They Walk Among Us: Game Thread

[IFS]

"A few nights ago I heard some grunting from an alleyway up off Hanover. Sounded like some kinda animal. When I went to look for it, I couldn't find it. Didn't make any sense on account the thing must've been big based on the sound."

Randall thanked the man and set off on his way towards Hanover, collecting his thoughts as he walked. Some kind of animal wasn't much help, plenty of monsters had the traits of one animal or another. Werewolf? Or some other kind of were-whatever, or it could just be some big fanged monster that makes grunts, lots of them do that. Must be fast too according to the man's account, roughly human sized going off of the paper, maybe larger maybe smaller. He shook his head, big and fast was a bad combination, and it was reportedly wearing a coat. Might be concealing its form under that, now what other monster do I know of that does that? He thought to himself, chuckling quietly.

He wondered if any other groups might involve themselves, they had in the past certainly, though his experiences with them varied. Sometimes they paid him, other times they got in the way, he'd prefer they either did the former or at the very least didn't do the latter. Boston was a big city though, he doubted he was the only one on the case.

The real question though, is who'll get to the thing first.

With luck the thing had made the area its territory, and would hunt there again tonight, if it was simply roaming the entire city it would be much more difficult to pin down. As it was he'd already be spending the night patrolling the streets, it wasn't as if it had a single hideout he knew of. He'd spent nights keeping watch for various things before, even back before his revivification. It was easier now, he didn't get sleepy or tired, but somehow more tiresome all the same. At least this beats watching some ass to see if he's having an affair, he thought to himself. He would spend the rest of the day walking around the area, looking for any signs of the thing, and familiarizing himself with the maze of streets. When night came he would be ready.

 

[Lotus_Gait]

A breeze of laughter followed Jake out as he left the police department. He wasn't surprised at the reaction, or to hear that the "young, overeager detective" was now an "ex-detective". It was always the same. Anyone who comes up with an unorthodox or - simply put - unwanted theory, gets publicly and professionally derided, regardless of whether your ideas have merit or not. People hate change.

Jake stopped suddenly on the sidewalk, staring at nothing. The idea of people hating change was definitely coming too close to his own moral and professional dilemma. A dilemma that basically had the fate of the world at it's center, or so Jake believed. In the end, it always came back to arguing whether all this secrecy and lying was worth it...

Sighing, Jake continued to head down the street, keeping his eyes open for the first bar to appear. Eventually, he stopped in front of a shabby looking building with a red-neon sign in the window that just said 'CHEAP DRINKS'. Jake smiled to himself at the sheer film-noir of the situation; a desperate journalist trying to track down a disgraced and boozy detective to help with an investigation. He had never really been a fan of crime fiction, but the allusion amused him.

The smell of stale beer, unwashed bodies and long-gone coffee attacked the senses as Jake entered the dingy bar. At this time of day, there weren't too many people in there. A couple of old guys sat at one end of the bar, talking with the lanky, pock-marked barman in jovial whispers. At the opposite end sat a lonely figure, staring glumly into a glass of beer as he slowly spun it from one hand to the other. 'Sat' wouldn't exactly be the word that Jake used for the guy, however. Hung seemed more appropriate for the way that his limbs just dangled, apparently unnoticed.

None of the bar's occupants looked up as Jake entered. Conscious of drawing attention, Jake walked slowly towards the lone gentleman and took a seat at the bar a few stools down from him. As the barman didn't appear to be interested in serving at the moment, Jake straightened on his stool, slowly placing his elbows on the sticky bar - with instant regret. With a deep frown, he moved his hands down into his lap and continued to look straight ahead.

"I'm looking for a man named Jones." He said quietly, as if to no one in particular.

 

[Mestizaje]

"It's faded, here." Sesthine said, sitting up and looking out the window, careful not to let any sunlight fall upon her when she wasn't covering her face.

"So we lost it?" Victoria sighed, fiddled with her phone and sighed again. What was the point of driving around a city among the commoners with a devil if she was just going to lose the trail of the beast they chased. She could have spent her time at home.

"Not necessarily" Sesthine said, pulled her hood down over her face again and put on the veil. "It could have continued where we can't follow by car, and my smell wouldn't work." The vampire opened the trunk they'd put in the middle of the limousine, and took out a gleaming single headed axe. It was her weapon, and as far as Victoria knew it was nothing special with it. Sesthine seemed to favour it cause it was crude, and able to inflict both tremendous pain and fear.

