The Betting Ring

[Raven]

"No... It's about Jeremiah." Nikola knew the man hated her father - it was why she had never met him. Nikka wasn't even sure that Anya's father knew about her. Still, he seemed to be a good man, despite the misplaced bad feelings.

[Neon]

"What did he do?? Are you okay??" Vlad was both terrified and furious at once, straight up running to the small home.

[Raven]

"Just meet me at the coffee shop nearby. Please."

[Neon]

Vlad changed direction, not even caring he was still in a very nice, ruffly apron.

[Raven]

Nikka was already headed there, Anya's phone in her pocket. She didn't bother keeping to the shadows, since she was fairly sure Vlad wouldn't fear her, despite the fact that she had followed him for several weeks. 'Wait. Don't come in.'

[Neon]

Vladimir stopped in his tracks, bright red eyes searching the area. They briefly landed right on his stalker, but quickly moved away.

[Raven]

Nikka came closer, until she was close enough to effect him. Bright blue light flashed, and the man fell to the ground.

[Raven]

Ryan's blood ran cold at the message in his hands. He was nearly out the door before he remembered to put on pants. Without thinking, he dropped the slightly crumpled paper on the floor - forgetting to lock the front door as he hurried to the hotel. It wasn't a good idea for him to go, but Vlad was in trouble and he couldn't leave him. He hoped he would be okay, and that Edrin wouldn't get involved. He took a bus and an innercity train to get to the hotel, making it in record time, considering. He was in too much of a hurry to bother with the elevator, even though the room was several floors up. When he got there, he burst into the room without thinking it might be a trap. He was conscious just long enough to know Vlad was not there.

[Neon]

Edrin came home later that evening and knew right away something was terribly wrong. He couldn't place what exactly it was, but he felt chills, which only intensified as he found the discarded note. He read it and ran furiously toward the hotel.

It was true that he was mostly concerned with Ryan, his first and only true love, but Vladdy had a special place in both of their hearts, ever since they stuck up for him all those years ago.

He was too consumed by fear and anger to notice his surroundings, or to stop and think about what he was doing. He burst through the door, and managed to shout "Ryan-!" as he, like all before him, crumpled to the floor with a blue flash of pain.

[Neon]

Late that night Eryk Jashin was interrupted in the midst of his plotting by a text message. "Meet me in the park in ten minutes. I need to talk to you."
Normally such a message would be deleted on sight. But this was from the person he was plotting to gain. Vladdy.
He made it to the park in five minutes. It was obvious once he got to the specified place that Vladimir wasn't there, but Eryk didn't have time to react before he was knocked unconscious.

[Raven]

Katrina was coming to the door late, an apology ready on her lips since she'd been in the shower at the first knock, but as she passed the front windows, she saw Isobel fall to the ground, and even though she didn't have a good plan, she ran out to try to assist the woman. "What happened?" she asked the other woman who was standing there, not even thinking that was where the danger came from until she, too, was attacked.

[Neon]

Nicholas was in the middle of costuming his Titania when he got a three word text from the man who hadn't spoken to him in years. "I need you." He literally dropped what he was doing and sprinted out towards the home, anxiously looking around as he got there.

[Gifted]

Stephanie would have found it amusing what her mother was going to have to go through when it got out there'd been kidnappings in the hotel room she'd paid for, but Stephanie had been taken before any of them were even there. That morning, she'd been walking to school when she got that prickly feeling that one gets when one knows that they're being watched. There was someone following her. She looked back nervously but nobody stood out in her brief glances.
No, you know what? She was a Clark. She'd once convinced a coroner and an entire police department she was a freelance detective from another state. She could figure out who her damn stalker was.
She sat on a bench and watched faces. Her stalker wouldn't be able to just stop in the middle of the sidewalk. He or she would have to keep moving, and then she'd take off in the other direction. Either they'd lose her, or they'd follow her and she'd recognize them. She sat on a bench for three minutes, cataloging the emotions and personalities of the people who passed and memorizing the most likely candidates' faces. Then she stood up and walked down the street, turning left into an alley.
Yeah, in retrospect, turning into a place where no one could see her was pretty stupid. She found out who her stalker was all right, but it was too late.

[Raven]

Nikola was behind schedule, and she hadn't anticipated just how quickly Nicholas would get there. She came down the street as he was coming to the door.

[Neon]

Nicholas was pounding on the door. "Vladdy!! Vladdy open up!" he shouted, not caring who saw.