Jeremi was just a bit surprised that Dmitri had given his name. Though he really should not have been surprised at all. Manners dictated that if someone gave their name, they often expected a name to be given in return. Jeremi just didn't care too much so long as people knew him and knew they could trust him. With him, a lot of the time it was 'manners? what are manners?' Especially when dealing with people who needed help and might not have anywhere else to go.

So he had had the cough awhile now huh? Jeremi pondered this for a few steps as he mentally went over what it might be. He wasn't shocked to hear that Dmitri had caught a cold as well since the other had stated his immune system was weak. With a weak immune system, it often didn't take much to catch anything and if he stayed outside on nights with even a hint of chill...Well, it was a wonder that all he had was a cough and a cold. "When is the first time you could remember the cough? That might help give me some sort of baseline to work with...Ahhhh....Umm...." Jeremi paused as he ran his hand through his hair. "Sorry...I didn't mean to treat you as if you were a patient of mine. Sometimes it is hard for me to turn off the doctor part of me. So feel free to tell me to shove it at any time you would like. I will not hold it against you."

They were slowly starting to leave the more business part of town and was heading towards areas with a lot more housing. And surprisingly, quite a bit of space. If probably asked, Jeremi would admit that his family's squabbles (for lack of a better word at the moment) did not exactly invite people to settle down here. Which could both be a good thing and a bad thing. They were able to more freely use their magic which was good. They were also able to fight more and use said magics in the fights which were bad. Thankfully, it seemed mostly calm as they continued to walk.

"Good then. Though this tea might be a little bitter, it should help with the cough and the cold. I do have honey and lemon if that would help any, but if you want sugar I would recommend against it." Both because he didn't know if there was any in the house and honey was better for you anyway when you were sick. At least that is what he believed anyway.

Vicente didn't seem convinced. He gave Milo a look that read as highly unimpressed with the excuse. "Perhaps. But antagonizing someone isn't exactly a good way to try to calm them down." It simply looked bad, the head clan of the entire united Nightkin houses struggling with petty fights between its younger members. Not enough to take disciplinary action, but more than a mere annoyance by this point. A small reminder of Milo's ranking within the house would hopefully get things across to him. "Besides, she's my personal assistant. She's been helping run things for longer than you've been alive, Milo. Don't try to undermine her concerns for the sake of personal amusement. Lesser houses fall apart because of things like that; we will not." He spoke firmly, and while he agreed that Lucina was perhaps too concerned for them, he also believed that the antagonism between the two wouldn't lead to anything good.

The walk went on silently for a while, Vicente enjoying the sights and taking things in. Occasional idle chatter came up, but during a talk about the possibility of a vampire president - something that the elder assured would never happen - he suddenly stopped and put a hand out to stop Milo from moving past him. He inhaled slowly through the nose, taking a very deep breath. Scents danced along the cold night air, coming from somewhat nearby. People all had their own unique smells to their blood, but it was possible to tell what they were from it, a sort of common touch that they held. It was hard to fully explain, and required experience to pick apart smells to really figure out what meant what. But Vicente was very old, and could pick things up in the area. Five inhuman scents nearby. A smile crept its way across his face as he recognized each. Vampires. Three Daywalkers, each one moving ever closer, and nearer by, a Nightkin. Along with them, the less distinct smell of a Witch.

"We may just have company." Vicente said, chuckling quietly to himself. After such a long flight, a fresh drink was a very attractive option, and introducing himself to locals of his kind seemed a grand idea. He removed his other hand from his pocket and began moving again, his pace quickening with every step. It was still far from a run, but much more than the leisurely slow stroll they'd been taking previously. He crossed a road diagonally when it emptied itself of cars, and found the smells converging toward a single location.

It was going to be a fun evening.

-----

"Tanaka has us out here to keep tabs on the area when he decides we're working for him. Keeping tabs on what's going on in the territory, going around cleaning up messes others leave behind. Usually, nothing too special." Mariko rolled her sleeves up, letting the folds of her sleeves rest just below her elbows. "But I'm sure you've heard the news. Mainstream, not supernatural. There was an archaeological discovery recently, and the object has been moved into one of the museums here in DC." She did another quick adjustment to her outfit, tugging her sweater down to straighten it a bit, then turned to face Eli. "Multiple high-ranking houses are moving in to discuss the terms of bringing their conflict here, since they all think it'll be advantageous to have the thing."

