Dresden Files: The Charlotte Story

[Tegu8788]

Charlotte. The Queen City. A rapidly growing city, it's an old city. Wouldn't like it though, it's a modernized city. That's the thing about a modernized city. You never know where you might be standing. The city is older than the country it's in, and today, it's known for several things, top above them is banking. Money flows in and out of the city likey nothing else. And where money flows, power goes. And not just the power of the mortal kind. For there are more things in heaven and earth, friend, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

The city has seen many changes over the years. Massive towers of steel and glass have risen from the dirt towards the sky, and inside them, thousands of people spent their days and nights. One such tower of glass and steel has been named the Vue. A 600-foot tall skyscraper, it is 50 stories tall, and well known cared for, with a 24-7 staff, and some of the best views of the city that can be bought. On one of the upper levels, one particularly fancy lady owns a 3 bedroom unit, though, depending how you see things, see treats every room as a bedroom. For this is the home of one Anna Raith. She was not the Queen of the Uptown, not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but if you looked her in the eye, you could see that one day, one day she would make herself Queen.

[Tegu8788]

Vue Tower - All

Having received a call, or summons, depending on how one sees things, from Anna Raith. A number of her girls and had recently found number of grisly suicides among their clients. So far, suicide notes had been left, and the method of death had varied. The beat cops didn't have much difficulty seeing those in their high towers secretly miserable. But Anna's girls new these clients better. They were vibrant, full of life, and most important, had a line of credit lasting from another month to an entire year ahead. People don't buy things this far in advance, at those prices, if they plan on offing themselves. Anna was also certain that the writing in the notes her girls had sent pictures to her of did not match their previous writing samples.

So far, 4 people had been found by Anna's girls. But it was the 5th one that made things clear to Anna that these were not just suicides. Because it had taken on of her girls. She had been bright, lusty, alive. Someone with that much lust for life does not end it in a murder-suicide pact using throwing axes. Those details, and others, can be found in innocuous manilla envelopes on the great room table.

Spoiler: Anna's Apartment

Show

[Jasminenocturne]

Diane rides her bike down to Vue Tower, which is always awkward in a skirt and heels. Actually, everything was awkward in a skirt and heels. Diane was more a jeans kind of girl, and much more a converse high top type, but this was Anna's place. Since everything about Anna just oozed sex, Diane always felt a hundred times less sexy, feminine, and beautiful around her. And it wasn't like she had that much going on to begin with. So she wore shoes that she could hardly walk in, and a skirt that left an embarrassing amount of her thighs bare.

She managed to make it across the lobby to the elevator, and she felt the eyes on her. Was she walking that badly? Or was she walking that well? She glanced at the man in the suit and wished she could go wolf. Then he'd have something to stare at. She pushed the button, and waited, and wondered whether it was a bad thing that she felt more comfortable as a beast than in a skirt. On the bright side, she thought. It isn't affecting my love life: still completely non-existent.

The elevator dinged and she got on, pushing the button for Anna's floor.

[Eldest]

Violet walked. It was maybe a 40 minute walk, but her bike was in the shop after she'd hexed it accidentally and she told herself she needed the exercise. By the end of it, she was miserable from heat, but hey. She sold out slightly and took the elevator when she saw Diane getting on it as well, prompting a "Heyyy!" and a hug once they're both on. Did you get called by Anna too?

Once upstairs, she sobers quickly as she reads the envelope with her name on it in looping cursive. She looks at Anna. Know if this is hitting anybody other than your clients?
And now one of your girls?

[Frosty]

Anna relaxed (as much as she could under the circumstances) in her nice, climate-controlled top suite. She made the calls out to her allies, the ones both with the skills to survive and enough loyalty to see things through. Once the doorbell rang, she rises to meet her guests. "Welcome, my friends! Please come in, and be my guests." With that simple phrase, the threshold of her home is no longer any impediment for those of her allies who haven't been here before. For those that know Anna, they can tell that today is dead serious. How can they tell? Anna isn't nude at her own place. In fact, she is sporting a off-the-shoulder shirt that she somehow manages to make look good even if the shirt itself doesn't seem like anything special.

Spoiler: image of shirt

Show

However, she is still bottomless, and her shirt isn't *that* long. She hugs Diane and Violet, offering European-style face kisses. "Diane, you look good today! You know, you really should let me shorten that skirt for you. You'll have a boytoy in no time! But, that can wait. I've got an emergency I need your help on. Each of these envelopes contain information on one of the victims, including one of my girls." She explains what she knows.

