undergrounds | Greenwich Territory Claim

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Greenwich Territory Claim

1. (OPEN)

James and Cowards talks had been...rather good for both parties in his opinion. They had actually managed to overcome the ire between their respective factions to make arrangements. At first, they had just been the promise of support against the Fae; little things that they could disavow if needs be and pretend never happened to save their own skins.

James had already let the pack know what was happening - and was very happy that the reaction was positive. He may have omitted who was helping him, just to keep the bloodshed at a minimum. Letting the vampires in Greenwich know, however, was a lot less easy. He had decided to make it the announcement in person, going to each and every vampire's nest to tell them they had until the full moon to leave Greenwich. That was more than fair, he thought.

Millicent wasn't informed however, and that was the worst part about this. That it could all blow up in his face in the form of a bullet in his face was inducing a tension headache.

Gone were the days of claiming sick and going home for a day, though. If he was going to be Alpha - and he wanted to - this was where he had to show his true colors.

Anyone in Greenwich could catch him during any time of the day; though he would be more willing to chat during his breaks for food or at the end of the day when it was time to call it a night.

2. (OPEN)

Good Lord, some of these vampires were horrifying. And not in the blood sucking kind of way. James didn't have to worry about that. In his experience, most wouldn't deign to drink from a werewolf. Which was just fine with him. But this one was a total nightmare in every other respect.

She was old, turned in the 1900's when she was in her seventies by her lover - or so his sources said. She was also apparently terrified of the outside world and had enough money to be so.

There was no tolerating vampires inside werewolf territory though. She had to go, or the pack would figure out how to make her leave through less pleasant means. James didn't want to start with threats, which meant something much less direct. James knocked for the fifth time on her cramped townhouse door.

"Madame St Just, I would like to speak with you. Please open up!"

There was a slight pause, then shrieked from what sounded like the second floor:

"Go away you filthy mongrel! I'll have none of your carpetbagging here!"

Ugh.

"...Madame I can assure you I --"

James didn't even get to finish before she snapped back.

"I said go away."

This was going to take all day at this rate.

3. (OPEN)

Finally having cleared out every vampire nest in Greenwich, James decided (with a little nudging from Skip) to host a celebratory dinner for the pack. It wasn't a formal affair; something easy and fun with plenty of benign food that generally appealed to everyone. The only caveat was that no vampires were allowed to attend - which made sense publicly. But James wondered if any of them knew they had a vampire to thank for this new territory?

Probably not. And it wasn't exactly something he wanted the pack to know either. Especially when it meant his candidacy for Alpha being on the line.

Coward would never get credit for basically handing them Greenwich. Something he felt would come back to bite him in the end.

At least for now they could celebrate. Live in the moment, as he kept being told by a really unbelievable number of people.

James isn't much of a party person though - and can be found away from the more crowded areas of the event.

4. (for Alex)

As easy as it had been to secure Greenwich, that didn't mean that there wasn't at least a small number of vampires who were greatly opposed to the idea of giving up a long disputed territory to the East End Pack of all groups. Still, James had managed to convince a great number of them that this was at least better than the Fae taking over it in the future.

But - as always - there were those who were a little less easy to convince. Those that force was the only thing that would make them back down.

So he gave up being a talker for a few nights in the following weeks and joined in the patrols of Betas that had risen up to protect their newly claimed territory.

One girl in particular was new to the area. James thought it'd be only fitting to do one with her personally, just to cement any bonds.

Plus it'd be a great way to figure out if she were spying on them. Just because he and Coward had a mutual understand didn't mean he trusted the man.

5. (OPEN)

The one bad part about becoming a more public figure in the pack was that he had to set an example for other wolves. This meant he had to say goodbye to taking risks and using the forest for the full moons so he could avoid being chained up all night, which really wasn't a bad choice.

It was just his one outlet for freedom. And now that was gone too.

James didn't know exactly where to go to find this kind of stuff. It was all so medieval. Wall mounted chains? Come on.

He was going to a hardware store to start. How to restrain yourself wasn't exactly something he had gotten to talk about with the werewolf that turned him.

6.

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James doesn't have any weapons, like Alex. Just Moonlight Jewelry which means he can pop claws and fangs at his own discretion, which he has as they both run down the alley.

In the brief moment of quiet before Alex goes after whatever was hiding, James opens his mouth to speak but is only left gaping like a fish after Alex as she peels after it.

"Alex!"

He hisses in a hushed whisper before following after her. James likes going in with a plan.

Alex hears James hissing her name, but ignores him. If she stops now, the thing will get away and she can't let that happen. It's fast, but she's faster, if only by a hair. They make it to the other end of the alley before she manages to grab it by the back of its coat and, with the power of her forward momentum, slam it face-first into a wall.

It turns out to be a young man, maybe a little older than Alex. She can't tell what he is for certain, but there's that faint scent of dried blood around him that she associates with vampires.

She doesn't really want to kill the guy - vampire or not - but she doesn't want to let him go either. So she presses her knife against his throat and waits for James to make a call.

James winces watching the stranger go face first into brick. That had to hurt, supernatural or not.

As Alex presses the knife against his throat, James waits quietly to see if she'll go through with it on her own or hold for his input. Apparently, it's the latter - which he's rather grateful for as calling his law firm's cleaners more than once in a few months was a little gratuitous.

"So, who are you?"

The smell of old blood was easy to detect, but apart from that he couldn't tell if he was an actual vampire or not.

Instead of answering, the guy just spits in James' direction. A few flecks land on Alex's cheek, and she snarls, pressing him harder against the wall and digging her knife a little deeper into his throat. It pierces the skin, and a drop of blood trickles down his throat.

