Colin's posts

"......hoo boy." Vito muttered.

"Right." he said.

"You do that." he told her.

"Don't let me hold you up." he went on.

"I'm going to go see Adrian." he then said.

"Let her know staying here might be the safest option for her."

Vito was silent for a moment, and nodded.

"All right." he replied.

"Wait..." he then said.

"Make sure the book is not removed from Evan?" he asked.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked her.

"As in, taken from him at all? Like it always has to be touching him or something?"

"........." Vito was silent as he heard that.

"That is terrifying." he said.

"But what do we do?" he asked her.

"Should we tell Darrel and Samantha about this?" he asked.

"I'm sure they have questions and concerns, given the state that Evan was found in." he went on.

"Or do we wait until we have further evidence?"

"...well... damn it." Vito muttered.

He then paused for a moment, pondering all that had been said, and taking it in.

"Magic. Old world mana so old that everyone fears it." he mused. "And a term that I haven't really heard much of." he went on. "Except for Desiree and Jaden, but that's, like, the illusion of stage magic or whatever. It was all mana." he said.

"This... this would be forces that only fools or the ignorant would dare trifle with." he continued.

"...like Evan." he grumbled.

"Something tells me we're in for a bad time."

Vito was silent for a moment, before growling.

"Damn it." he cursed.

"He inherited his father's thirst for knowledge, but he doesn't have a shred of wisdom to go with it." he said. "Damned feline curiosity." he went on.

"But all right, let's assume he did go, which he probably did." he said further.

"Where do we go from here?" he asked.

"Should we get that book ASAP? Or is it potentially too dangerous to go and get it right now, sight unseen?" he asked her further.

"Something's happened to Evan." Vito replied.

He then proceeded to tell her about Evan's absence, Sammy's worry, how they found him in the apartment, what they had done to help him... and the book.

"Yeah, seems he's got a weird old book." he told her.

"Which... to be honest, seems like it'd be the culprit." he went on.

"Might not be. But still... there's a chance."

Vito watched her go, before he left, himself, and made his way to where Vicki would be. Her office.

He made his way there, to find that the door was locked, unsurprisingly, and barricaded with some mana. She wanted to be alone. But he had to speak with her.

"Vicki!" he called in.

"Vicki, it's me. I have information." he told her.

"I think we may have located a potential source for what you sensed."

Vito listened to what Adrian had to say, and his eyes had widened by the time she had finished all of what she said.

"....yes, that DOES sound like it's connected." he agreed.

"I'd be shocked if it wasn't." he admitted.

"I need to tell Vicki this right away." he went on.

"You sticking around?" he asked her.

"You can head to my private office area and get a drink from the minifridge or something." he offered.

"Indeed." Darrel responded.

"For all we know, time's a big factor here." he told her.

"Sorry to make you play messenger like this." he then apologized. "But, like I said, without Alice, you're the most direct line we have to Vicki." he said.

"Well... except for Lindsay." he then said further.

"But he's disappeared on some obscure knowledge hunt, and we don't know where he is." he added with a sigh.

"We... probably have some big troubles here." Darrel responded.

"See.... right. How do I put this...?" he wondered aloud.

"Apparently, according to Alice, Vicki says there's something big and ominous happening here." he told her.

"And Sammy and I found Evan in their get-away apartment passed out with a weird book in his lap." he said further.

"Alice is too busy with hospital work, taking care of Evan and all, so I thought you could tell Vito, as you're pretty close to him, and he could tell Vicki." he then informed her.

"It's somewhat convoluted, but currently, it's the most direct line I have to Vicki."

"I know, I know." Darrel said quietly.

He was unsure as to what more to say here, so he broke the embrace and stood up.

"I'm going to head outside. A bit more quiet out there." he told her, taking out his phone.

"Better for calling Adrian." he reasoned.

When she nodded, he stepped outside and found Adrian's contact info, before dialling her number.

Darrel was silent for a moment, and nodded.

"Actually, I'll go do that now." he told her.

"This seems to be a more pressing issue than my little snifflies." he reasoned.

He then leaned in and gave her a side-hug.

"Hey." he said.

"Alice is the best there is." he told her.

"Evan'll be fine."

Darrel looked at the book quizzically.

"...hm?" he mumbled.

"Odd." he said.

"I've never seen one like THAT before..." he commented.

"And sadly, I don't have a direct line to Vicki." he lamented.

"Alice is busy... the best we can do is probably Adrian, who can contact Vito, who works WITH Vicki."

Darrel just sighed.

"I... hm." he muttered.

"I just have a bit of a sniffer issue is all." he told her.

"Odd for a Dhampir, but nothing alarming." he reasoned.

He then shook his head, and sat down beside her.

"...there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"I doubt there is, but I thought I'd ask."