Somewhat Sanctuary {Tag: Rae}

[Irina Wintour]

^{((continued from here ...and lol, the tag might not have been necessary, but just felt like making it clear ))}


The office of the new administrative assistant to the Head of Nyeusi Relations was kept fastidiously neat-- almost to a fault. Aside from the redecoration, which left the furnature sleek, dark, and modern, the scores of volumes and texts that lined the shelves, and a recreation of a particularly lonely-looking Edward Hopper painting positioned meticulously on the wall behind the spotless desk, the office looked...abandoned. Even when it was occupied, the new employee was so quiet that he hardly seemed there at times.

This was not one of those times.

Jacob, his arm still wrapped tightly around Rae Adams, appeared with startling suddenness in his office, and due to the energy he’d expended in travelling so far and transporting someone with him, to boot, he did an uncharacteristically clumsy thing: he misjudged where he would materialize and landed with one foot on the bookshelf and one foot in the air. In his scrambled haste to make sure Rae would make it safely to the ground (and he made certain that she did), he ended up knocking a good few books flying. He himself landed on the floor with a bit of a jolt, and his hand flew reflexively to his sunglasses to adjust them when he felt them slip, only for an instant.

Phew. He hoped this would not become a common practice-- racing clear across the city to his office with a passenger in tow. Travelling like that had never been his forte (teleporting was just another skill that grew finer with age, like a good wine, but not something he cultivated). He’d be fine shortly, but even to feel ungainly and drained for a moment...it was not something he was eager to recreate.

His hand trailed back down to his side, pausing by his tie to adjust it, and he turned to the human girl smoothly, regaining his composure and conjuring up a comforting smile to replace his slightly worried expression like a magic trick. “I am sorry if I frightened you, and I probably should not have forcefully removed you without asking, but I had to make a decision and I can now assure you that you are in one of the safest spots of the city." He was about to add "That is, you're with me", but that didn't seem humble enough...although that was really what he meant (really, sometimes being old was enough to disconcert people, even if he was of the Mira bloodline). It was why he hadn't just escorted her directly to a safe house, although he might in time, once he determined just what was going on. "He didn’t harm you, did he?”

[Rae Adams]

The location change was not entirely pleasant for Rae Adams even with the older vampire's care to make sure she landed safely while he ended up on the floor.  Rae landed safely on the floor, true, but she felt dizzy, disoriented, light-headed, and just plain sick to her stomach.  She found herself on the floor, anyways, and vomitting. Luckily she hadn't eaten much that day because she was moving around too much.  Dry-heaving was much worse than actually vomitting.

It didn't help that she wasn't even sure what had just happened. Was she dead?  Did the vampire kill her?  If she was dead, she was so going back as a ghost and haunting West until the day he died.  Did dead people vomit?  Well, that question ended the whole line of questioning and planning around her own death.

“I am sorry if I frightened you, and I probably should not have forcefully removed you without asking, but I had to make a decision and I can now assure you that you are in one of the safest spots of the city."

Well, that was reassuring...just like West trying to give her that stupid gun.  Who was this guy anyways? When she was sure she wasn't going to be vomitting anymore, she looked up to see a very handsome, but definately older man standing above her and... smiling.  Well, at least he didn't look like he was trying to kill her.  Though the whole teleporting thing meant that he really couldn't be human so the comfort only went so far and then it fell flat.

"He didn’t harm you, did he?”"

Rae shook her head and then slowly climber to her feet to look around, trying to act nonchallant about... well everything.  It didn't exactly work.  "No, I'm okay... just a little shaken... thanks for... I guess... saving my life."  It was a nice place.

[Irina Wintour]

Jacob did not have anything within immediate reach, such as a glass of water, to offer the girl once she'd recovered from vomiting. He did not appear outwardly fazed by her reaction to the teleporting, nor did he make any move to help her up-- not that he was uncaring: as unpleasant as it must have felt, he knew it would pass before too long.

