2235/In Defense of Blood ft Harry, Inga, Riva, Wuyin and GOONS

In Defense of Blood ft Harry, Inga, Riva, Wuyin and GOONS
Date of Scene:	14 May 2015
Location:	Dresden's Apartment
Synopsis:	A smug fukkin vampire comes calling to Harry's Apartment. Sadly he does not get ashed.
Cast of Characters:	206, Riva Banari, Wuyin Tsai, 518, Inga

---

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Today was not the best day for Harry Dresden. It would get worse before it got better. When 'Simon Hargrave' called in the Goon Squad, Harry could hear it. In his stairwell, he could clearly hear the sounds of the mystery man who had appeared, calling to someone on the other end of a cellular phone that the object he was seeking wa at Harry's Apartment.

    This is where we resume.

    A half-dozen long, archaic cars have pulled up around the Dresden residence, and out poured an indefininte amount of... Thugs. That's the easiest way to describe them. Their clothes were a little archaic, but each of them had hungry looks in their eyes. They were all, also... Fairly good-looking, in a scruffy thuggish way.

    "Where is the place?" One asks. "The boss said we'd... find it here but there's nothing here."

    The thugs mill about for long minutes, before they start truly combing over the area. They have an address, and even directions, but it takes one nearly falling down the basement stairwell before they find the door.

    And upon finding the door, the hapless low-level vampire bursts into a cold blue flame, screaming. This spooktastic torch draws the rest, eyes alight with a tint of red. A few more try to bash down the door, and they... explode into rather neat piles of not-people spectacularly. Not eveng given a chance to regenerate.

    This loud banging, and singleminded drive to be inside, spends almost a quarter of the host simply trying to make an entry... And vampires are resilient creatures. Others are burned and tortured, writhing on the ground in pain.

    But others, finally, get through the door. Into the room, they... sniff around. Like predators, they stalk the room, looking for their goal. The blood-tincture.

    They don't make a huge mess - yet - but their entry was loud and overt.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Someone is in the shower. Someone is hearing banging and pounding outside the front door of the apartment. And more over, someone is hearing and feeling the intrusion of /things/ in his domicile.

    Dripping wet, with a pair of sweatpants hasitly dragged on his legs, Harry Dresden is in a rough spot. His gear's out in the living room. He hasn't got his staff. He kicks around a bit in the bedroom, reaching under the bed to get... One of his shotguns. The one with the enchanted rock salt. Right.

    A moment to peek around the corner into the living room, and Harry spots the closest goon. They're getting closer to the rug that hides the trapdoor to the lab. He's not sure where Inga is, and that's also where the blood is.

    HELLS BELLS. He reaches around the corner, and plants the tip of the shotgun as close to one of the vampires as possible, and pulls the trigger.

Inga has posed:
Inga had decided to go to the store. They were out of eggs and a couple other basic necessities.

That is how she comes to be outside the building, watching good-looking goons get out of cars she doesn't even have the know-how to recognize as old fashioned. She freezes though, an ill omen washing over her, setting the small hairs on the back of her neck on end.

Bad thing.

The wisewoman puts her bag of groceries down on the sidewalk carefully, staff in her other hand, then walks a little quicker, limping toward the apartment as quickly as she can manage. Will she reach the apartment unaccosted? Unlikely. Wards begin going off, Inga can hear them, her heart begining to race. They're after Harry!

So, Inga does what she usually does when danger arises. She takes out her knife and stabs herself in the arm.

Hot blood wells quickly, crimson against pale skin, releasing that coppery scent into the air, tinged with an unmistakable aroma of honey.

In short, Inga smells delicious.

The blood rises from her wound however as if gravity no longer effected it as Inga begins to cast a blood ward on herself before resorting to more offensive magic to get through into the apartment.

Needless to say, the witch is PISSED.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Wuyin has been skulking. He hasn't been particularly subtle about it; he's outright told Inga and Harry that that's what he's doing, apparently in the interest of being polite. 'Being polite' has not stopped him from actually and overtly spying on them.

