Night's Omen

 The skyline was dark and hazy; the clouds hung low on the night sky, forcing the usual light pollution closer in to the city and creating an eerie glow. It was unusually quiet, and Antoine stood on the balcony of his hotel room, a cigarette twisted between his lips as he looked out over the scape below and beyond. He pulled the cigarette away as he pressed something to his face; a single barrel that looked like a short telescope rested against his eye - the AN/PVS-14. It was an MNVD, otherwise known as a souvenir he'd kept for a rainy day (or night, as it appeared it would be), and at the movement on the street below, he was glad for it. The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

So, it was true. Midnight really had dropped the hammer here in the states. "Can't catch a fucking break, can I?" he murmured, flicking the cigarette off of the high balcony and turning inside his room. He picked up a large case with a tired sigh and headed for the door, then to the stairwell, following it up to 'Roof Access'. It was only a few weeks after what had happened in Europe, leading Antoine on a wild chase all goddam over the country - the last Onyx member who had a hand in aiding the situation along was a runner, and actually had help from vampires in Midnight - he was glad to be in the US, anonymous, and away from it all. He probably had hits on him all over Europe and no doubt Australia, too - he'd done his best to stay off-grid in the city, knowing that the US Bruja factions would probably adhere to any calls for blood on the vicious murders of guild leaders anywhere.

He tried not to think about the trouble he'd be in if he were caught; to be honest, the thing that scared him the most about himself was that he kind of just didn't... care. He didn't. He tried, but he couldn't. He knelt down once he had a good vantage point and opened the case, pulling out his rifle. The familiar weight of it in his hands was like an anchor that brought him back to reality, planted him firmly in the here and now. There was no past and no future; there was only the task at hand. That's all his life was anymore, a series of actions, reactions, rinse, repeat. He didn't allow himself a moment to feel, to think outside of the immediate. He couldn't.

The black DPMS NATO REPR set up nicely, as it always had. The 7.62x51 rounds were pre-loaded, and as he smacked the cartridge in and gave the weapon a final check-over, he realized that his heart didn't even race anymore. Midnight had taken everything from him, even the cruel joy of picking off the enemy one by one from his perch so high above. The telltale crack of the rifle rang out just as a clap of thunder shook the city. Lily, he thought to himself. Nora. James. James. He repeated their names over and over with each shot, culling the vampires down by a large margin. He sighted in on a Japanese vampire who'd just walked out of a building with a shorter blonde in tow, pulling the trigger without hesitation.

The blow from behind him startled him, if nothing else. Taro brought a booted foot down, hard, aiming for Antoine's back a second time, but Antoine, not too keen on being stomped to death, rolled out of the way at the last minute. The REPR still in his hand, he raised it - short range, he'd put a hole squarely through the fucker, whether the gun was meant for that or not. The rifle suddenly flew from his hands. It doesn't matter, Antoine thought. Taro kicked again, and Antoine sprang up, catching his leg in the process. He brought his fists down hard on the knee, shattering the joint in an instant; the same instant that Taro brought his other leg up and planted it firmly against Antoine's chest. He felt ribs break, but unlike the vampire, his wouldn't heal in a few moments.

It didn't matter. It was like the pain hadn't even registered; not even when Taro got a good blow to his face and Antoine's mouth filled with blood did he so much as flinch. Instead, he smiled at Taro, and it was a crazy slasher smile, the kind that let you really know that nobody was home upstairs. Then his adrenaline kicked in for real, and all of those years of training flashed before his eyes as he proceeded to give every bit as good as he got. It wasn't that he out-matched Taro; physically, he wasn't as strong - but there was a strange ferocity to his hits, and the percentage that connected grew higher and higher as Taro, already having been worn down from fighting just before, began to -

he had begun to lose.

The rain was literally coming down in sheets, in waves; Antoine couldn't hear anything over the rushing in his own ears, though. He had no idea how he was still up on two feet, and he had no idea that the vampire was wondering that exact thing, either. Even tossing him around and into things hadn't worked, and that usually did the trick. He just didn't feel pain, not with the cold rain beating against his skin like stinging needles and the dull ache of nothing in his chest, the nothing colliding with the rage and turning into some strange animal that came out through his fists and elbows and knees and shins and feet.

The vampire, who had been taking a knee, rose suddenly, and with the celerity that had been previously not helping him any, managed to take Antoine by the waist. Instead of toppling him to the ground as gracefully as he thought would happen, he felt something hot and jabbing in his side. He looked down to see the (hunter?) smiling triumphantly as he plunged an enchanted knife hilt-deep into the soft part of his abdomen. Taro didn't know if it was Macht or Firestone or fucking Fae, but it hurt, and he was so over this fight. Initially he'd thought that Antoine was a simple guildmember doing his part, but when he saw the gun, he realized who he was (a vampire never forgets). Now that it was apparent that the omnicidal Onyx member at the top of international hit lists wasn't there to be anyone's friend, Taro was totally cool with turning him over to Diamond.

If he didn't fucking die first. He clamped down on Antoine as hard as he could and apparated them to Diamond before whatever magic the blade had ceased to allow him access to his power. They landed on the floor in the literal center of the Diamond guildhall, still tangled on one another, before Antoine kicked Taro off of him. He jumped up, soaking wet, but he was too disoriented from the sudden change of scenery. Taro could always tell when someone had never done it before, and rolled onto his back, cursing, as he heard the hunter evacuate his stomach not far off.

He heard yelling, but he was fading. Taro hadn't had an ass beating in a long time, and he wasn't quite sure how to take what had happened to him. Angrily, his last act before going into unconsciousness, was to yank the knife out of him and fling it; it clattered uselessly at the rushing feet of people coming to see what the noise had been. He hoped they skewered the Onyx defect alive with it.

 Isabelle had been walking with Noelani and talking when Taro and someone just apparated into the hall, startling her if only because Taro was on his side and had a knife sticking out of him, while the man kicked off of him and got up. She looked at Noelani, mouth open slightly in confusion, but Noelani was already springing forward.

"Get the knife! I'll get Gunnar!" she said, giving her arm a squeeze before turning on her heel and darting back down the hall.

Belle looked at the knife as it lay on the floor, then to the man who stood, soaking and bloodied; he also looked at the knife, then at her. She blinked a few times - he looked familiar, through the blood and whatnot. "Just stay where you are," Isabelle warned, her accent betraying her origin. She passed around the base of Taro's body for the knife, hand up. She saw Aaron come at him from behind and began to stand slowly, confident that he'd be apprehended.

Except, he threw an elbow back and caught Aaron pretty decently by surprise. The weapon master recovered quickly, though; he hadn't necessarily wanted to come to blows over this, knowing Taro would have never brought someone to them without a reason, but when Belle held up the knife and said that it was enchanted, he knew that he might have to actually put this dude down, useful or not. Toe to toe with a human was one thing; Aaron was still not used to the weight that came with being bound to an Elemental, and despite having an extra magical oomph, he couldn't see that it would help him much. Not until, of course, the man landed a punch that should have shattered his goddamn jaw, and it didn't.

He could absolutely get used to this mumbo jumbo shit.

Aaron returned fire as good as he got, but the fight soon went to ground. He had the advantage, but to his amazement, the guy just wouldn't quit. "WHY WON'T YOU STAY DOWN?" Aaron yelled in frustration, connecting with a blow that should have been crippling and yet somehow only elicited a loud roar. He went end over as Antoine got the upper hand, yelling as his arm was twisted at a strange angle. Suddenly, the pressure was alleviated - Antoine was picked up by his neck by Isabelle, who had finally figured out why she recognized him. With a toss, she flung him off of Aaron, then stepped over the weapons master and went to her quarry.

"I know who you are now," she said, her voice low. She fixed her dark eyes on Antoine, who was bloodied beyond the point of recognition now. "Was it worth it?" She referenced his murderkillspree, of course, advancing on him as she drew her power in.

"Yes," he said firmly, then spit out what he was certain was a tooth from somewhere in the back of his mouth. How in the hell... At once, he was hit with a burning, oppressive sort of pain. It felt like his head was going to explode suddenly, and he raised broken hands up, bloodied knuckles beating at his temples as though to release the cranial pressure.

Belle stood, a look of satisfaction on her face, as a thin line of blood made its way down from her nose. The pain fed her power, and the more it got, the more she wanted. She stepped into his head, trying to find out what it was that was keeping him going so she could break it and end this nonsense.

"Sweet!" she heard Murphy yell. "Back off!"

It sounded like he was far away, under water, somewhere else. It was just Isabelle in Antoine's mind, in the pain and the blood and the - bleach? She approached the scene as one from the outside would, standing third party to Rajz as he poured it into his throat, forcing his jaw open, pouring over him that emotional control that tugged on his fear and his desperation. She was too far in, and she felt it, too.

"Rajz," she whispered. "Shit." She had to get out, had to get out; Antoine was in her Thrall, but not in any way she'd experienced before. Once he felt her in his head, once he'd latched on to her fear, he just pushed more of the images her way. Terror. Pain. Degradation. Violence and violence and violence -

A sharp slap on her face brought her out of the Thrall, and she looked up at Murphy, eyes wide. She had a full on nosebleed, and it was in her mouth, the taste of copper making her nauseous. "I tried to warn you," the Fae said, a shrug his only sympathy. She stepped back into the outstretched hand of Aaron, who pulled her away from the hunter that was kneeling on the ground, forward on his hands, and grinning at them.

"Fuck the lot of you," Antoine spat. "Kill me. I won't beg."

It wasn't often that Aaron had to step up and take a man down in Diamond's own halls, but to be fair, it was damn hard to find the place and none of the vampires seemed inclined to bring people back with them like this.  Taro had to have been seriously messed up to do it, and even without getting a good look at the knife he'd yanked from his gut, the weapons master could guess from the fact that the vampire looked like shit and stayed where he was laying that he was fucked.  When his initial attempt to apprehend without much in the way of violence was rejected with an elbow to the face, it was on, but the fucker just wouldn't quit.  It took hand to hand, moving to ground and finally Isabelle stepping in to get the bastard to slow down, and Aaron stared between the two, not sure what was happening until Murphy cursed and slapped the shit out of Belle.  It seemed to snap her out of something, and only when Aaron saw her face afterward did he realize that she'd been losing.

Who the fuck was this guy?

The bonded human was back on his feet and watching the man on his knees carefully lest it all begin again, but Murphy had already drawn a gun and looked perfectly prepared to take care of business.  "Picked the wrong party to crash, lad," the Irishman informed him, and Aaron could have sworn the intruder would be dead before he could blink again, except...the entire room suddenly twisted on its axis, badly enough that even with the elemental bond, he stumbled and nearly hit his knees.  Murphy wavered, looking around with narrowed eyes for the culprit, but before he could determine who it was or fire on Antoine, a blur hit him from the side and both shapes went crashing through chairs and across the huge table they all sat at for briefings.  There were shouts from the door where Noelani and Gunnar were rushing in, the healer ignoring the current fight after a quick glance at it in favor of getting to Taro, but the guild leader shouted and went towards Murphy and whatever had hit him.  Not that it did any good, since the indestructible woman was sent skidding backwards from some blast that involved a lot of light and a shriek from within the mess.

Aaron tried to multitask well enough to watch the fight as well as the human, who he kicked the legs out from under to keep on the floor until whatever the fuck was happening died down.  "Stay the fuck down," he snapped, and it sucked that he had to really put all of his attention on the bastard when he really wanted to know what the fuck was going on.  Noelani moved forward like she intended to bust in as soon as she had the chance, but whatever was happening was all magic and all fast. 

At the entrance of two new bodies, Irene and Benjamin, Aaron glanced their way and saw the blond gesture almost imperceptively to the human on his knees by the weapons master and her husband nod, then regard the small tornado knocking chairs sprawling across the floor.  He scowled further than he already was, walked over to snatch up (surprise!) the wrought iron poker from the fireplace, approached the mess that was Murphy and his attacker, and took a quick, sharp swing with his weapon.  There was a new shriek, and the mess settled to reveal their fae contact, Desmond Stark, looking like hell warmed over.  Huh.  Remind Aaron not to ever piss that fucker off.

The real shocker came not from Stark, though.  It was Murphy that they were all staring at (all except for Benjamin, who had the poker still leveled on a very stunned fae clutching at the back of his head), because it was Murphy who didn't look nearly as weathered, old and human as he was supposed to.  Aaron prided himself on being the epitome of a confident, straight man who loved everything about the female form and he thought that man was completely and utterly gorgeous.  Like, he shined with it, all smooth, sharp features, golden hair with red hues to it and strong, graceful limbs, and with a glance up, that crisp, accented voice had a single crude word for them all.  "Fuck."

A second later, it was as though Murphy turned the lights off on them all, and he was standing there looking exactly like his usual self with the lines in his face and the quirky turn to his thin lips not amused right at the moment, but very, painfully serious.  It was Aaron who said what they all had to be thinking.  "WHAT THE FUCK."

It should have been business as usual while Desmond was in Diamond's stronghold, and he was still of the opinion that he was only allowed there because Murphy and Eithne vouched for him (old fae contacts, and then of course he could have spilled their secret, not that it was a threat he'd make), he was charming as all hell, and he got results when they needed them.  There was work to be done, or so he heard, but they were on the way to Diamond's big, pretty planning table in the great hall of their castle when the noise started, and so they weren't far when it came down to racing to see what had just appeared for them in the great room. 

Desmond, despite being highly trained and very dangerous, was more than willing to stay to the back of the group and let the badass hunters defend their own base, if necessary.  He almost got the chance to regret that decision for the rest of his life.

When he came into the room at his own leisurely pace, Noelani already off to get Gunnar, he was prepared to crack a joke about security and get an idea as to what it took to break into this place and what had already failed.  He wasn't expecting to find a familiar face staring down Murph's gun, or the fae in hiding to be pulling the trigger.  He didn't consciously decide to tip reality for those present, but his own reality went so lopsided at the same time that he released a blast of power with the intent to do something, anything to stop that gun from going off, that he didn't care what it was.  It was enough to halt Murphy, and enough that when Desmond shot towards him, he didn't kill Antoine.

Antoine, his brother, who was supposed to be dead.

Of course, Desmond hadn't confirmed that.  He hadn't done so because who the fuck survives Midnight?  He'd gone looking and seen what remained of Lily, Nora and little James, and so when Antoine was released, he didn't know about it.  He didn't want to know, and anything going on in that part of the world, he hid from.  He wouldn't dare let himself catch wind of his brother's death, or the details, because the other three that he'd failed would haunt him forever.  In much the same way, his brother must not have gone looking into his 'death', since the poor bastard he'd sent in his place had eventually lost the glamour and dental records revealed him for who he was.  Choosing ignorance didn't change the fact that Desmond seriously believed that his brother was just as horrifically dead as Lily, Nora and little James, and that didn't change the horror and panic of finding him alive now and under the gun.  Whatever happened after this, he couldn't let Antoine go here and now.

So, he did the only thing he could think of to do, and he hit Murphy like a speeding train, flipping the two of them through solid, high-backed chairs and over the massive table.  That in itself could have been suicide, but apparently, there was something so deeply ingrained in Desmond on this issue that he just wouldn't quit, much like Antoine had been with Taro, Aaron and Isabelle.  Murphy should have crushed him instantly with the kind of age (that Seelie was centuries old), experience and magical ability he had backing him, but Desmond just spit raw power fueled by desperation, with his own training in there.  He'd been described as vicious and 'tenacious' in the past, and apparently, that only got more ridiculous when he was faced with his believed-dead little brother under the gun.  Who knew?

That he held his own for so long was utterly impressive, and initially, there was no plan except to protect Antoine.  After they were trading physical and magical blows in close combat, Desmond was hanging on because he was too damn stubborn and upset not to, because he owed Antoine this win and when he won, he'd decide his brother's fate fair and square (he intended), but it became apparent even to him that he was going to lose eventually.  That was when his new place came into being, in a matter of seconds while he kept Murphy from putting him down and fired back as hard as he could - Murphy would win because he was older and stronger, but if Desmond made him expend as much energy as possible, he'd likely drop his glamour, and then the hunters in Diamond wouldn't be quite as worried about the human intruder or Desmond.  They could multitask well enough to deal with the two of them at some point, but Antoine would survive long enough for them to figure shit out.  Murphy would also survive, but he'd make a fantastic distraction.

It just meant the more powerful fae was going to be very angry with him for awhile.  That would suck, but for his brother, it was worth it.  Sorry, Murphy.

Naturally, Desmond wasn't banking on Benjamin walking in like the calm in the eye of a storm, picking up the iron poker and cracking him in the skull with it like he was a bad dog that was about to bite (not hard enough to cause damage, but with the fact that it was iron, it was enough to stun), or that the vampire would be so fucking accurate with the swing while he and Murphy were still wrestling around.  Murphy was just as weak against iron as he was, so that blow could have done the exact opposite of what Benjamin intended, but he was all cool confidence (and maybe a little hot anger) when he did it.  It ended the fight, that was for sure, and Desmond hadn't been wrong about Murphy.  Look at that.

Yeah, Murph was going to be hating him for awhile for blowing his cover, that much he was certain of, but once Aaron had asked the question that everyone except Antoine and Desmond was likely thinking, the changeling spoke up.  "That's my brother you got there, don't kill him!"

It had to be said, since Benjamin was still threatening him with the iron and he couldn't get up to go physically protect Antoine, and the human was being guarded by Diamond's Master-at-Arms, or whatever they chose to call him.  Desmond just called him Thor, and right then, he didn't trust even him and his good moral code to protect Antoine until Desmond himself could get over there.  At least if the group at large knew he wasn't a total stranger, maybe they'd keep him alive long enough for them all to figure out what was happening?  God, he hoped so.

 Antoine was pretty beaten up. In fact, Isabelle, had she not been emotionally raped by Rajz herself, may have actually severed the thread of strength that Antoine had been holding onto, which was now the only thing keeping him conscious. Of course, conscious and sane were two different things, and the sudden emergence of his brother (who, for the record, wasn't really his brother at all, since we're keeping the trauma congo line of information that Antoine doesn't know strong) who he had seen die (he hadn't) pushed him over the edge (as if he wasn't already over it, the Diamonds wouldn't fail to point out).

"No," he managed, the sound more a moan of pain and protest than a clear, articulate denial. He put his bloodied and broken hands to his face, fingerprinting the open wounds with even more blood as he shut his eyes (the right, anyways, since the left was almost swollen shut at this point). He could hear laughter, as clear as day, and when he opened his eyes, he was on his knees on the floor of a white room, a gorgeous bronze woman standing over him and saying something he couldn't understand.

"I didn't 'break him', Iloquil," another vampire was correcting her. "He's already crazy. I'm just... giving him a nudge."

In reality, Antoine appeared to have gone totally catatonic. At least they didn't have to worry about him flipping out and killing anyone - for the moment - because he was fairly certain that what had just happened, and everything up to that point, had been a deranged hallucination. He wasn't seeing anyone or anything around him and ceased to react to the environment of the Diamonds; he had been stressed so hard by the presence of the power in his mind (however he had fought it off in the end) and by the rather abrupt appearance of his brother that he literally believed it all to be a figment of his imagination, and part of the cruel torture that Rajz had subjected him.

Irene was the first to really speak up, but only because everyone else was still totally on their toes. "I don't think he's here anymore, guys," she said softly, after gently removing the poker from her husband before he took another crack at someone. She elected to say nothing of the sudden shift in Murphy's glamour, but only because she would be the only one to have that much grace.

It was Noelani who, from the side of Taro, finally piped in, "Brother? You had a psychologically unhinged Onyx level 6 of a brother and you just neglected to mention that to us? Do you know how many times we've gotten bulletins about this guy?" She was unable to hide her anger, and it showed. He had come into her house and had caused a good bit of trouble. Why had Taro brought him? "This is why people who come from Midnight almost always catch a DQ and a bullet from the guilds," she muttered.

Isabelle only shook her head once; Murphy had, before her promotion, grilled her to the point where she thought she was going to be taken into a room and shot. Hunters that went to Midnight were seldom ever allowed positions in guilds again; too many of them went on savage revenge quests that endangered everyone around them. It was also why the guilds rarely every took survivors. She'd heard it happened in the US a few times - one such was the time bomb of a fox that had made Diamond wonder just how many "bombs" Niall had or would make in the future.

"You should lock him up," Sweet said. "He'll come out of it eventually."

Desmond might have considered getting up and at least hovering around Antoine, just in case someone got any bright ideas involving removal of the threat, or something, but Benjamin made it clear with that iron poker that he didn't want any movement, and Desmond was pretty okay with staying put if it meant no more cracks with it.  That was, until Irene took it away from her husband, and then the fae relaxed slightly, though he was still cautious; the iron wasn't too far away, and he wasn't interested in round two.

Apparently, Irene wasn't the only one with the grace not to mention Murphy's 'slip', since other than attacking the fae that wasn't second-in-command of the guild, Benjamin hadn't spared the Irishman a second glance, and Aaron looking completely confused was about the extent of other reactions.  Everyone seemed more willing to deal with Antoine and Desmond first, which had been exactly what the changeling hadn't wanted.  Fuck.

Yeah, 'fuck' about covered it, badly enough that when Irene pointed out that Antoine wasn't really 'with them' anymore, Desmond muttered the curse to himself and slowly got back to his feet, if only to have some level of dignity for the rest of this.  It also afforded him a better look at his brother, which didn't make him feel better when he saw how beat to hell the man was, but at least he could see that he was still alive.  That was more than he'd thought before Antoine and Taro showed up, so he'd take it, but he wasn't thrilled with this whole situation, or with these bastards focusing beyond normal guilds - most of them would have honed in on Murphy at this point, and locked up the great big question mark to deal with after they handled trust issues or whatever this was.  Professionals, man, sometimes he hated them.

That Noelani had good questions, and the only answers he had were either personal and emotional, or just not great, didn't make the situation feel any better from his end.  "Actually, I thought I had a dead Level 6 Onyx hunter of a brother, but considering what nightmare fuel that seeing the mutilated remains of my sister-in-law and her babies was, I wasn't looking to see my brother, as well, thank you very much," he griped, and as far as he was concerned, he had the right.  He'd never forget those images, and then there was the guilt that he didn't even want to openly admit, the failure.  He hadn't wanted to see more.

"I'm not a hunter, either.  Freelance, remember?  I didn't get any bulletins, or I'd have known to look for him, yeah?"  Made sense, right?  More than locking the bastard up, he figured.  "If he's so 'psychologically unhinged', you sure locking him up's the way to go?  I bet they had him locked up there, and that seems a little counter-productive to me.  Just a thought."

"Whatever we do with him, he needs to be treated," Gunnar pointed out, standing and marking Taro as being as close to 'good as new' as was possible just by leaving his side.  To be fair, he'd lingered longer than was necessary because he had no intention of getting involved in the rest of the mess, but now that things were calming down, people needed treatment, though he was hesitant regarding the fae.  "Is he fae, too?  He feels human."

Of course, so had Murphy, so there was that.  Shielding from a Smoke witch of Gunnar's power was impressive, but then, nobody in Diamond was weak.  Murphy had some power behind him, that much was apparent, and whatever had just happened didn't seem to have kept him quiet and awkward for long, but nobody there knew Murph to be awkward, anyway.  "You're pushin' your luck, Stark.  We lock the little bastard up until he doesn't feel so stabby anymore.  We can't deal with him on the loose whenever he feels like gettin' up to trouble.  You can join him, if that makes you feel better."

