[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/GrLZofm.png[/img][/center][hr][color=83bf7e][b]Time:[/b][/color] Morning 6AM
[color=83bf7e][b]Location:[/b][/color] Kade's Basement Apartment
[hr]Waking up is no longer the pleasure it once was. There is a fleeting moment every morning where Kade reaches over to brush his hand on his wife's back, but it quickly evaporates like water on a hot surface. It's like his mind is stuck on a fixed point in time, but every morning has to be violently pulled back into the present with renewed realization that she was gone. Perhaps that's how dreams work, if he still had them; instead, he only has still images inside of his mind to hold on to, of things have were, and things that could be. At that moment, he pictured Mia holding Emily, with him holding the camera. He sighed. Hopefully in another life, he's a better father. 

He groaned and rubbed the remainders of sleep from his eyes and gazed over the room. his clothes were scattered across, and next to the bed was a bucket with bloodied vomit. He supposed it probably smelled awful but having slept through it he must've got used to it. [color=83bf7e]"What was I thinking - they were obviously cloaking the drinks."[/color] He said to himself as he opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a flask full of rum.[i] What better cure to a hangover?[/i] He didn't actually know since he never got hungover before but he felt pretty sure of that decision - and so he emptied that flask, quickly. 

He reached for his phone and noticed he had 2 missed calls from an unknown number. Looking through his text messages he realized he finally got a response. [b]"6 PM."[/b] was all it said. He swore at the phone. They were really not doing a good job at making him want to stay. Operation Humanity was obviously too busy to keep an open line of communication with new recruits, huh? Maybe they didn't trust him yet, or didn't know just how useful he can be. He grinned, extending his arm out toward his pistol which was on the desk across the room, as it flew right into his grip. He thought of the conversation he had in the bar, about the supposed animal attacks in Lovers Lake, and gleamed at the thought of taking his role in Ember Grove into his own hands. 

He placed his pistol down and sprung out of bed, and quickly rushed into the shower. He went over his day in his mind: First he has to go get his car from outside Alexei's. Then he was going to get a massive breakfast somewhere. Then he was going to roam around Lover's Lake, and hopefully run into one of them animals and maybe kill one. Then go get a drink... and finally, arrive at Operation Humanity's headquarters [i]drunk[/i].

[hr][color=83bf7e][b]Time:[/b][/color] one hour later
[color=83bf7e][b]Location:[/b][/color] Woods near loverslake[hr]
Walking through the woods, pistol in one hand and a flask in another, Kade was still trying to clear his throat from the taste of blood. It tasted like rusted iron, but had this thick and bitter feeling to it like he still had some of it stuck in his teeth somehow. He kept trying to gargle the rum in his mouth but somehow the taste of blood was stronger. He started to think that they put gasoline or something in their drinks at Alexei's. Suddenly he lost his balance, his foot getting stuck under a loose tree root, he tripped and fell on the cold ground, facing the sky. He groaned and then gazed at his flask, holding it close to his face. If he were to run into a vampire, this surely isn't going to help him stay sharp. 

With that, a flash of memory from last night hit him. [b][i]Sam.[/i][/b] He saw Sam in Ember Grove. He didn't know if it was all the crap from Alexei's that made him hallucinate it or if Sam is actually in this town and is now aware of his presence. Kade swallowed, tossing his flask to the side. Yeah, he should stay sharp. 

He then turned his head to look at the tree root that tripped him only to realize it wasn't a tree root, it was a hand. Kade immediately crawled back and sprung up to his feet, clutching his pistol as he gazed from left to right, and then back at the man on the ground. [color=83bf7e]"Gross."[/color] The man was beaten up, with a knife in his arm, and his neck torn out. He crouched down to have a better look. [color=83bf7e]"What kind of an animal would use a knife."[/color] he said jokingly to no one in particular. He then pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the body, before sending it to his contact in Operation Humanity, hoping that would get their attention. 

He gazed at the body for a moment, and sighed. When he was recruited, he was told that the vampires here are organized, and careful to not leave any traces of their business, which was why they were recruiting. But this... this is not organized. The body was already cold, so whoever killed this poor man, should be long gone. But with such a sloppy job at covering their trail, maybe they left something else behind as well. He stood back up and started snooping around the scene of the crime.