Night's Omen

 Well, this was something. Lily was sitting in a room that was empty, with literally not a single thing in it except for four walls, a ceiling and a floor. And herself, of course, who was in mid-blackout, but fully functioning. Niall's killswitch only intended for her to do one thing that night, and that was to take out people in the crowd; now that she'd fulfilled her purpose, but the link had been broken by Marius on accident (or purpose), she was in a sort of limbo where Niall couldn't close the programming loop, but he couldn't command through it, either. Essentially, she was running off of a hidden program that could access her own, but had additional Easter Eggs for her using pleasure.

One such Easter Egg was Klaus, of course, but her mind wasn't really on him right now. It was on Zaine, who was pretty much the only other man she knew on a deeper level. She respected and feared Niall because it was her job, but her programming otherwise gave her the capacity to interact with people and choose to ignore others; based on this she had built relationships to varying degrees among the guild. With Zaine, it had been a closeness that was both mentor and student as well as something to the effect of friends. They worked well together because of how often they fought together, and there was a level of intimacy that couldn't be replicated with other members, despite her even having other partners. Of course, there were rumours. There were always rumours. But blackout-Lily thought they were silly as much as normal Lily did; blackout-Lily even more so, given that she was involved with someone who was exponentially older than the trainer.

"Zaine," she said dryly, taking her position below the slit in the door again. "Zaine, you have to let me out sometime. I'm telling you, Marius fucked up whatever was happening. I'm fine. Open the door, or at least come in here and talk to me." Her voice was ragged, and understandably so; she'd been screaming her fucking head off earlier due to the sudden link severing that had occurred. It was painful and traumatic, but like all wounds, it too was healing. She still had a buzzing in her ear that wasn't unlike being subject to very loud music for a long period of time, but it would go away eventually. It reminded her of percussion grenade residual.

"I can hear my phone going off," she accused, her voice cracking. She coughed heavily, reaching that depth where it felt almost good and she made a seal-like noise when she heaved. "Give me my phone, you assfuck," she commanded. "I'm sure that's Niall since nobody else would be trying to message me right now. Don't you want to know if he's got valuable information?"

 Zaine did not enjoy the abrupt (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FaceHeelTurn) manner in which Lily had gone from his teammate and easily the next in line for a promotion up to another level to a raving, ranting gun-toting psychopath being controlled by a fucking dragon to take out a crowd full of people - and all because it was funny.

He was pacing outside of the room she'd been locked in, an effective White Room (magically warded to fucking hell and back, seriously, good luck casting in there and not melting your face off) and she'd been mostly quiet until she heard her phone go off. Then, of course, she started trying to level with him, and though it sounded an awful lot like her, her way of speaking, even the pentameter of how she spoke was all wrong. She sounded more like an antagonist who was about to become the anti-hero rather than the protagonist who'd been brainwashed into doing evil evil things. It was probably the lack of raving like a looney that had made him more suspicious of her.

He picked up her phone because she did have a point. "It's a picture of a map," he told her through the door. He could hear her press her weight against it, and he knew she was leaning on it just a few feet away, listening to him intently. "And it says, 'Tick tock, Onyx. Six feet under is no place for a leader to be.' What the fuck does that mean?"

Next to him, Murphy stood, a cigarette screwed in his lips as he looked at the phone screen Zaine held in front of his face. He looked at the snake and shrugged a little. "Sounds like he buried someone," he said, squinting.

Zaine frowned. "It can't be that obvious, can it?" he asked.

 Lily made a loud, frustrated noise and pounded on the door so hard that Zaine jumped back. Murphy had his hand rested on his gun, while Zaine had raised his hands. Murphy was less familiar with Lilyana and therefore way less invested; he'd shoot her and move on if she went nuts again. Zaine would rather have the satisfaction of beating her to death. He found it more... personal that way. Like his way of a Hallmark greeting.

"Zaine, you're looking for zebras at a time like this?" she asked, her tone almost skeptical, but clearly full of sarcasm.

Murphy gave Zaine a questioning look. "Is her shit going all haywire again?" he asked, and loudly at that. He blew a puff of smoke off the side of his mouth that didn't have a large and angry Serpiente stewing, and began wishing he'd brought a beer into the room with him. He bet Noelani was just having a grand ol' time catching up with her good war buddy Dev. He felt a little displaced being sent out of the room like a child to "oversee" an interrogation, which was turning out to be more like a lover's tiff spoken in some gibberish code. "Bitch, you'd better start making sense before I have to go find some whiskey to calm my nerves, or I'll start hitting you," he threatened.

"Zebras, Zaine," she repeated. "If you hear hoofbeats, you don't look up expecting a zebra, do you? No, you naturally expect to see a horse." She sighed in frustration when she was met with silence. "The drunk one's right. Someone's buried alive, and I bet he sent me that map knowing I was in custody and someone here would find it. Now, why don't you and the Oirishman let me out so we can go and dig up Lucien?"

"What makes you think it's Lucien and not someone else?" Murphy asked, clearly unphased by the insults she'd tossed. He actually laughed a little when she'd said 'oirishman'. She was... plucky.

Zaine shook his head. "Six feet under is no place for a leader to be. Shane and Batten are both, as of right this second, accounted for. I know, because I just got off of a call with each of them, equally swarmed with Diamond field agents helping to put shit back together as quickly as possible." He paused and looked at Murphy, as if to seek a second opinion.

Murphy just shrugged again. "I got nothin' better to do. Let's go dig your snake out of the dirt. Let the broad out - but if she tries any crazy shit, I will shoot her in the fucking face. You hear that, lassie?" he asked, laying the accent on thick as he leaned towards the door.

Lilyana smirked. "Loud and clear, you washed up drunk," she said. She was smiling when Zaine opened the door, but it didn't last for more than a second, because the look in Zaine's eyes just... made her twisted up inside. For starters, his eyes were as black as fucking ever, something they only did when he was on the line of shifting. His features hadn't changed, but he looked like a vampire pretty much right then. He must've been running on pure adrenaline. Then, of course, there was the whole betrayed 'you were the closest thing to a lover I had' vibe, which she knew she was picking up wrong, but couldn't otherwise describe properly. Mostly that confused her plain and simple - she had always thought he was all over that Lincei's junk, but she could scent his anger in the air, and there was definitely some betrayal there that wasn't on a professional level.

"My phone?" she said, breaking eye contact with him after he tried to burn holes into her head. Murphy handed it to her. "Huh. You're cuter than I thought you would be," she said, the offhand remark not phasing the Diamond in the least. "I guess you're from the UberGuild, here to fix what we broke? Well, this should be easy as shit. Especially when I send it, like so, and we get a little help..." she trailed off, sending the image in a text to a number she knew by heart.

"I suggest we head for Mayhem. If I know anything about Niall, it's that he put Lucien in that rat maze of a forest. Finding him will be a bitch, but I think between the four of us, we can do it."

"Four of us?" Zaine parroted. "Who exactly do you think is going to come along and play Hardy Boys with us? Because, right now, you're not really in the way of getting any special favours from teacher," he reminded her, venom practically filling with his saliva as he spoke.

"Oh, you'll see," she said ominously. "But trust me, he'll be on our side. Or - well, my side. But I'll tell him you're cool," she promised, picking up the black jacket that had been thrown across the back of a chair. "Shall we, menfolk? Allons-y?" And with that, she went for the door. Zaine grabbed her arm so hard that it hurt, and she made an annoyed, pained noise, but didn't protest much more than that, allowing herself to be dragged along after him as she gave him the quickest directions to the woods. He only spoke once, to silence her with an, "I know where the fuck we're going," and then neither of them spoke again.

Murphy followed, confident that he had chosen the best possible duo to spend his night with. Undoubtedly, he could even convince them to stop and let him pick up a fifth of vodka on the way.

Oh, boy, he'd been thinking that this was a lame babysitting job with the person in Onyx with the worst sense of humor possible.  At least Lani got to hang out with Devraj, who was amusing in a more subtle way, and understood a joke.  He was a scary guy, but Murph liked him.  Zaine was a stick in the mud, and not even in a way that looked like it could turn entertaining because the snake was just so pissed off. 

