“’Go dust the furniture'" she says. ‘Stop being a nuisance’. Oh, if I had a stake I could show her what a nuisance really looks like.” Octavia had been working for Vinyl Scratch for little over a week and her “Mistress” as she liked to be called (probably because she knew it was starting to grate on Octavia's nerves), had made it painstakingly clear how much she both needed and wanted Octavia there.
For instance, most areas of the house never seemed to attract dirt which had left Octavia confused for a while, until Vinyl explained that there was a spell cast over them to keep them that way. There were still a few areas of the house where the spell seemed either weak or just plain nonexistent, but for the most part everything was kept nice and tidy without her.
Since the house did such a good job of taking care of itself, Octavia decided she could best serve Vinyl by being near her. . .constantly. It seemed like a good idea at the time. She would be close at hand should her -ugh- Mistress need her, always at her beck and call, a loyal dedicated servant, worthy of becoming a vampire.
The problem she soon encountered was that Vinyl was completely independent. Anything the vampire needed done, she would just do herself. She didn’t find it beneath her to get up and grab a book from a shelf or clean up a mess she’d made. Which left Octavia feeling like a hood ornament.
Actually, that wasn’t quite true. People paid attention to hood ornaments, because they were big, flashy, and utterly pointless except for decoration. But Vinyl didn’t even seem to want Octavia for that. Taking every opportunity to shut the girl out, and put a real damper on her plans to know ergo schmooze the vampire.
It was fine though. The way Octavia saw it Vinyl was stuck with her, whether she liked it or not. She'd had made a pact with Octavia, and she was going to have to keep it. If she didn’t want her around she shouldn’t have made the deal in the first place.
Octavia stopped her tirade for a second, all she was doing at the moment was going in circles around the west wing of the house and her feet were starting to hurt. Truthfull, she'd already accomplished more walking in circles then she normally did. But now it occurred to her that as long as she was here she might as well do something productive. If not for Vinyl than at least for herself.
With that in mind, she resigned herself to finding a place to sit down and think about what she’d learned about her Mistress and vampires in general. It was topic that never seemed to come up, despite Octavia's near constant barrage of questioning towards her Mistress. Vinyl was stonewalling her, but that wouldn't last forever, Octavia would find her answers.
Taking a quick survey of her surroundings, she found she was in a rather empty hallway. It was long, but unlike the rest of the house there weren’t any portraits hanging, no vases for Octavia to knock over, and only a few dim lit bulbs to light the entirety of it. There were two doors on either side of it and, curious, Octavia opened one.
Inside was the most all-encompassing music room Octavia had ever seen. True, Octavia had heard Vinyl playing the piano when she’d first entered the mansion, but she never would have believed that the house had an instrument collection that was so . . . huge. Most of them were familiar, but a few were strange. Not just to her, but they weren’t the type of instruments that she would have associated with her mistress or Mr. Paole.
The room was a sort of organized chaos in the room, wind instruments mixed with percussion, violins hanging next to piccolos. There was a whole section, pushed into a corner devoted to the most basic instruments that you would find in any orchestra, with the odd lyre lying around. There were other oddities as well, like a drum set sitting next to a theremin, or a harmonica lying on a set of turn tables. All instruments she couldn't picture her Mistress with her stoic stoic demeanor or Paole in his bunny slippers picking up, let alone playing.
What really caught Octavia’s attention though, was a set of four custom cellos sitting in the corner. They were beautiful hand-crafted things, pushed up against the window and almost hidden by the curtains covering a few of them. Octavia's eyes had picked them out of all the other clutter though, and from the moment she saw them she was determined to give each of them a try, and possibly a tune up as well. A good majority of the instruments in the room were just starting to collect a fine layer of dust.
Right now though, she just needed a place to sit and think. Which she found in the seat off an old grand piano, that seemed a bit more well taken care of then the rest of the instruments in the room. Unlike the parctically every other inch pf s[ace there, the piano was easy to get to. A clear path of pushed aside banjos and xylophones marking the way. Also unlike anything else in the room, the piano was given a wide berth of space, everything had been pushed out of the way. Even the layer of dust that had just started to settle on everything else in the room seemed to show the piano some respect.
Normally, she would have thought about this a bit more, but at the moment there were so many questions about Vinyl that needed answering she couldn't be bothered with anything else. Heck, there were questions about vampires in general that needed answering. Every theory and crackpot movie trope she'd ever seen was now on the table for questioning, and if she was lucky, she might even get a quick answer.
