Riley/Gavin
Scripps Hospital
La Jolla, CA (northwest of San Diego, largely the most upscale part of town, also a major tourist area)
"That's the fourth one this month." The nurse said, looking at the body Gavin had brought in. "Healthy young male, Navy sailor, dead by two puncture wounds in the neck. And you'd think a dead sailor would turn up a lot closer to one of the bases in town."
A few minutes later law enforcement showed up.
Riley was getting to know his counterpart from NCIS quite well, as they listened to the medical report. Neither of them had any leads worth mentioning. Kelly Sanchez-Marks was competent, professional... and she didn't seem to realize this case was going all X-Files on them. The last three had all last been seen leaving a Navy bar with women with very similar descriptions -- descriptions that might well have been quite at home in La Jolla -- that no one seemed to have a name for.
Taylor/Gale
University of California-San Diego
La Jolla, CA
Taylor's schedule said 8am Introduction to European History, with Professor Nagy. She was pretty sure she hadn't signed up for the 8am section, but that's what her schedule ended up with.
As was quite common at large universities, it looked like his TA was handling the actual lecture. Normally, this would have bothered her -- Robin and James didn't have her bust her butt at academics and a couple years of community college to tranfer into a top-rate scool only to be lectured at by a grad student, but when the TA introduced herself as Dawn Summers, she realized what was going on. When she pulled Taylor aside at the end of class, she was sure of it.
Gale flitted in the classroom, paying little attention to the other students beyond the slayer, who hardly noticed her. Though she noticed something was 'off' about the TA right away. Not 'wrong', but 'off' just by the slightest degree. As if she were a normal human because she had been made that way, not because that was how she had been originally created.
"Please don't tell me some great evil is rising here, and Buffy sent you to help me out." She told the TA.
"No, I really am working on my doctorate here. Historian's a good academic background for a watcher, and Giles said I needed some credentials normal people would recognize before he could put me on the staff back at the college. But if you and James need a hand, or you just want someone other than your watcher who you can talk to, drop by my office or send me an email."
James' apartment
San Diego, CA
"Vampire Killer Strikes Again" scrolled across the screen as he watched the news. When the story had appeared the first time, James had thought nothing of it. A lot of odd deaths had nothing to do with the supernatural. But this made four. And neither the San Diego PD nor NCIS were getting anywhere. Beyond that, this was the first time they had shown the pictures of the bodies. If they weren't real vampire bites, someone went through a lot of effort to make them look like it.
Gale had flitted into the class room shortly after Taylor, the last 'student' to enter, if one could call her that. It was true from a certain point of view, she was a student, she just happened to be studying humanity instead of history. The little slyph moved gracefully as she walked to the back of the hall, almost dancing as she moved. She drew a few appreciative stares, but she was used to it and ignored it.
As the TA introduced herself, Gale blinked, she was certain that she had heard the name Summers before, perhaps even the name Dawn, but certainly the surname Summers was meaningful in California. (Know: Arcane Lore +5 taking 10 = 15). This puzzle would certainly bare further investigation, the girl thought with a smile. It seemed like observing Taylor would continue to be an interesting thing, and her patience had paid off, at least a little bit. It was certainly something she could tell her cousins, they teased her about being weird for paying so much attention to a single human instead of experiencing absolutely everything like the rest of the Slyphs did flitting from thing to thing a dozen times a day.
Gale left the room after the lecture only hesitantly, it seemed she had been right about something interesting with the TA, the woman had called Taylor aside for a chat. Gale's curiosity burned at what the two were talking about so she waited against the wall on the other side of the door, her ears tuned for the conversation. (Notice +7)
Arcana check results: Gale knows that Dawn is the younger sister of Buffy Summers, who was the only living vampire slayer thirteen years ago, and that there's something unusual about her. Still, Dawn looks to be in her mid-twenties, which is about the right age for a grad student.
Notice check: You don't have any problem overhearing Dawn and Taylor's conversation, mostly because beyond keeping their voices low, Dawn's not making any extraordinary effort to hide the conversation -- like, say, dragging Taylor into her office.
