The Arundel Information Caper (RP)

"Okay, I might as well tell you straight away: this is a kind of 'treasure hunt,' similar to the ones you likely did as kids," Jacob says to Benji and Emma. "Well, I'm not certain if you ever played such games back then, Benji."

"Hali, this place is enormous; surely you have a hint for us on where to begin, don't you?"

"Oh, I love scavenger hunts!" The 'party' had been somewhat lackluster, and Eliot's disappearance cast a shadow on her evening. She welcomed a distraction, a chance to focus on something else. Still, she kept close to Benji as they navigated back to the entrance of the castle, her shoulder brushing against his every now and then. It wasn’t so much that she needed the comfort, but Benji was the one person she (kinda) knew here. She wasn't at completely at ease in the company of the others, and the last thing she wanted was to find herself alone in a group of strangers.

"Thank you" Emma looped her arm around Benji's elbow. She was grateful for the comfort of his presence, not only for the protection he offered but also because the added stability allowed her to pace quickly over her high stilettoes without worrying she might wobble.

Though it didn't rain outside, it was still pretty chilly. Her daring red dress which was perfect for the cozy ballroom was less suitable for a stroll outside. The thin fabric, as much as there was of it, didn't offer any protection from the bite of the evening wind. She pulled her shoulders a bit tighter, exhaling a cloud of warm vapor as she glanced around to check how the others were holding up, wondering just how human Jacob and Lady Halifax were. "So," she asked, trying not to sound too pushy "where to?"

"I'm sure you'd rather not set foot in the church, Hali," Jacob taunts Crowley."But it would definitely be a good place to hide a stash: I'm sure there's a crypt in there, and a lot of potential burglars would stay away out of respect or fear."

"In fact, in my expert opinion, the church or the keep are our best options," he concludes, leaving it up to the team to decide where to start.

Emma shot a quick glance at Hali. Her reluctance to 'set foot inside a church' rubbed her the wrong way. She didn't know why she was so apprehensive, only that it was one more reason to remain cautious around her.

"Looks like someone’s already inside" she murmured, not pulling away from Benji, content to remain close to him, and to let the Vampire take the lead on this one.

"Hmmm... It's a bit late for mass, isn't it?" Jacob tries to sneak closer to the entrance of the church, to see if the door is open and if he can peek in or hear anything.

Jacob inspects the door to ensure it's in good condition. Once confident that it won't creak, he gently grasps the doorknob and eases the door open just a crack—barely half an inch—to get a clearer view and, with luck, catch snippets of the conversation inside.

Jacob holds his breath as he slowly pulls the door open...

Emma struggled to see anything through the crack in the door, and standing so far behind only made it harder to make out what was happening inside. She did find the hesitation, and careful movements, rather curious. Why the need for secrecy? The whole situation felt off, and she couldn't help but wonder if Lady Halifax's 'treasure hunt' was a facade for something more nefarious.

Jacob tries to mask his surprise when the silent Servitor suddenly appears.

"You certainly can," he responds swiftly, concocting a plausible story within seconds. "My colleague and I have been instructed to give a private tour to Lady Halifax and her personal assistant. I assume you are here to provide us with all the keys. Please do so, and then you may leave. Thank you."

Emma stepped aside as the three men walked past her. She recognized two of them; the silent, non-talkative driver, and the man who crept up behind her when she arrived at the castle. Both men unsettled her with their vacant expressions, and she did her best to avoid looking into their dead eyes as they passed.

She did turn her head once to glance behind her to make sure they were truly gone rather than sulking in the shadows, before allowing herself a quiet sigh of relief and stepping into the church, still holding on to Benji's arm.

"Thank you. I'll let Mr. Parry know how efficient you were," Jacob adds, hoping that dropping Elliott's name will dispel any lingering doubts. Plus, there's the advantage that they can't directly verify their alibi with him.

"Come on, Cr... Hali. Stop pretending to be offended; the path is clear now," he says once the Servitors have left. Stepping onto sacred ground is far from pleasant, akin to a hundred needles pricking his skin incessantly, and Jacob must fight the impulse to flee the area.

"What do you mean 'they don't normally gather in groups like that'?" she was a bit more apprehensive about the three men after Benji's comment, and more thankful she wouldn't need to ride back home to London with one of them. She took the opportunity to unhook her arm from the vampire's elbow, brushing her hand over his shoulder in appreciation before turning to take a look at the small Chapel, and the figure of stone lying on the granite table.

