▽ ᴘᴀʀʟɪᴀᴍᴇɴᴛ ɪs ᴏɴ ғɪʀᴇ

[Remington Rothfelder]

There was the sound of gunfire. He probably should have reacted immediately to the pain, but it was a lot like what had happened during his mud run. He had been aware of the physical burden of the bullet as it passed over his ear and blasted bits of it away. He was aware of the way that it excited his nerve endings, how his brain sent signals almost instantaneously to the rest of him that he was meant to do something about. Ouch. Don’t ******* let that happen again. Part of your ear is missing, you asshat. Messages of that nature, that he essentially ignored for the moment. Velveteen wasn’t an enemy, so there was no need to take action. Instead, he simply smiled to her. “Noted.” He replied in a low tone.

And then his gaze shifted to Micah. The man seemed less than pleased, and Remington knew almost immediately why. He offered the man something of an apologetic expression, but the cat was already out of the bag, so to speak. Not that Micah knew that. Remi had accidentally revealed his nature to the woman when he thought she was Velveteen. He couldn’t take that back, so he had been considering what to do about it since it had been revealed she was human. There was some very dark part of him that wanted to take the easy route and just end her. Corpses told no tales. But he was curious as well, not only in the visual similarities between her and Vel, but some of the subconscious traits they also shared.

He was intrigued.

Perhaps one of them could feed from her, and she would forget. He wasn’t quite sure how that worked exactly, but whenever he drank blood from someone, right after he sealed their wound, they were in this…state of confusion. It was like they completely forgot everything that had happened up until that point.

It was an imperfect plan, but it was the one he had rolling around in his head.

Then she said something. A date and location. Remington didn’t understand the exact significance of it, though he did know Bambi was from Australia. Maybe the date held some kind of importance to her as well. If so, it was a step closer to revealing exactly who the other dark haired, silver eyed woman was. It was in Velveteen’s hands though. He would take care to clean up his own ‘mess’ as it applied to the Masquerade, but it was up to his sire to find out whatever it was she wanted from the other woman before that point.

“I won’t let a witness to our nature meet the public.” It was a promise, spoken in a low tone. Enough of a whisper that only Micah and Vel would have been able to hear it. But that was why he stood at the door. As far as he was concerned, Satine was his responsibility.

[Velveteen]

For the briefest of moments Velveteen faltered and her finger eased off the trigger that rested against the other woman’s forehead. Surprise. This woman had caught her off guard. Something she didn’t appreciate. So few knew the actual date of her birth and even fewer knew where she was born beyond her being australian. While the answer seemed plainly obvious, Velveteen was not one to take such things at face value, especially not in Harper Rock. Bad things usually happened to people that did. Instead the the end of the gun was pressed more firmly against its target. The briefest of moments had passed.

Her silver gaze narrowed as she watched eyes like her own turn inward to look at the gun. If she was a paladin then she was playing the part well. Or maybe she was one of those sorcerers. Obscure beings that Velveteen knew little about. She had no idea what they were capable of. Perhaps they could use a sort of glamour or changeling powers like vampires could. Things changed so damned fast in this place that it was hard to keep up. Which was exactly the reason that she never let herself get comfortable or complacent. It seemed possible but how did that explain this woman who shared her face, albeit with a little more colour than herself, knowing those details.

They would do their homework of course. In this day and age information was so easily accessible and anyone with half a brain and a computer could find just about anything. No. The obvious here was too obvious. Given how little she knew of her birth and beginnings, anything was possible, but that was too easy. And for anyone who knew her history it would be a very easy story to believe. Not for Velveteen. Paranoia was something she had developed in abundance since she first turned up in Harper Rock and with good reason. Nothing was ever as it seemed and if it was, you could bet your *** it would end up costing you down the road somewhere.

It was all a game. A sick, twisted game. Some ruse by the enemy, of which there seemed to many of late. The silence was becoming thick with tension. They could stand around here all night doing this. Her features betrayed no emotion and her chin jutted upward ever so slightly. “What of it?” She asked as if the information meant nothing to her despite the million questions and scenarios that ran rampant in her head right now. Velveteen was not one to give anyone the upper hand and very few ever saw an emotional reaction or panic in her sterling orbs. She couldn’t help but wonder what her husband was thinking right now. He knew what that date and place meant.