He was a bit more concerned about making her uncomfortable; he could tell from her thoughts that she was still quite rattled, even with him around. That was no good. He wasn't going to plant himself audaciously in a spot where she couldn't avoid locking eyes with him, but he certainly hoped they'd make some sort of solid eye contact soon: this was one of those situations where a little pleasant atmosphere would be conducive to further dealings. Didn't want to frighten the poor girl any more. "You're welcome," he answered gently. "I'm glad to hear you are uninjured. Allow me to introduce myself-- my name is Jacob. I do not know how much you know" --a bit of a lie; he could see into her mind fairly clearly, but it wouldn't be a comfort for her if she realized that-- "but apparently you are aware of the existence of vampires, at the very least. Further explanations can be offered shortly in that regard, but first..." With a graceful little movement he reached into his breast pocket and elicited one of his cards, then extended it, still smiling, to the girl. The card listed his office number and bore the words "SINGLE EARTH". That was it. "I don't suppose you know what Single Earth is," he went on, keeping his manner genial. "Suffice it to say, 'peaceful relations among all' is our objective. As long as you are mindful of our policies you are welcome here. We can do our best to offer whatever assistance you need...to protect you," he affirmed. "Needless to say, I'd like to hear how you became aware of vampires. ...But of course, here I am, spiriting you away from your business...if there's anyone you need to contact, first...?"

[Rae Adams]

The moment Rae heard the words "Single Earth" she knew they sounded somewhat familiar, but she ignored it.  There was too much to take in.  Okay, so this... guy was Jacob... he worked here... they liked peace.  Peace meant no killing.  No killing meant Rae hadn't escaped one bad situation to land in another worse situation.  Good, good.  She took the card and looked it over, that thing in the back of her head insisting that it sounded familiar, but she kept pushing it aside.  In a similar fashion, she tucked the card into one of her many pockets.

"All I need to do is call my sister.  She must be worried sick by now..."  Rae searched her pockets for her cellphone and found it, but it'd turned itself off again.  Dang it, Leah was going to yell Rae's ear off and then some.  Every minute Rae wasted not calling Leah, Leah would spend twice that much time giving Rae a big "I told you so" speech complete with two or three guilt trips with a little bit of "when I was your age..." tossed in to make it worse.

"Can I borrow a phone?" she asked Jacob, "Then I'll tell you about West?"  She offered the West tidbit in exchange for the phone thing like it was some sort of peace offering.

[Irina Wintour]

His smile, usually sincere but automatic, widened and became more natural. She seemed a bit more comfortable now, at least, as he skimmed her relatively clear and articulate thoughts: he liked being able to follow her direct line of thought as she figured out that he was "one of the good guys".

And the way she asked for the phone...then offered information...he was amused, and almost tempted to tease her, asking how she would feel about giving him the explanation before she could make her phone call...but that wasn't exactly appropriate. He indicated the phone on his desk. "Please, help yourself."

[Rae Adams]

Rae's grin broadened and she went over the the phone, sitting down on his desk right next to the phone. She picked it up and dialed her sister's number.

Leah had been worried sick.  Her sister was supposed to be home an hour ago and she hadn't even called.  If Rachel wasn't already dead, Leah would kill her herself!  Then the phone rang.  Leah checked the caller ID and found it was her boss's phone number.  What could he want? She picked it up, "Hey..."

Rae sighed with relief when her sister picked up the phone and then said quickly, "Hey, Leah, It's me.  I'm calling to tell you I'm safe and I'll be at your house as soon as I can."  Now, she just had to wait for the yelling.

Thank God! "Where have you been?  Do you know how worried I've been about you?"  What was Rachel doing with her boss?

"I'm sorry." Rae's face fell.  Here it came...

"You should be!  I've been waiting on pins and needles for the past hour.  I actually called Mom!" That was a lie.  "She's worried sick about you.  Why didn't you call?"

"I got lost and my phone battery died.... a-and then I was almost mugged...I'm sorry..."  Rae was surprised by the obvious cover story that passed through her lips. Leah wouldn't understand that a vampire tried to kill her.

That caused Leah to pause.  "Almost mugged?"

"Y-yeah...  But I'm okay, this really nice guy helped me out," Rae replied.

"Then you're using his phone?" Leah asked rhetorically. "Can I talk to him?"

"Let me see," Rae replied, "Umm... my sister wants to talk to you," Rae said offering the phone to the older man.  She tried to give him a pleading look.  She would rather he was rude and didn't want to talk to her or something like that.  Leah didn't need the whole idea of vampires tossed into her reality.

