An Unexpected Turn Of Events

Who: Manhattan and Derek
Where: US-41E, then The Landmark Inn
When: 10:15pm

Ok. That was one call down, one more left to go. Manhattan would have rather just dropped her little package off at the Inn for the man, but the blonde knew that would in no way sit well with one Derek Price. Which was why Manhattan was now scrounging around for the disposable mobile the man had given her. It was better to keep on decent terms with the man, cause doing work for him paid quite handsomely, then risking ending up on his bad side. Not that Manhattan was anywhere near afraid of the man. It was all in the money.

With it finally located by touch of fingers, the hunter's eyes having been kept focused, for the most part, on the road before her, Manhattan held the thing to her ear after getting a connection to go through.

Derek was actually at the hotel, he hadn't planned on it, but some business had come up and, well you don't always get your way- well not -every- time. When his phone rang Derek moved to answer it, but realized that it was his -other- phone that was ringing, that meant it could only be one person. "Price."

"You know the sound of your voice just sends shivers right through me." Manhattan said with a bit of sarcasm when Derek answered the phone.

"Manhattan..." Derek had actually forgotten she was going to call, he'd been so busy fielding calls and reviewing proposals that had been emailed to him (since there were no UPS shipments coming into town yet). "I'm glad to hear your voice too." He said, sitting back away from his computer so he could concentrate on the call. "I take it you're almost in town."

"About fifteen minutes out." She answered back. "You still at the Inn?" Given what she knew was happening in town, and that she had placed the call to his cell and not the Inn, Manhattan thought, was hoping?, the man might have taken safer accommodations seeing as what she was gaining from their conversation he still appeared to be in Marquette, and not one of the outlining towns.

"Unfortunately yes, it's been quiet here. I think there's one other guest other than me here and only one employee." He replied, not sounding too worried.

"You do realize you are a sitting target?" Quiet there or not, the Inn was a public place and even if the vamps had raided the place once while Derek happened to be out of the building, if they got wind of the structure having even the tiniest bit of occupancy, they wouldn't give a second thought to tearing the place apart until every single human in that building was either tortured and killed or turned into one of their kind.

"Exactly why the last of us haven't left." Derek replied. He'd talked with the other guest and the employee (who was actually 'camped out' in one of the rooms) and they all agreed that staying inside at night and not letting any of the 'gang kids' know they're there was probably the best idea. "And there hasn't been a vampire in or around the Inn all weekend, they probably noticed the place clear out after the first night. Besides, I'm right near an emergency exit." Well the stairs that led to the exit that led straight outside.

"That won't keep them from coming around checking the building again. I'm about ten minutes out. You stay locked in your room and I'll call back when I reach the Inn." Manhattan didn't give the man the option or chance to respond. She simply disconnected the call, the cell tossed to the dashboard as she hit the gas to get to her destination in record time.

Derek was about to tell her that he was already locked in his room but she'd already gone so he set the phone back on the table and saved the file he'd been working on before clearing everything off and neatly put away so he'd have a flat surface to see what she was bringing him.

With a screeching of tires, Manhattan tore into the parking lot of the Landmark Inn barely ten minutes after she ended her conversation with Derek. Before killing the engine the hunter made that second call to Derek. "I'm on my way up." She said shortly, not giving the man the chance to acknowledge her, after she heard someone pick up from the other end. The disconnection of the call came right after that.

Grabbing the small cooler from the floor that held the man's prize, and the crossbow from behind the seat, Manhattan got out of the vehicle, followed by Pride, and after slamming the door shut with her hip she made a sprint toward the entrance of the building.

Derek looked at his phone after she hung up on him again and rolled his eyes. She really was worried wasn't she? He didn't know if he should be flattered or what- eh, she probably just didn't want a source of paycheck to die.

As the blonde disappeared into the Inn two figures emerged from one of the shops across the way. They had been busy with a couple who foolishly allowed themselves to be caught out of doors past the setting of the sun. A couple the pair of vamps had taken delicious pleasure in slowly torturing through the hours after their capture. The screams from the pair had slowly faded to painful whisperings when the sound of the truck screeching into the lot across the street caught the Acherus' attention. Leaving the man and woman, the two being in no condition to do anything more then lay on the floor of the abandon shop, the vamps wandered out into the streets to catch Manhattan just as she entered the Inn. With vicious grins the two male vampires glanced at each other. Another plaything for them to enjoy. The pair headed across the deserted street to the Inn, slipping inside just moments after Manhattan.

The the place was dark Manhattan found that the elevators were still in working order. It'd be the quickest and easiest way to get to Derek's room. Manhattan was still battered and a bit bruise from collecting the man's 'trophy' and though his leg was healing sufficiently well, Pride still limped, favoring his front right leg, when he moved. It wasn't as profound as when he first suffered the injury at the hands of the demon, but the dog's limping was still noticeable.