The raven haired woman wanted nothing more to glance over her shoulder but she refused to take her eyes off of the woman who was almost her mirror image and risk her slipping away, no matter how impossible that may seem. “And you better make it good. This is your last chance to convince me that decorating this wall with your grey matter is not a good idea.” One silver gaze met the other and for a split second Velveteen’s resolve seemed to melt. She’d always wanted a sister or brother. Someone living to play with. Share teenage secrets with and such. Despite having the spirits as her constants companions and all the benefits they allowed her, not having someone in the physical world was painfully lonely.

The moment passed as quickly as it had come. This was hardly the time for exploring past possibilities and then she remembered the rabbit. The one she had had since birth that was probably playing with dust bunnies under the bed right about now. Something that never would have happened once upon a time. It was her most treasured possession but other things had since taken precedence. There was something inside it. She had discovered it one night before becoming distracted and had promptly forgotten about the discovery. Perhaps it may be something that she should investigate further… and soon. Her thoughts were cut short as she again returned to the matter at hand. “Who the **** are you?” She asked the other pointedly. There would be answers or there would be bloodshed. Either way, Velveteen was going to get what she wanted.

[Satine]

Satine straightened her unique hued orbs to line up and press their steely gaze back into what appeared to be an uncanny reflection of herself. There had been so many she did this. The lost little soul locked in the refuge of the dingy bathroom wasted away the night hours carrying on conversations with the one who talked back when her lips stilled thei young girls inquiry.

"She is at it again." The loud growl of a man who lost his heart long before he lost his mind echoed on the other side of the bathroom door. "She doesn't sleep, she talks to herself and doesn't take her meds. She needs to be signed up for the next circus that comes to town." He grunted and pounded a fist at the door that resembled Swiss cheese thanks to his drunken tirades. Heavy inebriated footsteps faded back down the hall with the typical insensitive statement that only fed Satine's belief something was missing from her. Chester had no idea the weight and cruelty of his words on that night and so many others would see him lose his head in consequence. "You think you would have at least flipped a coin before taking first pick of your litter. Your luck fucked you over. Here I am stuck with crazy bitches because yours rubbed off on me."

"There is a pink small square of paper in my tote." Satine spoke calmly as one could with the barrel of a gun pressed tightly to her forehead. "Have one of your men find it for you and take a look at the reference numbers on it. Look up the site listed below and enter in the log in and the password beneath it. On that date there was a set of identical twins born. One was chosen to stay with the mother while the other was given up for adoption. I am looking for the one who got the better end of that deal."

Satine pulled her eyes from the woman that still held her back against the wall and under her gun. Her name was Velveteen. Or if it wasn't and it was a nickname it was an interesting choice since it rhymed with her own. Was she going to tell them her name? No. She had enough trouble as it was with the trio staring back at her like she was fresh roadkill and the predatory eyes staring back at her. Each set was cold and disturbing in their appearance. Something was seriously off with all three. So much she had witnessed couldn't be explained no matter how much she tried. It wasn't on her to do so anyways. Her presence certainly had them acting suspicious as if she was a threat.

"Not quite sure what I walked into but might I suggest you do your research and play it smart. You have no idea what or who I am but it seems I already have seen far more than you three ever planned. Waste me and you will never know...will you?"

Satine braved a slow smirk to her busted lips. She was used to figuring out ways to save her neck. That much she could thank mom and Chester for.

[Micah]

The human had a death wish. Really, she did. She also had nerve, standing there trying to tell them what they should and should not do. However Micah had to admit that she had his attention. They all needed answers and she was the one that had them it seemed. As it stood she was more useful to them alive than dead and for that reason he carefully pushed his wife’s hand down forcing the barrel of the gun away from the human’s head. If they didn’t like what they heard, or decided that what she had to say was of no use to any of them then Micah would be the first to end her life.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be telling us to play it smart.” Micah fixed the human with a glare and moved back to stand at his wife’s side. “The only thing that you currently have going for you is the information you claim to have. Should I find that this information is valuable then of course, I might find a use for you.” If not well, that was a bridge they could cross later. And she didn’t need to know what would happen to her if he found her information lacking.