TBut there was one question that porceeded to stump all the others, and derail any reasonable train of thought she could muster. Why had Vinyl made the pact with her when she could obviously take care of herself?
“Maybe it’s a sort of show of power, after all, Vinyl did call me her ‘Knock'." She thought to herself. "Maybe all vampires have knocks that they’ve barred into their service.” That seemed to make the most sense. But then Octavia remembered the Knock from the movie, who had been little more than a mindless psychopath after his ‘Master’ was done with him. And even though Vinyl had made it clear that she didn’t want some mindless idiot serving her, she had shown herself perfectly capable of controlling Octavia if that first meeting was anything to go by.
That train of thought only left Octavia even more confused. Vinyl didn’t want her to be a mindless slave, but she might as well be since, either way, she’d be utterly useless to the vampire. Vinyl had made it clear from the beginning that she didn’t want Octavia around, so why make the deal in the first place? Why not just kick her out of the house, or make her into a late night snack right there? Why agree to this deal and then completely ignore her? None of it made sense really, and thinking about it left Octavia’s mind running around in circles.
“You know what?” She said to no one in particular, “It’s fine. I’m not here to be friends with Vinyl Scratch. I’m here to serve her for as long as necessary until she agrees to make me into a vampire. If she wants to completely ignore my existence, that’s fine." she said, once again, to absolutely no one. "Because the deal was that she would have to make me into a vampire, no matter what . . . or does she?”
It wasn’t the first time Octavia was left questioning the deal Vinyl had made with her. But this was the first time, she was really sitting down and actually thinking about what she'd done. “She said that our souls were forfeit if either of us went back on the deal, but is that really the truth? I don’t know anything about this deal or hr for that matter. For all I know I’m the only one who’s in trouble and she’s just fine. After all, she did say a body without a soul was worth a lot of money." It was a troubling thought, her lifeless body being sold off like a sack of meat to some shady back alley goblin. That's why she usually she'd tried to avoid at all costs, but now that she had a moment to herself she'd couldn't help but let it surface, and it sent a shiver rippling down her spine.
She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to beat back the more unsavory images that were entering her head. Luckily, another thought crossed her mind to refute the others. "If that was true, though, she could have just let my soul drift off when she was doing the ritual, and—Ugh, this is all so frustrating." She said as she leaned back against the, thankfully covered, piano. “It would all be so easy if Vinyl would just take two seconds talk to me and explain what she wants.”
“That’s not really Vinyl’s style though, she likes to do things the roundabout way.” Octavia whipped around to see the source of the voice and paused, her eyes went wide. Because if seeing Vinyl for the first time had blown her mind, then seeing what was behind her had razed whatever was left.
Right behind her was a young girl about her age, dressed in what Octavia knew was the typical, slinky, sparkle dress style of a 1920's flapper, with the high-heeled shoes to match. "Thank you Jazz Appreciation.” The girl was lying on top of the piano, her head propped up on one elbow as she smirked down at Octavia with a face that reminded her somewhat of Vinyl’s. They even had the same familiar spiky hairdo, which was weird because girls back then either went curly or straight. But no, that wasn’t the surprising part, the surprising part was that if books and media were anything to go by then this translucent girl (because she was translucent, Octavia could see a bass through the girl's head), was very, very dead, and very much a ghost.
The next few words out of Octavia’s mouth probably would have sounded like something Shaggy would say (singer or cartoon, take your pick). Luckily, she was saved from making a fool of herself by the ghost speaking introducing herself.
“Hi, I’m Lyra.” The apparition held out a clear gloved hand that Octavia just stared at. “Don’t worry, I can be solid if I want. It just takes a bit of focus.” Octavia took the hand, and immediately filled with a sense of regret. The girls hand felt light and cool, almost like she was shaking hands with a cold autumn wind that was slowly curling its way up her legs and grab a hold of the rest of her body. She grit her teeth and bore it though, not wanting to mention the ghost’s solidity was the last thing on her mind. It was on a list of like ten other things, but it was still at the bottom.
“O-Octavia Philharmonica,” she replied, somewhat shakily.
The ghost, Lyra, quirked an eyebrow, surprised at the statement. “Oh, last names, no one told me about last names.” Just one look at the blank expression on Octavia’s was enough to make Lyra bust out laughing. Apparently, having tickled her nonexistent funny bone. “Ha! I can’t, I-I just can’t."
