Arrival in the Outskirts

[Zackary Kalen]

A small light flickered twice in the darkness. It flared for a second, before settling on a single point and a strong scent of nicotine wafted around the area for any who cared to smell.

Zackary Kalen was smoking - although that was a hardly a surprise. Smoking was something he found himself doing a lot lately. Exhaling a long plume of smoke, he tilted his head to one side and squinted at the outline of the town, just about visible through the ever-looming darkness.

After a couple of minutes, the vampire snorted in vague amusement, replacing the cigarette in his mouth and gritting his teeth around it,

"Well gee, how'd such a quaint, friendly lookin' place like this earn the name 'Town of the Dead', huh?" he asked no one in particular, amused sarcasm practically dripping from his voice. Digging his hands into his pockets, he rolled the stick of nicotine from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue and sighed. He'd made it here now, no point in turning back. It was here he was going to make a new life; easier. Definitely easier. Despite the numerous rumours of death, fighting and constant threat surrounding the town, Zack figured it was better to be watching over your shoulder for your own kind, rather than a group of vampire slayers.

Plucking the cigarette out of his mouth, the vampire flicked a trail of ash off the end and replaced it, inhaling deeply.

May as well get moving.

[Leo Silvêr]

Leo sat on the coach. He was glad that no one had chosen to sit next to him. It had been a long trip taking him more than seventeen hours.

He had chosen a seat near the front of the bus to the right. It had faced the rising sun but now the sky was starting to darken due to the unnatural darkness that hung over the town. Leo was returning home, he had been gone to long. The last time he had passed this way he was with Vincent Lémartes. They had been trying to find someone that Leo was not to know about. He had stayed because nothing else seemed to be happening at that moment. Now Leo returned because he had nowhere else to be and the town seemed like the best place to go to at this particular moment in time.

There were few people on the coach and Leo was quiet glad of this. There was one he was concerned about. Another Lycan. He sat near the back, wearing a tank top that showed his muscles. He smelled like a dire wolf. Leo did not like him at all. His senses did not work otherwise he would be more nervous about Leo. He hoped he would not be getting off in the town. For now Leo just ignored him.
All the others on the coach were human. They talked about trivial things; Leo had no time for them.

He was watching out of the window as the town got closer and closer. It had changed vastly since he had last seen it. The one main difference is its change in size and it now had a large skyscraper in the centre of town. He would have to explore his once familiar home.

The bus moved slowly towards town.

[Felix Dolohov]

Curious mismatched eyes took in the rather dark and depressing sights that lay out before him, it was so different from everything he knew that he was alternatively excited and extremely nervous about this whole, rather hasty, decision of his.

Felix Dolohov rolled his shoulders slightly, keen eyes peeling away the layers of darkness that flickering street lamps, dark corners and air pollution obscured. It had been a hasty decision to suddenly pack up and leave home, poorly thought out, he hardly had much more than the blades, his backpack and the clothes on his back. He really should have thought this through properly but he just couldn't stand being at home a moment longer, his alcohol-soaked father, brain so rotted and half-dead that he never peeled himself out of that damn chair in front of the TV - Felix swore he would die in that damn chair and leave an imprint when they finally managed to pry him out of it - and his mother. His mother who rejected both himself and his father when she discovered their vampiric origins, yet remained with them in silent hatred because her upbringing and homeland traditions commanded that she be a good wife and reamin with her husband 'till death do they part'.

He knew nothing about his people, only what he could find in books and rumours that he heard from other humans. He wanted to know about himself, and what he was missing out on.

Probably more than a bit stupid now that he stopped and thought about it, running off to a place that cheerily calles itself the 'Town of the Dead'. It was probably just about as cheery as Silent Hill only instead of hell-warped monsters and malicious spirits, it'll be Vampires, werewolves and those Slayers he kept hearing whispers about.

"No turning back now. You've really put yourself into it this time Dolohov. Next time, pull your head outta your a** and think before doing something dumb." He muttered quietly to himself, checking over his equipment and backpack before starting forwards, walking through the streets of his new 'home'.

[alice]

She sat silently on the back seat of the coach, watching as the buildings flew past, the sun slowly sinking beneath a thick layer of clouds, allowing her to remove the thick shawl that protected her face and arms from the burning sunlight, leaving it draped over her shoulders she pulled the dark sunglasses that protected her eyes off and slipped them into her pocket.

She'd been travelling for the last three weeks, down from Edinburgh to this 'Town of the Dead', even though the signs, derelict and decrepit as they were, declared it to be a semi-large place by the name of Edgehaven. She wrung her hands nervously as large blue eyes peered out into the darkness and the town that was slowly coming into view, the steady bitter tang of fear from the driver filled her mouth and made her grimace, she hit the stop button, feeling sick with the strong sense of terror he was excluding and practically ran out of the small metal tin and into the fresh air, breathing deeply as the bus drove away and the bitter taste finally left her mouth.