Weird that he's never there when the cops drive around the block.

When a ton of vaguely good-looking goons (Wuyin can recognize a goon from a hundred paces, easy) pile out of cars and start battering down the door, he watches. Eschewing his annoyingly obvious behavior, he creeps around the side of the building, peeking out at the gaggle of goons as they throw themselves into wards even he wouldn't want to deal with. It isn't until he hears the door give that he actually steps fully out.

There is a bright and obvious flash of a camera going off from off to the right of the goon column. Wuyin just stands in the open, watching them.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva had no idea what was going on up in this thread, but here she is, all up in this thread and bringing a pie.

Except Riva has a couple pies, all stacked on each other in her hands as she practically bops along. she's wearing earbuds and listening to some hilariously sugary pop music as she rounds the corner to Harry's apartment. Because everyone loves pie and she hasn't visited in ages.

Maybe it's because she can't check Twitter while she's here.

Either way, she stumbles upon the commotion outside, stepping lightly over the dying vampires to pop her head around the side and look into the room. Oh, hi Wuyin.

"Hey guyyyyyyyyyyyyys." Riva asks, bright-eyed and smiling in her most annoyingly inquisitive voice. "Whatcha doooooooooooooooin?"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Inside, the goons seem to be lightly tossing the place. They uplift couch covers, kick over rugs, pull down posters and wall tapestries and... One just stares at the very nice poster of the original Star Wars, the one with Luke holding up his lightsaber and Leia draped off his leg. It's a very nice poster.

    One of his companions snarl at him with a hiss, and turns...
        Into a half-naked man wearing a gun. Recognition flashes, at the barrel of the gun, and he sneers. "You think that'll hur-"

    <BANG>

    It does hurt him. In a flash of gunpoweder and muzzleflash, the vampire goon's head explodes, and the rest of his body turns into a pile of dust. Others leap at harry, long claws extended, hissing fiercely. "We're here for the blood, human! Give it to us, and our master says you can live!"

    Outside, the half of the vampires that aren't A) Dead or B) Inside spread out, looking warily at Inga's delicioustasty blood. "We aren't here for you. Or... Any of you. Go away." One female vampire says, her eyes flashing crimson.

    In fact, as Inga bleeds herself, they all have their eyes turn a predatory red. "Go away!" Another cries, with a pageboy hat. He leaps at Inga and is immediately rebufed by her blood ward.

    Riva and Wuyin both are quickly circled by two more vampires apiece, seemingly more concerned with warding them away from the house then actually hurting them. "This is just /business/. Don't you humans understand?!"

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry racks the action on the shotgun, loading another shell as one of the vamps claws him in the chest. He growls as blood starts to flow but he kicks the lady away and takes less careful aim this time, hipfiring into a crowd. "You assholes can't even do this right, can you?"
    This time a vampire bites him, and there's a slight panic as Harry calls up his power, and does something stupid. He casts without a focus. "FOZARE." Now usually that spell is directed enough to hit like a truck in an area the size of basketball. But without any of that it rocks both Harry and the vampires, a trickle of blood spraying from his nose.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    The rest of the block will hear the spell go off like a particularly muffled M-80.

Inga has posed:
Inga observes. They look like humans, more or less...but she becomes increasingly sure that they are not. Eyes turn crimson. Hungry gazes. This is surprising.

Inga winces as one of the goons comes up against her ward, prevented from pouncing and making her a snack. The wisewoman narrows her eyes, looking to the one that spoke ad leapt toward her, knife in her hand, ready to wreck these creatures if she must. "Business? This is my home. You are attacking it. Your business should be leaving for I assure you I will not forget and I have a good, long time to remember and curse you," she practically growls, bringing her staff forward, the runes carved all along it beginnig to glow an angry golden-red. Apparently its for more than a walking aid.