Octavia pursed her lips. she didn't appreciate being laughed at, especially when it was something so small. ] Finally, the laughing stopped, much to Octavia's relief. "I can tell I‘m going to have a lot of fun with you, Doll.”
"Doll?” Octavia shook her head and glared at the ghost girl. She wasn't going to allow this ghoul to make her into a laughingstock. “What exactly are you doing here anyway?” She persisted
And with that Lyra burst into another fit of laughter. “Oh man, that is probably the stupidest thing anyone has ever asked a ghost. I’m haunting this place, duh. What else would a ghost appear for?”
“You’re haunting the house?” Octavia thought about that for a second, choosing to ignore the underlying cynicism in the ghost's comment. “Does Vinyl know?” If not then Octavia planned on telling her immediately. "Maybe we can call Bill Murray to get rid of her.” Octavia snickered as she imagined the annoying apparition being captured with a proton pack.
“Did you know ghosts can read minds?” No, Octavia didn't know that. She froze, she’d been caught red-handed and now the ghost— no, Lyra, was looking down at her with a very disapproving gaze. “And here I was thinking that I might help you with your little Vinyl problem, but no. You’ve been thinking about siccing Bill Murray on me." She sniffed the air, almost like she was about to cry but decided against it. "Granted, that might still turn out pretty fun but still not cool, Doll."
Octavia shrugged, “I’m sorry.” And she was was just the teensiest bit if what the ghost said was true about helping her.
Lyra sniffed, crossing her arms, and refusing to look Octavia in the eye. The effect of which made this very old spectre look very, very childish. “It’s fine," she said finally. "And for your information, I’m not haunting this house, I’m haunting this piano.”
“The piano?” Octavia, stared at the instrument. Wondering if she'd managed to wake the ghost up by accident when she sat down. And if so, their was probably a way to put her back. She would have to read up on it later.
Lyra turned her head back to glare at Octavia. "Okay, first off, what part of mind reader don't you get?" Octavia shrugged a small blush on her face" And second of all, yes, the piano. Let’s just say that when a mobster needs to hide the body of someone who’s seen too much, a piano in an old storage room works wonders." She talked about her own death in such a nonchalant way, that it scared Octavia a bit. the very idea that something can be that disassociated from life, almost had her feeling bad for Lyra. "At least until it starts to smell, then you’ve pretty much screwed the pooch.” And now they were back to normal. Still, that didn't stop Octavia grimacing as she imagined Lyra's grisly murder, and the much more grisly smell it probably left afterward.
“But enough about me," said Lyra, snapping Octavia out of her delusions, "I’m here to tell you how to deal with Vinyl.” Se was smiling now, like a cat that had just found a new plaything. Octavia chose to ignore this though, if Lyra could help her then she'd let her.
“Please do," Octavia pleaded. "I have no idea how to talk to her. First she wants me gone, then she makes a deal so I can stay, now she doesn’t want me here anymore. I’m not sure what goes on in her head half the time, and I really don’t know what she wants with me." Octavia sat panting, it felt good to let all of that out. Even if she had the sneaking suspicion that talking to Lyra about all this, was a bit like talking to an emotionless brick wall. it didn't care what you had to say, it was just waiting for you to crash into it.
And she was right, because while she was pouring out her frustrations, Lyra was simply shaking her head. “Tsk-tsk . . . Vinyl really isn’t as complicated as you want to make her. You already said it yourself, Vinyl is cold, she doesn’t let people into her life easily, and she likes to push people away.” She floated a little closer so that she was face to face with Octavia. “You’ve already done the hard part, you’ve managed to grab her attention." she clapped a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Good work, I had to knock over every vase in the house before she admitted I wasn’t just the wind. Now you have to figure out a way into her heart.”
Octavia raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think Vinyl will be very receptive to a moonlit dinner.” Even if she was, the cellist had no idea what to serve the vampire except blood.
Lyra crossed her arms, “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Even though that would be pretty fun to see." She tapped her chin for a second as if she was seriously considering the idea, and then waved her hand dismissing it. "No, what I’m saying is that you need to get Vinyl to trust you." she explained. "Now, you could go the long route; wear her down over time, continuously pestering her until she gives in.” Octavia’s face fell.
