Lauren went to the house of Otto Rochester, the chief cook who worked at her sister's restaurant, accompanied by one of Eloise's lackeys named Olympia Altman.
I wish I could move around solo, and not need to be accompanied by some elite lackey of some elite vampire. But then again, I still need some protection, since I'm not on par with the elite vampires, werewolves, and witches, should they come and attack me suddenly. Let's just get on with it, and finish with the tasks I need to do for today.
Lauren thought to herself.
"Olympia, no need to feel shy. Feel free to get inside Otto's house. Just promise not to tell anyone with links to our enemies what happened here, and everything will be alright."
Lauren bluntly told Olympia.
Lauren figured that since it's pointless keeping secrets from the likes of elite vampires like Olympia, it's better that she knows, anyway.
She hoped that it wouldn't backfire against her later on.
The two of them went inside Otto's house, and found Otto sitting in the living room, watching soccer on his gaming laptop, while drinking chilled beer and eating some roasted beef.
Otto looked up at the two girls, surprised to see that he had guests this early in the morning.
"Lauren? What are you doing here? You should have called before arriving. Where's Elyse? Why is another girl accompanying you?"
Ugh. So many questions. I don't have the patience to entertain a lot of questions, so I'll get straight to the point, as always.
Lauren thought to herself, trying to keep a straight face in front of Otto, and prevent herself from frowning at the guy's cheekiness.
"Not now, please, Otto. I'm not in the mood to banter around with you. I got some serious news to tell you."
Lauren replied bluntly, taking a seat in one of the sofa chairs in Otto's living room, while Olympia made herself comfortable on the recliner sofa, listening on the conversation between Lauren and Otto.
" Oh, did something happen, Lauren? Come on, spill it."
Otto's tone went serious, seeing Lauren's no nonsense expression, looking straight at Lauren's face.
"My sister, Elyse, died in a car crash. Her car jumped over a cliff. It was an unfortunate accident, but at the end of the day, she's gone. Don't worry, you and the rest of her employees can keep your jobs. From now on, I will be your new employer. My sister's restaurant will continue as usual. That's all I have to say. Do you get me loud and clear, Otto? "
Lauren using her mind control ability on Otto, said, her eyes flashing blood red, with Otto's attention completely focused on Elyse.
" I get it now, Lauren. You nearly gave me a heart attack right then and there. I thought you were going to fire me or someone else."
Otto replied back to Lauren.
"Enough with the yapping around, and spread exactly what I told you, alright, Otto? Oh, and tell the accountant to specifically forward the MS Excel records of the list of restaurant expenses and total profits directly to me. I'll also be in full control of my sister's online bank account. My business here with you is done. We'll see ourselves out. Enjoy your day, Otto. "
Lauren's eyes returned back to their normal color, then both Lauren and Olympia went out of Otto's house, back into Olympia's car.
" You've changed, Lauren. You used to be a simple little girl back then, too shy to even step out into the dark shadows,and content to stay on as an ordinary vampire."
Olympia remarked when they were finally out on the open road,with Olympia on the driver's side of the car.
Lauren ignored Olympia's remark, looking out from the window of the backseat of Olympia's car instead.
It's pointless blabbing myself out to people I know personally. As they say, actions speak louder than words. Sooner or later, the whole lot of them will be surprised by what I can do. Maybe even shocked, too.
Lauren thought to herself.
"Turns out you're a miniature version of Elyse after all. No-nonsense attitude, and a fierce, blunt talker. That was a smart move you did earlier, getting straight to business with Otto."
Olympia said, trying to break the ice and the awkward silence in the long drive ahead.
" Thanks, Olympia. I can sense that you're trying to get close with me. What's your point? What do you want from me? "
" Pfft. Hahahahaha. What's my point? Don't you get my point, Lauren? I also used to be close with that vampire spy. You know about the existence of the vampire group your sister used to lead, correct? Right now, you're just an ordinary vampire. Their second in command is an elite vampire. The entire group your sister used to lead only listens to people like your sister. Why? Because she's skilled, she's talented, and she's proven herself to them. And most of all, she's an elite vampire who can be on par with them. Do you think that right now, they'll listen to you, when you're just an ordinary vampire who isn't even an elite, and someone with next to no accomplishments at that? No, they'll just disregard you and laugh at you upfront. You obviously need my help. Think it over, Lauren. "
Olympia burst out laughing at Lauren's statement, then made another sharp remark, trying her best to keep a serious face while her eyes are glued on the road, her hands on the steering wheel of her car.
" What do you want from me? Why are you helping me? Don't tell me you also have an axe to grind against Charlotte."
"Actually, I don't. I share the same views as your sister. Your sister's mistake was to make her intentions obvious to Charlotte. Too obvious, if you ask me."
"And why are you telling me all this, Olympia?"
"Because we both want Charlotte out. And I admit, I've also been thinking, what if I push Charlotte out of the Vampire Council rankings with the help of you and Eloise?"
