Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
|
Post by Fekete Istvan on Oct 29, 2009 17:07:37 GMT -5
Istvan raised his eyebrows, but stayed silent, merely nodding once. He assumed he would learn more as it became necessary. For now, he wasn't quite sure how to react to this. How did the professor know so much about whoever she was looking for? Why was she looking for this person? The questions burned on his tongue, but he held them back.
He resisted the urge to look around the bar, keeping his eyes on Professor Harris. His throat was quite dry now; he swallowed a bit of saliva to placate it until he was permitted to get up and buy a drink.
|
|
|
Post by paulaharris on Oct 29, 2009 17:25:23 GMT -5
Turning away from Istvan, Paula scanned the bar again. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of a short, scrawny man sitting at a table alone. His right foot was up and his beer was in his left hand. She waited in total silence. Not a single muscle in her body so much as twitched as she carefully counted the times the man lifted his beer and took a drink.
On the third time, as the man stood, Paula stood as well. "Korlian, follow behind me closely." She ordered. "Istvan, you may come as well, if you want to satisfy that burning curiosity that I suspect you have." Her hand slipped into her coat and fingered the handle of her gun. "Though I'm not responsible for what happens to you if you do."
|
|
Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
|
Post by Fekete Istvan on Oct 29, 2009 17:36:06 GMT -5
Istvan nodded, getting up from the table as well as he prepared to follow his companions. He had no idea what was going on, but he felt he would find out all too soon.
|
|
Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
|
Post by Korlian on Oct 29, 2009 19:00:15 GMT -5
Korlian slipped to his feet with a sinuous grace, following Paula as she said, though he wanted to move ahead of her. He hated following, but... Paula knew what was going on and he didn't. Yet.
But once he did, he was going to not worry so much about following and more about figuring out where his neighbor was. His lip curled a little in a snarl; children should not be taken... To be abused or anything, at least. he amended.
|
|
|
Post by ianharris on Oct 29, 2009 19:49:40 GMT -5
Ian shivered a bit in the rain and huddled under a patch of roof. His eyes darted across everyone on the nearly deserted street. A beggar curled up inside a cardboard box. A woman that was not wearing very many clothes. A seedy-looking man in a black coat. And a man who just walked out of the bar, followed by a woman.
A woman who Ian could tell right away was a vampire.
Ian started to move towards the door, but the two stopped right outside of it and began to talk in low voices. In that moment, Ian made a decision. Instead of going inside the door, he inched closer to the two, just close enough to make out what they were saying.
"...don't care." The woman was saying in a thick accent. "When I say I want it, I want it now."
The man shook his head. "I see the money. Then you see the goods." He retorted in a clipped British accent. That was odd. What was even odder was the fact they were both speaking english.
The woman hissed with displeasure and produced a stack of bills from her pocket. The man held out his hand greedily, but the woman shook her head. "Not until I see the goods."
"Fine." The man sighed. He reached into his own pocket and produced a vial of a red liquid. Blood? Ian wondered to himself. Why would a vampire have to buy blood off the street?Unless...
Mage blood. LSD for vampires.
Ian suddenly coughed. The man spun around to face him. "Who the-" He pulled a knife out of his pocket and lunged, grabbing Ian's throat as the woman behind him vanished into the shadows. "How much did you hear? How much do you know?" He pressed the point of the knife against Ian's heart. "Tell me!"
|
|
Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
|
Post by Korlian on Oct 29, 2009 20:00:11 GMT -5
Korlian leapt forward when he saw the glint of metal at Ian's chest. Before he'd really even been seen, the knife had spun away and the man's arm was twisted behind his back, his hand almost touching his head. Korlian forced the man to his knees, whispering in his ear, "So... what made you think stabbing him was a good idea?"
|
|
|
Post by ianharris on Oct 29, 2009 20:04:20 GMT -5
As Ian gasped for breath, he heard the man howl in pain and speak in a loud voice.
"What the hell is this?" Another howl of pain. "What are you?"
|
|
Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
|
Post by Korlian on Oct 29, 2009 20:19:02 GMT -5
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Korlian chuckled. What, not who. The man wouldn't understand 'what' Korlian was anyway. "And this is payment for your sins."
