The Music Of The Night

[Rosalynn]

The motorcycle roared through the darkness and up to the house. When the engine was shut off there was a strange stillness in the air, no crickets, no birds, nothing. Ros struggled to get her hair back to a somewhat presentable state and spun around to face Holly, arms held out, the looming house shadowed behind her. "This is my house! You are welcome to stay here, there are plenty of rooms! If you don't want to though there are more houses on the property, you can take your pick. We can move your things tomorrow if you'd like." The female was clearly excited, her eyes sparkled contently, her voice singsong.

Ros smiled and began motioning to the trees around her, her tone had changed, only slightly though, only enough to let the girl know that what she was saying was to been taken seriously."The forest around us is mine, this is my territory, the bordered are marked and when in your other form you will easily be able to tell. Unless it is the night of a great hunt we hunt within my borders and mine alone. I wouldn't want a stray lycanth hunting on my land, we will not risk hunting on someone else's. Understood?" The dark haired woman smiled again, back to her odd, chipper self. "Now? House or hunt? Deer or prepared food?"

[holly]

Holly jumped off the bike and didn't even bother with her hair. She knew it was a mess. Instead, she noted the odd silence. She couldn't help but notice the odd feeling of the land. She supposed because it was territory. She smiled at Ros as she spoke.

Tomorrow would be lovely. But see if you can't get my rent back from my wretched landlord. He charges too much as it is.

She couldn't help but be happy. The woman in front of her just beamed happiness. She looked around as she showed her what was around. Did she say there were more lycanth? Really? Holly's mind was buzzing.

There are other packs like us? Are they tigers too? Is there anymore to ours or is it just us?

Then her stomach growled again. She was wary to hunt though. She didn't know if she could kill anything.

I'm not sure... Which would you like to do?

[Rosalynn]

Landlords, she never had one but she had not heard nice things about them either. A sly grin creeped it's way onto her face, though the girl would never want for anything, Ros had accumulated quite a bit of wealth over the years, all stored safely in an anonymous Swiss account, she would get the rent back, and her deposit, and maybe a little more, who knew. Ros had a way of getting what she wanted, and she wanted Holly to be happy, so, the lycanth and the man would have a little chat tomorrow. "Don't worry about that, he'll be falling over himself to give you your money back."

Holly seemed to beam at the prospect of there being others, Ros simply smiled and let her finish speaking. "There are other packs, but there are not other tigers here, at least not to my knowledge. So far our pack consists of just us. About that. You can change a person with just one bite now, so you MUST be careful. For the time being keep the changing for out here, until you have a handle on it you will overwhelmed by your animal instinct and we run the risk of you biting someone. Don't get me wrong, there are times, every few years or so, that I indulge and prey on the worlds most interesting game, but you have to be careful and exact when you do it. You're still to young though, I doubt you'll want any part of that for now. As for changing others, we'll talk about that later." The woman didn't want to seem like a tyrant, but there were reasons that their kind lasted so long in secrecy. They had to be careful, she just wanted to make sure that Holly knew that. Flashing a brilliant smile Ros brought a cigarette to her lips and lit it, inhaling that first drag, eyes shutting slightly.

Many were nervous for their first hunt, and Ros knew the girl had to be starving, so linking arms with her she started walking the girl towards to the house. "We will eat first, and save the first hunt for another night. Now! Welcome home!" Pushing the heavy wooden door open she let Holly take in all she saw. The stood in the foyer when they first walked in the door, to the right was the library, to the left the formal dining room. As they walked past the stair way there were in the breakfast room, the kitchen to the left, the family room to the right. She smiled softly at the girl and walked towards the kitchen, "So what do you want to eat! The freezers are packed, the pantry is full, anything you could think of we can make!" Ros had a passion for cooking, and during the duration of her long life she had picked up many different recipes.

[holly]

Holly nodded. So they were the only two. That was kind of cool, though. Being a rarity added to the excitement. She did wonder if it would get lonely though. Oh well, she would live forever. She'd have plenty of time to find a companion. She did wonder what Ros would do to her landlord though. But as soon as she entered the beautiful house she was only focused on that.

I can live here?! It's amazing! I have never lived anywhere quite so beautiful! I love the decor.

She felt grateful to Ros for not making her kill anything. She also made careful note of everything she told her. It was obvious now that she was a leader. Holly felt honored for being turned by her. Her stomach growled and Holly thought for a second.

I really really want a steak. I'm soo hungry right now. It's almost painful.

