Chapter Text

New Orleans - The Trip

'Are you ready, Ames?' Mitchell yelled from his office.

'Yep, all good to go,' Amy replied. 

Amy had been working for the company for a while now and usually she travelled with Mitchell and Richard, the owners of the company to collect art in the area. This time, she would be travelling with Mitchell to New Orleans. It would be an almost seven hour trip, but with stops on the way, probably up to 8 hours, much longer than she was used to. She didn’t mind being stuck with Mitchell in a car that long though, because they got along really well. They had from the start, even before Amy set foot in the company, but she didn’t have time to reminisce. She needed to hurry.

'I’m driving,' Amy tried for the millionth time.

Mitchell just laughed and shook his head. He never let her drive. She wasn’t sure if he didn’t trust her to drive, or that he really liked driving or that maybe, he liked driving her around. 

'Nice try Ames, but you know that’s not going to happen,' Mitchell said with a smile on his face and his signature twinkle in his eyes.

'Well, then I pick the music,' Amy sulked. 

'Fine with that,' Mitchell agreed and helped Amy get the luggage into the car. 

It wouldn’t be the usual day trip, but they would be there for a couple of days, or maybe even as long as a week, staying over in the New Orleans townhouse, which the company owned. 

VAMPs (Vintage and Art Marketing Partners), had an office in New Orleans as well. It would be their base after they had visited an old mansion for an inventory of artworks. The son, who had inherited the mansion, wanted to sell some of it, so he called in VAMPs to value the antiques and art and help sell them.

Amy hoped that she would have time to visit her best friend as well. Lena was a practicing witch, but not the stereotypical one with the pointy hat and a broomstick. She was quite “normal” as Amy once remarked. She worked in a small Witch and Magic shop, as Amy called it, which was a Metaphysical shop, as Lena had corrected her many times.  

Lena and Amy had become best friends when Amy lived in New Orleans for a while, before moving to Atlanta. She had missed her and was looking forward to seeing her again.  It was going to be a good trip, she decided, and settled in the seat next to Mitchell.

Amy was browsing through her Spotify playlist to find the perfect list for their road trip. It was always a bit of a hassle getting out of Atlanta,  but soon, they would be on their way to New Orleans and they needed good  music for such a long trip. It didn’t take long before her New Wave playlist was blasting from the speakers. Mitchell and Amy had similar taste in music, which was a relief. Imagine being stuck in a car for seven  hours and having to listen to boy bands. She was horrified at the thought.

Amy did not come to  this trip unprepared. She had figured out quite a bit about vampires and other supernatural things in the past months from books,  ever since they had told her that they were vampires, but the material was so contradicting,  she didn't know what was real and what was fiction.  Amy had laughed at the thought that vampires would be running the company, just because it was called VAMPs.  When they revealed to her that they were actual vampires, she could not believe it. She thought that they were playing a joke on her. However, they were dead serious and when they had revealed their vampire faces, with the black eyes and their fangs, she knew it wasn't a joke at all.

Instead of getting the hell out of there and finding another job,  she was intrigued and stayed on. She had found that there was no reason to leave. After all,  they hadn't harmed her and she quite liked the job. She had also become very fond of Mitchell and Richard. She did have many questions though and she was determined to ask, or rather interrogate, Mitchell during their trip. It would be the perfect opportunity. She just wasn’t too sure how to start.

She still had some time  to muster up the courage to fire off her questions. Mitchell was on the phone with Richard, ironing out some details of the visit to New Orleans. The music was turned down a bit and Amy was stealing glances at him. She had caught herself staring at him in the office quite often. She just hoped that Mitchell, nor anyone else had caught her checking him out. That would be totally embarrassing. She felt her cheeks turn red at the thought alone.

On the other hand, who could blame her? Mitchell was a vampire,  yes,  but he was also a very handsome guy. He was tall, had gorgeous hazel eyes, lush, dark curly hair, with one stubborn curl always doing its own thing and making Amy want to grab it and put it back in its place,  which she obviously didn't do,  but containing herself was very hard. He always carried a smile on his face, his eyes twinkling when he laughed. He was mostly good humored and very friendly. And then there was his Irish accent! Amy had a thing for Irish accents. It totally made her weak. She loved listening to him talk and she was concentrating on the conversation.  Every now and then, Mitchell burst out in full laughter, throwing his head back,  automatically putting a smile on Amy’s face. His laugh was so contagious. 

When Mitchell finally hung up, they were already out of Atlanta and on the highway to New Orleans. Here we go, Amy thought, hoping to remember her mental list of questions.

What she definitely was NOT going to ask,  was how he became a vampire.  This seemed a bit too personal and intimate.  She was dying to know,  but she wouldn't ask.  There were so many more questions, like why did they tell her in the first place,  did they really drink human blood,  were they able to fly,  did they have super speed and super hearing, and so much more. 

'Ames,  are you still with me? Daydreaming again,  are you?' Mitchell grinned.  He had caught her daydreaming in the office a couple of times. He didn't mind,  because it gave him time to study Amy without her noticing it.  She was quite beautiful with her long brown hair,  her mesmerizing eyes, which had different colors,  her right eye being brown and her left green and her perfect smile.  But it wasn't just her good looks that appealed to him.  She was smart too and this, in combination with her determination and curiosity,  had made him become quite fond of her. 

Amy snapped from her thoughts. 'I have questions.' 

'OK. About? The job?'

'No,  actually,  about the whole vampire thing.  If you don't mind?'