Drake, slipping off his shoes, rolled his shoulders and interjected. "The old ****ing are fighting over a rock that might not even have anything to do with them. Some sorta tablet found out in the middle east or something. They think it's connected to that one old mythical ****ing, whatever he's called." He removed his jacket, exposing the shoulder holsters he wore under it, as well as a sling on his back that held a shotgun. He'd been prepared for quite a job that evening before Eli decided to force his way back into their lives. Walking to the couch, he sat down in the middle cushion.

"Raziel," Mariko replied. "Whatever the thing is, it's definitely magical. Information moves quickly between our people once it's figured out, you know." She put her hands on her hips, sighing a little. "I'm not looking forward to any of this. Just when things started to get quiet around here, all this big news started attracting all kinds of awful people. We were out looking into a death, you know? Someone cut to shreds and drained."

"Yeah, a real piece of **** out there." Drake unslung his shotgun, keeping his finger off the trigger as he opened it at the hinge to remove the loaded shells. "I was looking forward to testing this out. So thanks, ****ing." He leered at Eli was he withdrew the cartridges, then set the gun down and pulled out a pistol. Once more, he emptied it, dropping the magazine and pulling back the slide to dump the chambered round, which he then pushed into the mag.

"You worry me sometimes, you know," Mariko said, lightly nudging Drake's shoulder.

"Just doin' my job." He shrugged. Being ready to fight just seemed logical given how much fighting was inevitably to come, but a quick look up made him relent somewhat, frowning all the way. "Sorry, just, really wanted to catch that dude."

"Mmmm." Walking over herself, Mariko sat down as well. "There's a lot of conflict coming. The Valtieris and the Acerbis in the same city isn't going to be good for any of us. I appreciate the visit, Eli, but if you came expecting to just hang out and relax, you couldn't have picked a worse time for that."

_________________

“Yes, okay,” said Milo, putting his hands together pensively. He had to remember not to overstep his boundaries. He had been relatively surprised with the amount of authority he was allowed to exercise for being so new, but he knew that was non pareil to Lucina’s. So in response to being scolded by Vicente, Milo coughed awkwardly and said, “Yes, yes. Apologies. I will stop with the meddling with Lucina.” Milo thought about the younger Italian Nightkin briefly. He liked to think they had a repertoire of sorts going. He had known her since the beginning of his undeath, and was one of the only vampires young enough for him to keep up an engaging conversation with.

The Polish vampire was on a little bit of a tirade, trying to feasibly explain why a vampire president would be entirely possible. “I mean, there was the Ted Cruz man. He had a thirst for blood and kind of got the… second place of the Republicans? I do not know how this government works. If he could do it, so could anyone who was more, uh, socially adept— and also a vampir—“ Milo was cut off as Vicente’s hand hit his chest. He mimicked the Nightkin leader, nostrils flaring, trying to get a scent for what was ahead. He couldn’t quite tell what exactly was coming, he could smell the familiar scent of a Nightkin, which he didn’t think was that important, and other things he couldn’t identify.

Milo broke out into a smile and placed a hand protectively on the sheathe of his dagger. He had been itching to fight for a while. In fact, the plane ride had made him stiff and he could really use a way to limber up the old joints, and nothing was quite better than the heat of a melee. He shadowed Vicente, his steps quick and eager.

—

Eli nodded when Mariko spoke. He had heard about the archeological study while slipping into some public places with televisions. Almost every diner on the east coast so far had the channel tuned to something about the dig. Advantageous to have the thing from the archeological dig? That didn’t sound very good, or very safe. He was just about to ask whether both Catarina and Vicente were here in the flesh, when Drake cut Mariko off.

He turned his attention to the redheaded vampire. As per usual, he was packing quite a lot of a fire power under his jacket. He watched Drake disassemble his guns and shifted slightly away from him when the younger Gifted decided to plop down on the couch as well.

