Blood Noir

Nowe had not been pleased when his phone buzzed and Evelyn's secretary, Rebecca, informed him very briefly that something had gone on and Evelyn wished to see him. Though he had been assured it was no rush, the knowledge that Rebecca had considered calling him sooner and the fact Evelyn wanted to see him meant this was something that ought to be seen to sooner rather than later. Of course, he was very rarely far away from wherever Evelyn was. As her guard it was his job to be close in case he was needed, after all. So it was not that long before he was striding past Rebecca's desk and knocking on Evelyn's door.

He opened it and poked his head in without waiting for a response. "You asked to see me?" He questioned, taking in the scene with a quick glance. There was blood in the room, he could smell that even before he opened the door. None of it was Evelyn's, however, so at least she hadn't been hurt while he had been unaware that there was even anything going on. Sometimes he hated Evelyn's desire for independence since it meant she wouldn't let him stick as close to her as he would like. If Victor knew...well...Nowe preferred not to think too much on what his old friend would do if anything happened to Evelyn. It would not end well for him, of that he was certain. He stepped into the office and closed the door behind him with a slight look of concern on his face, which he quickly masked. Evelyn didn't like to be fretted over and his concern would likely only irritate her. "What troubles have you been causing this time, meine dame*?" He questioned, indicating the blood pooled on her desk and other areas of the office. Though he was certain she had been provoked into causing whatever harm had befallen her visitor it was still not usually a good idea for the Dean to be hurting people in her office. He recalled the werewolf she'd called him in to deal with only a few years ago and wondered if this was a similar situation.

*My lady

Having known Evelyn for so long her snapping didn't bother him at all. She wasn't angry with him and knew knew better than to comment on her temper. She would snap and rant and possibly yell, she might even break things, but if he remained calm eventually her temper would break and they could talk civilly. "A disrespectful Fae? " He questioned as he settled into one of the chairs and watched her as she moved toward her desk. He rose to accept the vial and settled back into the chair to inspect it. So Freya was more than just an annoyance then? Unless, of course, he was mistaken. But Evelyn had ranted about the girl on more than one occasion.

He opened the vial and wafted the scent of the blood under his nose as she told him what she wanted him to do with the scent and he frowned. "Tell me, was there anything familiar about this scent to you? I cannot place it but there is something..." He took a deeper smell of the blood and there was that same sense of familiarity from before. Odd. "She can teleport?" That was not what he wanted to hear. It was endlessly infuriating when your opponent could disappear at the drop of a hat and reappear out of reach. But with the proper research that could be countered but not without a great deal of effort and the willing participation of witches or certain fae. But if Evelyn wanted this girl caught, she would be caught using whatever means necessary. "We all lose our tempers from time to time." He told her, waving off the admission as if it were unimportant. Which it was, what mattered was why she had lost her temper. A question that was answered in good order. The fae had threatened the school in some manner. And that had Nowe's interest and he was suddenly very serious, less casual and calm than he had been when he'd first walked it. "What, exactly, did she threaten to do?" If it had pissed Evelyn off this much it was something he wanted to hear for himself.

"Calm yourself, Evelyn. Your anger does not become you. Not all of the old ones respect your power. If she is older than you she could be testing you, seeing whether you are worthy of her respect." Not that telling her to calm down would actually accomplish much, but it would, perhaps, get her to settle down enough to not go doing anything rash. He did not want to go traipsing off into the night after her just because she let her anger get the better of her and she wanted to try and track down some disappearing Fae who was probably miles away by now nursing her wounds. "And punish her we will but it will take time to track her down." Once he figured out why the blood smelled vaguely familiar that would be easily accomplished. The answer, he knew, was tantalizingly close but just beyond his reach. And it could be the fact that Evelyn's office was full of familiar scents that might be interfering.

He made a small noise when she said she hadn't noticed anything familiar and shrugged. This was something he would have to figure out on his own then. He was still mulling the scent over in his mind as he listened to what else Evelyn had to say, nodding when she suggested that the girl's love of games could be used against her. If one was able not to rise to the bait, it could often unsettle those who were used to their mind games working on others. "It is possible. Her knowing about you I mean. There is information out there to be found. And it wouldn't be the first time someone has found a clever way to watch the Dean. I will keep my eyes open for anything suspicious." He quickly scanned her office but there was nothing new or out of place so it was unlikely there was a cleverly concealed device in there. Magic was harder to detect and he would have to speak with a witch he knew to have them check Evelyn's office for magical means of spying. As of yet, he had no reason to suspect the cat.

When she leaned forward he fixed his full attention on her and the flash of anger that lit his eyes at her words would be hard to miss. He let out a breath that was more of a hiss and narrowed his eyes at the thought of what might have happened if this Fae had not caught Evelyn after letting her fall. Being a vampire meant it wouldn't kill her but it still wouldn't be a pleasant experience either. "If you want her alive tell me now, though I cannot guarantee she will still be whole when she is brought here." This fae had put Evelyn in danger. The Dean may not have died but it was his job to protect her from danger, and that meant being dropped from atop the school as well as from anything that would kill her. He stood, tucking the infuriatingly familiar vial of blood in a pocket and leaned on the desk so he could look at Evelyn from a few feet away. "Your damnable independence will be the death of us both one day, you know that right? If I am not killed defending you, Victor will destroy me for failing." He rather liked living thank you very much, but if his death meant Evelyn would be safe, he was honor bound to lay his life down for hers.

