World of Darkness: Attrition - The Hunters Hunted [Fin]

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

[Evening of 30 March 2009]

Four weeks since she'd come back to town. Nearly a month, and certainly a moon. And that, decided Sarah O'Neally beneath a crescent smiling down upon her from the western sky as her hand ran over a ragged hole in rough bark that would likely take at least a decade to fully heal over, the memory of a massive round punching through the tree to linger much longer in the living wood than in her dead chest, was more than enough time to have wasted.

As this thing of flesh that may be dead but refused to behave as such stalked smoothing across her lands on a westerly course, whatever dark miracle that continued thought - surely not simple electrical impulses in the lifeless grey matter preserved within her skull - ran over recollections of harm that had befallen both her current existance and what remained of the life she once had. Memory of being pinned down in her very own territory, of the shouted words of Ariel and Moss that seemed frozen in time with each incoming round, seemed almost backlit by bright and terrifying flames of a pyre that likely had held most of those she ever could truly call kin. Each image, each moment of fear and loss graven indelibly in the her mind's eye, put additional meaning into every step as the Dead Wolf passed her western bounds and crossed the territory of those she emulated enroute to her goal.

Yes, a month was more than enough time to have wasted.

Roz knew what to do with this feral woman who had appeared on her doorstep with ever-increasing frequency in the past half-year. There may have been questions - certainly were questions - in the mind of the Latino housekeeper about what Sarah truly was about, but there was no question where to take her: straight to Lucien.

As heavy oak trimmed with brass closed behind her with a smooth click, Sarah met the eyes of her lover, a man with whom she was bound by fate and blood thrice over, the memories of a pyre still shining bright in her eyes. "I think it's time, hon," she said, and the man who could see the forces of the universe itself knew her intent before the words had ever escaped her cool lips. With a joyless grin playing at the corners of her mouth, Sarah Dead-Wolf said what they both knew. "Time to go hunting the hunters."

[Lucien Hunt]

Dark Levis and a Polo shirt nearly brought a chuckle to Sarah's surface as her boyfriend was playing a round of billiards alone. It was funny how couples tended to imitate each other after a fashion the more time they spent together. Lucien would rarely be caught in denim jeans until Sarah came along, but she knew that dating a stuffy ol' business major in three piece suits would certainly make her feel less and less and less comfortable around him. This was his compromise, a slight change in wardrobe was a small thing for the sake of a loved one, even if they almost made him look a completely different person. She certainly wasn't displeased watching him hunch over the table to take his shot, that was certain.

"Were it so easy, Sarah." Lucien said, a bit of frustration could be detected in his tone. "We've nothing to go on. All I have are a few deciphered hobby books that were purchased a few months ago. Don't you think we're a bit old to be shaking down geeks on Magic: The Gathering night?"

He chalked the cue stick. "We need a plan."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Pulling a cue stick from a wall rack, Sarah took the small cube of chalk from Lucian's hand. The brief touch was nearly electric, and she found herself savoring his lingering warmth on the chalk as she tended to her own cue.

"Well," she said while stalking over to retrieve a polished wooden triangle from its storage place, "we do have some things. There's the way that they hit us in the park, after all, and the numbers Moss pulled from one of their vans. And of course," she added, setting the triangle on unblemished green felt to reach into her jacket pocket, "we have this."

Her hand slipped out to the middle of the triangle, a closed fist touching the felt only long enough to unclench; when the pale fingers drew away, a lump of tarnish and misshapen metal was resting on the table.

"Took some time to find it. But I had the trajectory from the tree and where I was standing. And I've had plenty of free time. Dig long enough, and you can find about anything. That's the bullet that tore through my chest, hon."

Sarah eyes flashed up to meet those of her lover, and she asked, "Any way to use your magic to get some hints from it?"

[Lucien Hunt]

He took the slug from her hand and eyed it carefully. After a few moments he looked the fiery haired woman in the eyes and grinned. "You need a hobby. Do get together with The Penguin on weekends and tape together old Enron documents?"

