Xiaolian Boyuan's Story

"Seriously." Molly agreed. "And I have no clue. Maybe someone went and poked at the sleeping dragon or something." She said, uncertain. The twins stepped in and she nodded to them. Huh. Not sitting side by side. They had either had a fight or were trying hard on the independence thing. Cute. Practice did make perfect though, so it would no doubt help. She offered a smile to them, letting them, silently, know she was proud.

Rahal looked to the whispering officers, then to the new ones then to Catherine. "Ladies, if you are done gossiping? I would be very happy if we could get started with this mess, assuming everyone is here now." At this rather annoyed pronouncement Molly sat back and fell silent. She didn't really have any evidence or anything to add, really. Well, she did, but she certainly wasn't going first.

The mage turned his attention back to Catherine and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. The sooner he could get back to his magic the better as far as he was concerned. That meant getting the political duties, and thus this meeting, over with.

Catherine shot Rahal a glare before pulling out a thick stack of notes. It appeared that if anything, the Warden had been very busy attempting to find a solution to this whole mess. "If you're done getting your panties in a twist Rahal, then yes." She said bluntly to the mage. Everyone was there, some quieter and more so than others, but at least they could get started. "As I'm sure we're all aware earlier this month a rash of child deaths began to plague Dallas County with the most recent being earlier this week. With DPD and Dallas County Sheriff uncertain as to what to do, we were brought in on consult, and eventually took charge of the case. As it currently stands, we are down two contractors; one injured and on leave, the other a no show." Catherine began. Keeping everyone's attention this close to Christmas was going to be difficult. But, they needed to finish the case, to see it's resolution.

"But, I'm sure you will be pleased to report that Bethany Lessard has been taken care of, however we have hit a snag in our investigation." She said looking to Rahal, trying to figure out how best to explain the potential presence of another child. "In Lieutenant Boyaun's investigation of the Lessard residence, we recovered some additional documents, that in conjunction with Vincent Lessard's journal we are led to believe that one child yet remains." It was certainly not the news that Rahal, Ra, or Isis would be pleased to hear.

"It appears however this may be, that the Lessard family was prolific in it's creation of everchildren." Catherine said as she passed across a copies of a page in Vincents journal, before pulling it up on the projector in the room. "Dated sometime in the 1930's, it appears that this child, Terun, was the forerunner of most, if not all of the Lessard everchildren."

He really hated dealing with Dumitrescu. She had no sense of anything important. The man gave her a glare equal to her own. Damned woman. She took everything far too personally. Still, the thick stack of notes did appease him somewhat. She had clearly been working if nothing else. He paid close attention to the presentation.

“Two contractors down thanks to a child vampire?” That was a bit pitiful. “However the note that the Lessard girl is taken care of is very welcome. Ra will be pleased to hear that news at least.” Unspoken went the fact that the addition of a second child vampire to the ranks would result in the exact opposite.

Still, he accepted the copy of the journal page and skimmed through it. Such narrow handwriting, and so thin as well. It suited the Lessard patriarch well then. The age frowned darkly at it. “By the looks of it, the boy, Terun, has all the skills needed to be behind the attacks. A preference for child victims…he’s probably left a trail of death behind him that you could track.” At least in modern times.

Molly nodded in agreement. “I’ll get the twins started on that analysis after the meeting. There’s likely a string of ‘mysterious’ child deaths and disappearances wherever he went. Maybe we’ll be able to close other cases.” She’d have to show them how to get started and give them a list of databases to pull from. It wouldn’t be too bad.

Rahal glanced up. “Ra will likely request access to any more of Vincent Lessard’s journals MCU has access to in order to ensure no more child vampires exist from this crazed line.”

The twins each nodded, Tristia marking a few things down on the notepad she had brought with her. They would do this and they would do it right damnit.

"Of course, that can be arranged. I will speak with our archivist about granting Ra access." Catherine agreed. She had no desire to piss off the king of the dragon court, in fact she'd rather that he stay at arm's length and well away from MCU. "As for the contractors, I'll add that your side is responsible for taking Hammerstein down; Utgart didn't show up." She said tersely. While Brandon had been the one to make the choice to appeal to the vampire court, it still put her down a contractor with a very handy skill set.

"Oh, there's more to it Rahal. We have reason to believe he's currently residing in the Lessard home." Catherine said. Skimming her notes, she quickly skipped slides to a series of photos taken inside the home. "As you can see from the photos that Boyaun took, there are several altars which will need to be taken care of." She said before flicking to the next slide. "As you can see there are recent offerings to the deity of the altar, and..." Catherine continued flipping again through her notes. "More recent activity in house as evidenced from a notebook we retrieved."

He smirked ever so slightly. So they had been. “Yes, well. He did rather insult the court of the dragon.” He said very simply. “It’s no surprise.” Asking for refuge for a child vampire who had attacked on their grounds? That was incredibly offensive. Besides, Isis had wanted to send a clear message. They weren’t going to tolerate hiding vampires from them, or tolerate any insults given. “We left him alive out of respect for you.” He said simply and shrugged. Respect for Catherine didn’t mean for MCU of course. The respect was largely thanks to who her father was anyway, in the courts. “He broke the laws, harboring a child vampire. Death was the sentence, but given his illness, it hardly matters that he was left alive.” Rahal was just being an ass now, and subsided.

