"Oh, I'm sure that I could imagine... something," Sahar demurred, with a smirk of her own. "I'm a very imaginative girl, you know."
    "Well, I wouldn't want to mess up your monkey moods," she replied. "You might start throwing a fit, jumping around and screaming and hitting things with a stick, or something."
    The little smirk widened and became a grin, white teeth against bronze skin. "I wouldn't really want you to feel ashamed, especially when there's nothing to feel ashamed about. I mean, otherwise, I'd pretty much be drowning in it all the time. Shame, shame, shame." As if to prove this, she didn't move away when he grabbed her ass again.
    "You shouldn't lock me in the basement," she told him. "I'll get bored, and when I get bored, I'll blow up your water heater. Truce or no truce."
    "If Gift... or Mr. Redwood, or Ms. Tseng, or even Daybreak wanted you hidden, I doubt even he would be able to find you," Darshan said. Actually, Ai Tseng didn't sound like an entirely bad idea. All the way on the other side of the country, and she owed him a favor. "It has to be your choice, though. If you wish to stay here, I'll find a way to keep you safe." Probably by mounting Jayden's head on his wall.
    The sharpening of her teeth and the almost growl in her voice actually made Darshan smile a little. "I'll find you something to eat. Wait here." He gently shifted her out of his lap and onto the bed, heading towards the door.
    "Damned young'uns," Zeke agreed, raising his mostly empty glass in a toast.

    "I'm so glad," Irene said to Price, and turned to listen to Julianna.
    Galen was listening too, his eyes darkening with concern as the woman spoke. "Who is this Jayden, this friend of Terra's?"
    "He's a very bad man," Irene said, now without the slightest trace of humor. "A very bad man who likes to hurt women. You wouldn't want him near your soulmate, or your friend's soulmate, or really, some woman who you just bumped into on the street one day."
    The look that Galen gave her was shocked and not a little sickened. "You can't be serious."
    "That's not the sort of thing that I would jest about, Mr. Drache," Irene replied.

    The look that that Frost cast over her shoulder at Ash was glacial. She moved on to the next wall, and scrawled the words, 'for a good time, call,' followed by the number for Ash's cell phone.

    "Terra's too old to learn new tricks," Christian disagreed, watching the man's approach like a hawk with a mouse. "And I think we'll bypass the fight for now, especially here. Don't want to draw anymore attention to us than necessary." It was needless to say that if the other man started it, Christian would finish it though.
    Kersti bit her lip at Tala's suggestion and smiled warmly at Fang. "It's okay, I know you can't help yourself. You can busy yourself with food though." She smiled again as, just at that moment, the waiter arrived with the rest of their order. Plates were shifted around and set down, as Tala's seemed to take up at least half of the table.
    Gift took a drink from her wine, eyes lazy and hooded as she looked at her steaks. Jacob continued enjoying his pie, savoring its taste and the excuse not to pay attention to his companions.
    A wicked smile skipped across Zabri's face at that. "Oh, I bet. Rye is always so sympathetic to the wounded." At least when she hadn't been the one to wound them.
    Ethan looked to Rye and Jasper then, and they both shrugged in unison. Giving a short nod, he gestured to the Durango. "If you have a place to start and need a ride, now's the time. Otherwise, good hunting."
    Ry smiled back at her expression. "Probably not, especially to a vampire that doesn't care much for flora. But it's good that you've found a hobby here."
    He inclined his head at her words. "A little bit of both, you could say," he said easily, another half-smile quirking his lips. It was clear he didn't really intend to elaborate on that. Seemed he was just as secretive as Kawada.

    "Well yeah, I can't argue with that," Mace had to admit, because if there was ever a female that could match him in the imagination department, it was Sahar. One had to ponder who that was a compliment and who that was an insult to.
    His smirk deepened at her words. "Honey, I wouldn't be hitting things with a stick if I was throwing a fit." Damn, he was a dirty old man, wasn't he?? Just what he'd always wanted to be as a teenager.
    "Yes, shame is overrated," he observed. "It's said to be a character builder but if someone lets their character be built by shame, I can't say I'd care to know them." Because those kinds of people often felt the need to spread their shame, and yeah, he just wasn't into the whole shame thing. Didn't do anything for him. Especially when there were so many pretty asses in the world still waiting to be grabbed.
    Grinning at that particular thought, it did fade into a protesting look as she spoke. "If you blow up my water heater, I might be forced to keep you locked in the basement as it floods." Because being in a house full of shifters with no hot water would suck. Capital S-U-C-K. He might even be tempted to sacrifice the blender to save the water heater. Though he'd much prefer to just save all of his appliances.
    Being in Darshan's presence was always a balm on C.J.'s soul, and the panic was slowly drifting away. Her thoughts became clearer, her options more obvious. Though the decision of which was best was still up for grabs. While she hated the thought of leaving Darshan in all of this without /knowing/ he was okay and would remain that way, she wasn't dumb enough to not know that she was a major weakness for him. She couldn't protect herself against Jayden, or Terra, and he would keep her safe no matter what, which would put him in a really tight spot.
    But...
    The thought process was cut short when the subject of food exploded in her tiger brain, and she simply nodded jerkily at Darshan's words. Fighting not to drool as pictures of roasted duck and fried chicken and a mooing cow danced tauntingly on the edges of her vision. "Hurry, please." Her stomach let out another growl to punctuate her plea.
    "I'll drink to that," Luke chuckled, lifting his half-empty beer bottle in a toast as well.
    "Oh please, you two aren't /that/ old," Queenie declared with some disgust.
    "Feels like it," Luke said cheerfully, and chugged the rest of the beer as hoots filled the house.

    Price grinned, his eyes sharp and still studying the woman. He almost felt like he should know her, but hell if he could figure out why.
    Julianna's eyes had dropped when Irene began speaking. She'd admit, she'd tried so hard to keep Jayden from Daybreak. Tried so hard to keep the knowledge of him from them, just because there were some things they'd be so much happier not knowing. But Jayden was like the chicken pox; eventually, he touched everyone.
    "It's true, and it's very serious," she added after Irene's words, looking back up at the shifter couple. Keller had a cold look on her face, eyes narrowed, and Julianna nodded to her. "He hates women with a passion that's borderline obsessive, and he'll hurt a woman just because she touched him on the street. That man went after Darshan's soulmate this morning, and that's why Christian was spiking the power charts. Friends look after each other."
    Keller's face became cooler at that subtle hint but Price was looking at Julianna curiously. "Did Christian kill him??"
    "No," Julianna admitted with a sigh. "Another thing about Terra and Jayden, they are amazingly resilient. After all of these years of fighting with Gift, Terra still hasn't died. They've become thorns in many sides though, and I think this time, someone's going to get knocked off."

    Ash watched Frost's writing skills, back to swirling the tequila in his bottle. Blond head tilting slightly so he could see exactly what she was writing, he didn't say anything for a minute. Paul and Damon were both looking at him, the former with a slight grimace as he clearly waited for some kind of outburst.
    Finally though, the Redfern just shrugged. "Can't argue with that," he muttered, and took another long pull from his bottle.
    Blaise smirked.

    “Even an old bitch…” Sonya murmured, but had no chance to finish that thought, because Peter was within hearing distance. She didn’t like the darkness in his eyes, or the sweet venom in his smile; it didn’t bode well for this meeting.
    “Hello, Ms. Dayton,” he said, with perfect civility. Then his eyes traveled to Christian. “New friend?”
    “Old one,” was the succinct reply.
    “How nice. A friend of Blaire’s?”
    “Working on it.”
    Peter’s eyes were hard on her face, but he seemed to accept that. “We have some new arrivals.”
    One inky eyebrow inched upwards. “Really?” Sonya said, her tone contemplative. “Anyone I know?”
    The only response was a shrug.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Fang said to Kersti, mock-meek.
    The food arrived, and Tala practically fell on hers. When Fang reached out to snag the orange garnish from the edge of her plate, she growled at him, low and threatening like a dog. He jerked his hand back.
    “That’s a very good way to lose a hand,” Nona explained, as her own food was set in front of her and she was finally forced to look away from her coffee in order to eat.
    “I am not,” Adrian said, each word carefully pronounced, just in case anyone misunderstood, “reattaching any limbs.”
    “Yes, well, I appreciate any sympathy,” Tristan said. He unhooked his arm from hers, and gave her a gentle nudge in Ethan’s direction. “Thank you for a lovely time teaching a groupie to piss his sheets for the rest of his natural life. I think that you people are getting busy, and I think that I need to go count my little ducklings and make sure that no one ate them while George and I weren’t looking.”
    “There’s a park a few blocks away. I’ll walk on over. He sleeps there sometimes,” Ezio said. He turned to walk off, tossing one more suggestion over his should. “Someone should check with Gamble, though. Kiriyama was popping off a lot of rounds last night.” He then continued on his way, his gun still resting on his shoulder and his scowl still on his face.
    Edan laughed. “A hobby. Goddess, a gardening hobby. I’m old before my time.” She shook her head sadly, and continued up the stairs into a wide hallway lined with rooms. She seemed unsurprised by his vague response, simply smiling and shaking her head. “Secretive men. Did you learn it from him, or was it the other way around? Or just one of those things which you had in common?” She couldn’t really criticize; she liked her privacy, too.