Sesthine opened the door of the limo next, and stepped out, with Victoria following her at a safe distance. The driver kept the car running as he was ordered too, and turned his attention away from the pair. He didn't want to get into any trouble cause of them, but he didn't want to be the center of their attention either.

The vampire approached the water, carrying her axe under her coat. Victoria was glad she'd learnt to be more subtle over the years since they'd met. She wasn't dragging the axe along the pavement or on her shoulder as she'd once done. Victoria smiled slightly for a second, remembering when they'd been forced to interrogate a thug and he'd pissed his pants when Sesthine chased him at a walking pace and dragging her axe. After all the insanity they'd seen together, she knew she was safest right by her bound demon's side, but at the same time it was the reason she wanted to keep her distance.

Sesthine bent down by the water. "Might have swimmed. It's certainly a clever way to lose anyone tracking you by scent." She felt the water with her hand. "Map."

Victoria pulled out her phone, and quickly got up a map of North End. Sesthine placed herself next to her while she did so. "Well, it would be easy for it to remain undetected if it lives by or in water. It would also make sense as to why it appeared here and why we'd lose the trail right by the shore-side."

Sesthine remained silent for minutes after she'd said that, staring out towards the ocean and then following it into the city with her gaze. Victoria sent two messages to Winter, asking them if any of the incidents in Boston had involved water, but also requesting that they'd send information on any water monsters that might fit the profile. She closed her phone after that.

"What do we do?" Victoria asked eventually.

Sesthine snapped her eyes back at her, transfixing her with her gaze. "We?"

Victoria reacted instinctively, and as usual, taking a step backwards then stuttering out the beginning of her next sentence. "I mean what do you suggest that.."

The vampire grinned, stepped towards her and patted her on the shoulder, rather hard. "I suggest that since we can't really follow it right now, without a boat, we split up and wait for your contact with Winter to gain results and resources. Besides, I could be wrong, which wouldn't be the first time and at worst one of our competitors would get to it first. People's already died and a beast gotta eat. No worries for a city this large to lose one more person." Sesthine leaned into Victoria to whisper the next part in her ear. "And we could use one as bait."

Victoria felt a chill run down her spine at that last part, and tugged at their bond as if preparing to unleash the chains.

"Not you, master." Sesthine laughed, then let her eyes trail over the roof of the limo.

Oh, Victoria thought, then she laughed too, feeling relieved. He wouldn't die in vain if it came to that, for he'd have gained a large sum of money before he died. She thought about asking the driver if he'd prepared a will, but thought it too morbid and likely to scare him away. She'd spent too much time with some.

Sesthine headed back in towards the crowd and the city, following the trail she'd earlier picked up the other way around, as it was likely to result in another location. The question would be which one was the start and which one was the end. She kept an eye on Sesthine until the vampire disappeared down an alley. Victoria jumped back into the limo, then sent a third message to Winter and this time her contacts as well, requesting that they find her a boat and someone to meet her where she was. All the while, she could feel Sesthine moving further away, but knew the vampire would return faster than anyone else possibly could if the situation got bad.

Victoria decided to watch a movie in the limo while she waited for Winter to return to her, or Sesthine to find a more tangible clue. The driver asked if he could turn off the car, and she simply shook her head.

 

[Drummodino]

Adrian set a quick pace as Rain fell in behind him. He scanned the street ahead of him as he walked, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It wouldn't do to get distracted and miss something suspicious. That was how you ended up dead on the sidewalk, your life blood leaking out into the street.

"My apologies, sir, I won't disappoint you again."

Adrian grunted and nodded without looking at the younger man. He'd half expected him to run off and try to finish the job on his own, but it seemed this kid had some sense at least. Turning a corner, North End came into view up ahead, with its maze of narrow streets and alleys overflowing with people. It was going to be difficult to find evidence of their target in such a busy area, they'd have to ask around and see if anyone had noticed anything unusual.

"What do you want us to do first, sir? Do you have a plan in mind?"

Adrian pointed towards North End. "That up ahead is North End. We'll have to question people and see if they've noticed anything in relation to the murders. I doubt we'll find any primary evidence that hasn't been taken or destroyed already. We should also keep an eye out for the other factions, they're probably in the area already."

Coming to a halt, Adrian turned to face Rain. "We can cover more ground if we split up, although I must warn you, that place is a warren. If you think you can find your way back here without getting lost again, we'll search individually and then meet up here in three hours. Think you can handle that?" he asked, somewhat condescendingly.

