And So it begins ((Alaric))

[Anne Weiss]

wearing

The day had started early, between the power of her newest addiction and the power of jet lag, Anne had not found much sleep. The dreams hadn't helped either. She licked her lips then took a sip of her drink, a Golden Sunset. Something, ironically, she had missed this eve. That aside, the day had gone relatively smoothly. She had heard that the first of her team had begun to arrive about an hour into her day.

Glory, a woman with appetites that matched her own, was a persistent bulldog when it came to following the money. And since the money was the root of this evil, having her out here was necessary. Then there was Wade, he was a sarcastic son of a *****, but he was also able to follow people and learn their secrets inside and out. And then there was Felix, fellon turned Robin Hood. Not only did he know technology and how to get around it, but how to keep others from getting around it too. The final one that had showed was Michaella, once an MI6 agent, she now worked for Germany. At least, that was the story. Anne knew it went far deeper than that. She was essentially a double agent. However, she had a moral compass, something Anne often tried to forget.

When they had all arrived at the hotel, Anne gave them the rundown. They all received dossiers on the three in question as well as all the information that Alaric and his secretary had delivered to her that morning. Right now, her team was out doing their things. Glory, was up in her room following the money. The tablet that sat inside a black patten leather case made a small sound. Already Glory was producing. She opened the case and stared down at the screen. The information brought a smile to her face. She pulled out her phone from her pocket and dialed a number.

"This is Anne Weiss, give me Johann." She waited only a few moments before a deep male voice spoke, a voice she new well. "Johann, so glad you were there today. Listen, I have a new client and it seems that he has some interest in one of your client's accounts. Remember that favor you owe me?" She had to stop as he tried to stop her from asking what he knew she was going to ask, she wasn't having that. "Johann, do you forget how I saved not just your job but your family name?" She purred. He tried again and she shook her head. "I just need two things, the pin and the security question. I'll handle everything else." She said. Finally he broke and she started typing into the tablet. She hit send and end at the same time. Now that was handled. Now, was to deal with the other two.

She took a sip from her drink, reading from her tablet the information she was getting as a male came to stand beside her. She closed the case and gave an uninterested glance to him. "Can I buy you another, Beautiful."

Anne pretended she knew nothing of English and responded with "Kannst du von einer klippe springen?" The guy smiled and got closer, trying to touch her, she then pretended she didn't notice, but she was getting ready to hit him with pepper spray if he didn't back up soon.

[Alaric von der Marck]

The meeting with Anne Weiss had replayed in Alaric’s mind, over and over. Her features had been impassive, and he wondered if he’d truly succeeded in shaking her when he’d delved into her mind. He wondered if she was the right thing to do—he wondered if she’d be good for his company, or whether she’d burn it to the ground. The night had ended, the sun had risen, and Alaric had descended into his tome; into the depths of the tunnels beneath the estate, into the darkness that he hated but which he couldn’t do without. Like a classic Dracula, he needed the Earth, he needed an enclosed space. At least he could do without the damned coffin, so long as he was underground.

When he woke, it was with the knowledge that he wanted to follow her. He wanted to know that he could trust her. Swinging his legs from the bed and switching on the lamp beside his bed—festooned with cobwebs, because the spiders were impossible to get rid of down here where the walls were hewn rock and slipshod brick. He dressed, the suits these days sleeker, though he still chose, more often than not, to wear a vest beneath the jacket.

Topside, Alaric stood as still as a statue, eyes closed and head cocked, His body was rigid, his fingers twitching every now and again as he focused on Anne Weiss. He focused on the number that he’d used to call her, the number from which she had collected said call. The figments of data permeated his brain like an army of fireants and he hated it, every second of it. But it was useful, and it was efficient. The data, alongside other information that he had gathered (they were allies, were they not?) he knew where he would find her.

When he walked into the newly built hotel one would not have guessed that the telepathic elder had got their by bicycle. He did not know how to drive, and had not yet the capacity—nor might he ever—to teleport himself across vast spaces without the help of a tome.

It did not take long to find her at the bar. Alaric stood back at first, content to watch, and to listen. She was approached by a suitor, who was deemed unworthy. Unwanted, yet still he persisted. Alaric’s shoes tapped sharply upon the hard floor as he approached, standing on the unwanted suitor’s other side.

”I believe you are in my way,” he said, voice deep and sure and accented in the language Anne herself had just spoken. It was not unlikely, then, that the two were acquainted. That the two were together. Still stuck in the past in so many ways, it didn’t occur to Alaric that it might be infuriating that one male might leave a woman alone due to her own wants, but instead due to the wants of another male.

