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Oct 8, 2019 11:11:57 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 8, 2019 11:11:57 GMT -6
He considered this. "Alexander might. The counselor. They're close. The only other person would be Brandon, her nephew. They aren't that close though, so I don't think she'd give it to him." He shrugged an managed a wry smile. "I think I'm the closest she has to a friend, other than Alexander. And right now, and for the next year or so, knowing her, she's pissed as hell at me." So not exactly in the friend book so much as the annoying colleague who won't stop book. It was an interesting bond to share.
Molly looked about the hall for any possible anchor points then sighed. "I suppose it's time to go in. Tyrus...don't touch anything. Don't use your magic for anything. Just...stand there." She didn't want him to mess anything up, and as much as he helped on the occasional case, he wasn't actually an officer.
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Oct 8, 2019 11:50:46 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Oct 8, 2019 11:50:46 GMT -6
Xiaolian cringed visibly as he mentioned a Councilor, that was the last set of people they wanted to get involved with this. "I think Councilor Summers is currently on leave due to some personal issues." At least that's what the latest information the Specialist team had been given said. They had a roster of current Councilors available for MCU and it's Specialist team to avail themselves of should the need arise. Currently, Xiaolian didn't think the need arose quite enough to contact one who was away.
This was perhaps where some of her poor judgement lay that had landed her in Dallas. Things were never bad enough to call in a favor from any agency or anyone for that matter.
"I'll see if I can't get a hold of her nephew. He's helped me in the past and at least owes me a small favor." Or two, Xiaolian wasn't saying just how bad the Hong Kong case had been. But it had certainly been bad enough that they had needed someone of Brandon's particular skills.
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Oct 9, 2019 17:44:03 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 9, 2019 17:44:03 GMT -6
"I'm not going to suggest calling in a councilor for that then. Let's...see how far we get first." Pulling a councilor off of leave for any reason sounded like a spectacularly bad idea. Even if it involved bringing in the warden's nephew to help out.
Molly ignored this byplay and stepped inside. "The wards are open. It's safe." Molly pointed out and she pulled on her gloves and took in the scene. It didn't look like Catherine got very far in the door at all. The ratatoskr frowned and didn't go much further in than enough room to allow the other two to come in as well. "This feels wrong. I don't like invading her space like this."
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Oct 9, 2019 18:01:47 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Oct 9, 2019 18:01:47 GMT -6
Xiaolian stepped in after Molly and surveyed the interior of the home. It was sparsely furnished, with not much other than a couch with a coffee table, and stools neatly lied up to a bar in the kitchen. A small table sat with two chairs in a breakfast nook with Catherine's bag and keys on it, with a pile of mail strewn nearby.
The place wasn't messy by any means, but it didn't seem lived in much past a place to stay over night.
A set of stairs led up to two bedrooms on the second floor, with one bedroom functioning as a home office and the other an actual bedroom.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:05:30 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 9, 2019 18:05:30 GMT -6
Molly checked each room carefully, for a first impression, then came back down to the kitchen and frowned, taking it in. "There's...there's not much of a sign she lived here at all." Molly admitted. "The office has some sign of use, but for the most part, I mean. The sheets were a little rumpled?" They weren't perfectly made up at least, but they had still been given a once over.
Tyrus shrugged. "I don't think she made it past the kitchen."
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Oct 9, 2019 18:12:06 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Oct 9, 2019 18:12:06 GMT -6
Xiaolian frowned, deep in thought for a moment as she listened to Molly's report. What did you do with someone who tried to leave as small of a personal footprint as Catherine had? More than likely there was so much more to unpack that had lead to this sort of situation, but inevitably as always time wasn't something they had much of.
"What makes you say that? Also Molly... would you please do a background environmental scan on the magic here? See if anything out of the ordinary pops up. There might be residual depending on the magic used."
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Oct 9, 2019 18:19:24 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 9, 2019 18:19:24 GMT -6
"More a hunch than anything else." She admitted. "The fridge door being open more than anything else, if I'm honest. It's the Warden. She's very meticulous." She pulled out her notepad and sketched the spell out quickly, then cast it and looked around the room, eyes bright with magic. "The only lingering magic...psionic magic by the counter." Molly lookd closely, then did a rapid sketch of the patterns she saw in it. "Pretty thick. Whoever used it was a strong psionic talent."
"That doesn't help much. It's Catherine's home. She has strong psionic talent." Ridiculously so. "Can I please do some magic so I can see if it's her signature or not?" Tyrus had been patiently waiting, not touching anything and staying out of the way. He could listen to orders given after all.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:23:23 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Oct 9, 2019 18:23:23 GMT -6
"True enough, class 5 ranking." Xiaolian muttered thoughtfully. The scale topped out at 5, anything past that was usually unheard of. Although most found it hard to believe that Dallas's own Warden even possessed that sort of power; more often than not she took a mundane approach to things and tended to delegate when the need arose. Any use of magic was usually strictly controlled and kept to a minimum, unlike most of the Specialist division and it's contractors who were usually more than eager to use the stuff.
