Story Preview #2: The Descent
A/N: Song of inspiration for this chapter is Me and the Devil by SoapSkin. Also, SPOILER WARNING - if you cared about that, even though the story hasn't released yet.
Water dripped in the halfway of the sewer base where Tobias resided, a usual occurrence due to the location he chose. He sat at his large desk, multiple monitors laid out in a grid format covered most of the wall within his view. An alert went off on one of his monitors - the one used to track things related to the council and all acknowledged in the area. He frowned as he pulled up the feed on his main monitor. He watched for a moment, brow furred as he was unsure what exactly was happening. He double-clicked his mouse as he brought up the live-feed of the location he received the alert on. After another few moments and a few more clicks, his hand froze and his eyes went wide.
"Shite…" He whispered at first, but then grew more aggressive as he typed furiously. "Shite, shite shite, shite!"
He stopped everything he was doing, his hand shaking as he reached for his encrypted phone. He paused as his hand floated over the speed-dial before hitting the number. It picked up on the first ring.
"Doctor O'Broin speaking." Answered the pleasantly Irish voice of the Malkavian Primogen.
"Hey there, princess. I got some news you ain't gonna like…" Tobias said in a shaky voice without missing a beat.
"Toby? Is everything all right? I thought I've told you to call me by my title. You sound more like an old Scotsman than usual." She joked.
"Not the time, lass." He scoffed out. Faolan paused on the other end.
"Where do you want to meet?" She responded, consent evident.
"I… don't think that's a good idea." He continued. Another pause on the other end.
"Tell me." She said firmly. He nodded to himself as encouragement.
"It's about your wards, the ones at the retirement home…"
...
David walked around the corner of the twisted limestone alley, paused as he quickly scanned the area. His eyes landed on his least favourite undead, who sat perched up on the wall staring off at the city below. Her strawberry-blonde hair and tan trenchcoat blew in the cold breeze of the frigid Kingston winter, though she felt none of it. He continued forward with an annoyed sigh.
"I'm tired of your games, Dr. O'Broin. I have better things to do than meet in alleys for a secret love-trysts you seem insistent on starting." He called out to her, making his annoyance prevalent in his voice and posture. Faolan turned swivelled around and jumped down from the wall with the grace of a dancer. When she stood up, her emotionless eyes met his annoyed ones - causing him to falter for just a moment before he recovered with a cough.
"Why am I here, professor?" He called to her since she had not moved from where she jumped down to, and he refused to get closer to her. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat as she stared at him, searching his eyes for something. For what, he had no idea.
"My family is dead." She said coldly. David frowned in response, confused.
"Yes, as are mine. Long dead. So what?" He shrugged, his own hands still in his pockets. Faolan shook her head, rolling her eyes in response.
"My children were killed." She continued to speak in a flat voice.
"Once again, I'm not sure how that is of any import-" He started before she cut him off.
"A few hours ago, a group of unknown assailants broke into the Kingston Apartment for Retiree's, an assisted living residence. A residence where my two retired children were currently residing." She started, eyes staring straight into his.
"... I'm sorry for your loss. But what has this got to do with me?" His confused voice becoming annoyed. She sighed in response.
"The group made themselves look like they were targeting knick-knacks of value, pocket money and anything of value in the administration office. Though the assailants seemed to go through personal files on the admin's computer - searching specifically for my children's name."
"How-"
"Toby had an alert set-up for precaution. The alert notified him first of the alarm that was triggered, and then of the keywords searched on staff computers. When he brought up the feed after receiving the alert, he saw it all happen live on their security cameras." She paused to catch her breath, a shaky sigh escaped her lips.
"He said they went straight for my children's rooms, killed them immediately, and then killed whoever witnessed. Afterwards, they rummaged through the room, took things that were sentimental to my children, purposely made a mess of the place then even followed up with randomly throwing or kicking items in other rooms to make it look randomized."
"What-"
"It was a targeted incident with highly skilled individuals with specialized weapons in matching outfits." She spat at him. He stared at her for a few long moments in silence.