Eh, well, maybe Lilyana would keep antagonizing him.  That could turn interesting until Murphy could get involved with some fighting, of which he knew there was plenty to go around.  After a few minutes, this situation looked like it might be interesting, after all.  Maybe Lani had given him a babysitting job, but if they were going to be off playing treasure hunters for a lost guild leader, it definitely wouldn't be boring.

Bingo.  That was exactly what was going on.  That, or he'd lost interest somewhere along the lines and they were actually looking for zebras.  He couldn't decide if he thought her horse/zebra thing was clever or annoyingly roundabout when she could have just spit it out, but she was proving herself to be slightly more worthy of be regarded as something other than a looney toon.  It meant he might give her some slack before shooting her if she started to seem a little sketchy.  Part of it was the fact that she called him an 'Oirishman', which frankly cracked him up.  He sometimes didn't think about the fact that he had the accent was he was surrounded by Americans, though they seemed to like to remind him.  He couldn't deny that he actually liked the fact that she called him a 'washed up drunk' and then admitted that he was 'cuter' than she expected, partially because he liked being underestimated (he was a fucking Diamond, how could he be a 'washed up drunk'?) and because he just liked hearing that someone thought it was attractive, though it wasn't all that uncommon.  He had a way about him.

Apparently, Zaine was the opposite.  Attractive enough, but damn, he could put out a vibe to make others shy away.  Murphy simply shook his head and smiled as Lily made every attempt at being casual and friendly only to have Zaine snap at her until she shut up.  This was looking like it was going to be a very quiet car ride.

He was right.

Zaine and Lily didn't talk the entire ride, though Lily's phone went off at one point and Zaine snatched it up only to see that the mystery number had texted her back to agree to appear at the location she'd specified.  Murphy was curious as to who this person was as well, but he fortunately didn't have any personal agendas here.  It made it easier to whistle a pretty lively tune while Zaine drove.  If the snake minded, he seemed to rethink snapping at Murphy, which was okay with the Oirishman, and the trip was pretty uneventful.  There didn't seem to be anyone present when they stopped at the place that Murphy figured was the furthest point that the vehicle could get them in the forest.

Sweet, a hike in the woods after dark with monsters prowling around.  "This was a wonderful idea, Mister Martin.  I'd just like you to know this before we get out of the car and possibly get eaten by a creepy crawlie.  After you."

 Lily had tried to talk to Murphy along the way, but Zaine kept jumping down her throat, to the point where it was going to get downright uncomfortable to be in the car with them. Fortunately, Murphy had begun to whistle, and loudly at that, which was a sign for both of them to just mind their Ps and Qs until they could get out of the stifling tension that had risen. At least Lily wasn't enduring it alone, and honestly she was thankful for Murph's presence. It stopped Zaine from asking a whole hell of a lot of questions she knew were just at the tip of his pointy tongue, ready to pour out onto her.

Probably not the best analogy, now that she thought about it.

When the car came to a stop, she tried to jump out, but Zaine grabbed her arm as soon as she'd planted her feet on the ground. Through his open window, no less! "Hey!" she shouted, yanking back as hard as she could. She deserved some credit - she yanked so hard he smacked his upper body on the door as she practically ripped him out of the car, and the two of them ended up in some teenage scuffle as he struggled to get the door open so he could presumably beat her with his free fist.

Just as Zaine was about to do exactly that, which Lily was uncharacteristically not backing down from and actually grinning a wild slasher smile at him, chanting something about, "Do it, you know you want to," at him in a husky voice, they were interrupted - and not by Murphy, surprisingly enough. He'd chosen to take a back seat to that mess, preferring to let the two lovebirds quarrel it out before they delved into their digging expedition. Also, he'd found a flask of whiskey in the glove box that he'd forgotten about.

They were broken up, of course, by a low growling sound. Zaine and Murphy were the only ones on point about it, and the Serpiente let Lily go with such force that she stumbled back a few feet, though to her credit she didn't do an assplant like she might have had she been any more stunned by the action. Instead, she reclaimed her footing and looked at them, holding her hands up.

"Really don't recommend drawing on him, boys," she said. She didn't even have to turn around to know what was there. "He's going to help us out in more ways than one." She looked over her shoulder, hands still in the air as a sign for them to be still. The rest of her body eventually met her owl-like craning, and she took a few cautious step toward the large lupine figure that was crouched, tail stiff and ears folded back.

"I sincerely hope it bites your face off," Zaine spat, but he did take his hand off of his gun. If this was a trick, it was an obvious one, and he had enough anger in him that the gun would only inhibit his wish to do physical harm at that point.

"He will do no such thing," she said, her tone changing to a softer, more murmuring one. She'd slowed the pace of her voice down, dropping back to the Lily he was much more accustomed to hearing, and dropped to a crouch, holding her arms open. "Come here," she cooed, as though she spoke to a puppy. "I missed you," she confessed, burying her face into the soft, shaggy fur of the dark animal.

"Now that's somethin' you don't see every day," Murphy said. He still had his hand on his gun, because quite frankly, he wasn't such a pompous ass that he didn't think he could do better than a bullet to the head. "A fox and a wolf. I half expected a zebra." When nobody laughed, he said something rude in Irish, then took another sip of his fire water.

"Zaine, Murphy," she said softly, standing again and turning. "This is my... " and she trailed off. She didn't know what he was, really, to her. It didn't matter, because the wolf wasn't the wolf anymore, and he could speak for himself.

Truly, the last thing he'd been expecting that night was to get a string of texts messages from Lilyana, one of which was obviously a map, one a riddle and one a request for assistance.  It was rare anymore that she even remembered the role that he played in her life, nevermind knew to ask for his help when she needed it.  It meant that she was in an odd frame of mind, and the situation was weirder when she showed up with two men who seemed to be hunters, neither of which were human and one of which seemed to want to beat the hell out of her.

Yeah, so not happening. 

Klaus had dropped into his wolf form before they arrived because it meant that he blended in better, though an attack was unlikely; most creatures knew better than to try.  They didn't know better than to fuck with Lilyana, as the snake exhibited, but he intended to right that very quickly.  A low, deep growl did the trick well enough to make both men reach for their weapons, and that would have been stupid on their part.  It would take more than they could shoot in the time they had before he killed them, of that he was certain.  Fortunately for them and the guild leader that needed to be found, Lilyana got them to refrain from trying to shoot him.

She crouched and beckoned him closer, which he gladly did.  It wasn't usual for him to be in his wolf form around her, though she'd seen it before, but he found he liked the feeling of her fingers curling into his fur and her face pressed close against him like that.  As much as he hated the fact that he had a mortal attachment (one that had already proven itself to be trouble), he'd missed her more than he would ever admit. 

"Klaus," he informed the two men once he'd shifted and she'd hesitated in her label for him.  He wasn't really sure what to call them, either, so a name was probably a better idea. 'Boyfriend' seemed too childish, and he could find faults with most other labels.  "My name is Klaus.  Lilyana was brief in her explanation, but it sounds like we're searching for someone buried alive?"

At least, he hoped it was alive.  He might be able to get a better scent that way, or pick up on a mental signature to lead him to the site.  If it was just a body, that would be annoying.  He almost wanted to ask if they had anything that smelled of the man they were looking for, but that was probably too good to be true.  Surprisingly, there seemed to have been a number of people moving about in these woods recently. 

 "He's your Klaus?" Zaine spat, choosing to direct that at Lily because he wasn't having any of this mystical magical vampire transmogrification shit. "What the fuck have you been doing?" he asked, his voice rather accusatory for a man who was merely her trainer.

"You know Zaine, for someone who prides himself in keeping his emotions bottled up to tightly that one day he'll just spontaneously combust and everyone will know why, you sure are slipping right now," she hissed. She was all teeth when she spoke, too, and one could hear it in her tone. She took a step forward, ready to go at it again with him, and he did the same.

"All RIGHT, you two, just cut your shit out," Murphy finally interjected, having had done with their nonsense. He looked at Klaus. "I've had to listen to this for the last two hours. Can we get moving with the digging? You two can slap at eachother like little girls later." And the cool thing about that was that since Murphy outranked both of them, his word was the final one, regardless of what little insult he chose to throw in, and they either had to comply or he'd knock them both on their asses. They just didn't even know what he could do when provoked.