What Murphy didn't point out was that it make him feel better to see Desmond get his ass kicked by his psycho brother, but that was immature and petty, and he tried not to display those qualities too strongly.  It happened often enough, but part of not coming across as fae required not indulging certain qualities.  Obviously, that wasn't as important anymore, but that didn't change the habit. 

 Noelani pushed some of her hair back, pressing her hand on Belle's shoulder for a moment as she passed by the Arun. The witch's eyebrows were raised as she looked at Antoine, who had utterly checked out, and the physical contact broke her concentration. Noelani looked at Aaron for a moment, then to Belle.

"I don't think we have the full story," was all she said, acknowledging that the former hunter may have been part of a bigger picture. Onyx UK had done a great deal of cleaning up to make it seem as though they were absolved of any guilt; nobody had investigated because there didn't seem to need to be one. But Taro obviously had seen something in his head worth retrieving, worth enough that he almost killed himself doing it.

Or maybe he'd just seen Antoine's belief that his brother was dead, and clearly that wasn't the case, either.

"But, Desmond, I'm sorry, Murphy is right. We'll give him a large space, but he has to be restrained. Gunnar can tend to him, then we can try to get answers out of him." She folded her arms. "Get me a Triste," she said after a moment of thought. "If he's able to reject the witch from poking in his head, I don't think it'd be a good idea to try and influence him with anyone else whose ability is mental - I'd suggest Corinne, but I don't think her ability would work."

She frowned at his remark about being freelance and having not known to look for him. "None of us really knew," she said. "It isn't your fault. What I said was unfair." That was about as much an apology as anyone had ever heard from her, and she punctuated it by looking at Murphy for some back-up.

"Move him now, or wait for the Triste?" she asked. She glanced at Gunnar, too, since he also needed his input heard.

Desmond, despite being very interested in his brother and making sure there was no new terror about to appear for either of them, was paying his usual amount of attention to his surroundings and, specifically, the people.  Glamours were one of his most trained skills, which was why he was able to blast Murphy so hard without dazzling the group as well, and to convincingly portray anyone, he had to pay close attention.  Whether the Diamond members knew it or not, he'd been around all of them long enough to imitate any of them fairly well.  Impressive, since there were some he'd only observed for a few minutes, like Dante and Oksana, but it had been enough that he could have made it work.  He was intuitive about people that way, with Link being the only Diamond that he wasn't positive on, if only because Link was the same as him.  That didn't mean he wouldn't try, and couldn't pull something off with, but imitating another changeling was an interesting venture.

All of this ability to pick up on the tiniest details meant that he didn't miss Jordan putting her hand on the other woman's shoulder, or the way she seemed...lost after doing whatever metaphysical thing she'd tried with Antoine - Desmond had a feeling that it was a horrible thing that had happened, but he was at least proud that his brother had managed to spit a Diamond right back out.  Not many people could make that claim, and Antoine had physically taken on a few of them, then turned the tables on one magically, all as a human against non-humans.  He was more concerned the more he saw, but he appreciated that his brother could hold his own; that might be necessary in the future.

Aaron also took notice of Noelani's attention to Belle, and he inclined his head ever so slightly, not entirely sure what exactly had happened between Belle and the changeling's brother, but he wasn't letting anything else happen.  He was still new to all of this metaphysical shit, and fortunately didn't often have to deal with being rolled by anyone other than Azhure, and that...he had mixed emotions on.  He sure as hell didn't understand what it was that had made Taro risk his own skin bringing this guy here except that Desmond was his brother, but he didn't know the vampire to give too many shits about all but a few people, especially when he was putting himself at risk.  He'd seen Taro 'accidentally' use his telekinesis to swat a thrown knife off the course that would have put it in his chest and put it on course for Benjamin's.  Those two didn't work together often.

Desmond scowled at Noelani's rational responses, not mad at her for being rational (he preferred that more than anything, and appreciated the apology enough that he nodded stiffly and glanced from her to his brother), but more frustrated with the situation.  He didn't like that his brother was alive and about to be confined so that they could let a Triste poke around in his head, and being fae, he was just as prone to being flighty and emotional as any.  Actually, Murphy was probably the most even-keeled fae he'd ever met, and he figured that was just because the fucker was old as dirt and spent a hell of a lot of time with humans.  Patience. 

"We can move him, I promise he can't put up enough fight to stop us," Murphy pointed out, shrugging because he sure as hell didn't have to play up the 'human' factor in handling this threat after Desmond's smooth move.  "Up to Gunnar in the end, though.  Doc's orders."

"I can't calm him the way a Triste can, but I can keep him mellow enough to move him.  He needs medical treatment, anyway," the Smoke decided after a moment's quiet consideration.  Of everyone present, Arisson definitely had the calmest demeanor while still being warm (unlike Benjamin, who was totally on Desmond's shit list from now on), so the changeling was inclined to trust his opinion somewhat, but he still wasn't being left behind.

"If it's all the same to all of you, I'm going with you."

 Noelani acknowledged Desmond's instance in accompanying them, and honestly, she wouldn't have denied him that unless there was some serious issue - aside from what had obviously already occurred. It was a wonder what would cause her to panic. She had mostly reacted out of necessity for Taro's health. She opted not to comment on the humanity aspect that the vampires no doubt questioned. It was easy to forget that Lani was human because of her preternatural "diamond" bone structure, but that didn't mean she couldn't die by ways that a supernatural creature wouldn't (she did still breathe, after all). Diamonds had a habit of forgetting what went on below them from time to time; this may have been one of those times. There were plenty of humans who didn't have unique abilities that could kick a vampire's face in. In another world, Antoine may have even qualified for Diamond.

After carefully moving him to the infirmary, which was much like gently guiding a robot whose key had wound down to almost nothing, she took a few big steps back to try and look at the bigger picture. She had instructions for the Triste, at least, which she'd been trying to consider ever since it occurred to her that any sort of vampiric or otherwise mental ability would get them route null, or worse, a paradoxical reaction. When Chad finally did arrive, she took him by the arm quickly as he entered the room, guiding him right back out. She didn't want Desmond to hear her - freelance, friend of Diamond or not, he had a role to play in this simply by wanting to be in the room.

After briefly explaining what happened, which took all of the time that you'd imagine getting out of earshot would, Noelani turned to Chad, releasing his arm. "Ease his auras, don't go into his head. Gunnar is healing him, and once he's battle-ready, I've got a sneaking suspicion that he'll start fighting again. I don't know where he went in his head, but it was enough to push out Isabelle, who's a pretty highly trained witch." She wasn't going to say anything about the Midnight connection, because Chad had been with Diamond when Isabelle came to them. He would have already known - hell, he may have even done her psych evauls from time to time.

"If you do go into his head, I wouldn't go deep. He seems human, but then again, so do I. It's not that I don't have faith in you, it's just that I don't think you need a front row seat to whatever he will show you. If you can help keep him calm and maybe just anchor him in reality, Desmond talking to him should do the rest." She paused, taking a moment to sigh.

"I can't help feel like my house is slightly out of order when a hunter with a guild hit on him just pops up out of thin air adhered to one of my own with an enchanted knife." She made a noise as she realized she'd forgotten about the knife. "I need to make sure Eithne and Nicolette get their hands on that thing. You go back there and get ready to work. I'll have someone on standby if you exude too much energy, don't worry," she added, addressing the obvious feeding concerns. Tristes and vampires were enemies, but they weren't that different.

And with a few more words, Lani had headed back down the hall to find out where the knife had gone.

 Eithne hadn't been present for any of this cadology, although she did feel the power spike when Desmond decided to knock Murphy off balance, and that was enough for her to emerge from the musty old archives, a terse order for Nicolette to stay behind. By the time she got there, though, it had all happened as quickly as things tended to when she wasn't around. She had been itching to lose her glamour for a few minutes and blast someone with her light, but apparently there were more important things to do than feel useful and strong -

Like feel useful and smart.

Belle handed her a knife, wiping absently at a nose that didn't want to seem to stop bleeding. "Long story, but we need to know what it is," she said, waving away at Gunnar helping Noelani and her brother - and a third Fae (a goddamn Changling, Eithne knew from research, and she idly wondered DID THEY?).

"Huh?" Eithne asked dumbly, taking the knife by instinct of gesture.

"The knife," Belle prompted. "He stuck Taro with it, and Gunnar had a hard time healing him. Lucky the bugger is a human or he'd be up shit creek," she muttered. "Anyways, go forth and research," she said, waving her hands at Eithne, who was still not moving.

"I don't have to research it," the Fae replied, a little irritated at Isabelle's tone, but understanding her impatience. "It's Fae. It's Seelie Fae." She watched the Changling leave the room - she didn't know whether he was light or dark. Link was dark, but you'd have never known in speaking to him; it was only where his allegiance lay (and some morals - or lack of).

"What?" Isabelle said, turning to follow her gaze. "His brother?"

"Whose brother?" Eithne asked. "You know what? Catch me up later. I came in on this way too late. This is a Fae knife, it's enchanted. It's worse than Macht magic, because - well, not only are we older, we're more powerful. No offense, we're all from a dimensional layer right on top of yours and you're just from here, so.. you know what, Belle, I'll tell you another time. When you're not bleeding," she added, watching the Arun become vexed at the total lack of tangible information and sudden history lesson.

Eithne held the knife up. "See these?" she asked, pointing to some Tengwar-like marking. "Seelie lettering."

"Looks like Lord of the Rings," the Arun remarked.

"Yeah, where do you think he got it?" Eithne snapped. "Pay attention. These markings," she said, gesturing again, "are essentially like a catch-all spell. It protects the wielder from anything not Seelie Fae. So, basically, if he'd stabbed Taro, you, or even Firuza with this, it would have been the same. Well, not the same, I mean, you and Firuza would have probably just died..." she trailed off. "My point is, this is like Firestone for Fae. It hurts. It stings. It poisons. Except it does it to anyone. Fae don't particularly like things not them, so, we tend to design weapons that get that point across."

Belle released the knife as Eithne tried to give it to her. "Nuh-uh," the witch said, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand. "Fuck that. You can carry it. I don't need to prick myself with your fairy Excalibur and drop dead on the spot."

"It isn't exactly like that, but if it makes you feel better, I'll carry it," Eithne said dryly. "Also, eventually, it'll have to go back to whoever you got this from. Fae rules and all that. We're really specific about gifts."

Considering how badly Chad's night had already gone, what was being dragged into a Diamond emergency?  He'd just dropped his date off, a girl that he already knew he wasn't calling back, because she wouldn't answer, and he couldn't entirely blame her.  Either his gorgeous and extremely jealous ex-girlfriend was stalking him, or fate was conspiring against him in such horrible ways that dating was starting to look useless, but after one of Alexis' idiot friends yanked her shoe from her hand and pegged Christina in the back of the head with it (that fucking hunter could use anything as an effective weapon, it seemed), he knew this one was finished.  He'd called the man a moron, escorted Christina to his car where he wasn't allowed to give her appropriate attention for the blow, and that was that.  Another date blown. 

He dropped her off at home with his apologies, she'd told him that he should tell girls he had a psycho-ex in the future, and he'd walked up to his apartment to find two vampires set up by his door.  That it was two he recognized made the situation less uncomfortable, but they were recognized for a reason that meant his night was about to get even more interesting, and vampires and Tristes didn't traditionally get along, so there was a bit of caution there.

"Irene, you look lovely.  Benjamin," he greeted, tending to manners in complimenting the lady first, then addressing her husband, and he inclined his head at the man; he knew that etiquette would get him further with these two, and so he was always polite.  Besides being a Triste and coyotl, which was impressive and how he could be about 150 years old and still have the power he did, he'd always been a charming bastard.  He'd also always been dangerous, but Alexis and her friends didn't typically think of that when they were trashed, and frankly, he didn't give that impression often.  You just had to know, or it was something you'd forget.  "Come on in."

The firestone laced around his apartment made vampires a little more inclined to politeness themselves, even if these two were historically considerate of such things.  He'd still known Irene to prefer mirrors in peoples' homes with apologies for intruding rather than finding another and then walking to their place.  He had it set so she (and anyone else) couldn't just magic themselves in.  He didn't like surprises.  "I take it you're here on business?"

And so came the most basic of explanations, mostly from Benjamin and with his wife nudging and then correcting him when he said something a bit harsh about a few of the people involved, and naturally, Chad agreed to go help and he already had some kind of idea as to why Noelani wanted him.  He went and changed into jeans and a button-up that looked alright, but he wouldn't mind getting blood all over in case the damaged goods decided to get stabby again, and off they went.  Irene used her talent with mirrors to get them to Colorado quickly, and then guided him through the halls to the room they'd maneuvered his 'patient' to, but he'd barely walked in the door before Noelani took him by the arm and yanked him right back out, explaining quietly the whole way.

She didn't have to explain how bad it was that this guy had pushed Isabelle out, not with how intimately he understood Belle's mind, but he nodded nonetheless.  Either this human wasn't what he seemed, or something else had happened.  He'd be careful, though her concern was touching regarding him not needing a front-row.  "Thanks, I'll be careful about getting too deep, but after Belle, I'm sure I can handle it.  We'll start simple and see what his brother can do."

It was a good plan, as far as he was concerned.  He worked in the mental arena often, and sometimes, the simplest ways were the best, but he didn't often have a familial connection like they were suggesting this one had to work with.  That would either make it easy as pie, or muck the whole thing up.  Either way, he went back in, hesitating only long enough to say his hellos to Belle when she walked away from Eithne.  It was a quick affair, a hug and quick kiss on the cheek, a required glance at her nose and insistence that she'd have Gunnar deal with it after he was finished with their 'guest', and he sighed, then went on in. 

"Hey, Gunnar.  Desmond?  My name's Chad, nice to meet you.  This is your brother?"  The fae obviously didn't trust anyone, which made sense considering he was fae and probably in a violent line of work (based on the fact that he looked like crap after the blow with the iron poker and was still up and moving around as though he was used to getting his ass kicked, and the way he regarded a new face), but Chad was good at this.  He had a fantastic bedside manner.  "I want you to know that I'm only here to make your conversation with him go more smoothly.  All I plan to do is keep him here in the present, and unless something happens, the rest is up to you.  Make sense?"

"I suppose.  You a magical shrink or something?"

"Something.  How are we coming along?" he asked Gunnar, who had apparently been taking his time in working through injuries on the human, and if Chad knew the Smoke, he was probably healing up shit that hadn't even happened this evening.  It was up to Chad and Desmond to deal with this man's mental state, but Gunnar would give him to them in optimum physical condition.  It was what he did. 

"Be ready, I'm keeping him chill, but he's just about perfect and once I let go, he's all yours," Gunnar warned them with a tightness to his voice that suggested to Chad that the human didn't entirely want to be mellow right then.  The Smoke was probably putting out more effort on calming than healing right then, which was where Chad came in.  He could work the auras more fluidly and with less trouble. 

"What's his name?"

"Antoine."

"Alright, Antoine, Gunnar's going to back up some, and we're going to have a little talk," he spoke directly to the human, reaching out with his power to pluck at the auras as he felt the Smoke's magic withdrawing.  Dampening some of the nastier auras and impulses was the most work, and he didn't want to screw around with the nicer feelings too early, or the whole experience would feel less honest.  He wasn't here to manufacture progress, just push it along at its own natural pace.  Enhance it.  Show time.

It was really only a matter of time, after an explosion like that, before Eithne appeared, so he hadn't been surprised when she hit the scene and lingered back some while they moved the human intruder, and Murphy caught her eye and let the look linger before doing his job in getting everything settled before spoke to her.  He had a feeling Noelani wouldn't be too far once this situation calmed down, but she was getting the Triste in, and that would take her attention for a little longer.  It gave him time to catch his sister, and he might have shortened her conversation with Isabelle when he stepped up and took the time to pay attention to the witch's condition.  "Sweet, go get a rag for your nose, Gunnar'll be done soon."

Having a moment alone with his sister, even if Isabelle didn't seem to be much of a fan of him based on the look she gave him before leaving, he sighed and shook his head, then regarded Eithne.  "The changeling hit me like a cannonball from the left when I was going to put a bullet in our new guest's head.  Fucker showed up attached to Taro by that knife you got there, and as far as I can tell, he's just human and had a shit time in Midnight Europe.  He nearly killed Taro, Aaron had trouble with him, and then he out-thralled Isabelle until I snapped her out of it.  Turns out, he's Stark's brother."

The research end of things, besides being his sister and deserving an explanation as to why their identities were practically on display, needed information.  "Not really sure why Stark came at me like he did when a simple, 'hold your fire' would've done, but my guess is distraction.  Didn't think he packed that kind of punch magically," he offered, and that was about as much admission as even she was getting.  As old and powerful as they were, he didn't like admitting to fault, even if it was just reacting to a magical smart-nuke directed right at him.  "If I was human, he'd've leveled me."

 Eithne nodded to Isabelle as she fucked off, though she didn't miss the stare that she'd given Murphy upon her departure. "I think you'll have more people mad at you than at me," she told him, which definitely accounted for her calm nature. She held the knife out to him. "I bet any amount of money Stark gave this to his 'brother'. I bet he doesn't know his brother is a Fae," she remarked. "Lots of secrets between our kind suddenly coming about into the open, I don't know if that's one I'd let get to the surface right now - not if he's been in Midnight," she advised.

"I'll take what you gave me and do my own research, but you have to do some damage control. I bet Aaron will be mad as all fuck because he's been thinking you just have a liver made of, uh, iron, at this point. I'll go back and tell Nicolette now and then answer the thousand questions she'll no doubt have before we start digging on this guy and what his story is." She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Ah well, it was good while it lasted. Now at least Emma can't out us," she said snidely. "But Murph, do you really think you would yell hold your fire to someone if they had a gun to me?" she asked him critically.

"You're not kidding," he told her when she said he'd have more people mad at him than she would, and sh wasn't wrong about Aaron, either.  He was going to have to do some serious damage control and it was probably going to take time, but he'd manage it.  "Wait until Taro's up and moving and hears.  Pretty sure he missed the whole thing."

Yeah, it was going to suck, but it would also give him a damn good reason to remove the iron in the castle that he'd secretly been making disappear whenever he could get away with it, since that was a serious threat, as Benjamin so kindly reminded him.  It wasn't a lesson he'd be forgetting, about the iron or Benjamin, who had known exactly what to grab, how careful he had to be to hit one and not the other, and had been incredibly fast and accurate.  Not that the man's skills had been under question, not as a member of Diamond, but he'd just gone up a notch on the danger scale in Murphy's brain.  People needed to stop doing that.

"If I have any control over it, the new guy won't know his brother's a fae, no, but you're probably right about where he got the knife.  That means he gets it back if he survives all this shit, which we need information to decide.  Tell Nicolette I'm limiting her to twenty questions, so you two can get to work.  Kid's name is Antoine, Stark mentioned a wife and kids, all dead, and he was a level 6 in Onyx Europe before he lost his shit.  While you're at it, get Stark's real name and figure out who the fuck we're dealing with.  I'm sick of this shit."

He looked visibly irritated at having himself and his sister outed, but he glanced her way at the mention of Emma and smirked somewhat, then sighed.  "You and I both know she was just waiting for a good time to do it, and no, I wouldn't, but I don't let you fall into situations where you're about to be killed by a group that can outpower us, do I?  For a collection of badasses, we're all pretty rational.  Except Emma and Irina, but no surprise there.  Anyway, it's done, gotta deal with it.  Just be aware that Rutherford has a mean swing with a fireplace poker."

There was the warning, and he squeezed her shoulder before starting off towards some of the others, namely Aaron, Isabelle and Noelani.  He left the knife with her in case it gave any further indication as to who Desmond and Antoine were, and knowing her, he was confident they'd have plenty of information in no time. 

 Antoine was pretty sure that none of them were real, and he said as much as soon as he could work his jaw again - Aaron had gotten a good stomp off on him and now that the adrenaline had worn off, he was - well, Gunnar had his work cut out for him, human or not. The swelling in his head alone should have been fatal, and as soon as the pressure hit a certain point, Gunnar glibly informed him he would have just dropped dead, and was that what he had wanted? Antoine tried to fight back, but the Smoke only told him to stop being a bitch - it was probably the meanest anyone had ever seen Gunnar be, but he had appropriately guessed that Antoine responded more to the idea of weakness than kindness. The threat of being called a bitch stilled him enough that, even though his energy was returning, he was cooperating.

Of course, Antoine figured that if he was hallucinating, then wouldn't the things in his mind know what he would and wouldn't do?

The newcomer was talking now, and he focused his bloodshot blue eyes on the man who referred to him by name. He told him Gunnar was going to back up, which the "Smoke" did, and then the other man stepped in, informing him they were going to have a chat. This sparked laughter from Antoine. Honest to god laughter, until he coughed and Gunnar had to reach back in and press a finger down on his ribs in a clinical, invasive manner.

"Nope, still holding," he said. Gunnar had, for a moment, thought that Antoine's fervent laughter had just popped the metaphysical mending he'd done. Had he seen it happen before? Not with humans, but occasionally if he was too spent on energy, it could happen that the healing didn't hold. Would he expect things to go wrong in general? Not at all, but in this case, he was more than a little ready if they did. He nodded to Chad to continue.

"Of course you want to have a talk," Antoine wheezed, struggling with restraints to rub his side. "Like I said before, though, Justinian," he snarled, his pleasant demeanor suddenly darkening, "you can ask me six ways from Sunday, make me believe you're my dead wife, whatever else you want to do, I'm not going to tell you anything." He turned his head away and, with a very passe sniff, he twitched his head and set his jaw.

"If you want to know, you'll have to just go in and rip it out yourself."

Oh, Antoine was fairly certain that Justinian was mocking up the man in his dream, trying to get him to tell them information that they were having difficulty yanking out of his head. Rajz had done a number on him - while Justinian had been a little impressed by Iloquil's fledgling, he was also very aware that sparing the rod didn't always spoil the child, and sometimes you could break someone's mind up so much that information you needed to retrieve was simply fragmented too many times to make sense to anyone but the bearer. Justin, therefore, used hallucinations to make Antoine tell them valuable information - some of which they acted on, some of which they sat on (they immediately took access of Onyx UK's database, but they hadn't attacked anyone yet).

It had taken Antoine a long time to come to terms with the hallucinations being just that, and unfortunately there were still times when he had trouble distinguishing reality. Justin had gotten him a little too crazy, it seemed.

The laughter was a little unexpected, but only so far as Chad didn't realize he was going to burst into laughter when he hadn't even said anything worth much of a response.  Most cases didn't have much to say to 'we're going to have a chat', but apparently, this was hysterical.  At least Gunnar's work was holding, since it wasn't the Smoke who had his work cut out, it was Chad.  Damn it.

Desmond seemed to realize that himself, which prompted some quiet cursing when Antoine called Chad 'Justinian', and it was the Triste's turn to chuckle a little and shake his head.  When he looked back at Antoine, there was no pity or sign of disturbance on his face, but it was hard to shake him.  He had expected impressive amounts of damage from Midnight Europe, but that Justinian was involved?  Welp.

