Logan Allister Buchanan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
loganthebrave) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
noirenewyork2014-01-11 03:29 pm
loganthebrave) wrote in noirenewyork2014-01-11 03:29 pm
"It's all been a pack of lies."
Who: Logan Buchanan and Brodie Bradford
What: Well the hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows
Where: Ironically, The Bitter End
When: A few days after Emmeline and Asher talk
Logan had been restless and edgy lately since Asher kept stonewalling them on offers of help and drawing information, and it led to one of those times he needed to roam when his mood towards Eric became volatile when the fact he had been forced into this just got that little bit too much for him. It was get out for some breathing space, or probably end up in a vicious fight with his lover. He stalked the New York night, hating the fact that the more they tried to work Asher out, the more of an enigma he became. Logan had found peace on some level in the fact that him and Eric had taken Asher against his will. It wasn't like there was anything he could do to reverse the actions, and now they just had to try and work with the situation they had. But the more roadblocks he met, the more frustration and restless he got inside that he didn't have an avenue to soothe his Childer. Sure, Eric had taken most of the hands-on job of Siring Asher, but at the end of the day, the kid was Logan's creation and he was feeling the brunt of having him in turmoil. He needed the answers and he needed to know Asher was safe.
It's what led him to The Bitter End bar in the West Village nearing one am that morning. He was hungry, and he needed a meal before his emotions got the better of him. He didn't know what drew him to this place, but something did, and as soon as he got into the bar and neared the stage where a guy was up there singing his heart out with a guitar, an overwhelming sensation of hunger towards the guy on the stage hit him like a ton of bricks. It was a mixture of feelings coming at him hard and fast, and unlike he had ever felt before. But rather than wanting to intercept the guy and have him as his latest meal, something else took over. Some deep desire to have the guy close to him, to protect him, and Logan knew without a doubt that the singer could only be one person... Asher's soulmate.
Brodie was putting in his all with his performance that night, which was a regular gig each week at the same time, but it was like he was on autopilot. It was the same thing every time, and music didn't give him the passion it used to anymore. Lately, he had been plagued with nightmares that made no sense, and he was getting hardly any sleep. He was moody, he was distant, and the people he cared about around him kept telling him he needed a change of scenery or something. At the end of the day, he knew they were probably right. His reasons for even coming to New York in the first place had never made sense and he never found his footing here because he was always feeling like a vital piece of him was missing...
And it was. He knew it was. Ever since he broke up with Asher, he had a gaping hole inside him but he had been so hurt by the way Asher let fame lure him and change him, that at the time, he hadn't been able to fathom their relationship ever going back to what it used to be. It was like Asher loved the fame and fortune more than he loved Brodie, and it had broken Brodie's heart. Shattered it into a million pieces, and he thought breaking up with Asher was the most painful thing he could ever experience. At least, until he heard the news of Asher's death. Until then, he had been living in LA with Caleb. After breaking up with Asher, he was lost and just followed his best friend aimlessly around like a lost puppy. First it was Vegas where Caleb got work as a bouncer, and then LA with the same thing. Brodie went to college and graduated with a degree in music, but he never got the career he wanted. Instead, he ended up in a boring desk job writing a music review column for a New York magazine that didn't even have the best sales. Before that, it was making ends meet by random jobs teaching people how to play guitar, or piano, or sing, but his patience and tolerance wasn't what it used to be and he had to throw it in.
Now he was stuck in New York, a location he had knee-jerk accepted a job in because... of reasons he would never admit to himself, and the only shining light was his weekly gig here at the bar, and usually he could throw himself into it and use that time to switch off from a life he was otherwise depressed in. Only, not that night. That night was the anniversary of his break-up with Asher and he couldn't stop thinking about him. His heart ached, and he couldn't even go visit Asher's "grave" (which was only a memorial site anyway) because he couldn't afford a ticket to Charleston where Asher's father had wanted it to be placed. His heart wasn't in the music or the performing. He even ignored Caleb's text messages asking him if he was okay and if he wanted to get a drink after his show. He wasn't okay, and he didn't want to do anything but finish, pack his stuff up in his car, and go back to the apartment he shared with Caleb to bury himself in bed for the rest of the week. He finished his set, got the usual applause and left the stage to gather his things up to leave. Normally he would stay around and chat to people at the bar, network, with maybe one day someone might want to discover him and offer him a record deal, just like what happened to Asher with his fashion... but that dream would have to wait for another day. If he stayed any longer, he would burst into tears and that really wasn't the image he wanted to project here.
