Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
|
Post by Narg on Nov 10, 2018 20:42:52 GMT
"...Fuck man, are you even listening to what I'm saying?"
The two stood in the rain beneath the fire escape of the precinct. It was late, and it was cold, but it was the only time Shaw could really get what he needed. The Vitae of the Kindred wasn't exactly accessible during the day.
It had been a couple of months since Epona's death, yet clumsy kindred still darkened Shaw's door looking for their problems to disappear. Epona's overbearing 'protection' was gone, along with her head, and his skills as a fixer were now open to the greater kindred community at large. The Prince didn't mind his presence, as far as he could tell; anything to keep the masquerade, he could only assume. That said, it didn't make the sorry sight in front of him any more palatable.
The face in front of him was long and stretched. If it was possible for an entire face to look like a dry, infected, split lip, this kindred pulled it off to a T. The kindred wore a large, baggy, grey hoodie and an Oddhaven Crashers baseball cap (The City Football/Soccer team). He had introduced himself as Cameron, and immediately started talking a pace Shaw could barely keep up with. Even if the sight in front of him hadn't shocked him half to death, he wouldn't have been able to catch a single word. The guy was panicked as all hell. Whether or not this was the living canker sore's usual demeanor was left to be seen.
More distracting than that, however, was the incessant twinge sitting within Shaw's gut. It had been growing over the past couple of weeks, and was no longer able to be ignored. It consumed Shaw's every thought. He was so hungry. No food could abate it, no water enough. Everything he consumed lacked what he needed.
"So, detective, can you help me or what?"
By now Shaw had deduced what he lacked. Epona had fed him her blood many times, each giving him a powerful rush. He had gone without the blood of Vampires for months now, and this hunger could only be related to that absence. As such, it seemed that an opportunity stood before him; a very, very ugly opportunity.
|
|
|
Post by James Shaw on Nov 13, 2018 9:11:34 GMT
Focus, he thought, though the prospect of focusing on the man before him was unpleasant. "Of course. Protect and serve, that's what we're here for," he said dryly. "But maybe try again, a bit slower. You'd think someone with your condition wouldn't be in such a rush."
He thought how remarkable how quickly something can become normal. It wasn't long ago that he didn't believe in monsters. Now he was immortal, provided he played his cards right. Perhaps wisecracking wasn't the best plan, then, but one thing Epona had taught him was the delicate balance of power than ruled the Kindred. This vampire had sought him out, so as long as he could push down his hunger and project a little power, he might make out with a few more drops of precious vitae.
|
|
Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
|
Post by Narg on Nov 14, 2018 6:05:41 GMT
"C'mon man, forgive me for bein' a bit antsy. You know better than most what happens to the ones who fuck up too bad." He looked around warily, before visibly seeming to calm down. "You're right though, what happened... happened, which is why I came to you. I don't know how to make the right people forget, not exactly my forte. This mug is hard to forget."
"Ever since... This happened," He said motioning to his face, "I've tried to not be seen at all. Still, it's hard to hide when you're feeding. But it's worse than that, I'm... on camera. I'm worried they'll be going to the cops so I figured it would be best to come to you. You work murder after all, so if the case comes your way I'm thinking you can sweep it under the rug, maybe. I don't wanna tell you too many details till I know we have a deal. You scratch my pussbag of a back, and I give you whatever the fuck you want from me. Sound good? I wanna keep my head, anything is worth it. The Prince... Toreador bastard, just don't like Nos..."
|
|
|
Post by James Shaw on Nov 16, 2018 4:59:30 GMT
"For a pint of your vitae, you have my promise of discretion. I won't make any deals until I have all the details," he said, though knowing all the details seemed an impossibility when working with vampires. "If it's as simple as destroying some evidence, I'll sweep the evidence under the rug for another pint. If it's more complex... well, we'll agree to a price once all the details are on the table."
|
|
Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
|
Post by Narg on Nov 18, 2018 6:44:45 GMT
"I... I killed someone." Cameron said hesitantly. "Ya see, the warrens are rumored to have the ghosts of old residents who fled from the great fire hundreds of years ago, hoping to escape. Course that's bullshit. There ain't no thing as fuckin ghosts. It's probably us Nos fuckin' with people to get them to leave us alone. Fuckin' ghost hunting shows come down there all the time, tryin'a catch one of the things on camera. If anything, they're getting pictures of us."
Cameron's voice began to speed up again. He started shaking, and blood started coming from his eyes. "So I'm getting up at dusk, right? Wakin' up see? And-and, I wake up and there's this tart in my face, just fuckin staring at me, examining me and-and-," Cameron's neonate body began to imitate heaving breath, before he just went back to twitching, remembering, consciously, that his lungs no longer functioned. Tears streamed down his tortured, hideous visage. "I panicked-I-I-was so hungry, and scared and I just lept on her, I just, I drained her..."
Cameron looked at the ground, clearly ashamed of what he did. The cold rain poured down on the two, a stagnant silence filled only with patter of the rainfall, and the dripping of the fire escape.
"But you don't care about nunna that do you. You care about what you have to do, and you care about this." Cameron said, resolutely, pointing at the blood streaking down his face and onto his clothing. He calmed himself, slowing his speech, and seemingly reassuring himself that everything was under control. "So I'll tell you what I need, and then I'll give you this blood, and then we'll have a deal, and you won't go back on it.
