The Vampire's Apprentice

Clancy shrugged. "Not so much. I thought I might sit in the kitchen and watch the rain. This is about as much light as I ever see outside."
 
If there ever was such a hopeful look to be seen from her, it was then that it became visible. "Can I sit with you?" Kitty asked, trying not to sound as wishful as she appeared. It was still perfectly fine, she thought, if she were instead told to sleep.
 
"Of course, if you desire," Clancy agreed, already walking toward the door. "The rain is very calming, don't you think?"
Sam yawned and gave a doggy grumble as he realized they were moving out of the room. He stood, stretched, and started following.
 
She set the guidebook aside on her bed and trailed after him. "It makes for nice background noise while reading. Always reminds me of soup and hot tea."
 
"They're... things I often had when it rained. Namely because that's what I knew how to make at the time.... Tea is always good to have nearby while reading, anyhow."
 
"Hmm, I suppose it would be. I never cared much for tea, even when I could drink it." Clancy sat on the couch facing the big living room window and crossed one leg over the other.
 
Kitty settled into a place beside him. The living room still looked strange with only the couch to fill it. Not that she noticed much anymore.

Rain tapped lightly against the window, though further outside it seemed to be coming down much harder. There was still some amount of daylight to be had, but very scant traces growing dimmer by the second. Whether this was due to darkening clouds or the setting sun, it was uncertain to Kitty; either way, the ambiance was nice, and she was content to remain in the silence.
 
Clancy allowed the silence to stretch out between them. It was a comfortable silence, filled only with Kitty's breathing and heartbeat. Well, hers and the dog's, but he was ignoring the dog. The dog was of no interest to him right now. It was a rare thing to sit in silence with another person. People normally held a pathological need to fill the silence with something, and baring music or other noise, they used their own voices. Sitting with Kitty just thinking was... refreshing.

He looked around briefly. He would miss this house. It had been one of his favorites. Still, houses came and went. Soon there would be a new house. A new life. New hunting grounds. Now that would be interesting. The one nice thing about his job meant there was no trouble with moving since everything was online, anyway. Online and through a shell corporation so no one needed to wonder how a single owner was staying in power for so long. not that many people even bothered to learn who owned his particular business, but it never hurt to be cautious.

Caution. The byword which dictated his life. Yet here he was attempting to move across a couple of states with a young woman and her dog. This was definitely one of the more risky things he had done. Not that he doubted Kitty's abilities, but problems abounded no matter how careful you were, and the more people, the more chances of things going wrong.

Oh, well. That was a worry for another day. Four more days, then he could worry about it. For now, he just wanted to watch the water droplets race to the bottom of the window.
 
She opened her eyes, not having noticed they'd shut. It was still raining; he was still beside her. Kitty released the tension she held. Gently, she let herself rest against him and closed her eyes again.
 
Clancy glanced at her and shifted slightly to make it more comfortable for her. Her desire to lean against him no longer startled him as it used to, but it was still a strange feeling. Not that he fully minded. He put an arm around her and waited for her to fall asleep.
 
Leaning on him, though it came at the cost of her exhaustion, was where she felt most content. It was close enough she could smell the familiar scent of his clothes, yet not too close that she became uncomfortable to him. Therefore, it was....

Perfect. But Kitty was already asleep.
 
Clancy gave her half an hour, seeing no reason to rush, then lifted her gently and carried her up to her room. He tucked her into bed and placed her book on the stand next to her before ensuring Sam was in then closed the door on his way out. Let her rest and dream.

He went to work. Sometimes boring, sometimes interesting, but always necessary and constantly demanding his attention.
 
The rain carried into the morning, but by afternoon it had almost completely stopped. Kitty spent most of her time packing things into boxes, becoming only mildly distracted and doodling on them. But at least she knew exactly what was inside them, now. That would be helpful later.

Sometime nearing the evening, she meandered next door with her book and a container of sweets—she'd finally gotten around to learning a new cookie recipe—and knocked gently. It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise she was there, having come over rather often to visit the Mooneys. Sometimes she would even let Sam out into the yard with the twins to play. Ah, they'd miss him for certain. Unfortunate, really.
 
"Come in, door's open!" EJ yelled from within the house. He was in the living room sitting cross-legged on the couch playing a video game.
 
Kitty opened the door and stepped inside, setting the cookies on the kitchen counter. She watched his game for a moment, just out of curiosity.
 
It was a sci-fy battle game, something about a soldier going around a dying space ship hunting escaped creatures trying to kill him.
"Sup?" EJ asked without looking up from shooting at horse-sized hornets. "Brought cookies?"
 
"Sweet. Thanks. Gonna miss the cookies." He jerk ed his elbow to indicate a direction. "Norville is in his room listening to a book on tape or something."
 
She nodded. "At least your mum has the recipe." Kitty replied, heading to Norville's room. "You guys can make them whenever."
 
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