Alice McClannad looked around the city in wide eyed curiousity and wariness, the old echoes of pain and fear and anger were seeped into the very walls, those who saturated the very air with them long gone, leaving nothing but faint echoes that brushed, feather light, dead finger impressions across her skin, giving her goosebumps. The 11-year-old shifted her ratty backpack, it had her one soft toy, a book, some money she'd stolen from her now long dead Sire's secret stash, and a spare change of clothes. The young vampiress pushed her chin length blonde hair back and started to walk, she supposed she would just have to find somewhere to stay, if not, a large number of these houses looked derelict, she could always find somewhere to squat if need be.

[Austin]

Please Note
Time Jump Initiated
All following events are at least two months after those above

[Miranda Burke]

((Thought I might as well post in here rather than start a new thread up or clog up the Bottle))

Miranda had been wandering around town for a while, calling in at various gossip hot-spots to see if she could find any leads, and had found nothing. She had decided to head up towards the Broken Bottle pub - it wasn't the sort of place she liked to go but the barman in there seemed to know a lot of what went on, at least on the outskirts of town.

As she was walking, something in her bag bleeped. She slowed her pace and fished her PDA out. Nope, wasn't that. She replaced it and took out her mobile phone instead, finding that she had a text. Thinking about it, she really ought to change the alerts on at least one of her various bits of technology. She stopped to read the text. It was from one of her contacts who lived on the outskirts - apparently former second-in-command of the Devil's Advocates, Carla Glenn, had been seen walking away from the Broken Bottle.

She shrugged and put the phone away, continuing up to the pub. Well, it wasn't much to go on - after all, the DA weren't exactly a threat to the city any more, but it was worth a look. Besides, it was the only lead she had so far.

[Carla Glenn]

Carla broke away from the darkness in which she hid. That was faster than she'd expected. She'd 'anoynmously' reported her own sighting not too long ago, and now a woman, who had to be a reporter, was coming to investigate. The clothing gave it away, but in case she was wrong, Carla figured it didn't matter. She waited until the figure was a little nearer, and ran out of the shadows.

"Oh my god! You have to help me!" She shrieked, shaking, tears running down her face. Carla was, at least, not a bad actor. "Th-they tried to kill me! I was unarmed, and he put a gun to me, and actually tried to kill me! They weren't even going to arrest me or anything!!!"

The best part about this plan was that Carla didn't even have to lie. Everything she said was true. Soon, she'd let the reporter in on who she was. She wouldn't even be hiding anything. She'd tell the perfect truth, and watch as the Night Watch hung themselves...

[Miranda Burke]

Miranda jumped slightly as a sobbing Carla came running out of the shadows at her, but quickly regained her composure, reached into her bag and switched on the dictaphone function on her PDA. The sound wouldn't be great, but she'd be able to hear it well enough to transcribe it later. Maybe this wouldn't be such a dead end after all.

She held her arms open as Carla neared her in a gesture that meant 'stop and talk to me'. "Calm down, lassie. You're fine noo, ah'll no' let anyone hurt ye." It was times like this she was quite glad she was Scottish, people seemed to react well to her accent. "Noo, tell me calmly what's happened. Who's tried tae kill ye?"

[Carla Glenn]

Carla sniffled, and it was a proper upset sniffle, as she looked at Miranda and inwardly thought about how hard she found Scottish accents to understand. Still, no matter, she couldn't let that damage her plan.

"The...the Night Watch!" She exclaimed, sounding desperately afraid. "I-I used to work for Devil's Advocates, and they found me, and they wouldn't even arrest me! They said they'd kill me in cold blood there and then! E-everybody saw it!" She added that last part in a quick stutter, knowing it was the hook the journalist needed. Everybody saw it. Witnesses. Evidence.

This was a story that could be proved.

"I-I was only doing a job! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!" She sobbed. Okay, so maybe some lying was involved with this plan, but it was only a teensy little bit and it'd work.

[Miranda Burke]

Miranda's face lit up as Carla said the magic words. Yes, anti-Night Watch stories were ten a penny, but this one might just be front page stuff. Naturally, she wasn't fooled by Carla's story about 'only doing a job', but she didn't have to. Then again, she needed the details. Witnesses was good, and obviously they'd need to be interviewed later. But for now... well, if the Night Watch were after Carla, standing around outside where she'd just been wasn't a good idea.

"Look, hen, how dae ye feel aboot havin' a wee chat o'er a cup o' coffee?" She asked, trying to be sensitive. She reached out to pat Carla's hand reassuringly, and stopped herself before she made contact. Electricity, Miranda. She told herself.

[Carla Glenn]

Carla's attitude shifted everso slightly as Miranda withdrew her hand. Ah. She knew more than she was letting on. She was aware of who Carla was. She knew her powers. Maybe it was time to dial back on the act a little.

She stopped crying, although she attempted to make it look subtle.
"Yeah, a cafe. Sounds good." She sniffed, letting Miranda lead the way. If she knew who Carla was and still was interested, then she was pretty much sorted.

