The vampire mayor stared down at the petite blonde reporter with one dark eyebrow raised. She was certainly a persistent thing, which he mused one would have to be, given her choice of job. Dareios breathed a heavy sigh and settled stiffly into a somewhat more relaxed position, allowing one elbow to lean against a tall table that held a plethora of empty and half-drunken glasses. He briefly fiddles with the blood-red bow tie at his neck, but then stuffs his undead hands back into his trouser pockets. Only a few minutes go by before Dareios' publicist, a tall and lean vampire woman named Gabrielle, starts walking fiercely in their direction. She rarely let Dareios be interviewed without her watchful presence, but the vampire mayor waved her off quickly with the shrug off his shoulders. Mrs. Dabney was just a "freelancer". He hardly felt the need of a handler for what was bound to be just a puff piece. He nodded politely when she remarked briefly on the ceremony. "Yes, but I can hardly take any credit. The City has been working diligently with the chambers and other community partners to really elevate the minority of supernaturals in town." He said proudly. But the blonde was quick to bait and switch. Her real question wasn't about the small business tax breaks Dareios had helped shepherd along, or the equity measures he'd put in place. He stood tall at the mention of a "serial killer," wiping his elbow off the table. Dareios' beady stare then bounced around the tables in their immediate area, hoping no one heard the words that just spewed from this reporter's mouth. He feigned a smile then, just to hide the grimace he so badly wished to show instead. "What a ridiculous question." He scoffed, looking around again through the crowd. "If you'd paid attention Mrs. Dabney, you'd know that crime in Sacrosanct is down 18 percent over the last three years, and that's mostly due to measures I've put in place to protect the residents in this town who don't conform to the way you live and act as a human." He stared hard at her now, gritting his teeth as he did so. "I'm not the Police Chief. If you have questions about a specific case, my suggestion to you would be to start there." Dareios Auerbach | Vampire | Vinyl |