"I'd like to avoid going into your head, Antoine, because there's absolutely nothing in there that I want to see," he pointed out.  If Rajz and Justinian had taken their cracks at him, he was honestly surprised that the man wasn't a totally raving lunatic - this lucidity was probably the result of sheer willpower, but to fix it?  He wasn't sure it was possible, short of a miracle.  He'd removed the metaphysical 'tumors' of trauma that caused some forms of insanity, but it was hard, nasty work, and there was no guarantee that the person wasn't subsisting entirely on that trauma and willpower.  He had to figure out how fractured the rest of the psyche was to determine if it had a chance of working, and that required going in.  He was still hoping to avoid that.  "I told you, my name is Chad.  I've never been to Midnight and I've never personally met Justinian, but if you have, I'm sorry."

It was a start, because that fucker left a mess in his wake.  He still didn't touch on the more pleasant auras, not when they were trying to encourage reality, but it was obvious that the man didn't believe that this was real.  "I don't need to you tell me anything, Antoine.  I'm telling you.  This is your brother, Desmond?  He's worried about you, and apparently, just got his ass kicked trying to keep the people you attacked from killing you."

At the name, Desmond put his hand over his face and rubbed, then looked like he was going to speak up, but Chad ignored him for the moment.  He knew that he wasn't wrong in the information he was given, but if there was something between the two, he didn't want to know it going in.  Antoine was thinking this was all a product either of his own mind or Justinian's, and Chad knowing key information wasn't going to do much to help that. 

 Antoine's bored attitude dropped pretty quickly when Justinian called James 'Desmond', mostly because who the fuck was Desmond? Justinian knew his brother's name, and he'd even been present when his brother had been killed, so what the fuck? He snapped his attention back to Justinian, and for a split second, the room changed and he was somewhere else with other people. Then it went back, and he shook his head a little.

His own mind, however beat to shit it was, was definitely turning some gears. Trying to rationalize. He couldn't be hallucinating, because he knew James' name, and so did everyone else. There had been a vampire attack and a hotel and he'd killed half of Onyx only a few years prior, so what... was he back in Midnight for? He wasn't, that's what it was. The Triste was tugging at an aura that caused him a mild and annoying buzzing pain in the back of his head, and it grounded him just long enough to get a good grip of scenery around him.

"James," he whispered, trying to get his attention. "Am I dead?" He looked from Chad to Gunnar, who were both handsome and blonde, and they could have been angels (or demons, he didn't really know). "Is this... are we in Purgatory?" he hissed.

Because that was his next logical assumption. At least Chad had been very right about not trying to heal his injured psyche - Antoine was only propped up on faults and cracks he'd filled in with the glue of his own will to hold them together. Fixing them would take away his edge, and probably his reason to live. Reason eleventy billion of why they never took people who'd been in Midnight for trainees - and the guilds were certainly re-detailing their policies now, to be sure.

Bingo.  Chad didn't know who 'James' was, but it didn't take a leap of logic when Antoine addressed Desmond as such and the changeling stood from his seat and seemed to stop himself just before hugging the human by squeezing his shoulder.  From body language alone, Chad was guessing it was an effort on Desmond's part, but he refrained just barely. 

"No, Twan, we're in Diamond and you're not dead or going to die, I promise," Desmond answered, and that was the end of his attempt at looking like he wasn't emotionally involved.  He was a wreck.  "I'm so sorry."

For what, he didn't specify, but between not manning up enough to confirm that his brother was dead, failing to save his family and then surviving all of them, he had a lot of guilt.  A lot of it wasn't even necessarily his fault, but that didn't affect guilt all that much.  Guilt didn't require someone else blaming you, it was all your own.

Without knowing the details from Desmond's end, Chad sure as hell wasn't going to comment on that, and fae had the weirdest magical auras to read through, but he was getting some of that negative emotion off of the other man.  As long as Desmond could anchor Antoine, they could deal with the changeling's issues later, but he didn't fail to notice them.  He was so charging if he had to deal with a fae psyche, though.

 Antoine was more than a little surprised when his brother approached him, and he just sort of sat there, totally dazed. Now it was all really coming back to him, but if they were in Diamond, then that meant the vampire must have apparated them there. Why? Was he a Diamond? Had Antoine really just stabbed a Diamond with his lucky knife?

"Shit," he muttered. "My knife."

He looked back at his brother, catching him by the arms, and narrowing his eyes. "Justinian has had me convinced, for a very large amount of time, that you were dead. I'm pretty sure I thought I watched you die, actually," he said, his voice low. "You can understand my skepticism for reality as I know it, as it clearly hasn't always been so stable," he added, a wry joke punctuating the very ugly truth that Antoine was always going to be super-PTSD man.

After a long, quiet pause, the inevitable question came. "Everyone else is actually dead, still, though, right?" Antoine didn't wince as he asked; really, he sort of leaned back a little and tilted his head, his brows raising as if he were trying to make it look like he'd just asked for the time. Like he was incapable of allowing himself the idea that his family was still alive. Hope,  contention, happiness - Chadwick had been right not to use those auras to get him to talk, because he really just didn't register them like a person should.

It had probably been a very good call on Noelani's part not to summon Corinne. Antoine may have tried to kill her much more violently than the others.

Desmond actually laughed a little, choking on it past all the horrible emotions to go with the slight bit of humor, but he nodded.  "Your knife.  Did a number on the Diamond vamp with it, but we'll get it back," he told Antoine, nodding a little.  It was a fae gift, and so it had to go back to its owner.  That was how it worked. 

The way his brother grabbed his arms caused him to stiffen slightly, but if Antoine had gone violent on him, he wouldn't have fought back nearly hard enough.  Fortunately, that's not where it went, but James made full-on eye contact with his brother through the information, and the more he heard, the worse he felt.  Antoine had watched him die, or at least, someone who looked exactly like him, and there was more guilt there.  Not that he'd survived, because that was more important to him than a stranger and always would be, but that it had been used against Antoine, and that the poor bastard had probably died nasty.  That was the one part he'd mostly been able to forget, or at least, shove to the back of his mind far enough not to think about it.  Once again, he nodded, squeezing Antoine's shoulder again.  "They tried for me, it just didn't take."

There, no details, no need to tell Antoine that while he was trapped in Midnight watching his family and James die horribly, his brother had actually been fleeing the country and then hunkering down to suffer through iron poisoning like he'd never before experienced and then the healing of his wounds.  He'd actually called Declan, Sam for help, not sure who else to ask, and Kes had come with him.  It was those two who kept him alive, and by the time he was back on his feet, the bodies had been found and James thought that he had to see.  He'd gone, and now he had those images in his head once again as Antoine asked him.

Something must have shown on his face, his usual ability to play any part, be any person, completely lost to him, and he glanced down as he swallowed thickly, then nodded again.  His voice was as thick as whatever he was trying to shove back down, but he still answered.  "Yes, Twanner, they're actually dead.  I thought you were, too," he admitted, and he didn't like the way Antoine had asked, that look about him, but the information was there, it had to be given.  He wouldn't lie to his brother.

Taro was finally feeling well enough to talk, and re-emerged in the main hall where Murphy, Lani, Aaron and Isabelle stood. Eithne had just left to go and research her way to the truth, and Taro had something himself worth adding into the fold. He'd had to eat, first, though, which meant vanishing right after Gunnar had healed him. The Smoke knew his business, but Taro was still left with that angry need to gorge himself on the blood of someone who probably didn't deserve it, and so he had.

"Before you all start with questions, let me just say that at first, I didn't know who he was," he said, holding up his hands.

"So, when you did realize that he's a mass murderer, you took him here?" Belle asked, her brows raised.

"I said before you start!" Taro snapped, both stomping his foot and waving his arms at them. He straightened himself, wondering how best to explain what had gone through his head, and finally decided on the truth. "When the original event happened, I was curious enough to follow up on it on my own - we'd already closed the case, but I had contacts telling me that it wasn't the full story. So, naturally, when I actually find the guy who's supposed to be responsible for one of the biggest takedowns in guild history, I want to look inside his head for what really happened."

Isabelle snorted.

"I take it you tried to go in there, too. Guys, there's no way he's the mastermind they say he is. I mean, he is, because man can he fight, but he didn't just wake up one day and go postal. There's something dirty in the water they're trying to make us drink."

"A cover-up?" Lani asked. "From us?"

Isabelle scratched her eyebrow lightly and looked at Murphy. "I know you two are American - well, okay Lani you're American, but you have to understand that you can't possibly be all of the stereotypes at once. In the rest of the world, whenever your government does something underhanded and it's on Wikileaks and people are outraged, we're sort of not surprised. Do you think if the government goes out of their way to hide shit, that the people under you who don't want your scrutiny won't do the same amount of hiding? I worked at Onyx AU, and we didn't do anything dirty, but we certainly didn't want Diamond attention. Look at what happened in the US now - a guild leader sent people into Midnight without any pre-auth, then somehow managed to start a war - a war with Midnight almost behind out back?"

Taro pointed. "Bingo." He looked at Lani. "I hate to break it to you, sister, but I think we've all been lied to."

Lani, who didn't like being called an ignorant American, liked the idea that the people beneath her had pulled one over on her even less. "Let's see what Eithne and Nicolette dig up," she said, her voice icy and smooth. She crossed her arms slowly, and Murphy would know that they would probably be going to the UK really soon to simply oust management and re-assemble the guilds themselves. Probably painfully and with a lot of force.

Murphy snorted just at the back and forth between Belle and Taro, but otherwise remained silent so that he could absorb the information needed and then offer it up to Eithne and Nicolette.  There was another snort when Isabelle corrected herself in stating that Murphy was American, his New York Irish thing obviously not believed anymore, but she wasn't wrong.  He wasn't deluded into thinking the way that so many Americans did about the government, but he wasn't much of a fan of thinking that some of the other guilds had been doing shit that they didn't like.  It sounded very much like they needed to be putting in more plants, watching more closely.

After they went in and shook shit up, of course.

"Just the vacation I was looking for," he snarked, running a hand through his hair and glancing Taro over quickly, just in case.  Guy looked good, which probably meant that someone was dead, but Gunnar had also done a bang-up job.  Murphy knew Taro well enough to understand his habits.  "Based around what the girls dig up, we might want to take a stab at our changeling contact in there.  Stark knew enough to know about his brother's family, and think his brother was dead, and Stark himself is alive.  I'm betting he knows something."

No, Murphy wasn't just sore about Desmond coming at him, though that irritated him still.  He understood the man's reasons even if he wouldn't admit it, but he didn't like it.

 Antoine breathed a sigh, though whether it was relief or not, nobody, not even him, knew. "Me, dead? No. That would have been easy," he joked, though he physically blocked the thoughts of what happened in the place of him dying out of his head. He felt broken and cracked floodgates and barriers slamming down as he went back into 'normal mode', which was the state he existed in between bouts of vicious killing and total madness.

He looked at the close proximity of the Triste and the witch and then went back to James. "I'm fine, I'm not going to flip out again," he said, holding his hands up. He did wipe his hand over his face and add, "I have fucked up" in a low voice to himself. He had attacked a Diamond, then been brought to Diamond where he'd attacked more Diamonds. In his defense, he had no idea what was going on.

He didn't really know what else to say, which was why he was thankful when Noelani's voice cut in. "Yes, you have," she agreed. She looked at Stark, or James, or whoever he was, then back at his brother. "But not as much as someone else did. Des, Eithne needs to see you."

"And that's another thing," Antoine said, sitting up quickly enough that Noelani put a hand out, ready to push him back down in a second if she saw a reason. He looked at her hand, then at her, an expression that somehow made her doubt herself for a split-second before she remembered who she was.

"I hit a lot harder than they do," she advised him.

"She does," Gunnar added. He didn't sound like he was joking.

"I'll take that into consideration for future endeavours; right now I'd like to stand up, if that's okay with you." When she lowered her hand, but didn't move, he slowly swung his legs over the cot and stood to his full height (6'1). He glanced at Chad again, then to his brother. "I really just wanted to ask why they keep calling you Desmond, man," he said, a grin on his face.

"Nope," Noelani said, instantly stepping back from him and turning around. "Nope. Chad, Gunnar, come on. Nope," she said again, waving her hands in front of her in a time-out manner. "Des, you guys come out when you're done." She wasn't getting into any more family business when she already had to deal with all of the questions about Murphy and Eithne that were no doubt hurtling her way very soon. Besides, by the time they were done, Eithne would know a little more - and then Antoine could throw in his own input.

It wasn't like James appreciated the fact that dying would have truly been easier than surviving everything that his brother had, but he was okay with the fact that the man was functioning well enough to make even unpleasant jokes.  That didn't guarantee that he was going to stay 'normal', but then, James didn't exactly intend to leave him on his own anytime soon.  The assurance that Antoine wouldn't flip out again, the understanding that he'd fucked up, that seemed like a good start, though.  James glanced to Chad, who was apparently their resident expert, and the man looked pleasant enough when he smiled.  James wasn't fooled into thinking it was all better, but he'd take progress.

"You're not the only one," he admitted about the same time that Noelani cut in, and he was okay with that.  He wasn't okay with being ordered off to see Eithne, which explained his lack of movement immediately, and he sure as hell wasn't going anywhere once Antoine mentioned 'another thing' and sat up, prompting aggressive reactions.

James stiffened, prepared to jump in however was necessary to keep his brother safe and under control, and Antoine wasn't the only one wondering if she was bluffing when she said she hit harder than Gunnar and Chad (who he was assuming she was talking about).  He could see it, considering Gunnar was the medic, but he was also a witch, and they were damn strong usually, and he wasn't entirely sure what Chad was, but it was something supernatural despite his also apparently being some kind of shrink.  Antoine being polite sure as hell helped the situation, as far as he was concerned, and James released a relieved sigh as he also straightened. 

Apparently, he wasn't getting to Eithne just yet, since Antoine's question got a surprising reaction from Noelani.  The changeling stared after her a moment as she ushered Gunnar and Chad from the room, and the two of them exchanged a look of confusion on their own, but followed, which was interesting to James.  They probably had the infirmary fixed to prevent magical means of transportation, or something.  Why they would leave a known fae in their with a human 'captive' made little sense to him, unless there was some level of trust he hadn't expected.  It wasn't unfounded, since he wasn't in any hurry to take Antoine somewhere there might be danger if Diamond was willing to house them comfortably for now, but it was surprising.

"Ah, technically, I'm retired.  My whole team took on new identities to be able to relax and vacation some in less extreme occupations.  Might pick the real one back up sometime, but the slower pace is nice," he admitted, shrugging some.  "It's Desmond Stark, and from the sound of it, you might be needing a new one, too."

He was straight serious on that one, and it sucked that Antoine was human, since it wasn't like he could hide his face behind another if he ran into someone who suspected.  Not if he was alone, anyway.  James could help him hide, but then, Antoine didn't know that, and James wasn't volunteering just yet that the weird talents he'd had when they were growing up had blossomed into real power, because damn it, he just wanted time with his brother.

 Antoine frowned; James had been military, but he hadn't been so military he'd have to take a new name. Had he? "Retired?" he echoed, staring at him with a certain expression of disbelief, one that was definitely getting some work lately. When James suggested he might also need a new name, he merely made a laughing noise that caught in his throat. "I fucked up brother, but not with that. I'll take the notoriety, whether the record ever gets straightened out or not."

He cleared his throat, loosening up his arms and shoulder. "Desmond, though?" he asked, narrowing one eye a little.

He pivoted on his foot, happy to be able to walk around, and noticed that he felt better physically then he had in weeks. The Smoke had healed shit that Antoine had been just waiting out. "Your friends here really know how to stitch a guy up," he muttered. As soon as his back was to his brother, mouthing 'Desmond' again to himself and an eyeroll. James just wanted to be fancy.

"So, what exactly did you do in the time that I was gone that warranted a name change and made you friends with Diamonds, or do I want to know?" he said. His tone was light, but the question was a lot more serious than it sounded. "And why didn't anyone tell you I was alive?" More to the point.

Answer?  Yes, he'd been so military he had to take a new name if he wanted any peace, which he had.  The name that was real was the one with the notoriety of his own, so he didn't disagree with his brother on that one, but it was nice to enter a situation and not be known or affiliated with some impossible ventures.  James shrugged at Antoine's comment, but he winced at the name thing.  "It could've been worse.  You remember Liam?  He got Harvey."

He still didn't see this being the end of the name thing, but whatever.  He was just glad Antoine was alive to rib him, and actually, that shock hadn't worn off enough for him to truly absorb it.  It would probably hit later, when he was trying to sleep, or something.  "Wouldn't really call them 'friends', but they're some of the best at what they do, and as far as I know, Gunnar is the best at what he does," he pointed out, because credit where it was due.  He personally thought that his old team could give some of these guys a run for their money, but he wasn't going to advertise that like it was a challenge. 

"Couple high-profile jobs, one of my mates had marriage problems, we were all a bit burnt out on the whole deal.  Decided to take a break, do some smaller work to keep busy," he offered, not a lot of details, but then, that wasn't really what Antoine was asking.  He could have probably named a specific job that would have gotten more of a reaction out of his brother, but admitting you'd done some things just wasn't cool, and he didn't want to shatter his brother's image of him, whatever it was. 

Not the point.  The point came at the end, and the faux lightness to the conversation was demolished for James' very serious face.  Again, he looked very bothered despite being able to close down if he wanted.  "Don't know, maybe they thought I knew.  I'll be honest, I thought you were dead and after Lily and the children...I didn't want to see.  I was avoiding that part of the world awhile, got dragged back in when an old friend needed an extraction.  If I knew...you know I'd have been there."

 Antoine only snorted when he said Liam had 'won' Harvey. "Is he still around?" Antoine asked, wondering how everyone had held up. He'd have been interested to know that Emile was currently a trainer in Frost UK, mostly because that would have been someone who could have vouched for him. Or helped him with his Roaring Rampage of Revenge (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoaringRampageOfRevenge). He folded his arms and walked towards the door, though he was hesitant to go out there, yet.

His shoulders stiffened as James brought up his wife and kids, and he put his hand on the door. "I know," he said, his voice an octave low. He cleared his throat and turned around, furrowing his brows and forcing a smile. He had been waiting to go face the music, but after that emotional remark, he was pretty sure he needed to. "Let's go and handle this," he suggested.

There was nobody immediately outside, but he could hear voices. This place was literally a castle, he marveled. He'd heard rumours, but seeing it? As he rounded the corner, James hot on his heels, he spotted a female talking with the guy who'd left them earlier. She glanced over her shoulder, blinking large green-grey eyes at him and touching Chad on the arm.

"Sutherland?" she said, her mouth dropping open. She said something else in a different language, then left Chad's side, walking more and more rapidly until she was running at Antoine. At a time like this, it was easy to forget that he was prior military service - much like James had once had a normal military career. And - well, a few of them, actually.

She hugged him tightly, then punched him in the arm, her voice raising as she spoke in Farsi. Antoine looked totally stunned for all of this, mostly because he'd experienced a lot of head trauma over the years. It'd take some jogging of his memory to know that they'd served together, but he'd get there eventually. In the meantime, he practically carried her on his hip like a child, turning around to look at James.

"He doesn't know who I am, does he?" she asked James flatly. She looked at Antoine. "Antoine, put me down."

"I'll get there," he hissed.

"MI-6," Firuza jogged. "Syria. Project Dawn."

"It's so nice to see you, Ghassemi," he said in Farsi. Switching to English, he dropped her to the ground. "But right now, I need to handle something. I banged a few of you up earlier and I've got to deal with that." He winced a little as she stepped away from him, her face turning to shock.

"You were the one that got Taro?" she asked, full of disbelief.  She looked past him. "Des?"

Mentioning Liam was probably the best option, considering he was the biggest 'success story' for the group, and would remain such, even after being captured for two damn years, but that wasn't even an issue just yet.  "Course he is, too damn smart not to be, that man.  Married to a lovely lady, last I heard," he offered.  "The others are all keeping busy, too, spread out and causing trouble, I'm sure."

Emile probably would have helped with Antoine's Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and actually, James and most of the team would have helped, on some level, but they'd have made sure that they could prove that the deaths were warranted, so that people didn't just attribute it to Antoine going postal.  They'd have also sought some sort of help for Antoine, even if it was just trying to keep him grounded when his reality was shaken.  Something.  Anything would have been better than this, and though James regretted mentioning Lily and the children immediately, he didn't know how else to do it.  He merely nodded when his brother said they should go handle it, because that was better than dwelling on the shit end of things, but he was not prepared for Firuza.

Apparently, Chad wasn't quite expecting Firuza to behave the way she did, either, since he shot James a look that might have qualified as 'puzzled', if it wasn't quite so guarded.  As it was, James was mostly guessing here.  Not that he had more than an instant to take in the details from the man (an instant was a lot of information sometimes) before Firuza called Antoine by name and prompted both of them glancing her way just based on the familiar surname, and then she was running towards them.  Not really all that familiar with her himself, James stiffened and prepared to knock her into next week if he had to, but she hugged his brother, and chattered at him in Farsi until she realized that he didn't remember her.

"Nope, not yet," he offered easily enough, in the same language.  Being who he was required languages, and he was good at them. 

There it was.  She mentioned a specific time, place and operation, and Antoine remembered just fine, which was encouraging.  Maybe his mind just needed the time to repair itself properly?  James could hope, since that was about all he had right then.  "Ah, right, yeah.  In Antoine's defense, though, I'm sure Taro did plenty to deserve it, somewhere along the line.  Gunnar fixed him up just fine."

Yes, he liked that his brother was dangerous and capable of taking care of himself, but he didn't prefer that they all know it, just in case.  He didn't want someone hitting harder and faster than Antoine could deal with, expecting worse out of him.

 It wasn't like Firuza to be disloyal, but perhaps having known Antoine before all of this made her a little wary as to the situation across the guild. She looked at Chad, and then back to Antoine, and she didn't have to say anything for him to understand that she was prepared to get in the way of something. Desmond might have actually appreciated that, since Firuza generally came across as very cold and professional. Or maybe that's how Taro explained her? No, Taro had worse to say.

Eithne chose that exact moment to emerge from the meeting area, surprised to see them all gathering in the hall. "What are you guys waiting for? I want to - oh," she interrupted herself, stopping as she spotted Antoine and Desmond. She looked at the proximity Firuza had with them, noticing that she'd placed herself between the brothers and the Triste, but said nothing about it.

"Desmond, I think I've found out something you'll want to hear. Well, actually, you won't want to hear it, but it sort of... has a lot to do with... things. Just come in here and sit down," she added. She gave Desmond a sharp look, one that plainly said that Antoine may not react well to any of the information that was about to come up.

Firuza didn't know of any trap being set, so she looked at the duo, then back to the Fae by the door (oh, she'd heard). She'd only gotten second-hand information on what had happened, since she'd been physically gone for the entire ordeal, and nobody had told her the rest so she was pretty far removed from the loop at the moment.

Antoine, not about to let Firuza try and absorb damage for himself, brushed past her. "It's fine," he said, even though his skin started to crawl as he hovered outside the room that housed several vampires. "Let's see what the news is." He seemed so unafraid, even though technically there was a call for his head across the airwaves (well, there had been, before Diamond had set things straight - there were already plans about who to send out to the UK guilds now). And he wasn't, not really - Antoine didn't feel fear like normal people did anymore. He wasn't afraid to die. Rajz had taken that, replacing it with other, worse things to be afraid of - things that wouldn't ever happen normally or naturally.

When he walked into the room, Firuza was right at his heels. "Over here," she said, directing him to the far side of the table where she normally sat. It was close to Lani and Murphy, which was good - but it was also close to Taro, which was not. She eyed him, daring him to say something to her, and she was a little surprised when he didn't.

