Surround the Prey

[Dragondarium]

The vampire could have been called a Chinese model as he stood there in the rising moonlight. His black hair was pulled back into a badly done ponytail that still seemed to look sexy to any human that saw him--though that was far from his intent. Even in it's pulled up state it still hung down to between his shoulder blades. He wore jeans that had several holes in them that were also loose. There were things he just couldn't stand about the modern society--tight clothes had to be close to the top of that list next to blood whores. the man's shirt was a loose rather traditional looking Chinese looking shirt that was held closed by a knot at his right side and then three buttons near his right shoulder. The full lengths of the sleeves hid sheaths that he had hidden there that he never left home with. Just because vampires had 'come out of the dark closet' did not mean that there were people out there that did not want them dead.

His angular face turned as there were insane noises coming from the house across the street where his brother insisted on living. Why they couldn't just share an apartment, Zane Wei did not know. His dark eyes moved up to the apartment in which he was staying before moving to the door directly underneath his. He would have to tell all humans of his presence soon and there was no way he was going to leave the house then without his protective knives.
















Nicoli Wei was the complete opposite of his brother. Tight but comfortable jeans and a plain black t-shirt with some kind of abstract design adorned his body as he exited his house. He had cut his hair short to mock the American style of hair while his brother had kept his the same length it had been when he had been changed. Being several years younger than his brother in both human and vampire terms, Nicoli was less angular than his brother with softer curves of the cheeks. He was less creepy (at least in his own mind) than his brother who seemed to carry the 'evil vampire mojo' around with him. If anyone didn't know he was a vampire, then they may not have guessed it. He seemed like an happy young man that was out for a night stroll.

"Yo, brother, when are we going to eat?" Nicoli called over to his brother who turned to glare at him with those dark eyes. While Zane's eyes were dark, Nicoli had taken after their European father instead of their mother and had been graced with blue-grey eyes.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

This week had officially been one of the worst on the planet: his now ex-boyfriend had broken up with him by loudly and "proudly" proclaiming that he had a girlfriend and that he "would never sleep with a dirty faggot", he was failing his Psychology 101 class because the teacher was a prick and he had three new neighbors that he felt obligated to greet. Yes, Vincent "Vin" Fredericks, was not happy. As he inhaled the delicious wafting smell of apple pie from his oven, however, he couldn't bring himself to be all that mad anymore. He still had an apartment, after all. He was still surviving.

Pulling the three pies from the oven carefully, he set them on the stove a moment to cool and went to change into something not so flour-covered and generally disgusting looking. He unclipped his blond hair and let it fall loose, then dragged the apron and ratty t-shirt he had previously worn off, pulling a sweatshirt from his college over his head instead. He figured his dark blue jeans were clean enough and left them as they were, moving back into the kitchen to pack up the pies in cute containers. Being a nice person was sometimes a burden, Vince mused, but if anything could get his mind off the week he had, it would be doing just that.






Grigor Romanov, self-proclaimed vampire rights activist and blood-sucker extraordinaire, had moved into his apartment just a week ago and was still not settled. Boxes were strewn everywhere, papers and button-up shirts hanging from their corners or spilling out onto the green carpet. He sighed, raking a hand through his shoulder-length brown hair. It would take some time to get everything in the proper order, like the whole 'telling the neighbors' bit, especially with the way he had been called into work every two seconds.

His cellphone beeped and he grimaced.

"Speak of the Devil..." he mumured, extracting the phone from the pocket of his dark brown slacks and absently reading the rather urgent message from his secretary about a picketing outside of the home of a school prinicipal who had "come out" as a vampire. He sent a message back to tell her that he would be there as soon as he could and moved to get his jacket, slipping outside. It was going to be a long night already, he could tell.

 

[Dragondarium]

Zane grabbed his brother by the collar and propelled him to the apartment that was occupied by a human that was directly across from Nicoli's house and right under Zane's new home. "We'll get something to eat right after we get the nasty business of alerting all mortals that we are here, you idiot," Zane growled as menacingly as he could--which Nicoli had to admit was pretty intimidating. "if you hadn't been spending so much time organizing your house, we would have had this done last night rather than before we went to eat. After he was sure that Nicoli wasn't going to stop walking, Zane slipped passed him and knocked on the door. As far as he knew this was the only human in the required 'one hundred feet' of his own front door. Of course Nicoli would have to alert his neighbors on his side of the street by himself. Zane was under no obligation to tell those that lived outside the one hundred feet. He did not pity his younger brother at all.

