Night's Omen

Prompt List

• Mirror
• Autumn
• Break
• Stuffed Animal
• Stars
• Breathe
• Gray
• Influence
• Breaking the Rules
• Luck

Mirror

This thread takes place in the present.

Katherine crept around the corner, trying to avoid the Eye. It was what she'd taken to calling her bathroom mirror, or any mirror, for that matter, because they had become some sort of All-Seeing, All-Knowing things that reminded her of what she was, and what she'd never be again. She wrapped her towel firmly around herself, brave enough to enter her bathroom again only because of the steam that covered her mirror.

Could she blame Gabriel for saving her life? No. She imagined that she'd have done the same thing in his position.

Could she hate him for a while? Absolutely.

She picked up a wide-toothed comb and began attempting to deal with her long, dark hair. Normally, her arms and legs would get tired, so she'd sit down on the lid of her toilet to do all this and the blowdrying, but now she didn't get tired. She didn't get tired, she rarely slept, and she didn't dream.

He'd stolen her dreams.

She gritted her teeth as she snapped her comb, the sheer force of her hand too much for the small plastic device. With an irritated noise, she threw it in the trash can, and pulled another from her sink drawer. The mirror was starting to lose its foggy disposition, and Katherine caught a glimpse of herself.

She'd never imagined she'd hate perfection so much.

Autumn

This thread takes place in the past.

  Detective Summers had always had a knack for unsolved murders. Here in Central Park, home to dozens of homicides over the months, she knelt down in the cold dirt, gloved hand splayed out across a patch of earth that had small numbers stuck by it, indicating the points at which they found their latest victim.

  "October Sixteenth, eight twenty-four AM," she said into her little voice recorder, holding it up to her mouth with her free hand, eyes sliding to glance at her watch. "At the site of where Emily Graves' body was found two days prior. Forensics has me out looking for anything that the officers might have missed. Korakas and DeMortei are a few feet away with another team, taking more photographs. Me, I'm here in the dirt, as usual."

  Katherine stood and moved a little closer in to where the body was found, careful not to touch anything. She glanced around, surprised that the crowd of people from when the body had originally been found had died down so quickly. Usually when a body was found in Central Park, droves of people came to gawk - she supposed that since this girl was no more than a teen runaway and a local hook, the crowds found themselves in their warm offices and beds that chilly October morning. Golden and red leaves dotted the ground near where Emily's body had been found, though most of them had been cleared aside as people came in to set up and collect evidence.

  Katherine was mesmerized by the colours as sunlight burst through the treetops, the canopy suddenly becoming alive and on fire as multi-faceted visions of oranges, reds and yellows played in a prismatic scene above her. She took a step back, wondering if it would be inappropriate to snap a photo of such beauty, when she stumbled over a large boulder and landed on her backside in such a pile of leaves. Up close, of course, they were dirty and wet, damp with earth and bugs. As she sat up to collect her bearings, Detective Korakas came over to see what had happened. When she offered a hand out, Katherine took it, picking leaves off of her black wool coat.

  "Totally spaced. I can't find anything, though. Have you?" she asked the pale detective, concentrating on pulling leaves off of herself rather than let Tanith see her embarrassment. As the woman began to answer Katherine, her focus zeroed in on something else. She slowly removed a golden leaf off of her arm, and held it up to the light. There was blood on it, and it was at least four or five feet from where the body was found. It didn't match up with the drag marks, either.

  "I need to get this bagged and taken to the lab right now," she said, interrupting Tanith. With any luck, their girl had wounded her assailant and he or she had unknowingly bled on the leaf Katherine was now holding between her fingers. "We might have hit the jackpot."

Break

This thread takes place in the present.

Katherine sat in the break room of the precinct, coffee mug wrapped in her hand as she flipped with her other through the morning paper. The sound of the paper turning was almost agonizingly loud, but she was learning to tune it out, or at least tone it down to a more reasonable level. She'd not had much help on the matter, though it wasn't for Gabriel's lack of trying - she was giving him the silent treatment. She'd figured out how to block him out of her head, at least - now that she saw how easily the thoughts of humans were read, she was mad all over again at how much he must've been reading her own mind.

  She didn't know why she'd even gotten a cup of coffee, honestly. It was so strong that she'd had to dilute it with almost a half-gallon of creamer and sugar, and then it wasn't really coffee anymore. Even still, she didn't need it, and it pissed her off to think of how the other Supernaturals in the department (which she'd learned there were a lot of, by the way), drank it when she doubted anyone really liked the taste. It didn't do anything for them. Didn't invigorate them, wake them up, nothing. It was nasty crap-flavoured liquid that gave you bad breath and yet everyone there who was abnormal drank it to seem normal.