"You aren't suggesting that the hunters were behind this, are you? Last time I checked, your children are human."
"The footage that Toby saw matches everything we've been investigating recently - the large organized group of radical hunters destroying anything linked to us."
"You shouldn't have brought them here," David replied. She gave out an exasperated gasp in response.
"My children were murdered!" She cried out.
"I don't know what you expect me to do about something that has already passed relating to humans."
"My children are related to ME!"
"Seem's like you're the issue then."
"You're the fucking sheriff! Do something!"
"What exactly do you expect me to do?"
"Help me!" She cried out, stumbling forward. She reached out her shaky hand to him and whispered in desperation. "David, please. Help me."
David stared her down, his stoic face remained unweathered. He watched as Faolan's expression grew more desperate as if she could no longer breath - like someone was drowning her. The madness was overcoming her - like all her kind. Of course, she would be of no exception.
"Let it go, O'Broin." He replied, strictly.
"Ha…" She gasped out a laugh from shock. "What…?"
"Let. It. Go." He rescinded in slow, acid-filled words. "You're a Primogen, grow-up. Don't bring us into a war over human issues."
A sob-like-moan escaped her mouth as she took a few more steps forward, falling to her knees before him and grabbing his wrist.
"David…" She cried out again, "... please!"
He pulled back in disgusts, shaking her hand off of him.
"I don't believe I allowed you to touch me… Whatever. If that's all you wanted to discuss, we're done here. Leave it be, we can't risk them finding us. We've lost enough people as it is." He said coldly, turning his back on the woman in the snow as the wind howled - as if to cover the grief-filled screams that flew from her mouth, tears staining her face.
"Princess..." Tobias said in concern as he emerged from his showed position that hid him from the view of the sheriff.
"Primogen or doctor, choose my proper titles". She sniffled as she pushed herself off of her knees, brushed herself off as she straightened her posture.
"You're not primogen for much longer if you go through with what I think you're gonna do, fairy."
"That's of no importance." She replied firmly, wiping her face aggressively.
"The Sherif will take you out." His thick accent deepened with his warning.
"I've been waiting for some one-on-one time with him." She spat out in retort.
"Not in a good way..." Tobias tilted his head, his grey hair falling into his face.
"I know..." She finally looked him in the eyes "but does it look like I care right now?"
Tobias stared into her red eyes, noting her sanity barely managing to hold on.
"You'll be staked... Or worse." He stressed to her once again.
"I'm a Malkavian - the ending is always the 'or worse' option." She shrugged back.
"Weren't you working to make things better for the malks?"
"Tell them I'm sorry." She joked, dryly.
"I honestly think you're the only one that cared. The malks won't notice a difference."
"Ha..." She laughed out a sigh in admittance.
"Don't do this..." He begged, his hand reached out and landed on her shoulder.
"The others are cowards, they never act on anything." She growled.
"The council? They are just trying to protect us-"
"You don't actually believe that, that's why you came to me."
"..." They both stared at each other in complete silence, the wind blowing violently around them.
"Ahaha..." She dryly chuckled. "You seem to be under the impression I'm going to live through this transgression."
"..."
"Your silence is deafening. Don't worry. There's no one that will miss me. No one that'll act out for my sake - I made sure of it."
"I wasn't worried." He responded flatly, staring down at her with a stoic face, his wrinkles showing his age.
"You never are." She smiled with no emotion in her eyes, reaching out and patting his arm. "Don't give yourself a heart attack - you're a young man after all."
"Ha!" He laughed loudly and waved down to his elderly body. "Do I look young to you, lass? Besides, I need a beating heart to have anything like a heart attack."
"It's the whole motion of the ocean!" She gasped out, rocking her hips like she was a wave. Tobias shook his head, at a loss for words.
"Bloody crazy malks never making a lick of sense."
"Well, guess I gotta go be the true crazy me and walk next to the devil." She said as she stared off into the distance, nodding to herself.
"Are you… sane right now, fairy?"
"Hmm… Hard to tell. I'm ludic, though."
"That's not quite the indicator I was looking for..."