He looked at Ian, questioning. The man's head was below his with the man kneeling. Once Korlian was certain Ian was okay, he looked over at Paula invitingly. After all, she certainly had questions for this man.
|
|
|
Post by paulaharris on Oct 29, 2009 20:43:49 GMT -5
Despite Paula being in front of Korlian when the group left the bar, she had hung back while he rushed to Ian's defense. When he spoke to the man, however, she moved from her position by the door.
"Don't kill him." She said slowly. "I need to ask him a few questions. If he doesn't play nice you can break his neck, though. I'm sure there are others like him who would be more willing to talk to us."
|
|
Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
|
Post by Korlian on Oct 29, 2009 20:52:01 GMT -5
Korlian chuckled darkly, looking at the man, "I can think of more creative things to do than just killing him."
He glanced at Paula, twitching the man's arm a little higher. "But you're going to be good for us, aren't you?" he purred, leaning in toward the man's ear again. He chuckled again, his smile growing wide and feral.
|
|
|
Post by paulaharris on Oct 29, 2009 21:40:06 GMT -5
"Yes, yes, YES!" The man squealed, writing in Korlian's grip.
Paula knelt down so that she was eye level with the man. "Were you selling mage blood to vampires?"
The man stared at Paula blankly, pretending to be confused and not doing too well at it. "What? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Are you," Paula jabbed a finger in the man's chest, "selling mage blood to vampires? Answer the question." The man tried to look confused again. Paula sighed and looked up at Korlian. "Do something painful to him." She ordered.
|
|
Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
|
Post by Korlian on Oct 29, 2009 21:51:25 GMT -5
Korlian twisted the man's arm worse, pinning his hand more thoroughly. He grabbed the pinkie... and bent it back until it snapped. The man would have difficulty even moving in his grip at the moment, with how badly his arm was twisted. He leaned into the man's ear again. "I would answer the question. A broken finger is far from the worst I can do to you."
|
|
Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
|
Post by Fekete Istvan on Oct 29, 2009 21:51:52 GMT -5
Istvan had hung back beside Paula when Korlian had rushed to Ian's aid. With everyone else's attention diverted onto the attacker, Istvan hurried over to Ian, speaking to him quietly so as not to distract Korlian or the professor. "Are you hurt?"
|
|
|
Post by ianharris on Oct 29, 2009 21:58:54 GMT -5
"I'm fine..." Ian muttered, looking at Istvan's chin with a look of surprise. "What the hell are you doing here, Istvan? And Korlian too, for that matter..."
|
|
Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
|
Post by Fekete Istvan on Oct 29, 2009 22:07:11 GMT -5
"I was working here, until I found Korlian and Professor Harris," Istvan answered. "I haven't a clue what Korlian is doing here. But something tells me we're about to get involved in something big."
He listened to what Paula was asking the attacker, and looked on in confusion. Selling mage blood to vampires? That was big. And... he shivered a little... very, very dangerous. He knew that Paula knew that he and Ian were both mages -- that made them targets. They would be safe, he reasoned, as long as they stayed with Paula. And as long as none of these mage-blood traffickers found out what he and Ian were.
|
|
|
Post by paulaharris on Oct 29, 2009 22:13:12 GMT -5
"Now," Paula said, staring directly at the man in front of them. "Do you want to tell me whether or not you're carrying mage blood on you, and whether or not you're selling it to vampires?"
The man whimpered and nodded. "Yeah... yeah... that's what they told me I was doing..."
Paula stood and looked down at the man with a look of pure disgust. "Who are 'they'?"
"I don't know..." The man shook his head. "I don't know, please... you'd have to ask Jacques. He's my supplier..." He gave Paula an address and then stared up at her, hopeful.
She sighed and looked at Korlian. "What do you think? Should we let this nice man go, since he was kind enough to talk to us?"
|
|
Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
|
Post by Korlian on Oct 29, 2009 23:40:01 GMT -5
Korlian leered at the man, "I don't know... I think maybe we should check out this address before we let him go. After all, he might just be blowing smoke to make us let him go..."
