InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "That's not love. That's hate."

tao_ (tao_) wrote,
@ 2010-09-15 16:55:00

Who: Riley and Tao
What: an unexpected visit
Where: Tao's office

Tao had not gotten a lot of sleep. Thankfully, he did not need a lot. He'd cleaned meticulously of course, then sat on the phone all night. His source did not like to have any suspicion on them that they even liked vampires let alone were indebted to one. So a late night phone call was pushing things. Unfortunately, he did not have a lot of time to placate her. After explaining the problem, and promising this was a final favor she had relented and headed out to the church in the morning. He had laid in bed, no not a coffin, and stared at the ceiling. Usually a good couple of hours in the room, even if it didn't last as long as he would like, were relaxing. He'd instead found he let his guard down more then he anticipated and the shifter had garnered more respect then he had previously expected to give. Worse yet, he wasn't all that sure the rule of keeping things in the room would stick, as they had finished out negotiations inside.

That was upsetting as well. He'd had no problem taking out tribute. He had purposefully given the new leader the information to see how he would deal with it. Seeing if he would reach for that small bit of power, or even more. It would be telling on his position as leader and give Tao some weak points to use. Still, he had planned on enjoying the negotiations. There was nothing like riling up a shifter. Even the idiot power hungry ones.

Deciding sleep wasn't coming he'd headed into work, checking over inventories, new information and new hires. The club was doing well, they had a steady stream of regulars as well as those coming for the thrill of seeing a vampire. He drew up the new treaty and even slipped in a clause regarding collars to see if it would be noticed. The phone call from his plant came early and she had information. Not that it was good, she promised to stay on it. He explained it wasn't necessary, but she felt obligated. If only to spare the pack and vampires more problems.

He accepted a glass of blood to drink, from a blood bank few knew he owned and sat back to rest. Riley should be calling soon so he could pass on the information. The phone call, Tao mused, would be short and to the point. The shifter did not seem to enjoy talking to him much. The thought made his mouth twitch and he almost chuckled to himself.

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tao_
2010-09-16 12:03 am UTC (link)

Tao put his glass down and frowned, standing up to head to the door. He heard the small comment and swore under his breathe as Jeanne burst into the shakes and tears and ran. Grabbing the door frame he leaned out and looked around to see she'd already left.

His nose twitched at a new, and not at all pleasant smell and he turned dark eyes on Riley. "You have probably set her back at least a month. Congratulations." He stepped into the office and gestured to a chair. "I was expecting you to call." He grumbled.

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amulius
2010-09-16 03:02 am UTC (link)

Riley snorted at the woman's retreating back, and then stepped forward down the hall and into the office. He dropped the bag next to the chair and then took a seat. He licked his upper lip and looked up at Tao with his large amber eyes, completely unapologetic. "Couldn't show you this on a phone." He said with a shrug. He rolled his shoulders back and then reached for the bag, untying the knot at the top. He reached inside the bag and when he pulled hand out, he was holding a bloody arm with all the nails pulled out from their roots. The skin on the arm was gray and purple and blue and black and clearly had been bitten in places, chuncks of flesh ripped away.

"I sent two of our youngest and dumbest pups into the city to get pissed out of their minds." Riley explained, "When they reached the border, two of our warriors followed, and they discovered two humans following the pups. Unfortunately, they were provoked and - did not bring the men in for questioning like I told them to. They were punished" He rubbed his fingertips over his chin and then set them down on the severed arm, drumming them on the grayish skin. "So- it's humans. They had silver on them, too." He turned the hand so that the fingers pointed up towards the ceiling. "Rings, see? They got in a good punch on Danny's face before he severed the jugular, you can see where the rings his his skin."

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tao_
2010-09-16 12:47 pm UTC (link)

Closing the door behind him, Tao went to sit behind his desk. Now he was hoping the shifter didn't catch the new clause. Would serve him right. Grabbing his glass he finished it off and sat back. Folding his hands in his lap he waited for Riley to explain.

Flesh. Dead flesh. He closed his eyes momentarily. "So you set up an ambush." He replied. He knew better then to think it was just a simple gesture of worry for two pups and just happening upon the men who filled the bag now on his office floor. His lip twitched, if he got so much as a speck on the carpet Tao would have to rip it up and put in new flooring. Probably wood this time. He didn't trust the wolf to not play the same trick twice.

