The Home

Abby stepped from the library, gently closing the doors behind her. Stalking into the hall, she made her way towards the other residents, stopping quietly just around the corner from the kitchen's archway, listening. She could hear voices softly talking, and leaned in closer to try to decipher their words but the quiet murmur was just too low to hear.

Stepping into the kitchen, Abby looked around. It seemed some new residents had arrived and a few of those who'd attended the first meeting were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they've decided to eat privately in their quarters, she thought. Trying not to startle anyone, she quietly cleared her throat before speaking.

"I hope you're finding the food to be satisfactory. I see a few of you have arrived a little late. We didn't get a chance to meet before. Hello, I'm Abby Peston. Welcome to the Home."

From the corner of the room Abby watched as a lean, tall man stepped forward.

Alex glanced up from where he was analyzing the food. Most of it smelled disgusting and he didn't feel hungry anyway. The other newcomers shuffled their feet awkwardly, unhappy about their new home. He shot them sideward glances and smiled at the woman.

"Alexander Aita," he said, puffing out his chest. "Pleasure to meet you, Abby."

Khloe had decided that her best bet was to stay a bit further back from everyone. Even though she had been a vampire since she was 16, she still found it hard to control her urges for human blood. There were days where she was able to control her urge and there were days where she slipped up. But today was the day where she was meeting her other roommates so she needed to be on her best behavior.

As everyone was introducing themselves, Khloe just watched them interact. She sometimes wished she could be normal like them. Being a vampire had never come easily for her, but all she could do was introduce herself and hope things would be okay. Stepping out from the corner, she made her way to the front. "Hi, I'm Khloe. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Lana sat in a chair, actively trying to ignore the people that were beginning to gather around her. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her lips were pursed in a bitter grimace. She glared at the ones standing by the food, making pointless chatter and spilling crumbs all over the place. She wondered if she kept herself from eating for long enough, would they transport her outside of this facility?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Abby introduced herself. Lana couldn't help but mumble under her breath, running a hand through her loose curls. She continued to sit in misery until she felt someone standing over her. She looked up to see Abby, reaching out a hand.

"I'm Abby. We're happy to have you here. What's your name?"

Lana looked down at Abby's outstretched hand and then back up at Abby, keeping her arms folded tight to her chest.

"Lana. Lana Bristow. And that's all the conversation I'll be having today."

Abby sighed at Lana's terse response. She understood, of course, that not everyone had come to the Home voluntarily and even among those who did, not everyone would be open to the group right away. Smiling tightly, Abby nodded stiffly to Lana and then turned to the other new, more cooperative residents.

"Mr. Aita. Ms. Khloe. It's lovely to meet you both." Quickly recalling the details of their paperwork, she led the two to the small freezer-chest against the far wall. "This," she said, tapping the lid of the freezer, "is where we keep the...um...bag for people like you." She leaned in close to the two and quietly mouthed, “The blood." Backing away again, she continued, "We've stocked a variety of types and they are appropriately labeled. If you feel need to warm them up, I can get a pot of water boiling for you right away. Just let me know." Abby placed another nervous smile on her face and left the two to it.

Eyes fluttering around the room, Abby tried to make sure everyone was as comfortable as possible. Most people seemed to be eating or chatting, which was good, but she noticed they were mostly standing awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot. Oh, damn!, she thought, Chairs! I need more chairs.

Scurrying quickly towards the dinning room, she spotted the wolf - Rollin, was it? - perched on one of the few stools she had thought to bring. She thought for a moment about asking for his help, but he seemed a little lost in his own thoughts. No worries, she thought, I can handle a few chairs.



Finishing his fourth sandwich, Rollin leaned back in one of the stools against the wall and sighed happily. It wasn't the kind of meat he craved, but the pickles were enough to satisfy him. The wolf took the time to observe the newcomers. Not interested, his eyes continued their path and landed on the human therapist, Abby. His lip twitched. With his rage no longer blinding him he was able to admire what she gave. Her appearance was calm and professional, but he had witnessed first hand the bite she had.

He shook his head with his eyes closed and cursed himself. Stop it, mutt. Don't you dare go there. Tugging his hair, he huffed. He didn't like that he was out of control; he could hurt someone and he wouldn't know about it until he "woke up". He needed a pack, or a mate. He snorted. Yeah right.



Alex watched Abby hurry away, a smirk on his face. If she was too busy to notice he was an elf, he figured he'd get away with plenty at this place. If his own home didn't want him, he'd be fine with the one he had.