"You are one sick bastard Min," Nico said, using Zane's birth name just to irritate him. While they were both Chinese, only Zane had been given a Chinese name when he was born. Nicoli had been, blessedly, given a European name. Nico stepped up next to his brother and dug his hands into his pocket before resting back against a poll. "I don't see why you want to talk to a human before you've--we've fed. Come on man, it's been two days!"

"Then you should have fed last night instead of flirting with that jock back in Rexington on the internet all night. It's your own fault if you are hungry." Zane said, glaring over at his brother as he hunched his shoulders forward. If there was one thing he hated most out of being an immortal was the feeding--especially since he couldn't just go out and drink from a random person on the street. It was so complicated now with the world knowing that if any vampire did that there would be an uproar. That was the last thing vampires needed.

"But the jock was one of the most handsome bodies in Rexington!" Nicoli complained as Zane stepped forward to knock again. "And why did we have to move and force me to break it off with the kid? Because you got us kicked out of our home and no one was willing to give us a place because you just had to go and spill that I was sleeping with the kid! It's all your fault Zane! If you couldn't just keep your big mouth closed, we would still be there and not having to disclose to whoever is behind that door that they've got vampries living with them." Nico's anger was bubbling up and threatening to boil. If there was one person that could get Nicoli who was normally laid back to explode, it was his brother.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

Vincent frowned as he heard the knock. Who would come over to someone's house at this--alright, so he was planning to go over to his neighbors' places and drop off the pies, but he certainly hadn't been intent on knocking on their doors. He had hoped to simply leave the pie with maybe a nice note, or catch them going out or something. Still, there was no explanation as to why someone would be at his door..

He set the pies down and moved towards the door.


He was in the elevator when he heard them--possibly the most annoying voices to grace his ears in a long time, although it was probably because he was already irritated. The exception, perhaps, was his secretary's girlfriend who called several times a day and had the attention span of a mayfly. Grigor frowned, hoping he didn't run into anything stupid on his way out. He would hate to get in trouble for giving a couple of humans a piece of his mind.

The elevator came to a halt and as the doors opened, Grigor saw that the source of the voices: two brothers, clearly, but also two vampires. It was as plain as day from the way the one with the long hair looked.

He began to open his mouth to ask who they were and when they had arrived, but the door they were waiting at had begun to open already.


"Hello, can I..." Vincent trailed off as he found himself staring at not one person, but three. Three very pale, very different and very attractive men. Could they be...his neighbors, he questioned in his mind. They certainly didn't look as if they were "from around these parts" per se. Vincent had never personally seen any male so...attractive or mysterious. Except vampires, that was. Vampires were always attractive, though he certainly never wanted to encounter one. He even specifically took all his classes in the day time despite it preventing him from getting good job, just to avoid that moment of ever meeting one face to face. It was a fear, he supposed, that he kept from the days when vampires were still hiding themselves. He would always have nightmares of being sucked dry (and not in the good way either) by one, then left in a river or something.

He coughed a bit to clear his throat and started again, reassuring himself that they couldn't really be vampires. Vampires never moved into the neighborhood.

"I assume you're my new neighbors? I was just about to drop off a pie to each of you as a little bit of a hello. I know I'm a bit late in it, but I've been pretty busy with college," he smiled at them all and held out a hand to shake to the one closest to him.

 

[Dragondarium]

Zane had turned to look at the new arrival and had stiffened his shoulders. He was still trying to get used to the idea that vampires didn't have to compete for dinner any longer, but that didn't mean he liked to run into stray vampires at the oddest times. Before he, or Nicoli, could say anything to the other, the door on which he had knocked opened to reveal a young man--completely, one hundred percent human. He couldn't help but raise a delicate looking eyebrow a fraction of an inch in interest. Before he could say anything, his fool of a brother seemed to leap forward. He really just wanted to sock the other immortal sometimes. He really did.

