Incubus Dreams - October 29th

[anita_blake]

Anita pulls up into the driveway of Ronnie's house, armed and ready for a fight. Not that she fully expects a fight, but she's prepared anyway. Ronnie had called and said she had a lead on the missing swanmane, and so Anita had come as quickly as possible. She gets out of the Jeep and sprints up to Ronnie's door, knocking impatiently.

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[ab_npc]

"Fine," Ronnie concedes with a sigh. "We'll go in assuming the worst, as always, and hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised."

With a swanmane that's into BDSM, though, her imagination can make it pretty darn bad.

She sits in relative silence while Anita drives, only speaking up to give directions to the warehouse.

[anita_blake]

Anita keeps her opinions about pleasant surprises to herself, and just follows the directions. It's not a part of town she spends any time in, and quickly gets herself turned around. Priority one, then, make sure Ronnie doesn't die here; she'll never get herself home otherwise.

The car pulls up in front of the warehouse, and sure enough, there's a marked auto parts van parked nearby. "So much for nobody being home," she mutters.

[ab_npc]

"Damn. Strike one," Ronnie murmurs. "I guess it's show time, then. I'll follow your lead."

She carefully opens the car door. The Jeep probably made enough noise on its own to alert someone to their presence, but there's no fault in being cautious. She closes the door to a crack before drawing her gun, safety still on and pointed to the ground.

She keeps one eye on Anita. She'd much rather defer to her best friend's experience. Ronnie might be a pretty good shot, but she doesn't have nearly the training and expertise that Anita has. Better to follow the professional.

[anita_blake]

Anita pulls her own gun and crouches behind the car. After a three count, she moves quickly to the wall beside the door, staying low. She gives a little push on the door, and finds it opens easily. Not a good sign.

She slips inside, making sure that Ronnie follows before taking a look around. It's about the worst possible setup. A huge, empty space with no cover, overlooked by offices with smoky windows on three sides.

"Shit," Anita breathes, pressing her back against the outer wall and scanning the upper floor for any sign of movement.

[ab_npc]

Ronnie takes in the situation unhappily. There were no men with guns pointed at them in the main room, but she doesn't trust those smoky windows.

"Do you think there's another entrance to those offices? A back door we can use instead of risking it in there?"

Her eyes are still on the windows when something moves behind one of them. The tint of the window makes it a bit unclear, but she can tell it's humanoid rather than a shifted lycanthrope.

"Movement, fourth office from the left," she whispers.

[anita_blake]

Anita has time to turn her head toward the motion before a chip of the concrete floor explodes beside her and the gunshot report echoes through the empty room. She immediately rolls to her left and tries to track where the shot had come from.

[ab_npc]

"Shit," Ronnie curses. Being shot at for entering a damn warehouse wasn't on her to-do list for today. She has to assume that Anita is all right, since her friend didn't make a sound after the shot. Her own eyes stay where that movement had been in the windows, but the shot itself had come from elsewhere. A quick scan of the room reveals someone ducking out of view before she can click off the safety of her gun and aim effectively.

"Gunman. Stairs at 2 o'clock."

She hopes Anita has a plan of some sort, 'cause running out into that room looks like fucking suicide at this point.

[anita_blake]

Anita spins, but the stairs are clear by the time she gets there. There's obviously more than one person here, and they are sitting ducks.

"Ronnie, go!" she shouts, pointing back toward the door. Just then, something slaps her on the back of her shoulder, and she hears another gunshot.

That's odd, she thinks. I didn't hear that one hit the ground. Then the gun in her hand suddenly feels very, very heavy, and her arm drops. She looks down and sees a little blossom of red on her shirt. Oh.

[ab_npc]

Ronnie doesn't hear it hit ground either, and wide eyes take in Anita's dropped posture. She doesn't have time to think, just to react. Anita is close enough that she is able to grab her friend by the waist and shove her out the door.

Spinning back, she aims at the gunman that's poking out near the stairs and fires. She inwardly curses when she hears the shot ricochet. A miss. Damn.

A moment later, she's out the door behind Anita.

[anita_blake]

"That went well, I think," Anita says through clenched teeth as Ronnie drags her back to the Jeep. She presses her other hand against her shoulder. At least it looks like the bullet had gone straight through and wasn't lodged against a bone or something.

"I need to get back to the Circus." She chuckles, lightheaded and giddy from the blood loss. "But I think you'll have to drive."