ruby lucas ate her first love (myownmonster) wrote in witchinghour, @ 2015-02-20 01:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: isaac lahey, character: ruby lucas |
Who: Ruby & Isaac
When: During the manhunt for missing peoples.
Where: Town Hall
What: The wolves sniff out some trails to follow.
Warning: Mentions of blood & stuffs.
Status: Complete
By and large, Marrowood wasn’t always so hectic that you didn’t get a second to breath, and usually the town liked to announce those moments rather loudly too. So Ruby didn’t really think too much about Emma not coming home from the station before she’d passed out herself. She did think it was weird that Emma wasn’t there in the morning, but the assumption was that she’d slept over at Jefferson’s and that was it.
It didn’t get hinky until Emma didn’t reply to what she wanted for lunch, or if she was coming home for dinner. That was when Ruby started to wonder. Neither she nor Mary Margaret had seen Emma and she wasn’t the sort to just vanish off with Jefferson without a heads up.
When Anna mentioned more people being missing, Ruby started to panic. What was worse, Kenzi didn’t show up for work -which she generally did, even if she was hungover. Ruby was sitting at the bar, biting her nails and worrying just who else was missing.
While Isaac was fairly confident in his own tracking abilities, his sense of smell pretty good all things considered, he wasn’t confident in just what this place might throw at him. Going out to look for Kenzi was obvious, but while he didn’t want to drag Anna into some danger, he knew better than to go looking for it himself.
All that led him to the diner before going on his search, stumbling in through the door in a rush and sliding up along the bar to Ruby, righting himself before blurting, “I’m going out to look for Kenzi do you want to come because two noses are better than one and I don’t think Anna would forgive me for dying twice in this place?” He meant to take a breath in there, he just happened to forget in his haste to actually do it.
“Woah there,” it was lucky that Ruby was able to keep up with the run on ramble, especially considering how not with things she was right then. “Let me get my coat.” She could shut up the diner for a few hours, it wasn’t like people were going to be all that fussed about getting something to eat anyway, they had to head out and look for missing friends. Ruby could trust that Jefferson and Snow would find Emma and she’d help Isaac find their missing thief.
“Where’s everyone else hunting?” Because the whole town seemed to be gearing up for a search, and wasn’t that nice? That they all came out to bat for one another? Town spirit, goodies.
There was a sigh of relief that Ruby was coming with him, as much as he knew she was a completely different kind of wolf, he’d started to consider her just as much pack as was possible there. She was older and seemed far more in control and at peace with her wolf, more so than Isaac would say even Derek was. He liked that he’d have that back up with an older, more experienced wolf.
“I think there’s a meet up in the square and most are doubling up or grouping and heading out to look around.” Isaac wasn’t looking to just blindly run around though, more interested in having a focus, which was why he’d brought one of Kenzi’s tops, holding it like a prize for Ruby. “I figured we’d be a little more direct.” He already had Kenzi’s scent, they lived together, he was used to it, but it was more so that they had something to reinforce things.
“She can’t have gone far, so …”
Ruby agreed. The town might not be big, but there were too many possible ways that the town could mess with them. Secret passageways and hidden rooms and whatever else this place devised. “Great, lets go.” It was a good way to remind them both what they were on the hunt for, and Ruby knew that Isaac was definitely getting down to learning his senses way better.
Taking the shirt, getting her own refresher of a scent, Ruby closed up the diner after flipping the sign to closed and following Isaac down to the street. “We should circle around the square, see if we catch anything. Feel free to get wolfy,” because really, even her sense of smell wasn’t great when human, just heightened. Isaac was better at that.
Wolfing out was the best option, because then not only could he follow scent better, but his hearing and his own instincts were sharper, more readily accessible for the search. Doubling round made sense, the odd, occasional old scent would linger but if they went for the two pass through the town they’d be able to pick out old from new.
Figuring the best method was to go towards the Town Hall and back around, Isaac headed that way first, stopping short just before they actually reached the Town Hall because… “Do you smell…”
“Blood.” Ruby didn’t need to let Isaac finish the question because it was potent, even with the New Moon on them and her own wolf most dormant, it was easy to pick up the thick, cloying metallic smell. “That’ll cover any other scent near there. It could be Kenz.” And if her scent was hidden under that there was no way they’d be able to find it.
Tracking the smell of blood was much easier than anything else, because it was so potent and fresh, it lingered, allowing them to follow the strength much easier. “Town Hall?” It seemed to be coming from inside, maybe underneath, but it was definitely strongest there. Likely the maze of rooms would be a deterrent for most, but with their sense of smell they could narrow down where it was coming from.
