Night's Omen

There is something unmistakable about the sound of a bullet tearing through a skull, especially where it exited.  The top of her head had to have exploded in a mess of blood, brains and skull fragments, but it wasn't a sight he'd be able to take in.  Instead, he ran his hand over her foul body after she'd hit the ground, trying to find the spot on her chest where her heart lay.  Once he was certain he'd located it, he pressed the barrel of his gun against her chest and pulled the trigger once more.  He wasn't going to leave a job like this only half-done.

Then, he reached into his coat for his cell phone, dialing as best as he could from memory and by feel.  It took him three tries, but he finally got it to ring, and he could only hope that he had the right number.  

When he heard the voice at the other end, he actually sighed in relief before passing on the information he needed to.  "It's Connor.  That vampire jumped me again, so there's a nice, gory mess here that I need a hand taking care of.  Get here fast."  And then, he passed on the address, as far as he knew, anyway.  It involved the street name and the last actual establishment he could name.  He was confident that he'd be found.

"Yeah?" Adrian answered, seeing Connor's name on the display. "What's up?"

"It's Connor. That vampire jumped me again, so there's a nice, gory mess here that I need a hand taking care of. Get here fast."

Adrian blinked. That was somewhere mid-NewYork. No wonder he needed help. Fortunately, it wasn't too far away from where he was.

"I'll be right there," he responded before hanging up. Connor would be able to hold out until Adrian was there, he had no doubt about it. After all, Connor was the guild leader.

Hopping into his car, he then pressed the speed limits to get to the location Connor'd mentioned. It didn't take him many minutes, fortunately, but he didn't see Connor anywhere in sight. It was no surprise, of course. A vampire wasn't too likely to attack someone in plain sight, unless the vampire in question was really stupid.

However, the scent of blood was -- to his nose -- heavy in the air, and so he followed it to its source, parking his car temporarily outside the alley.

He was expecting to see a lot of vampiric blood, and of course some of Connor's since he could smell it in the air, but he still wasn't ready for what he found. Quite dead vampire, shot close-up, and a guild leader with his entire face covered in blood. Originating from... Dear gods. No wonder he'd needed help.

"Connor," he said, to let the other know who was there if he hadn't figured it out yet. "Do you want to leave that mess here, or should we cover it up better?"
He tactfully didn't mention Connor's injury. They were both aware of it, and the less it was spoken of, the better.

~~*~~
Good post? Something needing to be edited?

((Tis fine!))

Once he'd called Adrian, Connor just had to wait and hope that nobody happened to stop in and interfere.  Fortunately, nobody did, and he finally just leaned back on the cool brick wall of the alley, his head absolutely throbbing.  He kept his eyelids closed for the time being, hoping somewhere in his mind that it might help (while the rest of his mind completely pretended that nothing was seriously wrong at all), and just put his thoughts to coping with the fact that he hurt.  A lot.

He flinched when Ade spoke, having not been able to hear him coming.  The werewolf tread pretty lightly for being such a big guy, and Connor was just a little on edge.  Just a little.  He recovered quickly though, looking toward the man's voice despite his inability to see him.

"It would probably be best to cover it up as much as possible, considering how bad it looks," he said, the pun in his statement not lost on him.  He just ignored it.  He could assume how it looked from past experience and the fact that he knew he made a couple of big holes in that vampire.  "But, I won't complain if you don't want to, since I don't know how helpful I'll be."

Adrian nodded to himself. He wasn't really expecting Connor to be able to help much anyway.

"Just hold on for a little bit, then," he said, and then proceeded to clean up the alley as best as he could. Then he held out his hand to Connor. "All done. Coming?" he asked before actually reaching out to touch the other hunter. He didn't want to be a target of Connor's instincts right now.

"Anywhere in particular you want to go?" he then inquired as he led Connor to the car, opening the door for him so he'd hear where it was.

He hated that he couldn't help, but there wasn't a whole lot he could do as he was.  He couldn't see, and he actually was in enough pain to make any attempts at helping him may have tried completely useless.  Until you've had your eyes messed up, you have no idea how badly it hurt.

He let Ade lead him to the car without an argument or even an attempt on his own part of making his own way, not even caring.  He was about at his limit.  "Doctor.  One that can keep it quiet and drug me into oblivion for awhile," he managed, leaning back in the seat.  "Ade, this can't get out, or I'm dead."

"I know," Adrian replied quietly as he got into the car as well. He was already going through the possibilities. Someone with enough scrouples to keep it under the tables, yet honourable enough not to sell them out to anyone who asked.

"Hold still, please," he asked, leaning over to look at the damage. Seeing the extent of it, he winced. It was not good. He sat back into his own seat and started the car. Connor was going to need magical treatment if he was ever going to regain his vision. He knew there were a couple of witches -- Macht or otherwise -- with healing talents who worked for SingleEarth, and they'd take Connor in. The problem was how many would find out.

The other option, one Adrian was hesitant to even think of, since he'd heard less good things about it as well, was a certain voodoo priest who had more talent than your average voodooist. But as he'd heard, it was a bit like making a deal with the devil.
Adrian would do it, though. For Connor.

