Hunt 28: Chapter 1 [The VerbenaVerse]

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~~META:
title = Hunt 28: Chapter 1
~~

====== Hunt 28: Blood Corrupts - Chapter 1 ======
===== Monday October 4th, 2010 =====
Ethan Rowley and David Whitney of R&R Windows Contractors return to the Troy household at 9 o’clock in the morning and resume work on [[wod:hunter:pcs:william]]’s shattered bay window. Strangely, when they break at noon for lunch, they do ask William and his grandson [[wod:hunter:pcs:josh]] if they want anything. William politely declines, so the men depart for an hour. When they return, they complete the work. William examines their work and admits they did an excellent job; they blended in the repairs to the existing structure without a visible transition. Ethan shakes William’s hand and says, “Thanks for calling us, and thanks for your business!” They depart at 6 o’clock, without giving William a bill. William just rolls with it.

===== Downtime =====
A little over two weeks pass without major incident, as William rests and lets his legs heal. Josh resumes his schoolwork but also initiates a few Internet searches for the late [[wod:characters:angie|Angie Nakamura]], hoping to find her [[wod:characters:groups:network0|Network 0]] cell. Detective [[wod:characters:polly]] focuses on the double homicide at Smith College, investigating the deaths of Angie Nakamura and [[wod:characters:tanya|Tanya Morris]]. Police officer [[wod:characters:mick]] walks his beat alone, still awaiting a partner, while the changeling Dr. [[wod:characters:ranjip]] takes some personal time to travel to Boston at the request of [[wod:characters:groups:molassescourt]]. The time-displaced changelings of Provincetown’s [[wod:characters:groups:mistscourt]] are still having issues adjusting to the 21st century despite being here for over nine months, and the good doctor’s childhood in the late 19th century is invaluable in forging understandings. 

Down in Springfield, Sin-Eater [[wod:hunter:pcs:anita]] runs her family botanica and keeps an ear to the ground in regards to the recent ascension of the mobster [[wod:characters:black]], who killed Grazzianu Belladonna and usurped the [[wod:characters:groups:belladonnafamily]]. She learns Silas has been very busy, eliminating several smaller gangs and taking over their rackets. Curiously, Silas has absorbed a few gangs that met his terms without quibble; these gangs saw the writing on the wall and surrendered. Those gangs have kept their rackets, but now pay fealty and a cut of their profits to Silas Black. Anita realizes that Silas Black usually offers those in his way terms first, and only moves in with force if those gangs reject his terms. Considering the inherent racism of the Italian syndics, this diplomacy is very unusual. 

Anita speaks with her fellow Sin-Eater [[wod:geist:pcs:peter]], who is an officer in the [[wod:characters:groups:spd]]. Peter tells her that the top brass in the SPD has issues a hands-off order regarding Black, a move Peter freely attributes to ‘upper management racism.’ Since Black is stabilizing the local underworld, Anita concedes the point. She also works on translating her great-grandfather’s books in the basement, a task made easier by learning German due to her bond with the pack totem The Academitrix of Classical Studies at Smith College for Women. It’s still slow going however, as the books are in old German, but Anita is making progress. She realizes part of the books are a Sin-Eater codex, and another part seems to be a supernatural history of the area during colonial times – and there are a few references to a vampire named Obadiah. Sadly, she also realizes a lunatic wrote these books. In the interim,[[wod:characters:groups:xkrewe]] cautiously goes Below to collect rent on Fridays, and so far has not run into the dead True Fae [[wod:characters:sethic]].((Sethic has returned to his old hunting grounds at Shelburne Falls, as the state government is opening up the village over the objections of the federal government.))

[[wod:characters:groups:lucifuge]] hunter [[wod:hunter:pcs:leta]] and her demon-familiar [[wod:characters:veltis]] hold down the fort while Leta studies for the GED and occasionally deigns to work at Dunkin Donuts. Veltis continues cataloguing his collection in his dimensional hell-pocket, and their roommate Sin-Eater [[wod:characters:abby]] continues her schoolwork and research. Leta learns of Anita’s encounter with Silas Black at Mass, so she calls Milan and speaks with [[wod:characters:guiseppe]]. She updates the demonic butler about Black and he confesses, //“We still don’t know who he is. He’s not family, and he seems to be focusing solely on the local level and isn’t challenging the Belladonna Syndicate beyond Springfield.”//