The thump of her hip into his told him his joke was received, as did her large smile as she turned to continue racking up the next match. "Well?" She finally asked as they shared a muted laugh.

"Worth a shot, but it's hard to say." He walked around to the opposite side of the table and set it along the edge. "I'm not sure if it'll form a strong enough sympathetic connection. You see, bullets are rather impersonal things, people generally don't care who they go into as long as they do the job. On those rare occasions, like vengeance, when a bullet is inscribed with a name and to some extremes even blessed for the sole purpose of offing a particular man or woman. Only then does it possess some semblance of a personal connection."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"At this point, slim chances are still a lot better than what we've had. But I was more thinking that something of this size had to be made and bought somewhere. Damned thing is a fifty-cal, illegal out here in Soviet Californistan. And not a huge market for them elsewhere; pretty worthless for hunting anything legit."

The vampire peered at the spent round, her vision focusing in tight on what remained of the backside. There was the hint of something there, a bit of smooth surface with a faintly rounded edge, but too much of the round had mushroomed back around to allow any clear examination. "If you can... I don't know, fix the bullet somehow, we might be able to get product run numbers off of the ass-end of it. Then maybe we can start some tracking, human-style."

[Lucien Hunt]

"I wish I could. Reversing the bullet to a point where the numbers were legible requires the Arcana of Time, reconstructing it back to before it was shot requires the Arcana of Matter... neither of which I'm versed in." Lucien sighed.

For an all powerful Warlock, he was pretty worthless tonight. He wasn't much of a detective, and apparently an even worse hunter. "The best we can hope for is perhaps a strong enough connection for me to be able to scry on the locations the bullet has spent time in. But trust me Sarah, that's a Hail Mary play if ever there was one."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"Well... crap." For all of her association with the warlock, Sarah was still pretty much grasping at straws when it came to what magic could and could not accomplish. She more or less followed his comments about "arcana", figuring it to be either some kind of book or maybe an energy source of some sort, but that was about it.

Scrying, however, she understood in full. Back in her mortal years, she'd known a few of the People who could gaze into clear water and describe hidden places and even the occasional glimpse of past or future. And she knew from experience that it was one of Lucien's better talents. Well, better magical talents, anyway, she mused with the faint hint of an impish grin pulling at her mouth.

Steering forcably back to topic and away from thoughts of "playtime", the vampire nodded. "Well, a Hail Mary's better than standing there and getting sacked by Team Hunter. Unless it'll be actually hurtful to try, anyway. And who knows; maybe we can find some of this arcana stuff you need for other magics."

[Lucien Hunt]

He couldn't keep in the laugh. Although it was muted, Lucien couldn't help but get some humor out of Sarah's ignorance. "Arcana's aren't just something we can find along the way. They're fields of study, each is founded on the 10 principals of energy that bind all things into being. Once learned a Willworker can begin to control the fundamental aspects of that Arcana's power. The Arcana of Mind for example."

He cut his lecture short, he knew Sarah wasn't stupid, just ignorant of exactly how his 'art' worked just he was of hers at times. From each other they would learn, and from learning they'd grow stronger, such was the nature of things.

"Alright, let's give this a shot. It'll take me some time to prepare, give me about an hour." Walking back to her he planted a caring kiss on Sarah's cheek followed by a wink as he pulled away. "Ask Ros for a game, she's pretty good."

Lucien scooped up the slug and headed for the door mentally counting an inventory of things he'd need for a ritual casting of Scry.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Her host was absolutely right on that point; Ros turned out to be very good indeed at the table. Three games and thirty dollars later, Sarah finally realized that amping up her frustration was not going to be the least bit helpful, and thanked Lucien's housekeeper for the games.

Of course, Sarah wasn't exactly in best form anyway; aside from the annoyance of keeping her skin halfway rosy and eyes blinking for the sake of the mortal, her mind was racing down a half dozen roads. How on earth did a warlock study these arcana anyway? Do they deal with a professor? Get a diploma? The California Institute of Arcane Studies does hereby bestow upon Lucien Hunt the title, rights and priviledges of Master of Temporal Studies. Something halfway between a giggle and growl bubbled up at the thought.

