Game was Saturday 8/10/19; Anne Marie joined us so I ran the staff meeting.
At 7:30, Flo joins her supervisor Sarah Haynes (Headhunter/ Recruitment) for the staff meeting in the basement conference room at Cooley Dickinson. The Director of Operations (Recruitment) Andrew Pritchard is chairing the meeting, and he’s a tall, pale, lanky bastard with the personality of a dead fish. Director of Finances (Recruitment) Angela Banlow is a short black woman with an even, methodical temper, while Levi Highlander is a veteran retrieval specialist who clawed his way up to upper management by grit. He’s a short, wide man with scars across his body, and keeps his head shaved partially because of the intimidation factor, and partially because after a monster encounter went south, he can’t grow hair on one half of his scalp anymore.
Pritchard immediately tries to pin the loss of the team on Flo, but Sarah hotly defends her protégé. Pritchard turns on her, but Flo cuts in. She speaks calmly, and reminds Pritchard that he authorized the mission into the hallway. Pritchard flushes red with anger, but Angela cuts in, “Yes, you did, didn’t you? Flo did everything according to established protocol, it wasn’t her fault the scrubs got killed.” Levi shoots Angela an angry glare, but Flo speaks up and defends the men. Levi eyes Flo carefully as Angela immediately apologizes.1)
Angela then continues and reminds everybody of the sheer number of unknowns at work here; up until last night when the Troys descended, they had no clue about Dr. Chapman or that the weird hallway even existed. Sarah and Levi nod in agreement, and Pritchard realizes he’s been outmaneuvered. He gets a nasty look in his eye, and then declares, “Agreed. The Troys triggered this, so let’s use them. We know they have Sunday dinner. Flo, do you think you can attend tomorrow night? Bring wine. And you are authorized to reveal what happened to the insertion team and the knowledge of the elder vampire if they are recalcitrant.” Flo realizes this is a trap, but accepts the assignment.
Josh panics at the sight of an actual vampire invading their home, and grabs the nearest thing he can. He whips the antique lamp right at the vampire, smacking her in the face! William sighs as the lamp he inherited from his grandmother shatters on impact, leaving glass shards stuck in her face! The inner core of the lamp then falls down, as it’s still plugged into the wall. William yells, “Stop!” in the hopes that the vampire won’t be able to enter the home without permission, but she cocks her head and sings, “In the name of love!” as she steps into the living room. She then lunges forward and grabs Josh by his upper arms, pinning him in place! Josh tries to squirm free as William rockets to his feet thanks to adrenaline, and charges the vampire! He slams into her, but it’s like slamming into a wall.
The vampire then plunges her fangs into Josh’s neck! He moans softly as euphoric bliss washes over him, and William grabs the lamp and swings, slamming in into the side of the vampire’s head! She eyes him and twists her head, ripping one fang free of Josh’s neck, and growls, “Wait your turn.” William stares in horror at the monster, his grandson’s blood on her teeth, but his distraction gives Josh enough of a chance to break free of the euphoria; he yells, “Troy phone, call 911!” The hell-phone immediately appears is his hand; it dials the rest of the cell with the text message ‘911’ and loops them all into a conference call! William howls, “You’re not welcome here!” as he rams the sparking end of the lamp into the vampire’s back; she stiffens as electricity arcs through her! The vampire snarls and releases Josh. She then lunges at William and sinks her fangs into his neck! William shudders but manages to keep wriggling despite the euphoria; she mumbles to him, “You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?” William croaks, “You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full.”
Meanwhile, the other cell members wake up as their hell-phones shriek next to their ears; Anita grabs it blearily and realizes the issue. She quickly finds the ‘locate phone’ app and determines the emergency is at the Troys. Leta wakes up, sees the issue, and howls to Abby, “It’s ya boi.” Anita chimes in over the line, “Whatever’s going down, it’s at the Troys. You’re the closest.” Leta grunts and calls out, “We need pants!” Abuela bangs on Anita’s door and demands to know who is calling at 3 o’clock in the morning, but Anita ignores her and turns down the volume.
Back at the Troy’s, Josh howls and threatens the vampire with the rest of their cell incoming and their allies. The vampire looks at him blankly and growls, Huh?” before a wolf howl echoes through the night air! The vampire freezes, retracts her fangs from William’s neck, and then whispers, “Wait, what did you do?” There’s another howl, and then the Troys hear three short, sharp snaps. William and Josh look over to see another figure on their lawn, a tall, thin man in a three-piece suit, silver mask, and top hat! The vampire drops William and hurls herself out of the house. She lopes to the figure on all fours, and Josh raises his hand to snap a picture with the hell-phone, but the figure gestures and the phones goes flying out of Josh’s hand.
The figure then explodes into a cloud of bats and flies away as the female vampire barrels into the woods, still on all fours! As five wolves race into the front yard, Josh yells for William to help Angie. William ignores his grandson as he grabs the first aid kit and examines Josh’s neck. Josh drops to the floor and realizes Angie is dangerously low on blood. There’s a bone-crunching noise as Cain shifts into human form and jumps through the broken bay window; Josh looks up and pleads, “Do any of you have healing stuff” Cain replies, “Yes. Just not for her.” The other wolves approach the bay window as Cain crouches next to Josh. William finishes bandaging Josh’s neck and starts working on himself as Cain asks, “What did you do, piss off a vampire?”
