Night's Omen

 Verity walked, arm linked through Niall's, down the long and dark hallway towards the newly renovated area of Midnight. The compound was so large that inside, you tended to forget you weren't in another dimension somewhere - especially with how towering the doors and ceilings tended to be. She turned to glance back at Iloquil and smiled.

"An old friend of yours has come into my... company. I informed her that you would be here tonight, and she agreed to stay so that she could visit you." She said this with a sly smile, one that was designed to make Darren curious in an unhealthy manner. "She said she may even participate in the... festivities."

Beside her, Niall snorted. "That would hardly be fair," he muttered.

Iloquil could not help but perk with interest. "Justin darling, do you have any idea who she could mean?" she asked. "We're not exactly known for keeping friends. Even the ones we have, we can't seem to keep an eye on," she added wistfully, speaking of Alexander.

 Well, now. If they knew what Alexander was getting himself into at that precise moment, they would not speak so casually - or perhaps they would have. That the ancient vampire who was stuck in the body of a human was currently speeding towards Midnight was something that escaped them all, as they were far more occupied by what was in front of them.

In the large circular pit there stood a man, and behind him a table full of weapons. There were several archways with large iron gates in front of them that one could see from any angle in the seating above, and at the edge of the railing looking down was a tall, slim woman in a blue sari. She had her head tilted to the left, brown hair cascading over one lightly sun-kissed shoulder as she observed the man observing the weapons.

"He seems to have a very basic understanding of what is required of him, but it feels as though he doesn't believe it," she said, turning around to look at Verity and Niall. She had never seen their arena before, but she was intrigued at how many feelings and thoughts the man within was putting out at the moment - they literally poured out of him, like water.

"Well, we can't keep him long," Verity said with a sigh. "He's only on loan." She gave Niall a sour look. When the man had found out that the blonde in the arena was a Diamond, he'd put his foot down. He'd harm him terribly, but he wasn't to be disfigured or outright killed. To Verity, that was all of the fun drained right out of her evening.

"Azhure darling!" Iloquil cried. For the second or third time that evening, she left Justin as though he were not there at all and rushed head-on to hug someone, this time finding the similar-heighted Elemental her target. She pulled back after the embrace, incredibly surprised. "It seems our hosts simply know no bounds for promising a wonderful night. How ever did they find you?"

"Oh, I'm always around," she said, a small shrug. "I heard they'd finally unleashed hell, and I just couldn't resist a look before I returned back to Fiji. It's amazing there. Can't say I don't miss it terribly."

Persephone fought the urge to take Darren somewhere else for the time being, but said nothing. She knew that he'd withstood a lot of horrible crap so far; the arena might actually break his brain. She didn't think he'd be too happy to watch people fight to the death for no really good reason.

Everything about this night was utterly ridiculous, but Aaron had to at last admit that he was grateful to have gotten the break to 'lick his wounds', since nobody he'd come into contact with all night had been anything resembling 'gentle' with him.  Those freaks who'd jumped him and dumped him here had come out of nowhere and beat the ever-loving shit out of him quickly enough that, while he got his shots in, they overpowered him before he could do any serious damage, and from that point on he'd been in this pit fighting off whatever was thrown at him.  He'd had REAL animals attack him, shifters that didn't seem to function like they were at all human except to use humanoid intelligence against him, a few hunters that looked panicked and desperate, and finally a decent-aged vampire who must have pissed someone off.  His body hurt like he'd been hit by a freight train, he still had wounds seeping blood even after trying to clean them up some during his 'break', and he was getting pretty fucking tired.  He had no idea that Niall had no intention of letting him die because of his guild, so he pretty much figured that he was going to fight until he dropped, and then Murphy was going to light into them as soon as Diamond heard what had happened.

It was nice to know that his guild would do something about it, but it was still horribly inconvenient for him to be dead when they did.  He'd contemplated some form of escape while he was resting, but considering he was being held captive in the area where they intended to hold dangerous fighters, he wasn't surprised to be unable to find a way out.  He was still working on his plan.

The table covered in weaponry -- all looking like they were from the middle ages and only truly good as melee weapons -- had been replenished before he returned, so there were spears, swords, shields, maces and pretty much every kind of old-time weapon he could ask for, except a crossbow or even a bow.  Apparently, nobody wanted to be shot up with arrows while trying to enjoy the show from the sidelines.  Who could blame them?

