Who: Emmeline Vance and Caradoc Dearborn aka Prudence, John, Melvin, and Fanny.
What: Interrogating vampires goes a little off course
Where: A dingy tavern
When: Right...now!
WARNING: SPOUSAL ABUSE DOMESTIC SQUABBLE



With her hands on the back of her head, it was rather easy to stumble into the room she was shoved into, and the moment the lights were flicked on and the door was shut, Emmeline whipped around and began to rapidly pound her fists into Caradoc's arm and side.

"This--is--all---your---fault!"

Her voice was squeakier than usual, an annoying side affect from the polyjuice she'd taken. This woman was shorter than Emmeline (barely at five feet, holy hell--), curly red hair, bright blue eyes--okay well that was nearly the same, but. But it was not the most intimidating of disguises, and for no reason should the vampires (yes, vampires) they'd been talking to been suspicious of her.

Except for someone's big, sarcastic mouth.

"You---are----ridiculous!" she let out, one finally shove into Caradoc before stalking across the room. The tavern they'd been in had some back rooms, and with their wands confiscated it was only a matter of time before something bad happened, and it was nearing the two hour mark for the polyjuice and---this was brilliant. Perfect.

"Unbelievable."

"I'm ridiculous? " Caradoc drawled, refraining from everything but directing a severe sneer across the room. Everything had been going fine, just great. Smoothly, as according to plan. Completely under control, the vampires' anger was obviously expected (how else would you get any information from anyone?), just as he planned, but nooo, that wasn't good enough for Miss. 'Ridiculous.' She had to go along, basically bumbling away their cover with her eye rolls and glares, and rumbling sighs. "That's rich," he snapped, now looking down to inspect his hand, turning it over in an almost bored manner.

This man had the most unusually sized fingernails. Not to mention incredibly hairy at the joints. Caradoc more than welcomed the time when polyjuice would stop working at this point--- hiding who they were didn't really matter anymore. They knew that he and Emmeline were up to something, and cover or no cover the matter of the fact was that Caradoc felt much more capable of significant accomplishments in his own body than this random dark-haired muggle who Caradoc was fairly certain did nothing with his life.

"Perhaps you should just calm down, Prudence" Caradoc dug, taking to lean against the wall. "Your extreme emotion concerning this situation is unbelievable," he continued, glancing over his shoulder to look at her. "They stuck us in a considerable well-lit room--- we're fine."

He sighed, and brought his hand up from his side to look at it again. They must have what, fifteen minutes left? That was almost bearable enough.

She wasn't going to panic. That little outburst, that was it, she was done with the panicking and it was going to be smooth sailing from here on. She was not going to let him think that----oh, oh of course she knew what he was thinking, Emmeline could see it by the stupid, stupid smirk on his face. He absolutely thought that she was going to have some sort of nervous meltdown and manage to get them both killed, or worse.

Emmeline was going to be calm and cool and relaxed.

She had no idea how to do that, but mimicking Caradoc's actions could somewhat help. Not that she'd ever admit it, that she was taking advice from his demeanor, but he didn't exactly seem worried---maybe he was just good at hiding it. Or maybe he was friends with vampires. Or maybe he'd seen worse. That just managed to make her stomach twist uncomfortably and she crossed her arms tightly, leaning back against the wall with a sigh.

They'd actually met a decent vampire, too, one that was willing to discuss the rumblings of the underworld and their thoughts on Voldemort. It just so happened that some of his friends had been listening in as well.

"I don't know how I let you pick the names," she grumbled. 'I'm John and this is Prudence,' lovely, brilliant. Just what she had needed. She was about to let out that next time she was naming him Melvin, but the door snapped open and a rather peeved looking man (vampire, most likely) entered.

"Tell me who you're working for!"

Caradoc rolled his eyes just as the door opened, vaguely hoping that their new friend would think he was rolling his eyes at him, and not at Emmeline. That would be rich, wouldn't it? Or at least vastly entertaining, at the least. Before, he had thought none of this would be fun, but now... well, they were in a holding cell, weren't they? And their interrogator was a vampire. You couldn't get much better than that if you tried. Well, no, that wasn't necessarily true, because he had been in more intriguing situations than this, but still.

Looking uninterested, Caradoc rolled off the wall to stand on his own, his hands still crossed over his chest. He watched the vampire for a few moments (ah, if only they knew his name; well, there were means to obtain that), as if sizing his measure.

"And, tell me again, why would I want to do that?" Caradoc spoke before Emmeline had the chance, his voice low and unconcerned. The tone wasn't as effective in this man's voice than his own, and for a few moments that annoyed him. What was the point in being manipulative if the body couldn't even pull it off? He would have to be more selective next time. Holding back a sigh, Caradoc's hands dropped.

