The Royal Ball [OPEN]

[CORBIN ROSE HALLOWAY]

Corbin's eyes flickered slightly as she watched the interaction between the weres before the so called Alpha finally presented himself to her husband. She kept a stern face the entire time as she took in each of their scent. Something told her the trouble with this pack would not be ending tonight. This pack would be further investigated regardless if things went smoothly the rest of the night. A few of them left the ballroom and she eased up slightly not having to deal with as much of an over powering smell. The queen wasn't pleased at all with this pack. In her opinion they were far too dysfunctional and disturbing. Her head turned slightly as she hovered her lips by Heath's ears. " I knew we should have left the dogs outside." she said with an irritated growl. Corbin was highly aware that the mutts could hear her but she wasn't scared. She could already sense the presence of her guards keeping a close eye on her as she spoke with the pack.

It was then that the ballroom lights began to flicker and she could hear the whispers of the crowd around her. Her eyes wandered up to the ceiling as she saw the last of the lights blink before going back to normal. It was odd but Corbin saw it nothing more as a bit of power surge withing the town. Her attention shifted from the lights to the weres once more. There was nothing but a coldness coming from her as she looked at the remaining wolves. She didn't like the weres here at all. Corbin's fuse was short with these beasts now. She had tried to give all shifters and weres a chance but that had only proven to be useless. If she had it her way she would rid all of Jamerson Fall of the over sized dogs. "It's a full moon soon, shouldn't you all be out barking at the moon anyway."

OCC: During when the ball post was posted it was around a full moon I believe.

[levi]

Arrow was a godsend, she really was. Levi had placed his glass of champagne on the ground, but he was too afraid to do more than try and pick Emile off the floor. He knew that he didn't sound Irish, but Emile was in quite a state and might object to a man holding him. Fortunately, Arrow was a woman and, as such, could offer Emile comfort that probably didn't come with a whole raft of issues attached to it. Levi blinked back his tears as Arrow hugged Emile tightly and stood up. People were starting to crowd in, as people tend to do when there's a disaster to watch, and made Levi feel distinctly uncomfortable. If he was feeling uncomfortable, then it would be even worse for Emile, and so Levi politely motioned to the crowd and asked firmly, but politely,

"Could we have some room here? Em needs a bit of air, that's all. Thank you very much."

The crowd moved back a few paces, and he could feel Vis start to calm them all down, working the pack bonds. Oddly enough, there was something else at work. A young man stood off to the side, asking Arrow if Em was okay, but the man wasn't human. Levi knew who he was, roughly. It was Buffy, one of Tinsley's co-workers who had the same shift as she did. That said, Levi had no idea what species Buffy was, because the man's scent was somehow reassuring, much like Vis' working of the pack bonds. Between Vis and Buffy, Levi didn't tense up any more when the Queen came over.

"You probably shouldn't be out this late anyway. I suggest you rest and let the other guest enjoy the rest of their evening. I'm sure whatever it is can wait and work itself out later."

Levi heard the hiss, the aggressive voice, and he did not like it one bit. Corbin might be the Queen of the vampires, but it was asking for trouble to be acting aggressively towards a werewolf pup so close to the full moon. Perhaps in part because of the reassuring scent given off by Buffy, Levi didn't growl or bare his teeth or even move in a very slow, controlled manner, all of which would register as aggressive to another were and, probably, the Queen. Instead, with a kind of fluid grace that few people expected of such a large man, Levi stepped between the Queen and Emile. He was just about to open his mouth when the vampire King arrived and, mostly because even his wolf wasn't an idiot, decided to keep it closed.

Not being the kind of person who would be fond of vampires before he'd been turned into a highly territorial predator, Levi still had to hand it to the King. The man might smell like a buried corpse and kill humans without a second thought, but the man was a far smoother diplomat than his wife. Levi calmed down a little at the vampire's advice and nodded, accepting the compromise that had been offered. He turned to Arrow, but Emile was already standing and apologising. It broke Levi's heart that Emile felt it necessary to apologise for something that he had no control over, it really did.

Normally, Levi would have gone after Emile, especially once Buffy headed out after him, but Vis was currently greeting the vampire King, and Levi wasn't going to leave his Alpha alone with two vampires and a lone wolf that Levi didn't fully trust. Oh yes, Morrison was still there, along with his lady friend, who was apparently a Doctor, and he really looked a sorry sight. Levi's wolf had enjoyed Morrison's weak apology, but Levi felt sorry for him. Morrison had meant well, and it wasn't his fault. Vis gave Levi's shoulder a firm squeeze and told him to behave, so Levi nodded in response, not entirely trusting himself to speak just quite yet, not while that bitch of a Queen was still glaring at them all.

Wait, who was that?

