It's late on a Monday night as I'm cleaning the bar. Business seems to be slow tonight as the humans have to rise for an early scheduled morning shift. I look around and notice the few vampires lounging around the bar, trying to enjoy their synthetic substitute they call "Tru Blood." My nose turns up at the thought as I try not to comment to them my opinion on the subject. I step away from the bar for a brief second to check on my status of my room. As I open the door to my room and observe the floor, I notice how cleanly I've kept it these past few days. I walk further into my room, shutting the door behind me and continue searching to make sure nothing is out of place. I approach my coffin and notice Salome's pennant, (which I had found the night I returned to 'what used to be known as the authority' ) on the floor. I bend down and pick it up. As I hold the pennant, I gaze at it deeply, at the dried blood of Salome that had been left there. Then, all of a sudden the memories rushed back as if it were last night.
" I have someone you should meet. I think you two will get along just fine." I smirk at him trying to convince me of having an interest in anyone. " We shall see." I say. He looks back at me with a devilish grin before taking my hand. I smile contently and walk alongside him. His strides get longer with every step he takes and I can tell he is eager to introduce me to this mysterious being. With every long stride he took, I had to take four large steps myself just to keep up. His height countered into his lengthy strides which made this short walk quite challenging. As we approached the entrance of the tall building, a short and slender male guard had asked for our identity. I looked to my male companion and awaited for him to verify our identities. Once he had shown the male guard his silver pennant that had been resting around his neck, the male guard had nodded his head and opened the door for us.
Upon entering, I couldn't help to notice the marble tiled floors and white pristine walls. I looked up at him and he had grinned intently back at me. " Surprising, huh?" I let a small laugh and said with the utmost sarcasm. " Hardly." He smirked back and said in a disbelieving tone. "Okay." We walked further until we reached a small hallway with only four doors on each side. He leads me down the hall, to the very last door on the right. He knocks on the door and a voice from the other side of door responded. " Who is it?" the voice said. He verified aloud to the voice who he was and his rank as a Sanguinista. There had been a small pause and then the door slowly opened. He had smiled at the tall slender brunette standing next to her desk. "Hello, Salome." He said warmly. She nodded her head and then looked to me, studying me. A smirk appeared on her face. And who do we have here?" She slowly walks over to me standing across from me, still smirking. I look back at the woman, studying her as well. " My name is Nora Gainsborough, Ma'am." Her smirk drew up into a sadisitic grin. " Well ,it's nice to meet you, Ms. Gainsborough. Has your male companion stated exactly why he's brought you here?" I look from Salome to him and back at Salome with an eyebrow raised. ' No, he has not. He has neglected to explain exactly why I'm here. He did mention however, that he had someone that he thought I'd like to meet." Salome's eyebrow raised. " Interesting. Well, you're here because he's told me he thinks you'll be a good fit." She pauses and studies me again. " And so far, I'm starting to believe him." I tilted my head just slightly at what exactly I would be fitting into. " What exactly am I 'fitting into'?" I ask. Salome smirks again and laughs." Oh, he hasn't told you, has you?" She shakes her head. And moves behind her desk. " Here." She extends a hand as if it were pointing to the two seats that had been in front of her desk.[i]"Please, take a seat and I shall explain to you just 'exactly' what we do here." I make my way over to the seat and slowly sit down in it. My male companion had followed behind me and took a seat as well. Salome took a seat in her chair with one leg folded over the other. " Now, before I get too detailed, I'll tell you that this place here." She pauses and looks around at the room and back to us. " This place that you are in, is known as the authority." I tilt my head to the side. " The authority?" I ask. She smirks once again. " You really are misinformed, aren't you?" She mockingly asks. She then proceeds to continue. " We, the authority, make sure that all vampires are abiding by the rules we've set to them. If they don't. Well, then we decide their sentence." She grins evilly. " We are a very strict group and don't take lightly to petty actions. Understand?" She gazes into my eyes awaiting my answer. I nod my head and say. " Yes, I understand." She smiles and leans back in her chair. "Good." She then looks to my male companion. " And since he's brought you here, I trust his judgement and believe that there is a reason why your boyfriend had brought you to me, directly. So here's what I'm going to do, I will take you in and show you the ropes. I will be your mentor, understand?" I nod my head and she continues. " Good. You will follow every single order I tell you and I expect your level of competence will be above average. Being your mentor the others will expect highly of you because I'm, well- known around here." I nod my head once again and she continues. I listen intently as she tells me the obligations of the authority and what to expect. She finally finishes her speech and assigns me a beginners rank. We stand up and make our way to the door of her office. Before we can open the door she says. " Oh, and one more thing, being in a relationship with a member of the authority who is a Sanguinista, can be extremely risky, Ms. Gainsborough." I look to her and nod my head. I turn back to face the door and we exit out of her office.
