Night's Omen

 [3:45 AM]

Rigel had woken up in a cold sweat, and tossed the blankets off of himself. He'd walked the length of the hallway at his apartment, eyes roaming over the darkened rooms. He could hear the television at a low volume, though it wouldn't have mattered if it had been louder; wouldn't have woken him up at all. Adara was asleep on his couch, the throw draped loosely over her, shoes tucked under the coffee table. Her car keys were on the kitchen counter next to a receipt from the gas station around the corner for five gallons of gas, a Milky Way, and a Sprite Zero. In the blueish glow, he could see the remnants of the candy bar and the almost-empty soda bottle on the small coffee table, and smiled a little. Adara was the only person he'd ever seen be selectively diabetic. He brushed his fingers over the lock on the front door, checking both bolts and the chain. He lived in a decent area, but the devil in Rigel made him know that trust was a mistake.

He couldn't remember what dream he'd been having, but it hadn't been a good one. He had the distinct feeling that if he remembered it, he'd be more unhappy than he currently was, so he wandered back down the hall, pausing to look at his thermostat. He got a glass of water and relieved himself, then sat down on his bed in the darkness, nothing but the turquoise glow of his alarm clock to illuminate the room. He had a bad feeling, but then, he always had a bad feeling. He couldn't explain why this was different. With a sigh, he stood up and walked to the window, glancing out and sweeping his eyes on the streets below. He looked with his regular vision and with the dark one, sweeping for any signs of intrusion over the wards he had in place. As a practiced necromancer, Rigel used small bullshit wards as alarms. They were easy to overlook until you tripped one, and then...

Nothing was lurking outside - nothing he could see, anyways, and nothing he could sense. His only idea was to lay back down, and that he did, though he felt unable to get comfortable against his sheets. He kicked them off, but soon became too cold, and dragged them back up. He set to flipping his pillows around, but by then his phone was making a buzzing noise and moving around on his bedside table. He ignored it at first, and then realized that it was ringing.

The conversation had only taken seconds, but he found himself fully dressed and armed to the teeth, back in the living room and shaking his sister lightly. He ignored her sounds of protest, and knelt down. "Listen," he said softly, looking at the ground. "I need you to get up, right now, and put your shoes on. You can sleep in the car on the way, but we need to leave, now. You've got ten minutes to get up, get your overnight stuff together, and do whatever you need to do in the bathroom. I've got to pack a few things," he said. He remained still for a second, and then left her side, disappearing into the darkness of the hallway.

One bag for books, the second for weapons, and a thumb drive on his keychain with digital copies of all of the books. He was half-social pariah, after all, and one doesn't simply expect a Grimoire of the Damned to remain in perfect condition forever. The most valuable of the books were in a safe beneath the floorboards, while what he had on his person were more attainable copies, things that Adara could benefit from as much as he could. The weapons were self explanatory. Rigel hadn't any need for clothing, because he had a separate room at the Guild House for such things.

He emerged from the hall to see his sister sitting on the couch with her bookbag next to her, hugging a pillow to her knees. She was folded over on top of it, looking up at him with a tired expression.

"I'm so glad you don't pack like mother," he said with a sigh of relief. He motioned for her to get the door, and both of them hurried out of his apartment and down into the parking garage, where they piled into his Audi S4 and headed as quickly and quietly as they could for Frost. From what Christian had told him, Rigel had been left to assume Adara would be a prime target for obvious reasons. The easiest way to get to him would be through her, and with it, the chance for a mystical sort of powerplay opened up that Rigel didn't like the sounds of. Sometimes, having to be bonded to someone was a royal pain in the ass. He watched as she fussed with the pillow, flipping it over a few times against the door of the Audi, before finally getting comfortable, and focused his eyes on the road.

"Christian, this is Rigel. I'm plus one, en route to you. What's the status?" he asked softly, having dialed Christian out on his wireless.

  From his seated position on his desk, Christian reached down and hit the button on his phone, putting Rigel on speaker.

"Heh. Panic. Widespread. We're trying to downplay it as much as possible until we know what's going on. It's inconveniently early in the morning, so a lot of people are not answering phones for various reasons. I'm willing to bet there are already dead bodies we don't know about," he said. He took in a sharp breath that Rigel heard, and then continued. "My wife and daughter are on there way in, but her brother isn't answering his phone. He's been tangled up in some vampire trouble before, but that wasn't trouble associated with Midnight, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that he's being his typical idiot self and putting his face where it doesn't belong concerning his friends," he said with a laugh.

That Derek could manage to date a girl whose brother was a vampire and friends with even older vampires was only something that Christian himself could do, which meant not only was it possible, but he bet very much that right now Derek was trying to silence drama from that region. The last time he'd experienced it, it'd been when he'd given his brother in law enough morphine to down an elephant, and they'd agreed never to tell Evangela any of it. Christian firmly believed that enough time hadn't passed to guarantee that he wouldn't have a permanent duty station on their living room couch if word got out, so they were still taking a vow of silence on the issue.

"It's going to be a bumpy ride, Rigel," Christian warned. "I hope your sister isn't the type to get cabin fever. I'll see you when you arrive." Christian dismissed him and then moved out of his office and down the hall, where a very awake Capricia was on the phone with - actually, Christian wasn't sure. He got in a little closer.