"This makes no sense. My girls found them, and all but one client had died before the girls arrived. One apparently must have blown his brains out a minute before one of the escorts arrived. Regarding my girl that died, she and her John apparently killed each other by throwing axes into each other. She took two to the chest, but got one in his head, so she won, before she bled out in the penthouse. I put this together with a combination of photos taken by my girls and from police reports I've read. This is so terrible. Besides people getting killed, this is giving the Silvertail Ranch a bad name. I wonder if it's the other White Court houses messing with me again."

The vampires gestures to the fridge and to the various chairs. "Where are my manners? Feel free to get something to drink, and to be seated if you want. Anyone with magic I would appreciate you sitting further away from my TV, X-station, and Playbox thank you very much."

Anna herself walks over to a chair and eases herself down. The chair has two fairly large, phallic-shaped objects sticking up from the seat. She looks at the others expectantly. There are some chairs that are normal, of course, in addition to the special chairs.

[Acheron]

Devlin got some strange looks when he entered the Vue Tower, probably looking way out of place casual as he was dressed, but dropping that he was called by Anna opened doors. Literally. If he was the kind of guy, he might try using it more often. Just to see what would happen, but he kind of didn't think it smart. The elevator took him up and — a low whistle left him as he looked around, stepping deeper into the apartment.

So, this was what it looks like when you had money galore? Nice!

"Huh, hello." He called out uncertain before catching sight of other people. Women, mostly, so he made his way over into the grand room and, hearing the proclamation about standing away from technology as much as possible. The elevator might have survived, but that wasn't saying much and he really didn't want to have and replace anything. Pretty sure it'd bleed him drier, financially, than he already was most of the time.

Waving at the women present, only Anna being someone he actually knew — sort of — he went to get one of the envelope's and read over the contents with a curious noise in his throat.

He kind of stared at the chairs, then glanced into the direction of the fridge and whether it'd be worth to raid take a look at what she got in there. Then he shook his head and just hovered away from the consoles and tv.

Devlin looked at the information from the envelope again, frowning at the photos. "Did he say anything?" He asked, glancing up again. "You know, the guy who didn't die before one of yours found him?"

[Etherion]

James wanders in from from one of the side rooms, taling a seat in one of the normal chairs.

Honestly, I'd agree on the white court rival idea if it weren't for the most recent one. Despair vampires driving people to suicide makes sense, but a throwing axe suicide pact? Seems too... Exotic. Not a plan a regular person would think of an execute, know what I mean?
James pauses as Devlin walks in, recognizing him from a recent incident.
Um, yes, well, uh let's take a look at the case files, see the details in the less extreme cases.

[Frosty]

The fridge contains all sorts of standard drinks, alcoholic and otherwise. Anna replies to Devlin, "Let me rephrase. I believe my girl went to the client, and then they began throwing axes at each other. They were dead by the time one of the other girls went to look for my dead girl."

She bounces a few times to settle in properly on the chair. "We should look for any similarities between the victims, besides the fact they're clients of the Ranch. We also need to find out what's in their wills. Usually, if you follow the money, you can trace the crime. Lastly, I've heard of certain magicians or talented individuals that can...do...what's the word..." She gestures with her hands circularly as if it'll help jog her memory. "...do psychometry on corpses. You know, touch a corpse and experience the last moments of the person before its death? We'd need to find one and hire one from the magical community, then go to the morgue and convince the Emm-EEE there to give us access to the corpses."

The vampire also replies to Violet, "I don't know if anyone else is being hit in this fashion. I haven't seen other upticks in suicides lately, but that's something we should pay attention now."

[Etherion]

I have a feeling experiences the last moments of someone who committed suicide would end poorly. As for money, I doubt that would be the primary motive here, again because of the throwing axes. You want someone's money, you have them take a handful of pills or use a knife. No, the motive would probably have to be more personal to make a spectacle of it.

[Eldest]

Violet picks out a bottle of Coke that was made with real sugar (she'd requested it once, and Anna had remembered) and tosses it from hand to hand as she walks over to "her" beanbag in the corner, curling up on it as far as possible from the electronics. Bonus, it had a great view of the city, as Violet stared out over it, mulling. I can look at the dead people. In theory, at least. It might be better to look at the murder scene, see if I can look for something there. But question, would, uh, the angry white court and the sad white court possibly be working on this? The axes sound like it was rage induced, possibly.

[Etherion]

You know, the rage family could explain the axe throwing, but the suicides don't fit their style. The reverse is true for despair.
Unless they happen to be working together, I'm don't think that fits.