With a frown he shook his head, "If the only silver on them was jewelry, you will have to do better. Many humans are fond of silver for decoration. That does not show intent. Not that you're pack seemed worried over intent." He added.

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amulius
2010-09-16 01:26 pm UTC (link)

"How many human males do you know that wear rings on all of their fingers?" Riley retorted, dropping the arm back into the bag, the contents sloshing about beautifully. "There's more than just that- there's a reason I have a bag full of body parts." He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he reached back into the bag and searched around inside the gore. When he removed his arm the first time, he had taken hold of a severed foot. "Whups, not what I was looking for." He said, dropping the foot back into the bag. He rooted around a bit more until, finally, he pulled up a rolled-up piece of skin. He unrolled it in his lap, staining his shirt and jeans but shifters didn't care if their alpha had human blood on his clothes.

"Take a look at this shit." He said, flipping the skin over on his lap. There was a tattoo inked into the grayish surface, a stylized image of the sun, almost ten inches in diameter. "The other one had it on his back, too, but his isn't as intact as this one." Riley's expression became more serious. "This is the symbol from those sun-worshippers' church, isn't it? They know about the pack-" He let out a soft growl, that was completely unacceptable, for humans to know of their existence, and to have the gal to hunt them, as well? Unacceptable.

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tao_
2010-09-16 05:08 pm UTC (link)

He shrugged, it wasn't that he didn't believe him, but humans had a totally different set of rules when it came to evidence. Which was why even as part of the system, there were times you had to work around it. Tao couldn't help the small groan as Riley rustled around in the bag, he'd be removing carpet all right.

Leaning forward he looked at the skin. "Yes, but not all of them have tattoos. My source has agreed to keep working on the church, though she's gotten us quite a bit of information. For the most part, it's legitimate. Humans who think that signs of vampires and other paranormal happenings are an end of days or punishment. However, she found there was a 'support group' set up as well. The group is for those who had lost a loved one to vampire attack or other creatures." He added pointedly.

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amulius
2010-09-16 09:01 pm UTC (link)

"Don't look at me like that, it's not like we eat them." Riley shot back. "Any human who goes missing in the deep woods probably got attacked by either a bear or a Were. We always head them off if they get anywhere close to our borders, we don't kill humans." Maybe a little wounding as a buck or as a bear, but the shifter pack didn't do anything to put themselves in the sights of humans, or their petty little law enforcement agents. He let out a snort of breath. "If they know about us, it was probably a vampire who told them."

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tao_
2010-09-21 03:59 pm UTC (link)

He stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "Believe me, we are not going around spreading rumors about you and yours." Tao sighed and sat forward. "My concern is the recruiting. She decided to stay and gather much information as she could, but so far it seems this support group is the danger. There are elders within the church that take aside members that have a hard time letting go of anger. Also there was at least one other new member who had been invited because of their child's death. Not one that seemed caused by either shifter or vampire, but a hunting accident with friends, beer, and guns. I worry they are twisting things in order to get the angry followers they are looking for." His eyes flashed, using pain was an easy manipulation and seen too often.

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amulius
2010-09-21 09:09 pm UTC (link)

Riley wrinkled up his nose. He had never been to church, his people didn't need a big building to be in touch with their gods, but he had met some church people. He knew that good church people were the kind that knew not to ask too many questions in the winter time when the pups were too many and food too scarce and they sent out their women to the soup kitchens on the edges of the city. The sun-worshippers were not good church people, he had known that even before members of the pack had started going missing. To much chanting and too many promotional t-shirts, too many men with too many straight white teeth talking too much on the TV. "So they're recruiting the distraught and getting them to go after vamps and shifters?" Riley asked, "Can your human get in closer? Try to see how they tell the humans about us?" He let out a soft growl and fell silent for a moment, and then- "I should go in." He said with a frown, "Help her."

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tao_
2010-09-21 09:52 pm UTC (link)

Tao nodded, "Finding those with great loss and giving them someone, something, to focus their pain and anger on. What better way to build a destructive but replaceable army?" It was the very opposite of what he himself had vowed to do with his territory and people, and that upset him more then anything. It made it personal. In someways it felt like his own sire, twisting things for pain.

