Liefde Towers / Comming back for more / Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago

Comming back for more

Aron had been fairly surprised when he received a note from Megan, asking him to come see him. He had quite simply given up on the Nachton branch of the Evenhet clan. Now he was here however, in a less dramatic attire than last time. A black and white tailor made suit and his walking stick was all he needed for now. There was no need of being overly dramatic, it would be childish and futile even to attempt it. Jeeves was waiting outside in the car, not the long Hollywood star limousine, but a classic Rolls Royce.

Aron walked up the clerk with a feeling of curiosity in the pit of his stomach.

"Could you tell Lady Bjørn that a Mr Swiftwood has arrived? I belive she's expecting me"

This would all be very interresting indeed.

"And thus, the cub comes to see the mother bear..."

Aron chuckled at May's comment.

((Edited to accomodate tha fact that Megan had sent the note, not Meegan. I very much doubt she has been in the Liefde Tower at all))

Megan Björn 18 years ago
Megan was sitting comfortably in her candlelit office, personally adjusting security levels for the upper floors of Meridian Apex, when a soft blue light appeared in the far corner of her screen. She touched the light with the tip of her fingernail, allowing MARI to fill her work space.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Ms. Björn," MARI said in her usual gentle tone, "but you instructed me to inform you as soon as Mr. Swiftwood had arrived."

MARI adjusted the screen to one of the closed circuit cameras hidden in the lobby, and Megan watched the man standing before her with interest. He was more simply dressed this time, which pleased Megan greatly. Vampires in capes were so overdone these days, and she had a hard time taking anyone who wore one seriously. Still, she had managed to do a bit of research since his last visit, and had to admit it was an interesting life he led, capes or not.

"Thank you MARI," she finally said. "Show him up please."

Megan cleared her monitor with a tap of her finger, leaned back in her chair, and waited patiently for Aron to arrive.
MARI 18 years ago
An electronic chime is heard from a computer moniter set into the main desk, and an attractive female face filled the screen. The face was surrounded by a soft blue glow, and over her skin and hair, a faint digital pulse rushed like flowing water. She was, quite obviously, artificial.

"Greetings Mr. Swiftwood, my name is MARI," the woman announced. "Ms. Björn is waiting for you in the penthouse suite. Please follow the floor panels to the executive elevator, it will take you to her direct."

The floor panel at Aron's feet ignited into a soft blue glow, followed in suit by other panels that seemed to snake off around the corner of the lobby and out of sight.
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
"Whatever happened to young beautiful assistants showing you the way personally?" Aron sighed "No offense ment ofcourse, it's just that your physical appearance isn't quite as interresting"

He followed the blue lights and stepped into the elevator. Megan was an interresting woman from what he'd been able to find out, older and more powerful than himself. The question of wether she was more cunning was about to be answered.
Megan Björn 18 years ago
Megan watched the slight glow of the elevator from a monitor as it rose to the level of her office. The elevator doors emitted a pleasant chime as they opened into a small foyer. Megan tapped a button and the pair paneled doors that divided the two rooms opened. She rose from her chair, and rounded her desk gracefully as she called to him from the darkness.

"Mr. Swiftwood, so good of you to come," she said, with diplomatic tone. "Again, I must apologize for being unable to see you until now. I have had a great many things to attend to as of late."

She stood in the darkness, sporting a coy half smile. Candles lit sparsely along the walls bounced shadows across her form. The room itself was sensuously decorated, with black leather sofas and dark wood furniture. There was a full bar on one end, and on the other, massive windows stretched from corner to corner, giving an expansive view of the glowing metropolis below.

"I trust your stay in our city thus far has been... enjoyable?"Â?
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
Aron quickly studied the room. He found it to be a rather interresting aproach to the whole vampire den theme.

"Miss Björn, a pleasure to finally meet you in person" he said with a smile. "No need to apologize, I fully understand"

Aron focused his powers on Megan, allowing him at least a tiny glimpse behind that cool exterior. He fuly expected her to be doing the same, chances were a good deal of his thoughts were ringing out very clearly in her mind at this moment. Still, what he found was startling. Not that he showed on the outside, he could've found a newly turned transvestite without as much as raising an eyebrow, but any creature this old was bound to give any empath a sense of humbleness. Not usually Aron's strongest side.

"Well, my stay has been...interresting at least. Nachton is a rather different town than what I expected"
Megan Björn 18 years ago
"Yes, I know what you mean,"Â? she replied. "There is no other place quite like it."Â?

Megan smiled at Aron and then drifted casually over to a nearby sofa, sinking blissfully into its plush folds; she simply adored the soft brush of Italian leather against her skin. Looking up at Aron, she crossed her legs, and motioned for him to come join her. There was something a little odd about this one, she could sense it even without the use of her gifts. Surprisingly, she found first impressions much more valuable when she didn't dip her fingers into the other's head-- Megan had read enough faces in her lifetime not to need much more than that to size someone up. After all, how one presented themselves outwardly told a great deal about who they were on the inside, and through all the decorum and style, there was something Aron was hiding. She looked forward to finding out what it was.

