*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
"Shakes where are you taking me?" I asked, puzzled.
Shakes had come up to take our orders like I had expected, but what I hadn't expected her to do was ask if she could talk to me in private. I was going to deny her, out of courtesy of my guests, but the look in her eyes suggested it was something quite important. Something else I noticed, or rather felt, was the gaze that Vinyl was giving me. Her eyes were glued to me as I upped and went with Shakes, I couldn't see her of course, but I just had a feeling she was watching me as I walked away.
"Just a little further." Was the only answer I got.
I sighed a little but held my tongue, I still owed Shakes for all she had done so the least I could do was go and hear out what she had to say.
We had walked past the bar and down a hallway, the one that led to the back ally, and soon took a turn down a hall that we were currently walking down. The lights in this hall were largely spaced, suggesting that customers typically didn't come back here.
We finally turned to the door at the end of the hall, Shakes lifting up a small painting to the side of the door and emerging with a key that she stuffed in the lock. She opened the door and gestured me in, which I did, before following me in and closing the door with a click of the lock.
The inside of the room was as bland as they came, nothing but a wooden floor and three chairs put close together around a round table. A single lamp sat on a small table sat between two of the chairs, while the other was pushed out towards the darker side of the room. I also saw a small packet meant for holding playing cards on the round table, but paid no mind to it and waited for Shakes.
She sighed and gestured for me to take a seat.
I did so and took one of the seats near the lamp while she sat in the other one close to the lamp, it was then that I noticed the true look in her eyes. It was one of faint fear, lingering on the edge of what could only be called concern.
"Shakes?" I asked.
"Hm." She grunted.
"May I ask what you need? And also why we needed to come back here?" I was curious, not angry.
She sighed again.
"Well," She began. "I need to ask you a few questions."
My brow rose.
"It's about Vinyl." She said simply.
I realized that was what her concern was and my ears perked at attention in preparation to listen. If it was about her then it was most likely to concern me as well, not that I thought that I was build to Vinyl's problems but rather I wanted to help her after all she had done.
"Yes?"
"Well...has she been acting odd recently?" She sounded unsure in her question herself, and quickly tried to reword it.
"I mean, I know the way she acts isn't exactly the most consistent by any means but I just wanted to know if she had been acting odder than usual." She corrected.
"Like how?" I asked.
"I'd rather you say from your own experience without my influence. That way I know it was significant." She said simply.
I put a hoof up to my chin as I thought back on any of the times Vinyl had acted oddly recently. She had been a bit clingy if anything, but she had been more clingy at other times. She had also been a bit more daring and flirty too, though I wouldn't put her beyond the acts by any means. She had been acting fairly normal in my eyes.
"She's been acting fairly normal around me." I said firmly.
"Hmmm." Shakes hummed. "No, something isn't right. She's acting a bit differently." She said, equally firm.
She turned to me.
"So you're sure she's been acti-" She stopped talking and her ears perked.
"Wha-" A hoof hit my mouth faster than I could react, the hoof belonged to Shakes.
It was silent for a while, but slowly the sound of hoof steps came into earshot. They got louder and louder until it must have gotten to Shakes, as she turned off the lamp between us with the softest click and darkness enveloped us both; the only source of light was a sliver of light coming from outside the door which my eyes drew to immediately.
Shadows moved as if somebody was outside the door, accompanied by the loud sound of hooves stopping just outside of the door. They were instant in turning around, most likely Harpo looking for the bathroom after all those drinks; it would explain the heave hoofed nature of the steps.
Shakes didn't seem convinced and waited another half a minute before removing her hoof and turning on the lamp.
She sighed.
"Something is wrong with her, and I have an idea but I don't like it. She's been going through withdrawal of her last feedings with you from the past, so temptation is definitely there. Just the smallest amount of blood could send her into a frenzy and we could never know." She said, ignoring the fact that there were hoof steps outside the door.
"Like I said, she isn't acting that oddly considering it is Vinyl we're talking about." I said.
"Vinyl's odd, but this isn't her type of odd. She isn't the type to turn to mockery." Shakes sighed, getting up and stretching her legs before trotting over to the door and looking back at me with an almost sad look.