Lily made a loud huffing noise, but turned deliberately away from Zaine and looked at Murphy. "The two of us should be pretty good at scenting him out. You can follow, or stay behind, and we can call for you when we've found him." She didn't dare even give them idea Klaus could just find him with his ability, because nobody really knew what his ability was, and it was like that for a reason. "I'd recommend waiting, though, because we're still awful close to Mayhem, and regardless of how spectacularly awesome you are, just darting around in the forest right now probably won't be as stealthy as we want it to be."

They seemed to all agree to this. Zaine had yet to acknowledge Klaus aside from a baleful glare, but that was as good as it was going to get. Normally, Klaus knew that Lily and Zaine got along, so something had to have changed, and it was probably the same something that had lead Lily to contacting him in the first place. He'd find out eventually, so there was no use in wasting any further time.

"He can't be far. This damned wood all smells of fresh, wet dirt to me right now," she complained, turning to Klaus. She gave him a genuine smile, however faint it was given the circumstances. "Once this is over, I'll give you the whole play by play. Swear." And with that, she was small and furry and fast, darting off with her tail poked straight up in the air like an antennae.

"I'll be damned," Zaine muttered. "She never does that in public."

That was the cool thing about Murphy, and even Klaus could see it.  He knew that neither of the men that had arrived with Lilyana were human, one obviously a shapeshifter, but he hadn't seen one of Murphy's kind in a very long time.  They weren't very common anymore, especially in this area, and even if he had quite a bit of human in him, he was far more dangerous than any of the mortals around him knew.  Klaus knew, and so when Murphy told Lilyana and Zaine to shut the fuck up so they could do what they'd come out to the woods to do, the vampire believed that the man could enforce his orders even without knowing that he was a Diamond. 

Your Irish friend, don't underestimate him, he sent Lilyana, just in case she might.  He was willing to assume that most people didn't think that Murphy was anything impressive, and warning her was only right.  He was confident that he could take the Irishman without a problem, but he probably wouldn't be present for most of her interactions with him.  It was true that he'd have to go hunt the bastard down if something happened to her, but that didn't fix the problem, did it?

Klaus had to give the Irishman credit for being personable, though.  Zaine was blatantly ignoring Klaus' presence, and if the vampire hadn't been so utterly apathetic to what the snake thought, he might have antagonized him personally.  He'd heard of Martin, but so far, he was wholly unimpressed with the shifter's behavior and his treatment of Lilyana.  Whatever had happened to make her even remember that she knew him, nevermind think to contact him for help, must have thrown quite the wedge in her relationship with Martin, whatever that entailed.  Zaine almost seemed jealous.  He wanted details, but he was patient.  If their leader was buried alive, then he was already starting to put the picture together based on rumors he'd been hearing.  None of it was good for the guilds, or good for him if he was going to be taking a side.

"That would be appreciated," he told Lilyana when she promised to tell him everything when it was over (wondering if it would be over, or if she was really just being hopeful), and then she was off and he couldn't help but smile after her.  "See you gentlemen shortly.  I'll let you know where he is."

He'd barely finished before he darted into the woods after her, shedding his own two-legged form for the sleek black wolf in mid-stride.  She was ahead of him, but not far enough that his longer stride couldn't catch up to her.  Being a wolf alone would have been helpful in this situation because of his sense of smell, but being a vampire just made him a much more incredible machine in the woods.  He could hear the minds of every little animal around them, smell everything, and there was nothing that could outpace him here.  It would just be a matter of time before he heard the man they were looking for, especially considering how few mental signatures came from underground.  As long as he was still alive, anyway.

When he caught up to Lilyana, rather than slow down to pace himself to her, he kept moving, coming in close to lick at her face before darting ahead of her with a playful yip.  Yes, he was still on-track, but it was the first time he had the chance to run with her, and he found that he liked it.  Oh, how he'd missed her.

Personally, Murphy thought there were a lot of cool things about himself, but he might admit that he was a little biased.  Regardless, once he'd put Zaine and Lily in their places for a few minutes, he was content to sit back with the flask of whiskey he'd found and let the scene play out.  It wasn't his guild leader that had presumably been buried alive and the guild leader in question was actually one of the main antagonists of this whole situation, so he couldn't say that he'd be totally broken up if the guy didn't make it.  Just sayin'.  That didn't mean he wasn't going to try to help out, but there was no sense in lying about it.  Actually, he was almost hoping that they didn't find the bastard, because digging a grave, even if it was a recent one, was a bitch and there was no way he was going to be drunk enough off of just this flask of whiskey that he wouldn't care. 

"So.  You're positive they're gonna come back?" he asked conversationally once the cute little white fox had scampered off and the huge fucking wolf had followed.  He didn't know how old this Klaus guy was, but he was either from a time period where the wolves were all fucking massive, or he'd just gotten lucky and had a leg up on his packmates.  Murphy, being the sharp bastard that he was, whipped his phone out to text his sister about it, giving her the guy's name and what little they knew about him so that she could look him up.  If the vamp was smart, there wouldn't be much in there about him, but Murphy seriously would have been happier with just an age.  If anything else showed up, that'd be even better.

Honestly, he wouldn't have been surprised if Lily took off with her vampire buddy.  He'd been thinking it since she'd said she had help coming, and then once the guy had shown up and been revealed to be one of the few vampires out there who had been shifters before they died, he'd really considered it.  Now, they'd high-tailed it into the woods and left him with Zaine; he'd be impressed if they came back.  Of course, he didn't know Lily very well and didn't know jack-shit about Klaus until Eithne got back to him, so maybe he was wrong.  He hoped so, because if he and Zaine had to find Lucien alone, then dig him up without the help of the big, strong vampire, he'd be cranky.  Zaine would be even worse if he lost Lily with such a trick, Murph was sure.

It was why he was glad when the silence was broken by Klaus' return ('silence' because Zaine's only response to Murphy's rather legitimate question had been to glare and make some kind of frustrated sound that the Irishman couldn't even think about imitating without chuckling to himself), even if the vampire simply appeared between them and nearly scared Murphy into dropping the flask. 

"Oy!  You could have warned us before you did that!" he snapped, glancing down to see if he'd spilled any on himself.  A little on his hand, but his clothes looked fine.  "You find him?"

Klaus looked like he was holding back a smile at Murphy's expense, but he grew more serious at the question.  "Yes, and I'll take you both to him, but we have only a little time to decide what you'd like to do."

"You mean, besides digging him up?" Zaine snapped, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.  Murphy didn't really blame him, but Klaus didn't look stupid, so there had to be more to it.  The vampire's eye roll and patient sigh suggested as much as he reached for the two of them and teleported to a location that looked pretty much the same as the rest of the woods.  Lily, as though to demonstrate what Murphy didn't immediately see, kicked some leaves and other forest debris away from a spot of dirt to reveal how much it had been churned up. 

"Great.  You know we left the shovels in the car, right?" Murphy asked, mostly because he hadn't planned on the teleporting and all. 

"They aren't necessary," Klaus said dismissively, shaking his head.  "He's still alive, but personally, I think it would be a kindness to leave him there.  If you insist on retrieving him alive, then shooting him might be quicker and more appealing to your sensibilities."

Zaine simply stared, while Lily didn't seem to surprised.  Klaus must have mentioned this to her before fetching the two men, but Murphy had to ask.  He couldn't help himself.  "Stop being vague.  Why?"

"He's been tortured extensively, and his mind is...badly damaged.  I highly doubt that there is enough left of him to rehabilitate," he told them, trying to pick his words carefully, and Murphy looked to Zaine.  Technically, Murphy outranked him, but let's be serious: this was Zaine's guild leader and best friend since childhood.  Murphy wasn't going to be the one to go, 'oh, yeah, I get it, just leave him in the dirt' on such a touchy subject.  It was Zaine's call, and they all seemed to realize that, including Klaus.  The vampire looked to Zaine when he continued.  "I can have him out here in no time if you want."

