SB 04 - Investigating (Josef's POV) (PG-13)
Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:35 pm
Disclaimer: I don’t own them, I just play with the characters.
Mick stands there as if he was rooted. Beth recovers first and closes the door behind them. How considerate – I am only in a robe, and I was starting to feel the draft. Not that I would catch a cold, but still.
I stand up from behind his desk, and Mick looks me over, open-mouthed. „How…“ he chokes on the words.
„I managed to fall out of the window, Mick. It’s almost like flying, I can tell you. But I was a bit disheveled afterwards and lost my phone. So, sorry for trespassing into your loft without notice.“
He huffs. „You always invade my space without notice.“ He makes a helpless gesture towards his living room and walks through the short corridor with hesitating steps. Beth follows on his haunches. I slowly pick up my drink and walk behind Beth, taking in the view and trying to look as if nothing irregular had happened.
Beth is all but forgotten at the moment. I wonder how she takes it. But out of the corner of my eyes I can see that she is intrigued by the way this story unfolds, and wants to know more.
Mick stands at the base of his staircase. „You might need some clothes. Where are yours?“
I motion to the kitchen counter where the acrid smelling pieces of rags are still lying in a heap.
„I took the liberty to take a shower. It was actually a bit painful to heal from that.“
He picks up on this. Of course he would. „How did you heal from a fire?“ he asks incredulously.
I shrug. „With age comes power. And I wasn’t burning much, but my suit was. I pulled it off as soon as I could. Pity, it was Armani.“
Beth steps up from behind me and looks me over like I am her newest pet project. „So you recovered from all of this without a scar?“
„As I said, I didn’t burn – much. My skin healed when I raided the vegan blood Mick stores in his fridge. You wanna see for yourself?“
I motion as if I was about to throw off the robe. Mick glares daggers at me, and Beth actually blushes. I throw my arms up and laugh, the first laugh I have since my office blew up, and it feels great.
„Don’t worry, Beth, I am way beyond the time when I excelled in scaring humans just for the fun of it. But, Mick, could you lend me something to wear? It doesn’t have to be Armani, you know.“
„Come on up, then.“ Mick says and sprints up the stairs. I follow him. I sense a pattern here. When did I become the one to follow? But as long as he doesn’t rip my head off, I will gladly do as he says.
I can hear Beth rummaging through the kitchen, maybe she is busying herself with cleaning up my mess. It’s always nice to have someone else doing that for you. Maybe she would be good as a Cleaner.
Mick is busy taking an assortment of clothes out of his closet. Nice dark trousers, a blue striped shirt, boxers, socks, shoes. The shirt will be a bit too big for me, but I don’t mind. Beggars can’t be choosers.
Mick looks at me as if he wants to say something. I stare back to make him.
„Ahm, did you hear us out there?“
I tilt my head. „Yes.“
He looks at his shoes, embarrassed. „Why didn’t you say something?“
I grin half-heartedly. This is awkward, and I love awkward, but I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. I want to say „I needed to hear this. Thank you, friend.“ but I just couldn’t.
„I just wanted to know how Beth reacted.“
Mick is hurt. I can see it in his slumped shoulders, his empty eyes. But he turns away to let me get dressed in peace, and I push my wayward thoughts about apologizing into the back of my skull. Beth is here, and today I already met my quota on vulnerability for the rest of the century.
When I come back down, Mick has taken his laptop to the couch, and he and Beth are watching something. Mick stands up immediately and offers me his place. I see that it is the surveillance footage of the corridor in front of my office.
Okay, so Mick wants to do his „I am a professional and we will solve this crime before we solve this emotions“ schtick. I will play along. I know, men never talk about emotions, but in 400 years I learned that forcing a man to deal with them can be a lot of fun. And Mick is a great victim. But for now, we have more pressing things to talk about.
Mick asks me if I recognize the guy, but I don’t. The man is human, and he has military gear, but how in hellfire did he know I am a vampire?
Beth asks if my friends were vampires too. Ouch. I totally forgot about Tim and Dan. They burned to ash while I escaped. It’s not as if there was some vampire memorial anywhere to remind them by. Pity, Tim was quite a good poker player. And a good lawyer. Dan was one of my computer wizards. I will miss them.
I suddenly get really angry at the thought of what this little sh-t cost me. Not only my poker buddies. My office, my reputation, lots of money, an unexpected and unwanted holiday. Now because of this very public way to assassinate me everybody thinks I’m dead. My voice is more strained than I wanted it to be when I state this facts.
Mick reminds me that it has to stay that way, otherwise I won’t be safe. I ask him to find that assassin so I can go on with my life as it was. I cannot afford to be found in this state. I cannot afford anybody of the vampire world to know how close a human came to killing me.
We discuss who can help to find this guy, and as Ryder is out of town Beth offers the help of one of her hacker buddies.
I almost thank her. Wait, I am top of the food chain, I don’t have to thank her. After all, she is curious about this, maybe wants to make it into a story, so why should I thank her?
Mick is positively giddy to have another chance to go somewhere with Beth. He should really seal the deal, this gets ridiculous. But then he does something that blows me away: He grounds me. He tells me in no uncertain terms that I have to stay here. What a wacko! He cannot order me around just because he is my friend.
While he is out playing detective, I settle in his library and try to distract myself with a book. It’s boring. So I take my time to plan a comeback on him instead. This is gonna be fun.
