When Meeting A Prince

JP with Jaxx, Trustno1 and Cindy

The Marketplace had been a good choice for dinner, Alyssa opted for some Tacos, and chips with salsa. The selections were more than a food court and the food was better, as described in what the hacker had read.

After dinner, dessert and some coffee, it was time to go to the meeting. They arrived at the Sears Tower, and Alyssa looked up, at the top was the offices of the Prince. The light was on, but by no means were those lights the only ones on in the building. "Shall we go in?" Alyssa asked when everyone seemed ready.

At the Marketplace Agent Powers bought a few pounds of Teriyaki chicken, some spring rolls and a large tea on a large serving tray. Then he saw Ekaterina purchase a six inch chicken sub sandwich with a tea. For dessert they had some various macrons and a cappuccino for each of them. Once they finished they followed Alyssa to the meeting to meet the Prince. Agent Powers gave Alyssa a smolder before he nodded to Alyssa. Ekaterina smiled elegantly as she mentally prepared herself to negotiate with a vampire Prince.

The Sears Tower was enveloped in a gloom of fog. Its upper floors were adorned with gargoyles on the side of the building. As they entered, they signed in at the front desk.

The office they were headed to was called tower consulting. As they stepped off the elevator onto the 13th floor.They noticed that the office was locked with a keypad.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and sighed, "What? Is this going to be just one big test?" Vampires supposedly had exceptional hearing, so she absolutely said it so the Prince might be able to hear her. "Fortunately, I came prepared." Alyssa pulled out her phone, started tapping on it and in less than a minute, said, "Got it." Typing in the word "Mcgavin1" the lock disarmed and the door swung open.

The floor was covered in a literal red carpet.

The Swedish war hero of the Mexican American war set behind a desk. Kolchak was sitting on a couch to the side of the office. Behind the Prince was a large glass window, the city of Chicago was moving through the night on the streets below.

"I have some information that I think you all would like to know. "Where would you like me to start?" Asked Lodin.

Alyssa took in the surroundings, in particular noticing any security measures or recording devices she could see. However, being they had agreed on Ekaterina being the spokesperson, the hacker remained quiet, as she waited for the others woman to speak.

The air in Prince Lodin's office at the top of the Sears Tower was thick with shadow and silence. The walls seemed to pulse with the centuries-old secrets embedded within them, cloaked in dark mahogany and brass accents that gleamed in the faint light. Heavy curtains drawn against the night only allowed slivers of moonlight to cut through, casting pale, spectral beams across the dark marble floor and the towering shelves lined with old tomes and ledgers.

Outside the glass wall that stretched from floor to ceiling, the city of Chicago sprawled beneath him like a creature too weary to rise, slumbering in the pallor of midnight. The city looked sickly, skeletal structures wrapped in tendrils of smog and neon flickers, the streets below bruised with shadows as if the very lifeblood of the city had been drained to fuel Lodin's ambitions. Gothic cathedrals stood hunched between brutalist high-rises, and the faint hum of distant sirens drifted up, piercing the silence for a moment before fading like the last breaths of the city's soul.

Lodin sat behind a vast, polished desk, his hands steepled in front of him, fingers as white and elegant as bone. His face was carved in shadow, a marble mask barely illuminated by the dim lamp beside him. His gaze was cold and predatory, piercing through the dimness with an ancient, unyielding authority. His sharp features were softened only by the luxurious fabric of his dark suit, tailored so precisely it seemed almost a second skin. His hair was slicked back, every strand perfectly in place, a mane of midnight that further darkened his already formidable silhouette.

The Prince’s eyes, however, betrayed a flicker of anticipation . The investigators he had summoned , he had handpicked them for their talents, their discretion—or so he had been led to believe. He was no stranger to traitors in his midst, and he had no patience for them. He would ensure that his questions left no room for evasive answers. A twitch of a smile danced briefly at the corner of his mouth, cold and sharp as a blade.

On his desk, a crystal decanter sat filled with a dark, viscous liquid that could have been blood, save for its faint amber hue. Lodin poured a measured amount into a cut glass and swirled it, watching the liquid catch the scant light. The glass was a relic, etched with arcane symbols that only those within his inner circle could understand. As he raised it to his lips, he paused, taking in the silence around him, feeling it close in as tightly as his own skin.

After a long pause, he set his glass down, the sharp clink resounding through the room like the toll of a distant bell.