Coal Mine Street Police House

[Nicholas Wright]

The tiny police house, for it was a house, not being large enough or important enough to earn the much sought after title of 'station', sat in the derelict street with the only sign of life being one small flicker of light.

It would be nice to say that this was the diligent, hard working, brave Captain Nicholas Wright, working on a case late into the night. Perhaps, in another universe, it would have been. Perhaps, in another universe, Captain Wright would have been the greatest policeman of all time. He'd of solved every case. He'd of beaten every criminal. He'd of won the respect of the entire city.

He certainly wouldn't be plumetting, and indeed, it was plumetting, for his feet were somewhere above his head, out of a bar four blocks away.

And he certainly wouldn't have slammed into the concrete, rolled onto his back, and let out a gurgled cry of;
"Your Mum hash had too much to shlink!" to the barman who had just tossed him out. And he most definitely wouldn't have thought it was a witty comeback.

Unfortunately, the real world's Captain Wright was currently doing just that. He lay on his back for a moment, trying to think of something to think about, gave up, and scrambled to his feet.

He stumbled down the road, trying to sing a song, only, he couldn't remember what it was called, or what the lyrics were, or how the tune went... So he was mostly just mumbling. He heard a crash, and managed to turn around without tripping over his own feet. This was, given the circumstances, actually an achievment.

He spotted two figures breaking into a shop window, and something deep inside him said that this was the exact type of thing he was meant to deal with.
"Hey...you! Yeah! I'm talking to you!" He slurred, stumbling towards them. The two figures turned, baring fangs. Vampires.
"Aw, look." One laughed. "It's Captain Wright."
"You sure?" The second asked. "He seems more sober than usual."
"Oh, ha ha." Wright tried to show he was still on top of his game, and totally failed, by using the totally failed comeback of 'oh, ha ha', which only people who didn't have a comeback ever used. "Look, thish...thish...worksh....in a very...shpecishific.....way. If you....all....run....now...I chashe for a bit...You get away. Right?"

The vampires looked at each other.
"Urm, why?" The first one asked. Wright considered this.
"'cause...I....am....a...policeman!" He managed it with some pride. Which is to say, he managed to avoid throwing up, at least. One of the vampires grabbed him by his collar.
"Yeah, well, I eat policemen for lunch!" Sadly, in Edgehaven (and there was no way Wright would call it 'The Town of the Dead') that wasn't a metaphor.

Normally, a sober man would have realised two vampires against one human was not fighting odds, and that you talk your way out of it, or run like hell. Wright was not sober. He headbutted the vampire. Hard.

Both of them went down, Wright harder than his opponent. The second vampire pounced upon him, and went for the neck. Wright used the tried and true tactic of grabbing whatever weapon was nearby. Luckily for him, that was his truncheon, and he hit the vampire with a good solid crack.

And then some sober part of his brain told him what he was doing. It told him, quite preciesly, how what he was doing was a Very Bad Idea. He scrambled to his feet, and he ran like hell.

He dived and ducked behind various alleys, at least knowing his way back to the police house better than any vampire, dived over a chain link fence, and plumetted into a dumpster. The top of the dumpster slammed down behind him, leaving him the dark. But, hey, this rubbish was kinda soft, and he was kinda tired, and...

He woke up with a start, and slammed his head into the closed shutter. His head already felt like it was on fire. Now, he was practically unconcious again. He managed to stumble out of the dumpster, discovering it was morning. (And you could tell, on the outskirts, since you could see the areas of sunlight off in the distance). Or maybe late afternoon. He didn't know.

He finally made it back to the police house, stumbled in, and collapsed at his desk, still covered in rubbish. He noticed two figures watching him. Sergeant Colin Nolan, an older man who had been born to be a Sergeant, and had since evolved for a desk job (he was large, old and seemed to be glued behind the desk; hey, it was better than out on the street) and Corporal Tim Sampson, who was actually responsible for 80% of the crimes the EHPD actually managed to stop (usually being theft from the cookie jar; they weren't good at stopping crimes).

"I don't want to talk about it." Wright managed to say, each word like nails on a chalk board, ringing through his hungover brain. The others didn't ask. They knew better. "What we got today?" He questioned, after a long pause.

