Post by Loren Finley on Aug 20, 2015 21:18:26 GMT 8
Lowering the camera Loren glanced around the clearing she’d walked into. It was far more remote out here than she’d imagined when she’d taken off walking from the town but she suspected that remote was going to be high on the list of things that Ana was going to need when she got here. You didn’t go making desperate late night phone calls if you wanted to be right in the centre of things. Narrowing her eyes faintly, turning in a slow circle, Loren picked another direction and took off amongst the trees once more. Her camera swung freely around her neck, its lens cap tucked into the back pocket of her jeans in readiness for it to be used at any moment. Photography was usually a great cover for almost anything, especially in tourist traps like Mystic Falls and New Orleans. There were picturesque vistas everywhere, and she honestly had taken a few shots this afternoon for herself, things that had caught her eye, but the trip wasn’t just a pleasant walk in the woods. Loren was looking for somewhere for Ana and her ... friend ... to lay low. She was guessing that the friend was something more than that and that he’d had something to do with the trouble her friend was now in, but she couldn’t be sure of any of that until Ana and Michael actually got here from wherever they’d been when Ana had called and she had them holed up somewhere.
Just the thought of holing up, of hiding out, had taken her back to her earliest days as a vampire. After Else had turned her they’d spent days tucked up in a little cave, staying out of the sun’s destroying ways, hiding who they were from people until the moon had risen and it was safe to emerge. This time they wouldn’t be staying in a cave but it wouldn’t be the Hilton either. Loren had learned from Elsa that establishing yourself in a public place like a hotel, or even a little flea pit of an inn, could draw attention to you. There were too many others around and in a town like Mystic Falls everybody lived in everybody else’s pockets. Real estate agents could cause the same issue, names would have to be placed on documents, contracts signed, meetings held. While it would likely be safe for her, she didn’t imagine that it would be for Ana or Michael. When she’d arrived in Mystic Falls that morning, less than 18 hours after she’d spoken to Ana on the phone and told her to make her way to the town, Loren had headed straight out to try and find somewhere a little more off the beaten path. A foreclosed or abandoned house would be perfect, somewhere that didn’t require an invitation to enter as there was nobody who technically owned it any longer. If push came to shove and she didn’t find anywhere she could compel someone in a remote spot to let them have shelter for a night until she found somewhere more permanent. There had been a few possible houses she’d earmarked already but Loren was gathering as much information as possible before she gave anywhere a try.
Stepping out from among the trees once more Loren found herself in another clearing. This one wasn’t empty though, in fact the sprawling tudor style house seemed to fill almost the entire space. Feeling a little flare of hope and anticipation inside of her Loren put the camera up to her eye and took a snap of the place before striding closer. Places like this were rarely lived in year round, in fact she was betting it was some sort of grand vacation house. If this place was empty then she’d absolutely hit the motherlode. There were two ways of finding out if it was unoccupied, she could either sneak around the place peering in windows in a way that would get her in trouble or she could do the less conspicuous thing and just march straight up to the door. Knowing what both Ana and Elsa would have advised her to do, Loren strolled right up to the front door and rang the antiquated bell. There wasn’t any way to see through the heavy wooden front door but it didn’t take a vampire’s hearing to notice when someone began to unlock it. Disappointment rolled through her stomach at the sound but there was a smile on her face as it swung back, one that took on a confused edge as she caught sight of the man behind it. ”Hi,” Loren drawled slowly before laughing. ”I honestly didn’t come here expecting to find a familiar face. I’d ask what you were doing here but I guess the answer would be pretty obvious right?” The house that she’d hoped would be unoccupied looked to be anything but. On the bright side, it was inhabited by a familiar face and, more blessing still, Stefan Salvatore just happened to be a vampire too.