Just the idea of his wife having a sister was hard to wrap his mind around. She hadn’t had it easy as a child and she had to of wondered about her birth parents. Why had they given her up, what the circumstances were. If it were him, he knew that he would want to know those kinds of things. But he wasn’t Vel. Maybe, when she had offered to tell him about her childhood he should have asked more questions, got her thinking a bit harder on the small things that maybe would have piqued her curiosity enough that she would have started looking into her adoption. Now he glanced at this woman and thought that maybe it wasn’t necessary anymore. Maybe she had all the answers but there was really only one way for them to find out.

Micah didn’t spare a glance for Remington or Vel as he grabbed the woman’s tote. The pink square of paper was easily located and with that in hand he moved to the laptop sitting idle on the table he used for various assorted tasks involving the shop. Pulling up the browser he entered the site information and waited somewhat impatiently for it to load. Once it did, the login information was typed in and to his surprised a page opened up, but the information was limited. A set of identical twins born on July 7, 1979 in Adelaide, Australia with the unusual eye color of silver.

Satine and Velveteen. Two names were the only thing he managed to focus on. That and that the mother was really young. Just a kid herself really, definitely far too young to be given the responsibility of raising twins. Could that be why? “Vel.” He looked up at his wife and turned the laptop so she could see the screen. “She was just a kid.” Micah didn’t look at anything else on the screen. His attention was firmly on his wife, waiting for her to look at what he’d found.

[Remington Rothfelder]

Remington was good at presenting the darkest parts of himself to the world. His anger, his hatred, the vindication his hands could search out and bring to life – those were the feelings he was most comfortable expressing. They were the armor he wore against the true shadows of his soul, shining a light away from the parts of himself he didn’t want people to see. He knew about masks. He knew about presenting a cold visage and a mask of indifference even when everything seethed beneath the surface. Maybe he was just a typical guy like that, not comfortable talking about his emotions. There were days when he wondered if he knew how to love anyone the way that a person was meant to. Or if that was even important in the grand scheme of his life.

He knew Vel well enough, and understood the concept of defense mechanisms with enough expertise to guess that the jut of her chin was loaded with more feeling than it betrayed. And that captured his attention with focus akin to a razor’s edge. His gaze narrowed on Satine right then, with an intensity that could have fueled murder or another endeavour of passion.

Right then. Right in that second as he envisioned the pain Vel might have felt at the lifting and then loss of hope if Satine were not the genuine article…right then he could have destroyed her. He wished for the briefest of moments he had not summoned Vel. That he had just put this other woman in the ground and walked away. And in a way, he dared her not to be legit. If she wasn’t, he would see to it that her death was not as simple or easy as the splatter of brains on a wall. She would suffer and she would cry. She would beg and scream until he vocal chords turned to dust with the virulent waste they were to her aid.

That lone attention was paid to Satine, like light through a magnifying glass. Baking her alive.

And then she spoke.

A pink square in a tote? There was information on it that would prove her case for her, and Remington hoped that it was real, and not some hoax. For what it was worth, he liked her spunk. There were not a lot of women that could have looked down the proverbial (and in this case literal) barrel of a gun without pissing themselves scared. It would not occur to him until later that she must have gone through some pretty hellish years to be able to pull it off with as much poise as she did. In the moment, he respected her cool head. Even the way she tried to play her cards, one by one. But she didn’t know that the game was poker, and she was in the big leagues, with men and women that had an entire deck’s worth of victory stashed away in their sleeves.

If things had been more fair, he might even have been a fearsome contender. But the odds were not in her favor and had not been from the moment she had stepped into Adrenaline Tattoo.

