Pet•£ottery (Vampire pet )

nerve wrecking (2)

.Walter grabs Lily's leash gently, as she does another graceful bow, then tips her head down to show submission. The advisor leads, the lottery pet, to the presentation room. A pet is to demonstrate one talent or skill, that is thought to be something, Alucard will find attractive from the pet. There is a whole wall dedicated to various instruments. The advisor leads Lily to instruments, as her information card, states she can play fiddle, piano and sing. She in fact, has perfect pitch which Alucard is interested to see, if in fact, it is true. He has missed a talented singer. Her demonstration will be with fiddle with an Irish fiddle tune called the Butterfly.

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Walter lets the leash, out on Lily, so he can drop it for her performance. Its then three lottery pets, decide their instruments make great weapons, under the pretense of an accident. The young woman manages to carefully stop all the blows but one, to her mouth.

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Lilly bites her lip from the blow. She is now being motioned to demonstrate. The pale beauty touches her lip then licks the drops of blood, from the wound. Her feet carry her swiftly and without much of 'a to do', begins to play the piece. Lily makes a couple of small mistakes but Alucard is impressed since she got popped in the mouth. He decides to give her another challenge.

"Little One, can you play any dirges?" the Vampire King asks.

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Lily dips her head to acknowledge the king. She resets the fiddle and begins again. She begins to play O'Donnell's lament. Alucard watches her hands move with precision but also brings out, the emotional feel that Irish laments, are meant to do to human heartstrings. Alucard notes, the Irish representatives are moved to tears by the song being played.

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He is questioning her ability as if it borders on, not quite human. A few notes are played with such speed and precision, he has only heard vampires create such timed noted, on the fiddle. Yet he would know if she was a vampire.

~She's not, just by smell and why would she be subjected to this?

As the pets finish up, the three lottery pets who pretended to hit Lily are now escorted away, along with their representatives. Once more it is all about training of the pet and they were obviously trained poorly.

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Finally the trial is finished. Alucard is quite happy it is finished. It has been painful since Lily played and he wanted to cancel the rest of the representatives. The Shadow King found himself desiring to taste Lily's blood. Such a natural and intimate spot, though to show favoritism, spells treachery so the lottery will be completed, as it always is. Scotland has three pets left out of six, Wales has one out of two and England finishes with seven now that three are removed, for attacking Connaught's lottery pet. Ireland has three out of the four starting so it's looking encouraging for the Irish this time. First county then country and so the winning country also sees benefits from a win.

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Alucard stands up from his small throne, used for observing such events, without moving the main one. The dinner starts for the vampires attending his court. The lottery representatives and pets eat in another dining area. It is still nerve wracking, as the Vampire King will call for lottery pets, to be placed at the table with a room full of Vampire Nobles. It's called the "Keep your shit together" test. Not one lottery pet has passed the test since the lottery was started.

Perhaps this year will have a first?

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Lily sits on the floor, which is customary for a Vampire pet in Alucard's court. Once a pet is chosen then an ornate pillow, designed like pillows from the time of Sultans, Vlad's pet will sit upon by his right leg, on the side. Her leash hangs from the empty chair of her representative. The plate is left empty as the representative is dead. This is the custom as often someone pisses off the king and dies before the dinner starts. The representative is no longer there to eat so the pet is not given a meal either.