“Ha, keep making those faces, they're hilarious! But no, seriously, if you want Vinyl to pay attention to you, there is a very simple solution."The ghost beamed, and Octavia got the sneaking suspicion she really wasn't going to like this idea. "Hold on a second while I get everything ready.” she watched as Lyra disappeared through the floor until even the points of her were gone.
And just like that she was gone and Octavia was left alone with her thoughts. She mostly thought about what Lyra could be preparing for her. Whatever it was it couldn’t be good though. The specter seemed dead set on tormenting her after all. “Heh ‘Dead set' that’s a good one. Maybe I should come up with a few more of these before she comes back.”
Unfortunately, Lyra was back before Octavia could assemble her stand-up act. She fazed back up through the floor, a bright red notebook cradled in her arms. "Here," she said as she opened up the book and started skimming through the pages. "Play. . .this!”
Lyra shoved the notebook into her face, and Octavia was presented with two pages filled entirely with music. Octavia took the notebook out of the ghost’s hands and looked the music over. It didn’t seem too complicated for someone of her skill. Slowly, she let the notes sink in as she let the piece play in her head. It was a beautiful melody, light and airy. Simple as it was, it felt like the introductory to a certain style of music.
Octavia looked up from the piece, “It’s beautiful, but what does this have to do with getting Vinyl to open up to me.”
Lyra groaned, “Just trust me and play the damn piece, if you do you’ll move miles ahead with Vinyl.” Octavia was skeptical, as far as she knew Lyra was just looking for an excuse to laugh at her again. she decided “Why not?” It wasn’t in bass clef like she was used to on the cello, but she was experienced enough that she could probably make her way through, or at least fake it and come out with something presentable. After all, it was a fairly easy piece.
Octavia got up and started making her way through the maze instruments, headed towards the cellos. “Woah, woah, woah, where do you think you’re going, Doll?” Lyra placed a hand on her shoulder sending a cold chill up her spine.
“Over to the cellos." She pointed to herself, "I’m a cellist.”
Lyra shook her head. “You misunderstand me. If you want Vinyl to pay attention to you, you’re going to have to meet her at her own level." She pointed towards her piano and smiled, but Octavia paled.
“B-but, I have little to no experience with the piano. I know where all the notes are, mostly, but I don’t have any actual experience playing the damn thing.” A friend of hers had tried to give her lessons a long time ago, but she'd given up after about ten minutes, spouting some joke about the cello master-race.
“Tough,” Lyra said as she spearheaded Octavia back over to the grand piano. Pushing her down, somewhat roughly, back into her seat, as she used some sort of unknown force to lift the lid off the keys. “Trust me," she said as Octavia twisted around in her seat, to face this new challenge, "If you want Vinyl to open up, you need to play this on piano.”
“Fine,” Octavia said, taking the notebook and placing it in front of her. “Now let’s see here." She combed the keys, looking for the right one, "D,” her finger traced along the keys until she found the next note. “A,” her finger reached over to hit it.
And that was how it continued for a while. Not a steadily flowing melody like she'd envisioned, but a somewhat disjointed chorus of notes. A chorus that began to come together the more Octavia found her bearing. Note after note, it began to play out just like it had in Octavia's head. It didn’t even matter that she was—
“Off.”
Octavia froze, her fingers an inch from hitting the next key. She turned in her seat to discover that while she had been playing, her Mistress had snuck into the room. Using a drum as a makeshift seat, she had been listening in on the performance.
“You’re off tempo. This song was meant to be played faster and you’re achingly slow.” The vampire got off her makeshift seat and walked over to Octavia.
Octavia swallowed a lump she didn't realize had been in her throat as Vinyl sat down next to her. Forcing her to scoot over. “I know, it’s just—I don’t have much practice playing the piano.”
Vinyl glared at the notebook, and then at Lyra. “I don’t suppose you know how she got this do you?”
“No clue.” Vinyl stared daggers at her, but Lyra just shook her head, smiling down at her. “Really, I have no idea." Her smile transformed into a pout, "Maybe you shouldn’t leave it out where people with sticky fingers can get to it.” Vinyl’s brow furrowed and Lyra relented. “Fine, fine, I can tell where I’m not wanted.” She turned to Octavia and waved, “See you later, Doll, have fun.”