“Even if it’s not Kenzi, we have to look, something is up with this.” People didn’t lose enough blood for it to smell like that from a paper cut.
“Okay, yeah, we should look.” It could be one of the other missing people, and the point was to find whoever they could, not just Kenzi. Heading to the main door of the Town Hall, Isaac let as many senses as he could leak out, he could smell the faint hint of some of the other town members in the halls, apparently someone else had already checked here, which just furthered the belief that it wasn’t the most obvious place.
Most people in town were pretty good at whatever it was they did, possibly why the town had dragged them in. It made him wonder a little about the reasons but it wasn’t something to get too concerned with right then.
“It’s coming from below, right?” He was fairly sure that the source of the scent was below them, but he figured that he should check, just in case Ruby was getting something else.
Isaac’s insecurities usually showed themselves in the most adorable ways, like he was a puppy just looking for someone to pat his head and tell him well done. From the vibe she got about his family life, she wouldn’t be surprised if that was all it was. But sometimes it wasn’t all that cute to actually pat his head and tell him good job, even if it was. “Yep, pretty sure. So… stairs, where are those?”
It’d be simple, wouldn’t it, to just label the halls with signs that maybe pointed to where the evil murder chamber was. Accounting, level two, marriages, level three, evil den of torture and pain, basement.
“Stairs.” At least the stairway was sign posted, which made it a little easier. “C’mon, keep your fang face on.” Ruby at least snatched up a fire extinguisher to take along with her, just in case and all that. Sometimes only having claws once a month wasn’t all that helpful.
Following Ruby down the staircase, smirking slightly at her chosen weapon, Isaac kept ears and nose out for anything that wasn’t her and him. It was getting harder to smell anything but blood and… burning? He really hoped they weren’t about to traipse into a burning basement level or something. “Do you smell any smoke?” That was just it though, there wasn’t any. It was just like something had burnt already, like that annoying charred smell that lingered after leaving the pan on the stove for too long.
It almost seemed like the staircase went on forever, they’d definitely gone more than one flight down, the air getting a little stale and the stench of blood practically clotting up Isaac’s senses. It wasn’t great, and he almost wanted to barf it was that bad. “God, please tell me we’re almost there.” It felt a little weird, trying to not vomit around his fangs, but Isaac didn’t bother shifting back to full human just yet, unsure just what they were about to walk in on. Hopefully, if the stairs would end sometime soon.
“This sort of stuff happens in magic places,” Ruby gave a small shrug, although she understood the worry, it was almost like they were walking to Wonderland or something. But it was a long walk down, which meant a long walk up, which was worrying because what if they were being chased? At least Ruby had the fire extinguisher.
“I smell burning something, but I don’t think it’s fire.” It was more like burnt fabric, maybe someone had previously set a fire. Although who knew why, “We’ve got fires covered though.” Her tired arms just hefted the extinguisher a little before she lowered it again, and maybe that hadn’t been such a good idea. But then what else would she bring? The ax? What would that do to a fire?
It felt like ages later before they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, a hallway extending from the passage way down to what Ruby assumed was the basement. Which apparently was in Hell, if their walk down was anything to go by.
The hallway was long, and dank, and faintly metallic itself, which was weird considering the rest of the building was stone. But little made sense in this place, and Isaac wasn’t questioning it. At least the hall was broad enough to walk by Ruby’s side, rather than behind her, in case anything was lurking down here.
After a few seconds, Isaac started to hear something over their footsteps, “I’m getting a heartbeat.” It was erratic and uneven, but it was there, and under that, there was another one. Two heartbeats and a hell of a lot of blood. Okay, so, definitely found some missing people.
He wasn’t dumb enough to go running down the hall, dark as it was, but it took one look at Ruby before they were quickening their steps. If the smell was anything to go by, it was more important to get there quickly.
At the end of the hall there were two bodies, one slashed fairly badly, the other burnt up. “I think this is America and Santana.” Ruby vaguely remembered Santana, and America came to the diner on occasion. Both girls looked like they’d just been through a war. “Are they… They’re unconscious.” The heartbeats weren’t strong, and Santana definitely needed medical attention.
“I’ve got San, you get America?” They had to get them up and out now, God knew what happened down here, it didn’t even look like they came from anywhere, but realistically they had to. The smell of blood was too strong to just be Santana’s wounds.
Carefully picking up the unconscious girl, Ruby left the extinguisher where she picked up Santana. If she remembered, and could find the place, she’d come back for it later. But right then there were more important things.
Making sure Isaac was close by with America, Ruby started the journey back to the upper levels, careful not to jostle Santana too much while keeping a quick enough pace to make sure neither girls heartbeats got too dangerous.