"I know something is wrong with her. Maybe you'll see it soon too, but I hope you don't." She said sagely before turning back and opening the door and exiting.
She left me in the darkened room as silence began to creep over me. I was almost dumbfounded by her actions and claims, it wasn't like I didn't believe Shakes and what she said about Vinyl - it was clear she knew more on the topic of Vampires than I - but I thought that I could at least tell be able to judge Vinyl's actions based on personality. I had, after all, observed her for a good amount of time and thought I could at least see her intents.
"Who said it's mocking?"
A voice sounded from seemingly right behind me and shook me to the core, not because of the tone that was used; a tone that was rather sweet and innocent on the outside, but on the inside it held the venomous edge of the otherwise kind tone. The voice's owner was what surprised me.
"Vinyl?" I yelped, looking behind me only to find the room empty.
Silence was my answer.
I got up from the chair with a feeling I hadn't felt in awhile.
Fear.
I found myself rushing to the door like a foal would when they turned off the lights before exiting a room, the feeling of panic building the farther I went without turning to look behind me. It was only half way to the door that the feeling got the best of me and I looked back, the same empty chairs and table resting as they were before.
I shook my head and closed my eyes to rub them. Was it just my ears deceiving me? I was sure I had heard her.
"Tavi?"
I yelped again as I turned my head quickly towards where the voice had come from.
The door was wide open with Vinyl standing in it, her brows cocking over the edges of her sunglasses as she looked at me with confusion. I found myself feeling both relief and fear at the sight of her, but the relief outweighed the fear easily as I let out a sigh.
"You scared me Vinyl."
"Heh, sorry." She said, her hoof snaking back and rubbing the back of her head as she let out a soft chuckle.
"Uh, what exactly are you doing in here Tavi?" She asked, looking into the room from her place in the doorway.
"Uhm, got lost?" I lied a little, the pang of fear from before sparking up and forcing my speech in reflex.
"Really? You too? I guess Shakes' changes were a bit bigger than I thought." She said.
"You were lost Vinyl?"
"Yeah, I came back here looking for the bathroom." She chuckled. "Might wanna get back to your friend out there though, he's starting to really feel it." She giggled, prompting to move past her through the doorway and back to Harpo.
I still couldn't shake the voice from before from my head, it sounded just like her. But if it was then how did she get in there? We would've seen a flash if she had teleported in and she couldn't have gotten past both me and Shakes in the hall without us noticing. I couldn't help but think that Shakes might be onto something, but I wouldn't just jump on board with that idea until I had actual evidence to back it.
Either way, only time would tell. But in the mean time, I would keep a closer on Vinyl regardless.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
I came back to find that my food had already arrived, as well as Harpo on the verge of passing out. Beauty had apparently ordered it while I was away.
"I was going to wait, but you were taking awhile. I figured you would've ordered a salad anyways." She said, and it was true too, I would've picked the salad; it was about all I ate.
I noticed that her tone now returned to somewhat normal since Vinyl wasn't around, but she went back to her meekness the second that Vinyl came back and sat down. I did notice that Vinyl was acting more reserved as well, not staring down Beauty like before but just keeping to herself and her food.
Harpo didn't get any food; his only goal was to get wasted and he had well accomplished it.
The meal passed in relative, uneventful, silence from that point on with the only sound coming from the idle chatter between me, Vinyl, and Beauty while Harpo moaned every so often with his head face down on the table. Beauty and Vinyl even exchanged a few words with each other, though it was literally only a few - maybe three in total if I counted right. I found that I had finished quicker than I thought, and so had everyone else, which prompted Shakes to come by and drop off the check. She took a glance at Vinyl, but seemed to have cooled off a bit since our talk.
I turned and found Beauty nudging Harpo as he grunted with every prod.
"If you want to start heading home, I can handle the bill." I offered, but Beauty looked almost offended by the idea.
"Octavia, you just lost your job. It's perfectly understandable if we at least chipped in." Beauty offered, but I smiled slightly and shook my head.