Leta asks for a dossier of her connection to the Belladonna family, and what the Lucifuge does know about Silas Black. Giuseppe agrees to collate that information for her, and speak to the [[wod:characters:ladyofmilan]] on her behalf. As far as he knows, the Lucifuge Herself is content to let Silas work unopposed as long as he stays local. Leta understands, but she argues, “He’s making himself known to my friends.” Giuseppe replies, //“I understand. I’ll speak to her as soon as I can, but it will be some time until I can get that information to you.”//

===== Wednesday October 20th, 2010 =====
Anita is eating breakfast when the landline rings. [[wod:characters:abuela|Abuela]] answers and Anita overhears her say only, “Thank you, sir.” Abuela then hangs up – and starts cursing in multiple languages for several minutes. At 12 minutes and 39 seconds into the tirade, Peter calls Anita and tells her, //“Head’s up. Your brother [[wod:characters:carlos|Carlos]] was a no-show at his parole check-in last night, and SPD issued a warrant. Expect unis shortly.”// Anita groans but thanks her friend. At 15 minutes and 2 seconds, Abuela calms down – slightly – and Anita confirms that the call was about Carlos. She reveals Peter’s warning, and tells [[wod:characters:adela|Adela]] to go back upstairs. Del snidely points out, “They’re going to want to talk to me anyway,” but Anita replies, “Yes. But let them ask for you.” 

Del grumbles, but heads upstairs to her room. A minute later, a SPD squad car pulls up and Abuela tells Anita, “You’re the //gringo// expert. You deal with them.” Anita sighs but complies, greeting the two white officers at the door. She lets them inside as Abuela puts on her housecoat and pretends to be frail – and poor at speaking English. Anita keeps her face blank and politely answers all the questions the two cops ask. They are equally polite, although one of them doesn’t seem to be buying //Abuela’s// act. They do ask for Del, and Anita calls her sister down. Del is brusque but cooperates, and the truth is the Montoya women have no idea where Carlos is. The cops depart after leaving a card, and Anita murmurs, “That was relatively painless.”

Abuela turns on her granddaughters and demands, “Did you know he did this?” Anita shakes her head and Del snidely replies, “Like I know him?” That brings the other two up short, and Anita admits to herself that Carlos was never close or kind to his baby sister.((However, this does spark some soul-searching on Del’s part, and she ends up blaming herself for the distance between her and Carlos. Hence, she checks with her network, which leads her to sneaking out to try to rescue him.)) She heads off to the botanica, where the rest of the day is quiet. The day after, the Montoya family notices an increased police presence, but nothing overwhelming. As Carlos’s sentence and parole was for petty stuff, the SPD doesn’t consider him a safety risk.

===== Friday October 22nd, 2010 =====
==== Meeting Silas Black ====
Anita gets up, showers, eats, and heads to the botanica. She pulls up at 9:45 and heads to the door when her cell phone rings. It’s Abuela, so Anita immediately answers. Abuela is frantic, and snaps, //“Del is missing! I went in to wake her up and found clothes stuffed under the sheets to make it look like she was still asleep!”// Anita grumbles, but promises to keep an eye out. She hangs up just as a limousine cruises into her parking lot and stops. A well-dressed //Mafioso// gets out of the front passenger door and says politely, “Mr. Black wishes to speak to you.” Anita sighs but nods, so the //Mafioso// opens the back door and holds it open for her.

Anita climbs in and the //Mafioso// closes the door behind her. Although the rear compartment is big, Silas Black’s sheer bulk and presence fills the space. Anita keeps her face blank when she sees Del next to Black, with her hands and mouth taped. Silas Black greets her politely, and Anita asks he remove Del’s gag. He does so without protest, and Del shrieks, “He has Carlos!” Anita eyes Black, who nods and says, “I do. He and his gang came after me the other night. I spared him because I realized he was your brother, although they threw holy water at me for some reason.”((The [[wod:characters:groups:nightwatch|Night Watch]] assumed he was a vampire or a ghoul. They went after him as such, and all died except for Carlos.)) 

Anita bursts out laughing at that last part, and then tells Black, “Probably due to those glowing blue eyes of yours.” Without missing a beat, Silas retorts, “That is simply my Italian heritage.” Anita snorts, as Black clearly isn’t Italian. Black continues, “I found this one late last night trying to break in to one of my properties to look for her brother.” Anita groans and glares at her sister. Black adds, “Her, I will give back for free. For your brother, however, there is a price. Weekly payments from your business for protection.” 

