undergrounds | Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death [Open]

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Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death [Open]

The old Kitterick hotel, long since closed and abandoned, sat silently in its abandonment. At first it seemed that this night would be the same as any other -- one more in the long series of nights spent settling, creaking, slowly but surely marching toward the dissolution that surely awaited it. Yet as evening settled firmly over the streets of Greenwich, something changed in the air.

A long car, sleek and black, rolled up to the front of the building. A woman got out; two men aided her in doing so. Her long dress was bright carmine, spilling out behind her in a whispering pool. In the dark of night, the cloth looked almost black.

"This will do nicely," she said. Her whisper was full of promise.

[This, should you choose to use it, is a catch-all post for the Bloody Countess plot! It's for investigations, encounters, and so on leading up to the main event.]

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Heiji made his way down the steps toward the restaurant exit, one hand shoved in his pocket as he went. "So? Not too shabby, right? Too bad they don't serve food Kansai-style, but I think I'm gonna be back!"

C'mon, Sasuke, admit it was good. Heiji even paid for your food, you monster.

"... Okay, what exactly is the difference with ramen? The broth? The type of noodle? The toppings?"

This was probably a stupid question. Nonetheless, it was good to take a break from the office. Annoying assistant or not, though.

"I know sushi's, uh... assorted."

"Heck, there're all kinda differences. Like Sapporo ramen's usually got roast pork, ginger and garlic. Kyoto ramen, sometimes you get a lighter shoyu flavor, but they also got this chicken-flavored kind..."

He glanced over at Sasuke; sorry your boss showed up, dude.

Edited (I accidentally a word) 2015-06-10 05:33 (UTC)

I have so many mixed feelings right now.

"There are four main bases: shio, shoyu, miso, and tonkotsu, though there's debate on them. Those define broth and seasonings, though, while the toppings don't really change the categories. That's like saying that pepperoni pizza and sausage pizza are different cuisines.

The noodles are a wheat flour base but are different from other noodles because of the addition of kansui." Socializing is so much easier when there's a direct purpose to it. Still.

"I guess it wasn't terrible."

Congratulations, Sasuke, you were terrible at conversation.

"Basically, different regions have different ways of preparin' it! It's like how you got Chicago deep dish versus New York thin crust pizza in the States." Although lbr, deep dish was an abomination unto the lord and not really pizza at all, you might as well eat literal garbage.

He opened the door to the restaurant and stepped through. "We really gotta get you to a su -- "

Before he could finish the sentence, however, there was the distinct crash of window glass breaking. A man's body sailed down through the fifth story window and slammed down onto the hood of a parked sedan right in front of the building.

Yeah, that dude was dead.

Apollo stops, stares, and watches the dude die.

And screams.

"What the— what!?" Apollo then looks up at the broken glass, eyes squinting to hopefully see what the hell was going on up there. God damn it, this wasn't the time, and he instinctively pulls out his phone to call the emergency line.

"What just happened!?"

The sound doesn't even register at first as being what it is, disconnected from the possibility that something like that had just happened...

And as soon as it does sink in his body is moving, barely conscious of his instantaneous reaction but finding himself right next to that car and confirming that he is dead before anything else. Sharp eyes turn their gaze upward then to seek out the source of the broken window and catch a flash of movement, his normally stoic demeanor shattered as he now instead tries not to panic.

"There's someone up there... Someone moved up there, it's--" A quick count. "The fifth floor!" And Sasuke jerks away from the corpse then, seeming to realize just how close he'd gotten.

Heiji's eye caught the wound on the man's neck, just behind his collar. Two little twin holes, deceptively small...

"Apollo, call the cops! Don't bother with the ambulance!" What was Heiji going to do...?

Run back up the stairwell at top speed, that was what. Luckily, it was quickly getting dark and most people would be gathering around the body. They wouldn't be paying much attention to the guy going up the stairs...

Apollo makes the switch immediately, talking with a dispatcher about exactly what the hell went down. And the woman on the other line had a hard time believing it, too.

Luckily him and Heiji are in the same vein, his eyes catching those wounds on his neck and it's pretty obvious from there what caused it.

"God damn it, I'm not sure if we can fight whoever did this." Assuming they caught him, anyway— and with these type of creatures, it was nearly impossible.

Sasuke's as quick to draw the same conclusion regarding just what they're dealing with, and the first thought through his adrenaline-laced mind is they wouldn't be enough, that the policemen would be overwhelmed should they actually be forced into a confrontation with a fully developed and aged vampire. It's that realization that actually motivates him to scan the faces in the panicked crowd, searching for calm in a sea of hysteria.

It's in the mouth of the alleyway between the restaurant and a cleaning shop that he spots a glint of white teeth in an unnatural smirk before the figure vanishes, head snapping back up to that fifth floor window and then back down again.

"Apollo, stay here!" he yells back, feeling it just as necessary that someone remains near the body as he does that someone needs to chase that man down and halt his escape. If there's any protest in return he doesn't hear it, taking off down that alleyway and out of sight. Good luck on your own.

YEAH, APOLLO. STAY THERE. ALL BY YOURSELF. WITH A DEAD BODY.

