#and he went to investigate Carmilla himself later on

[decennia]

i give u free reign to infodump ab all of the knights and the og army bc i am vv intrigued agjgssgsh

THERE IS SO MUCH HERE OMFG MORAL OF THIS STORY NEVER ASK ME TO INFO DUMP BECAUSE I WILL TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF IT—

I've separated it into sections:

The Knights of Walpurgis, and the motivations for their assigned sins.

Dumbledore's First Resistance, and the motivations for their assigned virtues.

The dynamics between the opposing contenders.

Given the sheer volume of information, I've included a cut. Please enjoy this manip that I am still very proud of.

THE KNIGHTS OF WALPURGIS (later known as Death Eaters) Tom Riddle (Pride)

Pride and arrogance were very large contributing factors to Tom Riddle's downfall in the end, and honestly, the whole idea for the gifset came from Florence + The Machines' Seven Devils playing while casually thinking of Dagrim and Tom, and then about how perfectly Tom would fit as Lucifer.

Dagrim Patil (Avarice)

When questioned about what she wants, and what Riddle promised her in exchange for her unwavering loyalty, her response is, quite simply: everything. Dagrim grew up starved not for affection, but recognition. And what she was denied in childhood, she would take in adulthood by force. Her philosophy is that if something is worth wanting, it is worth taking.

Cantankerous Nott IV (Lust)

We know so little about Theodore Nott's father from the source material, other than he was elderly, and he raised Theo himself. And that he was a Death Eater, of course. His name is an ode to his ancestor, the Cantankerous Nott who created the Sacred Twenty-Eight pureblood directory. I assigned him "lust" purely for the events leading to the conception of his son (sis, it gets messy).

Abraxas Malfoy (Envy)

Abraxas Malfoy envied Tom Riddle to the point of a half attempted mutiny. He was quickly put in his place, his co-conspirators made examples of, and spared only for his close friendship with Dagrim, who pleaded for his life. Riddle, who trusted Dagrim to a fault for all she'd done to earn it, conceded. Abraxas would later prove himself to Riddle again, regaining his seat among Riddle's favoured generals. He was the one who taught Lucius to never disobey the Dark Lord, and he was not a kind teacher.

Ulysses Mulciber (Gluttony)

Indulgence and excess, spoiled rotten and filthy rich. The Mulcibers were the richest of the Sacred at one point in their lives, rivalled only by the Malfoys. Ulysses never knew the meaning of "enough," and was a glutton not only in all manners of vice, but also for cruelty, dealing it out carelessly with little to no regard for the repercussions he was well protected from by his noble standing and wealth. He was one of Riddle's greatest allies and sponsors, and instrumental in his rise to power.

Carmilla Avery (Wrath)

Carmilla was in the year above Riddle, and was quick to anger and slow to calm. Her temper was legendary, and even her younger brothers – also admitted into the Death Eater ranks – feared her. She had an untempered fury, a rage at the world for no reason at all. She developed an unhealthy codependency with Abraxas Malfoy, who served to have a soothing presence over her. People seldom survive crossing her, as her reputation dictates.

Serafine Lestrange (Sloth)

Serafine is not lazy (as the sin "sloth" would suggest), she just lacks the motivations to pursue the goals that are expected of her. A particularly bright witch, and a wealthy one too, she never applied herself at school for she didn't see the need. Instead, she fell into a fascination of the Dark Arts, where she met Riddle, perusing the Restricted Section. She is rather discontented with life, disillusioned from already such a young age. She initially joins Riddle's gang for the excitement of it all.

DUMBLEDORE'S FIRST RESISTANCE (later known as the Order of the Phoenix in its official conception in 1970)

Albus Dumbledore (Patience)

Name a man more patient than Dumbledore, I'll wait. Better yet, he'll wait, because he's patient as hell. So patient, in fact, he waited until after Harry's supposed death to come to him as a hallucination and tell him about how he was a Horcrux.

Rathin Patil (Temperance)

Temperance is abstinence, and I wanted to explore the kind of toll having his sister so far gone into the dark would have on any man, let alone one who really cared for her and wanted to do right by her. Rathin is not a perfect man, he is still fallible, and unfortunately, he develops a dependent comfort in inebriation when Dagrim disappears with Riddle. He pulls himself back together, especially when he becomes Isaiah Moody's partner at the Ministry, and he begins to pursue Miraya.

Miraya Varma (Diligence)

Methodical and persistent, Miraya Varma earned herself a position at the Ministry immediately out of Hogwarts where she would later go on to form her own task force within the Ministry specifically designed for the interrogation and recommended sentencing of dark wizards and witches. She has been known to put her duty first, up until the birth of her son, Divyansh Patil, father to Padma and Parvati.

Isaiah Moody (Humility)

For a very long time, people seldom knew the Moody name, and that was the way Isaiah liked it. He believed that his line of work would endanger his loved ones (in spite of his wife being in the same profession) and so he never took credit for the numerous arrests he made. It was Isaiah who suspected something was strange about Morfin Gaunt's arrest while investigating the Riddle Massacre, and consulted Dumbledore about it. Once his identity was discovered and he was viewed as a threat by Riddle, an attack was made on his heavily pregnant wife, jeopardizing her and his unborn boy's (Alastor) life.

Minerva McGonagall (Chastity)

Mini Minnie is seventeen, my dudes. But not only that, Minerva grew up with a religious father (he was canonically a reverend), who probably taught her his values. Also given the fact that Minerva was the first of the younger generation to participate and involve herself in the war (she sought out Dumbledore and enlisted herself into his Resistance, fearing her family would be made into another statistic if she didn't at least do something to intervene), she really didn't have much time to think about something as arbitrary as the concept of virginity. Also, it's the 1950s.

