Sour Blood [Open to those taking part]

[Anemoi (DELETED 2809)]

Anemoi growled, he didn’t like being touched by her, expressly being shoved out of the way. Even if lock picking would be useful to kill someone, to sneak in and kill someone, it wasn’t his style at all. Though maybe he should learn, it would be useful stalking Kira. He closed his eyes, trying to stay calm. He looked at Mike. “Once we’re outside, we’re out of here alright. I would suggest not telling the others about this little misadventure.” He said. If the old man was told about this, he wasn’t sure what kind of talking to he’d get for letting Mike do something this stupid and dangerous. At least he didn’t go in it on his own. He just really wanted to get away from these women. He kept his hands on his weapons, if Lexster wanted to lead the way, go right ahead. He didn’t care, really it would be better if she was on the front lines.

[Amalea]

Amalea trailed behind Alex as they approached the lock door and pair of males standing before it. Standing back slightly, she silently unlatched the clasp on her holster, leaving one hand near by the weapon for easy access. She was impressed with the speed of Alex's lock-picking skill, though not totally surprised by it, given what she had seen both of the woman and others of her kind. She stood silently, hand creeping towards one of her concealed knives as she waited for the all-clear signal from Alex.

Nodding at the hissed words, knowing they weren't particularly aimed at her, she crept forward slightly. Her eyebrow raised a moment as she watched Mike remove another robot from his bag. A mental note was made of its shape and size just in case it ended up on the floor in a bout of confusion as it wouldn't do for one of them to lose their composure over something benign. The red head didn't recall any snakes in the building before, but now, she couldn't be too sure of what they'd find.

An eye was kept on the pair of males as they followed Alex through the door just in case she needed to cover the blonde's back as she was having a bit of difficulty trusting that one of them wouldn't pull a stupid stunt. Pausing just outside the door, she listened from a moment, waiting to hear the sounds of metal scraping, announcing the arrival of the crew from the lobby. Satisfied they hadn't seemed to follow yet, she passed through the door, closing it behind her. Eyes briefly scanned the new area as she engaged the door's lock.

"I've never been down here," she spoke softly, "Actually, I'm not sure if anyone other than the Broussard's would have known about this area, which doesn't make sense. We only discovered it by accident. Yet when the battle with the group took place... weren't they found holed up on one of the upper floors?" Something about the situation didn't sit right with the female; something she wasn't sure she wanted to find out about. "I think we need to find the closest exit and get out of here asap." And not go down any more levels, she added to herself.

[Alexandrea]

Alex was feeling better after the blood bag that Red had given her and her bleeding had slowed, her wounds already beginning to heal. Once all if the humans were behind her at the door, Alexandrea slowly opened it all the way, and hearing nothing,she waved to the rest to follow.

She swallowed hard and stepped cautiously, worried traps and about protecting Mike and Red but stopped short in shock after she entered the next room. It looked like a panic room. 'Oh nooooo...' Alex thought to herself. Most panic rooms only had one way in and out...

Red's words about the siege that the mansion had undergone made Alexandrea frown. She had been one of the few Vampires that had been in support of Vampires and Blood Thieves making an alliance. So she had not been there. But she had heard the stories.

"Yes, That's what I had heard. That they were in a penthouse when they died but I never found a way to get up there after that final assault. The elevator that used to be used to get up there no longer worked and if there were any stairs going up? I never found them. Nor did anyone else that I know of. So if what we came her to find was up there? I have no idea how we would have ever been able to get it. But right now all that matters is getting everyone out of here safe."

Her sharp ears heard noises moving above them and although there was no reason to think that anyone else in the building knew how to get down to this lower level, it was only a matter of time before they found Mike's chute. They had seen where Alex had disappeared before she had escaped their gunfire and it wasn't going to take a rocket scientist to do the math and figure out where she had gone and open the chute again.

She looked around at the dust covered filing cabinets and what seemed to be a heavy desk with a computer and then began to push the tall cabinets in front of the door. She didn't bother to even ask anyone to help. Windbag was an ***. And she knew she was strongest of everyone there, especially Red and Mike. She had a lot of reasons to not block them in, not knowing if there was any another way out, but her intuition told her to protect that door at all costs. Staying alive was what mattered.

Getting the door firmly barricaded, Alexandrea heard shouts from the room they had just left and was glad she had done what she did. There hadn't been anyway to go back the way that they had come at any rate and her actions had just bought them a little more time at least. Shaking a bit from the excitement and her lack of full blood, Alex looked around the room chewing her bottom lip.