Levi looked into the crowd of faces, and he saw what had bothered him. There was a man standing by himself, watching events with the intense interest of a bodyguard. The man was standing back and was mostly hidden from Levi, but he could still see enough to know that the man wasn't entirely happy with the presence of werewolves in the mansion and that he'd much prefer to kick them out with as much force as pleased him at the time. Levi couldn't get the man's scent, but he didn't look like a vampire. Then again, what self respecting human would work for a vampire? The man had apparently decided to start looking away, and Levi smiled as he turned his thoughts back to the current conversation. That man was an amateur, pretending to look away like that, but amateurs were sometimes the most dangerous people. They didn't have the official rule book, after all.

"One second. I said nothing like that would happen again, our pup is making a different kind of trouble. I will be right back."

What? Levi sighed and shook his head. Honestly, was Emile ever in anything but some kind of trouble? He was a good kid, and he could be serious, but for the most part Emile seemed to see the whole world as his playground and everything in it as either his playmates or his toys. Levi wondered if that was just part of a young werewolf growing up and mentally smiled at the image of Vis and Arrow having to deal with a couple of pups of their own. It certainly kept Levi from entering into a staring contest with the King during the awkward silence that followed Vis' departure. Normally he would have said something to get the conversation started again, but he didn't like where he'd be taking such a hypothetical conversation, especially after the Queen's remark about leaving the dogs outside. Well, at least people considered dogs to be preferable to leeches.

Vis returned and started to pick back up where he had left off, but the Queen just wasn't in a good mood. If Levi had been a stupid wolf, he'd have wondered out loud if the Queen was PMSing or say that no, wolves didn't bark at the moon, they killed vampires under the full moon. Either would have probably ended with his death, if not instantly then at some point in the next ten years or so, and would have caused even more chaos. Still, Levi's mind was very quick witted and had a certain twisted cunning to it that had helped him in the SASR. And so, instead of raising his hackles and acting all aggressive, Levi smiled and chuckled politely. If the Queen wanted to act all snarky, then he was going to see how she reacted to polite humour.

"Truth be told, ma'am, we much prefer to chase sticks."

What Levi had just said wasn't exactly the truth and, normally, he wouldn't have been able to get away with it. He was much calmer now and didn't smell like an angry honey badger, although he still smelled angry, so the vampires should have been easily been able to smell the lie or, at the very least, see the lie in his body language. However, Levi had been trained to lie, and to lie well enough to fool a polygraph test. One of the most important parts of the process of defeating the polygraph was to truly believe what you were saying and, for a certain value of "we" - namely Emile - it was true. Levi focused on that, believed it and lied without so much as an increase in heart rate or dilation of the pupil. The vampires wouldn't be able to tell that it was a lie, not unless they could read minds. His smile, which had looked genuine enough to begin with, became completely genuine as he thought about tricking the vampires. It served the maggoty bastards right.

[1138tk]

Once Val had put the flowers away and everything she asked if Kyle was ready to go. "Of course...", he said opening the front door, "...after you my lady", he said making a sweeping motion with his available hand. "You know you really look amazing, right? I mean wow, you are going to get the vampires' hearts beating again." Kyle smiled at Val as he watched her go, closing the door behind them. Kyle followed Val to the limo where Jensen opened the limo door for them, Kyle let Val get in first. "Thanks Kato", Kyle teased Jensen, to which Jensen flipped him the bird. Kyle chucked as he got into the limo sitting down next to Val.

The limo ride wasn't too terribly long but it was kind grueling. I mean the perfect opportunity to make out in the back of a limo and I can't Kyle commented to himself, Not with Jensen watching. Kyle could put the little privacy window, but that too would probably get the rumor mill going. Just best to play it cool... for now, Kyle thought. When the limo did finally come to a stop, Jensen opened the door for Kyle and Val once again, this time Kyle getting out first. Once out Kyle turned and offered his hand to Val to help her out of the limo, once they were out Jensen closed the door behind them. "Thanks again Kato", Kyle once again said to Jensen. To which Jensen replied, "Oh, why dank you sir", in a terrible imitation of an Asian accent.

Kyle looked at the Halloway mansion and was quite impressed, he had been in a few mansions before, but they were usually to make drug busts against drug lords. I live a charmed and fancy life Kyle told himself. "Shall we?", Kyle asked Val while offering her the crook of his arm. Once to the front door Kyle showed the door man their invitations and headed inside. Once they came up to the security Kyle flashed his badge to them, to get get through with their guns. Kyle had made arrangements with the head of security to allow the police presence, so security was aware that they were there. Probably the ball's host and hostess as well, but none of the guest should have been informed that they were there. So this was still an undercover operation.

With Val on his arm, Kyle made his way to the ballroom, as signs were there to direct guests. Kyle walked into the ballroom taking in the sight of it, it was as ostentatious as he had expected it to be, just like the vampire club Ambrosia. Vampires, Kyle thought to himself shaking his head. "So my lady, where should we start?", Kyle asked Val, because to be quite honest, Kyle wasn't really sure.