Remington waited as Micah looked up the information, and then his gaze flicked to the screen. So it seemed it was true. Family. Velveteen had living family. His own feelings on the matter were somewhat muddled, because he didn’t really get along with his relations. He had been disinherited some years before. The child of the wealthy, he had been expected to act a certain way, and he had been a problem child. So he didn’t really connect with the idea of having kin the way that others did. Not even his own children. He had two of them, but he didn’t think of them as his. He had been young when they’d been conceived, and though he had been part of their lives for a while, he hadn’t even begun to know how to be a father back then.

He had walked out of their lives and never looked back, assured in the knowledge that they had a doting mother and a father figure. They had not needed him, and he hadn’t needed them.

He hadn’t needed anyone for a long time. Not until the Andras.

He took a step towards Satine so that Vel could go read the computer screen, waiting for her to pull away from her twin before he stood with folded arms right in front of the dark haired human. His feature were unreadable. “Wipe that smirk off of your face before someone decides to smack it off. There is still a lot that you need to talk about, still a lot of questions that you need to answer for Vel over there. Only when she is satisfied with those answers will we consider what to do with you.” He left it at that.

[Velveteen]

This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t true. If it were, surely Velveteen would have known about it. The spirits would have told her something like that. Wouldn’t they have? And if not….why not? Suddenly she began to wonder if maybe there were other things. Her resolve faltered for a mere moment and she allowed her husband to lower her gun despite her inner protest. None of it was making sense, but in a way it did. This created confusion and doubt for the raven, haired vampire and she didn’t like that. Even with her unusual past and the spirits she still maintained a rather black and white view. If things didn’t fit into one box then they would definitely fit into another. When that didn’t happen she would get confused and one thing Velveteen hated was being confused. Confusion meant loss of control and when you no longer had control of a situation then you were fucked. That is how people died. That is what caused most things to go wrong in a person’s life. That was when chaos reigned supreme and chaos was too unpredictable to be allowed that freedom.

Her head turned as to if to look at the tote in question but her eyes never left the left the other woman’s face. Her glare pinned the others beneath it, searching for any cracks in her demeanour that would indicate a lie, but she found nothing. Nothing but a smart mouth and a defiance that would carry her to the end it seemed. Under other circumstances it might have been something that Vel would take a moment to admire and respect but now was not the time nor the place to push her buttons more than they already had been. If the woman was telling the truth then they had just violated everything they stood for and the vampire could possibly have some of her unanswered questions laid to rest. If she wasn’t then there was something more sinister going on and she wouldn’t be happy until she knew what that was.

Micah’s voice drew her sterling orbs to the illuminated screen and she moved toward it like a woman who was about to step into the unknown. Curiousity, hesitation, uncertainty and disbelief warred within her as she read the words written there several times before they really began to sink in. Remington had moved and she heard him say something to Satine though little mind was given to what those exact words were.

She was fifteen. Fifteen years old. Only a girl herself and for a moment Velveteen felt a pang of empathy for this unknown girl. For the first time in her life she wondered what she was like and what had actually happened.

Some had actually found it odd that she never questioned her origins when she learned that she was adopted but in that, ignorance was not only bliss it was far less uncomplicated. She had everything she needed and, for all intents and purposes, parents who loved her. That was all she needed to know. But now...there were questions. She looked up to find Micah looking back at her and she had no words. If this were true then that would mean that this woman was her...sister. Blue-black strands fell about her face as she shook her head. No. It couldn’t be. It just...couldn’t, but she had to know for sure. She needed time. Time to process. Time to decide what to do next. Time to find out more.

An accusing glance was cast over her shoulder at the woman who was being guarded by Remington’s rather daunting stature and she shook her head again. “Awww ****.” Was all she had to say as she turned on her heel and brought up the hand that still held her gun in a sweeping arc, only for it come crashing down in a blur of motion. The butt of her piece slammed against the woman’s temple with enough force to knock her unconscious but not actually do any major damage. This little party needed to be taken elsewhere and Velveteen needed to think.