It was a comical sight to see, indeed; the long-legged wolf darting into the darkness with the short-legged (and very dwarfed fox piddling after at a rapid rate of speed. Soon Klaus' form vanished, blending into the black that swallowed the enchanted wood whole, and the stark-white fluff of Lily did, too. It was a little disorienting for Lily simply because of the vampiric aura that Mayhem territory exuded, however Klaus had no issue at all with it, which was what she had been counting on. She chased after him, giving a hilariously cute snuffling noise when he ran his coarse tongue over her fur. In four-legged form, gestures such as these were not unlike a squeeze or a kiss, however romantic the intention behind it.

She skittered to a stop behind him, jamming her nose into a pile of leaves that had obviously been moved. She could smell blood and fear on them, and her paws sank down into the fresh, moist earth below her. Aha, there he is, she thought to herself. Klaus was gone in the blink of an eye, the span of time with which she used to return to her upright form. He appeared shortly after with Murphy and Zaine, and then it got a little intense.

She watched as they spoke, locking eyes with Zaine as Klaus basically informed him that his best friend was honestly better off dead. "There's another way," she piped in, coming to Zaine's side. The Serpiente closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath through his nose and exhaling slowly. "You know what I mean."

Zaine's expression was dark and obviously torn. On one hand, he couldn't just leave Lucien to die there in the dirt like another faceless victim, but on the other hand, was the quality of his life really going to add up to much if they recovered him? He took Klaus' explanation very seriously, and in truth, had it been anyone else, he would have just let them die, and then brought the body home for proper burial rites. But the fox had a point, however much it bothered him, especially given that the whole reason she was even standing there with them was because Niall had put a little trap door in her head for later use. Who was to say he hadn't done the same with Lucien?

"Get him out. We'll take him to the mad scientist, then figure it out from there."

"On it," Lily said quickly, unwilling to hesitate and put Zaine through any further grief. That was more like the Lily he knew, and while it may have been a little odd for Klaus to witness (because he never really had seen her around Zaine, nor did he know the full scope of how close they were, despite not being romantically involved), it shouldn't have really bothered him any. Klaus was... secure. About a lot.

She changed back and began digging fiercely, and presuming Klaus helped her, they would have Lucien unearthed in only minutes. With two sets of able paws clawing at the dirt, it really was only a matter of time before they scratched on wood. A coffin, Lily realized. That's traumatizing.

She was back in human form, "helping" pull the item from the hole, which really didn't say much given that Murphy and Zaine were now assisting. With two shifters, an old vampire and a halfling all having a hand in the retrieval, it wasn't nearly as heavy as if four normal humans were at odds with the same weight.

Murphy's phone went off in his pocket - Eithne's only reply to his query being: Old. And a very private individual, from the looks of it. He doesn't have a reputation for waylaying towns like some of them do, but that doesn't mean he isn't dangerous all the same. No word whatsoever on a special ability, but you'd better believe he's got one. Watch your ass. Well, wasn't that informative? Mr. Koenig was under the radar enough not to have given the Therreyan council a chance to document his unique talent. That pretty much told Murphy all he needed to know, which was pretty much what Eithne had said - to watch his ass.

"Now, we need to get him to Grayson... if his place is still standing," Zaine said, wiping sweat and dirt from his brow.

Lily glanced at him, her brow furrowed. "You're kidding, right? He's got a Triste, a rotting vampire, a necromancer and a badger in his company. Not only do I say that place is standing, but I warrant there's a row of undead hanging out in the lawn waiting for whoever decides to come pay him a visit." To Klaus, she said, "Take us to the car, then you take Lucien and Zaine to Grayson. We'll drive out after you. No sense in trying to carry all of us. I'll phone ahead."

When they got back to the car, she rolled up to her toes and gave him a light kiss on the lips, followed by a soft, genuine smile that was uncharacteristic of her. "I'll see you soon," she whispered. She turned to Murphy. "You drive, Legolas. I'll call and make our appointment."

Forget what was odd for Klaus to witness, this whole mess was odd for Murphy.  He didn't know Lily well enough to know which was her usual (or that each of the other two men was used to a different 'normal' out of her), but he could see the differences in how she reacted to both.  Then, of course, there was the fact that Murphy knew Zaine's reputation and a great deal about the things he'd done and the kind of training he gave, so seeing his more irrational behavior about Lily and Lucien was...unusual.  He was glad that they'd decided to put Devraj in charge of Onyx in Lucien's absence, because Zaine was not impartial enough.  Yes, he'd let Zaine decide what to do about his best friend and leader, but Murphy had expected him to let the man die, or bring him up to kill him.  Instead, they were leaving him in a fucking coffin with his mind apparently shredded to ribbons while they took him to Grayson.

Well.  Was that really a good idea?

On the one hand, Lily had obviously not worked out entirely after being taken from Midnight, and did they really want a fucking guild leader as a doll?  Whether or not he'd be able to take leadership back from Devraj would have to be decided by Diamond after it was all said and done, but the thought worried Murphy just a little.  On the other hand, Grayson's procedure wiped the subject's mind and rewrote who they were.  Diamond would be involved with that, and could design the guild leader for Onyx.  Hell, it could be a perfect solution.

"Legolas?" he demanded, breaking from his thoughts for a moment at Lily's words, since she was obviously on drugs, or something, and required his full attention.  He got into the driver's seat (he'd been planning on driving whether she liked it, or not) and gave her a look that made it clear how stupid he thought she was.  "Is there something in particular about me that makes you think 'homosexual fictional elf'?  Because if there is, I need to know about it or you need to have your head examined.  Actually, you need that, anyway, but we'll get there."

He stopped there, letting his thoughts wander just a little while he talked to her, partially just because he had plenty to think about on the ride to Grayson's, including all of the previously mentioned things but spreading also to the way Klaus behaved towards Lily.  Eithne had confirmed that the guy was old and that he definitely had some kind of badass power, so the fact that he'd been taking orders from the pretty little fox suggested one of a number of things to Murphy: he was either playing them all and had some scheme cooked up that involved keeping Lily happy until he could make his end move, Lily was in on the scheme, or he really had a thing for her.  Murphy hadn't missed the kiss Lily had given the vampire when they'd arrived at the house again, or the way her smile rang true when she gave it.  Either she was a fantastic actress, or she meant it.  The vampire had looked a little like the situation amused him when she said that she'd see him soon, but Murphy didn't get what was funny and didn't think they'd tell him if he asked.

So, he didn't.  Not then, anyway.  He had Lily stuck in the car with him for awhile, though.

"Alright, so you know I gotta ask, girlie.  This vampire friend of yours, I need a little more information than just, 'he's my Klaus'.  I know he's old, and he's powerful enough for one of those superpowers of theirs, but that's about it.  If we're going to be working with him like this, I think I deserve to know what kind of heat his packing," he told her, and it wasn't just because he didn't trust strange vampires, but also because it wasn't unlikely that they'd be attacked at some point.  He didn't know whose side Klaus was on except that he liked Lily, and he certainly didn't know what kind of threat level the vampire could take on without help.  He knew the vampires in Diamond well enough to do his own job and trust them to handle certain things.  This guy, he didn't know.

Alright, so, this night?  Fucked.  

Grayson hadn't actually been at 'home', which meant the Inn, when it was attacked, but let's be serious about one thing.  If anyone could handle an attack from Midnight, it was Chandra and the pile of people Grayson had there at any given time.  Lily was right, he had a triste (which he didn't know about, but Othello had to have some kind of use that Grayson recognized without actively thinking about), a tiger shifter, a fucking badger, a necromancer (even if he still hadn't talked Ethan into letting him run experiments), a blind guy who was supernaturally lucky (except for that one time) and a vampire who rotted the people he didn't like.  Seriously.  Grayson's place was covered, and it wasn't like he showed up alone.  The lemur and honorary lemur (Jack, who was still human until there was some kind of accident that was accidentally-on-purpose Otto's fault) had been his company that evening, so they came with him (minus Otto, fortunately for Chandra), and he had one extra member of his entourage.

The unknown doll.

Grayson had, mostly because he'd forgotten, failed to use the code-phrase that would turn Marco into a killing machine, so the guy was following along with a twitchy kind of sad acceptance.  He knew he had to, but he didn't really like it, didn't understand the situation Grayson was taking him into, and was kind of scared about it.  Grayson would remember the killswitch eventually.  Probably when Chandra or Ethan, or both, asked him wtf was going on with the guy.  That, or when they were attacked.  