[BUFFY JUDAS DIOR]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 440px; height: 600px; background-image: url(http://www.ohlalamag.com/.a/6a00e54fb7301c883401348327fd1f970c-800wi); -moz-border-radius: 250px; border-radius:100px 100px 100px 100px; border: 3px solid #ffffff;] TASTE ME, drink my soul Buffy wasn’t sure what was going on. Emile was no longer on top of him but now away talking to the Alpha. Buffy had his suspicions but now he was sure that Vis was Alpha. He blinked twice, not thinking to remove him from the ground but watching Vis and Emile interact. It seemed that Emile was getting the worse of it and Buffy couldn’t help but smile a little bit. I hope he’s not too hard on him Buffy thought. He thought about Emile’s last question ‘What are you?’ He could still hear Emile asking him that question. Buffy had no idea but he wanted to find out. He looked at Emile and Vis as the elder went back inside and Emile was looking at Buffy. Buffy looked away just as a woman came out and extended her hand to him. He blinked at her before finally taking it and standing up. It was all so frustrating and his eyes were getting blurry. “I’m fine…” Buffy told her getting even more upset. “He didn’t hurt me or anything. It was rude but I don’t want him to get in any trouble. He just thought I was something I wasn’t…” Buffy told her. “Excuse me…sorry.” Buffy told her. He didn’t want to be rude but his pride wouldn’t let him cry in front of this girl whose name he was unsure of. He’d seen her around the other wolves but she wasn’t there that night. He turned on his heels and started to walk back into the party. Finding his way to a bathroom, he locked the door behind him in the corner of his eye he saw someone in the mirror. It was a lady in a beautiful white gown, he turned towards her and ripped his mask off to make sure it wasn’t something he just thought he saw. He pulled off his mask and looked but the image was gone. Maybe he was just going insane, or possibly it had just been a long night. He turned on the sink and took a few sips of the water before splashing it on his face. “Calm down Buff…” He told himself. He walked out of the bathroom after he collected himself and back towards the party. show me all the things I shouldn't know there can be only one mikey! of caution 2.0

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[ERIC SAMUEL RODRIGEZ]

"Well here goes nothing..."They both walked into the ballroom and it was clear that something had just occurred; do doubt it was something rather interesting. "I think we just missed something." Eric felt Georgia's grip tighten on his arm and he nodded, looking at the scene. From what he could tell something had gone down with the other pack and the vampire monarchs weren't happy. It was never good to miss something like that. "No doubt people will talk and we'll find out what happened." He wanted to tell her to keep calm and just continue playing along but talking to an Alpha in such a manner was disrespectful, especially one like Georgia. Eric knew by now that she wasn't the type to let things slide. That was one thing he liked about her; Georgia knew how to handle things.

"I knew we should have left the dogs outside." He hadn't been paying much attention until he heard those words escape the vampire queen's lips as she spoke to her husband. Eric's hand instantly took hold of Georgia's and altough it wasn't a good idea for him to tell her to calm down, he had to make it happen somehow before she ended up slapping the leech. "Jenn will meet us soon. Patience and planning is always good." He whispered it in Georgia's ear before standing up straight and focusing on the situation again. He hope that him holding her hand and those words he had said to her would be enough for her to not make this scene worse.

The lights flickered and he glanced around the room as the guests began to whisper, but it was almost as soon as it had started that the lights stopped flickering and the attention once again turned to the queen and the pack of wolves, the king apparently finding something better to do and walking off with a frown on his face. "Wonder what's going on..." "It's a full moon soon, shouldn't you all be out barking at the moon anyway." Oooh, that wasn't nice. This queen was a bitch. Perhaps that's just how vampires were? No wonder why his kind hated them. He personally could get along with them, but Georgia had established the pack around hating vampires and killing them, so of course he had to put that first. Even if it was just for Georgia. "Truth be told, ma'am, we much prefer to chase sticks." Now that was good. Whoever that guy was had earnt Eric's respect just for having the nerve to say that to the queen of vampires, in her own home none-the-less. Perhaps this ball, well it wasn't much of a ball now but still, perhaps it would be interesting after all.

[GEORGIA MICHELLE ROTH]

If Eric hadn't been there to hold her back she would have bee lined straight for the queen. It was hard enough being around vampires that she was normally use to seeing them being torn in two before throw in a pit of fire. When it came to Georgia the only good vampires were the dead ones. Her lips curled up as a growl came up from the back of her throat. How dare that bitch treat the other pack like that. Eric whispered in her ear reminding her of the reason that they were there and Georgia's eyes softened slightly. Eric had always been the voice of reason. She supposed that was why he was the beta. Georgia was a fighter and an aggressive one at that. There were moments that she didn't even think twice before opening her mouth and giving people a piece of her mind. "Jenn better get her fast." she muttered as her her narrowed once more on the pack a few feet away from her.

