Finding Family

[Adrian (DELETED 4904)]

“Wake up, pretty boy. Here we are.”
Adrian woke up to see the cab driver’s scarred, ugly face looming above him. “Oh, good morning, beautiful,” he yawned. “It is morning, right?”
The cab driver laughed. “Ha, don’t push your luck, kid. Now get outta my cab,” he said as he handed Adrian’s bag at him.
Exiting the cab, Adrian looked around. Not too shabby, he thought. I have definitely seen worse places. He looked down at the photograph in his hand. It showed a blond woman, maybe in her twenties. On the flipside, it had only a single name. Madison, Adrian mused. What a wonderful name. WIll she give me what I need? We shall see.
Putting the picture in his pocket, he began his search in the city of Harper Rock.

Ok, so I finally managed to get here, and now I have to find this person. Why didn’t Josh just tell me where she lives? I mean, how hard would that be? It’s not like she’s dead… right?
Adrian shook his head as those treacherous thoughts came pouring in. If this person was dead, then this whole trip might’ve been for nothing. Granted, it’s not the first time that Adrian had hit a dead end before, but he still had a good feeling that he might actually find something out this time. As long as he could find something that could keep the sound of the screams and the flames out of his head, he’d be happy.
Continuing to walk down the street, Adrian glances into the window of a shop and sees a splash of blonde hair. He suddenly stops and looks in. He sees a woman with blond hair, with her back to him. Oh gods, it must be her.
He walks in towards the woman, saying, “Excuse me ma’am. May I talk to you for a moment?” She turns toward him, and Adrian’s heart fell. Damn, it’s not her.
“What is it that you need?” She asks, with suspicion overlaying her tone. “My time is precious, you know.”
Adrian smiled in his usual lazy way, and gladly noticed her blush. “Well, of course. I wouldn’t dare suggest that a woman of your fine caliber have time that is not so precious indeed,” he soothed. “If it weren’t for the fact that what I have to ask weren’t important, I wouldn’t have bothered you at all.”
Her blush deepening, she said, “So what is it that I can help you with, sir?”
“Oh, just a little, small, teensy favor. You see, I have a sister. And a few months ago, she disappeared,” Adrian lied. “And I have spent so much time looking for her, I don’t know where else to look. See, here’s her picture.” He hands the lady the photograph.
“Well, I have most definitely seen her before. There’s a place in Redwood… Lancaster’s, I think it is. I believe she works there. Maybe you can ask there?” The lady offered.
“Well, I suppose I can try,” Adrian replied. “Thank you for your time, ma’am.”
“Aww, don’t be thanking me. Here, let me give you my phone number. Just in case you need help finding her… or for other reasons.” The woman suggested this with a wink.
Adrian winked back and took the photo and the the woman’s number. “Why, sure. Thank you so much. Bye now!” He called as he left the store. He smiled as he turned the corner, thinking back on how the supervisor at the orphanage described him. Your eyes shine with the promise of heaven, boy. Yet, your smile is the downfall of saints. Well, the female ones at least. Recalling that voice, Adrian laughed as he threw the phone number in the trash, eager to continue his search.

[Lancaster]

There was a leak in the bathrooms. A customer slipped. Of course, because she’d imbibed a little too much alcohol, her complaints were loud and awkward. Elliot had come to work with the sole intention of taking up position on the stage—of picking up the guitar and indulging in the ability to play whenever he wanted, and whatever he wanted. Of course, before he did that, however, he had to have a chat to the day manager, who filled him in on everything that had happened over the course of the day—the extra stock that had been delivered the day before had been collected by the courier, was being taken back. All the stock that arrived was all accounted for, and of good quality. Everything seemed to be fine and dandy.

That was until the customer slipped. How long had the toilet been leaking? Can’t have been too long. With this thought in mind, Elliot turned his steady blue eyes upon the slightly tipsy woman. She looked like she was in her late thirties. She was well dressed, and her auburn hair was a little mussed. Her lips were painted a vibrant red. She had one of those auras about her, like she came from upper class stock; that she was nothing but a housewife, and thus had nothing better to do with her time than to complain very loudly about something that was just an accident, an unfortunate event that need only be reported.

Of course, Elliot wasn’t happy that any customer had slipped over in his establishment. He feared what the repercussions would be if she’d actually done any harm to herself. It didn’t look like she was wounded, though. It didn’t look like she even had a scratch to her name. And so Elliot, voice low and rhythmic, greeted her.

”I truly am very sorry. We weren’t aware there was a leak – thank you for letting us know, we’ll get it fixed as soon as possible,” he said, at which point he threw a pointed glance at the day manager—she was supposed to have knocked off by now, but she had good work ethic. She ran off into the office to make the appropriate phone calls, barking orders at one of the waitresses to go deal with the leak – mop it up, and put up the appropriate signage.

