Crime and Punishment

[Racine Roan]

The sun had set hours ago.  While most of the city was laying there heads down, warm and safe in their beds, this was the city that never slept… and for a good reason.  Creatures of the night lurked all around the streets.  Every bump in the night, every nightmare that you could have, was alive here in New York City.  And here, living, breathing, was one of the monsters themselves, Racine Roan.  

 

Before the shit hit the fan, Miss Roan was a different kind of monster.  She'd been a celebrity child.  From day one her face had been on tablets and in the news, famous parents had sealed her fate years ago.  But that was until the shit hit.  Her life had turned around.  The shit Raci knew was when a punk ass broke into her parents house and murdered them in a fit.  Now, in a world that was turned upside down, she was a blood thirsty maniac that actually had most of it all together.  She had been a cop and that was something that would never change. 

 

She was still busting down doors, stalking people, watching them, gathering information, but this time it was for different reasons.  Now, she did it as a dirty profession.  She'd sell information to the highest bidder and rarely stop to think who it would hurt.  She'd become a cut throat individual and Racine was fairly sure that's how she had come to be a vampire.  

 

Now she was headed to a friends house.  As hard as it was to accept that she had any real friends, it was true.  Rem was one of the few that she would hold close and never rat on.  She was a good friend.  One who knew and accepted Racine for what she was… and for that, Rem was still human.  

 

She walked to the techno's building and hit the buzzer.  "Hey, it's me, let me up." The door buzzed and Racine made her way up the stairs to the front door.  She knocked twice and then let herself in.  Without seeing her friend, she started speaking.  

 

"So, I finally got an alias on our virus bomber.  Calls himself NEXEN.  Can you find anything with just that?  I need an IP address, location, address, anything." She dropped the file folder on the table and added, "Missed me didn't you?  Got anything to eat, I'm starving."  Without waiting, she started to head to the fridge.  

 

"So, this guy.  He finds vampires and the human version of the oh, so, horrible werewolf.  He then traps them, kills them and keeps the blood.  He mixes the blood into baked goods, wine, name it… he does it.  And then delivers it to a victim.  Waits a few days for them to turn, catches them… and hands them over." 

 

It was an offensive crime for anyone, but, Racine took it a little personal.  If people wanted to hunt vampires and night things, they should fight fair.  That was just manners.  "I'd really like a name if you can find one…" she said while she pulled out the orange juice and began to fill a glass. 

 

Yes, Raci was fairly comfortable here. 

[Remington Hargrove]

"Proximity Alarm."

 

"Proximity Alarm."

 

"Proximit..."

 

A pale hand slammed down on a button.  The console immediately went silent.  Striking blue eyes surveyed the large screen that showed just who had gotten past the perimeter and was on her turf.  She was not surprised to see the familiar form of Racine heading her way.  It had been days since she had talked to the woman.  

 

Rem wasn't much for the blood suckers of the world but some of them hadn't competely lost their soul.  It was Racine that had showed her that no matter what not everyone lost who they were when they went through the change.

 

Pressing a few key buttons she disabled the things that would kill the woman should she get too close to the building and then she slid back down underneath the console.  She was currently adding another bank of monitors to her giant wall of them.  Being a hacker, programmer, inventor meant that her place looked more warehouse and less home.  

 

In fact, there was a kitchen.  Half of it was kitchen, the other half was more... jars, cups, and various mess of semi-organized parts.  Coils, screws, nails, washers, nuts... what have you.  She  twisted another set of wires together and sealed them with a wire nut.  Tightening it until it resisted and she left it be.

 

She heard the buzzer.

 

And she didn't care.  Racine would let herself in, she always did.  The woman didn't even really give a greeting she just dove straight into talking.  Rem couldn't help but grin.  Racine was the sort that had found her when she was just getting a true name for herself in the underground when it came to hacking.  However, they had made a deal.  If she could give Raci help with her work then she would look the other way when it came to the less legal things that Rem did.  And she steered the other police away as well.

 

NEXEN.

 

Remington slid out from underneath her massive bank of monitors that were connected to one massive super powerful computer that was a virtual badass.  They fired up by Remi just using her abilities.  She noticed that Raci was all ready helping herself to the kitchen as she spewed information to the young hacker.

