I'm Doing This For Them

Several Years

"I merely came out here because I noticed you, running around the grounds as though you were looking for something. Is there any way I may assist?" the Sorceress crooned. Alison almost wished she would stop with the fake pleasantries and call her out for snooping. It would be less tedious and suspenseful. But perhaps that was the point. The Sorceress loved to toy with her possessions...

But of course Alison wasn't going to go down without a fight. Instead, she decided to fight fire with fire.

"I merely came out here because I noticed that the grounds had so much to offer. I was exploring my new home," she shrugged.

"Ah, a little exploration is good!" the Sorceress gave her an unreadable smile. "Who knows what secrets one may find lurking in the night?"

"There are no secrets that I have found yet," Alison replied, matching the Sorceress' false serenity.

There was a brief pause between her and the Sorceress and, in that split second, Alison made a risky gamble.

"There is, however, a secret I would like to know," she dared to say.

"Oh?" even in the dark, Alison could see the way the Sorceress' eyes flashed. There was a mix of anger, wariness, interest and amusement all at once and Alison didn't need more than that to know that she was swimming in dangerous waters. Nevertheless, she persisted and made her request.

"I wish to know where your carriages are," she said, keeping an even and unreadable tone as she made her big request.

"They come and go at my command, and no one else's," the Sorceress replied, voice just as simple and frank as Alison's.

"Ah. Then there was no use for my explorations," Alison shrugged again. "I suppose I should just go back inside instead..." Alison turned to go.

"I wouldn't say that," the Sorceress replied as Alison took her first step back to the mansion.

Back still turned to the Sorceress, Alison felt herself smile just a little bit. In this game of who could keep a better poker face, Alison had just won. By getting the Sorceress to say this, Alison had just confirmed that the Sorceress actually did care about what she had to say. Although the Sorceress pretended to be calm, collected and generally disinterested in Alison, this one little bend within the other woman's icy façade gave Alison the temporary upper hand. She had something that the Sorceress didn't, and it was something the Sorceress wanted: an explanation.

"And why is that?" Alison prolonged the Sorceress' curiosity by asking another question instead of answering her implied one and she continued to stand with her back facing the Sorceress, masking her triumphant smile.

"Because I can call one for you," the Sorceress answered.

"Ah. Then would you be so gracious as to do so?" Alison finally turned around again to look the Sorceress in the eye, but she still refused to give the other woman the reason that she so desperately craved. This was Alison's way of silently gloating over her position of power over the Sorceress. The vampire even went as far as to give the Sorceress an innocent little smile that she knew that both of them saw right through it.

Alison was merely bragging at this point, daring the Sorceress to make the next move, but as clever as Alison was, the Sorceress was infinitely more so. So, instead of saying anything else, the Sorceress only returned Alison's obviously false smile and then she waved a hand. A second later, the sound of hoofbeats filled the still night air. Once it arrived, the Sorceress opened the door graciously for Alison.

Suddenly, roles were reversed again and the Sorceress took charge once more in this silent power struggle. Where it had once been Alison withholding information from the Sorceress in order to gain the upper hand, now the opposite was occurring. By granting Alison her request without so much as a word, a question, or a demand, the Sorceress was doing the opposite of what Alison expected. This left Alison with nothing to work with. It threw the vampire off her guard and she nearly asked what the Sorceress was going to want in return for this, but pride and common sense forced her to hold her tongue. It would not be wise to try and engage the Sorceress in another battle of wits after she'd lost this one.