Path of the Vampire forum

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!”