Logan had to think on his toes here, but there was no way in hell he was letting this kid get away. He was barely even listening to the voice-over thanking Brodie Bradford for another wonderful performance, because he didn't need confirmation who this guy was. Logan was zeroed in on him, and he had to get close to him. He had to find out who he was, where he lived, what made him Asher's obsession... but more importantly, he had to get Brodie's scent on him, meaning touch, because that was going to be a huge key to smashing down Asher's barriers. As soon as Asher smelt Brodie's scent on Logan, all hell could break loose, but it was a risk Logan needed to take now. But to do that, he needed to get close enough to Brodie to touch him, and that was where Logan's brain kicked into overdrive.
He expertly wove his way through the bar, slipping and ducking between all the bodies there while his eyes remained locked on the guy up on the stage packing away his guitar. The was a radiating sadness coming off him, but Logan didn't have time to analyse that just yet. Maybe if he got close enough to the guy, he would target him for answers, but he had to find a way. He moved quickly and purposefully and made it to the stage just as Brodie walked off it, guitar case slung over his shoulder. Logan surveyed the scene, making sure to keep the people closest to him averted to his presence. Then he slipped backstage, staying in the shadows so Brodie wouldn't see him, and kept a safe distance the entire time he stalked him to the back exit. It led into an undercover parking lot and Logan kept his steps feather-light as he lingered in the shadows. He never stopped watching Brodie. He watched him move, shoulders slumped, and approach a car which was an older model and couldn't be worth all that much. He had no idea why he had assumed Asher's soul mate would be rich, but he had. The Toreador coming out in him, no doubt, but this guy wasn't rich.
He was close enough now to see the deep frown on Brodie's features. Now that he was this close, almost in reaching distance, Brodie's depression and melancholy was overwhelming. He even shut his guitar into the trunk of his car and then rested his arm over it, leaning over to drop his forehead onto his arm with a sigh. He was exhausted too, and there was a sensation of sickness. Logan remembered being told when he was ill with the brain tumour how that ill feeling radiated off him to a Kindred sense, and because he was terminal, his blood became tainted, tasted almost unpleasant. Logan had no idea what was going on here, but he was going to find out.
Brodie pushed back away from the car, swiping a hand over his face in an effort to keep himself awake, and that was when his cell phone started to ring in his pocket. It was loud and bounced off the concrete walls of the parking lot. He took it out, checking the caller ID and his eyes slipped closed with a sigh as he answered it. "Hey, babe..." he murmured. "What's up?"
"I miss you. I thought I could come around for a couple of drinks now your show is done, and we can make the most of the rest of the night. It's been ages since I've seen you. I'm starting to wonder if you're avoiding me."
The laugh following the comment indicated joking, but Brodie just bit down on the inside of his lip when he knew it was the absolute truth. Still... "Jared, no. It's not that. I've just been busy. But not tonight, okay? I'm really tired, I'm not feeling the best. I just want to go to bed. I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?"
"But will you? You've said that to me three times in the last week and never done it. Are you cheating on me, Brodie?"
A deep frown stole Brodie's features. "What?! No, of course I'm not cheating on you! Why don't you ever just take my word for it when I tell you I'm not in the mood? Why is everything about sex with you lately? I'm just tired. I want to go to sleep. You don't have to be a prick about it!"
"Because we never have sex anymore! I practically have to beg you for it."
Brodie let out a sharp huff of a breath and shook his head as he unlocked his car and dropped down into the driver's seat. "Of you could just demand I do it even if I don't want it," he snapped angrily. "Just like last time, huh?"
"I'm not doing this with you right now. You're being a total selfish bitch. Call me when you can dig your head out of your ass."
And then the conversation was over and Brodie got the dull signal at the end of the phone. He slid his finger over the screen to lock the phone and threw it angrily on the seat beside him. God, he wanted to just burst into tears, but as he sat there gripping hold of the steering wheel and resting his forehead on the backs of his knuckles, he knew if he started that, he would never stop. He ached from the inside out and he felt empty. His boyfriend was demanding asshole lately, and the complete opposite to how Asher used to treat him. There was even that one night Jared backhanded Brodie for not sucking his dick. Caleb came home to find Brodie with a bleeding nose and Brodie told his best friend he had walked into the door. Caleb didn't buy it, but so far, he hadn't interrogated Brodie about it yet. His breath leaving him heavily in another deep sigh, Brodie closed the door over and started the car up. It took a couple of times, because it really was a piece of shit, but it soon kicked over and started for him.
Bed. He just wanted bed. Then he could break down and cry for Asher as much as he damn well needed. He was already planning on calling in sick to work the next day. He couldn't face the world. He hand't even wanted to work tonight, but he needed the money and the bar paid better than his desk job. He backed out of the parking space, and took off towards the exit. But before he knew what was happening, there was suddenly a guy standing right there in the middle of the drive and although Brodie freaked, panicked, and slammed his foot on the break, he ploughed right into the guy who was just standing there looking at him.
