Keith
Crowe sees a portion of tunnel that he recognizes, and he manages to lead Paradox to the surface. She easily climbs the ladder, despite having Aeryn draped across her shoulders. Once topside, she gently sets him against the wall of the alley.

The alien’s eyes slowly open a little and he smiles slightly at the two of them. “What happened?” he asks in a strained voice. He touches the back of his head and his hand comes away covered in dark red-purple blood.

Manny
Izulu makes his way down the rest of the tunnel and comes out in another large space. Wolf and Zodiac have torn apart many of the smaller centipede demons.

Zodiac crunches down on the head of the last moving demon before she looks up at Izulu. “Did you kill the big one? Where is… everyone else?” she asks him.

Louis
Q&A
Detective Kreiger smiles. “That’s what they normally pick.” She gets up from her desk and makes her way to the back office and talk to the occupant before waving Louis in. “He’s gonna take over, if you don’t mind,” she says Louis. “I have a lot of work to catch up on.”

The glass next to the door is etched with the words, Detective Gabriel Varga.

Seated behind the desk is a Hispanic man with a short beard that Louis recognizes from the Volta Memorial. He nods to Louis and introduces himself as Kreiger leaves and closes the door behind her.

“You done some of these before, right?” Varga asks as he pulls out a small recorder that he sets on his desk.

OOC: Detective Varga gains Influence over Louis!

Back at the Hospital
Ryker looks over at Louis in confusion when he mentions the color shirt the hospital’s given him. “Why?”

He rubs the healed wound over his eye. “Mostly. I ain’t bleeding anymore, at least. Everything else is gonna take a little longer to heal. Snowblood’s great at her job, but she’s no angel.”

Iris puts her phone back in her purse. “Do you mind dropping me off at the Wendy’s a couple streets over?” she asks Louis quietly.

Double Date
Spoiler: Meanwhile: Across the Room
Show
Cassie pouts as Alex leads her to a table. His grip on her elbow is firm, but not hurtful. He was always very mindful of how much more delicate she was than the Kindred. She sits with her back to the band while Alex takes his seat across from her. She can tell that he wasn’t upset; he didn’t have that slight look of annoyance that she sometimes saw when he was speaking to some of his subordinates.

His gaze is heavy on her as he waits for her to say something. He would wait all night, she knew.

She fidgets, looking down at the table as she plays with a loose thread on her sleeve. Her indignation at having been dragged away slowly turns to embarrassment. “I didn’t know who she was, Alex,” she says finally. “I’m sorry.”

The vampire sighs as he leans back in his chair, crossing one ankle over his knee. He waves the waiter away as he comes up to take their order before he replies, “I know you didn’t realize who she was. But please, Cassie, you need to be careful. You know we are… territorial. While I can protect you from anyone else here, I would not want to fight Raphael. I’m very glad he didn’t take what happened as a challenge.”

She’d known that the other vampire she’d seen earlier was important, but she hadn’t realized that he was a match for Alex. It was a mistake that could’ve cost her life. She was still learning to navigate the politics and eccentricities of vampiric society and felt lucky that Alex had been exceedingly patient with her over the last few months.

Stella had drawn her over though. Cassie could feel that they shared something. She wasn’t sure what, but she had felt the need to go talk to the other woman. It was too bad those other young vampires had interrupted their conversation before Alex had come to scare them off.

“He doesn’t look like all that,” Cassie says in a small voice. She was more than a little abashed that she’d caused Alex any kind of embarrassment.

“He’s young,” Alex says, “but in terms of raw power he’s probably the strongest of us on the Eastern seaboard and he’s not bound to any Clan. As much as I don’t want to admit it, he’s dangerous. Miss von Stein is eager to have him on our side.”

Cassie swallows as her gaze returns to the table. It was an even greater mistake than she’d thought. The possibility of being able to repay the vampire for his generosity grew slimmer every time she had a mishap like this.

“You meant no harm,” Alex says gently as he watches her spiral downward. She knew if they’d been alone he would have reached out to take her hand to reassure her. “Just be more mindful in the future. Now, I’m sure you’re hungry. I believe Colleen is working tonight, and her lamb is always exceptional.”


“He’s always been my favorite,” Emi replies before she watches the vampire descend the stairs and make his way over to the bar and then take the other dark haired woman to a table. She shakes her head ever so slightly before she returns her attention to John.

I’m deciding to enjoy our date for now, Emi projects to John. We have some more to talk about after though.

“We can do the same characters if someone wants to,” she says. “They’ll just be palette swaps is all.”

Stella returns to the table with a tall glass full of dark liquid. “Thaddeus says hi,” she tells Raphael before she quickly glances up at where the vampire and Cassie have sat down. “That was… odd. He knew my name.”