The room was dark, lit only by the ambient city lights coming from the window. The occasional flash of lightning brightened things briefly, but revealed nothing other than the office in which she stood, staring out the large window, watching as the rain beat against the glass. In one hand, she held a glass, filled with a liquid she was lightly stirring with subtle motions of her wrist as she watched, taking an occasional sip. Eventually, the glass was emptied, and set on top of the glass desk next to her. She sighed — she was tired of living in New York. That meant it was time to move on.
Petra reached over, picking up a cell phone from the desk, taking a moment to scroll through contacts until she came to the one she wanted. “It’s time. Make some preparations.” she said, and then hung up. She was not worried about pulling up stakes and moving on. She could run her business from where she liked, and she had people she trusted that ran the day-to-day operations anyway. The question was where to go? With a slight shake of her head, she pulled on her jacket, and pocketed her phone, then headed out, intending to go home and figure out where to move on to. Some research would need to be done on Camarilla territories and see what might pique her interest, but beyond that she had no ideas.
Over the course of a few days, she hadn’t gotten any closer to figuring out where she wanted to go. She knew that she didn’t particularly want to leave the United States at this point in her unlife, but that was really about it. There reached a point where, one evening, she asked her ghoul, Nikolai, to get a map of the country. If she couldn’t decide on her own, she thought, she’d choose randomly and then do research. With a little effort and time, Nikolai was able to procure a map for her, and was then instructed to maneuver the map so it wasn’t memorizable — that way it would be more random.
Nikolai angled it 45 degrees or so once she had closed her eyes, and she reached out, jabbing a finger at the map before opening her eyes to see where it had landed — California. She wrinkled her nose a little and sighed. Anarch territory. Oh well, at least it gave her a starting point. Petra’s next step was to touch base with some people she knew, to find out the nearest Camarilla territories to southern California. It ended up that, Las Vegas and Phoenix were the closest. Having no desire to spend time in Sin City, she began researching Phoenix itself.
“Nikolai, make arrangements for me to move.” she said one evening. “I have some introductions to make first, and if things go well, we’ll be leaving as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Miss.” he responded, then winced slightly as she gave him that look. Still, he couldn’t help it, and she knew it. After he exited, Petra went about making accommodations, and gather the information needed in order to be able to properly introduce herself shortly after arriving. The flight itself was five and half hours, and crossed two time zones. While she wasn’t as jet-lagged as a mortal might be, she was still out of sorts, which made her a little grumpy, which caused her to be terse with the associate at the desk for the car rental. From there, she headed to her hotel to deposit her things, and made her way to the Chase building, which she had been told was Elysium.
Upon stepping out of the car, she smoothed over her clothes, desperately wishing she didn’t feel the need to dress up and present herself as a proper Ventrue. She scowled — she disliked being Ventrue, but she couldn’t help that whatsoever. She should’ve just worn the jeans and tees she was most comfortable in, she thought, but there was such a thing as first impressions. With a small sigh, she resigned herself to the situation, and entered the building, notating the security measures, and following one of the guards to the proper location.
Milling about in what amounted to a large conference room were several people, Kindred most likely. She took a few moments to blend in with the few milling about, at least long enough to study the room. There — a group of several vampires sitting together — probably the Primogen Council. There were a couple of people over by a desk – one of whom was most likely the Prince, but she wasn’t sure which, so she turned to someone nearby to ask whom she should be speaking to.
“That would be Adam.” the other vampire said, pointing to the man sitting behind the desk, looking bored. Straightening up, she made her way towards the desk, to request a moment of his time.
“Can I help you?” he asked as she approached, finishing up a text before putting his phone down.
“I’m new to the city, and as is proper, I’ve come to ask permission to stay in Phoenix.” she replied.
“I see.” he replied. “And who might you be?”
“My name is Petra Mykanos, of Clan Ventrue.” she replied.
“Where are you coming from, if I may ask?” Adam continued.
“New York.” she stated.
“So why Phoenix?”
She shrugged slightly. “I was tired of New York. I’d never been to the southwest, so I did some research. I’ve heard good things.”
“I’m sure you have.” he said as he studied her. “You’ve come from a Camarilla city, so I’m going to assume you know the rules.” he stated.
“Of course.” she said with a slight nod.
“Good. Then you may stay. I’ll assign feeding grounds when I have time to review. For now, use The Rack.” he said. “I’ll have someone tell you where to find it.”
“Of course, sir.” she stated. “Is there anything else I should know?”
“I don’t believe so.” he said, picking his phone back up.
“Thank you.” she said, waiting for a response from Adam before leaving, but all he did was nod. So she turned and left, mingling with some other people in order to make connections, inroads into an unfamiliar city. After about an hour, she left, heading back to her hotel. Along the way, she contacted Nikolai.
“Prepare to move.” she stated. “We’ll need to find some real estate and get ourselves established, but we’re good to stay.”
“Of course, Miss. Would you like me to look into that?” he responded.
“Yes, please.” she said. “Thank you. I’m going to get some food and relax for the remainder of the evening. If anything comes up, please let me know.”
“Of course.” Nikolai said, and then hung up.
Petra sighed and drove back, refusing to relax until she was safely alone in her hotel room. She had hated being proper, putting on the perfect Ventrue facade….so why was she? Perhaps…perhaps now was finally a time to be herself, rather than what her sire had always wanted to be — what other people thought she should be.
Digging through her luggage, she pulled out a manga, and flopped backward onto the bed, flipping through it to where she had left off, and began reading. She rather liked the idea of turning the Venture stereotype on it’s head. She was still a powerful businesswoman in her own right, so why should she be a stereotype?
Decision made, she smiled, rolled onto her stomach, and proceeded to read.