"What a coincidence, we were just coming to tell you that we moved in. You'll have to forgive our late hour. I'm Nicoli Wei and this is my brother Mi--"

Zane's hand snapped out and grabbed the back of his brother's neck in a squeeze that threatened to break his neck. "My name is Zane Wei, it is a pleasure to know that such a handsome example of humanity lives beneath me," Zane said in his politest voice as he gave a half-bow. During this display, his hand did not leave the back of his brother's neck, a warning to keep his mouth shut or Zane would hurt him terribly. Zane wasn't really sure if handsome covered the young man that stood before them. There was a delicateness to the human that caught Zane's attention and held it.

Nicoli finally managed to wriggle out of Zane's grasp before taking the boys hand and shaking it vigorously. "You'll have to forgive Zane for his formal way of introducing himself. He's still stuck back in the age of Confucious, I swear. Don't know who the other man is though, we just ran into him ourselves."

"Nicoli, if you don't shut your trap I swear I'm going to shut it permanently by throwing you head first into the sun itself," Zane growled, his left hand going up to shield his eyes and rub his temples. Nicoli shuddered and indeed shut his mouth as he took a step back.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

Vincent couldn't help a small laugh at the two and their behavior towards one another. They seemed completely human to him and the behaviour just served to remind him of how he and his own little brother used to interact, always trying to one-up each other in some way or do something that would make the other look bad.

He dropped his hand, but the smile didn't leave his face.

"It's fine, it's fine. I'm Vincent, but you can call me Vin if you'd like. Most people do when they talk to me. Zane and Nicoli are nice names." He glanced to the other man who was still hanging towards the back and seemed to be debating something.

"What's your name?" Vincent asked after a moment of looking at him.

Grigor paused and gave this "Vin" a brief glance before looking to the other two and surveying them a moment, a little more intently than he had before. It seemed like Zane was the elder and Nicoli the younger, or Zane was simply more controlling. Either way, he coud tell that Zane was keeping the situation as much under his control as he could, possibly so that he didn't just bite the human. It didn't look like either of them had eaten in a little while, though not long enough to do too much damage.

He let his gaze wander back to Vin, who had apparently asked him who he was in the time he took to watch the other two vampires.

"Apologies. I'm Grigor Romanov. It's a pleasure to meet you, but I have to go. I have some business to attend to that requires my immediate attention." He began to walk away without much of glance back.

"Ah, Mr. Romanov, could you please wait a moment? It'll just take a second for me to grab the pies... Why don't you all just come in a second and I'll grab it and then you all can go?" Vince began to retreat back into his apartment without awaiting their answer, leaving the door open for them to come in.

 

[Dragondarium]

Nicoli looked like a cat in the mouse box. He bounded across the threshold like a kid on holiday returning home. He looked around and started to wander the the main room. "You have very good decorating sense," Nico called as he looked at the setting of the area, "Very Feng Shui."

Zane had exchanged glances with the ceiling as if by some miracle it would know how to stop his overzealous brother. "As if you know anything about Feng Shui Nico. You didn't spend enough time at father's house to know what that was. You were always out galavanting with whatever piece of horse flesh you could get your hands on," he commented as he followed his brother into the young humans apartment. He had hoped that it wouldn't come to this. The moment that they were in the living space and anyone found out that Vincent didn't know they were vampires, was the moment that they could kiss their immortal lives away.

"I remember enough, Min," Nico said, angered that his brother would use his childhood nickname in front of two near-strangers. He saw a look of pure poison on his brother's face and turned away as if he was just as interested in the carpet.

"Mister Vincent, I'm afraid there is something we must tell you before you offer us pie, though I'm sure it'll taste delicious," Zane said, his gaze on the arrangement of things in the living room. His brother was right, though it would take a threat of staking or sunlight to get him to admit it. The room was very feng shui orientated. He wasn't going to let the other vampire's secret go--that Grigor Romanov. That was his own potion to create. He was only going to warn Vincent about himself and Nico.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

Grigor folloed the two brothers and the human in, though his lips curled up a bit in distaste. The fact that vampires had to tell humans of their presence was ridiculous enough and he certainly hadn't intended on doing so with two other vampires. It would probably overwhelm the stupid beast.

Actually, he thought, it might be funny to watch that happen.