Anita goes still and considers the offer for a moment. She then asks, “How long do I have to make up my mind?” Black replies, “One week.” Anita rears back in surprise, and says, “That’s very generous.” Black shrugs his massive shoulders and rumbles, “I am a generous man. And the longer he misses check-in, the worse it is for Carlos.” Anita concedes that point, but makes a joke about being unable to resist Silas’s smoldering blue eyes. In response, Silas bats his eyes seductively, and Anita groans, “Don’t make me like you. I do have one request, however.” Black nods, so Anita says, “Please escort her home safely. I’ll give you my answer by Monday night.” Silas Black agrees and shakes Anita’s hand. He then raps his knuckles on the car frame, and the //Mafioso// outside quickly opens the door to let Anita out of the limo. Anita gets out and watches as the //Mafioso// gets back in and the limo pulls away, heading towards her home. 

==== Anita Speaks ====
Anita unlocks the store, and once she’s inside the building she starts cursing. She then grabs her hell-phone and calls Leta. Leta is home and answers; Anita says, “Mafia stuff, got a minute?” Leta assents, so Anita says, “Feel free to yell at me for getting into the limo,” and then explains what happened. Leta does indeed yell at Anita for walking into her own potential kidnapping, but then asks, //“You have a brother?”// 

Anita replies, “Yes, I have a brother.” She hears the beep of another call, and guesses it’s Abuela so she ignores it. Then the landline rings, so Anita tells Leta, “Hold on a sec.” She picks up the other phone and says sweetly, “Montoya Botanica, please hold for a moment.” She ignores //Abuela’s// outraged shrieking and puts the phone down. She returns to Leta, who tells her, //“I’ve already called Milan, but I’ll reach out again.”// Anita thanks her and ends the call. She then picks up the other line and says, “Montoya Botanica, thanks for holding. How can I help you?” As expected, Abuela explodes into another tirade of profanity, and when she calms down, she demands an explanation as to why mobsters just brought Del to the door.

Anita snorts, although she’s glad Black upheld the agreement. She quickly runs down everything, and says, “They want protection money.” Abuela goes silent before whispering, //“The Botanica has existed for over ninety years without paying one cent for protection money to anybody.”// Anita replies, “I know. I’ll think of something. After all, I’m the //gringo// expert.” She ends the call and opens her store; with Halloween looming, the store has been doing brisk business. She calls Peter during the post-opening lull, and tells him everything off-the-record. Peter points out, //“If he gets you to pay protection money, he gains your credibility.”// Anita groans, as she realizes Peter is right. Meanwhile, Leta calls Milan again and updates Giuseppe, who promises to bring this to the Lady of Milan’s attention. 

==== The Local Vigil Spreads the Bad News ====
Around 10:30 in the morning, Dr. Ranjip mass-texts the cell to say, //“Just go back from P-town. Changelings say others escaped at the same time, including vampires.”// A few moments later, William’s landline rings and he answers. The caller is [[wod:characters:terry|Terry Cottle]], of the [[wod:characters:groups:aic|AIC cell]]. Terry tells William, //“Head’s up. Your friends the [[wod:characters:groups:nightwatch|Night Watch]]? They’re gone now. They went after a mob boss and it didn’t end well.”// William thanks him for the warning and ends the call. He tells Josh, who asks, “Did they get any of Silas Black’s men?” William admits, “I don’t know. He didn’t say.” Josh checks the news, but finds nothing, which only worries him further. He calls Terry directly, and Terry tells him, //“The Night Watch go after fangs. They went after this guy when he was alone.”//

At 11 o’clock, Josh calls Anita and tells her, “A whole gang with candles just went after Frank Sinatra. They lost.” Anita asks, //“Wait, which gang?”// Josh tells her, “The Night Watch.” Anita puts the pieces together and starts swearing in multiple languages. Josh tentatively asks, “Do you want family dinner tonight?” Anita grimly replies, //“No, thank you. I’m going Below tonight.”// She ends the call, fuming as she realizes which crew Carlos was running with. Josh texts Leta about the death of the Night Watch. 