[Micah]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Remington Rothfelder> He watched as Satine was struck, and she would have hit the ground a second later if Remington had not been there to catch her slumped form. He plucked the woman up like she weighed as little as a bag full of feathers, slung her over his shoulder in that fashion too. On some level, he knew when Velveteen didn’t aim her gun and pull the trigger, that it meant they were going to end up dragging Satine off somewhere, probably for further questioning. “Where?” he asked, the lone word more than enough to convey his feelings on the matter. It was an interesting predicament to be in though, a human with knowledge of the vampiric community. The whole matter was one that would need to be handled with some delicacy if they were going to see it through to the other side.

Something also told Remi that Vel had no intention of doing away with the human. If she’d wanted to do that, she would have already, after it became clear that the only value she had was of a personal nature. No connection to paladins that they knew of. No connection to hunters. She didn’t represent some sort of political party, like a window into the mind of Bancroft or anything like that. And maybe that was what made Satine so dangerous. She wasn’t just a secret, she was a family affair.

Either way, he looked between Micah and Velveteen, looking for some sort of direction, one hand resting against Satine’s hip to keep her anchored in place.

<Micah>He waited for the sound of gunfire. But it never came. Had it been Micah in Vel’s place he knew what he would have done. Aimed between the eyes and fired. Human dies, threat eliminated, crisis avoided. It was the right thing to do, but even he had to admit that shooting ones body double would be a little weird. Still, he wasn’t expecting his wife to knock her out. He wanted to protest the action but bit his tongue, Knowing Vel as well as he did, Micah figured that she must have something in mind for her. Keeping her alive however wasn’t going to be an option. Hearing Remi speak Micah looked in his direction. “The Eyrie. Top floor.” If they were going to take her somewhere secure he could think of no better place than that, and the top was private. No one went up there without permission.

He wasn’t happy about this. Not at all, and he knew it showed. All he wanted to do was find out why no one was answering the damn phone and now look at where they were. In the middle of a huge ******* mess that could become a huge ******* problem. Moving to the front of the shop he flipped the sign to closed, turned off the lights and set the alarm before returning to where the others waited. “I’ll meet you there.” Pulling out his tome he read the words off silently and disappeared from the shop.


<Velveteen> Displeasure at the situation seemed to ooze from Micah’s pores and become something tangible. She could feel it and for the time being avoided his gaze knowing full well the daggers that awaited her at this point. She knew too well his stance on this and under normal circumstances she would agree...but nothing about this was normal. Well, not Velveteen’s definition normal. The human look a like hung limply over Remi’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes and for all intents and purposes would likely be that way for some time. This bought them a little time but not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

There was going to be questions. Lots of questions. How many knew about her? How long had she been here? Who would miss her if she disappeared? Her brow furrowed a little as she recalled some conversations with Jayden. Was it possible this was the woman he was talking about? Velveteen shook her head. She was getting way too far ahead of herself.

She heard the questions but didn’t answer. The words took longer than normal to process with all that was going on in her head right now so when Micah said the Eyrie all she did was give a vague nod. It was the best place for now. Not only was no one getting in but this woman would not be getting out in a hurry. Silver orbs rose just in time to catch his back as he left the office and she sighed inwardly. This was definitely going to get worse before it got better. A quick nod was given to Remington as well before she disappeared.

<Remington Rothfelder> The Eyrie. That had not been what Remington had been expecting. Maybe locked away in a back room in the Cimmerian so she could be tied to a chair or otherwise confined. That Micah wanted her in the Eyrie spoke volumes to how big of a deal it was to the man, because nobody in their right mind wanted to try and crack that particular egg. In much the way that it was a nigh-impregnable fortress, it was also a sturdy prison for anyone that didn’t know their way out. Taking her there was the equivalent of locking her away in the darkness and throwing away the key, but maybe that was the point.

Hide the sin, and it goes away?