[Irina Wintour]

Jacob waited patiently while the girl was on the phone with her sister, occupying himself with the task of fetching the books he'd knocked flying and replacing them neatly on their respective shelves, and itching to leave and track down some paper towels in order to clean up the --thankfully small-- mess she'd made on the glossy, hardware flooring...but no, he wasn't about to leave her alone in his office. And she certainly couldn't stay in his office forever; he would have to decide what to do with her once he had more details about her past interactions with vampires. He'd picked up on the fact that she seemed to know at least one personally, and this pleased him: no passage of blood, and he detected a strange friendship. He smiled to himself. Perhaps there's hope after all...it would make sense that the young ones--

"Do you want to talk to my sister?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the girl addressing him out of the blue, and once he'd registered what had been said, he arched his brows nearly to his hairline. Talk to her sister? Oh, dear. This was why he'd rather hoped that the girl had simply called to say that she'd been delayed (which wasn't a lie), not that she'd been "mugged" and subsequently rescued. But on that note...she had fabricated the truth. It was quite possible, likely, really, that this sister on the phone was not aware of the Nyeusi community. Single Earth policy stated that he not inform innocents of such matters if it was not necessary; and he had to wonder if the situation called for it. He could determine the answer to that question by gauging the girl's response to what he proceeded to ask.

"The question is, does she want to hear what really happened?" he put forward after a moment's hesitation. "Or would it be best that she didn't know?"

[Rae Adams]

Rae put her hand over the receiver a moment, beginning to answer and then she put the phone back to her ear.  "Why do you want to talk to him?" she asked her sister, "He's a littele busy cleaning up a mess I made."

Leah froze a moment as she heard her sister's question and then turned it over in her mind.  Rae was always making messes, she probably broke something of his.  "Just tell him Leah Adams, your sister would like to thank him formally."  If Leah didn't talk to him tonight, she'd just call him later when Rae was asleep and talk to him.  This was just very annoying.

Rae's brow crinkled.  Okay... Leah was going nuts.  "She says she wants to thank you formally... She sounds very perturbed."  Rae put her hand on the receiver so Leah could exactly hear what was said.  "Please don't tell her the truth.  I don't want her to have to deal with this whole thing.  She's got enough to worry about."  Rae bit her lower lip, thinking about her sister.  She shouldn't have said the whole mugging thing.  She should've come up with something less... alarmist.  But, Rae couldn't fix that now.

[Irina Wintour]

Jacob sighed inwardly; he would do his best to remain truthful, but obviously omit certain details...for now. He'd have to wait until later, after he'd fully assessed the situation, the involvement of both sisters, whether the crazy vampire who called himself a priest was a threat specifically to this girl, if she'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time...so on and so forth. At least now he had access to the sister's number, since the girl had used his phone to dial it. He could call later to explain things if he needed to; for now he would humour the girl's request.

He glided forward, accepted the phone, and calmly spoke into the receiver: "Hello. I hope you haven't been too worried, and please, no need to thank me, I was only too happy to lend my assistance."

[Leah Adams]

Rae slide ot the other side of the desk, careful not to knock anything over, which was only slightly difficult.  Something did fall off, but there wasn't a sound of something breaking, so she ignored it.

"Oh, but I insist, especially if it was really just a mugging, Bossy boy," Leah replied in the sweetest, most happy tone she could muster, rolling her eyes.  She'd only been working for the guy a little while and he was already too nice and kind and generous for her comfort.  Then again, a lot of the vampires at Single Earth seemed to be that way.  Leah was getting a little too used to being spoiled in that way.  She needed to find a dishonest crowd... or just hang out with her much younger sister more.  If only she had time for that...

[Irina Wintour]

"Oh, but I insist, especially if it was really just a mugging, Bossy boy."

Jacob blinked. That was the only indication of shock that he could allow to register physically; the girl was sitting right there, hardly an arms-length away, and he wanted to keep up the appearance of granting her request: to conceal the truth from her sister.

Her sister. His secretary.

God must have been feeling whimsical, tonight.

"Yes, yes, your sister is quite all right," he improvised, trying to figure out how the imaginary conversation might have played out, inserting brief pauses between his phrases as though Leah were interjecting. "Oh...'mugging' isn't the word for it, she was never touched. No, she's fine, not a scratch on her." He finally paused to give his secretary a moment to get a word in, hoping she'd get the hint.