“I expected better!” the human slurred, still wanting to complain. “It starts with a leak and then the whole place is falling down! I’ll bet you have rats!” she said, though her voice began to quaver as Elliot blessed her with an indulgent smile. He was irritated, sure. But he didn’t let it show.

”I’m more than happy to show you our health and safety records—you’ll see that we have regular pest control maintenance. This is the first we have heard of the leak, and we are deeply apologetic. Have a seat… please, no, have a seat, and I’ll get you a cup of tea. Were you hurt? Can we get you anything else?” he asked, his accent adding a lilting cadence to his words. He was well dressed, too, for once—plain black slacks, and a crisp white shirt beneath a casual black jacket. By the way he spoke, and the way he was dressed, the woman understood, without having been told, that she was speaking to someone in charge.

He did not touch the woman at all, though he lingered like any concerned person might, as if he believed she was the most fragile creature in the world and could fall apart at any moment. The act seemed to work. The fury ebbed from the woman’s eyes. Though her lips were still held in a steady pout, and her chin raised arrogantly high, she was appeased.

“No. I’m fine, thank you,” she said, watching as the waitress scurried off to the bathrooms with a mop and a ‘Wet Floor’ sign in hand. She could see the situation was being dealt with. “Tea, though, if you have it. Thank you,” she said. Elliot nodded, still smiling indulgently, as he wandered off to make sure that the tea was made, and that the woman was not charged.

”Hopefully it’ll sober her up a bit,” he grumbled under his breath, flicking the black hair out of his eyes as he puttered around behind the bar.

[Madison]

Madison closed her eyes in frustration. Her fists clenched against her sides as she stood with her eyes closed in the middle of the Depot. Images of different threads of the CrowNet, both the public CrowNet and Fifth Column's private boards filtered through her mind. Those bastards had killed another vampire, one who had helped her before, Cherry Worthington. She wasn't even a part of Fifth Column anymore and she had done nothing wrong besides support Enver's new endeavor, Marshall Services. It seemed that the members of Tytonidae didn't give a rats *** that the shops were open again, or that the bounty list was clear. No, they had their panties wedged up their asses to the point where they were probably bleeding.

On top of it all, she felt that there wasn't much she could do to retaliate. Madison knew that she was on their **** list. Doc had all but blatantly stated that she was. But there was a huge amount of respect that Madison had for Doc. He could easily hand her over on a silver platter to them and yet he hadn't. And for that she was thankful.

A sigh escaped her as she brought her hands up in attempts to rub the headache forming at her temples. She had been working so hard to bring about change and while things were changing, they weren't changing for the better. The only thing that seemed to be going their way was the fact that the members of Tytonidae had seemingly lost their **** and some members of the community didn't seem too happy with the killing of those who were first time bounty offenders with low bounties and those who weren't on the bounty list at all. There was a small hope that others would rise up against them and band together with others to put a stop to the seemingly tyrannical rule that Tytonidae held.

Moving over to the crafting bench, Madison pulled out the parts she would need to build an electromagnetic emitter. It was one of the few things that had given her pride lately. The headlines had been talking about the techno-terrism for days, maybe even a week now. She knew that it was probably because of her. At least she knew that something she was doing was making a difference, even though she no longer knew if it was making the difference she had hoped for.

[Adrian (DELETED 4904)]

Adrian entered Lancaster's. He took a quick glance around, searching for Madison. Damn it. She isn't here. I might as well sit down and see if someone can tell me something.
Shrugging off his black leather jacket, he takes a seat. He stops for a moment, grooming himself. Adrian runs a hand through his short, dark blond hair, while at the same time checking his black jeans and grey shirt for stains. Confident that he looks good enough, he stops a passing waitress.
"Excuse me for a moment," he said, "but could I speak to someone in charge, please?"
Her face immediately contorts into an expression of fear, and Adrian can practically see the thoughts running through her mind. "Don't worry," he soothes her, flashing a quick smile. "You didn't do anything wrong. I just would like to speak with the owner of the building."
The waitress bites her lip. "Well, I'm not sure," she said, "but I'll let Elliot know that you'd like to speak with him."
"Why, thank you," Adrian said.
The waitress went off to get Elliot. Elliot, huh.... Adrian thought. I wonder what he's like. More importantly, can he lead me to Madison? He fingered the photo in his pocket, as he watched the world around him.