Surprisingly, they weren't attacked.  Considering how nasty the night was, it was just further proof that the universe loved Grayson for some unknown reason, because he rolled up with his 'reinforcements' in tow to a line of zombified baddies.  Creepy, but other than giving them an unpleasant look and figuring they were Ethan's doing, he had Jack pull the car up to the side of the building (did you really think that Grayson was driving himself?) and walked in to the sound of Chandra on the phone.  

He was used to it.

"Wow, what a mess," he remarked, looking around.  Nobody on his side looked too badly hurt, though Quentin had a lot of blood on his clothes (so did Othello, oddly enough), and Ethan was crankier than he usually managed with Clover attached to him.  The cuts and blood spatters on his skin and clothes explained that well enough, but Grayson wasn't used to seeing the necromancer worse for wear.  Ethan was a smooth bastard, and the only area that he seemed to slack in (other than not sleeping for days on end, which even Grayson didn't do) was hair care.  He had a habit of getting a little...shaggy sometimes, but his clothes were always presentable and he was a very clean person.  He even showered promptly after playing with dead bodies or in grave dirt.  Grayson could respect that.

"You look like shit," he pointed out to Ethan, who gave him a dark look.

"Who the fuck are these retards?" the necromancer asked in turn, glancing at Grayson's buddies.

"Friends.  Has anyone made coffee?"

 Lilyana had only snorted when Murphy contested her calling him Legolas, holding a finger up as Chandra answered the phone. Pretty much, she cut off the rest of whatever he was saying right then. "Hey, it's Number Three. We're going to be bringing in a high priority that we need work on immediately. I'm sure Grayson will love the challenge. I've got Zaine and Klaus headed to you now plus the package, and a Diamond and I are on our way by car. Is the building still standing?" she asked, sarcasm in her voice.

Chandra surveyed what damage they had taken - broken glass, a few ruined pieces of furniture, and some bleeding. "Yes, still standing," she confirmed. "In truth, you didn't miss much. Quentin and Ethan handled most of it." There was silence and then her voice perked up a little. "Oh, Grayson's here now. Oh." And it went into a low, morose hiss. "He's brought the lemur along."

Lily started. "Not Otto," she begged.

"No, the younger. And the human. Who will surely become one if his company is any testament to his intelligence level. I'll see you shortly. Don't mind the Red Rover of undead. They're just a buffer in case someone decides to get cute with us."

Lily hung up the phone and gave Murphy a look, then shook her head. "There's a lemur," she informed him. That pretty much told him everything he needed to know about how to ration his whiskey out for the next few hours... fortunately, the inn also had a fully stocked bar.

Just when it seemed as though she'd ignored his questions about Klaus, she said, "And if you want to know about him, you can ask him yourself." Just like that. Hey, she was already in a heap of trouble - disobeying the request for information from a Diamond would get her kicked out of Onyx, but at worst they could black list her from re-entering any other guilds, on a global network level. Yeah, they were the top of the food chain, so they had connections like that. And honestly, Lily wouldn't be surprised if they did; nor would she be upset. She could pretty much just do whatever, now that she felt connected to herself again.

 Retards was right. Will had lagged behind and, despite the unrelenting behest of Jack, had begun to "dance" with one of the undead. When I say dance, I mean he upswept the corpse into a riveting waltz, complete with Will's aloud singing of Blue Danube. But, since Blue Danube has no lyrics, all he actually did was this:

"DA NA NA NA NA, NA NA, NA NA," over and over. Will couldn't remember the entirety of the piece, so the sound of him singing and constantly laughing wildly began to become rather repetitive.

The corpse, who was more or less a husk, was a rather damaged piece. In fact, the only reason he'd been able to take control of it at all was because Ethan ultimately didn't care about the undead once they'd served their purpose (they'd all drop eventually, or he'd feel puckish and march them into a neighboring town's Wal*Mart [for fun, he'd protest when Chandra had to put a memory loss agent into the groundwater for those affected]). One arm hung tattered and shredded from the aggressive Chamita's jaws only a few moments prior to the abduction of his soul, but that didn't mean that was all the damage that the poor mindless mook had incurred. At least sixty percent of his body was burned and charred (how Will even tolerated the smell was amazing, but then Lemurs were known for their willingness to let a lot go for the sake of their urges) and his clothing was melted to what was left of his flesh.

The "zombie" let out a disturbed, "UNNNNNNNNNH," as Will sent it into a dip, the good arm flailing and struggling to free itself from the Lemur's retard-strength grip.

"Will you get inside?" Jack finally begged, interjecting himself between the duo to free the corpse of its captor.

"Oh, fine," Will said. "It was getting boring, anyways. It's hard to dance with someone who just stands there and makes you do all the work. I don't know how necrophiliac's put up with that sort of nonsense."

"I - WHAT?" Jack sputtered. "Just - no - GO INSIDE!" he exploded, a firm shove placed at Will's shoulder as his other arm jutted out, forefinger angrily crooked towards the building.

"Oh, fuck me," Murphy hissed when Lily told him there was a lemur at the location they were headed for.  It was a rare type of shifter, probably because they were so fucking annoying that anyone in their right mind either avoided them or killed the fuck out of them.  Murphy couldn't just kill it, so he had to try to endure.  He did not have enough whiskey for that.  He also didn't have any information on Klaus that he didn't already know, which was frustrating.  

"Don't you think it defeats the purpose if I don't trust him right now to ask him about himself?" he pointed out, voice gruff and kind of annoyed, but he didn't think he was getting any information about the vampire out of her.  He'd try the others when they arrived at their destination, since Lily had told the woman on the phone that Klaus was one of the ones en route with the package.  It suggested to him that they knew Klaus there, even if it wasn't likely to be as well as Lily did.

The vampire himself didn't realize that Murphy was asking about him, but he probably wouldn't have been surprised.  He also wouldn't have told the Diamond hunter anything the man didn't already know, or he'd have 'traded' information, which Murphy wouldn't have liked.  Klaus was too old to be that stupid, nor would he have been foolish enough to trust Lilyana if she couldn't keep some of his more personal details from a Diamond who wasn't asking too hard.

Klaus, Zaine and their 'package' arrived outside the Wanderer's Inn as Lilyana was hanging up the phone, so they were just in time to see Will dancing with the disfigured zombie and Jack freaking out on him for it.  Klaus simply stared, taking in the sight before him without seeming to really judge, but wow.  It was only when he caught a whiff of lemur on the air that he understood, and then he wished he'd been warned.  Fucking lemurs.

Fucking necromancers, too.

He was way too old to truly fear the necromancer, mostly because his mental and metaphysical power was just too much for him to really think that Ethan could make a puppet out of him (though that was a damn good reason for other vampires to keep their distance), but that didn't mean that he trusted the infernal man.  Seeing the vile proof of his magic in front of the building was just plain distasteful, though Klaus could admit that it was effective.  When there weren't lemurs slow dancing with the beasts.

"Lead the way," he told Zaine, gesturing forward before hefting the coffin off the ground.  There were sounds of movement from within that he ignored because he could read Lucien's mind and knew that there really wasn't any intelligence to the scrabbling.  It was just instinct to escape.  He wasn't looking forward to the reveal.

 Zaine really didn't like any of this. At all. And that was an understatement. He also didn't like being fucking flash-banged from one place to the other, regardless of what vampire was doing it; and did we mention that Zaine didn't like vampires to begin with? He was pretty much pissed off all around, but somewhere in there, he was legit worried for his friend. He could hear clawing noises coming from the coffin, and he looked at Klaus before continuing inside. He headed up the stairs, while Chandra loudly dictated "DON'T HIT THAT PAINTING" and "DON'T KNOCK THAT VASE OVER" in his ear - to the point where he wanted to slap the living shit out of her, actually, but he knew Chandra was one to hit back, and he was probably not in the mood to start a slap match with someone whose bones he could snap like twigs.

"So how exactly did you think we could pull this off?" he asked, more or less, to the room in general, since Grayson still hadn't shown himself up in the lab yet. Of course, the man's voice suddenly started echoing in the hallway, reminding Zaine that he was scatterbrained, but not stupid.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll come up with something," he said. Behind him was a vampire, Zaine could tell by scent alone, who looked as though he'd just woken up. He was looking at the box with a very odd look on his face, and then glanced up at Klaus with a nod.