"I hear them."
"... Hear who, lass?"
"All of them. More than before. I must be on the verge of my descent into madness." She laughed to herself. "Hearing all this nonsense at once is enough to make anyone go crazy."
"I don't wish to stick around for any malk-gone-batshite."
"You don't have to, just text me the address they went to. I'll deal with it - all of it."
"Already did love."
"Awe, how sweet of you. Too bad I won't survive this, you were exactly my type."
"You said the same about the sheriff…" He groaned, his hand sliding down his face in frustration.
"That was a means to an end, a strategy that I lost the odds on. David wasn't even my type - besides, I despise military men like him. Power moves can go fuck themselves. Cold bastard."
"How is an old man like me your type?!" He cried out, confused and disturbed.
"Age is just a number when you live forever, Toby. If you work out the years lived, we're around the same age." She attempted to smile warmly. "I do love men like you. Crazy men who take action, who are more than just a mannequin. Besides, I like the salt and pepper look. Very foxy."
"There's nothing 'foxy' about me. Stop it."
"Gotta get it all out now, ya know?"
"..."
"What?"
"Come 'ere, fairy." He held out his arms open. She smiled.
"Naw, I don't think so. I won't fall for that. You suck at seduction."
"Damn… Worth a shot to top ya." He grumbled.
"My minds set, Toby. Thank you for everything." She nodded as she turned around and started to walk away. Tobias took out his phone and quickly texted the address to Faolan before flipping his phone shut and watching as she quickly threw her hand up in a wave - not once looking back.
"Love… ha. As if I was ever lucky enough to not-lose someone I cared about." He grumbled before turning away himself to head back to his den.
Alarms blazed in the guard room of the armoured warehouse. The security personal frantically scanned the screens, radios blasting, as they attempted to track whatever threat dared their facility. One of the guards found an intruder on one of the screens, jumping onto the radio to inform all available personnel of the trespasser's location. He stared at the screen in confusion, only seeing one intruder no matter which screen he looked at.
He watched as a squad ran around to the corner of the hallway the single person was walking down, unarmed. He watched as the guards screamed something at the person, and yet they kept walking forward. The squad fired, and the person momentarily disappeared from the screen. When they reappeared behind the squad, and closer to the camera, the guard gasped as he saw a woman of average height hold one of the guards by their neck before wiping their body into the wall.
She pushed through, shredding all in front of her as bullets fired everywhere in sheer panic. The security-room guard screamed over the radio for back-up. More rounded the corner, more bullets fired - and still she continued talking out all in her way like a wild beast. The guard hit the emergency button for the specialized unit. As she made her way to the center of the building, she was met with hundreds of heavily armed guards - and a wicked smile met her lips.
She flew forward, attempting to take every single person to hell with her. Traps, grenades, bullets and heavy weapons were all fired at her one after another. She made her way through the large open room, taking hundreds of guards out of existence before she began to slow down drastically.
Heavily armoured specialized guards met her in the middle, where she heaved heavily looking around at all she had left to deal with. They all had melee weapons - vampire killers. She smiled to herself once again as she charged with no hesitation. They all rushed her, and her body disappeared into the crowd. After a while, some of the bodies moved and parted. They slowly all backed up and waited, staring into the pile of bodies and gore in the middle.
When nothing moved after a while, one of the surviving guards moved forward and dug through the bodies. He eventually pulled out the carved-up body of the female intruder. After a few checks and scans, he nodded to the others and they all began their rescue and clean-up at confirmation of her death. The guards in the security room sighed in relief, patting each other on their backs.
...
Back in the sewer den, Dobs the brown bear, growled over the chair that his blood bond master worked from, sensing his discomfort. Tobias, who watched the ordeal from the hacked security footage from his den, sighed as he placed his face in his hands upon confirming the body of Faolan on his screen. He remained there for a few long moments before he stood up, turned off his computer, and walked away from his desk and into the sewer - his creature following after him, throwing one last look at the device behind him that gave his master such anxiety.
A/N: Thank you and I hope you enjoyed it.
