Fantasy FTK: Black Rose Detective Agency

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec laughed even while she was smacking him. “Alright, alright stop stop I take it back” he chuckled at how mad she got from his lie.
“I was lying. We didn’t do shots. We had coffee. Delilah knows how I take it.” He gave her a chance to prove herself.
“We has a nice conversation about music. Her cat Queenie wanted love. After that I went home. Not the most interesting story to tell. I wanted to show my gratitude with this album, but now I’m beginning to regret it.” He frowned and stuck the record between the seats. He had just wanted a bit of amazement and a thank you. Sometimes he felt it was better not to bother.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz laughed awkwardly, "Oh, okay. I was...concerned for a minute."

Delilah's anger dissipated at his last statement, embarrassment flushing her face. Oh gods, he had been giving her a gift. She bit her lip, trying to avoid his pointed gaze.
Rheitz had fallen silent in the back, the sound of honking cars and whirring engines filling the silence in the car.
"I'm...I want the record, okay? I like it. I didn't realize you were giving it to me as a gift," she frowned at the ground, and then glanced back up at Lautrec.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec’s cheeks blushed, and he wasn’t frowning as much. He wasn’t sure what could come next from this exchange.
“It’s fine. Hope it doesn’t sound too fuzzy, it’s pretty old.”
Lautrec swallowed and looked ahead. Now that he was thinking about it, there was a chance that he was asked in passing if he minded if they printed some of his music off a recording. There was a pocket of info in his brain he didn’t know was there. Just one effect that his compartmentalizing had on him.
The pizza joint was in sight, and they found parking easily.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah said nothing, simply taking the record back into her lap. "Thanks. I appreciate it," she managed to say softly, smiling at him.
Rheitz could only gawk at the two detectives. What had happened that they were being so nice?! Normally, at this point, the detectives would have been hissing at each other like snakes, baring fangs, and screaming insults. Instead, they were calm and collected, polite, and concerned. She shook her head in disbelief and stepped out of the vehicle.
The trio had been seated at a side booth and out of habit, Delilah pulled out her box of cigarettes, slipping a stick out of the Camel box and sticking it between her lips.
"Damn, forgot to bring my lighter," she muttered, searching her pockets.

 

[Jodyguru]

The metallic flick of a gas lighter came out of Lautrec's hand. When he lit her cig, she saw the engraving on the side of it. "Hummingbird Casino"
Lautrec ordered a rare steak for himself and pizza for the girls.

"They called it Ambrosia in the old days. Magical liquor made from human blood. It gave my kind the upper hand when it came time to conquer the dark lords. Problem is, if you're not a vampire it wouldn't work. These pills are the secret to cracking the case. It must be changing their physiology so that the elixir gives them strength."

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz frowned, "Is that why Aida said it tasted sweet?" She clamped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide in embarrassment. "I meant, is that why I thought it was sweet?"

Delilah gave Rheitz a look. "You let a vamp taste blood? Thankfully you didn't get the consequences of that." She puffed on her cigarette, basking in the warm glow of the bowl light overhead. "I didn't think you picked up something from the casino," she said, gesturing to the lighter in his hand.

 

[Jodyguru]

He shook his head. If that was true, then Aida really was showing true resolve. Rheitz had a charming effect when her resolve was absolute. Perhaps people can change.
"I'm glad you two were there. This case is getting more dire by the second."

Lautrec smiled and let her take the lighter from him.
"I found it during the night. I like souvenirs. They remind you that the past actually happened."
He stared off for a little while. Drinks came and he sipped on a soda. He was casting off somewhere. Poles sitting up against the rocks. A lady brings him a lemonade. He kisses her and they watch the sunset. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Aida walked into the pizza parlor. She recognized her brother's black motor carriage. She was looking around for them
---------

Tobias had his face pressed up against a concrete wall. He and a dozen officers were pinned down under fire. Stradler's men were digging in their heels and fighting hard, shooting down the alleys with an auto-cannon affixed to a truck flatbed.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah snorted, "The past that actually happened, huh? What happened in that casino that you want to remember?"
Rheitz sipped at her pop, playing with the straw. Catching sight of Aida, she waved her over, giving her a big grin.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec smiled. "You, the dress. You blowing on the dice, and me winning a jackpot. I can pay off that guy's car that I rammed into" he laughed. It was a pretty fun night until the shooting started.

