[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/lc6F6Jv.png[/img][/center]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23g5HBOg3Ic][i]You see, tonight, it could go either way. Hearts balanced on a razor blade...[/i][/url]

A pair of noise cancelling headphones hugged the side of the boy’s head, as Ed Sheeran’s voice played in his ear while the child sang along with all his heart, as if enshrined in his own world. Head bopping to the rhythm, fingers clattered across the brightly lit keyboard.

Legs drawn up into the chair, the boy sat cross-legged before a widescreen monitor, opening, minimizing, and shuffling various Excel spreadsheets around while keying in different formulas. A gaming PC sat on the desk, it’s transparent panel illuminating the inner workings of the machine.

Finally, the child’s brown eyes looked up as his hands paused over the keys. Two fingers keyed ctrl+s before the boy kicked out with one leg to send his chair wheeling across the room to a small refrigerator that was behind him.

Cracking open the chill box, the boy’s fingers perused three blood donation pouches, before deciding on the one labeled AB Positive and then pushing off to wheel himself back over to the computer.

That was enough work on the Ventrue account. 

Popping the blood bag into his mouth, the child’s fangs slid down through the plastic as he held and sipped on it like a kid’s juice box, all the while closing Excel and opening a secure email to send the files over to his client.

The mouse cursor then hovered over Steam. He could get in [i]lots[/i] of Baldur’s Gate 3 before sunrise...

There was a [i]ding[/i] as an email arrived.

The boy hesitated a moment. He’d already launched Steam, did he want to look?

Curiosity got the better of him, and he brought his email back up. 

A summons? The frown was fleeting, but a twinge of regret at not being able to play Baldur’s Gate was felt nonetheless. 

[hr]

It was fortunate that in the modern nights one need only have an Uber or Lyft account. Much more convenient than the bygone era of trying to hail a cab in the streets of New York. Especially in the small hours.

The boy was dressed in a vintage [i]The Lost Boys [/i]graphic tee. Black paint was chipped and fading from his fingernails. His bangs were brushed so that they fell over one side of his face, with the most prominently visible eye displaying an application of [i]guyliner[/i]. Finishing the look was a choker that looked as if it were a spiked dog collar around his neck.

The Uber driver caught one look of the kid’s fangs in the rear view mirror and just shook his head, muttering something about Marilyn Manson and posers as they made their way toward the mansion.

The smile that spread across the child’s face was genuine.The popularity of the chain store known as [i]Hot Topic[/i] had somehow made possible what would otherwise be a flagrant violation of their oldest Tradition.

Certainly, COVID had been nice. Wearing face masks always helped when one had fangs that they could not hide. But in the absence of masks, playing into what had become a cultural norm made him almost invisible. 

Just another goth kid.

Fake goth. Mall goth. Whatever label one chose to apply to it.

Getting out in front of the mansion just cemented the preconceived notion that was in the driver’s head. The kid was just a spoiler white brat stuck in some cosplay fantasy.

In contrast to his informal appearance, the boy bowed graciously to the butler at the door – once upon a time, he’d been the butler doing the door answering for his master – and then proceeded repeat the gesture as he entered to find Ian and Elizabeth already present.

[color=#6fa8dc]“[/color][i][color=#6fa8dc]Buona notte[/color][/i][color=#6fa8dc],”[/color] the boy offered in his native tongue. Then, looking around the room and the assembled faces, asked, [color=#6fa8dc]“[/color][i][color=#6fa8dc]Mi dica?[/color][/i][color=#6fa8dc]”[/color] which was a simple phrase meaning [i]how can I help?[/i]

If Edwina shared the information about the club, Enzo wouldn’t be able to join Ian or Elizabeth there, but it was possible he could make inquiries with the spirits and ghosts in the area to see if they’d seen or heard anything.