Josh nods in reply, and then sobs as Angie shudders and dies on their floor. He looks at Cain and says softly, “The vampire ran into the woods. Can you track her?” Cain sees the look in his eyes and nods. She leaps out the window, shifting into wolf-form in mid-air, and lands in front of the pack. She lets out a howl and the five wolves charge after the vampire. As they race off into the night, Josh asks William to say a prayer for Angie. William agrees and does his best as Mick demands, “What’s going on?” Leta adds, “Should we come over?” William finishes his prayer and points out, “The vampire is gone and I doubt she’s coming back. People are coming over tomorrow for dinner anyway.” Josh counters, “Yeah, but someone may have called the police, and having Mick or Polly here could prevent problems.”
William frowns but concedes the point. Mick states, “I’ll be right over. Dr. Ranjip, can you come too?” The changeling offers a bleary grunt, which the others assume is assent. Mick adds, “I’d like to have Abby or Anita here too, in case they need to interrogate a ghost.” From Springfield, Anita concedes, “That’s not a bad idea, but I’m over half an hour away.” Abuela pounds on her door again, so Abby cuts in, “I’ll be over in ten minutes.” Leta adds, “Us too,” and the cell terminates the group call. As Leta and Abby grab their shoes, Anita rolls over and goes back to sleep and Josh reluctantly searches Angie’s body. He frowns as he realizes all technology from her corpse is missing, even her watch.
William sits down heavily on the couch to wait for the others, while Josh arranges Angie’s body into a more peaceful position. Josh frowns and mutters, “There’s no exit wounds.” That spurs William into action as cop instincts kick in, and he gets to his feet. He gently shoos Josh away from the body and performs a thorough examination. He finds no defensive wounds, no signs of restraint, and no exit wounds either. He examines the blood splatter on Angie’s corpse and realizes it is an extreme form of what he and Josh have, so clearly the vampire attacked her and drained her blood but left no puncture wounds.
While his grandfather is examining Angie, Josh sits down and texts Polly; he asks her to trawl the Union forums for Angie Nakamura. Polly texts back a moment later, “Name pops up, give me a few minutes.” She calls him a few minutes later and says, “A few Union cells ran with her out east, in Worcester and Leominster. Said she was more interested in filming than fighting. Last verified contact was five weeks ago.” Josh thanks her and ends the call. He sits with his grandfather and waits until Abby’s car pulls into the driveway. Abby, Leta, and Veltis get out and survey the shattered bay window; Leta mumbles, “Think we should all chip in for bank glass for Grandpa?” Abby snorts and leads them inside to find the Troy men sitting silently with matching gauze bandages on their necks, and a body on the floor.
Josh looks up and says simply, “This sucks.” William adds, “Literally.” Veltis eyes them and growls, “Did it lick you?” Both Troys looks at him blankly, but William replies, “No.” Veltis nods and reveals, “Vampires can lick the puncture wounds they create and seal them shut.” William nods as he realizes that’s why there were no exit marks on Angie, while Leta concedes such an ability is incredibly useful for a stealth predator. Abby looks around and declares, “No ghosts here.” Leta points out, “If she was drained elsewhere, her ghost may be there,” and Abby nods.
Mick pulls up a few seconds later and gets out. He joins them inside and surveys the body before asking, “So do we report this, or keep it quiet?” The assembled hunters discuss their options as Dr. Ranjip arrives, before William states, “Keep it quiet.” Dr. Ranjip offers, “I can make the body disappear.” William replies, “I’ll let Josh make that call.” Josh doesn’t want the body to vanish entirely, as that would leave her family uncertain of her fate, and possibly a vendetta against the cell from Angie’s Network 0 comrades. Dr. Ranjip admits he was going to leave the corpse in the Hedge, but Leta asks, “Can we take the Hedge-paths elsewhere to dump the body in the real world?”
Dr. Ranjip easily assents, especially since the door to the basement is still a Hedge-gate. William ignores the implications, but Mick checks his radio and frets that no one called in anything to the NPD. Josh looks out the windows as sees his neighbors’ homes all dark and silent. He wants to check on them, but the others moot that idea. Leta asks Dr. Ranjip if vampires can prevent bystanders noticing a fight, but the changeling shrugs and admits, “No idea. I didn’t encounter any other sort of supernatural types before I met you.”
Dr. Ranjip insists on treating William and Josh, and he pulls out a goblin fruit, which looks like a lime green pomegranate. He warns them that this will treat their blood loss quickly, but will leave them a bit loopy for a few hours. William isn’t certain he wants to be fuzzy-headed while Josh resists and says he needs to remember this for later, but Dr. Ranjip is firm and says their memories won’t be affected. Mick volunteers to keep watch, as he has today off anyway. Josh continues to resist and says he wants to help place Angie’s body, but Mick firmly vetoes that. The others do as well, so William has a slice of the rum cake and then accepts the goblin fruit; Dr. Ranjip goes into the kitchen and slices the goblin fruit in half. He brings the slices out on plates and says proudly, “Now, please eat. I grew this myself.”