He repeated the words from the tome he’d memorized shortly after joining Tytonidae, and then appeared there with Satine in his arms just a second later. From there, it was just a short trip to the top floor – which Remington had never seen before. It looked like a personal living space, and he assumed it was the one shared by Micah and Vel. He’d personally never had the curiosity to go and explore more of the tree than the main community area, though he understood there were huts, which certain members had access to for personal use. Maybe it was something like that? Whatever the case, he made a quick stride towards the table, and laid Satine down on top of it.

Would have put her on the bed, but the last thing he needed was for her to wake up, and fish a gun or something out from under a pillow or night stand.

“Well I think it’s pretty clear she can’t ever see the proverbial light of day again.” He broke the silence in that way. He wasn’t a wordy man, and generally chose his verbiage very carefully when he did speak.

[Remington Rothfelder]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Micah> it was silent when the tome dropped him on the top floor of the Eyrie. Good. No one else was there yet. It gave him a little bit of time to try and get his thoughts in order. What the **** were they going to do now? And more importantly what the **** was Vel thinking? Micah was having a hard time wrapping his mind around that, and questioning Vel on her motives was just going to have to wait for now.
He sensed he wasn’t alone any longer and turned as Vel’s tome dropped her in the spot that he had occupied a few minutes prior. He studied her for a few seconds, trying to figure out what he was going to say to her without sounding like a complete asshole but everything he could come up with wasn’t all that nice. Best to remain silent for the time being. Thankfully the awkwardness was broken when Remington appeared with the unconscious human in his arms.

At first Micah said nothing in response to Remington’s comment. Instead he looked at the human laying on the table. She was an exact replica of his wife and if Micah didn’t know better he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. The heartbeat gave her away for the time being, and the closer he looked he could spot the slight differences or maybe it was just him. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” There was more he could have said, but left it at that.

<Velveteen> Metal thudded against board sounded as Vel disarmed and dumped her weapons on the crafting bench before digging about in the cupboards beneath.This was not a game and the time for questions would come but first they needed to secure this woman. Whether or not she would see the light of day again was not a decision she had made either way yet, despite Micah’s response, but there was now a lot at stake.

As Velveteen usually managed in such situations, any feelings were pushed aside so that matters could be taken care of. Rope, zip ties, duct tape and a hessian bag were set on the floor beside her as she searched for anything else she might need. Her voice was business when she spoke. “Check her pockets. Purse, phone, anything that could identify her and anything else that she might have stashed there. The contents of that bag, need to be gone through. And I need her in a chair, please.” The orders stated matter of factly to both her husband and her childe.

“I know this is not...how we would normally handle it but I need to know babe. Who she is. If what she says is real and if it’s true? Do you really expect me to kill her?” She stood and turned to turned to face him then. Her sterling gaze silently pleading with her husband for more time. “No one else can see her. And if need be then she can be killed...theoretically of course. I want to keep her here. At least for now.” Her gaze flickered between the two men as if looking for argument or input. She really couldn’t decide which at this point.


<Remington Rothfelder> Micah seemed like there was a lot he wanted to say, that he didn’t was a testament to the trust he had in his wife, and Remington had to commend him for that, albeit silently. Remi had not known Velveteen for a long time in truth, but he had also never known her to be controlled by her emotions nor swayed easily from her convictions. Some would have called that blind faith, but the Shadow saw no point in making an issue out of it unless it had the potential to become a problem. He was still feeling out how things were going to go down. So a nod was offered to Micah at the comment.

Vel immediately launched into action, and Remi suspected she was getting ready to bind her doppelgänger. This suspicion was confirmed when he met the business end of her voice, and because he was closest to Satine, he pulled a chair out from the table so he could once again pluck her up and dump her into the seat, careful to arrange her arms in front of her so hands could lay in a lap, and her head could bob over the back of the seat. The purse was tossed towards Micah a second later. He’d nabbed it with Satine when they moved to leave Adrenaline. He then began to go through her pockets, carefully laying out the contents in a neat line on the table.

It occurred to him that to be fully sure she did not have anything that could be used to break free, they would need to strip her down, but he wasn’t about to be the one to suggest that.

“Nothing too incriminating here, what are we going to do about any concerned relatives or people who may have her phone number? We’re going to need to completely erase her from the pages of humanity one way or the other.”