Nolan and Sampson exchanged a look. What did they ever have?
"Urm...same as always Cap'n." Nolan finally said.

Wright smiled, and pulled out a bottle from under his desk.
"Brilliant." He grinned, and started to drink...

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri wandered up and down Coal Mine road for a few minutes, trying to decide.

This isn't the police station, is it? She thought to herself. There must be a mistake...But it's the only building with a light on...

After a few more minutes, she decided to try her luck anyway. She walked up to the door and knocked it sharply, sending echos down the empty street.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright exchanged a shocked glance with Nolan and Sampson. They all froze. Someone was knocking. Were they supposed to do that? Through the murk of Wright's hangover, pounding migraine from banging his head, and the beginning affects of alcohol, he was able to be aware that people usually, in normal cities, visited police stations...but this was Edgehaven. Nobody ever visited.

He finished off his bottle, as if for courage, slammed it on the desk, and then called out, curiously, and more than a little nervously;

"Urm....come in?"

It was no good, he decided. If he was gonna get through this, he needed another drink. And hey, just where he needed it, in his desk, another bottle...

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri pushed the door open and entered. She looked around, unimpressed, before her eyes fell on the three shabby-looking men in police uniforms who were looking at her with a mix of horror and curiosity.

Oh. She thought with disappointed. This is the police station.

She cleared her throat.

"Eleri Mortymer." She announced. "Am I right in assuming this is the headquarters of the Edgehaven police department?"

Which doesn't look up to much. She added silently.

She tried to fight the urge to start cleaning the place as she waited for a response.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright raised an eyebrow. A woman. That was unexpected. The last woman who talked to Wright, without saying 'sir, you're making a scene', at least, had been.... had been...

The city. Yeah. That's right. Because the city is a woman. Because its...its....oh damn. He had it all figured out the other day. Now, it'd left him. Oh well. It was probably a sign he wasn't drinking enough...

He looked around the station, as if to double check that it was indeed a police station. It was hard to tell sometimes.

"Broadly speaking..." He replied, a little embaressed. It was one thing to admit to yourself the department you ran was falling apart and a total shambles, but it was another thing to tell it to a woman who was both moderately attractive and had managed to sound very very angry with you merely through one inquisitive sentence.

"I mean, yes, yes." He tried to say yes with a little more authority. It didn't work. "Captain Nicholas Wright. EHPD." He said, as if having to say it to himself just to believe it. "Can we...help.....you?" He asked the question as if it was foreign to him. He was sure this was what police officers were supposed to do, but it had been so damn long since he'd done it he really didn't know...

[Eleri Mortymer]

"Well..." started Eleri, eyeing the captain dubiously and noting the empty bottle on the desk.

Then she swallowed her pride and straightened her back.

"I want to join the force." She said bluntly.

Something in her thought she'd have been better off staying in bed, but the large majority had already decided that this place needed, if nothing else, a damn good clean and a kick up the arse.

[Nicholas Wright]

"You want to join the what?" Wright repeated. He had no idea what the 'force' was, but he was pretty sure he didn't have anything to do with it...

That was until Nolan, who was at least a bit more sober than Wright, made his way over, and whispered something in the Captain's ear.

"Oh. Right. I see." He paused. "Wait. What!?" He blinked, and thought. "But- We- Nobody wants to join the force!!!" He finally said. "Nobody's joined since... since..."
"Baker, sir." Nolan said helpfully. "He was eaten by-"
"Yes. I remember." Wright sighed, grimly.

He looked back to the girl, and then to Nolan, and then to Sampson, who had apparently nodded off.
"Wait. Sorry. I think I tuned out there. Must have been imagining things or something." He shook his head, and tried to come to his senses. Maybe he really had drunk too much last night. "I thought you said you wanted to join us! Crazy, I know!"

[Eleri Mortymer]

"That's right, sir." Said Eleri calmly, although she was starting to regret her desicion. Still, she'd made it and she was going to stick by it.

The comment about Baker unnerved her slightly, but then Baker probably wasn't half Vampire...

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright paused. His brain cells made a valiant attempt to regroup, and reconsider this. Someone wanted to join his force. The force with three people in it. The force that hadn't been able to do any actual policing in years.