If there was any doubt about the supernatural nature of the dead man's assailant, well. That doubt would quickly be set aside. Sasuke's perp was nimble, he was quick -- far too fleet of foot to be human. The vampire ducked around a corner with barely audible footsteps and if Sasuke should follow in pursuit, he was there in wait, ready to strike.

Meanwhile: It didn't take Heiji long to reach the fifth floor, though Heiji had to duck under a NO ENTRY notice to get in through the stairwell door. Empty space, not yet leased to a new tenant. But he could smell blood in the air. Coppery, like pennies on the tongue...

YOU GUYS SUCK, WOW.

Apollo catches the vampire's silhouette before it disappears, along with Sasuke altogether. Wow, he's by himself now. Great.

... He's not exactly sure if this person was turned into a new vampire or not, so he watches the body closely and stays on the phone. If the actual police get here, how is he going to explain the mass murder that will probably happen?

Especially since that mass murder will basically only have Apollo's name attached to it.

There's quiet when he rounds the building, no sound save for his own hurried breathing and the shift of his clothing as he looks around wildly for his target... and that's when the attack comes, not from the front but from the side, a hit that completely knocks the wind out of him and slams him into rough stone.

It's almost enough to distract him from the teeth that puncture skin just above his left shoulder. Almost. The only saving grace is that the response to his immediate attempts to fight back -- a fist to his stomach -- keeps him from shattering his pride even further with any sounds of pain. That, and the fact that this is a vampire who's clearly fed recently and thus is far less likely to drain him dry over his audacity in actually chasing the man down.

When the vampire finally loses interest in favor of some other distraction Sasuke's only half-conscious, slumping to the ground and fumbling for his phone. Crawling back is going to have to take a rain-check when the pavement is this accommodating.

That hand on Sasuke's forehead was Heiji's -- and so was the voice floating up above him. "...okay? Hey, snap out of it!"

He'd bent down to check Sasuke for injuries, though it seemed as though the main one to worry about was the puncture wound. Sasuke looked pale, but of course he always looked kind of pale, and at least he was still breathing.

Well, at least the police were fast. They're already here and inspecting the damage and going up the stairs, and even though Apollo's asking to leave, they're keeping him for questioning. Great.

... He wonders if Heiji's able to answer his phone right now, so he gives it a shot and dials the number to find out what the hell is going on. Sasuke hasn't come back either and the dread's settling in his stomach way too damn fast.

Heiji answered the phone on the first ring, how about that?

"Apollo? What's goin' on over there? I found Sasuke. It looks like there was more than one of them. Someone took a sip outta him."

Thank you Heiji, detective extraordinaire.

"A sip...!? Oh my god, will he be okay?" Is Apollo's first question before he actually has to calm down.

"The police just got here but I think they'll let me go soon, where the hell are we going to meet up?"

The answer is next to a rundown dumpster, apparently, with Sasuke's vision going from black to blurry as he struggles far too stubbornly for consciousness. Getting some rest would probably be the wiser option but he's not wise.

"Heiji..." comes the first mumble, a hand just as weakly slapping his wrist. Don't touch me. "... are you okay? Where's Apollo?"

Never tell him what his priorities were when he comes back around fully.

"I'm fine," said Heiji, offering Sasuke a hand up if he needed it. "Apollo's gettin' questioned by the cops."

He lifted his cell phone back to his ear. "Hear that, Apollo? He's fine, just a little groggy. There's a park nearby, two blocks up north. You get yourself loose from the cops, okay? Me and Sasuke will head there and meet you."

"Oh thank god. Okay, good luck." With that, Apollo finally hangs up, excusing the call as important as he finishes up whatever he has to offer.

He keeps taking looks at the body while he can, making sure he wasn't seeing any signs, but he's finally let go when they realize all he saw was the body drop from the fifth floor. They'll probably knock on his door for more questioning later, but right now had to be cut short.

He runs up north. Luckily all the crowds gathered around the incident so it's much easier to navigate with so little people blocking the streets.

Oh here's the cute park, now a meet up for murder investigators.

One way or another, there was Heiji, seated on a park bench with Sasuke light probably a pint or two of blood. It was fine, he'd be fine...

"You saw those marks on his neck, right? Just like the others. The cops'll probably put it down to the guy in their profile."

His main strategy had been pretending to be drunk. Mid-day. In London. It had worked amazingly well, and now he's just partially slumped over as he tries to keep his head on straight. Damn, he's so tired... But at least there's Apollo here now, which alleviates one of his concerns.

And yet he manages a nod whether or not that question was actually directed at him. Walk it off, Sasuke.

"... they'll get killed. The cops." A pause. "Apollo, are you okay?" Did he already ask?

"He's been askin' about you," said Heiji helpfully, you're welcome Apollo and Sasuke.

But yeah, no. Back to seriousness. "I agree. We can't tell 'em what's going on, so we gotta find the guys responsible. Before more people end up like that guy at the restaurant building."

He dug into one of his pockets and took out a torn bit of leather. There was a sigil emblazoned onto it, which he showed to both of them. "This look familiar to you?"

This isn't what I meant by habeus corpus [for Heiji, Sasuke, and Apollo]

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