"Tyrus would you please?" She asked looking over at the mage. Xiaolian could tell that he was itching to do something other than just stand there and answer questions.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:30:02 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 9, 2019 18:30:02 GMT -6
Tyrus nodded and cast the spell that would show him the signature of the magic user and then frowned. "Two psions. Both very powerful." He confirmed and his brow wrinkled as he took in the scene. "One of them was Catherine. I don't recognize the other, but whoever they are they're easily at least a match for her, if not stronger." He turned his head and watched, his frown deepening. "There's...a trail of it. It heads up the stairs, comes down again. I can't tell much more than that."
He didn't have indicators of anything else more at least. The mage looked closely and shrugged. "I don't think it was a spell. Looked more like...just raw magic."
Molly glanced up the stairs again and frowned. "The office and the bedroom are up there. We can check again for anything, but nothing was obviously out of place."
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Oct 9, 2019 18:37:37 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Oct 9, 2019 18:37:37 GMT -6
The string of cases over the last few months had been a bit strange, but most of them had seemed to just be regular territorial disputes and the occasional mishap with a controlled substance or item. Tyrus's ranch had been an outlier all it's own, and if it hadn't been such a big thing that triggered sensors all the way to the state line, then it would have never been investigated.
"Most of the cases we've seen lately have involved the Dragon Court, do you think that...?" Xiaolian asked Molly, ignoring Tyrus for the time being. Her attention was clearly elsewhere trying to add things up.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:41:09 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 9, 2019 18:41:09 GMT -6
Molly considered it. "Possibly. Whoever attacked would have to be pre-veil. A vampire could fit the bill." Someone pre-veil who still hung out on this plane? Immortals were rare. The idea of one attacking her was far less likely than an old vampire attacking. "And with the court being in flux enough to get an attack on Mezar, something big like this could happen." It wasn't unthinkable. "Brandon is a vampire isn't he? We can start with him. We need to talk to him about his aunt anyway."
Two birds with one stone. It could work out well enough if they played their cards right.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:48:38 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Oct 9, 2019 18:48:38 GMT -6
"Yeah, he was last time I checked." Xiaolian retorted. "You might want to come bearing gifts though, sometimes it's hard to get him to talk unless you provide motivation." As far as she was concerned, coercion and bribery would be perfectly acceptable if it got them leads. "But definitely think this is related to the court, they've never liked dealing with her as Warden."
There was something about how this latest set of incidents was playing out that made Xiaolian deeply uncomfortable. If someone was able to abduct an individual with a Warden's training and experience, would it happen to the Specialists? The other officers? The whole thing felt like an attack on everything they knew and held dear.
Pulling her phone out of her pocket, along with a grubby white business card, she quickly dialed the number listed before depositing it back.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:58:51 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 9, 2019 18:58:51 GMT -6
It picked up on the third ring. "This better be important." His voice sounded rough, like he was in pain. He was. It hadn't been long ago that he had been defanged and right now, all he wanted to do was gorge himself on blood and hope that helped heal the wounds at least. Fang wounds were, apparently, a bitch. At least he was able to answer his phone. He was half hidden under a blanket though, trying to find some sort of comfort.
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Oct 9, 2019 19:04:54 GMT -6
Post by Circe on Oct 9, 2019 19:04:54 GMT -6
"Brandon, it's Officer Li. We met during the Hong Kong case." Xiaolian said quickly, clearly unfazed by Brandon's irritable demeanor. "Listen, I know this is an inconvenient time, and I apologize. Unfortunately though we have a rather serious problem, your aunt is missing. She didn't show up for work today and she isn't at home."
She could tell he wasn't doing well, just by the tone of his voice. It sounded thick with sleep and colored with discomfort. "We need to know if you have any way of contacting her or might know where she is."
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Oct 11, 2019 16:16:22 GMT -6
Post by demikara on Oct 11, 2019 16:16:22 GMT -6
Officer Li. Brandon racked his brain before he remembered which one that had been. Hong Kong though, that had been a nasty case. "I remember you Officer Li. And odds are the new King of the court has her. His name is Grigore and I am only alive because he is obsessed with Aunt Catherine and didn't want to upset her with my death." He tongued where his fangs were. "All hail the last prince of the old court. I'm defanged now."
He paused a beat and considered the rest of it all. "Oh. Expect more dead humans. Those tidy little donation stations, and blood bags that the old Ra had been insistent on, to show how nice we were? The new Ra has instructed us to hunt for our food." And that would be wonderful.
Tyrus frowned. "Is he okay? He's an annoying twerp, but is he alive at least?" His least liked, youngest, and least willing brother was a pain in Tyrus' backside on so many levels. But he was still part of that twisted family. "Does he even know I survived the attack?" It was possible that they were the last two princes.
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