It’s coming up on two weeks since I made my deal with Vinyl. I’ve been able to visit every day since so far. How’s that for loyalty, you ungrateful vampiric succu- best not to finish that thought.
Anyway, I’ve been telling everyone that I have an after school job to explain why I’m suddenly unavailable for everything. So far it’s been working great, minus the complete and total destruction of my social life. But there’s one glaring flaw in my lie that all those books and movies forgot to mention, and if I don’t take care of it everything is going to come crashing down on top of my head.
Vinyl is going to kill me for this.
After pumping herself up for over an hour Octavia finally opened the door to Vinyl’s room. According to Lyra, who had rushed to fill Octavia in as soon as she stepped through the front door. Vinyl had locked herself away in there early on in the day with a pile of books and hadn’t come out since.
“You know, I always thought vampires were supposed to be nocturnal. Creatures of the night that slept during the day?” She’d told the ghost, as she made they made the journey up to Vinyl's room.
”They are,” she shrugged. “Vinyl’s just weird like that.” Octavia really couldn’t argue with that. Her mistress was an aggravating mystery that needed to be solved. But for today at least, she could put that aside, and use what little information and sway she had with the vampire to get what she wanted. "Exploitation, it's fun in so many ways!"
When they reached the door to Vinyl's room, Lyra decided to make herself scarce, saying that Octavia had a handle on things. Octavia rolled her eyes at the ghost's laziness, but didn't call her back. This would be a lot easier without Lyra breathing down her back, cracking jokes very three minutes.
Gripping the door handle, Octavia turned it and pulled. Her senses were immediately bombarded by the smell of pancakes. She glanced at Vinyl’s desk. “Correction,” she thought, “Half-eaten pancakes, with sausage and some eggs on the side.”
Weirdness aside, practically every vampire story ever had to be right about something. Vampires slept during the day, and from the way things looked inside that room, her mistress was no exception. Vinyl was lying face down on her bed, surrounded by notes and random loose leaf pages, stacks of open books ling on the floor and next to her, one of which she was using as a pillow.
Octavia sighed and started picking up the notes and marking the pages of the books her mistress had left out. Partly because it was her job, but mostly because she wanted to know what Vinyl had been looking at. She took a quick glance at everything she picked up, but, as usual, she couldn’t read a thing. Everything Vinyl wrote or read was in some strange language Octavia had never seen before. “It keeps away pesky humans and prying ghosts,” or so she'd been told when she first got caught peeking.
Speaking of the snarky vampire in question, Octavia took a good look at her. Her shoes were kicked off, thrown towards opposite ends of the room and per usual, her hair was a mes. Her jacket was gone though, presumably put way in a closet and her cape had . . . surprisingly been hung up on a coat rack. “She remembers nothing else about keeping this room straight, but she remembers to hang up her coat.”
Octavia felt like face palming at the pure insanity that was Vinyl Scratch, but then a thought struck her.
This was the first time she’d actually seen Vinyl without her cape on. Usually, the vampire would be holed away in the study or some other part of the building where she could be alone. Her face more than likely twisted into a scowl as she combed over a book's pages and then wrote something down. Even if she did take some time to talk to Octavia, she usually only used two expressions; annoyed or apathetic.
But looking at her now, Vinyl was practically unrecognizable. For once she looked at peace with things, and for the first time Octavia didn’t want to run from her presence. Usually, when she was this close to Vinyl, she would get this feeling of imminent danger. Some common sense part of her brain, screaming that she had to get as far away from the vampire as humanly possible. She never listened to it, but she was always left a stammering mess any time Vinyl walked into the room.
Seeing her now, though, Octavia couldn’t imagine what she had been afraid of. The serene look on Vinyl’s face was—dare she say it—cute. Actually she would say it, “Cute.” Seeing the normally uptight vampire this relaxed was just too good a chance to pass up. Reaching into her pants pocket, she pulled out her phone and opened it up to her camera. Giggling, she snapped a quick picture of Vinyl’s sleeping face.
