There wasn’t much surprise in Ry’s eyes when he felt arms go around him and then the stairs rising up to meet him, giving a sharp knock to his chin that kept him still for a second. And after that second, well, okay, he /was/ surprised to find himself trussed like a fucking Christmas turkey.
    A single blink was the only sign of his surprise though, when he experimentally tried his arms and legs. Nope, tied up good and tight.
    This was going to be interesting.
    Eyes flicked up at Gamble’s words, one brow raising just slightly at the apology flavoring his voice. And then it was apparent, when the sharp sound of his bone breaking filled the stairwell. Nothing showed on his face and he didn’t make a sound; only a slight dilating of his eyes gave notice of the pain. That, he’d taught himself.
    This was not going to be only interesting, but painful, apparently.
    “Are you done??” he asked evenly. He did actually consider telling Gamble the truth; no matter what he did here, no matter what condition he left this place in, he was still going to get Julianna. She was in the middle of this mess and she was a major player in it.
    But he figured, really, Gamble didn’t want to know that. It would make this all the more painful, and in the end, again, would be pointless. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss, and all of that shit.

    "Nope," Gamble said, his voice just as even as Ry's, almost amiable. There was no apology left; no room for remorse. He had been out of the killing game for too long, and wasn't about to try handling it without retreating, just a bit, into himself.
    Almost gently, he laid a hand on Ry's other arm. He would break the upper arms, and the joints, but it was better not to lay new pain on top of old -- Ry wouldn't feel it as much. All gentleness was abandoned as he pushed down, snapping that arm as well.
    Over the next hour, he broke nearly every bone in the other man's body. Ry's composure was impressive but, at that point, Gamble could only feel a vague sense of relief that he hadn't made enough noise to wake Julianna.
    He got up from where he had been crouched on Ry's spine, and wiped his palms on his jeans. They weren't wet; nerves hadn't made him sweat, and he had enough control not to pierce flesh when he broke bone.
    "Be back in a minute," he said, and stepped briefly into the kitchen. He was no longer worried about Ry getting up and running off anywhere. Hard to do when your feet had been crushed.
    For a moment, he spoke, voice low and muffled. When he returned, he said nothing, did nothing, just stood there and stared down at Ry, his arms crossed over his chest and his shoulder propped against the railing of the staircase.
    It was a good half hour before the sound of crunching gravel and the glare of headlights came from outside. Still without speaking, Gamble reached down, grabbed Ry by the ropes that still bound him, and lifted him up with a small grunt of effort.
    There was a yellow taxi parked in the driveway.
    Gamble pulled open the back door of the taxi, and unceremoniously dumped Ry inside. The cabbie half-turned, and his eyes widened at the state that his passenger was in. "What the--"
    "Oh, hush," Gamble said, catching the cabbie's eyes. "My friend's a bit in his cups. You're gonna take him back to the city, drop him wherever he likes, and leave." He dug into the pocket of his jeans, and produced two crumpled twenties and a handful of ones. "Sound good, friend?"
    The cabbie's eyes had gone hazy. "Sure, man. Whatever you say."
    That taken care of, Gamble turned, and knelt down so that he was at eye level with Ry. "I'm not a killin' sort of man. I usta be, though, and I reckon I still remember how. This was your only warning, son. You come near Juli again, I'll kill you."

    There was a special kind of pain associated with a broken bone. A kind of extreme, hot, nauseating pain that radiated and kept radiating. Ry had experience with this kind of pain before. Even several times.
    But it was the first time he'd had this kind of pain so much at once. It was a new experience in several ways. The most notable to him right then was how hard it was to step away from that pain. A trick Ethan had started to teach him and he'd finished teaching himself, and he'd always thought he'd done a terrific job. There was nothing that had happened to him before that he hadn't been able to step to the side, and finish what had to be done.
    Right then though, feeling Gamble's hand around his ankle and snapping it to the side, unable to move his arms or legs, he was almost consumed by it. It stabbed his brain and clenched his heart and he struggled to keep his breathing even. In, out. In, out. The only way he could even think past the continuous, continuing pain was to redirect it.
    Deep in his gut, hidden behind a cool exterior and bored smile, was a roiling, boiling, simmering, growing, demanding, undeniable, and damn near irrepressible ball of furious rage. It kept him going on cold nights, kept his finger on the trigger against people who might not have deserved it, and brought him to this place on this particular night. He simply fed the pain into that ball, and it grew another half inch in diameter.
    Soon, very soon, he was finally going to get to release that rage.
    But not quite yet.
    When he finally found himself in the backseat of a taxi, with Gamble on eye level, he let his eyes focus. His body felt like mashed potatoes and he wasn't sure how he sat upright, even with the seat supporting him.
    The vampire's words made a small smile curve his lips. Eyes met his calmly, levelly. He wasn't angry at Gamble. Julianna deserved someone who would take care of her like this, who would stop the wolf at the door. He knew that just from his short acquaintance with her. And he wished she would surround herself completely with men like Gamble, instead of the filth she did. He wouldn't have to do what he had to do if she did.
    That didn't stop what was going to happen though.
    Having been focusing what energy he had on healing the little bones in his hand and his shoulder socket, he reached out carefully and grasped the door handle, pulling it closed with a sharp jerk that made a fresh sheen of pained sweat stand out on his hairline. Then he leaned his head back against the seat, closing his eyes, and focused on his breathing as the driver started off.
    Someone was going to die tonight. Maybe two someones. All to make a point that hadn't been made.
    He was just going to have to get to Julianna when she wasn't at Gamble Oak's house.

    Peter slid open the window that led onto the fire escape and stepped inside, closing it behind him and dropping the blinds. No use having any nosey neighbors peaking in on what was, after all, a very private interlude. The apartment was dark and silent, except for the deep, even breathing of the woman in the next room, and the occasional brush of fabric against skin as she tossed restlessly in her sleep. Smiling softly, Peter sidled through the apartment and into the bedroom. He stood over the bed, and paused a moment to stare at the woman sleeping there. So beautiful. So strong. He was going to savor this, every last moment of it.
    He placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently awake. The moment that her eyes opened, he caught and held her gaze, and she was his.
    "Come on, darling," he said, brushing a hand through her hair where it lay against the pillow. "Let's get you ready for your day."
    An hour later, just as the sun had started to climb above the horizon, the voicemail on Price's phone beeped.

    Sahar woke up with a purr low in her throat. She was warm and surprisingly comfortable, although there was a strange ache in her left shoulder. Why was that? She had the feeling that she ought to remember, but most of the previous night was... well, a bit blurry around the edges. She and her girls had gotten all dolled up, and snuck out. There had been drinking. And a very pretty stripper, and...
    Eh, she'd worry about it later. Right now... "I'm starved," she mumbled, and rolled over to pull herself out of bed. Only to find herself nose to chest with a great deal of luscious, naked man flesh.
    Oh. Right. /That/ had happened last night, too.
    A few doors down, Darshan's morning was not going nearly as well as Sahar's. He had woken up to find himself nose down against the duvet, and refused to move until he had enough control over both the pounding in his head and the churning in his stomach not to show either.
    Once he had achieved that, he was going to take a shower, yes he was. He rather suspected that he smelled like one of those unshaven, unwashed humans that asked him for spare currency when he walked down the Strip. That would not do. He was a being of great power and dignity, and he refused to...
    Ow.
    He hated the world. He would destroy it in an act of fiery vengeance against whatever wretched creature had created tequila. As soon as he managed to get up.

    The rain clouds still hung over Vegas, and the early morning sunlight was pale and thin in the bedroom that Adrian shared with Kersti. All the same, since coming to Vegas Adrian had discovered that he found most mornings beautiful, just because they were free from snow.
    He leaned over and kissed his girlfriend on the forehead, his mouth curled into a faint smile. "I need to go out for a while. There are some things I need from the Harman store, and Phae's been holding a book for me for the past week. You need me to pick anything up on the way home?"

    It was half past nine when Ethan's phone rang. The call came from a payphone just inside of Vegas proper, and Ezio sounded wide awake and, as usual, vaguely irritated.
    "Got a line on him," he said, obviously feeling no need to specify who 'he' was. Ethan would know. "Better come quick. We've got a bleeder."
    He rattled off an address, and hung up.

    In an alley where the morning sunlight just didn't quite reach, Ai let the limp form of the pimp she had been feeding on slide from her grasp and onto the ground. He lay there bonelessly, and she could hear the erratic flutter of his heartbeat. He might survive, he might not, especially in a neighborhood like this one, where an unconscious man made an easy target. Usually she wasn't one to kill, but she had waited too long to feed, and she had been irritated when she had left her company's offices this morning. Knowing that she was edging past the limits of her control was why she had chosen this particular prey. There had been the scent of blood and the faintly chemical perfume of cheap makeup on his hands. He had been using his fists on someone the earlier this morning.
    She used one dainty, high-heeled foot to push him into the shadows behind a dumpster, where no one would find him for a while. Then she smoothed her blouse and suit jacket, making sure that there was no sign of what she had been doing. Perfect. The fresh blood was already buzzing through her system as she stepped out of the alley, soothing away her earlier irritation with bright new energy. It was going to be a lovely day.

    Sonya's booted foot hit the edge of the couch hard enough to make it slide a few inches across the floor.
    "Good morning," she said blandly. "If you have a hangover, I'm going to laugh at you." All the same, she dropped four little brown Advil tablets onto the cushion next to Christian's head.