Darker questions were in no shortage, either. The hunters were out there, demonstratably and dangerously. They'd dared to bring high-calibre rifles into play in the midst of Los Angeles; if ever there was a threat to The Herd Must Not Know, these guys were it. And yet, finding them wasn't so much like finding a needle in a haystack as a particular strand of hay in same.

Taking up familiar perch on a bar chair, Sarah settled into an equally familiar funk.

[Lucien Hunt]

Several minutes later the large oaken door opened and Lucien entered the room, Rosalind in tow. He held the bullet in his hand shaking it slightly as if he was onto something and it was helping him concentrate. Ros the closed the door behind them, she was dressed a bit more casual than her usual maid's 'uniform' that she was so commonly seen in by guests. The thick sole of her boots tapped on the hard wood floor before she stopped and leaned against Lucien's desk and folded her arms.

"Well," Lucien spoke up. "Good news and bad news. Bad news is, we're still screwed. The bullet gave me nothing." He saw Sarah get visibly irritated by the constant dead ends. "Hold on now, before you get all in a tizzy, I did get something."

"A name. Darnell Johnson. You know him?" Suddenly realizing that he had gotten caught up in the moment of deciphering the Hunter's clues Lucien looked to Rosalind and then to Sarah. "Oh, and Ros is privy to the completely messed up lives, or lack there of, we lead. She's trustworthy. Rosalind the Sleepwalker meet Sarah Dead-Wolf. Sarah Dead-Wolf, Rosalind the Sleepwalker." His words were hasty as the excitement of finally getting a lead was still fresh in his mind.

Rosalind nodded to Sarah and smiled politely. "Nice to meet the real you, Sarah. I'll try to help you two as best I can, although I admit, I'm rather new to all this... oddness."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Mention of a Darnell Johnson rang no bells... which did nothing to blunt the news that Ros was aware of the details of her nature. For a moment - a bare moment - the feral thing that comprised part of her changed soul flared to angry life, before what remained of the old Sarah managed to wrestle it back under some semblance of control.

"Sleepwalker... that something like a Wolf-Blooded? I... I'll hope so, at any rate. Oaths and all that. I, um, yeah; guess it's good to finally be able to drop the charade." Carefully maintained rosy cheeks faded to a pale that verged on snowy white, and regular breaths came to a dead stop. "Glad to meet you in the open, Ros."

That done, the Dead Wolf managed a sigh before meeting her lover's eyes again. "So, we've got a name. No idea who it is, but we've got a name anyway. Maybe the shooter, or who sold the munitions. Ariel might be able to dig up a little more than that through her cop stuff; don't suppose you got any sort of a mental image to go with that name, did ya?"

[Lucien Hunt]

"No. It was only through exceptional luck I managed to get anything at all." Lucien said, leaning next to Ros on the desk. "My question was rather vague, I had nothing to go on. I had audio but no visual. Perhaps we could ask around a bit? Google the name, see what we can come up with?"

"Johnson is a pretty common name," Rosalind added. "Darnell, however, that may help narrow down a search. I could see what I can find. It'll be a start anyway."

Lucien nodded to her and she turned a situated herself behind the desk and wiggled the mouse a few times to do away with the power save mode.

"Ariel might be able to help, she still has that suspect." He folded his arms and raised his hand an nibbled on his thumbnail a bit. "If I could get in to see him I could probe his mind for the information we're looking for."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah snorted a bit. "Ariel's pretty much a by-the-book cop, from what I've seen of her." Looking at the bullet, though, she sighed and nodded. "But she knows how bad this shit is likely to get, too. Probably our best avenue. I'm on pretty good terms with her and her pack; want me to ask her in on this, or do you want to tap her directly?"

With all the social understanding of your average woodchuck, it took Sarah a moment to recognize the grin that came to Lucien's lips at her comment. "Not like that, horndog. But seriously, how do we want to approach her on this?"