“Delete it.” Octavia froze, even exhausted, the voice still managed to send a chill running down her spine. “Delete the photo, Octavia. I’m not going to ask you again.”
“E-heh, how long awake you been awake?” She asked nervously, watching as her mistress eyes slowly started to crack open.
“Since you came in. I just didn’t feel like moving.” Vinyl let loose a yawn. “Now delete the photo, or you’ll need a new iPhone.”
“Actually, it’s an Android.” A growl rose from the bed. “Fine, I’ll get rid of the picture.” Octavia deleted the picture from her phone, fully aware that there was still a copy of it waiting in her Dropbox. “There, it’s done,” she said as she shoved her phone back into her pocket.
“Good," she said, still not moving from her position splayed out on the bed. "Now what do you want? I doubt you snuck in here just to take pictures of me for your perverted fantasies.”
Octavia’s jaw dropped, “You’re impossible! I had absolutely no intention of doing that with your picture.” Vinyl was many things in Octavia's mind; stoic, reserved,smart, compelling, and yes, even beautiful. But the idea of her as some sort of object of lust was appalling.
“Oh really?” Vinyl murmured into her makeshift pillow. "Then what exactly were you going to do with a picture of a sleeping vampire?”
That was a good question. What was Octavia going to do with it. It wasn't like she could post it on Facebook, or use it for friendly blackmail. It probably would have just ended up wasting space on her phone. “I-I don’t know.” Octavia spluttered. “You were just—and it was so cute, and—argh! Would you just sit up, we need to talk!”
The vampire groaned, “No. Come back in a couple hours.”
Octavia breathed in and out, trying to calm herself down. She bent down to look the vampire in her closed eyes and tried to speak to her in her nicest voice possible. “Look, I realize you’re tired, but this is really important. So if you could just open your eyes and sit up we can get it over with quick—” a thought struck Octavia, as she stared down at the sleep addled vampire. “You can't get up can you?”
Vinly scoffed, her eyelids fluttering back open after drifting closed. They were half-lidded butstill open “Of course I can get up.”
Octavia crossed her arms and smirked, “Do it then.”
Vinyl made a show of grunting and flexing her muscles trying to move her arms for about three minutes before she finally gave up. “Fine, you win, I can’t move from this spot.”
“Ha! I knew it, you crashed. That’s what you get for staying up so . . . early, I guess.” Octavia couldn’t help but laugh. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen someone crash like this. It wasn’t uncommon to see Twilight Sparkle face down in her lunch every now and then. One of her friends would take her to the nurse and they’d see her again at school few days later, no big deal. But seeing Vinyl like this was hilarious.
The thought that finally sobered her up was the fact she had absolutely no idea on how to take care of someone in Vinyl’s condition. “Oh shit, you’ve crashed. What do we do?” For a few seconds Octavia thought about calling the paramedics until she realized exactly how horrible an idea that was. “I could ask Twilight what to do. But dammit, I don’t have her number, and I can’t just show up to her door unannounced. On that matter, I don't know where she lives either.”
Vinyl groaned, “Don’t worry about it Tavi, just let me rest for the rest of the day and I’ll be fine. There’s nothing to do so just rest for the day, you can come back tomorrow.”
Octavia bit her lip, that wouldn’t work. Tomorrow was Friday, and they had to get this situation taken care of as soon as possible. But one look at the sleeping vampire told her that she’d just have to wait until Vinyl was at least able to move. "No
Sighing, she turned around and left the room. Letting the door to Vinyl’s room shut behind her, Octavia pulled out her phone for what she hoped would be the final time that day, and started dialing. “If Vinyl can’t talk now, then I’ll just have wait for her." She put the phone up to her ear, “Hey, Mom. Is it okay if I stay at BonBon’s house tonight?”