Corinne Scamander (Kindness)

Corrine is honestly the greatest. She has all of the tenacity of Tina, and the best qualities of Newt. It was Dumbledore's previous bond with Newt that encouraged him to recruit her, and she willingly accepted, because of course she would. She'd always been the soft spoken girl with a tender touch and a love for life, and she was often the advocate for hope in the resistance. She was adept in a few healing charms she'd learned from her father, and was something of a specialist in magical beings, proving herself to be highly valuable while Riddle was expanding his ranks with all manner of dark creatures.

Declan Diggory (Charity)

Sacrifice is in the Diggory blood, and Cedric's grandfather, Declan, was not the first to prove it. He also, unfortunately, wasn't the last, but he sure was one of the best. Selfless to a fault, Declan would willingly get hypothermia if it meant someone else would have warmth. Diggory's contributions to the war effort consisted of offering sanctuary and shelter to muggleborns who received death threats, and orchestrating the evacuations of targeted muggle residences. He was the leader of a small faction of the resistance, including, but not limited to: Fleamont Potter, Enoch Longbottom, Wilhelm Shacklebolt, and Ramona McKinnon.

DYNAMICS (just the contenders for now because this is hella long)

Albus Dumbledore vs. Tom Riddle

Adversaries, a fair deal of mistrust and guilt from Dumbledore's side (upon reflection, he'd been the one to introduce Tom to the wizarding world; even though he knows that if Riddle had been left unchecked, the risk of him becoming an Obscurus would've resulted in catastrophe all the same). Riddle sees Dumbledore as nothing more than a foolish old man, a pest, and an obstacle to overcome at first, but learns to begrudgingly respect Dumbledore's strength and mastery of magic (after all, Riddle only knew him as the Transfiguration teacher before, and thought the accounts of Dumbledore's victory over Grindelwald had been exaggerated to great effect). Riddle's hubris was believing he could defeat Dumbledore on his own, thinking himself already stronger than Grindelwald ever hoped to be.

Rathin Patil vs. Dagrim Patil

Rathin had always been very protective of Dagrim, and loved her dearly, although his acts of affection were often misinterpreted as pity and condescension. This only served to push them further apart. When Dagrim turned to the Dark Arts and found solace in Riddle, it revolted Rathin, as he was hugely against the corruption the Dark Arts has on the performing witch or wizard, and wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy. He still very much loves her, and it hurts him to fight her. Dagrim, on the other hand, finds catharsis in duelling her brother, believing it to be justice for the way her parents treated her and the little he did to dissuade them.

Miraya Varma vs. Cantankerous Nott

A mutual respect and an academic rivalry, Cantankerous and Miraya were not friends by any means, but not enemies, either. Cantankerous even went as far as to warn Miraya of an impending attack, allowing her to evacuate the building. But although he knows she's clever, he also knows that she's incredibly stubborn, and displayed little surprise to find her awaiting him in the now vacant building. They are equally matched, and their unique relationship spans several decades, even into Cantankerous' failed run at Minister for Magic, and Theodore and the Patil twins' time at Hogwarts. She was present at his trial following the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and watched as he was sentenced to life in Azkaban for his crimes as a Death Eater.

Isaiah Moody vs. Abraxas Malfoy

Given his profession, Isaiah has a lot of enemies on the Sacred Twenty-Eight who are loyal to the Dark Lord. One such enemy is Abraxas Malfoy. When Tom gets word of Moody's involvement in solving the Riddle Massacre, he sends Malfoy and a newer Death Eater, Evangeline Rosier, to hinder the investigation. Abraxas and Evangeline were responsible for the attack on Isaiah's heavily pregnant wife, who, if she hadn't been an Auror herself, would've never survived. Alastor Moody was prematurely born at St. Mungo's following the attack, and all of Isaiah's efforts were turned on exacting vengeance on those responsible. Malfoy went into hiding, but Isaiah, ruthless, managed to hunt down Rosier. She died under questioning, setting in motion a vicious cycle of vengeance between the Moodys and Rosiers. Once Isaiah had been killed by Evangeline's brother (Evan [who was named after her] Rosier's father), Abraxas deemed it safe to rejoin society.

Minerva McGonagall vs. Ulysses Mulciber

On the list of things Ulysses loathes, he would put half-bloods above muggleborns (although he turns a blind eye to his Dark Lord's blood status when it conveniences him). Half-bloods only serve as a reminder of the lowest and weakest of his kind; the unworthy muggleborns, the lecherous blood traitors, the vermin muggles. Mulciber prides himself as something of a "purifier," and finds great enjoyment in pruning family trees that have been poisoned by muggle blood into purity once more. He takes a great interest in Minerva McGonagall, given that she is an incredibly powerful witch at such a young age, and he wonders how glorious she would've been had she been a pureblood (a twisted and untrue belief among the Sacred Twenty-Eight during that time). Minerva, the threat of Mulciber weighing heavily on her, places her family under Dumbledore's protection. She vows to stop Mulciber and his perverse idea of justice.

Corinne Scamander vs. Carmilla Avery

It didn't take much to enrage Carmilla Avery, and Corinne had been caught in the tempest Carmilla's fury since the day they'd met. Carmilla, who took great pleasure in picking on people she deemed lesser, made a target out of Corinne, perceiving her kindness for weakness. During their time at Hogwarts, Corinne had gained the attention of Avery for being a blood traitor and a muggle sympathizer, which only strengthened Carmilla's vindication. Corinne, who had been friends with Rubeus Hagrid prior to his expulsion, and who had almost fallen prey to the basilisk when she had heard Myrtle Warren's cries from the bathroom, never lowered herself to Carmilla's level nor did she rise to any of the challenges. This hurt Avery's ego, as she thought this was Corinne's way of claiming herself better than her. It wasn't until after Hogwarts that Carmilla's growing resentment came to a head, and, without the protection the school offered Corinne, Carmilla was looking to finally put an end to the blood traitor line of Scamander.