"Because honestly I don't see the point. Do you, Prudence?" Caradoc leaned back for a second, catching Emmeline's eye in the process. A sly smirk spread across his face before he turned back to the task at hand. "Though it would mighty help us out if you told us who you're working for. Promise, if you do, you'll never see these faces again."

To be honest, he was impressing her. Something she wouldn't say unless in a very, very good mood, because she would never live it down, but Emmeline watched Caradoc with subdued amusement. They were very rarely partnered up for Order assignments, even more rarely since they'd begun dating, so she hadn't had a good opportunity to see him work. And--hm. She kept the small smirk off of her face as she pushed off the wall as well, tilting her head slightly at his question; suddenly it was quite easy to fall into this self-assured, completely in control state.

"No point at all---it would only be beneficial, I'm sure," she said, heels clicking slowly against the wood. Suddenly she was glad to have chosen a shorter disguise; a slightly superficial thought, but her attire was a definite help in managing the act, "Because you must be quite aware that being on the Dark Lord's side does have it's drawbacks."

"Like what," the vampire snapped, giving them a flash of his sharp teeth. Emmeline's heart jumped, but his response gave the evidence and her expression remained neutral except for the quick look over at Caradoc.

"So, now we're getting somewhere," she said with a breath, arms crossing and watching the vampire carefully. It was strange; if she'd seen him in the streets she would have thought he was just extremely pale, but knowing what he was capable gave him a completely different presence. "We're here to offer you an alternative when it comes to choosing a side of this war."

The vampire's eyes narrowed, and he looked between them, "Go on."

Alright. Caradoc held back from letting out a long sigh; was all of this really necessary? She could have been a bit more inscrutable, there was no need to spoon-feed in a situation like this. And he could just refrain from trying to intimidate them with his 'I'm a vampire, fear me" deal. Neither strategies were working very well, and honestly enough, Caradoc found it all just to be wasted time.

"How about we talk to someone who's just a little bit more important than you, hm?" Caradoc leaned forward on his toes again, spending a few seconds still inspecting his long fingers before looking up again. Perhaps it was his fault that Emmeline was talking now, he hadn't really intended on her talking control over the situation, but. Not that it really mattered, either way they were going to have a hell of a time getting out of here, which was really only what he cared about.

"You should understand--- we can't just go blurting away things randomly to everyone we see. It just isn't very smart," he continued, shrugging his shoulders lightly. Twelve more minutes? Thirteen? Caradoc hadn't really been paying attention, but they hadn't been in here for that long. "Or you could just let us go. That would probably be the brighter thing to do."

"You two---you two are going to regret this, I'm going to get the boss and then you'll talk!" the vampire snapped, turning quickly and exiting with a loud slam of the door. Hm. Well. Emmeline's shoulders jumped at the door slamming, and she turned to Caradoc. She was about to make a remark about how she does hope that these fellows weren't hungry, but that was when she noticed his blonde hair was shortening and turning into the darker, more recognizable shade of brown.

"Shit."

She grabbed a bit of her own hair and pulled it in front of her face, and sure enough the red was fading away and the curl was straightening out. Apparently, time went a bit faster when you were being held hostage by vampires. A quick breath was let out of her nose and without a second thought she hurried to the door (awkwardly, because now her bones were beginning to grow again) and flipped the lock to give them some time. It could be opened in a quick second, of course, but it was an extra second that they needed.

What the hell were the vampires going to say when they came back in here and saw that John and Prudence (ugh) were gone and two random strangers were standing there looking as if they'd been there the whole time---

---well. That wouldn't make any sense, now would it?

"Okay, look----" she started, but there was noise beyond the door and Emmeline felt almost smug at the rattling of the doorknob, giving them that extra few seconds she needed. The door finally clicked and swung open, and in that same moment she burst into tears and flung herself at Caradoc (fully transformed Caradoc, she hoped).

"Ohhhh, Melvin!" she cried, shoulders heaving greatly and taking deep, terrified breaths, "What are they going to do to us?"

"Shhhh, Fanny, everything will be alright."

Wasn't Emmeline aware that he had already created a perfectly good excuse and plan as to why they would be different people when the vampire came back? Did she think that--- Caradoc gritted his teeth as he dug his chin into her shoulder to hide his mouth. Patting Emmeline's back for a few seconds and speaking inaudibly in a way that could be perceived as reassurance, he let his mind catch up to this new plan. Which was not going to work. He was fairly certain about that, and not just because he himself didn't come up with it. They were dealing with vampires for fuck's sake, not Sirius Black. They were a bit more perceptive.