Oh, make no mistake, James was noticing certain details in Firuza's behavior, things that didn't make sense after most of what he knew about her, and he was filing them away for later.  His little brother seemed to have a legitimate ally in this clusterfuck, and that was important.  That Chad seemed to have noticed it as well didn't bode well, but the man didn't make any indication that it was a problem.  If he was a good shrink, he'd stay impartial, but James wasn't into trusting others too well.

So far, he was liking Firuza more and more, though.  She'd always seemed cold and professional, but this was an entirely different side, and one that he approved of.  Her putting herself between Chad and the two of them seemed odd, and made him wonder about the danger level the seemingly harmless man presented (seemingly harmless and actually harmless were drastically different things, and he was sometimes proof of that), but unless he saw more, he had no way of knowing.  Any reaching he did was met with a blank slate, probably intentionally on the man's part.  That upped his power level in James' mind. 

"Coming, darling," he offered Eithne, not encouraged by her offer of information and especially not by that look she gave him, but he put a hand on his brother's shoulder to hopefully be encouraging even as the human pushed past his issues, and they joined the others despite any of their own reservations. 

Hopefully, Firuza ensured that there were two chairs open where she called Antoine to sit, since James wasn't leaving him on his own, though Chad went for whatever chair was open.  That put him closer to Aaron and Belle, which was just fine with him, and also gave him a good look at the others.  James did what he could to keep himself between Taro and Antoine, and that was that, wasn't it?  Now to hear this news, and hope that it wasn't anything that would put his brother off in front of all of these wonderfully dangerous hunters.  That would be lovely.

 Antoine sat down where Firuza directed him, grateful that Desmond was on his other side. The two of them, he'd trust in a fight - he had no idea about his brother's special abilities, but he knew that Firuza was unique - unique in a way that kept them from being nailed by a fucking rebel helo after it had been hit with a missile fired by their own forces. Whatever she was, whatever she'd done, it had always been in the best interests of the team around them. Antoine wouldn't ever have a problem with her at his back.

He looked around, then at Eithne, who was standing and pacing around the room. God damn, there were a lot of vampires in this guild. He looked at Taro, right at him, but the vampire offered nothing indicating he gave a shit. Antoine didn't know it, but Taro had saved his life. He also realized that Diamond had a lot more people than he'd originally thought, and he was willing to bet that this wasn't anything like their full complement. Chairs at the massive table were left empty, despite everyone comfortably in a seat they seemed to have sat in on a routine basis.

"It's come to our attention that we have a situation in Europe," Noelani said, standing from the head of the table. For such a slender woman (who wasn't very tall, compared to Antoine, anyways), her voice was loud enough to be heard throughout the meeting hall - of course, most of them had supernatural hearing, so it wouldn't have mattered if she spoke normally. "That situation is a gross negligence and absolute corruption, so much so that we're forming teams tonight and sending people out." She paused, then looked right at Antoine. "And I think there are some things that need to be set straight. Eithne? You have the floor."

Eithne nodded, waiting until Noelani sat back down, and began speaking. She hurriedly explained what had transpired that night, confirming what many of them already knew - that Antoine was technically wanted with a stupidly high bounty on his head, for what was essentially treason and murder against the guilds. But now she'd have to explain the ugly truth, and she paused, looking at Antoine for a moment. This was all going to be really hard for him to hear, and she knew it.

"Antoine Sutherland was one of the first hunters who was essentially sold into Midnight EU under the pretense of a covert operation known as Mark Ultra - probably a reference to the US' own project of a similar name. They were tasked with gathering intelligence to be used against Midnight EU, and in exchange were told their families would be taken and placed into hiding until they were extracted. The guilds were supposed to have contacts within Midnight that would cut them loose after a set number of days."

"Wait," Link said. He was one of the few Americans at the guild table. "You're talking about MK Ultra, right? That was based on human mind control through drugs and torture. That was the program that the guilds were taking the name from? And nobody suspected anything?" He slammed his hand down on the table.

Eithne tipped her head a little, letting the Unseelie have his say, then smiled. "Actually, the people who went in, if you'd let me get to that, were people who were former military or otherwise, and had extensive training for situations exactly like they were presented with. It was supposed to allow the guilds to probe into their methods of torture, to see what they weren't preparing for. The problem was that there was another agreement made underneath the project."

Antoine sat forward in his chair a little. He wasn't new to any of this information, except the bit about the other deal being made. He glanced around the table, where people looked between he and Eithne. The stares were shocked, uncomfortable - but mostly, angry. Nobody was nearly as angry as he was, though, he could guarantee that. He just hid it really well.

Eithne continued. "The agreement under the project was taking the best of the best from Onyx and - " she faltered a little. After clearing her throat, she spoke rapidly, "The agreement was that they'd be broken into a thousand pieces. Midnight was introducing more intense methods of torture, far off from the normal things that had been reported. Chemical, psychological."

"They do that anyways," Link said.

Eithne looked at him, her eyes wide. "Not like this, they didn't," she managed, her voice barely above a whisper.

 Somehow, Eithne had handed the floor off to Antoine. He didn't want to talk, not particularly, but it was a look from the Arun witch that had tried to get into his head that made him slowly stand up. Her eyes were incredibly dark, and in them he could see hate, anger - he remembered her panicking as she'd seen his memory, and it suddenly clicked. She'd been where he had, and she'd probably been there for longer, judging by her panic and loss of control over the sight of the vampire. And she was looking at him, like she was just... waiting.

"I had another objective when I was there. It wasn't just torture porn for our guild to research. I'd never have signed up for that," he added, a laugh escaping his throat. It was obvious that Antoine was a born speaker - the way he moved, the way his hands and face expressed ideas - the way he made eye contact with them as he spoke. He wasn't just a born speaker, he was a born leader, so to reflect back on what some of them had seen earlier made it all the more real.

"I was supposed to pull information off of trader on the inside. That trader didn't exist - or he didn't seem to. He was on paper and in photos and every other way I could prove to you he exists, but once I got inside, I couldn't find him. I had to endure and maintain and all of the other hostage bullshit, hoping this contact would surface. I never got to him, so I don't know what information he had for me. Or for the guilds. Or if he existed at all."

Eithne piped back in. "He didn't," she informed them. "It was just a cover story - all of the hunters who went in got something like that, something that would make them feel like they needed to hold out and complete their mission. One by one, they all broke. All of them but you."

"What a treat that was, let me tell you," Antoine said dryly. He didn't return to his seat, instead leaning on the wall in the cold room with his arms folded. "You know, it's one thing to believe that you were conspired against, but it's another thing to hear it," he remarked darkly. No, Antoine's anger was showing, now.

"Well, it gets worse," she warned him. "So, the corruption that we mentioned? This agreement was wound all throughout the guild. It seems isolated at Onyx from what we can tell, and the few people who could give us information were our own contacts from other countries who simply never thought to look further until now because the releases all simply said that a hunter returned from Midnight and went - well, batshit."

"Things did get a little messy," he acknowledged.

"The long and short of it is that they made a deal with the devil and they spent the currency of souls that weren't their own with which to bargain. Then when their progeny came back to bite them in the ass, they tried to vilify him to the rest of us in hopes that someone or a lot of someones would take the contract on his head and tie the package up in a neat bow." This voice came from someone who hadn't yet spoken, and everyone turned to see a pale, pretty woman in the doorway who looked somehow both young and mature at the same time.

"I should know. I was there," she added. "And I endured just the very edge of it, and I can tell you that, if they really signed off on this, then they all deserved to die."

Everyone in the room was very aware that Antoine was tensed, and that he was looking at Corinne in the same way he'd looked at Taro right before he'd stabbed him. He blinked a few times, his vision of her in the doorway mingling with her strapped down into a chair while Rajz held a Firestone knife to her throat. She had a distinct cry, a sort of whicker almost like a frightened animal, and she had a scream that was subdued through control. This time was different, though - this time he was making her actually scream. He was forcing her to use her power, pushing the hunter to near-overdose levels of it, and then cutting it off suddenly.

They hadn't called Corinne the opium vampire for nothing. Just like Orestes, too much of her was a bad thing. Too much of her consistently was even worse, and they'd starved her so that she couldn't just 'turn it off'. She'd been forced into torturing Antoine against her will, and he had to wonder what vampires could make one as old as she was do something like that? Then he'd met Justinian and Iloquil, and he knew.

He blinked again, and he realized that he was standing in a room full of people who hadn't totally reserved themselves to not kicking his ass. He took a shaky breath, looking at James and Firuza. "So now you all know the truth. They let my family get taken. They brought it on themselves. Still want to kill me?" he snapped.

"I think I want to go to England," Link said hotly.

Link wasn't the only one who wanted to go to England, but Link had his team present, and that was a big difference for him. James was going whether he got the others on board or not, but he'd feel a hell of a lot better with the kind of backup he trusted. Here, he just had Antoine, and maybe Firuza, but he still figured she'd choose her people over him and he didn't blame her for that. For his own good, however, he'd prefer to have people he trusted on his side.  If he was going up against the people who had done those terrible things to children, above all else, he knew there was no hope for him if he was left hanging.

"England, it is, but I need to make a few calls first. I have friends who would be very cross with me if I didn't invite them in for a suicide mission," he joked, a defense mechanism for when he figured shit was going to go south.  If they were planning on taking on a whole guild, it would get nasty at some point, and that was without counting Midnight. Wonderful.

"Must be good friends," Murphy pointed out, glancing to Eithne and then back to him, which prompted the narrowing of James' eyes and a look from his brother.

"Very good friends."

"You're bringing Broadsword in on this," Eithne stated, not even asking, and though the changeling's face remained completely impassive, he didn't have to answer.  She didn't need it, and apparently, neither did the others.  Aaron whistled from down the table, Murphy glanced to Noelani, and James looked to Antoine once more.  Their reputations always did precede them.

"Guilty." 

 Corinne's eyebrows merely raised as Desmond brought up Broadsword. She knew some of his team members - not Harvey, because she didn't spend a terribly large amount of time in America, but certainly Emile and Sam. Emile was a trainer for Frost UK, so she had actually worked with him in the past. She had to cover more than the UK, unfortunately; by the time things had come to a head with the Onyx situation, she was safely with Frost Russia and dealing with none of it. Had she known... 

"I can help with my own contacts," she put in.

Antoine glanced at her, clenching his jaw. "How will we know that you won't get rolled over by bigger vampires?" he asked pointedly. Nobody sitting in that room really knew why he was asking, but it was obvious that her statement of being there didn't nearly cover it.

"I'll involve my sire," she said.

"What does that tell us? We don't know who your sire is," Eithne blurted. "You're old enough to have kept it off the books. No offense Corinne, but most vampires your age are loopy."

Murphy stared at her for a long moment, then said something to Lani that nobody heard over the room break out into murmuring. It was true, nobody knew who Corinne's sire was - Antoine had assumed it was Justin or Iloquil for the way they'd overpowered her, but now she was making it sound like her sire carried some weight those two didn't. Like they needed another ancient in their midst.

Corinne looked Eithne directly in the eye and spoke. "I keep my sire out of your books because he has no place in them. That should tell you what you need to know."

"Well, it doesn't tell us anything," Taro snapped. "Who's her sire? Orpheus? Thanatos? Those two are ancient and batshit," he pointed out.

Murphy pinched the bridge of his nose, listening to the group argue amongst themselves. "It's Klaus," he said flatly.

"Niklaus," Corinne corrected. "And I believe he could be of help here, since he has spent much of his time in Europe. Desmond, Fawkes and I have worked together in the past. He finds my talents useful in interrogation," she said, glancing at Antoine for a half-second, then back to the Fae.

Declan (Sam) and Emile were two of the better members of Broadsword for Corinne to be familiar with, since they were both professionals and not 'weird'.  You couldn't say the same about Kes, Liam or even James himself, not as the best first impressions for the team, especially if you were going for, 'we totally know what we're doing and we're not completely batshit', since they were all quirky, at the very least.  Get Liam going on something he was working on and he might never shut up, Kes was definitely out there and should never be trusted in a airborne vehicle (or so James claimed) and he sure as hell wasn't the epitome of 'normal'.  He had good people he was bringing in.

Apparently, Antoine doubted whether that was true of Corinne, or if she could be trusted to be involved herself, but their quick discussion as to the identity of her sire, including her 'keeping him out of their books' made James wonder.  Murphy's revelation as to the actual identity of said sire didn't do all that much for James, though mostly because the guy really did stay off the radar.  For Murphy, though, Klaus was a pretty big deal, especially after meeting him and getting a feel for him.  There was power behind that bastard, whether he let it on or not.

"Niklaus, whatever," Murphy said with a wave as he released the bridge of his nose and glanced across the group.  He'd had Eithne look into the vamp, and they didn't have an age other than 'old', a power, or much of anything.  He didn't waylay entire towns, but Murphy had trouble believing that he was totally peaceful for all of those centuries, either.  "I don't know enough about his power to say whether he'd be useful, but he's pretty damn calm and collected.  If he's insane, he hides it well."

He didn't have a lot to go on in vouching for the vampire, but he'd been there long enough while they were all working on Cobriana, and they'd only just finished.  He wasn't expecting to see the bastard again so soon.

"Does he now?" James asked, and though it could have been directed at either of them, he was looking at Corinne specifically, and mostly meant it in regards to her mention of Emile finding her talents useful.  He wasn't sure he wanted to know, especially with the way she and his brother were exchanging looks, but eventually, he'd find out.  He just didn't want to do it in a way that was detrimental to Antoine or his state of mind.  "I'll be sure to send your regards when I talk to him.  Your name?"

He didn't like being surrounded so completely by people he didn't know, but as soon as he had her name and they made a break to collect themselves, he was calling in a few of his own.  He had someone else he thought could be useful, as well.

Klaus? The name didn't mean anything to him, mostly because the vampire stayed far enough out of everyone's way for a reason. Antoine looked Corinne up and down at about the same time James did, and it was for a similar reason. She claimed to know a member of James' team, and he wagered that it was either Declan or John, but by the way she spoke of him finding her talents useful, and having firsthand knowledge of what her talent was, he'd bet on John. That man was intense, and just the type to utilize such an ability.

"I think introductions all around are little in order," Antoine muttered beneath his breath. "Her name is Corinne," he said more clearly, raising an eyebrow at her before turning to look at his brother.  He kept his thoughts about who would be more likely to use Corinne's devastating ability to himself, mostly because there was no reason to interject his opinion into the already-tense exchange. "Corinne, why don't you tell him what you do?"

He could find other ways to make it tense.

Corinne smiled when Murphy admitted ignorance to Niklaus' power. "He will prove useful in helping to put your house in order, I am confident. He spoke highly of you." She smiled, and it was almost unsettling. Klaus had mentioned that he'd come across a Fae hiding in Diamond and told Kore to keep her wits about her, which she had done to the best of her ability. It had amused her to realize that the O'Sheas were Fae, but she hadn't been as surprised as the others.

When James spoke to her, the lilt in his accented voice almost accusatory as he reiterated her statement of Emile working with her, Corrine's smile changed. It froze on her face, though she was so much like a doll that it was almost missed at first. It wasn't until she uncrossed her arms and walked toward him that Antoine realized she was taking his taunt seriously. He reached out to grab her by the wrist, missing her barely as her celerity brought her right to James' back before they could blink.

"I promise, this will not hurt," she told him. She placed a hand on his shoulder gently, and let a small wave release. Since Fae were unaffected by most drugs humans had, her ability may have been a little jarring for him. It was as though his brain had an endorphin release at the brush of her fingertips, and warmth would spread through him, from his belly to his toes. His head would feel fuzzy, but comfortable - in fact, he was very comfortable. Euphoric.

"Corinne," Lani warned.

She released him and took a step back. "It's highly addictive," she explained. "Especially to humans." She glanced up at Lani. "It's easier to show then to explain, I'm afraid," she added apologetically. She didn't look at Antoine, who was practically foaming at the mouth.

At Corinne's assurances, Murphy pulled a face that was very obviously an unhappy, forced smile, not so sure how he felt about her sire 'speaking highly' of him.  As far as he was concerned, speaking of him at all was more than he was interested in from someone of Klaus' age and supposed power, having met and gotten a feel for the vampire.  He seemed like he could be a fantastic ally, but the fae (especially one who'd been around like Murphy had) weren't particularly known for trusting others.  The Irishman couldn't help but feel as though the smile she gave him when she made the promise on her sire's behalf was partially at his own expense. 

"Hope ol' Klaus is as happy to keep your word as you are to give his," he pointed out, giving her slightly narrowed eyes like he wasn't sure he trusted her.  The ancients were all batshit because humans just weren't designed for that kind of longevity, so in his book, the ones that made it that long couldn't be trusted.  If Klaus and Corinne weren't obviously insane, there had to be something lurking under the surface that just hadn't been made known, yet.  He didn't want it coming up when it was least convenient for his people.

While Murphy had much more information and just plain didn't trust them all, James didn't know what her ability was.  That meant he had no clue how it was that John had utilized it, but the man had some skills that even Declan hadn't been big on using, not if it wasn't absolutely necessary.  That she knew him as Emile meant that it had been after the team had disbanded, and then the man wasn't confined to Declan's ideas of what was acceptable and what was going too far.  James would trust John with his life on a mission, and had in the past, but working on his own?  He wasn't sure exactly where John would draw his line.  Corinne's power could have been anything.

At his brother's mention that introductions all around were in order, he tossed Antoine another look, then shrugged and glanced across the people gathered almost like a challenge.  The problem was that it put his back to Corinne for a moment.  "James," he offered, because seriously?  Cat was out of the bag on this one, but if it was just a small group knowing both of his identities, then Diamond wasn't the worst one, he figured.  Not that he had much of a choice, but it wasn't revealing his other teammates unless they slipped up themselves, and he didn't regret doing it for his brother.  It was worth it, because here was Antoine, alive and about as sane as anyone could have ever hoped after what he went through. 

Unfortunately for James, he was about to get a much better idea as to what his brother had experienced, particularly from Corinne.  Her words and his enhanced understanding of his surroundings due to his fae blood offered him enough warning of her approach that he started to stand, but that didn't get him very far.  When her hand touched him and her power washed through him, it felt...well, amazing, enough so that he sat right back down as though his legs hadn't actually been prepared to hold him.  He'd never felt that warm and content before, and for a man who'd never experienced actual drunkenness or had any luck with recreational drugs (he faked it well enough, but human drugs and alcohol just didn't work; Murphy tended to dose his drinks for a little added 'oomph'), it was more than just 'jarring'.  Declan had gotten creative in treating him for his injuries and iron poisoning when he'd survived Midnight's attack, mostly trying to relieve pain and make him sleep, but that was essentially the extent of his experiences.  Her power hit him harder than he was prepared for, and when Noelani called her off, he swayed a bit in his chair, blinking it all back and then twisting to stare up at her wide-eyed.

"Highly addictive?" he demanded, voice a little higher with some weird mix of upset, indignance and do-not-want, and he pointed at her, eyebrows shooting up and expression making clear the fact that he was painfully serious.  "You keep your distance, hear me?"

Maybe he was overreacting, but for a man whose skill-set, and sometimes life, required being as in control of his power, his mannerisms and his surroundings as was possible, that loss of control in a wave of endorphins manufactured by a vampire ability was terrifying.  It also felt amazing, which made it scarier because he could certainly see how that could be highly addictive and desirable.  It didn't take much in the slightest to understand that, and even as he was telling her to keep her distance, it felt like the harsh reality of the shitty situation ahead of them was crashing down around that awesome high.  He didn't appreciate it, and all of this was before considering just how much vampires liked fae 'snacks'.  Not trusting that easy comfort was in his best interests.

 She held her hands behind her back, suddenly on the other side of the room again. "Of course," she replied to James, nodding once with lidded eyes as she agreed to comply with his demand for her to keep her distance. She didn't precisely enjoy what she did - just because she could put the people around her in a state of euphoric high didn't mean that it did much for her. Corinne couldn't even have normal friendships because of her ability - in fact, the Diamonds and a few members of Broadsword were all she did communicate with because they were all (mostly) able to resist the very low buzz she put out even with her aura dampened. And even then, she still couldn't be around all  of them for long periods of time. Taro or Murphy, yes, because they had that supernatural resilience - but Firuza or Nicolette? They were limited to hours between contact due to the simple fact that humans weren't meant to be exposed to something like that for extended periods of time.

Corinne glanced to Antoine before addressing Murphy, the briefest flicker of their shared experiences dancing before her eyes. The rage she felt towards Rajz at this point was nearly palpable, and she pressed her lips together before speaking. "I assure you, he has a vested interest in this." And he would - when she confessed to him what had happened. She hadn't exactly spoken to him in a little while, though a few years for vampires was like a few months for humans. When you had forever, time tended to shift in the severity of measurement.

She raised her eyebrows as the mirror on the wall darkened. Irene was already explaining that she'd left a mirror open for the Onyx hunter that Desmond had told her he would be contacting, just in case he was nearby. As it turned out, a few well-timed text messages under the table may have done the trick. Alexander walked through the mirror, loosening his tie as he did so.

The audibly trembling breath (it was almost a gasp) Corrine took in was loud enough that most of the people on her side of the room heard it. She stood, wide-eyed, lips parted as one hand pressed against her chest in shock. She was too stunned to even say his name, but her eyes squinted slightly as emotion wrote across her face. Her other hand went over her mouth to silence her lamb-like cry as her eyes became stained with tears.

"I take it you know eachother?" Antoine asked gruffly.

James didn't exactly require her to stay across the room, but he wasn't going to argue if she was going to. The funny part was that he was one of those few people that could handle spending time around her without her natural aura wearing on him; he just wasn't inclined to be best friends now that he'd experienced it. Maybe after he got over it a bit. Maybe.

At least he'd managed to get his texts off to Alexander before she threw his game off.

"I'm sure he does," Murphy muttered, but there was no denying that having Klaus in on this one would help, as long as the ancient didn't display some of the crazy the fae was certain had to be waiting to reveal itself at the worst moment. It never failed. When surprises were least convenient, that's when they appeared. Take Alexander for an example.

The Onyx hunter was...interested at the prospect of mirrors as transportation, but between Desmond and Irene silently managing that shit, he found one quivering into a doorway and gave it a shot. It was still a little disorienting to walk through into a very different place (even the elevation and air quality were noticeably different), but he loosened his tie a little like nothing was out of the ordinary about his appearance there. That would have been much easier if not for the female vampire's reaction to his presence, but hey, points for effort. He actually tensed, narrowing his eyes at her somewhat and then regarding the rest of the group, ending with Antoine.

"Not to my knowledge, but I'm starting to get used to people I don't remember recognizing me," he offered, a little apologetic when he looked back to Corinne. Her expression and obvious emotional response suggested they hadn't just known each other, but well. "Alexander Darling, of Onyx New York. What's this about Europe?"

What was this?  The vampire with the power that looked like it would fuck humans up just being around her for any kind of period of time appeared to know Mr. Darling of Onyx, which was intriguing as all hell just on its own, but Alexander's comment about getting used to people he didn't remember recognizing him was all the more interesting.  Naturally, James had noticed that Darling had some sort of power to him, but that was more because it was hard to miss if you knew what you were looking for.  Considering how highly recommended the man came from Devraj Rashana (who James had worked with once or twice on John's recommendation, and who he knew was never a man he'd be willing to cross unless he was absolutely certain Rashana wouldn't survive, much like John himself), and how obviously human he was, it was an unusual situation.  Unusual was exactly the kind of thing James liked, but then he saw the man work, and he was hooked.  Alexander was a puzzle that he would figure out.