It was ironic, really, and almost borderline creepy, that the only route Logan had to get close to his Childer's soul mate was to step in front of a car. It was like everything had come a full circle, but Logan was willing to do whatever it took to find some peace for Asher. Being his Sire, it affected him inside and this was a vital piece of the puzzle that was blurred at best. It wasn't like being hit by a car would kill him, was it? It would take a lot more than that to bump off a Kindred. Sure, it would hurt but he would be able to heal any injuries quickly... not that Brodie needed to know that. As soon as Logan had heard Brodie's side of that telephone conversation, he knew that trying to hit on the guy to get his scent on him really wasn't the right way to go about this. In fact, it sounded like Brodie was in a questionable relationship, and Logan had to stamp down on any immediate reaction to find this Jared fucker and rip out his jugular. It had been the first thought in Logan's mind, right after realising that Brodie having a lover was going to complicate shit even more. There had been no time to contemplate what Embracing Asher would really mean, but even if there had been, none of them would have considered any of this.
He had to act quickly, and he did. That brief second when he stepped out in front of Brodie's car, knowing the kid was too distracted emotionally to have sharp responses to anything, Logan had a taste of what it would have been like for Asher to take his own life in the horrible way he had. And Brodie's car wasn't even going a third the speed of the 4x4 that Asher had walked in front of at the time. And fuck yes, did it hurt like a bitch when the car impacted with him. Logan hit the wind-shield, skidded off the hood, and was knocked roughly onto the concrete ground of the parking lot. For a mortal, the pain would have been excruciating, but it was a lot more tolerable for Logan. There were cuts and blood, but no bruising. Cuts and blood should be enough, though. His head dropped back heavily onto the concrete as he laid there, the screeching of the tyres still ringing in his ears.
He knew there was a chance Brodie might hit and run like the person driving the car that killed Asher, but it was a risk worth taking. If Brodie reacted how Logan had anticipated, he would get out of the car to check if Logan was alive... and his scent would immediately be attached to Logan, just like he planned.
Shock flooded through Brodie and it felt like his blood iced over through his body. His foot was slammed down so hard on the brakes that a pain shot up through his leg and his grip on the steering wheel was so firm, his knuckles were white but his fingertips bright red from isolated blood. "Oh god, oh no... oh no... no, no, no, no, fuck no!" he squealed and tears of panic welled up in his eyes. He tried to rip his seatbelt off but it got caught and he tore back one of his fingernails in the desperation to get it unclipped. The ringing in his ears was deafening, with his heart pounding so hard in his chest it was throbbing up in his throat. This was how Asher had died. He had been hit by a car, and the driver didn't stop. That's all Brodie could keep thinking in his had over and over and over again. He had to get out to make sure the guy was okay. He couldn't just leave him for dead like the evil bastard they never found did to Asher.
It felt like hours to Brodie before he managed to pry himself out of the seatbelt and threw himself out of the car. His foot got caught and he fell hard onto the cold concrete, banging his knees. But he was numb and barely felt the pain there, let alone the scrapes on his palms that pricked with blood. He was in a mess and literally crawled on his hands and knees over to the guy sprawled in front of his car. Tears splashed down Brodie's face and his nose was running, but he planted his fingers against the guys throat to check for a pulse. "Please don't be dead, please don't be fucking dead! Oh fuck, shit, fuck... you're dead... no pulse... oh god, blood... goddamnit, don't die! You can't die, you bastard!" Brodie screeched in horror, fingers still stabbed against the guy's pulse point.
There was a pool of blood collected under the guy's head near Brodie's knee and Brodie was hit with a wave of dizziness, a heave catching up in his throat. He never did well with blood, he never had, but he couldn't worry about that right now when the guy was dead. He had just hit someone with his car and killed them, after dreaming for months on end of hunting down the person who did this to Asher and making them hurt just like Asher had. And now he had turned into them. His shaky hands clawed at the front of the guy's shirt and he floundered to remember any CPR training he had in the past, but he was drawing a blank on what he should do. "911... I-I'll call 911! Please, dude, please! Don't die! You can't die! No one else can die!"
Logan seriously fucking wanted to intervene as soon as he heard and felt just how much the poor guy was freaking out. He didn't factor in the notion that he might be scarred from Asher's death, because Logan thought a lot of people actually thought Asher to still be alive. Clearly, that wasn't the case. Why did everything have to be so fucking complicated? But he just waited that little bit longer, despite getting pounded with this guy's avalanche of emotions. As soon as Brodie tried to give him mouth-to-mouth, he would be home free. It would be like a prized gift. Sure, it could set Asher off like nothing else, but it would set him off about Brodie, rather than just setting him off putting out continual GTFO out vibes. Asher wasn't very free with the information on any level, and especially about his romantic history. None of them even knew there was one, let alone how intense it was, before Asher accidentally revealed as much to Emmeline.