"Yes, but this is my job, also. I can't just pack up and go to Crimson when I'm needed here, at Frost, at my guild," she said into her phone, making little pointing gestures when she did it.

"Tell Connor I said hello," Christian said, tucking his arms behind his back and leaning with his upper body over her shoulder. Capri's spine did an odd thing as she bent backward a little, and then she turned in to her phone and excused herself. She closed it and looked at Christian, brows raised.

"So, we had this exact conversation a few months ago," she said, folding her arms. Her purple sweater and jeans seemed almost too cheerful for the mood, but that was Capricia, take it or leave it.

"We did," he agreed. "And I'm going to bet that this has something to do with Midnight perceiving one of the guilds has attacked them. That means that we need to inventory everyone who's gone in and out in the last 48 hours. Can you get me a list of all the names from the front?" he asked. When she nodded, he lowered his voice, leaning in to her ear. "If I find out it was one of our own, I want them ready for transport to Midnight," he hissed. "I don't know how your boyfriend and Lucien intend to handle this, but I am not fucking around," he said solemnly.

Capricia believed that was the first moment that Christian had ever scared her, and as they parted ways, she called Connor back. "De ja fucked us in the ass with a wooden rolling pin. As my boss pointed out? We talked about this a while ago. Remember our pow-wow at Ash's bar? Yeah. I'm going to pull lists of everyone who's been in and out for the last two days with the front, and I suggest you do the same. Christian's right. Midnight is retaliating. They've been hoping that someone would pull a stunt like this, yes, but they've sat on their hands all this time for what, now? No, something set them off. He's pissed. If it was someone here, he said we're bringing them up to Midnight on our own," she advised.

The bad part was that she didn't believe that Christian was in the wrong, and she knew most of Frost would see it that way as well. For all of this aftermath, the cause would die, either by their hands or by Midnight's.

Connor had picked the absolute WORST moment to leave his guild that he thought he could have that night.  It had been so calm and quiet that he should have known it was just the calm before some ridiculous storm, but he hadn't even realized.  Katya had dropped him a line that Anya was unhappy, which he also should have known would happen, since she was almost on a timer this past week, so he'd offered to stop back at his house and pick up some of her things in the hopes that something would calm her enough that she'd stay asleep.  He'd wanted to grab some of the field reports he'd left at home when he'd gone into the guildhouse that day, as well, so it didn't bother him much.  He'd thrown his backpack on and gone out into a beautiful night that had followed a great day.  He'd been itching to drive the bike in, so he had, and it meant that he got to take the bike back home; an awesome plan, if he said so himself.  The ride itself was calm and quiet, just like the rest of his night, and he'd gotten home, grabbed his papers and was in Anya's room when the calls started coming in.  It was Lucien first, surprisingly, giving him a 30 second recap of what information was known, then excusing himself.  He'd barely been disconnected when Chase called in.

"Connor?  Where are you, are you still at the guild?" she demanded, and he was instantly thrown off by her aggressive, frantic demeanor.  This was Chase and she was usually the chill one.  He'd always guessed it came from knowing what was going to happen. 

"Uh, no, I'm at home.  Had to gra--"

"No!  Get out of there!  You have to get back to the guild, warn everyone.  They're coming, they're coming for ALL of us, Connor!  Mom, Dad, Kenzie, Uncle Victor, all of the guilds and all of their families!" she explained in a rush, nearly hysterical, and he was suddenly getting the feeling that this was her being calm.  He'd seen her on a few rare occasions after she'd seen some horrible things, and it shook her up, but this was family. 

"Mom?  Why would any--"

"They're targeting families!  Anyone that we care about is wearing a target on their back!  Get to Crimson!"

"No, I have to go get Darren, Mom and Dad.  Kenzie's still at Onyx," he told her firmly.

"Call them and tell them to meet you there.  You don't understand, Connor, I saw you die!  Get out!"

"Fine, fine!  Call Victor, warn him to get people to the guildhouses.  Get everyone spreading the word.  I'll move," he assured her, stuffing a few toys and then whatever supplies he thought he'd need for the baby in his backpack.  Katya had the diaper bag and its contents, but that would only last so long.  He hung up with Chase and instantly called Capri, but that didn't exactly get him anywhere.  She was at Frost, and they'd started getting word, too.  It was the same old argument, just on a different day and driving him more insane this time due to urgency and a higher danger level.  When she hung up, he felt more aggravated than before, which might have prompted him stopping at the wall near his front door, revealing the weapons within and snatching some down.  He'd been armed, always was, but war required something a little heavier duty.  He should have been planning on taking the car in, knowing that there was a target on his back, but the bike was out front and he wasn't taking the chance of drawing extra attention opening up the garage.  He could move his ass.

His hand was actually reaching for the doorknob when he heard movement somewhere behind him.  It was a brief instant that caused him pause and prompted him to glance into the dark house behind him, but nothing else, so he was opting to just get his ass out of dodge.  That was when his phone decided to ring again, and he answered quickly to shut it up, hearing Capri ignore his lack of a greeting and just plow forward with her description of the talk she'd had with Christian and the state of things. 