    “Well, then,” Sahar said, in a prim voice, “I would be the only one in the house to get a warm bath, now wouldn’t I? Really, I think it would be best if you just didn’t lock me in the basement at all.” She chuckled to herself, all primness melting away, which wasn’t terribly surprising since Sahar just was not a prim person. “Although, if your gang is to be believed, a cold shower or two wouldn’t do you any harm.”
    “I’ll hurry,” Darshan promised, and stepped out into the hall. He stopped, looked at Sahar, looked at Mace, and finally looked at the placement of Mace’s hand. Then he sighed.
    “Do you think that it would make your gang uncomfortable if I was to go downstairs and procure something to eat for C.J.?”
    “I’ll do it,” Sahar volunteered quickly, and bounced down the stairs without another word. She could smell pizza faintly, and getting some for C.J. would give her a chance to snag a piece for herself as well.
    “Queenie just doesn’t want us to be old because that would make her old, too,” Zeke said, with a calm that didn’t seem wise considering he was discussing a woman’s age. “I feel very, very old today, and those pups just make me feel older. But at least I don’t have to pay for the pizza.”

    “If only,” Irene murmured, when Keller asked if Jayden had been killed. She pulled a cigarette out of her purse, but kept it unlit in her hand, turning over between her fingers.
    “How have we not heard about him before this?” Galen wondered, dismay lacing his face and making the lines around his eyes and mouth appear deeper. “How have we not known about Darshan, or Terra, or any of them?”

    When that failed to get a reaction from Ash, Frost shrugged and went back to her writing, crouching down so she could work lower on the wall.
    Black John simply rubbed his temples, as if he was getting a headache. Cassandra and her stubbornness had been nothing, -nothing-, compared to this group.

    Christian remained silent through the exchange, studying the other vampire with a casual intentness. As any words from him would be fairly pointless at this moment, he continued to remain silent.
    Continuing in his pie-induced silence, Jacob ignored Fang and any drama he was going to bring with him. Kersti smiled at the lamia and took another drink from her shake, though keeping a rather watchful eye on her companions, to make sure Adrian didn’t have to do anything unnecessary.
    “Can you really do that??” Nolan asked Adrian, his entire expression curious as he finally lifted his eyes to look at the other witch. The idea of someone being able to actually reattach a severed limb was…astounding.
    “So it does,” Zabri observed as she studied the other RoA. Then she looked at Tristan and gave a brilliant smile. “Tristan, truly a pleasure. I hope you’re able to keep your ducklings in order from now on, or I’ll try to keep Gift distracted otherwise.” She winked a golden eye and turned to saunter towards her friends.
    Ethan nodded shortly to Ezio before the eagle went his way. The girls glanced at each other when he tossed his parting words back, before Jasper shrugged. “I’ll check with Gamble.” She gave a nod to the group and started away, in the opposite direction.
    “Well I don’t have any bright ideas, so I’ll hitch a ride back to the hotel,” Rye decided, smiling at Ethan.
    “What’re we doing??” Zabri inquired curiously as she joined the pair.
    “Finding Kiriyama,” Rye supplied helpfully as they started for the Durango.
    One short glance at Ethan and Zabri only said, “Ah. Well in that case, I’m going to go talk to Juli. She might know something.”
    “Good idea,” Rye complimented, and the human winked at her before starting off, whistling merrily.
    Ethan and Rye got into the Durango and it started calmly off.
    Ambling over, George muttered to Tristan, “Is it bad when I’m glad they leave??”
    “It does seem a bit on the elder side,” Ry agreed with a smile. “But again, as long as you enjoy it, why not??” His eyes took in the long stretch of closed doors lining the hallway but he didn’t say anything about them. He’d seen how big the house looked just from the outside, he fully expected there to be like twenty-three bathrooms alone. “That was our first bonding experience,” he said, tossing another smile at her. “Those who don’t speak together seem to have the most fun hanging out together.”

    “But now I’ve got an image of you down in the basement, tied up and hollering for help,” Mace protested with a rather naughty grin. Though in all honesty, if she started hollering for help, a lot of the guys would line up to go down and give it to her. As long as they could properly barter for services rendered.
    Ooohh, bad images. There would be no gang-banging in his house, that was going to be the new number one rule while Sahar was in residence. Though he did give her a musing look, wondering if she was into that.
    No!
    “Cold showers don’t work on me,” he felt compelled to admit. “Or, they only work for as long as it takes me to step in and step out.” Because as soon as he was dry and warm again, he was ready to go. It was quite a talent, he’d always thought.
    The sound of the door opening behind them made him look back, and a bit of a surprised look came to his face as Darshan came out. Though when the dragon’s eyes dropped to his hand, which he’d actually forgotten was still on Sahar’s ass just because it felt so natural, he jerked it away like he’d been caught by his father doing something bad. Not that his actual father had ever made him stop doing something bad, but then, he wasn’t Darshan, was he??
    As Sahar flounced off for food, Mace looked at Darshan again. “She okay, Gramps??”
    “I’m not old,” Queenie declared, slicing a glance towards Wes.
    Who promptly replied, “Of course not, dear. You’re as young as any mistress Zeke only wishes he could have.”
    Luke grinned at that, then lifted his emptier bottle in another toast to Zeke. “Hear hear. They have no appreciation for the old and the rickety.”
    “Oh please, we’re all only like ten years apart,” Queenie said, rolling her eyes.

    Julianna sent a rueful look towards Irene, before turning back to Galen. “Because you didn’t really need to know,” she said gently. “If you had tried to go up against Terra, which you’d have felt compelled to do, many of your friends would’ve died. If not all. The price you would’ve paid to do anything to her wouldn’t have been worth it, Galen. The same for Jayden, really, though he’s a danger on a pettier level than Terra.”
    “And Darshan??” Keller asked quietly.
    Glancing at Price, who was still looking thoughtfully into his cup, Julianna shrugged. “He’s never caused problems for anyone, quite honestly. His whole life, since he was woken up, he’s just wanted to live quiet and calm. He doesn’t want power or fame or to lead a revolution; he just wants to live. Just because of his power capabilities though, it was figured Daybreak would likely try to put him back to sleep or try to cage him, or bind him or something. None of us wanted that for him.”
    “So all this time, people have been protecting the dragon,” Keller murmured, seeming unable to fathom that thought. “Because he’s such a nice person??”
    “Well,” Julianna said, grinning at that. “More because he’s funny to watch in the real world. And he and C.J. are really, /really/ cute together.”
    “I’ll agree with that one,” Price volunteered, grinning at his mom.

    Ash watched as Frost crouched down. “Really getting into the demonstrative mood, are we Laurie??”
    “Ash,” Paul said, his voice alone showing the great amount of pain he was in. Damon remained silent, as he’d learned not to comment on those two, and Blaise was looking bored now, watching the numbers flick up as the elevator rose.

    “You shot Jayden,” Peter said, directing the comment at Sonya even though his eyes were once again fixed on Christian.
    “Nothing fatal,” the woman responded, sounding bored. “More is the pity.”
    Just as suddenly as before, the cold suspicion and quiet venom on Peter’s face disappeared, and he laughed. “I suppose. Are you of the opinion that he’s more trouble than he’s worth, then?”
    “Is there another opinion?” Sonya wondered, and motioned for Christian to proceed her into the hotel, her eyes tense on Peter’s face.
    Peter, for his part, no longer seemed concerned with either of them. “You two have a good time,” he said slyly, then stepped out into the parking lot, as if he had had a different destination in mind the whole time.
    “That depends on how…” the witch paused as he struggled and failed to find a polite way to phrase it. “…fresh it is. Just like doctors can sew something back on if it’s been cut off recently. I can’t make a limb that’s been severed grow back, though, or an eye or an ear or anything else. There needs to be enough there for me to work with it. It’s also not easy, so I’d rather avoid it.”
    “We’d rather you were able to avoid it, too,” Fang muttered, rubbing self-consciously at the hand that he had almost lost. Adrian smiled, and returned to his food.
    “It’s smart,” Tristan said in response to George’s question, as the Durango drove off. No matter how charming and pretty Rye and Zabri happened to be, he was a little glad to see them all go, too. That group was more than a little intimidating, even to him.
    “Sometime, I must tell you about my prize orchids,” Edan said, in the quavering voice of an old woman. She simply smiled at the second comment, and continued down the hall. “Most of these are guests rooms, although there is also a set of family rooms here for when my mother or someone else from the family visits.” There was a set of stairs at the end of the hall, but she made no move towards them, simply turning in place. “And that concludes our tour.”

    “Mmmhmm,” Sahar said, and cast him and his naughty grin a sideways glance. “Tell me, what am I wearing in this image of yours?” She laughed when he described the effect that cold showers had on him, and again she felt Mace jerk back his hand. Apparently, the thought of Darshan’s reproach didn’t bother her… or perhaps she had simply had more time to get used to the idea of Darshan playing daddy.
    Reproach didn’t really seem to be on Darshan’s mind, although his eyes did narrow a little when Mace called him ‘gramps.’ “I am not your grandfather, Mr. Drache. C.J. is doing as well as can be expected. She’s frightened, and she’s ravenous from Mr. Prieten’s healing.”
    “Ten years older and more rickety,” Zeke agreed, with a bare smile for Queenie. “You’re not old, though. You’re beautiful, and you know it. It’s just the rest of us who are falling apart.”

    Galen lowered his head, rubbing at his face with his hands. He looked up when Irene spoke again, her voice low and earnest. “Look, they’re right, and I’m not just saying that because he pays well when he wants information from me. Look at this; I didn’t even need any super secret spy cameras to get it.” She put the cigarette down on the table, and fished something out of her purse.
    It was one of the trashier entertainment tabloids, the kind that reported that so-and-so was cheating on his pregnant wife, or that this or that movie star had an abortion, most of it inaccurately. She flipped through a few pages until she got to the right one, which she folded open and handed across the table to Galen.
    It was a picture from the previous night’s concert, one in which C.J. seemed to be doing her best to climb up Darshan’s body. There was another one, of a bored and long-suffering Darshan waiting while his soulmate signed autographs. The language used in the article was crude, but much of it seemed to be speculation about the mystery man so often seen with the Death Fays’ drummer.
    “He and C.J. are cute,” Irene said, echoing Julianna and Price, and gesturing vaguely to the article.

