Thomas’s Thursday night odd encounter(Thomas)
Date: 2025-07-03 22:51
(Thomas’s Thursday night odd encounter(Thomas):Thomas)
[Thu Jul 3 2025]
An antique shop
It is night, about 68F(20C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It’s raining. The mist is heaviest At Elm and Lake/span>/span There is a waxing gibbous moon.
(Your target a young regular has been drained too far and the vampire responsible has fled, leaving the bar’s owner desperate to cover it up before the authorities arrive.)
This small antique shop is in Highgate — a dangerous place, with the Mists high — which is perhaps why it was chosen. Someone had taken some shelter in here, in a display room filled with old books: from the looks of him, a young man, in his early twenties. He has (had?) a tan, but it is now bloodless pale. Why, one might ask? Well:
He has two, troubling looking marks in his neck, lying there between the stacks.
This is where Silas comes upon him: by happenstance, really, perhaps seeking his own shelter from the mists.
Silas was apparently just taking a leisurely stroll through the mists when he decided to trudge right in – one hand in his pocket, another on an umbrella he’s flicked closed – with the apparent, sole intent of shopping. It takes a single beat for him to peer past a shelf at Thomas. The dry expression he came in with doesn’t change whatsoever. “Tch,”, he levies at the man, before he goes back to browsing the shelf. “You need assistance or somethin’?”, he at least drawls.
“What?” Thomas asks Silas, turning to look at him — and then he, too, sees the young man on the ground. “I don’t,” he tells Silas, his voice taking on some urgency. He goes to kneel. “But this young fellow certainly seems to.” He looks up, towards the windows. “No way an ambulance can make it here, in the mists,” he tells him. “What’s your name? Do you know anything about medicine?” he asks.
Silas scoffs through his nose harshly as he peers over at Thomas, then. Apparently he addressed the young man on the ground, earlier. “I ain’t know nothin’ bout medicine. And see th’ pricks onnis neck?”, he queries with an upnod, “…yeah, he’s either turnin’ or dead. Either way, ain’t our issue.”
Kneeling, Thomas reaches to feel for a pulse. “He’s alive,” he says. “Bit, but alive,” he says. There’s a tilt of his head, as he asks, “Know much about vampires, friend? Generally one doesn’t rise until one is buried.” He pauses. “And if we can get this one to the hospital, perhaps he won’t ever have that special experience.” He looks up again. “Though with the mist…”
Silas peers at Thomas and the young man once more from behind the shelf, a visible shoulder shrugging. “Not much, but is obvious that one got fed on an’ dumped. Only two ways that goes and I already said what was gunna happen. Pricks on th’ neck weren’t even hidden. I ain’t wastin’ my energy.”
Straightening, Thomas asks Silas, “So we just let him die?” He looks outside, again at the high mist. “Let’s hope you’re right, I suppose: that he doesn’t turn.” He pauses. “Because they’ll grab us for sure, I think, out in the fog.”
Silas steps out from behind the shelf and shrugs once more, hands upturned. “Sure. An’ it’d be easier to fight’um off if we ain’ carryin dead weight. Assumin’ they’re waitin’ outside like jackasses.”
Moving to the front of the store, Thomas peers out. “I don’t see anything,” he says. He looks over at Silas. “Thomas Hale, by the way,” he says. “But I got jumped something bad when I went out two nights ago,” he explains.
Silas follows Thomas with his dead gaze, body pivoting when needed but otherwise staying completely, lethargically still where he is. “Uh-huh. I’m Silas,”, he offers before his gaze too travels past the window into the mists. “Yeh, me too. Crawlers, hunters, mushrooms, whatever the fuck. Ridiculous stuff comes outta that mist. Vamps are gunna be a first, if ever.” He cracks his fist at this. “You gonna scout or me?”
“I’m strongly considering not going out in it at all,” Thomas admits to Silas. “Or finding a way out through the tunnels.” He pauses. “I’m not really armed for a fight.”
Silas scoffs quietly, looking then behind Thomas. “What tunnels,”, he queries.
“There’s tunnels under the whole city,” Thomas tells Silas. “Safe movement, if you can get down to them.” He looks out at the mist, and then down at the floorboards, stamping. “I don’t see any obvious exit, though,” he says.
Silas sniffs loudly and turns about, eyes darting, body tensing, all in robotic precision and pace. “There’s somethin’ here,”, he comments as he trudges back towards the window. “And it ain’ no man,”, he then concludes.
There is something here: or rather, there’s not something here. The young man — previously dying on the floor — is gone.
“What’s going on?” Thomas asks Silas, still at the window, peering out. The set of his frame is worried, really, with a kind of press forward of his shoulders that suggests deep concern. “There is something moving out there, in the fog.”
Silas growls from the bottom of his stomach as his gaze happens upon where that blood-bag was. “Was fuckin’ bait,”, he murmurs low at Thomas. “Find that fuckin’ tunnel you were talkin’ about. NOW.”, he bids, as he turns about and back to face the fog.
There’s a short, crisp nod to Silas, and Thomas begins some incantation — twisting his ring on his finger as he closes his eyes and begins to chant, sending his senses out to try to find some egress from this small shop. “I’m working on it,” he grunts out, sotto voice.
Then it happens: a pale face, lurching out a dark doorway. It is the young man, unexpectedly ambulatory as he steps towards, his arms held out. Is he a zombie? A fledgling vampire? Some other manner of spirit? Regardless: he was alive once, but Silas and Thomas chose not to save his life. Now he is returned with some darker purpose.