Declan Diggory vs. Serafine Lestrange

Declan and Serafine were childhood friends who drifted apart during their time at Hogwarts, particularly when she fell in with Riddle's crowd. She is viewed by Dumbledore as having the power to sway the entire outcome of the war, for if Serafine could be persuaded into leaving Riddle, her cousins (one of whom is the father of Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange) would surely comply, and the families who held the Lestranges in high regard would be inclined to follow. This makes Declan and Serafine key pieces in Dumbledore's game of strategy. However, Serafine was disowned long before she defected from the Death Eaters, leaving the Lestranges firmly in Riddle's grasp. Although Serafine claimed to feel nothing for Diggory, she still refused to deal any real harm to him when they duel, in spite of having ample opportunity to do so; something which Riddle picked up on. She was later forced to torture Declan in front of him to prove her loyalty to the Dark Lord, something which Declan permitted her to do, knowing she had very little choice in the matter. He was left for dead, but Serafine would later secretly return with Corinne to get him medical attention. She gives her son, Francis, "Declan" as a middle name.

[vulpinmusings]

Letters from Buxcord #11: An Elemental Headache

In this Monster of the Week mystery, Ash confronts multiple personal frustrations.

Samantha,,

Either you’ve already read the letter I addressed to Noctus or I’m telling you these stories in person, so I won’t bother repeating my unexpected run-in with Meis N’cral a week ago. I’ve spent most of this week refitting N’Cral’s ship, to the best of my limited mechanical ability, into a serviceable fall-back shelter and secure storage for the materials I’ll need to perform the spell that will bring me home.

And to be quite frank, the sooner I can get out of Buxcord, the better.

I also finally got “Mr. Penn” to open up about his true nature. I’m still not sure if he’s the same entity as Nollthep or another “spawn,” but that’s not exactly a deal killer anymore. Penn describes himself as the spawn of a god-like being that’s holed up somewhere in Buxcord, unrelated to that demon sealed in the cottonwood tree but held in place by the same barriers, gathering power in an attempt to break out into the wider world and plunge it all into a state of mindless insanity. Penn has come to care for Buxcord and its populace as they are now, and so is now in open rebellion against his former boss/creator/Master/what-have-you.

A morag after my own heart, wouldn’t you say? And certainly an easier project than Noctus was (and you can tell her that if this letter doesn’t have to go through her to reach you). Don’t worry, I’m not planning to bring him home; I’ll just help him deal with his former master and then get him set on a nice self-discovery path. And at least one ethics lesson.

A couple days after scoring that confession, my dull daily routine was livened up by the uncommon sound of an ambulance siren from the east side of town. Considering the historic trends, I went immediately to Bayou Boating to see what was up. Penn, Lea, and Piper were already there, dealing in various ways with an agitated group of tourists. It appeared that one of their number had suffered a deep cut to their leg during the end of their boat tour, with no apparent cause except for an unusually large wave of water splashing into the boat.

It wasn’t much to go off of, but at this point that’s all it took to get Piper on board with supplying me and the usual suspects a boat to go investigate. And since Fitz apparently hasn’t come to work since before the N’Cral incident, there was nobody that Piper had to work around to get us that boat. (I think Penn’s first solo task should be accounting for everybody that he and his ilk have interfered with in some way or another…)

The attack had occurred not too far from shore, so it was a short trip to what turned out to be an even shorter search. Penn leaned out over the side of the boat, dunked his head underwater, and promptly resurfaced to say he’d seen a strange orb moving through the water. And the instant he finished explaining, the orb rose into view inside an animated tentacle of water. Figuring it to be some sort of elemental construct, I advised everyone to get onto the nearby island so we wouldn’t be quite as surrounded by deadly water. There were a few missed jumps and fumbles, but we all made it ashore without much harm, whereupon I tried to freeze the elemental solid. My spell came out as more of a blast of ice than the intended temperature manipulation, and the orb was knocked out of its tentacle. Piper flew up to grab the orb, but threw it away from herself almost immediately because of how cold it felt. Penn used his razor whip to slam the orb onto dry ground and I hit it with fire, expecting to neutralize the construct with its opposing element.

I severely misjudged. The orb absorbed the fire and formed a fire elemental body from it.

Lea called up a wave of dirt to try and smother the fire, which might or might not have actually put us up against an ersatz golem, but the orb floated itself over the dirt and fired back at Lea. As Lea dealt with that, Penn pulled out his combat umbrella and stabbed at the orb, knocking it back into the water.

I should have left well enough alone, but I hadn’t quite caught on to the thing’s nature, so I froze the area where the orb had gone underwater, and wound up just making it into a massive ice golem, with the orb safely hidden in its center of mass. It punched Lea out of the air, shrugged off a handful of Penn’s blast powder, and then clobbered me when I tried to pull its attention off Lea and also melt through its ice to expose the orb to fire again.

My intention was to carefully work the thing back around to water and then work out a plan to isolate the orb without giving it any other elemental properties, but Penn decided that it would best if the thing was just not near us anymore so we could all catch our breath. So, Penn cast a spell to teleport the elemental away without determining a destination. And it worked, so we were out of danger with no clue where the elemental was now.

Not ideal.

We returned to town, and I considered going to check Simone’s grimoire for any references to adaptive elementals. As we neared the sheriff’s office, however, we heard a commotion and ran over to see Sheriff Ragland and Officer Weaver trying to hold the ice elemental off with shotguns. And there was a crowd of civilians forming to see what was going no.

After we all gave Penn the stink-eye, I told Lea to fly to my apartment and grab Simone’s book while Penn and I went to assist the police. We opened with a combination of an umbrella stab and a Tangler while shouting, in vain, for everyone to clear the area. When the elemental broke free, I magically reinforced Penn’s umbrella as he opened it as a shield. Lea came back at this point, tossing me the book and then landing to summon a wall of earth between the fight and the bystanders as well as vines to restrain the elemental so I could consult the book in peace.