[Lucien Hunt]

"I say we don't. She's unreliable, too wrapped up in the 'real world' to understand where we'd be coming from." Lucien said flatly, that air of nobility coming to the surface as he spoke in a forthright and straight forward manner. "But, we need to get in there and into that man's head. All we can do is simply be honest, we need to see a prisoner, and we need her to get us in there to do it. She will or she won't, that's all there is to it."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"All-righty, then."

The vampire hopped down from her perch, looking back and forth from Lucien to Ros and back to Lucien again.

"If were gonna do this, no time like the present. Since my car's still rusting away out in Arizona somewhere and I'm pretty sure neither of you turn into anything with wings or four legs, who's driving?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

The sweet slice of automotive heaven that the trio finally wound up piling into did little to distract Sarah from the coming hunt. If anything, the vehicle - with angular, predatory lines and a deep growl of raw power from beneath the hood - sharpened her own feral edge; it took actual effort for the vampire to keep her claws inside, rather than out and sinking into the leather seat.

Lucien handled the thing like it was part of him... and with his powers, Sarah thought, maybe it kinda is when he wants it to be. He'd push the beast up to 90, dropping as low as 50 through tight curves only to pump it back to 90 again. Traffic lights went green for the speeding car, or at least seemed to - probably another bit of magic there - and the one cop they passed enroute didn't even appear to notice them.

"You know," Sarah offered, "I really need to go driving with you more often." She was answered with a grin that told of nights to come along forbidden roads.

Faster than they had any right to, the three pulled up in front of a precinct house... part of Ariel's territory, in theory at any rate. Does she think of it like that? Or is she still too human to really take that step? Luna, I hope she's up to helping us with this....

The desk sergeant - a young and obviously bored officer saddled with the graveyard shift - looked up at the three with hope for distraction writ large in his eyes. "What can I do for you three tonight?"

With a voice smooth as silk yet impossible to deny, the warlock simply said, "We're here to speak with Officer McKenzie. If you wouldn't mind, please tell her that Lucien Hunt is here."

[SalmonMax]

The officer on duty sighed inwardly...it was pretty unlikely the detective would be in this late. Even so, he checked the register to see who had checked out for the day. If nothing else it'd give him a few more seconds with people to talk to.

And there it was, much to his surprise.

"She's here," the sergeant said, then looked up at the visitors realizing all at once that they must have known she was here, which explained why... Feeling like an idiot he grabbed his phone's handset and quickly said, "I'll page her."

-------

Ariel had always been sort of diurnal by nature. Left to her own devices, she stayed up late and slept in late. Now that she wasn't on hourly anymore, she could finally keep that schedule herself...within limits. The captain had been sure to make clear that she was expected to be available within normal hours...and of course, any kind of collaboration with other people meant adjusting to their time.

But it was still nice.

Humming to herself under her breath, she closed the file she'd been working on and filed it. It would have taken her as much as an hour longer to do this work if she'd tried to do it with the station in the full bustle of midday activity, with people needing things and people interrupting and people...bah!

She was just getting her jacket to head out for the night when her phone rang. She nearly left it for voicemail, but finally relented and picked it up.

"Detective, there some people here to see you? One is named Lucien Hunt?"

Ariel paused at that for a moment. It'd been awhile since they'd spoken last, but did this mean...? "I'll be right there," she said, and hurried out of her office to meet them.

----------

"She'll be right..." the desk sergeant started to say, but he was interrupted by Ariel shouting, "Hey!" from the far door as she left the offices and came into the 'public room' in the front of the station. She was smiling as she walked over.

"Guys! What's up? It's been a little while, how are you?" She quickly glanced behind her back at the reception desk, then back at her friends. "You're not here to report something, are you?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

As months of unlife turned into years, certain habits of Sarah's living days had become something of an effort to maintain. Social smiling was one such thing; while rare moments of something like joy could still bring a genuine grin to her face, the intricacies of "polite pleasantness" had never been her strong suit in life and quickly wore off in death. Nearly four years past her last sunrise, it was pretty much a lost talent.

