Night's Omen

"Of course," he agreed easily, letting Christian and Capri attend to their Frost business while Chase called Jonathan and asked if he could bring Kenzie over.  That left him and Darren to chat for a few minutes, during which the leopard located the number Persephone had given him in his phone.

"Seriously, this had better not blow up in my face."

"I wouldn't have you call if I really thought it was going to blow up in your face," he pointed out.  Darren wasn't calling until they knew what to say about it, but Connor put out a mental shout for Elke's attention, followed by a recap of what was happening.  It disturbed him a little that it was becoming so easy, but they'd been spending a good amount of time together.  It helped immensely that Capri was friendly with Elke, since that meant that 'family time' could include the vampire, who had definitely accepted his family as being an extension of her own.  Everyone was settled again by the time Capri returned, and he tilted his head in her direction, leaning into her ever so slightly, when she returned.

Well, until she mentioned a fifty-thousand dollar engagement ring, and then he jerked some and his eyes bugged out a little, both because of the price and how much he knew it'd take to keep repairing it after fights, and how much damage she could do with a punch like that.  Considering he sometimes took those punches, it was a personal reason on both counts.  He'd chosen a smaller one, still sparkly but with a more practical size to it, specifically because he knew she'd be likely to fight with it occasionally.  Even if she removed it some of the time, or most of the time, it would happen.  He knew her better than that.  Besides, she wasn't the only one who knew she could be flashy without the added sparkle and size to a ring.

"Honestly?  He's a snake, and Sasha's the same way with snakes that Elke is with cats.  Sasha probably likes him because he's not just a snake, but their king.  She's not as humble as Elke.  I'm not going to put much stock in it, because he's probably deluding himself into thinking she's something she's not."  Meaning, he probably thought she wasn't crazy, and she was.  Oops, bad move on the cobra's part.

"She WILL think Connor's sanity is slipping, until she finds out we're putting her with a bunch of women who don't think it's cute," Chase pointed out, ignoring the way her brother rolled his eyes.  Putting her with Shannon might help, since Shannon definitely wasn't the sort to encourage that sort of behavior.  Having Sitara bribe her with some shooting time was also a good idea, and Chase would be keeping a number of them in the back of her mind.  If Kenzie was spending any amount of time there, they would need multiple options.  That girl was way too inventive for Chase's tastes.

Personally, Chase saw the resemblance between Kenzie and Connor, even if neither of them would admit it.  Kenzie was just smarter about it than Connor had been at her age. 

"That, or we can see if Stavros will watch her.  I don't think she'd like it much, but it's an idea if she complains about being surrounded by women."  Which, she might. 

"We'll keep it all in mind, and see what works.  It's not like we've tried to keep her in the guildhouse for anything more than an afternoon," Connor pointed out.  It was actually tempting to try to put her in the Hollow during the slow time of the day, and then the guildhouse overnight.  Ash could use some help around the place, he was sure, and Kenzie probably wouldn't mind some extra money, if she could get over the idea of working for it.  Whatever, they'd figure it out.  First things first.

Darren needed to call Persephone.  "Actually, I heard about your friend from Ash before you told me.  Ash thought it might be a problem somewhere down the road, so he warned me first.  Don't worry about us knowing, and let's just hope it works.  What's the plan?  We just see if she will meet you here?"

He glanced at them all, looking for any input they might have.  He didn't know the girl, just the stories.

Honestly, he didn't care about THEM knowing.  He was more worried about it getting out.  His family wouldn't hold it against him because they knew he wasn't supporting Midnight or friendly with it.  He didn't like that the rumors didn't have to be THAT far from the truth to be ridiculously bad for him.  It just sucked.

