Midnight Murder

[Azraeth]

The night was young, as it needed to be, when one's mission had the potential to take some time to complete. A short time prior, Azraeth had pulled together a meeting comprised of those who had been present during the events of the mercenary attack against an outting whose participation had included members of both the Dragomir and Prudence's family. The only two not invited had been Lorelai and Andrew, not because they were not wanted, but because they were relatively 'new' to the vampiric world and Az was unsure what dangers might await. He didn't want any of the group to come to harm, especially not a certain red-head or his sire (a bias he was usually careful to try and mask). But danger was sometimes a necessity.

The team was almost accidentally well composed as well, a mixture of strengths that would hopefully see them all completing their objectives with minimal in the way of loss. Raeth himself stood in the sewers. They were all connected by way of secure voice channel, earbuds that operated on a particular undercurrent. Kennedy and Mordechai were a team, Prudence and Azraeth were another team. They were awaiting confirmation from Nikolae (one of the better hackers in the city, much as he did not publicize that fact), to let them know when the security cameras were down and the power grid leading into the compound had been compromised. The generators had already been dealt with in advanced, a localized quake having all but made them useless.

Nikolae had the ability to sneak into the building without being spotted, and could directly access the local network computers.

Only once that happened could the two other groups spring into action. Mordechai and Kennedy were to take the place from the ground floor, and team two was to take it from the basement level up so that they could hopefully meet somewhere in the middle. The schematics and blueprints for the building were largely a mystery. It had taken days of observation and past experience to even discover the secondary point of egress. But for the most part, the place was on tight lockdown.

Az wore an outfit perhaps stereotypical to an unlawful breaking and entering - all black. He had gone with a knit cap and a jacket that was zipped up all the way to the neck (not revealing the long-sleeve shirt underneath). His pants were a comfortable cotton blend, harem style such that they were baggy at the hips, but hugged his legs without the unattractive drop-crotch design. He had on non-streak sneakers, and even had black face paint on his cheeks. He. May have watched a film about robbery prior to having composed his outfit, because thievery wasn't really his strong suit.

Avignon was on standby, but Raeth knew that the humans in question were aware of vampirism. As far as he was concerned, that meant they also knew about wraiths, and getting one's hands on a spirit cage in Harper Rock was...easy. To say the least. He didn't want to alert anyone ahead of time so the spiritual entity had been forced to take something of a back seat. Surprise was going to be their strength.

"I can't believe they've been watching us for all this time and we didn't know it." That had been the nature of what they had found out. Or Az rather, when he'd interrogated one of the two people who had been left behind after the skirmish. The other one had been allowed to live by Mordechai, a message to the ones who had sent the mercenaries. Apparently they had been looking for vampires to drag in for testing, and the little meet 'n greet had drawn their attention. The corporation that had sent them was a subsidiary of a subsidiary, a very well hidden string of fabricated businesses that was impossible to trace back to the source.

That would probably be a problem in the future. But Az and the rest of the crew had something of an obligation to wipe out years of research into vampires. Wipe servers. Destroy hard copies. Kill witnesses.

That was their mission.

[Prudence]

A couple hours before they were planning on meeting up and taking care of business, Prudence had met up with one of her mini's; Lori. She had passed the woman a tome, a collection of items that consisted of a monkey hand, antique, silk hankies, broken mirrors and a scarlet colored flower. A piece of paper with a name of a building was slipped in the palm of her hand before Prudence hugged Lori and told her that if anything happened to her, one of two people would have her. Mordie or Azraeth. Even though she barely knew Azraeth, Prudence knew she could trust the male to make sure she got out of the situation they were in, should things go awry. If, for some reason, Mordie was unable to.

They were in the sewers and he had said something. Prudence didn't reply at first, her focus on what she told Mordie earlier in the night. Once he and Kennedy were inside the building, let Prudence know with his mind raping skills so Lori could lock any unwanted people out of the building. They were already going in the hornet's nest, so to speak. No need to add other targets to take care of should they be able to call for help to the outside world. She was sure Lori could do the ritual. She hoped as much.

