Questions Answered Part 1

Sheriff's Estate - The Vault

This room covers almost the entire ground floor of this house. The majority is taken up by a stylish reception area; three chunky, white leather couches places in a neat U-shape, with a low table in the centre. Another corner holds a modern, black table, six comfortable chairs placed around it as though for conference. The final feature is a bar, well-equipped behind it and with a pair of chunky fridge-freezers, containing a variety of synthetic blood. In one corner is a staircase, leading upstairs. On the same wall is a door through to the only area on this floor not part of this room, where sits a small bathroom and the route downstairs, a featureless door, metal constructed and lockable from one side only, though plated to fit with the design of the house.
Three walls are white, the fourth covered in ceramic panels to give some colour to the place. The floor is tiled, in a pleasant, neutral shade. Windows at regular intervals stretch from floor to ceiling, concealed blackout blinds above them. One wall bears a huge flatscreen television, and one aware of their surroundings will spot the speakers concealed at various points in the room. The general feel of this area is a clinical style, a blank, neutral canvas for whatever happens to be going on. Those who know Will generally refer to this area as The Vault, for the round pillars that stretch up to the roof.


Well after ten o'clock in the evening. The library has long since closed, the buses have begun to shut down for the evening. The streets, but for the few club goers, and those eating late dinners at local restaurants, are empty.

But for a lone woman.

It is, perhaps, unnatural for a woman to be out wandering the streets alone these days, with any manner of creatures wandering around. Chloe is on a mission though - to find out what on earth Ivan is, and just /how/ he isolated herself and Bobby in a zone of darkness in the nightclub.

It's time for some answers, and some questions. Whether or not the man she seeks has time for her, she waltzes right past the security guards, and opens the door. She should knock, it is appropriate to knock, but not now. Now she needs the element of surprise.

Alas, there is a reason she has not been physically stopped. However, the occupant of this particular house was relaxing anyway, dressed in a luxurious, white dressing gown with a pair of black shorts underneath. He is stretched languidly along a couch, hands clasped behind his head and eyes closed; the picture of a playboy recently awoken.

He doesn't bother reacting to the opening of the door, though the mobile phone settled alongside an empty bottle of synthetic blood may give away to the observant that he's not having an entirely pointless day.

"It's time to talk," she says, as cheerfully as she can manage. Chloe eyes the tableau in front of her, and does her best not to snort. "I would /prefer/ if you were actually dressed for the discussion." Eyes shift about the room to surmise what other company may just be there as well, hoping against hope that she's not interrupted some weird sexual or feeding ritual.

"If you are planning another vitriolic verbal assault," replies Will, quietly, "then please bear in mind that I am attempting to relax." His tone is as languid as his body, the purr of a thoroughly relaxed cat. He doesn't bother moving, opening his eyes or otherwise reacting. "Unfortunately, unannounced visitors to a residence are without the power to dictate the state of dress of the owner. So please, continue."

"Had I thought you would actually have permitted a discussion, I would have called." No she wouldn't, but Chloe really dislikes being treated like a child. Bad enough Bobby was pulling the protective brother card on her last evening. Arms fold over her chest, but as she makes the movement it's partially to show him that she comes without a weapon.

"Who," she asks, "is Ivan Fontane? Why did you send him out after me?"

She's in entirely the wrong company to be treated as anything but a child. Being fourty times older than someone will do that. "Your tone would suggest that you have met someone who you believe is in my employ. Sadly you are wrong. I do not employ anyone by the name of Ivan Fontane."

"Funny," Chloe says, unmoved by the admission. "He seems to think he is. Seems to think that you've got something to do with Faith Tyler, and the Green Oaks facility as well." A stern look is given to him. The type that says, 'cut the bullshit'. "Whatever he is to you, Mr. Grant, he is /not/ Human. His brain pattern is all wrong, and he just so happened to have ruined my evening last night."

"The gentleman in question works for someone else," says Will, still without bothering to open his eyes. "What intrigues is the suggestion that my activites are somehow accountable to you."

"The mayor. I am not a total idiot," Chloe says, still trying to keep her voice neutral. "He however seems to believe that you've charged him with caring for this Faith Tyler. Who is a person of interest in the Green Oaks case. Whom my brother seems to think is in need of protection from a man that can flick a wrist and cover someone in a darkness so thick that you can't see out of it."

A step is taken toward him, her movements the only thing that is denoting how angry she actually is. "Oh, believe me, Mr. Grant, I really wish they weren't, but when what you're doing is potentially hurting the only person I'd give my life for, then they become my problems, and right now I need to know what's going on before my brother hunts down this Mr. Fontane person and pummels him for harassing me last night." Beat. "And for yelling out to an entire nightclub that I could read minds."

"Tell me," says Will. "What do you believe my interest in young Rose is?" Slowly, he stretches his body out, arms reaching above his head. "In addition, what would the problem be with me asking a member of the mayor's staff to care for her?"

Augh! If she had the stake, she'd stake him now for being annoyingly unhelpful in answering her questions. Chloe knows she could do it at this point, he's just /laying/ there, exposing himself to the world. "Mr. Grant, if I had /any/ inkling as to what your interest was in a patient at Green Oaks, I wouldn't have bothered wasting my time coming /across/ the city to speak with you."