    His cell phone had been ringing for quite some time when Fang finally fumbled an arm out from beneath the covers to grab it. He flipped it open and held it to his ear without opening his eyes, managing to slur a 'hello?' into the receiver.
    "Mr. Acacia?" The voice was low. Female. Really goddamn fucking sexy. Fang immediately opened his eyes.
    "Yeah?"
    "How would you like to help the cause?"
    Half an hour later, he walked out of his room, an uncharacteristically thoughtful look on his face. The look quickly faded as he stepped into the kitchenette area, and found Anna standing there, her back to him as she made coffee, her long, lean legs stretching on for miles under the hem of the fluffy white robe she had on.
    He stepped up behind her, and dipped his head so that he could inhale the scent of her skin, nose just barely nuzzling against the place where her neck met her shoulder. "You smell good, Annie."
    "You can thank Nona’s soap for that. I'm taken, Fang."
    Oh. Right. Whoops.
    "Oh. Right," Fang said, completely unconcerned. He stepped away from her, a grin on his face. "Well. How about dinner tonight?" He held up his hands up in a no-harm-meant gesture when she sliced a glance at him over her shoulder. "Taken, I know. How's that working out for you?"
    Anna didn't answer. After a moment, she went back to making her coffee.
    "Just as friends, then," he continued, his tone turning wheedling, persuasive. "There's an old buddy of mine in town who needs a talking to, and having a pretty girl around would probably soften him up." Or having a pretty girl around would reconcile Fang to the fact that he, apparently, was supposed to do the talking. Whichever. "What do you say? It's for the greater good, or something."
    Before she could reply, Tala walked in. She narrowed her eyes at Fang. "If you don't move your skinny white boy ass away from the coffee pot," she said, "I'm gonna kick it."
    "Sure, Tala," Fang said with a laugh, and left the kitchen. The subject of dinner was dropped for the time being.

    Mace was generally a heavy sleeper. He was wonderful at blocking out unwanted or unnecessary noise and able to just keep on sleepin'.
    But. He was able to determine exactly what wasn't unwanted or unnecessary. If someone in the gang needed him, he would wake up. If something important was going on, he was up.
    And if someone warm and snugly was moving around in his bed, he was...up.
    The words that buzzed his ears were much less important than warm flesh suddenly pressing up quite comfortably against his. Arms instinctively wrapped around a wonderfully compact little body and Mace found his nose buried in soft, fragrant hair. He wasn't quite awake enough yet to remember exactly who his arms were around, but boy howdy, wasn't she squishy and tender and...
    Oh wait. He knew whose voice had just spoken.
    Hmm. Was this going to be a problem??
    Hmm. Did he /care/??
    Nope!
    Arms tightened and pulled Sahar closer against him. "Mornin'," he rumbled against her head, hands closing to wander over her back and down to caress rather bare ass cheeks. Boy howdy! "How about we just stay in bed until something demands we get up??" Because he wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen once this nice little interlude ended, and he was happy having a woman in his bed again.
    Echoing up the stairs and then down the hallway, the happy whistling of a well-known song brought a couple of gang heads up from their pillows. Then, when it continued on, the heads went back down. But C.J. just kept whistling, all the way to her room and inside. When she actually got into the room though, she stopped, as she quite knew it wasn't going to help Darshan's head.
    "D," she whispered, edging closer to her face-down soulmate. "I have some breakfast." And she did. She had a nice little breakfast-in-bed tray, holding a plate of plain pancakes and...a Bloody Mary. It always made her feel better when she had a hangover.
    Of course, she did not have one this morning. Booyah!

    Kersti smiled at him, loving the way the pale sunlight haloed him. It was appropriate. "No, I'm okay," she said softly, reaching up to tuck some hair behind his ear. "Don't forget to take Nolan or Tristan with you." She was rather content to stay in bed for a little while longer, herself. But her healer boy had always been an early riser; a force of habit, by now.

    Ethan hung up the phone after Ezio's report and rolled over. Just for a second, he allowed himself to simply stare up at the ceiling. No thoughts, no problems. Just for that split second.
    Then he sat up and reached over, gently shaking Gift's shoulder. "Gift. Ezio found him."
    "Lemme know what happens," she mumbled into her pillow, and a quick grin appeared on Ethan's face as he slipped out of the bed.
    Four minutes later, he was dressed and armed up and leaning over his soulmate again. Lips lightly brushed her temple and he smoothed back her hair. "Price is on the sofa," he murmured, and only received a grunt in reply.
    Still smiling, he left the room and walked silently pass Price, who was indeed passed out on the sofa in the luxurious living room of their hotel suite. Gift sure knew how to pick them.
    He closed the door just as silently after him and was gone.
    Two minutes later, a beep sounded through that same living room. Price shifted slightly, sighing as his face buried in the crook of the couch's arm. Two more minutes later, another beep. Price didn't stir this time. Then, another beep. And his arm lashed out, snatching up the cell phone resting on the table beside him and pressing it to one ear. "What??"
    No answer except another beep.
    Frustrated and confused, Price lifted bleery gray eyes and looked at his phone. Oh. It wasn't a phone call, it was a voicemail. He called the box and put the phone back to his ear, letting his head fall back to rest on the suede couch as it informed him he had one new message.

    Even early morning light was harsh to a nightwalker. Varian's eyes squinted up into the sky as it started to lighten, the sun trying its damndest to shine through the thick cover of clouds hiding it from view. Looks like it was going to be another glorious day is Las Vegas.
    A slight smile touched just the corner of his mouth, part wry, part bitter, mostly just tired. Even that movement pulled the new split in his lip, making it throb faintly. That and the freshly forming black eye was just the way he wanted to start his day. Oh yeah. Not even the six hundred fifty dollars in his pocket was enough to make it worth while.
    He just didn't understand! Why had Darion sent him here!? It wasn't really in his nature to question, but this didn't make sense even to him. What was he supposed to do!? Turning tricks was fine, and he was good at it, but what was the point if Darion wasn't here to collect his money?? He hadn't said anything about sending the money back to him, and Varian sure wasn't going to spend it, so...
    Whatever. He'd find out in due time. And in the meantime, he was just going to have to hide the marks from the more exuberant Vegasinians and keep making money. And he needed to find a dealer. Maybe Darion gave Sunny a name while they were here...
    Frowning just slightly in thought, he crossed the street and kept walking towards his hotel.

    The jerk of the couch as it slid across the floor and the explosive sound of Sonya's boot hitting it made Christian jolt like he'd been, well, struck by lightning. He was about to surge up and face this problem, but then his head roared in protest at any kind of intended thought, and his stomach rolled over.
    God. How much had they drunk the night before??
    Sonya's words were just the honey he needed to hear too. Uh huh. He managed to kind of roll his head over and squinted up at her, and his eyes crossed when he tried to follow the falling Advil at the same time. That made his head hurt worse and he just managed to stifle a tiny little whimper. He was not giving her any ammunition to use against him.
    "I don't have a hangover," he said, very carefully and with great dignity. "I never get hangovers. I am a man who can handle his alcohol."
    That said, his fingers inched towards the Advil, and popped them into his mouth...one, two, three, four. Now just a few minutes for them to start working...

    A moment after Fang left, Jacob slumped into the room. His eyes were still half-closed and his shoulders drooped as he looked warily around. Didn't seem any major problems so far. Definitely an improvement from yesterday morning.
    His nose twitched then, and led him directly to the brewing coffeepot. "Coffee," he grunted, squeezing right up beside Tala. Because nothing got in the way of him and his coffee. "Now."

    Sahar hadn't thought that Mace was awake, so she was a little startled when his arms tightened and she found herself all nice and pressed up against his chest. Then his hands wandered down her back and onto her butt, and she forgot to be startled, making a low, pleased noise.
    Stay in bed, hmm?
    Food or sex?
    Food?
    Sex?
    Food?
    Sex?
    She wiggled a little against him, and found that Mace was apparently feeling very... mmm... friendly... this morning. Sex. Definitely sex.
    "I like bed," she said, drowsily agreeable. She curled a little closer, teeth nipping lightly at the place where his neck met his shoulder, one of her legs sliding over his hip.
    Darshan considered his situation with care. He didn't like showing weakness. Being this hungover was definitely a weakness. So he should just stay where he was, nose-down, until he wasn't hungover.
    But this was C.J. And she was trying to take care of him.
    With a groan, he rolled over onto his back, and looked at his soulmate through bleary slits of eyes. "Good morning love," he mumbled.

    "I'll take Nolan," Adrian promised, a smile curving his lips as he held up his hand to make the boy scout sign. "I like him," he added. "He's good people." Not that Tristan wasn't, but Nolan was another witch, and it was surprisingly good to talk to someone not as healer to patient, but as... well, something else. Other than Kersti, he didn't have many people that he considered friends. Most people just thought of him as someone who could patch them up after a fight, and he had never tried to change that, not really. Sometimes he thought that he had purposely held back from forming that kind of bond, since it was one more thing that Terra would use against him if she decided to take him away again. But he had seen Terra yesterday, and he had stood up to her, and she hadn't been able to take him away, and... maybe it would be nice to make a few friends. Maybe it would be okay.

    There was a moment's silence before the message started. Then a chuckle, soft and horribly familiar.
    "Mister Sandman," Peter's voice sang, quiet and very slightly off-key, "bring me a dream. Make her the sweetest that I've ever seen. Give her two lips, like roses and clover... Did you have pleasant dreams last night, Mr. Kee? What do you think I was doing while you were dreaming?" Another low chuckled. "Dream a little dream of me," he sang, before the message clicked off.
    "You have no more new messages," Price's phone informed him. "To delete this message, press seven. To save it, press nine. To hear more choices, press..."

    As Ai stepped out of the alley, the wind shifted, bringing to her sensitive nose new scents. None of them particularly pleasant; all of them familiar, a reminder of day long passed. Piss and sweat. Garbage rotting. People rutting. Oh, the details had changed, but not that much; poverty and desperation never changed /that/ much. She grimaced a little, and turned to walk back to the more well-heeled neighborhood she was staying in. Then she picked up another scent. Familiar, too, but not very. It took her a moment to identify it as the boy from the previous night, the one she had given the money to outside the airport.
    She hesitated. She had told Patrick she would proceed cautiously, that she would observe him before making an offer.
    Then she scented blood, faint but unmistakably his. Probably nothing more than a scrape or a scratch, but she had always had a keen noise.
    She changed her direction, resigned. She wouldn't make an offer, but she couldn't help but check up on him. It was who -- and what – she was.
    She followed her nose, turning once or twice, knowing that she would have to convince one of her cars to drive out to this neighborhood and pick her up once she was done. There was no way she'd be able to find her way back on her own.
    Here. The scent was stronger on this street. She glanced around, and was not surprised to find herself surrounded by cheap little hotel-motels, most of which rented by the hour. And there was the boy, heading down the street toward her. Even from here, she could see that there was a dark, mottled bruise under his eye, one that hadn't been there the previous night, and she felt a little stab of pity.