  With a disgusted noise, Katherine stood up and flung the remnants of the liquid into the sink, giving the cup a quick swish with some clean water from the faucet (and now that she was a vampire, even "clean" was a suspicious word - tap water tasted absolutely heinous to her now, good thing she didn't have to eat or drink anything anymore - except blood, anyways) and then set it up to dry. Her break was officially ruined just by thinking about simple things and how she'd never be able to enjoy them anymore because she was not as blissfully unaware as she'd used to be.

Stuffed Animal

This thread takes place in the past.

  Carefully, Wally had his mother help him wrap the gift he had chosen for his little sister. He was old enough to wrap presents on his own, but this was very important to him, and so the twenty-one year old had come home from college instead of mailing it, cornering his mother in the early afternoon when his fourteen year old sister Katherine was at school, in order for her to help him. His mother had initially laughed when he'd presented the 'gift', which was actually a small series of gifts: hard to find legal textbooks he'd come across at school, an introductory guide to law enforcement, and the crown jewel - a teddy bear dressed as Colombo. Katherine was into murder mystery and law, especially given her background, so it was no surprise.

  On Christmas Eve, Wally carefully sneaked downstairs while everyone was asleep, placing the Inspector Bear in her stocking. Katherine had long since dismissed the idea of a Santa Claus, so he knew that while she may have still been awake, she wasn't going to come barreling down the stairs to see what someone was doing. He had never really gotten in to holidays in the past, but his sister had begun to take an interest in his studies and in the family tradition of law more recently, and he was trying to encourage her without being terribly overbearing. He surveyed the presents beneath the tree, satisfied that they'd gotten her enough clothing and gift certificates to make up for the fact that he'd completely geeked her out on Christmas.

  The bear now resides on the desk of Forensic Pathologist Katherine Summers, who is currently at the top of her class at NYU and has demonstrated exceptional prowess and ability in the field and in the lab of the New York Police Department.

Stars

This thread takes place in the past.

  "Drinks and dancing. It will be fun," she said, leaning on Gabriel's desk. He pushed his glasses up and stared at her with a doubtful sort of look. "Come ON," she pleaded.

  Two hours later, they were at a hot spot in the city, surrounded by a few other of their coworkers, and lots of random people. There was a murmur through the crowd, and Katherine suddenly clamped down on Gabriel's arm. "Oh my God, look over there!" she squealed.

  "What? Where?" he squawked, almost spilling the gin and tonic he'd finally bought after feeling awkward standing at a martini bar with no drink in his hands.

  Katherine was clinging to him, practically jumping up and down in place. "Do you see those people at that table over there?" she asked, pointing wildly.

  "...yeees..." he trailed slowly. "Do you know them?" God. He hoped it wasn't family. He'd have to meet them. Not that he didn't want to get to know Kat, but... he really didn't want to get to know her. He liked what he knew, and that was trouble enough.

  "Yes! And you do, too! That's Rachel Bilson. And the guy she's sitting across from? That's Josh Hartnett! How do you NOT recognize them?" she demanded. She took a swig of her martini (a very large swig) and slammed it down. "I'm going to get their autograph. I've lived in New York for years now, and I've never seen any stars before this moment. This is so great! My mom is going to flip out when I call her and tell her!"

  "Okay, I know who Hartnett is, but who is.. Rachel Bilson?" he asked. Kat didn't often make him feel socially stupid, but she was doing pretty good right then. Pop Culture was not his thing.

  "She was, er, IS on the OC. You know, that show about the rich teenagers in California? Oh, she plays Summer. She's soooo cute! People used to say I look like her, but she's way prettier," she gushed. "I'm going over there. Be right back!"

  Gabriel stood stiffly as she thrust her purse into his hands and rushed off in between chairs.

Breathe

This thread takes place in the present.

  "God, I keep forgetting to breathe!" Kat exclaimed. She tossed her notepad over her head, hearing it land in the back of Bishop's patrol car. The woman raised an eyebrow at her, and Kat shrugged. "What? Oh, come on. How did you figure out life after wolf-dome?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes. She took offense to the critical gaze of the other petite brunette.