They were trapped. Unless she could think of something. Maybe she could call to a friendly fellow Vampire's mind to mind to be summoned out but what about these two humans that she had swore to protect?

So engrossed with worry, Alexandrea's eyes must have traveled over the wall safe a dozen times before it registered in her brain. One eyebrow shot up and she smiled. Maybe this hadn't been a panic room for the Broussards after all. Otherwise, if they knew that they were under attack? Why hadn't the family gathered here rather than stay on the top floor? Surely that hadn't been THAT arrogant.

"Mike... I don't think this room is what I first thought it was but I think we are safe for the moment. Can you check the walls again for any more hidden doors? Just... try not to fall into to any if you find them?" She gave the young man a wink and smile so he would know if wasn't said to make him feel bad, just to caution him and then turned to Red.

"I'm going to take a crack at that safe and see if there is anything inside that can help us. Care to check out that computer while we are here?" She glared at Anemoi, then.

"And you. You just stay quiet and out of the way. And if anyone gets through that door shot to kill. Or I'll kill you."

Baring her fangs at the older of the two males, Alexandrea went to the wall safe and pressed an ear against it as she reached for the dials and listened for the sounds of tumblers falling into place.

[Mike Barone (DELETED 2047)]

Mike could understand why Anemoi wouldn’t want to tell the others about this. That would be easy to do as long as they didn’t get hurt. He looked over at Alex as she explained that this wasn’t what she thought it was. His job, to find a way out. It would make sense that there should be a way out of here.

He wrapped the snake bot around his neck and headed over to the wall. He started to check the walls for switches or anything that might be able to be pushed in. He even checked the walls that had been behind the filing cabinets and desks that Alex had just moved.

He knelt down, looking at where the floor and wall meet, trying to tell if anything was moved. He remembered movies where people would find scratches on the floor, dirt moved but he saw nothing. Maybe it moved outward and not inward, like before. He stood up, running his hands over the wall again. He pulled his hand back quickly when he felt a sharp pain, his finger was bleeding. His eyes went back to the wall, there was something sharp there but it was so small that he wasn’t sure what. He pushed on the wall, hearing a hiss as it shifted and moved back.

He stared at the path, it was kind of damp and smelled musty. “H-Hey guys..” he said with a blink.

[Anemoi (DELETED 2809)]

Anemoi glared at the blonde. He wished he could just stab her right now but his first focus should be getting Mike out of here. He crossed his arms, not paying attention to the door, he would be able to hear if someone reached it and tried to break in. He watched as Mike searched the walls. He looked away a moment, wondering if there was anything of value here but most likely wouldn’t be out laying around. He sighed.

He turned when he heard Mike, he raised an eyebrow. How does the kid keep finding these things? He moved over, looking down the path he opened up. “Hope this leads to a way out..“ he muttered.

[Amalea]

Once she was in the room proper, Lea took a good look around. It looked like some sort of specialized room, perhaps for security purposes. If she was honest, it reminded her of several rooms she had seen in movies though she tried to ignore that thought as those sort of rooms only had a single door. Given she knew the Broussard family were vampires and that they would have add access to a summoner, she wouldn't put it past them to have such a room, if just as a trap.

"They were in the Penthouse, yes, from what I had heard," she affirmed. "Honestly, I'm not sure if there were stairs, I never heard of any and I'm not sure the scroll would be up there. It just..." she paused for moment as Alex started shoving filing cabinets in front of the door hoping against hope that it was precautionary measure only. "If this lower level was that well hidden, why hide in a Penthouse with an open elevator? Unless you were setting a trap up down here or something else is a foot?"

The shouting from the next room elicited a soft groan from her lips. Of course they had been followed down here and of course, they had been trailed directly to this room. Being trapped in this small space probably wasn't what she had had in mind when this had all started, never mind this entire outing hadn't gone to plan. Getting stuck with Alex didn't bother her, she knew they be able to find a way out. Adding the males, particularly the Greek one, just complicated things.

As Alex barricaded the door, Lea took a moment to really look at the room. It still struck her as out of sorts as it just didn't fit with everything she knew about the crime family. Vaguely, she heard the blond ask Mike to carefully look for a hidden door. Her attention was rather on the computer she had just seen. She had been making her way over to it when Alex had asked her to check it.

