New York by Night NPCs (nybynightnpc) wrote in nybynightic, @ 2020-11-22 02:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | activity type: log/thread, activity type: plot prompt, character: james park, npc: hunters |
It was all just a matter of pinpointing vampires who had dealings with humans. Those were often the ones who kept ghouls and made it easier to figure out their servants. Like the Rookery. St Leopold’s had been watching it long enough to catch on to the fact that it was run by vampires and their human servant.
They just had to wait for just the right moment to be able to take the one they saw left alone into the shop, usually between the fading hours of the day. It seemed risky to just snatch him from the shop but then luck would have it this day that it seemed like he was headed off. Away from the shop. Away from the safety of his masters who they had not seen sign of yet tonight.
As the ghoul started down the street, one of the hunters who had a hoodie pulled up over his head and stumbled into James to accidentally spill coffee down the front of the ghoul. “Oh man! I’m so sorry about that.” As he reached out to help clean up the mess, he brushed his hand over James’ arm and there was a quick prick as he injected him with a drug to knock him out.
Time just seemed to drag way too much when one was excited. Barely anyone was coming in today! He’d only had one appointment and that was this morning with everyone being later in the evening. That was fine, though, because they were with other people and not him. He just had to wait until his meeting time with Julian. As he liked to be early, he wanted to leave shortly before sunset, just to make sure they got a good table. Of course, Jules was a vampire so he couldn’t actually drink anything but that didn’t mean James couldn’t get something to eat before he got there. By the time the sun went down and he was done with dinner, it would be time for them to meet up.
But time was so slooooow.
Finally, though, just when he thought he’d go crazy, it was time, and he left the shop in the hands of one of his favorite human artist who was in the middle of a walk-in. His Masters knew that he was leaving early tonight and not to expect him until later.
Casually dressed in ripped jeans and a long sleeve shirt, the ghoul made his way to the cafe and was almost halfway there when someone ran into him. The coffee didn’t really bother him, that was what laundry was for. “Ah, no worries man! Are yo-” Right in the middle of his question, James felt a prick in his arm and a second later, his eyes fluttered closed and he slumped against the man who’d drugged him, not able to even make another sound afterwards.
He should have known to be more careful, yeah, but he hadn’t thought trouble would find him so close to the shop.
They never thought that trouble would find them so close to the places they thought of as safe havens. It’s what ended up making them easy targets in the end. The hunters weren’t taking them off their doorsteps per say, but close enough to their clubs, their places of businesses—one even on the way home— that they never saw it coming.
As the ghoul slumped forward, the hunter slid under his shoulder and supported his weight casually so as not to draw attention to them as he lead him across the street towards a van and he handed him off.
White. No descript. No plates or other identifying marks to be spotted on it. Just one more white service van on the streets so if anyone checked any traffic footage or security footage of the shops in the area that was all they would see.
It would take a while for the drugs in James’ system to wear off. By then they had him chained up to a chair in an empty room. There was nothing to currently be seen in it but another wooden chair that was sitting across from the one the ghoul would wake up and find himself on.
Being fully passed out when the other man slid under his shoulder, James didn’t remember a single thing, not really even the person’s face. He’d never really had the chance to look at it, not with that hood in the way. Too bad it was the cold and snowy season. If it wasn’t, maybe he’d have a chance to realize something was off. Wasn’t he just being all gung ho about being able to protect himself just a little while ago to Mab and Rook? See where that got him. Of course, being drugged wasn’t really a fair shake, was it?
Slowly, speaking more to the fact he had just had some of Rook’s blood the night before than his own credit, James woke up. Being chained down wasn’t exactly a new thing for him, but when Mab wasn’t the one involved with it? The panic kicked in quick, his heart almost beating out of his chest as he snapped to it. There was only a moment where he let himself truly freak out before he was looking around, finding almost nothing to gauge where he was, what time it was or even who was there.
Shit. He was next, wasn’t he? Okay, okay, okay. He had to be calm. There were runes all over his body. Protective, tracking, health. Knowing that the two would be able to come for him before he died wasn’t really helping with the fine shaking that took over his body, but he’d try to keep it together. From the rumors he’d heard of the other kidnapped ghouls, it wouldn’t be pretty for him. He could handle a lot, but just what were they going to do to him?