He decided he needed another drink, and took it. The world looked clearer through the bottom of a bottle, or so he always said.

"Right." He decided. He was the captain and it was his job to take action! Or at least, actually come face to face with this bizarre request. "Fine. Why not? It's not like it can do any more harm..." He muttered miserably. "Besides, you'd probably just run off to the Circle if not us, and I'm not giving those guys anyone!"

He regretted saying that afterwards. Mentioning the Circle in front of a recruit who was actually considering joining his department was like running a tiny convinience store, and then mentioning in passing the much cheaper, much bigger, much better supermarket just over the road. But if Wright thought about what he said, he thought to himself, he wouldn't be in the position he was in. He could have Been Someone (a phrase deserving of capital letters). Oh well. Too late for that now. Another drink would cure this problem...

...Except, even he knew he should probably finish what he had started first.
"Okay, well, Sergeant Nolan there will collect your uniform, and Corporal Sampson will..." He looked to Sampson. "Urm, not do a lot right now." He muttered, seeing him asleep. "Do we even have any female uniforms?" He asked Nolan.
"We have Lance Corporal Barry's still. He was kinda skinny and not that tall. Might fit." Nolan answered automatically, knowing the workings of the station a lot better than Wright.
"Did we get the blood out?" Wright asked.
"Most of it." Nolan responded. Wright nodded.
"That'll do for now." He agreed.
"We could order some." Sampson suddenly spoke up. Wright looked to him in shock.
"We can do that?" Wright asked in suprise. Sampson shrugged.
"In theory." And went back to sleep.

Wright sighed. This was too complicated. This was already too complicated. He missed the old days. Only, the old days were five minutes ago and still depressing as hell.

"What about the oath sir?" Nolan asked. Wright blinked.
"We have an oath?" He asked.
"Yeah. Remember?" Nolan prompted. Wright strained.
"Do I?" He asked, confused. He thought back. Wait! The oath! When being a copper had meant something! You took an oath to show your loyalty! Of course, you'd only ever do it in this town. Same reason the ranks were different here. It wasn't like any other city in the country. This was a warzone. You had to act accordingly. You had to be loyal or you had to be gone.

"Right. Yeah. The oath!" Wright dived into his drawer, clattered past a huge amount of bottles searching, and finally pulled out an old battered folder. He blew dust off of it. A lot of dust.

"Okay, urm, repeat after me? Do we have to do that?" He asked, not really wanting to go through with it. "I, [recruit's name], do solemnly swear by [recruit's deity of choice] to uphold the Laws and Ordinances of the city of Edgehaven..." Wright read mechanically, apparently not noticing he wasn't filling in the blanks." ...serve the public trust, and defend the subjects of His/Her [delete whichever is inappropriate] Majesty [name of reigning monarch] without fear, favor, or thought of personal safety; to pursue evil-doers and protect the innocent, laying down my life if necessary in the cause of said duty, so help me [aforesaid deity]. God Save the King/Queen [delete which is inappropriate]."

Wright blinked.

Wow, being a copper had really meant something once.

[Eleri Mortymer]

"The Circle?" Eleri repeated. Now... why would she want to join the Circle. She was a trained police officer, not a trained assasssin or pyrotechnicist or bodyguard or whatever it was they were. "I don't think so, sir."

She tried not to show the revulsion she felt at being offered someone elses uniform, especially one with blood on it. Still, it was better than nothing....

Eleri raised her eyebrow. This was not what she expected from the police, and certainly not from the Captain.

"I, Eleri Mortymer, do solemnly swear by... whatever deity may be listening" she began, confidently. She could at least stop this being a complete shambles... "to uphold the Laws and Ordinances of the city of Edgehaven, to serve the public trust and defend the subjects of..."

She faltered. "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth" she hazarded, unsure of whether the residents of Edgehaven counted as such, "without fear favour, or thought of personal saftey; to pursue evil-doers and protect the innocent, laying down my life if necessary in the cause of said duty, so help me...uhm... gods. Gods save the Queen."

She paused for a second. She was aware there may have been some kind of oath, but she hadn't quite been expecting such a long and... meaningful one.

After a moment, she spoke up again.

"About the uniform, Sir... is there one.. without blood? I wouldn't mind so much, but it makes me a little.... funny after a while sir." She said delicately.

