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[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa shook her head and began rummaging through her bag for a scrap of paper. "No, I'm actually an Allurist. My sire was a Telepath though." At the mention of her sire she hesitated for a brief second. did she really speak in past tense? Was it that long that she heard no word from her sire? With a sigh she shoved the thoughts back, planning on dealing with them later (or not), and resumed her search. With a satisfied grin she pulled out a loose scrap of paper and a silver pen she pilfered earlier. She quickly wrote her name and number on the paper and was about to hand it over when the middle-aged customer walked by again, this time with some books. Nerissa scowled at him briefly before handing over the paper again. "If you ever find yourself needing a hand, just give me a ring."

Nerissa scoffed at Aaron's suggestion. "Oh sure, maybe as a blood bag. Or a meat shield. Maybe even both!"

[Aaron Hunter]

Ah, an Allurist, thought Aaron, taking the piece of paper from the young woman: one of life’s great charmers. Maybe she could bewitch the middle-aged customer, and get him to buy a shelf’s worth of books? He could double up as the aforementioned blood bag or meat shield if the circumstances required it. Then again, that wouldn’t really be particularly “charming”, so the shuffling man was probably going to be safe.

“Thanks for this,” said Aaron, shaking the scrap of paper. “I love the silver pen by the way. It’s very… shiny, a bit like all those gems in the Caverns!”

The punk glanced at the name and number, mentally deciding whether or not to put “Nerissa” into his phone, or make up a suitable nickname such as “Miss Purple” or “Bookstore Girl”. Real names were often a tad on the dull side, although “Nerissa” sounded cool. He could hiss it like a snake, or say it extravagantly like a flamboyant Italian waiter, putting additional emphasis on the “i”.

Had the purple-haired woman confessed to being a Telepath then perhaps Aaron would have found himself hissing her name on a regular basis. The sociable Killer (if such a thing existed) wasn’t a huge fan of the mind explorers, those vampires who enjoyed poking around in the private corridors of other people’s heads. Aaron had an inherent distrust of such talented vampires. They were unwanted guests, spies sneaking around in the dark recesses of one’s thoughts.

Allurists, though, they were nice. Unless, of course, they were making you believe that they were nice!

Waiting until the middle-aged shopper had wandered passed to the checkout area, Aaron pocketed the paper, folding it neatly in half like a trainee origami student.

“I’ll definitely give you a call,” he continued. “Collecting a sack-load of glistening goodies sounds like a top plan!”

Aaron offered up a broad smile, overflowing with enthusiasm. Perhaps a few other friends would also relish the chance to mow down some beasties, and bag some booty? Seriously, who didn’t love an expedition with the guarantee of guts, glory, and gold?

“Well,” he added, looking around the shop, “I think this place is going to shut pretty soon, so I may call it a day. I’ll probably be back soon enough. I kind of like dropping by to see what’s new.”

It was a completely truthful statement: Aaron loved coming to the store, browsing through the crisp pages of whatever new titles had hit the shelves. He added an extra smile to conclude the meeting, a cheerful grin of approval at the whole affair.

“Let’s get out of here. I don’t know about you, but the mention of a blood bag has made me feel a little bit peckish!”

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa nodded at Aaron as she put the silver pen in her bag. "Yeah, it is rather shiny, isn't it?" Hopefully it was actually worth something, but with how many she had sold already it was most likely worth a little something. Luckily it wasn't the most expensive thing in her bag. She readjusted the bag to be more secure on her shoulder and grinned at Aaron with a hint of a smirk."I look forward to your call then."

Nerissa looked around at the now empty shop. The man from earlier had vanished and the one behind the counter was already sweeping, giving the two of them side glanced as he pointedly swept towards the door. "Yeah, we should get going." She followed Aaron out of the shop, avoiding the shopkeeper's gaze. She warmed up to Aaron, that was enough for one day. As the cool night air ruffles her hair, she noticed Rachel standing nearby, a huge grin on her face at the success of her mission. Nerissa avoided staring at the ghost girl; the last thing she needed was for Aaron to wonder about her sanity. "Well, Drummer Boy, this will be where we part ways. See ya!" She mocked saluted the fellow vampire and started walking away, Rachel following close behind her.