WEARING

[Anne Weiss]

Before Anne had a chance to fully wrap her slender hand around the small silver canister she kept tucked into the pocket of her pants, a deep, now known voice spoke. She wasn't the type of feminist to growl or stamp her feet if a male came to her rescue, so long as she knew the male knew she could take care of herself in the situation as well. In this case though, she was more than happy to use this to her advantage. She turned in her seat to look at Alaric, her eyes bright and filled with a bit of mischief. "Danke, ich war kurz davor, diesen Idioten zu erstechen." She spoke and then took a sip of her drink.

The male that tried to pick her up turned to the voice as well, he gave the male a once over and then looked back to Anne. "Do you think your bad attempt at that accent is going to get you into this ice queen's pants any sooner than me?" Behind him, Anne rolled her eyes and continued to sip her drink. She then gathered her belongings - a handbag and the case that she had been reading from - and moved from her seat.

She did not need to worry about telling the tender to which room to bill, her tab was still open and already attached to her room. She then picked up her drink and brushed past the little gnat before speaking. "Alaric," she nearly purred as she pretended the male wasn't there, "so glad you could meet me here this eve." She ignored the way the male went from eyeing her like a piece of meet to the clear annoyance that he hadn't been chosen. "I have great news already, shall we find a booth? Something a little more private?"

She held out her hand in a complete show of professionalism, the other still holding her drink, the case and her purse pinched between her torso and her arm. The guy, finally getting the hint stomped off, but not before calling her a few choice words. One of which she new she was. In this world, a woman had to be a *****, it was the only way that men got it through their thick skulls that women were just as capable as men were, sometimes even more so. That was just the nature of the beast. And while she was still new to this city, she had seen some interesting beasts now.

She would handle those beasts as she handled all others. Head on. She wasn't the the wilting flower. She was a rose with her own thorns. "Your timing is impeccable, you saved his life." Anne said with a soft laugh, her eyes crinkling a little with her amusement.

Translation: Thank you, i was close to stabbing this moron.

[Alaric von der Marck]

Alaric was curious as to what Anne was reaching for, though he was not given the chance to find out. Perhaps, later, he would ask.

In any other situation he might have waited. He might have watched to see how the woman handled herself. But for all his traditional values—some of which would make any modern feminist roar—Alaric still could not understand the modern behaviour of men. Sure, men had always been lewd creatures and perhaps it said something about the society Alaric himself grew up in. The manners he was taught to exhibit—those manners had all but disappeared from modern society. Gentlemen were a rare breed. Instead, men thought that they were owed the world, and they threw tantrums when they did not get it.

Just like the man whom Anne had refused who was now accusing a bemused Alaric of faking an accent. To get into Anne’s pants? That was a phrase did not understand, and if he had, he might have lectured the young man. First, that women were not objects to be stripped and used. Second, if he wanted to have sex there were plenty of women in the club down the street who might oblige—if he treated them with kindness and didn’t presume they would fall into bed at the slightest provocation.

In fact, the whole industry of sex before marriage, sex while dating, one-night stands – it still confused Alaric and somewhat appalled him. There were many who might have said that Alaric was too uptight, and maybe they were right. Still, no one had persuaded him to give up his traditionalist morals just yet, and this meeting with Anne was business only.

The gnat left their company, and Alaric focused only on the woman in white. He arched a brow.

”For now, perhaps,” he said with a smile that wasn’t as revealing as it could have been. Truth was, ever since he’d turned Aurelia and got a taste for human blood, he now wanted it all the time. It was hard to slip back into the habit of hunting the wilderness for his nightly meals. Suddenly, rabbit wasn’t quite cutting it. Though, he wasn’t a man who habitually killed people – it was a lie, to be fair. The gnat would not die tonight, though Alaric hoped that karma would find him out there on the streets.

”Private, ja. Let’s,” he said. Already he had turned, checking over his shoulder to make sure the gnat was definitely gone, before finding a booth away from the mingling crowd. The bar was impressive, all the furniture made of ice. There were fur throws that the customers could use so that their backsides wouldn’t freeze, Alaric presumed – he grabbed one of these and made sure to lay it in the booth where Anne would be seated; he’d wait for her to sit before he would follow suit.