"Dude, my 'rainbow brite' girlfriend is, like, a mind-reader or something.  Of course she knows that I know Persephone, and yes, Mars admitted that it made her jealous and the fact that Persephone was Midnight and apparently liked me freaked her out," he pointed out.  He didn't know for sure, but he figured something was up when Paris just seemed to know too much without him saying it.  Especially when she was drunk, which usually also meant that HE was drinking Mojo Juice so that she didn't feel like she was the only one who couldn't reason properly.  He'd remember the next day, though.  Mars was a completely different story, and he couldn't tell if he was more frustrated when she went all jealous on him, or when she claimed it was concern for his well-being.  "Anyway, I don't know what she is.  She's not all there, but I'm thinking maybe she's half-feral or something.  Her eyes shouldn't look like that without a lot of time as a cat, and since she's in Midnight, I don't think she was just a stubborn brat like I was.  Whatever your plan is, I wouldn't make it too complicated, but I've never called her, so I don't know who will answer or what's going to happen."

Since he'd already said that he'd never called her, he figured he'd point it out again, just in case.  He really didn't know jack-shit about what was going to happen, but the affirmative from those involved prompted him to make the call.  This would be interesting, at least.

"He's deluding himself into thinking she's something that she's not? What would that be - interested?" she asked with a snort. "I'd tell you to let this Sasha bird around Zaine, but my money would be on him attacking her and being strangely happy to do it, and that wouldn't be very pleasant for us," she said with a roll of her shoulders. She hopped up onto the counter after hooking her foot on the rung of a stool and turning mid-movement. Now she was successfully tallest, and felt validated.

  Bully for Jonathan, he'd just picked Kenzie up from the mall and was only a few minutes from the Hollow. They both went in, and Kenzie filtered over to a table to go through her bags of stuff without even a hello to anyone in the room. "She found a dress and the only size left was extra-large. She's on the warpath, especially for fat people," he warned, pushing his sunglasses off the bridge of his nose and nestling them on the top of his head.

  He leaned in to give Chase a little kiss, something 'mature' like a brush of the lips and then a peck on the cheek. Even if he and Connor were cool, Jonathan knew he'd like to beat the shit out of whoever Annika, Cherie, or any other female in his family brought home. "So, can I get the unabridged version? And I'm not going to be the one telling Little Miss Credit Cards that she's staying at the guildhouse. I'll leave that to her beloved brother and sister," he added, patting Connor on the shoulder. Truth be told, they all probably wished they could just wish Kenzie to a tower somewhere for a week or two. Or two-hundred.

  Capricia ventured away from the group after giving Jonathan a greeting pat on the back, and slid into the booth across from Kenzie. "Hey, twin. I heard you got owned by the fatties," she said, tucking a strand of her own long blonde hair behind her ear.

  "Ohmygod. Yes. Did he tell you? Like, who the fuck makes a halter-dress in extra-large. Do I go to Africa and try to cover elephants in gold lame or turquoise chiffon? No? Then don't make dresses that will fit them," she snapped. She tucked the same piece of blonde hair behind her own ear, and then dumped a bag onto the table. "Want to see all of the cool new jewelry I got? It was buy two, get one, so I got like, ten."

  Meanwhile, when Persephone's phone rang, the Jaguar was nowhere to be found at the moment - and rightfully so, she was in the next room pummeling Cerberus. The two, despite being a cat and dog, worked well together - very well for the Triste's liking, and Niall had certainly noticed. As with their own private situation, it seemed opposites did indeed attract.

  "Hello?" she asked, opening the phone up and placing it next to her ear. If it had been Niall, the greeting might have been 'You may speak', or even just 'Speak', but Verity knew that Persephone conducted business her own way, and she wasn't interested in having to put a client she'd just brassed off in check when they tried to cop an attitude with her. She frowned as she was met with silence on the other end.

"I know you're there, I can hear you breathing," she said. Her accent was faint, voice youthful and merry - how could the woman on the phone right now be the silver-eyed witch that they were currently trying to track down? Darren, of course, would be none the wiser, and that was just dandy.

  "Shall I find Persephone for you, is that what you've called for?" she prompted. She examined her long, glass-like fingernails as she waited. Through the large mirror of her office-type area, she could see Niall walking and talking with that Aristos trainer, the man who used fear. As it seemed, the two had much to discuss where their powers were concerned.