His eyes met the carpet at the mention of the human. "I informed her that her services were no longer required, however she can be rather, stubborn. She used a variation on a story regarding her sister and vampires to get access to this support group meeting tonight. It will hold up if it's investigated." It would hold up because no one ever tried to find the truth. Most were ready to believe in the secret human slave trade enough to not ask questions.

His head snapped up, "No. You shouldn't. Do you really believe they wouldn't have something prepared for you? That they aren't hyper aware of either of our kind trying to gain access? You'd put the human, and yourself at risk. Is that wise with your pack still shifting to new leadership?"

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amulius
2010-09-21 10:51 pm UTC (link)

Riley left out another soft growl, "So, again, you expect me to do nothing and just let you handle everything." His breath rumbled in his chest, his lips quivering a little. He stood up from the chair and tossed his hair, turning away from Tao. He very nearly kicked over the bloody bag, but resisted, and instead stepped over it, his large hands clenched into fists. "The pack is - fine. We celebrated the killing of those humans who were tracking our pups. The Hartwicks are licking their wounds, my position is still strong." He didn't mention that, following his discussion with Tao, he had decided to have all of the former alpha's female offspring killed. "And you- just want me to wait."

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tao_
2010-09-21 11:11 pm UTC (link)

Narrowing his eyes, Tao let out his own frustration with hands gripping the chair arms. "Right now, it looks as though we are both handling it. Unless I missed the call you made when your pups were followed? Whether you realize it or not, we must be careful with this. I would much rather burn their church to the ground with the body of their leader on display in front of the flames. It would make him a martyr and simply forge astronger church from it's ashes." He sighed and loosened his fingers on the leather.

"For now, we both wait. We will do better when we have more information and can rake the church down in both the media and personally." he preferred the old ways himself, but had learned the value of politics and that was how they would have to destroy this enemy.

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amulius
2010-09-22 01:15 am UTC (link)

"I'd rather be getting my hands dirty." Riley replied, letting his hands open slowly. He looked down and saw that blood had come to the surface, his skin mottled in the shape of small crescents on his palms. He let out another growl and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling with a gravely sigh. "I hate this." He muttered, "When did we become so beholden to their rules?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at Tao, meeting the vampire's eyes. "We're stronger than all of them."

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tao_
2010-09-22 12:52 pm UTC (link)

Pushing himself from the chair he stood and paced around the desk to stare at his poor carpet and the bag of body parts left there. "We are stronger, but it takes very little to send humans out to war. For some reason, they value the media's take on things. Rather then concern themselves with real honor, they prefer the reputation they can get in the eyes of the camera."

Slipping hands into his pockets he shrugged. "We are not beholden to them, however, they do not follow our laws, our rules. They rarely follow their own. We could simply take them down, but we would be taking down threat after threat. Leaving us constantly on the defensive. We play their game, by their rules, and win. It will do more then punish them, it will break them. Hopefully, it will eliminate them as a threat for a long time."

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amulius
2010-09-22 02:25 pm UTC (link)

Riley let out a snort, "That's always been it, hasn't it?" He grumbled. "The gods make these pink squishy things that wouldn't have any defense alone, but then they give them greater numbers, there's more of them than shifters and weres and the two-natured combined, more than vampires and all other things combined. And through that they get their greatest weapon." Riley bared his teeth. "Civilization." He tossed his head again and paced behind his chair. "And because of that, I won't be able to tear out nearly as many throats as I'd like." It was so ridiculous.

He turned his head towards Tao. "Fine, we'll do things your way." He said, clearly annoyed. "We'll do things your way. We have other things to discuss-" He raised a hand to scratch at his head, "Where's the new contract?"

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tao_
2010-09-22 02:30 pm UTC (link)

"You stick to the shadows for a reason." He reminded him. As satisfying as the idea of putting fear into the hearts of the humans responsible then ripping those hearts out was, it was a move that would cost them. He didn't bother to protest that it wasn't his way but the humans, if Riley felt he was making concessions then he'd let him fume.

Ducking his head to hide a small smile he moved to open the drawer on the right of the desk. "You are welcome to take them and have them read over first. The tribute was removed. As requested." He kept his voice empty as he handed the file over.

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amulius
2010-09-22 03:00 pm UTC (link)

Riley padded to Tao's desk and took the folder, closing his large hand around it. He took a few steps away from the vampire and cracked the file over. His eyes narrowed and his features became sharper and almost birdlike as he began to read. With the eyes of a hawk he scanned over the words, taking in line after line after line in a matter of minutes. After several minutes of this, he closed the file with one hand and looked back up at Tao, meeting his eyes with human ones of his own, his features returned to normal.