[Leah Adams]

Leah listened intently for any signs of hints.  Maybe Rachel just wasn't sure what'd happened and he was trying to hide it from her... or something.  Well, at least Rae wasn't hurt, right?  That was something to be happy about.  Jacob would take good care of Rae.  If he didn't, well, he still have to work and hear about it from Leah, so she wasn't too worried.  "Well, bring her home soon, once you've done whatever needs to be done. I demand a full explanation the next time I see you... complete with pictures and diagrams... okay the last bit was a joke. Tell Rachel to be home decently, or better yet, bring her home and do that vampire mind trick on her. Which do you think would be better?"

Rae sat over on her side of the desk, watching Jacob carefully.  She hoped her sister didn't freak the poor guy out... or start yelling at him the way she had yelled at Rachel.  The waiting part was the worst.  At one point, Rae held up her hand and started making a the hand gesture that showed that her sister was talking too much.  Hopefully, he wouldn't take it as rude.  If he did find it rude, oh well.

[Irina Wintour]

Jacob couldn't help but faintly smile at the gesture that the girl --Rachel, apparently-- was making, indicative of her sister's talkative nature. Don't I know it. He was about as lively and chatty as a tombstone in comparison to his incorrigible secretary-- which was a bit odd, considering she was an Avian.

He needed to understand just what was going on: Rachel was clearly aware of the Nyeusi community, and didn't seem to know that Leah was, as well, while Leah --as he knew for a fact-- was involved with the Nyeusi community, and from what he could determine from her words and tone of voice, it was possible that she did not know that her younger sister was acquainted with at least one vampire. Hard to tell, though. He wished he could skim his secretary's thoughts through the phone, but alas, that was not to be.

(By the by, Jacob was not very fond of telephones; they were a frustrating invention that severely limited communication. If he was going to talk to anyone, he preferred to do it face to face, where he could pay attention to not only the words themselves, but visual and aural and mental cues. Still, most people these days used them, and it was conventional to have one in his office. At least it wasn't a computer. You can imagine how he felt about computers.)

In the meantime...he had to think of a way to get his message across. "No, hopefully we won't be long. She'll be safe," he answered after a moment, laying a bit of stress on that final word. He hoped the meaning would be evident: he needed to sort out this mess, and he really wasn't sure how long that would take, and meanwhile, Rachel would be safe with him...alternately, "safe" could refer to a safe house. He had to leave that option open.

Shooting Rachel a glance from behind dark lenses, he continued speaking pleasantly into the phone, keeping up the act: "It is heartwarming to hear a sister so concerned for the well-being of her sibling. Please do rest assured that she is unharmed." False pause. "You're welcome...no, thank you. Would you like to speak to her again?" He had a suspicion that Rachel would not be too pleased to hear him say that.

[Leah Adams]

Now, Rae was an understanding person.  She could understand why the guy would offer to let her sister have another go at her.  Why?  Because he didn't have to live or interact with her sister on a regular basis.  That didn't prevent Rae from narrowing her eyes in alarm and shaking her head vigorously when he made the offer to Leah.  It also didn't prevent her from thinking of some choice expletives that would fit him at that moment such as jackass, bastard, son of a bitch... the list just went on.

The false pauses were starting to get to Leah... mostly because Jacob--and most normal people--didn't do that.  Which meant that he was trying to put up an act for Rae... or... something else was up.  Leah hated being out of the loop.  She also hated being spoken to in code... especially when she didn't entirely understand the code.  Though she was certain that the repetition of the word "safe" was important. 

"Actually I would like to speak to my sister again.  Unless you'd like to leave the window open and I can just fly over?," Leah said with a bit of an edge to her voice.

[Irina Wintour]

Jacob was getting it from both sides. Not very nice. Leah was clearly put out, from the tone of her voice, and he couldn't help that, he simply couldn't explain everything at the moment; Rae, on the other hand, was an accessible problem he could deal with, and deal he would, as really, was it doing anyone any good when she was projecting such an objectionable string of unfriendly terms and attributing them to him?

She was already looking at him, so it was easy enough to catch her eye, which automatically brought his ability into play. With his lenses on it wouldn't be anything drastic, but it'd likely subdue her present hostility a bit (and as a mere human, she wouldn't be any the wiser). He simultaneously smiled pleasantly, said, "Here she is", and handed the phone to Rae.

He honestly hoped his secretary would not be much longer. He needed to figure out what was happening, who all was involved, etcetera, and with Rae distracted by talking to her sister, it was not as easy to pick out all the details from her mind. They needed to talk.