Putting the Screws to Her
MacInnes, one of the more promising new recruits into the revitalised Watchers' Council, all but burst into my office unannounced. My mouth had opened, a stern rebuke against the young man's apparent ignorance of even the most basic of polite manners, but the frantic excitement in his expression stilled my tongue, for the moment.
"Mister Wyndam-Pryce! I'm sorry for being so rude, but... Sir, our field teams tracked the vampire down to her lair here in London!"
My eyes widened. There was no hesitation in the least, no question as to what vampire MacInnes was referring. Like the proverbial English bulldog, my men and I had been on the trail of a vampire who seemed to have the most infuratingly good fortune when it came to evading capture or destruction. Time and again, this canny and ruthless quarry had slipped from the grasp of a number of quite capable warriors, and now we, at last, had closed the trap around her.
"Tell the field team to prepare for my arrival," I ordered as I stood from my chair and arranged my suit jacket, "we'll take the monster tonight." Where, I thought, had I put my hand-and-a-half sword?
"That's the best part, sir-- we already have her in custody! In fact, according to the field agents' report, the vampire surrendered voluntarily!"
Naturally, this news made me as wary as it did encouraged. One could never truly understand or predict the thoughts and behaviour of such a creature of evil, especially one who'd proven as crafty and slippery as our current prisoner. But there was enough benefit that could come of breaking the vampire into revealing her comrades or paramours, and definitely in getting her to identify her own minions.
"Take me to her," I demanded curtly, and MacInnes snapped to comply. Before long, we were in the sterile-smelling, but still cold and featureless 'security cells' below the new Council headquarters. I prepared myself, checking that I indeed carried both a cross and holy water in my inside jacket pockets and a pair of stakes in loops under my jacket. Nodding to MacInnes, the young man keyed in the code into a keypad beside a particular riveted-steel door.
The door hissed open on smooth, quiet pistons, and I stepped inside. In the dim light, there was nothing in the room beside a steel table bolted to the floor, a pair of office chairs, one on each side, and a single bare lightbulb doing all of the illumination. Sitting slumped into one of the chairs, hands and feet bound to the chair by metal restraints was a single, slim figure, its long blonde hair obscuring the face. I rapped my knuckles twice against the metal table.
"Pay attention, please. The more of my answers you answer, I can promise that I will respond with giving my own attention to something you might want or need."
I dropped my voice to its coldest tone.
"If you don't feel inclined to answer my questions immediately, well Miss Kendall, then there are other ways, much less pleasant ways to change your mind."
((Open to Harmony))
"Mister Wyndam-Pryce! I'm sorry for being so rude, but... Sir, our field teams tracked the vampire down to her lair here in London!"
My eyes widened. There was no hesitation in the least, no question as to what vampire MacInnes was referring. Like the proverbial English bulldog, my men and I had been on the trail of a vampire who seemed to have the most infuratingly good fortune when it came to evading capture or destruction. Time and again, this canny and ruthless quarry had slipped from the grasp of a number of quite capable warriors, and now we, at last, had closed the trap around her.
"Tell the field team to prepare for my arrival," I ordered as I stood from my chair and arranged my suit jacket, "we'll take the monster tonight." Where, I thought, had I put my hand-and-a-half sword?
"That's the best part, sir-- we already have her in custody! In fact, according to the field agents' report, the vampire surrendered voluntarily!"
Naturally, this news made me as wary as it did encouraged. One could never truly understand or predict the thoughts and behaviour of such a creature of evil, especially one who'd proven as crafty and slippery as our current prisoner. But there was enough benefit that could come of breaking the vampire into revealing her comrades or paramours, and definitely in getting her to identify her own minions.
"Take me to her," I demanded curtly, and MacInnes snapped to comply. Before long, we were in the sterile-smelling, but still cold and featureless 'security cells' below the new Council headquarters. I prepared myself, checking that I indeed carried both a cross and holy water in my inside jacket pockets and a pair of stakes in loops under my jacket. Nodding to MacInnes, the young man keyed in the code into a keypad beside a particular riveted-steel door.
The door hissed open on smooth, quiet pistons, and I stepped inside. In the dim light, there was nothing in the room beside a steel table bolted to the floor, a pair of office chairs, one on each side, and a single bare lightbulb doing all of the illumination. Sitting slumped into one of the chairs, hands and feet bound to the chair by metal restraints was a single, slim figure, its long blonde hair obscuring the face. I rapped my knuckles twice against the metal table.
"Pay attention, please. The more of my answers you answer, I can promise that I will respond with giving my own attention to something you might want or need."
I dropped my voice to its coldest tone.
"If you don't feel inclined to answer my questions immediately, well Miss Kendall, then there are other ways, much less pleasant ways to change your mind."
((Open to Harmony))