"Leave," she repeats, giving them another chance before she starts blasting.... which is more than Harry is doing.

Inga glances toward Riva as she arrives with pies, eyes widening. "Protect Harry!" she cries. Riva can move faster than Inga.

Then, to Wuyin, Inga furrows a brow. "If you just sit there taking pictures Wuyin..." the rest of her threat goes unsaid. Its probably better to let him imagine.

Hopefully she won't suffer for hesitating to get with the violence. She doesn't know how powerful these people are. She'd heard something about blood? What?

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Wuyin lowers his camera, peering over the top through his 3D glasses. He's dressed pretty warmly for this time of year. And who wears 3D glasses, anyway? And smells like delicious, delicious honey?

Rude people, that's who.

"Ah," he says, bobbing his head. "Business. I see. Is your business with the wizard in residence, or the witch who is, I think, currently bleeding herself?" Wu leans to the left, looking around the vampires towards Inga. Yep; blood magic. "I've got business of my own with them. You're currently interfering with it."

Wuyin appears to be ignoring Inga's threats, but it's hard to tell if he's glancing her way at all behind the glasses. The two vampires near him can see that he's wearing a sword and some kind of twisted metal doll thing opposite it. How did they miss it?

"Though, if we could come to some sort of arrangement..."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva blinks as she gets surrounded and called human. Harry is not happy with them. He is, in fact, shooting dudes.

That's enough for Riva. "WUYIN! PIE!" She calls, and tosses the pies over towards wuyin in a short stack. She's sure he'll catch them. Because PIE.

"Look guys, did you think Harry wasn't capable of getting friends? Man, you're not only disposable, but you're dumb too." A hand goes over her shoulder, and she produces that bigass two-handed Ajoran Cross-shaped mace that Faruja gifted to her. Anima flares through the circuits she incised into the weapon, the lights burning red-gold as she spins and slams the ground with the head of the weapon, a short shockwave radiating outwards. Don't worry, it won't break the ground.

As soon as she's opened up something, she's going to bolt inside to back up Harry as ordered by Inga. she has a good head on her shoulders.

Riva's sure Wuyin can handle juggling pies and swording vampires at the same time.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    The bullets that rip through the vampires, since Harry is shooting from the hip, hit nonvital areas. One goes down to a chest wound, but most of the rest simply protect their heads and hearts, and as the rock salt shot tears bloody rents in their bodies, they surge over towards Harry...

    Right about the time he rips out the massive, unrestrained force orb.

    The few closest simply turn to dust, while those at the outside are tossed across the dark, cramped basement and crash into Harry's stuff.

    It also probably throws all of Harry's stuff all around.

    Outside, the two vampires near Wuyin relax a little. "We've already paid the Wizard for his services. We were just making sure we could collect on it. So if we just get the blood we came for, we'll..."

    There's an explosion inside.

    The vampires outside turn, looking startled. "We can't leave. It doesn't work like that!" One calls, and another points their fingers down the stairwell.

    The vampires seem to back off from the weird looking mace, but something impels one of them to just rush down the mace-weilder and stop them from helping Harry.

    Another goes for Inga, trying to simply pin her down, though it REALLY looks like the vampire wants to take a bite. They're not doing it, though.

    As a very nice looking seventh car pulls up.

    From the back door, out steps a perfectly shined black shoe, and light cream pants.

    Simon Hargrave clicks his tongue. "Really? We couldn't do business? Let's have a chat."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry's nose is bleeding, he's got bites, he's got scratches and it feels like he just got a concussion or something. He probably did. His vision is hazy, but he's walking over to the coatrack, and is able to snag his staff. Wait no, that's a hockey stick.

    ...Good enough.