Molly frowned and glanced to Catherine, and the photos, before speaking up, trying to interrupt the two. Brandon’s illness would have to be addressed later. “We really should just burn this place to the ground. If we’re lucky he’ll be inside at the time, and a nice heavy dose of cleansing fire would take care of any and all altars inside as well.” It would also be very satisfying to do so.

Xiaolian was lucky to not run into the child when she had been in there. With luck, he may not realize it, or he simply used it as a base, and wouldn’t notice any changes.

Sighing inwardly as she listened to Rahal, Catherine was too tired and stressed to take the bait that the mage had planted for her. "Don't you think it's time we move on from that, Rahal?" She asked plainly. The topic of Brandon's illness wasn't really something she was quite ready to address, especially in something like a staff meeting; however with Rahal's big mouth she was going to have to. "Besides which, I'll address Hammerstein's absence in a moment."

"Excellent idea Bronson, a live burn of the Lessard house should destroy anything nefarious." Or so she hoped. Catherine just hoped that they'd find Terun soon, as the longer she let this go, the worse things became. "If anything that may flush him out into the open." She added thoughtfully. The child would have to come forward sooner or later, and what they'd do with him was another question altogether.

Plus it meant a huge fire, and everyone liked that. "A team then, and scheduled with the fire department. They don't need to know why it's being burned, only that it is." She said simply. This was going to be fun. Molly smiled slightly. She could arrange this easily enough. "I can handle that aspect, Warden." It was best to split up the work as much as possible, and given the size of their team, they could afford to.

Rahal nodded. "Of course, I apologize." He said simply, and sat back, watching. His father would be very happy to learn that Bethany Lessard was gone, but this new one...that would be upsetting. It would not be fun telling him either. "It sounds like an excelelnt plan to destroy his lair, but what will you do if he is not inside?"

She didn't believe his apology for a moment, the man was so self absorbed and more than likely sorry that she didn't take the bait and he got caught. "Alright, then you have until the end of the week to see that it happens Bronson." Catherine of course would want to supervise the burn of the house, if only to see that such a miserable place finally saw it's end. "In the mean time, like Sergeant Bronson here said, you, officers L'ange, will be combing back through our database and Dallas County's to find anything out of the ordinary."

"It's a start Rahal, realize that unless you or Ra wish to take care of this problem yourself, you're going to have to learn to exercise some patience."

The twins both nodded. Inwardly they were rather relieved. No major separations today. They would still work separately of course, but they wouldn't be distracted. They kept their link tightly shut, but a few minor head movements communicated to each other that they would speak after the meeting.

“Yes ma’am.” It was going to be fun. Molly would just have to keep the glee out of her voice. She managed, this time, to suppress the giggles of glee at hearing the word Sergeant before her name. She did not manage to stop the huge grin. It had been very hard fought to get to that rank, and involved way too many hours of very hard thankless work, and being passed over multiple times, to her sheer annoyance.

It was a very new appointment too. She was rather happy about it.

Rahal nodded. “It is an excellent start. Even with the set back of a second Everchild, Ra will be pleased to learn of the progress.” Very. And the plan in place would make him happy. “If the child is not found dead, or killed at the scene, then I assume you can come up with a plan. Please update me if so.” He stood and nodded to Catherine, ignoring everyone else. He was here for politics not for pleasure after all. “Thank you.” With that he left.

Molly watched him go. “…so gloomy.”

Molly hadn't shown up for her normal shift, and most of the office assumed she was sick, or just shirking work for the hell of it. Rumors were flying, and to top all of it off there had been a surprise visit from two Councilors; something about an inspection, Xiaolian really didn't care. They were the headaches of the Directors and Warden, and she was more than pleased to make herself scarce in the mean time; even if that meant training the two rookie siblings.

Glancing at her watch, she waited for Tristia and Gaudia to show up for their morning training. "How the hell does Bronson do this?" She muttered stiffling a yawn.

A steady stream of "Shit" "Fuck" "Shit" "Fuck" "Shit" "Fuck" "Shit" "Fuck" "Shit" "Fuck" "Shit" "Fuck" could be heard growing louder and louder from the hallway. 10 minutes late, the twins came charging in, neither out of breath, but both looking panicked. "Sorry we're late!" Gaudia said, "Molly said she'd meet us in front of the office, but she wasn't there. Someone said she's sick? And then someone told us you were waiting for us here! Sorry!"

Tristia didn't speak, letting her sister explain as she quickly unzipped her duffel to change into her training clothes.

"I'll let it slide today girls, just don't make a habit of it okay?" Xiaolian commented, saying nothing about Molly's sudden disappearance. Whatever had resulted in the new sergeant disappearing so suddenly, she could only assume that the warden knew of it and had allowed the other to be absent for however long. "Get changed and we'll start working on whatever Bronson had you doing." She added suspecting that it had a lot to do with laps, and little if any actual workout time.