"Long time," he said. He had a boyish look to him despite being older than proverbial dirt, and seemed almost shy to the people as they slowly flooded the lab. Just as he turned to leave, Grayson bid him to stay, saying that he would need his assistance. The vampire nodded, then quietly kept to himself until he was called upon again. Recluse, a little.

"How long until we can open it?" he asked. "Can you just pump him full of sedatives, or will one of the vampires need to put him down for a while?"

If Zaine thought that he didn't like any of this, Ethan felt like that every damn day of his life.  He was surrounded by morons and people who weren't what they seemed, which he didn't like any better than the rest.  Actually, he hated it more, because he'd rather be surrounded by stupid people than have the people around him think that he was stupid and fooled by their games.  All in all, the only reason he stayed was because working with Grayson gave him mostly-legitimate work that allowed him plenty of time to do his own thing, and Clover had a place to be when he was off doing whatever without him either leaving her alone or having her trail along with him, which wasn't always safe.  That, and occasionally, Grayson's kind of work was extremely interesting.

Take the dolls for example. 

Ethan thought they were fascinating, but the process was even more interesting.  It was like a scientific way of making a zombie that you could program, which would obviously catch his eye.  He hadn't yet done anything utterly terrible with the technology, but probably only because he hadn't thought of anything that was worth the effort.  When he did, shit would turn ugly, make no mistake.  He was an opportunistic bastard, too, so it could happen on little or no notice.

This situation might almost have qualified if he gave a rat's ass about the guilds or their leadership.  It didn't take much of an exchange of information to understand who was in the coffin (he knew it was a living, mortal person just because of his special talent with the dead and undead, and he could figure out it was a shifter and that whoever it was happened to be totally unstable from his other talents) and how bad the situation was, but Ethan still didn't really care.  This was Grayson's call, in the end, and if he heard anything he disagreed with, he'd speak up.  He was inclined to say 'no' an awful lot, so Chandra had bitched to Grayson until the dodo bird asked him 'nicely' to shut his trap a little better.  He listened, but only because it really was more fun when Grayson accepted a job.

He was all about the carnage candy, let's face it.  Lily blowing up would have been just his style, as long as she wasn't shooting at him.

"He's unstable, his auras are piquing all over the place," Ethan pointed out from a chair in the corner that allowed him to put his feet up on the nearby counter, essentially talking to the room as a whole, but really only concerned with Grayson.  "I recommend having a vampire put him down unless you want to see what retard strength can do."

No, it was not tactful, but Ethan reserved tact for when he felt like it.  After the fight he'd been in earlier and the bad mood it had created, he really didn't feel like it right about then. 

 Orestes stepped forward as Ethan suggested one of the vampires knock him out. He looked at Klaus, then at Grayson. "This one has done enough. If he involves too far, he'll taint the process. Such is the burden of power," he added a little wistfully. He had to be very careful with Lucien, he knew, as he slid a glove off. One touch to put him under; any further, with as weak as he was, he would probably just rot him like an apple.

"Okay," Orestes said. At the signal, the lid went off, Lucien sprang up, and Orestes put two fingers on his horribly burned and scarred chest, pushing him straight back down. The howl that was clamped off as Lucien fell unconscious was horrifying. Orestes only winced. "That... was painful," he said, his soft voice barely audible with the loud buzzings and clicks of Grayson getting things ready.

"Painful how?" Zaine demanded. He reached for the vampire, but Orestes jerked away quickly.

"You mustn't touch him," came Lilyana's hissed command from Zaine's other side, hands wrapped around his arm to stop him from reaching out and snatching the vampire angrily. "He made a joke about power for a reason."

Orestes smiled a little. "My Lily is correct," he acknowledged. "Even after all this time, it's still hard to control. But, I digress - Mr. Martin, your friend... has endured much at the expense. It may benefit you to know that he was skinned. I realize you will all need to get your story straight in order to ensure the upkeep of this new identity you are gifting him with. It was... " he paused. "I don't know her name. I'm sure we'll find it when Grayson dumps his memories. I warn you, though... the experience is..." he trailed off for a moment, putting a finger to his lips in thought. "Intense," he finished.

"Skinned?" Zaine echoed, his voice shrill and quiet at the same time. He felt nauseous. How was he going to formulate a lie good enough for this to work? Commotion from the hall caused him to turn around, but Murphy was blocking the view mostly - all he saw was a tall, slender brunette with blank eyes being lead by her hand, the woman he knew to be the white tiger in front of her, speaking softly. He - he thought he recognized her, but he couldn't be sure.

From behind them all, Murphy piped in with, "How many men do you belong to, lassie?" which was a remark directed solely at Lily for the men she seemed to have along her string. The fox just shook her head at him, and then nodded to the door. Murphy got the hint. "Anyone who doesn't need to be in here probably should get out. Grayson? What exactly do you need from us?"

Implying, of course, what sort of 'abilities' would Grayson need to help this along.

"Well, he doesn't need me," Lily said. "Klaus? Orestes has a point, but he's also got a problem of his own. Maybe it'd be best if you two took turns on Lucien's mind." She paused, then looked at Ethan as he watched the form of his girlfriend vanish down the hall. "I'll go... check on Clover and help with the repairs downstairs." Better to keep Ethan on her good side. She genuinely liked Clover, anyways.

It was understandable to question exactly how much Grayson knew about what happened around him, or to wonder exactly how much he'd picked up without mentioning.  It was quite possible that he didn't pay any attention whatsoever to most of the powerful people around him, but it was equally likely that he knew what all of them were capable of and just didn't really address it.  It wasn't like Klaus was a total stranger to him, Orestes spent quite a bit of time at the Inn,  and Othello...

"I need Ethan, Orestes, Klaus and Othello," he informed the crowd, already leaning in to examine Lucien's injuries rather closely.  He trusted Orestes to have properly put the man down because Orestes was damn good at what he did (sometimes too good), so he knew that there wouldn't be any unexpected lunges.  "Zaine, you need to be prepared to build his new identity.  If you need to call someone else to help you, do it, but make sure it's someone you trust."

He automatically assumed that Zaine would be very involved in this process, though there was no way to figure out if it was because he'd read Zaine's personality and relationship with Lucien well enough or he just guessed, but in the end, he was right.  The factors he wasn't considering happened to be very important as well, though: anyone who might help was currently busy dealing with Midnight, making this a bit of a bad time.  It was a good thing that Grayson had a lot of work to do before Lucien would be ready for the new identity.

"Alright, here we go."  Nobody who'd been asked to stay in there with Grayson would be seen for awhile.

Dinah pushed open the door to the room Grayson had provided for Lucien post surgery, attempting to be as quiet as she could be. She sat down on the edge of his bed, crossing her legs at the knee and looking over him. She felt like she hadn't seen him in years, but it had really only been a few hours since he'd gone in for emergency surgery - and he'd been lucky, too. Midnight was nothing to shake a fist at. How fortunate Grayson had gotten him in time. Of course, Dinah had no idea about the coffin, or the rebuilding - all she knew was what they told her she knew - he'd been in a fight with more than one operative of the Black Fortress, and he'd gone down. It happened. It was part of the reason Dinah had left Onyx UK and come home to be with him for the long run.

The door tipped open more and she looked up, brown eyes narrowing slightly as she focused on the person at the door. It was only Zaine, though, and she smiled. Old friend, though she couldn't help but feel as though they had grown more distant than ever. They had been inseparable to her recollection, and yet, still.

"How is he?" he asked, his voice gruff and tired.

She shrugged her slender form, looking back on Lucien's features. "Sleeping, I assume." Her voice was just a whisper, but he stirred all the same. "Or not." She looked up at Zaine. "You did say the ones who attacked him are gone, correct?"

Zaine nodded. He'd have to sell the lie to them both. He could do that. "Yes. Dealt with. Diamond elected to handle them, but I assure you, they are no more." He had no choice. Were there any questions, the evidence had been fabricated to the best of everyone's ability, which was to say, Diamond was in on it, therefore nobody would ever know the truth. The rumours Lucien had been taken into Midnight were "righted" through the guilds, saying it was only a bluff on Midnight's end.

The lie went on and on.

