Behind Closed Doors
Question:What do you get when you mix together a ghost, two vampires and place them all in one mansion?
The answer: Hell. Pure unadulterated hell.
Octavia was on her hands and knees, scrubbing at some blood that had been spilled on the carpet. Nosferatu had only been here a day, but already he was giving her a headache. He wasn't as bad as Vinyl could be at times, but he managed to be uniquely annoying in his own way. Plain and simple, the vampire hadn't been quite what Octavia was expecting.
"Nosferatu, my dear. In the flesh." Octavia's eyes drifted down to his extended hand, wondering if it would be a good idea to shake it. Part of her felt like shaking it and then asking for an autograph, but the other part of her said that as soon as she did she'd be impaled on the other hand. "Death or fandom," she thought. "Tough choice."
Lucky for Octavia, she was saved from making that tough choice by her Mistress. "Stop it, Nos. You'll break my servant." Vinyl was making her way down the staircase, decked out in her usual suit which she'd had Octavia clean this morning. But somehow she managed to look more imposing then usual, more powerful. For the first time since that first night they met Vinyl seemed to embody what Octavia thought a vampire was. Octavia glanced at their guest. Who was still standing in the doorway, unmoving.
Vinyl marched up to the front door and Octavia scrambled out of the way. Standing in front of the legendary vampire Vinyl crossed her arms and frowned. "Seriously, I'm not letting you into this house until you take that the ridiculous thing off."
Nosferatu quirked one his demonic eyebrows and sighed. "You used to love this look," he said in a voice that sounded nothing like the raspy hiss, he'd been using only moments ago. That wasn't his only surprise, though, as with a snap of his fingers a dark flame enveloped the legendary where he stood.
Octavia took a step back, trying to protect herself from the blaze, which strangely enough emitted no heat. She looked towards her mistress for, answers, but found none. Vinyl's attention was still trained on the roaring fire in front of them. And with a slight wave of her hand, she indicated that that's where Octavia's should be as well.
As the flames began to clear, it became apparent that the Nosferatu that had greeted her at the door was gone. Instead, he had been replaced by a slightly younger man with a more wild, but still dangerous look in his eyes. Octavia guessed he was somewhere in his forties a grey streak in his otherwise pitch black hair confirming her suspicions. The dark cloak from before had been replaced with a suit like Vinyl's. Unlike Vinyl, though, his suit didn't look like he'd pulled it straight out of the 1800's. Instead, he had on a nice, modern day, pinstriped suit, and Octavia had to admit looked pretty handsome in it.
"Better?” He said, as he held his arms out to his sides.
Vinyl nodded, “Much.”
Meanwhile, Octavia stood slack-jawed, not really sure what to say about the sudden transformation. He smiled at her, “Oh, come on. You didn’t actually think that I looked like that did you.” He rolled his eyes, “The only reason they used the name ‘Nosferatu’ in that movie is because they couldn’t get the copyright for Dracula.” His face fell, “It’s actually kind of depressing when I think about it. It’s almost like they’re calling me second rate.”
Vinyl rolled her eyes, as she glanced at her very confused maid. “Octavia, let me introduce to you, the nigh immortal Nosferatu, leader of the Nosferatu clan. You’ll be taking care of him for the duration of his stay.” He cleared his throat, causing Vinyl to sigh. “He’s also my uncle,” Nosferatu face brightened, “But in name only, we’re in no way related.”
Vinyl was quick to clarify that fact and her surrogate uncle’s face sagged, “Oh, Vinyl, how you wound me.” He clutched at his chest, falling back against the door frame in an over-dramatic fashion.
Vinyl crossed her arms “You know, this scene would be a lot more convincing if I knew for a fact you don’t have a heart.”
He stood up straight, readjusting his tie, “Touché.” His eyes locked on Octavia, and he smiled. He brushed past Vinyl until he was standing directly in front of her. He grabbed one of her hands in both of his and in a gentle voice he he apologized to her, “Dear, Octavia. I’m sorry if I scared you when you first saw me. I like to keep up that illusion, for—basically that exact purpose, but it was still rude of me to scare you like that.”