AIda marched over to their table and shoved her face in Lautrec's business,
"Hey you dumb asshole. The whole west district is hunting for us. Why did the paper print pictures of me and Sherlock Horns"

Lautrec snarled. "Get out of my face, Henriada. What are you talking about?"
Aida looked around the table. She knew the girls knew what she was talking about. "The ghetto is getting riled up. Its going to pop off into a riot by nightfall. I thought you should know."

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah's amused expression wilted into a frown, "The damn reporters do what they like, how they like it. We were just as surprised as you."
Rheitz frowned, "Why is it getting riled up?"
Delilah ignored her question, pushing herself out of the booth and pulling on her coat.
"We better solve this quick. Otherwise, we're gonna have a hell of a lot of bodies to clean up."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec was upset to see Delilah get up. He wanted to get his steak before they left. The waitress put it in a bag for him.
“Curse that girl. Aida speaks like an apocalypse is about to happen. What do you think you’re doing? We aren’t armed for a street wide disaster.”

Aida was armed with a pistol she found. She didn’t know if it was loaded.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah glanced over her shoulder. "Unlike you, detective, I've always got something on me." She pulled her coat away, revealing a pistol at her hip.
"And isn't this our job? To protect the lives of others? Forget solving the case, you've got people out there who we could be saving right now but instead, you want to fill your stomach."
She gave Aida a look, dropping her coat flap, "You're sister may be many things, but I don't think she's a liar."
Rheitz glanced between the two detectives, slowly sliding out of the booth herself. "I...I think I'll go with Detective Waters."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec shook his head at Delilah. “No, it’s not our duty to throw ourselves into the midst of armed conflict. We aren’t police officers, Waters. Private detectives don’t go to war. We get paid to find answers. If Stradler’s men are fighting, then the kingpin must be hiding nearby.”
The diner handed him a bag, and a box of pizza that was handed to Rheitz. Lautrec was just gonna let them all eat in his car while he was driving. Aida was happiest of all to follow them back to the car.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz frowned. "So what are you suggesting Boss?"
Delilah rolled her eyes, hands digging into her pockets. The ex-cop in her was jumping at the opportunity to fight, to protect the innocent from the fire of goons. She said nothing, only following the group to Lautrec's car, sliding into the front passenger seat.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec started driving. “My suggestion is we drive by and see what’s going on. Keep our heads low if we hear shooting. I’m sure the locals are already hiding if the police are holding them off by now.”
Lautrec talked while taking bites of his steak. He could feel the blood sating his mild headache from blood withdrawal.

They drove down the street that Aida said she heard the noise. There were a few squad cars set up around the alley. An officer was directing traffic and wanted them to drive up on the left side. Lautrec drove and stopped near the officer. Delilah rolled her window down.

“No time to chat, folks. Keep it moving.” The cop said.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"Hey, we're with Central, let us through wouldya?" Delilah frowned when the cop gave them a blank look. Pushing herself a little out of the car, she gave the cop a frosty glare.
"I said, we're with Central, let us through."
Rheitz looked nervously at Lautrec, "Um. Boss? I think Detective Waters might need some help. Otherwise things are gonna get messy."