"Okay, I'm not turning anyone in to Midnight, and we'll discuss this after I get back to Crimson," he hissed into the phone, still keeping an eye on the darkness of the inner house as he drew one of his desert eagles.  It was the .50 and it would rock all the bones in his right arm to fire it all that quickly, but if there was something lurking back there, he wanted the firepower.  He didn't see anything else, so he cradled Frankenphone against his shoulder and popped the doorknob with just a quick glance through the peephole to try to determine if the path to the bike was clear.  It looked it, so he was betting he was just being paranoid.  Knowing there were people out to get you didn't help.  "Chase called, she's freaking out.  This one is bad, Capri.  Has anyone heard from Vi---"

He was turning to head out the now-open front door when a flash of movement from inside the house caught in his periphery, and the phone was shoved into his pocket without a second thought about the former conversation.  He opened fire on the shape that launched itself at him, getting a strangled, inhuman cry from what he was guessing was a shifter from its movements, and he was on the move.  There were other sounds now, none of them caring to remain silent any longer.  His keys were already in his hand, the gun's flash having illuminated enough of the inside of his living room to tell him that his eyes hadn't improved enough as a vampire's bloodbond.  They'd gotten WAY too close. 

Headed for the bike in a quick rush, he still didn't know if he was going to be able to get it started in time to get the hell out of there.  They were too fast, and he could only hold so many back without maintaining movement.  There was no chance he was outrunning them, though.  The only good thing about it that he could see was that they must not have sent anyone big at him.  Just quantity, and that didn't outweigh quality.  Were they just hoping that they'd catch him unaware?  He took a sudden, unexpected blow as he hit the sidewalk, something from the side that knocked him off his feet, but other than a violent curse and trying to shake the disorientation of the blow off, he was on his knees and firing at the vampire as soon as he could roll out of the fall.  He took it in the belly, again cursing himself for the bad shot, but it had blown a hole right through the creature, probably taking its spine with it.  It was down, at the very least.  Shoving himself to his feet again, he opted not to ignore the others in favor of fleeing.  Now was one of those points that he almost wished he'd wired his house up with explosives, since they all seemed to be coming out of the building. 

A few more shots downed a few more bodies, all while trying to make it to the bike again.  Now, he was glad he hadn't been trying to get to the car, since he had NO idea what was waiting in his garage.  He put the Harley between himself and the monsters, using his left hand to awkwardly start it while maintaining an area of 'no touchie the hunter' that spanned the distance between himself and his house, but it wasn't long before he was holstering the hot .50 in favor of its sister.  As soon as the damn motorcycle roared to life, he was on it and gone.

He'd completely forgotten about Capri and the phone.

Just like the rest of the guild members that were suddenly mobilizing, Audrey had gotten a call.  It wasn't from Shane, surprisingly, but from Rafael.  The parrot had gotten wind of what was going down from Zaine, and proceeded to help spread the word, which for him had included warning the people that were good to him.  Audrey, being the mama bear that she was, had been included in that crew, especially considering her boy.  She'd done a military-quick sweep of her apartment, grabbing anything that she might need for herself and her son at the guildhouse that they didn't already have, waking Aaron up in the process. 

"Baby, come on, get up.  I know it's late, but you have to hurry.  The bad men are coming, so we have to go somewhere safe," she explained in quick, hushed tones.  She was already dressed and had a duffel at the door, Aaron's backpack in hand.  She'd dumped his school things out, snatching the PSP that he wasn't supposed to be bringing to school out of the mess with a half-hearted shake of her head and shoving it back in.  He had clothes in her small quarters at the guildhouse just like she did, so it was just a matter of grabbing anything he didn't have. 

"But moooooooommy, I have school tomorrow," he whined, yawning as he pulled himself out of bed.  He knew better than to fight her if she said to get up, not with how life had changed for all of them since she'd started hunting, but he was still a ten-year old, and he was still not accustomed to REAL danger. 

"That's okay, your teachers won't mind.  Get your toothbrush and your shoes on.  Come on, quickly," she urged, brushing her hands over his hair as he moseyed in that direction in an absent sort of need for comfort.  He was going to be fine, because she was going to get him to Frost, where he'd be safe.  It wasn't like she was that important in the scheme of things, anyway.  Why would they target her first?  God, she felt bad for Christian and his family.  Of course, she didn't know that other than some little attacks to shake things up and hopefully get a lucky shot in on the leaders unprepared, Midnight was targeting the smaller people as a scare tactic.  Eliminating the less important hunters to psyche out the big names was a good plan, but it wasn't one she was expecting. 

Aaron came back to her in a few minutes with clothes on and his toothbrush, playstation 3 and its requirements in tow.  He was a smart kid, realizing that he was going to be away from home for awhile, but she had to roll her eyes at his idea of priorities.  "Aaron, really?  Okay, throw it in here, let's go.  You still don't have shoes on.  Go!"

He ran for the door, grabbing his shoes and then realizing he didn't have socks on, which prompted him to run back to his room.  Fortunately, he grabbed his coat while he was at it.  Audrey went over a quick mental checklist that included things that few of the other hunters had to worry about.  True, there were others with families, but she was among the older ones.  Aaron's game system being so necessary wasn't something the ones with babies worried about, nor were some snacks that would keep Aaron appeased during long hours of boredom.  Fruit snacks were among them, tossed into his bag because she'd seen them on the counter.  Then, there was the duffel of weapons.  Audrey had a toothbrush, brush and other toiletries at the guildhouse, so all SHE needed was a pile of weapons.  She'd strapped holsters to both sides of her body, slipped a gun in against the small of her back, and then thrown her long leather coat on over it all.  She kept the shotgun in hand, hefted the heavy bag of weapons onto her shoulder, across her chest, and called for Aaron.  He appeared, to her relief, in that next second and pulled his own backpack on.  She carried the other duffel in her left hand, the shotgun in her right and ready to be raised at a moment's notice. 