And that was when it came. Brodie pushed his head back and Logan felt the guys warm lips close over his with a frantic breath of air forced into his mouth. The way he was crouching, he was nestled right up against Logan's body. That was all Logan needed right now. He put his hand up and grabbed it around Brodie's arm loosely when Brodie pulled back to take another breath. "Dude, chill..." he told him hoarsely, opening his eyes a little to look up at Brodie. "I'm nay dead, just chill, aye? You dinnae even need to call an ambulance, it's all good. Do you always verbally abuse poor sods you run over? That wasnae very nice, you know." Any human who had been hit with the impact Logan just did would be unconscious, probably riddled with broken bones, but even though Logan was hurt, he wasn't incapacitated. It would take a lot more than that, and as soon as he was out of Brodie's presence, he could get Eric to heal anything he couldn't manage himself anyway.
When the guy spoke, it was actually probably a sheer miracle that Brodie didn't soil himself or vomit all over the poor guy. The relief to hear him talk flushed through Brodie like tsunami and he just started to cry. How could the guy joke at a time like this? Brodie had just ran him over, and Asher had died being run over! It wasn't funny! There was nothing fucking funny about this! And if Brodie could actually form words around the choked lump of shock in his throat, he probably would have screamed all that in the poor guy's face. "Y-You... might... b-bleeding... I-I-I..." he stammered tearfully as he knelt there on the freezing cold cement drive of the parking lot.
His car was still running and his headlights were throwing a halo of painfully bright light over the top of them. Brodie's hand had gripped vice-like around a handful of the guy's sleeve, like he was still waiting for him to die. "How are you... I hit... hard... it was... you... fuck!" he cursed when he couldn't string the sentence together. His voice was hoarse and his lips trembling from the fright. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't even see you there! I was just... stuff on my mind... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry... c-can I... what can I do? Can you move? You shouldn't move! Oh my god, y-you're still bleeding. I-I can call my best friend... he'll help... I... I can get help! M-My name's Brodie... I swear I didn't do this to you on purpose! My... my... someone died... I... didn't mean this!"
This was where Logan had to get the plan in action to a fine art. Whatever he did or said next would be the key to everything, because he needed to get Brodie to play right into his hands. Literally everthing rested on this and if he couldn't at least get a bit more information about Brodie, this was all going to be for nothing. As it was, by this point, Brodie was touching him enough to get his scent all over Logan, which was exactly what Logan had been hoping would happen. But there was no way he could just go home and let Asher catch onto that without having the next part of the plan at least mapped out. Everything was so volatile that there was no guarantee any of this could work and all of them involved had a very real chance of ending up dead if it failed. Hell, he liked living on the edge and brushing regularly in the danger zone or he would never have qualified for MI6, but this was different because it wasn't all tactical and political, it was people Logan loved with his whole heart and their very existence on the line. It was beyond the danger zone, and could very well be the route to hell they all dodged by being Embraced to start with.
"Aye, I know. Listen, buddy... this isnae gonna look good," Logan began, trying to squint up at Brodie who was freaking the fuck out almost to the point of no return. "Isnae any reason to get no authorities involved. I'm pretty tough, just need a wee bit of cleaning up, aye? But I'm staying at a hotel and it's going to look as suspcious as all fuck if you drag me through a busy foyer dripping in blood. You got a place anywhere nearby? Just somewhere we can go to whack on a few band-aids and call my other half to come get me?" There. If this went how he passionately hoped it would, they would find Brodie's address and Logan could get into his private space. He would only need to be in there for a short time for his investigative talents to drink in a whole profile on the guy. It's all he needed and it would give him a chance to figure out whether it was safe or not to lead Asher right into Brodie's path. At this point, it was impossible to know. And he was going to start with Brodie's bathroom cupboard, because his Kindred senses could not shake the scent radiating off Brodie that the guy was sick. If Eric's hunger senses piqued at that, this could be a much more serious situation than any of them first anticipated.
Tears were flooding down his face, but Brodie sniffled, trying to hold onto any sliver of composure he could. He knelt over the poor guy and listened to what he was saying. He was right too. What if the cops got involved and they thought he hit him with the car on purpose? What if he went to jail? His life was already shit enough that he wasn't sure he would survive an ordeal like that. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his grimy, blood-smeared hand and nodded shakily. "I-I don't live too far. I... we can... I can take you there. It's just... I-I don't even know if I have band-aids," he got out through another sob. He nearly killed a guy with his car, because cars fucking killed people, and he didn't even have a band-aid. Whatever it took, though, he would do it. He just prayed he had the strength to peel the guy up off the floor and get him into the car to drive back to his apartment. This was one of those moments in life that he just wanted to hit the pause button on everything so it would stop and he could catch up. Just when he thought things could get more shit, he hits a dude with his car.
Knowing he couldn't sink into a depression and leave the guy here to die, though, he began to help him up. "I-I'm Brodie... and I'm sorry you ever crossed my path," he said tearfully and with a clench of his teeth, used his lingering vestiges of energy to help the guy up and hopefully prevent him from the same fate that ripped his soul mate right out of his life forever.
