undergrounds | The blood runs slow and thick, and slumber is heavy

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The blood runs slow and thick, and slumber is heavy

Abandoned or not, it seemed that someone had negotiated to get the lights and elevators running again in the old Kitterick hotel. Of course, most of the windows were draped over, particularly those of the penthouse thirteenth floor. Still, bars of light could be seen poking out here and there on the lower levels.

If the residents of the neighborhood were curious about this new development, however, they were certainly not saying so. In fact, there seemed to be an unofficial chill in effect in the surrounding area. Those few souls who were out on the streets scurried along quickly and fearfully on their business, restricting their activity to the daytime as if by some unspoken consensus.

Point was, the streets were clear of activity by nightfall. Whether the night would remain peaceful was anyone's guess.

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"Heiji...?" A voice calls out cautiously from behind them. Eren, Heiji's coworker, had been in the middle of the end-of-day cleanup when the lights had gone out, startling him enough to nearly knock over the bucket of soapy water he'd been mopping with.

"Who are you talking to?" He knows all too well what blown bulbs and scrambled electronics indicate, but asks anyway, peering over Heiji’s shoulder.

"It's Miss Clara, from Redbright!" At least, that's how Heiji thought of her, since Clara was so closely tied to that granddaughter of hers. He was so surprised by Clara's appearance that he didn't even bother trying to disguise the fact that he could see her -- or at least that he was looking in a specific direction rather than talking towards Eren.

"Wait, who's gone? A student? Is it..."

"She's gone. She's gone. She's gone," is all that Clara is able to repeat, sound more and more frustrated that she isn't being understood because why couldn't she be understood, why couldn't they know right away what she's saying? It's clear as day for her except there's mist in her head where her proper thoughts should be because something isn't right. "She got misplaced and I can't find her and it isn't right, it isn't right."

Another lightbulb goes out near them, oh dear, and she's now covering her ears and shaking her head, rocking back and forth a bit to calm herself down because it's rude to break things and she's sorry for it but she's gone she's misplaced where is she where is she

Clara has never been this distressed before, even when troubled by people wanting to actively banish her, so all signs point to someone close to her being in danger. Possibly. Maybe the girl decided to just play hooky. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I-- I can't-- She's not in her rooms, not in her circle, not in places I know. Where? Do you know where?"

Yep, definitely a ghost... Eren watches another lightbulb go out and has to suppress the urge to bark out an angry remark - accidents happen, right? And the more Clara's words come into focus for him, the more sympathy he begins to feel.

“From Redbright?” he repeats, giving Heiji a suspicious look. (They’d have to save the 'so you can see supernatural stuff, huh?' conversation for later, when they aren’t dealing with a distressed ghost.) He’d gone to Redbright for a short time. While his stay had ended rather drastically, he’d been there long enough to make a few acquaintances – one of which, oddly enough, he’d seen somewhat recently... “Hey, if you're talking about one of the students there, they wouldn't happen to be a short girl, would they?”

Edited 2015-06-25 06:45 (UTC)

"You know Magra?" Well, that would be an awfully convenient coincidence, but it was a small community, and therefore not too unlikely that they would have run into each other.

"She's Miss Clara's granddaughter -- been at Redbright for a little while now." He turned back toward Clara. "Can you give us any details about where you saw her last? Did anything unusual happen, or were her friends planning anything?"

It takes a few deep breaths -- she doesn't need to breathe but its soothing, the action, and it helps her head no longer swim in disarray and puzzle pieces -- before she's able to look at their direction clearly.

Clara looks distressed and upset but at least it seems like she'll keep herself together long enough. Hopefully her answers will reflect that.

"They were going out. They were going to have fun," is her only answer for them. Her and her friends were going out somewhere, to enjoy themselves. That's all she knew. She tries to give the girl as much space as she could, not wanting to be a burden. Now she wishes that she at least eavesdrop before she left. "Somewhere. Somewhere-- A... A cudgel? A staff?"