Octavia was still a bit dumbstruck, but she managed to form a few words, “U—um, it’s okay. I was just caught off guard, that’s all." She relaxed slightly, it didn’t seem like the vampire was going to hurt her. Even though he was looking at her with the same expression Lyra did at times.
Which is why she slightly flinched when he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I also apologize, if my young Vinyl hasn’t been taking care of you properly."
“Oh no she’s. . .”
“Honestly, the girl has no idea how to properly romance a woman.” He shook his head. “All it is for her is wham bam, in bed by the nights end.” Octavia could feel the blush developing on her cheeks. But much more important was the twitch starting in her left eye. She’d probably need to get that checked.
Apparently, Vinyl had heard her uncle’s comment, because the second Octavia's twitch started, she started screaming. “I do nothing of the sort! I'm a respectable lady when it comes to people that catch my eye.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “And for your information, Octavia is a servant, nothing else.”
His eyes widened, “Really?” He stared at Octavia’s neck, leaning in to get a better view. Chin and hand, he circled her and occasionally tilting her head looking for bite marks. Finally, he stopped and shrugged, “Congratulations, Vinyl. It turns out you have more self-control then I originally thought. Hmm, unless . . .”
He gave Octavia another look, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to lower your collar for a bit, and let us. . .” Octavia covered her chest, defensively, her blush darkening a few shades,
Vinyl groaned, “Well that answers that question," She turned on her heel and began walking back up the stairs. "If either of you need me, I’ll be in my room.”
Nosferatu’s lips pursed together as he watched his niece walk out of sight. “I suppose I came at a bad time.”
Octavia shook her head, frantic, “Oh, no, no, no. I assure you, Nosferatu, Sir. Vinyl has been nothing but excited to see you ever since you sent her that note saying you’d come. She made me clean out the whole house for your arrival." It was true, and she still had the feint scent of lemon pledge on her clothes to prove it.
He raised an eyebrow, “Did she now?” He gave one last look at the spot where Vinyl disappeared, and then he turned to Octavia. “I guess our reunion can wait a little while. Vinyl will talk to me when she feels ready. That’s how she’s always been and I doubt some time apart has changed that much.” He threw his arm around Octavia pulling her in uncomfortably close, “In the meantime, we’ll just have to entertain ourselves.”
And entertain themselves they did. Nosferatu, or "Nos" as he liked to be called, was a lot more active then Vinyl. He had a million ideas on what they should do first, and he wanted to get through at least half of them while he was there. The first of which was trip around town. Because if him standing outside in broad daylight wasn’t a big enough tip, he could survive in the sun. Which left Octavia questioning for exactly how powerful the vampire was for awhile, but not much though, the vampire kept her busy.
They spent the day walking around town as she showed him the sights, pointing out new buildings and tourist sights that hadn’t been here the last time he was here. Which according to the vampire himself hadn’t been since Paole's funeral, and even then, he was just there to mourn his friend and leave. Why they couldn’t just use the limo he’d parked outside of Vinyl’s house she’d never know. But it probably had something to do with the fact that Nos wasn’t satisfied to just sit and look. Nope. He wanted the full experience. Everywhere they went, he had to stop and take a look around at everything, and possibly buy up a bunch of souvenirs.
And Octavia had to admit, it had been fun to go to the mall and stop by the Doughnut Joe’s. Especially since Nos insisted on paying for everything. Which is why she had a very nice new bow and a brand new rock stop in a bag on Vinyl’s dining room table. On top of that, Nos had given her, her biggest breakthrough yet when it came to understanding Vinyl.
They'd had just sat down to eat. She’d ordered both Nos and herself a couple of bear claws, and the legendary vampire himself had found them both a booth back in the corner. She was contemplating th possibility of getting a drink, when she finally worked up the courage to ask him about Vinyl’s studying.
“Ah, that,” he said as he took his first bite of bear claw.”
