demoulins | RP for gunpowdr_n

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RP for gunpowdr_n_lead

"She had a gun aimed at me, dad. She knew. That's not a conclusion everyone off the street comes to." Nicolae followed Adrien through the darkened house to the kitchen.

The smell of cooking soup filled the kitchen, and Adrien lifted the lid on the pot. He stirred it quickly, then made a face and replaced the lid quickly. "Come taste this, Nicky. I think I may have added too much salt." Adrien stepped away to wash and dry his hands, then took the card from Nicolae as the boy moved to taste the soup. "Right now, Nicky, unless she does something stupid, my major concern is the other vampires that have moved in. They're obviously attracting attention, and I'm pretty sure I've made clear many times in the past that I don't tolerate them staying around for longer than a few days." He frowned at the card, then pulled out his cellphone and dialed the number.

"The soup's fine. So what if a couple vampires are hanging around? What if Tara goes after me or Marie? Huh? I don't think she's just some scared human. I think she's a hunter." He was shouting by the end of his rant, but was cut short as Adrien raised a hand to silence him.

As the phone stopped ringing, Adrien started talking. "Miss McCabe, my name is Adrien Molyneux. You talked to my son, Nicolae, a few days ago. If you'll be available after eight or so tonight, I'd like to discuss a few items I need." Adrien's voice was quiet, calm, with only a hint of a French accent.

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She was dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt; good enough for serving customers and for working on her more custom orders. If she noticed the red face, or thought the gloves and hat were odd wear for summer in the city, she kept her comments to herself.

"Mr. Molyneux." She put aside her invoices, greeting him with a nod. "That's understandable, your son mentioned you've been having some trouble around your job site. What can I help you with?"

"That depends on what you have." He glanced around briefly and frowned. "Forty caliber hollow points for certain. Two boxes should be plenty for now." He moved away from the counter to browse the shelves slowly. "I don't suppose you stock other weapons? I go hunting sometimes, and I'm running low on bolts for my crossbow. The Walmart special just won't work well in it, you know?"

While he was looking, he kept glancing back to her out of the corner of his eye. She was a lot more calm than Nicky had given her credit for. He said offhandedly, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to talk about what happened?"

She tapped a few keys on the computer, bringing up a new order screen. "Hollow points, I have. Crossbow bolts, I may have. If not, I can order them. What material and tips are you looking for, specifically?" A wry look as she waited for his answer. "And no, not if you actually plan to catch anything."

Tara lifted a brow at his question. "What happened...?" She had a pretty good idea, but she was going to wait for him to confirm it.

"What happened between you and that bunch of vampires that ended up with you pointing a gun at my son?" He sounded calm and didn't so much as look at her before launching into his order. "A fixed broadhead works decently. I usually get something like Blackout broadheads. Cheap, no nonsense, works pretty well. It's the bolts I have trouble finding. I prefer wooden bolts, and almost all of them on the market are carbon or aluminum."

"I'll see what I can do." She tapped a few more keys. "And I didn't point a gun at him," she corrected, "Might've had my hand on it, but it stayed in its holster the whole time."

Huh. Maybe the kid was a better liar than she thought. "Wouldn't even have known if his stomach hadn't started growling when I cut my finger opening a box. Kind of a dead giveaway." Pun intended. "Guess he didn't tell you the part where I said I'd pretend I didn't notice if he was serious about not causing trouble."

There was a pause as she checked over some inventory to see about wooden bolts. "Must be some interesting game you're hunting." There was a reason most bolts these days were carbon or aluminum, after all.

Adrien chuckled softly. "Nicky neglected to mention that part. Probably embarrassed because of the slip. Thank you for not doing anything rash. He isn't anything you need worry about."

Adrien finished his perusal of the shop and returned to the counter. "The game I hunt can be exhausting or downright annoying without the right equipment."

"I'm not in the practice of hunting kids. Even ones with fangs," she replied evenly. "But thanks for the assurance."

One less vampire to deal with? She'd take it. "That's probably true of most game, but it sounds like some I'm familiar with." She frowned at her screen, then nodded to herself. "I think I can get you some wooden bolts. How much hunting are you planning to do?"

Hunting kids. The prospect made Adrien wrinkle his nose involuntarily. He hated dealing with human hunters. They were, in ways, more difficult to deal with than the refuse he normally chased off. Those, at least, didn't have the guts, the brains, and the ability to track him down to his home during daylight hours. He scowled. He had a nagging feeling this woman was going to cause him trouble.

"Thirty ought to do it. I'd say less, but sometimes the younger ones don't take hints very well." He wrinkled his nose again. "How familiar are you with them?"

She entered the number into the order form. "Recently. They're not my usual game -- a reliable source told me their intel's good that I managed to end up on the wrong side of one of the older ones with a temper, somehow. They've been making pests of themselves ever since."

She had no plans to cause him trouble unless he started something. Otherwise? She had other people to focus her energy on.

"They tend to make pests of themselves even when they're not angry. How they're dealing with it is unacceptable. Eat your food or leave it alone, don't antagonize it into tracking you down. That just makes life difficult for the rest of us. And I would be highly upset if one of my children ended up in the crossfire."

"They've been doing the tracking down. I'm still trying to figure out how I ended up on their list." Up to this point, she'd only engaged them when they'd forced her to. Until she learned more, that wasn't likely to change. "I don't plan on doing any tracking until I have some answers."

"I guess that depends on what you normally do," Adrien replied mildly. "It's not often I meet someone who doesn't bat an eye at accusing a teenager of being a vampire. Perhaps they thought you were a threat. Or maybe they're just stupid. I've seen others try to pretend they're some kind of Dracula monster and fail badly at it."

"Demons. But after you deal with your first few vampires, you learn to recognize the signs." A shrug. "Stupid's probably not that far off, though."

Her attention drifted back to her monitor. "Anything else besides the bullets and the crossbow bolts?"

"Demons. I should have known." Adrien chuckled, and his gaze traveled down her throat to the pulse point there. He watched it quietly as he said, "If you have any further suggestions, I might be interested. I generally use a gun, a crossbow, and a sword, but I'm always open to new techniques."

"Let's just say there's history." If he wanted her believe she had nothing to worry about from him or his son, staring at her neck maybe wasn't the best way to get that point across. "No, I think those about cover it. I don't have much expertise with swords, but I might be able to recommend someone who does if you need it."

"Trust me, I think I'll be fine with it." He still kept watching her neck, but he backed away and adjusted his hat and suit jacket. As an afterthought, he reached into a pocket and handed her a card. "Here's my work phone number and my email. Let me know when my order comes in?"

Yeah, that whole neck thing? Really kind of creepy to her.

She glanced briefly at the card before slipping it into the rolodex on the counter next to the register. "Of course. We can arrange for pickup."

He turned his head enough to glance out the window, and seeing the sun had finally set, he pulled his hat off and tucked it under one arm. "Thank you, Miss McCabe. I'll be in touch, then." As the hunger grew, it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate. He backed away, then turned and headed for the door. "Good night."

She followed his gaze out the window, noting the sun was finally down, then watched as he headed for the door. "Uh, yeah. You, too."

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RP for gunpowdr_n_lead

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