She wondered if her presence had been detected by the other Weres. She didn't exactly expect to be known. Georgia hadn't exactly formed her pack completely it was more of a partnership now along with working closely with a group of supernatural individuals. "I need a drink before i rip the queen's head off." she said tugging him to the bar with another growl. She had plans of showing the queen a thing or two but to act now would be premature. Jenn had yet to arrive and without her the plan might fail.

[MORRISON CAMERON WHELAN]

Morrison was starting to feel even more useless in this situation. He might have been the one to upset Emile so badly, if on accident, and that had drawn the attention of the king and queen, but since he wasn’t a part of this pack, no one was paying him much attention. That honestly was alright with him, since he was hating being at the ball more and more every second. Visceral had shook his head at him, telling him that he didn’t have leave, yet he was confused as to why he needed to stay. Prue may have wanted him to mend things up with Levi though he really didn’t care about the other wolf so much at the moment; his hatred for all vampires would always outweigh his hatred for any one other man.

As Vis spoke to the queen, trying to calm her down and get her to leave them be, Morrison leaned down to his doctor friend, telling her that it would best if they left then. She hushed him softly, waving a small hand to tell him to be quiet and focused her attention on the conversation going on. She’d never been this close to the monarchs and he knew that she respected them at least a bit, and despite being aware of how much the wolf despised the vampires, she wanted to see how this would transpire. Morrison would have dragged her away then, yet he was wondering if this would simmer down quickly and then he’d be able to properly talk to Visceral and maybe Levi. He’d be seeing the members of this pack very often and he didn’t want them to have poor relations, since he was sure that none of them were going to die very soon. Well, Levi might if he picked the wrong fight, though he doubted he would.

Morrison was a bit on the edge of picking his own fight with the queen at the comment about dogs and the full moon, yet the touch of Prue’s hand on his arm kept him in place. It was strange that those sorts of words would even affect him like that, he’d been hearing them his entire life since vampires and other people began to figure out what he was. It was also as original as calling vampires leeches, though he did still enjoy using that word; it described them perfectly. That was probably why the ‘dog’ thing bothered him so much, since they were the farthest thing from dogs and he was sure that he’d never barked at the moon, that was just silly.

His mood was lifted however when Levi replied to her. "Truth be told, ma'am, we much prefer to chase sticks." He might have a strong dislike for the wolf, but that was a great way to handle the insult. Morrison, not being one for smooth words, might have just glared and growled a little, not helping people’s view of their kind as ‘dogs’. His eyes shifted to Levi then and back to the queen, an amused grin spreading his lips. He felt Prue stamp on his foot, seeing his reaction, yet he ignored her, not willing to quite hide his emotions. And he was starting to feel a bit better about this whole ball thing, especially since could smell the presence of quite a few more weres in the building. He was sure that they hadn’t expected this many to show up.

[JENNIFER SNOW EVANS]

A small pop and one of the upstairs windows of the Halloway mansion opened; Jennifer Evans jumping in straight after. Breaking and entering wasn't acceptable really, but people had been invited to the mansion, so why couldn't she enter in her own style? Not that she was here for the ball of course. No, Jennifer Evans had other plans. Plans that her and her best friend, Georgia Roth, had already discussed. It was time to give the vampires what they deserved and that meant Jennifer was going to need to gather as much information as possible... and what better place than the monarch's home?

There was a smirk on her face as she walked along the hallway, her boots not making much noise as they wandered across the carpet. The guests were downstairs in the ballroom, all security focused on the event, this was a piece of cake. Her hand grabbed the door handled of one of the rooms and she pushed it open to reveal Queen Corbin's study. "Bingo." Her voice was a whisper as she quietly closed the door and walked over to the desk, her hands not hesitant at openin all the drawers once she got there. Jennifer's eyes scanned all the paperwork and contents, even a diary of sorts, before finally she found a piece of paper with notes about different vampires on it; Luke Johnson, Brodir Hoffman, there was even her sister's name, Maggie Evans, scribbled on down at the bottom. Why were the monarchs interested in these vampires and the many others listed on the paper, granted it was their job to be interested, but why have a list?

That was when the lights flickered and she looked out of the window at the town. The entire place was losing electricity. Then the noise came. The high pitched noise in her head and all she wanted to do was get out of this place. Her feet made there way to the door and she pulled it open. The noise in her head just kept getting worse and then finally she dropped to her knees and let out a high pitched scream that everyone in the mansion would hear, and for a second she felt sorry for the vampires and the wolves because they were going to get it a lot worse due to their hearing. The upstairs windows cracked and were about to shatter before the noise stopped, and she too stopped screaming. Her hands clutching onto her head as she felt a wave of pain run through her. The lights were still flickering as she lay on the ground, holding her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.

