AUGUST 30, 2014

Time management was tricky for Charlotte. She got up at last light, had a mere half-hour before the post office closed, and two hours until the grocery store closed. She probably shouldn't be living in a natural-majority city, but more immortals just complicated things for her and her mage father. But neither of them could truly stand a solitary lifestyle, and so there they were; a mage and his vampire daughter right the middle of a suburb of a large city. Were they particularly good at hiding it? No, but people never want to believe that such people could live among them. They only existed as an abstract concept; something they’ve heard about in the news, but have never spoken to one in the flesh before.

Unconscious bite victims were periodically left in the ball pit of the nearest fast food establishment; mostly lowlifes that would be on the way to prison anyway, but the city had no leads on the vigilante vampire. No matter how many of them woke up fearfully warning people of the red-eyed she-vampire, nobody would ever think to suspect her. After all, she didn’t match up with people’s image of what a vampire should be. She was paler than most, but it looked quite natural with her cool brown hair. But it was her cheerful disposition that truly gave people the impression that she was no different than the rest of them.

Charlotte got her 'morning' routine done swiftly, leaving her plenty of time to break into a highly-secured facility belonging to a cult-like clan of mages a half-hour out of town. Should she have done that first? Yes, but she was confident that she could take care of this quickly. It was tougher than the normal mercenary work she did, but not that much tougher. And besides, this was a personal errand. Specifically, this was a rescue, and one she had to make damn sure she was ready for. Eclipse was home to some of the most unscrupulous mages around, and she didn’t want to imagine what the consequences would be if she failed. But that’s where her father was last seen, so she doesn’t truly have a choice.

The building Charlotte was targeting was ‘almost’ in the middle of nowhere. And yet, despite a stranger pulling up at an odd hour, the first people to notice the white van pulling up were neither prepared for nor expecting a fight. Plenty of people came and went all the time, and despite keeping their dealings secret, they still got plenty of friends, family, and businesses visiting. Therefore, the outside of the base seemed almost normal. There was lots of greenery that contrasted the almost-arid surroundings, even if it looked like a few of the plants and trees had seen better days. However, the outside was sparsely populated at this time of the late night, which made it easier to tell just how oppressive the building actually was.

Charlotte stepped outside, looking as deliberately nonthreatening as possible. Her long auburn hair wasn’t even tied back, and she spent way too much time trying to doll up her overly pale face that evening, as she always did. Her shirt and jeans looked nice, but they were cheap and easy to move around in when it was needed. She made her way to the nearest entrance, acting as casually as possible.

“Name?” A guard was standing in her way, but wasn’t threatened or trying to appear threatening. Why would he? People came and went from here all of the time, and wouldn’t be foolish enough to try anything when surrounded by mages. His position was mostly ceremonial, which was reflected by his thin and impractical cloak.

“Charlotte Ecsed.” She was gambling on him not knowing who she was. It wasn’t exactly a secret what her real name was, but most in the magical would only know her as ‘The Stray’, and wouldn’t bother to learn her name. It started as a derogatory nickname to reference her lack of known pedigree as a vampire, but she’s come to begrudgingly embrace that nickname.

“Yes. My great uncle was Sinclair Darwin.” She didn’t wait for the guard to start asking questions, and the lying began immediately; Immortals had an innate ability to bend the truth without hesitation. “He’s been missing for some time, and the family has a few things to take care of before he’s declared dead. I just need to talk to someone who can get me a few records of his time at Eclipse.

The man chatted on a small radio before the doors opened. He gestured for Charlotte to follow as he escorted her down the brightly lit walls. She could see hallways of metal and concrete further down, but the rooms they were passing, as well as the one she was seated in, were decorated with brick veneers and wooden accents.

“Someone will be with you soon…ish. I’m sure someone’s awake, but if not, it could be an hour or two.” The guard waved and left. What a nice guy, Charlotte hoped that she wouldn’t be seeing him again today. She mentally reviewed the floor plans that she had found and memorized while she was waiting for him to be out of the picture. After a long enough time of sitting around, she stood up and stretched; time to get to work.

Eclipse’s desire to keep up appearances was its main security flaw, and while they would try to keep the ‘public’ areas separate from the rest of the building, the fact that they were letting anyone in at all was a massive oversight. She quickly left the cozy common room, wondering how far inside she’d be able to get before anyone noticed or she tripped any security systems.

Charlotte heard the beeping of radio communication; Someone who knows who she is here, and has gotten the word. Funny, she was certain the director was gone on business, and she hadn’t met anyone else here, at least not anyone who would be in a position to alert the guards. Someone must have figured it out from secondhand information.

With no time to lose, Charlotte made a bee-line for her destination, crossing the paths of two guards. They predictably readied themselves for a fight, but Charlotte had mentally prepared herself and decided on a plan long before they knew she was even present. Unless they had something prepared in advance, magic took precious seconds to deploy. They couldn’t even ready any magic before Charlotte closed the distance, quite literally tossed one aside, and swept the other’s leg. 

That should have disoriented the both of them long enough to stop them from launching any magical attacks, so she bolted as soon as they were out of the way. Time was of the essence, and stealth would be a lost cause, so there was little point in trying to do anything more than getting them out of the way. One of the dazed mages oriented themselves quickly and immediately made a call, but Charlotte couldn’t make out the actual conversation. A few seconds later, a voice played over the intercom as the lights flickered ominously.

'There is an intruder in the southern wing. Female, brown hair, suspected vampire. Objective unknown. Anyone outside of the security staff should approach at their own risk.'

Charlotte wasn’t phased by the alarm, but she was listening closely for certain cues. The announcer wasn’t commanding the mages, they were warning them, which meant that she’d already caught them off guard. Perfect. She worked best in chaos, when her opponent were tripping over themselves.