He glanced at the vampire standing next to him and gave her a sly smile. "So what are you here for?"

Khloe glanced at the handsome guy standing next to her and began thinking about all the ways she wanted to destroy him. But she quickly erased those thoughts when she realized he was waiting for a response. "I'm here because I couldn't control my thirst for humans. I'm still trying to figure that part out," she said. When she noticed that he slowly moved away from her, she was quick to defend herself.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything," Khloe said with a smile. She was doing everything in her power to not harm anyone in sight. She wasn't sure what would happen if she lost control again. She almost died the first time; she wasn't going to die a second time because of her own stupidity.

Rumors had it there was another vampire staying here. Khloe decided to go find out if that was true or not. It would make her life less stressful if she had someone she could bond with.

The vampiress had sat in the right corner, not really paying any attention to the rest of the residents. She had a glass filled with the blood people had donated to hospitals, and while she drank her fill alone, she scanned the room. Everyone was sitting in the center of the room, eating their food and chatting but what caught her attention was the gorgeous mind reader at the end of the other corner. The vampiress was taken in by her, and it was strange. It was like she was releasing some kind of pheromone that worked only on her, and she wanted to learn why.

''Marina!'' the vampiress called. She needed to find out why the girl's pheromones called to her.

''Yea?'' Marina answered, turning to face her.

''Can you come here, honey? I want to talk to you in private.'' The vampiress smiled as the mind reader kindly obeyed.

Marina took a seat opposite from Mariaxielle and once she got comfortable, she faced her. "So, what's this about?" she asked folding her hands.

"I'm really interested in knowing how your pheromones work, mind telling me?" The vampiress was honest and that surprised Marina but as she was about to speak, they were interrupted.

Dragging a couple of dining chairs behind her, Abby made her way back into the eating area. She quickly found a couple of empty spaces and placed the chairs against the wall. Spotting Mariaxielle and Marina, she made her way towards them.

"Hello, again. Are you finding everything alright? I brought in more chairs if you'd like to get off your feet,” -she pointed towards the empty chairs and tried herding them both in that direction- "Oh! Marina, Mariaxielle - or do you prefer Rogue? - if I could have moment?"

"Rogue," the vampiress said. "And everything's fine." She wasn't interested in starting a conversation with Abby right now. Her mind was preoccupied by Marina's charisma and its tricks.

"I have no opinion yet; it won't be easy to adjust to this lifestyle since I'm not used to it, but I'm sure it will work out just fine," Marina replied. She was a free spirit and liked having people around her. Being the social type - and beautiful - had worked to her advantage a lot of times.

Marina followed after Abby, not failing to notice the annoyed look Rogue had on her beautiful face. She didn't really care that they were interrupted because she wasn't going to answer her question anyway. That wasn't the case for Rogue herself, though. Why was Rogue interested in her gift in the first place? Marina hadn't really used it that much... yet.

"Oh, thank you. This'll only take a moment. There's a couple of new girls, well, one in particular..." Abby nodded in the direction of the young witch, "if you can maybe say 'hello'? She seems a little reserved."

Marina was quick to reply with a smile hugging her pretty face. "Of course, I'd like to meet another face around here." Marina walked towards the girl while Abby turned to face the young vampiress.

"Don't even think of it," was all Rogue said.

Putting her hands up in mock-defeat, Abby slowly backed away before spinning around and stalking towards the far end of the kitchen. Digging through the cupboards, she search for a box of tea bags, hoping to brew a cup and grab a bite before group session resumed.

Rogue went to grab a bag of blood, relocating quickly to a corner to have her fill. Her ears were on high alert, trying to hear anything the mind-reader might share. She needed to understand her better, and maybe learn more about her gifts.

She just had to survive this whole home project thing and have fun. Until Marina, bored was all she was. There wasn't much else of interest. Would someone take away her boredom? she wondered, as a sigh escaped her red lips.

Marina thought she had to be pushy if she wanted to actually make progress with the young witch. Against her better judgment, she went to the table where Lana was seated. With a smile on her face, she took a seat and asked, ''you don't mind me sitting here, do you?''

The witch, Lana, frowned upon seeing the young woman, and with a sarcastic smile on her face she said, "of course not, but you don't mind me leaving, do you? After all, I'm done here." And with, that she left.

That didn't go as planned, the mind reader thought.