==== Happy Fun Times at Cooley-Dick ====
At noon, Dr. Ranjip sends a second mass text to the cell: //“Autopsies, bodies from Smith gone. Our new friends didn’t know.”// Josh immediately texts back, //“When were they last seen?”// A few minutes pass as Dr. Ranjip presumably checks, and then the changeling replies, //“Not since last week.”// Half an hour later, Polly calls William and tells him, //“All the records and evidence from our Smith investigation has vanished.”// William is agog, as that is no small feat. He asks, “Have you told [[wod:hunter84:pcs:vandernoot|Vandernoot]]?” Polly replies, //“No, I’m telling you first. She’s next.”// William jokes, “Be sure to tell her that.” Polly retorts, //“No, I like my job. But if I die in Vandernoot’s office, I wanted someone to know what happened.”// 

Polly then heads up to Chief Alicia Vandernoot’s office.(([[players:siobhan]] played Vandernoot)) She knocks and Vandernoot calls out, “Come in.” Polly enters and explains what happened; her team spent the morning finishing up on other cases before their meeting at 1 o’clock. Polly went to get their files and the evidence for the meeting, but found it all missing. Vandernoot goes very still, and Polly admits, “Friends at CDH also report that the bodies and autopsy reports are missing.” Vandernoot frowns and says, “You called William before telling me?” Polly shrugs but doesn’t deny it. Vandernoot sighs but lets it go. 

Vandernoot asks, “When was the last time anyone had those records?” Polly replies, “We called it a night at 2300 hours yesterday.” Vandernoot muses, “So just over twelve hours. Cancel your meeting and tell your team that I’m reviewing all materials for this case, so no one asks where everything went. This is now your top priority, and if you need more resources, let me know immediately.” Polly nods in understanding, and idly wonders, “Is this two inside jobs, or one person who can access both locations?” Polly departs, and drives to the Troy home to speak with William face-to-face. Josh leaves them be to talk cop-stuff as Polly outlines Vandernoot’s order and her plan to head to Cooley-Dickinson to poke around. William agrees to accompany her, and they text Dr. Ranjip for a meeting.

Polly drives William up to CDH and they meet Dr. Ranjip in his office at 1 o’clock. When they enter, they both feel a wave of fear grip them, until Ranjip realizes they’re here and visibly forces himself to calm down and end the effect. Both hunters relax, and Polly grimly explains the disappearance of the NPD’s files. Dr. Ranjip smiles without mirth and says, “Follow me.” He leads them into the administrative wing, right into [[wod:characters:sarah|Sarah Haynes]]’ office. Sarah looks up and says dryly, “C’mon in, we’ve been expecting you.” She’s alone in her office, and listens carefully as Dr. Ranjip and Polly share the stories of their respective missing items. 

Sarah confirms that the only trace that Angie’s and Tanya’s bodies were ever here is one intake form in the morgue. She also says her team has narrowed things down to a suspect, [[wod:characters:anna|Anna Bell]], a records clerk here in the office. She worked late this weekend, so she has today off. Sarah admits, “It’s thin, but she’s the one person with the access to remove the records and delete the files from the archives. Come with me, I’ll show you everything.” William asks how she could have absconded with two corpses, and Sarah retorts, “You tell me. Getting into and out of the morgue unnoticed is your skill set, not mine.” She then leads them into the records room, a large room with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with patient folders, and an aging computer to access the few digitized records. William stares blankly at the machine, but Polly and Dr. Ranjip access it without issue and realize Sarah is correct.

Sarah then leads them down to the employee locker room, which is empty. Polly can’t do anything legally, but Sarah points out, “Let’s go get a coffee with the good doctor. I’m sure William will be fine alone as long as he doesn’t open locker #462.” The women and Dr. Ranjip depart, and William carefully jimmies open locker #462. He searches the locker without a warrant and finds nothing except for an empty vial tucked in a pocket of a blazer. He pops open the vial and sniffs; he smells a faint trace of blood and sees what might be saliva buildup at the lip. He leaves it on the table and closes the locker. 