"She might be interested, but I doubt that'd be in his favor," Connor muttered, but he wasn't going there with it. Lucien had pissed him off, but he didn't have to wish him ill.  He also wasn't going to wish Zaine on Sasha, even though he'd be interested in seeing Zaine be 'strangely happy' to attack her.  Connor didn't dislike her at all, but he didn't trust her, either.  That was all Elke.

Personally, Darren thought it was better, right at this second, to be the one stuck calling Persephone.  He didn't want anything to do with 'Little Miss Credit Cards' and her warpath, even if he was usually pretty good at tempering her.  It was the great thing about family, since it made him one of the few guys that she didn't hit on, but she still liked.  Today, though?  He wasn't about to break the news to her.  Let Capri, or Connor. 

Of course, he stepped away from the crowd for the call, lest someone else answer and hear all kinds of bickering and conversation in the background, so stepping into the dry storage closet was actually his best bet.  It also meant that, when some strange woman answered, he didn't have anyone to look to with a panicked expression, though.  Probably better, since that would have only worried them.  As it was, he froze, and the woman kept talking, trying to inspire him to respond.  Great.  Now he was running the risk of pissing off whoever the woman was, and he was worried it was Jeshickah.  Who else could it be?

She didn't sound ridiculously horrible, though.  He felt bad just thinking it, since she had to have a bad side to be there, but she didn't sound like someone evil.  Most of the bad people he'd met sounded bad.  "I'm...sorry, ma'am.  I wasn't expecting someone else to answer," he said honestly, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt.  This felt like walking through a mine-field.  If he screwed up, it could seriously make for a bad day.  "Could you, please?"

Connor was not surprised that Darren peaced out to the closet to make the phone call, since Kenzie's voice could definitely carry, and nobody wanted that.  In fact, despite Jonathan's 'comforting' pat on his shoulder, he was perfectly fine with letting Capri settle Kenzie down for a few minutes first.  He personally couldn't relate to the whole 'there was only an extra-large' thing, since he really didn't put that much effort into shopping, but that was where Capri excelled.  Capri shopped more than he and Chase combined.  Surprisingly, he wasn't nearly as against the idea of Jonathan with his sister, even seeing it, but that was probably because he and Chase had fought extensively over it long before the two had married.  He and Jonathan had also had some rough points early on, but Jonathan had come through for Chase in ways that he'd have never expected out of a guy for her, so he couldn't really hate him.  He'd hated the idea of her being with a guy who was a mercenary, but it had worked out.  Jonathan was all the things she needed, as much as he hadn't wanted to admit it, without actually being a hunter. 

Which, considering Connor was guild leader, had been a great thing.  He'd been pretty pissed about it at the time.  Now?  He was okay.  He didn't want to see them making out or anything, but that wound had healed over far too much to really salt it anymore.

"We'll see how far Capri gets before I jump in.  Pretty sure we all know how badly I botch those talks," he pointed out, and it was so true that it wasn't even funny.  He and Kenzie pretty much lived on different planets, and as much as the family didn't talk about the fact that he was only a half-brother to his sisters (because it really didn't matter, they were all family), it seemed painfully obvious with Kenzie.  Of course, he'd seen families where the kids were full-siblings and just as different, so who knew?  They just had different priorities, and she was still young. 

That tower was looking really good right about now.

"Hey," she said pleasantly as Jonathan came in, but she didn't pounce him or anything.  She left those obvious moves to Kenzie, who liked to do things that would give Connor a coronary just for fun.  So, even though she wasn't the sort to push for more PDA, she leaned into him as he updated them on Kenzie's state of affairs.  Frankly, she gave him so much credit for taking the mall trip so well.  Not many men would.

"Well, the three top dogs finally agreed to putting in an announcement for their hunters to lay off of Midnight until further notice," she started, glancing at Connor, who rolled his eyes.

"Christian and I didn't have a problem.  It was Cobriana who wanted to be a dick about it."

"He has his reasons."