    “Ms. Harman,” Black John said, speaking mostly in an effort to ignore Frost and Ash and their constant arguing. “I understand that you own some kind of shop here in Las Vegas?”

    Christian was tense beneath his torn shirt, which he vaguely recalled he needed to replace. It was amazing people hadn’t started staring at the bloody hole in the back yet, but all the better. He’d get around to it eventually.
    When Sonya gestured him ahead, he inclined his head and stepped up to the door. He did give one hard look over his shoulder, taking in the other man’s walking form, before he stepped into the hotel. “I don’t think I like him,” he told Sonya once she’d joined him, voice considering. Sometimes, just first impressions were enough. Actual words didn’t even need to be exchanged.
    “So you can actually knit a severed limb back to its place,” Nolan said, a kind of excitement growing in his voice. He was a witch; this was rich stuff. “What happens if, say, a shard of bone was missing though. Could you regrow it as you put the limb back, or would that shard just always be missing??“
    Kersti bit her lip before smiling at Nolan. “Why don’t we save this conversation for after lunch,” she suggested, as Adrian had not finished his plate, and if he got into a witchy conversation at the moment, he might not anytime soon.
    Jacob smirked at Fang though and finished the last piece of his pie. Gift had, without anyone really noticing apparently, already finished her steaks, and was lounged back in her chair sipping the rest of her wine. Though he did wonder if she really did just swallow as Adrian had mentioned earlier, Jacob knew better than to ask. Even after barely fifteen minutes of introduction.
    George nodded shortly. “I have an appreciation for lethal women, but I might have a small problem when my woman is more lethal than I am,” he said, voice thoughtful. “Does that make me sexist??”
    “I bet they’re beautiful,” Ry chuckled, as he didn’t know an orchid from a daffodil. They were all flowers in his mind; pretty pointlessness.
    His eyes flicked lazily over the hall, taking in the stairway a little down the way, but he was polite enough not to ask. “Is your mother currently in residence??” he inquired instead. “It was mentioned that Kawada had met her.”

    Mace merely grinned when Sahar asked what she’d be wearing in his vision. It was a good question if she’d be wearing nothing, or something. Sometimes women looked better in “something.” It was just…tantalizing, those thongs and garters and high heels. Yum yum.
    “Well I removed all of the greats involved, but you are some kind of granddad,” he said cheerfully to the dragon once Sahar had pranced away. His expression turned serious when Darshan spoke of C.J., and he nodded in understanding, “Well I’m pretty sure the gang just ordered a shit load of pizzas, so we should have the food thing covered. The frightened thing I think we’ll leave up to you.” Because if anyone could soothe the tiger, it was her soulmate. Although… “I do have a shit load of liquor to go with that pizza, if she so desires,” he offered graciously. “The weed she’ll have to supply on her own though.”
    “Good genes,” Wes agreed, slipping an arm around his mate. “She’ll always be beautiful. Do I dare quote that old wine analogy??”
    “No,” Luke said succinctly.
    Queenie rolled her eyes at Luke, dropped a kiss on Wes’s cheek, and then grinned at Zeke. “Oh you’re still pretty hot for an old guy. I mean, I wouldn’t sleep with you, but I’m sure lots of women like that grizzled, manly-man look.”
    The best response to that was when Oblivion pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

    Keller looked at the article, because Price was giving her eyes. She didn’t /want/ to believe that this dragon was a good guy; that was just her personal bias. It was so hard to go through life firmly believing in one thing, then be told it wasn’t like that. Because if Darshan was good, what’s to say others weren’t?? And how were they to know the difference before it was too late??
    Life was much easier when it was black and white.
    Unfortunately, the pictures she was looking at were adding shades of gray to her beliefs of dragons. A little grimace came to her face, because, well, he looked exactly the way she would if she had a rock star soulmate.
    “Okay, we get it,” she said lowly, looking up at the three dragon champions. “He’s a good guy. But I’m withholding judgment until I actually meet him.”
    “Which is only fair,” Price agreed. “I’ll try to arrange a meeting for later tonight. It depends how he feels C.J.’s doing, I think.”
    He tossed a questioning look in Julianna’s direction, who shrugged. “All I know on that front is that he took her to---a friend’s house.” A swift glance at Galen changed her choice of words, but they didn’t seem to notice. “I can check in later and let you know. Or even broach the topic of a meeting myself, if you’d like.”
    “No, it’d probably be better from me,” Price said thoughtfully. “Since I’m Daybreak, and Keller’s my mom and all. Plus, he did call me earlier today for a meeting of our own, so he shouldn’t be against another.”
    “What /was/ discussed at this meeting??” Keller asked, looking at her son.
    Who had the grace to grimace. “He actually warned me about Terra and Jayden. And told me that they were Blaire Fluores’s parents.” A significant look was sent to the shifter couple, which made Keller’s brows raised. She hadn’t known /that/.

    Blaise looked over at Black John, brows raising slightly at that piece of information dropping from his lips. “Yes, I do. A quite well-known witch shop, in fact.”

    “No,” Sonya agreed, quietly, stepping into the hotel lobby. She headed directly for the stairs, bypassing the elevators completely. Stairs were probably faster, and her legs worked just fine, so really, what was the point?
    Adrian leaned forward to answer Nolan, his face animated. When Kersti spoke, he paused, and smile sheepishly at the other witch. “After we finish eating,” he promised, and returned to his food.
    “I promise I’ll never tell,” Tristan assured George with a smirk. “It’s probably sensible, in any case. You leave the toilet seat up or something, and she kills you where you stand. Not a healthy relationship.”
    “They’re nonexistent,” Edan said. Because it was one thing to try to grow something other than dirt and stone on the land around her house, and quite another to be messing with prissy, high-maintenance flowers.
    “Mother is in Las Vegas, but she’s not staying here,” Edan said. “I believe that it’s her tactic way of giving me my space. Either that, or my digs aren’t fancy enough for her,” she finished lightly.

    Darshan looked pained, possibly because he couldn’t really argue with that. He nodded as they spoke of his soulmate. “Thank you. The liquor had best wait, but the weed…” He reached into his pocket and produced a Ziploc baggie containing a neatly rolled joint. “I procured that on my way back from hunting. I want her to eat something first, though. As long as you have no problem with it being smoked under your roof.” He doubted that this was the case, but he knew that Kersti and some of the others did, so it was better to ask.
    Just then, Sahar came bouncing back up the stairs, a smug look on her face and a box containing a whole pizza in her hands. It seemed that feminine wiles won out, even in regards to food and a group of hungry shape-shifters.
    “You want any of this before we hand it over to C.J.?” she asked Mace, opening the box to take a slice for herself.
    “Thank you, Queenie,” Zeke said, and closed his eyes. “You do an old man’s ego so much good.” He paused to consider that, then downed the last of his scotch.

    The same doubts were painted across Galen’s face, perhaps even more strongly than Keller’s because he had always been more of a romantic. They looked like they were in love. If something was really, truly evil, it shouldn’t be able to love someone else like that, should it?
    “Adrian Prieten healed her, so she should be alright physically at least,” Irene added, taking back the article and tucking it carefully away in her purse once more.
    “Blaire Floures,” Galen mused, a frown curving his lips downwards. “You’re telling me that her parents are a man who sounds like the most sadistic woman-hater who ever lived, and an eight horned dragon.” He started as something occurred to him. “Does that mean that she’s a dragon, herself?”

    “How interesting,” Black John said, politely, as Frost got up and began to doodle something graphic in lipstick on the mirror behind him. “How long have you owned it? I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen a shop which caters to our kind, much less does so openly.”

    Christian followed her without comment, and they’d gone a few floors before he asked, “Do you know of any other surprises Blaire has in store?? Or do you think she has more??”
    Nodding at Adrian, Nolan treated Kersti to an apologetic smile and turned back to his own food. Kersti smiled around the straw in her mouth and continued sucking at it leisurely. Though when she saw Gift studying her lazily, her brows lifted in question.
    Her mom smiled. “If you put that kind of command into a career, you’d make a terrific businesswoman, darling.”
    “And gods forbid you leave wet towels on the floor,” George added, before looking at his friend again. “Ready for lunch??”
    Ry was silent for a moment, before shrugging. “Well, in my so humble opinion, the best flower is a nonexistent flower.” Less of a hassle that way. No chance of it dying. One doesn’t feel bad if it does. And if he /does/ feel bad that his nonexistent flower died, then he’s beyond help anyway.
    “So this is only your house??” he asked, glancing around again. “Can’t fault your taste.”

    What else could Mace do except grin broadly when Darshan, of all people, pulled a joint from his pocket. That was just almost picture worthy. “You know it’s something special when you know your soulmate that well, and are willing to contribute to their bad habits. But no, she can smoke all she wants; let her get high as a kite as long as she doesn’t put another hole in my house. Though don’t be surprised if you get visitors asking if they can take a hit once they get a whiff of the smell.”
    He looked over as Sahar appeared, with a rather heavenly smelling box. “Oh no, if she got healed by Adrian today, she’s gonna need the whole box. I intend to claim a few when I get downstairs anyway.”
    The words had barely finished passing his lips when the door jerked open again, and C.J. poked her head out. Her eyes were feral and wide, her nostrils flared, and her gaze immediately locked on the pizza box. “Whoa,” Mace said, as the tiger looked about two seconds away from tackling Sahar to get the food.
    “I figure someone needs to,” Queenie said sweetly, and Wes smirked before pressing a kiss to her temple.
    Luke finished his beer. Oblivion blew smoke slowly from his lungs, turning his head to observe the two lions.