"A what?" Clara's last words catch Eren off guard, and he scrunches up his brow in confusion. It takes him a second before he's able to hazard a guess at what she's talking about. "You mean a club?"

"Look, I saw her just the other day, if that helps? She and some others looked like they were headed to Greenwich." He hadn't stopped to say hello - a choice he's starting to regret now. Even at the time, he'd felt like something had been a little off.

"Greenwich?" If it seemed like Heiji was overreacting a bit to that news, it was only because he'd recently been investigating a spate of vampire-related homicides there.

"Not past the Greenwich Tube Station? Near the old Kitterick building?" Please tell him no, bro.

Heiji hits a nerve, it seems, for Clara. A lightbulb over them flickers ominously but it stays in one piece.

For now.

Greenwich. Yes. That sounds like a place her granddaughter would go to if she wanted to be both bold and foolish. Somewhere far from the safety of Redbright and the protection of the neutral zones. Eyes wide and expression pained, she looks at the two back and forth in hopes of an answer. Is that place it? Is it?

Sorry, senpai. Eren nods, almost apologetically. From Heiji's reaction, he's willing to bet that they're in for some bad news here, for the sake of their remaining lights and the peace of mind of a caring ghost grandma, he's hoping that's not the case.

"Is that as bad as you're making it sound?"

"There's..." How did Heiji say this without making Clara more distressed than necessary?

"Some vampires have taken up residence in that area, not affiliated with Islington. If that's where Magra was headed, she could be in danger -- they don't follow the rules, and they're takin' orders from a lady vampire who's bad news. Styles herself a countess."

Danger? Vampires? Heiji tried to keep Clara from getting distressed. It's the thought that counts. It's the thought the two have to keep in mind when Clara becomes visibly more tense, angry even, as the lights flicker more and a few of the small things around them move erratically here and there.

She knows vampires can be good people. There's Cooper, someone she trusts. She knows better than to discriminate and judge but a vampire not following the rules near her poor child? Oh no. Oh no that's bad news indeed.

"We need to go. Go go go go go." She's already turning and heading out of the cafe to get there. Never mind the fact she's never been there before and probably will just end up lost in her state.

Eren needs no convincing - he's been on board since the word 'vampire'. Unlike Clara, he has no faith whatsoever in bloodsuckers. In his book, not a single one of them is good. How dare they make a move on Greenwich? It's bad enough with Islington around, but now they have to deal with this new nest too? He'll kill them all, if he gets the chance.

"Hang on a sec! Don’t go rushing off without us," he says, quickly gathering his things before following after her.

"It'll take about an hour to get there on the Tube," said Heiji, quickly doing the same. "I can shave some time offa that if we take my bike."

Of course, that would probably require some highly illegal driving. This was clearly bad, but they needed to make sure Magra was all right, and Eren was a werewolf, right? It'd probably be fine...

Clara stops and has to control herself as she doubles back to make sure she stays with the two, not wanting to lose control and throw caution to the wind by running off all by herself.

There's no way she'll be able to take on the vampires by herself. She needs their help so all she can do now is hope and pray against odds her granddaughter is still alive and well. "Hurry. Hurry hurry hurry hurry. Please. She's my baby. I won't let them harm my baby."

Edited (okay seriously) 2015-06-27 16:17 (UTC)

The illegality doesn’t seem to bother Eren. He’s too busy rummaging around in his bag as they head for the bike to pay the risk much mind.

"Great. I've been wanting to ride it anyway," he says, finally finding the potion he’d been looking for. He uncorks the top, takes a fair sized gulp and offers the rest to Heiji. "Vampire Toxin," he says shortly, wasting no time with further explanation. He doubts Clara will need the protection, but Heiji might.

Heiji took the bottle, gave it an experimental sniff, made a brief face, then took a gulp himself before handing the bottle back to Eren.

"Don't worry; we're not gonna let anyone hurt her if we can help it. Just follow along with us, okay?" His motorcycle was already parked out front, so it was a quick matter to toss Eren the spare helmet and swing his leg over the side.