Fingers tap against her arm, still she remains as calm as she can. "The question is more /why/ would you need to get someone from the mayor's staff to care for her. Why /this/ particular man? He's a pervert. A playboy. Setting him up with someone who's not in full control of their mental capacity is probably a bad idea. Especially if she happens to look a /thing/ like her sister." Or what she figures the sister looks like, from poking around in her brother's head.

Will finishes the longways stretch, releasing a gentle sigh of satisfaction as he does so. "I am rather proud that you have clearly chosen to utilise your gift for what you deem the good," he tells Chloe, with something like a quirked smile touching his lips.

"Rose Tyler is a broken mind, an afflicted creature who was mistreated at Green Oaks by the staff. I discovered such, and utilised my contact with Ivan Fontane to ensure that the investigation will be thorough and truthful, and the guilty members of the staff made to answer for their misdeeds." He doesn't bother explaining quite _why_ she is broken, of course. "My interest is in seeing the afflicted souls of that instituion treated as they should be."

"I didn't! I was attacked, which is why I utilized the ability at all. To try and throw Mr. Fontane off, and get away from him." Chloe sounds most displeased at the fact that she was the subject of some sort of magic trick.

"I've read the papers, Mr. Grant. I know who she is and what she was doing at Green Oaks." There is a brief pause as she considers something. "Then I have a request to make of you. Have my file discreetly removed from the facility, by someone other than Mr. Fontane." She knows the request will not go far without an offer in return. "If she is of such an interest to you, perhaps I can see what is wrong with her mind in exchange for my favor?"

"I will explain to Ivan that he is not to recall that he came across you," Will explains, mildly. Finally his eyes open, his head turning to regard Chloe impassively. "Let us just say that I have managed to glean a little more information than is in the newpapers. I have no need to investigate the inside of her mind; I cannot imagine that you would come away unaffected."

He continues to study her, attempting to utilise the connection they have to term her mood properly. "Why is it you wish your file removed?"

Her mood is more agitated, and worried that this Fontane fellow will attempt to get her involved in the investigation if he finds her file. Chloe just shrugs, deciding it best to answer honestly. "He already believes that I can read minds. I don't want to be part of the investigation or lawsuit. I don't want to be used by the mayor to find out what his chances are with his constituents. I don't want them to shove me at the police force to find missing people. I just want to be left alone."

Exhaling a sigh, she says, "If it affects me, it affects me. Either way, I need the practice, and one crazy person isn't going to mind the company of another."

"Allow me to term it slightly differently," Will says. "You understand that you are asking me to break the law? Why do you believe I have such ability?" Slowly, he shakes his head. "I have explained to you before that you are not alone in your ability. That particular mind is a veritable inferno, and I will not utilise any favour you owed me to deliberately damage you."

"I am well aware of what I'm asking, Mr. Grant." Chloe appears to be rather resolved on this matter. "I /know/ what's in my file. The only other person who knows what is in my file is one of the doctors currently under investigation at Green Oaks. It's from years ago, but I don't really want to be implicated or have to be sent back to another facility for testing."

A deeply exhaled sigh, and she stares at him. "I haven't asked you for anything else except answers," she says. "I saved you from a drainer. I took a bullet for you… but I haven't asked for anything except answers."

"Much as I appreciate those events, they are not events I was unable to handle on my own." Will turns in place, sitting comfortably in the couch now. One hand idly gestures towards the others. "You are yet to explain why you believe I have the ability to take a personal file from a secure facility," says he. "You have asked questions that have answers beyond your ken," he continues, "and have disrespected, provoked and assaulted a citizen of this land. I am not suggesting I will not attempt to assist, merely explaining that I would be taking a great risk."

"No? Okay. Next time I pick up on a drainer intending to wrap you in silver and leave you lying in the sun, I'll just let them do it." Chloe turns her back on him which is perhaps a mistake. She came here to find out who Ivan was and why the man was working for Will. She got paltry answers. So she is perhaps even more irate now than when she entered the estate.

"You can move at night when security is more lax. You can move swifter than the human eye can see. Besides which, you have a lot more resources at your disposal than I do." She steps toward the door, just a little step. "Help me or not, Mr. Grant, but I'm done with all of this. I'm done being an experiment, and I'm done with half-answers. I don't even know if I'm /allowed/ to go, since you say that you 'own' me. What does that even /mean/?"

"Again you listen to half of the words," replies Will, easily. "Did I not say I appreciated you assistance?" Slowly, he shakes his head.

"Never have I stated that I own you," he tells her, "merely that if you state that I do to other vampires, they will leave you alone. The tradition of ownership of a human is consensual and respected by all vampires, thus I was protecting you. You seem desperate to believe that I have sinister motive. My patience with constant accusation and threats wears thin, especially when you are supposedly asking for my help."

She's positive that he did say he owned her. Then again, it was immediately after a rather stressful altercation, so she may have misheard him. "Why would you allow me to state that it is so if it is not? I don't understand." Chloe looks perplexedly at the door, exhaling an exasperated sigh. "Why would you want to protect /me/? What's so special about me?"

