Edgehaven Yard

[Hadrian Beaumont]

Hadrian frowned, "I'm more worried about the state of those people. There's been no activity in or out of the building, so they must still be in here. How are you keeping them alive?" he asked. That was something that had been nagging at him since the pieces began to fall into place, but he had been too scared to voice the question, or come up with his own theories. Scenes from Blade, where the humans were suspended in plastic crisp packets, their blood slowly being drained while IV lines fed them oxygen, food, stimulents to keep them alive and to optimise the flavour and nuticiousness of the blood ran through his mind and he couldn't help but shudder slightly and hate his over-active (at least he hoped it was) imagination.

He was thoroughly glad that Wright had told Myra to stay at the station, he kinda wished he had told Eleri to as well because, mysoginistic as it was, he didn't want either of the girls to end up in a situation like that.

He'd prefer not to be in it either but... No point in crying over spilt milk. Blood on the other hand he would spare some tears for - should probably stop thinking right about now.

God he wished he had a rocket launcher.

[Dawn]

Dawn smiled with all the looks of a mischievious child who had set up a prank that her parents hadn't found out about yet. She giggled to herself for a bit, and then rolled her eyes at Wright.

"He's not just a spoiled brat, is he? He's kinda smart too." She grinned, kicking her feet against the throne for lack of anything else to do.

"I've sired my fair share of doctors in my time, Corporal Beaumont." She answered, as by way of explanation. "We pulled, ohh, I don't know, about thirty random human bums off the street when he came here. They had no life anyway. Strung 'em up downstairs, and there you have the most precious resource of them all...." She held up her goblet with blood still in it, and swilled it around for them to see.

"No, no, no, can we save all the 'how evil' reactions, please?" She asked with child-like politeness that might be after a slice of birthday cake. "I mean, think about it first. I've got, oh, quite a lot of vampires under my command. Truth is, I got tired of feeling them die. And I do. I feel every...single...one..." Again, her eyes wavered on Eleri for slightly too long, making the emphasis known. "So I decided enough was enough. Those still willing to listen to their elder came with me. Set this place up. The cost? Thirty pointless human lives that were gonna die on the streets anyway. The reward? None of my kin die anymore, and they kill no more humans. Think about it. There's enough of us here that you can bet your truncheons they'd kill at least one person a week. Probably more. We've been here for years. How many lives have we saved?"

She sat back in her chair again, and the strange vampyre calmness over took her as she stopped moving entirely.
"I'd tell you more, but I can see that everything I have to say has already crossed your mind." She said to Wright, wicked grin upon her face. She knew that he'd worked it out by now. Dawn had set up the perfect vampire habitat. And there was nothing they could do to punish her for it, because technically she was saving lives.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright simply began to laugh. It was only a small chuckle, but he couldn't resist. He knew he shouldn't, and let it subside. Because sometimes there was only one thing you could reply.

"Then possibly my answer has crossed yours." He shot back, smirking at Eleri as he did so. "Sherlock Holmes has got nothing on me." He whispered to her. After all, hadn't he just been claiming earlier to be nothing like him? But Wright had grown up reading the stories. Maybe it was why he liked being a copper sometimes. He didn't know.

His heart sank a little as he realised Eleri probably wouldn't catch the reference, and instead he 'ahem'ed himself back in to concerntration.

"I'm arresting you for thirty counts of kidnapping." He said out loud, drawing his truncheon. "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. Do you understand?" He reeled off, like the natural at it that he was. The words had changed a lot over the years Wright had served, but he always knew what they were, and was always ready to drop them in to conversation.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri nodded, Hadrian made a good point, and one that she was slightly ashamed she hadn't thought of. She kept her stare on Dawn, although she was starting to really want to blink. The elder vampyre made an annoyingly good point. If every vampire could feed off just one human for years, how many lives would be saved in the long run? She shook her head. That was the little bitch getting into her head, she knew it. Or was it? Her eyes stung and she screwed them shut for a second.

She didn't like the way Dawn was focusing on her, either. Being singled out like that unnerved her more than the rest of the experience so far. She was aware of Wright speaking to Dawn and snapped her thoughts back to the moment just in time to catch his whisper. She gave the captain a small smile. "You're right there, sir." She told him. "Holmes would have come in through the back door."