    "Of course you don't," Sonya said, a hint of condescension to her voice as she watched him pop pills like a bored housewife.
    She waited a few minutes, lapsing into her more customary silence. Then she spoke again, her head tilted contemplatively. "Since you're not hungover, I suppose I needn't let to recover any further before telling you what we're going to do today?"

    Anna had already moved to another section of the counter, and was carefully stirring milk into her coffee, glasses askew on her nose and a frown on her face. She looked up only when Tala snarled at Jacob.
    However, a moment later, the wolf poured two cups of coffee and handed one to her fellow band member, a compromise in the interest of them not tearing each other's throats out in a dominance battle for the coffee pot.
    "Morning," she growled under her breath. Then she curled herself around her cup of coffee, and slunk out of the room.
    "Rock stars don't do mornings, I guess," Anna said, glancing at Jacob.

    Smells were a big turn on for a shifter. Sights too, but to a lesser extent, which was sure to surprise some people. But mostly, noises were big. And Sahar was making a noise in her throat that was making something already hard even harder. In fact, almost painful. So it was only fair that she take care of it, right?
    Right.
    "I like bed," she said then, and that was pretty much all Mace needed in the terms of agreement. His hands squeezed her truly kneadable butt, easing her just a bit closer to his hard on, which only worked out better as she curled closer. Teeth touched his skin and he made an aroused little growling noise, fingers digging once more into his butt. God, did anyone have a butt like Sahar?
    "Then bed it will be," he rumbled, one hand reluctantly leaving her butt to caress down her thigh, pulling her leg higher up on his hip so he could prove just what a good decision she had made.
    C.J. waited with the patience of one who was often intensely hung over, looking at her intensely powerful and scary soulmate with a dopey and completely loving expression even as he groaned.
    Darshan rolled over and looked at her with slitted eyes, and she smiled, gentle and sweet. "Good morning love," he mumbled.
    "Good morning," she said, taking that last step and very gently setting the breakfast tray on the side of the bed. "I'm not going to ask how you feel because, well, I know. But this should help a bit." She took one of the plain pancakes and offered it to him, that dopey look still on her completely un-hungover face as she reached over to tenderly stroke a piece of hair off his forehead.

    Kersti tucked one hand under her cheek as she watched her healer boy, a little smile still on her face. She was glad he liked Nolan, and wondered if that was perhaps one reason Gift had assigned the witch to them. Because Adrian needed people around him that he liked. He needed friends.
    And seeing something in his eyes, some kind of barely-there-realization, she wondered if he was starting to see that too.
    "If you need anything, just call me," she said, a bit drowsily, as she suddenly yawned again. The sunlight was nice, weak and fleeting as it was, and it made her feel warm and sleepy. Which was good, since, with Adrian leaving, she really didn't have a lot else to do besides sleep.

    Price was caught off guard when he heard the voice on the phone.. For the first few sentences, he couldn't really place it, because he couldn't understand why someone would be singing to him. But then he heard his name, and every ounce of sleep dripped away and he jerked up on the couch. In one fluid movement, he'd sat up and turned over, one hand on the back of the couch even as he pressed the button to hear it again.
    Yes, it was the same freak who'd killed Jon. Who'd threatened Anna. And he...
    He'd done something else.
    Gray eyes starting to grow huge and panicked, Price disconnected the call and immediately dialed Anna's cell phone. He was looking around as he did it, not recognizing his surroundings and growing disoriented before he remembered. He was at Ethan's. Or Gift's.
    Well, that couldn't be better, at least. The cold feeling in his gut was thinking he was going to need their help before he was done with his phone.

    Varian's feet were dragging by the time he got near his motel, and he wasn't really watching where he going. Looking down at his feet didn't really help the whole walking thing, which was why he didn't even realize someone was in front of him before small hands grabbed his shoulders.
    "Better watch it, or someone's going to add another shiner to your face." Sunny's voice was grim and her eyes were on his face as he lifted his head. They took in his eye and his lip and she sighed. "How are you feeling?"
    "I'd feel great aside from this," he muttered, gesturing at his face. "And this whole thing. I just don't get it Sun, why are we here?"
    "We don't question, we just do," she said softly, moving one hand so she could slide a whole arm around his shoulders. "He'll explain when he feels like it. All we can do is wait."
    Varian sighed, not liking the answer but knowing there was nothing to be done about it. As Sunny said, it would just take time. Eventually they'd know, and that had to be enough.
    They started to go inside but Sunny started to slow beside him, making him do the same. He didn't say anything, still kind of wallowing, until she said softly, "That woman's staring at you, Varian. She's not the one who hit you, is she?"
    Startled, he looked up to see who Sunny was looking at. And it was the woman from last night, from the airport. The one who'd given him money just for standing beside her.
    A puzzled look came to his face even as his cocked to the side.. "No, it wasn't her." He took a step closer to the woman, feeling a warmth slide through him that was usually only money-induced. "Hi."

    Christian adored Sonya. In a way that no one probably understood. He even loved her, in a completely non-sexual way.
    That in no way meant he couldn't ignore her. Which is just what he did when he heard the condescending tone in her voice, instead just laying on his back with his eyes closed. Vampire metabolism was amazing, and it took maybe two and a half minutes for the headache to start easing. Which meant he was going to need more of those pills in approximately twenty. A gift and a curse, no less.
    "Do we have plans for today?" he inquired politely, lifting one hand to rub his eyes. He couldn't remember planning anything, but yesterday was a bit of a blur. Getting worse and worse as the night wore on. If he had, he would probably have to apologize because he had in fact completely forgotten.

    Jacob waited with the patience of someone who'd done this routine many times before, and lo and behold, two minutes later he had a cup of coffee in his hand. Granted, it was some generic brand, but it was good enough.
    He merely smiled after Tala's back and nodded at Anna as he took a huge gulp of too-hot coffee. "You guess right. Except C.J. Somehow, she's a morning person." He added something under his breath that might not have been so complimentary, then drained his mug in one more gulp before going for a refill.
    One more cup down and Jacob was feeling a bit better about being awake. He even managed to lift a brow at the human. "What are you doing here again, exactly?"

    The smell of the pancakes made Darshan's stomach roll, but since it was C.J. who had brought them and since her hand on his forehead actually felt sort of nice, he managed not to snarl. He reached up and touched her hand gently. Then, in a great show of willpower, he levered himself up into a sitting position.
    Oh. Gods. Ow.
    "Do we have anything for a headache?" he asked, more meekly than Darshan had ever asked for anything before.

    "I will," Adrian said, kissing her lightly on the forehead before stepping away. "I love you. Go back to sleep"
    He stepped out into the livingroom, and found both of their guards still awake. Tristan was on the couch, cradling a cup of coffee, an actual snarl on his face. There was a hint of fang at the corner of his mouth. Not a morning person, then.
    Adrian took a moment to muse on whether or not coffee had any effect on a vampire's physiology, then looked at Nolan.
    "Is it okay if we make a quick trip out?" he asked.

    Ai was watching Varian very intently. She was also contemplating finding whatever john had a matching blood scent on him, getting his name, and ruining him so thoroughly that, within a week, /he/ would be the one bending over in some dank motel room. That would be... poetic.
    That was why she didn't really look at the woman who approached Varian. It was also why she didn't realize Varian was coming over to her until he spoke. Cripes, maybe Patrick was right to worry about her.
    "Hello," she said, smiling to hide the fact that she was a little disoriented. "I thought you looked familiar. From the airport, right?"
    Her eyes shifted to the woman, who was looking at her, Ai not realized. Not surprising; with her neatly tailored suit and thousand dollar heels, Ai didn't really look like she belonged in this part of town. If she hadn't been confident that she could snap any human mugger in half, she might have worried.
    Familiar honey-blond hair. Familiar golden eyes; familiar pouting mouth. "Sunny?"

    Sonya ignored him ignoring her, her expression serene... and maybe a little smug. She liked her plan. She thought that Christian might like her plan. It was going to be a beautiful day.
    "We," Sonya said, sounding satisfied with herself and the world in general, "are going hunting." She smiled at him, such a small smile that anyone but Christian might not even notice. "Big game. You do want to go hunting with me, don't you?" It had been a while, but it was her, and it was her boy. She had no doubt that they still had it in them.

    "How can she drink more than the rest of you combined and still be a morning person?" Anna wondered.
    "Enjoying the company," she said, when he asked her what she was doing there. Then she sighed, because he deserved an answer and after the whole fiasco with Price outside of Jon's apartment, she wasn't about to not give someone an answer they had every right to. Besides, Fang knew. "One of my boyfriend's friends turned up dead yesterday. Ugly dead." She shuddered, although her voice remained even and her face smooth and calm. "As a result, we're assuming that I could turn up ugly dead if I'm not careful. Fang said I could stay here, and your security okayed it. Is that alright?" It was an honest question; if one of the band had a problem with her staying... well, there were other options open to her. None ideal, but options. She could go into a Daybreak safehouse, for instance.
    She managed not to grimace at the thought.
    A moment later, Fang came into the room, her phone in one hand. "Uh, Anna? You phone is buzzing." He glanced at the call screen. "I think it's your 'I'm taken.' You wanna answer?"
    She held out her hand, and he dropped the phone into it. She didn't bother to leave the room or even turn her back before flipping open the phone; seeking privacy in an apartment full of Night Worlders was pretty much futile. "Hey?"

    C.J. stroked her thumb very gently down her dragon's temple as he reached up to touch her hand, then smiled when he got up to a sitting position. Though it wilted when she saw the pain on his face. Her mouth instantly opened to ask if he really should've drunk that much last night, but closed without a sound escaping. Sometimes, it was just better not to ask.
    At his question, she looked down at the untouched pancake. Deciding that was not helping, she put it back on the tray before pulling a bottle of Excedrin Migraine from her pocket and handing it to him instead.
    Yes, she seemed to know her hangover cure did not work for everyone. Woe to them. Hers was so much simpler.

