Ulrich Palomer's Story

Ulrich had come into the theater with the rest, but he was quiet at first, like Raquette. Backstage with everyone there was slightly stuffy. There was a good amount of dust. He remembered that smell from high school. Theater dust.

The man looked grim, which wasn't much of a statement for Ulrich. He normally seemed a bit down or harried, but it was particularly apparent that day, carving grooves above his brow. So much had happened in the last few weeks. Nothing good. People were missing, dead, and hospitalized. A grim week, it was.

He trained his attention on Raquette, who'd stayed mighty quiet the whole time, as she often did. He hovered near the two Jeans, however.

"This..!" She started off as if she were going to raise her voice but backed off immediately, finding it wise not to tick off most of a pack. "This time.. Was different.." She said, lowering her gaze away from Desmond, furrowing her brows. Why was it different though? She had never lost control during the day.

She would have more problems if she were to remain captive over night as well.

"I don't know how to convince you that I didn't do it.." She said, the note of uncertainty in her voice. Could it be possible that she was involved with the attacks? She couldn't remember attacking Desmond, but she hadn't randomly ended up naked in the middle of somewhere she didn't remember how she got there prior to this event either. But Bowen had been insistent she see the attack site where Re'Altarm had been and has made sure she was locked up from that point on.

Could it have been her?

"It couldn't have been me.." She said, more quietly and less certain that before.

"I don't think it was her." Snow stated, shaking his head. "Her attack on you was random. A result of her losing control. My understanding of this rogue wolf is that their attacks are deliberate, and malicious. And I don't think a VINDEX operative could have flown under the radar while carrying out such regular attacks."

He pulled a wooden chair over from the side and sat reversed on it, resting his arms on its back. "The fact remains that we need to find who did attack that boy, and the others. We can't let that sort of thing happen on our doorstep."

"I agree with him for once" He spoke up, pointing a finger with thumb cocked back at Snow, and then pressing the thumb flat against the side of his hand in a mock shooting gesture. He shot Snow a wink before turning to Desmond.

"You know me. I've lost control like she has before, only I didn't have the fortunate of being stopped and made aware until hundreds were hurt or killed." Not to mention the near one hundred partially eaten he thought to himself, shuddering slightly before straightening his posture and regaining his composure.

"I say we try to be a little forgiving here and focus on the more important matters. No offense to you and your missing, erm... chunks."

Rather than react to Julienne's scolding, Alfred found it was much more advantageous to simply shut up and listen, and by doing so he got the answers he was looking for.

"Been quite a week then." He nodded as he walked past Snow, and up to the restrained Chloe.

"Loss of control hmm?" He asked rhetorically as he bent at the knees, squatting a bit to get to her level. "Well, that's convenient ain't it?" Again he went fishing into his jacket, only this time it wasn't for his flask.

"In that case,I 'appen to have something here for you. Would you like to see what it is?"

Chloe had been lost in thought, so she hadn't noticed Alfred until he squatted next to her. She narrowed her gaze at him, suddenly wishing she hadn't been so compliant to be tied up again.

"Considering I must look like some bondage porno gone wrong when you came in, forgive me if I don't seem too terribly interested in what's in your pocket, sir."

Always an awesome time to be a smart ass when you're outnumbered and chained. It's not like she had much of a choice one way or another if Alfred decided to show her what he was talking about.

Jean-Pierre smirked at the exchange between the bound girl and Alfred.

"I can assure you that whatever it is, miss, he's not just happy to see you." He quipped.

Raquette shuffled awkwardly and tried to press herself back into the crowd, blending in. However, she still felt eyes on her and she subtly scanned the surrounding face to find whom they belonged to. When her eyes finally landed up Ulrich's, she couldn't hide her emotional state. Anxiety, fear, and sorrow all played across her features and flashed from her eyes like beacons. She made her own quick study of his face before dropping her gaze and tugging slightly at the hood, though it already covered as much of her face as it could.

Her eyes fell onto Chloe and she studied the woman carefully now that she was fully clothed. She pulled her phone and began typing out something before shaking her head slightly and deleting it all, shakily stuffing her hand back in her pocket. It wasn't important enough, anyway.

"And you're what, two, three hundred years old?" Julienne asked Jean-Pierre through narrowed eyes. "It's doubtful that your past transgressions will bring police to our doorstep like that girl will if we keep her around. I don't even know why she's here at all. Let her loose or kill her, but get her the fuck out of our territory before we have more heat on our backs than we already have."

"Just like that, let 'er loose? How long 'til she 'urts someone else?" Desmond interjected.

"They're not our concern, and she's not pack," Julienne bit out scathingly. "The hunters will take care of her and that'll be that."

Desmond knelt back down to get a thoughtful look at Chloe, eye to eye. What troubled him most was her flippant attitude about the whole matter. No remorse for what she had done... could have done. She had apologized yes, but did she really care? He didn't think she did. She was going through the motions to get out of here.

"What do you think we should do with you?" Desmond asked her finally.

Before Alfred could respond in kind to Chloe's clever lashing, he found that she had become the subject of a different conversation. Soon Desmond had become his "Kneel in front of the prisoner" neighbor, prompting Fay to quickly stand straight, a hand still hidden beneath his jacket.

Still the conversation had taken quite the interesting turn.

"Actually. If I could, interject, without being immediately shot down here. I have a proposal that could offer both parties present some satisfactory results."

Turning his head slightly, he gave Chloe a small smirk before turning his back on her to face the ever pleasant Julienne.

