Vampire Residence

XVIII

And so, a few hours later, a rather unusual group of people found themselves standing amidst the labyrinth of displays in the middle of an IKEA.

Most of them looked somewhat out of place, with several of them still looking perplexed.

Garrett was walking in front of the group, leading the way with a purpose in his stride.

As they entered the center of the store, the group seemed to stand together awkwardly, looking rather out of place.

Eleanor, clinging to Daciana's arm, looked around, gazing at the room displays and the strange decor around them before she spoke up.

"..this place is strange."

"Isn't it?" Sybil responded in a similar tone, crossing her arms and looking around, taking in the store's surroundings with a slightly critical expression.

"I don't see how this qualifies as a store," Daci said, her expression mildly dubious as she looked around. "It looks more like a maze than a Garrett. What is that."

All heads turned to where Daci was pointing.

There was a pause as everyone stared at what Daci had pointed at a large display of stuffed animals, each with an enormous, wide-eyed, somewhat unsettling expression.

Finally, Garrett spoke.

"Those... are... plushies."

"Garrett."

"..yes?"

Garrett turned around, suddenly being met with Daci's deadpan expression.

"I want the 'plushies'."

There was a beat of surprise as Garrett looked at Daci for a second, then back at the plushies.

He turned back. "...which one...?"

"All of them."

Garrett's eyes widened, and he paused, staring at Daci for a second.

"..you want ALL of them??" He eventually responded, sounding completely flabbergasted.

"I want one of each of the plushies, Garrett."

"You want- You want one of each.. of the plushies," Garrett repeated, starting to sound somewhat stunned.

There was another beat of silence around the group, as a few of the other vampires tried to hide their looks of amusement.

Eventually, Sybil spoke up again, her voice laced with an amused tone.

"You do realize that would be.. a considerable amount of money."

"*I don't care," Daci responded immediately, her expression still deadpan. "I live for over seven hundred years- you think I do not have money?"

There was another, slightly stunned beat of silence.

Finally, Sybil spoke, her expression now slightly disbelieving.

"You say that as if you have trillions in gold somewhere."

"Who told you about my gold-"

Sybil, and the rest of the group, looked at Daci with a mixture of disbelief and surprise.

"You have a bunch of gold lying around somewhere?"

"You do not?"

There was an awkwardly long pause as the other members of the group looked at each other, unsure of how to answer.

After a moment, Sybil spoke again, her voice laced with a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.

"Gold, Daci. Actual gold. You mean to tell us you have actual gold just sitting around somewhere?"