    “C.J. has always been a bit of a fragile sort, and Jayden scares the crap out of her, so mentally can’t be said,” Julianna added with a bit of a grimace. That little tidbit was going to be a real deciding factor on Darshan’s mood for the rest of the day, she figured.
    Galen’s words made Keller’s eyes narrow and she looked at Julianna sharply. And wasn’t too relieved by the spy’s shrug. “Honestly, we’re not sure. She’s passing herself off as a vampire, as that’s what Jayden is. But she won’t allow shifters around her so no one can tell for sure.”
    “Isn’t that a pretty telling quirk, then??” Price suggested.

    Blaise glanced at Frost when the other girl moved, then turned back to Black John. “Years. It’s been in my family for decades, and when my grandma died, she gave it to me and my cousin.” She didn’t seem particularly interested in the topic but her voice remained polite as well.

    "She's more clever than her parents," Sonya said. "I wouldn't put it past her to have things hidden even from me. I didn't know that Peter was to be here, nor that anyone else was coming. She sent me with the intention of keeping her parents on a short leash."
    "You would know," Adrian told Gift with gentle amusement, catching Kersti's hand with the one that he wasn't using to eat.
    Nona might have agreed, but she didn't say anything, because Gift was being terrific and terrifying enough today, and she really did not want to draw attention to herself.
    "Then she'll draw and quarter you before killing you," Tristan replied. The very word lunch made his gums tingle with something very close to pain. "What kind of lunch are we talking about?"
    "I let an apartment in New York, and I can use the other family residences when it pleases me, but this is my only house," Edan confirmed. "The rest of them will come to me eventually, but this became mine when I came of age. Most of what you see is my work; it hadn't been lived in since my grandmother died." She smiled and inclined her head in a slight thanks when he complimented her taste. "It's strange how attached you get to a place after a while. I never stayed anywhere when I was younger."

    "I could wish that she was less dependant on it, but I don't see it as a bad habit," Darshan replied with a shrug. "No more that I view your philandering as a bad habit. It makes her happy at times when little else does." His mouth turned upwards into a faint smile at the hyena's next words. "If they care to brave the dragon's den for a hit or two, C.J. has always been more than willing to share in the past. She's a very generous woman."
    Sahar took one look at C.J., and let the piece of pizza that she had been separating from the others fall back into the box. Mace was right; she could eat downstairs. She pushed the pizza box at the other shape-shifter, then danced away, as if she expected C.J. to snap and growl in an attempt to defend her food.
    "Thank you, Sahar," said Darshan, who was watching the lioness and his soulmate with restrained amusement.
    "I need another drink," Zeke muttered. He looked back towards the house. "What do you think the chances of us claiming some of that pizza are?"

    "From the sound of it," Galen said seriously, "this Jayden is not an unreasonable man to be afraid of." The arm that he placed around Keller's shoulders was unconsciously protective, because he knew that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but how could you hear about a man like that and not be worried for the women in your life?
    "Price is right," he added, with a soft sigh. "We would be better off assuming that she has some kind of dragon power."
    "That seems to be the general consensus," Irene agreed. "I may have overheard that Darshan is assuming much the same thing, and he would know if anyone would. Something about dragon heritage being strong enough to linger in a bloodline for many, many generations. You would know something about that, wouldn't you, Mr. Drache?"

    "How nice," Black John said, and apparently he too became bored enough with the topic to abandon it. Instead, he watched the reflection in the opposite mirror with pitch colored eyes, a small grimace crossing his face as he watched what Frost was doing behind him. Blaire certainly had some very eclectic taste when it came to allies.

    "What are the odds she sent all of her other friends here for the same purpose??" Christian asked dryly as they climbed stairs. It was a nice thought, if they were all here to make sure Blaire's parents stayed in check. Too bad it was far from realistic.
    Gift smiled at Adrian and drained the rest of her wine. Kersti laced her fingers with her healer's and squeezed gently, still smiling around the straw in her mouth. Jacob looked like he was contemplating another piece of pie.
    For his part, Nolan seemed to be fighting his urge to burst out with more questions for Adrian.
    Giving Tristan a considering look, George commented, "Well I originally meant the lunch with our ducklings, but if you're /hungry/, we can swing that right quick."
    "Why does your family keep so many properties??" Ry asked, a little genuinely curious on that front. He understood the financial reasons, but Edan didn't seem the type to do so for that particular reason.
    Head inclining at her words, he agreed, "Yes, one quickly grows attached to a place once it's "theirs," I think. A feeling of possession brings about responsibility and so on and so forth."

    Mace nodded agreeably. "Sounds good. Probably best that way, 'cause I think that's one habit C.J. will never let go." Which could be a blessing, he thought; it meant she wasn't getting into the harder drugs. He couldn't really imagine C.J. having an acid trip. High and happy was her style.
    A smirk broadened. "I don't think I'd say that too loud, or the whole gang will be up here to test C.J.'s generosity." And that was a frightening thought. A line of shifters down the hall and flooding off the stairs, waiting for their chance to knock on the dragon's den. Whew.
    The smirk didn't fade as Sahar succumbed and let C.J. have a whole pizza all to herself. From the look on the tiger's face, Mace wasn't sure even Darshan could weasel a piece from her at this point. Which was only proven when, clutching the box to her chest as a tiger would hover over its fresh kill, C.J. backed into the room and closed the door with her foot. "Betcha ten bucks she's stuffing whole pieces in her mouth right now," Mace dared Sahar. Of course if she took the bet, /she'd/ be the one peeking in to see if it was true or not. He wasn't getting /his/ head bitten off for ten measly bucks.
    "Very good, if they don't want some limbs gnawed off," Luke said cheerfully, and led the more sane members of the gang back inside.

    Julianna nodded seriously as Keller leaned into Galen, not looking so much concerned for her own welfare as wanting to soothe him. "Women should be really afraid of him. And he holds grudges very easily."
    Keller briefly contemplated sending Iliana away from Vegas, before her eyes focused again when the idea of Blaire being a dragon was brought up. "She is trying to build an army of some sort, so that would fit into the dragon mind set," she mused thoughtfully. They still weren't sure what her army was for, but an army was an army.
    Price gave Julianna's friend a mildly sharp look at her words. She seemed a little barby, she did. "Do we know if she's made any plans to come here??"

    Ash was the only one still idly watching Frost by that point, as the others were studiously ignoring her. The less they were aware of her actions, the more they could deny knowledge of them later.
    A few floors later, the elevator dinged and the doors whished open. Paul led the way out, glancing at his key to make sure they were heading in he right direction. Luckily all of the rooms seemed to be in the same area on the same floor, in case it became necessary for emergency meetings.

    "Some of them, maybe," Sonya said, both her face and her voice grim, "but not all of them. I believe that this might be the start of an invasion. I wonder who she means to target, though; Daybreak, or those of you who have refused to ally yourselves with her."
    "After the meal," Adrian said to Nolan, repeating his promise, before turning a suspicious eye towards Gift. "Are you feeling any better? I know that you're tough, but I still can't believe that you didn't take any damage from what Terra did to you." His voice was laced with real concern. Gift was Kersti's mother, but more than that, Adrian owed her a great debt for getting him away from the dragon in the first place.
    "I do want to check on them soon," Tristan said, "but Nolan and Nona are with them, and Prieten did a number on me." He had the feeling, however, that the hunger would have been worse had the healer not done... whatever he had done towards the end, when he had just seemed to wiggle his nose and knit bones together with nothing but will alone. Really, Tristan had never seen anything like that in his life. It was as impressive in its own way as watching someone level a building with power, but different.
    "That's a good question," Edan mused. "My family has, in previous generations, been very large; everyone is very big on continuing the family line, and all that, and of course everyone needed some grand house to live in. Now there's only my mother and I, but our extended family is still very big, and I know they sometimes use our residences if its convenient. As well as houses, we own a great deal of virgin wilderness, places where humans will never build their homes or their businesses. Financial reasons, too, of course, but I also think that we just kind of accumulated the properties over the years." Her voice turned dry. "You know how it is with these old witch families. No one ever gets rid of anything. Eye of newt that expired sixty years ago sitting in the spice drawer in the kitchen."
    "'Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in'," she quoted blithely, with a shrug. "I like the feeling of permanence, the idea of having a place that's all my own. It seems important to have some kind of safe haven, the older I get. I still like to travel, but it's good to have somewhere to come back to."

    "Things haven't always been easy for her," the dragon murmured. "She's entitled to a bad habit or two." Then he shuddered a little, as he too had an image of the gang lining up outside the bedroom door, and then the after effects, which basically consisted of a house filled with stoned shape-shifters.
    "No bet," Sahar said, her dark eyes wide as she looked at the closed bedroom door. "I bet you anything you please that she'd start growling and snapping if you so much as peeked at her and her pizza right now. Jeez."
    "It's good to see that she has an appetite," Darshan said, with just the barest of smirks. Sahar cast him a look.
    "I'll say. Jeez," she repeated.
    "Fair enough," Zeke said. "I could go for some 'shifter limb if there's no pizza available. Tastes like chicken, and I'm not above cannibalism right now.