Vinyl woke around 7 o’clock in the evening. She was hungry, her head was pounding, but most of all she was embarrassed. To think she’d let anyone see her like that. Hell, if she didn’t need Octavia, the annoying girl would probably be gone about now, just to make sure no one would ever here about this.
But she did need Octavia at the moment. And as much as it wounded her ego, she’d just have to make due. Time was short, and the girl had at least displayed a healthy work ethic, which Vinyl planned to use if not outright exploit in the future. It wasn't her fault that the girl was painfully naive.
Crawling her way out of bed, she let her feet hit the floor. She took things slowly, not wanting to overtax herself as she pushed herself to her feet. She'd underestimated just how weak she was though, and it wasn't long after getting onto her that feet that she began to feel her knees beginning to buckle underneath her and had brace herself against her night stand to keep from falling over.
Taking a look at the eight or so feet that separated her from her door, she sighed. “I could try to make it myself, or I could suffer through another round of embarrassment.” Vinyl took another look at the floor. It didn't seem that far, but then if she fell she’d have to call for help anyway. She groaned, there really was no choice. “Octavia!” She cried out hoping the girl hadn’t left yet.
Her prayers were answered a few minutes later, when the door flew open to reveal a panting Octavia. “Y-yes, did you want something?”
“Well, for starters, you could get rid of this cackling specter.” She said pointing to the ceiling where Lyra was rolling around laughing. Lyra had phased through the floor as soon as she’d heard Vinyl’s scream. When the ghost realized exactly what had happened to Vinyl, she had burst out laughing, clutching onto her nonexistent ribs.
Lyra stopped laughing. “I’m ‘cackling’ because it’s hilarious. The dark and mysterious vampire has to call for help, because she can’t even walk. Aha-wait,” A suddenly serious expression on her face, “Now that I think about it, that’s depressing more than anything.”
Octavia glared at the spirit. "Not helping, Lyra." Her face softened though as she got a good look at Vinyl. She'd thought the vampire looked weak before, but this was pitiful. Her legs kept wobbling back and forth, unable to sustain the weight baring down on them. And her mistress was gripping onto her night stand as if if it was wreckage and she was lost t sea.
Vinyl noticed the look and snapped at her. "Forget her, and come help me." Octavia rushed over to put her arm under her mistress, and give her legs a much needed break. "Help me get down to the library. After which there are some packets of blood in the fridge bring me three of them, labeled AB.”
Octavia pursed her lips. There was no way she was going to let Vinyl work more when she could barely stand. "No."
"What?"
"I said, no. I'll bring you the blood, you're going to need it. But otherwise I'm taking you back to bed."
Vinyl gawked at her. "I think you're forgetting who's in charge here."
She shook her head, "I haven't forgotten. But its my job to keep this place looking respectable," she looked the vampire dead in the eye, "And that includes you. Now come on," she said, pulling on her arm. "Let's get you back into bed."
Vinyl’s eyes narrowed, “Make me.”
Octavia sighed, and with one quick motion she let go of Vinyl’s arm, sending the vampire careening back into her bed. “Whoah-ugh,” she said as her head fell back into a carefully placed pillow. Lyra let out another chuckle, but didn't make any other comments.
Octavia reached down, grabbing both of her legs and placing them onto the bed. “Now,” she said as she let her arms stretch out. “Stay there while I get your blood. When I get back, we can talk about my problem.” She pointed to Lyra, who had been strangely silent. “Lyra, watch her. If she tries to move call me.”
“Ay, ay, Captain.” She said, her hand raised in a mock salute. Octavia just shook her head as she left the room and walked down to the kitchen.
Vinyl had obviously been underestimating when she’d said she only had a few bags of blood. Either the vampire was stocking up for the apocalypse, or vampires drank a lot more blood, then Octavia guessed. She grabbed a couple of the bags labeled AB, which for some reason looked like those little packets of Hawaiian fruit punch—straw included. Octavia stared at the packet, “They even have a little vampire mascot in swim trunks.”
