//------------------------------// // Octavia's Journal: Entry 1 // Story: Bite Me. . .Please? // by Drax //------------------------------// This is my ‘vampire journal’. (Originally, it was supposed to be my vampire diary, but once I realized the reference I’d just made—in permanent ink—I trashed that one and bought a new one). Inside is information on my time under the service of Vinyl Scratch, from the day to day challenges I face, to the information I manage to pick up about her and vampires in general. I’ll attempt to write in this at least once a week, but I’m not sure when I’ll find the time. May 1, 2014 I’ve been Vinyl’s servant for little over week and a half, and things have been . . . strange to say the least. The relationship I have with Vinyl has been on a talking basis ever since the piano incident, but she still seems distant. Occasionally, I’ll ask her a question and she’ll close whatever book she was reading to answer me. If Lyra is any indication, there’s an entire world that’s being hidden from me filled with who knows how any other creatures. And from the look of things, Vinyl is my gatekeeper to all of it. But like I said, she is giving me glimpses into that world. I’ve learned a lot about vampires that both helps and confuses me. Like weaknesses for instance. Vinyl seems to debunk some of the classic vampire weaknesses from stories and books. For instance, she likes garlic in a lot of the food she eats, mostly because she knows it throws me off. The first time I saw Vinyl eating pasta with garlic and herb sauce, I started to question whether she was a vampire at all. And then the incident with the window happened. It was the weekend, so I just happened to be there early. That was another weird thing about Vinyl. Even though I’d never seen her go outside during the day, she seemed to spend a good deal of time awake during it. I would know, seeing as one of the few rooms I actually have to clean is her bedroom. It’s the exact same room Vinyl brought me to when she knocked me unconscious that first night. She made sure everything was put back into place and clean in every other part of the house, but her room was always a mess each day. Piles and huge stacks of books would be lying on the floor. None of which came from the actual bookcase in her room, and had to be carted back to the library,and placed in their respective spot. Think the Dewey decimal system is hard? Try organizing books when you have no idea whether they belong to fiction or not? Her clothes would be thrown in the corner, a few feet short from a clothes hamper. I know she can sort her own clothes, I've seen her do it before, but I'm pretty sure she still does it just to give me something. And there's always a half-eaten meal on her work desk, presumably because Vinyl had left to get something more “fresh” to eat. Since Vinyl had assured me Mr. Paole was in fact a vampire, and since he never seemed bothered by the sun I assumed Vinyl had no problem with it either. So, like an idiot, I left a window open after I was done cleaning the room. Not just any window though; the big one that has light hit you directly in the face as soon as you open the door to the room. But can you really blame me? With Vinyl defying almost every normal vampire convention, why would I think the sun would hurt her? I didn’t think it would be such a big deal, until a few hours later when i heard an ear-splitting shriek coming from the room. I dropped what I was doing and rushed up the stairs. When I got there, Vinyl was curled up on the ground, her cloak pulled over her head to try and block out the deadly rays streaming through the window. I ran over to the window and tugged on the rope cord to close the curtains. A process that would be a lot easier if they weren’t so damn heavy. But eventually, they did close, and the both of us were left in darkness. The only light left was coming from the hall, trying to fill the room, but only stretching far enough to cast a shadow on Vinyl’s crumpled form. With the light gone though, she was no longer pinned down, and started to slowly pick herself up. She was unstable though, and she kept staggering back and forth, as if any moment she might slip and lose her footing. “She’s weak,” I thought. I ran back over to help her and placed her arm over my shoulder. She was lighter than I expected for a girl her size, so it was no trouble pulling her to her feet and keeping her there. For all of five seconds until she snatched her arm out of my grasp. She shoved me away and immediately started to lose her balance. She fell, tumbling back into her bookcase, knocking down some of it's contents in the process. “Don’t touch me!” She snarled. All the sophistication and snark was gone from her voice, replaced with pure rage. She was keeping her face covered with her cape, but it didn't stop my imagination from running wild. What had the sun done to her? Had it left burns like the stories said it would, or did it something more sinister like melting away her skin and letting it fester? “I’m sorry, I didn’t know if—” She growled at me. “Aren’t you supposed to be the expert on vampires?" She snapped. So you should know that vampire plus sun equals dead bat, shouldn’t you?!” She was panting like she'd just run a marathon, and the hand that wasn't being used to hide her face was digging her very claw-like nails into one of the bookcase shelves. I stared at her cloaked face, wondering just how badly the light must have hurt her. I wondered if she was still in pain? But most of all, I wondered what exactly was she hiding behind that cloak, “It can’t be that bad,” I thought, “And if it is, I should at least see how bad the damage is so I can help her.” I reached my hand, intent on pulling away the silly piece of cloth and taking a look at the damage i'd done. “I asked you a question Octavia.” My hand stopped in mid-air, hanging there for a few seconds before dropping back to my side. Most of the anger in her voice was gone, but it was obvious she was still seething. I gulped. “I-I just assumed since Mr. Paole . . .” “Well you know what they say about assuming things, Tavi?” “Tavi?” I questioned. I opened my mouth to say something else, but before I could even formulate the words, Vinyl was already out the door. slamming it behind her as she left and leaving me standing