"Pffft. You're too ambitious for your own good, Olympia. As if that will easily happen. Charlotte won't give up her seat without a fight. Don't underestimate the wealth and influence of the Bancroft family. And don't forget that she is backed by the witches, who in turn also hold control of the werewolves behind the scenes. You can't make a reckless move. Make a move without thinking, and you'll get wiped out faster than you know it. "
" Where do you want to go now, Lauren? It's still quite early in the morning. "
Olympia said, changing the topic.
" Drive me straight to the house of a certain memorial park manager named Lilliana Astor. She should be awake by now. You also know her, correct? She is the one that Elyse used to contact when she had to bury bodies of dead members from her group when she was still alive. It so happens that Lilia has a lot of contacts in the burial and cemetery industry, since that's her line of work."
Lauren said to Olympia.
Lauren knew that she had to act fast.
If she didn't do anything about the body of her sister, Charlotte will eventually beat her into burying the body of her sister.
It's better that she bury the body of her sister instead of someone she once thought was an ally,then disclose it later at the Vampire Council when she is already an elite vampire with a seat in the council.
Just you wait, Charlotte. I won't let you place your minion on the seat used to be held by my sister. I'll take it, and surprise you so bad that I'd like to see your disgruntled and angry face upfront.
Lauren smirked as she thought to herself.
She knew that she needed to train and practice abilities that the elite vampires practiced, and gain influence in order to be acknowledged as an elite vampire worthy of a seat in the Vampire Council.
The entire ride to Lilia's house was silent and uneventful, with Olympia playing Rihanna songs through the Bluetooth sound system of her Mercedes Benz G-Class SUV.
It didn't take long before they finally arrived at Lilia's house, located in Arran Hills.
They parked right outside the gate of the apartment unit owned by Lilia.
Lilia sat in front of the gate, sipping a hot cup of coffee.
Both Lauren and Olympia went out of the car, much to Lilia's surprise.
Lilia opened the gate and let the two vampires in.
"Lauren. Olympia. What a pleasant surprise to see both of you here. Why did you come to me without letting me know firsthand at such an early hour like this?"
The 26 year old lady said with much excitement after the three went straight to the living room of Lilia's apartment.
After the three of them bantered and made small talk while sipping a hot cup of coffee, Lauren decided it was time to get serious and get straight to the point.
After Lauren placed her empty cup into the coffee table, she used her mind control skill again on Lilia.
"It's nice seeing you, and getting to be with you again, Lilia, but banter and small talks aren't what I came here for. To tell you bluntly, my sister is dead. I need your help in giving her a decent burial. I know you got a lot of contacts among the funeral houses here in North Carolina. My sister is temporarily buried in the property she just bought. If you don't know where exactly, Eloise is willing to lead you to the exact place. My sister was mauled by a wild animal. You know Eloise Archambeau, correct? I'll send the money in advance, so you can start attending to what you need for the burial. "
Lauren whipped out her deceased sister's smartphone and sent an advance payment to Lilia.
" By the way, I added in a little extra for you. Just text, call or chat with me when you've already buried my sister's body in the memorial park. Thanks for the coffee."
Both Lauren and Olympia got up, went out of the apartment and back into Olympia's car, leaving Lilia to drink coffee alone in the living room of Lilia's apartment.
Lauren heaved a sigh of relief when they were finally back on the highway.
" What's the sigh of relief for? Because dealing with humans is tricky? Dealing with humans is always tricky and risky business, since they naturally fear and distrust us vampires because of unfortunate events that happened in the past. You're smart, Lauren. You also know your own history very well. But we're good at disguising ourselves and preventing the humans from knowing the exact identities of us vampires and even that of the werewolves and the witches. Use that fact to your advantage,and always remember it, Lauren. "
" Thanks for the reminder, Olivia. Drive me back to Eloise's house. I need to study, and practice new vampire abilities.
"Can't wait already, eh? I can smell your desire to get back at Charlotte already."
Lauren didn't reply, looking outside the car door from the backseat of Olivia's Mercedes Benz once more, deeply absorbed in her thoughts.
She may be just an ordinary student in Alpha Academy, but she was no ordinary student.
She was one of the smart students in her class, always getting a flat A+ in every subject she had.
The final exams were approaching fast, and she didn't want her grades to drop.
Although she was smart, she was not the sociable type, most of the time keeping to herself, and keeping a low profile inside the campus.
But since she had good looks, fair skin, and a sexy body, boys approached her and tried to be close friends with her,only to fail right at the first attempt because she would just look at them from head to toe with eyebrows raised, then look away, even during lunch break.
She also needed to practice new vampire abilities, aside from mind-control, which is her main ability.
She has already picked future sight, telepathy, levitation, electrokinesis, scrying, and pyrokinesis as the abilities she wanted to master.
An elite vampire had a lot of vampiric abilities, but ordinary vampires had at most one or two abilities.
And Lauren didn't want to stay as an ordinary vampire forever.