"I can take her. I can assure you that she'll be properly isolated, and removed from your concern. And Even better than just letting her go, my option comes with the benefit of being able to contact and keep track of her, should she ever come under suspicion again." He turned on his heels to let Julienne think about it.

"As for your benefit," He said, nodding at Chloe. "You'll get to spend some time comfortably, as opposed to a simple prisoner to be locked up in a crumbling old theater. I can promise you three hot meals a day, plenty of free time for leisurely use, and the possibility of learning how to better control yourself." He arched a brow at Chloe, indicating she should mull it over as well.

"Now I know what you all must be thinking." He said as he turned away from the group, taking a step away. " 'What does Absent Alfred, get out of this? Surely there must be some kind of catch right?' " He paused for a moment, pulling his hand out of his jacket, revealing an empty syringe that he held up for all to see.

"Nothing too grandiose or selfish, just some knowledge that could better all our lives."

"All things else aside, she's a member of VINDEX," Snow pointed out, looking to Alfred with a shake of his head. "They won't look kindly on us taking one of their number prisoner without proof she's the one behind the attacks. You can't just whisk her off to 'isolation' without there being consequences. She's not some stray with no connections."

"Ah, VINDEX." He frowned, returning the syringe to his pocket with a sigh. "Well, that's a complication. Nevermind what I've been on about, completely irrelevant at this point." He yawned and pulled out his flask, taking a chug before walking over to Chloe and offering her a drink.

"Well, tried to do what I could, sorry about that." He said to her with a shrug.

Chloe gritted her teeth at the thought of becoming a guinea pig to the man and even bared her teeth at him in retort. Luckily Snow intervened and she didn't need to tell Alfred 'where' to stick that needle. Still, she refused the flask despite wanting to finish whatever was in it for herself.

She sighed and leaned back. Her head was pounding fiercely and hunger gnawed at her innards. Still she sighed and looked straight to Desmond. "I'm sorry I lost control. I've been under a lot of stress lately, and I guess it became too much to handle at once so I flipped.. In a very bad way. This has never happened before.."

'During the day, at least..' She thought to herself. "I may have been pulled off the case directly, but I'm one of the people trying to help find that little girl.. I know the call desks have been pouring in information, and I was suppose to go back there after lunch. And the longer you debate about what to do with me, the longer it takes to find Sophia." She murmured.

"They'll also spare men to come find me, which is another problem for finding Sophia. I was attacked by the serial killer that's also been on the news once already, so they'll suspect that's happened again and go to find me. I don't want that to happen, but if you don't make some call to my office, they'll do just that."

"At least make a call to my partner, Alphonse Torres." She murmured. "Let him know that I'm alright, and ask him if he knows me."

Snow's expression shifted slightly when Chloe mentioned Sophia, his eyes tightening as he looked back at her. "If she's working with the people finding Sophia, I say we let her go." he said, "We can let Bowen know what happened. But she's his agent. His to deal with. We have enough on our plate already."

He folded his arms. "If Bowen doesn't deal with it, then that's a problem for another day. Right now, VINDEX are our biggest asset in finding Sophia. We don't want to create any tension that could jeopardise that."

"Are you shitting me?" Julienne asked. "She's with the VINDEX?! We let her go now, and that means she's going right back into our back yard. Would you be so casual about this if she had killed Desmond?"

Her eyes where narrowed and her tongue sharp.

"Having her in our territory waiting for her to kill one of us is our problem to deal with. Or has Baron being in jail a few days got you forgetting this is our territory, not Bowens."

Her eyes had an amber hue to him and her voice had lowered a few octaves to an almost growl.

"The last thing we need is a fucking lunentia case on our turf with everything else going on. Should just put her out of her fucking misery now."

She took several menacing steps towards Chloe.

It was a bit uncharacteristic of him, but a key word from Julienne had sparked him into action. He put himself in her path, extending the flask in her direction.

"Don't lose sight of the bigger picture." He said, swallowing hard as he stood firmly between her and Chloe. He wondered if she'd even stop long enough to listen to reason. Given his reputation of being an outcast even among 'brethren' he was pretty sure she wouldn't hesitate to make an example of him.

Wouldn't be the first one to.

"Or..." Jean-Pierre began, placing his arms across his chest. "We hold her until Baron is back out of jail." He suggested, the smirk he usually held leaving his face.

"I should be able to get him out of there soon. We just need to cool off and be a little more rational here. It'll only be a few days. Maybe Alfred could hold her then, at least until Baron's out, and then we can all come to a decision. Clearly some of us are too heated currently." he paused to shoot a glance at Julienne.

"Let's just take a couple of steps back. A decision isn't necessary immediately."

"I accept," Julienne bit out scathingly.

Carlisle who had remained quiet until then lay a hand on Jean-Pierre's shoulder.

"It's too late for that," he explained. Others where moving back to clear space for Julienne and Alfred. The expectation was clear. Alfred had extended a challenged towards Julienne, however inadvertent that may have been.

She could accept, or she could step aside.

"Great that you're ready to add another murder to the list when the cops are already crawling all over us," said Ulrich to Julienne, holding up a hand to halt her. Though, as soon as she'd accepted the challenge, the hand curled into a fist that came to his chest, and he stepped back with a bite to his lips.

He rose his eyes up to Alfred, his brow tautly shadowing his eyes. He couldn't fight Julienne, either. He wasn't terribly close to Alfred, but he felt pity for him. Maybe it wasn't well-placed, but it was there.

His gaze shifted to Raquette, who's expressions were etched on her face. Not much he could do to reassure her now.