[CORBIN ROSE HALLOWAY]

Corbin wasn't please at all with the events that were taking place. She had to admit that the were had a sharp tongue, one she thought never existed in a species so dumb (at least in her opinion). Another growl escaped her lips as she focused on Levi. His tone had been so calm and collected she actually wondered if he was being serious about chasing stick. She won't put it past mutts to be small brained like that. "I wasn't aware of this stick chasing but I suppose I should have known a kind such as yours would be so easily amused. Forgive me for my ignorance. I supposed that is also why you mutts don't have good social skills." she returned rather harshly. Already she hated this were before her.

Corbin was just about to say something else when she heard a high pitched scream and made her stomach turn. It hurt her unlike anything ever before. Her hands raced to her ears as she tried to figure out where this scream was coming from. Already the human guards were racing to the sound of the noise. luckily for them it wasn't as debilitating as it was for any of the vampires and weres that seemed to be in just as much pain as Corbin was. When the noise stopped the lights flicked like crazy once more before finally going out completely.Corbin tensed as she felt a gush of wind...something wasn't right.

[river]

The blonde vampire. That was all David could ever think about. That blonde vampire that had given him such an amazing night. He wanted to see her again. He wanted to make things right and apologise to her directly. That blonde vampire with such an amazing body; and those fangs that had grazed his neck... He wasn't a fangbanger, not at all, but that blonde had made him see another side of life. A brighter side. Needless to say that is why he was wanting to find her. To apologise; to thank her; to reward her in some way. His blood, perhaps?

There had been invitations to a ball that had been sent out. It was up at some mansion, and apparently everyone was invited. Vampires as well? Was she there? The only way to find out would be to go there and see for himself. He stood up from the barstool, grabbed his coat and walked out of the door. The mansion was at the edge of the town, not far from the bar. Throwing on his coat he began the walk down the street. If she wasn't there then he'd hang around for a while and see if she showed up. If she didn't then there was nothing more to do than go home and try to forget about her.

The mansion looked pretty amazing, his eyes staring up at it once he had reached the driveway. Not many buildings like this existed in these times. The old foundations from long ago. As his legs took him up the driveway his eyes glanced around, taking in the scenery. It was beautiful but a little eerie at the same time. Almost like it was a place belonging to death. That was a pretty spooky thought but he didn't have much time to process it. His attention was diverted to the flickering lights coming from the mansion. A slight frown appeared on his face as he glanced around, noticing the fairly distant street lights (and probably all electricity in the town) flickering. Right now the safest place seemed to be inside the mansion. Not that he was scared or anything but having a lot of people around was better than standing outside when vampires were probably lurking around.

As his feet started moving again the electricity of the entire town went down and he felt a gush of wind and something sharp hit his neck and stomach, his hands instinctly pressing against them as he stumbled through the dark, into the mansion. It felt like blood was oozing from him but he couldn't be sure, not with the lights down. One hand grabbed the dress of a lady, the hostess and owner of the mansion no doubt, and then he was down. His hand losing it's grip as he slipped into darkness, the blood still coming out of his neck and stomach.

There were faint whispers in the darkness and a quick flicker of light before the electricity finally came up. The man, David, dead on the floor next to the vampire queen.

[levi]

The Queen was, in technical terms, a complete bitch. Levi had been polite, he hadn't disrespected her or insulted vampires in general. No, he had been very calm, polite and, in his mind, humorous. Unfortunately, he got a similar reaction to what he would have if he'd been an absolute arsehole and started calling the Queen a soulless bitch. Well, that was a slight exaggeration, but Levi still didn't appreciate the Queen's aggression and tone of voice. He'd expected it, true, but that didn't make her comments any less insulting or infuriating. The wolf flung itself against the bars of Levi's mental cage, but he held firm, smiling and chuckling at the Queen's response. He was just about to say that chasing sticks was why werewolves had such good social skills when there was a terrible, high pitched scream.

All around Levi humans and vampires were dropping to the ground. Even with his hands over his ears, the noise was painfully loud and Levi dropped to the ground, his face contorted with pain. With a growl, he forced himself up onto one knee and then stood shakily, looking around for the source of the noise. There were some guards heading towards the source, but Levi was in too much pain to be able to tell if they were going in the right direction. He'd put himself through a lot in his time, everything from testing flashbangs on himself to accidentally cutting a gash in his arm during the final, most punishing stage of selection, but this was worse than all that. Still, he gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain. He was Levi Pratten, formerly of the Australian Special Air Service, Second of the Vision Pack. He had a duty to keep himself aware of the situation and tell the debilitating pain to go fuck itself.

The noise stopped just as suddenly as it had begun, and Levi straightened himself up from the hunched position he'd found himself in. He continued to look for a threat, but was surprised by the lights flickering for a few moments before winking out of existence. In the middle of a pitch dark ballroom, surrounded by panicky civilians and vampires, Levi swore.

"Shit."