"Alright, baby, we need to get to the car," she told him, setting the duffel down to open the door, check the hallway, and then usher him out into the open while she locked the door.  Then, she handed the keys to him, grabbed the bag up, and started down the hallway, coat flapping behind her.  "Hang onto the keys for me, Aaron.  When we get down there and you can see the car, I want you to hit the button to unlock it and jump in, okay?  Don't wait until I'm there."

He nodded, face a little whiter with the sight of the guns and the realization that it was serious.  She hadn't noticed until she glanced down at him, but he had the keys in his right hand and the right arm wrapped around a floppy, light green stuffed frog that he hadn't played with in years.  She'd known it was still in his room, but he hadn't seemed to care about it anymore.  Obviously, she was wrong, and she clenched her jaw at the understanding of what this was doing to her boy.  She wanted to collect him up and carry him, but he was too heavy for her to do that now, especially when she was already so loaded up.  She was strong, and she'd do it if she had to, but she'd lose most of her maneuverability if she did that.  He'd settled for taking a handful of her left sleeve, anyway.  That didn't quell the desire to at least stop and hug him, but there was no time.  When they were at Frost. 

We're going to be fine, nobody cares about us.  They're going to strike at the leaders, at the trainers and their families.  Not me, not us.  We're fine.

As they descended the stairs, not trusting the elevator for safety, and had to go out into the openness of the parking garage, Audrey felt something in her chest tighten up, scared senseless that someone was going to jump out not at her, but at her boy.  Nobody's going to touch him.  She went ahead, the deep breath before the plunge, and her alert eyes were watching every shadow like it might eat them alive.  She kept her steps quick, worried that Aaron would have trouble keeping up, but his little legs moved doubletime to keep up with his frightened mother.  When a shape did pop out from behind a car, she nearly blew it to bits, and only didn't because she recognized a flash of the fucking t-shirt he was wearing.  It was a ridiculous thing to notice, especially right then, but it was picture of a stripper's silhouette in white on black, with the big, bold words, 'I support single moms'.  She'd always laughed at it and told him he was a douchebag for it, but he'd always joked right back at her in that charming accent of his.  Now, here he was, and she'd nearly killed him.  She actually choked out a relieved laugh and he came up on her, but other than tossing her a smile in turn, he was watching around them.  That wasn't a good sign. 

"C'mon, love, shit's hittin' the fan, gotta get your boy to base," he told her, and he did scoop Aaron up into his arms.  "Saw some shifty folks around here, but couldn't be sure who they were."

"Then, let's just leave.  What are you driving?"

"Nothin' I care about enough to leave you for it.  Let's take yours, soccer mum," he teased, his tone not quite working in the obvious tension of the situation, but he was already outpacing her to the vehicle.  It was an SUV, not a mini-van, but he just liked messing with her.  He tossed her a glance as he neared it, obviously for the keys, but Aaron produced them, drawing an almost proud grin from one Thomas Grimm before the bastard planted a big, sloppy kiss on the boy's hair.  Aaron squirmed, giggling some, and Audrey wanted to both punch and kiss the other hunter herself.  This wasn't the time, but Thomas just had that effect on Aaron.  Asshole.  He had her son in the car and crawling into the backseat an instant later, and he left both doors on the passenger side open while he circled to the driver's side.  Audrey tossed her bags into the back and slammed the door just in time to see a man jump one of the fences that surrounded the garage.  She jumped into the passenger's seat as Thomas was slamming the driver's side door shut, and she gave him a grim look. 

"You see that?"

"Yeah, party's starting all over.  Bettin' there's already some cadavers we used to call mates," he said hurriedly, starting the car and squealing tires as he twisted it out of the parking space and took the garage lanes too quickly.  There were other shapes moving around them suddenly, and Audrey realized that Rafael's warning had come just in time.  If he'd been any later, or she'd taken any longer getting out of the house, they'd have never made it across the garage.  "Love, I need you to dial Xander up on my cell.  Tell him we're en route, and that Kimber is still unaccounted for."

She did as she was told, no questions, but turned back to offer her son a tight smile.  "Seat belt, baby.  We'll be there soon."

"Are we going to be okay, mommy?  The bad men won't get us?"

"We're okay, I promise.  Uncle Thomas is here, right?"

"Right," Aaron agreed, looking a little happier as he glanced at the back of Thomas' head.  The man waved one hand up to show acknowledgment, but he was pretty focused on getting them out of the garage alive.  Audrey followed up her instruction to Aaron by snapping her own seatbelt on, then calling Xander.

Capricia was predisposed to rushing out of the guildhouse violently when she realized that might be exactly what they were looking for her to do. She stopped running just at the doors, the last thing she could hear on the phone being the sound of Connor getting sideswiped by something. She stood there, frozen with wide brown eyes, not sure what she was supposed to do. On one hand, she wanted to arm up and go to the house, but she might have been giving them too much credit. Connor would be gone, and she'd be there alone to deal with the aftermath. It was during that dilemma that doors began opening around her, and people began shuffling out of their rooms. She stood there, looking down at her phone, one hand on the door as she tried to decide what she needed to do.

