Chains of Retribution The Den: Fire and Ashes

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Tiko

Tiko

Draconic Administrator/Mentor
Administrator
Mentor
Nexus GM
as written by Tiko

It was well on into the the night and last call had already come and gone, but The Den oft had a night life of its own well after the place closed up to the public.

This night in particular was revving up to be a rowdy one, and Desmond in particular was already well on the way to being thoroughly intoxicated, and on more than just alcohol.

His sleeve was rolled up and Julienne had finished administering a tourniquet while he threw back a glass of hard liquor.

The 50 ml syringe she uncapped was likely enough to drop a horse given the cocktail of narcotics that it took to overpower Desmond's metabolism.

She slowed drawing the milky white concoction at around 20ml as Desmond threw back a second shot.

"Thirty," he told her as the the alcohol burned down his throat.

Julienne raised her eye. "You're insane, you know that right?"

He grinned at that one. "An' you're not?"

"Your funeral," she chuckled as she turned his arm over to administer the cocktail of drugs.

The stuff hit his system hard and he gave his head a shake as Julienne grabbed his arm to steady him.

"At least sit your dumb ass down," she told him.
 
as written by Knosis

The night was quiet, and Chloe looked like the dead walking. Many cases she investigated were never pretty, but tonight had been particularly hard as she had found a young girl that had been killed brutally. The images still haunted her mind, and there was no way she could sleep now.

She needed a drink. Hell, she needed way more, but the drink was a good place to start. She knew she wasn't particularly welcomed at The Den, especially without Desmond, but it was the only place she could think that could be open this late in the evening. And the best place to find familiar company.

Walking in slowly, she raised her haunted gaze to see who was around. They hovered over Desmond for a moment, but then to Julienne and decided the better of interrupting the pair in whatever they were up to. So instead she just decided to settle at the bar alone.
 
as written by Tiko

"'m fine," Desmond answered.

His legs disagreed though, and Julienne had to all but physically deposit him into the chair. He took her hands in his own and pulled her down onto it with him.

"Just gran'," he told her.

"You're high as a fucking kite is what you are," Julienne told him with a snort.

She caught notice of Chloe entering and her mood soured, but rather than coming over, Chloe headed to the bar. Still, her presence was a vexing one. The bitch was dangerous as far as Julienne was concerned, never mind her ties to the Ardelean Society. Baron's orders on the matter had been clear though.

Though, there were other ways to get rid of her.

Straddling a rather intoxicated Desmond had its potential and Julienne nuzzled at his throat before her lips found his own, growling lowly at him.

Rather than discourage Julienne, the intoxicated Desmond seemed more than receptive to Julienne's advances as his hands found her hips.

"Gods you smell good, Chloe," Desmond murmured.

His words were met with a stunned silence before Julienne's anger erupted forth.

"How fucking dense are you," she spat. "Why the fuck are you wasting all your time with that fucking cunt? She's Ardelean for fucks sake."

Desmond blinked up at her, seemingly confused as to what had just transpired. He pinched at his brow with one hand, and tried to work through the drug induced haze, but frankly all he could think about at the moment was the sensation of bliss that warmed his body. He closed his eyes and rolled his head back a bit, and the the room swam with the movement of it. It was a pleasant swimming sensation though, like floating... and drifting...

"Come to your fucking senses, Desmond," Julienne spat as she got up.

She grabbed her coat as if to depart, but she had words for Chloe first and she headed for the bar rather than the door.
 
as written by Knosis

Chloe watched the tasteless display of affection from Julienne from the corner of her eye, her brow furrowed. Something riled in Chloe, something savage and green. Why, though? Desmond was just her friend, and there was nothing between them. Still, she turned away to focus on the beer that had been handed to her.

It wasn't until she heard Julienne spatting at Desmond did she pay attention again, turning around to see the commotion only to find a very angry woman storm towards her. At this, Chloe couldn't help but feel the corners of her lips curl in satisfaction that things with Desmond didn't seem to go on as planned for Julienne. Though, it probably meant death to push the werewolf, Chloe cocked an eyebrow. "And what do I owe the pleasure?" She asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
 
as written by Script

Snow was seated at the bar with his phone out and a tumbler of whiskey on the counter beside him. Now and then he cast a dubious glance over towards Desmond and Julienne, but their antics were nothing out of the ordinary and didn't hold his attention for long. Every few minutes the phone buzzed with a new message and he turned his focus back to its screen, his fingers dancing over the keypad to send a reply.

