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Geez, I really like this stuff! I'm glad this forum was created!

Grussgot blinked rapidly. He could have sworn something on the roofs of the building across the river. Someone traveling... with a torch? Groaning, Grussgot closed the shades and drew the curtains, ready to go to bed for the 4 hours before it was time to prepare for Mass the next morning. He picked up his precious rosary and gently rubbed the miniature crucifix. Out side, sirens began to wail. Now why is it, Johan thought to himself, that with all the good in the world, people still get hurt and sick? He muttered his late wife's name several times as he climbed back into bed, never noticing that a faint but distinct aura had cloaked his apartment, pulsing with the same tempo of his music.

The Steinway tuned, Johan Grussgot stood up and inspected his work. The inside of the piano was clean, all dust was wiped away, and the strings were properly taut. Perfect. He carefully shut the lid of the piano, and hardly flinched when his grip slipped and the lid crashed down on his hand. It smarted and brought tears to his eyes, yes, but... Such are the hazards of playing the piano.

Once the piano was shut and all fingers were accounted for, Grussgot walked over to a window and glanced down at the river. He was blessed, he thought, to have acquired a riverside apartment for much less than the average market price. Even if hooligans ran around at night.

((And I am enchanted that there are people here who understand my amateurish German wordplay! I was only in Vienna for two days, but I thought it was a fitting surname for a character whose role will certainly be more than the vampires will expect.))

((And I may or may not have studied piano at a younger age...))

((Hmmm..... Loren the vampire... And then there's Loren the Vomperra... Not to mention Sylvie and Sylvie.))

Johan Grussgot could not sleep, as evidenced by the elegant lilting notes softly filling his Vienna apartment like a summer fog and reverberating through the doors and windows, sailing on the silent waves of the river below. It was a testament to his skill that he could sit at his Steinway and craft a composition without disturbing his neighbors. And if they did awake, Grussgot had the decency to save to more vibrant pieces for waking hours. After all, it would do no good to be evicted when one's wallet simply wasn't fat enough for him to pick a place at his leisure.

At this moment, Grussgot was not thinking of his neighbors, however. He was thinking of the low A flat he had teased from the piano moments before. It had a slight twang to it. Gracefully terminating the song, he ran a few scales across the keys. Grussgot frowned. His piano was slipping out of tune. That would not do at all. That A flat had to be absolutely perfect, or the chord would be disharmonious and the sixth verse would sound flat, no pun intended. This was a grave matter to the master musician. Music healed, his audience were his patients, and it would be a disservice to the congregation, Father Kholer and the Lord if Grussgot knowingly slighted the Church of less than his best.

And thus it was another testament to Johan Grussgot's skill that he had the patience and mind to tune his Steinway at two in the morning without disturbing his neighbors' sleep.

Or maybe he was just another crazy old man.

Tania huffed and sighed. She knew Kipp was right - she assumed he was pulling her leg, and than her lucky stars she was still on one piece after that drink. "That stuff should be labeled..."

"Too... late..." Tania gasped, and she slumped forward, fast asleep. After about five minutes, she pushed herself back up again, the lemon untouched.

"Okay... okay... I'm good now. No more spinning."

Tania clenched her teeth and gripped the edge of the counter. Her eyes were watering and her ears twitched. "That..." she gasped. "Was NOT water!"

Kipp downed his drink so easily, that Tania honestly thought it was just colored water and that his expression was fake. Hmph! Asking her if she could hold water, of all things! But if it would impress him, she would do it! And she'd go all out!

Seeing another full glass on the counter, she quickly snatched it up and did her best to down it one gulp, just like Kipp had. The best she could manage was three. And it burned.

Tania gasped and fanned her mouth, the notion that the drink wasn't water had yet to hit her.