<Micah> His lip curled in distaste as he caught purse that Remington tossed at him. It seemed like such a huge invasion of privacy to go through someone’s belongings like that but Micah knew that it had to be done. He pulled a few things out - a set of keys hanging from a rabbit foot keychain, hairbrush, one of those girly compact mirror things, tissues - but none of it was helpful. A few crumpled bills and a handful of loose change was all that was left in the bottom of the purse but nothing that would give them any further clues as to who she was or what her agenda might be.

“Yes,” he stated flatly. “She’s a threat. You know as well as I do that she can’t stay here. And we sure as **** can’t keep her alive. She’s seen too much and you know it.” Micah gestured at Remington. “She saw him summon you and not only that she saw his blood. Humans don’t bleed black and their blood sure as **** doesn't disappear into thin air. I know you want answers but what are you going to do once you get them? She can’t stay alive, and I won’t let you keep her alive.” He wasn’t going to budge on that.

He tossed the now empty purse onto the table. “There is nothing in there. No clues to who she is, nothing to identify her. So...throw some water on her *** and wake her the **** up.”

[Velveteen]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Velveteen> Velveteen frowned. Something was off. The only people that she knew of that didn’t carry ID were those who didn’t want to be identified. The only thing she did have that meant anything was piece of paper. That in itself was strange. Her australian accent made it quite obvious she wasn’t from around here so where was her passport? Surely she had one of those...somewhere. The other thing of note that was missing was her phone. Everybody had one of those.

Zip ties held her hands bound together behind her. Her ankles were zip tied to the front legs of the chair and lastly the bag went over her head and was duct taped in place around the neck. Velveteen hesitated a moment before placing the bag and looked down into the other woman’s face. It reminded her of when she was able to see herself in a mirror except she wasn’t looking into a mirror. It was like looking at herself. She had had dreams like this.

“I don’t know yet, Remi. One step at a time. We need to find her phone.” Lines etched across her brow as she considered Micah’s words. “No.” The word stated a little too loud and harshly and she adjusted her voice accordingly to something less defensive. “Not yet. Maybe never. I don’t know but as long as we keep her under wraps she can’t tell anyone and isn’t a threat. As long as no one knows she is here and she doesn’t know where she is we will be ok. For a while.” It was then that she noticed the tell tale corner that poked out under her shirt inconspicuously. Her silver gaze narrowed as she leaned forward and carefully fished out the device she had been looking for. ‘Here it is.” She said more to herself than anyone else present. “Remi. Can you grab the water please? Bathroom is that way.” She motioned distractedly as already she was interested in what secrets the woman’s phone might hold.

<Remington Rothfelder> It seemed that Micah and Vel did not agree on the path leading from where they stood. They were at a bit of a crossroads weren’t they? The choice to kill the girl was the easiest one, but Micah’s words reminded Remington that it was essentially his fault a human was aware of vampiric existence. It was his responsibility to take care of at the end of the day, and some part of him wondered if Velveteen would hate him if he ever did what he thought he had to do, in order to ensure there were no threats to their kind. It wasn’t an option he really cared to look at, and therefor a bridge he intended to cross only if he had no other choice. As it was, he didn’t intend to interrupt their discussion – it wasn’t his place anyway. Not really.

He did however feel the need to interject with a lone thought. “Once we have information out of her, we could always keep her on a cocktail of drugs?” It was a dark answer to a persistent problem. “I mean if we don’t end up killing her flat out. It’ll make keeping her under wraps easier, and if we use street grade drugs, assuming she ever does get out of here alive…somehow, who is going to listen to the ramblings of someone clearly doped out of their mind?” It wasn’t much of a life he offered up, but it was a compromise he hoped would offer some sort of middle ground, because the last thing any of them needed to be doing was fighting.

Whatever the case, they would come up with a solution.