    Kersti had a smile on her face as she easily shifted back to sleep.
    Nolan took a sip of his orange juice, eyes lifting when the door opened. His brows lifted at the question, eyes cutting briefly to the clock before back to him. "Sure. Where d'ya wanna go?" Not that all sorts of things weren't open at eight o'clock, but places Adrian would want to visit? Maybe not.

    Dark eyes resting calmly on the woman's face, Varian tried to figure this new variable into the mix. Very pretty woman, showing up last night and giving him lots of money for nothing. Very pretty woman, very nicely dressed, shows up again outside his motel. Coincidence? Seemed like a stretch. Maybe she wanted belayed services for payment received?
    Varian didn't need to let his eyes wander from her face to come to the conclusion he wouldn't mind performing those services. At all.
    "Yes," he said slowly to her question. "Last night. What are you doing here, if you don't mind my asking?"
    He could feel mild curiosity behind him, which sharpened a bit when the woman looked at Sunny, then over, then said her name. Varian blinked in surprise, but Sunny took a step forward, eyes squinting as if peering at the stranger through dark glasses.
    "I know...Ai?" Another step, and Sunny was in front of Varian. "Holy shit, is that really you, Ai?"

    Christian rubbed his eyes again, listening more to Sonya's tone than her words. If she was pleased with something, the day was looking up.
    "Of course I want to go hunting with you," he said, as if that was obvious, as he slowly lifted up to a sitting position. He squinted his eyes, just a bit, to make sure the change in altitude to his brain would not cause the pain to come back.
    Nope, he was good.
    "What kind of game are you talking about?" he inquired, leaning back into the couch as he squinted at his girl. "I hope not Terra. Darshan and Gift deserve her much more than we do."

    "It's just one of the wonders of C.J.," Jacob explained the best he could. Because...well, it was. C.J. was a terrific, special little person.
    His brows lifted at her fake answer to his simple query, then even higher to her real answer. Huh. He honestly wasn't sure which one he preferred at this point. He finished another cup of coffee while he listened and pondered her question, then shrugged. "No, no problem with it," he said honestly. Though it did make him wonder, if someone was already gunning for Anna, could they get C.J. back since they were already in danger?
    Something to think about.
    He glanced over as Fang came out, then refilled his cup again as Anna got her phone. His ears were just sensitive enough to pick up the near-panicked-but-now-slightly-relieved tone of the guy on the other side of the phone, "Anna!? Oh my God, Anna, are you okay? Where are you?"

    "Thank you," Darshan said, when she handed him the Excedrin and took away the offending pancake. He opened the bottle, shook out four pills, and swallowed them dry.
    He closed his eyes, and waited. The headache soon dissipated, although the pain killers did nothing to help his stomach. With his head clear, he ran a quick, automatic check on his shapeshifters. Nothing invasive, just enough to gauge their moods, make sure they were...
    Oh, the things he had /not/ needed to know.
    "Why," he said, very precisely, "is Mace fucking my ward?" He didn't have any particular problem with it, except that the thought made him even more nauseous than he had been already.

    "The Harman store," Adrian said. He saw Nolan glance at the clock, and smiled. "They don't open for another hour, but Phae will be there already; she's the manager. I know her a little, knitted up her arm last month when she broke it... she'll let us in early."
    Tristan grunted his approval. "No crowd. Safer."

    "I had an early morning meeting, and I somehow got a little turned around on the way back to my hotel," Ai told Varian, which was not, strictly, a lie. "I... don't have the best sense of direction," she added, also not a lie. "I probably should have just called the car to pick me up, but I wanted to walk." His eyes hadn't left her face, and that steady, dark gaze sent a shock of warmth to places she had no right feeling warm. She didn't take advantage of the people she tried to help; it was against her rules.
    Then she recognized Sunny, and Sunny recognized her. A laugh trickled though her lips, and she was a little startled to recognize it as her old laugh, low and sultry, sex turned sound. It was the laugh that had drawn Adam's attention, but it wasn't one she had used since his death. Laughing like that went over well in the bedroom and not-so-well in the boardroom, but seeing someone from the old days was waking up all her old instincts. "It's really me. Holy shit is right. It's been a while."

    Another barely-there smile flickered across Sonya's face, for no other reason than her boy wanted to go hunting with her. Excellent.
    "Not Terra," she confirmed. "And not Jayden, although it's tempting." After all, he had hurt Christian, but Sadi was vicious and more clever than one might think to look at him; he had the most uncanny talent for slipping away when cornered. If they hunted him, they would need time to watch, to plan, to separate him from his herd and to trap him. She didn't want to take the time. She wanted the thrill of a hunt, a challenge, and she wanted it now.
    She leaned forward, dark eyes intense. "We're going to hunt Peter. You remember Peter, right? You two met when we went to pick up my stuff."

    "One of the many," Anna said. When he told her there was no problem with her staying, she gave him a smile, small but sincere in its gratitude.
    Fang eavesdropped shamelessly as Anna answered the phone, seemingly fascinated by the small frown that appeared between her brows.
    "Price? Price, calm down, I'm fine. I'm with the band, I'm safe. What's wrong?"
    She sounded so controlled, so calm, Fang thought, as he removed her coffee cup from a hand that shook. It couldn't be healthy, having that much self-control. He had never been a big fan of it, at least.

    C.J. merely smiled at her dragon and curled up against his side. In her opinion, go Sahar!

    Whether Tristan would've agreed or not, Nolan was already pushed into temptation just because it was the Harman store. He'd never actually been there, to be honest. Working for Gift sent him all over the place, with little time for himself, and he'd never been in a situation where he'd get to visit it.
    But every witch was bound to want to. At least once in their lifetime.
    Since Tristan seemed perfectly fine staying here with his cup of coffee, Nolan finished off his juice and climbed to his feet. "Alright, let's go." His excitement was warring with his professionalism but the weight of the gun at the small of his back was telling him which side should be in charge now.

    "Not having the best sense of direction in this city could be a hazard," Varian agreed slowly. He had no reason to suspect she might be bending the truth to him, no reason to care if she was. He was just trying to figure out where her meeting had been if it was close enough for her to get lost and come here.
    He pondered that, very idly, as Sunny stepped forward. His thought processes got tripped up though when he heard the woman laugh, that oh so sexy little laugh, and his pants got tight. Hmm.
    Sunny had a grin on her face that matched the light in her eyes, even as she tossed her hair back over a shoulder. "'A while,' god, it's been what, centuries?" Eyes swept over her old friend and she clicked her tongue. "Sure looks like the years have been good to you. What have you been up to?" Because she sure wasn't on her back or on her knees, not in those shoes.

    Christian let out a little grunt when Sonya mentioned Jayden. He'd almost forgotten that bastard. His head went back to lean on the couch for a second as he rubbed his eyes some more. Headache was nearly gone, hurrah for modern human medicine.
    He felt Sonya lean forward and moved his hand to look at her from one eye, meeting her intense stare. "Wasn't that the Original?" he asked, unable to keep the note of interest from his voice. That would be a good way to start things. An Original was unpredictable and he wasn't sure he'd trust one of his brethren if he switched sides, like he'd been talking to Darshan and Gift about the night before. Would probably be better just to eliminate him.
    And fun. Oh lord, how much fun.

    Jacob returned Anna's small smile and moved to give her a semblance of privacy when she answered her phone.
    The relief that nearly poured from the phone was almost painful, and it made something between Jacob's shoulder blades tighten. His ears continued picking up the guy's voice without much effort. "Oh my god, oh thank god, you're safe. You're with the band? Good, yeah, stay there. They've got some of Gift's guys watching them, so you too. So...it wasn't you....if you're fine..." His voice kept fading away and Jacob heard a new note of tension come into the voice when he came back, "Anna, stay with the band. Don't go outside for anything until I call you, okay? I know this is hard but if you'd just do this for me..." Jacob almost winced at the emotion leaking through that choking voice, "...I'd really appreciate it. I'll call you later."
    And he hung up.

    The sun was shining heavy and red against her closed eyelids and Julianna reveled in it for a moment. Because it was winter in Vegas; the sun wasn't going to be around for long. But for now, it almost made her think of summer and long, lazy days.
    Speaking of lazy.
    She rolled over the tiniest little bit that the quite heavy arm thrown over her chest would allow, peering at Gamble's sleeping face from beneath her lashes. One hand slowly reached up, fingertips whisper-light as she traced the side of his face. A wonderful smile curled her mouth, before she kissed his wrist and carefully removed his arm from over her.
    With that accomplished, she eased from the bed and grabbed some of her spare clothes from his dresser before heading into the bathroom.
    Ten minutes later, hair damp and curling against her face, she sat on a chair beside the bed and pulled her shoes on. Her face was thoughtful as she considered what she was going to do today. First, she needed to see if her sister needed anything after her pow-wow last night. Then she'd better check in with Ethan. After that, she'd...

    "Great," Adrian said, and smiled. He grabbed a backpack from next to the door -- an empty one, expressly for trips like this one. He waited patiently while Nolan proceeded him out the door, then followed the other witch to the car.
    "You know the way?" he asked, as he slipped into the passenger's side seat.

    "Oh, maybe," Ai said, not seeming even remotely concerned by the potential hazards of the city. "I'm pretty good at taking care of myself."
    "Oh, I wouldn't say /centuries/," she told Sunny, the corners of her eyes crinkling with humor, mouth tilted in a smile. A little over one century, if they wanted to be exact. "The years have been good to me. Adam was, too. He passed a little while after you and I last saw each other. I took over my father's company a few years back." That was one of the problems with operating above board, in the human world – she had to maintain polite fictions about how she looked to be in her twenties, and was running a sixty-five-year-old company, at least with a human present. Thank God for the feminist movement; at least now, she could run her own company, rather than working though a figurehead.

