Nightshade

Uriel - right place, wrong time

Uriel sat next to Luka in the study as Shavronne came to sit in his own armchair. He sighed. He looked tired, worn down, Uriel thought. He knew how that felt. "Well, I have bad news and possibly worse news. The bad news, meine Freunde, is that there is a growing cult of radicalized people, supposedly following Nathan and his old Chatroom posts." He went silent a moment. "What's the worse news?" Uriel interjected. Shavronne frowned "the worse news, is that I don't believe Nathan is behind it. I've had my experts compare the typing style between the old messages we know are from Nathan with the new ones organizing things, and there is only around a 65 percent match. Someone who likely knows him very well, but isn't him." Luka bit his lip "do you think..." Shavronne nodded. "Yes, I don't have proof yet, but I'm sure raguel is at the bottom of this. The police are working to close down traffic to the sites being used, but they're pathetically incompetent, my small team has been able to do far more to stem the tide of radicalized people trying to imitate Nathan." Uriel took a moment to take a breath, then spoke up again "and you guys think this place is safe?" Shavronne shrugged tiredly, which seemed uncharacteristic. "As safe as anywhere. At least here, I have plenty of surveillance and guard posts. My safe houses are in cities, which I think is a bad move. Ich glaube." Uriel bit his lip. "I'm going back out to the tour bus, I need a cig." He excused himself and headed outside, needing the cool air and soothing buzz of nicotine. He grabbed his cigarettes, and his hair began to stand on end. Something was watching him. He spun, trying to catch someone, but his enhanced senses caught nothing. Just wind. He lit up the cigarette and took a drag, looking out onto the grounds. He heard something, like a whisper he couldn't understand. He whipped his head around again, but once again, nothing. He finished his cig and went inside, throwing away the butt he made sure was out into a trash can. He headed back to the group, and the watched, cold feeling went away. Kelli was talking again. It seemed things had blown up while he was gone. Shavronne was standing in front of Luka, and Luka was watching Kelli, shocked. "I didn't mean to lead them to you alright? I didn't even know that there was a connection, I assumed the guys were your fans, and I just wanted to get back to you! Thanks to your boyfriend, I thought you were dead, for a fucking year!" Luka took a second, then shot back "I don't fucking know you Kelli! You're an up and rising writer who loves new shit, and supposedly idolized me growing into adulthood, and that's the extent of my knowledge! And the fact is Kelli, you only know what I've told you!" Kelli was in tears, running a hand through his hair "look I'll do anything to prove I'm not one of them, i-" "Jesus Christ, you guys really are gonna accuse him of being one of them? I doubt he even led them there on accident, much less caused this shit on purpose. He's just a dumb kid, lay off him!" Uriel snapped irritably. "You, mister my people know everything, have your people dig into his past and keep him under watch for a couple days or some shit, don't just assume the worst! You guys overlooked the fact that I'm a fucking monster but won't overlook a barely 20 kid being dumb?" Shavronne glared at him "it isn't that simple. If he is one of them, every second I leave him alive here is a second that he could be telling his little friends all about our security. He puts every one of us at risk!" Luka bit his lip and lightly slipped his hand into shavronnes "maybe we were too hasty shav... take his phone and keep him under watch a few days while you look into him.. I never got a bad feeling from him, and I can usually tell..." Shavronne held Uriels' gaze a moment longer, then held out his free hand. "Your phone." Kelli nodded gratefully, wiping his tears then handing over his phone, and Shavronne called Cody over, having him lead Kelli to a monitored room. Luka called out as he left "I'm sorry Kelli... but you get why right?" He nodded and looked down as he was led off. Uriel took a breath, and was about to speak when Shavronnes phone started to ring. He picked it up, looking into the fireplace. He said something Uriel didn't quite catch, then he hung up. "Luka and I will be busy tomorrow Uriel. You'll be given a private room and a bell to summon assistance when needed. Any further questions, Cody will answer. Luka, come with me please." Luka nodded and said goodnight to Uriel and Cody, when he came back, and followed Shavronne off. Uriel sighed and followed Cody. "So... why am I not on lockdown?" Cody stopped in front of a door "because you were extensively vetted already." Uriel chewed his cheek a bit "I guess that makes sense. Well thanks for not... treating me like a monster. Even if I am one. " Cody looked back at him "you aren't. All our Intel says you have always tried to feed as little as possible, always compensated people when you did finally give in, and most importantly for a vampire, you haven't killed." He looked down "if you say so. Is this my room?" Cody nodded "we put most of your belongings you managed to grab in here, though we confiscated the... drugs. " Uriel cursed. This was just getting better and better.