Silas throws off his umbrella and takes off his watch, for some reason, just as that face appears at the doorway. His aggressive expression drops at this, and he scoffs. “Well look at you.”, he comments, straightening up. “The fuck do you want.” Behind him, a hand gestures at Thomas to ‘hurry up’.
Then it is on — the monster launches itself first at Thomas, and then at Silas, howling with death-driven madness.
draws out his dagger, rushing at the corpse. “Come on!” he shouts to the animated corpse of a young man — and then there is some shock, as the man shifts. “Lord,” he says. “Well, that’s something.” He is wounded, now, clearly.
With the creature dead, Thomas groans, slashed rather to pieces by it. He’s on the ground, a mass of blood — and there’s a wolf, there, also.
Looking up, the someone groans. “That was not…” He looks at the wolf, and then at Buck. “Ransom,” he says — grunts, really, in pain. “Always seem to be coming in to save the day.”
Looking up, the librarian groans. “That was not…” Thomas looks at Silas(wolf), and then at Buck. “Ransom,” he says — grunts, really, in pain. “Always seem to be coming in to save the day.”
Silas(wolf) sits there licking blood off one if its paws – jury’s out on whose it is.
Holding his hands up, Buck comes closer to Thomas as he says, “Hey, look bud.” he says to Silas(wolf), “I don’t think you want this smoke. You try and take me on and there’s a dozen Ransoms coming to hunt your ass down. Now I’m going to try and take Mr. Hale here to a hospital, and you want to let us out?”
Perhaps unfortunately for Buck, there is a great deal of mist — a great deal of it — right outside the front door. That, perhaps, is why Thomas and Silas(wolf) were trapped inside this antique shop with the now dead un-dead corpse of the young man.
Silas(wolf) puts his paw down and stares at Buck for an audible beat before he shows his canines in a… sort of, grin…?
Silas kicks at the corpse of the dead, young, wannabe vampire. “Why go on right ahead, Detective,”, he offers butt-naked without a care and a hand presented towards the heavily-misted and probably very dangerous doorway.
Groaning low, his shirt shredded, Thomas tells Silas, “Thank you. I don’t know if it was you or Ransom who killed that thing…” He looks at the re-corpsed corpse. “But this was not a good…” A cough, spitting blood. “Fuck.”
Silas says “I managed t’snag it once.“
Raising his eyebrow, Buck gives a tip of his hat to Silas, “I don’t believe we’ve met, sir. Buck Ransom, of the local ones. I keep an eye on the city, and I’m glad you were here to help keep Mr. Hale safe.”
“I probably need to get to a hospital,” Thomas agrees with Buck. He nods to Silas. “We had just been –” Bloody coughs. “We had been talking about breaking a door down, and making out via the tunnels.”
Silas upnods Buck. “Silas. Saw you onna ads, you a famous one,”, he responds before facing the doorway once more, peering out. “Well hopefully ya got that tunnel entrance on lock or somethin’ cuz out there is gunna be real violent.” He turns to levy a toothy grin at the other men, though. “I’m down with that too tho’.”
Buck fishes out his phone and scrolls through it. “Silas Hart? Where did you serve? My files on you are pretty sparse, but all it has is your phone number and evidence you served.”
Silas shakes his head slowly, though he keeps his grin. “This really ain’t tha time for that I think. Take me
Rolling over again, Thomas spits out some more blood. He looks over at Buck. “Think you can make a hole in the floor?” he asks the man. “Or one of you,” he says. “Somewhere down in the basement, things ought to…” Coughing, again. “Connect.” Outside, shapes still move in the mists. “Then maybe we can get ourselves out of the damn mists.”
Silas shakes his head slowly, though he keeps his grin. “This really ain’t tha time for that I think. Take me out later and we can talk ’bout it.”
Silas says “Lead tha way.“
Thomas digs out a vial of something gold, taking a swig.
Buck nods to Silas, “Yeah, we should get Thomas to the hospital.” he looks over a map. “Southwest. Couple of maintenance tunnels, and we can take the subway over to the Hospital.”
Silas(wolf) shifts right back into wolf form and barks his affirmative.
With that — wolf, detective, and very wounded librarian — the trio descend into darkness of the tunnels, hoping to leave the mists behind.
Buck nods, and picks up Thomas to follow.
From out of a subway tunnel somewhere staggers Thomas, supported by Buck. There might have been a wolf, briefly, but it’s gone. The librarian does not appear to be in very good shape at all, covered in blood and his shirt raked in tatters. Not a good situation at all.
Buck helps Thomas as he says, “Yeah, let’s get you there, come on, I know the way.”
Buck says “All right, we’re near Northview Park, so we’re heading south.“
limps along, leaning on Buck, not at all pleased about the bleeding.
Thomas limps along, leaning on Buck, not at all pleased about the bleeding.
“Thank you,” Thomas tells Buck as they limp along. “This was — this was really not ideal. Not at all,” he coughs. “Fuck.” He looks over at the Silas(wolf). “And thank you,” he says, even if he suspicious about some of the slashes he may have.
Buck chuckles, “I guess you owe me for Sera and for saving your life. I guess I’ll put you on billables, Mr. Hale.”
Buck says “Going to get my car from work, it was just south of where we were.“
Coughing, Thomas nods to Buck. “I really… This is just not the best situation,” he admits. A look back at Silas(wolf). “At some point,” he says, “They may try to… take you in.”