What Happens in Vegas… is Heard by the Mafia
Seth's many names had gotten him into trouble before but never like this; this wasn't someone harmlessly confused, this was serious. The thugs surrounded him six-to-one and though he was taller than some but the sheer strength of these guys practically radiated off them in waves. The menace in the air was choking and there was nobody around to witness it. Basically he was well and truly fucked… and not in the fun way.
"Machiavelli sends his regards," the guy directly in front of Seth said ominously. Seth didn't have a chance to duck as the fist flew towards him. Not that it would have mattered. He hit the ground with a thud, instantly unconscious, and didn't move a muscle as the guys lifted him into the back of a black van.
Back in the apartment, Tristan, Seth's friend and roommate, waited impatiently, silently worrying. Seth had been gone since he woke up and the apartment disrupted. Tristan had called the cops but this was Vegas and a missing 20 year old, who'd been gone less than 3 hours was not on their list of priorities. Tristan paced the apartment once more before he decided he couldn't just wait it out until Seth was officially missing. He needed to act now. Before it was too late.
It was way too late to be online but Jazz couldn't sleep – well she could have, but Seth had promised he'd be on and she damn well wasn't leaving without speaking to him. She rubbed at her tired eyes ineffectually and took a sip of coffee, feeling the comforting buzz of caffeine fill her veins. She blinked and squinted at the screen. Is it…? Yes! Seth!
She restrained herself, with difficulty, to prevent her freezing his computer and was almost overwhelmed with joy when the IM finally came. Until… it wasn't Seth. Jazz frowned over the IM from Tristan, her mind a whirling mass of confusion and fear. What had happened to Seth? She quickly started a chat surprising the rest of the Purple Mafia, after she'd turned down a request earlier.
"Seth's missing!!!" she typed at them furiously, her eyes stinging with the urge to cry, "He went missing in Vegas, possibly kidnapped!"
The Purple Mafia froze in shock and horror at the news, each of them throwing out wild and impossible suggestions. Until, of course, Jazz stunned them all into silence with a brief, "I'm going to Vegas." After that it was no longer a question of what to do than how to get there.
Bekki took the money she's been saving for university and moving out of home and bought a plane ticket straight there, withdrawing the savings her father had accumulated for her (which she was sworn not to touch under threat of disownment). Erin rented a car and made a road trip/ car pool, collecting Clare and Lenni on the way. Helen wanted to come but Clare chained her to her computer chair with fluffy pink handcuffs and gagged her with a feather duster. Clare dressed her in a maids' outfit too but Erin couldn't work out what purpose that was meant to serve and didn't dare to ask.
"Sin City is no place for a impressionable young teen," she said, to which Lenni deftly replied, "Then why the hell are you coming," which did much to silence Clare for the rest of the journey – a good thing since Erin and Lenni couldn't take much more of her squeeing and shipping and general psychopathic insanity.
Jazz had easily explained to her parents that one of the colleges in America was demanding an interview and that she just had to go. They didn't need to know where exactly her flight touched down and she managed to reach Las Vegas before everyone. Not that it did her much good, as she was too distraught to do much more than search the apartment for clues that were obviously not there.
It wasn't until Bekki arrived that she managed to calm down – by getting absolutely wasted after Bekki so caringly spiked her drink with delicious Apple Vodka. Erin and Clare stumbled upon the scene, Bekki and Jazz sobbing hysterically on one another's shoulder, while Lenni shoved and stabbed her way through to see what had the other two staring.
Tristan stood helplessly by the door to the bedroom where he seemed to be guarding the alcohol that had either been provided by the hotel or Bekki had brought with her. Erin wondered idly how the Aussie had bought the alcohol underage and smuggled it into another country where she was even more underage before she snapped out of her musings and pulled the two drunks up. She shoved Bekki to Clare and took Jazz heading for the bathroom. It was time they sobered up and fast.
Bekki sat on the kitchen counter with remarkable ease, considering she could barely stand, and guzzled several liters of water that Clare kept giving her. Meanwhile Jazz – the more intoxicated of the two – was having her head pushed under the icy cold jet of water from the shower.
"Y'know, Clare," Bekki slurred, "Jazz is in the bathroom and alcohol makes you need to pee more."
Clare blinked, the glass she held under the kitchen tap overflowing as she realized just how much water Bekki had drunk and considered how much alcohol must have been consumed before that. Bekki grinned and slipped off the bench, making her stumbling way towards the bathroom.
"Oh no, you don't," Clare said, catching her by the shoulder, "There's an ensuite in the other room," she told her.
Bekki shrugged amiably and grinned idiotically, "Where'd Lenni go?" she asked and Clare frowned, looking around. She finally thought to check the room where Tristan had been bringing their belongings to.
"LENNI GET THE FRICK OUT OF THAT BAG NOW!" she squealed, rushing forward and letting Bekki topple to the ground without a care.
"Hey don't damage the goods, Clare," Lenni shouted, glaring at the grinning Bekki staring up from the ground. "God, we are soo not starting the search for Seth today."
Clare nodded, surreptitiously going through her bags and glaring suspiciously at Lenni, "Yes, well we need a little time to regroup anyway. Tomorrow's a new day and that's when the Seth-search will begin!"