"Hey," Holly breathed, coming up alongside her. The girl was pulling a shirt on over a black and neon-pink zebra striped bra, one that matched her hair almost perfectly. She didn't seem too worried about the fact that some of the members had gotten a free show; it was like seeing someone in a bikini top. Holly didn't see what the big deal was. She looked down at Capricia's hand, cocking her head in that awkward way that only a bird could manage, and then went back up to focusing on her open-mouthed I'm-About-to-Break-Down facial expression.

"What happened? What's the deal?" the Raven asked, brushing away clumps of long, hot pink waves, frizzy from sleep.

Capricia shrugged, her stuttering an indication of her panic. "I - I don't know. I was talking to Connor, and then... " she trailed off. She looked at Holly, and realized that she was technically a trainer now. Holly shouldn't have been looking at her with a worried expression, at least, not for her well-being. Trainers didn't get to have emotional outbursts. What were Zaine and Stavros doing right now, she wondered? Probably not flying off of the handle.

Holly frowned, placing a hand on Capri's arm. "I'm sure he'll be fine," she said slowly. "Where is the baby?" she asked. Holly didn't like being the one having to do this, but she figured it would be better than Victor flipping out on her.

"Anya's with Katya. Doesn't really matter where; they wouldn't be able to get to her fast enough." She snapped back into play, and then looked at Holly. "Have you seen Victor?" she asked suddenly.

Holly leaned back a little, moving her hand so that she could fold her arms. "No, of course not. I just woke up. I'm sure he's asleep in the infirmary on one of those cots," she said, waving her hands.

Capricia knitted her brows together. "Not likely. If he were, he'd have been out here thanks to all the commotion. You're right; I need to try and concentrate on the current situation. I'm sure Connor's fine," she said. She didn't believe it, but she needed to make them think that she had her shit together. She looked at Holly, lips in a line. "Find all of our level 4 and above hunters and get them together in the main room. Make sure that our bank accounts are moving to get everyone who needs to be moved, moved. I have calls to make."

She excused herself and then flipped open her phone, dialing her brother. "Sergei, it's me. Yes, it is very late her. I need you to get Mother and get out of the country. Take her to Sydney for the next month. No, I'll book everything. Call me when you're at the airport. No, I need you to do it right now. Pack only what you need." She spoke in hurried Russian as she moved through the halls and to the infirmary. No sign of Victor. "Yes, I'll talk to you soon. Be careful."

She dialed Victor's phone next. It rang, and rang, and rang.

 As it was, Kimber wasn't in a state to take any calls. Unclothed and tangled up with the body of her favourite feline was just the way that the good lord intended for her to be, and despite the fact that they'd stopped their actual playtime a few hours before, nothing beat laying in bed nuzzled against his chest. She had been sleeping quite well, actually, except that her phone had begun ringing. She opened her eyes, and by change in Xavier's breathing, he was awake, even if he wasn't moving around. His phone had been going off all night, too, but it had finally stopped - not that they could hear it, and at one point, he threw it out of the room and down into the hall when the buzzing of the vibrate began to irritate him.

She rolled over as it stopped, trying to get comfortable again. She'd been having a dream about swimming in turquoise waters and laying on sandy beaches, and it had been wonderful. The place she had been was utterly deserted, so it was only her, a boombox, and her towel, with an ice chest full of cold beers to keep her company. She sighed, closing her eyes and preparing to go back into the beautiful blue lagoon of dreamland.

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night...
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight

Her ringer went off again, and that time it was Erik's personal cellular phone ringtone. That she had not expected, and she sat up with an angry sigh. "Oh my god, will you people LEAVE ME ALONE?" she groaned. She didn't move for the phone, instead hearing the weird default echoing tone it made when she had a voicemail. She sat there under the covers and naked, considering laying back down again when she heard the faint buzzing of Xavier's phone in the hallway for the first time since she'd woken up.

"What the hell is going on?" she said out loud, aware that Xavier had sat up but ignoring him for the moment. She crawled off of the bed, reaching down to snatch her phone from out of the pocket of her jeans that he'd yanked off of her, and leaned back away from the bright light. "Holy shit, seventeen voicemails?" She looked at the missed call times, some from numbers she didn't even know, and then held the phone up to her ear, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Someone had better be dead," she snapped.

While Xavier watched her from the edge of the bed, she casually tossed his underwear at him, content to stand naked for the moment. Her facial expression changed as the chattering of her voicemail could be heard thanks to the volume of her phone. It went from confused, to shocked, to worried, and as she cycled through the messages, her expression began to become darker and darker, and it seemed to be focusing on Xavier.

"You need to go get your phone, right now," she advised him, her voice taking a steely sort of tone to it. She was using every ounce of self control not to shake uncontrollably, with fear and anger, and she concentrated wholly on slipping her neon purple panties and bra back on. By the time Xavier would come back into the room, she would have her jeans half on and her shirt slung over her shoulder. She was talking to someone, and held a finger up to her lips to indicate that he needed to be very quiet. Her expression did not suggest that she was fucking around.

"No, Xander, I was asleep. I didn't know anything until just now. No, I don't know where Connor is - how the fuck should I know where Connor is? You woke ME up, I'm not even fully sure that I comprehend what's happening. Yeah, no, I'll be there in a half hour or so. Why so long? I JUST WOKE UP, I don't MOVE as fast as you do, god DAMN. Yeah, you call Thomas, see how supportive he'll be of your idea that you lock me in a god-damned bomb shelter. I have to call Erik back, let me get off the phone!"

