Darkness Unvailed

Everyone awakes at Paul’s and he calls in some of his “friends” for them all. This takes some time as the ten he could get to come in are passed around the group to get everyone back in shape. Amazingly enough, all of the guests survive with only one of them needing anything special. They mingle with the guests long enough for them to move on to the next party that Paul is able to direct them to. After all the guests leave, they go out to check on the prizes from last night. The three are still locked away safe. Paul tells Victoria to give Riley a call to find out were to drop them off. Riley, with a little shock at the fact that the group and Victoria had already found Dalia, asks if Victoria can hold on to Dalia for a short time while they set up a place for the interrogation.

(Ok, the order of these events was done both ways. Food then prisoners and prisoners, then food – depending on which week of the recording I go by. So this way is from the first week.)

Gracey and Paul head off to make use of the free time. Victoria gets permission to use Paul’s computer to check her e-mail. She doesn’t find anything interesting in there. The rest just hang around the house waiting for the call back from Riley. Riley gives them a call and tells them to bring Dalia back to her townhouse, as that is were they are set to receive her. They all pile into the SUVs and head over to the townhouse. Once at the townhouse, Victoria drags Dalia, Christian takes Damon and Hugh takes Aaron (“Armless”, as the group affectionately calls him) towards the door. As they approach, Hugh gets a little freaked out and turns to go back to the SUV as Paul pulls Aaron away from him. Riley meets them at the door to take Dalia from them. He also is interested in Damon and tells them to leave him, also. Andrew, on the other hand, is not of any interest to Riley, so they get to keep him and do as they please. During the exchange with Riley they hear two voices drifting up from the basement, they can’t make out what is being said, but they do recognize one of the voices as Rudolph. Christian and Victoria drag Dalia and Damon downstairs, with Paul and James following behind. They notice that the doorways have been repaired and made sturdier then they were. As they turn the corner, they see that, indeed, Rudolph is here. Victoria asks Riley why Rudolph is here, as he is a member of the LS. Riley informs her that Rudolph is good at questioning people, has followed in Derek’s footsteps and has split from the current prince. Hugh sees that Rudolph is beginning the process and asks Riley if there is any thing he wants them to do. Riley informs Hugh that the group is free to go at any time as the work at hand does not really concern them. Paul starts looking for the next job assignment, Riley informs him that they have nothing for them to do right now, because Dalia was captured to get more information, as they don’t know were Vern is and are hoping to find some new places to look. Paul, Hugh, Christian, and Victoria start to talk about what to do next because Riley doesn’t have anything for them to do. They argue over what to do. Hugh enjoys blowing things up and reinforces the point by talking about the elysium incident, while Christian is more in favor of taking some time for themselves than doing anything destructive.

Paul starts asking about were the rest think they could find some other LS in the city that are still loyal to Vern, as they turn and head up the stairs to leave. The discussion continues until they reach the top and Victoria turns and slaps Hugh across the face. Victoria and Paul “go off” on Hugh about talking about blowing up an elysium – Victoria, for telling people who do not know that they did it and Paul for them not telling him about it. Hugh tries to make his point that Riley, most likely, knows already, so it did not matter. Victoria and Paul continue to tell him that he should not talk about it. After settling down a bit, Paul restates that he wants to go after any of the remaining LS that are loyal to Vern in the city. Christian sees this as a bad idea, and makes the comment that he just wants to find someone to fuck, as he is sick of the fighting. This gets Paul attention right away as he has been trying to figure out what type Christian likes. Christian comments that if Paul would have asked he would have told him. Paul informs Christian that half of his fun is derived from the game of finding out, but now that Christian offers, Paul asks what his type is. Christian does not answer his question. Victoria, thinking about the past few weeks, remembers a few names: Zetta and Carmen. They could look into it and see what’s going on with them. Paul asks what information she has on them. Victoria just has some basic information on them and makes the suggestion to go back to the office complex to see what more they can find out.

This, of course, sends them back to the office complex to see what more they can find in those files. The group picks the lock into the file room and starts looking over the files to see what they can find. In searching the files, they find that Carmen is easier to find as they take the information form the files and head to her place.