  "Kat, I know it's difficult. I didn't cope well at all, honestly. My husband still doesn't know. It was hard at first, but you learn to deal with it," she said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. Rina was known for being firm, but sometimes she couldn't let another coworker just hang themselves, at least not without trying to talk them down, first.

  Katherine groaned. "It's so hard. I feel like people are staring at me!" she exclaimed. "Most of our staff, now that I can know these things, is some sort of supernatural thing, and I still feel like I'm being scrutinized. Like I'm going to mess it up somehow, be the shame of the NYPD Freak Show we've got going on." She made a whining noise and hit her head on the window - lightly. She didn't want to break it.

  Rina rolled her eyes. "If you're still ignoring Sullivan, talk to O'Donnabhain. She'll have insight. You know she's older than dirt, right?" she pressed. Really, Rina didn't see why Kat didn't just ask Gabriel about all these things. Furthermore, ignoring him was childish. It was obvious they liked eachother. 'Pined' was the word her husband had used, actually.

  "I do not PINE!" she snapped, looking at Rina with an accusatory glance. Rina held her hands up in a surrendering sort of motion.

  I'm just saying," she said.

  "Fine," Katherine grumbled. "Fine. I'll call him tomorrow."

Gray

This thread takes place in the future.

  Early mornings by the ocean are often at first so foggy that you can't even see. On the island where they had taken their vacation, the experience was no different. It was just as the first rays of light hit the sky, something Katherine was sure not to miss. Now that she could see with new, clear vision, she looked at everything - everything - closely, inspecting it for flaws she'd never seen before, or for beauty she'd never noticed.

  She sat on the sand, which was still cool from the chill night air, sandals to her side and feet buried in the soft, wet ground. It was strange for a vampire to watch the sun rise, but she was doing it - Katherine had always been considered weird, anyways. No time to change, now. The entire isle they were on seemed blanketed in a gray mist, like a sort of fog that trapped them in the time period of pirates and rapscallions, but as morning crept on, the fog began to vanish. Tranquil blue waters were revealed beyond the mist, the most clear and perfect turquoise she'd ever seen. A closer examination with her feet told her that the water was a supreme temperature for swimming.

  "It's hard to believe you were here like a bazillion years ago," she said, glancing up as Gabe came to stand by her side. She placed a hand on her hip and smiled. "This is a really bad-ass birthday present though. I never thought I'd be able to come to the Caribbean - or, West Indies, or whatever it is you call it," she joked. "But... it's pretty cool. I think I'm going to swim down there and see if there's any sunken ships or anything. Maybe find some dolphins."

  Kat surmounted that since she didn't worry about breathing anymore, she could dive as deep as she wanted.

Influence

This thread takes place in the future.

  Now, Katherine Summers had always been a good girl. She'd never cheated, always been mostly cordial, and usually didn't attempt to step on the toes of others, but with her newfound power came newfound... games. At first, she'd been reluctant to kill - feeding off of "donated" IV bags from the local hospital had been a good way at first, but when she finally tired of having to warm them to the proper temperature (and blew a few up in her microwave), she'd started choosing other victims.

  First, it was mostly people nobody would miss. Criminals. She'd see their names on the sheets at work, look over their crimes, and judge for herself whether or not they were worth being released to join the public. Now, it was an educated sort of decision. Most of the people she'd started snacking on were definitely bad. She was trying to keep some semblance of morality, after all. It was the influence of her years of legal backing that made her decision-making ability so clear, so very crystal-cut and obvious.

  Kill the criminals. Spare the good people. It was simple, right? She sat on the fire escape, feet dangling uselessly as she leaned against the railing of something so rusty that in her mortal years she might have feared tetanus. She watched with her black eyes as the man hustled the woman into the corner, began pushing her around and trying to take advantage of her, and glanced at her nails. She frowned as she buffed one lightly against the collar of her blouse.

  When the woman broke away and ran down the dead end, then began whispering for someone to save her, Katherine made her move. She jumped effortlessly from the fire escape, landing silently in the snow behind her. With a word, "Sleep," the woman fell comfortably and blissfully into the snow. Katherine's lips curled into a smile, her face only illuminated in the lower half, shielding her eyes with dark locks of hair and shadow. She turned. The assailant was licking his lips and thinking loudly to himself how two for the price of one wasn't half bad.

  He didn't put up as much of a fight as he thought he would.