But still, he went along with it, seeing no other option at this point. Looking up, Caradoc regarded the new vampire with confused interest. "Is there a reason we were brought here?" he demanded in an angry tone, and at the same time took the opportunity to pinch Emmeline's elbow rather hard. "And so rudely stripped of our wands? Did we do something wrong by sitting down for dinner?"

Oh, this was just embarrassing. He was back to looking like himself, but now he had to act like poor, stupid and defenseless Melvin. Melvin. Really. Was that really necessary? Melvin probably did nothing with his life and was capable of even less. He gripped onto Emmeline's skin just a bit harder, more for spite this time as he continued to pat her back.

"You lost them?"

Emmeline didn't have a chance to yelp or wince at Caradoc's pinching, because the sight of the larger, obviously in charge, vampire was enough to numb her a bit. By the look of his not-as-pale face, this vampire had just fed, and---well, she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

His fist slammed the door so hard that it bounced off the lock and swung open and into the wall, and Emmeline found her answer. She involuntarily pushed back into Caradoc, eyes widening as the bigger vampire quickly hovered over and pushed his smaller counterpart further into the room, a furious expression blazing his features. She'd done her research on vampires, and though most of their myth and bias was based on folklore and tales drilled into people's heads, there were still some truthful characteristics that were meant to be wary about, and right now Emmeline's heart was about ready to jump out of her chest and haul the hell out of the tavern.

"Victor! Victor, relax!" the other vampire let out, as he was pushed up against the wall by his shoulders, feet rising off the ground. Emmeline dug her nails into Caradoc's arm and winced as Victor took out his frustration on---God, they hadn't even gotten his name. Now this guy--this vampire, who had seemed to be willing to be somewhat helpful was probably going to---

"RELAX? We've got people questioning us and----"

"Door," Emmeline hissed, not willing to stand around and watch any more.

Yes, getting to the door would be the ideal action to accomplish, wouldn't it--- if they had their wands and one vampire wasn't about to eat another right in front of it. Caradoc tried to ignore Emmeline's tightening grip, and did accomplish in ignoring what she was hissing to him. Yes, he got it. Obviously getting out was their top priority right then, it didn't take 12 N.E.W.T.s to figure that one out. It had occurred to him earlier that this whole escape wouldn't be too challenging, it would just have to be done right. Really just getting out the door was the hardest thing.

Taking a sharp breath, Caradoc slowly let go of Emmeline carefully, his eyes on the two vampires the entire time. Just a few seconds, all they needed was a few seconds for the smaller one to close his eyes for a few moments... ah. Not waiting, he immediately pushed and pulled Emmeline toward the exit. As they sprinted for the door, he felt his heart begin to pump faster, a reaction that was most certainly welcomed. A small smirk appeared on his face even as her heard something of a hiss form from inside the room, but that wasn't anything to worry about now. Before a face could even appear in the doorway, Caradoc had whirled on his feet, pointed his hand toward the door and watched it slam shut with a notable locking noise to finish.

The hall seemed suddenly very silent (minus the muffled hisses still coming from behind the door), and Caradoc turned his back to it again. So. Step one; great. Step two. Without looking down at Emmeline yet (or her face, even though he was dying to see that), Caradoc once again raised his hand slightly, focusing just a bit longer this time.

"Here," he stated a few seconds later, reaching his right hand out to her with her wand laying in his palm like it had been there all along. His left hand moved, poised and ready with his wand as well. See, now this was fun. Finally, he looked down at Emmeline with a long, wolfish grin.

Making a quick exit in heels was a lot easier than she thought it would be. Stumbling out of the hallway and nearly into the opposite wall wasn't exactly what she planned, but it was better than she'd imagined. As Caradoc handled the door (wandless, she noted), Emmeline took a few steps to check out the hallway, curving herself around the corner. It was the corridor that lead to the main part of the tavern, and of course there was someone standing guard. Taking the only thing she had on hand, her monster of a hair clip (hey, that muggle had a lot of bloody hair!), Emmeline threw it as hard as she could in the opposite direction, smashing---something. It sounded like a mirror.

As if she needed any more bad luck, right?

Pressing into the wall as the vampire passed in a hurry to check it out, Emmeline ducked back and reached Caradoc just in time to retrieve her wand. More wordless magic? Her eyebrows rose and she took her wand, twirling it once out of habit before clicking her tongue at him.

"You're not that cute," she snipped with an admittedly impressed smirk, but quickly tugged on his wrist to get the hell out of there while the guard was distracted. Even with the little bump of getting caught, they had gained plenty of information from the vampires. And, who knew--maybe the less vicious one would try to contact them again, and they'd be able to have another insider into Voldemort's plans.

Or they'd have a vampire stalker. Which could prove even more interesting.