Night's Omen

Cassandra was unhappy about the turnout. Several of the gorgeous historic houses in Greenwich had gone up, and they had an arson team on it at the moment, trying to determine how. She was having trouble notifying families at this point, as the registered addresses all didn't seem to add up properly. She figured it had been vampires, but she wasn't sure.

It wasn't until she recognized one of the last names that she sighed a little. "Gabe, I don't think we're going to find much, here," she said. She glanced down at her notepad, throat still chalky from inhaling the thick billows of smoke that she'd pulled up on. She thanked God the fire department had acted fast, but it still wasn't fast enough.

"I don't even know where to begin," she said.

If Cassandra was unhappy, it was nothing in comparison to Gabe.  By all rights, he was only there because she'd asked him to be.  Technically, the fire had destroyed any chance that he'd get a story from the victim's blood, and the fire department was talking 'smoke inhalation' as cause of death.  He wasn't so sure about that, but who was he to argue?

No blood.  Blood spatter expert had no say in the matter.

He'd seen the names as soon as he walked up, and one of them was pretty damn obviously supernatural.  Smoke.  Ironic, considering the fire, but definitely a witch.  That'd be great.  The witches were all going to be up in arms about this shit.

"Honestly, I can't do anything to help you argue a case against smoke inhalation, though I don't think that's how it happened.  Any blood traces went up in the fire, which was probably the point," he told her with a sigh and a shrug.  He was willing to bet that if they'd managed to stop the fire, he'd have found plenty of blood evidence.  He thought it was vampires, too.

"The girl who lived in that house," she said, gesturing to the house where a Witch had been, "has a next of kin. Matthew Smoke?" she said. She frowned a little. "A Smoke dying by smoke. Most of her house is charred anyways - I can't understand how this could have happened. Who would do this? Killing a Smoke Witch is... " she trailed off, unable to even explain the crime that it was comparable to. "Even accidentally, this is going to bring down some hard repercussions."

Cassandra fell quiet for a few more seconds. "I don't want to call him," she said with a sigh. "I guess I'll try to track down his address and do this directly. We'll need him to come and identify the body, but I don't... want to do this on the phone."

He couldn't blame her for not wanting to deal with the Smoke issue at ALL.  This was sure to be bad all around, in all honesty.  If the witches thought it was anything other than an accidental fire, which they weren't likely to believe, then there could be some serious trouble.  Who could have done it, though?

"If you can get his address, I'll go talk to him.  You can do more here than I can, after all," he told her, and it was the truth.  He could ask people questions and do some 'investigating' for only so long before someone realized he was a lab tech and not an actual detective.  He'd still snoop around for Cassandra, but it'd be easier for him to go talk to the witches.

It'd also be SO much fun.

Not.

"Is there really anything left to identify?" he asked her, actually somewhat surprised.  From what he'd heard, they'd been ID-ing the four bodies based on the house they were found in, and were probably going to double-check that with dental records.  If one of the bodies was in good enough shape for an actual family identification, then he should have been told.  He might be able to get something out of the blood in that house. 

IF there was blood in that house.  He wouldn't have been surprised if they were all killed in the same place, and put into their houses after the fact.

Dealing with Kit through this was going to be difficult.  Any bone damage not caused by fire, and that would probably kill the whole 'smoke inhalation' theory. 

"We're going to get the bodies to the lab, and Katherine is going to freak out. You might want to make sure there's no reason for them to get there," she said. Cassandra had just given Gabriel permission to muddle with paperwork, basically. "The girl is fine, as is the boy, but the two adults... just say it was a mistake on the report, the families were contacted, and nobody was home. Cross your fingers they buy it."

She seemingly agreed to stay, however gruesome the scene was, allowing him liberty to speak with the Smoke boy. "I don't know where you can find him, but this is his cellular number." She held out the piece of paper it was written on. "We managed to pull it from her phone, which she'd left in her car. She was an EMT, and a pretty good one, at that. It doesn't make sense that she'd have been in this on purpose, so it looks like she might have gotten involved on accident and whoever was here didn't care. There's only one person I know that could wield that command and not concern herself with consequences, and I'm praying to God that this didn't involve her and it was by some young, stupid vampires instead."

She didn't want to even whisper Jeshickah's name in the night air. Cassandra knew well her bloodline, and she knew what would happen if she were ever discovered.

Oh.  Wonderful.  This was going to be a blast.

Being vampires helped out with the cop business, especially since they had to avoid letting Kit get her hands on some of those bodies.  That meant there was violence involved, which made him wonder.  Cassandra's mention of 'her' and 'one person' didn't help his wondering, either.  He didn't say the vampiress' name himself, but they were on the same page.

"If it's her, we're not going to be able to do a damn thing about it, but the witches will find out on their own," he pointed out.  He didn't know that they could DO anything, but if they found a way...God, they could have a damn war on their hands.  "This is going to be a Goddamn mess, I just see it coming," he muttered, taking the phone number and shoving it in his pocket.  He'd call the kid after he went and schmoozed whoever he had to in order to get the paperwork and make sure it was 'properly handled'. 