She steeled herself as she sensed the inevitable, but couldn't help groaning mentally anyway. She reached for her handcuffs and then realised she'd left them downstairs, attached to a vampire.

[Hadrian Beaumont]

Only 'kinda' smart? He was almost insulted but he figured that being as old as dirt meant that she had probably met a ton of people who made him look pretty stupid by comparison.

The worst part of this situation was, Hadrian could see her point. He could only too easily see her side of the argument and he kind of agreed with it as well, the problem was, the people in the basement, regardless of whether they were homeless or not, had done nothing to deserve their fate. If they were criminals he might feel differently but homeless folk were another matter.

He took a breath and shifted his weight, snapping out a pair of knight-sticks. He didn't doubt for a moment that their pint-sized predator would take exception to being arrested and he fully expected a fight to break out.

He shifted slightly so he had the lift behind them within sight as well. He wouldn't put it past her to quietly call her Fledglings to get them in a pincer attack.

[Dawn]

Dawn leant back in her chair, and giggled to herself. She looked at the three standing there, so brave, so ready to tackle her. It was quite funny. They had no idea what she was capable of yet.

"And tell me, Captain Wright, if I was to be arrested, what would happen to me?" She asked, a grin on her face. "Do you really think they'd send poor wittle innocent me to prison?" She made a baby kid face. "That a court would possibly convict a child?" She waved her hand over herself to demonstrate her age.

"Even if they did, what do you think decades in prison are to me? Hmm?" She asked it like a genuine question, smirking at the logic. There was nothing they could do.

"But okay, okay. You got all worked up. All macho. I can see that." She conceeded, waving a hand. "So, fine. You want a fight? You've got one."

Suddenly, her eyes snapped to Eleri.

"Sergeant Mortymer!" She commanded, and it was a command, her voice taking on a sudden powerful vibe. "Kill Captain Wright." She said simply.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Like Hadrian, Eleri was fully expecting Dawn to call in back-up. However, she certainly wasn't expecting what came next. One moment she was bracing herself for a sudden onslaught of vampires, the next...

The chaos and confusion that was swirling around in her mind settled and everything seemed to snap into focus. The annoying voice that was telling her not to trust Dawn was silenced, all her doubts about herself disappeared. Of course she should trust Dawn, after all, why wouldn't she trust her elder? Nothing that had happened before then made any sense, but that was alright because it wasn't important.

Of course, all that happened in a split second. What the rest of the room would have seen if they were fast was Eleri dropping her defensive stance in favour of an aggressive one and whirling round to face Wright. If they'd been really quick, they might have seen her eyes flash red. Inevitably though, they would have seen Eleri launch herself bodily at Wright, knock him to the ground and go for his throat with her fangs.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright's brain worked quickly as he saw Eleri turn, but nowhere near fast enough. Damn, she was quick. Strong too. He was thrown backwards and pinned to the ground as she lunged straight for his neck.

He didn't have time to question what was going on, but pulled his truncheon forwards, still gripped in one hand, and shoved it in to Eleri's mouth, inbetween her teeth.

Eleri was stronger than he was, he knew that. Faster too. But he had an advantage. She'd gone feral. Feral vamps only wanted to tear your throat out. They didn't think. They couldn't plan. They didn't really need to, admitingly, but Wright had fought his fair share of vampires in his time.

Positioning the truncheon in her mouth and holding it there with both hands. With any luck, she'd bite down hard on it. He wrapped both his legs up around her waist, and threw himself to the side with all of his body weight.

She may have been stronger and faster than him, but he was heavier, and could flip her around underneath him. If he could get on top, he might be in with a chance...

[Hadrian Beaumont]

Reflexively, Hadrian jerked backwards, away from Eleri when she suddenly want for Wright, his eyes practically bugging out of his skull. Holy shit!

Eleri was trying to kill the Captain, Eleri! The knight sticks in his hands shook for a moment, he couldn't hurt her! She was one of them but - but!

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri hissed and shook her head wildly as her lunge was brought to an abrupt halt by Wright's truncheon jamming between her teeth. Unfortunately for her, the momentum in her jaws was too fast and she bit down hard on the stick instead of the soft flesh she'd been aiming for. She recoiled just enough to give Wright the opportunity to get his legs around her waist and flip her to the side.