It seemed as if they had been watching and waiting for James to wake up because shortly after the door opened. Now that they had him they seemed a lot less worried about him seeing their faces as one of them stepped inside of the room without a hood or something else to obscure his face. Just your average friendly joe sitting down into the chair across from James, there to have a conversation.
Which might have been believed except for the wickedly curved knife in his hand that he kept twirling around in his hand.
“James, right? Look James, I’m pretty sure there’s something in your life that lead you to believe that this was the path to take. That getting into bed with such monsters seemed like the course to take. That you’d find in the darkness what you lacked in the light. I can assure you though that you’re wrong.” The man leaned forward on his chair. “If you help us, then we can help you.”
He almost startled when the door opened to a man that he thought was probably the one who drugged him. The size was right? Maybe they were just roughly the same size. It was kinda hard to get a gauge on that when he had been distracted then passed out. James might have felt a little more settled with the way he was trying to come across if it wasn’t for that knife. He doubted he had ever seen anything like it before.
How the hell did he know his name? How long had he been watched? It was obvious that it wasn’t just him that was in danger here. Did they know he belonged to two different vampires? That only brought him to the question - how much did they really know about him? About their little trio? If they knew about him, they knew about so many more people who had been at the shop. Ash and Chiyu, too.
Shit.
The only option here was to make sure they hurt him so Mistress knew he was in trouble, right? Great. The ghoul was quiet for a moment before he leaned back in his chair, doing his best to control everything he didn’t want to show. His fingers were still trembling, but he tried to hide that by curling his fingers around the chair. “Yeah, buddy, don’t know what you’re going on about, sorry.” Hurry up, hurry up.
It was clear from the set of the man’s mouth that he was disappointed in James’ answer but at the same time was completely prepared for it. After all it was the same one they all gave at first wasn’t it? “I’ll never understand this loyalty that you all seem to cling to. It’s always the same at first. First, you claim to have no idea what I’m going on about. Then with a little pressure, you’ll give just enough to tell me that you won’t tell me anything at all.”
The man leaned forward and ran the side of his blade along James’ cheek and then followed the curve of his throat.
“In the end you’ll tell us what we want to know or you’ll die. It’s as simple as that. Tell us what we want to know and we can maybe even save your soul. Make you one of us. Give you a real purpose and belonging that doesn’t include being a slave to the damn.”
He leaned back once more. “All you have to do is tell us about your masters. Other vampires and their servants that you know of. It’s not so much to ask for is it?”
There really wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Rook. Wouldn’t do for Mab. If it weren’t for them, he would probably still be couch surfing, abandoned by his human family for one little thing. They accepted him - loud, obnoxious, annoying. They had kept him for over a decade and there really was no end to that in sight. James wasn’t about to give anything up, no matter what they did. He’d cry in the end, would scream, but wouldn’t say anything about them.
Save his soul? His soul was just fine. James almost snorted at that, but kept his composure. Mostly. The feeling of that cold edge against his skin made him still, of course, but he did his absolute best to not let it show. Maybe he should have just closed his eyes or made some flip comment about how his normal partner did worse, but he kept quiet for a moment. He really needed to word things carefully, didn’t he?
“I’m not really a slave if I get paid, you know.” Oh yeah, that was it. “You know vampires aren’t real, right? Like, a lot of my friends like to pretend sometimes, but we all have a good laugh about it.” If he had more strength, his fingers might have dented the chair he was sitting in. White knuckled grip as he kept it altogether. Even his toes were curled inside his boots. Being brave was a little harder than it looked. And to think, he always laughed at the movies that had scenes like this.
“Look, if you let me go, I’ll just go home and forget your face. Go on with our lives.” Like hell he would.
There was a deep sigh as the man got up from his chair. The disappointment was clear. There was something else there though that gleamed in the hunter’s eyes—for all his talk of evil and righteousness it was clear that he had been hoping this would be the outcome. That he was looking forward to torturing answers out of James that he knew would never come. They never did. Not from the mouthy ones like this one.
“Oh James. You and I both know that’s not how this works.”
Another flip of the knife and it was decided. The hunter crossed over to the door. “Bring me what I need so I can get started.”
Both of them had a long night ahead of them.