Black and White (Tag Isolde)

[Tempest LaMarque]

Nicolette had always been good at moving around in high-heels, and the black three-inch pumps she wore into the city were no exception. They went perfectly with her ensemble, a black pinstriped suit with a pencil skirt. She looked the part of sexy CEO more than trainer at Midnight, for the time being, but it was easier to blend in when one wasn't strutting around in corsets and fishnets. She rode through the crisscrossed streets in the back of a yellow taxicab. Her driver was human, of dark hair and skin. Of African American descent, were she to guess, but she wasn't particularly good at that sort of thing. After all, Europe didn't have any African Americans and she was a very recent transplant from the continent.

She had instructed him in advance where to stop, and when he did, she simply nodded her head at him and passed a handful of bills over the seat. The conversion from Euros to dollars had done quite a bit for her already decent-sized fortune. The vampiress didn't mind that she had paid him twice what was owed; she was paying him to keep his mouth shut as much as she was for the ride. Stepping out onto the filthy concrete, she took a quick look around. The neighborhood was pleasant enough, lots of little apartment buildings with children playing outside. The sun had only very recently set, and mothers had not yet called their young ones in for the night. She barely avoided being hit with a softball that flew past her, and the little boy that ran to retrieve it stared at her in awe.

"You sure do move fast lady! Sorry 'bout that!" he said, his words partially muffled by a massive wad of chewing gum in his mouth. Disgusting habits humans had. Chewing, eating, breathing... she didn't even want to think about the fouler things like excretion. Children were the worst, and she was quite glad that most of her childhood only came to her in glossed-over, nostalgic memories.

The other children were a short distance away, waiting for their comrade to return. She just didn't have time for this. They were her only witnesses, and this little boy the only one who saw her face. "There was nothing extraordinary about the woman you almost hit, child. She was short and squat and reminded you of your grandmother somewhat," she said, her voice a soft lull as she imposed the false memory upon him.

The child stood beside her, looking blank as she looked at the front door of the apartment. There was a system for getting in, a button to push and a resident to allow entry. Nicolette ran a gloved hand over his tawny head and smiled. "You live here?"

He nodded.

"Call your mother and tell her you want to come in for the night," she ordered, and the boy quickly obeyed. He pushed the little round button and spoke into the metal oval. "Mom, lemme in." There was an annoying buzzing sound for a moment and the door unlocked. Nicolette let the boy go first and then entered behind him. She watched as he ran up the stairs to his own apartment and smiled to herself. Children were so easy to command. She looked around the first floor at the building and found it lacking. It was nice enough, to be sure, but it was all so bland and beige. She liked a little color in her rooms, and she definitely liked more decoration. Perhaps her target's apartment would be a little more homey.

The vampiress went down the first corridor to the landlord's office. He was still in, a stout man that smelled slightly of shoe polish, and he was on his cell phone's headset, going on and on about some sort of plumbing problem in one of his other buildings. Nicolette leaned against the door frame and smiled at him. A bit of researched had given her the apartment number and address of her prey, but she needed a way in. Sizing up the little bald man, she crossed her arms and prepared to roll yet another mind. Not as easy as a child's, that was to be sure, but he seemed a fairly weak-willed individual. If he wasn't, she was going to have one hell of a headache later.

"I need the backup key to apartment 312. I'm one of the maintenance men you called; there was a burst pipe and I need to fix it," she said. With plumbing already on his mind, it was an easy step to make. He nodded and rummaged around in his drawer before handing her the key, a small plastic piece attached with the numbers 3-1-2. He looked at her, confused for a moment at what she was telling him versus what he saw. She pushed a little harder mentally and felt him give. Content that he would only remember a nondescript maintenance guy coming in to fix a pipe, she left the little office.

She made her way quickly up the steps and into the hallway on the third floor, down to the apartment. The apartment she wanted was the home of one Isolde Haven, a Swanmay of a very pure bloodline. The girl was innocence personified, a beautiful porcelain doll just waiting to be broken. She could just barely hear the girl rummaging around inside, likely packing to run away from the dangers Midnight was unleashing upon any and all Hunters. Nicolette smiled wickedly and turned the key in the lock as quietly as she could manage. With a turn of the handle she opened the door, sped in, and closed it behind her once more. Now within reach of her target, she was ecstatic. There was only grabbing the girl to go...

[Isolde Haven]

Isolde had promised Ben that she would be packed and out of the apartment as quickly as possible, all things considered.  Midnight hadn't exactly given them any warning, but she was quick and fully intended to keep her promise to her brother.  She'd only gotten his call only a little while ago, and she was about ready to take off when she heard a key in the door and the door opening.  Since Ben was the only person with a key to her apartment, she naturally assumed it was him and that he'd been en route to get her himself while on the phone.

"Ben!  I promised, didn't I?  What are you do--" she called out, coming around the corner to find...a woman.  Dark hair, business skirt, definitely not her brother.  "Oh, God."

As quickly as she'd come around the corner, she threw her bag in the direction of the vampire, snatched up a decorative something or other than her aunt had given her (she wasn't fond of it or her aunt, anyway) and flung that in the direction of the nearest window as she made a run for it.  If she could get out the window and shift, she could fly and escape, but she knew that there wasn't a chance she could run on foot or fight the vampire.  That wasn't her forte, and never had been.  Now, she wished she'd told Ben to come get her, so that at least she'd know that help was on the way.