I hold the pennant close to my chest and smile widely as I start to remember all the good times I had with Salome.
After months of training, I have become an inferior being here. Everything about the authority makes me feel stronger and stronger everyday. I walk over to my male companion and look deep into his hazel eyes. " Thank you for admitting me into the authority." I say with a smile on my face. He smiles intently back at me and says sadistically. " You're very welcome, Nora." I give him one last glance before turning back around to continue on with my current task. My male companion has never been good with surprises in the past. He is also the type you wouldn't want to ever cross. He is a very strong vampire and has been around for nearly nine-hundred years. I'm not entirely sure what had attracted me to him. Maybe it was his short brown hair, or his hazel eyes. Or his very muscular body, combined with his six feet of height. Either way, if I had refused his offer to take a trip here, I know I would never hear the end of it from him.
After I had completed my task, I had been ordered to see Salome in her office. I walk down the hall and stopped in front of the door to Salome's office. I knock on the door and await for her to respond. " Who is it?" She asks. " It's Nora." I reply. " Come in." She says. I open the door to her office and step in. I close the door behind me and notice Salome leaning against her desk. I study her body language and wondered why she was smirking so sadistically at me. " You requested that I come see you?" I ask. She nods her head. " Yes, I have. Please, sit." I slowly walk over and take a seat while she still leans against her desk standing in front of me. I look up at her. " Nora, can I ask you why you are dating your male companion?" I raised a brow at her question and shrugged. " I'm not entirely sure, but he is a loyal man." She snorts a laugh. " Loyal?. Hm. Let me tell you about him." She moves and sits down in the chair beside me. " He is far from loyal, my dear. The last woman he had relations with, he had turned her in for some very horrible convictions that had been brought upon her. He didn't have one ounce of regret or pity for her. Trust me, Nora, he is not someone you want to tell your secrets to. You may end up dead. And as your mentor and your friend, I would hate to see that happen." She pauses for a moment and takes my hand in hers. " Unlike, him, I care about you, I do." I stare back her. The room falls silent. Salome leans in and tenderly kisses me on the lips. After a minute or two she pulls away and looks into my eyes. " Nora, please. Think about what I said will you?" Shocked I sit there, processing what had just happened. I nod my head at her request. " Good." She responds." It's almost dawn, you should get some rest. I'll see you tonight." I nod my head and walk out of her office. As I make my way back to my room, I'm silent, processing in my head the encounter I just had with Salome and what would happen if my male companion were to find out. I stood in front of the door to my room and open it slowly. I look around the room and close the door gently behind me. I crawl into my coffin and drift off. [i
Weeks and weeks had passed and I started to notice how Salome had been right about my male companion. Our communication between one another had diminished to almost nothing. I continued on with my task of the night , while thinking about what to say to my male companion. Once, I had finished my task, I started to make my way over to my male companion, but was stopped by Salome. " Nora, I have something to tell you, come with me." She had grabbed me by the wrist. I had no other choice, but to follow her. She led me to the roof and released my wrist from her grasp. Salome turned to look at me with a concerned look on her face. " Nora, she said, I have really bad news