"They are??" Emma tried to process the new information. The mention of the 'Servitors' sparked a whole new set of questions. The treasure hunt took a backseat for a moment: "Who made them? What purpose do they serve? And how many of them are there?"

While Benji seemed to have an unusual sympathy for them, Emma didn't share his sentiment. The 'Servitors', whatever they were, made her uncomfortable. They just felt wrong. They were a mockery of life itself, and she found them eerie, almost in a monstrous sort of way.

Following closely behind the vampire, she missed the details that he, with his sharpened vampiric senses, had picked up. She didn't immediately register that the floors in this area seemed cleaner than the rest of the chapel. But when the vampire crouched near one of the tables her curiosity piqued again "You think something’s hidden underneath the floor?"

Emma fought to stay calm as the vampire effortlessly lifted a stone slab that probably weighed a metric ton without breaking a sweat. Maybe she should have been more cautious around him than she had been; Shelyna Artmitage’s warning about ‘accidents’ was suddenly feeling all too real.

"Wizards" she murmured, still in a shocked haze.

For a moment, she considered turning back to the castle instead of following Benji and the mysterious woman into the dark crypts beneath the chapel. But there was no one waiting for her at Arundel. Eliot wasn't there to protect her, and she remembered how the vampires had eyed her like she was their next meal when she first entered the ballroom. With a resigned sigh, she slipped off her high heels and left them by the stairs before following the others barefoot into the shadows.

"Okay, ladies, mind your step," Jacob says, while he switches on the torchlight in his smartphone and follows Benji.

"Please allow me," Jacob says, looking around both chambers and the tunnel. "I have a good nose for finding things of value."

Emma is not sure, but she would have said that Jacob's eyes glowed red for a second. That must have been some weird reflection from the smartphone's torchlight, right?

Using his demonic powers, Jacob tries to sense the presence of any objects that are a repository of power due to their antiquity or magical nature.

Why were all those antique weapons and armour stored in the crypt underneath the chapel? Shouldn’t they belong in some museum, or on display at the castle’s armoury? She didn’t know much about the earthenware, but from a quick glance those too looked ancient, some of them likely dating from before the castle was ever built. She was tempted to open one of the vessels and take a closer look, to satisfy the curiosity, but managed to hold herself back. It wasn’t her place to disturb what had been left undisturbed for so long, and besides, it was better to wait and see what the others would make of all of it first.

He knew he should just keep going, but Jacob couldn't help but take a closer look at the armoury. This was his life, after all. That's why he had chosen to stay on Earth, because he had this never-ending curiosity for rare books and antiques like this.

One of the weapons stood out from the rest because it seemed out of place. There, among the medieval English swords and suits of armour, a curved dagger seemed to whisper in Jacob's ear.

He took a closer look. The blade had an intricate design depicting a scene of some kind of leopard attacking an antelope while a large bird flew away from the fight. These daggers were called jambiyas, and the craftsmanship of the blade was usually a sign of the importance of its wielder.

.

"What?" Jacob turns to Benji with an absent-minded expression. He seems to have forgotten there were more people with him. He then turns to stare at the dagger again, without answering Benji's question.

Emma was uneasy when Jacob reached for a sharp blade, of all things. Her discomfort turned into outright nervousness when he brandished the knife with an absent-minded expression. Taking a cautious step back, she quickly realized that hiding behind a super-strong vampire wasn’t any better, so she took a few steps more - back toward the stairs, just to be on the safe side.

Jacob seems to somehow recover from his trance, and finally takes the dagger.

"Yes, I'm alright, thank you. And indeed, this is a sort of treasure. I need to inspect it more closely, but it's likely related to the Night Sisters, and it might serve as a bargaining chip with them. I believe they're more knowledgeable about Lizabeth's discovery than they let on," the mix of lies and wild guesses appears as a natural justification for Jacob, who doesn't want to be judged as a vulgar thief if he takes the item.

Crap! they must have made more of a ruckus than she had anticipated, and now someone has arrived to investigate. There was no way to stop them from noticing the gaping hole leading down to the crypts once they opened the door to the chapel.

"Go and do your thing. I'll try to stall them" she whispered at Benji, and without waiting for his response, started up the stairs.

Emma silently thanked herself for having the foresight to remove her shoes before descending the stairs. If she had tried to rush back up in her stilettos, she was certain she would have twisted her ankle. As she reached the top of the stairs, the door to the chapel swung open, and she quickly moved toward the entrance, hoping to block the view of the gaping hole in the floor.