 

[DarkRawen]

"That up ahead is North End. We'll have to question people and see if they've noticed anything in relation to the murders. I doubt we'll find any primary evidence that hasn't been taken or destroyed already. We should also keep an eye out for the other factions, they're probably in the area already."

Rain had expected something more than; "We'll look around and talk to people," to be honest. That was the first thing he had thought of, that and getting a feel of the area. If it had been up to him, there would be more... planning. Go through the possible means of getting around unseen, what kind of demon it could be, if it really just was one. There was knocking on doors to make sure they were asking people who lived in the area rather than random people on street, and so on. He liked making less of a presence of himself, thought, the sun didn't seem to intend to leave them alone. Still, anything could be planned better than looking around. However, it seemed this was what they got.

I'm not allowed to question his plan.

"If you say so, sir."

Then Adrian turned to look at him, speaking in rather condescending and rude tone.

"We can cover more ground if we split up, although I must warn you, that place is a warren. If you think you can find your way back here without getting lost again, we'll search individually and then meet up here in three hours. Think you can handle that?"

If Rain hadn't already been in his submissive mood, he'd be glaring at the other Cabal member. However, instead he kept his somewhat dulled, calm body language, and nodded. "I won't let you down, sir." Reaching into his coat, he brought out an old-fashioned pocket-watch. He hadn't altered the time to fit the time-zone, -it was always set to the Greenwich Mean Time- but all he needed it for was seeing what three hours would make it. Then, he glanced around, choosing a couple of tall buildings as pin-pointers to where this location was in case he should get lost.

"I'll go ahead, then." He waited a short while in case Adrian felt like saying something else, then left, walking in the direction the other had pointed out. As he did, he thought further on what he had been informed off before.

It was likely to be a type 2 demon, it had killed at least 7 people in the last month. However, while Rain was confident he could take it on, he still did not feel like removing the possibility of it being more dangerous than it seemed. It had managed to move around unseen. In order to do that, it had to move in a special way. It could be through the sewers, or the rooftops, but as it was likely to have at least one special ability, it could also be by teleportation, through shapeshifting, or some sort of stealth ability. Since it was supposed to be rather large, he doubted it could move through the streets completely unseen in its attacking form. Shapeshifting seemed the most likely, if the part about the man in a white coat was true.

Of course. That is if the witness reports are reliable. Not to mention, if it really is working alone.

While he doubted there was more than one, there was always the possibility of more than one demon, working together or in a pack. A lot of them were intelligent rather than being feral and lacking the ability to plan, so it was certainly not impossible. One also had to consider the reason it killed, and what kind of bodies it left behind. Was it killing in order to feed? To cause fear? To gain status, or simply because it loathed humans?

There are too many possible outcomes at the moment. I can't really reach a conclusion.

He doubted the civilians would be useful in this case, what they really needed to do was to investigate at night, track down the demon, and kill it.

Moving around in daylight only gives one the benefit of being slightly safer. I doubt anything critical will be uncovered today, so I'll have to move out tonight as well.

If he was allowed to.

Hopefully, I'll be able to do so alone.

Getting insulted always made him feel something between sad and really annoyed. Part of him wanted to cheer himself up somehow, resting or even buying something to eat. For now, however, what he needed to do was to gain some height, get up and examine the area from the top.

At night, that would have been easy, now he had no choice but to enter the tallest apartment-complex without a lock on the front door that he could find, and get up to the roof, so that he could overlook the area and get a feel of it. Once there, he did his best to memorize the area, and look for possible ways the creature could have moved around up there.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Jackson frowned at the info. "A cluster fuck mission," Jackson thought grimly. Sometimes the factions work together, and sometimes they all crash into each other, independently hunting down the same entity. Conflicts always arise in theses cases, particularly over jurisdiction of the extremely valuable creature, or it's corpse. Independents are even worse, since they are untrained civies, and will often get someone killed.

He took a look at the tablet. It was clear that the highlighted pair was walking, while the lone marked agent was moving in a car. Jackson decided to find this lone agent, since the agent is already deep within North Boston, and more likely to of found a lead than the pair. All the crime scenes were likely contaminated by the local police, and the actual evidence was likely confiscated at this point. Jackson took out his laptop, and sent a quick request for any of the evidence gathered on the case the NBWDAC had.

Jackson took everything from the briefcase, put the notes into his travel bag, and the tablet in his pocket. There was a bus stop outside Park Station, Jackson headed back and picked up a ride on the bus.