The twins changed swiftly and began their usual regimen, albeit rather distracted. They knew, or thought they knew, Molly fairly well. She wouldn't just bail like that right? Gaudia was concerned that Molly was severely ill. Tristia suspected Molly may not be human and wouldn't be susceptible to human illnesses. They had been using running practice to practice talking to each other without "leaks" and it seemed to be working. They were so engrossed in their back and forth that Gaudia barely noticed the pace they were keeping and soon running was over, with both twins having maintained a strong pace the whole time. Tristia smiled. Maybe her own personal best had suffered for it, but Gaudia had done my he best she had ever done in their practices. Molly would be proud. And then she realized Molly wasn't there and went back to quietly fretting while they moved on with the exercises.

"Alright ladies, I think we're done for today." Xiaolian said as she addressed the twins. "You did good but seemed distracted today though, anything going on I need to know about?" She asked as she tossed each of them a towel. Xiaolian hoped that whatever it was it wasn't about whatever the office rumor had cooked up for the week.

Sure Molly had been there yesterday and now she wasn't; far as she knew the woman was out sick. Then again she didn't seem to ever get much more than a mild cold or allergies, unlike the Warden who seemed to be constantly fatigued or sick one way or the other.

Tristia mopped her forehead. "Nothing too concerning just yet. We were practicing silent speaking without leaks. There's a couple people around the office who were listening for us, so they'll let us know if they heard anything. If they did, THEN we will have cause to be concerned." she laughed slightly. Gaudia tossed her used towel into the corner straight into the "dirty towel" basket, "10 points!" she called, smiling. Tristia attempted the same shot, only to miss the basket by a solid ten feet. Gaudia laughed now, "Really? That is an easy shot!" "I know I know. I'll make it some day" muttered Tris as she stalked over to the fallen towel and dropped it into the basket. For all appearances, they were light-hearted despite Molly's absence.

However, they were quite concerned for Molly. They had reached out in several directions, trying to see if they could detect walls that felt like Molly's or if they were lucky, maybe even brush against her mind. No luck though, and they were limited by the precautions they had to make. Several times they had gently brushed against a defence that wasn't Molly's and had retreated swiftly, snapping back into themselves and pulling up all defences. They were careful enough they shouldn't have been caught, but it wasn't safe to try any further. They could look her address up later and see if she was at home. But their current inability to take action bothered them.

Xiaolian nodded, "Alright then. Keep up the good work ladies, same time tomorrow. Alright?" Watching the unease with which the twins had replied, Xiaolian knew that there was something going on. She suspected that it had something to do with Molly missing, but it was painfully obvious the twins weren't going to be talking anytime soon. But there were other ways to get information, that didn't even require the use of magic.

Because while rumors were rumors, and this one had some credibility unfortunately, she needed to make it explicitly clear if they had found something to say something. From what she understood Molly wasn't just out sick, she was completely missing without a trace. "Oh and girls? If you hear anything about Sargent Bronson, be sure to talk to the Warden okay?" She said, determined to nip whatever this was in the bud here and now. While she herself had some mild talent in telepathy, it wasn't nearly as smooth or as practiced as other officers. There were times when there was the occasional leak, a stray thought here or there, but speaking or investigating through it was a chore. This just meant there was really no good way for her to determine what the twins had said was true or not.

The twins nodded. "Will do." After all, even if the Warden wasn't in charge she would deserve to know. She and Molly seemed as if they were close, or connected somehow.

The twins packed their bags and walked out, turning at the door. "See you tomorrow Xiao!" Tristia called. They let the door swing shut behind them.

Their footsteps led them into the office after a quick shower. Sitting at their desks, they started on the paperwork that needed to be done for the day. Tristia was, as always, multitasking. Trying to figure out where Molly lived was a chore and in fact, it was near impossible to find anything on her at all. The only info they had was the office directory, which only gave her telephone extension. Useless to the nth degree.

They had gathered every single officer within the department that even had telepathic potential or with the potential to aid in their scry. With Faust's latest hint, Catherine hoped that they would have Molly found soon. How soon was difficult to say.
With Catherine providing the power to see through the fog and Kasimir providing the sheilds, there was nothing that could go wrong, or at least that's what they hoped.

"I realize that not everyone is exceptionally gifted at what we're asking you to help with, but as you all know one of our own has been missing for the past twenty-four hours." Catherine explained. Rumors flew fast in the department, and as small as they were it wasn't any shock that most everyone knew by now that Molly was missing. Rarely did the other miss a day of work, at least without good reason.

"I think what the Warden here means is the more to scry the better chance we have at finding Bronson. With newer information, we can now narrow our radius down considerably. If we limit ourselves to a ten mile radius we should be able to find something." Xiaolian said stepping in to explain things a bit more. The woman was normally quiet, soft spoken, and kept mostly to herself unless otherwise needed; however she was just as competent as any of the other senior officers.