The book helpfully told me that the orb is known as an Arcane Core, an adaptive elemental construct that is drawn to active spells and considered to be a physical manifestation of magic. That made it the second big thing I require for my return trip spell, but it would only serve if unbroken and the only way to preserve its form while neutralizing its threat it to drain the elemental magic out of it.

I don’t think I have ever missed Carmilla and her ever-so-potent magebane gel more than at that precise moment.

When I explained the conundrum to my companions, Penn theorized that he might be able to drain the magic out of the orb and into himself, if he could get into physical contact with the orb for long enough.

At this point, the crowd was becoming very anxious. I… will save that particular rant for later, after I finish telling of the fight. Lea took it upon herself to try to calm everyone down while Penn and I engaged the elemental again. I blasted it with fire hot enough to expose the core but not cause it to shift, which was less than ideal but sufficient for Penn to get a solid grip on the orb. The ice beast punched us both before I could get it in a Tangler, and at that point it was just a matter of holding out until the ice melted away and the orb went dormant in Penn’s grip.

With the danger neutralized, I turned my attention to helping Lea with crowd control. And now it’s rant time.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the majority of our world’s population were ignorant of the existence of magic and mythics? Well, pop on over to this universe if you want to see. Or better yet, don’t. I don’t know why those in the know have been so intent on keeping the masses ignorant of magic and whatnot, but the result is a population utterly unprepared to react rationally when an elemental starts rampaging in the streets and the local experts, such as they are, arrive to contain it. Perhaps Buxcord sees an unusually high number of monsters and magic incidents for this world, but that’s even less of an excuse to allow the Buxcord locals to remain ignorant of basilisks in their swamp, feral werewolves at their music festivals, and skvetchte demons and chaos beings locked up in local trees. People can die – have died – because next to nobody knows what to be on guard for or how to properly react when a faerie-spider possesses a guy and invades the local hotel.

There’s only so much that I, with the help of a drug-addicted and half-trained faerie girl and a chaos creature of still-dubious quality, can do if the bulk of the remainder in town just have a collective panic attack when trouble strikes. And I’m not sticking around this town, this skvetchte universe, any longer than I have to.

So, yeah, I’m probably not going to try too hard to help that certain raposinho to correct his experimental portal spell after I get home. Not unless we can figure out how to aim it at any other universe.

-Ash.

[falseroar]

Silver and Peppermint (Part 6)

((Part 6 of a fantasy AU, where Monster Hunter Abe and his reluctant partner, the DA, are trying to track down a murderous werewolf. With one suspect more than helpful and the other on his way to the hospital, Abe and the DA have just one person connected to the victims left to talk to.

Links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 7, and the Epilogue.))

With these questions in mind, Abe and his District Attorney went to Garroway’s house, an older building in a still upscale neighborhood. The wiry, gray-haired woman met them at the door, her deep-set eyes knowing even as she feigned surprise at the sight of the DA and the hunter on her doorstep.

“Please, come in,” she said and ushered them into a living room, modest at first glance until you noticed the paintings on the walls were originals, the furniture of a quality that wore its age well while still being comfortable enough that Abe doubted he would be able to get back up again if he sat down.

Which is why he paced around the room before taking up a stand where he could see the faces of his partner and the theater owner. She tilted her head at his behavior but said nothing, as she no doubt dealt with stranger personalities on a weekly if not daily basis.

“While I don’t begrudge your visit, I had hoped to see you again at the theater, Y/N, not in my own home under these circumstances,” Garroway said, her eyes flickering toward the hunter.

“I don’t have much time for entertainment these days,” the District Attorney answered. “I suppose you’re aware of the recent string of murders in the city?”

“Yes, unfortunately. Alex Haywood was a firm supporter of the theater, as were the other victims. He had access to reserved seats for any show if he just asked, because there are so many shows we wouldn’t be able to put on without the help of donors like him.” Garroway sighed, her eyes dropping to her hands. “I’ll admit the news hit me hard. I haven’t been out in days, and my poor assistant has been run ragged between staying on top of things at the theater and keeping me updated. You know how some of our actors can be…temperamental.”

The District Attorney gave a nod but said, “Did your financial connections to Haywood ever extend beyond donations? After all, I know there were some talks of renovating the theater in the near future.”

“Oh, there’s always talks, but I’m afraid we hadn’t moved so far as to start looking at contractors. I admit Alex’s company would have been one of our considerations, although he may not have been able to make the time for us. The downside of booming business, I suppose.”

“I’m not sure ‘booming’ would be the right word,” the District Attorney answered. “Abe here and I recently came into possession of some financial documents that might suggest otherwise. Perhaps he spread himself a little thin?”

The District Attorney’s expression did not change, but Abe knew they had to be watching the old woman just as closely as he did. Maybe they were just as disappointed as he felt when she did not react at all to that news besides a little, curious, “Hm. Perhaps.”

“Do you know anything about how Haywood and the others died?” Abe asked, if only to get some kind of reaction out of the woman.

In turn, she fixed him with the same, even stare and said, “I know that it was murder, and after the police came by last night, I now know I am being watched. I would thank you for thinking of my safety, but you’re not with the police, are you? Just who are you, exactly?”

“Name’s Abe Lincoln, monster hunter,” Abe answered without hesitation. At this point he was used to ignoring the attorney’s reaction whenever he introduced himself, but the small turn at the corner of the theater owner’s lips put him on the defensive. “I’ve had years of experience with the worst this world has to offer, monsters that infest more than just the space under your bed or the back of your closet. I’ve dirtied my hands more times than I count stopping things your nightmares would turn and run at the sight of, so you should know that when I’m called in on a case this isn’t your run of the mill Jack the Ripper situation going on.”