RP LOG, SCENE COMPLETE
What: Well the hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows
Where: Ironically, The Bitter End
When: A few days after Emmeline and Asher talk
Logan had been restless and edgy lately since Asher kept stonewalling them on offers of help and drawing information, and it led to one of those times he needed to roam when his mood towards Eric became volatile when the fact he had been forced into this just got that little bit too much for him. It was get out for some breathing space, or probably end up in a vicious fight with his lover. He stalked the New York night, hating the fact that the more they tried to work Asher out, the more of an enigma he became. Logan had found peace on some level in the fact that him and Eric had taken Asher against his will. It wasn't like there was anything he could do to reverse the actions, and now they just had to try and work with the situation they had. But the more roadblocks he met, the more frustration and restless he got inside that he didn't have an avenue to soothe his Childer. Sure, Eric had taken most of the hands-on job of Siring Asher, but at the end of the day, the kid was Logan's creation and he was feeling the brunt of having him in turmoil. He needed the answers and he needed to know Asher was safe.
It's what led him to The Bitter End bar in the West Village nearing one am that morning. He was hungry, and he needed a meal before his emotions got the better of him. He didn't know what drew him to this place, but something did, and as soon as he got into the bar and neared the stage where a guy was up there singing his heart out with a guitar, an overwhelming sensation of hunger towards the guy on the stage hit him like a ton of bricks. It was a mixture of feelings coming at him hard and fast, and unlike he had ever felt before. But rather than wanting to intercept the guy and have him as his latest meal, something else took over. Some deep desire to have the guy close to him, to protect him, and Logan knew without a doubt that the singer could only be one person... Asher's soulmate.
Brodie was putting in his all with his performance that night, which was a regular gig each week at the same time, but it was like he was on autopilot. It was the same thing every time, and music didn't give him the passion it used to anymore. Lately, he had been plagued with nightmares that made no sense, and he was getting hardly any sleep. He was moody, he was distant, and the people he cared about around him kept telling him he needed a change of scenery or something. At the end of the day, he knew they were probably right. His reasons for even coming to New York in the first place had never made sense and he never found his footing here because he was always feeling like a vital piece of him was missing...
And it was. He knew it was. Ever since he broke up with Asher, he had a gaping hole inside him but he had been so hurt by the way Asher let fame lure him and change him, that at the time, he hadn't been able to fathom their relationship ever going back to what it used to be. It was like Asher loved the fame and fortune more than he loved Brodie, and it had broken Brodie's heart. Shattered it into a million pieces, and he thought breaking up with Asher was the most painful thing he could ever experience. At least, until he heard the news of Asher's death. Until then, he had been living in LA with Caleb. After breaking up with Asher, he was lost and just followed his best friend aimlessly around like a lost puppy. First it was Vegas where Caleb got work as a bouncer, and then LA with the same thing. Brodie went to college and graduated with a degree in music, but he never got the career he wanted. Instead, he ended up in a boring desk job writing a music review column for a New York magazine that didn't even have the best sales. Before that, it was making ends meet by random jobs teaching people how to play guitar, or piano, or sing, but his patience and tolerance wasn't what it used to be and he had to throw it in.
Now he was stuck in New York, a location he had knee-jerk accepted a job in because... of reasons he would never admit to himself, and the only shining light was his weekly gig here at the bar, and usually he could throw himself into it and use that time to switch off from a life he was otherwise depressed in. Only, not that night. That night was the anniversary of his break-up with Asher and he couldn't stop thinking about him. His heart ached, and he couldn't even go visit Asher's "grave" (which was only a memorial site anyway) because he couldn't afford a ticket to Charleston where Asher's father had wanted it to be placed. His heart wasn't in the music or the performing. He even ignored Caleb's text messages asking him if he was okay and if he wanted to get a drink after his show. He wasn't okay, and he didn't want to do anything but finish, pack his stuff up in his car, and go back to the apartment he shared with Caleb to bury himself in bed for the rest of the week. He finished his set, got the usual applause and left the stage to gather his things up to leave. Normally he would stay around and chat to people at the bar, network, with maybe one day someone might want to discover him and offer him a record deal, just like what happened to Asher with his fashion... but that dream would have to wait for another day. If he stayed any longer, he would burst into tears and that really wasn't the image he wanted to project here.
Logan had to think on his toes here, but there was no way in hell he was letting this kid get away. He was barely even listening to the voice-over thanking Brodie Bradford for another wonderful performance, because he didn't need confirmation who this guy was. Logan was zeroed in on him, and he had to get close to him. He had to find out who he was, where he lived, what made him Asher's obsession... but more importantly, he had to get Brodie's scent on him, meaning touch, because that was going to be a huge key to smashing down Asher's barriers. As soon as Asher smelt Brodie's scent on Logan, all hell could break loose, but it was a risk Logan needed to take now. But to do that, he needed to get close enough to Brodie to touch him, and that was where Logan's brain kicked into overdrive.