William and Josh pop the goblin fruits into their mouths and find the flesh is pulpy, and the taste has a citrus bite. Their bodies start to tingle and then spasm randomly. Dr. Ranjip assures them that the spasm are normal, and will happen as they sleep. William makes it up the stairs without assistance, and grabs his crucifix before lying down on his bed. Josh also retires, and both men fall asleep swiftly. Mick grabs a tarp from the basement and starts nailing it in front of the bay window to keep out the autumn chill. Leta sighs and grabs Angie’s corpse with Abby, and they follow Dr. Ranjip and Veltis to the basement door. She mutters, “I hate this shit,” as Dr. Ranjip grabs the knob of the door and twists it – and then opens it to reveal the Hedge.
The hunters pass through the gate and find themselves on the trod, with tall cornfields on either sides, blocking their view. The ground is spongy, and as they walk, they hear the squishing of their feet – until Leta steps on something and it rumbles, “Ow.” Dr. Ranjip says firmly, “Don’t ask,” as he keeps going, so Abby and Leta comply. Something trills under their feet as they walk, but they ignore that as well. They continue down the trod in silence for a few minutes, until something behind Leta says in a childlike singsong, “I know who your grandfather is!” Leta ignores the voice and doesn’t turn around, but the voice offers her the information… for Angie’s corpse. Leta hesitates, and then decides it’s not worth it.
Leta takes the corpse into a firefighter’s carry, startling Abby, and then she insists, “We need to go faster.” Dr. Ranjip picks up the pace without question, but the voice continues to pester and cajole Leta the entire time. No one else seems to notice it, so Leta remains silent. Finally, Dr. Ranjip stops in front of an ornate door and opens it. Abby, Veltis, and Leta follow him out, into the Young Library at Smith College. Leta asks if they heard anything, but the others shake their heads. They place Angie in one of the study corrals after checking for cameras and finding none. They arrange Angie’s body to look like she fell asleep studying, and then depart, slipping back into the Hedge and the trod.
Leta, Abby, and Veltis stop and stare in horror, as the Hedge is now a frozen wasteland with ice choking the cornfields and covering the trod. Bitter cold winds knife through them, and they hasten to catch up with Dr. Ranjip. As they move forward, Leta curses as the cornfields give way to rows of crucifixes – each with Angie Nakamura nailed to them! She decries the macabre view, but Dr. Ranjip reminds her, “The Hedge is psycho-reactive.” Leta grumbles that she just pissed something off, and her suspicion grows when even Dr. Ranjip stops and curses. She looks head to see the gate back to the Troy household – and it’s another copy of Angie Nakamura, twisted like The Scream, with the door embedded in her torso. They make their way through the door, and step into the Troy’s kitchen. They then hear the click of a gun, and see Mick in the shadows as he lowers his 9mm. He roughly apologizes, but Leta praises his paranoia and even Dr. Ranjip nods approvingly. They quickly fill him in, and he agrees to keep an eye on the house – and the door. He pops it open gingerly to reveal the cellar stars, and the hunters relax – a fraction.
Abuela bangs on Anita’s door at 6:00 AM and yells, “Get up, we’re going to Mass!” Anita groans and rolls over, but Abuela threatens to wake Del and send her in to get Anita up. Grumbling, Anita yells back, “Gimmie five minutes! Now get out!” She drags herself out of bed and into the shower. She dons her Sunday best and joins an angry Abuela downstairs; Del is asleep in the chair next to her. They’re also wearing their Sunday best, and Abuela shakes Del awake. Anita demands to know why they’re going to the early Mass when the later one is perfectly fine, but Abuela snaps, “We’re Catholics. We must suffer.” Anita grumbles, realizing her grandmother is exacting revenge for the 3:00 AM phone call.
The Montoya women arrive at the Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel for 7:30 Mass, which is sparsely attended. Everyone suddenly goes dead silent as people file into the pew directly behind the three women, and Anita turns – and stares right up at Silas Black! He and a group of suited Mafioso situate themselves and settle in. Abuela goes dead white, and even Del realizes something is up – and is smart enough not to utter a peep. The service begins and is in Spanish, with the priest clearly nervous about the gangsters in his congregation.
Anita curses inwardly when they reach the sign of peace, but Abuela swears openly – and in German. The women turn and Anita shakes Silas’s hand – and her entire hand disappears into his paw. She looks up and Silas’s eyes flash neon-blue for a second before he releases her. 2) He shakes hands with Abuela and Del, as do the other gangsters. Del is still confused, but remains silent. Mass ends at 8:15, and the Montoya women make a quick exit. As they get into the car, Anita snidely observes, “Oh, we could have gone to the 10 o’clock Mass, which is just as good, but you had to go early to spite us. We’re Catholics, we must suffer.” Wisely, Del continues to remain silent.