A World Where Vampires Rule SOLO Finished

"Simon, allow me to show you my favorite room in the Castle," Gideon said as he stepped forward between Simon and Lilith who was scowling as she directed her precise gaze right upon the newcomer.

Simon watched as Gideon stole a glance to Adrian as his escorted him out of the lounge. "You will frequently and consistently have to forgive them, or at least learn to mind them. They can be - strenuous and burdensome."

"The most concise warning I might offer is this: Lilith is irate that you are here and that you are to be included within our assembly and Samael is unstable, at best."

Simon followed the other vampire down a long corridor and was rather surprised he was being so forthcoming with his information. "That covers Lily and Sammy," he said, using those nicknames again - maybe they would stick, "any words of caution on yourself or my father?"

Gideon kept his gaze forward and said nothing at first. "I spend much of my time in solitude, writing. As for your father - he is an extraordinary man."

Hmm, that didn't give Simon much to go on but it was a start.

He was sort of hoping for some kind of awe-inspiring reveal about his father and why AngelFyre had the visions she had, what sort of person individual he truly was. Did he harbor darkness within him? Was he a threat to him? AngelFyre seemed to think so although she hadn't been able to thresh out specifics yet. Simon would remain cautious and heed her warnings.

With this conversation and the nature of it, it seemed he would be having a sort of one-on-one session with each member of the coven that particular day and maybe everything would seem far less mysterious, less daunting. Perhaps he would be able to see the vampires, including his father, as more approachable. The goal and task of trying to befriend a group of vampires was quite intimidating to say the least.

So far, Simon had gathered that Gideon was apprehensive or concerned about Lilith and Samael but seemed to hold his father in high esteem.

"And Vanessa?" Simon had yet to hear anything about her - regarding her personality or whereabouts or anything.

"Vanessa is ....." there was a pause as the longhaired blond vampire carefully considered his words, "....frustrating."

From what Simon gathered, it seemed the only other coven member that Gideon actually liked was his father. That was his deduction for now, anyway.

Together they ventured down another corridor and then up a spiral stone stairwell that emptied out into an intimate area, half of which was adorned with books and the other half was tables and inkwells and parchment. "This is my sanctuary. I seem to find my motivation here." Simon walked over to a stalk of books that rested upon one of the tables and opened it, the title page revealing the title as well as the author, Gideon Atwell. Out of curiosity, he did the same to another book only to find that once again, the author stood before him. "Did you.... write all of these?" Simon paused, glancing up to the shelves of many, many books.

The answer was yes, but just not with those words. Instead, Simon was met again with "I spend much of my time in solitude, writing."

"He is upset with me; tread lightly," Gideon warned as he escorted Simon to another sort of lounge-like study in the Castle where Samael had both hands on a table, leaning over it. His longish silver hair fell in front of his face. "No, no, no."

"Greetings, Samael! I bring you Adrian's son Simon. Samael, Simon is here to briefly assist you in your endeavors." Gideon then did slowly lean toward Simon. "I will not leave you long," he whispered to him and then made his exit from the room.

The older appearing vampire hadn't moved in his stance, almost frozen. The room was still and silent.

It seemed long a lot of time passed.

"I am here planning a great voyage," Samael began, filling the silence finally. He then turned his head to look at Simon, his eyes already directly connected to his. "And you....you have to have a plausity of all acts of amendment to go through for the code! It' is no mental disturbance or putenance, it is AMORITION! It is as if their privatilinia must have to have this accentuative law so that they do not go into the morite law of the church."

"For the code, of course," Simon answered and nodded his head.

....What on Earth was this man talking about? Simon didn't know, as he had yet to grow accustomed to Samael's altered mental states and incoherent speech at times. It seemed best to at least appear to be going along with what he was saying. He didn't really want Samael upset with him like he was upset with Gideon. Simon had projected it was most likely about some sort of trip he wanted to plan, and perhaps this too was about the same.

Samael then looked back down to whatever was on the table before him and again, hyper-focused his attention there but this time he had picked up a pen and had begun to write frantically.

"Greta, Greta, my precious Greta..." he muttered, still writing erratically. Simon didn't know whether to approach and look at what was on the table and what was being written or just stay at his distance but it didn't seem like proper manners to remain in the doorway of the room so he slowly came further into the middle of the room.

"You dare to enter without greeting my precious Greta? Manners, boy! Manners!"

Okay. that he understood and he froze as it was said in more like growl than words. Simon looked around the room to see that the only two individuals there were him and Samael so Greta wasn't a person. Was she a pet? No, there were no small animals in the room and also no pictures or portraits.

They were completely alone.

"Forgive me," Simon spoke. "Good afternoon, Greta," he said with a slight bow, not really sure in which direction to present it to. The vampire didn't appear more agitated so he figured he had guessed correctly. Did he suffer from delusions? Is that what was going on?

"I've been getting shown around this fine castle," Simon said, still attempting to make conversations with elusive and most likely non-existent Greta. "It is quite beautiful."