"The fifth clause has an addendum that reqiures the East Pack alpha to wear a collar during negotiations." Riley said finally, his eyebrows rising, "What kind of negotiations are you planning on us having, Tao?" He was still annoyed, but now he was a little intrigued, as well. Had the vampire simply added that to toy with him, or did he have deeper, more interesting motives, as well?

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tao_
2010-09-22 03:08 pm UTC (link)

He hadn't even had time to sit back down. The shifter was fast, but not entirely efficient. Taking his time he sat back and crossed his legs, hands in his laps. "You missed a little something didn't you? You'll be providing your own collar. As you tend to destroy mine."

Raising eyes to meet Riley's he smiled. "You seemed much more comfortable asking for what you wanted and negotiating in the other room. Perhaps I'm simply trying to make things, smoother for you." An out and out lie, but plausible.

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amulius
2010-09-22 03:37 pm UTC (link)

Riley frowned and glanced down at the papers again. His eyes found the line and he read over it. When he looked to Tao again, he was bristling. "I broke one.." He began, and then flushed a light pink when he realized that there was something slightly more important to discuss.

"I thought you said that what was said and happened in that room wouldn't leave that room." Riley snapped back. He hated that smile, that smug, self-assured expression. "Putting collars in the document that defines an ancient relationship between our people qualifies as information leaving the fucking room!"

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tao_
2010-09-22 03:42 pm UTC (link)

"YOU brought negotiations into that room! YOU defiled it." Hands gripped and he closed his eyes for one moment, forcing himself to calm. He continued without opening his eyes. "If you want to suddenly abide by rules, then the tribute stays in the contract. It was never discussed otherwise. You still have a few hours to request negotiations on the old contract or let it stand."

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amulius
2010-09-22 04:03 pm UTC (link)

"You are such a vindictive, self-righteous jackass." Riley replied, snarling, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. He turned to face the vampire, his teeth bared, his eyes large and amber. "Talking about defiling things, when you never protested discussing the contract in that room." His upper lip curled into a sneer, "You're an impotent crock of shit."

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	tao_ 2010-09-22 04:08 pm UTC (link)
	Finally opening his eyes, he left his face impassive. "You knew the rules walking in. I made them clear. You wish to stick by them, then that is what we will do. Anything stays. EVERYTHING, stays. You still have the old contract in your possession I believe? Tribute starts in three days time. You have 36 hours to negotiate otherwise." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

amulius
2010-09-22 04:17 pm UTC (link)

There was the wolf's blood, beating in his chest and bubbling in his heart. He let out another growl and looked away from Tao and down at the ground, his hands clenched into fists. He remained silent for a moment, fighting to compose himself. Even so, when he looked up at Tao, his eyes were still large and yellow. When he spoke, his words were slow and carefully chosen, "Let's negotiate, then." He said evenly, "I want tribute removed from the contract. Name what you want in return."

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tao_
2010-09-22 04:28 pm UTC (link)

"Respect." The answer was simple and as he elaborated he stood. "This house is a sanctuary, I have important and delicate work to do here and the number of people that are allowed to even know it's whereabouts could be counted on one hand. Even by you." He added with a snap of teeth. "You set things back by dragging your mess into my home, you set back that work by purposefully antagonizing the humans living here. You ever set foot on these grounds, you do so with respect to those that seek the sanctuary here."

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amulius
2010-09-22 04:34 pm UTC (link)

Riley resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He kept his stare fixed on the vampire's face as he spoke, his eyes following Tao's as he stood. "Respect." He repeated, and fell silent again. His upper lip twitched, "You're a strange vampire." He continued, " Offering sanctuary to anything other than something rare or someone you're keeping as a pet.." And yet, Riley could not smell fang on her skin. "Fine. Respect."

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tao_
2010-09-22 04:51 pm UTC (link)

He could believe what he wanted. As long as he left the others be. "That means you do not disclose this location to any, including your mate. You bring none here unless there is no other option.". He added. Tao had long ago list mist emotions, whether he'd just forgotten them or was incalable of anything other the. Anger he didn't know, or care. It was his own rules, codes that he had come up with when finally free himself that he stuck to. Even if the rules no longer seemed wise.