As they arrive at the twelfth floor apartment, Victoria picks the lock quick to let the group in. Everyone but Hugh makes it inside the apartment as they feel a presence. Hugh heads back down to the waiting trucks for a short time before getting the nerve to come back up. As the rest press into the room they all start to look around for who this might be. The place is furnished nicely and appears that it has been used recently. The first bedroom does look like it gets used in the apartment, as it has a stagnate appearance to it. The second bedroom has been converted into a small office space. This has Gracey ready to go through the small filing cabinet within the room. Gracey finds nothing in the files that stick out to her. Paul, after walking around the apartment, has narrowed it down to the first bed room as the location of the vampire. Paul asks Christian to keep an eye on the closet double bi-fold doors, as Paul rips the mattress and box sprint off the frame without finding anyone. Paul and Christian pull the doors off of the closet, and see nothing other than clothing. Paul starts to pull everything out of the closet to see anything. While doing this, Paul can hear some muffled noises coming for the closet. Victoria, standing in the doorway, also hears them after asking, a few times, what was going on. Paul, having pulled most everything out, resorts to the “we won’t hurt you if you come out” line and starts to count to five. At about four Carmen steps out of the closet as if from nowhere. Carmen, with fear on her face and in her voice, asks what everyone is doing here, looking for her. Paul tells her she should be frightened, as she is friends with someone they don’t like. Carmen tells them she was just helping him out, to survive. This doesn’t sway them much. Victoria steps in and asks, “Were is Vern?” Carmen responds with, “I don’t know. After court I returned here. I was too frightened to do anything else. I have been here for days.” Victoria asks if she would rather talk with Rudolph, than with them. This visibly, physically, shakes Carmen and more tremors enter her voice, as she answers with a string of nos. Carmen starts to offer to tell them anything she knows. Paul asks were Zetta falls in the ranks under Vern. Carmen tells them there was little structure, most just did what Vern told them to do. Victoria asks if she knows were Zetta is. Carmen, again, tells them she doesn’t know. Victoria tells her that they don’t believe her and maybe they should take her to Rudolph. Carmen stays defensive about that. Paul asks what Carmen had been doing for Vern. Carmen informs them all she was doing was delivering messages. Carmen lists off a few names, including Andrew and Derek. Paul asks if Andrew was important to Vern’s plan. Carmen tells them that Andrew seemed to be more in the wayof, than helpful to him and Derek was needed to keep others in line, as he has a great amount of influence and without that, Vern could not do what he wanted. Victoria, feeling that Carmen is not giving them enough, is still of the mind to take Carmen to Rudolph and see what he can get out of her. Paul still feels that she is being helpful and continues to question her. As she begs them not to take her to see Rudolph, Paul presses about what she knows about any remaining allies Vern has, what kind of protection he keeps around him, and were she normally saw him. Carmen tells them that she does not know of any remaining allies. As for protection, Vern was keeping a few ghouls around him, but left it mostly to the Sheriff, Enos, to protect him. Most of the time she had contact with Vern, it was at the office complex. Victoria and Paul are in agreement to take Carmen with them as Rudolph may get more out of her. Carmen did not resist as they bound her with the bed sheets. Victoria gives Riley a call to see if Rudolph is still with him. Riley, with much surprise in his voice, tells Victoria that it is fine and they will get to her, in time. After dropping off Carmen, they head to the next address that looked of some interest, in the files.

The address leads them to a house. Victoria, in a rush, takes the door off the hinges and the rest enter behind her. They head upstairs to see what’s around. Once upstairs, with some caution, they look around to find a small hall with three doors off of it. One of the doors is standing open and appears to be a bathroom. Hugh and Paul go to the first door and open it. As the door opens they get to see that the room appears to be a child’s bedroom. Once fully open, the girl in the bed , who looks to be around fourteen, starts to scream. Victoria enters the room and walks over to the bed and puts her hand over the girl’s mouth. After getting a hold of the girl, Victoria stares her in the eyes and informs her that, if she wants to live, she needs to shut-up. The girl, though still scared, stops screaming and calms down. Paul questions the girl about who lives in the house. She is able to tell him that it is just her parents and herself and they have been here for a few years. Paul asks what her last name is, to find out that it is “Andrews”. Paul also asks what kind of work her father does. He’s a lawyer. Paul, taking James with him, breaks down the door to the parent’s bedroom, leaving it flat on the floor. The mother sits bolt-upright and starts to scream. The father continues to snore. Paul sends James after the mother to shut her up, as he grabs the father’s ankle and rips him out of bed, bouncing his head off the floor to wake him up. James has a hold of the mother and keeps her quiet. The father, waking up, is pulled face-to-face with Paul while screaming out, “What’s going on?” Victoria, in the other room, has to add some effort in keeping the fourteen year old quiet. Paul calmly asks the father, “Who do you work for?” The reply comes that he works for himself, freelance. The father questions what they are doing here. Paul ignores this and asks how he knows Carmen Oster. He replies that he just wrote up some paperwork for a hotel out by the airport. The father continues to ask why they are here. Paul just asks about Vern and gets nothing. Paul asks if she keeps any records here and finds that they are kept at her office. Victoria sees that this is taking some time, rips the phone cord off the wall, ties up the girl and repeats that she is not here to hurt her. The father, still looking for answers, gets Paul to tell him that these are the wrong people to be doing business with. Victoria, after making sure the girl will stay put, walks over to the next room and tells Paul that it is time to go. Pulling the cords off the phone and a lamp in the parent’s room, they are secured. Paul leaves him with one last warning that if he sees the father’s name on anything dealing with others that Paul is looking for, he will be back. They all head out of the house to see that the morning is coming and the head back to Paul’s, in a group.

We wrap up the night and head home. Looks like next time we play it is going to be good.

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