    "It would fit the vampire mindset, too," Irene said, not without humor. "I would be the first to admit that some of my brethren think that they should be at the top, and will do anything to get there. The dearly departed Hunter Redfern and his close kin make a fine example."
    The sharp look that Price gave her simply made her smile, bright, charming, and patently insincere. "I really don't know. She didn't see fit to share her travel plans with me."
    "Somehow, Ms. Green, I wouldn't think that would stop either you or Julianna," Galen commented.
    Irene laughed outright. "That's fair, but Blair Fluores is a disgustingly hard nut to crack."

    Frost stalked out and down the hall to her room, disappearing immediately inside, no doubt intent on defacing it as she had the elevator. Ah, nothing like a blank canvas.
    "I hope that Miss Fluores realized the kind of bill that the hotel is likely to send her," Black John said to Paul, his face stoic. "Lauren is intent on vandalizing everything in sight, and young Mr. Redfern's mini bar is likely to be empty before the night is over." God, but where had she found these people?

    Brows raising as Sonya spoke, Christian looked less than impressed by her words. "Would Blaire truly start targeting people this early in her campaign??"
    Nolan merely grinned at the other witch and continued eating his food. He wasn't up to disobeying his boss's daughter at the moment. At another point, maybe, but now, no.
    Expression still amused, Gift simply inclined her head towards the healer. "I'm fine, Adrian, really. Finish you lunch." She motioned for a refill, and the waiter swept by for her empty glass and plates.
    George nodded agreeably. "Let's grab some lunch then." Quite literally, in their case. He ran his eyes over the near area. "Might be better to hit a less crowded street though." No sense in drawing more attention to this place than necessary for the moment.
    Chuckling richly, Ry nodded in understanding. "Makes sense. Do you ever ponder renting out some houses??" It seemed the most sensible thing, with a lot of property not in use. Might as well make money off of it.
    A thoughtful look overtook his face as Ry considered her words. "It's also nice to have a place you can do anything you want with," was his comment, as he glanced around with another little smirk.

    "Not arguing with that," Mace agreed, grinning just at the thought. He kind of fancied his face, and didn't want Darshan ripping it off anytime soon. Any stupid person could sense badmouthing the dragon's soulmate was not.a.good.idea. Not that he particularly wanted to anyway. C.J. had all the best from him. As stated, as long as she didn't put another hole in his house.
    Though maybe not even then, as he watched the door close after the tiger with a soft slam. His grin widened as Sahar and Darshan spoke, before he raised a brow at his granddad. "So what, you got the guts to give her a peek??"
    After reaching the doorway, Luke had to pause a second as he surveyed the...scene in front of him. "Cannibalism it might be," he remarked to Zeke, giving his empty beer bottle a regretful look. Seemed he needed another one before trying to forage his way to some pizza.

    "Most of his kin have joined him in his grave," Keller said tonelessly. Much the better, in her opinion. At least of the vampire variety.
    Price smiled back, sweet and sassy. "You didn't see fit to eavesdrop and find out, Ms. Greene??"
    "Now Price, that doesn't sound too polite," Julianna scolded lightly, winking at Irene even as Galen echoed their sentiments. Ah well.
    "Hard but not impossible??" Keller asked then, eyes probing as she looked between the two spies. "It would do a lot of us a lot of good if we knew what her plans were."

    "One pays for good service," Paul said with a shrug, as Ash seemed to take John's advice and headed to his own room. Damon followed after him, eyes casually moving over the hall before he disappeared into his room. Blaise was unlocking her door and Paul raised a brow at John. "Think we'll ever see them again??"

    "She's already asked me if it's possible to eliminate Darshan," Sonya said. She didn't seem to feel all that bad about the fact that she had given Blaire the information which had led to this decision. "Don't ask me to read her mind, Christian, but I do believe that she will lash out at those who she believes to be her enemies. Not immediately, not until she thinks that the time is right, but she will."
    "Okay," Adrian said, not about the argue. He turned back to his food, finishing it in silence.
    At the same time that Adrian set down his fork, Tala sat back in her seat, hands resting on her stomach and a pleased look on her face. Adrian looked at the number of now-empty plates in front of the were-wolf, looked at the clock, and shuddered. Eating that much than fast just couldn't be healthy.
    "Or at the very least, somewhere away from here," Tristan agreed, bobbing his head in a not. Ducklings would have to wait until he could... sink his teeth into something.
    "We do own some property which gets rented out," Edan said, "but none of the family residences. It wouldn't be appropriate. Too much... history." There was a brief pause as she mulled over those words, considering them.
    "Oh, yes," Edan agreed, with mock-solemnity. "All of this nice, tasteful stuff is left over from my grandmother's day. I fully intend to paint all of the rooms prison uniform orange as soon as I get the chance to do so."

    "I fully intend to join C.J.," Darshan said, with immense dignity, "but I won't be taking place in the betting, I'm afraid. One of you will have to screw up your courage if you wish to settle things on that account." Then he turned and walked into the bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind him.
    "Frankly, I don't think the bet is worth the potential pain," Sahar commented to both the closed door and Mace. "Of course, I'm a coward. A big, strong, manly man like you might be willing to take a look..." She cast a sly, sideways look at the hyena.
    "I want a leg," Zeke said, deadpan, and waded into the crowd of 'shifters, determined to retrieve either pizza or a limb. Either one would do, really.

    Irene looked down her nose at Price. "Don't be crude, Mr. Kee. Only Daybreakers eavesdrop." She saw Julianna wink at her, and smirked in response. “The rest of us engage in espionage.”
    The smirk turned serious as Keller spoke, and she shrugged. "I've been working on it. However, the best laid plans..." She shrugged again. After all, it wasn't her fault that her flight had been cancelled. That reminded her, however, and she glanced at Julianna. She knew things that might have been of interest to the Daybreakers, but she wanted to share this new information with her friend before she decided what parts to tell the world's greatest busybodies.
    "Not impossible, then," Galen confirmed, because neither of these women seemed like the sort to give up simply because a plan had gone awry.

    "Would you be particularly upset if we didn't?" Black John replied, once everyone else had disappeared into their rooms. Blaise was the last to go, and he shook his head a little. She reminded him a little bit too much of another young woman with more potential than sense. Although it seemed that Blaise, at least, was going to choose the right side when the time came.

    The idea of Blaire asking Sonya to eliminate Darshan took a few minutes for Christian to visualize. Then he had to go the next step and imagine Darshan's response when Sonya showed up to kill him. It would be the most succinct meeting of doom ever to happen in this world.
    It made him smile a little.
    "So we simply have to set up circumstances so she thinks the time is right," he murmured, running ideas through his head. It would be possible, though it would have to be almost unbearably subtle and crafty to fool the mind behind all of these people.
    Kersti finished her shake about the same time Jacob finally decided to forego another piece of pie. Nolan was leisurely eating the rest of his fries, looking happy and rather content for the first time all day.
    Having received her refilled wine, Gift was silently nursing it as she observed her companions. No one seemed inclined to move any time soon; hell, it was the first safe place most of them had been all day.
    "Away we go then," George said, and started down the sidewalk. Actually, looking at the delectible young Vegasinians that abounded, he was getting a hunger pain himself.
    "Ah, yes, witch families do like their personal properties," he murmured, not without understanding. If he'd had something that had been in his family for generations upon generations, he likely wouldn't want strangers habiting it.
    A smirk lifted his lips. "I'm sure Kawada will fit right in, then."

    "Well that's no fun," Mace tsked the dragon, even though he did kind of peek over Darshan's shoulder when he went inside. Just a quick looksee, just in case he could see something without actually going in. No such luck, and the door closed with a burdened sigh from Mace.
    "I don't know; from the look on her face, I'm gonna need more than ten bucks to entice me in there," he said doubtfully to Sahar, studying the door.
    C.J., for her part, was sitting cross-legged on the bed, the open pizza box on her lap. Her eyes were half-closed in a look of pure inner ecstasy as she bit off chunks from the pizza slices currently taking up both hands. At least half of the pizza was already gone, so maybe Mace's speculation was true. Or maybe she just ate fast.
    Luke grinned, then went in the other direction from Zeke. He figured, if they circled around, they'd manage to scrounge up /something/.
    Wes and Queenie, for their part, just barreled into the crowd with hoots and yells.

    Price laughed at the two spies as Keller took on a suffering look. "Fair enough. Though eavesdropping is highly underrated these days. It's often as useful as espionage."
    Keller's face became serious again and she nodded in agreement with Galen. "Not impossible," she decided, and Julianna shrugged agreeably.
    "Nothing's impossible," she said cheerfully. Then, having caught Irene's glance, she flashed a sweet smile at the three Daybreakers. "But only when hard work's put into it. Which means I must be out and about my business. Keller, Galen, always a pleasure. Price." She reached up to pinch his cheek playfully. "You just get cuter and cuter every year."
    Price grinned modestly and Julianna laughed, sliding from the booth. "You wanna call Gift, she's not doing anything in particular right now," she told Keller casually, then gave a slightly stern look to both shifters. "And think about what's been said about Darshan. Just because he's a dragon doesn't mean that's /all/ he is." Then she gestured for Irene to lead the way.

    Paul hmmmed, looking at the now-empty hallway. "Some of them, no. But I keep reminding myself, if Blaire sent 'em, there's a reason." A pause, then he muttered, "There's a /reason/."