“Yes ‘that’!" she stressed. "There hasn’t been a day since I started working for Vinyl that she hasn't been working around the clock." Octavia sunk back into her seat, it was nice to have someone to talk to about these things. Lyra was nice, but the ghost couldn't hold serious conversation for the life of her (no pun intended). "I normally wouldn’t mind something like that Heck, I'd usually admire it, but the day she agreed to call you I found her lying passed out on her bed. When I asked her to move she couldn’t”
Nos paused mid-bite, a curious look on his face as he pulled the pastry out of his waiting jaw. “I’ll talk to her about that," he said in a voice more softer then any Octavia had heard him use since he arrived. "But you have to understand, Octavia, Vinyl is under a lot of pressure at the moment.”
Now he had Octavia’s attention. “What kind of pressure?" she asked, scooting just a bit closer to the ancient vampire. "I’ve talked to Vinyl about it, but she keeps saying that it’s 'none of my business' and that she can 'take care of herself'.”
"If Vinyl doesn’t want you to know, I’m not sure I should tell you.” Octavia's face fell, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by her blood-sucking companion. Which was good, Octavia wanted him to see her pout, and feel an explosion of guilt unequaled by man. “But then again, Vinyl never listens to me so I don’t see why I should follow her rules.”
Octavia felt like she could jump up and dance on one of the tables. She was finally getting answers, clear cut answers about Vinyl. “Has Vinyl explained anything to you about clans?”
“A little,” she responded, “She named a few, and said that she was a Venture. She seemed awfully proud of the fact.” She said, remembering the smug face Vinyl had as she named her own clan.
He nodded, “As she should be, the Venture, have quite the proud history. A history that would become yours once Vinyl turned you." Octavia's eyes went wide. Vinyl had mentioned something along those lines before. "Each clan has its own leader, and the last leader of the Venture was, emphasis on the ‘was’, Mr. Paole. When he died his position was passed on to the next recipient. Normally it would go to the next of kin, the spouse, child, or more often than not, the first person they bit. If they’re not available then it’s the person after then that, and so on, and so on." He explained.
Octavia sat wide eyed, “He passed the position down to Vinyl, didn’t he?”
Nos nodded confirming her suspicions. “There were other candidates" Nos interjected." Vinyl is Paole’s granddaughter with a staggering amount of 'greats' in-between them. There were members of his clan that he turned personally, other members of his personal family that had a rightful claim on the job, but at the end of the day he chose Vinyl.”
"Vampires can have children?”
Nos groaned, “I assume, or at least I hope, Vinyl told you lesson number one about spiritual creatures.” Octavia nodded. “Good, lesson number two: If a creature has sexual organs they’re there for a reason.”
Octavia blushed, “So Vinyl’s going to be head of the Venture clan.”
Nos gave another nod, “Yes, and there are a lot of people, in the loosest sense of the word, waiting for her to screw up. Especially, considering the fact she wasn’t supposed to be in charge in the first place.” He shook his head, staring at the bear claw in his hand. “But Paole always did have a soft spot for her. I suppose he wanted to teach her some responsibility with this, but I wouldn’t wish something like this on my worst enemy. I would, I am the leader of the Nosferatu clan.”
He turned to face Octavia, “Now Vinyl has to learn everything she can about leadership, vampiric history, her clans history, and just about everything possible about the world around her; surface and hidden. It’s a monstrous task, and she can’t afford to make any mistakes lest her critics gain even more ground to attack her.”
Octavia’s lips thinned into a straight line. She’d known Vinyl was busy, but she’d had no idea just how much weight was on the vampire’s shoulders. Her mind was abuzz with this new information. Wondering when Vinyl would have told her this or if the vampire was planning to tell her at all. But most of all her head was awash with plans to help her. Most of which she knew her Vinyl would shoot down immediately, but she couldn’t let her carry all of this responsibility alone.
Just when she was coming to the conclusion that it was hopeless, she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Vinyl is tougher then you’d believe. Paole wouldn’t have given her this title if he didn’t think she could hold up.” He frowned, “The only thing I’m worried about is what she may become in the process.” Octavia waited for him to elaborate on that fact, but he didn’t. Instead he just took another bite out of his bear claw, signaling that the conversation was over.