He expertly wove his way through the bar, slipping and ducking between all the bodies there while his eyes remained locked on the guy up on the stage packing away his guitar. The was a radiating sadness coming off him, but Logan didn't have time to analyse that just yet. Maybe if he got close enough to the guy, he would target him for answers, but he had to find a way. He moved quickly and purposefully and made it to the stage just as Brodie walked off it, guitar case slung over his shoulder. Logan surveyed the scene, making sure to keep the people closest to him averted to his presence. Then he slipped backstage, staying in the shadows so Brodie wouldn't see him, and kept a safe distance the entire time he stalked him to the back exit. It led into an undercover parking lot and Logan kept his steps feather-light as he lingered in the shadows. He never stopped watching Brodie. He watched him move, shoulders slumped, and approach a car which was an older model and couldn't be worth all that much. He had no idea why he had assumed Asher's soul mate would be rich, but he had. The Toreador coming out in him, no doubt, but this guy wasn't rich.
He was close enough now to see the deep frown on Brodie's features. Now that he was this close, almost in reaching distance, Brodie's depression and melancholy was overwhelming. He even shut his guitar into the trunk of his car and then rested his arm over it, leaning over to drop his forehead onto his arm with a sigh. He was exhausted too, and there was a sensation of sickness. Logan remembered being told when he was ill with the brain tumour how that ill feeling radiated off him to a Kindred sense, and because he was terminal, his blood became tainted, tasted almost unpleasant. Logan had no idea what was going on here, but he was going to find out.
Brodie pushed back away from the car, swiping a hand over his face in an effort to keep himself awake, and that was when his cell phone started to ring in his pocket. It was loud and bounced off the concrete walls of the parking lot. He took it out, checking the caller ID and his eyes slipped closed with a sigh as he answered it. "Hey, babe..." he murmured. "What's up?"
"I miss you. I thought I could come around for a couple of drinks now your show is done, and we can make the most of the rest of the night. It's been ages since I've seen you. I'm starting to wonder if you're avoiding me."
The laugh following the comment indicated joking, but Brodie just bit down on the inside of his lip when he knew it was the absolute truth. Still... "Jared, no. It's not that. I've just been busy. But not tonight, okay? I'm really tired, I'm not feeling the best. I just want to go to bed. I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?"
"But will you? You've said that to me three times in the last week and never done it. Are you cheating on me, Brodie?"
A deep frown stole Brodie's features. "What?! No, of course I'm not cheating on you! Why don't you ever just take my word for it when I tell you I'm not in the mood? Why is everything about sex with you lately? I'm just tired. I want to go to sleep. You don't have to be a prick about it!"
"Because we never have sex anymore! I practically have to beg you for it."
Brodie let out a sharp huff of a breath and shook his head as he unlocked his car and dropped down into the driver's seat. "Of you could just demand I do it even if I don't want it," he snapped angrily. "Just like last time, huh?"
"I'm not doing this with you right now. You're being a total selfish bitch. Call me when you can dig your head out of your ass."
And then the conversation was over and Brodie got the dull signal at the end of the phone. He slid his finger over the screen to lock the phone and threw it angrily on the seat beside him. God, he wanted to just burst into tears, but as he sat there gripping hold of the steering wheel and resting his forehead on the backs of his knuckles, he knew if he started that, he would never stop. He ached from the inside out and he felt empty. His boyfriend was demanding asshole lately, and the complete opposite to how Asher used to treat him. There was even that one night Jared backhanded Brodie for not sucking his dick. Caleb came home to find Brodie with a bleeding nose and Brodie told his best friend he had walked into the door. Caleb didn't buy it, but so far, he hadn't interrogated Brodie about it yet. His breath leaving him heavily in another deep sigh, Brodie closed the door over and started the car up. It took a couple of times, because it really was a piece of shit, but it soon kicked over and started for him.
Bed. He just wanted bed. Then he could break down and cry for Asher as much as he damn well needed. He was already planning on calling in sick to work the next day. He couldn't face the world. He hand't even wanted to work tonight, but he needed the money and the bar paid better than his desk job. He backed out of the parking space, and took off towards the exit. But before he knew what was happening, there was suddenly a guy standing right there in the middle of the drive and although Brodie freaked, panicked, and slammed his foot on the break, he ploughed right into the guy who was just standing there looking at him.