"Won't you come sit with me, and tell me what draws you so far from home?"Â?
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
Aron smiled and accepted her offer. The leather sofa turned out to be more comfortable than he had expected, he would have to get one himself.

"Well...lack of thought really..." he sighed. "It turns out that when you stay in one place for a couple of centuries, people get fairly suspicious. Neighbours can easily ignore such things, but the amount of government officials curious about why a manor doesn't change owner, has been on a steady rise the last 50 years. It quite simply became to much bother staying at home. I expect I shall return at some point under a different name, but for now Nachton will be my home"

He noticed that she was not an unpleasent sight to behold at all. It would've been easy to fall into those eyes of hers. Something in the back of his head informed him that she had 8 times his own experience in seduction, and falling into those eyes would probably leave him with as much free will as an Anantya slave. Something turned out to be May.
Megan Björn 18 years ago
"Yes, I can see how that might become a problem," she said. "I'm surprised to hear you let it drive you from your home, however. I've dealt with numerous officials, from many different countries, and I've found few that couldn't be convinced to turn the other way, for a price. Of course, those who took the moral high ground usually paid a much higher price."Â?

She adjusted her body position to get more comfortable, and then brushed a strand of her curly red hair away from her eyes. The way Aron had been looking at her hadn't escaped Megan's notice. On the contrary, she knew very well the effect she had on men, both humans and vampires alike. She had learned, over the span of her extended lifetime, to hone many skills. Her sexuality was no different. It was a tool, like any other; applied correctly, it would yield the expected result.

"I'm delighted that you've resolved to make our city your home,"Â? she said, offering the warmest of smiles. "Even if it is just temporary, as you say."Â?
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
"I'm afraid quite a few english government officials are close to incorruptable. Hard to believe, I admit, but morals are curiously high. I'm sure I could've stayed had I aplied the right sort of levarage, but it would've been crude, evil and change is, after all, the spice of life"

Aron could feel her playing him like a violin. She was doing a very good job, this was not the way he had envisioned it all. Aron liked to be, and usually was, in complete control of himself. She was making him loose it, and the worst part was she knew it.

"Focus!

May's voice had the effect of a bucket of icewater. Refreshing and chilly.

"Thank you dear..." he whispered.

"Well, temporary might be half a century...might be a whole. It would depend on how succesful my other activities in this town turn out to be"
Megan Björn 18 years ago
As Megan listened intently to Aron's response, a sudden flash of emotion leapt from him like a solar flare. She raised an eyebrow, where had that come from? Though she wasn't actively focusing her abilities on him, they were never really turned completely off, and this particular surge was an entirely different set of emotions than the ones she had previously been drawing from him. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought there was someone else in the room. It was a little troubling, but she decided to press a little further with her performance. She slid her arm out towards Aron along the top of the sofa, thrumming her fingers against the cushioned leather.

"Other activities you say?"Â? she asked, her eyes never leaving his. "Oh, do tell me, how does a vampire like yourself fill his nights?"Â?
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
"Be charming, but not overly so. She's a meat eating flower. Pretty to look at, but you do not wish to be the fly landing on it"

"Alas not always with such interresting company as the current" he said with a smile. "I have been trying to get into the rather interresting buisness life this city has to offer. The new cultural house has potential if I can get in on it before they finish it. Alas so far I've been unable to reach the people behind it"
Megan Björn 18 years ago
"Ah, yes, the new Opera House. This city has been without for far too long, I'm afraid."Â? she said, with just a touch of regret. "You may be in luck though, Meridian has recently made a modest investment in the project. If you would like, I would be more than happy to put you in touch with the appropriate parties. Perhaps even arrange an invitation to the Gala Opening?"Â?

Megan moved to get up, and then stopped herself, turning back to Aron with an apologetic smile.

"I was about to go fix myself a drink, can I offer you something?"
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
"Really? I should have known that Evenhet would be involved. Only of our kin civilized enough to care about the obvious lack of culture in this village" he said with a smile. "If you could arrange that I would be very grateful indeed, though...what will they show on the eve of the gala? If it's something good, then I should love to attend"

Looking up at Megan he pondered for a moment before answering.

"Well...a glass of sherry if you have it? Otherwise soda and scotch will be fine"
Megan Björn 18 years ago
"I believe they've arranged for Moscow's Gelikon-Opera to make a brief detour here on their way to the coast,"Â? she said, getting up and walking over to the bar. "Dmitry Bertman owes me a favor or three, and so he'll be staging La Traviata. Two nights only, it should be quite... exclusive."Â?