[Lancaster]

No sooner was the tea made, that Elliot was approached by Melissa—a newish waitress, who was still a little nervous around him sometimes, the way new staff are always a bit skittish around their bosses. And so they should be, really. The first couple of weeks determine whether they get to keep their job or not. The turnover was constant with the staff at Lancaster. Elliot had a soft spot for the backpackers looking for work. He was one of them, once, and always liked to be given a few shifts here and there for a few months at a time, just so he could make a little bit of money to move on to the next place. Melissa was one of those backpackers—she was British. The customers liked to make fun of her accent.

“Elliot? There’s a guy here who wants to see you,” she said, gesturing to the tallish male with blonde hair, tanned skin, and a suave charm that seemed to roll from him in waves. Elliot wondered whether he ought to get that guy to deliver the disgruntled woman’s tea. The corner of his mouth twitched—it didn’t seem like he was getting anywhere near that stage any time soon. He glanced longingly at the back corner, where the piano was set up, and the guitar was leaning, lonely, against the wall.

”Did he say what he wanted?” Elliot asked. These waitresses needed to learn how to ask what people wanted before coming to Elliot. Melissa shook her head.

“No, but he said it wasn’t anything bad,” she said. She lingered, uncertain. Elliot handed her the cup of tea.

”Sure, okay. Take this to that woman over there – apologise to her again about the bathroom. Use that proper accent of yours to win her over,” Elliot said with a wink. Melissa grinned and nodded, and hurried off to deliver the tea to the disgruntled customer. Elliot wiped his hands on a dishcloth, pushed his fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes, and wandered around to the front of the bar. He approached the male that Melissa had indicated.

”Elliot Lancaster d’Artois,” he introduced himself, holding a hand out for the guy to shake. ”What can I do you for?” he asked, mildly curious.

[Madison]

A small smile of pride crossed Madison's pale lips as the final touches to her electromagnetic emitter were completed. She turned the small device over in her hands, appraising her own craftsmanship with her eyes. This one had turned out far better than the ones she had made a few days prior. Hopefully it would last long enough once she had hidden it. The telepath knew that some of her emitters were being destroyed, which was rather disheartening since she'd been paying for each and every electric motor that went into them and the bastards weren't cheap. The company of the brand she was buying, was probably making a killing off of her. If she wasn't afraid of them reporting her to the authorities, she may have tried to contact them to see if she could eliminate the middle-man shops and buy directly in bulk for a discount. Since that wasn't an option, cash it would stay.

Carefully wrapping up the device in a bit of cloth, Madison snuggled it into her messenger bag in a place where it would be safe from everything else she carried on her. It would be a shame to see the emitter destroyed before she even got a chance to place it. Where she was going to put this one, she didn't quite know yet. It was getting harder to find places where her creations wouldn't be found. In fear, she had started moving the more obvious ones on a regular basis. Sometimes they were still where she had left them and sometimes they weren't. The one in her own apartment had even been compromised. Replaced by a Crow eye, a poison trap and a proximity mine. The mine had exploded the second she stepped near it, burning her right arm and the right side of her face. Luckily she had learned that with concentration, she could heal certain wounds and was no longer plagued by the charred flesh. With all the smoke the bomb had left behind, she hadn't seen the poison trap and suffered a dart to her calf. Immediately she had felt the poison take effect and while she recuperated from its sickness, she had sat in the rubble and disarmed the Crow eye. When she finally regained the strength to leave, she took the time needed to set up extra security at her door, including a few unhappy surprises for the next person to break into her apartment.

Getting up from the crafting bench she crossed the Depot to the fade portal that would take her to the Bullwood transit station. Crossing through the fade portals always felt a bit strange to her but it wasn't disorienting her as they first had been when she started using them regularly. It was always amazing to her how seemingly unaware people were when she popped up out of the other end of the fade portal. Very rarely did anyone ever see the blonde woman appear out of thin air but that was all fine and dandy to her. The less people that noticed her, the better.

Waiting for the transit, Madison caught the next one heading to the Newborough district. While she frequented that area quite often, almost every evening, it had been awhile since she had taken the time to go through buildings other than factories. She had decided that it could possibly be one of those that she hid her new darling. Her mind wandered during the ride to Newborough, sifting through different news articles on the world wide web and checking new replies to the public CrowNet. So many vampires seemed to not care about the humans that had infiltrated their space. Madison was one of them but it wasn't like she really replied there all that often. More so than ever in the recent past but still not a lot compared to some. She wasn't sure how she felt about humans being able to hack the CrowNet. It was an after-effect of her efforts against the Crow that she hadn't foreseen but it did seem that those finding their way there, were those who already knew what vampires were. A good and bad thing all in itself.