[Anne Weiss]

Anne's brow mirrored Alaric's, arching at his words. 'For now' She would have to ask about that, but for now, she put that on the back burner for the time being. There were things to get too. The moved to the booth and Anne was shocked as he had produced the fur and sat it down for her. It had been a long time since she had seen much in the way of chivelry. Granted, she was a powerful woman, she did not need a man to look out for or take care of her... in any way, shape, or form. At the same time, she wasn't going to smack some guy for being a decent human being just because it could be seen as old fashioned.

Born in Saxony, Germany, it was a beautiful mix of old and new. She knew elders that preferred speaking only in German, and young ones that preferred English, and vice versa. It was the same with things that could be seen as old fashioned. She thought it was sorely lacking in the rest of the world. Taking the offered seat, she set her things on the table. Well, all except her bag, that she put on the bench beside her. Her eyes, as clear as some of the ice around them, moved to his as she gave him a polite smile.

Before she spoke, she let him get settled and took a sip of her drink, the gold flakes swirling around in the glass. "Like I said earlier, I have good news." she opened the case that housed her tablet and flipped it about so that the case because a stand and the screen came to life. She unlocked it and before them the screen showed what appeared to be a bank account information as well as the numbers going in both directions. She looked at him for a moment, seeing if he saw what she saw before she continued. "This is the account of Catherine Hoffman, it appears, she's not quite as dirty as you think but still corrupt and greedy. Also, it appears she is quite a programmer." She took a sip of her drink once more and then continued

"She's going to also be the hardest one to get rid of, legally." illegally on the other hand. They didn't quite know the full impacted of what she had done to his business, the only clear thing was that she had her fingers everywhere and the only way to get rid of her was to get rid of her pawns. She was a queen in this chess game. Good thing Anne was a fairly skillful chess player.

"It also appears she has dirt not just on the two others that you meantioned, but a few others. There is evidence on her computer at home, that she is blackmailing a good number of your board." Anne added as she reached forward, her hand accidentally brushing his arm as she reached for the tablet. She glanced sideways at him and opened another screen, this one had files holding the names of seven other names. "Do any of these names mean anything to you?"

[Alaric von der Marck]

Something happened to Alaric when he looked at the tablet’s screen. His brow furrowed, frowning, as those synapses fired in his brain—as if there was someone or something inside of it telling him that he knew what to do with it, wanting to connect with it and manipulate the numbers himself. But because he had so little knowledge of the technology, he resisted. And it caused the instant headache to begin its usual ache behind his eyes. It was only small, for now, and he used computers as much as he could given they were the requirement for any kind of business these days. But this was the reason why he had hired Anne; so that she could look at these things so that he would not have to.

One day, he would allow himself to delve into the world of the internet. At the moment, it felt like a cliff with an abyss below it, and he lacked the nerve to jump. He didn’t want to get lost in it, to drown in it. It was an ocean and he may as well have been a man who could not swim.

The figures on the screen were familiar, though as soon as Anne mentioned Catherine Hoffman’s ability to program, he shifted his gaze from the screen to Anne herself. He admired the way she held herself, confidence oozing from every pore. She made sure she looked good before she came out in public. There was something about the way someone groomed themselves that gave insight into their personality, and the thing they valued most.

Rather than watch the screen, he watched Anne. Until she asked a question that forced him to have to look at the screen again.

”Yes,” he said, peering at the screen. Some of the names he could not immediately put faces to, but he could recognise them nonetheless. He made it his business to know who was who. It was disappointing to see there were so many. ”Then we will leave her until last. Use the evidence that she has to confront the others. Force them to conform, or reveal their shortcomings and release them form their jobs,” he said. ”One they are gone, or have been turned, then she will be easier to weed, yes?” he said. How all this should happen, Alaric did not know. Perhaps those on the list could be talked to; if he did it himself, he’d be able to feel them out, mentally. If they were struggling at home, he would help them. If their motivations were pure greed, then he would cut them loose.

[Anne Weiss]

Anne watched the way his face contorted, the way he seemed to be in pain around tech. From the moment she met him, she got that air about him, that old school feel, as if he was older than he appeared. Granted, she wouldn't hold that against him, hell, Germany was much the same way. The elders in the motherland were pretty strict about using only German, and of course sticking to as little technology as possible. The city dwellers preferred tech and English and a simpler form of German. So it's not out of place in her mind that he may come from those counties.