 

"Can I work miracles?"  Remington asked speaking for the first time since Racine gave her the list of things she needed.  "Probably."

 

Remington Hargrove was something special.  She knew that and it paid her way through life rather well.  Once you were in her building you might think she lived in a mess.  There was huge closet of clothes that connected to a rather sparse and small bedroom.  The bed was perpetually unmade.  She never much had time for that kind of thing.  She barely slept in the thing anyway.  She had gotten an old antique red velvet couch second hand for super cheap and she tended to pass out on it when she finally set down to eat or highly rarely to watch a TV show.  Most of her place was filled with inventions in various stages of being completed.

 

Spark was currently laying across the back of it watching everything that was going on.  The robotic iguana was something special to Remington, kind of like a family member.  At least he couldn't talk back.

 

Racine was grabbing herself some orange juice as she went on about the guy.  She rose her brow at the disgusting nature of what he was doing.

 

"That's fairly fucked up."  Rem said as she pulled her hair out of her face and secured it in a loose messy bun on the back of her head.  She sat down at her massive bank of computers and they began to work for her.  Screens opened and windows shifted without her touching a thing.  "Pizza rolls in the freezer as always."

 

She lived on them.  It was sad but true.  "There's other food in there too you know I don't do healthy."  She shrugged as she continued to work on the name.  NEXEN Was fairly selective which meant it wouldn't be in use everywhere and if the bastard was bold enough he probably used it somewhere.

 

Sure enough she began to get hits.  A list began to form in front of her of various places that the name alone hit.  Now she could work on Narrowing it down.

 

"Been busy?" she asked as she continued her mental work with the computers in front of her narrowing her search down by IP addresses that were in New York.  If she was lucky he wasn't too computer smart and he wasn't routing himself around the globe.  If he used a proxy then.. things could get a bit more messy.

[Racine Roan]

NO! She said through a bite of some ritz crackers, "that's really fucked up."  For some odd reason, this really offended Raci as a …person?  Vampire?  Whatever.  And she did not often get offended.  After al,s he'd grown up with tabloids making shit up about her all the time.  "Oooh!" was her only response to two of her favorite words: pizza and rolls.  She'd waste no time making a platter full while Rem did her weird techie thing.  

 

Been busy?

 

"Christ…" she said, rolling her eyes at her work load.  "It's every damn day.  I can't get anything done because people keep calling in.  Thing is, I don't know how they are finding me or getting my information.  Someone is pimping me out and I don't know who to blame.  It's weird.  I assume it's the Fae chick that works in the coffee house.  She has a thing for me and I may of told her about what I do in a moment of severe weakness."  She cut her eyes to Rem, Racine could feel her disapproval about telling secrets.  "I couldn't help it.  You know the fae are like drugs, man."  Truth was, rem didn't know.  No one did.  Maybe this was why Racine was not favored by the Vampire kind, she really did not relate to them well. 

 

"Anyways.  So, I guess I am going to have to start sucking at my job so that people lay off."  The microwave beeped and she started to gather the plate out of it.  "But that's impossible with such a great hacking teammate and coworker… and did I mention she's the best looking internet nerd I've ever seen?"  Bringing the plate to rest in front of Remmington, she smiled, showing pointed teeth, "roll?"

 

Raci was a good cop.  Or she had been.  All business, all the time, but before that, she'd been on hell of a party animal.  Now, being what she was and who she was, she let them live together.  Her past, her other past, and her present.  they blended to make a sarcastic, sadistic, blood sucking monster who enjoyed the ramifications of a strange, but doable justice system in this world.  "It's weird though.  Hunting people now.  I can't ever just hunt a human down… now I have to do extensive research and stuff to see what I might be up against.  Could be a gorgeous gal one minute but when the moonlight hits her skin BAM, she's an 8 foot hairy monster.  Or, a good looking, seemingly small guy, and BAM he is a death dealer."  She looked to Rem, "Or your people.  You never know what people can do nowadays.  It's wild." 

 

She popped in a pizza roll and talked while she chewed… they were still really too hot to be eating.  "What about you.  You have other clients or am I special?"  At least, for a few minutes, they could be friends and catch up on life and living.  It was so rare nowadays.  Any minute, Rem would find what she was looking for and they would be back to who they really were… a hacker and a bounty hunter vampire. 