Choosing to ignore this clear act of vampiric plagiarism, Octavia ran back up the stairs to Vinyl’s room, the pouches cradled in her arm. As she let the door shut behind her, she was greeted by the sight of Lyra floating a few feet above Vinyl. The ghost and the vampire both locked in what can only be described as a staring contest of sorts.
A scene that made absolutely zero sense until she remembered that hr last words before leaving the room had been for Lyra to "watch her". Apparently the flapper ghost had taken things too far. “Alright, that’s enough Lyra,” she said alleviating the ghost from her duty. Octavia walked to the bedside table and placed two of the bags down, then swiveled around to face Vinyl's stalwart guardian. “I’m back now so you can lay off of Vinyl.”
“Ah,” Lyra pouted. “But this is the most fun I’ve had in the last three years. Vinyl’s been too busy, and the old man was getting too-”
“Lyra!” Vinyl shouted, causing Octavia to jump back, almost dropping one of the bags. The look on Vinyl’s face made it pretty clear that if it were possible to strangle the spirit, she would. For her part, Lyra just crossed her arms and pouted, pretending to stare off into another direction.
Octavia handed one of the bags to Vinyl, then took a seat on the edge of the bed, a worried expression on her face. Part of her wanted to pressure Vinyl for more information on Mr. Paole, but another part knew she'd just be shut down. Since the beginning Vinyl hadn’t mentioned him, and Octavia hadn’t brought him up. Now, however, Octavia was wondering what exactly was the connection between her mistress and the former owner of the house? She sighed, “Oh well, it doesn’t matter right now. The only thing that does matter is getting Vinyl back on her feet . . . and making sure she doesn’t kill me later.”
Vinyl was halfway through the first bag when Octavia opened her mouth to speak. Lyra was still refusing to say anything, having floated off into a corner, so Octavia hoped she’d stay quiet. This situation needed to be handled with some semblance of delicacy and she couldn't do that, if Lyra was bursting out in laughter after every other sentence.
“Now that you’re feeling a bit better Vinyl, maybe we can talk about that thing I mentioned.” She smiled, but truthfully, she was even more nervous then that first night she'd come to the mansion.
Vinyl glanced at her, still sucking blood from one of the bags. “Hmm, oh yes, you did say you had to talk about something. Well, what is it then, something about the mansion or just another question about the supernatural?”
Octavia gulped, “Well, you see—the thing is, Vinyl, I kind of told my parents that the reason I was staying out so late was because I had a job.” Vinyl stared at her, “And it’s been two weeks since I started said ‘job’.” Vinyl blinked, still not sure where Octavia was going with this. “Oh, for the love of—you need to start paying me.”
Vinyl hiked an eyebrow at that, “If I recall, I’m already paying you.” She took another sip of her drink. “You work for me, I turn you into a vampire. That's the deal we made, and a very fair one I might add, considering all the perks that come with it.”
“Well, yes,” Octavia shrugged. “But I meant an actual paycheck.” It was a good thing Vinyl didn’t have the straw in her mouth, or there might have been some very convincing murder evidence on her sheets.
“Are you kidding me?” Octavia shook her head. “I’m pretty sure that I already told you that I’m in no position to be spending money.” She pointed at Octavia. “Thus my need for you. Heck, have you seen the blood bags?” Octavia nodded. “They’re knock off Hawaiian Fruit Punch, Octavia. The knock off version of anything you can buy for a dollar, is not going to be high quality.”
“But I need a paycheck to show to my mother." She pleaded, "Otherwise, she's going to get suspicious, when I don't start paying for things on my own and keep asking for an allowance.” Octavia grimaced, this was not going according to plan. The original plan was to have Vinyl yell at her for being greedy, then convince her it was necessary. She hadn’t considered that the vampire didn’t have the money to begin with.
After staying quiet for a few seconds, Vinyl let out a deep breath, “Fine. I suppose we could squeeze you into the budget somehow.” She pointed towards her desk. “Reach in there and bring me what you find.”