Mere moments later the hunter was at Derek's door giving it a good sound knock.

Derek rose from his seat and moved to the door, peeping through the peephole before opening it. "Come in." He said opening it farther for her and glancing down the hallway after she did to make sure she wasn't followed. "I told you, this place is a ghost town at night. And I'd rather stay in a ghost town then in one of the shelters packed with people."

"A private residence'd still be a safer place to have settled in for the night." Manhattan giving the comment as she sauntered on into the room followed by her four legged, furry companion. The small cooler type carrier she had entered with was set down on the first available piece of flat surface.

"I think I'm going to have to look into getting one of those here." Derek said closing the door behind her and following her to the table.

"If you survive." Manhattan grumbled inaudibly beneath her breath. With Acherus in town his delay in finding more suitable accommodations, a private residence, which came with an invisible barrier that kept blood suckers out, unless someone foolishly invited one in, could prove a fatality to the man.

"Care to have a look at the little package I brought back." The blonde said as she took a step away from the table and wandered over to one of the chairs to settle down, one leg crossing the other as she watched Derek, the crossbow laid gently across her lap. She'd known he'd want to personally check the contents of the cooler to make sure the hand of the Rakshasa, which was plastic bagged and on a bed of ice, was in pristine condition.

Derek walked over and opened the cooler, slowly peeking in as if to savor the experience. Once he cast his eyes on it he smiled. It was fantastic. Of course he'd have to have it prepared... once the mail started again. "You do good work Manhattan." He said as he closed it back up and moved it to the closet. He came back with an envelope and handed it to you. "You earned every penny."

"Always aim to please." She said quite smugly as she reached for the envelope extended out to her. Not bothering to count the contents, the blonde simply slipped the envelope into the pocket of her leather jacket. Derek, in all the time she had done work for her, had never attempted to short change her on payment for her services. So there really was no reason to count the money in front of him. It'd be kind of insulting to the man.

"Last time we talked you mentioned you might have something else for me." Best to get that bit out of the way before she left. If he had more work for her Manhattan wanted to know now. Hopefully It'd be a job that wouldn't require her to leave town anywhere within the next 24 hours. It had been quite the long drive back, in her hurry she hadn't stopped all that frequently. Getting rest hadn't exactly been at the forefront of her mind during that time. But it was starting to slowly creep in that direction now.

Derek nodded. "Yes." He moved back to the desk and sifted around for the right notebook. "The first night the vampires attacked I ran into somebody, something... I'm not sure." He flipped through a few until he found the right page. "This... kid... The bar I was at closed early and I was headed home, that's when I hit one of the damn things. I think it was a trap though because when I went to see who I'd hit I was attacked." He explained as he walked toward her. "Which reminds me, if I decide to stay here I might need to pick up a few tricks from you... just in case. Anyhow this kid helped me get free of the vampire and I helped him flee the scene. When I dropped him off though he ran away and then... I don't think I can really explain it, one minute the kid ran into the back yard of a house and the next thing I knew a bird-thing flew away."

"And you want me to find this "boy" for you?" Manhattan glanced to Derek as he walked in her direction. She had an inkling of what she'd be going after, if that was what Derek was indirectly hinting at. It'd be doubtful though that she'd be able to get to it right off with a band of vicious vamps marauding around the town. And Manhattan would need more to go on then what Derek had just relayed to her.

"Exactly. He scratched up the door of my rental car pretty bad... normal nails could never do that." Derek passed her the notepad that was open to the page he'd sketched the face based on what he could remember. Derek wasn't perfect or anything, couldn't be a professional sketch artist or anything but he wasn't lousy either... besides he'd been practicing.

"And where did this little run in happen?" She asked as she took the offered notebook and looked at the sketch of the boy that filled the page. Wasn't an exceptional job, but Derek had captured enough details of what the boy looked like that at least Manhattan had something to go on.

"On some street, I was admittedly lost at the time, but I know where he told me to drop him off. I don't know if the place was significant or just some random house though." He said giving her the address.

"I'll start doing a bit of checking around tomorrow." Getting the address where the boy had been let off, Manhattan tore the sketch Derek had made of the boy from the notebook and tucked it into a pocket, before offering it back to him. Once relieved of it Manhattan stood up, the crossbow held in one hand at her side. "I'll be in touch." With Pride following at her heels Manhattan started the walk toward the door of Derek's room.

"Look forward to it." He replied with a grin. "Take care out there."

Manhattan barely got halfway there when a low growl had her stopping in her tracks. She didn't need to glance back at Pride to know the dog had gone into defense mood with teeth bared, and the hairs on his back bristling.