    And so, half dressed, the wizard stalks out into the night, stomping up the steps of his apartment into the mercury street lamps. He is vaguely aware of Inga and Riva nad Wuyin out here, and wobbles a bit on his feet. He can smell the shark though, taste the feeling of the vampire in the night air. "HARGRAVE. I THOUGHT I SAID I'D FIND IT." He swats the end of the hockey stick against the concrete, and draws up more of his power. "And you send your men to ransack my house? Do they not have the Rules of Hospitality where you're from?"

Inga has posed:
Passing through Inga's ward is technically possible, but it isn't easy. It helps absorb some damage as she is attacked, and should feel not at all comfortable to pass through. A bit like consecrated ground.

Inga however, is not physically tough. She's knocked down with an undignified 'eep!' struggling as the vampire attempts to pin her, stabbing at him while she does with with the knife still in her hand.

And if she can't get him, she'll stab herself, and that's actually probably worse for him.

Inga is a strange woman with stranger powers.

"Get off of me! What is all this about!?" she cries, but she's just about had enough. She manages to slice herself with the knife and the blood puffs out in a spray of crimson that smells delicious but /hurts like hell/.

The blood is suddenly acid.

No, she has no idea how that works.

Suddenly, Harry arrives from inside the apartment, half naked, carrying a large stick in a gun. Inga still has no idea what is happening, but if she can manage to get the vampire off her, she'll be giving the sharp dressed man a narrow-eyed glare.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
"I find that it's much easier --"

Pies are thrown at Wuyin. He slips his camera into a pocket and starts snatching them out of the air, deftly maneuvering the pies into a position that is 'held' and not 'all over him or the ground.' His hands do appear to be full, now. /Can/ he sword-and-pie juggle-fight? Probably. Will he do it without ruining Pie Christmas? Ehhhhn, well...

"-- to collect on something from a wizard when you have their word that they'll keep their end of the bargain. They're really concerned with that good word of theirs." Wuyin may be completely unaware of the metaphysical ramifications, but he does know that, while wizards are dicks, they are not necessarily liars.

EXPLOSION

"You may have soured your working relationship. I'll wait, if this will clear up soon." He still makes no moves to manifest hate beams. He does waggle an arm in an approximation of a wave at the businessman, though. Hands are full of pie and all.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Hargrave opens his hands. "Now now, Mister Dresden." He sleazes calmly, as he looks around at the Level C vampires around him. "This is all a misunderstanding. You are, quite literally, blowing things out of proportion." He chuckles, adjusting the big sunglasses over his eyes. "There certainly are rules of hospitality where I'm from, but I don't think we have the same concept of them. No, I believe in good faith. I've made a small fortune trading, and when a business partner or prospective buyer or seller doesn't act in /good faith/ and honesty, I take matters into my own hands. You were paid. Handsomely, I may add!"

    The vampires back off a bit, though the one on Inga has bigger problems. Like how her blood turns into acid, sprays all over the guy's face, melts his head, and turns him into a heavy pile of ash all over Inga.

    Wuyin brings up a good point, though, one which Hargrave nods to.

    "Just so. Except that Mister Dresden didn't give me this good faith. He knew where it was. He stalled for time. He dissembled. If he had told me that he didn't want to do business, there and then, this would all be quite different. But, you see, he led me on. I... /hate/ doing business like that."

    He runs both hands back through his slick hair, a fangy smile on his face. "But our deal still stands, Mister Dresden. You accepted a contract. Certainly, you didn't sign... but you did say you'd help me."

Riva Banari has posed:
"WAAGH!" Riva yells, waving the holy symbol weapon around as the vampires use the Controversial One At A Time Strategy.

Riva's fine with this. "AND HEY!" She yells, dipping down to use the 'hook' of the anchor-like weapon to rip the leg out from under the vampire, then spinning, slamming the Anima-infused weapon with terrific force towards the beast's chest. "That was just /rude/. Don't you have any idea how to treat a lady?"

She tips her head as she hears what Hargrave is up to. "HEY HARRY!" Riva yells. "IS WHAT THIS GUY SAYING TRUE?"