Corinne was also interesting, but he didn't like that her power could give her an edge over him that almost nothing could, so he was content to watch from afar and learn what he could until he realized her interest in his hunter friend.  Naturally, he knew that Darling couldn't have simply appeared out of thin air a few years ago, but the man's obvious skill and training, not to mention natural stick-up-his-arse military bearing, suggested to James that there were records on him.  It was just figuring out the name they were under.  He hadn't for a second thought that Alexander could have appeared and had an alias because he didn't know where he came from, and he sure as hell didn't expect this vampire to have missing information.  This looked promising.

The changeling looked to Antoine and shrugged to cover up his sudden increase in attention to the situation, though part of his attempts to figure Alexander Darling out had quickly become pushing his buttons and trying to get reactions out of him, so he was bound to pull something.  "Suicide mission, Darling.  I remember those being a specialty of yours," he offered, smirking and going for a much more playful tone than anything else this damn day had deserved, and true to form, Alexander rolled his eyes and approached the table, glancing from face to face like he was looking for someone more helpful.

He got someone marginally better in the form of Murphy, who had answers, but not until after he'd shot Eithne a look, then leaned towards Noelani in the seat beside him, and finally just blatantly stared a few seconds.  "Long story short, the UK guilds need a make-over.  Am I the only one going to comment on the fact that fucking Alexander is here?  Desmond, James, whatever the fuck your name is, have you lost your fucking mind?"

That the ancient vampire was holding his aura down so tightly that he felt more like Noelani, just a powerful human, made no sense to the fae, but he sure as hell wasn't interested in any game that fucker might have to play.  His interactions with the vampire were limited, but where that man went, there was blood and death in his wake.  He was a soldier, an ancient, immensely powerful one, and yeah, that was awesome to have on your side, but some weapons just weren't worth it. 

"'Scuse me?" James blinked, sitting forward in his seat even as Alexander stiffened just slightly, on guard.  He still hadn't released that aura of power that Murphy knew he had somewhere in there, and that was also irritating.  Why hide?

 Corinne would have been subject to years of abuse at the hands of Justin and Iloquil had Alexander not been there to shield her from it. He'd always given them other things to focus their attention on, never understanding why she stuck around because he was too dense to know she was there because he was. And he'd dropped off the grid a few years ago, and Corinne had kept her distance.

Until they'd FOUND her, anyways, and brought her under much duress to Rajz. Even as powerful as Klaus was, he mostly stayed out of her affairs to keep off of the grid, and she'd never been as powerful as he had - a disappointing protege, Justinian called her (not Klaus' words, but she'd believed him all the same). They'd always tortured her under the pretense of "toughening her up", and the perfect refresher course was to have her toy with a captive hunter - Antoine.

Except, she wouldn't comply. She kept asking where Alexander was, and they wouldn't tell her (in fact, not knowing only incensed Justin more, which made him motivate Rajz into motivating Corinne). Before she knew it, she was sustaining moderate damage with firestone and the crushing madness that Justin offered bearing down on her. She felt guilt like the fire of a thousand suns, because part of her had snapped a little, taking his absence out on the hunter. And now that hunter was looking at her with tortured eyes, eyes that reflected concern over her sudden negative reaction. It made her sick, disgusted in herself.

She choked a sob into her palm, not just because of Alexander's emergence and his obvious confusion, but because she had made an effort to not think about the party she played with Antoine's torture, but it was too late. The power rolled off of her like a tsunami, cresting across the room. The humans all felt nausea instantly, Firuza almost falling out of her chair as she dry-heaved. Eithne even felt the unease creeping into her stomach, but she was very not human, and so it was more the blinding euphoria that threw her off. Even still, she tried to make her way to Corinne to get her out of the room before she flat out killed them all. She found her voice long enough to yell, "You were supposed to protect me!" at Alexander, and then her weight shifted from the Fae.

Antoine, having taken a knee to swallow bile as he felt seasick, pushed back up into a shaky standing position. This was a familiar feeling to him, and even as Eithne went for Corinne, he came in from the other side to help her. The two of them grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out of the room before it got any worse, though Antoine's gift for physically contacting her was to vomit all over the floor. Out in the hall, she was still over-emoting, and only stopped when the hunter, freshly vacated stomach and all, slapped the everloving shit out of her.

"Corinne, you're losing control!" Eithne yelled, shaking her when the slap didn't seem to phase her any.  The grip she had on Corinne was firm, but the power was still coming, and now instead of the fuzzy warm euphoria, she felt sick and dizzy. As a last ditch effort, she forced her own energy out, and it surged through her hands in a bright flash of hot white sparks - almost like a firework. A perk of being a Seelie was having a nice concussive offering of energy, or 'light'. Vampires were particularly susceptible to it, and Corinne was no different. With a shriek, she fell back from the duo onto her ass, then went onto her back, drawing her knees up to her chest as the pain radiated through her.

"God damn it, watch that fucker!" Murphy snapped, pointing to Alexander, who wavered on his feet and put a hand out to grab the table for stability in a reaction that was strangely like the other humans in the room.  James gasped, getting hit with more of the euphoria again than anything, though it was like too much of an incredibly rich cake, the stomach upset threatening even through the amazing feeling, and the much more powerful fae of the group jumped up from the table behind his sister, trying to throw up power almost like a shield to preserve those remaining in the hall from her effects.  Murphy still felt it, just as Eithne did, but he didn't have physical contact with the out-of-control vampire, and he had a little more oomph than his sister just from centuries of training, fighting and taking abuse.  They were both powerful, but he was older, stronger, and protective as hell of his beautiful, precious sister.  She was taking shit from an upset vampire, and that made him want to fuck up the creator of that upset.

Considering Corinne's parting shot at Alexander before she was dragged out and the ancient that looked like he was about to spill his guts (why, though, when the much younger vampires at the table hadn't suffered nearly as badly?), that gave Murphy a target, though it was an impressively powerful one and he was determined to keep that power shield up to help the to rest of the guild members until Corinne showed her roll.  It shouldn't take long, but damn, did it suck.

"What did you do to her, Darling?" James demanded, up out of his chair as soon as he had enough of a handle on his situation to stand and approach the hunter, setting a hand on the man's back and looking both concerned and a little cautious.  Alexander's confusion being so apparent didn't help, but James patted him on the back as the power died down and pulled a chair out for him.  "Better figure it out fast, and might I suggest flowers?"

"Stark, shut the fuck up!  Get your buddy's ass out there to stop her before your brother fucking OD's on that shit!" Murphy snapped, not sure if Desmond was aware that such a thing was possible, but as soon as the changeling heard that, his jaw clenched and he forced a thin smile at Alexander. 

"You heard the man, up we go," he instructed, grabbing Alexander by the arm and pulling him to his feet.  The hunter, despite not having the power of a vampire behind him, was better trained and could have removed himself from Desmond's grip even in the wake of the sudden blast of Corinne's power, but he didn't try.  The woman's reaction, her accusation, demanded his presence whether Murphy or Desmond tried to get him out there, or not.  He just hoped she didn't turn him instead out.

"You throw shitty parties, Mr. Stark," he muttered as he righted himself and started across the room with the changeling at his elbow.  He might have shrugged Desmond off, but as soon as he passed Murphy and the slightly glowy area of space in front of the man, he was almost knocked off of his feet by the force of what Corinne was still putting out, and though Desmond suffered a much more pleasant and still disorienting blow, his hand was at the hunter's side and trying to keep him steady when he faltered.  "Uhn, god, I hate you."

"You say that so often that I'm beginning to think it's code for something else," the changeling cracked, urging Alexander on, and the human didn't struggle with him.  He kept moving, however pale and clammy he got, and how much he looked like he was swallowing down unpleasant urges.  James was personally certain that Darling was too smooth to do something as base as vomit his guts out in a hallway, but it was looking like there was a chance he was wrong by the time they were upon her. 

Just in time, Eithne blasted the hell out of the vampire, and Desmond whistled, almost dropping Alexander and causing the human to stumble and curse.  Between the two of them, he maintained his feet, but Desmond got a decent punch to the shoulder out of it that he took rather graciously, and the hunter righted himself as her output shut down.  He seemed a little unsteady still and way too pale, but as soon as he was standing on his own, he wasn't the changeling's concern so much anymore. 

"I'm sorry, whatever I did or didn't do," Alexander started, putting his hands in front of him to show that he wasn't armed while he approached and knelt in front of Corinne, and Desmond turned his attention to Antoine, who he was guessing was the cause of the vomit-smell out there.

"Alright there?" he asked, all concern while he set a hand to his brother's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

 By the time they'd gotten out into the hall, Antoine was on his hands and knees, gulping breaths of sweet, cool air. His whole body felt clammy as the unpleasant sea-sick sensation faded away. He nodded in response to his brother's question, then pushed himself up and stood, grabbing onto James' shoulder inelegantly for a moment of support. He was trembling, but it wasn't permanent. "I'm okay now," he assured him.

He looked at the other hunter as he slowly approached the downed vampire, and shook his head a little. "She's just as fucked up as I am," he muttered - not to anyone in particular, but he knew James would hear him. "That Rajz fellow really did a number on us. I can't help but feel a little better knowing that it wasn't just me, that it's not just because I'm human that I was so damaged. I know it sounds bad, but..." he trailed off. Some day he'd have to tell James in greater detail what he'd been through, but now wasn't really the best time.

Corinne, on the other hand, was trying to regain her control. She lay with her eyes squeezed shut and tried to stabilize her mind, which happened eventually. "Thank you," she said, her voice a little strained. "I couldn't stop on my own." She was speaking to Eithne, and the Fae nodded. Corinne knew that the blonde hadn't meant to hurt her, and she was grateful that she'd done it when she had, or else things might have been a whole lot worse.

She sat up slowly, hands flat on the floor and one knee drawn up while her other leg was still straight in front of her. Alexander was kneeling before her apologizing, and she couldn't understand why he didn't know who she was. It was upsetting, but if she overreacted again, she would hurt the people who were present, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"You don't know who I am?" she asked. She couldn't help the fact that her voice broke when she asked him, and she felt exposed and vulnerable enough that she had to look away for a moment. She had the ability to show him - she could easily take his hand and show him her memories, but she was afraid to touch him at the moment.

James was absolutely fine with being a support for his brother, especially here and now, shortly after finding out that Antoine was actually alive.  He'd do whatever the fuck his little brother needed, and that included putting his arm around him and squeezing, not interested in encouraging guilt, feelings of weakness, or anything else.  They were going to clean this mess up, Antoine would clear his name and go back to being a free man, if that was all they could do.  It was heartbreaking that there was so much irreversible damage here, but not all was lost.  James was clinging to that fact.  "Shh, it's not bad.  You're strong, and thank god for it.  I'm here now, and you couldn't get rid of me with a prybar, understand?"

They'd deal with this, however they had to, and maybe James couldn't magically fix everything, but he could help with the healing, and if that involved tearing through the UK guilds, then he was in. 

Alexander would also be totally in, once the whole thing was properly explained to him, but he was just a little distracted by the vampire as she sat up, silently questioning whether he should stay there or give her space in case she lost control again.  If she did, he was pretty much guaranteed to puke, which would suck, so he hoped she didn't.  If he'd somehow hurt her badly enough that she thought it was warranted, then he'd have to deal with it, but she could at least let him know what he'd done, first.  That would help, though he was still thinking it was more of a 'what he hadn't done' kind of situation, based on what she'd said.  Now, seeing the hurt on her face, hearing it in her voice as she asked if he didn't know who she was, he was just more certain.  It had taken over five years for him to find anyone who knew him and could say that he wasn't a complete ghost, but all he was finding were vampires and powerful individuals, all of whom seemed to expect something incredible and dangerous out of him; considering how dangerous he knew he currently was, that was a bit frightening.  Justinian and Iloquil were frightening, just in their shocking level of emotional involvement when he was around, and now this woman.

She might have felt exposed and vulnerable, but he was still a human kneeling before her, pale and unsteady, knowing that she could level him with but a thought.  This wasn't a projection of him, but the real thing, and that made him vulnerable.  He paused after her question, not wanting to confirm her fears, and the sympathy and apology flooded his expression again, knowing he was about to hurt her.  There wasn't much of a way to soften the blow. 

"I don't remember who I was.  I woke up in an alley about five years ago and was taken in by a hunter.  Almost everything before that is a blank," he explained, with the 'almost' in there because of Justinian and Iloquil.  He still didn't remember the things they obviously thought to be true (things that were impossible), but there was no denying that there were things hidden deep in his mind that stirred for the two of them.  If this woman knew him before, the same might happen.

Also, as much as he wouldn't have preferred to have this conversation in front of Eithne, it meant he might finally get some straight answers.

 Corinne felt pain swell in her chest, and despite her face being mostly hidden due to both the way her head was turned and her hair, her shoulders shook as she began to cry. Alexander's confession, however gently he tried to deliver it, was awful. It hurt, hurt like someone was crushing her heart with a vise, and she drew her other knee up to her chest to try and make herself as small as she felt. The person that she had loved more than anything (except her sire, obviously) for well over two thousand years had just told her that he had no idea who she was, and he wasn't lying.

The only good thing, if there was any aspect of this that could be considered good, was that when Rajz had told her that Alexander hated her and he wasn't coming to save her because he no longer cared for her weak nature, it had been a lie. He may have had some sort of amnesia (and was he human?), but it wasn't the same thing. That had been what tipped her over the edge with Antoine. Not the physical pain. It had been the idea that she had been abandoned because she was too kind and too weak - that, paired up with Rajz's emotional manipulation, had been very potent fuel for the fire that Justinian and Iloquil had set. And Antoine had suffered for it.

The relief of knowing it had been a lie was quickly swallowed by her guilt and shame of being foolish enough to believe it. She was trying to appear dignified, but sobbing wasn't helping. Alexander reached his hand out slowly, and she slapped it away, crying out. It wasn't a word formed on her lips, but just a noise of pain and sadness.

"Corinne - " Eithne started, wincing as the vampire rejected the hunter's comforting hand.

"It's me, it's Kore, please, you have to remember me," Corinne begged. She'd shifted so that she was on her knees, which still made her a little shorter then Alexander. She was speaking in old Greek, much like Iloquil had - though it was hard to understand her through her crying, she was marginally LESS hysterical than the ardent vampire had been not very many nights ago. She reached out finally and grabbed at him - it looked like she was trying to go for his hand, but her fingers wrapped around that tie he insisted on wearing, and she yanked him towards her.

"Please, remember me," she whispered, her voice small and kittenish. With the final plea, she planted her full lips on his own no doubt surprised mouth, trying to push out with her memories while holding back on her power. It would be a lot - a lot, unfortunately, but Alexander was tough even in his human state, so she hoped she wouldn't fry his brain.

At least now his attraction to Rose would make more sense. Petite, brunette, pale, and very innocent - not what most men went for, especially hunters.

Rajz had definitely been lying when he told her that Alexander hated her and wasn't coming to save her because she was weak, though he hadn't been wrong about Alexander not coming.  He didn't know to do so, and as a human, Rajz might not have given a shit, though Justinian had a pretty strict 'no-touchie' rule on Alexander being spread to the more dangerous ancients right about now.  If Corinne hadn't seen him herself now, she eventually would have gotten word that something was wrong, even if Justin and Iloquil were putting out some serious effort to keep his 'condition' from leaking.  Nothing like painting a target on his back and letting him wander around a battlefield. 

As it was, this situation was likely going to make them feel like their hands were being forced.  The more people who knew who he was and what had happened, the more danger he could be in, and Justinian wasn't willing to lose him.  It seemed that Corinne could share that sentiment, even if she wasn't a fan of Justin or Iloquil and Alexander wasn't as she remembered him.

One of his many problems with not remembering her was that he didn't know how to deal with her.  Comfort was difficult, especially with an ancient vampire, when she was inclined to slap at his hand (even not hitting hard, he was lucky she didn't break his wrist) and then drop Ancient Greek all over him.  He couldn't help blinking at her as she switched languages on him, rising to her knees and crying hard enough that it definitely made the language more difficult for others listening; to him, it was about as clear as if a girl was crying and speaking English, and even though this wasn't the first time in the past few days that it had happened, it still fucked him up a little to experience.  How the fuck did he know Ancient Greek that fluently?

Nevermind, when she grabbed his tie and yanked him in, that took priority over how he understood a dead language like he'd grown up speaking it, and even though he grabbed her wrist to do...nothing, since it wasn't like he could break her hold unless he wanted to pull a knife to cut her or the tie.  "Kore," he murmured, but though the perfect accent on the name was the knowledge of the language, it wasn't because he remembered her, but because she'd said it was her name. 

How the hell was he supposed to deal with this?  She went from crying and begging to even more of a pleading, soft, desperate sound, and the sadness and even more apology hit his expression, but there was nothing he could do.  He could fake it, but that would only cause her more pain when she realized it wasn't real, and he didn't know how to remember her.  Too bad she knew how, and wasn't filling him in on the methods until she already had him in a liplock, and he was too surprised to do much more than clutch at her shoulder with his free hand as the kiss was forgotten for whatever natural reaction worked there while she flooded his mind with her memories. 

It wasn't a guarantee, not when he had over two thousand years' worth of his own memories locked up somewhere in his mind like a tidal wave waiting to completely wreck him, but she took the breath right out of him with the very first blow, and the hits just kept coming.  They'd known each other almost since they were mortal, and it was actually Kore who'd helped draw him out of the mindset that made him Justinian's bodyguard and into his own person, just by giving him someone else to care about.  Iloquil was Justinian's, whether she sired him or not, and so she was an extension of Justin for Alexander, meant to be protected unless it was against his friend.  Kore was different, and over the years, he'd protected her as vehemently as Justinian, and sometimes even against his own sire, though he was less aggressive and more smart about those situations.  He cared deeply about her, and though her hitting him like this didn't instantly bring all of that back, seeing it all from her point of view came with its own revelations. 

There were things in her memories that he'd never known, even when he was himself.

When she released him, he fell back and unless she opted to help support him, he was going to land on his ass, at the very least.  His eyes had rolled up into his head during the exchange, and yes, it was extremely fortunate that he was resilient and 'tough', even as a human, or she might very well have fried his brain with a move like that one.  As it was, it would still take a few moments for him to recover enough to get back into the present after wading through two millenia of experiences, and some of the more recent years alone were enough to take his breath away.  He'd just gotten extremely well acquainted with what Rajz, Iloquil and Justinian had done to her, and what had been said.  He knew how he'd been used against her, and maybe she'd caused a crack in his memories that would allow him to figure his shit out, or maybe he was just going to work off of what he'd seen from her, but when he could finally function again, he wrapped her up in his arms, blinking away tears that he hadn't ever felt fall.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, Kore, forgive me."  It was Greek.

 Corinne's shoulders sagged with relief as Alexander began to speak with recognition; he called her by her name, and oh gods, it felt so good to hear him say it. She wanted to hug him harder, but she was afraid she'd crush him beneath her grasp, which was a definite possibility while he was human. Speaking of - "Why are you human?" she asked, finally coming around to the question that would make very little sense to James and Antoine, but not to Eithne, who was very much wondering the same thing.

She wiped at her face quickly and stood up with Alexander, brushing herself off absently. She still had her hand on his shoulder possessively, and only reluctantly let go of him so that she could pass her fingers through her brown hair and heave a sigh that felt good after all of the crying.

"Is he not supposed to be?" Antoine asked, still close to James in case Corinne decided to blow up again. When his brother said he wasn't going anywhere again anytime soon, Antoine had merely nodded, because they were both men and there was already a lot of crying going on without him getting emotional about it.

Eithne raised her eyebrows, arms folded. "He is definitely not," she informed the hunters. "But I think there are other things that need to be worried about at the moment... Antoine's name is clear as far as we're concerned, but I need to make sure that the rest of the guilds know it, too."

Corinne nodded emphatically. "Whatever I can do to help," she said, turning to the brothers. "Please, forgive me for my outburst. Antoine, I know you have been through a lot, and some of it was at my very forced hand..." She looked down for a moment, only continuing when Alexander placed his hand at the small of her back in reassurance. "But I will do whatever I can to ensure that you never have to stand alone again." She paused, glancing to James. "I don't know how you feel about having a vampire at your back, but I will be there."

"Take it," Eithne advised. "She's over two-thousand. Not every hunter can have an Old One in their corner." She paused, realizing that she wasn't part of the conversation. "Or not. I'm just the Therrayan," she added, her cheeks red.

"And a Fae, apparently," Antoine added, his brows raised. Eithne didn't miss the small smile from him.

It was extremely likely that Corinne would break something if she hugged him any harder, which was pretty much the last thing he needed right about then.  He'd had enough trauma with the sudden memory blast without taking physical damage, as well, and it sounded like he needed to be at his best in the very near future.  Corinne didn't want to mess that up, especially when she was used to seeing him as a vampire and he was definitely not up to that standard currently.

Actually, that part sucked, because now he had over two thousand years' worth of her memories supporting the insanity that Justinian and Iloquil had suggested was true, and it had all been from her point of view with her own impressions built in.  He'd seen himself as she saw him, and she'd thought he was strong, brave and indestructible, had remembered things that seemed impossible even for a vampire, and he was pretty damn sure that he couldn't be that anymore.  Not human, and not as he was now.  That person was larger than life, and he was just a hunter, not even high enough ranked to even be invited to this guild.  It was dizzying to try to work out.

He took a deep breath at Corinne's question, righting himself and trying to preserve whatever dignity he could after that, though if he'd looked to Antoine and James before, he would have realized that they weren't judging.  In fact, James had started forward like he might interject, and then had considered the fact that she was as old as dirt and there wasn't anything he could do that Eithne couldn't.  He was possibly more battle-seasoned, but she still had some training, lots of age and power behind her, so she definitely had the better chance.  Now that Alexander was back on his feet, he felt that little pang of potential guilt at staying right there with his brother in case Corinne exploded again dissipate, and he glanced to Alexander and Corinne after Antoine asked if the man was not supposed to be human.  As far as James knew, he was.

Eithne's response covered it, but that didn't explain the what for James and Antoine, or the why for any of them, but Alexander offered up one of those shrugs that could mean absolutely anything from 'I don't know' to 'I don't want to talk about it', and his answer was some mix of the two.  He didn't know the details, but apparently, Papa Aristide was involved.  That meant anything could happen, but he was hoping to be one of those rare cases that stabilizes in time, even if that meant he stayed human.  He was okay with that, just as long as he didn't have to deal with more bullshit.

Not that being human spared him that.  This situation alone made that clear, since Corinne was only the tip of the iceberg here.  Justinian and Iloquil were involved, and they'd done things that Alexander wasn't okay with, though he wasn't so sure there was much he could do about it.  According to her memories, standing up to them was a skill essentially exclusive to him, but he didn't get the feeling that they cared what he thought right now just by virtue of him being human.  They had complexes.

"I can second what she said," he offered in Eithne's support of Corinne's offer, even if the ancient vampire's memories didn't color her in a kind fashion.  She was hard on herself, harder than he'd known in his own memories.  He had a lot to deal with when and if he got it all together.

