who: Andy Cruz
when: After a long shift at the Radcliffe
where: Various
summary: Andy gets side-tracked on her way home from work...
By the time Andy was making her way out of the hotel’s back exit, she had been within the walls of that building for nearing thirty-six hours straight. Between having to address the issue with ensuring Miles was off the premises, to having to review every single piece of security footage in the hotel from the moment the man checked in, to the moment she walked him out, to then making an assessment on what needed to change on the security front, to then meeting with Leo personally and getting the stamp of approval. Though really, what had felt like the longest task, was actually personally briefing each and every member of her team. This was, of course, stretched out due to the fact they all worked in shifts.
She’d be lying if said claimed she hadn’t also been dying to be the one to address the employee that had allowed the breach of the top floor personally as well, but Leo reminded her that fell under the manager’s purview...and well, honestly the last thing she felt would make her less -how had Leo put it? oh- bitey, would be an awkward situation with the other woman.
She was almost at her car when she felt a familiar sting in her neck, and things went dark.
When she came back to, it was with the familiar haze that came after being tranqed by hunter’s dart. Made every single hangover she never got have seem like they might be a welcome reprieve. Lucky for her, Caspian’s ‘modifications’ -as the nut himself called them- made it to where the after-effects of the usual stuff only lasted about a minute or so.
Andy heard his heartbeat before his voice made her long for the oblivion of the tranquilizer again.
“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?”
She knew it was a rhetorical question, but he was also right and she couldn’t leave well enough alone so, “What can I say, second child, restless child and all that jazz. Not to mention the whole ‘doing my fucking job’ bit.”
The look on his face was enough to let her know that her new friend MD, here, was not only not expecting an answer, he probably wasn’t expecting one that was coherent enough to have snark. To his credit, he was able to play it off fast enough.
“Right. Head of Security. What does the list of responsibilities for that entail exactly? Is ‘Fucking the Hotel Manager in her Office’ on there somewhere?” he asked, a smug grin on his face. He clearly thought he had something on her. Andy was almost certain that ninety percent of his confidence came from the fact that she was currently bound to a steel chair, her hands behind her back, and each leg bound to one of the chair’s.
Her mouth was still very much free though.
“It might be, considering my boss technically created the position for me and I get to pick the duties. But if it’s my professionalism you’re concerned with, I can assure you the only person who got fucked that afternoon was you.”
For all the abilities she gained from her transformation and her captor’s procedures, invulnerability to pain was not one of them. So when the bat met her jaw, it may have bent in half, but fuck did she still feel it.
Andy was smart enough not to react though, and watched with satisfaction as the man tossed the ruined bat aside like some petulant child. He ran a hand through his hair, before returning his attention to her.
“Let’s just cut to the chase, shall we. You kept me from finally getting my hands on the one thing I’ve been after for years. It got away from me once before, and when I finally tracked a fucking snow leopard shifter down again, and it also turns out to be the same girl that got away before...YOU HAD TO FUCKING GET ME BANNED FROM THE BUILDING!”
She watched him take a deep breath and regain his composure. “No matter. Something tells me a former Cruz witch turned vampire is a much rarer item to add to my collection.”
Almost as if to say ‘you done?’. Andy proceeded to very easily snap the chain restraining her right leg, and brought up and over to cross over her left. The look of surprise on his face would almost be comical if she weren’t already so very fucking pissed.
“You still don’t get it, do you? I am only here right now because I want to be here. No sooner did your lemon of a car drive off my lot than I had Avraham security do the most thorough background check on you that they had to send me an external hard drive via courier to ensure it was all the information. I know all about your hunter daddy, your abandonment issues when he obviously didn’t want a shifter kid, how you always wanted to prove you could still be just like him. I guess bastards really do come in all shapes and tiny sizes. Because that’s what MD really stands for isn’t it? Mini-dong. I mean, what else would a rat shifter have?”
When he turned around and walked off in a huff, she definitely knew he would be coming back with something worse than a bat, but that did little to prepare her for the crossbow he came back with, much less the sudden sensation of having it fired directly into the middle of her chest at close-range.
Her head immediately dropped to her chest, and Miles seemed to take that as a sign he’d won the fight, because he went on to share his next move like the complete and utter moron that he was.
“One down. Now off to wait until my little cat makes her way back to the hotel so I can intercept her. Hopefully I can charm my way into getting to mount her twiughghg”
The sentence died along with him as Andy broke free of all restraints in the blink of an eye and ripped his entire throat off with her bare teeth. She was sure if weren’t for the flesh of the back of his neck, it may be considered decapitation...
Kicking her way through the doors of the Bridgeport, she didn’t even bother to hide her current state. Andy knew that by this time of night, Quinn had closed the bar to possible mundane patrons, and honestly she just needed a drink...and to tell Quinn why she had to kill a shifter, head of the vampire clan and all.
Turning to the only other two people in the bar besides the vampires themselves, she said, “I can provide you with the location of his body, and a recording of his confession basically, if that’s needed.” The Sheriff, who seemed like she’d had a similar night to her own just nodded her head and said, “I’ll make sure to get a team out there, and if you can get me a copy of that hard drive you mentioned that’d be great.”
The woman on the other side of the Sheriff then spoke up. “So, is anyone going to address the arrow-shaped elephant in the room or...?”
At that Andy glanced down at her chest, just then remembering she still hadn’t taken the stupid thing out. “Shit. Dumbass probably thought it would kill me but, didn’t realize a metal arrow is not a wooden stake. Quinn, would you mind?” She turned and braced herself agains the bar as the older vampire pulled the arrow out in one swift motion. “FUUUUUCK me!” she exclaimed.
“I uh, I think I’ll go ahead and put your drinks on the house tonight,” Quinn chuckled, to which Andy could only flip her off. Her mind was already too busy trying to figure out how she was going to tell Thyra she killed her boyfriend...ex-boyfriend...friend who was a boy...shit.
DMB Live Trax Vol. 38: Saratoga Performing Arts Center
“As Dave mentions to the crowd during this 1996 performance at Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center, “This fine State of NY always welcomes us here the heaviest.” This show is an excellent example of the band’s spirited performances, which have kept the door open for repeat visits to Saratoga Springs throughout the band’s career. On June 8, 1996 DMB was supporting the release of its sophomore album, Crash, whose songs are well represented on this setlist with the appearances of “#41" and “Two Step” segued into “Crash Into Me” to name a few. “#36,” which was recorded during the Crash sessions, but did not make the album, shows well the band’s relaxed playfulness between Dave’s scat singing and Carter and LeRoi’s incendiary performances.”