From the transit, her feet led her to a nearby abandoned factory. One that she had hidden an emitter in weeks ago but had sadly been disabled by one of the Crow-Cult. It was possible that they may not think to look their again. Checking her surroundings as she walked up to the dilapidated building, Madison was thankful there weren't any cops around. Slipping in through the back door, she surveyed the room she had entered. Groups of homeless people were huddled about and she approached a group that had spotted her and were now eying her warily. There were three of them, all dirty and looking like they hadn't brushed their teeth in months, wrapped up tightly in tattered blankets most likely found in the trash or handed out by a shelter. They shirked back from her as she approached, pressing themselves against the wall behind them.

Holding out her hands openly, Madison tried to show them she meant them no harm as she spoke, "It's ok... I'm not here to kick you out or hurt you. I just have a question."

The group, all women, looked to each other with uncertainty before looking back to Madison without word. But when none of them ran or told her to **** off, Madison continued, "Have there been others through here that didn't belong?"

Again the women looked to one another before looking back to Madison. Slowly, one of them nodded and her eyes flit to her left towards a hallway that led away from the main room. She pulled her blanket tighter around her form as she whispered, "Yes, just earlier several men came in here. Two shortly after the first. They still haven't left."

Madison smiled at the woman, wishing she had some cash on her or something that she could give them, "Thank you."

Walking away from the three women towards the hallway the homeless woman had specified, Madison pulled out a dagger from within her jacket. Knowing that there was a call for her head and that other vampires were out seeking to destroy any emitter they came across, she was cautious. For all she knew, it could have been another vampire that had entered those doors. But as she entered the next room, she visibly relaxed. Off in the corner of the room, three men stood in a circle. An acrid smell lingered in the air, one she was surprised she hadn't recognized immediately upon stepping foot into the building. So engrossed in the pipe they were passing back and forth between them, the three men hadn't taken notice to Madison yet. An unbidden sense of longing rose up in her. It had been so long, not that the drugs they were smoking would have any affect on her now. But old habits died hard. Part of her wanted to make her presence known, to cross the space that divided them and convince them to just let her have one hit. Had she not been so stressed about other things going on in her life, the longing may not have been an issue but it always was when she was at her wits end with things. Whenever she felt powerless, Madison had always turned to the crystal to make it better.

Closing her eyes tightly for a moment, shaking that sense of desire from her mind, Madison turned away from the three men smoking meth and exited the room quickly and quietly. There were more important matters to deal with. Even if she could still feel the affects of the drugs, she had fought for so long to overcome her addictions and it had been her failing that caused her to take the step into the darkness. To becoming what she was now and sometimes, it still made her resentful towards herself.

[Adrian (DELETED 4904)]

”Elliot Lancaster d’Artois, What can I do you for?”

Adrian looked at the hand of the guy standing in front of him. Then, he looked Elliot in the eye and shook his hand. "Adrian Azure. Pleased to meet you," he said, smiling. "Now, from what I understand, you are the owner of this place, right? And such as it is, I need your assistance with a certain matter."
Adrian paused for a second. The sister story probably won't work with this guy. He looks pretty sharp... Not to mention that he most likely knows plenty about her. he thought.
Handing Elliot the photograph, he said, "I am... a concerned friend of Madison's family, and I need to be able to talk to her as soon as possible. I have gathered that she works for you, so if you can help me, that'd be wonderful." Adrian tried his usual smile and prayed to whatever gods were watching that this man in front of him wasn't too sharp.

[Lancaster]

Elliot took the offered photograph. His features gave nothing away as he looked at it, and immediately recognised the person depicted within it. Madison, who did indeed work here. Although every now and again she did help behind the bar, and could be seen front of house, she was predominantly hired to help with the computer system. And yet, Elliot hadn’t seen her tonight. Tonight was one of her nights off. She wasn’t around. And he was kind of thankful, too. He was protective of Madison, as he was protective of everyone in d’Artois. This guy didn’t have to know that, though. He didn’t have to know that Elliot was more to Madison than just a boss. Before giving anything away, he wanted to determine who this person was and what business he had with Madison.

”I think…if Madison wanted to contact her family, she would have,” Elliot said. It wouldn’t be feasible for him to deny that she worked there. Besides which—and it occurred to him a lot lately, then even when he tried, he just found it impossible to lie. And so he had to think about his words. Had to phrase things properly. Had to be smart.

”And I think, if you were as close to them or to her as you claim to be, you’d have easier ways to contact her than by showing a picture around,” Elliot said. His voice was smooth. It did not waver. Almost imperceptibly, his shoulders rolled back. He stood at his full six-foot-six height.

”Is there a message I can pass on?” Elliot asked, clearly fishing for more information.