“Raziel,” Eli repeated, looking a bit wide-eyed. While his obvious clan knowledge and lore wasn’t too great, he knew enough to somewhat understand what Mariko was saying. When she began talking about some person being shredded, he raised an eyebrow quizzically. Personally, he didn’t care much for humans— except for food, of course. He didn’t quite understand what the big deal was if one human died when someone expected more than a one course dinner. Apparently this was a cause for concern in clans, because Drake started cursing again.

Eli brushed off Drake’s insult with an indifferent shrug and a shitty smile. “Thanks, I missed you too.” He shot Drake a look that was as equally as toxic as the one he’d been sent.

“Huh? Oh,” mumbled Eli when Mariko called his name. “I never come to just ‘hang out’ and ‘relax’, Riko,” he said as he cracked his back and put his feet up on the ottoman. He thought about his next words carefully. “I’m here. I can help. I can help sometimes,” he muttered, not sure if he was actually committed. “Y’know, like old times, yeah?”

_________________

Alex gratefully took the last deep drag off of the cigarette from his newly acquired packed, blowing the acrid blue smoke out of his nostrils in frustration as he flicked the glowing butt out into the street. The gas station "food" grumbled it's way down his digestive tract as he ambled down the sidewalk, and he was sure that he would regret it in a few hours time, but it had given him some renewed energy and, more importantly, dulled the headache he was nursing.

You know that it could be worse.

"Shut up," the boy growled under his breath. The headache was not, as he had at first thought, from the drinking the night before, but caused by the butthole now walking next to him. He glanced sideways at the gaunt figure, a man in his late forties, wearing a disheveled business suit and a three day beard. The hole through the side of his head marked him as a dead man, so Alex knew he was the only one who could see him. The man was just trudging along beside him, and had been ever since he had left the motel, which had made getting his sustenance an awkward experience. Now he was just irritating.

Stop. Something is wrong.

"What, aside from the dead guy? Also, I said shut up."

STOP.

The word echoed menacingly around Alex's mind, and he immediately came to a halt. The dead man stood a pace behind him now as Amaranth guided his eyes for a brief moment, focusing on the woman moving towards him. She was tall, and blonde, and looked like she worked out. But Alex's eyes were focusing on her twice, because she certainly also appeared as dead. He hadn't ever seen this before. His left eye watered.

Damn it. This is not time for a bloody vampire to walk up.

"Sh-Shit!" Alex could do nothing. He felt cold. Amaranth had warned him they existed, but to actually see one was a completely different story. And she seemed to be walking directly at him, though it was hard to tell because of the ultra-focus she was in.

Of all the times...REALLY!?

Alex moved his gaze just slightly behind the woman. Three more of them moved out onto the street. This was absolutely not good. And then Alex's brain fizzed and his mind slid ever so slightly to the left, and he was no longer in control. Which was somewhat of a relief.

Amaranth grinned. He was back to steering a full twelve hours early thanks to the boy's panicking, and now there were playthings out, too. If they were paying attention, they probably knew he was here as well, but that just made the game more fun. He cleared his throat and ran his fingeres through his hair, trying to make it slightly more presentable.

"Excuse me, madam? Do you happen to have the time?"

-------

Fallon continued on her somewhat less merry way. She had stopped in to say hi to the nurses at the local hospital, and waved away a couple of youths near a liquor store(though she had no doubt they would return shortly.), but she had not yet seen anyone truly in need of her. It was almost as if all of the lost had scattered from the city, but that couldn't be right. Hardly anyone would leave once they had made a claim on something, especially something like a home. But all of the names she had gathered were gone, swept up somewhere into the detritus of the city that she couldn't access.

She was very lost in thought until she noticed a scrawny cat sitting outside an alley on a stack of boxes. Like most cats, it was completely unafraid of her, and vocalised that it wanted attention as she approached. It was maybe a few years old, but it had lived a hard life out on the streets, so not a housecat prowling for the night. She scritched it behind the ragged ears and it bumped her hand with its head, obviously pleased. "What's got you on lookout, hmm," she murmured to it, leaning up against the wall. She heard voices in the alley, but it didn't sound like a fight, so it probably wasn't anything to worry about. The cat purred, and its fur got a little sleeker in the orange light of the lamp above them. "Just a little help, friend. I know you have your pride, but that tooth is bad and you've got to eat better."