Antoine and James seemed to be absorbing everything fairly quickly, and taking in stride anything that wasn't usual fairly well.  Whatever Antoine's theory on the vampire (and it seemed favorable enough), he was okay with it.  "That's generous of you, thank you.  Now that you've finished with him, do you think we can have Darling back, as well?  You okay, mate?  You're looking a little washed out."  Whatever Alexander was supposed to be, he was currently human, and he was looking as much like he'd been put through the ringer as James had ever seen him, which was impressive on Corinne's part.  James just didn't want people forgetting that the man wasn't a machine, especially before the important stuff even got started.

He conveniently didn't give any indication that he'd heard anything about Eithne being fae, interesting himself with Alexander and Corinne.

 When James asked for 'Darling' back, Corinne bit down a sharp laugh. "Darling?" she repeated. She just looked at Alexander for a long moment, then shook her head. "Iloquil," she muttered, as if that explained everything. She stepped away from him, her hand sliding off of him almost reluctantly. "You can have him back, of course," she said to James. "I suppose we should go back in and let everyone know that I haven't gone nuclear, yes?"

Eithne was already pulling the huge doors open, pressing her back to them so that they could all go back inside. She wasn't surprised when she found Murphy directly on the other side, his brows raised and a determined expression on his face. He was obviously surprised to find her there, though, and she only shook her head a little. I'll tell you later. In detail, she assured him mentally.

"I take it everything is in order?" Lani asked, standing from her seat at the head of the table. Corinne nodded, and Lani sighed. "Good. Now to put our house in order. If any of you have any contacts who have worked for European guilds in the past, please feel free to bring them in on this - and if any of you know anyone inside the guilds you're stationed in that can afford to be missed for a few weeks, let me know as well. We'll find a way to sort it out without blowing your covers."

Antoine cleared his throat a little. "Do you want me to throw in on this or should I stay behind?" He glanced at James, then back to Lani.

Lani shrugged. "We'll need your input, absolutely, but if you want to come back overseas, that's up to you. I can understand if you refrain, and nobody here will blame you. We'll have more than enough firepower with or without you, but I won't say that you wouldn't be missed." She paused. "Anyone who can put Isabelle on her ass that quickly is someone I want with us."

The Arun smiled at Antoine. "No hard feelings, mate," she said warmly. "I'll go toe to toe with you any day."

"Take that as a compliment," Lani informed him, satisfied that her point had been proven.

James didn't get the 'funny' when Corinne asked about 'Darling', considering yes, it was a pet name that he used often, but in this case, it was the man's name.  Yes, he was certain to use it more just because of that, but he wouldn't have asked for 'Cupcake' back.  At the mention of one of the Ancients that was apparently an issue almost as though she were the cause of the joke, he frowned and stared at her, but in the end just let it go.  Alexander had merely shrugged, not entirely on the same page as, well, anyone right about then.  He still had a lot to wrap his brain around, and though James kept looking to him at his silence, he looked alert and in the present.  Damn it, he didn't need guilt for getting the man steamrolled as soon as he walked in the door.  What the hell was even going on here?

Murphy had, dutifully, remained behind to shield the group from Corinne's blast, and then even after she'd stopped putting out that ridiculous drugged aura, he'd lingered.  Why?  For starters, he trusted his sister and would have known if she was in danger, so his main concern was no longer a concern, and he frankly didn't want to deal with anymore drama.  It seemed like Desmond and Antoine had kickstarted it with some serious shit, and then Alexander's appearance had thrown it into overdrive.  He wanted to sit down, figure out what the job required and move the fuck on.  He didn't need the soap opera to go with it, and Corinne's situation with Alexander seemed like something along those lines, so he didn't give a shit for being present.  Eithne would give him the info afterwards, and her promise when they all marched back in confirmed that, despite him being surprised that she was even still present.  He actually figured that she would have sent the men back in and taken Corinne off somewhere to stay calm.

Problem with not joining them out there?  He was out of the loop on the 'Alexander is human' thing, and though he was wondering, he also knew that bastard to be powerful enough to hide.  He didn't trust him, however pale, ill and mentally worked over he looked.  If Justinian and Iloquil let their egos slide enough, they sure as hell could do it, so why not Alexander?

Whether the rest of the table was having the same issues as Murphy (Benjamin and Irene were watching the entire situation silently and with their own mild interest, while Aaron and Firuza oh so casually worked to regain their footing after Corinne's emoting) in trusting Alexander not to be a weapon of mass destruction or not, they didn't let on and James had moved on to concern for his brother as his ally and sometimes friend stayed close to Corinne despite the vampire giving him the option of space, but still returned to the room. 

He wasn't so sure he wanted Antoine in on this, not after how shitty the situation had gone last time, but he sure as hell had a lot of back-up here that he didn't have before.  That James had been contacting all of Broadsword under the table the whole time helped, though as he pulled his phone out to check his messages, he was surprised to find that Liam was the only one not responding.  What time was it there?  He was probably drunk and in bed with his wife, the lucky bastard.

"What of our people in the US guilds?  You know some of them would be disappointed if they didn't get the chance to join this one," Benjamin pointed out, speaking up to help Noelani get the meeting back on track.  He was thinking specifically of Dante, who would be a huge help (as much as Benjamin didn't approve of some of his ways, he didn't require any encouragement to make known his opinion that the man was wasted in his position in New York) and enjoyed going to Europe for anything at all, and of course Oksana, who was just damn useful.  "Sutherland may have taken out key people in this situation, but there's no guarantee that rearranging the guilds won't get resistance from Midnight."

If they had plans and had compromised any of the guilds out there?  He'd almost guarantee it. 

"I've heard back from nearly all of my team, they need a briefing," James offered, and actually, so did Alexander, but he assumed they'd all get it at the same time.  He kept trying Liam's phone, just in case he responded, but soon he'd skip texting and move to calling.  He had no idea that when Declan or John got there and tried Liam's wife, they'd get bad news.

"My cover was blown when Midnight grabbed me for gladiator play, but have we gotten word from Natalia and Virgil?" Aaron asked, having been unwilling to contact them himself in case it revealed them, but both were still over there, last he heard.  They had to know something.

 "I would tend to agree with Benjamin about our own undercover members. They are much more useful to us rather then leaving them where they are and taking other members along for the ride," Corinne said, glancing to the vampire with a nod. She'd always liked Benjamin. He was sensible. Irene, too. "The only person I'd really suggest would be Devraj Rashana. I worked with him when he was in England, as I now work with his protege. If you tell Dev that Mary will be joining us, I can say with certainty that he will want a part of this."

"Ah, the Virgin Mary," Antoine said, a laugh escaping him. "Of course you'd know her."

"Of course I would," Corinne said matter-of-factly, her large green eyes focusing on Sutherland. "I know several rather influential members of the Fae community. It comes with age," she added with a grin.

Antoine frowned. "Fae?" he echoed. It was his brother who answered him, his rich laugh causing Antoine to become more curious. "What?" he demanded. "Do you know her?"

Corinne blinked rapidly, her smile becoming wry. "Antoine, Mary is a Succubus. Did you never wonder why a girl so utterly petite could get such accurate information out of prisoners?"

Antoine nearly choked on his own spit. "Virgin Mary? She's so proper!" he sputtered. "And besides, I heard the guy who trained her is one of the best, so I just assumed..."

"They call her that because she's the least-obvious Succubus you'll ever see," Corinne said. She looked directly at James, then, and added, "She's a lady. Don't get any ideas." Her statement just made James laugh harder, which made Corinne think that they either had already met, or that James really found her nickname funny.

"Who else do you have?" Benjamin prompted.

"I've got a Level 5 werewolf hunter, Natasha Radcliffe - she hunts under the name Tasha Smirnova - I know James has met her once, because she knows Emile - they can both vouch for her ability," she added, glancing at James again. "She's talented in her own right, but she's got a heavy hitter backing her, so I feel like Midnight would be reluctant to involve her, which gives her a little more wiggle room than some of our other members. Lani, what about Dashiell?"

Jordan emphatically shook her head. "He's retired," she said firmly. Not many people knew she had a daughter, or that her ex-husband had custody of her. Or that he was only her "ex" because it was safer that way, for that matter - and they would continue to not know. "But his protege, however, is more than capable of filling his shoes."

"I agree about Rashana.  Besides his skills, he has contacts throughout the UK guilds that will help," Benjamin put in as support, though that was...basically it.  There were good hunters in the US guilds, that much was certain, but those people had been approached with offers to Diamond or they were so entrenched in their ties to their current guild that Benjamin wouldn't dream of pulling them in on a job that might stretch their loyalties. 

Chase Paxton was a good example of one of those, just because he found her abilities and the way she used them to be incredibly interesting, and he was pretty damn sure she didn't miss a thing (probably even including Diamond's involvement, to a point), but her loyalty to her brother the guild leader made her potentially untrustworthy.  In fact, the family ties she had practically everywhere made Benjamin uneasy about trusting her not to either tell someone something she shouldn't or make a decision with family in mind instead of the job.  If not for that, she'd be on his list, and even his 'almost want on the job' list was rather short.  The only definite calls he had were their own people and Rashana.

Benjamin didn't have much to say about Mary, though he knew her because she'd come up in the past, especially given her track record and being trained by Rashana.  He didn't know much about her, not like the other three did, but he knew of her.  James, on the other hand, knew her well, which was part of his enjoyment just then.  That Antoine hadn't known she was fae made him feel a little better, since his brother obviously just didn't have any ability to pinpoint a fae even when they weren't hiding that hard, and then it just improved his mood that little bit more that Corinne defended Mary with the 'lady' bit.  Don't get any ideas?  Too late.  "Wouldn't dream of it, love.  I'll treat her like a proper lady, always have."

Yeah, and a proper lady deserved just the right amount of attention.  They had a job to do, but if she was putting out that kind of energy, she'd need a snack now and then.  He'd always been the generous sort, and that might not put Corinne at ease, but Benjamin apparently didn't have the patience for their chit-chat, since he pushed once more for business, getting another name that James was familiar with.  "She's good.  I don't know about her insurance plan, but on her own, I wouldn't mind having her at my back."

"Walker will do fine," Benjamin interjected, scowling harder and leaning forward on his forearm on the table, all very focused interest very suddenly.  "You said 'Smirnova'."

"Benjamin," Murphy started to cut in, but the vampire jerked his head towards the fae and glared.

"I won't have that demon in on this, O'Shea," he insisted, then turned the same untrusting look on Corinne.  From a man who was usually so cool and practical, the force of the look would be surprising, no doubt.  "This heavy hitter of hers is Alexei Smirnova, is it not?  Who is she to him?"

Frankly, he didn't want Alexei on the same plane of existence as Irene, which was going to turn into a 'situation' at some point, mostly because it pissed him off that the little shit had any clout with him, since before he'd been granted life away from Hell, he would have crushed that pest like a roach under his shoe.  There was debate over whether he still would, since vampirism had treated him well with the bloodline and power he'd possessed.  It probably wasn't a good idea that they test it while reorganizing the UK guilds, though.

 Corinne, as well as several others in the room, widened their eyes when Benjamin suddenly went from zero to sixty. She pursed her lips together, thinking about the last time she'd spoken to Tasha.

"It's a bit much, don't you think?" the brunette had said, looking down at her left hand, very clearly embarrassed. Corinne had held her hand out to take Tasha's own, examining the ring more closely - she could tell that the wolf was tense about the entire situation, as though the very presence of the diamond made her uncomfortable. "I haven't told the guys yet."

"It's beautiful, Natasha," Corinne breathed. "I don't think it's a bit much at all, but you have to remember you are a hunter and you don't wear jewelry, so of course it seems excessive to you at the moment." She frowned; her thoughts should have been happy, not self-conscious.

"You don't think they'll make fun of me?" she asked, arching her eyebrow.

The girl had more sense than whimsy it seemed, to have been scared to tell anyone that Alexei had proposed. She was known for being particularly practical, tough - very masculine qualities that, while she was clearly feminine, she felt may have earned her respect she'd quickly lose with the other rough and tumble members of Frost. Unlike Frost in the US, Frost UK was very male-dominated, and much more aggressive. She was like the "little sister" to many of the men there, and she didn't need to give them a reason to make fun of her, however light-hearted it might be.

There had also been something else Natasha hadn't told Corinne, but she'd known it anyways. She hadn't even thought it was possible, but then again, sometimes there were simply things that happened that she could not explain. She almost wished she hadn't said anything at all as that small detail popped back into her head, and she was thankful that nobody in the room was strong enough to read her mind - Alexander would have been, had he not been human (which still confused her).

"Corinne?" Irene asked, her own posture very tense. She was prompting the vampire for a response, which she very much wanted. She needed to know who the huntress was, or if she was connected to the demon who'd given she and Benjamin so much trouble over the years.

"Perhaps her involvement wouldn't be for the best, then," she said quickly.

"No, I'm interested, now," Irene protested. She spoke a little loudly, which was uncharacteristic of her.

Corinne winced. "No, I really think perhaps you should consult her on those matters."

Irene pushed her chair back loudly. "Well, then let's ask her!" she volunteered, pointing to the large mirror. "I mean, I'm sure I can drum her up in a few seconds." All of the shit that asshole had put she and Ben through, and suddenly he was playing nice with some Eurotrash? Oh, no, Irene was definitely going to find out what was so important about her - right before she stabbed her in the eye. No offense to whoever the girl was, but Alexei deserved a lot more, and if Irene could deliver even a part of that pain to him, she'd take the opportunity in a heartbeat.

"Oh dear," Corinne muttered.

Oh, the girl had plenty of sense in not wanting to make it common knowledge that Alexei had proposed, but not for the reasons she seemed nervous about - Benjamin didn't even necessarily want to harm her, but he wanted to use her as a bargaining chip to make the demon stay the fuck away from Irene.  Between his wife's talent and ability to bring her to them and his own very extensive reach, Alexei would be stuck between a rock and a hard place if he ever so much as breathed in their direction again, which was fine with Benjamin.  He sure as hell wasn't going to call Irene off.

No, it was Murphy who had to do it, since nobody else in the room knew how to handle the normally calm, collected and incredibly proper duo getting set off like that (that or they just didn't care), so it was him who stood up from his chair yet again, though this time it was to plant both hands on the table in front of him, leaning in their direction.

"Irene, you set that mirror off, and I'm breakin' it.  Fair warning," he shot at her, and his voice carried because he made sure of it before he fixed Benjamin with eye contact that met the vampire's ire with fae stubbornness.  "Call your wife off, Benjamin.  If I have to put her on her pretty little ass to stop her bringin' that poor girl here, I will."

"Why?  You know what he's done, and you of all people have no room to talk about revenge," Benjamin snapped, which made some of the witnesses present, such as James and Alexander, wonder how long the two had known each other.  Aaron had thought they'd worked together some time, but he never would have guessed much in the way of history, but then, he hadn't known that Murphy was fae, either, and if Benjamin had been surprised, he hadn't let on.  He might have known.

"I'm not denying your claim to revenge, but you do that shit on your own time.  This is guild time, and this is Noelani's house.  You respect that, or I'll put both of you on your asses."

"Are you so certain that you can?" the vampire demanded, standing himself with a spread of a harsh, suffocating power that didn't inspire nausea the way Corinne's had, but it was certainly giving the impression that the air was being sucked out like a vacuum, with whatever remained too thick and hot to breathe properly, and Murphy's power struck it like a blast of fresh, cool air; it was ironic that the Irishman that nobody ever would have pegged for being light and airy about anything had a feel like that, but such was his nature, whether he admitted it or not.  He was well-equipped to push back against Benjamin. 

"Try me."

There was a long moment there that they just stared, the air in the room so charged with power that it nearly crackled, and then Benjamin glanced back at his wife and clenched his jaw.  He didn't trust Eithne not to get involved if Murphy was outmatched, and if he was in that situation and Irene stepped in, Eithne would be certain to.  He didn't want the women involved.  "Another time."

Just like that, the air cleared, and Alexander didn't feel bad being the one to take a long, deep inhale and comment.  "Desmond, what did you invite me into?"

 Irene was much more potent than they all gave her credit for, sometimes - especially when she was angry. Even at her reaching for the mirror, and despite Murphy's threat, she'd still managed to charge it with some power. It darkened, then revealed a scene while the rest of the hunters argued amongst themselves. Through it, a few of them who were watching caught more than a little glimpse of the girl in question.

She was standing in front of the mirror, a dress hooked around her neck with a clothing hanger, while she smoothed it across herself. She was smiling, and speaking to someone on the phone. "No, I haven't told him, yet. I haven't told anyone yet," she said. She looked at her reflection, which essentially meant she looked out across the meeting room (that she couldn't see), her green eyes focusing on her body.

"Because, Tally, it's not supposed to be physically possible." She paused. "I know it. The best the Therrayan could tell me was that because he was a werewolf before he was anything else, some things still work the same way. No, if I tell Emile he'll try and take me off of active duty," she said, replying with a little irritation in her voice. She was quiet for a moment, then barked laughter. "Did you just quote 'Jurassic Park'? Life, ah, finds a way? Right, listen, do me a favour and don't say anything. Not until I figure out what I want to do - or if it's even true. All this came off of a Smoke witch with some heavy intuition."

She paused, looking at the mirror strangely, and now it did seem like she could see through it. "Tally, I'll call you back," she said slowly. She hung up the phone and threw it behind her, where it hit her bed noiselessly. Slowly, she removed the dress from her form, revealing that she wore a pair of yoga pants and a tank-top that had been pulled up and folded beneath her chest. She reached out and put her hand on the mirror, frowning at something. Then, as though it had never happened, she shook her head a little, muttering to herself, and placed her hand flat on her abdomen again.

"No freaking way," she whispered to herself, her dimples painfully obvious as her serious expression gave way to a wide smile again.

Irene, who had been properly chastised, grabbed her husband's shoulder tightly just as the mirror went back to normal and they lost the peephole into Natasha's world. "No freaking way," she hissed, her eyes wide. The difference between she and the lupine hunter was more than a little obvious, though - Irene was definitely not smiling. "No fucking way!" she repeated, this time swearing at full volume (which she VERY rarely did - and an f-bomb was even harder to come by).

Benjamin would know what Irene was mad about, even if the rest of them didn't. Having children was a big deal for her - despite Benjamin having to change her to a vampire to save her life, a thing for which she was eternally grateful - she was still haunted by the fact that it did mean they could never have a real family of their own. It wasn't that Benjamin wasn't enough for her, because she loved him tremendously, but it was one of those things that, even after three-hundred years, would still bother her, however little it was mentioned.

"How does - " she stopped right there, because she wasn't about to add anymore to the soap opera that Diamond was currently experiencing, but her husband would know exactly what about that situation made her the most mad. How was it fair that Alexei, the personification of Wrath, could find a girl who seemed so capable and kind (and in another lifetime, perhaps she and Irene could have been good friends), and not only was he apparently engaged to her as told by the giant ROCK on her finger, but had apparently found a way to get her pregnant? Irene just made an angry choking noise and slammed her fist down on the table.

"I feel like whatever the rest of you come up with, I will be amenable to. If you will forgive me, I believe I need to excuse myself," she said to the room, particularly to Noelani. She spoke carefully and sweetly, though at the words 'excuse myself' she had switched to talking through gritted teeth.

"Of course, Irene," Noelani said, surprised at not only Murphy and Benjamin's stand-off, but also by Irene's ire and outburst.

Irene turned on her heel and left, each step from her heels painfully loud in the otherwise silent room.

Antoine turned to Alexander, his eyebrows raised. "Welcome to Diamond, apparently," he said, clapping the man on the shoulder.

Irene really was much more potent than she usually got credit for, but Benjamin was assuming that so was Eithne, which was why he wasn't going there.  Getting the glimpse into Natasha's room was unexpected, but since Irene didn't drag the girl through, Murphy didn't have the room to bitch like he probably wanted to.  At least, that was how Benjamin felt about it, and then he just didn't care anymore, because he was seeing Alexei's woman, the ring on her finger and hearing her talk to 'Tally' (he had a guess as to someone that could be) about what was obviously a pregnancy.  That fucker.

He set his hand on Irene's where she'd grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it and looking to her rather than the now smooth mirror or Murphy, and there was just enough in his expression for the woman who knew him better than anyone to know that he would do anything to make things different.  He knew she wanted a family, and of everything that he had and would give her, that was the one thing he couldn't.  They were vampires, and even if Alexei had managed it on some strangeness because he'd been a werewolf before he was a demon, Benjamin had only been a creature that could have fathered a child for a total of a few days in his entire life, and Irene wasn't able to carry a live child any longer.  That didn't mean that he wouldn't have done something about it, if he could have.

Within seconds of his wife making her excuses and getting up, Benjamin had also stood, nodding to Noelani and pointedly ignoring Murphy, and followed after her.  He'd said what he had to, and Irene was more important than what they were deciding here.  He was finished with this soap opera, anyway. 

With the two puritans (or whatever the fuck they were) gone, James whistled to Antoine clapping Alexander on the back and throwing his own comment in there, and he glanced between the two of them with a bit of disbelief.  This was a new one on him.

"Excuse the insanity here, gentleman.  Looks like you really stirred everything up from the bottom," Murphy offered, simultaneously apologizing and blaming them, which was just a fucking talent of his.  After seeing him deal with shit so far, James was pretty damn certain that he wasn't going to be jumping him again anytime soon, and that he'd probably gotten off easy.  He would also be warning Emile that the girl he had an eye out for was on the shit list of two powerful vamps, but that could wait until he arrived, or until they had a moment alone.  He wasn't sure if he'd wait for privacy, or not.

"So, are we waiting on anyone else to arrive before I get details on this job, or am I being tested to see if I crack up and start speaking in tongues?" Alexander prompted, not realizing that the most efficient way to get Broadsword here had just excused herself in an emotional fit.  Welp.

Noelani was about ready to dismiss everyone as a whole, mostly because there was far too much in the way of theatrics breaking out. She appreciated Murphy holding his temper in, mostly because while she had faith in Benjamin's abilities, she'd seen Murphy on a bad day, and demonic influence or not, she wouldn't have wanted to try him. Full-blooded Fae, especially as old as he and his sister, had nasty tricks up their sleeves.

"I think I have a few more people who may be of help, but there's no reason for us all to be in this room together any further, if that's what you're asking. We need to get everyone here before we really formulate a plan, though if you want to get caught up I'm sure James and Eithne would be more than willing." She paused. "Eithne may also have something in her books for that memory issue of yours," she added, nodding to the blonde who had, as she spoke, crossed the room to where the three men stood. "Eithne, do you want to show them around?"

Corinne held a finger up to get Noelani's attention. "If anyone needs to be brought immediately, I can offer myself as transport," she said, though the glance she threw over her shoulder told Jordan that Corinne didn't really want to be away from Alexander.

Noelani sighed, then nodded. "Get the members of James' team that he has spoken with, then collect Mary and anyone else she wants to bring with her. If you can collect the wolf along with Emile, that would be even better. Just be careful with her," Noelani said, dropping her voice. "Shapeshifters aren't as easily affected by your ability, but she may be pregnant."

Corinne nodded emphatically. "Of course," she said, "absolutely." She smiled a little. "I also believe I can find a few of our Diamond connections, as well. With Natasha comes Natalia, after all."

Noelani didn't smile, but she was pleased that the wolf and the gargoyle had made friends. Natalia may have been enlisted with Diamond, but she lived and worked almost exclusively in Europe, and she didn't necessarily play well with others. However, if she had taken to the shifter, Noelani was certain she would follow the young wolf into Hell if asked. A gargoyle's loyalty was something you could always count on. Noelani was glad that she'd recruited her when she had.