'No,  not at all,  ask away.'

'Sooo, how did you become a vampire?’ she blurted out.  Amy could kick herself.  Why would she ask that?  That was the ONE question she was not going to ask. 

'I'm sorry,'  she quickly added. ‘That was not… if you don't want to... '

'No,  no,'  Mitchell turned to her,  'it's fine.  Ask away.  I know we dropped this whole vampire thing on you and we haven't really talked about any of it.  It's understandable that you have questions.'

Amy let out a sigh of relief. 

'So,  how did I become a vampire? Well, it was in the war, over two centuries ago and I was a soldier and at some point the bad guys had killed most of my platoon and I nearly died too and then Richard found me and he turned me into a vampire.' 

'That's it?' Amy asked after a couple of seconds of silence,  half expecting more to the story. 

'Yeah,  that's it.' Mitchell turned to look at her.  'The short version at least. Why?  Did you expect a story of rituals and ceremonies and cloaks and fire and gatherings? Because that only happens in movies and stories you know,' he said amused. 

'No,  no,  it's just that,  you know...  I don't know...  Thank you for telling me.  It seemed like a very personal thing. I maybe shouldn't have asked.'  

'Nah, not at all,  and you know,  it was such a long time ago and you are not the first person to ask me this. Hence the short version.  I guess I've told the story so many times that I have broken it down to this.'

'Right,  right,' Amy nodded. 

'Come on.  What else would you like to know?  I bet there is more,  I bet you have a whole list?'' Mitchell tapped his fingers on the wheel excitedly. 

He couldn't have been more right. 

'Yeah,  so why did you guys tell me?  I would have thought it best to keep something like that a secret.'

'Oh Ames, there would have been no way to keep it from you.  You would have found out eventually anyway being so curious and resourceful and all. Rick and I discussed if we should tell you or not,  but in the end, we had a good feeling about you and I foresaw a long lasting relationship with you... I mean work relationship,  not… like you and me relationship…'  Mitchell stumbled and averted his eyes,  suddenly concentrating very hard on the road. 

Fortunately, Amy didn't seem to notice the awkwardness and now that the ice was broken,  Amy fired off one question after the other and Mitchell happily answered them all, giving Amy a bit more insight into the whole vampire lure and what was myth and what was not. 

'So what about mirrors? She asked. 

'What about them?'

'Can you see your reflection?'

'Of course I can!' he laughed. 'How else am I going to do my hair? Let alone shave?' And remember that antique shop just outside of Atlanta that we visited last month?  You saw my reflection  there a dozen times.'

'Right,  stupid. I remember.  It was like being in a fun house,' she remembered and laughed at her question too. 

'OK.  Can I take a picture of you and will you be in it?', she asked. 

'My God, which books did you read?' he laughed. Yes, our image can be captured, but we try to avoid it for practical reasons.  You can only use the excuse that you look like your grandfather so many times. Since we don't age,  we need to be careful that we are not recorded and get discovered that way. It's getting more difficult in this age with all the social media and cameras being everywhere. We are fortunate to be in this business,  since most contacts are one off or the owners of the antiques have already passed away and no photos or videos of us are involved,  but for others,  like Ben,  my long time buddy,  who is a doctor,  it's much more difficult to stay off the radar.' 

'Wait.  your buddy is a vampire and a doctor?' Amy asked. 'That must come in handy with the blood supply then? '

'Yeah,  about that,' Mitchell started,  now with a serious expression. 'That is another myth.  We don't necessarily need to drink blood to survive 'Rick, Ben and I haven't, you know… ' he didn’t finish the sentence. 

Amy noticed that Mitchell was getting uncomfortable.  It must be pretty hard to talk about that. 

'Yeah,  I get what you are saying, ' she said quickly. 'Next question',  she joyfully added to lighten the mood and frankly,  she wasn't sure she was ready for that aspect of the whole vampire thing. 

For the next couple of hours,  they talked more about vampires,  Mitchell's past, music,  movies, travel,  but also about Amy. It was a perfect opportunity for both of them to get to know each other a little better. 

Around lunch time,  Mitchell pulled into a parking lot at a roadside diner. 'Let's grab a bite,' he said. 

'You're not going to eat ME are you?' Amy remarked jokingly. 

'What?  Nooo,  no of course not,  not literally I'm not,  I mean,  also not the other eating… Mitchell stopped talking, then quickly added without meeting her eyes, 'Look,  there's no eating... you … OK… food, we're eating food.' He fumbled with the car keys and then quickly got out of the car. 

Amy could slap herself. Maybe she should just shut up for the rest of the trip. They still had a long way to go and she didn't know if she could handle more awkwardness. 

Fortunately,  during lunch,  they quickly went back to chatting and laughing and just having fun, the awkward moments all but forgotten.

After lunch,  back on the road,  they continued chatting and even singing along to Amy's playlist,  time flew by and they would soon arrive at their destination. They would arrive an hour earlier because of the time zone difference,  which was nice. It would give them a bit longer to get a first impression and also to take some time to rest from the drive before meeting the owner.  

When they finally pulled into the driveway to the mansion,  Amy couldn't believe her eyes.  She had seen many mansions during her time in New Orleans,  but this one was exceptionally beautiful. And it was huge too. It must be full of historical treasures and art.  She couldn't help but get very excited. 

Mitchell noticed Amy's excitement and he smiled to himself,  knowing that he had made the right decision to bring her along. 

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So what do you think they will find in the mansion? Find out in chapter 2.

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