On the bus, Jackson kept checking the tablet. The dot stopped moving entirely. That was promising sign, there had to be a reason. Some clue. The bus was moving at a crawl once it was in the North end. Jackson checked his pockets, making sure the Magpul and the knife were still there.

Jackson got out and started to walk to the agent's location about two block away, ignoring the street vendors. He finally found the location. The limo just casually parked on the seashore stood out in this part of town. This must be one of the Consortium agents.

Jackson walked by, quickly taking a photo of the limo from the other side of the street, and then ducked into an alleyway, hoping to find a fire escape or something to climb up a building, to get a better view.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

+ Father Daughtry +​

The rest of the drive to the North End was quiet, and once the moment they reached the North End, the change was noticeable. The streets were clogged up, the sidewalks were crowded with vendors and pedestrians, and everywhere Shaun looked, people seemed to be celebrating. Quite frankly, Shaun was baffled, but after a short struggle behind the wheel, he pulled into the nearest parking lot and parked the car.

"We might not have better luck on foot, but at least we'll be able to move if we need to." he said as he stepped out of the drivers side, then glanced back at the boot of the car.

After a moment of debate, he decided against taking his spear. Even with the headpiece covering the spearhead, it was far too conspicuous, and it was bulky enough to take with in a crowd. He would have to make due with his rosary as backup. Using it to punch a demon to death was hardly ideal, but it wasn't something that was entirely new to him at least.

As he stepped out onto the street, he grimaced and looked back at Hugh and said, "Make sure to stay close. We don't want to get separated and lost."

Then he dove into the crowd, trusting his partner to be close behind as he fought through the sea of people with the occasional apology. It was a few minutes later when he spotted something out-of-place that he stopped and frowned. The North End hardly seemed like the kind of place for a limo, but there one was, parked but still running.

It was possibly nothing, but it was worth investigating. It could be for someone important that may know something about the attacks, or even a member of one of the other organizations. But at the same time, he knew that it wasn't that unusual for a demon to hide amongst humans unsuspected, particularly in positions of authority. He couldn't be sure of anything.

"Come on Hugh. Something doesn't seem right about that limo." he told his companion before moving forward.

He strode up to the rear of the limo and knocked on one of the passenger windows with a slightly nervous smile.

"Excuse me, but could you help me? I'm a priest that was just sent to a new parish in this neighborhood along with my companion, and I was hoping someone could tell me where some of the recent attacks were. I was going to give my condolences to the families of those involved." he said through the window, all while trying to seem personable and charming and just falling short.

 

[Redryhno]

Once the two Templar's parked, Hugh quickly had Father Daughtry open the truck from the driver's side and retrieved a single of his pistols in its holster and his combat knife. Both went beneath his jacket, the knife in the small of his back, and the holster around his shoulders. Once equipped, he straightened his clothing to ensure his weapons were hidden and set off after the Priest, locking the car behind them. This neighborhood did not appear particularly safe, and they needed to keep their transportation secure for the time being.

Father Daughtry sped on ahead in the crowded street,bumping into a handful of people, and for a few heartbeats, Hugh lost him in the throng. The young Templar changed his pace from avoiding the rest of the inhabitants of the streets and just ran through them, attempting to not hit anyone, but with how packed it was, he was bound to run into a few North-Enders. Fortunately, he caught up to the priest as they reached a clear area, a limo more or less their only obstacle.

"Come on Hugh. Something doesn't seem right about that limo."

"Yes, Father Daughtry,"His hands in his jacket, gripping the fabric in sets of three with his left hand, five with his right, unused to being caught in the middle of so many individuals,"Those carts are not seen often, I believe?"

As the priest made their introductions, Hugh scanned the open area around them, those that lived here were going out of their way to avoid the car and the area around it, perhaps this was a member of the Coalition? A high ranking government official with the NBW? But what would they be doing here in person? They rarely did the investigations themselves, independents more often than not were hired for this portion of the hunt.

Looking around the area though, he spotted someone ducking into an alleyway, not appearing to be afraid of the car and what it represented, but Hugh paid it no mind, countless people he had been watched enter alleyways since they entered this portion of the city. This one was no different beyond their body posture.

 

[Terratina.]

Though it was frustrating not being able to talk, Eligos had nothing to say.