She didn’t need to fake her distress or breathlessness for the man standing at the door. This was the same man who had appeared behind her when she first arrived at the castle, offering a tour of the grounds. One of those soulless Servitors, whose mere presence made her skin crawl. He was the exact type of man (if she could even call him that) who was completely immune to her feminine charms. She wasn't going to manipulate him into giving her a free pass, like she did that traffic officer last week. This didn't bode well for her.

"The noise" She drew in a shaky breath "you heard that too??"

Emma muttered a silent curse as the Servitor brushed past her. She worried about what being caught would mean, the consequences of sneaking in weren't something she wanted to face. But Benji's casual demeanor put her somewhat at ease. He looked unbothered, even cheerful. Maybe they weren’t in for some horrible punishment after all.

"Let me grab my shoes" she offered a small smile and headed back to where she had left her shoes, and quickly slipped back into her stilettos "ready when you are, I guess"

Emma, naturally, preferred to lean on Benji rather than any of the soulless Servitors. She wanted nothing to do with them, and given the circumstances, allowing them any hold on her felt like a terrible idea. She trailed back toward the castle, wondering about where they were headed, and what awaited them.

"Feels like I’ve been sent to the principal’s office" Emma smiled playfully at Benji, trying to ease her own tension. It was a nice office, and the first thing Emma did after retrieving her purse was have a look around, starting with the rows of books in the glass-fronted shelves. What a person eads could tell her a little bit about their character. Of course, if they take TOO long to get into the room, she just might try to see if she can log into the computer sitting at the corner of the desk.

Emma sits on the comfy chair behind the desk and tries her luck on the computer, her focus flickering between the screen and Benji: "Well; they saw all four of us at the chapel when they left, so they know two of us are missing and supposedly still down there in the crypts" she motions her head at the purse "I'm a nobody, and they recognized me. They’ll have no trouble identifying the others either. It won't take them long to figure it out." she stopped as she gave it some more thought "I don't think they’ll have many questions for us, because even if they do, I can't imagine there's much I could tell them that would be of any use"

Jacob remembered he wanted to follow Benji and Emma. He remembered wanting to help. He did remember he was probably the only one able to talk their way out of this mess. But the dagger's voice was stronger. "Let them go," it whispered, "it's the only way you can take me without their notice"

So now he found himself alone, with the dagger securely stored in the inner pocket of his jacket, wondering what happened. And, all of a sudden, he just realized Crowley had not been there for a while...

There was no way Emma was going to be able to guess the password. But given how most people struggled to remember the increasingly complex password requirements these days, she suspected there was a good chance the Administrator had written it down somewhere. After a few moments of searching, she found it—scrawled on a notepad tucked away in the desk's drawer. Without thinking twice, she keyed it in.

The night was already a disaster. Eliot missing. Caught sneaking around the castle. She was already deep into this, so she might as well make it worth her while. Whatever lay behind that login screen could be her ticket to something valuable. Information, leverage, or perhaps something even more useful she could use to her advantage.

Jacob was more afraid of Crowley wandering without supervision than he was about Benji and Emma, so he decided to move down the tunnel to find him.

"Got it!" Emma smirked as she shamelessly pulled the thumb drive from her purse and plugged it into the computer. She wasted no time, first copying the personal files folder, then quickly taking screenshots of any passwords she could get her hands on, starting with the Administrator's email. As the files began to download, she turned her attention back at Benji

"I don’t think they plan to kill us" she said, with the emphasis on 'plan'. Things could still go pear-shaped if they didn't manage the conversation correctly "If they did, they wouldn’t have brought us here, to this nice office, of all places. I expect threats, some cajoling, to make us to do their bidding. Perhaps they’ll want us to track down whatever Jacob and Hali took from the cryptt, or find some other way to repay them for whatever mess we've caused."

With a satisfied smirk, Emma pulled the thumb drive from the port and slipped it back into her purse. She stood up from the chair, smoothing her dress, and moved to the bookcase across the room, her fingers brushing through her blonde hair. She wasn’t sure what kind of man the Administrator was, but she was hopeful he was more susceptible to a pretty face and a well-placed glimpse of cleavage than the soulless Servitors. She straightened her posture, trying to make herself as presentable as possible, and turned her attention to the door, awaiting for him to arrive.

