The Vampire's Apprentice

"Does every sneeze I make concern you?" Kitty asked in return. "I'm fine. We need to talk." That wasn't quite how she'd meant to say it, but the words were out. "If you've got a minute?" She was fidgeting with her fingertips, noticed, and immediately stopped.
 
"Hmm, this sounds serious," Clancy remarked. He gestured for her to sit on the couch and he took his chair. "Very well, what is it, Miss Kitty?"
 
Kitty fell into the seat, looking at him intently. Her hands gestured as she spoke; a habit when something bothered her.

"I'm currently under the assumption that you," she pointed, "still think I'm somehow secretly trying to kill you. I'm not. I never have been, I don't see why I would be, and that would be incomprehensibly," her fingers went outward in a slight explosive movement, "counterproductive to even consider. I'd be back where I started with even less to live for."

Kitty placed her palms flat on her lap. "I'm not trying to make you mad. And I've got other things I want to say; it's just so hard to be honest when I constantly feel like there's a death threat hanging over my head." One hand's flatten fingers directed towards her chest in reference to herself, then fell again into a loose fist, pressing against her knee.
 
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Clancy steepled his fingers and rested the tips on his lips as he studied her for a long moment of silence. "I can see how you would be feeling disconcerted, and I appreciate your honesty," he said at last, "but what you must understand is people have a history of using what they can to get ahead, and when they feel secure, the do whatever it takes to keep that security. Take this scenario, for instance. As of right now, you have nothing to fall back on. You are alive only because of my generosity. For now, you feel somewhat indebted and you are content with what I have given you, including tasks to do. You have no intention of doing anything to jeopardize that. However, there may come a time when you grow dissatisfied with the status quo. Perhaps you will feel you are more of a partner than a servant and will ask to be treated as such. Perhaps you will fear I will replace you. Perhaps you will see an easier way.

"I am rather wealthy. Certainly not obscenely rich, but I am comfortably well off. It is astounding how much money you save when you do not eat food you need to buy at the market, and I make a decent paycheck in my job. You have the opportunity to discover such things as my banking information and all other such sensitive information and take it over, should you desire. Of course, if I discovered you did such a thing, I would have to kill you, but you could do it while I slept and was powerless, and I would be unable to stop you from killing me. During the night, you can do nothing to harm me, but during the day, if you discovered where I slept, I would be completely at your mercy.

"I trust you far, farther than I have trusted any other human in a very long time, but the reason I am still alive at closing in on two hundred and fifty years and not dead at twenty-five is because I am cautious and borderline paranoid. That paranoia and distrust keep me alive, and as bored as life may get for me, I still prefer it over death.

"That being said, if I am going to kill you, you will know it. It will not be sudden, it will not be sneaky, and you will know exactly why. It is not something you need to fear unless you, yourself, give a reason for it to happen. I will punish you most severely long before I kill you, for even though I may not trust you as much as you wish, I am annoyingly fond of you and do not wish your death.

"Does that put your mind to rest?"
 
"A little." Discovered where he slept. Kitty made note of these words. Annoyingly fond? That made her feel better. "It does, yes."

There was a moment of silence, and her fidget habits went slightly defensive. She rubbed at her elbows with her thumbs and tried to avoid looking at him when she spoke. Finding it impossible to phrase as a statement, she asked a question. "Are we... still talking about my past?"
 
"Do you want me to tell you?" Kitty blurted quickly before she thought about it too hard and backed out.
 
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Pull yourself together. You were doing this just last night! Kitty pressed her forehead into the heels of her hands, trying to find the words. "Ask me a question. One thing at a time."
 
"They... I...." She exhaled in a groan, screwing her eyes shut. "There were three older brothers, my mom, my dad, and myself. I was the runt. The youngest, and the one who frequently did... everything. Almost like Cinderella, except not. My two oldest brothers would either pick fights or leave me be. My parents seemed to know I existed but mostly ignored my presence." There was a pause. She swallowed back tears. "The sibling closest to my age; we were friends. He had a standing with my elder siblings, but cared for me just the same. Like a good sibling relationship should be. Ask another question."
 
"I... I told you already." Kitty said, her voice becoming softer and more strained. "He... died. I was content, but then he left and... life... it's gone."
 
"Tell me about that," Clancy said. "Tell me the whole story." He was tired of asking questions and prying. It was frustrating and annoying. Not to mention, this was clearly stressful for her, so why couldn't she just get it over with in one go?
 
The whole story? All of it? Everything? Kitty looked up at him. Her mouth was dry again. She tried to speak, to tell him. Her voice came out a whisper. "I can't. I can't do it. We can talk of the aftermath or what came before, but I can't talk about his–" her voice cracked "–his death."
 
"Yes. You. Can," Clancy stated firmly. "You want to talk about it. What you fear is the pain. If you plunge in and tell me everything, then it will not hurt so much. So, tell me."
 
"Maybe I'm not ready to say!" She exclaimed, her voice rising with a note of hysteria. "I have tried honestly this time, but I don't see why my pain is so important to you. Why do you care so much? Do you enjoy to see me suffer in trying to please you?"

She hadn't brought it up because she wanted to tell him what she had seen. The conversation was in effort to release the fear that her secrets would be her downfall. She wanted him to accept her, and these fears stood in the way somehow. But at this point, her rationality was fading. Kitty wasn't thinking straight.
 
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