It was ironic, really, and almost borderline creepy, that the only route Logan had to get close to his Childer's soul mate was to step in front of a car. It was like everything had come a full circle, but Logan was willing to do whatever it took to find some peace for Asher. Being his Sire, it affected him inside and this was a vital piece of the puzzle that was blurred at best. It wasn't like being hit by a car would kill him, was it? It would take a lot more than that to bump off a Kindred. Sure, it would hurt but he would be able to heal any injuries quickly... not that Brodie needed to know that. As soon as Logan had heard Brodie's side of that telephone conversation, he knew that trying to hit on the guy to get his scent on him really wasn't the right way to go about this. In fact, it sounded like Brodie was in a questionable relationship, and Logan had to stamp down on any immediate reaction to find this Jared fucker and rip out his jugular. It had been the first thought in Logan's mind, right after realising that Brodie having a lover was going to complicate shit even more. There had been no time to contemplate what Embracing Asher would really mean, but even if there had been, none of them would have considered any of this.
He had to act quickly, and he did. That brief second when he stepped out in front of Brodie's car, knowing the kid was too distracted emotionally to have sharp responses to anything, Logan had a taste of what it would have been like for Asher to take his own life in the horrible way he had. And Brodie's car wasn't even going a third the speed of the 4x4 that Asher had walked in front of at the time. And fuck yes, did it hurt like a bitch when the car impacted with him. Logan hit the wind-shield, skidded off the hood, and was knocked roughly onto the concrete ground of the parking lot. For a mortal, the pain would have been excruciating, but it was a lot more tolerable for Logan. There were cuts and blood, but no bruising. Cuts and blood should be enough, though. His head dropped back heavily onto the concrete as he laid there, the screeching of the tyres still ringing in his ears.
He knew there was a chance Brodie might hit and run like the person driving the car that killed Asher, but it was a risk worth taking. If Brodie reacted how Logan had anticipated, he would get out of the car to check if Logan was alive... and his scent would immediately be attached to Logan, just like he planned.
Shock flooded through Brodie and it felt like his blood iced over through his body. His foot was slammed down so hard on the brakes that a pain shot up through his leg and his grip on the steering wheel was so firm, his knuckles were white but his fingertips bright red from isolated blood. "Oh god, oh no... oh no... no, no, no, no, fuck no!" he squealed and tears of panic welled up in his eyes. He tried to rip his seatbelt off but it got caught and he tore back one of his fingernails in the desperation to get it unclipped. The ringing in his ears was deafening, with his heart pounding so hard in his chest it was throbbing up in his throat. This was how Asher had died. He had been hit by a car, and the driver didn't stop. That's all Brodie could keep thinking in his had over and over and over again. He had to get out to make sure the guy was okay. He couldn't just leave him for dead like the evil bastard they never found did to Asher.
It felt like hours to Brodie before he managed to pry himself out of the seatbelt and threw himself out of the car. His foot got caught and he fell hard onto the cold concrete, banging his knees. But he was numb and barely felt the pain there, let alone the scrapes on his palms that pricked with blood. He was in a mess and literally crawled on his hands and knees over to the guy sprawled in front of his car. Tears splashed down Brodie's face and his nose was running, but he planted his fingers against the guys throat to check for a pulse. "Please don't be dead, please don't be fucking dead! Oh fuck, shit, fuck... you're dead... no pulse... oh god, blood... goddamnit, don't die! You can't die, you bastard!" Brodie screeched in horror, fingers still stabbed against the guy's pulse point.
There was a pool of blood collected under the guy's head near Brodie's knee and Brodie was hit with a wave of dizziness, a heave catching up in his throat. He never did well with blood, he never had, but he couldn't worry about that right now when the guy was dead. He had just hit someone with his car and killed them, after dreaming for months on end of hunting down the person who did this to Asher and making them hurt just like Asher had. And now he had turned into them. His shaky hands clawed at the front of the guy's shirt and he floundered to remember any CPR training he had in the past, but he was drawing a blank on what he should do. "911... I-I'll call 911! Please, dude, please! Don't die! You can't die! No one else can die!"
Logan seriously fucking wanted to intervene as soon as he heard and felt just how much the poor guy was freaking out. He didn't factor in the notion that he might be scarred from Asher's death, because Logan thought a lot of people actually thought Asher to still be alive. Clearly, that wasn't the case. Why did everything have to be so fucking complicated? But he just waited that little bit longer, despite getting pounded with this guy's avalanche of emotions. As soon as Brodie tried to give him mouth-to-mouth, he would be home free. It would be like a prized gift. Sure, it could set Asher off like nothing else, but it would set him off about Brodie, rather than just setting him off putting out continual GTFO out vibes. Asher wasn't very free with the information on any level, and especially about his romantic history. None of them even knew there was one, let alone how intense it was, before Asher accidentally revealed as much to Emmeline.