"Yes, probably a good idea not to be caught here,"Jacob agreed."Is this the stash you were looking for, Crowley? We only have a few seconds until the Servitors find us, so there's no time to play games now..." he warned his colleague and rival.

"Always so helpful..." Jacob mutters, and starts looking for another exit. Unless they can find one very quickly, he'll have to talk his way out of the situation.

Emma gave the plucky Administrator a quick glance when he entered the room, trying to get his measure. He appeared to be congenial, and it was easy to dismiss him as being harmless. But she knew better by now to judge a man by his appearance. His demeanor could all be a deliberate way to lure people into a false sense of security.

The man sat behind the table, so Emma took her seat as well, crossing her long legs one over another, nodding at the man when he asked them to start speaking: "Please pardon my ignorance. I was supposed to meet with Mr. Parry, but he never showed up to the party tonight, and no one knows where he might be - " She namedropped Elliot's name on purpose, to make sure the man knew she was under his protection, whatever weight it still carried after his disappearance. More importantly, she wanted him to know she truly was out of her element, and had a genuine reason to fear for her safety. "- so could you please tell me who you are, and what are your responsibilities around here? Are the Servitors working for you? Did you make them?"

Emma noticed the Administrator’s eyes lingering on her legs, and the way he blushed when he awkwardly mentioned watching her earlier. While she found him a bit icky, she couldn’t deny the reason she’d chosen to wear the scandalous low-cut red dress tonight. It was for the attention. She relished it. But stooping so low as to use her sexuality to wriggle out of this mess?

No. She wasn't that desperate.

As for Lady Halifax, Emma had no qualms about throwing her under the proverbial bus after the manipulative bitch roped her into this shady caper of hers. The only thing holding her back was a sense of loyalty to Benji, and the nagging fear that if she spoke up, Lady Halifax, or whoever this ‘Jacob’ was, would come back to hurt her. She decided to keep he mouth shut. Let’s see how the Administrator reacted. Would he use his leverage to get the answers he wanted, or would he back down? For the time being, all she said was: "I’m sorry, Mr. Uskglass. I want to help you" she stressed the word ‘you,’ locking eyes with him "but I don’t know what the consequences might be for me."

"No. Maybe. I don't know" Emma sighed "I don't know who you are. I don't know if you can protect me, like Elliot promised to. I just want to go home. Can I go home?"

"That was a bit harsh, don’t you think?" The administrator’s accusations felt like a slap in the face, and she was tired of playing his games "Crimes? ‘Violating’ your most sacred spaces? I haven’t done any of that. I was invited into the chapel by the Servitors. I didn’t break into the crypts. I haven’t touched or taken anything. The only thing you can accuse me of, is staying close to those who had. And why is that?"

Her tone shifted, a flash of accusation in her voice "Had you sent someone to look after me the moment Mr. Parry failed to show up, none of this would have happened. I’d rather be sitting here facing your accusations than have someone else in my place, apologizing for some ‘oopsy’ that caused you the inconvenience of having to remove a body from your castle. If anything, you should be thanking me for getting myself out of a room full of ravenous vampires, sparing you a whole lot of a different sort of trouble"

Emma stopped for it to sink in, before allowing a sly smile to cross her lips "And if someone does try to pin this on me, I'm sure that you're smart enough to know that if I WAS the one planning this, none of us would be caught"

She went back to her more serious tone "Seems to me like you’re going to know who I was with by the end of the night, one way or the other. You have security cameras. Witnesses who have seen him at the party. All you’re trying to do is spare you the trouble of making a few calls, and dodging the legwork. Doesn’t seem reason enough to force me to put MY neck on the line. So I’m willing to call it even for your negligence to act as a proper host, and for not making sure I was safe tonight. I AM one of your guests"
The blonde got up to her feet, and looked into the man’s eyes "Call me a cab back home. Please."

"Go ahead. Call the commissioner. Explain to him how someone managed to lift that massive stone slab without a forklift. Show him into your precious crypts and tell him exactly what’s missing. Then, play him the security tapes from the party. Many of the guests, I’m sure, would prefer to avoid any close scrutiny by the authorities."

Emma called his bluff, her eyes never leaving his as she leaned in slightly "You’re the one with secrets to hide, not me. I’ve got nothing to fear from the police, because there’s no evidence I’ve done anything wrong. I didn’t take anything, and I sure didn’t break into your crypts. So what will you to try to accuse me of?"