---

Brushing.a hand through his blond hair a bit sheepishly, Vincent smiled at the two brothers and other the rather disgruntled looking man

"Sorry, I tend to just tell people what to do without much regard as to why they're talking to me.. To comment on the feng shui bit first though, I'm going to school to be an interior decorator. I practice techniques on my own house and this semester, I took a class on feng shui. I actually quite like it like this..." Vincent trailed off, looking around the room a moment before focusing again on the three men.

"Um.. So.. What was it you wanted to tell me..?"




(OOC: Sorry about the lack of color and the short post. My computer completely crashed on me, so I'm on my phone)

 

[Dragondarium]

((Don't worry about it. :) May your computer be fixed soon. ^^))

Zane's eyes landed on the human again--this time with a tad bit more interest. He opened his mouth to comment on the interior decorating profession but Nico, once again, leaped ahead in the conversation. "Oh, you should definitely talk to Zane about feng shui stuff if you ever have difficulties with it. It's like he was born when it all came around," Nicoli said just to spite his brother even more. He knew perfectly well that Zane wasn't born during that time but after it and that Zane had simply paid more attention to their lessons as children.

"Nico, enough," Zane said glaring once again over at his brother, his jaw clenched shut. He could feel his fangs start to elongate in his frustration and he closed his eyes to calm himself. It would not do if they frightened the poor boy by getting into a fight with each other. Their fights, from the example left behind in Rexington, were very loud, dangerous, and completely disastrous to anyone and anything in the way. And Vincent had done a nice job of taking his room and making it a relatively peaceful place. Zane wouldn't destroy a place like this if it were a choice between that and sunlight.

Nicoli looked at his brother and smirked as he saw the immortal strain to control his anger. That was one of the things that Nico loved to do. While Zane cared about his surroundings, Nicoli could care less. A room was a room was a room in his way of thinking. The kid could always redo it if something got destroyed. "What my brother is meaning to tell you is that we--"

"My brother and I are required by law to tell you that we have moved in. One hundred yards bladi-bladi-blada," Zane said, his eyes on the floor rather than on anything else in particular. "I hope you do not mind that two of our kind have moved in."

"What he is try to say without spooking you is that me and Min Zane here are vampires."

Zane let a taken breathe hiss pass his teeth as he turned to glare directly at his brother who was only smiling. "Way to be blunt about it Nico. Next time why don't you just bite something to show them?" Zane snapped, anger crackling in his voice as he tried to keep his fangs back.Nicoli turned to return glare for glare.

"You would have side walked that explanation for way too long. The sooner we get it done the sooner we get to eat!" Nicoli growled in return.

"Well, like I was saying earlier, you could have fed last night if you hadn't been so intent on talking to the boy back in Rexington!" Zane snarled back, before realizing that they had once more gotten onto that topic. Taking a deep breath, he turned away from his brother to try and keep his anger in check. Nicoli would count this as a victory on his part, but it was no such thing. Zane was simply trying to be respectful tot heir host.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

When he heard 'one hundred yards', Vincent knew. He should have suspected more, really. The two brothers were gorgeous, pale and rather formal. Well, the older one was anyway. But really, he should have known. He really...should have known.

"V-vampires?" He managed to stutter out, interupting the arguing. All of his precautions were for nothing--the specifically taking day time classes, the moving to a completely vampire-free neighborhood. It was...for nothing. In all his twenty-three years, he had managed to avoid ever meeting one and here he was meeting two.

----

Gregor frowned at the lack of tact the one--Nicoli, he thought--had. Really, blurting out that you are a vampire is not the best idea. The human clearly got the point when the other had mentioned the 'hundred yard' rule. Figuring he may as well come clean as to his undead status as well, he shifted so that the human could better see him.

"I am a vampire as well. I'm afraid I won't be taking that pie, but it's a..nice gesture. Now, I must be off. I trust you'll be fine with this, as vampires are widely accepted and you wouldn't want us to feel ostracized, yes?" Without waiting for a reply, Grigor swept out of the room and was back on his way to work. He would get to know the two vampires at another time, see if they were on his side about fighting for vampire rights, but until then, he had to deal with that school principal.

---

Vincent stared after the other vampire a second before looking back at the brothers in something akin to suprise and fear. Three. Vampires. Three vampires had been in his house. He was still alive, yes, but how long would that last? Hadn't the brothers been arguing about being...hungry..?