The rest of their tour was fairly simple, but as eye-openingly fun it had been, it had also caused a lot of problems. Ponyville was a relatively big town, but it was still the kind of town where everybody knows everybody in one way or another. So when a stranger shows up in town out of nowhere, being escorted around by a local teenager, people ask questions. Unfortunately, though, whether by accident or on purpose, they rarely ever actually come up with the right answers.
And no doubt the worst of the rumors would come from Sunset Shimmer. Honestly, if Octavia could have avoided anyone today it would have been Sunset, but by some stroke of luck, she'd manage to bump into not only her, but also her two stooges, Trixie and Lightning Dust. The pompous little witch and her friends were probably already posting messages about her 'prices' online.
Octavia sighed, throwing down the rag, which was now a bloody mess from Nos’s drink. “A Bloody Mary, with real blood.” The vampire had brought a bottle along with him because he refused to dine on the cheap stuff in Vinyl’s fridge. After going through a good third of the bottle because, “Vampires don’t get drunk that easy,” or so he claimed, he went in search of Lyra and her piano.
After a good ten minutes of scrubbing there was still a gigantic stain on Vinyl’s carpet that was probably going to be there for the rest of eternity. And strangely enough, she was okay with that. part of her thought It would serve Vinyl right for being so secretive. However the part of her that actually had control of her body new that it was possible to get revenge, while still doing hr job. Just as Octavia was contemplating how angry Vinyl would be if she ruined her carpet with an entire bucket of bleach, she heard the music. "It must be Nos,” she thought.
The vampire played beautifully, tapping out a ix of wild jazz and swing. Requested, no doubt, by his captive flapper audience. The natural acoustics the manor had, amplifying his playing for the whole house to hear.
Placing her rag back in its bucket, Octavia pulled out a chair, and decided to listen to the vampire’s solo performance. It reminded her of her first night here, when she’d been captivated by Vinyl’s playing. And although Nos’s playing was good—brilliant even—it just didn’t leave her with the same burning desire as Vinyl’s. Vinyl’s playing left her in a trance; a dream she didn’t want to wake up from, and felt like she was lost when she did.
“Which is why it’s so frustrating that I still haven’t gotten any lessons from her,” she grumbled. Both Vinyl and Octavia had been so busy lately that the lessons her mistress had offered had completely slipped her mind. “I’ll have to remind her the next time she has some free time, but who knows when that could be."
She groaned, letting her head slip into a waiting palm as she reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. It was eight thirty, her mother was expecting her back by now. Her ears perked up again, as she tuned in to the music that didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. “If anything, I’d say he’s just getting started.” She smiled as she slipped her phone back in her pocket her mother could wait a little while longer.
It was Thursday and Octavia was heading to work. Octavia didn’t want go to work, but apparently Nosferatu had requested it, and so Vinyl had called her in. “Didn’t Vinyl explain that this was supposed to be my day off?” She grumbled. “And how the heck did she get my phone number in the first place?”
As she reached the front door of the manor, though, she could feel her anger diminishing. “It doesn’t matter, I suppose. This just means more money in my paycheck.”
Throwing open the door, she was greeted with the strange sight of the two vampires standing around rather awkwardly. They were pacing back and forth almost like they’d been waiting for her. “Well, of course they’ve been waiting on me, but they look really desperate.”
Vinyl’s eyes locked on her servant, and her face split into a somewhat creepy grin. “Octavia,” she said as if she was greeting an old friend. She ran up to girl placing both hands on her shoulders. “We have a guest in the dining room that we’d like you to take care of.”
Before she knew it Nos was leaning over Vinyl’s shoulder to talk to her. “It’s the cops, Octavia. They’ve found us and they want to bore us to death.”
“Huh?” Octavia was officially confused.
Vinyl pushed her uncle out of the way, “Pay no attention to him Octavia, we haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just that there are certain procedures that have to be dealt with when Nos visits.”
“Boring ones,” he chimed in.
“Right,” said Vinyl, “Boring ones. Nos and I have some business to take care of ourselves, so we can’t go over it with them. But it’s right up your alley,” she gave the young human her winningest smile, hoping she'd just go along with it and not ask a million questions like usual.