"Hey," she said softly, smiling as Lucien opened his gem-toned eyes. "Welcome back."

It was like coming out of a fog rather than something as simple as waking up, or perhaps he wasn't waking up at all, but was instead still dreaming.  He'd been having the most terrible dreams, but as his eyes slowly drifted open, the memories of those nightmares began to slip away in the wake of his reality clicking into place.  He didn't know where he was, but the voices, the faces, they helped orient him.  He blinked at them both, putting names and information to the familiar faces, and knew he was safe.  Wherever he was, he trusted Dinah and Zaine.

Welcome back.

It suggested he'd gone somewhere, which seemed unlikely and probably wasn't the way she'd meant it, but he couldn't help feeling the distance.  The details would likely come to him after he'd been awake longer, but for now, he felt like he'd been far away, and for a long time.  He was glad to see both of them.

"Glad to be back," he murmured, voice soft mostly due to the fact that he had a ridiculous level of sedatives (painkillers?) still in his bloodstream and being worked out by his body.  Whatever had happened to him, it had to have been bad if they'd drugged him up that much.  He didn't have to be on top of his game to know that, and though he didn't plan on crying about whatever had happened, he'd have liked to have some of the details filled in.  When he tried to think back that far (it felt like trying to remember what he'd had for breakfast the previous week; did anyone ever remember that?), all he could think of was a fight and two new opponents cropping up for every one that he dropped.  He wasn't surprised by the natural effect of that being that he woke up in a hospital bed with a shaky understanding of where he was, since he had to have been overwhelmed eventually.  It was just the level of damage that he'd suffered during the hole in his memories that Lucien was concerned with.  "Where did I go?"

 Dinah looked at Zaine again, and then turned her body towards Lucien, reaching up to adjust the covers idly, as though she was unsure of what to do with her hands. "Well, you almost went to wherever people go when they die, but luckily Grayson was prepped for surgery." She smiled a little. "And you criticized me for coming home from Berlin early." Because, of course, that was the lie they'd been given - He called to tell her Midnight was on the loose, and she was on the next flight home. And criticize wasn't precisely the memory, it was more like he'd nearly bitten her head off for trying to come back in the middle of the war zone, but honestly, she didn't really give a fuck. Nick and Skye, except not. That was how Zaine had dictated it. That was how it was.

"Anyways, I'm sure it'll come back to you. I got buzzed leaving the airport, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Somehow you managed to go right into the viper's nest. You really are Onyx," she said with a small laugh. Of course, she had no idea that her words were so incredibly true, and they might have even caused a bit of a flicker in his memory if it hadn't "set" yet. The same could happen to Dinah; she'd had a bad dream in the few hours she'd slept before this moment, but it was so far away that she couldn't have told you what it was or why it bothered her.

"I'll have someone bring you guys some food. Dinah, can you check on his vitals?" Zaine asked. When she nodded, he ducked out, but not after casting a lingering gaze to the couple. It was like he was watching them, waiting for something, like something bad was going to happen. They both seemed okay, and he supposed that he'd made the right call. He didn't have a choice anymore, anyways. Zaine wasn't used to leaving life up to the roll of the dice.

He gave the slightest of nods, considering his uncertain condition, at her explanation of where he'd almost gone, and that was it for reaction.  They'd all die eventually, and hunters had a habit of expiring early, so he'd just count himself lucky that he'd had yet another close call instead of going all the way.  It still didn't mean he liked the fact that she was in North America, now that she mentioned it, almost like he needed some hints to get his neurons firing.  The more she talked, the more connected he felt, so even though he'd have never said something as stupid as 'don't stop talking' right then, he hoped she didn't shut up just yet.

"Can't believe you flew, we knew the airports were a target," he told her, repeating one of his arguments from earlier, though in a much softer tone because 1) it was all over, and 2) it took too much effort and desire to get riled up right then, though he remembered yelling essentially the same words into the phone while en route to...somewhere.  Wherever he'd gotten into trouble, probably.

Right into the viper's nest.  His brows knit together at that, like there was something more to it than just a turn of phrase, something sharp and nasty, but whatever was threatening to bubble up faded beneath the onslaught of Midnight goons he'd walked into.  He couldn't yet remember where he'd been going or why, but the more he thought back, the more into focus that part came. 

Lucien turned to watch Zaine as he spoke and then left the room, watching for a second like something might go wrong, and then he returned his attention to Dinah, actually managing to roll his eyes.  "I'm conscious, my vitals are fine, so don't you dare listen to him," he told her, not about to have her waste her time poking and prodding at him when there would likely be a doctor or mad scientist doing the same thing very shortly. 

After just a moment's hesitation while he glanced at the door Zaine had disappeared through, he frowned at Dinah.  "He's acting strange, what's wrong?  Am I drugged up because my leg was amputated, or is he overreacting?" he asked, though if he were honest, he couldn't remember a time where Zaine overreacted and he was pretty sure that both of his legs were there.  Something had to be wrong.

Dinah opened her mouth to protest his remark about the airports, but he stopped and closed his eyes a moment. Dinah was standing to check the information reading from the monitor, but she paused as he looked like something was coming back. "What is it?" she asked, leaning in a little. Her long, straight chocolate-hued hair brushed his exposed chest, no doubt tickling a little against his slowly un-numbing body. Klaus had done what he could with the healing and accelerated it quite a bit, but it still couldn't repair all of the damage. The drugs were just enough to slow his body down to allow itself the rest it needed to catch up to itself. A lot had happened.

He shook it off, whatever it was, saying 'nnh' because he didn't feel like dealing with it, or her worrying (which wasn't fair, because she wouldn't worry as badly as he thought). She checked his vitals anyways, even after he told her not to, but looked back at him and grinned as she did so. "You're alive, no worries," she said, holding her hands up like it was a surprise. She kicked her shoes off and walked around to the side of the bed he didn't occupy much of, climbing onto it. Dinah slid next to him, propping herself up on one arm.

"He's fine, Lucien. He's just had a long few days. We all have. I'd give you the damage list, but I don't know if you want to get down to business this early in the morning. I will tell you this - Dev has the guild while you're here, and it's in fine shape for the losses we've had. Also, I think he and Miri split up. Not that they were really together, but they got into a huge fight," she said, making hand gestures as her eyes got big on the word 'huge'. "Pretty much, she lost her shit in front of everyone and yoooou don't care about any of this.." she trailed off, laughing.

She leaned in and kissed his cheek lightly, grinning as she did so. "Look, I know you're going to want to get back to business as fast as possible, but can we just have today before you do? I missed you. I feel like I haven't seen you in... years," she said, shaking her head like it made no sense.

Apparently, Klaus had done a remarkable job with the healing and accelerating his own natural abilities enough to help him, but he'd still been out of commission for days.  He certainly felt like he'd been through hell and back, even with (or perhaps because of) the medicated fog he was suspended in; it took a ridiculous amount of damage to require someone with his bloodline to be drugged up like this.  The efforts had not been wasted, however, since the charred flesh that Orestes had touched to put him back down into the coffin was now smooth and regaining feeling quickly enough as his body processed the drugs that he felt her long hair brushing against his skin and smiled just a little at the sensation, as well as her cheeky line when she checked his vitals after he told her not to. 

The nice thing about being a patient at Grayson's place was the fact that it wasn't hospital beds you were set up on, so there was plenty of room for Dinah to crawl up next to him, and the room itself was more comfortable and less sterile.  Obviously, Grayson hadn't decorated the place himself. 

Dinah went on to explain that Zaine was fine and drop a few comments about the state of things, including the guild, while still suggesting that they not go into detail so soon.  He was, surprisingly, fine with that because he honestly wasn't so sure he was up for taking command again already.  He wanted to at least be able to think clearly and feel more like himself, first.  The fact that Dev had taken temporary leadership meant that the guild was in good hands, and Lucien trusted the man to relinquish the title again once he was back on his feet.  If he wouldn't (which seemed so unlikely that it was hardly worth the consideration), then Lucien would kill him, but he would rather not.  Devraj (and his wife) were good friends and valuable assets, so losing him would be a waste and a shame.  Dinah continued to explain that Zaine had apparently 'split up' with his little lincei, something about a huge fight, and he hoped to fucking god that she didn't go into details.  He'd pretend he cared because he cared about her and Zaine, but he cared so little about the Miri situation that it was really only Zaine's attachment to the girl that would inspire Lucien to pay her any mind.  Lucien didn't really understand said attachment, considering how much of a weakness she was and how unusual it seemed that Zaine would be so interested in a creature that was so helpless (which was ironic, since her shifter blood suggested she be stronger) and so very good at drawing attention to herself (hello, stripper?); he much preferred women who could take care of themselves, which was why he was with Dinah and not some Sunday School teacher.  Life was hard enough without picking up obvious weak points for his enemies to strike at.