Why did all of this just feel like the beginning?

"Alright," she said, giving his shoulder a firm grasp of confidence for a moment. Exchanges like that weren't uncommon for Cassandra when she was in a bad situation - she was a person who enjoyed the comfort of others when she could. She knew Gabriel well enough to know the good and the bad, but when he wanted to be valiant, he could - she would take what she got.

"I'm going to tend to this mess. I'm cutting you loose now, go ahead and go deal with it. Use whatever power you have to to make sure that this stays strictly accidental. I'm going to go over there and hypnotize my entire staff to believe this was caused by accident, starting with the arson specialist over there who keeps digging through the rubble of the first house."

She released him just as quickly, and turned, long black hair swinging in loose curls behind her. It had been pulled up in haste, and was already coming unwound from the clip she'd tried to shove it into. Cassandra didn't often find herself out late at night like this, but she was lucky that other vampires on the force recognized.... this... when they saw it.

He stayed put when she grasped his shoulder like that, mostly because he wouldn't deny her the comfort she wanted from him, though he couldn't exactly do all that much to return it.  It wasn't like a touch on the shoulder was all that much for anyone to see, so they were fine.  He'd have hugged her if he'd have thought he could get away with it, but that was hardly possible.  Instead, he pulled a smile for her and nodded as she  started off.

It took him over an hour to get paperwork pulled and 'edited', even if it shouldn't have.  People were being far too difficult on this one, like they really thought they were 'on to something'.  They were, but nothing like what they thought.  He eventually managed, and finally got onto the phone to set up a meeting with the Smoke witch.  It wasn't until he was on his way to meet the guy that he thought about just how bad this might look.

A vampire coming to tell the guy that his sister was dead, potentially by vampires.  Hah.  He'd be lucky if he didn't get jumped by a zillion Vidas.  That would suck.  He was going to try avoiding the 'vampire' bit, at least until he had a grip on who he was dealing with.  Most Smokes weren't so bad, but he'd heard stories of one that was crazy.

((Kinda Rusty, but have a fairly good connection now...so I'm mainly back!))

Elliot's characteristic grin was NOT on his face when pulled up at the scene of the arson. Given the recent apartment building fire caused by a vampire battle, Elliot was trying to get the jump on this one and see what sort of legal dance he was going to have to do to help explain away the immortal "victims" if any, of this fire. Of all his work at Single Earth, being the head legal consultant and police contact were his least favorite duties. When he found the two officer's that seemed to be in charge of the scene he was relieved, at least they might know whats really going on.

"Hello Sergent, Its a shame we have to keep meeting under circumstances like this. Is any of this related to that fire that leveled that apartment complex a while back or is this something new? And for the love of God please tell me none of this had anything to do with Us?"

And of course by Us he meant Single Earth. They were pacifists but sometimes some members got involved in things that perhaps they should have avoided. He knew they were supposed to be some Smokes that lived in this area..surely they weren't targets..who would want to kill a smoke?

As Gabriel departed, Cassandra was faced with yet another inevitable conversation. "Mr. Dantes," she said, nodding her head. She didn't agree with a lot of SE's policies, mostly because this simply proved that coexistence was almost impossible, even between her own species - and she was not a pacifist. Her bloodline may be in constant danger, but she was strong.

"I don't think so," she said, blinking nonchalantly as the press began to arrive. "That was determined to be a mistake - faulty wiring." She glanced up as the other officers held them back, and looked Dantes directly in the eye. "This would be best discussed elsewhere, sir. Right now it's inconclusive what exactly occurred here. I hope to have something more for you at a later date in time," she said, picking up her pace to try and avoid the media. She needed to get her shit together before she made any statements, although Cassandra was smooth at lying.

Regretfully, I can't speak any more on the matter publicly. I'm sure I will be at the Ramsa Center of Single Earth later tonight to accompany my other officer in dealing with the Smoke boy - perhaps we can meet there.. She projected the thoughts very clearly into his mind, a glance over her shoulder as another fireman came to join her side, giving her more information.

Elliot sighed as he glimpsed the approaching press. He did his best to avoid them. Thankfully Single Earth had some spokes people, and he was not one of them. The faulty wiring report on the other fire was a great relief to Elliot. He had already been doing preliminary research in case the apartment complex brought arson charges against the poor girl that Priest had attacked.

Ramsa...and the Smoke boy? So the Smoke living in this area had been killed. That was not good at all. Elliot frowned at the thought. The Smokes were a good line of people, and targeting one of them like this made even a Single Earth pacifist like Elliot angry. He was more inclined than most members to turn his head to violence, and he sincerely hoped that Bruja or the other Macht lines took serious revenge on who ever was to blame for this.

"I'll see you later then officer, I have some paperwork to catch up on there anyway..and of course if you need any help with breaking the news....well, I'll be around if you need me."

He gave a slight wave, the tight frown still upon his face...things were getting strange in the city, he could feel it. First the murdering Priest that was still on the loose, now a historic district gets torched and a Smoke witch was murdered..something big and bad was brewing, Elliot could almost feel the tension in the city. Something in the immortal world seemed about to explode.