James frowned as he flipped open his laptop, connecting to net and pulling up news pieces from around the city, trying to cross-reference where the killings happened. He also pulls out his cell phone and starts calling some of the less law-abiding contacts he's made in the city. The council wouldn't like them very much, but they were useful - For example, without access to police records, they were his best way of getting info on the street scene, and whether anybody know anything about this new 'vampire gang'.
He spends the next half hour pulling together whatever information he can.
ooc
Using Contacts and taking 20 for a gather info check: Any info I can gather about the vampire attacks/new 'gang'. Total = 30.
With neither a name nor a description to work with, James' contacts in the demon community weren't all that informative. Checking with more mortal contacts was somewhat more useful, in that he manages to get a copy of the sketch the police have been showing lately.
"Yeah, I saw her. Asian girl, maybe five feet tall and a hundred pounds soaking wet, looked young enough that her ID was probably fake, but way too hot to care. Definitely had money. I don't know how she could have killed those guys, though; they're supposed to have been stabbed, and the smallest of them was twice her size."
Taking the description back to his demon contacts changed some of their reactions, but it was from denial of knowledge to refusal to talk, for the most part. One of them, though, admitted to knowing something...
"But you pay me a couple hundred dollars, and I'm just meeting with you. No five and half foot engines of death. My cousin Merle was working for one of you do-gooder types, and some band of vigallante demon hunters hacked him to pieces, so you be careful. Meet me for lunch."
"Don't you usually prefer to work in the dark?"
"That's stereotyping is what it is. If I didn't like sun and the beach, why would I live in San Diego? Besides, an open-air restraunt in broad daylight would make it a little hard for our little girl's undead minions to jump me."
He gives the name of a Mexican place in Del Mar (just north of San Diego).
"That's the fourth one this month." The nurse said, looking at the body Gavin had brought in. "Healthy young male, Navy sailor, dead by two puncture wounds in the neck. And you'd think a dead sailor would turn up a lot closer to one of the bases in town."
Gavin tried not to comment, though he did text Taylor:
Can't tell if he turned or not, but we got neck-holes at the morgue.
He saw the cops on his way out. He recognized one, or thought he did, but even if there was a sympathetic ear on the force, Gavin still wasn't sure what kind of trouble they might get in dragging a regular human into all of this. He put his nose to the grindstone and decided to finish his shift before he fell back into fangs-and-stakes land. With any luck, he'd get some regular car wrecks. He decided to ignore the disconcerting grumbling his stomach made at the thought of broken bones.
OOC
There was a discussion about Riley being new, but I don't think we detailed who he did/didn't know and how much he knew about them. Figured I'd keep it vague for now, then.
"No, I really am working on my doctorate here. Historian's a good academic background for a watcher, and Giles said I needed some credentials normal people would recognize before he could put me on the staff back at the college. But if you and James need a hand, or you just want someone other than your watcher who you can talk to, drop by my office or send me an email."
"Yeah, I'll do that," Taylor replied, feeling a little weirded out, but not quite sure why. After giving Dawn a smile and excusing herself, she figured it out. It was like the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup commercial. Hey, you got your slaying in my normal life! Well you got your normal life into my slaying! The fact was that Taylor had never really felt like she fit in regular existence. It hadn't been until she discovered this other world that she'd really felt engaged with...anything, really.
She wondered briefly how Dawn juggled things. But then again, Dawn wasn't a slayer. She brushed the supernatural, but wasn't really part of it. Maybe it was easier for her.
Just then her phone merrily jangled, indicating an incoming text message. She paused in the hall outside the lecture room to check.
Can't tell if he turned or not, but we got neck-holes at the morgue.
Taylor frowned. Not just at the message, but at the sender. James seemed to trust him, more or less, but he still made her hackles rise. The idea of something that 'fed' on pain was hideous. That doing so actually healed the wound only marginally less so.
On the other hand, a trip to the morgue to check out fang marks would lift her spirits a bit. Perverse, but true.
She sent back a single letter as she headed out to the parking lot.
Taylor didn't spend any points on equipment, and so doesn't appear to have a car; if you want her to have one, you'll need to find a few points somewhere.
