Deirdre had finished up a round of days with a client the day before and had purposely scheduled a few extra days for herself between jobs. Normally, she would simply work herself into forgetfulness, but the recent happenings at the apartment, combined with everything that had followed her there, had been taking its toll on her. She welcomed the extra days of rest.
She'd just sat down with a new book (and if anyone had opened the package that it came in, they would have found several collections of fairy tales as well as some of the other stories that had been mentioned in the forums) when a light knock sounded on her door. She frowned at it from across the room, wondering who could be calling. Jack?
She didn't feel much like entertaining company, but it would be too rude to not answer the door, so she crossed the living room, bare feet comfortable against the chilled floor, and the only concession to casualness in her otherwise put-together appearance.
She opened the door without even peering through the peephole, so there was a barely noticeable flicker of surprise when she found Vlad on the opposite side of her door. She recovered smoothly in the next moment, confused as to why he was there, but not giving voice to it.
"My most esteemed neighbor. Is this a social call, or business?"