"Yeah, and it's cause he's a dick.  You heard him bitching about our information coming from your 'dreams'.  You didn't see Christian acting like you were a fraud, or anything.  Cobriana's just an asshole, and this is all his fault to begin with," he snapped.  He hadn't said it to the guy's face to prevent trouble, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to say it.

"It really doesn't matter.  He agreed to the announcement, and to the contract," she pointed out, then glanced back towards Jonathan.  "Anyway, Darren's calling the jaguar girl that stops in here sometimes to help give Dave a headache.  She's from Midnight, apparently, and they're going to see if she can help in getting Niall to meet with the guild leaders in the hopes that they can come to an agreement that will protect families from retaliation." 

"I'm having Darren stay here with Ash, and hoping that we can keep Kenzie from destroying Crimson from within if we hold her there for awhile.  Niall already made it painfully clear that he could, and would, target family, friends and loose acquaintances.  Apparently, besides sending someone to bring Sullivan's girlfriend in, he also told her that he'd target anyone she knew, too.  Everyone's on high-alert, especially where the family that can't really protect themselves are concerned.  Frankly, I don't think any of us stand much of a chance if he really wants to kidnap or kill one of us, but you know how hunters are."

"Oh, don't be silly," Verity said, her laugh like wind chimes. "I'll have someone fetch her at once, would you hold on for a moment?" There was the sound of high-heels against tile flooring, and then the woman's echoing voice in the hallway could be heard, "Fetch Persephone," and then silence. After another moment, jogging footsteps approached. "Here she is," Verity said. She held out the phone.

  Persephone took the phone, wiping sweat off of her brow. Cerberus had caught her pretty good on the side of the face, and she could see bruises already forming - bruises that would fade within hours. "This is Persephone," she said, clipping accent heard through her breathing. She didn't even pretend that she wasn't winded; she was more than willing to let someone humanize her. It would make it more fun when she killed them, in the end.

"Well, can you expect Lucien to want to trust what she says if she always has 'acquired' the knowledge somehow? And then you tell him that she dreams it, but he's got no background story about her abilities at all? Come on," he said, furrowing his brow at Connor. "No offense, but you wouldn't see me doing it, either, if I didn't have the full story. He knows he fucked up, and he's going to be twice as hard to deal with now because he's angry at himself for doing it."

  He kissed Chase on the cheek again and smiled. "I know you appreciate my pearls of man-wisdom, but trust me when I say that he'll come around after he's done beating himself up. I'm willing to bet that Zaine fellow has probably already made his own points." Jonathan didn't know Zaine, didn't like him, and didn't want to know him. He knew that Kenzie followed him around like a puppy, which made him dislike him even further, but he also knew that Zaine didn't seem to do anything other than break people - physically and mentally. He hoped he showed the Serpiente king the same courtesy he showed everyone else when it came to raw, brutal honesty. It would speed things along.

  "So, Kenzie, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you - you're going to be staying at the guildhouse for the next three weeks." Capricia leaned forward on the table, holding her finger up when Kenzie went to yelling. "In a nutshell, we think there are some bad people that know how to find us. Us being the families of pretty much every hunter, and before you ask, for once, it isn't mine or Connor's fault."

  "What? WHAT? What about school? Three weeks? That's like a month!" Kenzie said.

  "We hadn't covered school yet, but I can have your mom call in and claim family emergency. I mean, it isn't like we aren't able to do that," she said with a shrug.

  "I can't go to school? That's not fair!" She stood up and slammed her hands down on the table. "This is such BULLSHIT! Why do I have to suffer because someone else fucked up?" she demanded.

Persephone needn't have worried about Darren humanizing her, since he'd already been totally fooled, and he actually thought it was a trick at first.  She got silence on his end for an instant as he tried to swallow the understanding that not only had the woman who answered been friendly and something that suggested that she might actually be likable, but Persephone sounded totally normal.  She didn't sound crazy, or 'out there', or whatever it had been that they'd all thought.