With the bar before her, Megan opened a pair of mahogany cabinet doors, and ran her fingers over the labels of several bottles of liquor. She drew out a bottle of sherry, holding it up to the nearby candle light. Carsebridge, vintage 1960. Good year, she thought to herself as she produced a glass and poured Aron his drink. For herself, she mixed a martini, adding just a thimble of blood from a freshly chilled bottle she had delivered earlier that evening. She dropped an olive in and wiggled her way back to the couch, handing Aron his sherry before reclaiming her seat beside him.

"So,"Â? she said, taking a sip of her drink. "You still haven't told me what it is you do, Mr. Swiftwood."Â?
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
Aron watched her as she got the drink, her movements seemed rather delicate.

"Wrong path Aron, focus"

He took a sip of the excellent sherry before answering her question.

"Well...I'm a simple tradesman. Mainly information, but just about anything as long as it's not overly imoral. I also happen to own a bit of land, a few companies and such... But ofcourse you know these things, I'm not an overly secret man"

"Liar...the last three attempts to estimate your assets weren't even within 50 million pound sterling of what you actually own"
Megan Björn 18 years ago
She did know, of course. She had done a background search moments after his first visit. Real estate holdings, business ties, favorite vacation spots. Though there was little about his public life that she didn't know, Megan always found it so much more illuminating to hear a man judge his own self-worth-- after all, account summaries could only tell you so much.

"I'm not sure modesty becomes you Mr. Swiftwood,"Â? Megan said, casually plucking the olive from her drink and sucking the gin off it before popping it in her mouth.
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
As Meegans lips ran over the olive, Aron was very glad May was here and active. Alone he would've been a nervous schoolboy being called to the new female teachers office. He couldn't help feel that he still was, to some point.

"And if you continue that line of thought, you deffinetly will be. Vampire or not, she is just a woman, using the same tricks women have for the last one million years"

"I find it is more becomming to be modest and being able to act on what you say, than brag and fall through. But then again, I am British...."
Megan Björn 18 years ago
"Ah, yes, British moderation; I may never understand it,"Â? she said, taking another sip of her drink. "You know, I was in Rome when Claudius finally annexed your island to his empire. There was a great celebration, I remember the streets being blanketed in flower petals, and the games, they lasted for months on end."Â?

There was a sadness in her eyes when she spoke, as though the memory were a painful one. In those days she was still young, and couldn't help but feel sympathy for those who struggled to remain free of Roman rule. She had feared that someday the Empire might march across her native land, burning villages and enslaving her people. The failure to seize the British isle had given her hope, but when even they succumbed to the might of Rome, the fall of the rest of the world seemed all but inevitable. She had still been very much attached to her humanity then, and it pained her deeply to think of her people in chains.

"It took Rome the better half of a century to claim Brittania,"Â? she went on. "Your people were fierce then, untamed; they turned Caesar from their shores not once, but three times. I often wonder what happened to that raw passion, if your kind would have evolved differently had they never been conquered."Â?
Aron Swiftwood 18 years ago
"Well...unless I'm much mistaken, the people inhabiting the British isles a that time were celts. The blood in my veins is an anglo-saxon mix of roman, german, french and...scandinavian I believe. My blood is that of the people who conquered the British isles, not that of the original inhabitants. So had the isles not been conquered, a very different people would have been born. Instead, the fiercenes was replaced by a resillience. A resillience that in my younger days had led to England being the greatest empire of the time. Ofcourse bad judgement and lack of understanding of the human nature has put a stop to that now.
By the way, did you know I have been able to track our clan back to Denmark as early as the year 400?"

He had indeed. There was now little doubt in his mind that the stories of the danish elves had originated from vampires, judging by the nature of the stories most were certainly Evenhet. For years he had been wishing to find a vampire old enough to confirm his suspicion. He hoped Megan was able to answer his question.
Megan Björn 18 years ago
"Have you now?"Â? Megan asked, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. She leaned casually towards him and recrossed her legs. "You know, I believe that was the year in question. The idea wasn't very popular of course, the others didn't see the potential benefit of enlisting humans to our cause. Hindsight being 20/20, as they say, presently, I don't believe Anantya feels any different."Â?

Saying the idea was merely unpopular was somewhat of an understatement. As Megan recalled, the council had solemnly forbidden her from taking action. Humans were food, nothing more, and it was dangerous to consider them otherwise. Megan entertained very few regrets, but one of them was that she had respected their decision for nearly four centuries before abandoning tradition and walking a divergent path. The correct path, she thought to herself. Evenhet's financial success alone is testament to that.

As her mind drifted back to the present, she couldn't help but be impressed with Aron's interest in clan history. Though he may not have known it, he had managed to trace back to a time when Evenhet was little more then a whisper behind closed doors.