Still, this was Ariel: one of the few Uratha who Sarah had been able to really open up with... and the one who apparently was at least in part responsible for Amber's recent change in tune. That merited the effort, at least. The result wasn't perfect - there was a little too much of the predator involved - but it would have to do.

"Not so much report as talk about," the Dead Wolf said, never much of one for banter. "Lucien's got an idea on something; can we talk privately somewhere?" A glance at the desk sergeant left no doubt that he wasn't included... and indeed, the cop couldn't help but be a little glad for that; something in this young woman's eyes seemed almost to be sizing him up, and not in a friendly way.

[Lucien Hunt]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

"You're not here to report something, are you?"

"Only that there's been a robbery." Lucien spoke confidently with the Devil's Grin plastered on his perfect face. "Someone has stolen the stars and placed their glimmer in your perfect eyes."

He let his charm linger in the air for a moment. He was just having fun with Ariel and didn't take a detective to see he was just fooling around. The roll of Ariel's eyes forced Lucien's grin to become even wider as the Desk Sergeant nodded his approval.

"Not bad buddy," He said. "That's a pretty good one."

Lucien tapped his note pad as Ariel was already leading Sarah away to someplace more private to talk. "Write that down." He winked at the Sergeant. "Good stuff."

Lucien smiled once more and followed the ladies, and behind them was a wonderful place to be, the view was amazing.

[SalmonMax]

Ariel might have rolled her eyes at Lucien, but she was grinning too. Then she nodded and replied, "My desk's over here. Come on, this way."

As they walked back behind the desk and through the staff door, the three entered a large, mostly open space lined with offices and several rows of desks farmed in the middle. Low cubicle-style walls separated them, but even for someone sitting they could be seen over without too much trouble.

"Kind of a slow night," Ariel explained as she led them around and down a column of desks. "Sometimes there's other guys here this late, but I think I'm the last one standing this time."

She stopped at her desk, which looked cluttered at first, but a keen eye quickly saw that there was an underlying order to it all...certain files put here, photos over there...and so on. There was a little picture of an older couple, parents perhaps, in a frame near the phone. Not too many other personal touches though, save for the M&M's coffee mug.

"There's cameras in here," Ariel said, turning to look at Sarah and Lucien, "but not microphones. So what's up?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Sarah took a seat... technically. As usual, her version of "sitting" was more of a perch on the edge of the chair, muscles ready to spring forward at any moment. Without preamble, she delved into the heart of the reason for this unexpected visit.

"I'm sick of waiting for these Hunters to hit us again. Went to Lucien here, and he's got an idea. If you can get him a few minutes with the Hunter you've got penned up, he might be able to get some info out of the guy's noggin.

"Oh," she added, "and if you've got anything on a Darnell Johnson, that'd be great, too. He's somehow connected with the bullet that tore out my chest. More of Lucien's mind-woogy."

[SalmonMax]

Ariel gave Lucien a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, he had an idea, did he?" she asked wryly. "In that case, I think it can be arranged. How close do you have to be, Lucien? The observer room would be easier since there's no camera in there, but if you need to touch him or be right next to him I can make that happen too."

"As for Darnell Johnson...I can run the name through gun registration database and check for warrants or priors. And if the bullet you used to get that name should fall back into our hands, I can have ballistics check to see if they can match it to a known gun sale...which would help narrow down the search."

She gives Sarah a morbidly curious look. "Did that thing actually lodge inside you, and then you dug it out?"

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"Um, well..." Sarah replied, rooting in her jacket pocket for a moment before withdrawing a closed fist, "...actually I sorta sighted along the hole in the tree, adjusted for the hole in me, then hunted through the ground at the other end until I found it in the dirt. Both the tree and me cut a lot of the velocity down. Took a while, but I've got the time."

Hand still closed, she pressed her cold fingers into Ariel's warm hand, releasing only enough to leave a mangled lump of metal behind.

[Lucien Hunt]

"Yeah, I've told her she needs to find a hobby." Lucien mused with the officer while shooting Sarah a grin.