“So basically you have to go through a mountain of paperwork with some sort of clerk because you decided to ask him,” she pointed at Nos, “To visit.” They both nodded and Octavia’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “Where is he?”
“'She' actually,” Vinyl corrected, as she took Octavia by the arm and began to lead her toward the dining hall. Nos hung back, preferring not to follow them to death by boredom, but he gave her the thumbs up, shouting that he was "With her in spirit". Octavia grimaced, if both Vinyl and Nos were terrified to go through with this procedure, she couldn’t imagine how grueling it must be.
When they reached the somewhat ornate door, Vinyl let her hand drop. “Good luck,” she said as she hurried off to find her other guest.
Octavia paused before opening the door. Images fluttered to her head of an old woman sitting at the end of the table with a scowl that could cut diamonds in half. She’d be in a tan business suit with a pair of old bifocals on. And the papers, there would be piles of them, up and down the table, that she would need to sign. Octavia shuddered, “Yep that sounds about right.”
Bracing herself, she twisted the handle and flung open the door. Octavia was slowly beginning to learn a lesson, a fairly important one at that. The lesson being that when someone opens a door that has anything to do with the supernatural, they should get rid of all assumptions. Nothing can or should be expected from this world.
So when she opened up the door to the dining room, expecting to be met with coldness and cruelty, she was pleasantly surprised. Instead of piles and piles of paper there were only two, set in front of the very young woman. Much younger then she expected actually. Instead of a business suit, she was wearing her everyday, comfortable, clothes. Clothes Octavia had just seen her wear a little over an hour ago.
The minute the blond saw her she stood up. A big smile spreading on her face as she walked the length of the table. Her hand outstretched and a smile never leaving her face, as she went to greet her good friend. Octavia realized that she’d be expected to shake when the woman reached her, but she was still stunned. The only thing she could really do was mutter the woman’s name. “Applejack.”
Not put off in the slightest by Octavia’s unwillingness to shake. Ponyville’s resident farm girl grabbed her hand in both of hers and shook vigorously. “Howdy, Sugarcube.” Yes, Octavia was learning a very good lesson about doors.
When Vinyl found Nos, he was sitting in her study. One leg crossed over the other as he read a book on depictions of Vampire in film. She snickered “He’s probably just re-reading the chapter that deals with him.”
“Ehem,” she cleared her throat. She’d expected him to jump, slamming the book shut because she’d caught him with his narcissistic pants on. Instead he closed it gently, placing it in his lap. “Vinyl,” he said in a serious tone, “We need to talk. I admit you've done a decent job avoiding me so far, but there's no escaping this and I think you know that.”
Vinyl gulped. She couldn’t remember the last time her uncle seemed even vaguely serious about a topic.Even during her grandfather's funeral, he'd tried to remain upbeat. In the grand scheme of things it was irrelevant though, she could handle this. “You’re right,” she said, putting on her most serious face. Trying to stand up straight, while she placed her hands behind her back. “I didn’t call you here for just a visit.”
He raised an eyebrow, a look of disbelief on his face “Oh, really?”
Vinyl bit down on her lip. He was toying with her. He knew exactly why he was here, he just wanted her to admit she needed his help. “Yes.” Her eyes drifted down. “The fact is that certain circumstances require me to actually pay Octavia. As you know, I’m slightly strapped for cash right now, so I was hoping for . . .
“A loan?” he finished. Vinyl nodded, and he paused for a second. When he finally spoke it was with a question Vinyl had been dreading answering “What happened to the money Paole gave you?”
“Gone,” she muttered, “I spent it on his funeral arrangements among other things.” He cocked an eye at the implications of “other things” but thankfully he didn’t ask her to clarify. Nos was her last resort, if he wouldn’t give her the money then both her and Octavia were in trouble.
After a moment of silence Nos stood up. Vinyl braced for a rejection, but slowly his usual smile returned to his face, and she relaxed. “Of course you can have a loan, Vinyl.” He said, as he walked up to her and enveloped her in a hug. She gave a sigh of relief as she returned the favor. “There’s just one thing you need to do for me.”