[Miranda Burke]

Miranda smiled. "Ah know a nice wee place just doon the road. Follow me." She told her, starting to walk away. Miranda wasn't stupid, she knew that the Night Watch, or at least some of them, would be following Carla soon, if they weren't already. It might have been heartless, but she didn't actually care what happened to Carla, except for its journalistic merit. She just hoped she could get the full story out of her before the Watch showed up.

The cafe wasn't far away at all, and in a matter of a few minutes they reached it. She held the door open for Carla, ordered a black coffee and then took a seat, waiting for Carla to join her. As she did, she took her PDA out of her bag, made sure it was still recording and placed it on the table. Carla obviously knew she wsa talking to a reporter by now, so there was no point keeping it in her bag any more.


"Noo, tell me nice and slow what happened. In your own time, mind. The maer details ye can gi' me, the better." She smiled encouragingly at Carla.

[Carla Glenn]

Carla knew the Night Watch would be following her too, but she had entire armies of demons at her command. She'd been flown, switched, speeded, carried and teleported by various creatures of various demonic heritages. Not only would their scents crisscross with her own, but she was halfway across the city by now. Her plan did mean that she generally had to be alive to handle it.

"Okay. Okay. So, I used to work for Devil's Advocates, right?" She began to explain, clearly more calm now. Mostly because it was neccesary for her plan, but also because she knew that Miranda knew her true identity. "And I was drinking at this pub, got kinda hammered, stayed over, woke up the next day. Then this guy walks in, and it turns out he's from the Ci- Watch, and suddenly he draws his gun on me, even though I'm unarmed. I try to leave, he says he'll kill me. I ask if I'm going to get a fair trial, he said nope, he's gonna kill me. He said if I sit and wait, he's just waiting for Austin Darkora to turn up, and, well, kill me..."

"This guy even saw he was going too far, total innocent stranger, and he said he'd kill him too! Was going on about duty! I was just a lackey! I mean, are they going to kill everybody who worked for Rino? There were hundreds of us!" She explained, doing a fairly convincing attempt at desperate. She could get the details down later, but for now, she just needed Miranda to be hooked. Oh, thank you, Madoc, for your random interference, she thought to herself.

She'd have to get her demons to forward a cheque to the bar for the money she owed. She owed them big after this.

[Miranda Burke]

Miranda nodded as she listened to Carla's words. A Devil's Advocates employee - a fairly major one at that - drinking with the common folk. It had a human interest side. She was already plotting what she thought would be a fairly killer story. She'd paint Carla as an innocent, naive victim of Rino's evil schemes - something the half-demon was already doing fairly well herself - and suddenly the whole city would be on her side. Not that Miranda was looking to spark a Night Watch hate campaign, although no doubt she'd get some pretty damn good stories out of it...

Her thoughts snapped back to the here-and-now as Carla said the words 'innocent stranger' and 'kill him too'. "Hang on a mo, pet, say that agaen? One o' the Watch threatened tae kill an innocent bystander just because he stood up fer ye?" Had she been a different type of person, she would have rubbed her hands together in glee. As it was, her eyes lit up and she had to fight the smile that crept across her face.

[Carla Glenn]

"Yeah, and I'm not even exagerating." Carla slipped slightly into her real self for a moment, given that she actually wasn't. She didn't even have to make this stuff up! He'd sunk his own ship without any effort from her. "I tried, I mean, I really tried, to make him go outside, so we could fight and nobody'd get hurt, but he wouldn't. Not even I want to hurt innocent bystanders. I-I mean, I know, the whole Rino thing...but that was...different..." Again, there was a flicker of the real Carla behind the hysterical act. It had been different. Carla had never really hurt anybody, apart from in pursuing Rino's goals.

"His name was Madoc...the guy... Y-you could talk to him. I'm not lying!" She was back to faked hysteria, but faked hysteria that gave the woman everything she needed. She imagined Madoc would do anything for a girl reporter, and he'd just make the story even stronger.

"T-the guy said...he said...'You are impeding an officer of the Watch in his duty. Last warning!' and that was that!" Carla also had to moonlight as a lawyer. Remembering quotes was one of her specialities.

"Then he actually tried to shoot me! L-luckily, I'm half demon. I know, I know, don't judge me. It's not my fault! I have these electricity powers! I can draw them towards metal and I used them to save myself, but it was close! He actually tried to shoot me dead!"

"Then when I yelled at him to stop, he started saying all kinds of freaky stuff! He said "You really think that you would be the first person I killed in cold blood?" when I tried to stop him from doing it, and then when I begged him for a trial he said "And you don't get trials with the Watch. You just get killed. That simple." It was terrifying! I've never even thought about killing anybody before!" Small lie, but Carla certainly wouldn't have been able to in cold blood. "I-I know I'm half demon, but I'm not evil!!!" Well, evil was debatable, she decided.

She thought about those quotes. Wow. Next time she needed a tape recorder...