Witness, [o.p.e.n]

[|Seven|]

Smell of:

piss
scat
sex
drugs
murder

Eyes like diamonds shining in the darkness, gashes of pupils haunting the shadows with green envy oculars. Is this wrong? Who cares? It feels so right.

Of course its wrong.

Rewind fifteen minutes. He's a pimp with gold teeth and an affinity for children, and while Seven is anything but childish she is a woman and she knows how to work it. She works it, works him down into the subway where he thinks they're going for a quick fuck and suck. Why wouldn't he? She's a very persuasive type of girl. Hands clawing skin, grabbing, caressing, owning. Mouth all over her body. He smells like angel dust and sweat.

"wait, wait! Take my clothes off" she purrs.

He doesn't mind. The clothes come off. Its important that they come off..she'll need them after the finale.

He takes his shirt off and proudly displays the hubcap sized bling around his neck before advancing on her again. So slender, so easily mistaken as weak. She lets him take her into his arms before leaning her pretty face close so that she can whisper into his ear, "I saw you pick him up."

"what?" grunted without thought.

"the little boy, Jason Hein. I saw you pick him up... and I saw his picture in the newspaper today. Missing. Where did you hide the body?"

"Fuck you bitch, you didn't see anything!"

Arms uncoiling from around her. Seven's pupils flickering, twisting and dropping into themself until they're slits of cold black. "They would be angry if I hunted anyone else... but scum doesn't count. This city's got too much of it as it is... who's going to miss one pederass freak? Nobody. You'll be lucky if they recognize your body when I'm through."

Fastforward through his anger and then his horror as Seven shifts into a monster of fur and fang. Fastforward through his screams that echo down the tunnel as Sev' rips him to pieces with curved claws, cruel mouth. Fastforward to now, the present, just after Seven's changed back and put her clothes on. Is still covered in blood and sucking flesh from between her teeth. Is working on stabilizing her breathing as the euphoria of the kill roars through her.

[Eric Binham]

The small wad of cash was stuffed back into a pocket and the light whistle barely fizzled from his lips, yeah so he couldn't whistle, but he was in a terrific mood. He just made around $200 in tips tonight at work, for only being a tender that was sweet cash. Tonight violet eyes, fake or course, but still violet flicked up and down the street. He really hated walking alone along these streets but his car was broken and his friend had to leave early so it left him with no ride.

Hands were shoved into pockets of jeans that branded the names of bands all over them. He loved his jeans, these were his favorite. A bit loose but not sagging like some guys he saw. He really couldn't stand to look at some guys bum hanging out of a pair of pants that were obviously 3 sizes to big. The jacket was thrown over a plain black t-shirt. It was a work thing. He had to look at least half way decent for it. The boss still didn't like it but hey, who cared, he raked in the moola when he was on shift.

With a little flip of his head he had hair that was long on both sides dropping back out of his way and it was at the percise moment he happened to walk by the end of the street and seen, well thought he seen, a woman standing down there by herself. His steps moved forward a few more before his concious got the better of him and he back tracked, literally he walked backwards and stopped. Looking. Yep, she was just standing there, and from here looking like shit. But she looked to well dressed to be homeless. He took the chance, some day it was going to get him killed, but what the hell. " Hey, lady. Do you need some help?" He had turned into the alley way and was very slowly moving closer to her. His eyes took in the whole scene of her, was that blood smeared on her face? " Jesus lady are you alright? Do you need to go to a hospital or anything?" With a quick look around to make sure there was no one else there he caught a good look at what looked like blood on the ground too. Thats when he stepped back. Whoa, he just might have gotten himself right into that wrong spot he had always warned himself about. Shit, shit, shit.

Hands raised from his pockets and he started to slowly back away, "Well maybe not huh. Sorry didn't mean to bother you none. I'll, umm, I'll just be going now. You have a good night ok. Yeah." He didn't turn around and run he just slowly kept backing away.

[|Seven|]

Bliss is tampered by care as Eric steps into her line of vision. Cat eyes snapping to focus before blinking back into human form. A forced groan rolling into the air as she pulls herself together and forces a look of shock upon her pretty features. He won't notice. He shouldn't, she hopes.