"Alright, let's get going!"

Clara has little to no problem keeping sight of them as they soon tear their ways through streets and shortcuts and 'shortcuts' of dubious legality. This is an emergency and it meant all bets are off.

They had to get there soon before anything else could happen to the poor girl and anyone else who could also be trapped there. So she's quite willing to phase through cars and homes and even people now, not bothering to apologise when lights break and technology goes on the fritz. People are left in darker places with shivers running down their spines as they wonder what on earth that strange and unnerving chill was after that bike speed by them.

That? That was a makeshift rescue team going in to save a hapless Redbright student from dangerous vampires.

And all in all, they do make it there in record time. As the bike comes to a stop, they find themselves the only ones on the streets - an unnerving sight for Greenwich, whose nightlife should just be starting to pick up around now. It's far from the first time Eren has been to this part of town after dusk, but it feels a great deal more intimidating than last he remembers it. Bigger, too.

"So how does this work?" He takes off his helmet and looks up at the Kitterick. "From here, what's the plan?"

"Well, we definitely don't wanna bring the whole nest down on us," said Heiji, slipping his own helmet off. The hotel looked mostly deserted from the outside, but appearances could be deceiving. As they watched, a door at the back of the hotel opened, admitting a pale, whip-thin man who quickly scurried down the street.

He turned to Clara. "Can you sense if Magra's around? Or do you think ya could sneak in and see?"

Closer to Magra now, she begins to calm down and it's apparent with how her eyes are less distant and how she begins to speak like a normal person again. "--I can sense her, in a way. Yes. I can feel her. Almost."

From whether it was her connection to her as an anchor or because of a grandmother's instincts doesn't matter. What matters is that she can pick up Magra's presence now and she knows, deep in her bones, her poor granddaughter is terrified. Helpless. She looks at the two, her lips pursed in concentration and fear. "She's scared but she's so close right now. She has to be around here. I can go ahead of you two and look around if you think that's a good idea."

Scared, but alive. Eren sighs in relief at that. "That could work. If you can figure out what floor she's on, we'll be able to get out of there faster."

He eyes the retreating (obviously vampire) figure that had just set off down the street. It takes a lot of willpower not to follow after it and rip the bloody thing's throat out, but he manages somehow. At least now they know were the back entrance is. That's a step in the right direction, right?

Heiji nodded. So they were in the right place, then, and ironically Clara's very state of being meant that she was the best suited for figuring how they could best rescue her granddaughter.

"Okay. Be careful, Miss Clara. All we need to know is where she is; we can figure out a plan from there. Best case scenario, we'll get her out without too much fuss." As much as it might be satisfying to bite some vampires, their first priority was Magra's safety, after all...

"I'll give you two a signal when I can!" She didn't hesitate. The moment she gets approval from both of them, she immediately vanishes from their sight and she makes her way towards the hotel. Unless she wants to be seen, she'll be invisible as air while entering through the first floor of the hotel. Might as well start at the first floor and make her way through carefully.

Minutes pass and there's still no sign of Clara yet but at least there no alarms being rung out for an intruder inside. Whatever she's doing she's being very thorough at it.

Just before the two could begin to wonder what on earth is going on in there -- Something happens. There! At the far parts of the third floor, at the very end of it, a room flickers ominously to life in a way it should catch their attention. The lights shudder to life before plunging back into darkness and the eerie cycle repeats itself: On and off, on and off. Light and darkness, colours, and shadows.

Shadows are the reason why Clara is doing this strange little thing of hers. Every time the light comes back in a burst, shadows appear stretching across the walls and ceiling. There's one she wants them to notice in particular: A shadow at the corner of the room. Its small and slumped over, still and motionless. That has to be her.

Eren counts the shadows, four... five... six..... Not including the one that must belong to Magra, they're still outnumbered, but Clara’s trick gives them the far more important advantage of intel.

"We'll need some kind of distraction to get them out of the room," he says, approaching the back door. "If you have some cool magic powers that would make any of this easier, now's the time to bring them out."

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