Anne turned her attention back on the computer, though it was about that time that she became all to aware of his gaze on her. Sure, they were still getting a feel for each other, she proved she was smart, he knew it or he wouldn't have hired her. So if he wasn't curious about her, he wouldn't be at all the smart male he appeared to be. She sat up a little more and her attention turned back to him as he began to talk. And as he did, he proved that he was indeed a smart guy.

Anne nodded, "That's the basic idea of it." She started and then shifted a little, turning towards him a bit, seemingly unaware of the way her knee now brushed against his. "We will have to be careful to go after the right kink in her armor first. Each of these people, some may have started as blackmail, and been converted. Or there is a good chance they fear her retribution more than yours. So first, we study our marks, eventually one will show themselves as the weakest link." She began to mess around with the screen on her tablet and pulled up another screen, this one looked more like a stock ticker, but it wasn't. It was an account, the one she had control of now, or at least, she could with the right stroke of a key.

"This is something that I currently am having watched very closely. She doesn't know it, or at least she doesn't know yet, that my own hacker has control of the money right now. However, if we shut down the flow, she can, she will cut bait and take a good portion of your business with her. So again I state, we need to be care..."

As she spoke she noticed the gnat had returned and was watching them. If course she paid no mind to that, it was her phone vibrating that was the real culprit of her zoning out. She lifted the phone for a moment and then shifted so that it seemed as though she was snuggling against Alaric for warmth. Instead she held her phone low so that only they could see the screen then she pretended to write a response back. The screen was shifted so he could read the words she had written, to add another touch of protection, she wrote in German but the meaning was still the same.

'The gnat has returned, it seems he's been following you. He may have started just trying to get to me, but now that he knows you know me, I feel he will be watching us closely. My hacker is watching all data coming in and out of this hotel, he stopped this message from going though: "Eyes on VDM, He is meeting with some hot blonde tonight, will get in her bed then find out why they were meeting."'

As soon as she was sure that he had read the response, she deleted it and sent one thing to her hacker. Two small words. 'Do it'. Alaric wouldn't know it, but she had just ordered a hit - persay - on the gnat's phone. The gnat wouldn't know it either, not until he went to check his phone, which so far as Anne could tell, he wouldn't for a while.

[Alaric von der Marck]

”That is not the way to lead, Ms Weiss,” Alaric responded, though there was a voice deep down that insisted that this employees had yet to know what his retribution looked and felt like. With the flurry of telepathic powers at his disposal, Alaric could, one by one, send all the dissenters insane. But to do so without understanding their positions first – and what they offered or took from his company – would be folly. Rather, he fell back on the wisdom the years had offered him.

”One’s employees, in this case, ought not to fear their leader – their employer. It would not garner a healthy working environment. Trust and loyalty lead to better results than fear, though I admit that the former take time and patience to procure,” he said. It was easy to make someone afraid. It was harder to gain their unshakeable loyalty. Generosity and kindness coupled with confidence and a firm hand – a smattering of fear, of course, from any who thought to do the wrong thing – that was how any group should be led, employees or otherwise.

He’d spoken while Ms Weiss was busy with her phone, his brow arched as she turned the device to face him. He read what was written on the screen, at first confused about the terminology but eventually understanding the gist. The man from the bar wasn’t just a male whose libido needed satisfaction, but instead was a spy. A cocky spy, he presumed he would be able to crawl into any woman’s bed. Alaric thought that his movements were discrete, but whoever the man was working for may have no idea what Alaric was doing, or why. There were those on the board who would see him gone, and these were the levels to which they would stoop.

Without turning to look, Alaric focused on the face that he could remember. He didn’t need a name, he just needed a target. For a full ten seconds he closed his eyes; the gnat, as he had been dubbed, would be hit with a barrage of images, the likes of which Alaric would not share with Ms Weiss, if she were ever to ask. It was improper, lewd, awful images of violence and decay and gross sexual misconduct. It would be enough to turn any sex-addict into a blubbering mess. This, coupled with a sense of overwhelming disorientation – as he’d always been capable of, ever since he’d been turned those many centuries ago. Though Alaric could not see, he heard the gnat fall from his stool. Alaric opened his eyes, frowning.

”It is alarming, the presumption. That he would be welcome in your bed, so soon. And that he might learn your secrets,” he wondered out loud. Unless the man was some kind of supernatural creature – vampire or sorcerer – and had some tricks up his sleeve. But Alaric had sensed nothing of the sort.