This close to the full moon Levi had pretty good night vision, there were perks to being a werewolf, but it took a while to kick in and, right now, he needed to be able to see. The wolf demanded to be set free, to chase off whoever had caused the noise, but Levi pointed out to it that it would be suicide, especially with the vampire king so near. The wolf suggested that maybe Levi should use his enhanced sense to find his way over to Arrow and Em so that he could help protect them, but Levi had a gut instinct that something was about to happen. He strained his ears and, over the commotion of untrained civilians trying to deal with the dark after such a horrible noise, Levi could hear unsteady, shuffling steps. they came closer and closer and Levi realised that he could smell blood. Someone had been badly injured. The person kept coming closer and Levi moved to intercept them, missing them in the dark by inches. Turning around, Levi heard the person fall, just as the lights came on.

The first thing that struck Levi was that the man had lost a lot of blood. It had been a neck wound, and the man had tried to stop the bleeding with his hands. The blood covered his arms and a good portion of his chest, with a small trail of it going all the way back to the door. Levi instantly ruled out vampires, although his wolf disagreed, and found himself kneeling down next to the man, fingers already searching for the wound. while he had been assessing the man, his old training had kicked in and he had sprung into action. He had been trained to roughly the same level as an EMT, and a couple of incidents that weren't on any official record had taught him more than he had ever wanted to know.

Probing the wound, Levi realised that the man wasn't breathing. Blood still flowed from the wound, but it moved slowly, without any pressure behind it. Knowing that Morrison's date was a doctor, Levi looked over at her and shook his head.

"There's no pulse. He's dead."

Levi's fingers prodded the wound and determined that it had been caused by a knife. The attacker had flicked the knife from roughly the middle of the man's spine forward, partially severing the carotid artery, the jugular vein and the windpipe, the cut getting deeper as it came forwards.

"Partial severing of the carotid artery and jugular vein," Levi stuck his finger in the wound, "with a maximum depth of three millimetres."

Levi sounded calm and, for the most part, he was. He'd dealt with this stuff before, and human deaths had never affected him much. His wolf, however, was suddenly hungry and saw the body as snack, so Levi used his cold, calm professionalism to counter the wolf's hunger. If he showed any emotion, he'd be giving the wolf something to work with.

Casting a more critical eye over the body now, Levi moved the man's arm and saw two stab wounds. Quickly, efficiently, Levi stuck his fingers in the cuts in the shirt and pulled it open so that he could see the wound. The neck wound didn't look like the work of an amateur, not with the precision the cut had been made, so the stab wounds were probably the work of a professional too. The entry wounds were wide, and the lower of the two looked as though the knife had been wriggled about a bit, with a couple of small diagonal nicks occurring at the end of the cut. The upper wound, close to the sternum, looked like an attempt to stab the heart but, when Levi stuck his finger into it he found that the knife had gone straight through the muscle, right for the liver. He didn't bother checking the angle of the other wound but guess correctly that it had also be aimed at the liver. The corpse was no official the unfortunate victim of a skilled killer.

Looking up at the king, Levi started to issue orders, still in soldier mode. He was still speaking calmly and his voice was at normal volume, but there was undeniable steel behind it.

"This was a professional hit. Call the police and have your men lock down the mansion."

Levi stood and unconsciously wiped his hands on his trousers out of habit. Vis had probably gone looking for Arrow and Em by now, but Levi still looked around for him so that he could suggest that course of action. People were talking about the dead body and it wouldn't take long for the story to get mangled beyond belief. It was entirely possible that a group of vampires might hear the wrong story and decide to take revenge on Levi's pack, and he didn't want Arrow and Em separated from Vis or himself.

[HEATHCLIFFE RYAN HALLOWAY]

When the flickering of the lights had started, Heathcliffe had left to see if his guards knew anything and to also see if it was because of Samara. The guards were clueless and Samara wasn't around and unless she had gotten into trouble during her mission to find Maggie then it was highly unlikely to be her. Then again, Samara tended to get involved in a lot of drama. He had returned moments later and things still seemed to be unsettled with the wolves. That was the impression he got from his wife still being near them at least. His eyes scanned the room and he saw people gossiping about things but he just ignored it and focused back on his wife and the drama she seemed to be caught up in.

Then a high-pitched scream pierced his ears and although he had been alive for a long time, Heathcliffe couldn't take the sound and his hands were instantly placed on his ears, his eyes closed as the noise sent a sharp pain through him. His eyes glanced at the guards as they made their way to find the source of the sound, then he looked at his wife and saw she was in pain as well and he wanted to hold her close and let her know she was going to be safe... but he couldn't. The noise was too unbearable. Then it was gone. As quick as it had started the high-pitched scream had stopped. It wasn't there that the drama stopped though; the lights flickered and eventually went out. Then the scent of human blood hit his nose and his eyes widened. That wasn't good.

