Coal Mine Street Police House

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri nodded. "Right you are, sir."

She frowned as Wright grabbed the bottle, but followed him and didn't say anything. She had a feeling that he wouldn't take kindly to it, and she didn't want to lose her job just after she got it.

"Aren't you supposed to stop thieves getting away, sir?" She asked casually. Even without reading his mind, she could guess what Wright's answer would be.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright might have suprised her, because he replied;
"Yes." And then he took a good, long drink from the bottle. "Except, there's three of-" He paused. "-four of us, and these are people who will kill you without a second thought, unless that second thought is 'hey, you'd make a good lunch', at which point they eat you too."

Wright was already getting a feeling for the type of person Eleri was going to be. She needed to learn pretty quickly that the job didn't fit your morals. Wright didn't just drink for the hell of it. He drank because it helped you forget what you were supposed to be doing.

"Look, don't go looking down on us." He explained. "You really think I want to let things happen the way they do?" He figured he might as well get this out of the way while he was drunk enough to have the confidence to say it, but not too drunk to forget what he was trying to say. "We don't have a choice! We're officers of the law. We don't kill people, whether they're vampires or werewolves or humans. And we can't lock up people who can bend the bars in half even if we could get them to the jail."

He downed the rest of the bottle, and threw it hard on the pavement, smashing it.

"So we do what we do!" He spat, obviously angry himself more than Eleri. "It's 11.00 am and all is well!" He cried out sarcastically, mocking the old traditions of the city guard. "Ha! 'All is well'! Did anybody ever believe that!?"

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri listened quietly to Wright. She felt sorry for him, in a way. She knew what it was to watch someone, or something, you loved die slowly and know you could do nothing. She imagined that was how Wright felt about the Force.

"I'm not looking down on you, sir." She said quietly. And truthfully. "But the fact of the matter is," she said as she bent down to pick up the shards of glass and dump them in a nearby bin, "that whether you can do anything or not, you're the Captain of the police. You have to try, sir, otherwise things will just get worse."
I seem to be learning that myself. She thought wryly.

"And being the Captain of police," she added more sternly, "you're supposed to set an example. You could start by disposing of your bottles properly."
Or not having them to start with She added mentally.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright for a moment didn't quite know how to respond. Nobody had ever told him what to do with his rubbish before. He decided to settle for his usual bitter sarcasm.

"Hey, maybe one of those vampire b*****s will stand on some glass." He muttered. "That'll show 'em." He added with a mock, sarcastic confidence.

"Besides, I am setting an example." Wright added. "You never said it had to be a good one..." He grumbled.

He looked around the deserted street, and the total mess it was in. His shattered bottle had added little, but at least it was gone now. He sighed.

"What do you want me to do? I try to put things right, and I'll end up as dead as all the others." Wright wasn't a coward, he was usually too drunk for that, but he also knew that to fight very bravely and die very quickly usually didn't make a difference.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri gave him a Look and replied. "I doubt it would show them, sir. The average vampire heals somewhat quicker than a human." She decided to ignore his other comment.

"Well... to be honest sir I don't know what to suggest at the moment." She thought. "You're a Police Captain. Doesn't that mean anything in this place anymore?" She asked.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright watched her, paused, and made up his mind.
"Fine. You know what?" He decided. "I'll show you exactly what it means."

He marched off with fierce determination down another street, knowing that Eleri would follow him. He was heading to the worse part of the outskirts. There was bound to be some crime going on there. Criminals in Edgehaven didn't have to wait until night for the cover of darkness. Crime was a 24/7 enterprise.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the pair found two vampires, happily going through the contents of a shop. Wright had a funny feeling of deja vu. Not that he could remember why. He coughed hard, and they turned to face him.

Their faces suddenly came back to Wright. He had hit one with a truncheon! Uh oh. This might be a little harder than he thought.

"...Well, well. There's a suprise." Said the first. "Hello again." He grinned a fangy grin. Wright sighed. He wished he still had a drink. He was nowhere near drunk enough for what he was about to do...

