Topic: Of Houses And Bloodwine

Marcus Crow · Date: 2006-03-16 09:46 EST

What a stink hole, the place around the building reeked of death and decay, it was dark and shadowed and foreboding. It was perfect. Talomar Longden had not lied, the WestEnd was definitely a place for his kind of business, he stared at the store front, a two story brick building with windows in the lower half to show off as a store front, all broken of course, and more smaller windows upstairs.

He approached the door, his eyes looking at it with distaste and in a finery of mist he was suddenly standing inside the building in the middle of the floor, his boot heels crunching on broken glass that littered the old wood floor. He appraised it as if he was staring at the ugliest place in the world, it was bigger then he had first realized as he walked into the back room, his gaze sweeping the area. The floors were all hard wood and upon examining the down stairs he found that the old beams of the basement had held up well, the basement its self was perfect.

Marcus smirked before he turned to head back up to the main floor before slipping up that stairs to look around up there, yes this would be perfect, but it would need work, lots of work. The location was great and the old brownstone next door would serve his purposes wonderfully, yes. He smiled and walked to the window to peer down into the encompassing darkness, yes this would suit his needs well.

He would have to get a little help from Talomar, if only to just find the owner of the annoying little building and the house beside, then it would be a matter of rebuilding it. He would rebuild it, the windows would have to be replaced, shelving built, the place would have to be cleaned, and the house next door too would have to be prepared, that would be time consuming, but he had all the time in the world.

He was after all immortal. Marcus withdrew a silver inlaid flask and smiled softly to himself before raising it to his lips in silent toast before letting the thick red liquid pour down his throat, sating his hunger. Soon it would be his, all his, for a minute the building seemed to be surrounded by mists, when they cleared Marcus Crow was gone.

Marcus Crow · Date: 2006-03-18 08:36 EST

The work was not at all slow going, one would have to be a fool to look Marcus Crow in the eye and tell him it would take a while, they wouldn't live long enough to regret it. Cattle disgusted him, mortals were nothing more then fodder, and there was no reason one could not be replaced very easily, even those with building experience. So when Marcus hired a contractor to get to work on the buildings he had purchased, they were fast to the job, leaving all other jobs unfinished.

Marcus didn't care for the building really, it was nothing compared to his estate he owned, but it would do, things were changing in Rhy-Din, young Talomar was seeking power beyond what he could ever accomplish, and Marcus planned on being there through the whole thing. He had watched the girl leave sent away by Talomar in exchange for marriage to that vampire, the one that wasn't right in the head, a decision that hadn't really shocked Marcus, after all Maria was just cattle, but at the sametime he was sure Talomar could do much better then the little vamp he was about to marry.

He never could understand why one would drop themselves to socializing with those of lower status then them, and when it came to Talomar Longden, you didn't get much higher. Though he had to admit to himself he had been accused of associating with lower class when he visited Longden castle, but he ignored those people, they didn't see what he saw, and that was a master vampire with a strength unseen by those higher up, he was a vampire with access to hundreds of worlds, billions of cattle, and in his business cattle counted.

He watched his buildings take shape, the windows were replaced with a cut leaded crystal, the inside the floors were restored to their perfect lusted, with thick velvet chairs and couches an ornate wood desk and straight backed leather chair, ash side tables. Everything was perfectly cozy, and nothing like a business place. Beyond the front room was his wine room filled from floor to ceiling with the finest in wines, below it was the true wine cellar filled with the best blood wines ever seen, blood of emperors, conquerors, queens, and for the truly adventurous alter boys and priests, just diluted enough to make them very potent, but not deadly.

Marcus knew that in order for blood to be truly holy it had to be blood of a true believer, and very few in the church were true believers, men who hungered for flesh forbidden, boys who were not as well behaved as mothers thought they were. These wines would cause a vampire to be very drunk, very fast, but they wouldn't be harmed by them, except for the hang over in the morning. Marcus personally hated the blood wine of minstrels, but many loved it, so he carried it.

Upstairs he had the rooms made up for guests, the unwilling kind, with chains hanging from the ceiling, special flooring, more chains on the floor, gurneys and special bowls and knives. The windows had been replaced by the same cut lead, just like the ones downstairs with a pattern that could not be seen through. Everything had been built to his exact instructions and he was very pleased with how well it all turned out.

As he stood in the middle of the shop he grinned, yes, this was perfect, but he had yet to go to the house next door, he hoped he would not be disappointed as he headed for the door.

Marcus Crow · Date: 2006-03-18 18:23 EST

Marcus stood just inside the brownstone, the room was dimly lit, before him stretched the expanse of his new home. Not just his, but all of his immortal children, all those he had left behind at his estate, from the youngest, just a few decade old, to the oldest at just shy of five hundred. They would all be brought to him as soon as he was sure his home would be ready for them, the youngest was just learning to tolerate the light of day, she still had a ways to go yet, he had to make sure his home would properly protect her from the light of day.

He walked the length of the short hall leading into the main room, an expansive room, with hard wood floors, a century old area rug made by the finest Persian rug makers. Victorian couches and lounges, sway back chairs, all upholstered in the finest blood red velvet, with deep inlaid buttons, the wood trim was carved mahogany with a design that resembled closely that of bats in flight. A stone hearth surrounded a deep large fireplace that with a single thought lit to a roaring flame. Amazing how he could control that which was so deadly to him.

He walked through the room and into another hall that extended into the back of the building, here was a large training ground, it would do well for teaching sword play and first hunts of his next child when he chose the next, once he had his last taught to survive on her own. There was an office and library and a study and kitchen, though he doubted he would get any use out of it, some of his fellow kindred my find use of it though.

Once he was sure the library was fully stocked and the study prepared for him he headed up the stairs in the main room and smiled softly as he came out in the large upstairs, many rooms littered this floor and the one above it, he located the bedroom that would be hers, no windows, despite the safety of the leaded glass, it was best to give her a place to hide from time to time. He made sure every window was properly leaded, and that all the rooms were perfectly decorated for each taste before he headed back down to the study.

He moved to the big ornate desk and sat down, pulling out a silver pen and a piece of parchment, he began to pen a letter, first to his estate, second to a supplier he knew. He made sure both were sealed with his personal seal in red wax mixed with his own blood so his children would know it was indeed sent by him. Once he had finished he stood, time to sleep away the day, he would rise before moon rise and send the letters.