“Oh, what a nice little speech. I should write that down,” Garroway said, a hint of a laugh in her voice. “You can’t seriously be suggesting that something supernatural is at work here. The city’s walls are warded, no troll or hag or what have you is going to come waltzing in. Not without raising some serious questions about how safe our people are, questions that shouldn’t be rooted on some baseless rumors. Isn’t that right, Y/N?”

“The Mayor saw fit to call in an expert,” they answered, no hint in their tone of voice or in their expression to give away what was going on behind those eyes. “And Franklin seemed convinced that he needed protection from something that was not human. Do you know why that might be?”

“Franklin? Bless his heart, he’s always been…susceptible to fits of fear and paranoia. Why, after our rendition of Carmilla, he took it in his head to wear a bulb of garlic on a key chain next to a crucifix! A useful habit to have if you find yourself cooking often, I suppose, but I somehow doubt he had anything to fear vampire-wise. Surely you’re not basing your entire investigation on that?”

“We have evidence that a werewolf was at all four crime scenes,” Abe answered. “Believe me, I know the signs of a werewolf when I see them.”

There it was again. That little sound, a small “hm,” a tiny tone that suggested a laugh maybe, or just an ounce of disbelief at his words.

He knew he would regret it, but he couldn’t stop the word from slipping out. “What?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing. I just find it interesting that of course a hunter is going to find evidence that some beast was at work here. After all, if it was just some bad egg at work, the city wouldn’t need you, now would it?”

Abe bristled, but it was the District Attorney who spoke up first.

“I’ve seen the bodies. I’ve seen what this thing has done, what it’s capable of. This is more than just some ‘bad egg,’ Ms. Garroway.”

“Of course, I didn’t mean to sound disrespectful in that regard,” she answered with a placating gesture in the attorney’s direction.  “But humans are capable of some truly terrible things on their own, as I’m sure you’re well aware, Y/N. I just fear that this hunter’s narrow-minded outlook will steer the investigation in the wrong direction entirely.”

Abe felt the heat rising to his face as he stepped forward, ready and willing to remind her that she was still a suspect in this whole thing, but he barely got the words, “Now look here—” out before there was a knock at the front door and the sound of it opening followed by a vaguely familiar voice calling out.

“Ms. Garroway? It’s Luke, I finished those errands for you this morning and I wanted to drop these off before I—”

The man stopped mid sentence when he spotted the three occupants of the living room, his surprise almost comparable to Abe’s own when he recognized the barista from the coffee shop—or rather, the fake from earlier.

The “barista” dropped the dry cleaning he had flung over one shoulder and turned to run, but Abe was faster and soon had him pinned to the wall of the hallway with his face pressed against the wood paneling and his visible eye rolling around in panic.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Garroway yelled, proving that she was more than capable of projecting her voice when she needed to. Her hand grabbed at Abe’s shoulder, but he ignored it as she said, “That is my assistant you’re manhandling! Let him go, right now!”

“Step back, please,” the District Attorney said behind her, and Abe felt the theater owner back off even as the attorney continued, “Abe, explain. Now.”

“This piece of scum was the one in the coffee shop this morning,” he said, pressing harder when Luke tried to struggle. “He’s the one who pretended to work there and gave me who knows what to drink.”

Abe lowered his voice and added into the assistant’s ear, “I don’t take kindly to poisoning. Lost a partner that way, and I can tell you it’s not a good way to go.”

“You can’t prove that was me,” the assistant said, his voice slurred thanks to the wall against his face. “I’ve never seen you before in my life! I’ve been running errands for Ms. Garroway all morning, I swear.”

“Abe, move aside,” the District Attorney said, their stare warning him not to argue. When the assistant started to move, they pressed one hand to the back of his head and said, “I didn’t say you could move. This is a serious accusation, one worth following up with the police. I’m going to search you now, do you understand?”

He muttered something under his breath, but with Abe ready and willing to step in if he resisted, the District Attorney was able to check inside the bags he had dropped alongside the dry cleaning before patting him down.

Only to stop at his waist, where they pulled a small bottle out of his pocket.

“Care to explain what’s in this?” they asked.

“Medicine,” he answered without hesitation. “I’ve had a lot of trouble sleeping lately, my doctor said it would help.”

“No label, so we’ll have to get someone to verify that,” the District Attorney said. They popped the lid off and made a small ‘tsk’-ing sound before saying, “I’m guessing your doctor didn’t suggest you use this all at once, as I can only imagine that would get you more than just one night of sleep.”

“That’s why I had it on me, so I wouldn’t forget to go to the pharmacy for a refill,” Luke answered.

“So I’m sure your doctor or your pharmacist would be willing to confirm that when I talk to them later,” the District Attorney said as they slipped the empty bottle into their pocket.

“That’s my medicine, you can’t just take it!” Luke turned to scowl at both of them. “I don’t even know what you two are talking about, and I’m not going to the police!”

“While I disagree wholeheartedly that Luke had anything to do with this nonsense,” Garroway said, giving Abe an evil stare, “If you insist on taking him in, I’m sure the police would be more than willing to look into this when they have real matters to deal with. And I will make sure the press is aware of this behavior.”

“As I said, these are serious accusations,” the District Attorney answered with a terrible calm as they studied Garroway. “I will need a statement from you, concerning Luke’s duties as your assistant and what you know of his movements this morning.”

“…Of course,” Garroway said, and even the District Attorney seemed surprised by her sudden change of tone. “I will be more than happy to share the chores I had him complete, and I am sure that everyone from the dry cleaner to the shop assistant will confirm his whereabouts. I am sure you have this ‘tainted coffee’ on hand to compare against Luke’s medicine?”

The District Attorney hesitated and Abe thought of the empty cup he tossed into the bin, its contents long dried up on the sidewalk outside of the Mayor’s office.

