The two of them appeared to stand within the space of Vale’s mind as if it were a real place, a brief shared dreamscape that he could create via touch.
Vale’s mind was like a detective’s office, and was where he often organized his thoughts. It was classy and comfortable, yet a bit cluttered and dark, like an old noir. Small artifacts appeared here and there among the volumes of knowledge collected over time.
Claire allowed herself to be pulled into his mind, and then gave pause as she looked at him. A startling realization hitting her and she frowned. “I am sorry. I didn’t know what this was… I… have done this before.”
“Quite alright.”, Dr Vale said as he watched her, but heard the sounds of her own mind in conflict, as if it were outside of the door or window. “Can you tell me about when you did it before?”, he asked as he studied her carefully.
She struggled with the sounds trying to get in from outside briefly before looking back to him again. “I don’t remember a lot of it anymore. It was a long time ago.”, she said as she started to scan the various objects in the room, taking her eyes off his anxiously.
Her eyes scanned each object, each title of book her eyes passed over, taking in small details. “Are you a vampire?”, Claire asked with a sudden bluntness as she brought her gaze back from the room to his face.
“You’ve seen my kind before then?”, he responded calmly, noting her increased anxiety and the darkness in the echoes of her own thoughts so close.
Nodding, she moved slowly, starting to examine things a little more closely. “It was the late nineties, they moved on though after a couple years, to somewhere up in Canada, I think. I lied on the initial paper. I didn’t think any of this would be the real thing, didn’t want to say anything.”
Dr. Vale smiled gently and nodded to her, resting lightly against the desk in a relaxed pose. “A lot of vampires were migrating north during that time. You might find the history interesting. As for the paperwork, don’t worry about it. We actually prefer that sort of discretion around here.”
He watched her exploring the space for a more few seconds before he continued, “I have to ask, did you drink their blood?”
Claire’s eyes fell to the floor quickly, “Just those communion rituals I mentioned.”
“It’s okay. We can and should talk about this later, even if you don’t end up staying on here.”, said Dr. Vale gently.
Claire seemed to relax visibly, and approached the desk, smiling as she saw the piano hidden away there. She reached out cautiously, letting her finger brush the keys without playing a sound before something else caught her attention. A folder on the desk, which she lifted up to read, “Blood magic… Houston…”
“Hey! That’s not yours.”, Dr. Vale said as he stood up straight and took the folder back, looking to her with a mixture of amusement and gentle concern. “It is just an old case that I was reminded of.”
“Oh?”, Claire waved a hand and words started being pulled from the folder to hover in place between them. “Cold case? Drifter pack… 199-”, she started.
In rather large block letters, the word REDACTED appeared, startling Claire slightly. Dr. Vale smirked as he clicked his tongue at her. “When you join the Agency, I’ll let you see the case file. Not a minute before.”
Claire looked at the strange noir scene, and the giant word between them, and couldn’t help but laugh at the surreal image. “Okay.”, she said, and left it at that.
The scene around them faded, and they were once again standing in the library, though to anyone else watching it was as if they had just been standing quietly holding hands for several minutes.