Edgehaven Yard

[Nicholas Wright]

((Yay!!! Also, no worries about the moving thing. That was my intention anyway ))

The street beast that had sprang up inside Wright died away as he watched Eleri collapse, replaced by pangs of guilt and disbelief. Eleri. The one person, although he'd never tell her, he trusted more than anybody else in the entire world, could be turned in to a raging beast with just two words from that vampyre?

If she could do that to a dhampire, what could she do to the legions of fully fledged vampires she must command? And she was loose in his city!

The guilt changed form. It wasn't guilt he'd done that to her. It was the guilt any captain should feel when their officers got hurt. It was the guilt he had failed to keep her safe. He whirled on Dawn, fury in his eyes. This was her fault.

"Add to that two accounts of assaulting an officer of the EHPD." He growled, approaching her, despite looking fairly beaten up now and being entirely unarmed. "One's me. The other's Eleri." Anybody who knew Wright well would know a sign that he was really, truly serious would be when he used first names.

He scooped up the fallen truncheon and held it out towards Dawn.
"I believe I placed you under arrest." He managed, although it was obvious he was on the verge of losing self control and attacking her.

[Dawn]

Dawn had enjoyed the show, and paid close attention to the way they had fought. Eleri had been feral, barely under her control. Dhampires, and especially strong willed ones like Eleri, were very hard to control personality wise. Instead, the best she could do was manipulate their vampire side and turn them in to a feral beast.

But Wright? She hadn't seen many who fought like him. Truth be told, he was terrible. He should have been dead. He fought like a bulldozer, assuming that he'd stay conscious enough to keep going. Although she had been a little impressed by his ability to improvise and think quickly. Most people would have been too caught off guard to fight back. And the trick with the radio was impressive. Even she hadn't thought of that.

She giggled and clapped just because she thought it'd annoy Wright, and the held out her hands together, offering them to his handcuffs.
"Come on then. Arrest me." She told him. "Only, be quick because I just sent a message to all the vampires in the building to evacuate. I mean, even if I kill you three, I can see our little sancutary's been rumbled." She gave a shrug, like she didn't care her home for the last ten years and her plan had fallen apart. After all, what was ten years to Dawn?

"Only thing is, those humans they've been keeping alive in the basement? Well..." She gave a picture perfect look of innocence. Easy to do when you look twelve. "...with all the IV lines removed and nobody looking after them, and with the blood drains still on, I'd give 'em....oh, I don't know. Twenty minutes?" She offered, smiling that innocent smile.

"So, c'mon. Arrest me. Or save the humans. Not enough time to do both." She withdrew her hands, showing that she was going to make it difficult for him. "Oh, and don't think of sending just one of you. There's thirty people down there. It's gonna take all of you to even be in with a chance of saving them..."

"What do you think, Corporal Beaumont?" She said, just to upset him, since he'd been watching in horror, apparently unsure of what to make of any of it.

[Hadrian Beaumont]

Hadrian grit his teeth and glared at the little bitch. What he wouldn't give for permission to snap her nasty pre-pubescent neck.

"I think we aren't the Watch, and we should get a move on. Those people are more important than you," he snarled, before glancing at Wright. The man was beyond pissed off, more so than Hadrian had ever seen him, which meant he wasn't sure if he would agree with him and help him save those people (88% chance of this occurring), ignore them in favour of arresting the little bitch and then attempting to save as many as possible (11% chance of this) or try and kill her himself (1% chance of this).

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright glared at Dawn. Hadrian was right. This was where you drew the line. Heroes, like the Night Watch, they would have let them die. They'd of done the math, and use phrases like 'for the greater good'. Not them though. 'To serve and protect'. There was no 'greater good' in that.

"Corporal Beaumont, get down to the basement. You're pretty handy. Keep them alive as long as possible." The orders came out fast, but Wright didn't take his eyes off Dawn. He wasn't that stupid.

"I'll report in to the yard, get some ambulances out here. Then I'll see to Eler- Sergeant Mortymer." He gave Dawn a defiant look. He was calling this a win.

[Austin]

((lovely sweeping assumption there guys - no we wouldn't))

[Dawn]

((We know, but the EHPD really hate the Watch . Although in this case, it wouldn't be a bad move. Dawn can do a lot worse free...))

Dawn giggled at kicked her feet against her chair in amusement. Ah, so it worked. They couldn't resist the call to rescue innocents.

"Great!" She cried happily. "Oh, just so you know who's name to shout at nights, I'm Dawn!"