    "Yes, the Original," Sonya said, her eyes gleaming when she heard the interest in his voice. "I talked to one of Gift's Daybreaker friends last night. A very high-strung little boy, but informative. It seems that Peter has been very, very naughty. Bothering all sorts of people. We could be... heh... good Samaritans."
    Sleek and dark in the morning light, smiling a faint, bloodthirsty smile of anticipation, Sonya did not particularly resemble a good Samaritan.

    "What happened? Price, where are you? What wasn't me? Price---." The phone went silent, and Anna just stood there for a moment, looking a little stunned. Feeling scared.
    She closed the phone, her hands still trembling a little. "If you know it's hard for me," she said, low and distinct, more to herself than to the two men in the room, "then why do you do it? Because no one but you is allowed to worry?" Because no one but Price wanted -- /needed/ -- to know that the people they loved were okay? Not in danger? Not going to die?
    "You know," she said to Fang, as she reached out and took her coffee from him with her free hand. The shaking had stopped. "I would /love/ to go to dinner with you. In fact, let's make it lunch. Brunch, even. Just give me a chance to make a phone call and shower."
    "Uhm," Fang said, relinquishing her coffee. "Okay. Sure. Just, uh, let me make a call of my own." He wondered if Ash was waking up before noon these days. Dinner would have been better, but he wasn't going to argue with Anna right now. He couldn't even make the dirty joke he wanted to make, something about her loving to eat with him. "Are you okay?"
    "Fine," Anna said, and walked out of the kitchen.
    Fang cast a sideways glance at Jacob. "Daaaamn," he muttered, then shook his head, and pulled out his phone, dialing the number that Irene had given him. "C'mon, Redfern. Pick up the phone."
    In the living room, Anna found Nona sitting on the couch, her hair still damp from the shower, eyes fixated on the TV, where the DVR was replaying the previous night's football game. She paused it when Anna came in.
    "Can you put me in contact with Gift?"
    Nona's brows rocketed up. "I... suppose."
    Anna had thought about this. Price had been pretty insistent about his mother not knowing, which basically left Anna with a list of one person to call and tell that something was wrong.
    Nona his speed dial, and waited until she heard someone pick up on the other end before speaking. "Boss? Valdez asked to talk to you."

    Gamble smiled at the touch of Julianna's mouth on his wrist, and listened carefully for a moment. When he heard the shower start, he relaxed back into the mattress, dozing lightly. It had been a long night.
    He sat up slowly when she went to put on her shoes, watching her with a faint, affectionate smile. "Mornin' darlin'. Not stayin' for breakfast?"

    "I'd like to meet the witch who doesn't know where the Harman store is located," Nolan said good-naturedly as he started the car. And yes, he'd been very good and checked it over for bombs first. No reason not to make Gift proud in their new-found overprotectiveness.
    But as he pulled out onto the road, heading towards downtown, he slowed in thought. Then glanced a little guiltily at Adrian. "Though I'm not entirely sure how to get to that specific location. Maybe you'd better point the way after all." Because, as he'd remembered earlier, he really wasn't all that familiar with Vegas.

    Doubt spread across Varian's face like wildfire as he did look over the woman then. She looked around five foot, ninety pounds. Which meant she probably could take care of herself, just to counteract the image, but that wasn't going to help when two muggers came at her.
    But, if she was satisfied, so was he.
    Which made his thoughts go in very dirty directions.
    Ai's slight emphasis made Sunny wince, shooting a quick sideways glance at Varian. But he hadn't seemed to notice her slip, or put any stock into it if he did, so she looked back at her friend. She watched Ai's face carefully when she heard about Adam, but didn't see any twinge there that could be a problem. Then again, if it had been that long since his death, Ai would have had plenty of time to get over it.
    But then again, remembering Ai how she used to be...
    "And seem to be doing very good for yourself, I can't help but point out again," she said with a grin, hands going to her hips. "You look like you could single-handedly run this town if you wanted."
    Varian had to agree, albeit silently.

    Christian toyed with the phrase 'Gift's Daybreaker friends' for a second, trying to put a name to it, but decided it overall wasn't important. Gift had connections everywhere; trying to keep them straight would only make his head hurt. Worse, anyway.
    One brow rose in an eloquent expression of disbelief at Sonya's suggestion that they do something just to be good. "I think I'd rather just enjoy killing him," he decided after a moment, then rubbed his eyes once more and got to his feet.
    He had to wonder if he was the first of last night's trio to do so. As his eyes cut to a clock and saw it was just inching past eight, he was almost certain he was. A bit of pride, at that.
    Until the headache inched back a bit as well. He was going to need something stronger than Advil.
    "Where is Peter?" he asked Sonya, stepping past her to head into the kitchen.

    Jacob turned around as the phone went dead, seeing the look on Anna's face and wanting to put an around her in comfort. Like he'd do with his own sister. But Anna was the kind of girl who wouldn't necessarily be comforted by that.
    As was proven as she agreed to a date with Fang (?!) and promptly left the room. Jacob's brows were up his forehead as he stared at Fang. "Damn indeed, and since when are you having lunch and dinner with Anna? No matter how it looks, Fang, she /is/ taken. Taken means no." He tried to put a stern look on, but when he heard Fang mutter 'Redfern,' his curiosity got the better so he waited to see who would answer.

    Gift was still face down in her pillow as she replayed Nona's words for a second. Valdez, Valdez, who...oh. Anna. Anna was with the band, who Nona was watching.
    Jesus, she hated hangovers. It made her feel so slow.
    Clearing her throat, she lifted her head without opening her eyes and said, in a perfectly normal voice, "Alright, put her on." She was a little curious as to what the human wanted, even if her head was ringing. And where had Ethan gone?
    One room over, muscles tightening to the point of pain, Price was listening to the line ring on the other side of his phone. It reminded him too much of yesterday and his breathing was about to stop when, finally, a blurry voice answered, "'Ello'?"
    "Phillep?" His voice was way too tight, he realized, and cleared it before trying again, "Phillep, it's Price. Are you okay?"
    "Yeah, man, I'm fine," his friend replied, still a bit blurry but as if trying to focus. "Why, what's up?"
    "It, uh, damn," he said, letting his head sink into his hand. "The guy called again, Phil. He did something last night. It wasn't Anna, it's not you, so..."
    "It's not Lindsay, she's here with me," he said quickly, sounding much more alert. "We're fine. But Kim went home last night; she didn't want to stay."
    "Okay, I'll call her," Price said, starting to feel that weight come back. A ball of cold dread, right in his gut.
    "Price," Phillep started hesitantly, but Price hung up and, with shaking fingers, tapped in Kim's cell number.

    Julianna looked over when she heard Gamble move, eyes focusing and a smile forming in response to the one already on his face. "No, not this morning," she said regretfully, giving her shoe a final tug before rising to her feet. "Because if I stay for breakfast, you'll somehow convince me to stay for lunch, and then dinner, and then I'll get nothing done today." Her eyes were teasing as she said it, in such a manner that said she wouldn't /really/ mind being coaxed to stay with him all day.
    But business first.
    She moved over to the bed, resting one knee on it as she leaned over and nuzzled against his shoulder, before lifting her head to caress a kiss against his lips. "But, if you like, I'm sure I can be convinced to come back for dinner tonight," she said against his mouth, grinning as she kissed him again.

    Adrian chuckled when Nolan asked him for directions. "Go up another two blocks, and turn left. We're pretty close. Been a while since you were there?" It was the Harman store, so he sort of assumed that any witch who was in Las Vegas for any significant amount of time would make their way there.
    "Stop here," he said, once they were near the shop. The other good thing about stopping by this early was that there was still parking on the street, even this close to Solstice.
    He climbed out of the car, grabbed his empty backpack, and went up to the door, wrapping lightly on the glass pane. A moment later, the door opened with a jingle, and Phaedra smiled up at him.
    "Adrian! I thought you might be by today. Come on it."
    She peered curiously past him, spotting Nolan. For a moment, she seemed confused, then smiled and shrugged. "You too. Unity." She flipped the sign on the front door to say 'open', and stepped back inside, returning to her place behind the counter. Adrian paused briefly in the doorway to let his eyes adjust to the comparatively dim shop, then followed her in.
    There was another woman there, he realized, dark-haired and beautiful, maybe another customer who had managed to gain enough favor with Phaedra to be allowed in early. He smiled at her, vague but friendly, before turning his attention back to Phaedra. "This is Nolan. Nolan, Phaedra." The smile he gave her was a touch warmer than the one he had offered the other customer, more open. "You said my book was in?"

    The doubt on Varian's face made Ai smile a little. He really had no idea just how well she could take care of herself in a neighborhood like this one, but still, it was sweet.
    Sunny was watching her wit a great deal of care, so she thought it might be better to add to what she had just said -- in such a way that there was no risk of the human member of their party would overhear. *We had fifty-five good years together after I left with him. That's more than most men can manage. You can probably guess, but he was the one who changed me.*
    "Oh, I own good chunks of it," she said, with a smile that bordered on the self-satisfied, "but the Mob might object if I tried to run it. I leave that to other people." Like Patrick. And Descouedres. "I'm based out of Detroit, in any case, not Las Vegas." She grinned. "What about you? What have you been up to, other than being gorgeous as usual?"

    "Well, there is that," Sonya said, folding her hands demurely. She wasn't about to object since, really, that was why she wanted to hunt Peter, too. Although, maybe it would be... nice... to send the little vampire a kind of... memento. Or, at the very least, entertaining.
    She got up, and followed him into the kitchen, leaning one hip against the counter. "Now, really," she said, when he asked her for Peter's location. "Isn't half the fun in finding out?"

    "Oh, jeez, I'm not stupid," Fang replied. Anna's mood was affecting him, and the woman's call earlier had confused him, and he was practically vibrating with suppressed nerves. "Or at least, not that---."
    He was cut off when someone answered the phone. He paused, and stopped bouncing in place. The person on the other end /might/ have said "hello," he thought. And that person /might/ have been Ash. It was hard to tell. The slurring was a bit... pronounced.
    He made a concentrated effort to sound light and carefree. The woman on the phone had called him because he and Ash had known each other during the bad old days. So he had to sound like someone Ash knew. And Ash didn't know him when he was worried about one of the girls. "Ash, my man! How's it hanging?"

