing murder was at the moment because dying twice wasn't really her thing. Perhaps she would have managed to take the man's non-life before turning into ashes herself. Probably not. It wasn't worth to give it a try to find out.

''Yeah,'' she nearly groaned at the woman, glancing at her for a second before she opened the door and stormed out of the mansion.

…
What if she managed to find a pack of matches? Burning that place to the ground would certainly make her day better.

She stopped on her way, looking back, considering her options. Tempting. Oh, so tempting.

...Nah

That guy would be capable of finding a way out and set her on fire. That would be a bit less fun.

With yet another groan, she kept on walking, past the car and down the path that lead to the fence's doors. She dragged her feet and kicked rocks on her way like a frustrated child, taking her time. She wasn't exactly planing to go very far, not with the dogs. All she wanted was to stay alone.

She would gladly avoid seeing her Sire for the moment or else either him or her would be turned into ashes.

All this for... nothing?

There wasn't even a single rock in the car to throw. Consequently, she soon ran out of things to do or think about that didn't revolve around anger and vengeance.

''I made an idiot of myself just for fun?'' she asked, raising her eyebrows as she briefly glanced at her Sire.
No, bad idea. Seeing him made her want to punch his stupid face and...
She let out sigh as she attempted to calm down enough not to be tempted by murder anymore.

(Point de will)

''Shut up already!'' she nearly shouted. ''Call me an idiot all you want but that's your fault, all of it! That guy back there seemed quite baffled at how little you'd told me. See? You're the one at fault so stop doubting of me.''

She crossed her arms, her fists clenched, shivering with rage. She wouldn't let him win, she'd realized how he'd been clumsily manipulating her so she would lose her composure.

''He wanted me to tell you to remember the second tradition. I guess that it's the part where you should have been passing on knowledge instead of raising a new vampire puppet.''

The meaning of that ''tradition'' really didn't matter as taking care of another person was probably too complicated for him anyway. It would involve thinking about somebody else than himself...
And that seemed to be quite an impossible task.

''Don't bother trying to piss me off just for fun, it won't work,'' she sighed, rolling her eyes. She then resumed staring at the window.

Allan almost rolled his eyes out of their socket. He crisped his hands on the wheels.

- “Ha fuck! Someday you’re going to know how to ask questions. Knowledge is power. Being the freshly dead that you are you’ll need that. You're as weak as a kindle in an elder’s grasp,”

He lowered the volume of the cassette player, willing to get some things clear with his childer.

- “As a matter of fact, knowledge is maybe the only power Mekhet excel at getting. And that’s why you do not really succeed being the murderous monster you want to be: Why would you want the power to end life if you cannot even find a prey!?”

He took a quick glimpse at Grace. He seemed to judge her abilities in a way that was an intentional effort to make her feel uncomfortable.

-“As for the said tradition, it is the tradition of Progeny. The sire then took a deep, cynical voice:

Sire another at the peril of both yourself and your progeny. If you create a childe, the weight is your own to bear.

Thus, if you suck at unlife, you’re not going to like me… I meant: you’re going to like me even less. There are a few tricks I can do that can be worse than final Death, believe me. You’d better live to the expectations.”

He seemed to be in such “a good mood”: Grace didn’t usually get all these “clues” freely.

Which part of 'shut up' was too complicated to understand?
She sighed, keeping her arms crossed as she looked away from the other. She didn't want to give in and let him have what he seemed to be looking for: a fight.

Ignoring him was the best solution she could think of, even though her Sire seemed reading to keep on talking her to death.

''There is a thing called CDs,'' she mumbled.

He wanted to shred her into pieces? Fine, but while she was still around, she wouldn't make his afterlife an easy one.