A cruel smile began to form around Garroway’s mouth. “Oh. Well, what about witnesses? You say this happened in a coffee shop, there must have been someone around to see this charade.”

Abe cleared his throat, but neither answered.

“I see. Then this should be a short visit, more than enough time to make some calls afterward. Do lead, Y/N, Abe. Luke, I promise I won’t count this against your hours if you remembered to pick up the burgundy ribbon from the shop the costume designer’s been begging for.”

“Of course, ma’am, it’s in the bag with the rolls of fabric he ordered.”

“Lovely. Well? I don’t have all day here. There’s a new show starting in two weeks, we have things to do.”

The District Attorney clapped a hand on Luke’s shoulder and said, “As you wish.”

Except there was no way in hell Abe was about to let these two leave on their terms. He wasn’t sure what came over him, whether it was the tone of Garroway’s voice or the sneer on the face of the assistant when he caught his eye, but Abe’s mouth always had a tendency of running away and leaving the rest of him to catch up.

“Hold on a second there,” Abe said, his hand already digging in a pocket of his great coat, past the rummage sale worth of odds and ends that he found useful on the job until he came across something he picked up special for dealing with cases like this one. “I want those hands where I can see them.”

The District Attorney tensed at the sight of the silver handcuffs he pulled out of his pocket with a flourish, but before they could say anything, he had already slapped them on the wrists of the assistant.

Luke immediately screamed and dropped to the floor, his body curling in on the cuffs.

“Get those off!” Garroway screamed, almost matching the noise coming from the young man. She grabbed the collar of the stunned District Attorney and shook them when they failed to move. “Get them off him, right now!”

“Stop thrashing,” Abe growled, already trying to use his key to unlock the cuffs but struggling to get it in the lock. “I said, DON’T MOVE!”

The second the cuffs were off, Luke had both hands buried against his chest under his shaking arms and he sat there rocking back and forth on the ground, tears still streaming from his eyes.

“What did you do to him?” Garroway asked, her voice low and accusing as she moved between the two of them. “What was that?”

“Just silver,” Abe said, holding the handcuffs up for inspection. “Partner, call this in. We’re going to need more than just the two of us to bring him in.”

“I don’t…” The District Attorney stared at Luke and the hand cuffs, their expression confused.

“Did you hear me? Call the station or I’ll do it!” Abe didn’t mean for the command to come out as harsh as it did, or expect them to flinch away when he moved closer.

This wasn’t what he expected either, and as he went to the phone he could hear Garroway’s voice speaking to the District Attorney, the disbelief and condescension in her tone at the very hint of the accusation.

“You know this isn’t right, Y/N,” he could hear her say as he waited to be taken off hold long enough to explain what was going on. “I’ve known Luke for years, he’s not some monster. But of course, he would find a werewolf just when it suits him. There’s no way Luke could have been involved in the murders, we have dozens of witnesses who will stand for him while you waste your time with this hunter.”

“…We have to check every lead, Ms. Garroway. I’m sure you will still be willing to accompany Luke to the station?”

“And after that to the press,” she said, but Abe couldn’t hear the rest of her words, only the biting tone as he told the officers what to bring.

Luke showed no signs of resisting when the dozen officers arrived and walked him out, but that was no guarantee he wouldn’t try something halfway to the station. Abe watched them walk him out to the vehicle with Garroway walking in step and evidently ready to ride in the back with him, yammering all the way about wanting to make sure nothing happened to her assistant like he wasn’t the most dangerous thing in this vehicle.

Halfway down the steps, the District Attorney stopped short, letting the rest of the group go ahead.

“You okay there?” Abe asked when he noticed they weren’t following. “Come on, you should be there for the questioning.”

“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” they said softly.

“Look, he wasn’t on our radar. It happens. But working for Garroway would explain how he knew the other victims, and he could have used her connections and said whatever he needed to get into each of the houses.”

“But why? What’s the motive?” they asked.

“What motive? He’s a werewolf, that’s all the motivation he needs!”

Yeah, he probably shouldn’t have shouted that in the middle of the street. Every single officer there shot him a dirty look while the whispers started in the crowd already gathered to watch the spectacle, but none of them gave him the stare that the District Attorney did before they turned to one of the officers in charge and began asking him about Franklin and sending a guard detail to the hospital to keep an eye on him.

“Y/N,” Abe said, and when they ignored him, “Partner, I—”

“Not your partner,” they interrupted, turning on him in an instant once the officer agreed. “You go with them, question Luke and Garroway, see what you can get out of them. I’m going to stay here and see what I can find, compare everything back at my office to see what we missed. Because we’ve missed something, Abe, and I want to know what that is before this goes any farther.”

“…Sure,” Abe said, biting back what he wanted to say. He understood the DA’s frustration, the need for all the little pieces to fit together nice and neat even if he didn’t agree with it. They would see soon enough that the case was over. They could all go home, once the wolf was taken care of.

((Thank you for reading!

Here’s the link to Part 7.

Tagging: @silver-owl413 @skyewardlight @withjust-a-bite @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @purpstraw @weirdfoxalley @95fangirl @lilalovesinternet-l @thepoolofthedead @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @geekymushroom @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-anxiety-blog @shyinspiredartist @avispate ))

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This month is our annual Switcheroo Month, so Comics Editor Carol is leaving comics behind and writing about the South Korean television drama, Vampire Prosecutor.

“Vampire Prosecutor? Is the vampire a prosecutor or do they prosecute vampires? Or both?” you ask.

“Yes,” I answer.

“Does Vampire Prosecutor take a bite out of crime?”

“…”

“How many vampires would a vampire prosecutor prosecute if a vampire prosecutor prosecute if a vampire prosecutor could prosecute vampire prosecutors?” you ask.

“Just stop,” I say.