Julienne's outburst drew his attention only for a moment, having interrupted his flow of thought whist typing. He raised an eyebrow in her direction, but his gaze didn't linger there for more than a moment before he went back to texting.
 
as written by Tiko and Knosis

Julienne's intended words never found breath as Chloe's flippant demeanor sparked a more physical reaction from the volatile werewolf. Julienne's eyes became a swirl of wolfish amber as she brought her fist around to impact the side of Chloe's jaw.

Chloe had expected it. Julienne's fist crunched straight into the red-head's jaw. Normally, someone would be dazed after a hit like that, but Chloe wanted Julienne to throw the first punch. Green sparks flared in Chloe's hues and she flung herself forward, aiming to catch the other female by the middle to knock her to the floor in a snarling fury. Her aim was to pin the werewolf down.

It wasn't often someone got the better of Julienne in a brawl, but she hadn't anticipated the swiftness of Chloe's retaliation. Chloe was on her before Julienne even hit the ground. With a fistful of her shirt in Chloe's hand, and a vicious strike to her face, Julienne's head snapped to the side before she managed to get her arms up. With one hand she grabbed onto Chloe's wrist to wrench her to the side, while her other hand pushed against Chloe's chest to roll them both over to reverse the pin.

As the fight broke out, it drew some looks, but no one seemed overly inclined to breaking it up.

"Heh, looks like Julienne got more than she bargained for with that one," Bastien remarked with amusement from the pool tables where he had been talking with Marc.

Marc scowled a bit as he took note of the situation, but it was no secret that Julienne had been favoring his bed rather heavily lately.

Baron himself seemed disinclined to interfering either from where he was seated at his usual table by the dingy window. His mood was still maintaining a somewhat sour note between the situation with Ragenard, and the loss of Jesse. Jeanne had offered a distraction from the matters at hand, but the day was nearing when action would need to be taken. He'd had his contacts scouring the streets for sign or word of where the Scions were holding Jesse, but Rowan had kept a solid lid on the situation.

He took a drag on his cigarette as he watched the scuffle before offering only a simple instruction.

"Make sure they don't kill each other," he told Snow who seemed closest to the situation.
 
as written by Script

Snow looked up from his phone at Baron with a raised eyebrow. Getting between the two women, considering the ferocity of their brawl, was hardly an inviting prospect. It would probably end up being painful.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. His eyes wandered over to where Desmond was splayed out in drug-induced bliss.

There were certainly more worthwhile things to kill over, he thought with a small chuckle.
 
as written by Knosis and Tiko

Chloe growled as the two of them flipped to where Julienne was on top. Thinking quickly, Chloe wrapped her legs around Julienne's and spread them so the woman would lose balance and fall forward, either having to headbutt Chloe, or catch herself on the floor. As anticipated, as Julienne fell forward she drove her head down and towards Chloe's face.

Chloe reached out with her free hand and grabbed a fist full of Julienne's hair as Julienne tried to headbutt and wrenched as hard as she could to the side. Julienne was already off balance, the hopes was that it would throw the woman off herself.

The bar kept Chloe from knocking Julienne too far off balance, but as they sat up each trying to gain the upper hand over the other, Julienne did find her back pinned to the bar as the two of them grappled for a pin. With no clear upper hand, she managed to get her foot up between them to shove Chloe backwards towards the table and chairs at her back.

"Heh, the girl's got moves," Bastien remarked as he kept half an eye on the scrap from the pool tables.

Marc snorted. "Twenty dollars says Julienne takes her."

"Make it fifty, and you've got a bet," Bastien answered with a grin.
 
as written by Knosis, Tiko, and Script

The pair of woman struggled as Chloe tried to get free from Julienne's lock. The both of them clashed into chairs and tables before eventually Chloe tried to shove Julienne into the counter in an attempt to knock her off, but Julienne's grip stayed true.

Chloe's lungs were aching, and she was growing tired. She gritted her teeth and jerked her head back as hard and as fast as she could, headbutting her captor and dazing her. Chloe then wrapped her arms around the back of Julienne's head, and with a forward motion, pulled Julienne from behind her, over her shoulder and flipped her onto the floor. The red-haired woman didn't waste time to wrap her arms around Julienne's throat, pinning the woman down against her arm and the ground.

Julienne mustered all her strength to throw Chloe free, but Chloe had the advantage of positioning and body weight at this point to maintain pressure on her carotid arteries. Chloe was so absorbed in the scuffle with Julienne though, that she didn't see or hear Marc approaching.

His fingers closed around Chloe's shoulder as he dragged her back from Julienne, but with her iron hold over Julienne's throat it had little effect in actually separating them.

Julienne was fading fast though and went limp in Chloe's grip.

Bastien meanwhile looked quite amused with himself from the pool tables where he was leaning on his pool cue. Marc's intervention meant that he had conceded the bet.