    The smile on Christian's face made Sonya sigh.
    She tilted her head to the side, thoughtful, as he spoke. "You're going to try to draw her out prematurely? How do you intend to do that?"
    Since the last of his food was gone, Adrian raised his brows at Nolan, a faint smile on his lips. "You wanted to talk shop?"
    "Try to stop him," Nona murmured, still concentrating on her food, as if she was determined to eat at a more leisurely pace than the other shape-shifters at the table.
    Tristan snorted, but followed after George, casting one last look over his shoulder at the Paris. It wasn't entirely irrational to be worried about the band, considering what seemed to happen when he and George weren't hovering over them.
    "We do get a little territorial," Edan admitted. "It's more about the land than the house, but you really don't want a stranger to go pawing through your family's personal items."
    She choked on a laugh when he mentioned Kawada. "That's... true. Maybe I should paint one of the guest rooms bright orange right away, so he has somewhere comfortable for his stay." Because Kawada was a lovely man, but his taste was questionable.

    Sahar made a vague sound of agreement. "Well, since neither of us are brave enough to face C.J., I'm going to go try to wrestle some more pizza away from your gang." The accompanying smirk implied that said wrestling would involve a lot of inappropriate touching, which was probably how she had claimed the first pizza box.
    "Have you eaten anything today?" Darshan asked, watching as his soulmate gobbled down the pizza with extraordinary speed. He actually looked a little impressed when he saw just how much of the pizza was gone. "I'm going to go with no," he said, answering his own question, since he doubted that C.J. could get the words out around the pizza in her mouth.

    "Nothing is impossible," Irene agreed, but didn't sound terribly enthusiastic.
    The reason why was revealed as she led Julianna away from the table. "What do you think the chances are that they will pay me for any information that I give them, like civilized people? They probably just expect people to work for them, awed by the Daybreak aura of goodness." She sighed, and shook her head, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that they were out of hearing range. They were, but Galen was looking at her, so they probably hadn't been when she had made her first comment.
    "I do have some new information," she told Julianna, turning serious. "And it does impact your Daybreak friends as well as us."

    "Of course there is," murmured Black John, himself a champion plotter. "We simply haven't figured it out, yet. I do know why Lauren is here, and you may have guessed it. The simple truth is, her abilities outweigh her... disabilities." Like the fact that she was completely insane.

    Shoulders lifted in a slight shrug at her inquiry. "I think that might be the best option for the moment. How to do it, I'm still thinking on. I might try to call Darshan and Gift in for some ideas later tonight." Because the sooner this was taken care of, the better, of course.
    Excitement lit Nolan's usually calm eyes and he opened his mouth, before his gaze shot to Kersti. Gift chuckled richly and Kersti smiled warmly. "Go ahead."
    "Wow," Jacob said, thoroughly impressed at that point. He'd never seen women take control of a group so quick and efficiently. Of course, he'd always lived a rather simple life.
    Nolan rolled his eyes towards Nona, then Jacob in turn, before looking back at Adrian. "So, you can attach severed limbs. Even if small bits are missing??"
    "They'll call us if anything goes wrong," George murmured, not having to look at Tristan to know where the other man was gazing. He always made sure his team knew his cell phone was always on and ready, and he was on speed dial on most of the team phones. Situations cropped up and people had to be prepared.
    "Why more about the land??" Ry inquired. He knew witches were usually territorial, but not exactly /why/.
    A lazy smirk curled his lips as she spoke. "Don't forget the purple stripes. Kawada goes nuts for anything striped."

    "I think I'll join you then," Mace said agreeably, leading the rest of the way to the stairs. "I'm quite hungry myself, now that I think about it." And since C.J. wasn't hitting his alcohol yet, he really wanted another beer.
    C.J. blinked as Darshan spoke, eyes focusing on him. She had to take another bite of pizza before she seemed to register his question, then just gestured at the pizza box with the two half-eaten slices to back up his own answer. She looked much better though, now that she had food in her belly. Aside from a little pizza sauce on her nose, and there was /no/ telling how that had gotten there.

    Price looked thoughtfully after Julianna and her friend, eyes faintly speculative. Keller sighed, resting her head a moment on Galen's shoulder before she looked up at him. "I have to call Gift." Since there wasn't much else they could do, at this point.
    "None at all," Julianna agreed cheerfully. "I don't think they're much into the paying scene. Though you could always tell Gift; she'd pay you generously, and pass the needed info on to them as necessary." It was all rather convoluted, but it seemed to work.
    She nodded when Irene spoke, and pushed through the Starbucks door and out into the dreary Vegas afternoon. It couldn't seem to decide it wanted to be sunny or cloudy, though a little outside help was definitely confusing nature. "What info??" she asked quietly, once they were well away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.

    "Do you /really/ think so, though??" Paul asked dryly. "I mean, once she starts going through Vegas, it's not like people aren't going to remember her. If the people we're here to stalk start passing word around, she's going to become less than useless."

    "That sounds like a good idea," Sonya said, already bored with the idea. Her interest in planning extended only as far as how many bullets she had in relation to the number of people that she wanted to shoot; she was happy to leave the long-term planning to Christian.
    She pushed open the door at the top of the stairwell, and paused only briefly when she saw the two men standing in the hallway. Rather than speaking, she simply inclined her head and walked past them. Some of the new arrivals Peter had mentioned, no doubt.
    "Yes, Lauren is very memorable young lady, isn't she?" Black John said, with a grimace that gave his otherwise handsome face a certain skull-like quality. "We'll have to see what he can do about that." Dark eyes followed the newcomers down the hall, but he continued to speak quietly to Paul. "I don't think that we're going to get a great deal done tonight, in any case. I don't think that any attempt to extricate the others from their rooms is likely to meet with much success."

    "Re-attaching a limb isn't so hard," Adrian said, his face turning animated as they started on the subject of healing. "Even human doctors can do it. Of course, the things that are possible with healing are much greater... for instance, nerve damage can sometimes lead to a loss of feeling, but I can repair the nerves so that's not a problem, as long as I get to the limb in time. What bits I can and can't replace really depends. I mean, tissue is easy. For instance, if someone has been..." He faltered for a moment, took a deep breath, and continued, "...if someone has been flayed, it's not such a difficult thing to encourage the new skin to grow in. The same is true of muscle. Missing bone is harder, and there are certain things that I just can't heal. Like if someone's eye is gouged out, and there's not enough tissue there for me to repair it. Or if a limb has been removed, I can't grown a new one, I can just reconnect the severed one. Even that is sometimes impossible, if too much time has elapsed. Also, blood loss is always a risk."
    "You have such an interesting idea of dinnertime conversation," Fang joked. Adrian flushed, then relaxed and smile tentatively when he realized that the reproach hadn't been seriously intended.
    "Doesn't bother me," Tala said, and of course it wouldn't. Were-wolves were unlikely to become queasy at the mention of blood and gore.
    "For them to call you, something has to have gone wrong in the first place," Tristan said, lifting a sardonic brow. Oh, and there were so many things that could, and probably would, go wrong with that group.
    "Earth, air, fire, water," Edan murmured, her mouth twitching into a small smile when she said the word 'fire.' "Our connection to the Goddess, to the land, to nature... it's all very important to us, especially in this day and age, when land that's untainted is so much harder to find." She smiled at him, apologetic. "I'm afraid that it may be one of those things that's hard to explain to anyone who's not a witch. Could a shape-shifter tell me what it's like to change their form in a way that I could understand? Could you explain what bloodlust feels like to me? Some things just get lost in translation."
    She smirked again when he mentioned Kawada's preferences, but seemed to have nothing to add now that purple striped had been proposed.

    "I'm not sure where I left the wrap Price bought me," Sahar mused, as drifted down the stairs after Mace. "I gave the coffee it Darshan, but I think that the sandwich is probably sitting on the hood of someone's car outside the Paris. Too bad. It smelled good, and I haven't eaten since breakfast." The smell of pizza was awfully tantalizing, too, now that she thought about it. She reached a hand up to check for drool, and was satisfied when she didn't find any.
    "Are you feeling better?" Darshan asked, a softness in his voice that was never directed at anyone but C.J. He reached into his pocket, removing a heavy white silk handkerchief and using it to wipe the smudge of tomato sauce off the tip of her nose, the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

    "Call her," Galen agreed, sounding resigned.
    "See, I like your sister," Irene mused, looking at Julianna from behind her bangs, strait and platinum today as opposed to the red curls of the night before. "She's very sensible, and she never expects something for nothing."
    She followed the other woman through the door, and linked her arm through Julianna's as if they were simply going to enjoy a stroll through the tepid Las Vegas air. "I told you that my flight was cancelled, and that a few private planes were allowed to land. What if I were to tell you that one of those planes belonged to Blaire Floures, and had several of her merry men on board?" She looked smug, pleased with herself. "Not only that, but I've managed to identify most of them, through no small amount of effort on my part, I assure you. Nothing good for your Daybreak friends, I'm afraid to say."

    Christian chuckled at the boredom he could hear in Sonya's voice. He'd never known her to be one for plotting, which was why he didn't invite her along to the potential brainstorming session that would take place. But she'd be the first one he called when a plan was decided upon and put into action.
    He followed Sonya's lead when he saw the two men in the hallway, sending a brief, sharp probe in their direction. Witches, they felt like. Though one was very old and another wasn't...quite right. Witch, but not like the witches he'd known. Interesting.
    Not stopping to chat though, he simply inclined his own head and continued following his girl.
    "I've /heard/ that she's good at disguise," Paul said musingly. "But I wouldn't bet on it here in Vegas. I wonder how distracted she is by shiny things." Maybe they should just lock her in her room while they were here, bringing her out only when necessary. What a nice thought.
    His own gaze followed the woman and man that came in from the stairwell, eyes narrowing slightly. He didn't recognize either of them off the bat, but the woman seemed familiar. "Probably not, so if you're up for it, we'll take a quick tour of Vegas on our own. I still intend to, regardless, but I know you'll probably want a look around yourself."

