[nWoD] Campus Vigilantes 2: Halloween

[-Sentinel-]

"I hope your not busy, but things got kinda crazy here. I thought you'd want to know the gist of what's going on. Maaaan, have I got a story for the next meeting..." he says, unable to keep himself from grinning.

"Oh? Really?" The professor's tone sounded bored, but Jonah suspected that he was downplaying his actual interest, like a buyer trying to haggle. Perhaps he could tell that Jonah wanted something in return.

---

1

Kale

"I... I think I need some time alone," whispered Michelle, a tremor in her voice. "See you."

She walked out.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah smirks. "That RPG club you suggested I join? We just stopped Round Two of the Halloween Massacre. Also, on a totally unrelated note, how much first-hand experience do you have with ghosts?" he asks, keeping his voice low.

[savior indra]

Kale knelt for some time before he regained enough composure. He didn't want anyone else seeing him like this. Especially the other members of the club. It wouldn't do to show weakness, not here, not now.When his breathing was steady Kale stood up and walked calmly out of the room and then the building. He nodded towards the people he knew before clambering into his Lamborghini.

He would be drinking tonight, that much was obvious. But he wouldn't be drinking alone. It was time to visit a grave and share some memories. Perhaps he would be able to start living again. Underneath the mask both literal and figurative Kale felt some semblance of peace for the first time in years. He smiled, revved the engine and was off into the distance.

[-Sentinel-]

"Also, on a totally unrelated note, how much first-hand experience do you have with ghosts?"

"None," admitted the professor. "I've met people who saw ghosts, but they don't sound much fun to hunt, so I don't bother looking for them when there's plenty of better game out there."

Spoiler

Show

Do you have a name for this guy?

Also, please, let's make it quick. I want to wrap up the story as soon as possible. If you want to tell the details of the evening to your Ashwood Abbey friends or such, it can be done off-screen between games.

For the record, Jamie was never planning another Halloween Massacre.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah chuckles knowingly. "Well, it looks like I really do have something to brag about, then. If you and the other Abbey members are interested, and I'm not in jail as an accessory to attempted murder, I'd love to tell you all about how we took down the real bastard behind the Halloween Massacre. But I'm afraid I don't have long to talk right now, Doctor Freeman; the cops may want to take may come try to get my statement or something in a moment. Don't worry, I should be able to weasel my way out of this. Though... my friend might not be so lucky..." he mutters. "The Abbey wouldn't happen to have any sort of legal connections or ties, would it?" he asks cheerfully. "Just curious."

[McGonigle]

It didn't Jaime long to pull out the phone and hit it back into record mode. She waited with interest as Semira relayed off her part of the story. She pressed pause on the record.

"Excellent, yeah pretty sure with that I can get the right story out. Anyway considering I want to get some sleep tonight I should really get started." She commented ducking out of the conversation.

Still she had one last thing she needed to say, she walked over to Ellen "Hey, look I'm pretty sure I've pieced together what happened in the bathroom, though eye witness testimony. I was planning to head off and start writing up something, I know the next issue isn't exactly a rush, but we could probably sell the article to an actual paper, get our names out there. I'll be in the IT room if you need me."

(And exit stage right,)

[-Sentinel-]

Days passed, then weeks.

At first, the local police tried to pin the blame on Adam and claim that he shot first. Perhaps they hoped to draw attention away from the fact that one of their own had gone crazy, but in this they failed: the story ran on every news report of the state of Illinois. Many students had filmed the injured Jamie Price confessing to the Halloween Massacre and begging the cops for protection from ghosts while being taken away on a stretcher, and there was no doubt that, guilty or not, he had gone off the deep end. So the police instead tried to accuse Adam of using excessive force and carrying weapons on campus. The public's views were shared on the issue, although most sided with Adam, and the ambiguity of the situation kept the young archer's sponsors from cashing in on it.

And then the Feds entered the picture. Supposedly, “new elements came up” during the interrogation of Jamie Price. On the grounds that the local police lacked the objectivity to investigate this particular case, they unceremoniously took it away from them. Their methods were more thorough; they searched the contents of Adam's phone, questioned any witness they could get a hand on and made extensive research on anyone with so much as a remote connection with the events. Or so Adam gathered, but he was kept largely out of the loop.