She stopped petting it, and the animal hopped down off of the boxes and trotted off into the night, on whatever business it had. Fallon shook her head in exasperation. Those animals were just too much for her. She preferred humans, who were so much simpler to work with. Well, most of them, at any rate. She stared up into the night, wondering what she should do next. She wanted to be home, but this life wasn't too bad, and she liked helping. Maybe tomorrow she would stop by the church and see Father Jacob.

Again, too wrapped up in her own thoughts, she did not notice that her healing of the cat had made her glow a soft golden hue, barely visible under the light of the lamp, nor did she notice that the area now smelled of lilacs and a slight hint of soap. She never noticed this when she healed, really, since it was her favourite scent and made her happy. She also did not notice that three more cats had emerged from the alley and scattering onto their own business.

“Have you made an error in your report, Lasky?”

The woman jumped, standing up a little straighter under William’s scrutiny. Her eyes flitted from the document in his hand to his face, and then she shook her head rapidly enough to nearly dislodge the wire framed spectacles perched atop her nose. “N-no sir, the report is correct.”

Severn’s office in the underbelly of the Foundation’s headquarters was modeled very similarly to the one far above, only with much more ambient noise given the types of activities that typically took place nearby. Of course, he could've had the room sound-proofed, but given the choice he always preferred awareness to comfort.

“That is impossible,” he replied, watching as the woman squirmed as if her lab coat’s interior was suddenly filled with something rather itchy. He watched closely, noticing her pupils as they flickered towards the door for only the fraction of a second. She knew very well who was responsible for his displeasure. “If no mistakes were made, it would mean that Project Advent, or rather the SS Division to be more specific, has made no strides in the better part of the last month.”

“Sir, I understand that, but-”

“It would also mean that the area of this operation that costs me the most money, roughly seven million dollars per week, has somehow hit a dead end. This, in spite of the limitless resources at your disposal.”

“Yes, but-”

“You are at the head of the SS Division, and as such you are accountable for its progress. Explain yourself, Lasky.”

She took a deep breath, and although the squirming came to a halt, it was soon replaced by a series of trembles that the woman was unable to conceal. “Mr. Severn, we have a great deal of resources available to us, but our staff is shorthanded after the incident last month. We’ve substituted people from the general labor force, but they don’t possess the skill-”

“A simple enough problem. One that you should have taken the initiative to solve by now. But very well,” he said, clearly disappointed as he opened one of the drawers next to where he sat behind the desk. “I will do your job for you.”

“Sir?”

“We have subcontractors, field operatives and the like, who are permitted the resources they need once they have agreed to submit to the whims of the Foundation, as contractually obligated. There are skilled enough professionals within their ranks to help your team, are there not?”

“Oh! Of course, I should’ve thought-”

“Yes, you should have,” he said in a voice framed by steel, and then he was pointing down at two names in particular on the page he had retrieved from one of his folders. “Haddad Hewin and Martin Suarez. Engineering division, the both of them, with the necessary backgrounds to go along with it. Hewin also has experience with programming, as well as alchemical formulas.”

“I will have them called in right away, sir,” Dora Lasky said quickly, looking eager now that the focus was no longer directly on her shortcomings. “Will they be able to handle the Advent Project, given that they’ve never been exposed to it before?”

Severn smiled, indicating the door behind the woman as he dismissed her. “Oh, they’ll manage just fine. I’m sure of it.”

_________________

The hospital was uncommonly quiet compared to the chaos that had reigned earlier in the day. Patients lie in their beds, some conscious, some decidedly not. All of them connected to various machinery which created a discordant underlying lullaby that spilled into the sterile white hallways. A few nurses could be seen ducking in and out of rooms, doing their jobs in the early hours of the morning.

In one bed, hooked up to multiple machines and covered in immense amounts of gauze, lie a sleeping woman. Her skin was a patchwork of violet, cream, and crimson. She had not, since the incident that left her here late the previous day, woken up. The only sound in the room, save her ragged breathing, was the sluggish heart monitor quietly affirming her life-force. Every once in a while her eyelids would flutter which had been some cause for excitement for the nurses earlier in the day but was now considered a false alarm.