    Nolan was nodding the whole time Adrian was speaking, looking as if his tea and all of their companions had just disappeared. "When you reattach limbs, do you ever suffer the problems humans have??" he asked. "Like I've heard that reattached fingers will oftentimes build up pockets of blood and have to be drained frequently. And do you ever have other problems, especially with hands?? Like, when you reattach it, does it always work properly afterwards?? I know you mentioned nerve endings, but say in a broader scale, like nerves and tendons themselves?? Or does it ever not work at all, because the body refuses to accept a reattached limb?? Maybe it---"
    "Nolan, Jesus, take a breath," Jacob muttered, and this time it was the other witch who flushed in a bit of embarrassment.
    "Leave them alone," Kersti told the band sternly. "I know Adrian doesn't get to talk with other witches often, so I'm sure this is really fun for them."
    Gift still just looked amused by the whole lot of them.
    George smirked. "Well at least we're not there for the first rush, right??" Not that he would really shirk his responsibilities, but he remembered it being said that once C.J. was away from the band, less importance would be placed on them. They could hope.
    Ry inclined his head. "That's true, but I understand the gist of it." Bottom line, step on a witch's land, get your ass burned. Got it.
    He glanced around again, then flashed Edan his brilliant smile. "I do appreciate the tour, Ms. Pyrrhus, but I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave now. Again, a pleasure meeting you. I can understand what bedazzled Kawada so immediately."

    "If that's the case, it's gone," Mace said dryly, starting to clamber own the stairs. "And if we want pizza, we'd better hurry for it."
    Down the stairs and back through the hall led him into the kitchen, where a look of amused and tolerant disgust plastered his face when he saw what a mess it had become. One of the gang saw him and immediately hopped to his side, bearing a whole box of pizza that didn't appear to be touched. "For you, bossman."
    "I appreciate it," Mace said gravely, taking the box, and letting the other man hop back to his own plate. "Wow, a whole box all to myself." He opened the lid and took an appreciative whiff, a wicked look in his eyes as he glanced sideways at Sahar. "You wanna try to find some yourself, or bargain for some of mine??"
    A sweet smile formed her features and C.J. nodded, actually swallowing her mouthful before saying, "Much better." She took two more huge bites, finishing the slice in her left hand, as Darshan stepped closer. Her dark eyes were curious before he dabbed at her nose, then she just gave a bit of a sheepish grin.
    Chewing in two seconds, she swallowed as a speculative look came to her eyes. "Although..." With her newly freed hand, she reached out and tangled it in Darshan's shirt, pulling him down enough so she could give him a thorough kiss. When she finally released him, the look on her face beat the look brought on by pizza by miles and miles. "Okay, now I'm great." She gave him another sweet smile, then finished off the slice in her right hand.

    Keller pulled out her cell phone, frowning slightly at her soulmate. "Are you sure you want to be there, Galen??" She knew how much he didn't care for Gift and didn't purposely try to subject them to each other.
    Julianna grinned. "Well that's one reason to like her. I suppose I'm biased though." Though while not perfect, Gift clearly had little flaws in Julianna's eyes. Though everyone knew how loyal Julianna was to her friends, so one could only expect more for family.
    Keeping her arm gayly linked with Irene's, they began to stroll leisurely away from the Starbucks. At her friend's words, Julianna made a slight face. "Oh man, that can't be good. Who are they??" Of course she was intensely curious how Irene had found that out, but she knew better than to ask. Probably an irritated young man and his flight itinerary would be her guess.

    A swipe with her key card gained Sonya access to her hotel room, and she held the door open for Christian before stepping inside and closing it behind her. She wasted no time, dragging her suitcase out of the closet and beginning to pack, quickly and efficiently. Underwear, shirts, pants, were all placed into the bottom of the suitcase, barely filling it half way. She tossed a sweater at Christian, black and unmistakable one of hers, but large enough that it would probably fit. "You have blood on your shirt," she remarked, by way of explanation.
    "I don't think these rooms lock from the outside," Black John said, echoing Paul's thoughts, with a note of genuine regret in his voice.
    He considered the younger man's proposal, and nodded sharply. "Why don't we go are separate ways, and meet in the hotel bar in an hour or two in order to compare notes? We'll be able to cover more ground." Also, after a day spent among these people, he was in desperate need of a few minutes not filled with inane chatter and bickering. Paul was tolerable company, and Damon rarely bothered any of the others, but the other three were enough to drive a saint to murder.
    Whatever else he was, Black John had never been a saint.

    Adrian shook his head. "Goes on easy, and rarely acts up afterwards," he said, with a swift smile, "and you can thank the Goddess for that. I do have to get to it in time, however, and it is a draining task to perform."
    "Strange idea of fun," Fang muttered in response to Kersti's comment, silver eyes intent on Adrian. "My family has a lot of contact with witches. What you're describing... dude, it's not like anything I've ever heard before."
    The healer looked away, more uncomfortable with this line of questioning than he had been with the lamia's earlier teasing. "Yes, well. I'm different." The words sounded a little forced, and Fang raised his hands in a 'no harm meant' sort of gesture.
    "Hey, whatever, just glad you're here," he said, and went back to staring at Nona's chest across the table because that seemed safer.
    "There very nearly wasn't a second rush, this time," Tristan muttered darkly. He glanced over his shoulder at George, his brows drawing inwards over incredibly blue eyes. "David betrayed us?" It wasn't really a question, since he had already been told this, but a request for confirmation.
    The smile was returned, and Edan inclined her head towards him in a brief nod. "The pleasure was all mine. I never knew that Kawada kept such charming company. Allow me to show you out, and please, you're welcome here any time you like."

    "I don't know," Sahar said, musingly, as she made a playful grab for the pizza box without any real expectation or intention of succeeding. "What would you suggest that I bargain with? You've already extracted from me a promise not to blow anything up."
    Although he didn't say anything, the kiss went a long way towards calming Darshan down as well. If C.J. was alright, he was alright. And if he was alright, he wouldn't be forced to immediately hunt Jayden down, rip his jaw off, and flay him with his own teeth. All the same, the thought did draw a wistful little sigh from his throat as he sat down next to C.J., curving his body towards her protectively.

    "I'm sure," Galen said firmly. "I can't avoid her all the time, Keller," he added, his voice gently. "She's your friend, and she has her fingers in an awful lot of pies. That alone makes her pretty much unavoidable."
    "Terribly," Irene agreed.
    She continued to stroll along, her eyes lighting up in spite of the words that followed. "Well, I'll start with the horrible and move on to the very bad. Ash Redfern and Blaise Harman." Bad for Daybreak, at the very least.

    Christian slid a brief look around the hotel room, seeing nothing that surprised him. Brief and utilitarian, that was his Sonya.
    He accepted the sweater with another inclination of his head, sliding it on over his head. It was a little tight but hit him just above his hips, so it covered the torn and bloody shirt. Excellent. That done, he sent a speculative look towards her closed door.
    Paul smirked slightly. "Don't imagine I'd want to see the damage done to the room when she realized she was locked in anyway." Even if this trip was all-expenses paid. Sometimes he felt more like a zoo handler than a bad guy.
    Considering Black John's words for a moment, Paul finally nodded in acceptance. "I'll say an hour and a half. Give us plenty of time to scope out the area and see who's around." They'd all been given dossiers on the people to be on the lookout for, though he thought it likely Frost and maybe Ash had already tossed theirs.

    "Wow," Nolan murmured, his gaze absent but clearly impressed as he looked into the distance. "Just thinking..."
    Kersti gave her healer boy a sweet and loving smile, then reached over to stroke his leg reassuringly when he replied to Fang.
    His arms crossed over his chest now, slouched a little in his chair, Jacob was giving Adrian a considering look as Fang turned away. "You're seriously that good, and still free lance?? I would've thought someone would've claimed you to put on the payroll by now."
    Kersti gave Jacob a sharp look but it was Gift's mild voice that caught the vampire's attention. "If Adrian wishes to stay free lance, he stays free lance, Mr. Miller."
    A little red slowly climbed to Jacob's cheekbones as he briefly caught Gift's eye, then lowered his gaze. Well, that explained that.
    George grunted, shaking his head. "Still can't understand all of this shit, and why a /band/ would be in the middle of it," he muttered, though he did have a general idea. All because C.J. had a badass boyfriend, apparently.
    Gaze lifting, he met Tristan's china blue eyes with a steely glint in his own. "He betrayed us for a dragon that promised he'd be treated better after she took over the world." Just saying it made his lip curl a little in disgust. He really couldn't believe David had fallen for that shit. He'd always thought better of the werewolf than that. "But he did mention that he wasn't the only one who'd changed sides, and that has me worried."
    "Any bit of charm you see in Kawada, he got from me," Ry admitted modestly, giving her another smile before gesturing her forward. "Of course, and thank you very much. Beautiful house, in all honesty."

    Mace clucked his tongue, pulling the box back without much effort. "Not a clue, darlin'. That's up to you. When you decide, I'll be over here eating /my/ pizza." He smiled, showing a lot of teeth, and moved over a bit so he was out of swiping range. And promptly pulled out a meat-covered slice of pizza and started inhaling it. Mmmm.
    Truly feeling much better now, C.J. slid over a little and curled her body into is, snuggling in happily. She had two pieces left and lifted one towards her dragon. "Want one??" Her stomach was trying to adjust to the sheer amount of food she'd stuffed into it, so her last piece would be going down slower.

