"So, you want me to tell you about myself, do you?" Dominic stood in a sparsely lit room, pacing. With a flash of his hand, the young man grabbed a chicken and drained it’s life fluid, dropping the feathered carcass into the hay.
"Well I guess I better. Not that I have much of a choice." Dominic ceased pacing, pulling up an old bench to sit under the solitary light with the girl. She appeared to be about twelve. She sat straight as a rod, delicate and innocent. Dominic was not fooled.
"First of all, know that I am evil. Let there be no doubt in your mind." Dominic wiped the blood from his face and straightened out his shirt. "You’ve lived how long.. eight hundred years?" there was no apparent response from the girl, but the question was rhetorical. "I’m sure you’ve redefined that word for yourself fifty times in ten different languages, but you have never truly understood it. I am it’s purest form. Believe it now, for you will never hear it again."
"I’m sorry to hear that." The voice of the child-like Malkavian elder came at him. It was of the utmost elegance and sweetness, as if ten years of concentration had been sacrificed into forming every spoken word as a work of art.
"Why?" Dominic stood and began slowly pacing about the room, taking in his bearing. "With such pure, unrestrained emotion comes power. And that is power that is on your side. I am on your side, aren’t I, Miss Callan?"
Dominic shifted his eyes to study the girl as she answered his question. She hesitated slightly but quickly recovered. "Yes." The Malkavian maintained the sibilance on her "s" just long enough to disorient Dominic’s thoughts.
Quickly subduing his frustration, Dominic did not leave eye contact with the girl as he kneeled down in front of her, the tops of his feet flat against the hay. "We share safety, we share homes and we share struggles, but you are not my people. My people are the Unseelie. I have been separated from them. I will find them. I am one of them."
The eyebrows of the child raised. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you asked, and because I know that if I don’t tell you, you will find out yourself. I have many thoughts too personal to be given freely to others."
"I can appreciate that." Her words rang true in Dominic’s mind. And thank the heavens that you do.. for it will be your downfall. Dominic’s thoughts came at him. The Malkavian’s hair was soft auburn, and she was dressed up in a miniature wedding gown that she never removed. All the same, she paid special attention in seeing that it was never dirtied.
"And when I find them, I will take them into my arms and we will be one. And after a time.. I will lead them. When Gehenna comes, I am the one who will be leading the way. I shall be at the head of the Unseelie in their charge as we trample down the gates of Arcadia. And conquer it."
"So you’re saying I could save the world by killing you now?" the words came from the girl’s mouth with little emotion.
"As always, you do posses that option, sweet Penelope." Dominic’s face became a compassionate smile and he stared into her eyes. "Gehenna will come, with or without me. Besides, you don’t believe me anyway."
"How can you be so sure that this is what fate has in store for you?" Penelope mouthed to him, her voice now entrancing and flooded with emotion as she returned his smile.
"I can feel it. It is my destiny. Don’t confuse these beliefs for overconfidence.." Not that anyone could summon the mental tenacity to confuse YOU. "My future will be the result of careful, meticulous planning, drive and most of all, passion."
"You will be leaving us when you find your Unseelie, then?" Penelope ran her hand through Dominic’s hair like a child petting a new puppy.
"No, I have to learn more. I have only been a creature of the night for a relatively short period of time; I’m not quite used to it yet. It will be some time before I leave you, Kala and the others."
"Good. I like you. You’re pretty." Penelope took a shiny pink bow-tie and fastened it to his hair. Dominic turned his face towards the barn doors so that Penelope wouldn’t see his undeniable annoyance. Taking the bow-tie from his hair, slowly as to not offend her, Dominic decided to continue the conversation to prevent the Malkavian from continuing with her mind games.
"You probably want me to tell you about my past." Dominic returned eye contact, placing the bow-tie softly in her lap.
"Yes." This time Penelope spent no extra effort in her "s", catching Dominic off-guard and scrambling his thoughts.
"It.. has nothing dramatic or overly interesting about it. When I was a child I had several Unseelie friends, and they taught me all about their culture and ways. I never forgot. When I was seventeen my parents enlisted me in the Royal Academy of Madrid. Because of my drive and passion, I was first in my class. The Lasombra saw this and decided to embrace me as a warrior and part of an experiment. I was the result of them attempting to regain control over the Kiasyd bloodline." Dominic tried to keep the story truthful enough so that any aura reading would provide only the slightest hint of deceit.
"I was very patient during the creation rites. Patient and calm. It was only a matter of time before I methodically dug myself up from the ground. Shortly after, myself and the other nine members of my pack were sent to Baltimore. And that is when Kala rescued me and brought me here,
Penelope fell into thought for a few moments, worthy a few months of thoughts from an average mortal, then she startled Dominic by smiling widely and throwing her arms around his waist.
It was all too obvious to Dominic that Penelope wasn’t holding back her Potence as he winced at the pain racing through his body, and felt several ribs cracking in his delicate frame.
"Thank you for talking to me Domineeeek." Penelope jumped up and ran away a short distance, then spun around. "Remember, just because the night doesn’t burn you to death doesn’t mean you can trust it. There is no one you can trust in this world, especially yourself." Penelope raised her hand to her chin. "Except for me. You can always, always, ALWAYS trust me because I’m nice because I like you because you’re PRETTY." She pointed her finger at him and ran out of the barn.
Concentrating as the pain subdued, his vampiric nature slowly working it’s magic, Dominic looked down at his clothes to see that his shirts and shoes were bright pink. Dominic closed his eyes. It’s not real.. it’s not real. He reopened them to see his clothes back to their normal state. The giggling Penelope disappeared before his eyes. Just what I need to make me feel secure.
Dominic walked out of the barn and looked around at the trees surrounding the large farm. "Off to Baltimore." His face became a wide, malevolent grin.