"If a vampire has claimed ownership of a human, with that human's permission, then no other vampire will harass the human. It is a long standing tradition." Will slowly unfolds from the sofa, his gown open at the front leaving the wiry, lithe stretch of his chest visible. His look rests firmly on Chloe, face impassive. "The same drive that causes me to protect Rose. You are both mistreated by society, those with whom I can see elements of my past self. You are yet to explain why you believe my motives sinister." Also, Rose got mindscrewed by a vamp, but he's not admitting that just yet.

"Ah." So, in truth, she's not really special at all. Chloe turns to face him, then sighs. "Please. Do not feel obligated to protect me. I don't like feeling…" Pause. "… beholden to someone. Though I appreciate that you would feel it necessary. I'm apparently not all that well versed in caring for myself."

Again, Will shakes his head. "Why feel beholden to me? You allow your temper to fray, and without the control I can assist you with, you will never be safe, and never be left alone." Something twitches at his lips, a little half-smile. "I will ensure that the file is removed. I ask nothing in return."

Chloe wrinkles her nose at him. "You ask nothing in return, but /I/ feel obligated to offer something in return." She moves forward, not at all sure how she should be acting now. "Mr. Grant, let me ask you something. Do you /want/ to lay claim to me?"

"Then I am certain we shall locate something," says he, dryly amused now, "though it may simply be a little respect for thine elders and an appreciation of the use of doorbells." Sitting down again, leaning back into the couch, he again gestures at the others, offering her the seat if she wishes it. "In truth, the attraction I mentioned from when you drank of me works in both directions, to a certain extent. Your lifeblood is alluring; your scent delicious. I would never take it, though, without your permission."

He is granted a quiet 'heh', a wry amusement upon her face. Chloe continues watching him from her standing position, not at all willing to seat herself as of yet. "I get it, I was rude. Your security detail could have stopped me, they didn't." A glance to the door, then back toward the lounging vampire. "Informational though that is, it doesn't really answer my question, Mr. Grant."

Leaning back into the couch, arms stretching to the sides and legs crossing, Will now bears a dark little smile of amusement. "I had been informed of your presence," he tells the girl. "Extrapolate from my statement. The simple answer is yes; is that a problem?"

"I'm uncertain," Chloe answers, as honestly as she can. "I can't read you at all. Even off the medication. There's just… nothing there. So I don't understand the /why/ of it. You can't be interested in me, if so you would have made your move. You don't have feelings for me, beyond wanting to help me. You want to taste my blood, sure, but I don't think that's enough to want to protect me."
NOTICE: Shawn just checked your profile.

"I would advise the dissociation of the protective instinct and the urge to feel your pulse throbbing against my teeth," Will replies, the smile staying exactly where it is for the moment. "I believe the rest of your thoughts— one moment." The vampire suddenly disappears, the blur of movement flashing out through one of the doors.

"The dissociation of -" Only, he's disappeared out of sight. Chloe glances toward the door he disappeared through, gives her head a bit of a shake, and then goes to flop into the nearest chair. Bobby is going to kill her if he ever finds out she's here, but it's much better to get questions answered /now/ than have them remain should the current social and political climate erupt.

The return of the vampire is not as a blur of movement; instead, quiet steps carry him back through the door, bearing what looks to a metal lockbox, a chest of some form. "You are a librarian, and thus I would assume an historian of some measure?" asks the vampire. "I will lend you something that should answer the majority of your questions about me, if in return you will answer me a simple question."

History likely would have been her major, had she been able to function well enough to attend a post secondary institution. Chloe eyes the lockbox, then him. "Of some measure," she replies, not exactly willing to claim herself an historian proper. "I'll allow the question, if you allow me the decision on whether to answer it this evening or not."

"I would like you to think on it before answering," Will replies, stepping towards her to offer the lockbox forwards. "The question is this; What causes you to believe that my intentions are sinister? I would like you to read the contents of this box before you answer." The box itself looks as though made of aluminium, a simple clasp on the front.

Gently, she reaches out to take the lockbox. "Shall I read it here?" Chloe looks around. It is late evening for her, but early for those of this household, for the most part. "That way you can assure yourself I am not running to the media with the contents."

"If you wish," Will replies, "though I trust you will not if you would rather take it with you. I am leaving for some business shortly, so you may stay here to read if you would like. Erica is upstairs if you require anything." The box is not particularly heavy; best guess is the majority of the weight is the metal itself.

"I will remain here until I tire, then I will leave the premises." Chloe is certain that she will tire long before the vampire returns. Her mind tracks through the house, attempting to single out the location of the other mind. Finding one, she almost takes comfort in the fact that she will not be in a den of vampires alone. "Enjoy your business." Well, what else is she supposed to say?

"Thank you," Will responds, one arm gesturing towards the kitchen. "Beverages and snacks are there. Please, enjoy your reading." With that, again the vampire becomes a blur, disappearing downstairs briefly again, before a dark shapes flows through the corner, the door sweeping open and closed as he leaves at speed.

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