[Rosalynn]

Ros laughed, she felt her own stomach growling. She disappeared into the pantry and from there down into the basement. She came back with two giant steaks, some potatoes, a few cans for other sides, and a bottle of wine. Setting everything out on the counter she smiled at Holly and poured them both a glass of wine.

Half a bottle later the dinner was prepared and two plates were sat out on the table. She laughed, the wine was getting to her head, "Dig in, they are still quite a bit pink but trust me, you'll love it!" She had barely finished speaking when she started taking her own advise and devouring her food, she was lady like about it but everything on her plate vanished quickly. Leaning back to light her cigarette she grinned contently and began speaking again. "When you're done I can show you the rooms up stairs you can pick from, or the houses if you'd rather live on your own, or really we can do whatever you want!" She silently hoped that Holly would chose to stay in the house, at least for now, it'd been so empty for so long.

[holly]

Holly had about as much wine as Ros and was also kind of tipsy. She ate her steak just as quickly but not as lady like. It was delicious though. The potatoes and everything else just made it that much better. She sat back quite content. She thought about living in another house but not too hard.
I want to live here. It'd be so lonely out there alone. And I bet you can teach me a lot too.

She smiled at Ros. She was really starting to grow on Holly. She started playing with all her earrings absent-mindedly.

So how old are you really?

[Rosalynn]

Relief washed over Ros as Holly said she wanted to stay in the house, it would be great to have someone here. She was brought back to the conversation at hand by Holly's question. "Don't you know a lady never tells her age." She laughed for a moment, taking the time to pour herself another glass of wine. She thought for a moment and sighed, she was always surprised as how old she was. "I am one thousand nine hundred and seventy nine years old. I never really think about it until I am asked or something reminds me of it, yet I never have to stop and do the math, I always seem to know. I was born in Roman ruled Gaul, and life was never easy. I was changed quite by accident, bitten by a new lycanth that couldn't control himself. This is where my warning comes from, he couldn't control himself and who knows how many he created that night. I had no idea what was going on, I couldn't find our priest to ask him about it, I had no idea what this creature I had become was. This is why it is important to me that we are careful. In fear of what is going on you don't know what people these days will do. If they go to a doctor? If a scientist gets a hold of them? If it is brought out into the open that we exist it will be open season dear, and we can't have that can we?" She smiled and emptied her glass, only to fill it again.

In refreshed excitement Ros jumped up, spilling a bit of her wine. Thank goodness for the hardwood floors. She went to the other side of the table and pulled on Holly, tugging her to come with her."You have to see upstairs!!!" Anyone watching could tell that the woman was drunk, contently so at that.

[holly]

Holly was amazed at the woman's age. And all her experience. Rome? Wow. It was amazing. Everything about her seemed so exciting and... well drunk. As if to confirm this, Ros jumped up and started tugging on Holly like a little child. Holly laughed and stood up, suddenly reminded of how much taller she was than the woman.

Hold on, let me take of my boots first.

She laughed and took off her boots which took an inch of her height. It wasn't enough to make them even but it made her feel less awkward. She followed Ros to the upstairs smiling and laughing all the while. She still had a wine glass in her hand but was managing not to spill too much. Which was amazing considering she was just as drunk as Ros even if she didn't think it.

[Rosalynn]

Holly took off her boots, what a marvelous idea! Her own shoes, however cute, where not inebriate friendly. She kicked them off and grabbed Holly again, pulling her clumsily up the stairs. When they got to the top she took a second to take a drink and then pointed to the bedroom nearest to them. "This one can be yours, it has it's own bathroom! Oh but the closet is sooo small. You don't want a tiny closet!" Her eyes widened. "We have to go shopping!! I used to get old rich guys to give me jewelery! I have it all in a swiss account, they don't care about names or anything like that, ass long as you have the account number! I will buy you all kinds of clothes! You need to other room, it has a walk in closet." She pulled Holly down the hall and to the right. "Here can be your room, the other room doesn't have a bed, it has another tv, so you kinda do have your own bathroom. It's got a walk in closet, look!" They were now in the room, it had a large four poster bed. Black velvet was tied to each post, light blue sheers hung loosly, and when you peeking through the sheers and at the bed you could see that the bedding matched. In fact, the entire room was done up in light blue and black, even the wood was black. In one corner of the room was a Victorian chair made of black wood and upholstered in the same light blue, silky fabric.

Ros emptied her glass and frowned slightly before turning her attention back to Holly. "This okay?" She was genuinely concerned that Holly wouldn't like the room, it started to frighten her incapacitated mind. "We can change anything you like, I can move all of this stuff to storage and you can have your own stuff. Just let me know."