The only thing the Feds released to the public was a report that outlined several reasons why Jamie Price's confession was likely to be true and not just the ravings of a deranged mind. For a start, Jamie's then-roommate recalled to have seen him come back to his flat in a Jack Skellington costume shortly after the Halloween Massacre, the exact costume that Ian Keating had bought via credit card a week before the party according to the data of his credit company. However, it was concluded that Jamie Price's current mental state (not to mention his grave injuries) made a formal accusation and trial unlikely in the foreseeable future.

Adam was eventually let off on self-defense grounds, but was still in the dark as to the details of the legal proceedings and the Feds' findings. Of course, he would never be entirely cleared, as there would always be some people who doubted the official version. He could tell it in his fellow Maxwell students' eyes – most supported him and called him a hero, but others spoke behind his back or avoided him. Rumors abounded.

Blood was hard to wash off.

---

1

About a week after the Halloween party, Karen managed to bring down her first vampire, a gang member. She did not kill him but knocked him out cold, drained him of almost all his vitae with a large syringe and blood bags lent to her by Leon, and left him in a dumpster. This solved her withdrawal problem for the time being, but she would need to keep hunting.


Jonah's story did not have the expected success when he told it to his jaded Ashwood Abbey friends and professor, one night, in the latter's cushy living room. For one thing, he had no proof; only Adam was widely known by the public to have helped stop Jamie Price, and since ghosts left no trace behind, Jonah's friends were unconvinced that anything supernatural had taken place. And even if it was true, one of the less skeptical members pointed out, what was Jonah thinking, hunting with those RPG Club dorks instead of his true bros?

“I'm sure those amateurs are cute and all, Jonah,” he said disdainfully, “and they must make you look good in comparison, so I understand why you hang out with them. But they're not the real deal, and you know it. What can they do that we can't? They don't even have fun hunting, so it's a waste to let them do it when there's only so much prey out there. Like giving a bottle of this excellent Grand Marnier–” (he raised his glass) “–to some random bum who'll chug it just to get hammered.”

Others nodded in assent. Conversation then shifted to the possibility of a werewolf-hunting trip in Norway next Christmas break. But ultimately, Jonah did not need their help for legal counsel – the Feds questioned him a bit and borrowed his cell phone (Jonah feared they would find something incriminating), but ultimately the judicial system never got involved in his case.


Jaime's article in the Maxwell school newspaper forced a new print run due to the 68 percent rise in readership. This, in turn, allowed Ellen to raise the cost of advertising spots in the newspaper and led her to promote Jaime to number two. Jaime's next article was a series of interviews of Jamie Price's friends, who admitted that the young cop had often been a bit... off in some ways in everyday life. Never showing empathy, never able to keep a girlfriend, sometimes a bit violent-minded when he was getting bored. Even Zach had not been that close to him, or so he claimed.

---

1

It snowed for the first time of the season the day before Thanksgiving weekend – a light snow that melted almost the moment it hit the ground. The sky was a uniform light-gray. The memorial had been repaired and was good as new.

Allison Keating came in black mourning clothes, once again bearing white roses. This time, when she put them down under her brother's name, there was no Michelle to block her way, no Michelle to accuse her of loving a monster. Her two-year quest for truth and justice had come to an end. She could now mourn her brother without shame, without being judged for it. Still she remained the only one to bring Ian flowers. People were still used to cursing the name of Ian Keating, and even now that they knew the truth about the massacre, it would take them a while to adjust their thinking. And... there was always that lingering doubt, the idea that every lie had to contain a grain of truth.

It was as true for Ian as it was for Adam – blood was hard to wash off.

But at least justice had been served, and the dead rested easy. The living did not have that luxury, but some of them now had the comfort of knowing that their loved ones had moved on to a better place. Until they were all reunited on the other side – if there was even one – peace of mind would have to suffice.

There was little enough peace in the world of the living.

the end

.