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry's head swims as he tries to think. Counting. "TWO. TWO DAYS. Do you have any idea how much crap is in my house? There's... I had to look for it and I /do/ have other cases!" He wobbles a bit and then points the shotgun out at Hargrave. "The cash is still at the office, asshole, I'll go get it and mail it to whoever actually is hiring me when I'm done here." The gun lowers, Harry sucks in a breath, and starts to call up the magic for a spell. It's rough though and his control isn't what it's supposed to be. "FOZARE."

    This time... well he's got a stick at least and that's something. It's not his finely crafted rings or his foci though. The base of the staff explodes into shrapnel which chews up his leg, and his aim is off, wrecking Hargrave's pretty car.

Inga has posed:
Inga is, rather unexpectedly, covered in ashes as the vampire just seems to pop like an over filled balloon when she sort of melts his skin and delivers terribly acid burns. /Still/ she certainly hadn't expected that to KILL him.

Inga, gawking, grabs her staff and pulls herself back to her feet, casually trying to dust all the vampire remains off of her clothing.

Dignity gathered, Inga moves over toward Harry, listening to the man as he speaks. Despite the fact his cronies have been attacking them, she gives him a respectful nod. Obviously he is in charge, and a little respect never hurts. Maybe she can help salvage this situation somehow. Though, as she listens, she looks a bit annoyed, eyebrows rising to Harry. He hadn't mentioned all this.

Sudden Forzare, which seems to do little more than injure him more and crunch up the fancy hunk of metal the man arrived in.

"Harry! Odin's bones, what are you doing!?" she asks, taking her knife again to direct blood from her still seeping wound. It sprays out toward Harry, surrounding him in a barrier of shimmering red, healing him while it protects.

"I am extremely done with this. Shall we talk? This is my home as well and I take issue with it being attacked," Inga says, eyes pinned to Hargrave. She especially takes issue with Harry being injured, but she'd really like to know what in the nine worlds is happening here.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Wuyin stays out of range of exploding, dusting vampires. He doesn't want to get any undead in the pies.

"Accepting payment for a service tends to lead one to believe you've agreed to undertake it," Wuyin says, from his position on the physical and moral sidelines. "However, breaking and entering is an excellent way to draw the attention of mortal law enforcement and the allies of the victim."

"You might consider offering recompense for the damages and the labor he'll incur replacing the wards," the Not A Dragon Agent suggests. "Or Dresden could tell you why he won't take the job and set you on fire. Either appears to be a suitable method of resolving the dispute."

Wuyin pauses. He looks at the pie.

"Riva," he asks, "why am I holding all this pie?"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Riva doesn't need to swing very hard to powder the vampire when she staves in his chest, the anima-enchanted holy weapon easily finding purchase. And then? Vampire dust. Powder powder powder. Hargrave doesn't seem to care, nor does he care about Harry's protests. "I don't know. I really don't care. You were never going to do it. And I don't believe you have other cases. Your office was in such a state..." He tisks gently.

    It's around that time that Harry Dresden blows up his car, sending a crumpled heap of it and asphalt skidding down the road, tearing up the pavement and leaving a flaming wreck that shortly explodes. The other cars are thrown hither and thither, though they mostly just roll over onto their sides or have their tires pop.

    Inga, like Harry, have learned a valuable lesson. Severe damage to one of THESE Vampires' heads is enough to kill them very dead. As Inga regains her dignity, and shields Harry, Hargrave just slides his hands into his shallow jacket pockets. "Beyond entry - and my organization is very willing to replace a door - my people were ordered to not disturb things, and simply retrieve the item. The..." He looks down the staircase, where a few dazed vampires file out, one of them clutching an item. "... Damage to the interior is more blameable on the negligence of a one Harry Dresden."

    Wuyin's insistence on the mortal law enforcement makes Hargrave shrug. "That's not my problem. /Human/ authorities that aren't the Hunters don't concern me. They haven't been cattle in long, long years but that doesn't make them any more independent or intelligent. It's better to forget this. If money is an object..." He reaches into his pants and withdraws another two stacks of ten large, and tosses them at Harry's feet.