"Oh god," she moans, allowing pale hands to drift up and cradle her cheeks. Her voice a quiver of sound, a wire pulled taut, thrummed by thick fingers. "Oh god, oh please. Don't leave me. What happened?" Deep gaze flickering down her own body to note the pool of blood around her feet, the drops on her boots, the smear of a handprint up her shirt. Something's died here but there's nothing to show for it. However... several feet away half a torso has been crushed into a drainage pipe.

"Where is he?!" she gasps, jerking as she turns in a full circle to look for an assailant. "Where is he! Oh god, he's going to come back! He's going to come for me! Joelette! Where's Joelette? Joelette! Where is my Joelette?!" she proceeds to shriek, letting her chest heave as brows scrunch together in surprisingly convincing worry.

[Eric Binham]

Eric stopped in his tracks as soon as the woman started to make sounds, words flowing from her lips. He dropped his hands and was moving forward again just as she started shreiking for Jolette. He didn't see anyone else around here even though he let his eyes take a quick look. All he saw was her and the blood. " Miss? Miss...sshhhhh. I need to know if your hurt. Are you ok. What happened here, do you know? "

Eric had reached her side once more, though he was a bit remorse to get the blood on his clothing he moved closer to her, making soft hushing sounds as he placedhis hands very lighlty on her shoulders, turning her back toward the open end of the alleyway, " Come on, we have to go. You can't stay here, we need to get you to a doctor or somewhere safe."

He would lead her out of the place if she would allow him to. He knew she needed some professional help and maybe there was a taxi driving by soon that could take them there. In the mean time he would stick around, right by her side and if this assassin that she spoke of came back, well Eric would just do what he could to protect the lady. Boy how did he get himself in these messes all the time he wondered and let his eyes grab at the woman again. She looked horrible but he didn't see any wounds on her no matter how many times he looked. He wondered where all the blood came from and until she could tell him, he would never know.

[|Seven|]

"Please!" Seven cries, clutching his arms with her hands until she's squeezing almost painfully tight. "My sister, I can't leave my sister! Oh god, where is she? Joelette! Joelette! Where's my sister!?"

By the time he manages to drag her out of the subway Seven's tired herself out with screaming and crying, all in all a very nice show. A cab pulls over and they slip in and direct the driver to the nearest hospital. On the ride there Seven scoots over and leans her tired head on his shoulder, mindless of the now drying blood on her blouse and pants. Some time during now and seeing the Doctor she'll manage to give herself a nice, but aside from pain, ultimately harmless, wound to help move the little story along.

The body will be the hard part. Why would they find it stuffed into a pipe like that? Oh yes, the man is a registered sex offender. An angry personality from the past might have been stalking him, seeking justice. She lets green eyes peer up at him through black lashes before closing them instead. Who knew she'd get to hunt and make friends all in one night?

[Eric Binham]

It took him a little while to finally talk her out of the place. The whole time she cried and hollered for her sister. He took a look around and never caught sight of another girl there anywhere. His lips had found purchase in a frown as he wondered what had happened to the girl. Had this mysterous assassin taken the girl and if so why? Or had he killed her and drug her off? What was going on in this story, something didn't seem right with it. But who knows, stranger things have happened in the alleys of this town. His lips frowned even more as he thought that maybe it was a dog..well not exactly a dog but thats what he called them. Or it could be a bloodsucker. That sounded more like it, making a big mess like that and then taking the body away. Yeah it had to be one of them.

As her body slipped against him and leaned he glanced down. His arm curled around her shoulder and he pulled her a little closer. Habit for him as a comfort gesture. Long fingers curled over her shoulder gently and he looked down and gave a tiny smile as the taxi raced to the nearest hospital. He watched as her eyes closed and took stock of her facial features. Pretty he thought, even if covered in blood and he frowned again, thoughts returning to what might have happened in the subway.

Once they reached the hospital he threw some money at the driver and helped the girl from the car and into the emergency room. A nurse took one look and came running over, asking a bunch of questions instantly and taking her and leading her away. He moved with them until they came to an exame room and he stood outside as the nurse told him he couldn't come in. He huffed a little bit and leaned on the wall outside of it. He wasn't going anywhere until he knew she was alright.