alone in the dark. Not really sure what to say i could only repeat myself, "Tavi?" Vinyl holed herself up in the library after that, telling Lyra to keep me busy and as far away from her as possible for awhile. An hour later though when she finally rejoined us, her face seemed perfectly fine. She gave me a big speech about letting the entire incident rest in the past and then had me scrubbing on my knees to clean a floor she swore was dirty. And so I learned two things from that incident. One, Vinyl is weak against the sun. Two, she's extremely petty. Which I have to admit is a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand VInyl's opening up, and showing me more emotion. On the other hand, so far they've mostly been negative. Extra work beside the point, the whole situation did get me thinking though. What other weaknesses does Vinyl have? If I plunged a stake through her heart would she die, or would she just rip it out and return the favor? Can she cross moving water or enter a church? That night I made list of as many vampire weaknesses I could find, from silver to holy water. I would ask Vinyl which actually existed and check off the ones that were just superstitions. Or at least that was the plan anyway, the explanation Vinyl gave when I approached her with my list was a bit more complicated than that. “It really depends on the vampire,” she said as she set her book down, on a nearby stand. I'd manged to corner her in the library, during her reading time, and thankfully, she'd worked off most of the rage yesterday. "Or more specifically it comes down to what family they’re from and how much power they have.” Needless to say I was confused. “Explain, please?” She sighed, “Let’s go over power first, since that’s a bit less complicated. It all ties back to your soul really. Believe it or not, there’s an incredible amount of untapped energy in there, known as spiritual energy.” She tapped at my chest, close to where my heart and I guess my soul is. "Wait, spiritual energy?" I asked not exactly convinced she wasn't pulling my leg with this. "That sounds like something you stole from a cartoon." She glared at me and I shrank back, motioning for her to continue." “Anime, actually." She said continuing as if I'd never interrupted. "And as I was saying, most people only use a small portion of that energy to do important things, like not being a lifeless husk of a person waiting to die. It takes practice to use more of it, otherwise you might die. Creatures like me can naturally tap into more of it, but even we find limits somewhere. Spiritual energy has an abundance of uses, to the point where some people even manage to pawn it off on the black market." She scoffed, as if the mere idea was ridiculous. "Don’t ever buy any though; it’s the basic equivalent of those breast enhancement pills."I blushed, covering my chest. Vinyl didn't seem to notice though. She was to busy concentrating, trying to ind a way to explain everything to me. “This is where it gets complicated, and I don’t know everything myself. So if my knowledge turns out to be a bit lacking don't judge me." She explained, I nodded my head in understanding. I could look more into this topic later. " I don't' exactly understand how it's done, but being able to use more of this energy this power can actually keep you from dying. Some supernatural creatures such as vampires do this naturally, with our inability to die of from age. Now imagine that power in the hands of someone who actually knew how to use it. They’d be haunting this plane of existence until the end of time.” I clutched my shirt where Vinyl had touched me. I knew my soul was important, but I never knew it was so powerful. And Vinyl had literally ripped that out of me when we’d first met. I'm still trying to keep my thoughts at bay about that, but if what Vinyl said was true, then I shudder to think about what she could have done to it. Trying to keep my mind from travelling own an increasingly dark route, I changed the subject, “You said something about families?” Vinyl shifted in her seat and her lip thinned into a straight line. She gave me a look that said she would rather talk about anything else, but I motioned for her to continue. She glared at me, but after a moment of silence, she let lose a sigh and began to explain. “When a vampire turns you, you’re instantly considered a part of their family or clan. There are several families, The Gangrels, The Assamites. I myself am a part of the Ventrue," a fact she seemed infinitely proud of. “There are several perks depending on who bit you and what clan they're from, but there’s also certain luggage you have to carry.” “You mean weaknesses.” I guessed “Curses, actually. You see a long time ago, some creature—probably a faerie, they think everything’s so funny—decided it would be funny to curse a vampire. And wouldn’t you know it, if a cursed vampire bites someone that person instantly has the curse as well.” Her eyebrows furrowed, and I could see her teeth clench. ”We vampires used to be practically invincible, now we’re running away from vegetables. It’s pathetic.” I didn’t argue with her. I just stood there for a couple seconds, waiting for her to say anything else. But she didn't, she just stared off into space for a few minutes and then picked up her book and presumably started reading again. I went back to cleaning after that, with a new-found sense of wonder at everything I'd just heard I’m beginning to learn so much about vampires. But not just them, there’s a whole other world that I’m being introduced to. A world with fairies and ghosts, and who knows what else. But I also get the feeling that the more I’m drawn in, the closer I’m getting to something. I'm not sure if this thing is good or bad, but Vinyl seems to be preparing for something big, with all the reading she’s doing. Which, according to Lyra, isn’t ordinary for her in the slightest. But that also begs the question: What is normal for Vinyl? All I’ve ever really seen her do is read. Oh brother, It seems like the more answers I find, the more questions keep popping up. It doesn't matter though, not really. I have one foot in the door of this world now that Vinyl isn't keeping me out, and I fully intend to find out whatever I can. Until next time, Octavia PS: What was up with that "Tavi" thing?