[Madison]

Looking around the abandoned factory that she was in, Madison decided not to put her emitter here. Although it was unlikely that any of the homeless would be using a cellphone or any other piece of electronic normally affected, the likelihood that someone else traveling through this building for whatever reasons might was too great for her. She moved towards the entrance to leave the building as quietly as she had come in and gave the three huddled women a soft smile as she passed them. She felt bad for them, knowing that the bitter cold of winter was coming. Pausing at the doorway, the blonde looked back at them and internally debated with herself. There was a shelter nearby that would take these women in but it was Solace. Not only would they be fed and given shelter, clean clothes and anything else they needed, they would also be subjected to Robert and Lizzie who would bombard them with their "Vampires are evil" propaganda. But here, here they would suffer. Hungry and cold, subject to the vampires that were evil.

Pulling out a piece of scrap paper and a pen from her bag, Madison wrote down the address of Solace with Robert and Lizzie's name below. Moving back towards the three women, she crouched down near the floor in front of them. All three women still watched her warily even though the telepath had already tried to show them she meant them no harm when she first came in. Madison offered out the slip of paper to them, "Here. This is the address for a shelter that will give you someplace warm to stay and food to eat. Robert and Lizzie will take good care of you, even if they do seem a little off their rockers."

The words rolled over her tongue with a bit of difficulty but she had pushed them out regardless. Slowly, the woman in the middle of the huddled group reached out with a trembling and frail hand. Wrinkles and sunspots across the back of her hand caught Madison's attentions as the woman took the slip from Madison's abnormally pale and seemingly flawless hand in comparison. She supposed there were some perks to being a vampire. Unlike these women, Madison would never wrinkle. She would never grow old and suffer the ailments of an aging body.

The woman's whispered words of a thank you pulled Madison from her thoughts and caused her to look back up at the face of the woman instead of the hand that now held the piece of paper tightly in her fist. Madison nodded her welcome and rose back to her feet, "As far as I'm aware, they never close. You could find a bed to sleep in tonight instead of this cold floor."

For the first time since she had entered the building, the woman smiled at her and nodded her understanding. Having done her one good deed for the night, Madison turned and went back to the doorway and exited out into the yard. Pausing beneath the open sky, her eyes washed over all that were around her. Harper Rock never seemed to sleep. Humans in the day, vampires in the night, there was always someone out on the streets but the street she faced was quiet. A group of dried and fallen leaves skittered over the pavement at the will of the wind, moving like a swarm to and fro. She watched this for a moment, the leaves tumbling, rolling and dancing along their way. A strong gust of wind came through then, blowing the leaves she had been watching into the gutter and up over the curb. Bowing her head against the wind, Madison began to move on, in search of somewhere better for the device she carried in her bag.

[Adrian (DELETED 4904)]

This was wrong. The conversation should not have been turning out like this. By now, Elliot should've been smiling and giving out information left and right. This is odd, Adrian thought, staring at Elliot. And indeed it was odd. Granted, this wouldn't be the first time that someone has denied him. However, it never has been with such little emotion, not to mention the fact that Elliot suddenly seemed to be giving off a weird feeling. Adrian couldn't quite place this feeling, but for some reason, he wanted to tell Elliot everything about his mission.
All of a sudden, the screams at the back of his minds grew to an almost unbearable volume, and his scars prickled. Adrian shook himself, breaking free of whatever spell he was under. All that was left was the feeling that he needed to get away from this guy, before he does something really stupid, and before the screams got louder. "You know what?" Adrian said, trying to keep his voice level. "Just have her find me. Tell her when she next comes by that I will be at River Rock Station. She can find me there."
He quickly put on his jacket, grabbed his bag and almost ran out of Lancaster's. When he hit the streets, he slowed down to a nice steady walk. He occasionally looked behind himself to make sure he wasn't being followed. When he was what he felt was a safe distance, he went into a nearby alleyway, and held his head between his hands. "****, why now. Why now of all times?" he whispered to himself. "Why can't you just leave me in peace?"
"Why must you keep us with you, Adrian?" the voices screamed in unison. "Why must you still remember us?"
"I can't," he sobbed, I'll never be able to forget."
After what felt like forever, but was only a few minutes, the screams quieted down and Adrian was able to keep on moving. Wiping his face, he looked around himself to get a bearing on his location. Fortunately, the Station was only across the street. Adrian went in, found a suitable bench and sat down. Great, now I'm tired. Might as well get some sleep while I'm waiting. Adrian yawned, set his bag up as a pillow, and laid down. As he drifted off to sleep, he could practically feel his scars prickle as the flames roared in the back of his mind.