While Azraeth went for the discreet, careful and maybe even smarter look, Prudence went a different route. She wore a white lab coat she 'borrowed' from the university's chemistry lab, a fitted pair of women's black trouser, with the same colored pumps and a sapphire colored button down shirt. Prudence also wore a different face, but kept her fire colored hair with her. She attempted to blend in with the enemy. Move among them. She cracked a smile and rolled her shoulders at what he said, when Prudence pieced together what it was he said. "I think we underestimate humans, even though we were all human not that long ago. I thought I was careful, but guess with these bad boys," She stopped to open her mouth and show off her permanent fangs, before continuing, "I wasn't careful enough. Thought about capping 'em or something, but I kinda like 'em. Think they're me."

Her eyes moved up and down, taking in his outfit before cracking a smile a little. Her fingers gripped the phone in her lab coat, as she thought about Lori and the job she gave her to do. She hoped it didn't backfire on them, but she knew Mordie could summon and so could she. Azraeth probably could too. The redhead didn't have much in the form of weapons on her, because she was a weapon in itself. Her head tilted to the right and a small 'pop' was heard before she went left and the same sound was heard. To say she was nervous, was an understatement, but this had to be done. And she had to be there. They had files on her and her family. And a file on Azraeth. Even if it had just been Azraeth and Nikolae that had files on them, Prudence still would be standing here now. Not that she would express that thought to any one of them. "Ya look like a pro." She didn't add the funny part, not that she meant it in a mean way, but the idea of them dressing like burglars amused Prudence. Because they were vampires and sneaky as it was. When they needed to be.

Not wanting to waste time and dwell on how he looked, when she was supposed to be focused on the bigger picture of things, Prudence nodded to the entrance way. "Need help getting in, or can ya manage?" She looked at him as she started walking towards the hidden entrance, her back towards that entrance as she kept her focus on him. "Good luck." She said. It might have been stupid to say that because they were on the same team and would be working side by side, but she felt the need to say it anyways. Maybe, because she hoped nothing would happen to him. Or maybe, just to lighten the mood of the night.

[Mordechai]

Tonight was the night. Tonight was the night that vengeance would be his. He was not a God nor did he wish to be one, but after tonight’s work, many will swear that the greek goddess Atë and her mother Eris had paid them a visit from the hell they dwelled in. Tonight he would do as the ancestors of his profession had done for millennia. Tonight it would be his turn. Tonight it would be he, Mordechai, who gave out the cry of “Havoc”. Tonight he would be the dog of war that was released. Tonight was the night the final payment would be extracted from those that had dared to strike at his kennedy, and Pru’s lorelai. Those that had interrupted their small get together. Tonight he would close the books on this account. He would accept nothing less than payment in full. The currency, their life blood. Tonight their debt would be paid.

The massive killer sat silently his eyes closed as he remembered his time with kennedy. She had been the turning point in his life. The one thing that had put true smiles on his face. So much of his life had changed with her coming. She was another of a long line of things that the killer had had cause to thank his titian haired friend Pru for. If Pru had not sired the abomination, they in turn would not have been able to sire kennedy, and he would never have met her. She was his all, his reason for sanity, his anchor to reality. Without her, he would become something that humans and vampires alike would truly have reason to fear. Now these people, whoever and whatever they were, had caused damage to his kennedy. They had caused damage to lorelai, one of Pru’s under his protection. Azraeth had found more information on the attackers. He had shared. Mordechai was going to war.