Eligos sneered as much as a demon trapped inside a sword could sneer at the mention of other factions. Not that the demon had any particular loyalty to the Cabal, they were the ones who had imprisoned him in the damn lump of iron after all. It was despicable, all of these humans hunting his kind: scientists who though they knew better, sorcerers who flirted with demonic power confident that they would not be bitten back, religious fanatics who clung their petty beliefs, soldiers who trusted in mundane weaponry to take out that of magic, business tycoons who threw money at the problem, and individuals who found themselves part of the fight - all got an equal measure of Eligos's hate. If - no - when he escaped, he would be sure to burst the gates wide open on this invisible war.

At least the dour fellow named Rain had fucked off somewhere else.

 

[Drummodino]

"I'll go ahead, then."

Adrian nodded and watched as Rain headed into the streets. After he vanished from view, Adrian followed a short way before deviating down a side alley. Reaching the next street over, he paused and surveyed the mass of people moving around. He didn't actually expect to find anything from talking to people on the street, the area was too busy, too chaotic. It seemed likely the creature went to ground during the day, or worse, was capable of blending into the crowd. Either way, they'd probably have to wait until nightfall for the real search to begin. Still, there was a slim chance someone would know something, so it was worth pursuing.

Adrian's plan was to seek out some street vendors to interrogate before consulting with Eligos, but his eye was caught by a man walking in his direction. A long coat, balaclava, sunglasses and hat covered the man head to toe, no flesh visible. The odd fashion choices made him stand out from the surrounding crowd. Adrian glanced down at his own clothing.

"No local would be wearing that getup, particularly on a sunny day like today. Either they're not from around here or they've got something to hide under all that..."

Suspicions raised, Adrian pulled out a phone and held it to his ear. In reality he was actually addressing the sword on his back, but he didn't want anyone to notice.

"Eligos. High probability we've found our target or a rival faction. Stay alert."

Adrian retreated a short way back into the alley and waited for the target to pass by. If he hadn't been noticed yet he'd attempt to tail the man and observe. If the man had noticed him, he was prepared for combat, although he wouldn't strike unless attacked first...

 

[IFS]

The large man behaving somewhat suspiciously was not the sort of thing that tended to slip under Randall's attention, the fact that he was wearing a large coat was also of notice, but the description in the newspaper did say the assailant was supposedly Caucasian. Were-blackula is too ridiculous, shapeshifter might be able to change race but if it could do that why bother with the coat? More likely another player... He stopped walking, focusing on the man out of the corner of his eye, wishing he didn't have to wear the sunglasses. No religious iconography on him as far as I can see, that about rules out the church, hard to narrow it down from there. He briefly considered just taking off at a run, to see if the man chased after him, but quickly reconsidered. The way he was dressed everyone would assume he stole something, and the man had longer legs than him so he wasn't sure he could keep ahead of him long enough for him to get tired.

He sighed and turned to face him fully approaching steadily with his hands outside their pockets. Hopefully the man wasn't jumpy, that was always the fastest way to end up with problems. As he drew closer he thought he noticed what might be the hilt of a weapon sticking out from under the man's coat, though it was hard to tell.

"Let me guess, you're a half vampire who hunts his own kind because they killed your parents or something?" he said sarcastically "Or maybe you're just really cold today?"

He followed the second remark with a pointed look at the man's coat, raising an eyebrow questioningly, though the motion was almost completely hidden by his attire. As was Randall's smirk, he sometimes felt that he had too much fun talking down to people, but quickly dismissed such thoughts. A little fun helped remind him how it was to be alive after all.

"You've got good taste in shades though, I'll give you that," he continued "At any rate I'm guessing you're here for the same reasons as me, though I have to wonder which group you're with."

This time he gave a pointed look to the hilt, or at least he hoped it was the hilt of some weapon. It would be rather awkward if it turned out to be the end of a broom handle or something like that. Eh whatever, I don't live in this city so I can handle leaving it with a few random people thinking I'm a nutter.

 

[Terratina.]

"Eligos. High probability we've found our target or a rival faction. Stay alert."

Eligos grunted in reply, though not too loudly. He had wondered when there was going to be some action...

"...At any rate I'm guessing you're here for the same reasons as me, though I have to wonder which group you're with."

...Except it was just some human male who enjoyed the sound of his voice too much, even though it was somewhat muffled. Eligos couldn't particularly tell what was doing that or what the mouthy human actually looked like - being strapped to Adrian's back and being covered by the garish crimson coat the demon hunter insisted on wearing didn't offer the greatest view.

Still, with that line, the stranger had revealed himself (assuming he was a he, humans were so complicated these days) as a soldier fighting the secret war between Eligos's kind and humankind. Which warranted some action. In the case of his assumption being wrong, Eligos could always do with little more... sustenance. Besides, shocking humans was fun.