She gave a big yet sinister grin, and her body twisted and shifted, shrinking and mutating until only a tiny bat remained that promptly fluttered away in to the darkness.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright watched Dawn go with an uneasy feeling. He hated seeing vampires do that. It was the inbetweeny bit he couldn't stand. Half human, half bat. There were some things you just didn't need to see.

As soon as he was sure she was gone, he twisted on his heel and started heading for the broken open staircase. He flicked a switch on his radio and called in to the Yard. He didn't have a phone and needed them to co-ordinate the medical rescue. He just hoped Hadrian could keep them alive long enough.

[Eliza Flowers]

Eliza Flowers was spending her first day on the job doing the traditional first day at work things. This involved such chores as finding an appropriately cute yet funny picture of a cat for her desktop, deciding exactly how many hearts to put around her name in her e-mail signature, exactly what pink italicised font she should send said e-mails in and arranging her brand new matching pink stationary in her draw. The fact that Captain Wright knew of computers in the same way a Jamaican knows of snow hadn't occured to her.

She was now sat at her desk painting her nails (and prizes would not be given out for guessing which colour), having completed these tasks. She'd also written that report Wright had asked for, but that had only taken a few minutes. She fidgeted a little in her new uniform. She still didn't see why she wasn't allowed to wear a pink shirt instead, and all the gear on the vest was a little too heavy for her, but the neck scarf was cute, she had to admit.

She took the radio off to ease the weight, and relaxed a little. Okay, she knew she was a wuss, but it had been uncomfortable! She nearly fell off her chair when it burst in to life, with a familiar voice demanding to speak to someone.

Once she'd stopped screaming in surprise she held the radio up to her ear gingerly, ignoring the wail of static that came from Eliza touching electrical appliances.
"Like, hiya?" She ventured.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright winced. Oh god. He'd forgotten about Flowers. He'd been planning to keep her secret to trick Eleri in to thinking he'd become really talented at writing reports. Only for a week or so, until he revealed her to get her out on the streets. He wasn't having a purely desk bound copper in his Force.

He tried not to sigh at the speech pattern. Eliza was one of those people who had total control of the English language on the written page but couldn't utter a sentence without at least three instances of the word 'like'.

"Lance Constable, where's-" He paused. Right, yes. He'd buried Myra in paperwork. He could've made Eliza do it, but that'd of meant revealing his little surprise early. As it was, Eliza was hidden away in a little side office he found.

"Never mind." He sighed. "Look, medical emergency. 30 humans. One dhampire." He rattled off the address. "We need medical assistance now." He cut off the radio before she could reply. This was no time for Eliza shaped questions. He just hoped she could handle at least that...

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri's head pounded and there was a sharp pain in her leg. Without opening her eyes, she shifted a little, trying to get more comfortable on the stairs. It didn't work. The movement had awoken the ache in her ribs too. She groaned and opened her eyes slowly. She had no idea why she was lying, in quite large amounts of pain, at the bottom of a flight of stairs. She put her hand up to her head. And she was bleeding, or at least had been. Absolutely bloody fantastic.

She sat up gingerly, pulling herself up to sit on one of the steps. It was time like this that the benefits of being half vampire became apparent. At least she'd heal a bit quicker than normal.

What the hell happened? she thought. The last thing she remembered was standing behind Captain Wright, ready to arrest the young/old vampyre that apparently knew everything. She grimaced. Wait... if I'm down here in this state, then...oh no. She pulled herself up gingerly, using the hand rails as supports and then yelped as she tried to put weight on her left leg. Great, a broken leg. That's the last thing I need...

She sat down on the stairs again, waiting. If they were alive, they'd find her soon. She hoped. If they weren't.... well, something else would find her instead.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright hurried down the stairs, seeing Eleri move. Good. She was awake and not psychotic. Now to do possibly the stupidest thing yet, but he needed Eleri on her feet. He arrived at Eleri's side and supported her awkwardly. He wasn't exactly experienced at holding women's bodies.

"Don't make a habit of this, but it'll make you heal faster." Wright lifted from behind his back Dawn's goblet, still filled with warm human blood. He just hoped she'd be able to control herself afterwards.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri turned her head around carefully as she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Oh thank god." She said, as she registered who it was. As Wright supported her, she out one arm on his to steady herself and then threw the other one around him in an awkward, but heartfelt, hug, more glad to see him than she'd ever been. Then she caught herself and pulled away, leaning on the captain for the support she needed to stand properly.

"How's Hadrian? Is he alright? Are you alright? Where's that little vampyre bitch? Did you get her? What about the people they've been feeding on?" She asked, unable to stop the questions bubbling out.