"We can't let him go." She closes her fingers so tightly into the front of the guy's shirt, twisting the fabric as she holds him against the wall, that her knuckles turn white. It's true, they can't just let him go, but she hates the thought of killing him. Even if he's a vampire, she's not sure she can just murder him in cold blood.

James' lip curls in disgust as the hock of spit hits it's mark on his hand.

He doesn't stop her from cutting the knife into his skin - wants to put his own claws into the bastard but he needs to know whose watching them.

If it's Millicent, they need to let him go.

If it's Coward, they need to let him go.

If it's anyone else, he's dead. To send a message.

"I know," he growls lowly in response. The anger in his tone directed solely to their little spy. Of course, the growl could literally just be for show to try and scare him.

James comes closer, as if to strike him but instead he looks to Alex with a far milder look.

"Mind if I look through his pockets? Might be something there."

Alex doesn't take her eyes off the spy's face. She doesn't know enough yet about the political climate here that she can make a good guess of who he's working for. And she doesn't like playing politics anyway - she doesn't plan to decide his fate based on who he does or doesn't work for. If he's been spying on them, he has to be dealt with. ...Somehow.

She nods to James, still watching the spy. "Go ahead."

"Thank you." He replied, all courteous and polite like an English gentlemen ought to be.

The man had money in his coat pockets, a folding knife in one of his trousers pockets and a matchbook with a seedy pub's crest on it. Nothing of use. The pub would be a dead end very likely. Probably simply his favorite place and not somewhere anyone would meet him to give instructions.

"Well. Now that is a shame. If I knew who you worked for I'd be more inclined to let you live. Unfortunately...," he trailed off, hoping the man would realize his end was near enough to spill everything instead of going to his grave loyally.

While James searched his pockets, Alex kept her eyes on the man's face, watching for any indication that he was going to attack or try to escape. She might not like the idea of killing him, but she could easily pretend that she was going to, so when James made his implicit threat, Alex pressed the knife hard enough against the spy's throat that a thin line of blood appeared.

The man sneered at James, and said, "I'm not telling you anything, dog."

Alex pulled the knife back and immediately slammed point-first into the wall beside the man's head, nicking the top of his ear. She bore down on the knife, making the wound bigger. "Talk," she snarled, "or you lose the ear."

James barely resisting smiling as Alex pressed the knife into the man's ear. While he wasn't fond of violence, he was fond of a good front.

It occurred to him that smiling might add to the illusion that they weren't desperate for answers. So he did.

"She'll do it too. And keep going until give us what we want."

Underneath Alex's heartbeat and his own, he could hear the spy's increase slightly. So pain was more frightening than death? Damnit.

The man was sweating now, his eyes darting from James to Alex and back. Alex grimaced as she sliced deeper into his ear, hoping he would start talking so she wouldn't have to go any further.

Maybe he sensed her reluctance to hurt him, or maybe she was so convincing that he became desperate enough to lash out. Either way, his forehead collided with the bridge of her nose hard enough for her to see stars. The knife cut sideways sharply, taking a chunk of his ear with it, and she tried to swing the knife inwards to defend herself but was disoriented just long enough for him to wrench her wrist around. The knife sliced across her shoulder before clattering to the ground.

Alex stumbled as the man tried to take off running again. She knew she should give herself a few seconds to heal, but her vision was coming back and the gash in her shoulder would be alright whether she gave it a few seconds or not. She snatched the knife up and turned to run after him.

"Shit," James hissed quickly as the scene quickly took place and before he could even register it the sneak was off down the alley and Alex was bleeding.

"Alex wait!" He ran to catch up with her and stop her. Only because there was no point in chasing after him.

Alex hated to give up, even when it was pointless. They guy was already gone.

"I can get him!" she shouted trying to get past James.

James presses against her wounded shoulder - a dirty tactic, he knows, but he doesn't think she even feels it right now. Adrenaline is a powerful thing.

"It could be a trap, Alex!"

Really, he should have thought about that before they chased after him initially, but his instinct to stop a problem before it arose was greater than his sense sometimes.

Alex grunts at the pressure on her shoulder, though she barely feels any pain, and keeps trying to push past him. Even if it's fruitless, or a trap, she hates the thought of failure. She also doesn't like the idea of looking incompetent in front of James.

"Let me go, I can get him!"

"I believe you!"

And he does, but keeping her in his sight is more important than going after some scuttling insect of an underling.

She's worth more to him here and not potentially captured.

"But it's not worth it."

Scowling in frustration, Alex finally gives up trying to get past James, and spins on the ball of her foot, letting some of her angry energy out. After a second, she turns back to him, teeth gritted, and starts wiping the blood off her knife.

"We don't know who he's working for or what he's going to report back." And there's nothing she can do about it, which sucks.

She finishes cleaning her knife and jams it back into her pocket.

"At worst he tells them that the werewolves are actively patrolling their new territory and aren't friendly. At best he says nothing and tries to do it again."

Which was what James hoped, because if he were the spy - he wouldn't want to come back with the fact that he'd been caught and only just got away with his life.

"Remember his scent. We'll be looking for him."

It's the most he could give her.

Alex nods. She will definitely remember his scent. She might even try tracking him on her own later.

"Fine, yeah." She rolls her injured shoulder, assessing how painful it is to move. Not too bad. It's already started healing.

She can't exactly wander into a coffee shop with a very noticeable bloody tear in her jacket, though, and not get a lot of weird looks. Which is a perfect excuse to not have to get coffee. "We should finish the patrol, then I should head home and change."

"Good idea."

James nods, secretly pleased that she agreed to hold off on running into the unknown - mostly because he'd have to go after her if she did and he wasn't quite feeling up to that right now.

One crazy girl in his life was plenty, but James had the feeling that number was increasing.

When did he become a babysitter?

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Greenwich Territory Claim

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