about your male companion." I tilted my head to the side." What do you mean?" I ask. She looked deeply into my eyes. " He's untrustworthy, for us both." She paused. " I caught him with another female vampire last night. He had drained a human with her. For us at the authority, that's a grave offense. You understand, right?" I raise a brow in question as to when this could have happened and nodded my head in agreement to her question. " What will happen now?" I ask. She looked to me." Well, I'm going to have to talk with him in my office tomorrow about his punishment. And as for you, I suggest you stay away from him, do you understand? I nod my head." Good, I would hate to see you get hurt because of him." She touches the side of my cold cheek and pulls my face towards her with our lips meeting one another's. As we continue to kiss, I feel a familiar presence and hear the voice of my male companion yell. " What the hell is going on?!" We immediately pull away from one another. My male companion uses his vampire speed and is immediately standing between us both. He looks to Salome. " I trusted you and you betrayed me!" Salome smirks. " I don't think you're in any position to be lecturing me about betrayal." He growls at Salome and exposes his fangs to her. " Shut up! You incompetent slut!" He yells. He then turns to me. " And you, I no longer will continue to be your male companion. I no longer request your presence." I hear Salome chuckle and my male companion turns around to face her. " The funny thing about having a higher authority Sanguinista," she spits out. " is that you have none." She takes a step closer to him." Now, as you know, I don't like to execute a vampire, especially one who is a good friend of mine, but you have committed some violent acts that the authority disapproves of. I'm sure you're familiar with the protocol. So you can either renounce your loyalty to the authority now, or I myself can strip you of your title and have you leave and never to return to the authority. It's your choice, but either way, you will be ordered to leave and never return." He growls once more at her and then to my surprise, he began to renounce his loyalty to the authority. After he had renounced his loyalty, he turned to me and whispered. " We are far from even. I will find you." He then vanished off into the cold midnight air. I looked to Salome who had been staring at me. A sheepish smile turned up on her face. " I'm sorry it had to come to that Nora, but I would not have liked to see a good friend of mine be executed. We'll just have to look past this and move on. No one will know about this ever happening, okay?" I nod my head. " Okay, good." She said."Now let's return back inside." I nod my head once again and follow Salome inside.
I clench the pennant tight in my hand and my memories flash to that dreadful night, the night when I no longer was able to see Salome. A blood drop fell from my eye and hit the cold cement floor.
" I have someone you should meet. I think you two will get along just fine." I smirk at him trying to convince me of having an interest in anyone. " We shall see." I say. He looks back at me with a devilish grin before taking my hand. I smile contently and walk alongside him. His strides get longer with every step he takes and I can tell he is eager to introduce me to this mysterious being. With every long stride he took, I had to take four large steps myself just to keep up. His height countered into his lengthy strides which made this short walk quite challenging. As we approached the entrance of the tall building, a short and slender male guard had asked for our identity. I looked to my male companion and awaited for him to verify our identities. Once he had shown the male guard his silver pennant that had been resting around his neck, the male guard had nodded his head and opened the door for us.