"Such snark." The imprisoned demon said to Adrian, "It appears we have a somewhat sour gentleman in front of us. Mayhaps it is because he has just returned from the burn ward? 'Twould be understandable, pride is quite combustible."

That was how they said such things nowadays, right?

 

[hiei82]

[HEADING=2]The Bar[/HEADING]

"I'm looking for a man named Jones."

The bartender looked up from what he was doing, eyebrow raised. "How the hell would I know?" he offered, annoyance clear in his voice before returning to cleaning glasses while mumbling about "Stupid Noir films". However; one very drunk man at the bar raised his head slightly at the sound of the name and stared at Jake. He stared for a while before saying "Whada YOU wan."

[HEADING=2]Shore Side near the Limo[/HEADING]

The Limo stood there on the shore side as Victoria waited on her information. She'd received about half of it before two men - one a priests - approached the vehicle.

One spoke up. "Excuse me, but could you help me? I'm a priest that was just sent to a new parish in this neighborhood along with my companion, and I was hoping someone could tell me where some of the recent attacks were. I was going to give my condolences to the families of those involved."

Meanwhile, Jackson ducked into a warehouse where he could see all that transpired.

[HEADING=2]North End near Hanover[/HEADING]

Sesthine followed the scent of the unknown creature. It was about halfway down Hanover that the scent disappeared once more; down an ally way. Sesthine found herself walking into a maze of interconnected alleys, all headed off at odd angles and turning before he could see any termination.

High above it all, Rain stared down and could make out the strange woman. The maze of alleys appeared to be a common feature in the section of haphazardly built buildings. It was easy to see how a monster could move around with impunity in the city. There were dozens of off-shoots and dead ends to the alley and another few hundred like it all over the quarter. Combine that with the sewer system and the buildings themselves and there were countless placed a creature could just hide.

From the other side of the building he could see Adrian speaking with an oddly dressed man.

 

[Drummodino]

"Let me guess, you're a half vampire who hunts his own kind because they killed your parents or something? Or maybe you're just really cold today?"

"Great, a smartass," Adrian thought to himself, grimacing at the unsubtle pop culture reference. It wasn't like this man was dressed any less stranger than him anyway.

"You've got good taste in shades though, I'll give you that. At any rate I'm guessing you're here for the same reasons as me, though I have to wonder which group you're with."

The man appeared to be looking at the hilt visible over Adrian's shoulder, although it was hard to tell under those sunglasses. Before Adrian could reply, the sword on his back spoke up.

"Such snark. It appears we have a somewhat sour gentleman in front of us. Mayhaps it is because he has just returned from the burn ward? 'Twould be understandable, pride is quite combustible."

Adrian grinned. It seemed Eligos wanted in on the conversation, and Adrian did love the reactions people gave to the talking, demonic sword.

"I'm sure you can figure it out," Adrian said, slowly reaching up and drawing Eligos from under his coat. "Allow me to introduce you to my friend here. He's rather fond of slicing people up." Adrian gave the sword a couple of one-handed swings. "So, what's your agenda here? I'd hate for us to have conflicting goals..."

 

[IFS]

"It appears we have a somewhat sour gentleman in front of us. Mayhaps it is because he has just returned from the burn ward? 'Twould be understandable, pride is quite combustible."

Randall's eyes narrowed as the blade spoke, and shook his head as the man drew it. The weapon was a nasty piece of work from the look of it, black with an eye in its hilt, with tendrils and other embellishments all over it. Randall wasn't terribly fond of magical artifacts and there was no doubt this was a rather powerful one.

"Allow me to introduce you to my friend here. He's rather fond of slicing people up."

The man continued, giving the blade a few demonstrative swings, forcing Randall to resist the urge to give a mocking golf clap. However he couldn't quite restrain another sarcastic remark.

"Nice sword, did you pick it up at hot topic?" Randall replied, "might need to get him sharpened though, his wits lost its edge."

He supposed most would have been more intimidated by such an obviously demonic weapon, held by a rather large man. Most people couldn't regrow an arm. I should back off at least a little though, no sense making enemies out of other groups, and this one doesn't look as wet behind the ears as others I've dealt with.

"So, what's your agenda here? I'd hate for us to have conflicting goals..."

"Somethings been killing people at night, I aim to find out what and stop it," he said gruffly, "Though I'm not too picky on the order there. Now its your turn, why are you here and which group sent you."

 

[Terratina.]

