Late Night Scout - The White Tower

There was a knock on the door around 10 o' clock at night, a little girl standing there with a red wagon full of girl scout cookies.

To get to Charlie's apartment one had to take the private elevator to the penthouse where it would open and lead directly into the living room. Which in turn meant the so-called receptionist/security guard down in the lobby had let her up without checking with Charlie first, which in turn meant he was in for a Hell of a lot of trouble once the Brujah got his hands on him.
Honestly. You'd think private security would know better...

The youth looked up at the sound of the doors sliding open, arching a suspicious eyebrow at the girl.
"Hello...?" it really translated better as "What the Hell?".

[Please let me know when you try and contact the receptionist/security guard in the lobby!]

The little girl smiled sweetly at him, as she grabbed a box of thin mints. "I'm Sara, it's nice to meet you! I'm supporting my friends and me by selling girl scout cookies." Dangling the box in front of Charlie like an irresistible temptation, she asked, "How many would you like to buy?"

He made a face as he looked from the girl, to the elevator and back to the girl again.
Seriously?

"Isn't it a bit late for you to be out selling cookies?" Charlie said suspiciously.

------
Ooc: Danger Sense kicking in?

[Nope, this is just a regular little girl, and nothing of threat to you is nearby, or has your demise in mind.]

"We've come up with a new business plan." The little girl stated matter-of-factly. "The later in the day it is, the more cookies that are sold. No one's ever attempted the late night crowd. Most even stop before 5." She tried to enter. "I can show you the schematics if you'd like."

"No, please, thanks" he held a hand up and shook his head as he reached for the wallet tucked into his back pocket. "Just give me" the youth quickly flipped through the wallet for some cash. "Fifty bucks worth alright?" and get lost so he could go tear the receptionist a new one.

"Sure!" She responded, holding the thin mints box high again. "That gets you five boxes, do you want Samoas, Do-si-dos, Tagalongs, Thank U Berry Munch, Lemonades, Dulce de Leche, Savannah Smiles, Thanks-a-Lots, Trefoils, Shout-Outs, or Thin Mints?" She ran through the list flawlessly, as if it had been rehearsed.. or she'd just done it an awful lot.

He... cringed.
"Surprise me..."

Taking the cash from Charlie's hand, she then pulled out five random types from her wagon, no duplicates - everyone loved variety, right?

Right.

The youth took the boxes and offered a brief smile to the girl.
"Thanks, let me see you out, yeah?" he put the boxes down on a nearby table and moved as if to put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

She nodded, smiling sweetly to Charlie. "I hope I didn't wake you up, we were talking about how we might wake some people up." She didn't have an issue with being touched by a stranger, "Sounds good, thank you."

He still smiled as he nudge the annoying kid back into the elevator and joined her. At least he was good at keeping up appearances, because he was less than pleased with girl scouts being able to circumvent security measures he was actually paying decent money for. Seriously? What had the moron been thinking?

Charlie tapped the ground floor button.
"In the future you might want to stick to day time rounds" away from his Haven.

"Oh, I dunno." She shrugged cutely, straightening the boxes in her wagon. "I've had entire days where I made less than I did on my first stop before. And Addison is leading it all, we just do whatever she says."

God damn it the elevator felt slow...

"She's got everything planned out then it would seem" Charlie smiled, tucking his hands in his pockets and leaning back against the wall while silently counting the floors down to the reception.

"Yep, she's super smart." When the elevator finally dinged, the little girl took a couple skips out of it before switching to walking. "Thanks!"

One more step, and she stopped dead in her tracks. A loud CLACK resounded through the lobby as she dropped the handle of her wagon, her eyes wide with horror. The secretary was bent forward over her keyboard, blood spilling over the keys and down to the floor. It stained the white marble, and the red sharply contrasted her blue pumps.

The security guard was no where to be seen, but sirens could be heard off in the distance, breaking the otherwise silent night, approaching fast.

First demons and now this? The youth reacted instinctively even as he cursed under his breath and reached out to grab the kid by the collar of her shirt, pulling her back into the elevator, positioning himself in front.
"Stay" he growled, his voice demanding rather than asking it of her. Then again, it was a terrified kid, chances were she'd simply go catatonic regardless of what he asked of her.

What he really wanted to do was draw the blade strapped to his thigh (there was a reason all of his pants had had the right pocket opened) but he bit back that initial reaction and instead pressed his back to the wall as he poked his head quickly out of the elevator and threw a quick look around for anything or anyone out of the ordinary.
Dead secretary excluded, because the amount of blood and colour suggested she was already dead and well beyond any help.

What the Hell was going on?

The little girl drew her hands up over her mouth, her skin paling as she trembled.

Charlie couldn't see anything. Besides the dead secretary, and the lack of security guard, the lobby was empty. Blue and red lights shone through the windows, loud voices and door slamming sounding from outside.

Shit. Crud. Curses.

He turned back to the kid and drew his breath, composing himself before leaning down to pick her up.
"Don't look at anything but me, alright?" the youth said, trying his best to sound reassuring as he cradled the girl in his arms.

Fuck. Damn it. Crap.

It was official. This town was out to get him.

She locked her bright eyes on Charlie's eyes, still trembling. She didn't seem to care about the wagon anymore, whispering in a scared, shaky tone, "I didn't see her when I came in.. I didn't see anyone when I came in.."

"It's alright" Charlie said softly as he carried her towards the doors, careful so to.make sure her eyes didn't stray. He still didn't trust the girl. But in a situation like this? Better to play the part of a caring youth, right?
"Just look at me and we'll get you out of here and home safe, yes?"

Nodding slowly, she whimpered softly, her gaze not budging.

Outside, four cop cars were parked. Several late night pedestrians were gathered around the caution tape, and combined with them made it impossible to see what they were looking at.

Whatever it was, it wasn't the dead secretary. No one had stepped inside yet, and with the growing crowd Charlie felt hesitant about going outside. Besides, where were security when you needed them?

...
Outside maybe...

He considered his options. Go outside and speak with the police and get a Hell of a lot of unwanted attention. Go back to the apartment and wait, because they would no doubt come knocking anyways. Ditch the kid and cloak, simply disappearing, though that would give him all sorts of other problems.

God damn it he was starting to think this town was out to get him.

Fire escape? Maybe he could go through the fire escape so that he at least wouldn't have to start it all off by facing the crowd from the top of the stairs? Assuming they could be opened without triggering the fire alarm that was.

"It will be okay" he rested a gentle hand on the back of the girl's head.

She buried her head into Charlie's chest, eyes shut tight as she whimpered once more.

Charlie could see one policeman looking around outside, straying from the crowd and beginning to walk towards the door of the building. One thumb was jammed in his belt loop, his opposite hand holding a tooth pick that had been chewed to shreds.

Well... not that many options open to him really, now was there? With a dead body in the lobby the police would question him anyways, running wouldn't solve shit if the security cameras had already picked up on him.

The youth took a couple of steps back, found a wall against which to press his back and slid down on the floor, still cradling the little girl as if protecting her from the world.
Time to make it sound convincing...

The policeman entered casually, looking around the lobby. Seeing the woman, he grabbed his gun, his toothpick falling to the floor. "Hey!" He shouted back, "Get your asses in here!"

Three more police officers rushed into the building, guns drawn. "What the fuck.." One of them muttered, another turning as though he were going to be sick.