"I do not intend to fail. So until the mess with this Fae is cleared up I want either Katerina or myself nearby at all times. I do not often fight you on this but I do not like the idea of this teleporting fae showing up when one of us isn't around." There was something in the way he spoke that suggested he was making this demand not only because he was her guard and he considered this fae a very real threat, but because there was something more. He was her friend, yes, but his feelings toward her were a bit more complex than that. He wouldn't call it love, per say, but he certainly cared for her and the idea of being unable to protect her bothered him greatly. Not that he had ever said as much out loud, nor was he likely to, but it was there all the same, though perhaps Evelyn wouldn't notice it in her anger.

Clearly the Fae had some manner of death wish if she had pushed Evelyn this far. Or perhaps she didn't know just how dangerous the company Evelyn kept could be. He could kill without a second thought and felt no remorse for the lives he had taken. Evelyn would only kill if she had a good reason to do it herself, otherwise she called him or Katerina to do it. "It is a good thing you didn't kill her. We had a hard enough time explaining away the disappearance and death of that wolf a few years back. I am not keen on repeating that charade again anytime soon." There had been reporter clamoring to speak to the Dean about the disappearance of one of her students. To waylay further questions and suspicions, Nowe had allowed the body to be found and identified (luckily the weapons used were not easily identifiable and the murder remained unsolved). It also helped that Nowe had a friend or two on the police force that had helped with keeping suspicion off of the school at large and reporting the murder as just a random act of senseless violence.

Nowe stood and paced a bit as Evelyn spoke again of being watched and tried to figure out how someone would be watching her. He hadn't noticed anyone new hanging about. And he took careful notice of things like that. No one had ever shown undue interest in Evelyn so how was this Fae watching her? "We will discover her means of spying in good time, Evelyn." They would discover it and make sure no one else could ever use that to spy on Evelyn again. It wouldn't be hard to get charms made or spells cast to block magical attempts and more mundane contraptions were easily disabled and discarded. He actually pouted a little when she told him she wanted the Fae alive. But perhaps he could just kill her and say she proved to be too much of a nuisance to try and deal with alive. "If you want her alive then she will be alive. I can find some magical means of containing a teleporting Fae."

Nowe smirked a bit when she said she didn't need them shadowing her every hour of the day. His skills at remaining hidden in plain sight were good indeed if even Evelyn didn't notice him as he watched over her. Especially when she was out on campus or in town and not tucked safely in her office. "I never said we needed to be underfoot. Just nearby. Close enough to judge for ourselves if we need to intervene and to be of use if we are needed. I cannot help you if I'm across campus and you are here now can I?" Like today. He had been unaware there was anything to worry about until it was over. He would speak to Rebecca before he left and tell her the next time something was going on and he or Katerina wasn't around to call one of them immediately and not wait because she's not sure if it's necessary. When she gave in and agreed he relaxed slightly. "I can't say how much good it will do if this Fae decides to teleport in, grab you and teleport away again. But it does make me feel better to know one of us will be close enough to at least try and stop her, even if we can't." He did not like that idea at all but it was the best he could do at the moment.

Nowe could only nod to her statement. It was the same with most, if not all, vampires. There was a certain point where they just snapped and whoever pushed them to that point was not likely to survive the encounter. Some had a lower threshold for anger, others were harder to provoke. Evelyn was one of the ones that was easier to provoke for a variety of reasons. Stress, age and an overall short temper were among the biggest reasons. "I understand that but unfortunately we can't afford to not care. The eyes of the supernatural community as a whole are on us because of the decision to allow humans on campus." He hadn't been entirely happy about that decision but aside from when he'd told Evelyn he thought it was a bad idea when she'd first asked him, had kept his mouth shut on the matter. It was her choice to make and he would let her make it without a fuss. That still didn't mean he had to like it. It made him uneasy knowing that there were some out there who would enroll just to spy on the supernaturals and learn new ways to kill them. And they had no way of truly identifying these people until it was too late, though they did their best to screen the potential students for any connection to anti-vampire or whatever type groups.

Nowe gave Evelyn a slight smile (and she was one of the rare few that ever got to see such things from him) when she promised she would eventually find someone he could kill. "I do not doubt that. You will always have enemies and there will always be those out there who would like to see all supernaturals wiped off the face of the Earth. It is enough to keep any skilled assassin busy." He told her, letting the smile fade into a more thoughtful expression. If people stopped wanting to kill them, he would be out of a job. Evelyn would no longer need guards and he wasn't at all sure what he might do if that ever happened. So a part of him was glad there would always be people that wanted to kill them. As long as they didn't succeed, of course.

When Evelyn finally tried to relax and it was clear she was calming down to an acceptable level, he was confident he could leave and she wouldn't do anything foolish, except maybe break something but that was better than going off on a rampage in search of someone to hurt. "I know you do. That is why I won't leave my position as your guard. You need someone you can trust by your side." He gave her a slight nod, knowing it wasn't easy for her to give trust and admit it when she did. He also gave he a small smile. "Victor also told me I wasn't allowed to quit but I had no intentions of doing so anyway so his threats were rather meaningless." The old vampire was a bit over-zealous in his desire to make sure Evelyn was safe but Nowe understood well enough; he wanted to see her safe as well. He glanced out the window and was quiet a moment before turning back to Evelyn. "If there was nothing else you needed I think I should get started on trying to track down this Fae and find some means of capturing her that she cannot simply teleport out of." He gave the Dean a nod and, if she had nothing more to add, bid her good night and slipped out the door to get to work.