 

[Jodyguru]

The officer glared at the both of them, then peered into the back seat with his flashlight. He saw pizza and two ladies in the back seat. One of which had glowing red eyes.
"Oh, I think I know what you're looking for. Central. Hehe... drive two blocks north and pull into the alley behind the white truck."
This was a dirty cop, probably part of Stradler's crew, or on his payroll at least.
Lautrec got a good look of this guy before he drove away."
"Nice one, Aida." Lautrec smirked as his car puttered along and into the alley.
Rheitz felt her leg bump against something. She saw Boss' rifle tucked under his seat, next to his umbrella.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz's eyes widened slightly, peering down and taking the shotgun out. She cocked the gun, pointing it at the windshield. "Heya Boss. I didn't know you kept a gun back here!"
She pointed at the windshield playfully, as if she were about to shoot. Delilah, a little pissed with her earlier encounter, gave Rheitz a stern glare. The goat girl shoved the weapon where she had found, twiddling her thumbs.
"Damn, Central needs to do a better job running checks on their officers," Delilah muttered into her hand, pushing away some food offered by her counterparts.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec looked over at her. “Hey, you should eat something. You won’t be as sharp minded on an empty stomach.”
His ears were sharp, hearing things happening in the streets. There was definitely a battle happening out there. It sounded like cops were rounding up Stradler’s boys.
“Aida, do you think you can track Stradler’s whereabouts?” Lautrec asked.
“I know his scent for sure, it was all over his office... you wanna use me as a bloodhound, be my guest. I better start getting paid for this.” She folded her arms.
“What, a rent free home in the city isn’t good enough?”
She grumbled, knowing he was right.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah peered out the window only to draw her head back in quickly with a grunt. A bullet ricocheted off the car's exterior, denting the black paint and revealing the silvery body.
Rheitz was also staring wide eyed out the window, cowering whenever a bullet scratched the surface of the glass.
"Come on Aida, you picked up on the goon yet?" Delilah was pulling out her own gun, loading it up with some bullets. "We ain't got all day."

 

[Jodyguru]

Aida had the window open and she was trying to smell the air. It was difficult given how they were driving, and a lot of interference was preventing her from getting a good read.
“I uh, I don’t know...” she said.
Lautrec cut the wheel hard and turned down the alleyway behind the white truck like the officer said. They were pulling into a tiny closed off alley with access to the back door of an apartment building. Aida and Lautrec got out of the car and looked around. This place was fairly quiet compared to the chaos a block over.
“This is where the cop said to go. I don’t know why though, nobody is here.” Lautrec said.
Aida sniffed and caught something.
“Hey, I smell something sweet.” She said. Lautrec sniffed.
“It smells like... the red stuff we found. Ambrosia. I bet you anything that’s where Stradler is.” She pointed up at the apartment. Lautrec nodded.
“Okay. Delilah, since you don’t have a hit out. I think you should talk to Stradler. If I go in he might attack. But you he might listen to. I’ll be close by to keep your safe.” Lautrec told his partner.
“Aida will come and help us track him to his hideout... Rheitz. Can you stay here and watch the car and door? If you feel unsafe, that’s what the shotgun is for. Okay?” It seemed like a good plan in his eyes. Hopefully he could trust the goat girl with a serious weapon if anything happened.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz simply nodded, unsure off how she was going to fare sitting in a car with a gun she had no idea how to use. She slid down in her seat, trying to hide herself from view.
Delilah pushed the car door, stepping out and sliding her gun back into its holster. "This plan better work Leore. I want to keep my head on," she made her way to the door, unsure of how things would proceed. She was presented with a set of metal stairs, the light flickering every few seconds. She shook her head, making her way up.

 

[Jodyguru]

Aida had her sidearm, while Lautrec had his blackjack and a sack of rocks. He was the one who perps never heard coming. He was mad that Aida managed to tag along on this adventure. At least he could keep his hands clean for now. If she goes nuts again he definitely won't hesitate to disarm her.

"Yeah, it gets stronger the higher we go. I think this little piggie has some tired legs after this hike. All the way at the top." she said. She was getting tired before the other two.
Lautrec stopped Delilah before she ascended to the sixth floor.
"Hang on, I hear something." He spoke lowly. The dhampir inched forward just a little more. He could hear talking upstairs.

"I don't care what you think, I told you to send everybody!" Stradler hollered on the phone.
Lautrec chuckled internally. The guy was all alone.
"Okay Waters, you're on. How should we take him in? I can get him unconscious with my stare and gas form, put him in the car and get him to Central, or would you rather talk with him right here and now."