  Katherine bent down after disposing of the body and roused the woman. "Miss? Katherine Summers, NYPD. I heard commotion and came down here to see what was up - it seems you fainted." The woman babbled about a man chasing her, but Katherine shushed her softly. "Oh, I chased him away," she said with an innocent, gentle smile. "Come on, let's get you some coffee and get you warmed up. I'll take a statement from you, and I'll notify some patrol cars to be on the lookout, though... I have a feeling you won't be seeing him again."

Breaking the Rules

This thread takes place in the future.

  Normally, Katherine Summers was the archetype of a "good girl". She was generally pleasantly dispositioned, mostly complimentary of others, and usually honest - honest enough not to cheat. However, since she'd become a vampire, there were certain things about her that had changed. Morals, she'd found, were beginning to blur ever so slightly as she realized more and more that she was nowhere near what sort of "full potential" she could be.

  Gabriel had laughed at her when she'd put her coat on and told him she was going out. Now that they were on speaking terms, she'd told him what she'd been up to, and he'd been at her apartment more often. She turned her nose up at him when he scoffed at her; she told him he was only jealous because he hadn't thought of it, first.

  He'd gone back to the television and tuned her out.

  As she sat in the sea of humans, black eyes planted firmly down at the papers before her, she rested her chin on top of her knuckles, a blue glittery pen with a sponge-applicator tip in her other hand. In the gentle din of noise, a single human stepped onto a stage, atop which a podium was set up, along with a machine full of small numbered balls.

  Katherine fluttered her fingers a little as the human began to speak. He was going to say what she wanted. She'd gotten pretty good at tossing illusions around. Maybe she'd gotten it from Gabriel.

  "B-12; I-25; N-24; G-17; 0-2" he called, despite the fact that the balls clearly did not read that. No matter; nobody in the room was any the wiser.

  Kat smiled. "Bingo!" she called coyly, holding up her sheet. The grin on her face was anything but innocent.

Luck

This thread takes place in the future.

  Now that her hearing was so super-human, Katherine couldn't stand to be in the enclosed shooting range. She'd taken to going to the outdoor range when she could, despite the cold. Sullivan came with her occasionally, as did Korakas and DeMortei (though she still didn't know why DeMortei did, it had more to do with Tanith's coaxing than his desire, she was sure). On this particularly sunny day, the four of them stood in the middle of the field, trying to settle a dispute.

  "Listen, all I'm saying is, if you put an airplane on a conveyor belt, it's not going to take off," Sullivan said, arms firmly crossed. He still had his firearm in his hand, though he'd forgotten about shooting for the time being.

  "That's bullshit!" Korakas said, waving her own pistol in the air. "It's still going to take off. Whether or not it's on a freaking treadmill has nothing to do with it!"

  "I can't believe you're even arguing about this," cut in DeMortei, his gun holstered altogether. He was just along for the ride, really. His qualifications were in order, and perfect. He didn't need practice. "This is bullshit my idiot son does in his science class. What are you, twelve?"

  Katherine held her gun in the air and fired off a round. The shell casing fell and lodged itself down the front of her shirt, where she picked it out with ease and flicked it at the ground. "This was on MythBusters a few months ago. Guess what? The plane took off. There. Problem solved. Now can we please get on with it?"

  There was silence for a few moments, and then Gabriel and Tanith started at it again. With a sigh, she stepped back and next to DeMortei, who had physically removed himself from between them to let them have more yelling space. "Well, I guess it's just you and me," Katherine said cheerfully, though the sarcasm was thick in her voice.

  "I'll fix them. Give me your gun," he said, holding his hand out to her.

  "What?" Katherine asked, dumbfounded. She held it out anyways, because even though she was a vampire, DeMortei creeped her out. Best to just follow along.

He smiled wryly. "Negative reinforcement," he responded glibly. With that, he fired four rounds - two at Gabriel, and two at Tanith. Neither of them were serious wounds, but they were enough to shut the both of them up.

  The ride in Tanith's SUV back to the precinct was an icy one. From where she sat in the back, she could see Tanith on the phone with her brother, trying to explain what had happened. When she told him what the argument had been about, she distinctly heard Tanith say, "Oh, not you too," which she assumed meant that he was a "won't take off" supporter.

  Next to her, Gabriel examined his peacoat. "There are two little tear marks in it where he shot me," he complained. "How is it that I hang out with you on a regular basis and I'm shot at now more than I have ever been shot at before in my entire long lifespan?" he demanded.

  Katherine shrugged and smiled brightly. "Guess you're just lucky," she beamed.