[Acheron]

"Oh." Devlin nodded. Would have been too easy to have something like that, he guessed. "...I guess you don't usually offer the service to throw axes at your clients, so..." Or did she? Sado-masochism, maybe. But fatal stuff wasn't good for any business. "It's more likely that they were compelled to do this, though why they didn't have them write the suicide note instead of faking it badly seems a bad oversight on their part."

If he did something like that, he'd have them write it. Which...he didn't, of course. He was a good guy. Sort of.

Noticing the new arrival — and unfortunately recognizing him, Devlin scowled momentarily before looking embarrassed. At the memory and letting it bother him. He looked away and listened to the others talk some more.

Devlin stared for a moment as Anna bounced on her...chair. Raith vampires were really weird.

"Nothing personal about having clients die and your girls to find them," he shrugged. "Did you...uh, consider it's someone who works for you? I mean, it can't be easy to make sure one of your girls finds the victims...or to become one herself. It's not like appointments are posted on twitter or something?"

"If convincing doesn't work to get us into the morgue or crime scenes, we can just break in. Even without anyone to take a glimpse at what happened, if there was anything unnatural on the victims it should have been noticed. And checking out the crime scenes can't hurt either."

[Frosty]

"Violet, you always take the bean bag! I know it's comfy, but try other things for once." Anna doesn't seem to think anything is weird as she bounces up and down, causes her jugs to move as well. "I mean, if it's personal, then it's probably Skavis and Colere working together, trying to take me down. The other houses have tried this before. Not sure if this is the same, since Skavis usually targets people already...emotionally vulnerable, shall we say. I'm not sure why someone who works for me would want to get my clients killed. And I don't have despair and rage types working for me, as far as I know. It's not the kinds of personality we want at the Ranch. Still, going to the crime scene could help a lot. I know some mortal wizards have this special ability...I call it the Third Eye. I hear other call it The Sight. Is that anything any of you can do?"

[Eldest]

She snorts. Some of us don't think of sex as for business meetings. Can we tone it down to, say, a 5? By mortal standards? Besides, far enough away from your playbox. She stays on the beanbag, and shakes her head at the Sight comment. Don't have any sort of sight?

[Jasminenocturne]

I do a little divining, Diane said, still blushing, and also looking at her compact in a strangely vain gesture for someone generally so unconcerned with her appearance. Then again, Anna had that effect on her. I think our first move should be to dig up what we can on these victims. You might think it's just for fun, but I do actually do a lot of real investigation for my channel. I can see what I can find out. What can you tell us about your people? Right now, the common thread is that they were all four d by your people. Can we talk to them, Anna?

[Frosty]

Anna just gives Violet a knowing grin. "Oh, but you were game for *anything* during your time as an undercover dancer." The curvy vampiress lifts herself off the chair with a wet *schlick* and sits herself on the couch next to Violet, her legs crossed. "Better?"

She looks over to Diane, "Oh, stop fussing over yourself. You look great. Hot, even! And yes, we can talk to the 4 girls. I gave them some time off to recover from seeing these horrible things, but I can get them all to come in again to the Ranch later today or tomorrow."

[Etherion]

Having learned by now how to ignore Anna's antics, James manages to focus on the business at hand.
I doubt they'll know anything, but interviewing them might be worth a try. First priority though, should be looking at whatever's left of the various scenes. Maybe some of the magic types can pick something up, maybe there'll be some physical clues, but the longer we wait the worse our odds of finding anything useful get.

[OneFamiliarFace]

A knock on the door of the apartment signals the usual last arrival. By now, everyone is tired of the joke about the racer who is late for everything. Darren feels uneasy as he waits for Anna to open the door. He wishes they were meeting at the bookstore or literally anywhere else but the lair of a Raith. He likes Anna well enough, but he knows that his relationship with her puts a strain on Striahl at a time when he is trying to make amends. He does like one thing though: going to the Vue lets him dress like he is going to the Vue. He is in a blue 3-piece with a gold tie and golden pocket square, hair slicked back, and shades still on. His brown, leather shoes are polished to a shine, and he is still wearing his sunglasses, night-time be damned. When Anna opens the door in only a t-shirt, he curses under his breath.

When he is caught up on what is happening, he sighs heavily. "I remember when 'weird' was just Violet's preference in movies." He shrugs and adds, "Well, I brought the Rover in case ya'll want to pile in to go check out some gruesome sights."

[Acheron]

Devlin saw weirder things than Anna's current activity. He did nod at her excusing her people, it had just been an idea. Still, questioning them can't hurt any.