The argument went on for a few more minutes before Kimber just hung up on him, and then she looked at Xavier.

"What the HELL?" she asked, holding her arms up and making a face that clearly displayed how irritated/confused/shocked/angry she was.

Church's appearance from Holly's room wouldn't have been all that shocking, but the instant he was framed in that doorway, it was impossible to miss him.  He had pants on (thank god), and had pulled a wife beater on with all the commotion going on in the halls, but it was Capricia and Holly that had his attention.  He still didn't know what the fuck was going on, but he was definitely thinking that it was big and bad.  Fortunately, he wasn't so against those things, and other than Holly, there wasn't anyone on this side of the country that he gave a shit about.  His parents and sister were back in Texas.  He'd still be calling them and telling them to go on vacation on his tab, but it didn't seem as important as the people in New York.  It was harder to mobilize henchmen against a little family in Texas.

He caught the basic gist of what was going on without saying a damn thing, just from listening to the people around him.  Midnight was pissed, the guilds were screwed.  That was all he really needed to know, honestly.  Yeah, and people thought he was dumb.  They were the idiots.

Capri was giving out orders, so he nodded, then glanced at Holly as the Frost trainer peaced out.  Between the two of them, they could snag the hunters they needed, starting.....now.

"ALRIGHT, MOTHERFUCKERS!  IF YOU ARE LEVEL FOUR AND UP, GET YOUR SORRY ASSES TO THE MAIN ROOM!  MOVE IT, MOVE IT!" he bellowed, fully expecting Holly to join in, probably moving in the other direction.  As before mentioned, they'd manage.  Holly's voice wasn't as thunderous as his, but she had a set of lungs on her.  She could yell.  "FOUR AND UP, MAIN ROOM, LET'S GO!  ANYONE ELSE, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!"

The awesome part was that those assholes moved.

Beyond sick of dealing with his phone, Xavier had chucked it down the hallway a few hours ago, and wasn't all that keen on picking it back up.  That Kimber's phone was exploding wasn't exactly encouraging, and he really couldn't say that he WANTED to know what was going on.  Whatever it was, it could wait.

Orrrrr, not.  Once Kimber crawled out of bed, it lost some of its attraction, though he didn't try to hide the fact that he was watching her dress.  Even when she tossed his underwear at him, he didn't make a move, but this time, he was watching her face.  He'd found the 'Eye of the Tiger' ringtone pretty amusing, and naturally guessed that it was her partner, but now that he was watching her expressions as she listened to her SEVENTEEN voicemails, he was even less inclined to touch that phone.  He still slipped out from under the sheets and into the boxer shorts she'd thrown at him, then padded out into the hallway to locate the nasty little bit of technology that was sure to have far too many calls for his liking. 

Uh, yeah.  Based on the times, it looked like whatever the hell was going on had started a little before midnight, though he didn't actually have many calls.  The problem was who they were from.  "Fuck my life," he muttered, running his hand through his short hair and resting it at the back of his head as he hit a few buttons and walked back into Kimber's room.

He'd called her phone.  If Erik's ringtone was that retarded, he had to know what his was.

Holly stood posted at the end of the hall, trying to flag people down. She nodded to Church before disappearing, taking her form of a bird and flying just below the ceiling levels through the building. She'd found that it was much more convenient for maneuverability when it came down to it, not to mention it made going to the bathroom incredibly easy. Like that, right there. Riiiiiight theeeeere.

She took her human form back just at Christian's office, and pushed the door open, giving him another brief nod as she took the com in her hand and pressed down on the button. "Attention Frost Staff: If you are a level Four or above hunter, please gather in the main room. If you are below, report to the cafeteria for orders. If you are a trainee, go to the computer area, you will be assisting with transfers to move precious cargo," she said, her voice smooth. She lifted her finger off of the button, and set the com back down.

"Capricia is looking for Victor, Shane," she informed him, ignoring how informal she was being. Like there was a point to try and be courteous, ever. "Church is herding everyone into the main room. I'm guessing she had a battle plan, and I hope you have an idea of what that is," she added, leaning against his desk.

"I'm sure I do," he replied, glancing up from his laptop. "There. Evangela's parents are heading to Tahiti, mine are headed to Tokyo. What a lovely vacation for them both," he added dryly. He stood up from his chair and looked at the time. It was approaching four o'clock, and there were still people unaccounted for.

"I'm going to call my wife's brother, and then my own. I need you to get Rigel and get to the main room. Give everyone an update as best we know it - he'll fill you in on the way." He waved her off and turned around, dialing Derek's phone again. He'd tried calling Ryan, but the phone had gone straight to his voicemail, which meant it was off. He felt like his brother might actually not even be in the immediate area, but he didn't know if he didn't try.

[4:15 AM]

Kimber looked down at her phone as 2LiveCrew began blaring out of it.

ME SO HORNY, ME-ME SO HORNY UNH

She pressed her thumb on the mute button and stared at him, eyes narrowing. "What is fucking going on?" she asked. she finally managed to get completely dressed, throwing clothing to him as he motioned for it. "Since when did you guys declare war on the guilds?" she demanded, still a tone of utter disbelief.