He reached into his pocket... and pulled out his badge.
"Captain Wright, EHPD." He said firmly. "You're under arrest for two counts of breaking and entering, two counts of theft, and one count of assaulting an officer of the law."

There was a long pause. The vampire's didn't even laugh. This was beyond funny.
"What did you just say?" The second asked, in actual, genuine shock.
"Two counts of breaking an entering, two counts of theft, one count of assaulting an officer of a law." He repeated.
"Better make that last one 'two counts'." The first vampire said as he advanced.

Wright shot Eleri a 'told you' look, and then sighed.
"Now, we run." He told her.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri followed wordlessly. She didn't seem to be off to a good start. She was only five minutes in and she'd already upset her commanding officer.

She looked at the two vampires in confusion and then glared at them. She started to step forward, but stopped as she realised what Wright was about to do.

She stared at him in mild horror. Was he really going to take on both of them, by himself, in that condition? She stood ready, but didn't say anything, simply watching.

Until Wright told her to run.

"Run, sir?" She asked him, bemused. "From... them?" She indicated the vampires. "Why, sir? They're breaking the law. We're police. We're supposed to stop them."

As if to prove her point, she stepped forward, not giving Wright time to stop her. She'd already made up her mind that she wasn't afraid of the vampires. She'd fought off grown men before, and as for being bitten, well.. that hardly mattered, did it?

She placed herself infront of the advancing vampire, who stopped and regarded her with annoyance.

"What do you want?" He asked her. The second vampire advanced to join the first and bared his fangs at her. Eleri gave him an unimpressed look.

"You're both under arrest." She told them. "You don't have to say anything, but anything you do say can be used in evidence against you." She turned to Wright as both the vampires stared at her, dumbstruck.

"Can I borrow your cuffs, sir? I only have one pair."

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright sighed, putting his hand to his face.
"That's not...not how that goes..." He muttered. Fine. She wanted to do this properly. He'd do it properly.

"You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence." He told the second vampire, pulling out his own pair of cuffs. He only noticed now, with a little bit of embaressment, that they were beginning to rust. It had been a while since he'd said that, but it was still pretty satisfying.

This was going to hurt.
"What are you two gonna do with them?" The vampire sniggered. Vampires super human strength could cause problems for simple things like handcuffs. Wright glanced to Eleri to see what her next move was, and instantly regretted it. Looking away from an opponent. He knew what happened when you did that.

Luckily, he also knew when to duck, and dropped to the floor just as the vampire's fist sailed over his head. He quickly bolted back up, and true to the Wright school of fighting, adapted the cuffs in his hand into an improvised weapon, and swung them directly up at the vampire's jaw.

"Great plan." He managed to mutter to Eleri, before the vampire went to hit him again. Wright sighed, and drove his knee up into the vampire's gut, distracting it from the punch. He slapped it silly with the handcuffs, which, while might have looked ridiculous, must have stung a little, constant glancing blows from metal on a chain...

But he knew this wasn't going to last. And he knew it was going to get very painful very soon. At least he'd get to see what Eleri could do. If they lived through it.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri smiled to herself as Wright stepped up. The smile quickly faded as Wright and the vampire started fighting.

The first vampire, sensing her distraction, took a swing at her. Unfortunately, her reactions were a little slow and she took the blow square in the jaw.

"That. Hurt." She said, glaring at the vampire. He sniggered and raised his fist again. This time Eleri was quicker off the mark and she ducked, kicking the vampire in rather a painful area. He doubled over in pain and Eleri took the opportunity to swing at him, sending him sprawling onto the floor.

She almost leapt onto her fallen foe and bent over, turning him onto his front, reaching for her cuffs. The vampire, recovering from her kick, tried to rise and shake her off. She placed her booted foot on the back of his neck with a considerable amount of force.

"I wouldn't." She told him quietly. She snapped her cuffs on his wrist, noting the rust spots, and, keeping her foot in place, turned her head to see how Wright was doing.

"Need any help, captain?" She called.

[Nicholas Wright]

"I'm fine!" Wright lied as the vampire threw itself at him, knocking him to the floor. The two crashed down, and the vampire gave Wright a good solid hit. It really, really hurt.