 

[Dragondarium]

Zane wanted to kill his brother. He really did. Just throw him into the sun like he had threatened earlier. Taking a deep breathe, he looked at the human with something that might have been sympathy if the man could show anything but a calm or angry face. He was working very hard on keeping his face calm. "Vincent, listen, I will take that pie, if you are still offering it. I'm sure that it'll be nice," he said, forcing himself to smile without showing off his teeth. "But maybe it would be better if we leave you be for the moment, let you process. I'm sure finding out your three new neighbors aren't of the living kind is a shock. I wouldn't have picked this situation if there had been any other way."

"But we aren't moving, I hope you know," Nicoli told the human. "We just got kicked out of our own town and I'm not packing my stuff up again. I'm stickin' around. You can go ahead and kick Min out though. Complain about his stench, or maybe how he lives."

Zane's shoulders stiffened and he lost the smile. He didn't want to move either. Nicoli made it sound like he enjoyed moving form place to place, never really settling down long enough to get any decent place correctly made. "What my brother is so foolishly trying to say is that we hope that you will forgive our nature and allow us to live here in peace. We have a way of getting food without having a bother you. In fact, if you'd rather not have contact with us, I would understand completely. Not many humans find our kind appealing in the friendly way." the older vampire side, crossing his arms in front of him in an almost protective way. He did this so that he could easily pull the knives out should he need them, though he doubted that Vincent would be able to get a weapon before he or his brother had escaped.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

Vincent took a bit of a step back as they started to speak again, looking around. He had nothing within reach to defend himself and he didn't trust that those vampires wouldn't take a bite of him if they felt like it. His eyes flashed from a painting on the wall, to the pies on his table, to the vampires and then to the door. He could run, maybe? That would have to get him somewhere, right? But it would also require getting past the two vampires and if they wanted to eat him...

He paused, frowning to himself as he realized something. If the vampires had wanted to eat him, they would have done it already, right? And the long-haired one, Zane, had said that he would even take the pie. So... maybe he was safe for now...

But that didn't change the fact that he wanted them out of his home as soon as possible. He didn't have to be nice to them, either, just polite... Although they had gotten his attention off of that bastard of an ex for a minute, at least. He could try to be gracious about it.. If they attacked him at any time... Well, he had neighbors. He could scream pretty loudly..

"It... It's a surprise.. I.. I never expected to be living near..vampires..." I avoided living near them, he thought. "But.. I.. It will be fine, I'm sure... Here, take the pies. You can have all three since the other one didn't want them." He laughed nervously, walking a backwards to reach the table so he didn't have to turn his back on them, and picking up the pies.

 

[Dragondarium]

"Now look what you did Zane! You intimidated our new neighbor!" Nicoli accused loudly.

Zane closed his eyes and bowed his head. This was not only to show a look of apology to the human, but also to hide the grimace that his brother statement had brought around. Purposely ignoring his brother's statement, Zane bowed at the waist, much more formally than he had before. "I thank you for the pies then, for I'm sure my brother won't take his either. He has never seemed to get the art of eating them down yet. May I ask what kind they are? They smell delicious--apple maybe? Or maybe something else, I can't quiet place it." Zane asked, straightening from his bow, though his gaze locked on a place over the human's head He could tell, like his brother could, that they were frightening the human.

"Yeah, Zane's about the only vampire I know that can eat human food and not get sick afterwards. I think it has something to do with his insanely formal way of deal with people. He probably just orders the food not to make him sick or something else like that," Nicoli joked, walking to the door, "Well, I'm going to head off towards the food depot. Meet you there Zane." He exited the apartment and slammed the door close behind him. He walked away, imagining what the young human would look like without any clothes on. His mouth watered as he did and he hurried even quicker to where they could get blood.

Zane flinched at the slam of the door and sighed. He still stood not more than three feet inside the doorway. His ears could hear the cat upstairs padding around, the frightened heartbeat of the young human. "You must forgive my brother. He isn't the most intelligent of our kind, or sensitive to the fears of humans. We should have told you before we entered the house, or even sent you a letter that way you could have been given the choice whether or not to meet us. For that I apologize," he told Vincent.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

Food...depot, Vincent wondered as Nicoli left, tugging a bit anxiously at the sleeves on his sweatshirt. His attention moved back to the older vampire as he spoke, quietly examining him. He seemed sincere in his apology for not warning him before hand... And even if he wasn't, it had to be easier to deal with one vampire than two if worse came to worse.