"Nothing is more beautiful than my Greta," the old man snapped.

"Ah! Samael!" Gideon could be heard again as he appeared in the entryway. "It's been all of...." he hesitated, ".....five minutes and I would not want the lad to bother you any longer," and Gideon looked to Simon and flashed him a smile as if saying 'i'm sure he was the one bothering you." Gideon seemed to have a reserved side to him but he also seemed to have a pretty chill side to him as well. Simon wasn't quite sure how he felt about him yet but he certainly didn't make him feel uneasy the way Samael did.

"I came to retrieve young Simon so you may continue plans for your trip." Gideon brought his hand to Simon's shoulder and escorted him from the room and back to the corridor. "...A trip that shall never transpire," he muttered softly once it was just he and Simon.

"Is it my turn to play with the itty bitty baby?" Lilith asked as Simon followed Gideon back into the Entrance Lounge where his father no longer was. Her sharp words were no surprise as Gideon had already warned him of her dislike for his presence and with the way she barely held her composure together at the initial introductions. Simon now gathered that attempt at control was for the sake of his father.

"Lilith, do not forget what Adrian has told us," Gideon said as he stepped closer to her. It was probably meant to be said in a hushed sort of warning, but it still caught Simon's ears.

"I haven't forgotten what Adrian has said," she snapped quickly as she folded her arms across her chest. She then proceeded to walk circles around Simon, appearing as though to study him carefully. If not so difficult and unrelenting and displeased with his being there, Simon could perhaps see her in a softer light and would imagine her to be one of the most beautiful women he had laid eyes upon - for she was more striking than any actress to come out of the British Film Institute or Hollywood alike. Her long curly hair was gorgeous - wound around and downward in spirals of flaming embers and her large full dress complimented what figure it revealed - although Simon was quite sure that perhaps a corset was involved due to the nature of the dress. It was made of fancy fabrics and reminded him from what he had seen described and illustrated from the Regency Era of England.

Her appearance was striking, but her personality lacked immensely. "Hmm.....," she continued to circle, "....I bet your wretched mother had brown eyes." Her gaze zeroed in on him. Simon's father's eyes were green and while he had inherited his strong sharp facial features, he didn't inherit those green eyes. No, he had his mother's brown eyes. Speaking of eyes, Simon felt it was amazing how Lilith's eyes, so brilliant and electric blue, could lack so much. He felt more pity for her instead of anger.

"My remarkable mother had brown eyes, yes," Simon answered, changing the description word to better fit.

Gideon cleared his throat as if sensing the tension building and Simon and Lilith both glanced his way. Simon was already starting to understand the hierarchy there within the coven - it seemed his father was the Leader and Gideon was second in command.

"You can stop being Adrian's good little watch dog," she said to Gideon with a growl herself. "I am to spend time with this one so I will spend time with this one. You can go. I won't murder him..." and she looked to Simon again in disgust as if she was surveying some dying rat on the floor, "...no matter how much I might want to. Come along, Roman," and she strode across the room to the exit and then turned toward Simon, tilting her head as if annoyed he wasn't following her.

"...Simon," he corrected her and then quickly caught up.

"Right," she replied with a curt smile."So what exactly are we to do? Should I read you an excerpt from my favorite book? Play you something on my violin? Am I to inform you of my life story through tea time?"

Simon just looked at her and blinked. At least she was speaking to him, he supposed. "Well, Lily, the others showed me their favorite rooms of the castle," and he smiled widely, hoping to give her some sort of suggestion that might appeal to her and not make this as dreadfully as awkward of a situation as it really was.

"How courteous of them, Sutton."

"Simon."

"I am certain that Samael was in his room with his maps and Gideon in his trove of books. Yes, so many of us have our favorite places here in the castle. But for you, you, little one - there's nothing for you to truly see here. Do you realize that?" she hissed and stepped incredible close to him. "Nothing. You have seen more than you should have. You are not one of us, no matter where half of your genetics stem from. It is a disgrace that your father would even suggest that we associate with you on any level and I cannot wait for the day when he realizes the same. Do not get comfortable here."

"And....is this what I am to tell my father when he asks what we did with our time together, Lily? That we spoke about how I should be outcasted?"

Those blue eyes cast a cold glare.

"Nonsense, Salmon. I'll take you to my favorite part of the castle...." she grumbled.

"How courteous of you," Simon answered, not even bothering to correct her this time.

Simon learned quite a bit about Lilith Brandt in their small interaction that afternoon: 1) she didn't seem to like much of anyone besides his father and she certainly didn't like him, 2) much to her dismay she seemed to follow the chain of command of the coven, 3) despite that, she really didn't want him there, 4) she seemed to hold a hostility or jealousy toward Simon's own mother, 5) it seemed as if maybe she knew more than she let on sometimes - as she knew quite a bit about the other members of the coven, 6) she played violin, and 7) she collected weapons - which Simon found out when she revealed her favorite room in the castle to be her own private gallery space of ancient weaponry and ceremonial weapons.