IT'S GOING DOWN I'M YELLING TIMBER (aka the one where Millicent dies)

[facethewolves]

i. Let's Make A Night You Won't Remember [closed to Jean-Claude]
a bar, earlier this week

Alex doesn't know who she's supposed to be meeting, just that somebody wants to meet her. She arrives twenty minutes early, makes notes of the exits, and orders herself a dry martini to blend in. It doesn't hurt to take a few extra precautions when apparently half the city knows that you're planning to murder a high-ranking official, which is why she also has her silver knife hidden in her pocket.

She doesn't touch the drink, just sits and glowers at the bar's main entrance, waiting for the person she's supposed to be meeting to show.



ii. I'll Be The One You Won't Forget [open to all]
Westminister, May 26

Millicent is leaving the Night Council building, and Alex plans to follow her. She's not going through with the hit for a couple more days, but she needs a better grasp of the vampire's schedule. So she's lurking about half a block away from the building, waiting.

To the untrained observer, she looks like a bored girl leaning against a wall eating a muffin. Someone paying closer attention, though, might notice how often she looks down the street, and the fact that she's been very slowly eating the same muffin for the past forty-five minutes.



iii. The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall [closed to Evie]
Islington, May 28, nighttime, before Millicent dies

For the past week, Alex has been sharpening her stakes, going over all the info she has on Millicent's usual habits and schedule, planning the hit. She's decided on a close-quarters kill. For once thing, she's not sure that a wood-tipped bullet, even if it hits right between her eyes, would actually kill Millicent. For another thing, and more importantly, she wants it to feel personal. She wants Millicent to know who's killing her and why.

She knows it'll be risky, but risk never stopped her doing anything before. On the night she's picked to do it, she makes her way stealthily into Islington territory, towards the place she expects Millicent to be. A few blocks away, she pauses in a doorway to double-check her weapons - three stakes and a gun with wood-tipped bullets - and to go over the plan, such as it is, one more time in her head.

Maybe she's just jumpy, but she thinks she sees something move out of the corner of her eye. She whirls around, but nothing's there. Frowning, she goes back to checking her gun.



iv. I'm Slicker Than An Oil Spill [open to first response]
Islington, May 28, nighttime, after Millicent is dead

One of the vampires saw her. Which is bad, really bad. She ditches her jacket on a bench as she hurries past it, hoping that changing up her look slightly will shake off any pursuit. If they're looking for a girl in a black jacket and they spot her... It's not much. It's barely anything, really. If they spot her they'll know who she is. She should have kept the jacket, it was a stupid idea to lose it.

If she does get stopped, she needs to not be carrying suspicious things like stakes and guns with wood-tipped bullets. So she finds a sewer grate under a broken streetlight and pulls out three stakes and her gun. It's not that she has any sentimental attachment to her weapons, but it's not always easy to get replacements. She drops two of the stakes down through the grate without hesitation, but decides to keep the third. She'll need to defend herself if she does get caught.

She catches a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye and turns towards it, keeping the third stake and the gun out of sight.

"Somebody there?"



v. End of the Night, It's Going Down [closed to Natasha]
Ealing, May 28, late night

Alex can't go home. One of the vampires saw her face. It won't take them long to figure out who she is and where she lives. She's ditched most of her gear and her jacket, but that won't throw them off the scent for long. She needs somewhere to lay low for a while. Maybe a long while.

She can't go to any of her known acquaintances, either. The vampires will look for her there, and she doesn't want to put anyone else in danger. She needs someone that nobody knows she knows, someone nobody would expect her to hide out with.

It takes her longer than she'd like to admit to think of Natasha. She'd cautioned Alex against killing Millicent, so it's entirely probable that she'll want nothing to do with the fallout, but it's worth a try. Alex makes her way to the Redbright Institute and sneaks around until she finds a familiar smell. Carefully, just in case this goes south fast, she pulls her stake out and keeps it down by her side as she quietly follows Natasha's scent.



vi. One More Shot, Another Round [closed to Kyle]
Kyle's secret new apartment, May 31, morning

For the past few days, Alex has been in hiding. She can't risk anyone finding out where she is, so she's been very careful about contacting people she knows. When she gets a note from Kyle telling her to meet him at an address she's never heard of, she briefly wonders whether it's really from him or a trap set by someone trying to catch her.