She eyed the goblet suspiciously, but took it from him and sipped it. "Thanks," she said, pulling a face. It wasn't exactly nice, but she could practically feel herself healing already. She pulled another face and then drained the goblet as quickly as she could, trying not to taste the blood and then threw it into the corner when she'd finished.

"I think..." she said with a grimace, "I might be sick."

[Tori Kane]

Tori Kane, who had been poking around in the armoury again, wandered into the small office she was currently sharing with her fellow new recruit just in time to hear the crackle of a radio and Captain Wright's voice giving instructions.

"Sounds like the shit's hit the fan." She remarked casually, digging in her desk drawer. She wasn't sure about her office-mate, Eliza. Everything about the girl, from her name to her uniform, screamed 'twink'. She was nice enough, but Tori wouldn't have trusted her with anything stronger than a kids BB gun. If she'd been American, Tori suspected Eliza would have been the head cheerleader.

She emerged from her desk with her own radio in hand, which she clipped to her police vest. "You want me to get that?" She asked the other girl, already reaching for the phone on her desk. She considered shouting up the stairs to Myra, as she was the most senior officer in the building, but she got the feeling she was busy and it was best not to disturb her.

[Hadrian Beaumont]

Hadrian was moving the moment Wright gave him the clear for the basement, he took off running as quickly as possible, taking the stairs three at a time and jumping over Eleri's prone form with a wince of discomfort and guilt. His footsteps faltering for a bare split second as his insides twisted violently at the thought of just leaving her there before he shook his head and forged on. Wright would keep her alive, he would make sure she made it out okay, she was still breathing and she was a lot tougher than he was giving her rights for. Eleri would be fine.

The poor bastards in the basement didn't have a Captain Wright to make sure they stayed in the game - they were stuck with him.

The young man raced down and down and down again, gear clanking and jangling absurdly loudly in the grim, oily silence as he just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as the lights from the broken wall on the top floor slowly filtered out the further down he went. Evidentally, no one bothered with flicking the light switches on down here - which didn't surprise him as the doors were all plastered over and boarded up.

He wasted a precious second to wrench his flashlight from his belt and light it up as he hit what he thought was possibly the second floor and kept running, his lungs burning now as he gasped for air.

Bottom floor!

He swung the flashlight around the area before landing on the door to the lift and finally the basement behind it. He didn't have the time to finesse the door like he usually would so he took the Captain Wright Approved Plan of Action and rammed his shoulder into it as hard as he could.

Damp, cheap and poorly maintained plaster crumbled into wet chalk as the door slammed open and the reek of blood and death hit him like a wall. He choked, wrapping an arm across his mouth and nose, green eyes flickered around the room taking in the equipment, the emaciated people, the blood, the conditions. He felt like he was going to throw up.

Right, right, he couldn't falter now.

Rushing to the nearest person he quickly employed what he knew about medical equipment and keeping people alive from his dead-twin Luciana and when he was helping building the Forensics lab and their small medical bay at the Yard - the Bay was nothing fancy but it was enough to deal with Wright's usual injuries, anything worse than a sprain or a fracture had to go to the hospital, the Forensics lab was geared towards evidence and analysis but it did have a morgue with all the equipment needed for a full physical examination.

He managed to get half of them hooked up to essential life support before some of them started getting into dangerous conditions.

The elderly and the young children were fading fast. He switched tactics and started concentrating on getting the vulnerable and fragile people hooked up, allowing the stronger, healthier ones to wait for a while until he got everyone out of the danger zone.

He was slathered with blood, sweating like a pig and he knew he was going to have nightmares after this. Right now, he wouldn't refuse a cuddle from his mum either.

[Eliza Flowers]

Eliza liked Tori. She was American, or lived there, or something, and that was totally cool. She didn't understand what she was saying half the time, but that was natural for Eliza so she didn't care.

As it was, she sniffed the air curiously for the um, poo (Eliza didn't like to swear), but could only smell her own fresh nail polish and her ever present perfume. She tried to peer subtlety in to Tori's drawer in case the fan was in there, but it wasn't. So much for that. She had no idea what Tori had meant.

"Like, hiya!" She said cheerfully, because this was always a safe bet when she had no idea what was going on. "Um, like, the phone's like... not, like working." She said awkwardly. She'd only made one call, and she swore she hadn't done anything wrong. It had just stopped working mysteriously.

"Here!" She held out a sparkly pink object that only close inspection would reveal was a mobile phone. "You can, like, use this instead!" She hoped it'd hide how thankful she was Tori would make the call. Eliza got intimidated on professional phone calls. She couldn't follow what people were saying and got confused.