"Fifty dollars!" he called across the bar.

"Eh, shut up," Marc bit back. "Off her," he growled at Chloe still trying to pull her free.

Chloe's eyes were blazing with wolfish fury, even as Marc tried to pull her off. After a moment, she reluctantly backed off, releasing the limp woman from her grasp with a groan. She was close to shifting, but letting go of Julienne showed she was still in control, if only by a margine.

As Chloe released her grip, Snow lowered himself back down onto his chair, having been about to move forwards and intervene himself. He remained alert, but it seemed as though the fight had reached an end.
 
as written by Tiko and Knosis

Julienne was coming around quickly with the pressure off her neck and she pushed herself up with her hands as she shook her head. Marc was quick to release Chloe to help Julienne up, but Julienne would have none of it as she dragged herself back to her own feet.

The volatile woman spat venom with her next words.

"You fucking cunt," she snarled.

Marc barred her way from having another go at Chloe though. He was irritated at how things had turned out, but even he knew the fight was done.

"It's over, Julienne," he told her gruffly.

"It's over when I fucking say it's over," Julienne snarled.

Meanwhile Baron's attention had drifted away from the brawl to a phone call he seemed caught up in.

Chloe's eyes glanced tiredly up at Julienne. The pent up emotion was now gone, and all she was, was weary. "It's over." She muttered. "You've had your fun."

Chloe turned her back to the pair and went looking for her drink. Seeing it was one of the victims in the skirmish, she simply released a sigh and sat down on the stool. "I'll need a new one.." She muttered, passing credit for another drink.
 
as written by Tiko, Script, and Knosis

Baron folded the phone closed as he stood up.

"Bastien, get the rest of the pack here," he ordered as he made his way behind the bar.

The trapdoor he hoisted open was filled with guns - namely those he didn't want Jeanne stumbling across while she was hanging around the place.

One after the other he was setting the weapons out on the bar counter, and even Julienne's temper fell to the wayside of what was going on. Chloe for the time being was forgotten in the wake of Julienne's confusion.

"What's happened?" Snow rose to his feet as Baron opened the trap door, his brow furrowing with concern.

"We got a bead on Jesse's location," Baron explained. "He was just transported to the Rolling Bones Casino."

Chloe perked up at the name of the Casino, but simply listened in on the goings on. She had been aware that this Jesse had been missing since before she had been taken in under Desmond's wing.

Snow's eyes widened briefly at Baron's words, before he nodded his head in understanding. After how long they'd spent trying to find him, waiting around wasn't an option.
 
as written by Tiko

20 minutes later...

Several more of the pack had already arrived as Bastien put out calls at Baron's direction. The bar itself had swiftly taken on the appearance of a war-room, though some were less thrilled than others at the prospect of hitting the Casino. It was situated at the heart of Scion territory.

"You're certain about this?" Carlisle asked.

"We're getting our people back," Baron answered. "One way or the other. Bastien, Felix isn't going to be a problem for you, is he?"

Bastien's expression was grim on the matter of his brother while he was feeding rounds into a shotgun before tossing it to Carlisle to join the other guns on the counter.

"That bridge was burned a long time ago," Bastien answered.

Baron nodded as his phone buzzed again and he pulled it out, flipped it open, and put it to his ear. He was silent a moment before speaking.

"Any sign of Jesse with them?" he asked before pausing. "I see. Keep me posted if they move him."

"The door just opened for us," Baron told the pack. "Looks like they're making a play for Cascastel. They're out in force."

"Those fuckers have been wanting to get their teeth into the businesses out the way for years," Julienne growled.

"With Rowan's pack on the move, there won't be much resistance at the Casino. We'll be in and out before they know we were there," Baron explained.

"We'll lose Cascastel," Carlisle noted.

"Cascastel is just territory, Jesse is pack," Baron answered. "We'll need to change plans. Carlisle, Jacques, and Marc, I want you three to head for Cascastel. You'll be outnumbered, and outgunned, don't engage unless you have no other choice. Empty out Renard's, and then get out. We need those guns in there. The rest of us will head to Audrieu."

"What about Desmond?" Julienne asked.

"Heh, it's no use on that one. I already tried to wake him," Bastien noted with a snort. "He's out for the count."

"Well he's sure as fuck not safe here," Julienne growled.

Baron looked to Desmond for a moment before retrieving one of the side arms from the counter and offering it across to where Chloe was still seated silently.

"You're not pack, but if you value his life you won't breathe a word of this to the Ardelean Society," he told her bluntly. "You'll keep the lights out, lock the doors, and shoot anyone who comes through that door that's not us, because they'll kill you all the same just for being here."

"You're trusting that fucking bitch?" Julienne demanded.