[Remington Hargrove]

Rem grinned.

 

"Truth."

 

She loved Raci.  There was a sisterhood there that she had never found with anyone else.  They were business partners but somehow they had gone beyond that.  It wasn't just sitting there talking while they were waiting for results there was a true kinship that had developed over the years of working together.

 

Raci began talking about how she was getting more and more well known.  Especially, after talking to some fae chick she met in a coffee shop.  

 

"I won't bitch at you about cafeine being bad for you because God knows I keep that shit in bulk, but seriously?  Your fae habit will be the death of you."  she said glaring at Raci in a playful way.  She didn't understand the addiction that came with the fae.  There was something about fae and vampires but she wasn't sure exactly what it was.  

 

"You Do suck."  Rem grinned with a chuckle.  Awwww corny jokes, they could not get much better.  Then Raci had to go and give her a compliment.  Rem grinned.  "Well at least I'm still hot even if I haven't seen the sun in a few weeks." 

 

Rem had a lot of baggage.  She carried a huge chip on her shoulder.  Not even Raci knew her whole story.  She wasn't much for talking about it.  One day, she supposed she would find someone to talk to about it all but for now she was just living her life the way she wanted to.  Taking control of it the way she preferred.  There was no need to put all her past out there.  It didn't change anything and she didn't like feeling vulnerable.

 

Pizza rolls were ready and the savory scent made  Rem's mouth water.  She was not one that enjoyed health food.  Occassionally, she might have sushi delivered but overall she tended to stick with the crap she could throw in her giant ass freezer and eat off of it for weeks.  Thanks to amazon she could get her freaking groceries delivered to her door and anything else she needed she could brave the cruel cold world in the middle of the night when all grocery stores were deadsville.

 

Grabbing a roll she tossed it in her mouth and crunched down feeling the warm pizza goodness ooze over her tongue.  

 

"God Damn there is nothing like freaking pizza rolls."

 

She went back to work.  Screens opening and closing as she began to check out the IP addresses that were using something similar to the name of NEXEN.  Most people, when they had online aliases or an alias in general got somewhat attached to them.  They tended to use them everywhere.

 

"My people?"  She chuckled.  "I assume you mean suped up humans and not hackers with badass skills." she grinned not taking her eyes off of the screens because she would have to stop working briefly if that was the case.  

 

"You're always special." she offered Raci a quick wink as her screens stopped moving and she walked over and grabbed another pizza roll off the plate.  "There he is."

 

The screen had stopped on a African American male with large lips, terrible dredlocks that were a total mess.  She had pulled up his picture which allowed her to cross refference with the DMV and pull up his license. 

 

"He lives about twelve blocks away." she said as she looked at the guy on the screen.  "I tapped into his IP address which gave me his computer which was absolutely too easy to get into.  He is a member of all kinds of hater groups.  Definitely not into vamps or weres.  There is a lot of search history on how to off people, changing people, how to trap and so forth the big baddies of the world." she leaned against Raci.  The woman was strong enough and Rem felt like Raci was the only one she could lean on in life as it was anyway.

 

"So what now?  You go all Walker Texas Vampire Ranger on him?"

[Racine Roan]

She just shrugged when Remington warned her about fae addiction.  She couldn't help it.  They were drawn to her.  She could draw them in, Raci was a hunter by nature and now she had all the tool she needed.  She was top of the food chain, even above the werewolves [in her opinion] because she was more like a feline hunter.  Stealth, style, and a strategic plan was far more useful than brute strength.  And Raci was damn good at finding them.  When Ram made the crack about her sucking, she scoffed.  She had to admit, she walked right into that one.  Rem was a good friend.  She'd never even flenched when Raci told her about the vampire thing.  Of course, she had to promise not to bite her… unless Rem asked. 

 

You are looking pale…" she smirked when Rem made light of not seeing the sun.  While Rem worked, Raci stayed quiet.  She let the super genius do her own thing while she stuffed her face with pizza rolls.  Ram said she was special and she felt her heart flutter just a little.  She just loved her to death.  It was a split second later that they had a hit on the person that they were looking for.  There he is. 