The room was sparse, save for the woman, and the off-white curtains had been dutifully closed against the night. A small bouquet of lilies sat near her head tinging the room with a light sweet scent that mixed strangely with the sharp chemical-filled smell that was the hospital. A small stuffed elephant was pressed to the woman's side; a splash of grey against the white of the hospital sheets. The only source of illumination was the ever shifting heart monitor screen. A small scratching noise irritated the calm serenity of the woman's temporary room. The nurses who walked past did not hear. The woman who lie asleep did not stir. But something slowly pried open the window causing a small breeze to flutter the curtains.

The scratching intensified, more resembling large claws, as a weight dropped down easily pushing aside the curtains. The creature was sleek and black, nearly as large as the injured woman in the hospital bed. It slowly lifted its large head, the red eyes glowing with an unholy light as it stared at the sleeping woman. A jaguar, black as the night wrapped that around it, slowly and carefully padded to the edge of the bed. It's ears were turned toward the door, listening as a pair of footsteps passed the woman's room. A liquid ripple of fur and muscle and the large cat was on the bed.

The beast made sure not to stand on the woman, whose eyelids once more fluttered, as it placed itself directly above her. The beasts elegant muzzle parted revealing ebony fangs which were as beautiful as they were deadly. It rumbled at the woman, the heat from its breath spilling across her bruised face and moving a few of the golden strands of hair that had drifted to rest upon her face. The fluttering of the woman's eyelids increased her face contorting into a sickening mix of fear and pain. The jaguar stooped lower, its nose almost touching the woman's own. A small whimper escaped the woman and filled the room. Another rumble followed close behind. The beast shifted, and there was a small thump as the stuffed elephant hit the floor.

The beast's long tail moved fluidly behind it casting strange dancing shadows on the wall. The heart monitors beeping began to pick up with the woman's oncoming awareness. The jaguar dug its claws into the bed, almost impatiently, as the woman groaned slightly. She opened her eyes, only to be caught in the deep red stare of the beast above her.

Any calls for help died within the woman's throat as the jaguar pressed further forward the softness of its nose coming to rest upon her own. Its eyes drilled into the woman's eyes. Slowly the red changed and twisted the jaguar pressing itself more firmly against the woman's body. One glowing green eye, and one glowing blue eye stared into the matching eyes of the woman. It carefully ducked down, pressing it's teeth into the soft flesh of the woman's throat. Instead of fear, however, the woman looked to be in rapture. Shaking and bandaged hands came to lightly stroke down the beast's side, her fingers easily sliding over the fur. A ripple of movement and the jaguar bit down, but there was no blood.

The room was once again empty save for the woman. Her eyes lightly glowed in the darkness as she stared at the open window some of the bruises on her face already fading.



Lillith gasped sitting upright in her bed. She could hardly catch her breath as she clung to the stuffed elephant her mother had gotten her a few weeks back. Not able to calm herself Lillith threw off her covers trying to ignore the unpleasant feeling of the cold sweat she was covered in from the nightmare. Pacing her room she assured herself that she was, in fact, out of the hospital. Safe.

The doctors were baffled when she came in, looking as if she had been mauled by some large animal. Lillith's memory of the incident was hazy at best. All she could remember was claws. Claws and teeth. She wasn't sure who called the police when they found her bleeding out on the road, but she was thankful. Lillith knew that walking home alone at night had been a horribly stupid idea to do in a city as large as DC, but she was a cheapskate who hadn't felt like forking over the cash for a cab. She would never walk alone at night again.

The doctors had been amazed at her quick recovery. Heck, Lillith was amazed at her quick recovery. She usually sported bruises for weeks at a time, but all of a sudden her body had hit some sort of hyper-drive of healing. It was wonderful...also disturbing. Her mother had been reduced to a helicopter parent. It was only recently that she had been allowed to be left alone for any semblance of time. Lillith tried not to let it bother her. She really tried.

The nightmares had become a reoccurring thing. It was always that large cat that took on her eyes. That melted into her? Lillith thought that she should be used to the strange images by now, but she hadn't yet. Lillith paused in her pacing glancing over to her alarm clock.

"It's already past noon," Lillith sighed. She wanted nothing more than to crawl back into her bed, but groceries wouldn't get themselves. Lillith pushed away the dark thoughts she had been dwelling on and moved to her dresser.