"Do I have the wrong number, or something?" he asked, confused, but on the verge of anger.  Had he been played?  It definitely sounded like it.  "I didn't think 'Persephone' was a common name."

Fuck.  If he'd been played by a Midnight chick, what was the purpose?  Why would she keep returning?  What was the deal, and how much trouble was he in this time?

Just because Jonathan had a point didn't mean that Connor had to like it, and he displayed the fact that he recognized the point and disliked it by scowling more than he already had been and saying nothing.  Hey, he wasn't arguing, and that was something.  It wasn't like it mattered for more than a moment or so, since Capri dropped the news to Kenzie.

"I do appreciate your 'man-wisdom'," she told him with a laugh, both over the comment and the kiss.  "You have a very good track record for being right, and my favorite part is the delivery."

Example: 'pearls of man-wisdom'.  He could have said anything to describe that, but he'd chosen that.  She liked the stupid little things that he did.  It was all in the details for her, and Jonathan didn't disappoint.  As for the actual business at hand, she didn't doubt that he was right about Lucien, and hoped he was right about Zaine.  It would certainly allow it all to go more smoothly.

Considering the screaming that Kenzie launched into, 'smoothly' wasn't at all likely, so she'd take what she could get.

"Hey, welcome to our world.  You're not the only one upset, Kenz," Connor pointed out, and he actually managed to both look and sound sympathetic.  He didn't want her cooped up and her life disrupted any more than she did.

"Believe me, it's better to be away from school for a few weeks than what these people could do to you.  Rafael and a vampire he was working with are both in very bad shape, and the last thing any of us wants is for you to be there, too," Chase offered when she got a second to throw that in.  She had to talk fast, and definitely didn't know if Kenzie absorbed it, but she tried.  It was true, and they weren't changing their minds, so it wasn't necessary that they talk her into it, just preferred.

Persephone's brow knitted as she sat down in a comfortable chair in Verity's office. "It's not a common name, not to my knowledge. Who is - " and then she realized. "OH! Hallo kitten! My, it has been a while, hasn't it? Did you want to play, is that why you called? I got a new ball," she began. So, sue her. Persephone still got a little kitty-cat like at the prospect of toys and catnip.

Persephone would by mystified if he'd been cross with her, particularly because she'd more or less forgotten that she'd been 'undercover' when they'd met. She had found it was easier to scope things out for people if the rest of the world thought she was a poor, abused pet. They would be more apt to talking and forgetting she was there, and from that she'd gleaned enough to know who was trustworthy and who was expendable.

As it turned out, a lot of people were expendable.

"But the junior PROM is coming up! They announce the court next week, and I'm just supposed to vanish? I'm trying to get elected, how do you think that's going to screw up my votes?" she demanded. She looked at Capricia, trying to appeal to her. "Come on, you know this is insane. Like those people even care about me. They probably don't know I exist!"

"Well, that's what we're hoping for, but I can't really guarantee it," Capri said sadly. "In fact, I'm going to be keeping Anya with friends until this is settled," she said. She didn't feel like bringing up the Elke thing again, so 'friends' was a good term.

"Anya is a baby. I'm seventeen. Hardly defenseless," she snapped. "But thanks for the comparison."

Capricia slammed her own hands down on the table, leaving forward into Kenzie's face. "Listen, this is shitty for all of us. If I can find a way to make it work so you can go and have your little dance, than I'll do it, but right now I've got a lot of shit rolling downhill and we're all standing at the bottom like dumb-fucking-diddly-dee, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd calm the fuck down and let me do my job." She withdrew from the table quickly and snatched her keys from the bar counter where she'd left them.

  "I'm going to go get Anya and take her to Elke. And then I'm going to go to the guild and try to start un-fucking this situation before we inconvenience anyone else," she snapped. She gave Connor a rough kiss on the cheek and squeezed Chase's hand before she left.

  "I'm going to wait in the car," Kenzie said angrily. She grabbed her things off of the counter and then brushed past the group, retreating to Jonathan's car before she had to hear anyone else's shit.