Standing the seven foot two warrior slipped from his clothes, folding them neatly, and stacking them on the bed, before going to the locked chest in the corner. Kneeling before the chest he ran his hands over it, then slowly undid the locks and fasteners, opening it. His eyes closed momentarily, before opening again, with a hard edge to them, as he slowly unpacked each layer of the chest. Tonight would call for a special pack out, his normal gear would not cut it for the volume of destruction necessary. Standing up he looked into the mirror, stared at the nothingness for a moment then began to slip into the three tone grey variegated tiger stripe patterned battle dress uniform bottom and top. Next came his ILBE load bearing harness. carefully he adjusted the straps till the fit was perfect. Sorting through the pile he began clipping smoke bombs and knock out bombs to the chest straps. Six of each hung in neat columns. Slipping the twin Uncle Mike’s drop leg tactical platforms into place, the killer affixed the molded competition style holsters to them. Turning to the side he slid open the drawer of the massive guncase kennedy had bought him and slowly lifted out the rosewood case nestled there. Opening it his eyes drank in the beauties resting in the crushed red velvet covered foam. A matched pair of Glock 40 Gen4 MOS rested inside, each of them equipped with a military grade ACOG reflex sight. The long barrels and reflex sights would insure the fastest most accurate target acquisition. The fifteen round magazines gave thirty shots, thirty deaths, before reloading, and the ten spare magazines secreted about the ILBE ensured there would be no shortage of death this night. The custom handloads he was using would exceed the performance of the .357 Magnum, and have more kinetic energy at 100 yards than the .45 ACP has at the muzzle. Guns sorted, the killer turned to his beloved kennedy.

Reaching out Mordechai pulled his mate into his arms and held her close, letting his calm radiate into the often hyper allurist. “We will do well csitri. I will try to control myself, as long as you are able to keep wound free.” Kissing the top of her head he held her letting his mind infiltrate hers, using the much more intimate telepathy as he spoke to her. “Let we go over the plan one more time. You will be dressed nice, but not in your work clothes, nothing too sexy, for we cannot let my jealousy free. You will tell the guard you car broke down and your cell is dead. If one as pretty as you asks to use a phone, he will surely open the door. As you enter, I will slip from the shadows and snap his neck. Once we are in, I will let Pru know, and we shall begin. Begin the utter destruction of all that they stand for, and all that they are.” Giving her one last kiss, the killer began to load the new weapons he had made for her into a satchel that would attach to his harness as well.

Returning to his lock box he drew one last item from it, and carefully slipped it into his pack. The air shimmered around him as his body hid inside the illusion of a middle aged businessman, and he slipped out the door heading towards the target building. He unconsciously kept a small part of his thoughts tapped into kennedy, reading her memories so that he knew what she was doing and where she was a split second after she did them, asn as she approached, Mordechai drew the shadows to him wrapping him in darkness as he let the guise of a businessman slip away. The killer moved closer as he watched kennedy approaching. The heightened emotion of an allurist painted across her face as she easily convinced the guard she needed inside to use a phone. Finally the door opened and as kennedy crossed inside, the massive hands of the seven foot killer closed around the guards head and a with a twisting jerk released the sound of snapping vertebrae. If the dead could hold a job, he would never again worry about someone sneaking up on him, as he now had a clear view behind him. Mordechai carried the body inside, tossing it to a corner, before relocking the door and giving kennedy another kiss. Unhooking the satchel with her weapons in it from his harness, Mordechai passed it to his lover.

“Pru, we are in” washed from his mind to hers.

[Nikolae]

Nikolae had all but breezed into the building once he knew it's location. The place seemed harmless enough - so plain and ordinary that he probably wouldn't have bothered coming here if they hadn't gotten that information. Once inside it was a different story, of course. Men in military gear roaming the halls, the distant sound of screams he was sure could probably be attested to rogue vampires being tortured and experimented on. His hands clenched in the gloves he wore, but dutifully ignored it. Maybe he could find a way to unlock all the doors and set the prisoners free to take their own revenge.

Sitting on the chair, he rolled in front of a massive bank of computers, paying no mind to the dead body of the man who'd been running things only a few moments before. Nikolae had slaked his thirst, then snapped the mans neck and neatly tucked him into a corner. His fingers flowed over the various keyboards, pausing now and then as he found files buried within files under enough encryption to give him a real test.

Security's down. He thought to his eldest Dragon, almost distractedly. The pairs that would infiltrate would no doubt find other things, but while he was in the computer systems Nikolae intended to find whatever he could. His eyebrows jumped up as he came upon an encoded server, trying twice before managing to get inside.