"SingleEarth or semi-illegal?" he therefore asked, letting Connor make the decision.

~~*~~

If you dunwan him to think of Papa, just tell me and I'll edit and have them go to SE instead ;)

He did actually hold still when Adrian told him to, and even with everything going on, he didn't miss that wince.  Lovely.  "That bad, huh?" he asked, though the light tone he usually used when he was speaking of his own injuries was far too strained to actually do its job.

"Hell, Ade, I don't care if you scare the living shit out of Doctor Mitchell to keep him from telling," he sighed, trusting the fact that at least he trusted Mitchell.  As far as Single Earth was concerned, he wasn't so fond of the idea of a vampire or something poking and prodding at him without him knowing that's what it was.

Adrian blinked. Mitchell? That was the option he hadn't considered. Mostly because he always dealt with hunters and they might run into the wrong person. And that was why going to him was not really practical.
Well, like they said... If the mountain can't come to Muhammad, Muhammad has to go to the mountain.

Setting course for his New York apartment, he picked up his phone and one-handedly dialled Mitchell's office number.

"Hey, it's Infusco. Yeah, that's it. You terribly busy? Ah. Well, that is going to have to wait. I need you to get over to my place, ASAP. No, I can't come in. You'll have to deal with it there."

Ignoring the doctor's grumbling, he gave the address.

"And please hurry. I'm serious."

With that, he hung up.
"You'll stay with me for a few days," he informed Connor. No, he wasn't giving his 'pack leader' much of an option. His duty was to take care of Connor, and he couldn't do that unless they were in a relatively controlled environment.

If he'd been in an even slightly better condition, Connor might have argued with Adrian telling him where he was staying, but right then he really didn't care.  Besides, he saw the logic in that, even if it would be a great big red light that he was missing from the guild.  He'd have to take some time to recuperate, then figure out how to make his appearance at the Guild without tipping people off.  

Somehow though, it still hadn't all sunk in.  He didn't want to think about this as anything more than a temporary situation, especially before the doctor did his thing.  Thinking about it wouldn't help right now.

"He's probably at Onyx, arguing with Verde," Connor commented, smirking some despite everything.  If that was the case, then the grumbling would be all for show.  He'd seen Verde and Mitchell argue often enough that he found the image amusing.

"Most probably, yes," Adrian replied, having also seen those two together often enough to recognize the symptoms. "Which should mean he should be happy to get out of there," he reasoned further.

Entering the underground garage under the apartment complex he lived in, he quickly found his spot and parked the car.
Getting out, he walked around the car to assist Connor in doing the same -- as much as the other hunter would accept his help, of course. Locking the car, he then took a light grip on Connor's elbow.

"The elevator's this way," he commented, leading his alpha that way. "Four inch sidewalk edge," he said when they came up to it, warning Connor enough so he shouldn't stumble.

To say the least, the next few hours were less than enjoyable for Connor, but they ended with him getting a nice, long nap.

***Timeskip***

Connor was still staying with Ade, though he had a habit of wandering around  when the man wasn't around, and he'd stopped in at the Guild a few times.  He'd seen what he thought was his last of Capri, he'd gotten his cell smashed against the wall by the same woman, and he'd ended up stopping off at his own apartment for awhile.  Ade had inevitably gone and convinced him to stay here for awhile longer, though.

Today, he was at Ade's, trying to cook something for himself.  He was doing fairly well.

Coming home after talking to Papa Aristide and Diana, Adrian was relieved to find that Connor was, indeed, at home. He wouldn't have put it past the leader of Crimson to throw caution to the winds and go out.
The only problem was that he was in the kitchen. Cooking. Unless, of course, he had someone else here, but Adrian would have been able to smell them.

"Connor?" he called, warning the leader of who'd stepped through the door. "We're going to have to take a little trip. After dinner. Want me to help you with something?"

He'd heard the door open and nearly cut himself trying to grab a nearby knife, but he somehow avoided yet another injury.  It was only Ade, anyway.  "In here, Adrian!" he called, letting the man know where he was, though he doubted a wolf wouldn't be able to figure out where he was.

"Sure, you wanna help cook something up?" he asked, though he did want to do what he could.  He was tired of feeling useless.

Adrian came into the kitchen, smiling a little at Connor -- despite the older hunter not being able to see it.
"Of course," he replied. "What are you making?"

Glancing over Connor's doings, he then stepped in where the most help seemed to be needed; cutting and measuring.
"It's looking good so far."

"Pasta," he informed the other man with a bit of an apologetic smile.  "It's easy enough, I figure."

Really, it didn't require sight in the least, so it worked for him.  All he had to do was listen for the boiling water, and taste the sauce to make sure it was spiced right.  Finding the spices was what had been interesting, but he'd used a jaw of sauce he'd found in Adrian's cabinet.  Fortunately, Ragu had a fairly distinctively shaped jar.  "Should be almost done.  What's this 'trip'?"