"Sure," she replied absently as she swished the mouse across it's pad, bringing the computer seemingly out of its sleep mode. That was unusual to the human as an abandoned building shouldn't have an active computer. Making quick work of the initial security, she started systematically checking each program in turn. The first several were boring, inconsequential items. It was an icon similarly named to the others that finally provided a breakthrough.

"Jackpot," she exclaimed softly, browsing through the multitude of cameras that seemed to encompass the compound. "Problem," she groaned as she looked over the images.

[Alexandrea]

Alexandrea greeted the sound of all the tumblers of the safe's lock falling into place with a huge grin and did her did best to not giggle with glee. It hadn't been THAT big of a challenge after all.

Taking one of the now empty back packs from her shoulder, Alex looked over to see Mike still working on the walls. Most of his blown up robots were either upstairs or scattered around the room they had just left. And Alexandrea would be damned if she would risk going back there for spare parts.

She removed about a half a dozen very dusty old books, a few of those billfolds that stocks and bonds come in, and even a locked safety box. It was the kind that was fireproof, and Alex would bust it open later. Right now, as she finished clearing out the safe? All that was on the blonde's mind was getting the hell out of Dodge.

It was impossible not to notice the ever smug Anemoi as he ignored Alexandrea's instructions and was the first to rush to Mike Barone when the youth found a door, but Alex promised herself that his time would come and turned to look at Red, who had just discovered something.

"Ohhh.... great. What new fresh hell is heading our way?" Alex grumbled and went over to the desk where the human woman was working the computer. The young lady's tone had been more than enough to alert Alexandrea that more trouble was still yet headed their way.

"Does whatever you see prevent us from using Mike's latest discovery? I want to get us all the **** out of here..."

Alex looked back at the human males. "Hold up. We may not want to go that way... yet. Let's see what Red has discovered first, guys. Won't do **** all for us to go down that way if there is an ambush at the end of that tunnel..."

[Mike Barone (DELETED 2047)]

Mike looked to Anemoi, ignoring the throbbing of his cut finger. This path seemed to be the best route right now but now there was something else going on that could be seen with the computer. The computer worked? Shouldn't this all been shut down by now? He was surprised there was any power.

He licked his lips, realizing just how thirsty he was now. Once they were out of here safe, he wanted a big glass of ice water.

He looked between the new path and the women, he had no idea what side this lead to or if he led to the outside. "Are we surrounded?" he asked. If they were, shouldn't they try to get out instead of being trapped in here?

[Anemoi (DELETED 2809)]

Anemoi groaned. For fucks sake. What the hell does it matter what is on the computer screen, what choice did they have? They have a way out now, they needed to go and they needed to go now.

He moved back to the door that was barricaded, listening closely as he heard footsteps, they were running towards the door. They tried to open it but couldn't of course. He moved away from the door, "Time to go people. We'll just have to deal with whatever is down path number two." he said, keeping a dagger in hand and grabbed Mike's upper arm with the other. "Don't you have any weapons? I know you killed a zombie before.."

[Amalea]

Lea tried really hard not to roll her eyes at the men folk as she surveyed the screen. "We're going to have to do this carefully. This building is swarming with these assholes," she informed the group. Studying the diagrams quickly, she motioned to a spot 3 feet right of the safe, "There should be a hidden panel there that reveals an elevator. We won't be able to use it since it only goes up and will attract far too much attention, but it would serve as a nice diversion."

She indicated the map, "It looks like the tunnel Mike found will bring us out in the greenway between this building and the one over. I don't see any of these morons over that way, but we'll need to be cautious and extremely quiet since it looks like there's a few vents in the passageway and who knows how well the sound carries." Tilting her head, she studied the schematics. As her fingers flew over the keyboard, she explained what she was doing, "I'm engaging the high security lock on the door we came though and then I'm going to set up a time delay on the elevator. I'm also going to have the system engage the locks on the tunnel door once we close it, which not only will close the panel, but render it inoperable except from the tunnel side. They shouldn't be able to find it that way, though I'm going to disable the back up systems and wipe the entire computer system. It'll leave the backups, but these guys won't have a way to access them anymore."

By this point, she had slid out of her chair and was finishing up the last couple command sequences. "Mike, if you don't have a weapon on you, there's a knife in the front of my bag, take it." She nodded to the rest, her finger hovering over the 'Enter' key, "Ready to go when you guys are."