Once the lights were on Heathcliffe stared at the body of the man straight away and watched as one of the wolves seemed to examine him and speak in technical terms, much like someone with training would do. The king listened to each word and took in everything, no doubt this was only the start of something. A murder in the home of the vampire monarchs certainly wasn't a good thing. The wolf looked up at him and spoke in a calm voice that seemed to have a hint of order behind it, "this was a professional hit. Call the police and have your men lock down the mansion." That just really made things worse. If it was a professional then, in his opinion, it must have been planned. As the were stood up Heathcliffe nodded, "for once I agree with one of your kind." His eyes flickered to Michael, his most trusted guard here at the mansion, "put the entire mansion and grounds into lockdown. No one but the police leaves or enters until this is sorted!" He walked up to his guard, a face showing he was deadly serious for this not to be messed up, "I want the driveway gates locked, armed guards surrounding the perimeter and your men to find out where the screaming came from. Anyone tries to leave, kill on sight."

The king glanced at his wife before looking at each and everyone of the guests inside the room, then finally at the were that had examined the body, the younger wolf that had caused a scene earlier now by his side, "is there any indication of what lead to this man's unfortunate death? A struggle of any kind?" He looked at the body, barely able to resist the scent of his blood. Even for a vampire of Heathcliffe's age, blood was still highly tempting. It was then that his head lifted again and he frowned slightly before stepping away, his eyes focusing on each of the guests in the room one by one. The attention had been diverted to the wolves, then the screaming and then the darkness. Anything could have gone unnoticed. In his eyes, everyone was a suspect.

[EMILE PETER AVAANT]

When the lights went out in the mansion, Emile forgot about Buffy. His first instinct was to go to his pack; make sure they where okay - his head cleared in that fraction of a second as his focus tightened. He nuzzled Arrow, tugging on her arm before he sprinted back towards the large building with all the speed his body could muster. Levi and Vis where surrounded by lord knows how many Vampires and he needed to know they where okay.

He all but leaped the steps and sprinted inside (almost slipping over in his haste) as the crowd parted around Levi and the body; he immediately got next to the man and gave him a small nuzzle with his cheek, almost invisible to those around, before he looked to the body.

"He's dead Levi, isn't he?"

His voice wasn't scared to any degree; he'd seen it before. What worried him was the am mount of Vampires. He flickered a bit of fear on that regard through the bonds to the older man before he glanced around. Everyone was talking and it was unnerving for the smaller Wolf. He wished he could shift, but he'd have to make do. Levi had been putting the work in with Emi the past few weeks as the boy knelt down and looked over the neck before up at the king.

"At a guess, the killer came up behind him and did it so fast he wouldn't have had time to struggle... um. If we factor in the timescale of the power thingy, then the killer isn't most likely isn't..."

He paused and nodded a little at the Vampire - he still hated the man for his attitude but he couldn't much choose to be prejudiced right now - at the speed it had to have been done, it wasn't human.

The boy breathed softly before looking up to Levi. Clearly this man was still around, and any one of them could be under suspicion or next. Of course, being so close to a fresh kill was making his stomach rumble but he forced that away.

[levi]

"For once I agree with one of your kind."

Levi nodded at the king, glad that his advice had been taken. The king, despite being a vampire, seemed to be less confrontational than his wife and was capable of keeping his prejudices hidden for one night at least. Levi still didn't particularly like or trust the man, he was a two thousand year old vampire and, from Levi's wolf's point of view, was a competing predator. Still, none of that mattered now. The king was going to do the right thing, or at least look like he was doing the right thing, and Levi was going to help out for as long as he could or until Vis told him to lay off.

As the king started giving orders, firstly to the bodyguard who didn't like werewolves and then to another guard, Levi spotted Emile and Arrow heading back. Emile was easy to spot, since the crowd parted for him as he raced towards the scene of the crime. As Emile got close, Levi could see the worried look on the young wolf's face and smiled reassuringly. Wanting to put an arm around Em's shoulders when he inevitably got close, Levi pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and used it to wipe his hands clean. The cuffs of his shirt and jacket were still stained, but at least now Levi wouldn't be putting bloody hand prints over Emile's pretty pink dress.

"He's dead Levi, isn't he?"

Levi nodded and put an arm around Emile's shoulders. The boy didn't seem all to bothered by the corpse, which surprised Levi given his earlier freak out, but he did notice that Emile wasn't comfortable being surrounded by so many vampires. Levi knew the feeling and gave Emile an extra squeeze to give him some reassurance.

"Is there any indication of what lead to this man's unfortunate death? A struggle of any kind?"

The king was speaking again, and Levi gave him his full attention. He was about to say that there didn't appear to be any signs of a struggle, when Emile suddenly knelt down and tried to give his own explanation for events. Levi tried to stop him, it was odd for a young girl to be giving an analysis of a dead body after all, but he couldn't stop her in time.

"At a guess, the killer came up behind him and did it so fast he wouldn't have had time to struggle... um. If we factor in the timescale of the power thingy, then the killer isn't most likely isn't..."