A small amount of time later had Lillith stepping out into the street, a bounce in her step and a bright smile on her face.

_________________

Reine used a plastic bag as a makeshift glove as she picked up the remains of the meat and cat food, moving them to a hidden spot behind the dumpster. Any latecoming scavengers would still find a decent meal if they came, and by sunrise the only evidence of the feeding would be a pile of chicken bones under a dumpster. With a few swift movements, she picked up the cans and plastic wrapping and turned the plastic bag inside out, neatly tying up the bag and tossing it into the dumpster. Her work was done here for tonight.

"I got a general idea," she said in response to Julie. The werecat picked up her back and slung it over her shoulder, getting on her motorcycle and starting it up. "Hopefully they're still there. We should hur-." She stopped. Her head turned towards the entrance of the alleyway, an intent expression, focusing on presence of an approaching...person? No, not human.

Her brow furrowed as she watched the figure bend down. It was unmistakable even under the yellow cast given off by the sodium streetlights, the woman glowed. A fresh scent filled the air, seemingly dissipating the smell of garbage.

Reine had seen a lot in her life and met plenty of supernatural beings, but this one was new. She could feel a intense energy coming from her, something white and warm and powerful. The werecat suspected it was possibly of the divine strain, which worried her. She had no positive experiences with holy power, and she had no intention of finding out if this woman was friend or foe. She pulled her eyes away.

"Let's go," she said, and she drove off.
---

Despite all of Haddad's good feelings about the night, the Beetles had so far failed to turn up anything of worth. One had found a faint trace of aetherial energy, but whatever being that left it was long gone, and the Hawk was unable to photograph anything substantial in the area that the duo could show Severn. Haddad sat impatiently against a brick wall, his fingers tapping inputs into his computer. The machine had passed all the tests back in the lab and the code should have been theoretically be perfect.

All they needed was a successful field test. Results.

The night was dead silent except for the persistent sound of Haddad's fingers tapping at the tablet screen. The glare of the screen reflected off his face, which was intently focused on the interface he had up.

Haddad was playing a game of Hangman.

You could only really stare at a screen of numbers for that long, honestly.

He was typing in a "Q" when his phone vibrated in his pocket. The scientist pulled it out, sliding his finger across the screen to take the call. "Yeah?" he answered. A familiar voice came on. "Yeah, he's with me," he responded. His eyes went wide and he covered the phone, looking at Martin. Severn Foundation, he mouthed, putting it on loudspeaker.

"Haddad Hewan and Martin Suarez, we require your skills for a project," a cool female voice said. "A reminder; as outlined within section B of your contracts, you are legally obligated to to assist the Severn Foundation upon request. Please report to headquarters in 45 minutes for details. That will be all."

The call ended.

Haddad looked at the phone for a bit, then looked over at Martin and shrugged. "Well that was weird. I guess we should head over?" He turned his tablet back on, the screen flickering back to the game he had been playing. His last guess was wrong, and the words YOU LOSE were dead center on the screen, accompanied by a cute cartoon visual of a hanged man. He closed the app, switching to the control interface for the robots and pressing a button to call everything back. "What a night."

Vicente turned onto the road of incoming activity. As the other inhumans came into his view, he smiled to himself, looking past the conversing pair of Alex and Evelyn and directly at the trio of oncoming Daywalkers. He locked eyes with one of them, the ashen-skinned man with twisted hair. Whoever the three were, he doubted they were of much importance to Catarina. Definitely street-level, perhaps clanless. But they walked like they owned the city. The men were on a mission, and Vicente could tell they were intent on success. What it was, he couldn't say for sure, but he noticed one of them keeping eyes trained on Evelyn. Vicente inhaled again, and at the same time, his vision took on a different tint. The world around him darkened, and the circulatory systems of all those on the street became visible, at least within a certain range. The vampires, Daywalker trio and Evelyn herself, were both outed as such. The inner workings of vampiric people of all sorts were complicated, but distinct to those familiar with them.