"No, no. I offered to take you out and it's only right that I pay for the meal." I stood firm. She looked as if she were ready to argue more, but her eyes glinted to the side and her eyes drifted towards the ground as she ceased her protests.
"Vinyl, if you'd help Harpo and Beauty out the door?"
She nodded and took to the door, Harpo and Beauty trailing behind at a slower pace while I took the small slip of paper that was the bill. The price was reasonable for the four of us, excluding Harpo, to eat and I noticed Shakes had marked down the prices on the bill.
I took it up to her and smiled slightly, taking out a few bits I had brought with me. She was just as wordless as she took the bits, but I thought I could see a bit more ease in her attitude.
"It was very good." I said awkwardly, but I wanted to at least try to spark some conversation.
"You can thank my sis, she's the cook of us two." She chuckled. "She's been stepping up a lot lately since Vinyl stepped down as manager."
My mind popped to another topic, and I kept the conversation going as she counted up the change.
"Speaking of Vinyl, you could have at least spoken to her in the hall on the way out of that room. Or at least left the door open for her; she scared me senseless when she came through the door after you left." I chuckled softly.
"Huh?" She looked confused.
"When Vinyl came down the hall looking for the bathroom. Just after you left that room?" I clarified, but it didn't seem to help her.
"Octavia, no one was coming down the hall when I left." She said slowly.
I was struck silent by her words as she gave me my change.
I could only turn my head slowly and look back at Vinyl, who was at the door helping Beauty lug Harpo out of the door as he drooped off of Beauty's back. She was smiling and chuckling lightly at the limp form of Harpo, and Beauty looked as if she was holding back her own laughter as she used her head to nudge Harpo's body out the door. She looked innocent.
I turned back to Shakes, only to get a small shrug and a look that said "go ahead, but be safe".
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
Beauty had lugged Harpo's sleeping form off in an opposite direction once we left the doors of the bar and were met with the chilling night air. Me and Vinyl both smiled and waved them off before turning towards my own apartment and heading off in silence, though the reasons for our silences probably differed. I, myself, was silent as I thought about what she was thinking: Did she know that I knew? Did she have any other plans past this? Was something actually wrong with her?
Was she going to be okay?
Finally, I managed to work up the nerve to speak out into the silence and I nearly startled myself what came out.
"Vinyl, are you okay?" My voice was questioning and concerned.
"Yeah." She sounded a bit unsure herself.
"You seem kind of...out of it." I chose my words carefully.
"Fine." She insisted, her voice was a little shaky.
I stopped my protesting after that; Vinyl, as far as I know, hadn't ever lied to me if she was herself and even when she did it was usually to try and protect me. Though I couldn't help but feel conflicted, she wasn't acting as "lusty" as she did when she was hungry though she definitely wasn't acting like her normal self at this point.
I ended up spending the rest of the walk home wondering what was going through her head; whether she was in the feeding mood and that version of her had found a way to act normal or if she was sick with something else.
Once we got to my apartment she began acting out a bit more.
I had gone to the couch once we had walked through the door while Vinyl lingered in the doorway for a few seconds before deciding to join me. She sat down not but a few inches away from me with tired look, her heavy breathing softly resonating through the room while she looked deep in thought. She seemed a little distressed, worried; something I had never seen her before and my natural curiosity got the better of me.
"Vinyl you seem worried, are you sure everything is alright?" I asked.
Her head turned slowly to me with the same look on her face. It sent chills down my back for some reason, but I persisted.
"Vinyl what it the matt-" She stopped me mid-sentence and lunged forwards suddenly and pressed me back into the couch with her front hooves on my shoulders.
I tried to voice a complaint, but she stopped it with a rough kiss. It wasn't like her first ones from before, this one wasn't gentle; it was a passionate one that seemed to be controlling her more than her controlling it. It was aggressive.
When she finally did stop, her heavy breathing came much quicker and louder than before; heaving would be a word that came to mind.
"V-Vinyl?" I stammered.
"So long..." Was all she muttered as she bent her head down to meet me nose to nose, a twisted smiled curling on her face.
"J-Just a taste. Please..."