She decides to risk it. She puts on a pair of shades and, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, takes an extremely circuitous route to the address, hoping to shake anyone tailing her. Finally, she makes it. Instead of going through the front door, she climbs the fire escape and knocks on the window of what she hopes is the right apartment.




[If anyone wants their own prompt, hit me up at notverywool!]

Comments

[facethewolves]

Alex slumps onto the couch. She pulls out her stake and drops it on the floor, where it'll be in easy reach if she needs it. She's not entirely convinced that Natasha won't change her mind about helping her, and she did piss off a lot of vampires tonight. It's probably rude to have a stake in a vampire's apartment, but Alex is less concerned with etiquette than she is with being able to protect herself.

"I'm not hungry." She also doesn't drink, but she can grab some tap water if she gets thirsty.

She yanks her boots off and drops them at the far end of the couch.

Now that she's got a little time to think, the enormity of what she's done starts to sink in.

"What do you think they'll do with me if they catch me?" she asks, trying not to sound as apprehensive as she suddenly feels. The vampires she assumes will just kill her, which she knew and accepted as a risk going in, but she has no clue what kind of punishment the Night Council might mete out.

[outstandingbalance]

"You mean if they bring you in alive?" Because there was a very real possibility that they wouldn't—but also a very real possibility that any vampires or bounty hunters had been warned against doing just that. They'd want Alex alive. At least to start with.

"They'll try to get answers out of you—who helped you, if the pack really wasn't involved."

That much she was sure of.

"How they'll find out and what they'll do with you afterward, that will depend on the new Duke's tastes, and whether or not you're susceptible to mind control."

[facethewolves]

"I won't tell them anything." It's more stubbornness than real conviction that makes her say that. Torture she can withstand, mind control maybe not. She used to have protection against it, but she hasn't had that for a while now.

She folds herself onto the couch, tucks her arm under her head, and mutters, "I'm gonna get some sleep."

Sleep is a better prospect than thinking about what could happen to her tomorrow.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha nods. She's not going to argue this right now. She knows what would have happened to Alex back in Moscow, but that was a long way away and the people here liked to maintain pretensions of being less corrupt.

"Give me a number and I'll let Kyle know you're alive, and safe for the time being." That seems to be the other thing on Alex's mind. Maybe she'll sleep better knowing that. For her side, Natasha knows a Kyle, but she's not going to leap to conclusions that he and Alex know one another. Even if they have similar attitudes about vampires.

[facethewolves]

Alex recites Kyle's number from memory. It's not exactly a secure line, but it's the only way to get in touch with him short of ambushing him at his regular grocery store, which would be a whole lot less subtle. And Kyle hates vampires, so he might not like one turning up unannounced. "Don't tell him you're a vampire or he probably won't trust you. Tell him... Tell him I said to mention how much he likes bats, so he knows it's really me."

She props herself up to look at Natasha, trying to think of some way to say thank you. Just those words don't seem like enough for everything that Natasha's doing.

"Not a lot of people would've done this."

[outstandingbalance]

Funny enough, Natasha did have it already.

The two of them were friends, then. Good to know that his feelings didn't extend to werewolves. She doesn't dwell on it, though; just notes it, and the fact it's a small community that she's joining.

"I'll let him know," she says, sparing Alex the fact Kyle already knows what she is. "Proof of life."

The last statement, Natasha's not entirely sure what to do with. She understands what it is—the gratitude that isn't exactly gratitude, because of what she is. And maybe that means she's finally doing something right. She doesn't let her thoughts wander too much in that direction, though. Mostly, she's just running damage control.

"Not a lot of people would have taken on a powerful vampire, either."

[facethewolves]

That sounds like it could be praise, which, despite everything, Alex isn't immune to. Though she'd never admit to it, on some level it feels good to have someone tell her she's brave, even if it's just an implication.

On the other hand, it could also be a subtle condemnation of her recklessness, which is a trait that Alex has already spent plenty of time dealing with the consequences of. But she really doesn't want to hear criticisms about that, so after considering that interpretation of Natasha's words for a fraction of a second, she dismisses it.

"Well. Someone had to." She smiles faintly, and maybe a little cockily, before lying back down.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha doesn't argue it; she doesn't agree, but maybe Alex isn't wrong that someone was going to do it eventually. Either way, as much as Natasha would have liked to know who would take Millicent's place and how they were likely to change Islington's standing, she isn't invested in defending the former head of the nest.

"Get some rest," she tells the girl softly. "I'll see you tomorrow. We can figure out what else we need to do then."