He approached the pair, his eyes still trained on the Daywalkers as he closed the distance. "Good evening," The elder greeted, turning his gaze toward the others. "Nice night for a walk. Though this might not be the best neighborhood to be spending your night in." With a very subtle motion of his head, he motioned to the ever-approaching Daywalker group. "All kinds of unsavory sorts start coming out of the cracks around this time. Ah, speaking of." He tugged the sleeve of his coat up ever so slightly, looking at a watch he was wearing at his wrist. His shirt's cuff links, cast in the Valtieri clan symbol, were visible as he did so. "It's about 7:30."

Returning his hand to his pocket, he turned to Milo. "You know, it may not be the best idea to stay out in the open like this. You never know when someone might come along and take offense. Why don't we ask these folks to show us around? I'm sure we'd get a better hold on the place if we knew where things were, and what better way than taking a walk with some locals? If willing, of course." Evelyn was naturally the one he was most interested in, but the other man had a unique air to himself as well. Not one Vicente could immediately identify, nor anything that immediately made him think he was inhuman himself, but something about him made him seem worth the elder's time. Of course, he also doubted thuggish Daywalkers would mind a bit of collateral damage in hunting a Nightkin. Better to get him at least out of direct danger.

-----

Eli's offer was definitely appreciated. Even with his diminutive size and his indecipherable relationship he had with Drake, Mariko didn't doubt his abilities at all. She'd seen them in action a few times over her meetings with him, and knew full well he was a hell of a capable vampire. "Yeah, just like old times. If you don't mind sitting through clan meetings, then sure, I'd like to have you around with us. I'm sure Drake would, too."

"No," Drake immediately interrupted. He frowned hard, but it was obviously somewhat forced. The atmosphere of hatefulness wasn't dying down yet. He could hold a grudge for ages, and that was a reputation to uphold.

"He'll warm up eventually. Give it time." She nudged Drake again, getting a stronger nudge in return, after which she put an arm around his shoulders and put him in a headlock. With him restrained, more out of embarrassment than any significant force Mariko applied to his neck, she continued to talk to Eli. "If you brought a suit, that would be ideal. You know how this business usually is, dressing up and just waiting for the elders to finish their discussions. Can't have clan business without looking the part."

Grumbling, Drake commented again, still having no kind words to offer. "Yeah, 'cause the old Eurotrash ****ing can't so much as take a **** without having twelve goddamn layers of avant-garde bullshit on." He didn't mind dressing nicely, but couldn't stand clan meetings. Every time, it was the same thing, petty conflicts headed by petty, but incredibly powerful people. Worse, it was now in his place of dwelling, so he couldn't even ignore it these days. "Maybe we'll get lucky and one of them will get got this time around. Think I could take out the spaghetti ****ing with a big enough bullet?"

"The fallout would be immense, Drake. Our house is still mostly a third party in the conflict, let's try to keep it that way." Mariko had no objections to potential assassinations, but a clan meeting was the last place to do them. This would likely go as it always had, with neither side really achieving anything other than some territory and supplies. The archaeological discovery was more than a bit concerning, and to her, seemed like a more ideal target for destruction. She was in no place to make decisions like that, however. Best to save the suggestions for the actual meeting.

-----

Julie stopped, staring at the woman who had just performed some sort of lowkey light show on the stray, not really sure what to make of it. Her first guess would've been magic. Plenty of spells had been cast in her vicinity during jobs and travels with Reine, but her reaction gave Julie a hell of a lot of pause. That wasn't the way she'd react to simple magic, Julie imagined, not by a long shot. This must have been something else. What it was, she didn't know, couldn't even guess, but it was enough to make her want to leave immediately.

However, she felt herself somewhat drawn to it. There was something very different, but not threatening, as so much of what they encountered had been. The smell washed through the alleyway and all around her, gentle scents of flowers completely overpowering the pungent stink of flesh and decomposing garbage. It was amplified by her impressive therian senses, and breathing it in made her feel oddly elated. Like it was something good, something approachable.

It wasn't until Reine drove off that Julie snapped out of the feeling, the sound of her motorcycle's engine breaking her focus on the scent. "Wait, but-" She tried to interrupt, to no avail. Gritting her teeth, Julie reluctantly turned away to prepare her motorcycle, trying to position it in such a way that she could drive out of the alley's far end. Looking back over her shoulder, she then turned forward and started her bike, trying to catch up with Reine before she was too far.

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