Octavia hopped off the bed and walked over to the desk. She pulled out a drawer, and was surprised to find a laptop with a little cartoon bat where the logo would be. She gave Vinyl a questioning look. “You have internet access here?”
“Please, Octavia, I’m a vampire, not a savage.” She held out her hand. “Now give me my laptop. If we’re going to get you a paycheck then we have work to do.” Octavia handed the laptop over to Vinyl, and then sat back down on the bed, leaning into Vinyl as she watched the vampire boot up the computer.
“It’s about time I got some answers out of you.”
Vinyl stared at her, “What do you mean?”
“Well, I finally get an answer to one of my questions. Chrome or Firefox?” she teased.
Vinyl rolled her eyes, “Firefox." she replied, "But that's not important at the moment I won’t be using your regular Google search for this. I need to access the Deep Web.”
“The what?”
“You know, The Deep Web.” Octavia still had no clue what Vinyl was talking about. It must have shown on her face, too, because Vinyl groaned. “You know how there’s talk about all these illegal dealings that go on, on the internet?” Octavia nodded. “Well, have you ever wondered why you don’t discover any of these deals while surfing the net?” Octavia shook her head. “Well that’s because they're all on the Deep Web, which in actuality makes up ninety-six percent of the internet.”
Octavia sat up straight. “You’re joking?”
“Nope,” she said as she opened up a program on her computer labeled ‘UnderRealm.’ “This is where all of the secret drug, weapon, and just about anything else deals happen. It’s also where people like me make our online homes.”
A window popped up with a purple background and a standard search engine box in the middle. Octavia was not impressed, “They really didn’t put much effort into this, did they?”
“Oh, shut up.” Said Vinyl as she started typing. “We’re not going to be dealing with the supernatural or even illegal part of the deep web.”
Octavia’s face sunk. She knew it probably shouldn’t have, but it did. “So what are we going to do on this top secret part of the internet?”
“Access my bank account, what else?” Vinyl typed "Pyramid" into the search box, then pressed enter. A whole list of things that were apparently pyramid related popped up.
Octavia still couldn’t see what was so great about this. So far it looked like a regular Google search. Or at least it did until she started reading the results. “Can you actually rent out one of the pyramids?!”
“Yes, but most people only do it when they have a corporate party. Something about the great majesty and class of the tombs. Anyway, here’s what we’re looking for.” Vinyl clicked on a sign-in link for a site called ‘Pyramid Banking’.
Octavia quirked an eyebrow at that. “’Pyramid'? They aren't—”
“Mummies?” Vinyl finished. “Strangely enough, no. They just use it as a clever reference, most mummies are actually lawyers nowadays.”
“Really, that’s it?”
Vinyl shrugged, “That, and the main branch operates out of an actual pyramid. Don’t ask me which one. I went there a long time ago to set up an account, and have absolutely zero intent on going back.”
The site itself was surprisingly statuesque. They weren’t allowed in until they’d watched a video about a werewolf who’d fixed his bad credit through something called ‘Pyramid Plans’. As shady as it seemed, Vinyl assured her that Pyramid was a legitimate business. Then they were ushered to the main page, where it talked about investing, and loans, and saving for your future. All of it very bright and cheery, to the point where it actually started to make Octavia’s eyes hurt.
Vinyl was about to click on the button labeled, “Transfer funds,” when Octavia stopped her. “Wait!" she cried out grabbing a hold her mistress' hand. "Are you sure all of this is legal?” Vinyl gave her a look that said ‘Really?’
“Octavia, we’re on a site for supernatural creatures, in a part of the internet partially funded by the US and Swedish governments, that sells everything from cocaine to baby emus. Are you really going to debate legality with me?”
Octavia rescinded bot her comment and hr hand. “Point taken," she said softly.
“Good, now let’s get this over with.” Her finger paused as it was about to click the button. “Oh, and if you scream into my ear, I swear I’ll take it out of your paycheck.”