"Experimental gene-splicing..." He murmured allowed, eyes flowing over the text, diagrams and charts. He clicked on a video file and felt bile rise in his throat as he watched it's contents. A human woman, clearly drugged out of her mind, strapped to a gurney with a belly bloated with pregnancy. A scientist - for there was no way the Dragomir would qualify the creature as a doctor - made efficient work of cutting her open and removing the foetus within. But the child was anything but human. Some sort of half-alligator, half infant emerged, struggled to take a few gasping breaths, and fell limp. The scientist looked directly into the camera and reported the failure as the womans vitals beeped twice more and flat-lined.

As the video ended, Nikolae leaned forward in the chair and began the task of sending each and every file, document, and video to his private server located in another country entirely. He would pour over each piece directly and had a feeling what he found would make his blood run colder than it already was. The sound of gunshots alerted him that time was running out, so he quickly moved to other areas of the computer network, spotting more than a few names in the vampire community. He deleted everything as he came across it, and then withdrew a tiny flashdrive from his pocket. The thing was, naturally, decorated with dragons and the tip was covered with a dragons head. He removed it then popped the device into the USB port, easily navigating to it on the desktop to double-click the special concoction he'd made just for this trip.

In minutes the viruses, trojans, and other nasties spread through the system, jumping from server to server to disable and destroy as much as possible. He helped it along by conveniently turning off any protections that had been in place to impede it. Sitting back in his seat, he waited for the programs to finish uploading their surprises and sent another message to his first-borne. Hope you're almost finished down there. They'll be realizing their systems are down before too long. I'll see you at home, Raeth.

Nikolae removed his custom-made flashdrive, covering it again, and slipped it into his pocket. As an afterthought he grabbed each of the computer hard-drives and tore them to pieces. Already he could hear people trying to enter the secured room - behind the second set of doors not too far off - so he beelined for a separate entrance and made his way toward the nearest window if only to take a peak out. He'd teleport home once he knew his childe was safe, there was nothing left here for the Dragomir.

[Kennedy]

The past few nights had been interesting. It was rare that she was included in a hunt, mainly due to Mordechai's over-protection of her and his instant need to rip a person to shreds should she get hurt. Sitting at the crafting table, working on her gun parts to relax, she looked down at her leg and ran her finger over where she had been shot. It was amazing how well she could heal and no matter the injury, there was never a scar. Her skin was just as flawless as the day CC had turned her. Kennedy's thoughts were pulled back to her surroundings when she heard Mordechai in the bedroom, getting ready for the evening. Tonight was the night that they would get their revenge on the attackers.

Pushing away from the crafting bench and standing up, she made her way into the bedroom. Picking up and holding their puppy as she sauntered over to Kennedy, she leaned against the doorway as she watched him. He was so organized as he pulled out each item and placed it upon his body. He even had a different outfit than what he used on any other normal night. With all of the bombs and artillery strapped to him, he was a one man army, if this was a normal group of humans. These were hunters that had been watching them for a while, they needed to have a team to succeed because if they worked independently...they would fail. As he pulled her close and held her, she closed her eyes and let his calmness wash over her. His words moved through her ears like silk and she smiled.

"I hope so, Mordie but don't worry about me if I get shot. Remember, I can heal. Getting the job done is far more important than losing your temper because of me...that can cause us to fail the mission. I will take the vambrace with me in case it gets hairy in there so that way I can shake off more than just one wound. We have a good team. A strong team. Hell...I'm probably the weakest out of everyone in the group so believe in our team and don't lose your cool, no matter what. Okay?"

After he kissed her on the top of her head, she placed the puppy on the bed and began to rummage through her closet. She needed to get ready but with the plan they all had agreed on, she couldn't go in wearing anything that was battle gear. Nope, she needed to wear something sexy and use her allurist mojo to charm the pants off the guards. That wasn't hard but with Mordechai there with her and not wanting her to wear anything too sexy so his jealousy wouldn't explode...that was going to be tough. Flipping through each outfit, she could see each one being too sexy in Mordechai's eyes. She sighed and turned to face him. "A simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt could be too sexy for you because of how you feel towards me. If I have to worry about your jealousy...we are going to fail before we even begin because I am not walking in there with a MuMu and a box of Bonbons."