Gale stepped aside when the Slayer left the class, it hadn't been a particularly meaningful conversation given who Taylor was talking to, but oh well. It seemed like being a slayer was kinda like a sorority thing, and she was just checking in with a big sister or something...sororities hmm, wonder if there are any parties this week end. A girl only goes to college once for the first time, its her duty to enjoy all of the experiences to the fullest. A party sounded quite distracting...no, focus. You are following Taylor today, you can go to a party later, the Slyph told herself sternly.
It certainly wouldn't do to be too distracted around the other girl given what she could and frequently did do to demons, but sometimes it was just so hard to stay focused, especially when nothing fun was happening, she pouted. If she doesn't go somewhere fun now, I'm going to just stop watching her and go home. Sophia and Aurora have come to town to visit and they at least knew how to have fun.
Sighing, the slyph blew lightly into the air to send an errant strand of hair out of her eyes and then followed the Slayer skipping lightly through the hall with graceful almost dancing steps.
Taylor didn't spend any points on equipment, and so doesn't appear to have a car; if you want her to have one, you'll need to find a few points somewhere.
OOC
Good point. We can say she's heading to the bus stop, which is in the parking lot.
On another note, does Taylor's slayer sense note a demon tagging around her, or does she consciously have to look for one to notice it?
Riley take out a small bag of candy out of his pocket and grabs one, putting back the bag where it was. It remove the paper from the candy. As he do that "What do you think." he asks Kelly "Do we have a fan of Anne Rice on the run?"
Riley knew better, but he wanted to know more about what Kelly was thinking. Sometimes perception can be distort, but she could have a lead in front of her and not even knowing it because she was blind to a world she wasn't aware. A world Riley had dive into it not long time ago.
OOC
I would say Riley have met everyone, but is not fully aware of the nature of everyone.
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Good point. We can say she's heading to the bus stop, which is in the parking lot.
On another note, does Taylor's slayer sense note a demon tagging around her, or does she consciously have to look for one to notice it?
OOC
FWIW, most of San Diego is quite difficult to get around in via public transportation; I imagine James normally drives. The area you're in now is something of an exception, though, largely because of UCSD and the tourist traffic. You can catch a bus from UCSD to Scripps Hospital without too much trouble. Or even walk; it's not far, especially for a slayer.
As for your demon sense, I'm going to say you get a vague low-level sense without actively looking, but you need to concentrate to pinpoint it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Velmont
Riley take out a small bag of candy out of his pocket and grabs one, putting back the bag where it was. It remove the paper from the candy. As he do that "What do you think." he asks Kelly "Do we have a fan of Anne Rice on the run?"
"Not unless she's got a friend. Tox screens came back on our first two -- no illegal drugs, some alcohol, but below the legal limit -- and you've seen the files on the first three, or at least what the Navy was willing to release. I'll send you the fourth when I get it, but the executive summary is the same."
He had seen the files. They all had excellent records as far as he could see, including at least one combat tour -- and rather large sections of their records blocked out as classified. All had advanced unarmed combat training -- a rather rare thing in the Navy. Not the kind of fellows vampires grabbed for a casual snack, Riley thought; they were far too likely to put up a fight.
"Washington really wants an answer -- and it's not because one of them was some insider's kid, either. I'm getting an odd vibe on this."
Gavin sighed. This was probably the only college girl he'd met who wasn't a texting fiend. Well, at least he'd passed the message along. Let the people made for hitting things hit things, he thought.
He felt instantly guilty about the thought. Thinking the Slayer was just a blunt weapon was the same as assuming he was nothing more than the hungry demon his blood would indicate. People got to be more than their component parts; that's what made them people. Gavin decided it was time he tried living up to that.
My shift's over in half an hour. Shouldn't have much problem getting you in.
It didn't take long for a bus to arrive at the parking lot nearest to her classroom, or for that bus to get to Scripps, but Taylor still thought to herself she could have got there faster if she went full-on Slayer and ran. She couldn't outrun an elite sprinter over 100 meters, but at long distances... well, Slayer endurance helped a lot.