A title like Vampire Prosecutor sounds like something that might just be plain fun if produced by the CW, but genre doesn’t mean the same thing in South Korean television. If you come in thinking it’s all fun and vampire prosecution, well, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise. Vampire Prosecutor is fun. There are funny episodes and great banter. It’s cleverly written. But the show’s gore and violence levels are pretty much the same as the gore or violence levels I associate with South Korean cinema, particularly in Vampire Prosecutor‘s second season. Not only do we hear things, with exquisitely ghastly foleying, we see things, too. So Vampire Prosecutor is rated mature for violence, gore, and Det. Hwang Soon-bum’s gross eating. It’s a serious show, though it’s not all gloom. Screenwriters Han Jung-hoon and Kang Eun-sun have a strong understanding of their form and a playful sense of metafiction. And while I imagine Vampire Prosecutor would be sixty-five times better if I spoke Korean and caught all the subtleties of when Det. Hwang drops his honorifics and when he doesn’t, it is already very good.  The show has a nice balance of drama, horor and humor. Not to mention Vampire Prosecutor‘s fascinating fashions. Prosecutor Min Tae-yeon’s fashion is as central as Olivia Pope’s is in Scandal.* Vampire Prosecutor pops his collar and rolls up the sleeves of his jacket. Sonny from Miami Vice doesn’t even understand how much Vampire Prosecutor has to deal with. Vampire Prosecutor Min Tae-yeon has a lot on his plate.

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Some of Min Tae-yeon’s interesting jackets.

Min Tae-yeon (Yeon Jeong-hun) is a prosecutor in the city of Seoul. He’s been assigned to the “Prosecutor-Police Joint Special Investigation Unit.” The unit is even more awkwardly named in Korean and is a career graveyard according to the older, powerful men who created it. They are not, however, troubled like I am about the justice implications of joining government’s investigatory and prosecutorial arms in one prosecution headed unit. They are kind of corrupt themselves. Min’s team includes junior prosecutor Yoo Jung-in (Lee Young-ah), intern and all-around science and computer guy Choi Dong-man (Kim Joo-young) and Prosecutor Min’s old friend Det. Hwang Soon-bum (Lee Wong-jong). It’s clearly a team that while not explicitly set up to fail is set up to be too small to ultimately succeed. But the team’s supervisor, Chief Prosecutor Yang believes in them. Prosecutor Yoo is determined to do good work. Intern Choi is generally enthusiastic. But Hwang is not happy, because he’s heard that this unit leads nowhere, b had offered to do anything if Prosecutor Min would help him out solving a case and Min did. See, Min is the very Vampire Prosecutor of the title. He was already good at blood spatter analysis, but now that he is a vampire, he can envision the death of a victim precisely. As he stands at the crime scene with only Det. Hwang staying quietly out of the way, he observes the blood spatter rise up and trace its journey backwards into the victim until he sees exactly how the victim died. You might think the visuals were adopted from Hannibal‘s Will Graham, but Vampire Prosecutor aired in 2011. The second season aired in 2012. Hannibal premiered in 2013.

If necessary, Prosecutor Min can take it further and drink a vial of the victim’s blood he obtains from the coroner. Coroner Yoon (Jang Young-nam) thinks he collects blood samples from his cases, but kinda creepily she doesn’t judge him. (Pehaps she watches Dexter). Second season’s Coroner Jo (Lee Kyoung-young) continues giving Min samples, but is more suspicious. When Min drinks the victim’s blood, we follow the blood down his espophagus into his circulatory system, into his brain and finally see the victim’s death as they did. Drinking a dead person’s blood, however, causes a vampire great pain and both Hwang and Min’s source of information and ethically sourced non-dead person blood at the mysterious night club** he goes to try to dissuade him from the practice. But sometimes it’s the only way to catch a murderer.

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But what kind of vampire could be a prosecutor? Does he only take cases in night court? (Stop trying to be funny). Prosecutor Min isn’t your usual Dracula. He’s more like Carmilla. Dracula endured a kind of sleep paralysis during the day and avoided the sun. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, however, was only a little sleepy during the day and was unaffected by the sun at all. Unlike Dracula, Prosecutor Min can operate in the daytime and doesn’t burst into flames when exposed to the sun. And unlike Carmilla, he doesn’t experience a strange langor in the daytime. He might even be able to drink wine. In fact, Prosecutor Min has one up on both, he’s perfectly fine during the day. His only real problem is that he can’t take his team out to dinner like a boss should. Hwang understands, but Prosecutor Yoo and Intern Choi see it as strange, although in keeping with his aloof manner.Beyond limiting his capacity for team-building, Min’s vampirism doesn’t interfere much with his ability to perform his duties.

Vampirism aside, the relationship between the prosecutor’s office and the police is one of Vampire Prosecutor‘s creeper elements, as is Min’s tolerance for Det. Hwang’s “old school Seoul” methods. Det. Hwang is a good detective in the sense that he gets results, but his methods involve bullying, threats, violence, sketchy deals and discussions of nose-picking. Hwang bullies and threatens informants and suspects. He hits them and threatens to arrest them for crimes they might not have committed. He breaks and enters as part of his investigation. And he just walks around with food hanging out of his mouth sometimes. I would hope that if there is ever a Vampire Prosecutor 3, Hwang is prosecuted for his many incidents of brutality. Hwang is supposed to stand in for the everyman, not the cool ideal of Prosecutor Min or the hardworking, innovative Yoo or the tech and pop culture savviness of Intern Choi, the youngest member of the team. He’s the old cop who knows Seoul’s dark places like the back of his hand. He’s also the first to lower his speech, removing honorifics and using more intimate forms of address. It gets complicated with his colleagues. He is older than Min, but Min is his boss. He is friends with Min, so offers to “treat him like a younger brother.”