“What are you talking abou—”
Vinyl clicked the button, and immediately a blinding white light came shooting out of Vinyl’s computer. Octavia shielded her eyes from the glow, which seemed to last a good minute. As it faded, she slowly opened her eyes, only to rub them to make sure she wasn’t imagining things.
Vinyl’s screen was blank, but slowly a face was staring to emerge. This wasn't some paltry Skype or chat roulette, no, there was an actual face beginning to jut out of Vinyl’s computer. He, or at least Octavia assumed it was a ‘he’ with its sharp jaw, and crook of a nose, looked like some sort of dark void. Almost as if it had punched his head through the back of the laptop and the blank screen had somehow molded around his face. His eyes, like dark pits, narrowed as soon as they locked onto Vinyl.
“You!” it said in its snarl of a voice. “Do you have any idea what your balance is?” Vinyl flinched at that, but the face didn’t seem to notice. His attention had shifted to Octavia, “Who’s this?” He asked, clearly not amused that some stranger was here, while he was sharing sensitive information.
Vinyl cleared her throat. “Ballard, this is Octavia. She’s recently come under my employ, and, due to certain circumstances, I have to start paying her.”
The face, Ballard, huffed. “Sounds pricey.” His face suddenly twisted into a smile. “A much better option would be to enslave the girl and be done with it.”
Octavia leaned back in her seat, appalled, but Vinyl rushed to her defense. “Octavia is not just a servant. I have bigger plans in store for her, and they require her the use of her mind. I will not enslave her.”
“Well, why not?” He sniffed the air, his nose growing an inch or two as he did so. His face twisted into a grin again, as he looked at Octavia. “It smells like she’s already halfway there.”
Octavia felt a small sense of panic. “What did he mean by halfway there? ?”
Ballard didn’t answer though, he just shifted his gaze back to Vinyl. “By the by, getting a human servant Vinyl? How naughty of you! I take it you’ve filled out all the proper paperwork and procedures?”
Octavia looked at Vinyl and for the first time, the vampire actually looked unnerved. “I-I was getting to it.”
He huffed again, “Well, get to it faster. If you really intend to have this girl,” he nodded at Octavia, “As a servant then we need to make her aware of certain things.” He smiled, “That or get a leash, a leash would work quite nicely.”
“Excuse me,” Octavia had, had quite enough of this, thing whatever it was. “Who do you think you are?”
Vinyl and Ballard exchanged a look, “Octavia, this is Ballard,” she gestured to the face. “He’s my accountant slash advice giver.”
Ballard perked up at that, “Oh, ‘advice giver’ am I? I could have sworn I was your nanny.”
“Pay no attention to the face coming out of the computer Octavia.” Vinyl leaned over to look Ballard straight in the eyes. “He may look intimidating, but it’s all a dream, thought up in his big fat head.”
Ballard scowled at her, “Wizard of Oz jokes, like I haven’t heard those before . . . I believe you told me most of them.” He sighed, “Now how much do you want to pay Toto, Dorothy?”
“Right,” said Vinyl suddenly straightening up. “I think minimum wage will do for now. She turned to look at Octavia, “Is that all right with you?” Octavia nodded, and Vinyl turned back to Ballard. “I also need a check in her name for today.”
“Fine, how many hours has she worked?”
Vinyl glanced at Octavia, a questioning look on her face. “How many hours did you work?” Octavia shrugged, she hadn’t even realized that she’d need a paycheck until her parents brought it up last night.
“I can answer that.” Rang a voice that they’d honestly forgotten was in the room. Lyra floated over on her back. Her arms behind her head and a smug look on her face. “She’s worked forty hours these past two weeks.”
“Hmm, let’s see,” said Ballard, “Minimum wage of eight twenty five, times forty, minus a standard tax of fifteen percent which in actuality is going to be staying with Vinyl, because she’s a vampire and they don’t pay taxes, and . . . oh no.”
“What do you mean by ‘oh no’?” asked Vinyl as she leaned in to hear the accountants answer.