"You know how I was talking about those ghost hunters? She was part of one of those crews, coming in right at dusk, and happened upon me. I could tell by the sound equipment and camera. That's the last time I don't cover myself or find a locked door to hide behind before sleeping. I was... eating her when they came around the corner, hearing her moans. There were three of 'em, two girls and one guy. One of em had a camera. I-I don't remember which one. They must've got it on footage. There was blood everywhere, they were screaming, sayin' 'go get the cops,' you know, stuff like that."
Cameron looked Shaw dead in the eyes, "I need their memories wiped, and that camera gone. If they are goin' to the cops you'll probably hear about it, hell might even come to you, it happened pretty close to here. I hid the body, but I ain't telling you where that is... We got a deal or what? My blood for your silence, and my problem going away?"
|
|
|
Post by James Shaw on Nov 18, 2018 8:07:01 GMT
''It's a deal. One pint now- I'll need my strength to fix this- and another when it's finished. Plus more, if there are complications. I doubt there will be, though. Seems straightforward. No need to worry, I've done this a thousand times, and the Prince has never caught wind of any missdoings. Or at least, he hasn't cared since the problem was fixed with him needing to do anything about it.
''A few more questions, though, if you don't mind. Haven't heard anything yet, so when did this happen? How old are the ghost hunters? Happen to catch any names, maybe grab ID from your juicebox when snacktime was over?
''Any leads you give will help. It's easiest to fix these things before authorities know about them. Worst case, we wait until the police are contacted, I take the case, destroy the evidence, and pin it on a wild goose chase. Maybe a stray dog tore out her throat, or a junkie took too many bath salts and went berserk. Then we just find a dog, put her down, and everyone's happy.''
|
|
Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
|
Post by Narg on Nov 18, 2018 8:35:37 GMT
"Um... Gimme a sec." Cameron started rooting about in his pockets before pulling out a blood-soaked, knitted coin-purse. He opened it and pulled out a wad of bloodied libra, brown with dried vitae, stuffed it in his pockets, and continued sifting through it. The craftsmanship was remarkable. It looked handmade, with personal care and effort.
Eventually, one of the pockets yielded an I.D., Drivers license, belonging to one Alyson Waverleigh. A young blonde woman stared up at Shaw. She had a dorky smile, noticeable overbite, and smattering of freckles, Obviously of Anglo-Saxon descent. Her family had probably been in Oddhaven since the time of the British occupation. Nineteen years Old.
Cameron took good care not to read the I.D. or look at it too closely. The man obviously felt guilty enough with what had happened. He looked at the ground and continued to recount his tale in more detail. "One of the girls called the guy, um, Gary, I think. Something like that. It was dark so I didn't really get a good look, but Gary was definitely tall, and had red hair, it really stood out. This other girl spoke with a heavy Portuguese accent, like it was thick. She was super short compared to him. Couldn't have been over five feet tall. Dunno about the last tart, but she had the fancy sound shit. This happened only a couple of hours ago, enough time for the blood to dry at least... It was over by the sewer lines north. The lake next to the financial district you know?"
Shaw knew where Cameron was talking about. Some access to the underbelly of Oddhaven was near the mainland lake. If the kids had exited the sewers anywhere, they would probably be somewhere near waterfront drive, about a dozen or so blocks north of the precinct right next to the lake.
The horrendous face then looked up at Shaw, seemingly grimacing in displeasure. "Also, you don't have to rub it in, with the whole juicebox thing? You're just sucking blood of a different kind, Shaw. So, you got a bottle or what? Demanding fuckin' pints..." Cameron flipped out a switchblade and held it to his scarred arms. "Well, get it out. It ain't like you came here not knowing what you wanted."
|
|
|
Post by James Shaw on Nov 26, 2018 15:40:50 GMT
Shaw pulled out an empty bottle from his jacket and handed it to Cameron, while looking over the ID. In a notepad, he wrote her name and address, then pocketed the notepad and ID. Once the bottle was filled, he also made a note on it, with the name and clan of the vampire to avoid any risk of blood bonding down the line. "Excellent. I'll see what I can do."
With that, he made his way toward the crime scene that Cameron had described. He doubted the witnesses would still be there, but there was a chance that they might, and would emerge for a police car. From there, he would drive toward waterfront, in the hopes of intercepting them before they reached the precinct. That would make thing much simpler.
|
|
Narg
Independent Alliance
Posts: 153
|
Post by Narg on Dec 26, 2018 6:59:27 GMT
Even at this time of night the streets were busy with the hustle and bustle of night life. Cabs were lined in front of hotels and expensive black cars pulled out of private parking structures. Businessmen and women walked in huddled groups underneath impromptu ceilings of umbrellas, heading to local high end bars that pandered to the international business crowd.
If was prime time for pickpockets. Shaw remembered this beat from when he wore his blues, back before Epona, back before the hunger. He knew it was about a ten or fifteen minute walk from the waterfront, and if it had been an hour or so then the kids could be anywhere. Cameron couldn't have hidden the body far, or that well, given when the blood-drunk cold sore showed up at the precinct.
As he approached waterfront he heard it come in over the radio, "That call from earlier; we found her. She was floating near the dump of a sewage line. She looks bad. This is officially on homicide's plate. We're near the intersection of N. Pale and Waterfront. Get one of the homicide guys over here as quick as possible."
Shaw looked left towards N. Pale and Waterfront sitting at the T intersection. He could see the lights from the squad cars a half dozen blocks or so up the road. This had just gotten a lot more complicated. Had Cameron come immediately he might have gotten in front of this entirely. This was going to take more work than he had hoped.
|
|