    "Well, I might still try if it wasn't important," Keller mumbled, pushing a speed dial number and putting the phone to her ear.
    Price was looking at Galen with fascination. "I know you've explained this to me before, but I still cannot understand how you don't like Gift. She's...well, she's incredible. That's about all I can think to describe her."
    Julianna grinned at her friend, then fell a bit more serious as she spoke. The two names Irene said made her blink in honest surprise. "Ash and Blaise?? Okay, Ash I might can understand, with what happened to Mary-Lynnette and all, but Blaise?? What about Thea??"

    The clothes safely packed, Sonya went about filling the rest of the bag. Two more guns, one from the drawer beneath the TV and one from under the pillow, a box of ammunition, a package of the tranquilizers she had used on Jayden, and an assortment of knives retrieved from various places in the room, including one found in the unlikely location of the toilet tank. She dried it off carefully on a hotel towel, and packed it in. After a moment's careful consideration, she packed the towel as well. Stealing something from the hotel you were staying at was a long an glorious tradition, after all, and Blaire would be the one footing the bill.
    She zipped up the suitcase, and turned to Christian. "Are you ready to go?"
    "I doubt that her room will remain undamaged in any case," Black John replied.
    He nodded quickly in response to Paul's words, and turned towards the door the led into the stairwell. With a final inclination of his head by way of farewell, he disappeared through the door.

    At Jacob's words, Adrian jerked, as if he had been touched by a live wire. He looked down quickly, but all the same, his voice remained slow and gentle when he elaborated on Gift's deceptively mild response. "I don't particularly like the idea of someone else's agenda dictating who I help and when. I like working for myself, and this way, I'm free to heal anyone and they can recompense me as they're willing and able. It works out well enough." He smiled wryly. "I almost wish that it didn't. C.J. is very quickly turning into one of my best customers."
    "Why?" Nona asked, the first time she had spoken in a while, with a quick glance towards the healer. "Is she really that accident prone?"
    "Not accidents," Adrian said tiredly, and seemed content to leave it at that.
    "Does the 'why' of it really matter?" Tristan asked, with a one-shouldered shrug. "I'm really more worried about the 'how'. Like, 'how are we going to keep their collective ass in one piece?'" He cursed, soft and heartfelt, when George responded to his question about David, then paused at the last tidbit of information. "Not someone else on our team?"
    "Well then, thank you for that," Edan said, with a soft chuckle as she preceded him down the stairs. "I'm sure that without your influence, he's be completely intolerable." She inclined her head in response to the compliment, with a modest smile of her own. "Thank you. I like it, and I do like to think that it has its beauty."

    "You're a mean man," Sahar said, and sounded more delighted than offended. "Although you're not terribly good at bargaining." She danced up to him sideways, making another swipe at the box now that he was distracted by his piece of pizza.
    Darshan pressed a kiss against the top of C.J.'s head, one arm sliding around her waist to pull her more comfortably against his side. "I've already eaten, sweetheart." All the same, he leaned forward and delicately bit off the tip of the pizza offered to him. "You finish the rest of it. I know you must be famished."

    A soft sigh escaped Galen's lips, and for a moment he seemed torn between looking amused and looking stern. "She kills people for money, Price. Whatever else she may or may not be, I can't condone that." He wondered if Gift knew that she had a fan club within Daybreak, and almost cringed at the thought.
    "Ah, yes, and the brave knight does not seem particularly inclined to honor his lady's memory," Irene drawled. "Not very Daybreak of him, but I suppose that you can't tell a leopard to change its spots. As for Ms. Harman, I can't begin to fathom her reasoning, and I haven't had ample time yet to look into the matter. You are correct, however. It doesn't seem to be in the nature of one cousin to betray the other."

    Christian didn't seem surprised in the least by the vast assortment of arms she had around her hotel room, and merely nodded to her words. "Whenever you are."
    Paul returned Black John's nod as the elder man left, then ambled down to the elevator himself. Punching the down button, he sent a thoughtful look back down the hall, pulling up that woman's face again. Why did she seem so familiar??

    A frown pulled at Kersti's lips when Adrian jerked, and she edged a bit closer to him instinctively, leaning over to rest her head on his shoulder.
    Jacob didn't look at Gift again but his eyes did lift as Adrian spoke. The news about C.J. made him slide looks in his bandmates' directions, but he didn't know what to say about that. Just considering everything that had happened /today/ alone was enough to make him feel tired on Adrian's behalf.
    Gift slid one more slow look around the table before her hand suddenly moved to her jacket pocket. A vibrating phone was pulled from it and a brief glance at the caller ID had a smile tilting her lips as she put it to her ear. "Hello Keller."
    That caused a few blinks around the table.
    "Yes, I know. Mmmhmm. I know. Yes, I figured. No, it's no problem." She cast a look down at her watch. "I can meet you in an hour." She rattled off an address then hung up and replaced her phone.
    Kersti finished off her shake.
    George grimaced. "We haven't done a top notch job of it so far, I don't think. We'll be lucky if Gift doesn't reduce our pay." Heh heh, indeed.
    The following question brought a long moment of silence, before he replied quietly, "Not on /our/ team."
    "Just count yourself lucky you didn't know him when I first met him," Ry assured her with a faint smirk. "Truly unbearable. I had to limit myself in exposure times."
    Another considering look around as they descended the stairs. "It does. It has a strength to it too." His smile was more self-directed amusement than anything. "Not something I usually say about a building."

    "Good 'nough," Mace grunted past his pizza, and simply lifted the box way over his head when she tried to swipe at it. "And you only wish you were tall enough for that to work, shorty."
    A happy purr rumbled briefly from C.J.'s chest as she settled more comfortably against her dragon, curling her legs under her. "Okay," she agreed readily enough, taking another big bite after he'd nibbled his own piece. "And I'm pretty full at this point. I think it'll be enough for a few hours."

    Price tsked, drumming his fingers absently on the table. "That's kinda narrow, Galen. You can't judge a person as complex as she is with just that simply description." His head tilted a bit, gray eyes thoughtful. "She actually only kills bad guys mostly, these days. Doesn't that count for something??"
    Keller hung up her phone then, giving her men an exasperated but amused look. "You two are never going to agree on this. And Price, you're not coming to this meeting. Gift doesn't need the drool to make her slip. Why don't you go talk to Anna."
    Price looked crushed, but the grin somewhat ruined it. "That's not fair! Tell me about it, set it up, then deny me the right to be there. I think you owe me another frappacino for that."
    Julianna made a face. "No, I don't imagine you can. Nor would I want to bring it up to Ash at this point either." Her head slowly shook at the news about Blaise though. "There's something there. That just doesn't sound right. But we'll figure it out. Who's next??"

    Boots clicked evenly over the sprawling wooden porch as Jasper approached the ranch house. Cold eyes took in the familiar surroundings, the smell of manure in the distance, the whinnying of horses. Smoke drifting from the cigarette between her lips, she rapped lightly on the door.

    Sonya picked up her suitcase and walked out the door in leu of a response. Her flat dark eyes skimmed over the hallway, tripping over the man by the elevator before she went to join him in his waiting. The other man had already departed, it seemed, either out again or into one of the many rooms lining the hall.

    As Kersti leaned against him, Adrian relaxed, and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders. "It's just been a long day," he told her softly, "and not a very pleasant one. I'll be fine." He tilted his head slightly to the side, listening in silence as Gift spoke. "Would that be Raksha Keller?" he asked politely, once she had hung up the phone.
    "We'll be lucky if Gift doesn't reduce our limbs," Tristan retorted darkly, his eyes roving over the crowds of humans on the Strip in a distinctly predatory manner. He glanced briefly at George when the other man answered his question. "We're sure of that?" he asked, simply because he needed to be sure. Having a teammate betray them was more of a blow then Tristan would ever admit; he was sure that everyone was feeling it.
    "Interesting," Edan said, amusement lightening her eyes. "How did you withstand such prolonged exposure to such an uncouth individual?"
    One of Edan's hands ran over the sleek wooden banister as they walked down the stairs, with something that was almost affection. "Well, as I said, you're welcome any time that you please. If nothing else, it's air conditioned, which is a distinct boon in Las Vegas." She cast a wry glance out the window, where heavy gray clouds still cloaked the sky all the way to the distant horizon. "Well, usually, at least."

    "You know, we're really too old for a game of keep away," Sahar grumbled. She swept a glance over him. "You especially."
    The second glance that she gave him was considering, a very thorough head-to-foot examination that might have been more sexual if it hadn't been likely that she was contemplating the possibility of either tackling him or climbing up him in order to reach the pizza.
    "Good," Darshan said, with soft approval. "If you intend to eat any of it later, however, you may wish to stash it in here. There is a ravenous pack of animals downstairs. No slice of pizza is safe."

    "I'm not entirely certain that giving you more caffeine is a good idea," Galen commented, with an amused glance of his own. "Your mother is right. I doubt that Ms. Redfern would appreciate being drooled on. Go drool on Anna instead, although she probably won't appreciate it any more." He glanced sideways at Keller, his expression turning serious. "What time is the meeting set for?"
    The look that crossed Irene's features was one of pure disgust. "Please, Julianna, my methods are a little more subtle than walking up to a man and saying, 'so, son, do you think that your soulmate would bitch-slap you if she hadn't been horribly and brutally murdered, and by the way, please pass the canape.' Although not by much. I've actually been thinking the most direct means of getting the information we require would be for me to simply accept the invitation that Blaire sent me."
    She brightened at Julianna's question. "Ah, yes. Well, I hope that you appreciate the digging that I had to do in order to discover the identity of our next player. Laurie Frost. A lost witch somewhat without her wits. One of my contacts in California should be faxing me the rest of her information within the hour."