And that was when it came. Brodie pushed his head back and Logan felt the guys warm lips close over his with a frantic breath of air forced into his mouth. The way he was crouching, he was nestled right up against Logan's body. That was all Logan needed right now. He put his hand up and grabbed it around Brodie's arm loosely when Brodie pulled back to take another breath. "Dude, chill..." he told him hoarsely, opening his eyes a little to look up at Brodie. "I'm nay dead, just chill, aye? You dinnae even need to call an ambulance, it's all good. Do you always verbally abuse poor sods you run over? That wasnae very nice, you know." Any human who had been hit with the impact Logan just did would be unconscious, probably riddled with broken bones, but even though Logan was hurt, he wasn't incapacitated. It would take a lot more than that, and as soon as he was out of Brodie's presence, he could get Eric to heal anything he couldn't manage himself anyway.
When the guy spoke, it was actually probably a sheer miracle that Brodie didn't soil himself or vomit all over the poor guy. The relief to hear him talk flushed through Brodie like tsunami and he just started to cry. How could the guy joke at a time like this? Brodie had just ran him over, and Asher had died being run over! It wasn't funny! There was nothing fucking funny about this! And if Brodie could actually form words around the choked lump of shock in his throat, he probably would have screamed all that in the poor guy's face. "Y-You... might... b-bleeding... I-I-I..." he stammered tearfully as he knelt there on the freezing cold cement drive of the parking lot.
His car was still running and his headlights were throwing a halo of painfully bright light over the top of them. Brodie's hand had gripped vice-like around a handful of the guy's sleeve, like he was still waiting for him to die. "How are you... I hit... hard... it was... you... fuck!" he cursed when he couldn't string the sentence together. His voice was hoarse and his lips trembling from the fright. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't even see you there! I was just... stuff on my mind... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry... c-can I... what can I do? Can you move? You shouldn't move! Oh my god, y-you're still bleeding. I-I can call my best friend... he'll help... I... I can get help! M-My name's Brodie... I swear I didn't do this to you on purpose! My... my... someone died... I... didn't mean this!"
This was where Logan had to get the plan in action to a fine art. Whatever he did or said next would be the key to everything, because he needed to get Brodie to play right into his hands. Literally everthing rested on this and if he couldn't at least get a bit more information about Brodie, this was all going to be for nothing. As it was, by this point, Brodie was touching him enough to get his scent all over Logan, which was exactly what Logan had been hoping would happen. But there was no way he could just go home and let Asher catch onto that without having the next part of the plan at least mapped out. Everything was so volatile that there was no guarantee any of this could work and all of them involved had a very real chance of ending up dead if it failed. Hell, he liked living on the edge and brushing regularly in the danger zone or he would never have qualified for MI6, but this was different because it wasn't all tactical and political, it was people Logan loved with his whole heart and their very existence on the line. It was beyond the danger zone, and could very well be the route to hell they all dodged by being Embraced to start with.
"Aye, I know. Listen, buddy... this isnae gonna look good," Logan began, trying to squint up at Brodie who was freaking the fuck out almost to the point of no return. "Isnae any reason to get no authorities involved. I'm pretty tough, just need a wee bit of cleaning up, aye? But I'm staying at a hotel and it's going to look as suspcious as all fuck if you drag me through a busy foyer dripping in blood. You got a place anywhere nearby? Just somewhere we can go to whack on a few band-aids and call my other half to come get me?" There. If this went how he passionately hoped it would, they would find Brodie's address and Logan could get into his private space. He would only need to be in there for a short time for his investigative talents to drink in a whole profile on the guy. It's all he needed and it would give him a chance to figure out whether it was safe or not to lead Asher right into Brodie's path. At this point, it was impossible to know. And he was going to start with Brodie's bathroom cupboard, because his Kindred senses could not shake the scent radiating off Brodie that the guy was sick. If Eric's hunger senses piqued at that, this could be a much more serious situation than any of them first anticipated.
Tears were flooding down his face, but Brodie sniffled, trying to hold onto any sliver of composure he could. He knelt over the poor guy and listened to what he was saying. He was right too. What if the cops got involved and they thought he hit him with the car on purpose? What if he went to jail? His life was already shit enough that he wasn't sure he would survive an ordeal like that. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his grimy, blood-smeared hand and nodded shakily. "I-I don't live too far. I... we can... I can take you there. It's just... I-I don't even know if I have band-aids," he got out through another sob. He nearly killed a guy with his car, because cars fucking killed people, and he didn't even have a band-aid. Whatever it took, though, he would do it. He just prayed he had the strength to peel the guy up off the floor and get him into the car to drive back to his apartment. This was one of those moments in life that he just wanted to hit the pause button on everything so it would stop and he could catch up. Just when he thought things could get more shit, he hits a dude with his car.
Knowing he couldn't sink into a depression and leave the guy here to die, though, he began to help him up. "I-I'm Brodie... and I'm sorry you ever crossed my path," he said tearfully and with a clench of his teeth, used his lingering vestiges of energy to help the guy up and hopefully prevent him from the same fate that ripped his soul mate right out of his life forever.
RP LOG, SCENE COMPLETE