[|Seven|]

Seven's seen by the Doctor who's puzzled by the strange flesh wound on her ribs and the way she keeps rambling about a 'night creature'. She tells them she doesn't remember parts of the night. That her sister was with her and the next thing she knew she woke up, so to say, in the abandoned subways. That the young man that was in the waiting room had found her, 'come to her rescue', to use her words.

They want to keep her over night and suggest that she file a report with the police. She refuses to stay and to file a police report promising that she'll do it the next morning. She's so exhausted, visibly and mentally, that though it may be strange, it seems understandable. It helps that they think she's in shock and half out of her mind.

Some while later she returns to meet the stranger that saved her. An ugly idea brewing in that pretty little head of hers. Green eyes flicker up to meet his before she glances past him towards the doors. She should get out of here, lay low for a while until the body's found and the sensation wears off. "Thanks for...finding me." she says as she pulls her hands into the sleeves of her shirt and crosses her arms against her chest. She actually is tired now, real tired, not acting tired. "Let me buy you breakfast? Suddenly I'm starving... and I don't really want to go home just yet. No one's there. I don't want to be alone." The damsel in distress card. Society's popular misconception that women are weak and need taking care of just may work to her advantage tonight.

[Eric Binham]

The woman returned from the room, not looking any worse so he figured they must have patched her up and maybe whatever wound she had was not that serious to begin with if they were letting her go home. He couldn't help himself to stare at her, now that he got to look at her in the light and without all the frantic pace. She was a pretty lady. Those hazel eyes glanced up at him and he smiled right back. He understood her look as she glanced at the doors, could almost read the want of getting out of here. He understood it, he didn't exactly like hospitals either. Shoving away from the wall he took a couple steps toward her, his need to make sure she was well still flaring in his system and he cocked his head to the side as she spoke of getting something to eat and not being alone.

He made a motion with is right arm, a slight sweeping of a gentleman to let her go ahead of him, " That sounds wonderful. I think I just might be a little hungry myself. " He would fall in line as she moved by him, keeping close to her but not to close, not wanting to seem as if he was hovering or trying to touch her in any way that was unproper. But he did say quietly as they made their way out the doors, " Just let me know when you feel like going home. I'll walk you to your door if you would like."

He didn't like the idea of her being alone because of what had happened and he knew that something like that could come back to haunt the woman and she would probably wake up in the grips of a nightmare sometime later. Heck he just worried to much and oddly cared to much. But it was the way he is. He glanced around, pausing on the sidewalk outside of the hospital with her, wondering if she wanted to take a cab somewhere or if she just wanted to walk to the nearest place so he asked, " Do you have a certain place in mind to eat at?"

[|Seven|]

Seven and Eric take a cab to a Paulie's. Its the first place she came to when entering Aldenville. Mostly because she couldn't keep her eyes open. Its also where she met Miakoda. Why not go back? They slide into a booth and she orders a glass of tea and some toast, neither of which she really touches. This lying and pretending to be good when she's not is really quite taxing... it doesn't help that he seems so nice.

"Thanks for staying with me." she says as she stirs her tea around with her spoon, glancing across the table at him. Her lips tug into an attempted smile as she sets the spoon aside. "Do you rescue damsels in distress often?" Damsel in distress. How ironic is that? If he could have seen that lithe feline body cramming that asshole's own tortured flesh into that drainage pipe he wouldn't be sitting across the table with her now. She idly wonders if the news will get wind of this and have a hayday. That's exactly the last thing she needs. Reporters at her door.

[Isaac Hazard]

Case#4144...'The Big Cat'

Some kid was always missing. His picture was plastered on the news one morning and gone the next. That's how it was in Aldenville, people went missing, and in a day or so, people had moved on. Of course that's not what Hazard was paid to do. He was paid to find the ones that fell threw the cracks, and this case was supposed to pay handsomely. He'd been told others had been on the case already, the police had written the kid off as a runaway, one of thousands that happened every year.