He made his way to the bathroom a moment later, at Bambi’s command to pour a bucket of water, mostly room temperature. He returned just in time for Vel to grab the phone out of the woman’s bra, and in his experience, a cell could reveal as much about a person as a personal ID. He wondered what numbers she might have stored inside. He didn’t take the time to ask though, instead heaving the bucket so that he could splash her, hopefully providing enough a shock to the system to rouse her. He then took a step back, bucket still in hand.

<Micah>”No? What do you mean no?” Truthfully he had really expected her to say that but it didn’t make hearing it any easier. Neither one of them were going to budge on this and Micah could only hope that **** didn’t get ugly. “How can you stand there and say that? Because she had a little piece of paper with a website and password, giving you a sliver of information that could possibly open up a part of your past that you didn’t know about?” He wasn’t stupid. There was a connection between the two females but that still wasn’t going to be enough to get him to change his stance. The best thing to do however was to just drop it, but the look he gave her was enough to tell her that the conversation was far from over.

“Too risky to use drugs. Look at Scott. ****** spent a week in the hospital and now he’s nothing more than a fuckin junky who can’t see straight 99% of the time.” Needing to keep himself busy Micah picked up the human’s purse and began to put everything back inside of it. “Not a bad idea though and I guess that we could maybe keep her sedated for a little while. Nothing long term though.” Long term meant she had a future and Micah just couldn’t see her having one of those.

<Velveteen> Velveteen nodded at Remi’s suggestion and then listened to her husband without responding. It was obvious that they disagreed here but she was hoping that maybe she could speak to him and they could reach a compromise of sorts. This was not going to happen if she continued to argue now. He would dig his heels in and that would be the end of that. They could be a lot alike that way. Too much at times. She nodded, simply to let him know that she had heard and would think on it. Think of something more like.

The phone would prove a valuable source of information she hoped but for now their ‘guest’ was about to be joining them. The device was set down on the table for now where she perched on the edge and crossed her arms over her chest to wait. To wait for the human to wake. For her to freak out perhaps. For her to answer their questions or give Micah any reason to snuff her out like a candle. Which ever way it went right now it was certainly going to be interesting and Velveteen was curious as all hell to know what this woman knew.

[Satine]

The pulsing of dull pressure throbbed at the inside of Satine’s face. It was annoying. She ached beneath the layers of her skin and the small facial muscles that covered her face felt the residual effects of the pistol whipping she never saw coming. The one who delivered it was as small as she was. However there was a huge difference in their strength. She groaned as she was in limbo with the choice of staying in that space where she didn’t have to deal with anything except the pain or allowing that shocking quick and cold splash down.

A sharp hiss of air was quickly followed by Satine trying to gain control of her limbs. This was of course the point she found her ankles and wrists not moving, evidently restrained with tight sharp plastic. Her arms lifted a little as to tug harder. No gain was made at getting loose. She growled at the disorienting bag over her head. What else? How did this come to be? She was the one that had her purse stolen. A gun. Yes. There was a gun and she had been smacked with it by the woman they called Velveteen! If she was hoping to find the woman, now she was finding her inspiration of getting close to the woman a little less likely.


Satine’s head moved with the amount of movement she was permitted thanks to the tie and tape down that she was finding rather confining. She was not used to this and she shouldn’t be. Who does this to someone? What had she got herself into? Those were questions she was in no position to ask but was about to. If someone didn’t start talking soon.

“Who is there?!” She twitched at her shoulders as her fingers splayed or at least tried to given she was fastened down pretty tight. They were talking about drugs? She did not leave Chester resting in pieces like a broken up popsicle back home in the deep freezer to be dealing with a gang of pushers all over again. “I can hear you.” Scott? Who was Scott? They fried a guy already? Sick bastards. She tried to wiggle and stretch her sore jaw. as soon as she did she felt the burn of her lips where they were still busted open. “HELLO?!”

First plan was to do whatever it took to get free from this questionable trio then she was getting herself on the next flight out of the country as far south as possible. She had no care to push her luck any longer. She couldn’t see a damn thing. They went this far. What was going to stop them from doing worse? With the way the last couple hours had been she was not entirely sure she would see sunrise tomorrow if this kept going on.