"I care," he started, and it almost sounded convincing, for a second there.  "Fine, I don't care if he stops seeing her, but I don't like that it's causing him trouble."

There, that was more honest, and the end of his intent to discuss the subject.  He didn't really have the patience or interest in gossip if it wasn't something that could be used as a strategic advantage or directly involved him.  His own biggest weakness was curled against him, and he was pleased to know that she wasn't actually weak and wasn't a potentially huge liability for him, even if she could crack his bad moods better than anyone and knew just what to do to drive any and all professionalism out of him.  He could fake it for a few minutes, but she won out in the end.

At least he was starting to feel better.  "It's your own fault.  One of the perks of being guild leader is having the pull to choose not to lend your girlfriend to overseas branches," he pointed out, which she knew.  She'd just been stubborn about it, and then she'd been equally stubborn in coming back when he called to tell her that Midnight was on the attack (it had been a concern that Rajz would follow suit in Europe).  Her fault or not, he couldn't argue having missed her.  It felt like it had been an extreme amount of time to him, as well, which made no sense whatsoever, since he'd been unconscious and unaware of what was going on, and it had only been a few days.

He sighed, more than willing to settle in with her and maybe even nap, which wasn't his usual.  It had to be the medication, though if he'd been injured badly enough, maybe his body was just worn out from trying to heal up the damage.  He didn't remember after a certain point, so if they'd thought he was going to die, then it could have been that bad.  "We can have today.  I'm not sure I want to get back to business just yet, anyway."  It was sure to be a tiring, headache-inducing experience, and if he had an excuse to rest, he should probably take it this time.

 "I'll be honest, I don't much understand the situation either. I intend to have a coming to Jesus meeting with the little furball once I get back to the guildhouse," she promised, which was a testament to how much Dinah really didn't like the idea of someone messing up Zaine's mojo. For all intents and purposes, Dinah generally stuck around the background and waited for a moment to pounce; it was very, very rare she interjected her opinion into someone else's business - but Lucien had a point.

She snorted when he remarked that he hadn't have had to have let her go to Onyx Europe - specifically, the Onyx house in Berlin. "I've got to grow up sometime," she teased him, though they both knew full and well that Dinah was grown up. She was practical but imaginative, sensual but stable, soft but aggressive. Basically, she maintained a rather perfect balance of qualities that allowed her to be ideal for Lucien (and for others, actually, but nobody with any common sense would dare make a pass at Lucien's mate without dire consequences, nor would he tolerate her betrayal otherwise. There was no >possibly pregnant with baby of five other men, loves you anyway behaviour. In fact, if one of them were to cheat on the other, it would probably suggest a wild fight at the very least, and at the most, death or serious injury. Vows were taken seriously to them, hence never making them and never, ever breaking them once made.

"Your brother is alive and well, though his club suffered some losses. Dania's family, typically, was nowhere to be found throughout any of it. She herself was in Diamond custody as a precaution, though it occurred in a round-about sort of way." It tickled her to know that Dania had been called by another vampire and basically had been turned into a glazed doughnut in his presence. She didn't much care for her, though she did like Eden somewhat. It was just that Dania had always seemed fake, and since Dinah hadn't seen her recently, that was all she had to go on.

She updated him further, trying to slide in a joke every now and then. "Capricia was bitten by Bacchus, the cult vampire? She went missing for a while, but returned to the guildhouse - presumably by him. Nobody wants that train wreck," she said, although it was an affectionate sort of comment. Capricia was... a handful, but good to have on your team.

He cracked a bit of a smile at the 'coming to Jesus meeting' reference, and the fact that she called Miri a 'little furball', just because the entire situation sounded amusing and he didn't disagree with her decision.  They were on the same page in that they cared about what Miri's actions did to Zaine, and if Zaine was having problems, they needed to be fixed.  Lucien needed Zaine to be thinking clearly and free of distraction, especially while he was hospitalized (or whatever this actually was, since he wasn't in a hospital and Grayson wasn't a typical doctor).  There were very few people that Lucien truly trusted and depended on, including Zaine, Dinah and Devraj, so having one of the few out of whack wasn't an option, if they could help it.

'Grow up.'  He rolled his eyes and didn't comment on her tease because it wasn't necessary and they both knew it.  He thought that she was more than just 'grown up', and in all of the ways that mattered.  If she looked young sometimes, it only helped her be more dangerous.  All in all, he thought she was wonderful, and though he didn't shower her with praise and adoration, he made it clear how important she was to him in more subtle ways.  The fact that she could curl up onto the bed with him now, when he was injured and vulnerable, just went to prove how much she meant.  

She went ahead and continued being fantastic by offering information that he cared about without making it sound like a guild-related update, which he appreciated.  He wanted to know what he'd missed, but she had been right to ask that they take this day to themselves.  He was better off not jumping right into the fray, he just didn't know the extent of it.  "I'm sure Eden's pissed about the club," he remarked, glad to hear that his brother was alright.  He didn't really give a shit about the club one way or the other, though he kept telling himself that he should go there and see what Eden had built for himself, and he certainly didn't like Dania anymore than Dinah did.  Apparently, he didn't see in her what Eden did, since his brother had always been rather fond of her and all he'd ever seen was a snooty little rich bitch with her nose in the air.  That she'd ended up in Diamond custody was interesting, even without him knowing how 'round-about' that way was.  He'd have found it amusing that she was called by a Diamond vamp putting out the equivalent of Avian FM, but he would NOT find Sasha's grip on Eden to be nearly as entertaining.  

The Capricia incident wasn't too funny, either, though he couldn't argue with Dinah's joke about 'that train wreck'.  Capricia was certainly a good hunter and even a good trainer, but he failed to understand how she and Connor hadn't killed each other long enough to conceive a child, carry it to term and raise it for as long as they had.  The idea of her mad with Bacchus' influence?  "Have they decided what to do with her?"

 Dinah sighed a little, cuddling up to Lucien. She couldn't get over the nagging feeling that it had been years since she had seen him. He'd asked what they'd decided to do with Capricia, and she felt that she owed him an answer, even though she didn't like to really get into it right then. She looked over at him, now that her head was rested on the pillow next to his, and offered a small smile of reassurance.

"Christian is handling it to the best of his ability, but it's.... scary. I've never seen anyone bitten by him directly. His little followers can give a nasty bite, one that allows him to control them, but only temporarily until he's able to either finish them off himself or until it just wears off on its own. Since he went after her personally, she was pretty rolled over." Tortured may have been a better word.

"I didn't see it myself, but... Connor is pretty broken up about it. It's as though she doesn't even know who he is. She certainly didn't know her daughter, and no matter how hard some of the older vampires they have in their employment tried, they couldn't break his hold. He's simply too old, and too powerful." She paused. "I'm beginning to think he's not a Silver. I suspect he may be enough, at this point, to have his own line. If that's the case, there may be few alternatives they're left with."

She meant to say, they may have to kill her. Bacchus' bite put someone in the middle of a transition phase, almost. Because they so rarely found people bitten by him directly, Dinah found their Therrayans had little information to go on. "I've been told that they've got her in a safe room," she informed him. A 'safe room' to a hunter would be a room with a lot of firestone in order to keep their prisoner at bay. "Though for some reason, Darren seems to believe he may have an idea of how to help. He didn't say how. He just told Connor to have faith in him, and he left. He's been gone some time now from what they tell me."

It had been days since the Midnight attacks had stopped and the two companies had called a shaky truce. She had no idea that Darren had managed to make friends with powerful allies inside the walls of the Black City. "I'm sure by the time you're back on your feet, she will be, too. I hope," she added, though it seemed useless.