"Line of sight should be enough," He answered Ariel's question. "Although if you can get me in the same room with the man, that would be better. Eye contact helps some what, but I assure you, it won't hurt him in the slightest."

[SalmonMax]

Ariel nods in acknowledgment and motions for the two to follow her. She goes through a door and down a hallway lined with empty offices, then through a door with a card lock that clicks open with a pass from a leather slipcase she keeps her badge in.

They follow her down a staircase a level to another cardlock. Here the air is a bit cooler and more processed, and the light is all florescent. The walls are just off-white, and the floor is grey marbled tile.

She opens up one of the unmarked, unnoteworthy doors and lets Lucien and Sarah into a smallish square room that has nothing much besides a few chairs and a large window into another room though the light coming in through it is a bit dimmed by its tint.

"Lets try it the safe way first," Ariel says. "Have a seat in here, and I'll bring him up from lockup. If this doesn't work, or we're not satisfied with the answers, I'll let you in with him."

She pauses, then adds, "I won't be gone long, but if anyone pokes their nose in here, tell them you're witnesses for a case Detective McKenzie's working on, and I'm bringing up a suspect for visual ID. It'd be a little weird to use an interrogation room for that instead of the lineup, but not a big deal."

For a moment the werewolf cop hesitates, then heaves a big sigh.

"I'm glad you guys are here."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

The smile may not have been perfect, but there was something akin to genuine warmth behind it as Sarah replied. "Good to see you, too." She watched as Ariel left, closing the door behind her and killing the lights to preserve the one-way effect.

The main source of illumination remaining was the lit interrogation room on the other side of the glass, and as she waited for Ariel to bring in the suspected Hunter, Sarah reached out in an uncommon - and eerily human-like - guesture to take Lucien's hand in her own.

"Do you think this will really work?" she asked in a near-whisper... as through the glass, the door opened and a man was led in. The orange prison-issue jumpsuit was accessorized with a pair of handcuffs, and his shuffling gait as he was led to a chair made the presence of manacles clear. But none of these things could take the sharpness from the prisoner's gaze as he glanced for a moment at the glass with a look of pure hatred, and Sarah's grip on Lucien's hand grew just a tiny bit tighter.

[Lucien Hunt]

"Sarah," Lucien replied softly, detecting the hint of her doubt in their plan. the rich playboy was by no means a qualified adept by Consilium standards, but like most Mastigos, he was blessed with the talent to never quit trying. He'd been blessed with optimism and a desire to always look for a way no matter how difficult the failures may be. "It's me." His grin worried her. "I've the power of the cosmos at my beck and call... 'think'. Pshhh. Who needs to think?"

His attempt to be funny bought him only a raised brow and a 'get serious' look.

"Relax, okay?" He asked her, seeing that she was not amused. "Sifting through a persons mind for answers, like I'm doing, is quite simple. It's changing things and messing up memories that makes things get complicated. Don't worry."

The Mastigos looked through the glass, bit irony unfolded as the fanatic stared at the reflective surface unknowing of the soul that stood upon the other side looking back at him... dissecting his mind like an angel on Judgment Day. There were no great acts of sorcery displayed, just Lucien looking through the glass, meeting the man's eyes, and trembling slightly from his concentration.

The man's mind opened up to him in a series of vivid still frames, moments captured upon the surface of his vision that were then stored within he mind to be recalled in full as what we would call: a memory. He sifted past images of birthdays, his wedding, the beautiful daughter he missed so dearly and it was all enough to tempt Lucien to rewrite this man into better person if only for their sake.

He didn't though. It would take time, effort, and not to mention possibly complicate the objective he and Sarah were here for, and their mission was more important this evening, this man had made his choices willingly and willful choices were something that no mortal could hide from the might of a Mastigos Adept. Then he found it; a still image of Sarah perched atop a limb with Ariel and No Moss in the park, as seen through the sights of a scope.