Upon entering, I couldn't help to notice the marble tiled floors and white pristine walls. I looked up at him and he had grinned intently back at me. " Surprising, huh?" I let a small laugh and said with the utmost sarcasm. " Hardly." He smirked back and said in a disbelieving tone. "Okay." We walked further until we reached a small hallway with only four doors on each side. He leads me down the hall, to the very last door on the right. He knocks on the door and a voice from the other side of door responded. " Who is it?" the voice said. He verified aloud to the voice who he was and his rank as a Sanguinista. There had been a small pause and then the door slowly opened. He had smiled at the tall slender brunette standing next to her desk. "Hello, Salome." He said warmly. She nodded her head and then looked to me, studying me. A smirk appeared on her face. And who do we have here?" She slowly walks over to me standing across from me, still smirking. I look back at the woman, studying her as well. " My name is Nora Gainsborough, Ma'am." Her smirk drew up into a sadisitic grin. " Well ,it's nice to meet you, Ms. Gainsborough. Has your male companion stated exactly why he's brought you here?" I look from Salome to him and back at Salome with an eyebrow raised. ' No, he has not. He has neglected to explain exactly why I'm here. He did mention however, that he had someone that he thought I'd like to meet." Salome's eyebrow raised. " Interesting. Well, you're here because he's told me he thinks you'll be a good fit." She pauses and studies me again. " And so far, I'm starting to believe him." I tilted my head just slightly at what exactly I would be fitting into. " What exactly am I 'fitting into'?" I ask. Salome smirks again and laughs." Oh, he hasn't told you, has you?" She shakes her head. And moves behind her desk. " Here." She extends a hand as if it were pointing to the two seats that had been in front of her desk.[i]"Please, take a seat and I shall explain to you just 'exactly' what we do here." I make my way over to the seat and slowly sit down in it. My male companion had followed behind me and took a seat as well. Salome took a seat in her chair with one leg folded over the other. " Now, before I get too detailed, I'll tell you that this place here." She pauses and looks around at the room and back to us. " This place that you are in, is known as the authority." I tilt my head to the side. " The authority?" I ask. She smirks once again. " You really are misinformed, aren't you?" She mockingly asks. She then proceeds to continue. " We, the authority, make sure that all vampires are abiding by the rules we've set to them. If they don't. Well, then we decide their sentence." She grins evilly. " We are a very strict group and don't take lightly to petty actions. Understand?" She gazes into my eyes awaiting my answer. I nod my head and say. " Yes, I understand." She smiles and leans back in her chair. "Good." She then looks to my male companion. " And since he's brought you here, I trust his judgement and believe that there is a reason why your boyfriend had brought you to me, directly. So here's what I'm going to do, I will take you in and show you the ropes. I will be your mentor, understand?" I nod my head and she continues. " Good. You will follow every single order I tell you and I expect your level of competence will be above average. Being your mentor the others will expect highly of you because I'm, well- known around here." I nod my head once again and she continues. I listen intently as she tells me the obligations of the authority and what to expect. She finally finishes her speech and assigns me a beginners rank. We stand up and make our way to the door of her office. Before we can open the door she says. " Oh, and one more thing, being in a relationship with a member of the authority who is a Sanguinista, can be extremely risky, Ms. Gainsborough." I look to her and nod my head. I turn back to face the door and we exit out of her office.
I hold the pennant close to my chest and smile widely as I start to remember all the good times I had with Salome.
After months of training, I have become an inferior being here. Everything about the authority makes me feel stronger and stronger everyday. I walk over to my male companion and look deep into his hazel eyes. " Thank you for admitting me into the authority." I say with a smile on my face. He smiles intently back at me and says sadistically. " You're very welcome, Nora." I give him one last glance before turning back around to continue on with my current task. My male companion has never been good with surprises in the past. He is also the type you wouldn't want to ever cross. He is a very strong vampire and has been around for nearly nine-hundred years. I'm not entirely sure what had attracted me to him. Maybe it was his short brown hair, or his hazel eyes. Or his very muscular body, combined with his six feet of height. Either way, if I had refused his offer to take a trip here, I know I would never hear the end of it from him.