“Vinyl, that’s a little over half your current balance.”
“Say what?” she shrieked.
Ballard seemed to sink a bit, “When all the math is done that comes out to a three hundred and thirty-four dollar paycheck for the girl here. And an even three hundred left in your bank account.”
Octavia gasped and Vinyl’s jaw hung open. She turned to look at her servant, still slack jawed. “Octavia don’t come in on Mondays, or Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays for that matter, and hell, as far as I’m concerned you can have the weekend off.”
“Don’t you think that looks a bit suspicious?" Octavia questioned. "Me only working once a week?”
“I don’t care, I can’t afford to keep paying you like that. And who the heck told you to come in so much anyway?!”
“Well, excuse me for trying to be a good servant!” It wasn't her fault that the vampire was running low on money
“Good servants don’t drive their masters into the poor house!” She shrieked
“Especially when said masters have no discernible source of income,” muttered Ballard.
“Ahem,” said Lyra drawing all eyes on her (Except for Ballard, who had an unfortunately small field of vision). “If I can make a suggestion, Vinyl. You could always ask ‘Him’ for help.”
Vinyl seemed to have trouble figuring out exactly who "Him" was but once she did, her lips pursed. “I can take care of things myself, I don’t need his help.”
“Hmm, that might be true,” Lyra said as she floated in circles above their heads . “But things would be a lot easier if you gave him a call. You could pay Octavia, keep the house afloat. And you might even be able to convince him to help you get a little extra time.”
It was clear to Octavia that Vinyl was struggling with the matter. She obviously didn’t want to call “Him”, whoever he might be, but from where Octavia was sitting it seemed like a good idea. Still, Vinyl sat in silence for what seemed like forever before, finally she relented.
“Alright, I’ll call, but he’ll want to visit. And when he does,” she shoved a finger into Octavia’s face, “He’ll be your responsibility. Understood?” Octavia squeaked out a yes. “Good, then go clean the foyer. He’ll arrive within a few days, and I don't want this place looking like a pigsty when he arrives.” And with that Vinyl began to close down her laptop. Ballard's face slowly fading back into her regular screen.
It had been a few days since the meeting over Octavia’s paycheck. In the meantime, Vinyl had been running Octavia ragged trying to prepare for this mystery guest. Most of the preparations included Octavia cleaning things that were already clean, but apparently everything had to be perfect for this mystery guest whoever he was. A person both Vinyl and Lyra kept aggravatingly referring to as ‘Him’, more then likely because they knew Octavia was dying to know who was coming. Or more specifically what was coming.
Everyone was in the study when it happened, a heavy knocking on the door echoing through the hollow home. Lyra immediately fazed through the roof headed towards her piano, because as she put it, "She couldn't be caught dead, in this old thing." A comment Octavia found hilarious, but the ghost was gone before she could say anything. Her mistress followed suit soon after, which left Octavia alone to answer the door.
She ran to the front door, not wanting to keep their guest waiting as another steady stream of knocks echoed out. Taking a few moments to compose herself and straighten out the maid’s outfit that Vinyl had insisted she wear for the duration of this persons stay, Octavia gripped the door handle she opened the door and opened the door. “Hello, Sir, we’ve been expecting. . .”
Octavia froze. In front of her was the last person she’d expected to see. His cold dead eyes seemed to pierce through her as they shifted back and forth, examining her and the inside of the house. His tall, imposing stature let him peer over Octavia to the staircase and beyond. His skin was just as pale as she’d always imagined, and his ears and bush-like eyebrows stood out almost like a set of horns on his head. Even though it was near the beginning of Autumn, he was buttoned up in the same long black trench coat she’d always seen on him in pictures.
He held a hand out, and Octavia hesitated to grab onto the long twisted fingers that looked like knives ready to slice open her flesh. He smiled at her, revealing dagger like teeth, that could rip her apart if he wanted. “Nosferatu, my dear, in the flesh.”