The family was strange, and Hazard had gotten a weird vibe from the father, something he couldn't put his finger on, yet he pushed on, realizing that no one in the small burg was normal. He'd gotten a call late, the first investigator hadn't checked in, and they'd given him half up front.

'Never pay half up front' he advised them, and picked up the trail himself.

This part of the subway was worse in almost every way, the smell, the rats, the occasional spot of human waste. A real paradise if you were a parasitic worm, otherwise not so nice. He'd heard a bum say that he'd seen a woman and a tall man enter near the service entrance, then there was a big fuss, like an animal had attacked, thats when he hightailed it. Course the man was a drunk, but Hazard didn't get a sense he was lying.

So here he was tranquilizer gun prone and flashlight forward, as he explored the long abandoned line. He decided to bring the real heat, just in case the 'animal' that was spoken of decided to come back. He stopped in his tracks when his ears picked up a dripping sound. There were a lot of dripping sounds in an underground utility network...but there wasn't any running water lines here...then his eyes picked up the red glare of gore dripping from a nearby drainage pipe.

He opened it with trepidation, and out spilled what could only be described as a carcass that something had ripped through, the flies and maggots alone made Isaac wretch, but he kept his stomach. It wasn't the boy, at least it was to big too be him. The thing had been slashed and gashed by something with large claws...like a cat but not a normal house variety. He snapped a few digital pictures with his cellphone carefully not stepping in the copious amounts of blood. He soon discovered something else wasn't so careful, and began following the bloody tracks that lead away from the scene.

The tracks slowly changed from those of a large cat, into the bare feet of a woman, about 120 lbs, and from the distribution of the tracks, between 5'3" and 5'8". He gulped when he realized that he was dealing with more then just a missing kid. This thing had stopped the other...whatever it was, and ground it into pulp...who knew what she was capable of.

Suddenly the blood trail let up, and Hazard could tell that the creature...woman... whatever it was had had help. The pool of blood was disturbed, and the tracks led off towards the street level. Once there, Hazard found a the trail stopped short of the street...

"Ok...either you can fly, or there was a car waiting for you..." He said aloud to himself. Just then a taxi happened by, stopping in almost the exact spot the blood trail did. He holstered the tranquilizer in its' holster under his coat.

"You need a ride mac?", The cab driver asked attentively.

"No...but whats the closest hospital?" He asked quickly.

"Uh...Saint Vincent's...why you expecting to get hurt?" the cab driver asked with a smirk.

Hazard smiled back and waved the cab on.

------
He hated hospitals...

The round nurse behind the counter was helpful at least. The trail itself was hot.
"No record of the boy, but we did have a woman come in late last night."

"That must be her...what room?"

"Oh...she checked out a few minutes ago."

"Can I ask-"

"You can't see the file, patient confidentiality."

"Of course. Do you mind seeing if Doctor...Gibson is in?" He asked quickly.

The woman nodded and turned away for a moment, giving Hazard time enough to take a glimpse of the screen, get a general description and move off towards the elevator. The lobby was empty, and Hazard almost walked out of the elevator when he spotted the woman getting into a car with a young man. He paused a moment, until the cab began to pull away. Without waisting time he scrambled to the rustic Red 76' Torino and pulled away after the cab, discreetly.

He followed, and kept his distance, making sure not to alarm either the cab driver or his passengers. As the cab stopped next to 'Paulie's, Hazard passed by going around the corner and reversing in time to see them enter the establishment. Grabbing his coat, he parked and entered the establishment. The place was a normal eatery, if by normal you meant creepy to the extreme. There were people of all sorts here, and all of them were suspicious, his mind wandered to the 'Cantina' in Star Wars, except these were all regular humans...right.

He found a single table, ordered a glass of water, and sipped it slowly as he pretended to play with his cellphone. He zoomed in on the two in the booth, and turned on the amplified microphone feature he'd installed for just such surveillance situations. The woman was cute, but with what he'd seen of Eleanor, he realized that monsters could have a pleasing shape as easily as putting on makeup.

'Alright, lets see what your game is...' he said in his mind patiently.