Thread: An Introduction (ATTN Ash Winters)

A young blond woman answers the door. "Please come in. Ash is waiting for you in the library. I will show you the way." The young lady leads Laurens to the back of the studio and into the library. "Your appointment is here, Ash."

"Thank you, Ginelle. You may have the rest of the night off or you are free to work as late as you want." As the young lady leaves, Ash is dressed in dusty pants and a heavy work shirt with dust in his hair obviously from the work out in the studio, he stands and extends his hand to her. "Good evening, Laurens. How are you doing tonight?"

The small woman smiles and shakes the proffered hand. " Other than nerves, wonderful. I have an apartment chosen and hope to move in quickly. I hope you don't mind that I went house hunting first. Oh and now I'm babbling. Sorry." Laurens looks around taking the studio in order to calm her nerves. After a moment she smiles and asks "Do you have any questions about me? I may have a few for yon I that's OK?"

"Questions, lets see. Where are you from? Would someone there speak up for you if I were to inquire there? How am I to know that you are truly Toreador?" Ash sighs as he asks these questions. "I apologize for asking asking like this, but we have had a rash of people that were attempting to find a home within our family that were not what they seemed."

She replied in a tone that betrayed suppressed laughter "Hot Springs, AR, no, and, as I understand, Toreador are the artists of the kindred, so that's what I consider myself. Sorry I can't say more, that's all I know. To even get that much information has been difficult. As far as I know I was the only one back home. I decided to move up here for the company."


Just as she was about to explain, her cell phone went off with a distinctive ring-tone.

'Of all the embarrassing things' She thought ' The one time I need it not to ring, She calls.'

"I am so sorry!" she said as she silenced her phone in a panic.

Ash laughs at the ringtone going off. "Please feel free to take that call. You wouldn't want to disappoint your mother. She doesn't know you are one of us I am taking it?"

"No idea. She teases me about crows feet and if I answer this call it will take approximately 10 minutes to get her off the phone. Then she will call three more times before we are done. This way I can call her just before sunrise and she can rant at her leisure while I sleep. I can call her back when I wake up and ask for a recap. She will repeat what she had already said three times that morning, only much shorter. I have told her I do this. I think she tries to call at bad times. This time I forgot to silence my handset, so she got me. She is probably laughing her head off at going to voice mail after so few rings." This explanation was delivered with an obvious, if wry, affection for the subject.

"Obviously I have not been changed long. Was someone supposed to clue me in on The Rules?"

Ash smiles bemused at the explanation, then sobers with the last announcement.

"You don't know your sire? And no one has told you the rules at all?"

She sighed and looked away. "One night I'm laughing at the homoerotic undertones of Dracula in a coffee shop, the next night I wake up dead. My sire left me, a meal and a note in a hotel room. The note said 'You're a vampire. No sun. Drink blood. Don't die again. If you knew me, They would kill you. Sorry for the inconvenience' I was inclined to believe the note after what I had done to the meal. I then stole his wallet and went on my way. Occasionally someone would come through town, but they looked scared and they never stayed long. I tried to stay out of their way. One told me a little, but he seemed a little not right in the head and left quickly."

She gave a slightly brittle laugh as she looked up at his face. "Sorry for the inconvenience! Could be worse, they left me with a meal. Better start than many kids"