Taylor arrived at the hospital only a little before Gavin's shift ended.
"OK. If I get out of that fog, I'll make a sign to you." replies Riley. He then wait a moment. He spot Gavin texting someone. He wait for him to finish before asking him. "You're the one who have carried the corpse here I guess. I have a few routine question. Let's get some coffee at the same time."
Riley lead the way out of the room to Gavin. Once both are out of ear range of Kelly, he tells. "The one who did it is not an average of his kind. We are talking about a fully train Navy soldier, even maybe some commando guys. Hard to tell as the Navy hide us some data on there standing in the Navy and past assignment. But one things is sure, those guys could have defended themselves and none of them seems to have any serious wound except the vampire bite. Who can turn fully trained soldier into sheep?"
__________________ Living ENWorld di Senzio's Magical Shop, the best place to buy and sell magical items in Orussus
Watching the Slayer get on the bus gave Gale a problem. It was one thing to be in a crowded lecture hall where she could sit in the back, but quite another to get in a bus with her since seeing her so many places would tell Taylor something strange was going on. Besides, buses were slow and stinky. It would be a challenge to do it in San Diego without being seen, but well, challenges were good Gale decided.
Reaching out with her senses, she brushed up against the closest breeze and used her abilities to harness it, to shape it to her whim, sending it swirling in the opposite direction. The Slyph smiled at the pure joy of being wrapped in air, being so light that it released her from gravity, granting total freedom to go wherever she wanted. Grinning to herself, the pixie-like little demon told the wind to take her up, up to the clouds so that she could follow along above the Slayer's bus up and out of sight where the very few humans who ever bothered to look up would be convinced she was just a figment.
Eventually the bus let the Slayer out, and Gale dismissed the wind gradually until it carried her down to a light landing in the shadow of the parking garage. What could the slayer possibly be doing in the hospital? Could she have family here? No, that wasn't right, Gale would have noticed that. It must be a lead on some kind of beastie. A beastie meant a fight, and that meant interesting, Gale thought, congratulating herself on her stick-to-it-iveness. None of the other Slyphs could have done it, stayed on one thought for a few weeks, and it really was paying off.
Gale followed the slayer into the public building, doing her best to remain inconspicuous as she tried to figure out what had drawn the girl's interest. (Stealth +5, Notice +7)
I saw that. Hope you get better soon. Really hope you don't have the headache / sore throat / cough / sinus pain crud that laid me out for a week earlier this month.
James
Del Mar, California
As usual, finding parking along Highyway 101 in Del Mar was a bit difficult, and nearly took more time than getting there. Vin was in the back corner of the outdoor area, sipping a Margarita when James arrived, wearing a long but light and loose coat that was a little too warm for early fall in San Diego, but not enough to get commented on.
"So, the girl." Vin said.
"I don't know much about her, but what I do know is bad news. About ten years ago one of the local vampires decided a cute schoolgirl would make a nice snack, then decided she was pretty enough to turn into a playmate. A month later he was dust, she was running his gang, and getting friendly with Wolfram & Hart lawyers. These days she's an assassin, which was probably why your other contacts dried up. A good one, too; if she left bodies lying around, then she meant to. She calls herself Li; I don't know if that was the name she was born with or not.
"Me, I figure someone didn't realize how much trouble killing sailors would cause in this town. I'm thinking if it goes on long enough, we'll end up swarmed with those government lunatics that were in Sunnydale a few years back, and that didn't turn out well for anybody."
There's something that's been bugging you since you saw the first picture of your suspect that the sketch artist put together. You're not sure what, though.
"The one who did it is not an average of his kind. We are talking about a fully train Navy soldier, even maybe some commando guys. Hard to tell as the Navy hide us some data on there standing in the Navy and past assignment. But one things is sure, those guys could have defended themselves and none of them seems to have any serious wound except the vampire bite. Who can turn fully trained soldier into sheep?"
Gavin frowns.
"No idea, though the thought's sure as heck shivver-worthy. I know Taylor's coming to check out the body, not sure if James will be with her. He'd be the one who might be able to say if there's a special vamp he knows about."
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