Turning back to her closet, she smirked as she found an outfit that she knew would make him sit close to the edge of losing it when the guards looked at her but it would get the job done, no matter the gender of the guards. She could charm the pants off both women and men. Pulling out the suit jacket, corset and purple shoes, she laid them down on the bed before walking over and taking a pair of jeans out of her dresser. It didn't take long for her to change her clothes. She topped off the look with a pair of large silver hoop earrings and an hourglass necklace. Slipping on the jacket and pulling her hair out so it rested on the outside of the jacket, she gave him a playful wink. "We should get going and just remember...you're a strong man and I love you very much."

As they left the apartment, she walked ahead of him so that it didn't show that they were together. As they reached the building, she looked around and smirked at the sports car across the street and down a little ways. There was her car decoy. Knocking upon the building door as she powered down her cell phone, she opened the door and looked inside. Smiling as she was instantly greeted with a man and a large rifle. She could tell that he knew who she was but she instantly cast pacification on him while she began to flirt with him, using all the charms she had. "Hey there pumpkin...I'm having a little bit of trouble." She stepped back just slightly so he could see the car as she pointed. "See there...my car is having issues. I don't know what happened, it just stopped and my cell seemed to have died on me so I can't call for help. Is there anything you can do to help me out? Maybe you have a phone that I could use..." The man's eyes barely wanted to leave her long enough to look at the car and her cell as she held it up for him to look at. He was weighing his options and then nodded his head after awhile before waving her into the building. "Aren't you precious?! Thank you so much. This means a lot to me." Mordechai didn't take long before he was in the building and the guard was a lump of flesh and bone on the floor. Looking up at him, she stifled her giggles but kissed him on the lips. "See...you were just fine." Taking the satchel from him, she tossed it over her head so the strap rested across her body and the bag at her hip. The easy part was done...the rest would be an adventure.

Attire

[Azraeth]

"Good luck to you too." Hopefully they wouldn't need it, but there was no telling exactly what information the humans had on them. Specially designed weapons that were attuned specifically to destroying vampires? He expected nothing less, and he had always been a very cautious creature, a trait that had served him well through the years. The truth of the matter was that he was going to be hidden in shadows through most of the little mission. That didn't mean he intended to leave all of the hard work to the others. In fact, no sooner were people ready to go than Az sent his wraith following along after Prudence. He could quite literally look through the spirit's eyes, and while the double vision was a little jarring to the senses, he wasn't about to knowingly let harm befall Prudence. Besides. He planned to work 'extraction', meaning that if **** hit the fan, he needed to know generally where people were so he could quickly and efficiently get them all the **** out of dodge.

Once inside, he let the darkness envelop him, a single whisper issued over the team headset. "If anyone needs an assist, just give me a shout." And then he was making his way down a corridor. The truth of the matter was that he would have just razed the whole damn place if it had been at all possible. He wasn't very good with the mechanics thing, but he had a hope that maybe one of those gifted at crafting in their group might have whipped up some kind of explosive device. Whatever the case - it didn't really matter. He wasn't going to waste his time looking at every shred of paper. He intended to destroy every camera, every single file, every computer he came across. Most of them would likely hold nothing, but he wasn't going to take a chance, and they needed to work quickly. We'll be in and out before then. An answer to his sire when the elder Dragomir made his leave of the building.

The first room he came across was an office, and he slid inside so that he could immediately begin to tug at drawers. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled free a lighter and a can of aerosol cooking oil. The combination was dangerous and not to be tried at home, but provided one with a poor man's flame thrower in a pinch. He lit the flame, took aim, and began to systematically light every scrap of evidence on fire. By the time that he got out, the place was shrouded in black, thick smoke. He closed the door so that it could not alert anyone along the way, and moved right along to the next room. He continued in much that fashion over the span of the next several minutes until he had neatly cleaned up every single office on the basement floor. The ones that required special access to get to had, had their security disabled by his sire, and were just as easy to get into as the ones open to the common employees.

And that was when he stumbled upon what looked to be an enormous laboratory, filled with all manner of equipment. There were caged zombies, and feral vampires, even a grotesque mooncalf that had been barred away from everyone. The area would normally have been under tight observation, but all of the security cameras were down. More to the point, the cages and cells that normally kept the monsters electrically bound into their corners had been wiped out when Niko had destroyed the corporate building's defenses. They were out wandering about in the lab, with little more than some reinforced glass between them and Raeth. None of them were particularly dangerous, but they could complicate things.

"Keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. There are some kind of weird experiments going on down here and whatever got captured has been set free, so you might not be alone roaming the halls." He said clearly to everyone in the group before he tucked himself into a closet. Probably a place where maintenance workers kept their supplies. His own eyes shut so that he could focus on the vision of his wraith. Time to scout ahead, and see if there was anything else that needed to be sorted out, any hidden passages, or secret places where information was being kept.

[Prudence]

Prudence moved quietly down a corridor that was dimly lit by LED lights scattered throughout the hallway for in case of emergency times. She was well aware that she was being followed by Azraeth's wraith, but didn't mind it. She wasn't a telepath, so it was a welcomed comfort to know that if she got in to some trouble, the wraith could get back to Azraeth and let him know. Or any member of their team, essentially.

When Mordie let her know they were in, the redhead reached for her phone, pulled up Lori's name and sent the woman a text message. We're in. Do the ritual. With that taken care of, Prudence stuffed the phone back in the lab coat and kept moving.

Before Azraeth's voice was heard, Prudence realized they weren't alone. Because she was met face to face with two armed security guards, demanding to know what she was doing in the building and asking where her badge was. Prudence patted at her chest, near a pocket where she pretended a badge would be as Azraeth's voice let her know that the guards were more than likely the least of their problems. "I-I lost it. I was trying to get away. There's been a security breach of some sort. The lab is in chaos and everything is free." Prudence looked around frantically before the two men shoved her down the way they came from, telling her to get to the main floor as quick as she could. Apparently, the idea of large monsters roaming the hall was a higher priority than some woman.

With the men gone, Prudence moved down another corridor that led her to a couple of offices. An elbow met the glass of the window in the door, and shattered the window. A hand wormed its way in to unlock the lock in the door knob and she was in. After searching through a few drawers, Prudence realized these offices didn't have anything she was looking for. It kept records of dealings with the public and in house things, but nothing more than that. H.R. apparently was just H.R. and out of the loop, or covered up their real base of operations up really well. "Well, ****." Prudence said as she closed the final drawer she was going to look through before deciding this was a waste of time and a lost cause.

"Hey! What are you doing in here?!" A sharp, male voice demanded from her, as they grabbed her shoulder. She turned with his assistance, looked at the guard dressed in dark blue and rolled her shoulders. "Wrong turn?" She said before Prudence grabbed a computer monitor off the desk and slammed it in to the guy's chest. He coughed, gasped for air in surprise before she brought the keyboard down on his head with all her supernatural strength. "Sleep it off." The redhead said as she stepped over the male, closed the door behind her and continued on through the depths of darkened hallways.

[Lorelai]

Earlier in the evening Prudence had dropped by Lorelai's apartment with a request; she wanted her to fortify a specific location in the city for her. This wasn't a ritual that Lorelai was familiar with and she didn't have the tome but Prudence had come prepared for this and so had left the blonde with everything she needed to accomplish the task.

You have a choice in this. She asked you. She didn't tell you.
I know. But it can't hurt can it?
I don't know? You don't think locking people in with a group of vampires is a bad idea? What if someone wants to flee?
They can leave. I think. If I’m reading this right, they should be able to leave. They just can't get in.
Hmm... So you're stopping anyone else from getting in and being harmed. Then I concur. It can't hurt to do the ritual as Prudence asked.

Lorelai had been told that she would be notified when the time was right, so she waited in her apartment for the signal to begin. The altar was furnished with everything she required and she had read the tome several times over, to make sure that she understood everything she could before the ritual was to begin.

The time between prudence arriving and the message she required to begin seemed to be an eternity. Lorelai worried for her little red star and she wished she could do more to help her. A shield was all she could cast upon the woman to aid her and help keep her safe, so it had to be enough.

Picking up the tome, she made quick work of the ritual. The demi-fae appeared, took its instruction and disappeared without incident. With the building secured, as Prudence required, Lorelai set about keeping herself busy until she heard from Prudence again and knew that the woman was safe and sound.