Mick stands there as if he was rooted. Beth recovers first and closes the door behind them. How considerate – I am only in a robe, and I was starting to feel the draft. Not that I would catch a cold, but still.
I stand up from behind his desk, and Mick looks me over, open-mouthed. „How…“ he chokes on the words.
„I managed to fall out of the window, Mick. It’s almost like flying, I can tell you. But I was a bit disheveled afterwards and lost my phone. So, sorry for trespassing into your loft without notice.“
He huffs. „You always invade my space without notice.“ He makes a helpless gesture towards his living room and walks through the short corridor with hesitating steps. Beth follows on his haunches. I slowly pick up my drink and walk behind Beth, taking in the view and trying to look as if nothing irregular had happened.
Beth is all but forgotten at the moment. I wonder how she takes it. But out of the corner of my eyes I can see that she is intrigued by the way this story unfolds, and wants to know more.
Mick stands at the base of his staircase. „You might need some clothes. Where are yours?“
I motion to the kitchen counter where the acrid smelling pieces of rags are still lying in a heap.
„I took the liberty to take a shower. It was actually a bit painful to heal from that.“
He picks up on this. Of course he would. „How did you heal from a fire?“ he asks incredulously.
I shrug. „With age comes power. And I wasn’t burning much, but my suit was. I pulled it off as soon as I could. Pity, it was Armani.“
Beth steps up from behind me and looks me over like I am her newest pet project. „So you recovered from all of this without a scar?“
„As I said, I didn’t burn – much. My skin healed when I raided the vegan blood Mick stores in his fridge. You wanna see for yourself?“
I motion as if I was about to throw off the robe. Mick glares daggers at me, and Beth actually blushes. I throw my arms up and laugh, the first laugh I have since my office blew up, and it feels great.
„Don’t worry, Beth, I am way beyond the time when I excelled in scaring humans just for the fun of it. But, Mick, could you lend me something to wear? It doesn’t have to be Armani, you know.“
„Come on up, then.“ Mick says and sprints up the stairs. I follow him. I sense a pattern here. When did I become the one to follow? But as long as he doesn’t rip my head off, I will gladly do as he says.
I can hear Beth rummaging through the kitchen, maybe she is busying herself with cleaning up my mess. It’s always nice to have someone else doing that for you. Maybe she would be good as a Cleaner.
Mick is busy taking an assortment of clothes out of his closet. Nice dark trousers, a blue striped shirt, boxers, socks, shoes. The shirt will be a bit too big for me, but I don’t mind. Beggars can’t be choosers.
Mick looks at me as if he wants to say something. I stare back to make him.
„Ahm, did you hear us out there?“
I tilt my head. „Yes.“
He looks at his shoes, embarrassed. „Why didn’t you say something?“
I grin half-heartedly. This is awkward, and I love awkward, but I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. I want to say „I needed to hear this. Thank you, friend.“ but I just couldn’t.
„I just wanted to know how Beth reacted.“
Mick is hurt. I can see it in his slumped shoulders, his empty eyes. But he turns away to let me get dressed in peace, and I push my wayward thoughts about apologizing into the back of my skull. Beth is here, and today I already met my quota on vulnerability for the rest of the century.
When I come back down, Mick has taken his laptop to the couch, and he and Beth are watching something. Mick stands up immediately and offers me his place. I see that it is the surveillance footage of the corridor in front of my office.
Okay, so Mick wants to do his „I am a professional and we will solve this crime before we solve this emotions“ schtick. I will play along. I know, men never talk about emotions, but in 400 years I learned that forcing a man to deal with them can be a lot of fun. And Mick is a great victim. But for now, we have more pressing things to talk about.
Mick asks me if I recognize the guy, but I don’t. The man is human, and he has military gear, but how in hellfire did he know I am a vampire?
Beth asks if my friends were vampires too. Ouch. I totally forgot about Tim and Dan. They burned to ash while I escaped. It’s not as if there was some vampire memorial anywhere to remind them by. Pity, Tim was quite a good poker player. And a good lawyer. Dan was one of my computer wizards. I will miss them.
I suddenly get really angry at the thought of what this little sh-t cost me. Not only my poker buddies. My office, my reputation, lots of money, an unexpected and unwanted holiday. Now because of this very public way to assassinate me everybody thinks I’m dead. My voice is more strained than I wanted it to be when I state this facts.
Mick reminds me that it has to stay that way, otherwise I won’t be safe. I ask him to find that assassin so I can go on with my life as it was. I cannot afford to be found in this state. I cannot afford anybody of the vampire world to know how close a human came to killing me.
We discuss who can help to find this guy, and as Ryder is out of town Beth offers the help of one of her hacker buddies.
I almost thank her. Wait, I am top of the food chain, I don’t have to thank her. After all, she is curious about this, maybe wants to make it into a story, so why should I thank her?
Mick is positively giddy to have another chance to go somewhere with Beth. He should really seal the deal, this gets ridiculous. But then he does something that blows me away: He grounds me. He tells me in no uncertain terms that I have to stay here. What a wacko! He cannot order me around just because he is my friend.
While he is out playing detective, I settle in his library and try to distract myself with a book. It’s boring. So I take my time to plan a comeback on him instead. This is gonna be fun.