Adam Peaks and the Living City

Chapter 27: Get a Clue

"So the LCIT thinks that Adrian Chopkith is a century-old serial killer?" Adam grimaced, "I don't really know the guy, but he does seem a bit-"

"Fanatical?" Camilla scoffed, "you feel that way because he is. He is a pompous xenophobe who turned the old message of the Senna and perverted it for his own personal gain. He is a man who cares only about power ... but he is not a murderer."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she gritted her teeth, "you forget that I am old, New Blood. You forget that I was there when Viduus started his spree, and I was there when Lord Durg defeated him and sent him fleeing into the depths of the Living City to die in the sewers with the rest of the rats. Adrian was no more than a fledgling Undying, like myself. There was no way he could have committed those murders, nor could he have stood against the power of Lord Durg for even a moment, let alone survive."
"You know, it's possible that the real Viduus is dead," he replied slowly, "and Adrian is just copying him in a really poor attempt to place blame on anyone but himself."

"No."

"But, the LCIT think-"

"The LCIT is an organisation that vilifies Undying because of what we were before the Last Lords united us and stopped the needless bloodshed," Camilla retorted, "and while I do not agree with what Adrian Chopkith preaches to his adoring masses, it is his right to voice his opinions, no matter how horrible they may be. The LCIT are linking him to at least half a dozen murders that he did not commit, and the kidnapping of our mutual friend, just because his views are extreme."

"Okay, I get it, you two have a history," Adam rolled his eyes, "but look at the facts, Camilla! This Chopkith guy is an extremist who hates having non-Undying in the City. The Senna want to 'go back to the Old Way' and use humans as breathing blood bags! The missing and murdered Fae all spoke out against him, and the park where Grace was abducted was staged to look like a werewolf attack! You heard Onlakk: if the Undying hear that werewolves were responsible for Grace's abduction, the entire City would go nuts and-"

"and more people would flock to Adrian's ideology and vote for the Senna Party. Yes, I can follow your train of thought, New Blood!" She snapped and crossed her arms as if to signal that the discussion should have ended long ago, "I am not an idiot, and I realize that Adrian and the Senna stand to gain a great deal of power from all of this," she frowned, "but I refuse to believe that Adrian would kill anyone; that is not in his character."

"How long has it been since you last spoke with him?" Adam probed, "and all the catty, high-society crap in the Library and the Gardens doesn't count as talking."

"... why?"

"Just answer the question."

"Twenty years," Camilla sighed.

"Twenty years?!" Adam gasped, "and you don't think it's possible that he may have changed in that time? I mean, the first home computer came out only a decade ago or so, and look how much both of our cities have changed since then!"

"Everything changes ..." Camilla nodded and then strode towards him and the computer, "very well then. We will have to speak with Adrian. Give me the floppy disc Naomi gave you."

He handed it over quickly and blinked at her in confusion, "s-speak with him? Won't he kill us?!"

"He. Is not. A. Murderer!" She hissed through her teeth, inserting the floppy disc as she did so, "and if he turns out to be responsible, I'll kill him myself. I was more powerful than him twenty years ago, and I would be willing to bet that I'm more powerful than him now," she waited for the files pertaining to the confirmed-as-missing Undying to download and grumbled under her breath, "it is finished. We need to get out of here, now."