After I had completed my task, I had been ordered to see Salome in her office. I walk down the hall and stopped in front of the door to Salome's office. I knock on the door and await for her to respond. " Who is it?" She asks. " It's Nora." I reply. " Come in." She says. I open the door to her office and step in. I close the door behind me and notice Salome leaning against her desk. I study her body language and wondered why she was smirking so sadistically at me. " You requested that I come see you?" I ask. She nods her head. " Yes, I have. Please, sit." I slowly walk over and take a seat while she still leans against her desk standing in front of me. I look up at her. " Nora, can I ask you why you are dating your male companion?" I raised a brow at her question and shrugged. " I'm not entirely sure, but he is a loyal man." She snorts a laugh. " Loyal?. Hm. Let me tell you about him." She moves and sits down in the chair beside me. " He is far from loyal, my dear. The last woman he had relations with, he had turned her in for some very horrible convictions that had been brought upon her. He didn't have one ounce of regret or pity for her. Trust me, Nora, he is not someone you want to tell your secrets to. You may end up dead. And as your mentor and your friend, I would hate to see that happen." She pauses for a moment and takes my hand in hers. " Unlike, him, I care about you, I do." I stare back her. The room falls silent. Salome leans in and tenderly kisses me on the lips. After a minute or two she pulls away and looks into my eyes. " Nora, please. Think about what I said will you?" Shocked I sit there, processing what had just happened. I nod my head at her request. " Good." She responds." It's almost dawn, you should get some rest. I'll see you tonight." I nod my head and walk out of her office. As I make my way back to my room, I'm silent, processing in my head the encounter I just had with Salome and what would happen if my male companion were to find out. I stood in front of the door to my room and open it slowly. I look around the room and close the door gently behind me. I crawl into my coffin and drift off. [i
Weeks and weeks had passed and I started to notice how Salome had been right about my male companion. Our communication between one another had diminished to almost nothing. I continued on with my task of the night , while thinking about what to say to my male companion. Once, I had finished my task, I started to make my way over to my male companion, but was stopped by Salome. " Nora, I have something to tell you, come with me." She had grabbed me by the wrist. I had no other choice, but to follow her. She led me to the roof and released my wrist from her grasp. Salome turned to look at me with a concerned look on her face. " Nora, she said, I have really bad news about your male companion." I tilted my head to the side." What do you mean?" I ask. She looked deeply into my eyes. " He's untrustworthy, for us both." She paused. " I caught him with another female vampire last night. He had drained a human with her. For us at the authority, that's a grave offense. You understand, right?" I raise a brow in question as to when this could have happened and nodded my head in agreement to her question. " What will happen now?" I ask. She looked to me." Well, I'm going to have to talk with him in my office tomorrow about his punishment. And as for you, I suggest you stay away from him, do you understand? I nod my head." Good, I would hate to see you get hurt because of him." She touches the side of my cold cheek and pulls my face towards her with our lips meeting one another's. As we continue to kiss, I feel a familiar presence and hear the voice of my male companion yell. " What the hell is going on?!" We immediately pull away from one another. My male companion uses his vampire speed and is immediately standing between us both. He looks to Salome. " I trusted you and you betrayed me!" Salome smirks. " I don't think you're in any position to be lecturing me about betrayal." He growls at Salome and exposes his fangs to her. " Shut up! You incompetent slut!" He yells. He then turns to me. " And you, I no longer will continue to be your male companion. I no longer request your presence." I hear Salome chuckle and my male companion turns around to face her. " The funny thing about having a higher authority Sanguinista," she spits out. " is that you have none." She takes a step closer to him." Now, as you know, I don't like to execute a vampire, especially one who is a good friend of mine, but you have committed some violent acts that the authority disapproves of. I'm sure you're familiar with the protocol. So you can either renounce your loyalty to the authority now, or I myself can strip you of your title and have you leave and never to return to the authority. It's your choice, but either way, you will be ordered to leave and never return." He growls once more at her and then to my surprise, he began to renounce his loyalty to the authority. After he had renounced his loyalty, he turned to me and whispered. " We are far from even. I will find you." He then vanished off into the cold midnight air. I looked to Salome who had been staring at me. A sheepish smile turned up on her face. " I'm sorry it had to come to that Nora, but I would not have liked to see a good friend of mine be executed. We'll just have to look past this and move on. No one will know about this ever happening, okay?" I nod my head. " Okay, good." She said."Now let's return back inside." I nod my head once again and follow Salome inside.
I clench the pennant tight in my hand and my memories flash to that dreadful night, the night when I no longer was able to see Salome. A blood drop fell from my eye and hit the cold cement floor.