    Nona didn't say another word, just handed the phone over to Anna.
    "Gift?" Anna said. She took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts. She was feeling a little... disorganized... right now, but she really didn't think that Gift would appreciate a panicked explanation. Gift had more self-control than the rest of Vegas put together; the least Anna could give her was some level of coherency. "I just got a call from Price. He sounded pretty freaked out." /She/ sounded calm, and she was pretty damn proud of that. "One of his friends was killed yesterday. It was... bad... and he believes that the rest of us might be in danger. I think something happened; he called to make sure I was okay. I don't know where he is or what's going on," and that stung, "but I thought that someone should know, and he's been pretty adamant that his mother not find out. That is, he said yesterday that he was going to find whoever did this, and I thought someone should know who can actually do something if things go south."
    Because she was useless. A liability, not a resource. Never that.

    "You got me on that," Gamble admitted, with a sheepish grin. But really, wasn't it a pity that she wouldn't stay for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, so that he could keep her safe?
    But Juli had a job to do, and he respected her too much to interfere with that.

    She moved over to the bed and leaned over him, and damned if she wasn't just the prettiest thing he had ever seen. When she kissed him, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and tugged her down closer. "Exactly how much convincin' are you going to need, sweetheart?" he asked against her lips.

    Another guilty look came to Nolan's face as he followed Adrian's directions. "Actually, I've never been there," he confessed with a sheepish smile. "I don't live here and, well, you know Gift. If you're here working, you're working."
    He parked on the street, basically right in front of the store, which Nolan appreciated. Casting eyes both ways, feeling adrenaline slowly snaking into his system, he stayed alert until they were both inside and a woman had closed the door behind them.
    "Unity," he returned with a warm, eyeing the woman with interest. She was definitely not one of the famed Harmans, but pretty enough. "How do you do?"
    But his eyes were sliding over the store anyway. Just because Adrian had friends here didn't mean surprises couldn't be hiding in the back. And that was how he saw the raven-haired beauty standing at the counter, an open ledger in her hands that she was idly flipping through. She hadn't looked up when they came in, hadn't acknowledged them in any way, shape, or form, but Nolan felt his throat tighten. He knew, if she were to look up, her eyes would be gray.
    So it looked like Harmans came here after all. He didn't know whether to be awe-struck and kiss her hand, or nervous and try to get Adrian out of here quicker. Not that he really had anything to be worried about. Adrian looked like a poke would blow him over, but the kid was pretty tough. He could handle himself. And if not, well...
    Hmmm. Nolan couldn't exactly pull out on a gun on Blaise Harman, so what was he going to do?
    Still pondering that, he heard Adrian introduce him and smiled politely at Phaedra. "Pleasure, ma'am." Then his eyes began skimming over the store again, but this time with more interest. The Harman store. Finally!
    "Phaedra," a sudden voice said, female and smokey and holy hell, sexy, thought Nolan, "these look fine. I'll let Thea know you're doing a smashing job here and maybe we'll see about getting you a Solstice bonus." Blaise's smile was a little too...something, Nolan decided as he watched the Harman replace whatever book she was looking at behind the counter, before starting to come towards them.
    And her head lifted.
    Her eyes settled on Adrian.
    And she paused.
    Nolan's teeth clenched until his jaw popped.
    Calm down, calm down, he coached as the Harman woman once more started forward, but more slowly, eyeing Adrian with obvious interest. This doesn't mean anything. There's no reason to assume she would do anything to him. And there's no reason to think I'd have to step between a Harman and my job. Please, goddess, don't let there be a reason!
    Stopping pretty close to Adrian, having never removed her eyes from him, Blaise licked her lips slowly and smiled. "Phaedra, who are your friends?"

    Sunny's eyes narrowed just slightly as she heard Ai's voice in her head, but gave an almost imperceptible nod at the message. *I'm glad,* she said sincerely, both that she had been changed and that she had had those fifty-five good years. As she'd said, more than most had.
    She chuckled richly at her friend's claim, but didn't for a second doubt it. Even back then, between rough johns and rat-infested digs, Sunny knew Ai was going to get out. She had that look in her eye that meant she was going to do great things, no matter what she was. And here she was, doing just that.
    Varian was just smiling a little, eyes on Ai again.
    "Oh, the usual," Sunny said with a careless wave of her hand. "Banking on that gorgeousness before it runs out. Still too lazy to do anything else, frankly." She smiled, then reached out to rest a hand on Varian's shoulder. "And, by the way, this fellow you already seem to know is Varian." Her brows rose at Ai with bemused curiosity, having already caught from Varian's mind that they'd met but never actually /met/.

    Christian had gotten a glass of water and a bottle of some other kind of pills, and was promptly downing them both as Sonya followed him into the kitchen. He considered her words as he finished the water, then set the glass in the sink and turned around.
    Blue eyes met gray, and Christian smiled.

    Jacob merely raised his brows a bit higher, this time in disbelief, but didn't say anything as Fang spoke. Plus he was actively listening for the other speaker this time. Whereas Anna might get a semblance of privacy, Fang got none.
    A moment passed, full of some heavy breathing, before a soft belch came over the line, followed by, "Wet'n'cold, a'tha'moment, but who's'is?"
    Jacob tried to place that voice with any Redfern name that he could bring to mind, but nothing worked. He had no idea whatsoever.

    Gift listened without a word to Anna's too-calm spiel, but halfway through, she reached her mind out and delicately touched Price. He was awake, yes, and he was panicked. Not to the point of freaking out quite yet, but close.
    Sighing mentally, Gift rolled over on her back and ran a hand over her face. "It's alright for now, Anna, Price is here with me. I'll watch him and talk to him so he won't do anything stupid. Would you like me to have him call you?" And if Gift had Price call her, she could be assured of a pretty good explanation then. Whether Price wanted to or not.

    Julianna laughed delightedly against his mouth, already toeing off the shoes she'd just finished putting on as she laid out on top of him.
    "I'll let you know when you get there," she whispered confidentially, arms twining around his neck.
    Forty minutes later, with a silly smile on her face and something sparkling suspiciously on her left hand, Julianna left Gamble's house whistling. And she kept right on whistling all the way to her car, in her car, and as she drove away.

    Adrian smiled at Nolan's guilty look. "It's okay; I didn't make it here until a couple years ago." After Kersti and Gift and Gift's people had gotten him away from Terra. "And you're working, so Gift shouldn't have any objection to it, right?" He didn't want to get
Nolan in trouble, but the Harman store was kind of amazing, and it would be a shame if the other witch didn't get a chance to see it.
    "Well, and you?" Phaedra said, leaning her elbows on the counter. He looked nice. Nice-looking, too. It was too bad that her libido basically turned itself off for a few weeks after Paul visited. It was like her hormones knew that no one else would compare so soon after one of her little encounters with Paul. She bobbed her head when Adrian introduced them, but Blaise was talking to her.
    She listened politely, smiled, and said, "Thank you." She didn't bother to mention that Thea had given her a Solstice bonus last week; she'd let the two Harman girls sort that out between themselves. The compliment to her running of the shop was, at least, welcome.
    The Phaedra saw Blaise's eyes settle on Adrian, and her breath caught in her throat. Oh. Oh shit.
    She watched Blaise lick her lips, watched the other woman smile slowly, and then looked at Adrian.
    Adrian was... completely oblivious.
    That was a little surprising, actually. Men didn't usually not notice Blaise.
    "This is Adrian Prieten, and Nolan. Nolan, Adrian, this is my cousin, Blaise Harman." She couldn't keep the edge out of her voice. She liked Blaise, admired the Harman's strength, just like she admired Thea's sweetness. But she didn't want Blaise playing with Adrian. But Blaise wouldn't listen to her. Blaise didn't even really listen to Thea. And Adrian was a dear, but he wouldn't understand if she tried to shoo him out. He'd be hurt.
    She caught Nolan's gaze, held it for a moment. Then she flicked a glance towards the door. Leave, she thought, and willed him to understand.
    "So you're a Harman?" Adrian asked, politely interested -- and no more.
    Phaedra winced. Too late.

    "You're not still in 'Frisco, are you?" Ai asked, considering her old friend. Sunny was a good one; Ai still thought that if they hadn't met, she would have ended up dead, or hooked on cheap opium like so many of the other girls imported to the brothels, or both. She owed Sunny, but she didn't really think that the other woman wanted out of the trade. She wondered, though, if Patrick might have any openings. His places were clean and the girls there were well taken care of; it wouldn't be a bad fit, if he liked Sunny and if she wasn't adverse to the idea.
    But she was getting ahead of herself. And Sunny was trying to introduce her to the boy. She smiled, chagrined. "Sorry. Probably should have introduced myself before this. I'm Ai." She extended a hand for him to shake.

    It took Fang a moment to decipher Ash's words, and he still didn't understand. He was pretty sure, though, that the last part had been "who is this?" No surprise there; they hadn't talked in years. First Ash had disappeared for a while, and there had been some pretty dumb rumors circulating that he had become a Damned Daybreaker, and then Fang had gotten involved in his career, and...
    Well, since Ash sounded like he was either drunk or in the middle of a really bad hangover, not that much could have changed. Although he remembered Ash's hangovers being a lot more coherent, before. Maybe Ash was getting old. But if Ash was getting old, then Fang was getting old, so that couldn't be.
    "Acacia," he replied, with a roll of his eyes. "I'm in Las Vegas, and I heard that you were in town, too. I was going to ask if you wanted to grab some grub, but dude, you sound like you have the mother of all hangovers." Either that, or he had woken up still drunk. That happened sometimes. "How about lunch? I'm thinkin' that breakfast wouldn't sit well."

    Anna closed her eyes and listened to Gift speak, feeling boneless with relief. He was with Gift. He was okay. And if Gift told him not to do anything stupid, Anna was pretty sure that not even Price would disobey. "Thanks, Gift. I owe you." She didn't say it lightly, because Gift was pragmatic enough that she would actually call in debts owed if she needed to, but it was true.
    Then Gift's question penetrated her relief, and her shoulders tensed. "Not much point, is there? There's not anything I can do. Thank you, though."