[Nicholas Wright]

It wasn't until it was read back that Wright realised the oath might be, just maybe, a little bit out of date. He'd have to investigate who's responsibility it was to update it, but he had a nasty gut feeling that it was his.

She wanted a clean uniform? They were a police station, not a laundrette! Plus, despite being both drunk and hung over at the same time, Wright wasn't an idiot. He knew what that reaction to blood meant in a place like this.

"Nolan, find a clean uniform,would you?" He sighed. Nolan nodded, and left. "Sampson, go and....what is it you do anyway?" Sampson shrugged silently. "Just...go and do it." He left too.

Wright turned back to face Eleri, silently reached into his draw, and pulled out a lump of wood.

He put it down on the desk forcibly. It was a stake. He watched her facial reaction with interest, but didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He was making A Point (again, deserving of capitals).

Of course, it would have helped if he'd known she wasn't actually a full vampire, but given the state he was in, what he had worked out so far was pretty impressive...

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri raised her eyebrow again at the sight of the stake.

"It's a stake, sir." She said bluntly. A very nice stake. I like the traditional touch." Her lips curved up in what might have been a small smile.

"But you can put that away. I'm a dhampire. I don't... i'm not..." She paused, wondering how to phrase it. "I'm not in the habit of drinking blood." She told him.

"And besides, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to... kill what I'm guessing is the first person to take the oath in... quite a few years."

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright sighed. Great. A dhampire. That made life even harder. You knew where you stood with vampires. It was usually running very fast in the opposite direction. But a dhampire? That made things a little more complicated.

"I'm not in the habit of staking things. Shall we see who starts first?" She was part vampire, and Wright really, really hated vampires. He stared at her for a moment, trying his best to maintain an intimidating, threatening look.

Still, she assumed that he could, had he wanted to, kill her. And he liked that. It was better than the usual vampire reaction, which usually involved a threat to ram the stake where...

...well, it wasn't worth thinking about. She was better than that, at least. And she could actually kick his ass, or so he imagined. He'd have to give in.

"Okay." Wright sighed in defeat. "You win." He admitted, putting the stake away. "By the way, it's only old and traditional because its the only one we've got." He muttered, before again, regretting saying that. He could at least pretend to be organised.

Okay. A dhampire in his Force. He could handle that. It was better than nothing at least. And her abilities might come in useful.

"Welcome to the Force." He managed, without much enthusiasm. But then again, it was hard to imagine Wright ever having enthusiasm. "Nolan should have your gear by now. Grab it and get ready. Guess I might as well show you what we do around here..."

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri watched him coolly. Then a thought flashed through her mind and she concentrated.

"I assure you, sir, I'm not in the habit of "kicking the asses" of my superiour officers."
She listened, and then replied. "Thank you sir."

She nodded and walked away to find Nolan. He had managed to find her a bloodless uniform, although it was hardly what she would call clean. She sighed and changed into it after Nolan left, folded her clothes and left them sitting on a stool.

Then she emerged, adjusting her shirt. The trousers were alright, a little baggy, perhaps a little long, but nothing a belt wouldn't fix. The shirt however, was more than a little large and obviously made to fit a man. She rolled up the sleeves to keep them out of her way and did her best to stuff the tails into her waistband.

"Mortymer, reporting for duty." She said as she walked back into Wright's office.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright groaned, and put his head in his hands. Just what he needed. A mind reader. There were things that went on in his head that he didn't know about, let alone other people!

"Right." He stood up, and made a pathetic attempt at straightening out his uniform. It was a waste of time. Wright wouldn't know an iron if one landed on his head. "Rule number one! No mind reading!" He insisted. He didn't really leave it up to debate, but was already thinking about how much he didn't want her to be reading what he was thinking, so figured that'd do the job if she did try.

"Come with me. We're going out on patrol." He walked out of the door, assuming she'd follow. He grabbed a bottle on his way and continued to drink it. For some reason, she gave him the uneasy impression that he shouldn't be doing that, but he was the captain, dammit, and he could do what he wanted!

"Right." He began to explain. "We usually just patrol the streets around here. They're pretty quiet so we never really have to do anything. The odd robbery, but they usually get away, so that's easy to deal with..."