Corinne dismissed herself, Oksana going with her to help bring people back. "Is there anything else that needs to be addressed, or can it wait until everyone's here? I need to make a call," Lani said, turning to Murphy. The rest of the Diamonds were already leaving the room, which left the duo mostly alone. Murphy would know that Lani wanted to call her husband (ex, whatever) to speak to him about Walker.

While Noelani's vote of confidence was awesome to have, Benjamin might have had more power behind him than Murphy had banked on, though he'd never admit that.  Full-blooded Fae, especially as old as he and his sister, had nasty tricks up their sleeves, but from what Murphy knew of Benjamin's history, 'demonic influence' didn't quite cover it.  Also, the Puritan bastard had just tossed far more raw power his way than he'd ever seen him throw around, which was interesting.  That was filed away for later, which really just meant that once Noelani rid the room of the extra bodies, he was bringing it up.

True to his expectations, she went right ahead in trying to clear the room, starting with sending Eithne off with James, Alexander and presumably Antoine (if it was Murphy, he'd be making sure his long-lost brother stayed close), and any extra Diamonds quickly started taking off as Corinne and Lani discussed transportation plans.  Murphy had noticed Oksana appearing at some point in the chaos and he approved of her as an escort or whatever with Corinne while she handled all of the people that needed to be picked up, and he glanced to Gunnar and Firuza before they could make tracks.  Aaron was already gone, probably off to catch up with Azhure, and Murphy didn't really blame him.  The weapons master was about as low-drama as they came, and he'd had his own problems in the past few days.  It was probably soap opera overload for him.

"You two, help Corinne and Oksana get people settled as they show up, yeah?  We'll catch up with them as soon as possible," he instructed, just to make sure the bases were covered.  As long as someone wasn't bleeding or puking, he figured Gunnar was free to help out until the potentially pregnant shifter showed up, and then he'd be occupied.  Murphy wasn't stupid.

Once the room was cleared, the fae leaned back in his chair in a completely leisurely lounge that betrayed none of the stress of the past hour or so, and regarded his boss and friend carefully.  He wasn't going to hold her from her phone call, not when he knew who she'd be calling, but he thought the whole thing deserved a bit of a whistle.  "I think Benji's been holdin' out on us."

Alexander, whether he really got any help from Eithne and James on the memory thing, was more than happy to take the hint and get the hell out of Diamond's grand hall.  Enough had happened already, and though Corinne didn't seem to want to leave his side (he wasn't sure how he felt about her doing so himself), he figured he'd been in more dangerous places than a library recently, Midnight among them.  He'd be fine.

Besides, at this point?  Any information would be awesome.  He was all ears.

 Noelani made a noise that said his words were an understatement. She stayed where she was for a second, then sighed and shook her head. "You know, with how quickly all of this happened upon us tonight, I'm glad I'm - " she paused, then smiled. "I'm glad I've got capable people around me." She'd almost said that she was glad to have her own lineage to count on, but nobody really knew what made Noelani so special aside from Murphy, his sister, and of course, Natalia. It didn't need to be said.

She let her eyes linger on her friend for a moment. "Make sure we have enough internal firepower to handle Rutherford if he steps out of line." She knew what she was really saying, there, and she knew Murphy would understand. Make sure we can put him down if we have to. "I don't want anyone coming here to feel threatened, by anyone, and I really don't think that that little girl knows what she'll be walking into." She was referring to Natasha. Capable hunter or not, she would be grossly outmatched against Benjamin, and if Noelani had any doubt before, his display of anger earlier certainly indicated that he would flatten a normal person, however good of a hunter they were. "In fact, if I'm not around when they arrive, have Chad try to stay close to her. Roma will let him know when he can back off, but I need him to get a read off of her and find out what the deal is."

Noelani wasn't even the slightest bit happy about involving anyone carrying a child in this mess, but she'd need to formulate a good plan before she even knew how necessary Natasha would be, so for the time being, she'd have to deal with it. Phone in hand, she gave a wave to Murphy. "I'll tell Dash you say hi," she informed him, a small smile on her face before she excused herself.

Eithne, meanwhile, was walking and talking, trying to get Alexander as up to speed as possible. Once they got to the archives, they were met by another, more petite (if that were possible) blonde, who was glaring at Eithne from her seat in front of a computer. "What?" Eithne asked, not even bothering to introduce the trio behind her. Nicolette had probably already eavesdropped enough to get their names, so there was no point.

"I knew I wasn't bisexual," Nicolette hissed.

"What?" Eithne said again, though this time her tone was less indignant and more surprised.

"Fucking FAIRY!" Nicolette exclaimed. She jumped out of her chair, pointing at Eithne. "I knew it! Ahahaha, I called it like a billion years ago, oh my god. It explains SO MUCH! How old are you guys? Does Gunnar know that you've been schmoozing him this whole time? Oh my god, can you tell me what the Faeworld is like? What kind of Fae are you, exactly?" Nicolette demanded, climbing on top of her chair in a crouched position and hammering Eithne with questions.

Eithne held her hands up as the men fanned around her, seeking the three comfortable-looking chairs away from the loud blonde with the bright blue eyes. They settled down in front of an honest-to-god fireplace and looked amongst themselves. Antoine didn't know about either of them, but he was interested in all of the answers Nicolette wanted.

"Okay, first, you'll have to hold your questions for later," Eithne said, making a 'shut up' motion as Nicolette let out a loud whine, "BUT. But, I'll tell you this now: You'll never get my age, or Murphy's, so don't try. Gunnar knows now, and I'm sure he'll be here at some point to ask to speak privately to me so he can attempt to shame me over it. I can't tell you what the Faeworld is like because it's not something I can really accurately describe right now, and as for what kind of Fae I am, you know, it's actually really rude to ask that. But," she said again, and this was with a glance at the trio to see if Desmond was listening, "Murphy and I are members of the Royal Seelie Court."

"Royal-Blooded?" Nicolette squawked. "Like Irina?" She climbed down from her chair, grabbing the massive 40oz cup of soda she had and sucking noisily on the straw.

Eithne sighed. "Like Irina. Now, can we move on?" Nicolette nodded, still drinking, eyes still huge, and Eithne turned and went to where the guys were sitting, only to drop down on the two-seat couch with a loud 'whump', ignoring the obvious cloud of dust from the furniture not getting much use. "Since you're so interested in the Fae, want to tell me what can help us with someone having memory trouble?"

Nicolette followed Eithne to the couch, though instead of sitting down on the cushion like a normal human, the over-caffeinated girl perched on the arm, studying each of the men intently. "What sort of memory trouble?" she asked. "Hi, Desmond. Who are your two handsome friends?"

"Nicolette," Eithne snapped. She was tired and starting to lose patience - the revelation hit her suddenly that she didn't have to play human anymore, so she could speed this up. As soon as Nicolette turned to look at her, Eithne smiled her charming smile, letting some of her Glamour slip. While Desmond would remain completely unaffected (and in fact, became twice as amused), Antoine and Alexander may have found Eithne suddenly very attractive. It wasn't as sexual as if she were a succubus, of course, but the quiet blonde who was essentially a librarian was, at the moment, very noticeable, and very... sparkly.

"Hmmm?" Nicolette asked, a grin spreading across her face. She leaned in to Eithne a little bit.

"Sweetie, what do you think would be the best way for us to find memories that have been lost or magically purged?" Eithne purred.

"A vampire can do that," Nicolette said, twirling a strand of her blonde hair absently.

"No, we need something stronger. Say that a very powerful vampire had his memories taken somehow.."

Nicolette leaned so far that she began sliding off of the arm of the couch, coming to sit effectively wedged next to Eithne. "Well, if it was something like that, I'd say you'd want to find a Kirin. They can manipulate memories, so finding them probably isn't out of their grasp. Eithne, you're so... pretty..." she trailed off.

Eithne snapped her Glamour back around her like she'd turned off a light switch, then turned her head to look at the trio. "Kirin, right. I should have thought of that myself." She paused. "I can't believe you know more than I do about my own kind," she said, glancing at Nicolette, who was now rolling her eyes and standing up.

"I can't believe you just rolled me!" Nicolette said, though there wasn't much anger in her voice. "And yeah, I don't exactly think a Kirin classifies as your own kind, Eithne. I mean, they're a totally different type of Fae."

"There are different types, now?" Antoine cut in.

"Oh, buddy, you have no idea," Nicolette began, but Eithne cut her off.

"Later! Now, I really need to know where we can find a Kirin," she prompted.

"You take the fun out of everything, " Nicolette hissed. "The only one I know of is one that works with that Triste, Leone? Her name is - shit, let me check." And with that, she stepped away from them and went to her computer, clicking around at icons until she found what appeared to be some sort of Beastiary. "Uh, Sophia Tseng? Man, she's legit the only one we have in our system," she muttered. She turned around to look at them, still crouched over her monitor. "Anyone know her? Well, whatever, just be prepared for her to want something in return."

"Do you know her personally?" Antoine asked.

Alexander snorted. "I do, and trust me, that's a Sophia trait, not any supernatural trait. She's definitely taken more of my partner's money than any one person should ever spend on a bartender," he said wryly. Ugh, he didn't even want to think of Samantha right now.

Murphy gave Noelani a very serious, very straightforward look when she told him what she was glad of, and though he believed what she said, he knew what she'd been about to, and it was true.  That didn't change the fact that he didn't like it.  "I'm glad, too, but you weren't in a position to need help.  The day your life is in real danger in this house will be a day I'm dead or dying, I promise you that," he pointed out, and while 'serious' wasn't always one of his preferences, especially deep and meaningful, but this wasn't something he messed around about. 

As though he hadn't said anything important, he glanced out across the table, considering and fiddling with a coin he'd pulled from his pocket against the smooth wood.  "Since the cat's outta the bag, I want everything iron out of arm's reach.  He was too quick and precise with that thing when he hit Stark, and we all know he's good, but he's dealt with fae before, you can bet your ass on it.  No need to give him a leg up."

It might have been wrong, essentially plotting against one of their own like they were, but demons had a worse reputation for being assholes than fae did, and Murphy wasn't risking it.  Better safe than sorry.  "If I'm not near enough to step in with him, I'll make sure one of our heavier hitters are at all times, and Old Wick'll be her personal man for awhile," he informed her, looking over as he finished and smirking like it was no big deal, which was a lie, but he was good at it.  It would all work out, he'd make sure.

"You do that.  Tell him I say he's too pale for all that sun and beach," he offered, standing and waving as he practically sauntered out of the room.  He had to have a talk with Benji, and fast, because having that bastard on their watch list just wasn't going to work for long, and Murphy didn't like having to figure out who could take him on and coming up so short.  The problem was that Benjamin would splatter anyone who couldn't get close to his range power-wise (which was a hell of a lot, Murphy was thinking now that he'd gotten a peek at what the bastard was sporting), and he was too good physically for someone to make up for the magical distance.  He normally would have said Aaron was a good choice since he was the least magical bit of matter Murphy had seen in his entire life, but they needed to test that theory now that he was bound to something that was almost all magic.  It was probably going to wreck his ability to be wonderfully oblivious to metaphysical everything, which was definitely useful sometimes.

Murphy wouldn't admit it, but on some level, he was hoping that whatever his sister had going on with Alexander would get him involved enough that he'd be a deterrent for Benjamin.  Until she filled him in on the whole situation, he wouldn't understand how much work was going to be necessary for that, but he'd have still thought it was worth it.  He'd have also gotten a kick out of the 'are you fucking kidding me?' look that Alexander was exchanging with James and Antoine as the small blonde went off on Eithne about being a fairy, though James just seemed to think the whole thing was funny.

Funny, but also informative, since Nicolette didn't have any bad questions.  If Antoine thought he wanted to know, then James was twice as curious, and also slightly horrified when he realized that he'd plowed into a royal-blooded Seelie that was probably as old as the rocks this castle was built on.  Fuck.  Anyway, yes, he was absolutely listening, and he wasn't the only one, though Alexander and Antoine seemed to become distracted when Eithne dropped her glamour, which was all the more amusing.  It was so rare for Darling to not be at the very top of his game, so to see him tuning in because of a fae trick?  Yes, that was absolutely encouragement.  Desmond would be trying that, just for laughs.

Alexander's saving grace in not becoming too interested in the beautiful fae (which really just meant that he recovered somewhat from his almost-gawk) was that she mentioned him as a 'powerful vampire who'd had his memories taken', which caused him to rub at his face like he was just so over that whole situation.  It was true, he was, but the experience with Corinne's memories that he was still recovering from had kicked it up quite a bit.  It was no longer confusing and something he wanted to get away from, but something that was confusing, frightening and very vital that he figure out.  That was too much to be fabricated, and the kind of enemies he'd seen featured in her memories of him required the skills and power he had before; he would be smeared across the floor if any of them realized the spot he was in, and though he very much liked being human and didn't want to be some undead monster, he was nothing if not practical.  Survival came first, even if it felt backwards to die to live.

He quickly became more interested in the answers Nicolette was offering about the Kirin than in the fae receiving them, and then Sophia was mentioned.  That Eithne pulled her glamour back up right at that moment helped with an intelligent reaction and he snorted, unable to believe that he'd fallen for the far trick and that Sophia was a Kirin, or argue that she was going to want something in return for helping them, and he figured it'd be big.  Damn it, and there went keeping this from Samantha.  He didn't put much stock in how much his partner cared about him, especially when she was driving him nuts intentionally, but he would have been surprised if Sophia didn't have something to say on Samantha's behalf.  Maybe he was wrong, though.  It had happened before.

James, while they discussed important matters, had sidled up to Nicolette (or had she made her way to the arm of his chair?), which was absolutely acceptable because he enjoyed the girl immensely.  "If it makes you feel any better, love, I wager Murphy made your weapons master doubt himself for a moment there.  Was a rather magnificent display, you should have seen it," he offered quietly, smirking at her and at the poleaxed expression Thorson had on his face at the time; the only reason James had noticed was because he'd scanned the group to see if anyone was a threat other than Rutherford, and there wasn't much that he missed.  Nicolette would certainly get the lowdown on the handsome friends he'd brought with him, as well, if she so desired. 

Naturally, it was Alexander's privacy that would really suffer, since James wasn't revealing much on his brother; the American would be the trade-off.

After leaving Noelani to her phone call, Murphy caught up with Taro and told him to stay alert, especially where Benjamin was concerned, and though the bastard gave him shit about how he wasn't stepping into 'that fucker's line of fire', the Seelie put in a few choice comments as to what he'd do if he survived Taro letting Benjamin overwhelm any of them, so he thought he might at least consider trying to help intercept if it was necessary.  Until Natalia, Corinne, Walker and Alexander were present and in the game, Murphy didn't have many options to keep Benjamin under control in an unexpected situation, and he wasn't even confident in those four.  Natalia was tough in ways that most creatures weren't, so she might stand a chance, but he didn't think she could win, and the same went for Walker; the young sorcerer was damn good at what he did, but Murphy wasn't certain of him.  Corinne was old and powerful, but she wasn't much of a fighter, and could Alexander be trusted that far?  Emma could stand off with the vampire, but Murphy wouldn't depend on her for anything, Chadwick wasn't likely to have the oomph, and Aaron was sure to have gaping holes in his former immunity. 

That was what prompted him to call William in asap, giving him a quick rundown on the phone, before he went to meet with Corinne as she brought people in.  They all had spacious living spaces on-site, so he didn't see Benjamin and Irene going far while the plans were still in a state of flux, and he wasn't leaving the wolf unsupervised, just in case his point hadn't been made well enough already.  He honestly didn't expect Benjamin to just blatantly disobey, but he didn't trust him not to be sneaky about it, not when it meant an advantage over that demon, and Murphy almost couldn't blame him.  If it was himself and Eithne in that situation, he'd have taken any opportunity he was presented with, but it wasn't happening here, not on Diamond's grounds and time.  She was safe for the time being, he'd make sure of it.

 "Well, aside from her wanting someone's firstborn, what are we waiting for?" Antoine prompted.

Eithne smiled. "Weeeell," she began. "Kirin don't exactly.. like Fae, per se." She looked away, smoothing down her hair absently.

"Don't like Fae why?" Alexander pressed.

"Oh, I know this one!" Nicolette exclaimed, now from James' lap. "So, the Kirin aren't really Fae - I mean, they're creatures of Faeworld, but the Fae government system sort of is really hands-off with them, and they're kind of at war with another race of creature called a Rakshasa? Basically, Rakshasa eat memories, and Kirin are sort of not conducive to that. But, the Rakshasa are kind of monsters in a way, their true form and all, and they're also kind of a vicious race to begin with, so they - well, they essentially hunted the Kirin into extinction."

"Yeah, but why don't they like Fae?" Antoine asked, glancing to Eithne.

"Because, most Fae are old. And with age comes memories, and we don't precisely want anyone with the ability to rifle through them - so the Kirin and Rakshasa killing eachother off wasn't really a problem for us." She spoke so matter-of-factly that it was easy to gather that Eithne really had been playing human this whole time, because a day ago, nobody would have ever thought they'd have heard her say a genocide was fine by her. "Look, our world is a lot different than yours, it isn't like I'm Hitler or something," she said hotly, noticing the expressions they all wore.

"Anyways, my point is, I can't go with you, and this will be one situation with a Fae creature where using mine or Murphy's name won't help you any. You don't want to tell her how you found her, and if she asks, you just leave me out of it." She glanced at James, still gathering that Antoine didn't know he wasn't human. "She's mostly got the problem with actual Fairies, so I wouldn't worry about having the vampire - sort of - in tow."

Nicolette sat up a little. "SO when do we leave?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, no, not you little pixie," Eithne said, reaching out to grab her arm as she stood up off of James' lap. "You're with me, because we have other, more interesting research to do."

Nicolette looked suspicious. "What other research would that be?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "Or are you just going to Glamour me again?"

"We're going to have a house full of interesting people in a few hours, and I need you to be ready. One of them is a wolf shifter that's pregnant by a demon," she added.

"WHAT?" Nicolette exploded. "NO. Shut up!" She shoved Eithne in shock.

"I know," Eithne said, her green eyes wide. They truly looked like two high school students right then. "Murph wants all the info he can because I guess the demon totes has a past with Benji and Irene, and my brother and Ben almost came to blows over it," she informed the blonde, speaking quickly and in a tone that was rare for her.

"You actually like all this drama?" Antoine asked, his brow raised. "I hate to see what you'll say about me when I'm gone."

James looked at his brother, brow raised. "She's a Fae, brother dear... and a Therrayan. Gossip is not only in her nature, it's sort of what Diamond pays them to do."

"It's not gossip if it's all true," Eithne said, widening her eyes on the last word. "And besides, I'll be Queen of the Archives today because I now know one of Klaus' fledglings." She raised her nose to Nicolette, who immediately dropped to one knee.

"Your highness," she breathed.

"That's it," Alexander said, standing up. "Let's go now, before they start writing in their diaries."

"Right behind you," Antoine said. "Who's going to take us there?"

"Oh, I think Taro's around here somewhere," James said, smiling at his brother.

As far as Alexander was concerned, wanting your firstborn sounded like a big deal, but then, if he was supposed to be some kind of crazy powerful vampire, that wasn't a problem, was it?  He still had trouble swallowing that part.  The rest of the explanations they received, and the sudden jump from normal conversation into gossip, had him rolling his eyes and ready to go just like the other two men, but Antoine wasn't alone in wondering what they were going to be saying about him when they left - and that was without knowing exactly who he'd been and what would be in their archives.  If Nicolette wasn't highly interested in him when he returned, it would be amazing.

For James, the information about the Kirin and Rakshasa was pretty damn key, though he got Eithne's point that it was actual fairies that the Kirin wouldn't like; most fae, in his experience, considered Changelings to be like the diet coke of the faeworld.  They were full-blooded fae, but they were raised among humans and until they got older and earned some of that immortality (which typically included a lengthy stay in the faeworld with some serious 'etiquette' lessons), they just weren't up to standard.  Since most of them never made it there, they didn't have a reputation among the old ones as being all that awesome.  James, hanging with Eithne and Murphy, intended to learn everything he could, and push his limits on power, but right now, it was probably for the best that he was 'just' an ignorant changeling.  The Kirin might not hate his guts.

They were bringing Taro, though.  James liked Taro for the mischief he liked to get up to, but he wasn't so sure that he was the best for making a good impression.  Oh well, they'd make it work somehow, of that he was certain. 

"So if you're familiar with this place, is it in New York, Darling?  Haven't spent much time there, this should be fun," he offered, though his thoughts had gone to Liam and perhaps picking his ass up.  It was strange not to have heard back from him, yet.  Liam was something of a mad scientist, but being married typically made one check their phone fairly often, he heard.

"Yes, it is, and no, it probably won't," Alexander replied, cutting a brisk walk back in the direction Eithne had directed to hopefully find Taro.  He had the air of a man who was dreading what he had to do, but was eager to get it over and done with, and James found himself hurrying just a bit to keep up.  Damn those long legs, he was pretty sure the lean hunter was almost all leg.

"Come on, live a little.  The Kirin's a bartender, I'm sure we'll meet plenty of interesting people."

If Alexander had a response, he didn't say anything, and James glanced Antoine's way and winked.  Maybe before this was over, he'd have his brother in on screwing with the other hunter, as well.  He insisted that he only did it in the other's best interests.  Honest.

They found Taro, who basically told them to suck it for thinking he was free transport until he found out they were going to Hellcat's Hollow, and then he changed his tune real fast.  Naturally, that put Alexander slightly on guard, but James just saw it as a good turn of events; he didn't know that Sophia was the sort who'd probably be friends with Taro, and that Alexander was already thinking that was the case, just from Taro being so familiar with the place.  Considering the natural way that Taro wandered on into the bar and immediately zeroed in on an Asian girl as soon as they'd arrived, Alexander didn't seem to be wrong.  He followed, while James hung back a little to get a good look at the place.

Attractive, pale blond behind the bar with a clipboard while a similarly pale dark-haired man tended bar and made comments back and forth with him, and while James might have missed the bartender's species on first glance, he felt the power coming off of the blond man and instantly upped his threat level.  When the bartender looked up to see who'd entered, the eyes gave him away.  "Feline," he murmured, and his brother glanced in that direction, likely also assessing threat levels. 

Their contact, Taro quickly made known, was on the other end of the bar, talking to a man with the longest hair James had ever seen a male wear and who looked peeved.  They walked up just in time to hear him complaining.  "--it was Lala's night.  She switch with you or something?  No offense, but you're not my favorite.  You have too much going on."

James very nearly clapped him on the back and assured him that his bartender was absolutely lovely as he walked up, but Alexander snatched him by the wrist mid-motion and stopped him.  "Don't touch him, believe me."

That got the man's attention, and he glanced up and to the situation they were in as James took his hand back, then glared at the changeling.  "Back the fuck off, fairy."

For a second, James almost thought he meant it, then realized the bastard was calling him gay.

 "Shut the fuck up, Luke," Sophia snapped. This was directly in response to his rude remark to the rather attractive man (men) who'd come up behind him. She threw her bar towel down and pressed her hands against the bar, leaning forward to speak in a low voice. "Either get your drinks from Darren, or deal with me, but figure it out fast, because Lala isn't here and you're holding up my bar," she said.

Taro made it a point to sit down directly next to Luke, who he was familiar with only from other people complaining about him. He was aware, at least, of what his ability was, and so when he turned to him pointedly and smiled, it was every bit the threat he meant for it to be. "I think you're bothering the lady," he said. His tone was clearly a suggestion for Luke to follow Sophia's advice and get his drinks from Darren, but unlike Sophia, Taro was a lot more willing to motivate Luke.

