Minds of Stone, Eyes of Glass
24st of July 2006 A.D.
Quickly you consider and dismiss simply killing the vampire... Andre, even if it might be saving his next victim, that is what, one vampire out of eighteen? Dealing with all of them will require going to the heart of the matter.
Going now? You glance back at your dad, hand on the hilt of the Sword looking worried and Lydia fidgeting a little like she is almost going to bounce onto her feet and do.... well you are not entirely sure what she would do, maybe she isn't either. God knows power alone doesn't itself answer questions of what to do, only how.
There's something to be said about striking while the iron is hot, but Usum points out in his usually round about manner that the advice sounds like it is meant for blacksmiths and in this context you do not know anything about the quality of the iron or where the quenching trough might be
"What to do with you?" you ask, the question sounding lot more rhetorical on your lips than in your head.
He is doing a very good impression of a deer in the headlights, or a trembling subject brought before the throne of a despot most high. How you know what that looks like you are not sure you want to question.
"Phone," you command and he scrambles to obey.
"Y... yes mademoiselle... er... my lady."
First handsome guy to talk to me in French, actually a half bat blood drinking parasite, you think, a joke you are not planning on sharing but which curls your lips into a smile just the same. It is apparently not a very reassuring smile to judge from the vampire almost dropping the phone as he hands it to you.
"What do we want to say to this Don Phillipe?" you ask dad and Lydia casually
Dad thinks for a moment before answering. "A request to simply leave the city is unlikely to be well taken. The best we can hope for is... a truce enforced by staying out of each other's way." You can tell he does not believe you are going to get one and generally speaking you agree, but there is a deeper reason to mess about with this phone than the send the electronic equivalent of 'a strongly worded letter'. Spies come in all shapes and sizes.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 8/12
Power hums to the tune of ones and zeroes, in your mind, inside the mechanism of wire and processors and in the dark and claustrophobic realm beyond. The spirit is not particularly well rooted in the silver flip phone, but it is not like you expect this to take more than a week, a few days at most.
Andre's phone bugged for 1 Week
Once all the details are set including a burner email in case the head blood-sucker actually deigns to talk back you hand the phone back to the vaguely shivering figure before you and say: "You will carry a message from me back to your nest."
"Yes my lady," he replies and with that he fades along the shadows of the graveyard, a bit more readily than he should perhaps, though it it is sorcery or mundane skill alone you cannot be sure.
"I think it should be roost," Lydia pipes up after a moment. At your curious look she explains. "They are bats right and bats have roosts, or maybe colonies?"
"They are not actually bats, they are bat-men, bat-people," you counter. "Look they are always called nests when it's vampires."
"Always?" she prompts, walking to the car beside you.
"Sure like in Buffy...."
The conversation on various forms of vampire shows and books carries you all the way into the pickup and halfway to the hotel you are staying in. Dad did not sigh on the way, you choose to believe, the armor is just heavy.
Once you are in the lobby you give a nod to the receptionist's computer, but you feel the power sputtering along the way, like bad transmission in an old time radio. You should be able to take a nice bleach bath inside so you try. again. A day... a day will do.
Lost 2 Essence -> Now at 6/12 Essence
Camera feed secured,Clippy announces in her auto-tuned voice as you brush your teeth. A rather boring hour and a half later you are refreshed and ready for any nighttime adventuring. For her part Lydia is no less ready to take on eldritch horrors, apparently her inner stores top up not at sunrise but midnight when there is most need for one to guard the rest of the dead.
Hotel Camera Feed Secured
All Essence Regained -> Now at 12/12
What do you do next?
[] Sleep, the next stage of your investigation is best done in daytime, all the more so now that you know there are Red Court vampires in the city
[] Do some snooping around Soul's Rest itself
[] With the help of your digital assistants try to figure out just who the Red Courts has their hooks in
[] Look for information about the Pathfinders online
[] Now that you know Iku Turso has something to do with all this search the family history of known patients at Soul's Rest and see if any of them are Finnish-Americans or know to have taken Dreamless Sleep back in the fifties
[] Write in
OOC: The shift from Princess of Darkness to arguing about the 'proper' name for a gathering of vampires is giving Michael a bit of whiplash, but is is preferable to just staying in the former state.
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