Seizing that image with his thoughts Lucien 'opened' the memory and rewound it several moments. Names a faces were clearly displayed from him as he watched as the man would have watched. The woman in charge barked orders to several men as they stood around glossy black civilian model H2s. Once she completed briefing them they piled in and headed for the park... most of that part Lucien skipped.

His body convulsed slightly as the bullet tore through Sarah's chest... he let the rest go, there was only so much he could he could glean from a single man's point of view.

He looked to Sarah, his eyes glossed a bit from being 'out of it' temporarily. "Irons. Crusader Irons." His voice was nothing more than a prophetic whisper. "She sent the team to the park that night... she knows about you, she heard you talking about the Wren Clan..."

He was sweating slightly as his brain tried to put into words events that were past and words that were spoken in an instant into cohesive sentences. "She's... she's number two. Warehouse... I heard the ocean... gulls... gotta be on the coast..."

He'd pushed himself a bit too hard. As he struggled to breathe out the words Lucien fainted into Sarah's arms.

Click to reveal..

Read The Depths (Mind 4) - 4 successes.

Note: Although he 'rewound' a memory, that is not a Time effect. Memories may be moved forward and backward without the use of the Time Arcana since their source is readily available for playback (the target in this case).

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

She'd heard the words. They had registered, and would even be remembered later. But right now, the vampire didn't give a damn about words. Her lover was unconscious in her arms, and for the first time in years, Sarah felt panic on behalf of another.

There had been training of course, back in the increasingly dim living days during that one gleaming year of med school. And more out of rote than anything else, she laid him carefully out on the row of chairs and started to check his airway even as she called out. "Ariel! Need some help here!"

Click to reveal..

A quick Medicine check:

(08:06:38) ChatBot: (Sarah) rolls 4d10 and gets 4,2,4,10.

(08:06:43) ChatBot: (Sarah) rolls 1d10 and gets 7.

One whopping success

[SalmonMax]

In a heartbeat Ariel is beside Sarah, leaning down over Lucien and muttering, "Shitshitshit, what happened??"

She took his pulse and watched Sarah check his breathing and was relieved when both seemed okay.

"Okay," the cop said shakily. "Okay. I'm going to take Laughing Boy out there back down. I will run back with a blanket. We'll carry him back out to the desks and I'll call for an ambulance. He's going to be fine. Okay?"

Ariel paused, waiting for Sarah to indicate agreement before putting her intricate plan into effect.

[Lucien Hunt]

By the time Ariel returned from putting 'Laughing Boy' back in lock up Lucien had regained consciousness. Although a bit weary and seemingly fatigued he was standing, or trying to at least, in an attempt to shake away the creeping vertigo that lingered from his fainting spell. He thanked Ariel for a bottle of water, her thoughtfulness was always warming, and after a moment spent composing himself he looked to his companions.

"Sorry about that," he said to the ladies. "I can't say I've ever gone that deep into a mind before, it's a bit draining it seems, but I think I may have retrieved the information we were looking for. Hard to tell, my head filled with too many flashing colors and is spinning like a blender of clowns."

He took a moment to think about what he said... "Wow, that was kinda grim... and gross." It appeared he'd recover.

He looked at Sarah as if it was her turn to speak up, it took her only a second to realize that Captain Playboy had no recollection of what he'd mumbled before he fainted. "So, uhh... what did I get?"

He grinned that grin of his.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"You mean you don't remember?" Sarah said, a mixture of relief and incredulity playing across her pale features. Lucien simply shook his head, and the Dead Wolf repeated what the warlock had said during his moments of revelation from the Hunter.

"So apparently this Crusader Irons is the one who is running the local Hunter show. And..." she swallowed hard. "...and apparently I'm the one at fault for them hitting my family. I think I'd like a little opportunity to make right for that mistake."

The tone of her words made absolutely clear exactly how Sarah meant to "make right".

[SalmonMax]

"It's as much my fault as yours," Ariel points out. "None of us had any way of knowing we were being watched, but we were all talking pretty openly about stuff we shouldn't have been."

She gives Lucien a grateful smile.