Wright's logic worked, and a second later the dhampire found herself pinned to the ground. This, if anything, just made her angry. She swung her head sideways and up, smacking the truncheon still in her teeth into the side of Wright's head. The impact dislodged it enough for her to spit it out. She launched upwards, trying to go for Wright's neck again. However, because of Wright's grip on her, she couldn't reach and settled for head-butting him in the face instead. She twisted her arm, trying to free her hand, and when that didn't work, she snapped at Wright's wrist, simultaneously bucking her hips to try and throw him off.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright felt Eleri's hips twist beneath him as she attempted to throw him off, and too dazed to do much different, he let himself go, instead flinging himself forwards and skittering away across the floor away from her.

He scrambled back to his feet quickly, knowing that getting the fight back to a standing position would help him a lot. He reached for his truncheon, but realised that it had fallen between him and Eleri.

He reached for the first thing he could find, and realised that it was his radio. He needed a distraction. Eleri was feral. Anything would do. He turned it on, and knowing that it was already tuned in to Eleri's (so that Wright could summon her whenever he needed her to tidy up) he screamed down it as loud as he could.

He knew it would come out of Eleri's radio, and hopefully be loud enough to cause a moment's distract. Which was all he needed, because he ran full pelt for the truncheon, scooping it up and swinging it in a wide blow at Eleri's head.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri waisted no time in springing to her feet once Wright was off her. She eyed Wright, a hungry, wild look on her face, and was about to run at him again when the radio went off. She stared at it, bewildered, until the truncheon collided with her head.

She turned, hissed again and wrenched the offending weapon away from Wright, sending it skittering towards Hadrian. She launched at Wright once more, all snapping fangs and clawing at his face. As she did, she pushed him backwards towards the wall, attempting to corner him. If she could get him against the wall, he was dead.

[Nicholas Wright]

An ordinary human giving you a shove back might send you stumbling. A dhampire would send you flying.

Wright crashed in to the far wall painfully, and was all too aware of Eleri advancing on him quickly. He drew his torch and span it around until he was holding the long handle out like a weapon. He was running out of things attached to his uniform to fight back with...

He started to think. Backed against the wall. Not a great place to be. Unless, of course, it wasn't a wall. There was no way an old building like this wouldn't have stairs. That was a simple fact. And they'd be near the lift. The vampires must have plastered over it to hide it for situations like these. If he knew vampires, they were never much good at DIY. Just enough to hide it, not sturdy enough to hold.

He made a quick guesstimate and worked his way around the wall, keeping Eleri at bay by holding the torch handle extended, so that she had to wait for her right moment to charge. He tapped behind him when he reached the right spot with his fist. He was rewarded with an echo. Bingo.

"Come on then, Sergeant!" He suddenly yelled, throwing the torch down and getting ready to spring to the side. With any luck, the stairs started right on the other side of the wall. Eleri would go flying down them. It wouldn't kill a dhampire, he hoped, but with any luck it'd knock her down long enough for him to deal with Dawn. "You always fancied being Captain, didn't you? Here's your chance!"

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri gave a short, cruel laugh as Wright went flying into the wall. She had him now. She watched him with narrowed eyes, the way a cat watches a mouse, as he edged around the wall and tapped. Not understanding what he was doing, she watched him warily.

Her eyes widened as he threw down the torch and yelled at her. In her feral state, devoid of reason or the sense to see she was being tricked, she charged. Her eyes widened in shock as Wright sprang out of her way and, unable to stop herself, she crashed fangs-first through the plaster-covered wall. Carried by her momentum, she tumbled down the stairs, stopping only when she smacked into a wall near the bottom.

She managed to flip herself over and howl in rage, despite the nasty gash that had appeared over her eyebrow and was streaming blood down her face. She dragged herself up a few steps, tried to stand and then collapsed. She glared up the stairs for a moment, and then the world went black.

((I went on the basis that Wright had moved, hope thats ok. Also, Eleri's gonna be sore when she wakes up xD I figured that having her pass out means 1) she'll stop trying to kill Wright and 2) when she wakes up, Dawn's hold on her might have broken...))

[Austin]