The mention of a supplier had left him feeling rather... cold. Not with fear, but rage. It was usually against his better judgement to feel much of anything for anyone he didn't know, but... these were children... and something told him they were not donating their blood willingly to this.
"I think we should let him go only if he promises not to sell the blood anymore." He turned his head down to look at the man with his feral smile... that smile which had terrified more people than Professor Harris had probably ever met. The smile that promised he would turn this man inside out if he didn't do exactly what Korlian said.
|
|
|
Post by paulaharris on Oct 31, 2009 22:18:04 GMT -5
Paula pretended to think. "I think that's fair." She leaned down and stared directly into the frightened man's eyes. "If I catch you selling blood to anyone else, I'll have to introduce you to my other friends. You know, the ones who are even more scary than we are."
Once the man had scurried away, moving faster than any human would ever go in their lifetime, Paula turned back to the three students that were with her. "I think this address is worth checking out. Perhaps this 'supplier' can lead us to however they've been acquiring the mage blood."
|
|
Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
|
Post by Korlian on Oct 31, 2009 22:31:35 GMT -5
Korlian stretched his fingers, a cold feral grin spreading across his face. "That sounds like a good idea... I'd love to get my hands on someone who's trying to make a new Conall... though a tripping vampire is rather easy to subdue."
He spoke as if he had experience... which he did. His eyes glittered, in anticipation. A fight was definitely coming... he couldn't wait.
|
|
Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
|
Post by Fekete Istvan on Oct 31, 2009 22:46:18 GMT -5
Istvan glanced sideways at Korlian, a shiver tingling up his spine at the ferocity in the boy's smile. He had heard the name of Conall, and a little about his perverseness, but he wasn't sure what was rumor and what was truth. So, Korlian had fought Conall while the vampire was in mid-acid trip... That in itself was interesting. Whose blood had he been drinking? He made a mental note to ask Korlian about it -- later. It wasn't important right now.
"How do we know that man can be trusted?" he spoke up, glancing up at Paula, then in the direction the man had fled.
|
|
|
Post by ianharris on Oct 31, 2009 22:51:19 GMT -5
"We don't." The answer came from Ian, not Paula. The mage stepped foward, brushing himself off yet again. "I don't... er... think it's a great idea to be charging in after this Jacques person with no idea what we're getting into..."
Personally, Ian had no desire to get nearly killed... again... for the... actually, he had lost count of the amount of times he had almost died. That was a bad thing...
|
|
|
Post by paulaharris on Nov 7, 2009 3:53:42 GMT -5
Paula sighed. "Listen. There are four of us. If we go tomorrow, during the day, we can talk to this Jacques and find out what he knows. Between all of us, we can come up with something." She started to turn away, but stopped suddenly. An idea was forming in her brain. Her eyes scanned the ground, looking for anything she could use.
And then she saw it. The man's knife. He had dropped it when Korlian had attacked him. She stode over it, bent over, and picked the knife up. As she held it up, it glistened in the moonlight. "Istvan," She said matter-of-factly. "How would you feel about playing a larger role in my investigation?"
|
|
Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
|
Post by Fekete Istvan on Nov 7, 2009 12:10:47 GMT -5
Istvan looked at the knife in Paula's hand, catching onto her train of thought immediately. "I'd be glad to... but if you're thinking what I'm thinking, I can't do a thing with that knife unless the man who owned it is dead."
|
|
|
Post by paulaharris on Nov 7, 2009 17:09:17 GMT -5
"Damn." Paula swore, shoving the knife into her pocket. Evidence, of course. "Well, we'll think of something. But not standing out in the rain." She turned and started to walk down the street, motioning for the others to follow.
"You can stay with us for the evening." She said to the two that were not related to her. "Ian has two beds in his hotel room. One of you can sleep in the other bed and one of you can sleep on the floor."
|
|
|
Post by ianharris on Nov 7, 2009 17:10:17 GMT -5
Ian's jaw dropped. He started after Paula, raising a hand to protest. "But-"
|
|