Em nodded at the king and then looked at Levi. Em was right, the killer had done the kill quickly, but the rest of his assumptions were wrong. The neck had obviously been cut from the front and, if Emile had checked the stab wounds would have had a very slight upwards slant. No, the killed had acted from the front, and there were ways for a vampire or werewolf to get around the noise. A combination of ear plugs and noise cancelling earmuffs were the first thing to spring to Levi's mind, but magic was also a possibility.

Shaking his head, Levi tugged at Emile's dress, indicating that he should get up.

"Come on Em, get up." Then, in a lower voice, he whispered, "Not in public."

Then, turning his attention back to the king, Levi answered the question.

"I don't think that there was a struggle."

Levi knelt down and motioned for Emile to stay standing. He held the man's left arm up, and then his right, so that the king could see them.

"There aren't any defensive wounds on the arms and," Levi quickly checked the man's knuckles and nails, "I can't see any evidence that he fought back. There might be bruises, but there's no way to tell for sure."

Standing back up, Levi started to clean hands again and tried to ignore his wolf's hunger.

"He was hit from the front, though, so the attacker was fast. The stabs are angled up slightly, but they're definitely aimed at the liver. The throat was just to make sure."

Glancing at Emile for a second and then looking back at the king, Levi finished off his summary.

"Don't rule any species out. It wouldn't have been impossible for the killer to block enough of the scream out to stay combat ready."

It dawned on Levi for the first time, really dawned on him, that he was having a discussion with the vampire king and was offering frank and free advice without his Alpha's permission. Just managing to keep himself from looking guilty, Levi glanced over a Vis to see if his Alpha was in a co-operative mood or if Levi was up a creek without a paddle.

[BUFFY JUDAS DIOR]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 440px; height: 600px; background-image: url(http://www.ohlalamag.com/.a/6a00e54fb7301c883401348327fd1f970c-800wi); -moz-border-radius: 250px; border-radius:100px 100px 100px 100px; border: 3px solid #ffffff;] TASTE ME, drink my soul There was this girl, she was in the middle of the floor talking like anyone else. Yet, Buffy couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. She was gorgeous but that wasn’t what drew him to her. He started to walk towards her, completely in a thrall when the lights flickered. His thoughts returned back to earth and he looked around the entire place. Off instinct when he was scared, he lowered his barriers and took in thoughts of everyone around him. It was too many voices at once and they were all so loud. His hands went up to his ears and he crouched down trying to build the barriers in his mind back up. “Jesus…” The place went dark as a vicious and venomous scream filled his head. His barriers were not quite back up yet and, although not a lot of people know this, one can scream in their thoughts. He freaked trying to rebuild his walls before anymore thoughts could be heard. The voices were all loud and some of them were inappropriate. He opened his eyes into the darkness all around him and used his mind’s photographic memory to remember exactly what he had seen before the lights went off. That was compromised by a loud thud that followed another. And Buffy instantly could smell the death in the room, the flood of fear that people were sending off was almost too much to bear. Sorting out his own emotions over theirs was not an easy task. It was like his mind became a black hole and sucked in every thought and emotion around him. People were panicked, scared and angry. He wasn’t sure which one he felt but now it was a mix of all three. He moved back as he heard more thuds and let out a yelp as he did so. Crossing his arms over his chest and tensing his whole body, trying to ready himself for an unknown attacker. The lights flickered back on and stayed there as people gasped at all the bodies around them. Buffy’s eyes were moving back in forth looking at the bodies. He realized that he wasn’t acting himself, he had taken in so much that he was displaying another’s emotion. He wiped his face, finding it hard to calm himself down. He was scared now. More scared than he knew how to handle. It wasn’t something that he controlled himself but an outside force controlling him. This was the first time something like this had ever happened to him and it made him think of Emile’s question all over again, What are you? You smell so good! Buffy sniffled as he looked around, seeing if anyone saw what was going on with him. His eyes were red and he was sure he was splotchy. He watched as one of the wolves came over and started to help the guy that had fallen. Buffy listened to the conversations around the room and to various thoughts. He watched him talk to the vampire king with Emile next to him. Granted, the boy had been to frisky with him but Buffy felt safer around the pack for reasons he didn’t know. He made his way over to Levi, looking around the room to anyone who may decide to attack with the lights off. He stopped in front of Levi for a second and made eye contact with him before stepping behind him. Instantly, he felt just a bit better behind Emile and Levi. He wasn’t sure how Emile would react and didn’t want to get the boy in anymore trouble but Buffy didn’t want to be by himself he didn’t know why it was such a good idea to be so close to them but he felt sooo much safer and had finally rebuilt the walls around his head. He was looking around Levi’s shoulder at the people trying to keep a safe distance which for reasons unknown was close to the pack. show me all the things I shouldn't know there can be only one mikey! of caution 2.0

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