 

"Ugh.  That's an ugly little bastard, isn't it."  She glance at Remington, "No wonder he's angry."  As Remington explained this horrible, horrible human being, Racine stared at his face.  She was memorizing him.  Everything about him.  HIs eyes, his hair, every scar, eyebrows, teeth… the droll look in his eyes.  As Rem leaned into her, Raci put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in closer.  Her human.  The one person who she knew would come for her no matter what.  As she studied him, she thought about his type.  

 

He was a killer.  He was a control freak.  He fit the profile of a serial killer.  He watched people, he drew them in, and then he killed them and infected someone else, his next victim through them.  He was smarter than he appeared.  Raci was suddenly serious.  Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him.  "This can't be right." She knew that came out wrong.  Remington was never wrong, there was no way she could be.  She stared at the screen and then started talking out loud, mostly to herself. 

 

"NEXEN… IP, easy hack.  Everything is right there and accessible."  She crossed her arms now and exhaled.  Raci shook her head.  "Something's wrong.  That's not him.  I think he is a mule.  Whomever the real Nexen is is using his IP."  She looked at Remington. "Unless there is something I'm missing.  But it doesn't make sense.  This guy identifies natural born vampires or werewolves.  And then he finds them, stalks them, traps them… kills them, dresses them like they are livestock, harvests blood and puts it into a powder to make baked goods…and then delivers them to a human he has been stalking."  She bite her lip and then finished, "but left his IP openly accessible?  I think this guy we have is a crash dummy."  Raci was a damn good cop, but she had holes in her logic, especially when it came to techno anything. 

 

"Unless I'm way off.  Help me Rem… talk to me."  Starsky needed her Hutch to fill in holes.  And then she added, "And if I'm right, you are about to be all over his radar.  I know you're good, but this guy could be anything.  I'm staying here tonight.  Don't even try to say no." 

[Remington Hargrove]

Raci's arm came around her as they admired her sheer awesomeness.  This was nice.  Rem didn't get out much.  She didn't really much care for people as a whole.  She had been burned in some truly fucked up ways since she was born and she would rather not jack with others.  Raci had worked hard and slowly gained Rem's trust.  Rem knew that Raci wasn't going anywhere.  The woman had been in her life for years now and anytime she was needed she appeared.

 

"No one said beingg a total dick made you a hotty." Rem shrugged stealing the last pizza roll and tossing it in her mouth.  The hot pizza flavored awesome slowly filled her mouth as she chewed and extasy took over in a truly awesome way.

 

Pizza rolls, her own addiction.

 

Suddenly, they were on something else.  Raci was afraid that this was all too easy.  Rem's brow rose.  She had never questioned her abilities before.  She wasn't sure whether she was a bit insulted that she was being questioned or if she was just missing something somehow.  Raci was certain though.

 

"Uhh well fuck, it's possible."  Rem said as she went back over to the massive bank of monitors that displayed the man's information.  He wasn't a good guy, but could it really not be the guy they were looking for.  Could someone be so good at rerouting themselves so much so that even Remington couldn't tell.  

 

She stood there next to the only person in her life.. who was actually questioning her for the first time since they met.. and looked at the computers.  

 

"I can double check.  It's hard to believe anyone could be better than me but I'm not saying it's impossible." she told her best friend as the computer screens began to flicker and she began to track NEXEN back to himself.  She wanted to see if there was something that was off.

 

It was barely noticable.  But there was a tiny back door.  Something so small she missed it in the first place becuase it was cloaked as something completely different.  But, it was flagged as recently used and it had a tracking program attached to it.  Rem pulled up the coding and tsked.

 

"Okay.. he has someone cloaking him.  He has it all looped back to this guy.  I don't know if he's hoping to get this asshole killed .. but he is hiding himself amazingly well.  I can keep trying to hack, but you're right, I'm on his radar, he has a tracking program set on this guy.  So I'm on him all ready, I might as well do it right."

 

Rem sat back down in her overly comfortable computer chair.  When she couldn't make it to her bed she tended to fall asleep in the chair with her screens frozen on whatever it was she was working on before she passed out.  "Feel free to stay, you know I don't care as long as you don't get judgy about the state of my bedroom."