"Thanks to you though, we have enough to start turning the tables. I'll put out some discrete feelers and see what I can turn up on them. So far it looks like they're hanging their man in here out to dry, which says to me that they're playing it extra-safe and not exposing any public face to scrutiny. That might mean they have a vulnerability we can exploit, if we can find it."

[Lucien Hunt]

"Sarah, violence begets more violence." Her lover said rubbing his temple as he leaned against the windows frame. Lucien was no pacifist but we always sought violence as the last possible solution to a problem. "I know how you feel, and I can understand your anger, but we can't risk starting war on the streets of L.A. where innocent people could get caught in the mix."

Although his head still churned like a Country Crock processing plant some of the pain subsided enough that the vague impressions were returning as he regained clarity. "I do remember the ocean and a warehouse. Perhaps Ariel could look into the local import export businesses with her police resources, or we could all go look on foot, which might take longer but at least I'd have a lovely lady on each arm to keep me safe." He smiled at them both.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"You're right," Sarah grumbled, "as usual. If we can pull their fangs, that's better than a full-on fight. And yeah, probably best if Ariel took a look from a cop's-eye view.

"Though you know," she pondered, "there's other things we can do, too. Lucien hon, you can ride along and watch things through someone else's eyes. Have I told you that I can fly?"

Truth of the matter was, Sarah hadn't mentioned that particular detail to her boyfriend... or to Ariel for that matter. But now seemed the time for cats to be thoroughly removed from bags.

[Lucien Hunt]

"No, no you hadn't." Lucien smiled as well he could. "However, given our rather 'enchanted' lives," He looked Ariel and winked. "It is rather difficult to surprise us with off the wall news like being able to fly or there is a fifty foot Jesus living in your sock drawer. We tend to keep an open mind about these things, especially a fifty foot anything."

His sense of humor was returning it seemed but as he mused with his comrades an idea struck him and Sarah was the catalyst for that thought. "That is a brilliant idea though Sarah. While Ariel looks up what she can we peruse the city from above. Should we find anything suspicious I could investigate it from the Shadow, my Psychic Projection is invulnerable to mundane sight or weaponry, I'll be like a ghost." He paused for a moment as the rush of tactical planning and manipulating the system against these would be 'Hunters' sparked a surge of adrenalin within his Mastigos roots; revenge was so sweet a dish. "Gods ladies... me might actually be able to pull this off and get somewhere."

He spoke in way that seemed surprised slightly, but also with an impressed tone that noted he glad they were getting somewhere.

[SalmonMax]

Ariel rubbed her palms together...the gesture not so much an 'evil plotting' one as 'warming cold hands.' It seemed the risk was starting to pay off, and the feeling of having a clear direction was invigorating.

"All right. Warehouses and shipping will help a lot to narrow it down from my end. Lucien's right about a direct fight too. The ideal way to end this would be to find dirt on them...proof of illegal activities that could be submitted anonymously to tip off official action."

She thinks. "I'm thinking we should get radios or something. Cellphones work, but the transcripts would be evidence if any of this was ever challenged in court. I could also get ahold of those light amp goggles the SWAT guys wear on night raids. I guess Sarah, you probably wouldn't need them, but Lucien might."

"Anyway, we'll keep in touch. When I start getting hits, I'll let you know. As you guys find more specific leads, let me know. If you need backup, I'll come as fast as I can."

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

"Not bad plans at all," Sarah agreed, "though yeah, I can skip the goggles. And yeah, radios. With an encrypt channel, preferably. Cop-issue, but I'm betting they can be grabbed on the market somewhere."

Standing and helping her lover do likewise, Sarah stuck her hand out to shake Ariel's. "Nice to be working with you again. But I think it's time I get a certain wizard home to rest a bit. Soon as we can scrape up the gear, we can meet up and start hunting the hunters."

With no further adieu, the vampire helped the mage out of the interview room and the police station. "We can get all that gear," she said quietly as they climbed into his car, "but that can wait a night or two. I've never see you drained like this, and wanna get you home."