With Yoo it is even more complicated. She is a younger woman and still his superior. When he mocks her investigative methods in favor of his own, he begins removing honorifics and Korean’s very careful series of polite verb endings because for him, there is an inversion going on between experience, age, gender and who exactly should be speaking up to whom. Later on, there is a cute friendship between the rough-and-ready Hwang and the elegant and reserved Coroner Jo. They try to speak to each other as older and younger brother, but it’s so awkward for the refined Jo that they give up and stay the friends they are.

The series has a nice balance between weekly cases and an ongoing arc over twelve episodes. His first case concerns a copycat vampire killing, resembling the one at the scene where he was bitten. And over the course of twelve episodes, we learn more about the vampire killings and more about how exactly Min became a vampire. Just when you settle into the rhythm of the weekly case, the arc picks up, reminding us that the series’ opening car chase is still on Min’s mind. He pursued a suspect. There was an accident on the highway. And his suspect is stabbed by another man in a baseball cap and plastic rain poncho***, who sets the car on fire with a lighter engraved with sinister European occult symbols. And then Min was bitten. In Vampire Prosecutor, vampires only transform the first victim they bite. Min kept the lighter from the scene of the crim and by the end of Vampire Prosecutor 1, discovers a law firm using the same occult symbols and we are hunting more vampires who went to law school.****

Airing about one year later, Vampire Prosecutor 2 is darker, which is saying something. And Prosecutor Min begins to wear less interesting jackets, after the events of season one. Vampire Prosecutor 2 starts much more harshly than Vampire Prosecutor 1. It opens with a government official being rushed to the hospital after being shot by a sniper during a speech. The motorcade is stopped by soldiers who turn their guns on the motorcade and take the minister. They say that they are taking him to “our hospital.” The hospital turns out to be a secret facility run by a mad scientist who is performing experiments on some poor man kept chained and masked. Informed that the government official must be kept alive, the scientist transfuses blood from the masked prisoner. And as the be-suited men hunting the minister arrive, the minister sits up and hisses, transformed into a vampire himself.

This sequence has a lot of historical resonance. South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee was assassinated in 1979 by a rival faction in the government. In fact, one of his close friends shot him at a dinner in a secure facility.  There was an earlier attempt in 1974, in which Park survived but his wife did not. There is a lot of resonance in this moment and in 2005, Im Sang-soo released his black comedy, The President’s Last Bang, covering the last few hours of Park’s life and the immediate fall-out of his assassination. The President’s Last Bang was intensely controversial in South Korea for its depiction of Park and about 4 minutes of the film were censored—and subsequently shown internationally with a blank screen during the censored footage. This opening scene in Vampire Prosecutor 2 has more resonance with the earlier failed assassination attempt in 1974, when a man fired at the stage while Park was giving a speech celebrating the end of colonial rule in South Korea. In the historical event, the assassin missed Park but killed Park’s wife, Yuk Young-soo. Their daughter, Park Guen-hye was just impeached and arrested for corruption. When Vampire Prosecutor aired, was a representative in the Korean parliament and the leader of the Grand National Party. I can’t say if the arrival of a new, much more politically minded and politically vicious female chief prosecutor, Joo Hyun-ah (Kim Bo-young), is related to Park Guen-hye’s ascension, but it is interesting.

So Vampire Prosecutor‘s secret bunker and draculized government official is not the same, but any event where a government official is shot by other scheming government officials who try to cover it up is resonant. And it sets the stage for a darker and more broadly political Vampire Prosecutor. The second season addresses secrets the Korean government keeps. Secrets that involve torture and hearken back to the days of dictatorship. At the same time, it cuts close again emotionally as Min tries to protect his team. We learn more about Coroner Jo, and he takes in Ji-ae, a little girl who was left at a crime scene.

She is part of the overarching focus on the ways that any crime’s ramifications move through time. We end the season with questions and unresolved issues that will probably never be answered or resolved. And while Vampire Prosecutor 2 was a more fragmented and uneven season than Vampire Prosecutor, I do want to know what happens to Min Tae-yeon and everyone else.

There were rumors that there would be a Vampire Prosecutor 3 and I had hopes, even as Dexter ended and then Hannibal came and went, that there would be another show with blood spatter in its opening credits. I even did some promotion of What We Do In The Shadows and SPL 2 making references to Vampire Prosecutor, but still no Vampire Prosecutor 3. Ultimately, OCN produced a spin-off in 2016, Vampire Detective. I tried, but couldn’t get into it. Vampire Detective Yook San’s casual wear just couldn’t compete with Prosecutor Min’s sharp suits and interesting jackets. But maybe it’s been long enough that I can let Vampire Detective do its own thing. At least it doesn’t have Detective Hwang, though first time I watched, Yook San did have a good friend with gross eating habits. On the other hand, there was at least one instance of a villain with flair.

*Donnie Yen is going to play Vampire Prosecutor in the inevitable Hong Kong television adaptation. He will wear no shirt and grappling will central to his Vampire Prosecutor process. I will also note that someone else who becomes a vampire during the course of the show also begins wearing interesting jackets once he is draculized.

**The first time we enter the mysterious night club where Min goes for information about the man who bit him and murdered his suspect—and gets a glass of blood while he does—there is a song about “camping” in videogames playing.

***I would like to add that I love that this man is terrifying, but not cool. The plastic rain poncho is a great detail.

****POSSIBLE SPOILER: In fact, vampire prosecutor Min might prosecute not only a vampire, but a vampire prosecutor…

~~~

A vampire prosecutor would prosecute as many vampire prosecutors as a vampire prosecutor could, if a vampire prosecutor could prosecute vampire prosecutors, Carol Borden finally says. Vampire Prosecutor and Vampire Detective are both availabla online via Drama Fever.

The Dark Delights and Sharp Suits of Vampire Prosecutor This month is our annual Switcheroo Month, so Comics Editor Carol is leaving comics behind and writing about the South Korean television drama, …