When Sarah, Polly, and Dr. Ranjip return, William shows them the vial he ‘found on the table.’ Dr. Ranjip pops it open and sniffs; he murmurs, “Saliva and blood, but it’s not human blood.” Sarah suddenly curses, and when the others look at her curiously, she reveals, “It’s probably vampire blood. They let their slaves drink their blood, which enhances their strength and makes them hopelessly addicted.” William processes that tidbit but claims, “I’m just a retired old cop.” Sarah retorts, “Bullshit,” but spins and leads them to the morgue. The attendant on duty looks up in confusion as the civilian, the cop, the doctor, and the HR administrator walk in, but Sarah turns to him and growls, “You’re on break. Now.” The young intern immediately vacates with a timid, “Yes, ma’am.”

Once alone, Polly and William conduct a careful examination of the room, the bays where the corpses are supposed to be, and the records. After several minutes they find no trace of human activity at all, which is incredibly unusual. They look at each other grimly as they realize the most likely possibility at the same time: a cop sanitized the room. They share this conclusion with Dr. Ranjip and Sarah. Dr. Ranjip checks his watch and murmurs, “I’ve got a surgery in thirty minutes I need to prep for.” Sarah nods and says flatly, “We’ve hit a dead end for now. It’s a shame someone can’t check out 137 Damon Road, apartment 3, in their spare time.”

==== To Damon Road ====
Sarah returns to her office while William and Polly exit the hospital. They head out to her car and talk; they both realize Leta and Veltis are the best suited for this. Polly drives William down to Leta’s apartment, and William gets out. He knocks on Leta’s door at 3:30 PM. Leta answers, and looks confused as she calls out to Abby and Veltis, “It’s grandpa. Alone. Is Josh dead?” Veltis yells back, “If Josh is dead, I lose money.” William assures them his grandson isn’t dead as Leta steps aside to let him in. He then outlines their findings and the need to check out Anna Bell’s apartment. His plan to pass the buck partially backfires when Abby announces, “Get in the car, bitches,” and he realizes he’s riding along – and Leta grabs shotgun.

As Abby drives to Damon Road in her gold Saturn, Veltis calls Josh and tells him, “We’re taking Grandpa on a little breaking and entering adventure. Be a doll and see what you can find out about one Anna Bell.” Josh checks immediately and discovers Ms. Bell has a minimal presence of social media, but her Facebook does say she’s in a new relationship. He passes this along as Abby pulls up to 137 Damon Road, which is the small retail space across from the funeral home; presumably, Anna Bell lives in one of the apartments above the stores. Luckily, there’s enough foot traffic that they can get out to walk around without arousing suspicion. Veltis whispers, “Give me five minutes,” and he scampers off.

Leta, Abby, and William continue to walk around, until Leta hisses as Veltis activates their shared link. She sees through his eyes as he slips under the door into apartment #3, and then she sees a man and a woman screwing on the couch! Veltis looks around and sees a discarded police uniform, so he scampers over to let Leta get a good look at the badge number; Leta rattles it off and hopes someone wrote it down. As the humans in the apartment are clearly distracted, Veltis races through the living room to check out the other rooms. He hits pay dirt when he scampers into the bathroom and sees two corpses propped up in the bathtub! One is Angie Nakamura, and the other is another young woman he assumes is Tanya Morris. 

In the parking lot, Leta continues narrating what she’s seeing, and Abby and William both wince when they hear about the bodies dumped in the bathroom. In the apartment, Veltis scampers back into the living room and the cop notices him. Veltis looks up at him, and then flips him off with both paws, much to Leta’s consternation! The cop stares in slack-jawed confusion as Veltis turns and shoots for the front door. He wiggles free and terminates the link, so Leta pulls out a burner phone and calls the NPD. In a breathless whine, Leta reports a strange smell coming from the ceiling at Curves on Damon Road, and since she once found a dead body in the woods while at camp, she knows what the smell is! 

Veltis scampers across the parking lot to join them as Leta finishes up and chucks the burner phone into a trashcan. They quickly pile into Abby’s car and drive away before the cops arrive. Leta tells Abby, “We should stop at Burger King.” From the backseat, William adds, “I could eat.” Abby grumbles but heads towards King Street. Meanwhile, one of Josh’s searches suddenly bears fruit when a picture pops up, showing Angie Nakamura and another Hampshire College student on campus. Josh stares at the picture, because the name of the other student is [[wod:characters:elisa|Elisa Mae Curran]] – and the one time Josh met her, she was draining his blood! 

----
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[[{}wod:hunter:recap:27_epilogue|<= Hunt 27: Epilogue]]
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[[{}wod:hunter:recap:28_chapter_2|Chapter 2 =>]]
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