"I can't do any of that Sight business either," he shook his head after Violet, rubbing the back of his neck as he did. Probably for the best, given his nature. He really didn't care to open his third eye and just see stuff.

Devlin waved at the new arrival in greeting, leaning back against the wall while talking was going on.

"I'm with Mirror Man, we should get going and head to the scenes quickly. The girls can be questioned later, too, or we can even split up and do that." At 'Mirror Man' he pointed with his thumb at James, then grinned at Darren. "Either way, sounds like we got us a way to get around town so." Devlin pushed himself away from the wall again. "So...I'm for let's go."

[Frosty]

Anna welcome Darren to her abode. "We should head out soon yes, but we need to do some prep work. I won't say I have *extensive* contacts within the police force, but I've had a few clients here and there. Let me make some calls and see if I can't get some detective to let us into the crime scenes. If any of you have any strings you could pull, now would be a good time."

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Ok, so should I just roll my Contacts skill to see if I can get a cop to grant us access?

[Jasminenocturne]

Let's head out, then, if we're all ready, Diane says, and then turns to Anna with a grin. Maybe you should put some shorts on or something, if you wanna keep fighting evil today.

[Etherion]

Ha, does she even own shorts? Can't agin ever wearing anything that long.

[Eldest]

When he is caught up on what is happening, he sighs heavily. "I remember when 'weird' was just Violet's preference in movies." He shrugs and adds, "Well, I brought the Rover in case ya'll want to pile in to go check out some gruesome sights."

Darren gets a pillow to the face and an angry huff. Princess Bride is a classic.

[Frosty]

The strip club owner/dancer scoffs. "Pay Darren no attention, Violet. He thinks the Fast and the Furious is the highest form of cinema art."

She stands up and stretches before looking for an outfit to wear. "Yeah, I own shorts. Sometimes my clients request I wear one for...their special scenarios and preferences. Overall, skirts and dresses are much more comfy though. Now let's see what to wear to ask a favor of some police pals..." Anna ends up grabbing a pleated denim micro miniskirt that was draped over the couch, and also a matching color zip-up crop top. She casually strips off her shirt, not embarrassed in the slightest, letting everyone see just how *unfair* White Court vamps have it in terms of looking like a goddess yet never needing to work out or watch what they eat. The crop top is worn first. Then Anna slips on the pleated skirt, not bothering with even a thong or G-string.

For the finishing touch, she grabs her favorite pair of high heels. Silver in color. Stiletto heels at least 6 inches high (how does she maintain balance in that). When she's standing straight, the bottom of her ass cheeks are just peaking out from under the skirt. However, the vampires bends over at the waist without bending her knees to secure the straps, and literally everything is shown.

"So, how do I look?" she asks as she gets up twirls around once.

Spoiler: Anna's outfit

Show

[Etherion]

It's very you. Need backup when you talk to the cop?

[Frosty]

Anna smiles as she is complimented. "Yeah, I could use you to get a read on the detective and see what's making him tick today."

[OneFamiliarFace]

The strip club owner/dancer scoffs. "Pay Darren no attention, Violet. He thinks the Fast and the Furious is the highest form of cinema art."

"Hey, Vin Diesel is a genius!"

Walking down to the car, Darren absentmindedly flicks his keys around his finger as he follows Anna. She could be a little more inconspicuous, he thinks unironically before beeping the giant Range Rover unlocked.

[Tegu8788]

Myers Park - Double Hatchet Crime Scene

When everyone arrives, they find the very fancy home cordoned off with police tape. A few uniformed officers stand outside the residence waving traffic along, while more in hazmat style onesies can be seen carrying out a pair of wheeled carts from the side door of the large house. The detective on the scene is one that Anna and Diane know. Detective Ryan Bishop is chewing the tip of a pen, staring at his notepad, reviewing several pages of notes, nodding and directing the occasional officer around the large premise.

Spoiler: House

Show

Spoiler: Detective Ryan Bishop

Show

[Frosty]

While Annahas a limo and a driver, perhaps using that today would be just a bit too conspicuous even for Ann. Seeing detective Bishop, Anna puts a big smile on her face and sashays over to him and gives him a big hug. "How are you doing, darling? Thanks for being so...accommodating. These grisly events has shaken all of us."

[Jasminenocturne]

With Anna pulling attention like the Death Star's tractor beam, Diane strolls casually around to the back of the house. She walks with purpose then, adopting the air of someone who belongs, following the flow of personnel to the scene of the crime.

Once she's in, she scans the area closely, using her camera to take video of anything that seems important or unusual.

Spoiler: Discover with Investigate

Show

(4d3-3)[8]