    "There. Are we acquitted?"

    Harry DID leave blood-sniffing vampires in his house to confront Hargrave. "We'll even ignore my subordinate's lives. Those that were smart enough to live will be rewarded, and those you've dusted... Well, I can't bring them back. Cost of doing business."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    It's then that Harry /hears/ the Vampires coming out of his house and turns just in time to see the bastards skulking and running off into the night. He starts to turn to give chase but stumples onto his hockey stick. He turns, looking to Simon just as Inga heals him, and the energy peps up his brain ever so slightly. He spits a mouthfull of blood on the ground, before hissing. "Don't think... Wuyin's wrong." He shuffles himself up to his full height, leaning on the stick. "The name is Harry Dresden. Not sure if you've done all your research on me, but I'm a Bad Man. You shoulda figured that out by now. I will find you. Just so you know."

    He doesn't move to pick up the money. He's also not trying ot cast any more spells.

Inga has posed:
Inga still has very little idea what started this whole mess. The blood? Obviously, something special about this that Harry was apparently paid to retrieve but did not deliver in a timely enough manner (seems like he wanted it rather immediately and thought it might be fun to just go get it).

Either way, Inga is less than pleased with being ignored, and to her, disrespected. The witch's hands both settle on her staff, her eyes remaining focuses on Hargrave. A wolfish smile appears then disappears in an instant. "Such pretty skin," she comments to him, then begins to chant a galdr spell.

A curse.

Soon enough, a single, nasty little boil will appear on his cheek. One can be sure there are many more soon to follow.

Riva Banari has posed:
"Because I needed both hands, silly." Riva replies to Wuyin. She shoulders the mace, and looks around, watching Harry intently. If any more of those vampires want to step, Riva can step right back. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

At this point, she's leaving it up to Harry on what's going to happen next.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
"Ah." Wuyin nods a little at Riva. He frowns a little at Smug McSleazypants' reasons or excuses for being overt, but he doesn't say anything about it.

He also does not interfere with the cursing or money-exchanging. They have a vague plan, and he doesn't think flinging large amounts of fire and lightning right now is going to do it any favors.

Besides, he might damage the pie.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    As the vampires from inside the house skulk off past Hargrave, jogging away, the others that were still outside aim to melt into the surroundings. Leaving only Hargrave... And those assembled.

    "We've already traded names, Wizard. But I'll leave here, and not bother you again. And you will go back to your life, and perhaps learn to not explode your own home so much. It'd be a shame if something were to ha-..." He stops, holding a hand to his face, as the boil is summoned up.

    He leers at Inga, before clawing at his face, opening wounds as he simply tears free a bit of his face, tossing it away in a bloody chunk, the skin-deep wound seeping and bloody before swiftly closing up with new flesh.

    And then a few more boils appear on that new skin. Hargrave is furious. "You... You... Dare mar me? You are a fool. Well, fine. This will all be put behind us, soon. You, and yours, could have gone back to your simple, peasant lives." He growls, his eyes flashing as his body darknes, his black shirt seeming to swallow all his other clothes in darkness, before there's a sound of fluttering wings.

    "I could have made this a pleasant memory and lined your pockets with cash. But you had to be FOOLISH and SPITEFUL! You'll see what you get!" He spits, his once pleasant and certain face twisted in anger.

    He's still really pretty, beyond the boils, though.

    His body begins to disperse, into a cloud of bats and darkness.

Inga has posed:
Inga snorts, shaking her head. "Come back with a bit of respect and I'll remove the curse. Until then, do enjoy," she snaps back as he takes off.

Inga turns toward Harry, reaching over to support him if he needs, or just hug him if not. "Come on, I can heal you further--" Inga glances to Riva and Wuyin, "--and eat pie," she adds.

She does so hope its blueberry.