"I'm trusting Desmond," Baron growled back.

The warning in the throaty growl of his voice was more than enough to shut Julienne up, but her temper seethed on.

"I'll be outside," she finally bit out before snatching up one of the guns from the counter and stalking out.

Baron meanwhile looked back to Chloe, waiting an answer.
 
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as written by Knosis

Chloe's jaw was set as she glanced at the gun, to Baron, to Julienne's retreating form. She had already missed curfew. The Ardelean Society would not appreciate it if they found out she hid this news from them, and been involved with this situation after she had missed her curfew.

Baron knew this.

Still, she didn't hesitate the side arm from Baron's grasp. "One gun isn't going to stop a pack if they decide to come in here." She said, shoving it into her pocket. "By the time you get back, though, I don't know what shape -I'll- be in," She said, before adding, "But Desmond will be safe and the Society won't know from me. I know it doesn't mean much to you, but you have my word on that."
 
as written by Script

Snow had fastened a sidearm on at his hip, and taken up a shotgun from the bar counter. "Albert works out in Cascatel," he remarked, "If he's working late, he'll need picking up. I don't rate his chances highly if any of the Scions catch him alone."

"It seems unlike the Scions to so readily leave their backs exposed," Nieve remarked as she adjusted the strap of the rifle on her back. A vicious looking dagger was sheathed at her side. "We should be wary of a trap. They concealed Jesse's movements thus far without trouble. To slip up just before giving us such an obvious opportunity to reach him... It is suspicious."
 
as written by Tiko

"Take what you need," Baron told Chloe. "Bastien and Carlisle, get the rest of it loaded into my truck."

"We weren't able to get a hold of Albert," Bastien added in response to Snow. "I tried calling him three times."

Nieve's words elicited a shake of Baron's head. "The Scions value status and money over their own blood. They'll expect the same in others and anticipate us making a move to protect our territory, not go after Jesse. If there's a trap, it'll be waiting for us in Cascastel."
 
as written by Script

Nieve nodded her head in acknowledgement of Baron's words. She remained wary, but his assessment of the Scions was on the mark. "Then those that go there should expect one. Their leader is resourceful and patient, if nothing else. If he believes the odds are tilted enough in his favour to launch such an assault, I would suspect he has an ace of some kind."
 
as written by Knosis

Chloe took up a shotgun from the pile and a pair of magazines for the pistol. It was a far cry from what she would really need if any of Rowan's heavy hitters came here, but the chances were low enough that Baron felt that she would be enough to defend Desmond.

"I'll need to hide Desmond somewhere. He's not waking up from that for a while, and if something does happen to me, him being sprawled out on the floor will just be an easy target." Chloe said. It seemed silly, in light of all the other things, but she wanted to use precaution. "Anywhere I can stuff him that won't be obvious?"

Still, the whole situation made her stomach twist. People were going to die tonight. Pack battling for territory always carried innocent victims with it. All she wanted was to be sure her small role saved a life instead of losing it.
 
as written by Tiko

"What you see is what you got," Baron told Chloe.

He fished the keys to the place out of his pocket and tossed them to her before leading the way outside.

A short while later, Baron's truck was pulling out of the lot followed by Julienne and Snow on their bikes. Most of the pack was piled into the back of the truck and got a good jostling as a figure stepped out in front of it and raised a hand to stop it.

As Baron hit the breaks he rolled down the window and Vanessa jogged over.

"In the back," he told her.

No further words were needed and she made her way around the back where she was hoisted up to join the rest.

"Where's Sophia?" Bastien asked.

"With Raquette."

He only nodded as the truck began to move out once more.
 
as written by Knosis

Chloe watched them leave with a clenched jaw. "Be careful.." She muttered. Though the pack hadn't exactly been friendly towards her, she had at least started to get use to them. Even like some of them. She locked the door and turned down the lights. Even with the bar's darkened state, she could see and move around rather easily. She searched for some crack or port hole that she could stuff the stoned werewolf in. She finally gave up and decided the best place for him was the Cellar.

She crossed over to him, bending down to take an arm. "A'ight you.." She muttered. "Up and at'em. Going to get you into bed." She said, hoping he'd at least be able to walk with some assistance.
 
as written by Alara

Chloe managed to get Desmond half out of the chair before his legs went out and he found himself splayed on the floor, half sat up with her holding onto his arm. The abruptness of the movement had left the room spinning around him as he seemed only vaguely aware that something was going on.

From the look of drug paraphernalia set out on the table, he had given himself one hell of a cocktail. Pills, baggies, and a few vials of unknown substance were still sitting out next to the syringe that Julienne had used to administer the concoction.
 
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