The phone rang again, and she answered it gruffly. "YES, Erik. No, I'm fine. Yes, I'm on my way. Yes, I promise. See you soon," she said. She closed her phone and threw it down on the bed, dropping down next to it to pull her shoes on. She made it known that she did not approve, lots of sighing and other angry noises as she got her things together.

"Where are you going?"

He cocked an eyebrow up as her phone starting blaring the most ridiculous song he could think of, but he hit the cancel button on his own to end the call, satisfied that he at least knew what it was.  He could certainly deal with it being about how horny she was, especially after what they'd done just in the past few hours.  It brightened his mood just a touch as he listened to partial clips of his voicemails, all of which were unpleasant.  "I didn't have as many messages as you, but they're unpleasant," he admitted, dropping his phone on the bed they'd shared, not far from hers.

She was already mostly dressed, so he followed suit, dragging his clothes on with the kind of quickness that came with his bloodline and trying to figure out exactly what the hell he was going to do.  Midnight was calling him to their side, wanting him to help drag hunters and their families in kicking and screaming, or bloody and beaten.  From the sound of things, it was mostly his choice, and normally, he wouldn't have cared.  That Kimber was considered one of those hunters was the problem.

"Probably to the river.  If I chunk my phone in, I might be able to feign ignorance and a lost phone until someone starts blowing up my mental space, instead," he told her dryly, pulling his own boots on finally, his mind racing.  His loyalties shouldn't have been this torn, not over a woman, but wasn't that the best reason?  Originally, Kimber had been pleasant company and a hot piece of ass, but he was finding that he cared more than he'd intended.  "I'll drop you off at the guildhouse.  I would rather you not travel alone, and you can meet up with your other tiger when you get there."

Her 'other tiger', because obviously, that was the company she preferred.  She was a smart girl, since he was damn certain that anyone who tried to hurt her would have trouble with a fucking tiger. 

She liked that he completely glossed over the reason for the attack, but she didn't push the issue. Instead, she zeroed in on the other part of his statement she had a problem with. "Whoa, no," she said, holding her hands up as he told her he'd bring her to the guildhouse. "No, no, no," she said with a nervous laugh. "None of that, now. I'm pretty sure there's a kill on sight clause in effect right now, and I don't really want to test that theory out with you. I'll have Erik meet me here. He isn't even there yet, I'm sure I can get him to flip a bitch," she said.

She didn't like that Xavier implied ideas that eventually someone would use his brain as their personal text messaging outlet. It made her more nervous because she'd never considered it before, and that meant that she was lucky she hadn't gotten herself exploded. Good thing Xavier wasn't out to get her - right?

"I'm sure I'll be fine until he gets here," she said. She picked up her phone and sent him a text message, telling him that he needed to get to her apartment. She didn't live terribly far from Crimson, so it wouldn't have been like it'd take hours. At this time, on a Sunday morning, with his driving? Twenty minutes, tops. "My other tiger," she said under her breath, rolling her eyes. "Will they know you're lying?" she asked abruptly, sitting back down on the bed next to him.

It worried her, to some degree, that Xavier could end up hurt because he was trying to throw someone off of her own trail, but it just didn't seem right. Not that Kimber thought she should get a bye, but - no, no, she was pretty sure she felt a get-out-of-jail-free card was in need of being given to her. She hesitated at what Thomas and Xander would say, but this had already come up, and since Thomas had taken jobs for Midnight before, she felt like the situation was a lot more fucked than it needed to be.

"Couldn't they just unfuck it by saying, 'Hey, these guys are pretty neutral, let's leave them out of this?'" she asked, making a face at him. "Thomas has done jobs for Midnight. I'm not on bad terms. I don't even - shit, no, I've never taken a Midnight case, specifically to avoid this. God damnit," she snapped. She was irritated. And awake. And now she was hungry.

BOOM BOOM BOOM A heavy fist slammed into the door of Mike's quarters in the Frost Guild House.

Mike popped upright in his bed, hand darting to his pistol on the nightstand instinctively.

"Main Room, Now" said a muffled voice through his door.

Mike quickly hopped up out of bed and started getting dressed, slipping his knives and a couple stakes into their place and putting the pistol into its spot behind his back. He quickly reached over to his desk and shook the mouse on the desktop computer sitting there. With a few quick, well practiced keystrokes he pulled up his pirated feed of the Guild House security cameras. Hunters were pouring into the parking lot and foyer of the house, and he could see the steadily growing in the main room of the house. Even more disturbing than the mass gathering of Frost Hunters was the fact that many of them appeared to have...civilians...in tow. What the fuck was going on?

As Mike crossed the room to the door of his quarters he could feel a ball of ice forming in his gut. The Guild was in pure lock down panic mode. What could have caused this? With an even more nervous feeling he glanced back to the monitor on the desk. Quickly scanning the crowd he couldn't find Sarah's slender blonde frame. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit", Did she...no way...the bitch was crazy but she didn't finally snap did she? Mike had seen her lugging a large rifle case out to her Jeep a few days prior, but he hadn't really thought much about it.

As he moved quickly down the hall the hall the ball of ice in his stomach started to squirm sickeningly. The Guild House was filling with hunters and their families, something big had gone down...something big and apparently bad. Mike edged into the crowd, trying to pick out a familiar face to move toward. Not seeing anyone he was close nearby he simply stood quietly, waiting on Christian or someone to address the crowd and let them know exactly what the fuck was going on...