    Gamble leaned against his front doorframe, and watched her go, a smile on his face. Once she was out of sight, the smile faded.
    He was... concerned.
    Ry had already tried for her twice; there was no reason to think that he wouldn't try again.
    With a little nod to himself, he went inside, and dialed Gift's number. Busy signal. He dialed Ethan. Voicemail.
    ...well, shit.
    "It's Gamble," he said. "Call me."
    There were a few other numbers he could call, a few favors that were owed to him, and he was considering his options when he had an idea.
    A little digging through the drawer in his phone table yielded him a business card, nothing but a number printed in black on the expensive cream-colored paper. No name, no address, just the number.
    It was Irene's private number, the one she could be reached by at any time. He had gathered that it wasn't a number that most people had. When she had handed him the card, he had known that she knew about the relationship between him and Juli; that was the only reason he could think of for her to give him that kind of information.
    He dialed. After a couple rings, she picked up.
    "This is not a good time. I'm working."
    Her voice was pitched low, like she was trying to make sure someone didn't overhear. "Sorry, ma'am," he drawled, before his voice turned serious, business-like. "I wouldn't call if it wasn't important. Someone's gunning for Juli, a fellow named Ry."
    "Ry. How... interesting." She sounded cautious, thoughtful. She also sounded a little pissed.
    "You know him?"
    "We might have met. You've called Ethan?"
    "I can't get through."
    There was a moment's silence, although Gamble thought that he could /almost/ hear the wheels turning in her head.
    "Don't worry. I'll put someone on her."
    "I don't know where she went."
    "That won't be a problem. I put a tracking device on her car ages ago."
    Gamble was momentarily stunned silent, and maybe she knew it, because she chuckled, low and rich. "Don't worry. She's too good at what she does not to know about the device. I suspect she sees it as a sign of affection."
    "Nothin' says true friendship like stalkin'?"
    She chuckled again. "Precisely. Good day." And she hung up.
    Gamble took a moment to wonder if he should check his house for hidden cameras.

    This particular stretch of road outside of Vegas was deserted, possibly because there wasn't much road to begin with. Ezio was standing in the middle of it, his rifle in one hand, propped against his shoulder, a cigarette in the other. There was a body at his feet.
    He really hoped that the car coming towards him was Ethan. He really hoped it wasn't highway patrol. If it was highway patrol, he would have a lot of explaining to do.
    He looked down at the body. "Still breathing?" He listened closely, and heard the rasp of air moving in and out. "Good."

    “As long as I’m guarding you and not getting distracted,” Nolan agreed, though there might’ve been the slightest hesitation to his voice. His team wasn’t exactly having the best track record right now, and he didn’t know if his boss would consider this almost a breach. Because he was going to look around. Had no doubt. And neither would Gift, so…
    Oh well. He was here. No sense in /not/ looking.
    “Likewise,” he said to Phaedra with another smile. She seemed nice enough. Calm. The kind of person he wouldn’t mind leaving Adrian with for a few seconds while he just wandered down the aisles. Keeping the healer in his sights at all times, of course.
    But then Blaise Harman walked up. And that was not someone he wanted to leave Adrian with. Everyone had heard the stories of Blaise; if anything, age had only added depth and richness to them. She had never ceased her teenage games, but she didn’t necessarily limit herself to human toys anymore.
    And the way her eyes settled on Adrian made him feel a little sick to his stomach. If Blaise did something to Adrian…Nolan was dead.
    Nolan almost wished Phaedra hadn’t introduced them, so he could’ve just shooed Adrian away. It would’ve been rude, yes, but effective and in Adrian’s best interests. But it was too late. A gleam came to the Harman’s eyes when Adrian was named and she took another step closer to him, studying his face.
    “Prieten,” she murmured, eyes locked on Adrian’s. “And yes, I am a Harman. One of the last four remaining.” If one cared to acknowledge the lost one, which Blaise rarely did. But her own lineage did not interest her. She inched even closer, studying his blue-gray eyes. He wasn’t as built as she normally liked them, wasn’t as physically impressive, but there was…an aura. It fairly vibrated around him, and Blaise took a breath. Power. Good goddess, this boy was powerful.
    Her mouth fair watered.
    Nolan was calmly panicking. Blaise was waaay too close for his comfort, but Adrian was too much of a gentleman to tell her to back off. To think she intended to do anything to him. But Kersti would not like this situation. And, in that vein, Gift would HATE it.
    He looked at Phaedra, who’d been kind enough to attempt to warn him, and silently telegraphed what do I do!? Because Phaedra was maybe close to Blaise, would know how to diffuse the situation before it got too intense. Maybe…
    “Adrian, I’ve heard that you’re a healer,” Blaise said then, something sultry in her voice. “I actually have a few things in the back you might be interested in. Would you care to come look at them?”
    Nolan made a sound in the back of his throat.

    “Nope, we’re mostly working out of Michigan now,” Sunny said cheerfully, not missing the look in Ai’s face but just keeping the smile inside. That was Ai, trying to fix the world. Then she paused, thinking about what she’d said. “Huh. Actually, we’re your neighbors,” she said in some surprise. “We mainline in Detroit too, though we go out to the ‘burbs a lot.” That was a coincidence. She’d never even known Ai was there.
    Varian smiled at the two females, feeling comfortable in their company. He wasn’t sure why, maybe just because their feelings of friendship were oozing out and touching him too. And that smile on Ai’s face…
    Well.
    He took her hand delicately, giving it a rather limp shake. “Definitely my pleasure,” he murmured, fingers lingering as he looked at her.
    Sunny bit back a grin.

    A prolonged silence met Fang’s words, and one had to wonder for a moment if Ash had actually gone to sleep, or passed out, before he grunted. “Acacia. Fuckin’ Fang.” A rough chuckle attacked the phone, before he cleared his throat and coughed. When he spoke again, his voice was much more coherent. “Isn’t Vegas just the place to be.” But bitter on that sentence, very bitter. “Yeah, lunch’s fine. Have any ideas?”

    Gift was silent for a moment after Anna had thanked her, pressing her fingers into her eyeballs. It wasn’t so much the words, but the tone. God, that tone.
    It was way too early in a hungover morning to deal with this.
    “Anna,” she said brusquely. “If it makes you feel better, that’s the point. Price is not an asshole. He’s caught up in something he doesn’t understand and doesn’t know how to handle. Closing you out is a reflex move to keep you safe. If you want to know, you need to sit him down and tell him so until it sinks in. Because having you worrying in the background is not going to help anyone.” Though she didn’t say it and honestly didn’t mind that Anna had called her this time, no one could afford having Anna call multiple times and ask someone to babysit Price either. Things were getting too heated for that. This little couple needed to deal with their problems.
    “Think about it,” was what she finished with, before she hung up and tossed her phone down by her hip. Then she dug the heels of her hands into her eyes and sighed aloud.

    Though she was still whistling, Julianna was really trying not to look at her hand every five seconds. But the weak sunlight would sometimes catch it, and there would be a sparkle at the corner of her eye, and she’d smile. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this…bright.
    Driving deft and efficient, she was pulling up to the little house she leased in Vegas for business purposes in no time. Zipping inside, she checked her various messages and jotted a few things down on a piece of paper, before she grabbed a carrot and headed out. One of her contacts had gotten back to her from yesterday, so she might as well start there.
    Surprising though, she hadn’t heard from her sister yet. She grinned as she considered the idea that Gift was still in bed. Hungover.
    Heehee.

    Ezio was in luck, for the car sliding towards him was a familiar black Durango without any insignia on it at all. Just illegally tinted windows.
    It came to a neat halt and Ethan slid from the seat, slamming the door shut before walking over to the shifter. He gave Ezio a brief nod, eyes already on the practically dead body. Didn’t take a particularly good vampire to hear the struggling of the heart, or the familiar taste of another vampire.
    Ethan barely managed not to toe the vampire with his boot.
    “What’s the story with this?”

    "So don't get distracted," Adrian said, as sternly as he could, but with a smile that robbed the words of any impact they might have had. "Although I doubt I'm in any real danger at the shop."
    They went inside, and Phedra made her introductions. When Blaise stepped up to him, his first urge was to step away; she was too close, too far into his personal space, and that made him nervous. But stepping away would have been rude, and he didn't want to offend her or hurt her feelings, so he stayed where he was. Besides, she seemed perfectly nice, so it wasn't like he was in any danger.
    "That's... nice," he said helplessly, since there didn't seem to be a better response to her comment.
    Phaedra looked a little helpless herself, watching the interplay between Blaise and Adrian with mixed fascination a horror. She caught Nolan looking at her, and shrugged. What was she supposed to do?
    Then Blaise mentioned healing, and things in the back room, and curiosity lit up Adrian's eyes, and Phaedra realized that she really ought to do something before this went too far.
    She grabbed the book she had ordered from behind the counter, a heavy tome on Medieval spells meant to deal with lung ailments, and set it down on the counter, making as much noise as she could. That was enough to draw Adrian's attention, and he broke his gaze away from Blaise to look at her.
    "The book you ordered," she reminded him forcibly.
    "Thanks," he said, smiling at her. He slid the book across the counter, and flipped through the pages briefly before looking up. "This is great, Phae. Exactly what I was looking for."
    "I'm glad you like it," she said, studying him over the counter. He didn't show the usual signs of a man intrigued by Blaise's beauty and power, seemed to have more or less forgotten her presence entirely while he paged through the book. Great. Of course Blaise had to fixate on the one man in the state of Nevada whose hormones only fired for one woman... a woman who was not her. Which gave Phaedra another idea. "Won't Kersti be missing you?" she asked, rather pointedly, hoping he would get the idea.
    He just looked confused, and her stomach sank. "No, I told her I was coming here. I doubt she'll be expecting me back for hours." He smiled at her, kind and a little shy. "Don't worry." Then he looked at Blaise. "You said you had some new stuff in the back I might be interested in?"
    Weird that Phaedra hadn't mentioned it when he came in, he thought. Probably because she thought that he needed to get home. Which was sweet of her, but also a little weird, since she knew that he could sit in the Harman store for hours, looking through the books and ingredients and other lovely things. Sometimes she'd even bring him a cup of coffee from the pot she kept in the back, and they'd chat. She'd never shown any inclination to hustle him out the door before today.
    He wondered why that was. Maybe she was just in a bad mood, and didn't want to deal with customers. Well, that was okay; her cousin seemed more than willing to show him around the shop.
    He glanced over his shoulder at Nolan. "You'll be okay out here on your own?"