"...might need to get him sharpened though, his wits lost its edge."

Eligos was quite disappointed, both in the reaction from the man who really did look like he had recently been discharged from the burn ward and in Adrian, as the swings hit nothing but air. While the demon understood the notion of diplomacy, it was curious how the man hadn't completely cowered in fear the sight of Eligos's twisted prison. Probably someone accustomed to demonic sights - did that mean the stranger had crawled out of Hell? No, he was far too... together in the mind as hellfire burnt more than the body. Then again, humans were annoyingly resilient sometimes. However, once cracked, forever broken.

"Dull whetstones only produce dull blades, thou dullard." Eligos muttered, it was the only thing he had to say to the man.

 

[Mestizaje]

Victoria

Victoria heard the banging on the window, worried that they might have broken some kind of traffic law by parking there, but when she noticed it was just some religious crazies she tuned them out and told her driver to handle them. She did lock the doors in the back and rolled up the window that Sesthine had left down though. Let the pleb handle the plebs, she thought to herself, kind of regretting she didn't have some kind of bodyguard in her current employ, as it would have been easier to have them handle situations such as this. However, the driver did roll his window down and talked to them, trying to answer their questions to the best of his abilities. Victoria rolled up the window between her and the driver too, so she wouldn't be disturbed.

The movie was entertaining enough, but she'd just felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and she wanted to put her attention to better use by reading what Winter had come up with. After reading it through, twice, she relaxed in her seat and looked out towards the sea. Sesthine was on to something, once again, but the information from Winter just resulted in additional questions. At least they were closer to an explanation now than they had been before.

It did occur to Victoria that the limo was indiscreet at best, especially when it remained motionless while the engine was still running, so it would be for the best to move somewhere else for now as they were too much of a beacon for any rival factions.

"Drive." She ordered the driver, who complained about some conversation, but she was determined in her request, and so he gave in as he wanted to see the promised reward at the end of the day. Oh, he would, Victoria thought to herself.

She didn't care where they went, as long as they remained in the area and on the move, to avoid any further contact with the commoners or the police. She sent another message about a boat to her contacts and Winter, stating it was rather urgent if she wanted to see the city by sea before sundown. However, she told her driver to head towards any nearby harbor as well.

Victoria reached out for Sesthine through the bond, if only to check where she was and if she was in any danger; Although, she doubted the vampire wouldn't be able to handle herself. If anything, the humans should be the ones who'd need to worry, as Victoria had brought a second monster into their midsts with no intention of stopping it from enjoying itself. Sesthine hadn't had any fresh blood in a while.

As the limo arrived at the city's inner harbor, Victoria stepped out of the car, thinking she would have preferred it if Sesthine could have handled this next part. Sailors were renown for their crude behavior and foul language. However, after a moment of gathering up her courage she decided to ask the people working in the area if they knew anything or anyone who knew something about these sailors who'd gone missing. She walked up to an older man who looked like the typical captain out of a movie or comic.

"Hello, sir, if you don't mind, I was.. I was wondering if you knew anything, or anyone who knows something, about those missing sailors and smaller shipments reported recently?" She asked, then showed him a hundred dollar bill. "I'd make it worth your time."

Sesthine

Sesthine stared down the different alleways where the trail had ended, then looked down at her feet. "Fuck." She stayed like that for a while, simply looking at the ground and her feet, with her axe in her hand concealed under the coat. The vampire pulled out her water bottle, and drank some of it, even if it was old it was better than having nothing when she was outside in the sunshine.

Well, not for much longer, she thought, then stifled a laugh. Sesthine went over to the closest sewer grate, which was relatively smaller than most of them she'd seen in the humans society. She doubted many of them would fit down such a tight squeeze. Luckily, or unfortunately, her superior agility and body would allow her to get down it.

She made sure no one was around her in the streets, then revealed her axe and used it to force the grate open. Once the grate was removed, she dropped the water bottle down the hole, and waited for it to make a sound as it hit the bottom. It was faint, but she heard it when it hit the ground. She'd thought about dropping her axe down, which she'd done at times in the past, but in a worst case scenario she would have had disarmed herself and thrown her weapon to her adversary in the sewers, which would have been a fucking dumb thing to do when she didn't know anything about them. She could fight unarmed, no doubt better than any average martial artist, but she wasn't going up against one of those.