And then it went for his neck. Wright quickly grasped for anything, absolutely anything, that could be a weapon. His hand found his police radio, strapped to his uniform, grabbed it, and thrust it forwards.

The aerial went directly into the vampire's eye. And through it. The vampire hissed, wailed in pain, and staggered backwards. Wright placed both of his boots in the vampire's chest, and kicked. The vampire, radio still lodged in its eye, crashed to the concrete.

Wright got up angrily, aware of blood pouring from some wound on his face. He didn't really have time to think about it.

"What about eyes? Do vampires heal eyes?" He snarled, before walking over to the vampire, grabbing it by the hair, and going to slam its head against the concrete. Something inside of him wanted him to do it, but he managed to stop himself. The law was very specific. You didn't continue to beat on a defeated opponent.

He shut his eyes, and sighed, trying to let the tension out. He snapped the handcuffs on, and pulled the vampire's head back, so that it was facing him, still with a radio in his eye...

"Let's try that again." He growled. "You do not have to say anything, but go on...just try." It was a pretty obvious threat.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri watched, impressed. Once or twice her vampire tried to get up but she held him down firmly.

Truth was, she hadn't expected much of Wright, but he'd just managed to beat off a vampire, albeit by sticking a radio aerial through its eye, while obviously drunk.

"I should think" she said, observing, "that eye should heal right up once you pull the aerial out, sir."

She took her foot off the vampires neck and hauled him to his feet, keeping a firm grip on his arm.

"Back to the station with these two, is it sir?" She asked, rubbing her bruised jaw with her free hand.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright considered this information.
"Only if I pull it out, right?" He asked. "I mean, the batteries are dead, and it's not like I use it anyway..." The cuffed vampire didn't seem very happy about this. Wright merely grinned.

"Fine. Back to the station. But...what are we going to do with them? As soon as they recover they're gonna put up hell of a fight." He pointed out. "And I don't think our cell will hold them for long..."

He wasn't actually sure. The last time they'd used the cell was...

...well, okay, it was that time he had maybe just a few too many to drink and had been put in there for his own safety...

...and he'd gotten out. But he did have the keys. It just took him a while to get them in the lock...

"Plus, we have to get 'em there..." He noticed they were already putting up quite a fight, despite being cuffed.

[Eleri Mortymer]

"I'd pull it out, sir." Said Eleri seriously. "If nothing else, it's a bit disgusting."

She considered carefully what she was told.

"Well... getting them there shouldn't be a problem....Should it?" The last part of the question was directed at the struggling vampire. She flashed him what she hoped was a sweet smile, which seemed to have the opposite effect. Still, it made the vampire stop struggling.

"Well...." She said, thoughtfully, noting her captain's weary face. "I suppose we can let them off with a warning..."

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright shrugged to Eleri's advice, and left the radio where it was. What she would do and what he would do were certainly different.

"This is the warning." He finally decided, dragging the vampire, and letting Eleri do the same to her's. "Next time, it's both eyes. We bang 'em up and decide what to do next." He decided. In other words, he decided they'd make it up as they went.

"We haven't made a proper arrest in..." He paused, and tried to do the mental calculation. "...ever? We might as well finish this one..."

They arrived at the police station, and Wright managed to get the vampires in the cells. They seemed to know that fighting right now wasn't a good idea. They'd be better off escaping later.

"And don't even think of calling them a lawyer!" Wright told Eleri, worried she'd try to follow the law to the t. The only law firm in Edgehaven was one you really, really tried to avoid...

"What are we meant to do now?" He asked, sagging a little. He'd been operating on adrenaline and alcohol up until this point. Now he had that cold, horrible feeling that he'd have to start thinking...

[Eleri Mortymer]

"Would't dream of it, sir." Replied Eleri honestly. She didn't trust lawyers.

She massaged her jaw again. That had been a hell of a punch... it was calming down nopw, and the bruising was almost gone too. It was at times like this that she didn't mind being of the vampiric persuasion.

"Generally, sir, paperwork." she replied grimly. It wasn't her favourite part of the job, and she guessed it wouldn't be Wright's, either.