"Price. You got any sharp little toys to play with." The question put out there as Manhattan started edging her way backward from the door. The crossbow pulled up from her side to be aimed at the door.

"Uh, a hunting knife, but I don't think that's really what you meant." He said watching the dog.

"Don't think that's gonna be much help to you against the company we appear to have at the door. Unless you know how to use it expertly" Manhattan took a couple more steps backward into the room before the door flew open. The pressure of it being kicked in splintered the lock and door frame. Manhattan had her weapon ready and fired a bolt at the first vamp of the pair breaking into the room as it lunged at her. It missed its mark slightly, catching the vamp just below the shoulder instead of directly piercing the things heart, which what had been what she had been going for. The only thing she ended up accomplishing was pissing the damn thing off further.

"And I doubt my gun would help." He muttered before the door broke open. The splintering wood made him cover his face and cower over instinctively. "Fuck!"

"Against this little bunch. Hardly." Probably wouldn't be doing any good due to the fact that Manhattan didn't think Derek ever handled one, but the extracted a wooden stack from a side pocket and tossed it backward in Derek's direction in one quick, flowing movement. The next she had the crossbow reloaded to fire at the first vamp as the thing charged at her. This time the bolt found its mark, straight and true, piercing the creature through it evilly, demented heart.

Manhattan wasn't as lucky with the second. The creature moved with astounding quickness. The crossbow grabbed before Manhattan could reload a second time, the weapon dislodged from her hands and cast out into the hallway, just beyond the perimeter of the doorway. The female bloodsucker caught Manhattan tightly by the throat and then flung the hunter, almost as if she were just a mere ragdoll, back across to the far end of the room.

Derek wasn't a fighter, but his greatest strength was his will to survive. When Manhattan was flung across the room his first instinct was to get her and him the hell out of there. Well him first, then her... as an afterthought. Actually he'd probably grab the trophy Manhattan brought before her. Only problem was, the exit was kinda blocked off. He gripped a hold of the wooden stake and braced himself for the attack that was heading his way as the vamp moved toward him now that the other human in the room was down for the moment. crapcrapcrapcrap She lunged at Derek and he swung the stake with all his might- and missed.

The next thing he knew he was against the wall as well, actually against the desk that was against the wall... and now his head really hurt. As the vamp took a moment to eye the two probably concussed victims, as if to choose which to deal with first, Derek realized where he had landed and quickly reached up to the chair at the desk and pulled something shiny and metallic out of the jacket that was hanging there. The vamp seemed to have chosen to head for Manhattan, because clearly the other had no skills and wouldn't be a problem.

Pride didn't give the vamp much opportunity to close the distant between itself and Manhattan. With a loud, low growl the dog made a charge at the creature of the night, well the animal moved as well and as quickly as his injured leg would allow. Pride flung himself airbourne to bury its teeth into the arm of the bloodsucker, and he held on for a good few long seconds before being flung off and away to hit the far wall. The vamp then turned its sights back to the blonde hunter.

With the vampire's back to Derek it didn't have a chance to see what was coming, all it could hear was the loud bang and a split second later the bullet connected with the back of it's head and exited through it's upper nasal cavity.

The sound of a weapon being discharged brought Manhattan back from unconsciousness. Her sight, though a bit blurred, shot to the direction instinct was telling her the shot rang out from. And it was through the clearing haze that the hunter saw the vampire drop to the floor. Her eyes then ticked to where Derek was, gun still in hand, in disbelief.

Derek lowered his arm after a moment and reached up with his other hand to feel the back of his head for the area that felt like it was bleeding. When he pulled his hand back he saw no blood, which was a good thing but damn did it hurt. Slowly Derek pushed himself to his feet, depositing the weapon on the seat of the chair and taking a look around at the damage.

Manhattan made the unsteady rise to her feet, the sound of faint whimpering to her right had her attention swinging away from Derek to Pride who lay unmoving on his side at the base of the wall to which he had been tossed into. Once she reached the dog and made sure he still had breath within him, Manhattan bent down she gather the animal in her arms. The pain at the back of her head for the moment was pushed aside, getting Pride out of the place was a more important factor then her own well being at the moment.

"We leave now." She informed Derek as she moved toward the door. Whether Derek followed or not was really something she wasn't overly concerned about. If he wanted to remain behind and take the chance on receiving another visit from a band of vamps, well that was his prerogative.

That seems like a good idea." He said as he moved to the closet to grab his computer bag and bring it back to the desk. Clothes he could replace, confidential important work documents? No. He made quick work of putting the laptop and notepads into the bag and returned to the closet for the cooler before gathering everything, including his jacket and gun, up and following Manhattan out of the room.