Sesthine decided to stop hesitating and thinking, for it was time to act. She squeezed into the tight hole, and dropped down into the sewers. It was a longer fall, unfit for any man, but she landed on her feet gracefully like a cat and took a look around. It was dark and dank in the sewers, and it would have been a more pleasant environment for her than the surface if it wasn't for the fact that the filth of the surface came down here and made the place reek.

She concealed her axe under her coat once again. The sewers might run into the sea, disgusting as it was, and make it an easy home for any water based monster that preyed upon humans. She had the fortune of looking like a human, so she could hide among them, but the one she was chasing probably did not. Either that, or it had a different sense of smell than her.

"Sister?" Sesthine called out to the darkness. "Brother?"

She attempted to pick up the trail of the creature again amidst this stench. The smells on the surface had been overpowering and bad too, but she'd been able to track it there anyway. She wondered if it'd work down here, assuming it had come down here, but it made more sense for it to come down here and hide than stay in the alleys where there would be some humans. There would be none in the sewers, unless they were forced to come down for some strange reason.

"I'm not your enemy, and I come on behalf of an organization willing to strike a deal for your life. There are others on your trail by now, just looking to kill you. Your days are numbered unless you come with me."

It wasn't much of a life that it would be provided with, stuck in a laboratory at Winter, but it was a life instead of death. She'd been in that position herself, and her life had improved thanks to Victoria. Of course, she'd been ordered to kill and decapitate the creature if anyone else got involved or if it fought back, but she had some time yet. Sesthine tried to pick up the trail again, sniffing the air and getting the urge to vomit.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

+ Father Daughtry +​

Shaun was more than a little taken aback as one of the front windows, instead of one of the rear ones, rolled down to answer his question. Striding up to the drivers-side window, he realized that whomever was being chauffeured around the city, apparently didn't want to talk to them. And that did nothing more than make him more suspicious of the person, or people, in question.

However, he spoke to the driver for a few moments, learning only a little more than he already knew about the attacks. Then he nodded and stepped back as he limo drove off. As it did, however, he huffed out a frustrated breath and murmured a curse in Gaelic.

"Well, that wasn't very helpful," he said before looking at Hugh and sighing, "I don't suppose you saw anything of interest during that futile attempt, did you Hugh?"

 

[Redryhno]

"Well, that wasn't very helpful"

Though Hugh had heard of the rudeness with which he would probably be dealt from other organizations in the last weeks of his training, this trumped nearly every story. The callous disrespect they showed to a member of the cloth, refusing to even answer a simple question of one who looked for nothing more than to ease the suffering of the victim's this demon caused, however it was not all in vain at least. The kindly driver of this car, this limo he believed them to be called, did indeed answer them. And the owner of this driver had also not finished closing the partition completely before Hugh caught a glimpse of her as the kindly man answered Father Daughtry's attempted ruse.

The young man sighed and ground his teeth a moment as he watched the car drive away and around a corner,"Yes Father. One young woman, dark hair, glasses. I'm sorry I didn't see anymore."

He took his hands out of his pockets then, but soon replaced them, continuing to screw his face up into an expression of annoyance,"It would appear that we are not welcome here. But at least her driver was kind enough to answer you."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

+ Father Daughtry +​

Crossing his arms over his chest, he turned to fully face his partner as he replied. And it was clear that Shaun wasn't the only one frustrated, which was strangely calming to Shaun himself. If anything, it reminded him that at least he wasn't in this alone. Then again, with God on their side, they weren't truly alone regardless, he mused.

"Yes Father. One young woman, dark hair, glasses. I'm sorry I didn't see anymore."

Reaching over, he gave Hugh a consoling pat on the shoulder and nodded.

"It's alright Hugh. We couldn't have known they'd react like that." he reassured him.

"It would appear that we are not welcome here. But at least her driver was kind enough to answer you."

The boy fidgeted before he answered, still irritated. Shaun nodded again and turned to look in the direction the limo went, adjusting his glasses with one hand.

"Well, I doubt that was the demon. I want to say that a limo is too flashy, but I could be wrong. Maybe another organization, but for all we know, it could just be someone rich deciding to go slumming, or even someone local who decided to have a day on the town. Can't be sure. But, something to keep in mind." he added, glancing back shrugging.

"In the meantime, we should probably look around the back-alleys, maybe the waterfront to find some kind of trail. They'd be the most likely places for this demon to hide between killings, assuming it doesn't have a lair in plain sight." he told him.

At the mention of the last possibility, he grimaced. That was what most Templars were reluctant to accept, but the fact was, demons could very well hide among the populace if given the chance. That only made hunting them that much harder.