"We're here five minutes and Taro's already trying to fight someone," Antoine said, his voice amazed. "Is this like his special power?" He didn't sit down, preferring to stand off to the side of whatever was about to happen. He'd definitely noticed that the bar was well-stocked on supernaturals, particularly the staff itself, nevermind the clientele. The Kirin was probably the most exotic thing there, if he had to guess. He was picking up a lot of vampire/shapeshifter vibes - and that wasn't some magic sense he had, that was just what he'd learned from years of hunting. You had to know your enemies, after all.

"Babe, I don't need you to handle my shit," Sophia told Taro hotly, her eyes still fixed on Luke.

"Yeah, but you've got this unique ability to make people's heads explode, and frankly, I've already been covered in enough blood for one night," he replied smoothly, glancing at her. He was still smiling, but it was much less bared teeth and more genuine for the short Korean. When he turned back to Luke, though, he was all business.

"What's it going to be, Heroin Bob?" he asked. From the way Taro spoke, he almost hoped Luke would piss him off. Taro needed to do some vengeance fighting, because he certainly couldn't hit Antoine. At least, not at the moment. The former hunter had no doubt that he and Taro would have a rematch some day, although it would be in much more controlled conditions.

"What's got your panties in a bunch?" the psychic snapped at Taro, not even bothering to be afraid because why should he?  He knew how to take a beating, he'd gain information Taro probably wouldn't want him to have, and he just didn't care.  Ash wouldn't let anyone get too violent in the bar, and he was standing just a little ways down.  Luke figured he was as safe as he ever got, which was probably why he didn't move out of the way as Taro sat down.  He wasn't stupid, though; he realized that the vampire was spoiling for it.

His plan, if necessary, was to get what he could out of contact and then chase him off with it, which had worked for him in the past, but Darren and Ash had noticed the confrontation and if there was one thing the Triste was good at, it was diffusing situations.  Darren was pouring Luke's drink and Ash was informing him that it was on the house before anyone else could comment, and there was a beat where the two regarded each other before the psychic shrugged and slid off of his stool; he liked Ash, and though he never would have accepted the triste's pity, he didn't entirely mind it if the man dampened his anxiety without him having to partake of anything illegal. 

He didn't know Ash planned to offer exactly that tonight to help with the ridiculously bad shit he'd been picking up off of everyone and everything since the Midnight problem, but once he settled into another stool closer to Darren, informing the cat that while he had some nasty shit going on right then that he needed to extract himself from asap (he didn't drop details for Darren's privacy), he still liked him better than 'that bitch'. 

Obviously, Lala was still his favorite, and even if he'd joke and loosen up with Darren just because the cat was that friendly and easy to talk to, he was downright pleasant to her.  Ash lingered a few seconds after Luke had moved, looking the group over and getting their measure.  Whatever he noticed, it was Taro that his gaze ended on.  "You know my rules.  Don't rile up my customers."

With a final glance over the rest of the men present (Taro got the most 'stern' look of them all), Ash looked finally to Sophia and lowered his voice.  "If you need anything, I'll be here the rest of the night."

Obviously, he'd noticed that something ridiculous was up, so it wasn't surprising that he was planning on being nearby.  One man was a fae, one was a human with some serious auras, there was the vampire that he'd met in the past and then Alexander was...strange.  He'd be nearby. 

"Pretty sure it is his special power, come to think of it," James agreed with his brother, leaning in and not necessarily trying not to be heard, but still being somewhat quiet about it.  Alexander shot him a look and cleared his throat, and the fae quirked his eyebrows up in a 'yes, dear?' fashion, just to irritate.  The hunter rolled his eyes, but James stepped forward and offered a hand to Sophia to shake.  Humans liked that, and as a result, those pretending to be human tended to like it.

"Sophia?  It's a pleasure, name's James, and this is my charming brother, Antoine," he offered, smiling and gesturing to the man, then tilting his head in Alexander's direction.  "The one with the stick up his arse is Alexander."

 Sophia didn't miss being called a bitch, and only glared at Ash as he came over and mediated the situation by pretty much rewarding Luke for being his usual asshole self. Taro hadn't helped much, which automatically meant the focus went to him rather then where it should have gone.

"I only made an exception for the one the most deserving of it," Taro said to Ash, but he held his hands up to show that he wasn't trying to go any further. Of course, if Luke decided to, at any point, come back down to Sophia and start to piss her off again, it would be a totally different story. Taro didn't have to put his hands on Luke to take the fight outside, either - he could just float him out. It might actually be more amusing to  just hold him up in the air, come to think of it.

"Thanks Ash," Sophia said loudly. It was obvious that she didn't like how Luke was handled with kid gloves. She wanted to throttle Layla for making her swap shifts, but even the unicorn had a life outside of this place. As soon as he'd gone, the Changling (seriously?) was holding his hand out to her, introducing the man behind him as his brother (seriously?) and insulting the third. She looked between the three of them, then took James' hand, giving a harder squeeze than necessary (or should have been expected) for her size.

"James. Antoine. Alexander. Taro."

"Soph, take a break," a new voice said. Anthony was coming around the bar, a fresh case of Blue Moon in his hand and a register drawer in the other. "I've got to do the changover and re-stock, so this side will be closed for fifteen or so." The blonde looked from her to the trio plus vampire on the other side of the bar. Taro he'd seen before, and Alexander, too - the others, he hadn't. He'd already noticed Ash coming over to reprimand one of them (Taro, if he had to guess), and he mistook Sophia's irritation at the situation for irritation at them.

"Are these guys cool?" Anthony asked. He slowly set the beer and the register down on the counter behind the bar.

"They're fine, Ant," she assured him, already squeezing by him to get around the bar to them. "I might be longer than fifteen. Just let Darren know, since he's everyone's favourite bartender anyway, he should have no problem covering both wells for a while." She snatched Taro by the arm as she approached the group. "I need to talk to you," she said harshly.

Anthony laughed, not even bothering to turn back around from stocking the beer. "I'm probably not going to tell him that, Negativa. I'll just cover for you if you're not done when I am." Bonus for Anthony, he'd been trying to get more shifts bartending, but at night, it was mostly the hot females of the Hollow that got to serve drinks. To be fair, they made better money - if Darren hadn't been grandfathered in before Ash started hiring more people, he probably wouldn't have been behind the bar, either. Fortunately, Darren was well-known and well-liked, so he got to stay where he was. Anthony tried to imagine what feline he knew that they could replace him with, and fell short after thinking of Martine, who was far too hot to be Darren's mother.

And that's where Anthony's thoughts will stop being broadcast.

"Uh, we'll be right back?" Taro said, being lead away by Sophia. It was funny to see, given that he had at least six inches on Sophia (she was wearing flats since she was on her feet all night), but since she was their potential ticket for Alexander's memories and Taro and she obviously had some sort of relationship, Antoine didn't say anything. He found a booth that wasn't taken, glad that it was also furthest geographically from most of the noise.

When they did return, Taro looked sufficiently admonished, and Sophia seemed a lot more calm. She sat down, crossing her tanned legs at the knee, and rested an elbow on the table. In her mouth was a cherry stem, which she tugged at with her glittery manicured nails; she tipped her head to the side, letting her long honey-coloured (obviously dyed) hair touch the table, and smiled broadly at James. A Changeling, eh?

"What can I do for you fine gentlemen?" she asked. Despite the flirtatious nature of the way she moved and spoke, there was something... sinister in her smile. Greedy. A Kirin with an opportunity.

Not necessarily 'rewarding' so much as giving Luke incentive to remove himself from that end of the bar without incident, where he could then deal with the man on his own.  That was, if Darren didn't already get there, since he set a drink down in front of the psychic and told him he should be nicer to the other ladies, even if they weren't Lala.  That sent the two of them into a conversation, during with Darren tried to suss out what the man's problem was this time. 

Each of the bartenders at the Hollow had their skills, and while Sophia's had to do with memories, both boozing customers up so they forgot and offering to help them remember, Lala put people at ease and soothed their bad days, and Darren knew how to listen.  He could talk out someone's problems with them until either a solution could be found or they just felt better about whatever was bothering them, and though he wasn't ever going to be able to solve Luke's problems (and tended to get a lot of asshole comments that he knew were the man's attempts to chase him back some), he made progress each time they talked.  He still wasn't Luke's favorite because he couldn't make him feel better without talking it through, but he was firm and friendly enough to shut the guy up if he overstepped his bounds without exacerbating the situation.

Darren might not have been a hot lady, but he was an attractive young man and there weren't just male clientele.  It might have been a subject of debate among employees in the bar, but as long as he wanted his job, it was his.  He was in no danger of being replaced, and brought in his own share of customers, but he was a smart kid; he didn't talk what he made, and he supported the ladies wherever he had to, including acting as a bouncer along with Anthony when it was necessary.

Suffice to say, Luke wasn't going back to bug Sophia.

That left her to drag Taro outside and give him shit for...whatever, and James made himself comfortable at the booth with Antoine and Alexander for some casual small talk.  For him, that meant prying to figure out what the backstory was on the memory issue.  "So Darling, before our lovely new acquaintance comes back and starts making her unreasonable demands, exactly what are we bargaining for?"

Alexander looked like the last thing he wanted to do was explain to Desmond, James, whatever the hell his name was, but he clenched his jaw, considered for a moment and then straightened on the bench seat.  "Five years ago, I woke up in an alley not far from here with no memory of who I am and killed a vampire that Devraj Rashana was tailing.  He brought me into the guilds and set me to work wherever he needed, and that's what I've been doing since.  A few days ago, I went into Midnight to negotiate a hostage exchange and almost didn't leave because two heavy hitters swore that I was a very old, very powerful vampire friend of theirs, which is impossible.  Tonight, Corinne supplied memories of her own to support their claims."

It was the reader's digest version, but about as short, sweet and informative as it got, and James' expression remained good and serious the entire time.  He was absorbing, taking everything he'd seen during the evening and putting it with that information to paint the pictures he needed.  When Taro and the pretty Kirin with the extra-firm handshake returned and made themselves comfortable, James leaned back leisurely where he sat and returned her smile with a slower, more playful one of his own.

"I'm sure there's plenty you could do for us, love, but we're interested in some memories and we hear you're the one to go to.  My dear friend here seems to be missing some, and I'm hoping that if he gets them back, there'll be a sense of humor in among them somewhere," he offered, gesturing to Alexander and smirking at the way the hunter stiffened and looked annoyed.  The fact of the matter was that the man didn't like having his most vulnerable spot displayed for others, and it was being talked about quite a bit, but James hadn't mentioned anything about him being a vampire powerhouse or anything.  In fact, he was offering as little information as possible, and just as she was playing the flirtatious card, so was James.  That he'd been used often in seducing whoever needed it for Broadsword didn't hurt his chances with her, though it was likely still just him playing along with her game.

He leaned forward just a little, hand visible on the table and just serving to make for more confident, assertive body language, and tilted his own head slightly.  "The question is how much it would take to interest you in the job, of course."

 Sophia recognized that the Fae was playing nice, but then again, so was she. These men wanted something from her, she had it, and they were going to have to be very nice, indeed, if they wanted it. She pulled the stem out of her mouth, now firmly knotted, and rolled it between her fingertips, eyes leveled against James' own.

"Of course," she echoed. She dropped the knotted stem into the votive candle that rested at the center of the table, and it sizzled before melting in with the wax and flame. "Sit down, fanatic," she said to Taro, still looking at the trio in front of her. Taro had been hovering behind her chair, hands against the back of it, but clearly he was annoying her with his 'bodyguard' attitude, despite whatever conversation they'd just had. He dropped down next to her, but it was still obvious that he had difficulty taking his eyes (or hands) off of her as one arm snaked behind her to entangle itself in her hair. That was as good as it was going to get, she realized, and sighed a little.

"I'll tell you what, diet Fairy," she said to James, leaning forward a little. "I'll do you this one favour, but you three owe me in return." She sat back in her chair, resting her arm on the back in a rather relaxed posture (and knocking Taro's own arm off in the process). Her eyebrows raised as Antoine looked from her to James, a surprised expression on his face.

"Diet Fairy?" he parroted.

Sophia looked pleased. "Oh, didn't you know?"

"I don't know," he said, turning pointedly to look at his brother. "James?" he prompted.

Sophia turned to Taro, smiling. "Can you be a lamb and get me a gin and tonic, extra lime?" she asked sweetly. "Please?" she added, fluttering her long lashes at him. He pursed his lips, knowing she was trying to get rid of him for a moment, but found himself unable to refuse her. God-damned Kirin. He got up and went back to the crowded bar to get her drink, leaving her alone with Alexander, James and Antoine.

She smiled at them.

She called that playing nice?  James' smile didn't leave his face when she called him 'diet Fairy', but it certainly left his eyes.  He already knew without trying that he couldn't risk the task at hand by getting angry at her, and Taro sure as hell wouldn't take it well, if his behavior towards the Kirin was any indication so far, but for that moment, his eyes gave him away.  He was just fine not being thought much of, being the distraction and the trick, but you didn't make it onto a team like Broadsword by being anything other than a force to be reckoned with.  The Kirin could do many things, and she had a skill that they needed, but if they decided she wasn't needed, she would be depending solely on Taro.  If he wasn't around, then what?  She couldn't be protected always.

The thought of violence was gone as quickly as it came, but he wasn't entirely different from the rest of his teammates in that the thought came in the first place.  He'd intended to tell Antoine, especially after all of this mess, but he hadn't wanted to on the heels of so much drama and he sure as hell didn't want it done that way.  She better watch what favor she asked of him, because he was likely to go Djinn on it and make her regret it.

"I assure you, I can explain," he told Antoine, and he absolutely meant it.  The smile and any trace of amusement was gone, because dealing with his brother was never an act.  It was actually Alexander who cut in, perhaps for the better, considering the drama level of the evening.

"Explain later, in private.  Or now, in private, I don't care," he told them, taking a step forward and effectively putting himself more into the bargaining.  "Three favors for one is insane.  I'm willing to be fair on our end, and you stand to gain more by doing the same."

That was the end of James handling the discussion, it seemed.  That Alexander wasn't bluffing helped his case, and that he had a fantastic pokerface, but he had enough memories to know for a fact that he had the backing he thought he did, and he knew that there were more people than just Diamond interested in ensuring he got his memories back.  Justinian and Iloquil wanted him back, and so did Corinne - all of them were powerhouses compared to this fae creature.

"I will trade you one favor for one, of equal value, and I can promise payment," he told her.  "These gentleman merely escorted me here, they have no stake in this one way or the other.  They owe nothing."

"He has a point," James offered, quirking an eyebrow up. 

 She leaned forward again, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand, fingers drumming against her cheek. Her eyes narrowed a little as Alexander spoke, though it was more because she was listening to him, and trying to scheme her way around it, rather than hostility. She waited until he was done talking, then took her time taking a long sip of her drink, which Taro had finally returned with.  When she set it down, she tilted her head, looking at Alexander.

"And how do I know you're honest? You're not a Fae, so you're not bound by your word like they are. You make it sound like I have nothing to lose digging through that costume trunk of yours," she said evenly. "It's not exactly a picnic." And it wasn't - it was painful as hell, not to mention she refrained from digging through the heads of older creatures because there was a lot of shit to go through. She wouldn't go crazy from it or anything, that was the beauty of her species, but it didn't mean it was comfortable, either. She usually had to get drunk first, which was sort of ironic.

Meanwhile, Antoine just shook his head at his brother, saying nothing and concentrating on his beer. In truth, it made a lot of sense - actually, it made a lot of things make a lot of sense. He just wasn't sure if that meant that his mother had cheated on his father with an elf or not - or whatever they were. He really didn't want to think about it at the moment, so, beer. He'd have to talk about it later, no doubt.

She had a valid question, and he felt James turn his eyes on him in expectation of a response, but he got the feeling that the man was looking to avoid awkward discussions with his brother right about then, so he understood his interest.  That didn't make it easier - only gypsies bargained harder than fae, and how he knew that, he couldn't say, but he did.  At least she seemed to be considering, which was a step in the right direction.

He had the grace to look somewhat indignant when she questioned his honesty, but other than scowling and appearing annoyed, he brushed it off.  "I'm sure Samantha has complained enough about me for you to have an idea what I'm like.  I'm not expecting this to be easy on either of us, but that's why I'm offering equal value, and not everyone needs a magical law forcing them to keep their promises.  Some of us do that, anyway," he pointed out, glancing at Desmond almost accusingly.  The changeling wasn't always trustworthy.

"If it helps any, love, I can vouch for him.  He's a stick in the mud, but he takes that whole 'honor and reputation' thing seriously.  I'd trust him with my life, and I'm not even sure he likes me," Desmond added in, leaning back where he was sitting and not giving any indication that he actually cared whether Alexander liked him or not.  He was, as Alexander had noted, too busy caring about how Antoine was looking with Sophia's accidentally-not-on-accident revelation.  The absolute last thing he wanted was to get his brother back, then have a blow-out with him over something that he couldn't really help. 

He could almost see the wheels turning in the man's head, putting together any little details that he'd previously dismissed and trying to work out the 'how', which was going to be interesting because even James didn't know all the answers to that.  The whole thing was very confusing, and thanks to Sophia, he had limited time to figure it out and come up with good answers.  Bitch.

 Taro cleared his throat, then put his hand on Sophia's lightly. "Sophia, despite your distrust, which I do understand," he began, looking pointedly at James and Alexander, "I will personally vouch for them. If Desmond says he's good, he's good." And he silently prayed that James wouldn't make him eat his words at a later date, but given that Taro was even the reason he and Antoine had been reunited, he didn't suspect that the Changeling would.

She seemed to consider this, then sighed. "Fine," she said, slipping her hand from Taro's to rub at her temple lightly. "I'll do it."

Antoine seemed to perk up at that. "You will?" he asked, looking critically at her.

She nodded. "I will. But, I have to get drunk, first. And, Alexander, you may want to get drunk, also. If you're missing as much as it sounds like you are, which, judging from your looks have to be at least twenty or thirty years, then it's going to hurt you when I unpop that cork. I'll go as slowly as I can, but it's just better to have alcohol to lubricate the way." She ignored Taro's snort at her wording, then stood up.

"I'll go tell Ash I need the rest of the night off, then I'll work on getting obliterated. It won't take long, I promise." She turned, then glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, and I'm telling Anthony to put it on your tab. Hope you don't mind," she added, pointing at Alexander. And with that, she went to find her boss. It didn't take long once she explained that she'd already pretty much said she'd do it; fortunately Anthony was doing well enough on his own that it wasn't a problem.

"I need a round of tequila shots. In fact, keep them coming," she told Anthony. She patted Chloe on the back as she walked by. "We're going to be keeping you busy tonight, girly," she warned her.

It took a while, but finally Corinne returned, with a full array of Fae and 'Other' in tow. She had gotten Natasha and Natalia, as well as Mary, who had insisted that Cormac come along. Corinne had wanted to object, but Mary told her that Cormac had more pull with the Fae community then it seemed, and Corinne had caved when she'd actually met him. My, but Crimson UK had a healthy stock of powerful creatures. She'd not seen a Mesmer in a very, very long time.

"Is there anyone else?" Lani asked, taking a moment to greet them all.

Corinne shook her head. "The members of Desmond's team will be coming over with Ketevan in the next day or so; they had to wrap up some business there, first. Emile did say that he told Desmond their ETA, so it won't be any surprise to him when he finds they didn't accompany me."

Natasha seemed a little out of sorts, but it was more because she hadn't traveled like that very often. Murphy talked to her briefly, immediately suggesting that she meet with Gunnar so that he could get rid of that dizziness she felt. Natalia went with her, of course. He then turned his attention to the plus one that Mary had brought along, trying to size him up. He looked intensely familiar.

"Nice place you've got here," Cormac said. He held his hand out to Murphy. "Cormac O'Malley. Cory if you like. Mary said that there was a situation with Midnight over on our home turf that apparently escaped our attention, but she didn't fill me in, fully." He smiled when Mary wandered over. "I assume you'll want to wait until everyone's here, so I won't bother you for details. I can just assure you that we'll do everything we can. We don't know Antoine, but Mary's friends with his brother. His situation always seemed a little bizarre to us, but we never got an opportunity to investigate further. Our guilds don't work as closely as the ones here do, I've been told."

Eithne had come in to meet the new arrivals, only stopping when she saw Murphy talking to Mary and Cormac and frowning. Corinne caught her expression and offered her a confused look in return.

"Have you met him before?" Corinne asked.

Eithne shook her head. "No," she began, "but he looks a lot like someone I know."

"Is that good or bad?" Corinne pressed. She was worried she brought someone who wouldn't mesh well with the others. It seemed like he and Murphy were having a normal conversation, but then again, Fae were strange. A lot of rules she didn't know about.

"I'll let you know when I know myself," Eithne promised. "As it is, we need to try and get everyone settled in. Did Natasha's, uh, fiance arrive? I'd like to make sure he and Benjamin don't cross paths, if it can be helped."

Corinne shook her head. "Not yet. Natasha said she would call him when she arrived, but your brother ushered her off to Gunnar without letting her really have a chance."

Murphy wasn't stupid; the very first thing he did was send Natasha to Gunnar so that they could figure out exactly what they were dealing with, and naturally, Natalia went with her.  He texted Chad to tell him to get his ass down there so that he could meet up with the Smoke and the two ladies, and the affirmative response he received made him feel better about Natasha being on-site.  Between Gunnar, Natalia and Chad, Benjamin wouldn't pull anything.  He was smarter than that, Murphy was positive.

With one guest taken care of, he was able to devote more attention to Mary and her addition to the group, which took a hell of a lot of effort on his part not to react to.  Something wasn't right there.

"We try.  Murphy O'Shea," he offered, shaking the younger fae's hand and silently puzzling over the details of this boy, starting with the unbelievable resemblance that he would have thought to be impossible.  If he believed in coincidence, he'd have sworn it now.  "We'll be briefing the group at large very soon, but for now, we're focusing on collecting and getting a feel for skill sets.  We appreciate the help, but we don't do anything half-cocked."

He said it almost apologetically, but it was the truth of the matter.  They wanted everyone settled and a chance to figure out what was at their disposal and how to hit this problem from all directions as quickly and efficiently as possible.  They also had to consider the aftermath of the purging of the guild of its poison, which involved rebuilding it.  Murphy had a feeling some of them might not prefer it, but he might see if some of the promising candidates they'd found in the last few days for the American guilds could be shipped to the UK for training and some filling out of positions; they needed people who could be trusted in the future, and he had a feeling they'd be trimming that guild down hard.  It might be more than trainees they'd be shipping there.

Before they could get to planning anything, Gunnar was responsible for figuring out exactly where Natasha stood medically.  He was certain to cure the dizziness that she said Murphy sent her for, but it was obviously the bosses' excuse to get him close to her for other concerns, and she didn't seem at all surprised when his check-up moved one of his hands to her abdomen and the chakra point there.  Chad had slipped in and stayed towards the back until Gunnar (who, fortunately, had a very comforting presence most of the time) introduced him, and Natalia leaned against the wall nearby in a stance that somehow managed to look leisurely and alert at the same time.  She trusted Gunnar and Chadwick, but that didn't change how she felt about her pregnant friend.

"I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that you're pregnant," the Smoke offered, smiling slightly and withdrawing to give her some space.