"Um.. It's...really fine. I would have found out one way or another, right?" His nervous laugh escaped again. He was still scared, but he couldn't do much about it except for push through it and suck it up. There was no possible way to get the vampires to move or anything like that, so he was stuck doing this instead--being nice. It was still a good distraction.

"The pies are apple, you guessed right. They're granny smith apples, though, so it's tart instead of completely sweet.. They should keep for a few weeks or longer, even, if you put them in the freezer."

 

[Dragondarium]

Taking a few steps forward, Zane picked the three pies up and stepped back quickly so that the distances between the two of them was less than a few feet for only a few seconds. He hopped not have scared the human too much. Searching for a topic that would lead to him leaving, Zane's grasp on the pie cartons tightened. "I've only had one pie with granny smith apples before and that one had been practically drenched in cinnamon sugar to make up for the tartness," Zane told the human before turning slowly to go towards the door. "My brother was right however, should you ever have any questions about feng shui, please do not hesitate to ask. I find that to be one of the most intricate ways of decorating a place, since one must know the person they are designing for well in order to make it work for them and give them peace. I am in the apartment directly above you should you ever need advice for your class, or for your own living space."

Zane gave a small bow as he turned and started towards the door, "I really should go. It is obvious you'd rather I wasn't here, and I should put these away before they spoil and before my brother goes insane while waiting for me. He is like a small child most of the time, and doesn't know when to be polite. I do hope you forgive him in the time to come." Zane realize that he was rambling and thus staying longer and longer with the human that just wanted him gone. He just didn't want to leave. Leaving would mean that Zane would be stuck supervising his brother for the rest of the night--not his most favorite duty. Balancing the pies in one hand, he walked to the front door and opened it. "Good evening to you, Vincent."

 

[LuceRepleuit]

(OOC: I had a whole post typed up and I pressed cancel on accident D: I didn't realize until now, I'm sorry)

Vincent stiffened as Zane came closer, mind racing with the possibilities of what the vampire could do to him. Sure, he had been polite until now. He hadn't made a move toward him or bared his teeth or made any sort of threatening moves, but Vincent couldn't help how his heart hammered. He glanced around anxiously, still finding nothing within reach to fight with. Before he knew it though, Zane was already a few feet away from him, holding the pie cartons.

Vincent visibly relaxed. The vampire only wanted the pies, just the pies. He would absolutely give those to him without a fight. As Zane began to speak again though, he realized that he really hadn't been all that trusting of him. Sure, he'd been scared, but the vampires really hadn't made a move to hurt him as of yet. He could try to be pleasant at least.

"Yes.. Most people do drench it in cinnamon to take the edge of the tartness off. My family's recipe calls for just a hint of nutmeg and brown sugar, though, so it's still quite tart," he trailed off as Zane spoke of feng shui. He seemed to actually know something, just based on the fact that he knew feng shui was very personalized. Most people assumed that feng shui was just based on elements and certain placing, but it was much more personalized than that. Feng shui had to deal with the people themselves who owned the homes as well in order for it to work, which was why most interior decorators only used that method for their own homes or very close friends.

"That's a nice offer, thank you.. You don't happen to know anything about psychology as well, right?" He asked, only half-joking. He really would fail that class if he didn't blow the professor away with his ingenious in the mid-term paper.

"I'm sorry I made you feel unwelcome.. I've never met a vampire before, so I'll admit it was a bit frightening to find out I had three in my household, much less three living so close.. But I still shouldn't have shown that fear so blatantly. I don't want to be those type of neighbors that ignore each other, so if you'd like, we could start as acquantices...?"

 

[Dragondarium]

((OOC: o.o I hate when that happens. I once had that happen to be three times. >< In a row. so don't worry about it <3))

Zane stopped in the middle of the doorway, looking back at the human, his interest peaked even more. "I know a tad about psychology, though really only enough to pass a normal Psych 101 class. It was never really my best subject. Was too busy making sure my brother stayed out of trouble," he said, looking down at the pies he held. "I do not blame you for being frightened. With vampires like my brother out there it is a surprise we were welcomed into society at all." He relaxed against the door for a moment, watching the young man with the full force of his dark eyes though they held none of the hostility they had when his brother had been there.