    "How have I not run into you before this?" Ai wondered, sounding just as surprised as Sunny. "Are you working out of a house again?" Not that the kind of house they had worked out of when they were younger really counted as such. Cold little rooms with thin mattresses, a madame who was less worried about looking after the girls than she was about squeezing out the last penny before her wares got worn out...
    She twitched her shoulders, visibly shaking that train of thought. God, she hoped Sunny wasn't anywhere like their old brothel. "If you're working out of Detroit, why are you in Vegas? Thinking about moving on to greener pastures?"
    Ai's handshake was firm and dry, business-like. When his fingers lingered, she let him keep her hand a moment longer than necessary, then gently withdrew. She wasn't interested, didn't want to be interested, and suspected that it would be far to easy to /become/ interested.
    "Don't flirt with me, sweety," she said, as gently as she had taken away her hand. "I'm immune." Better to divest him of any questions he might have about her motives before she asked her next question.
    "Someone got rough with you. Is anything broken? Do you need a doctor?"

    There was a long silence before Ash spoke. Fang wondered if he had dozed off. It was eight a.m. after all, and the Redfern he remembered had never been really good at mornings.
    "Fuckin' Fang?" he repeated when Ash finally spoke, falling easily into the conversation, Anna's upset more-or-less forgotten. "Dude, you'll at least have to buy me dinner first."
    The bitterness in Ash's voice startled him, and made him wonder again just what the fuck had really been going on in the past ten plus years. Sure, people grew and changed and whatever, but that kind of bitterness was pretty far from what (little) he remembered of their wild party days. "Uh, the Chicago Brewing Company sound good? It's on Fort Apache. Nice little place. They won't make you shave or wear a jacket or anything."
    He thought about mentioning that there would be another person present, but he was pretty sure that Ash would get the wrong idea if he said that he was bringing a girl along.

    Anna was silent while Gift spoke. When the other woman finished, she just said, "I will," and hung up. She sat back in the couch, and handed Nona her phone back. Nona went back to her game, but when Anna just sat there, she looked back at the younger woman.
    "What're you doing?" she asked. Because, near as she could tell, Anna was just sitting there, studying one of the few pieces of empty wall space in Nona's apartment.
    "Thinking," Anna replied.
    Nona shrugged, and turned back to the TV. She had overheard some of the conversation and, while she had never really believed that Gift's... persuasive powers... stretched quite /that/ far, apparently when Gift told a person to think, they thought.

    When Julianna got back out to her car, there was another car parked behind it. The car was an inconspicuous sedan, navy blue and boring. The man sitting behind the wheel was neither inconspicuous nor boring, beautiful even by Night World standards. He looked a little bored, though, paging through a romance novel and occasionally glancing at the house. When Julianna came out, he dogeared the page he was on, and sat back in his seat, very obviously waiting for her to pull out.

    "Zabri and I were tracking Kiriyama last night, and we found this guy instead," Ezio said shortly. "Probably Kiri's work. Gamble's bullets, at least, and I can't think of anyone else we know who would put this many holes in a body and still leave 'em breathing." Ezio had a deeply ingrained disdain for anyone who couldn't get the job done with one hole, from several hundred feet away. It didn't matter that it got the job done; it made a mess. "He probably won't last long. Blood poisoning, even if his insides weren't all ripped up. He was walking a while ago, and since one of those Pyrrhus witches roosts that way," he pointed further down the road, "he was probably headed there. He stopped walking. I stopped following him. He might do some talking if you poke him."
    He was silent for a moment, then added, "Kiri's not usually this sloppy. Messy, but not sloppy." He gave in to Ethan's earlier urge, and prodded the vampire with his foot. “Either he knows we're looking for him and he's nervous, or this guy is tougher than he looks. Or it could have been intentional, but I don't know to what end."
    Having just concluded what was probably the longest speech he had given voluntarily during the entirety of his career, Ezio fell silent.

    Adrian's unfailingly polite but distinctly disinterested responses to Blaise's words made Nolan think maybe, just maybe, this would be okay. Blaise wouldn't get interested in someone who was so obviously not. ...right?
    Especially since Phaedra was shrugging at him of no help whatsoever. Ug, who would've thought trouble would come up at the Harman store? This was supposed to be a safe place!
    The idea of Adrian going behind a door with Blaise made Nolan's throat close up, which caused the strangled noise of protest he made. But it was okay, because Phaedra was stepping forward with a book thick enough to keep Adrian's attention for a while. As the two witches conversed, Nolan cast a glance at Blaise. But the Harman was looking at Adrian, with a kind of quiet intensity that almost made him start to sweat. She was going to do something. There was no doubt in his mind.
    Witch stores are safe, ha! he thought sarcastically, thinking back on Adrian's earlier words. His main concern as of right then was to get Adrian swiftly away from this place. Like, right now.
    Then he heard Adrian explaining how he wasn't expected back for hours, and then the idiot was turning to Blaise with that sweet smile. Begging for her to take advantage of him, and the smile spreading across Blaise's face was enough to assure she'd be happy to do so.
    Nolan had already taken a step forward when Adrian glanced at him. Sure, he'd be fine on his own. Adrian would /not/ be fine back there. "Actually, Adrian, I think we'd better---"
    "It won't take long," Blaise cut in smoothly, stepping forward and casually sliding her hand through Adrian's elbow. But her smokey gaze was on Nolan, who paled a little. "I won't keep him long."
    And Nolan couldn't say anything, feeling frozen and helpless as Blaise turned and guided Adrian away, talking amiably about varying instruments used in healing. Blaise was a Harman. Witch royalty, if there was such a thing. And, Hunter or not, Nolan was a witch and could not deny it.
    But as a curtain whisked closed behind Blaise and Adrian, taking them from view, dread hardened painfully in his gut.

    "Different circles," Sunny finally decided with a dismissive hand. Even in Detroit, she doubted there'd be a need for someone of Ai's stature to come around her parts.
    The idea of working out of a house made a surprised snort of laughter erupt. "No, not a house. More like a motel." She pondered that as Varian looked mildly confused. "Anyway, yeah, comparing the situation now to what it was, I seemed to have backtracked." But she shrugged and waved her hand again, clearly not concerned.
    She peered around, mouth forming a little 'o.' "Really, we're in Vegas? I guess we took a wrong turn." She tossed a teasing smile at her old friend, even as Varian rolled his eyes a bit.
    "'If you find out, let us know," he muttered, what he considered inaudbily but which vampires could assure him was perfectly fine speaking tones. But he wouldn't have cared, because Ai's hand was in his then, and he found her soft skin rather...arousing.
    Surprising. He found few things by themselves arousing.
    Her next words were confusing enough to draw his brows down in a frown. Even Sunny heaved a "you're helpless" sigh, shaking her head at Ai. Immune but offering help? Maybe Ai had been out of the game too long.
    "No, nothing's broken and a doctor would be overkill," Varian said slowly, studying Ai closely. "But thank you for offering. Would you like some of your money back?"
    "Money?" Sunny repeated, intrigued.

    Another snort of laughter echoed through the phone, sounding rusty and just a bit painful, but nonetheless read. "Please, like your own momma would want to touch you." A pause. "Actually, that's pretty gross anyway. Nevermind."
    Another bout of silence, which was almost becoming normal for Ash, before the Redfern yawned. "Yeah, that sounds good. I've gotta stop by a place first, but I can meet you there...what, an hour?" It probably wouldn't be apparent to Fang, but to some of the others that had been around Ash lately, there was almost a hint of...life, to his voice. Something almost excited, if not anywhere near to happy.

    Gift sighed again before rising up on her elbows. She looked around, frowning in thought as she tried to remember where Ethan had gone. He'd said something earlier, she could remember that. Something about Ezio...
    A sound came from the outer room and she sighed one more time before rolling off the bed. At least she knew Ethan had been there, because she'd been stripped out of her clothes and left in a wifebeater and boxers. Ethan should've considered himself lucky she hadn't vomited on him last night, she thought with amusement even as she reached out and pulled the bedroom door open.
    Price was on the other side, hand raised to knock, a shocky look on his face. It said a lot about his state of mind that he didn't even notice Gift's state of dress, just let his hand fall and said blankly, "Kim's not answering."
    Gift studied him. She hadn't been there yesterday, hadn't seen what he had, but it had hurt something inside him. That much was obvious. The question was, had it broken something.
    "Okay, let's go see what's keeping Kim."

    For the most part, Julianna didn't even seem to notice the car behind hers. There was a look of concentration on her face, one that meant she was getting into her work. And true enough, when she got into her car, she immediately hooked an ear piece on her ear and started making some phone calls. She pulled neatly into traffic and went about her day, seemingly oblivious to her tail.
    But, twenty minutes later, Gamble's cell phone buzzed with an incoming text message. Not surprisingly, it was from Julianna.
    If you were worried, you could've just sent Cujo with me. ;P

    Ethan grunted, which seemed to be his current opinion of Kiriyama. He'd never doubted the vampire had passed muster to join the RoA, but there was just something a little too off about him to make him the same caliber as the others.
    Which was apparently proving accurate, if this current damn situation was anything to say of it.
    "Look at the coloring," Ethan prompted when Ezio said he had no idea why this might be intentional. "First instinct, I'd almost say this smacks of personal." Which wasn't surprising. Kiri had always been a little hot-headed.
    Squatting down then, Ethan looked dispassionately at the dying vampire. "What's personal enough between you to make Kiri hunt you down like this?"