[Anne Weiss]

In a perfect world, Anne would agree with him that it was better to lead with loyalty and trust, but when there was a world like the corporate one, one filled with so much greed and hate and fueled by nothing but that. It was not smart to lead with trust. You could ask for loyalty, you could offer it yourself, but that could leave you open. Open to people like Catherine, people like the gnat. People like her hacker, who had once been as black a hat as you could find. Now that hacker had fifty shades of grey. Though now might be questionable depending who you asked.

A small commotion caught her attention and she shifted away from Alaric, not only because she was sure he did not really care for her to be invading his personal space, but also because she was curious. She noticed the gnat now laying on the floor, shaking his head as if he were trying to clear cobwebs from his mind. "What's happening with him?" It was more her thinking out loud than anything, still she looked at him, she doubted he knew anything so she didn't expect him to answer.

It was because of that expectation that she then continued on her thought about his saying that a business can't be run in fear. "Going back to what you were saying, it's true, and in a perfect world leading with trust, both in the employee and the employer, would make things easier and less stress free. I myself try to lead that way. That said, in a corporate world, trust is not something to give freely. The more people you trust, the more people there are to use to get at you."

Was that a cynical way of looking at things? Yes. She knew it was. However, her whole business was fixing businesses that had offered trust to the wrong person. In Alaric's case, he had given his trust to three people who had ulterior motives. All three were greedy, only one though was an actual danger to his company. The others, granted were greedy snakes in the grass, but one was clearly a moron, and a puppet for Catherine, the other had the political agenda and could be dealt with in a timely manner. After all, politics, that was just asking to be ***** slapped by every major news media.

Bringing his political train to a grinding halt would also mean he'd have to backtrack so far, he might as well up and quit. Or come graveling to Alaric. The others, that would be the kink in the armor. Problem is, Catherine was clever, and if she was having Alaric followed, that also meant that she wasn't just book smart, but street smart too. Anne just hopped that Catherine's hubris would be her downfall and Alaric's gain.

"Ultimately, this is your business, your people. You will deal with them how you see fit with the information I can and will continue to give you. I will also play backup to any and all of your calls, and of course clean up any messes, that is my job. I fix things." Anne glanced over at the gnat for a moment before she glanced back at Alaric. "I can even fix him." She shifted so that she could watch Alaric and the gnat at the same time. Granted, that could mean letting the gnat into her bed so that she could play him.

At the same time, she remembered what he said about the gnat assuming he could get into her bed. "Now a days, men like him often believe they are god's gift to women. It is sickening, at the same time, it is their Achilles heel. You play to their ego's, you let them think they win, and when they believe they have, you pull the rug from under them and they topple, much the way he has. That was actually pretty weird, but one never knows what men like that carry that can't be seen."

[Alaric von der Marck]

When asked what was happening to their gnat, Alaric shrugged and shook his head, as if he had no idea. He still had not looked; he showed zero curiosity. He preferred instead to focus on the conversation at hand, to which he shook his head a second time in negation. He had been misunderstood, but this was something that he was accustomed to. It was not only a language barrier, in this time and age, but modern sensibilities and philosophies were so far removed from his own. He’d even go so far as to suggest that modernity had no sensitivity. If he stopped to truly look, he’d see differently, but it might take him years, yet, to truly understand how far the world had come.

”I did not mean that I give my trust,” he said. No, he’d given that freely once before to those who should not have betrayed it, but they had. Now, his trust was given only in part, and warily. Even recent events at home had not shocked Alaric as much as they should have. Even those who showed the greatest amount of loyalty could betray it. It was a fact of life. People were fickle.

”I only meant that I would do all that was in my ability to have them trust me. I am not naïve, Ms Weiss. I know that loyalty is not steadfast, that it can be broken. One broken loyalty does not immediately undermine every other loyalty, however. One must watch and listen, take note. It will take time,” he said, and when he smiled it was a gesture that reached the unerring green of his eyes. If eyes were the doors to the soul, Alaric’s undoubtedly housed an old one.

”It is not something that he carries. One never knows what other men—if they be men at all—are capable of,” he said, that smile subtly shifting into something a little more mischievous. Perhaps it would allow Anne to realise that Alaric had tricks up his sleeve. The honesty they had promised each other was a slow draw from Alaric. Eventually, Anne would understand. ”But you are a formidable woman. You have made it clear that you will take care of yourself. Though I ask you do not approach that man. I will deal with him,” Alaric said. He had more tricks up his sleeve; the addled mind of the gnat would crack open under Alaric’s touch. What information they needed could be dug from his memories.