"You know, the best way to hide your fear isn't to imagine the vampire's in underwear as I have heard some very silly humans say. The best way that I've heard about was told to me by a young lady that lived next to me and Nico a few years ago. She said whenever it was both of us-- Nicoli and me--and just her, she would imagine us next to the one thing she hated int he whole world--spiders. Amiline said that the moment she thought about if she had to choose between spiders and vampires, she relaxed a little because she knew at least vampire's you could see while there was a little known fact that no matter where a person is in the world they are no farther than six feet from a spider at all times," Zane said, his eyes on the ground. "Don't know if that'll help in your case, Vincent. We can hear and smell your fear even if you don't know it's there--a pounding heart, or the scent of fear. We have become used to those scents and sounds. It isn't something we are unused to."

 

[LuceRepleuit]

(OOC: O.O Oh geez.. That would be awful. I hate rewriting stuff, especially since I'm normally really careful to copy everything every two seconds if there's not auto-save feature. When I tried to restore what it saved, it restored the starting sentence to a totally different post o.o)

"That would be the one I'm failing.. I think the professor hates me, but regardless, I have to pass the class. It's the last elective credit I have to complete and I'd rather not have it bring down my GPA," Vincent shook his head a bit at the thought of failing a class that's supposed to be notoriously easy, even if you had no previous psychology experience. He looked to the vampire again, watching him back, although he didn't meet those dark eyes. Now that he had time to notice more, he could take in the way Zane dressed and looked. He really seemed more like a vampire than his brother and the other one had. His brother had looked more like some random guy that you would encounter in a bar or on the streets, and the other one who had so brusquely ran off looked more like a business man. Despite looking so much like a vampire stereotype, though, Vincent thought that Zane might have been the most attractive. He possessed a rather ethereal beauty almost, that threatened to draw him in completely.

The notion of thinking of a vampire in their underwear illicited a soft laugh from Vincent. What a ridiculous notion. That certainly never got rid of his fear of public speaking, so he doubted it would get rid of a fear of vampires. The other idea, though.. Well, it would have merit if Vincent wasn't sure that his most intense fear was vampires. Vampires and sharks, really, came as a tie for his most intense fear. He nodded anyway though, figuring he could at least think about it a bit more to see if it would work for him.

"That's a good suggestion.. I suppose it's mostly the shock and all that really though. I'm sure I'll be fine eventually.." He frowned a bit as Zane continued.

"You can..sense fear? That's.. I never knew that about vampires..."

 

[Dragondarium]

(o-o Wooow.)

"Well we can't sense them per se. It is more like right now, even all the way over here by the door I can hear your heart thudding away. Whenever you mention vampires it goes faster. Much faster. And have you ever heard the expression that you have to stay calm when around a wounded creature because it knows if you are frightened? it's like that with us in a sense. A human starts sweating more or puts off a sort of fearful smell that we can identify. Some vampires thrive off that smell. It makes them feel like a true predator. Me, I find it sad. It reminds me that some of us vampires were forced to change because of meeting the wrong man or woman," Zane said, twisting the handle on the front door to give himself an outlet for energy.

"What are you having difficulty with for the Psychology course? A particular topic or just the whole class?" he asked. The best way he could figure to make the human feel less strange about them moving in would be to help the young boy with a problem--psychology.

 

[LuceRepleuit]

(Yeah T.T)

Vincent frowned softly. Vampires really were ostracized by people. It had been a few years since they'd "come to light" per se, but people still found them repulsive or frightening, himself included. They were limited much in the way someone on parole was, even if they had never done anything wrong. If he really thought about it, it most certainly wasn't fair.. Zane was nice so far. Even if there were vampires out there who fed on that fear and who enjoyed being frightening, Zane certainly didn't. Vincent resolved to try to get over his fear so that he could interact more normally with the vampire.

"Well.. It really is most of the course material. I don't quite understand any of the Freudian concepts and I'm having trouble remembering what centers are where in the brain.. That's all we've gone over so far, though I'm expected to read further before the mid-term, which is in two weeks. I'm just not sure how to make it all fit well and the mid-term essay is expected to be ten pages," he sounded a bit desperate, he knew, but he really couldn't afford to fail.