Her voice softened, after rising earlier in rightful indignation "I’m asking you again: Call me a cab. Let’s not resort to threats or make things uncomfortable between us. We wouldn’t want to sour any future dealings we might have, would we? You never know when our paths might cross again. Best to leave things on good terms."

Jacob can feel this is more than a storage vault for old papers. He can feel the power flowing in this room. If only he could take advantage of that to find a way to mislead the Servitors...

Emma didn't need to be told twice. She quickly stepped out of the Administrator’s office as soon as he showed her the door, offering only a curt ‘thank you’ before she left. It was bitterly cold outside, and she was hardly dressed, but she still preferred to wait outside for the cab she ordered to arrive, then enjoying the warmth of the castle for even a little while longer.

She had come looking for excitement, but this was not the kind of thrill she had imagined. The ‘party’ was boring, Elliot never showed up and left her to fend for herself, she got tricked into joining some mischief she didn’t want anything to do with, then left to bear the consequences while the true culprits got away. It all left a sour taste in her mouth, making her rethink every decision that had brought her here tonight.

The supernatural world, with all its secrets and excitement, seemed far too messy to be worth her time. Perhaps it was better to leave it all behind, to close the book on this chapter of her life, and keep those strange creatures confined to the pages of her books, where they belonged.

"Aha, fortune always favours the patient... Or was it the bold? Anyway, let's get out of here, shall we?" Jacob tells Crowley, while checking the back entrance.

However, after many tries, Jacob seems unable to grasp the door's handle. He finally understands what's happening.

"A damned illusion. Crowley, I think I need your talents here"

Emma returned home in the early hours of the morning. David was already deep in sleep, though he stirred slightly when she slipped into bed and cuddled up next to him.

He was already gone by the time she finally pulled herself out of bed. It was late morning, though the sky outside remained pitch black, rain still falling relentlessly. As she looked out the window, a sense of unease settled over her; the weather had been this way for far too long, and now, after everything she learned last night, it felt much more…ominous.

She groaned when she saw the time, wishing she could sink back into the warmth of the covers, but she had already promised to meet David’s parents today, and she had no intention to back out of that commitment. After dragging herself out of bed, she went through her usual morning routine—brushing her teeth, getting dressed, and making coffee, and texting David back, telling him that the party was ‘ok’, and that she was looking forward to seeing his parents.

Sitting at the kitchen table with her coffee, she tried to keep herself from thinking about the confrontation with the Administrator last night, and what trouble might befall her as a consequence. She didn’t want to dig herself into even more trouble with him, but she did already pull the files from his laptop. There was an hour before she needed to leave the apartment. Maybe just a quick glance through the files, to sate her curiosity…

But first – there was something else she needed to do. Elliot was missing. There were a great many people who would prefer him to stay that way, be them rivals for the vampire lord’s ‘throne’, political enemies he has made over the year, disgruntled employees, or those he trampled upon in his callous pursuit of power. Emma was one of the few people who actually wanted him found. If there was anyone who could smooth things over with the Administrator for her, it was him. She had to find him, because right now, she felt like as if her life depended on it.

The call she made was to her contact in the police, someone she’d worked with before. Someone who knew just enough about the supernatural world to be useful, but not so much to get swept up in it. She dialed the number, and waited for the line to pick up.

"Hi, Kenedi, good morning. How have you been? Sorry to call you out of the blue like this, but I have a favor to ask of you"

"I know this is a lot to ask, but I really need your help finding a friend of mine who disappeared into the ether last night. I’m worried something bad might have happened to him." She herself didn’t hesitate, despite sensing Kenedi was a bit reluctant to help "He left his apartment sometime between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m., driving a bright orange Jaguar type D, heading toward Arundel Castle. He vanished somewhere along the way. What I need is to know where he was last seen. Any footage from traffic cams, street cameras, anything that can help"

She took a deep breath, knowing her next request would be even harder, if not downright impossible, for Kenedi to accommodate "He's also unreachable on his phone. Is there any way you can track it, or find out where it was last detected before the signal went out?"

"What the...?" Jacob takes a look around him. The horns above the threshold, the clear blue sky, the sun... Where (or when) is he supposed to be?

After a few seconds, Crowley emerges from the chamber too. He's not wearing Hali's mask now, maybe because he was not able to maintain his illusory powers, or maybe he has just decided he doesn't need a disguise anymore. He looks as surprised as Jacob.

"What was that, Crowley? Did I just get myself in trouble for following you again?