Considering the personality type that Frost seemed to attract, Axel might almost have been the odd man out with his quieter demeanor, but he made up for it in other ways.  As the guilds were just being made aware of the threat to their people and families, Axel was wiping his hands on a clean scrap of clothing one of his victims had been wearing.  They were vampires, the lot of them, and he'd overheard them saying something about a mission, creeping up on Leo's house.  Axel had been heading in to pick up some C4, nothing fancy, when he'd come across them, and now?  Now, they had his attention.  The C4 could wait.  He pulled his cell out of his pocket as he neared Leo's door, only to find Capricia on the other end, talking fast, with a hell of a lot of noise in the background.

He didn't interrupt her once she got started, then nodded as a reflex and merely responded with, "Understood."  It wasn't until she asked about his location that he actually gave her a decent response.

"I'm outside Leo's house.  He had a pest problem that was about to turn ugly," he explained simply, knocking at the door and waiting patiently while the man cautiously approached.  It was late for visitors.  "I'll be stopping for my daughter before going in.  Is there anyone else I should check on while I'm in the neighborhood?  Have you heard from Liten?  No, his father.  Fine, I'll check there.  He lives near Heidi."

He didn't give much in the way of a /call, but it wasn't like Capricia did, either.  They both knew the call was over, and they both said what they needed to, her bit including a 'why should I care?' about Darren's parents, but Axel knew better.  Zane had been a good hunter while he'd been with the guilds, and he was still a damn good hunter on his own.  

Leo opened the door, and Axel invited himself right in with a single step that caused Leo to move out of his way, shutting the door.  "I just killed a few vampires circling your house.  Midnight is attacking the guilds, we're not sure why, and targeting hunters.  Families, too.  I'll take you with me if you pack fast," he explained.  He wouldn't mind the aid, but he wasn't waiting, not while Heidi's life could be on the line.  "Two minutes."

Leo nodded, obviously having no reason to argue, and Axel returned to his phone and watching the windows while the other hunter got his shit together.  He had to call Heidi.

"Hi, sweetheart.  Listen, I'm going to come pick you up, there's some trouble going around and I need to make sure you're safe for awhile.  Pack enough clothes for a few days, I'm on my way.  If Zahra or Wren are home, tell them they can come with us or go to their own families, but they can't stay there.  If they're not home, call them anyway.  You have to be quick," he told her, and he silently thanked any gods that might be listening that she'd save her arguments and bitching for in-person.  Her mother might have hated him being a hunter, but Heidi had listened to what he had to tell her.

He turned in time to see Leo showing up with a few duffel bags, and he instantly stepped up to help carry.  He hadn't exactly been expecting them to be quite as heavy as they were, thus the grunt he issued when he hefted them up, but other than an irritated look, he rearranged them to help carry more.  Leo had about seven total, and Axel had taken four.

At the look, Leo shrugged under his own weight.  "Figured I'd grab anything that'll make a big boom, you know?"

"Right.  Let's move, I have to get to my daughter and Zane's."

"Onyx, snake Zaine?  Why?  He's gotta already be on the move."

"Liten.  They're hitting families.  His relation to Batten will put him in the line of fire, and he's a good hunter.  We could use him."

"Oh.  Gotcha.  Sure you got room?"

"It's an SUV, it must.  What else would we take, your Lincoln?"

"Fine, fine, have it your way.  Let's just go."

That said, they were out the door, and dumping the duffels in the back of the SUV, both watching for another attack at any moment.  Axel was getting the feeling that Leo hadn't exactly been high priority, being aging and lower on the totem pole, so he must not have gotten a very experienced execution squad.  Stupid, considering someone that didn't know Leo would likely get taken out by his security system before they reached him, but whatever.  Axel wasn't going to bitch about idiot would-be assassins.  He had more important concerns, like getting to his daughter.  He called Zane and Martina on the way, hoping they were still alive.

 Heidi had just finished eating her incredibly late-night snack of Taco Bell's nachos and cheese and two bean burritos, but only because she was still mulling over her weekend. She was supposed to have gone out, but Russel never called her back. She would have suspected he'd ditched her for Wren or Zahra, but Zahra, last she'd seen, was all up on one of Gabriele's friends - and by that, she meant she'd seen her talking to him and not running away. Zahra wasn't as social as Heidi was, that was for sure. Wren had come home angry and fell asleep hours ago, so Heidi was left on the couch watching reruns of Roseanne. She realized how late it was when her father called and was surprised to know she was still awake, but it didn't really matter at that point, because the shit coming out of his mouth was more bothersome than getting ranted at for not being asleep.

"I'll wake them up," was all she could say before he hung up. She went back to their rooms, hesitating in front of the doors before she finally just did the 'cop knock'. "Guys, I need you to get up and get your stuff packed. My dad is on his way to get us, and I'll explain everything on the way," she commanded. Heidi was kind of known as 'the bitch' behind her back and 'the boss' to her face. It wasn't that she pushed her friends around, but they often did what she said because it was just easier - and Heidi could ruin someone's whole night if she felt like it. She got it from her mother.

She went into her own room and knelt down on the floor, pulling her overnight bag from under her bed. She sat there for a few seconds and sighed, and then went ahead with the packing, hoping the other two were doing the same. If not, her dad would drag them out in their night clothing, whether they liked it or not.