“What’s that—OW.”
Vinyl rubbed the spot on he forehead where' she'd been hit. You think she would have noticed that he still had that very heavy book in his hand for no specific reason. She grit her teeth and hissed, barring her fangs at her currently less then beloved uncle. “What the fuck, old man that hurt.”
Nos grinned, “Much better.”
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Applejack? APPLEJACK?!?!?!?!?
The Titular vampire of the film Nosferatu was named Count Orlock. I enjoyed this chapter keep up the good work.
Yeah update! *sits down waiting for the next.*
I'm honestly being a bit thrown off by the use of Vampire: The Masquerade clan names in a story that has nothing to do with that universe. I keep expecting them to share characteristics that are prevalent in clans. For example the Nosferatu are ugly and deformed.
5624710 In all honesty. I stumbled across those names by mistake I had never even heard of masquerade before someone brought it up in a comment earlier. Now that I know a bit about them though, I'll probably include some traits, not all but some.
5624559 Well, you see . . . wait I actually do have an excuse for that, sweet. All will be revealed later, like much later.
5624201 Yep
5624710 Well my Dear Friend there are Nosferatu Bloodlines that are not deformed but something about them seem entirely off to most normal humans to the point where the Nosferatu are repulsive to all but most supernaturals
((and NWoD is more supportive of the way this story rolls))
5625478 Well to be honest I've only played Vampire the masquerade, but I'm trying to get in to it more.
lol So New or old World of Darkness?
5626330 The Author has admitted that they just saw the names somewhere but is now Looking into WoD And to him I say check out New World of darkness
5626704 Will do. Thanks for the tip
You mean "if I didn't know for a fact you don't have a heart"?
5626729 It is a nice bit of Vampire fiction
(broken English incoming)
Good humor
exploration
surprise
9.9/ 10 this chapter
5632454 Score!
You could stand to improve your grammar a bit, but other than that, great story.
Missing a quotation mark at the start.
down to 'his', you might also want to add 'it' after the word "shake".
she
Dame that second paragraph was a mess.
There is a space in between the quotation mark and the first word. IN fact you might want to scan the chapter for things like double spacing in places it shouldn't be.
why I should 'follow' her rules.
Still a good story. You might want to proofread first though,
5688535 Ah, I see what happened. I made corrections on all of that, but I forgot to save. Thanks for the heads up though, I'll correct it right away.
The cliff hanger hath been doubled? You evil, brilliant bastard!
But then again, Vinyl never listens to me so I don’t see why I should follow her rules
It’s a monstrous task, and she can’t afford to make any mistakes lest her critics gain even more ground to attack her.
Octavia was slowly beginning in to learn a lesson, a fairly important one at that.
Much younger then she expected in fact.
He cocked his eye at “other things” but thankfully for Vinyl he didn’t ask her to clarify.
I'm just noticing issues in lack of punctuation. But good job! You have me on the edge of my metaphorical seat.
I would scoot to the front of my literal seat, but I don't want to imbalance the car, as it may finally fall off the cliff.
I would get out of the car, but this is more important.
so octavia's parents won't let her go to a job she doesn't get paid for but if she doesn't go she dies. this is why you don't make deals with the supernatural
This "and" is really out of place there and wrong. I would suggest to either write "he had to" or if you want to keep the "and" "he and she had". Personally I would go for the first choice.
The quotation mark at the end is wrong.
That should be written small.
Also after the notice there are two dots. I´m not sure if it should be one or three dots. In both cases you need to change that.
You are missing a quotation mark at the beginning of her thought.
This sentence seems weird. Try putting a "was" behind "Octavia".
There is this weird slash in the middle there and I can´t figure out why or how. I think that should be a dot or a comma, but in the second case you would need to continue small. There is also the possibility that I´m wrong and you are right. If this is the case then please explain it to me.
That´s not how you write her name.
A random "n"? I think you forgot to put an "i" infront of it.
Also I think you are missing a "he" after "One leg crossed over the other as".