Lyra disappeared into thin air, leaving Vinyl and a very guilty Octavia alone. Vinyl glanced over at her servant, waiting for an explanation. “I’m sorry," she squeaked out, "I didn’t know it was your notebook. You see, I was kind of mad at you, so I was pacing back and forth in the halls, and then I found this room and it's really, really, amazing. Then Lyra popped out and startled me, then she kept laughing at me. Finally, I asked her to find me some music to play, and I didn't know it was yours I swear!” Octavia was left panting after her rushed explanation, but Vinyl didn't answer her. Instead, she glanced at the music in front of them and then like magnets her fingers were drawn to the first keys and she began to play.
Octavia sat stunned. It was just like the first night she came here where she was left absolutely mesmerized by Vinyl's playing. “She was right, I wasn’t doing this piece justice.” Octavia could have sat there the entire day just listening to Vinyl play, but she had questions to ask.
“Why did you make the pact with me, Vinyl?” Vinyl ignored her and kept playing. “It’s not like you need my help or anything, so I can’t imagine why I'm forced to stay here.” Vinyl still didn't answer and Octavia’s lip thinned. “You didn’t have to make the deal you could have just kicked me out or killed me the first time we met. It doesn’t make any sense!”
“Do you have any idea how much trouble it would have been to kill you?” She didn’t once tear her eyes away from the music in front of her. “There are people that watch for things like that, and they would have put my head on a pike if dead bodies started showing up. As for making the deal itself, I wasn’t lying to you. I do need a servant, to help me cook and clean, among other things. But like I told you earlier, the house is under a spell that lets it take care of itself. The spell was placed by my former benefactor and now that he’s gone, the spell is dissipating.”
“’Former benefactor’? Do you mean Mr. Paole? And what do you mean by the spell is dissipating?” she knew she was pushing it, but as long as Vinyl was in an talkative mood, she might as well exploit it.
Vinyl looked at her for the first time since she started playing. “Don’t you find it odd that the spell only affects most of the house, not all of it?" Octavia had wondered about that. "Point blank, the spell won’t last forever. I could cast a new one, but that’s costly. And right now, I don’t have that kind of money to throw around. When that day comes I’m going to need a capable staff to help me sort everything out, and on top of that I’ll need someone who can handle all of them.”
Octavia pointed at herself, “Me?”
“Yes, 'you'. I signed you on for a good reason, Octavia. I have bigger plans for you than a simple maid, and if you prove yourself, you’ll get your reward.” She stopped playing and turned so that she could face Octavia fully. "And make no mistake, that etcetera was there for a reason. Occasionally, I might call on you to do things . . . outside of your job description. Some of it, you won’t agree with, but remember what’s at stake.”
Vinyl turned back around in her seat and started playing again. Meanwhile, Octavia’s mind was buzzing. “So she does need me, just not yet. But what did she mean by things 'outside of my job description'?” Octavia sighed. Vinyl’s explanation had answered most of her questions, but she was left with a whole crop of new ones. “It’s fine,” she thought as she watched Vinyl reach the apex of the song, the vampire’s fingers a blur hitting keys. “I guess I’ll just figure it out as it comes.”
“By the way” said Vinyl as she hit the final note of the song. “What’s a cellist doing playing the piano?”
“How did you-“
She smirked, and it was the first warm smile Octavia had actually seen on the vampire. “I held your soul, remember?”
Octavia blushed, wondering exactly how deeply Vinyl had looked into her soul, and how much had she seen. “Well, when Lyra brought me the notebook she insisted that it be played on piano. Even though I have no experience actually playing the piano.”
Vinyl's face fell and sh sighed. “Of course she did.” She rebounded quickly though, her smirk was back on her face a few seconds later, “You know, now that she knows you exist she’s not going to leave you alone.”
Octavia paled. “Oh God, what have I done.”
“Don’t worry, if you ever want her to leave you alone just say you’ll play her piano later. Works every time."
“Well that’s all well and good, but I think we’ve both made it clear that I suck at playing the piano.”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t say that, with a little practice you could. . . “ Vinyl seemed to hesitate before she said her next thought, but after a second she seemed certain. “Would you like me to teach you? After all, you won’t have much to do for a while. The spell is disappearing, but it’s a slow process. In the meantime you could be taking lessons from me."
Octavia wasn’t sure what to say. She loved the cello above all else, but to be able to play like Vinyl did; that was a dream come true. “I would love to.”
“Then it’s decided" Vinyl held out her hand for her to shake, "We have another deal.”