Vampire Secret War Drama

[-ix-]

....is apparently complicated and will get us killed. Delicate balance of power. Consequences. Disaster. The usual.

That's all I learned from my first discussion about it. New discussion later this week. With a new vampire.

Well. Not everything. I was told if I met a man with black mirror eyes to run. So, apparently there is that in Denver. And it is (as I hear) worse than Greyson Addario. Considering who told me to run, and how he did so, I recommend running. And exercising extreme caution if you interpret running as charging straight up in its face.

-K.

[Howl]

Considering that at least one of them now knows we're looking into this - and that we may pose a threat to them - I think it would be a good idea to exercise caution going forward. It's entirely possible that this guy Kalen met with has already warned Grayson. I think it was a bad idea to show our cards that quickly, regardless of his motivations. What would you do if a vampire told you that he and his friends were thinking of going after one of us?

Kalen sent me those e-mails and I've been going through them. Maybe you guys saw something I haven't, but so far I'm not finding anything that looks like concrete evidence of human trafficking in Denver. There's a lot of fucking disturbing information here, but the only link we have is to the Black Orchid's parent company, which seems like it's based out of Miami. If they're kidnapping people here, they're not talking about it. We need to find out for sure exactly what's going on before we try to do anything.

Jae-shin and I are going to check out the club this week. None of them have seen us before and we can protect ourselves from detection. If anyone else wants to come along and fits that criteria (that might be no-one at this point,) let me know.

-I

[FadedNoel]

I had a big long angry spiel written, but you guys deserve better. I'm all for collecting more information. Don't forget mental shielding. They show up as pockets of localized heavy entropy, if you want to tell them apart from normal people.

Just don't ever tell me that something shouldn't be done because I need to be afraid of them. Information is good, but if I can't get a hold on anything more convincing than the fact that they are sentient and thus deserve a chance at redemption, or nebulous warnings that I should totally be afraid? I'm going to act. If nothing else, because that one beast showed how willing she was to make shadows crawl into my lungs.

[-ix-]

And, this is why I rushed that.

Because I see some people ready to snap. Because I asked a few of you to trust me to do something delicate on my own and pretty much no one who heard was willing to trust me on that - not without extensive questioning followed by pointed statements that I could do it but they did not think it was at all a good idea. I had no reason to believe that anyone would wait as long as it took for me to be cautious, because no one was willing to trust my judgment on what I was capable of - and if I can't be trusted to know my limits I can't imagine why anyone would trust me to tell them what to do.

Absent trust, we can't really coordinate.

We can share information, which is a thing that we do fairly well. But coordinate? No. Not really.

I'll let you know when I know something I think you should know. I wish you all the best of luck.

[Jacqui]

There's a message from Kiara at some point later; she's standing out on her balcony, coffee in hand with the faint stirrings of traffic below her; brows pressed together as she scans the updates coming through: I'm glad you guys are okay. That's first. Sent.

A beat later comes:

Kalen it wasn't a question of trust for me. I trust you. Them, absolutely not. I don't think the most proficient of us could go against them and be really sure what their limits were until it was too late to get out. I'm doing a little digging around on my own, if anything turns up that might help, I'll let you guys know.

And once more:

Conversely, if anyone wants somewhere safe to stay, my sofa is incredibly comfortable. -K.

[FadedNoel]

Kalen left. I don't think he's looking at Ginger anymore. And I doubt he's going to be in his usual haunts for a while.

For what it's worth, I don't think he's doing this so he can go off and do something crazy. And I'm going to keep an eye out for him. Just don't look for him at the office, cause he isn't here and he packed a few things first. Him answering his phone will likely be similarly rare. He isn't dead -- just heading that one off before someone freaks out.

[-ix-]

I am, in fact, checking Ginger, Kit.

The rest of that may well stand. But before anyone thinks I have completely flipped out - there is some considerable distance between I need a minute and I have decided to sever all contact until some indeterminate date. Fuck. Even I'm not quite that dramatic. Just stargazing. (Perhaps dramatically stargazing. I don't know. This red thermos is quite bold though, now that I think about it.)

-K.

[FadedNoel]

Glad I'm not going to have to track you down like a stalker. Which I realize I am in many cases recently. Still.

Don't be a stranger.