 The rest of them sat down, Persephone keeping Darren close by her in case anything should happen. The night had gone so well - she suspected this was Verity testing his resolve. They'd discussed shutting the war down, but nothing had been promised, and perhaps the dynamic duo was trying to see if he'd hold true to his word about "accepting" them for what they were and abiding by the simple ground rules of respect that they required.

She didn't know. What she did know was that the rather stunning woman was acquainted with the four of them, and so their reminiscence gave her all the more opportunity to keep Darren back.

Azhure, meanwhile, was still leaning against the railing. The drop down wasn't terribly far; not so much that a fall could hurt you, but just enough to prevent someone from climbing up. There were, of course, wards in place to prevent that as well, but really, with Niall standing right there, not many would be fool enough to try and of those that did, even fewer would reach the wall itself to try and overtake it before succumbing to the sound of madness.

"He's quite remarkable," she said, hand rested beneath her chin. "I've never seen someone last for so long. It's been nearly an hour, you know," she said, canting her head to the left as Verity sat down and stretched her legs out.

"Has it? I honestly forgot he was down here," she said. She was still obviously raw about having to give him back.

"I think his time may be coming to a close," Niall warned. "We do have to play catch-and-release with the Diamonds."

Azhure pursed her lips. She wasn't aligned with any sort of side; neutral almost to a true sense of the word; that didn't mean she didn't hold a certain reverence for some life - especially the capable kind. She'd only come because they'd asked it of her, and she'd only stayed because she was intrigued. If she believed for a second that he would die, she would act - but not a moment before then.

The next person came out, and it seemed as though the question of the presence of a crossbow had been answered. He didn't even allow Aaron time to react; just began firing. It was hardly a fair fight; although he managed to dart behind the table, it offered little in the way of cover, leaving him exposed enough to take two bolts - one to the arm, and one to the chest.

"Oh, my," Verity said, secretly thrilled. "It seems we're going to lose him after all."

Niall, not to be outdone by his own pride, refused to call the fight.

"Seriously, think of how much trouble this is going to cause!" Persephone finally shouted, standing up.

Niall looked back at her, setting his jaw. He held his hand up to the other hunter in a cease fire, but the man was either too crazy or too stupid to acknowledge the command. He felt like he'd given it an accurate amount of effort (which was to say, not very much). "So we will," he said. He could find a thousand ways to make it look like an accident. It bothered him that Diamond was even a concern. Verity's indignant nature knew no bounds.

Then there was Azhure, who had leaped over the railing and was supposing she'd thought too soon about her reverence. She landed on her feet in the soft sand, approaching them both with a quickness. She snatched the halberd off of the table, turning to look at Aaron. "Stay still," she hissed. A ripple rocked through her body with the force of the bolt that caught her in the back, pushing her off balance for a moment as she swayed forward, threatening to fall onto the hunter. Her face twisted from one of total shock to a smoldering fury, and she turned with the halberd in her hand.

With a hearty swing, she threw it at the man advancing with the crossbow, who was now out of bolts. It caught him in the face, and he made a disgusting and wet noise as he toppled over. She stood there for a moment, her back to everyone as she made a horribly animal face at the pain she felt pulsing from her back. With an angry snatch, she reached up and snapped the bolt at her back. It hadn't gone all the way through, but it had been far enough. She yanked the top part out with a roar, then cast it aside. Fucking humans, would they EVER learn?

She dropped to one knee, placing her hand on Aaron's chest. "I'm afraid I can't let you die," she told him, her voice still pained. "I need you to... relax," she stuttered, gritting down on her teeth hard as she pulled some of the muscles the bolt was still buried in. Tears pricked her eyes and ran out of the corners of them, tracing silvery lines down her tanned cheeks. It was only a natural reaction to the burning in her back. She could deal with the healing once it had been dug out, but at the moment, she could not let it concern her.

"This is going to hurt quite a bit." That was all of the warning she gave him - and then her hand went down at the first bolt, hitting it with enough force to send it straight through the fleshy part of his shoulder, tearing tendon, muscle, and whatever else on the way through. It could have been worse. It was terribly close to his heart, but far enough away that she could still remove it.

The sound he made was terrifying, and Azhure couldn't help but wince. She simply wasn't impartial or evil enough for this to work well. "You need to relax," she said again, placing her less-bloody hand on his cheek and leaning in so that he could see her face. "You need to relax, or you will not survive the next few moments." She fluttered her lashes rapidly as tears caught in them, blurring her vision. She could take his pain away, but at how close to the edge of death he was, she feared he'd just cross right over. Obviously she'd forgotten how much of a determined shit he was right then, but it may have been for the better.

She suddenly felt incredibly suffocated and nauseous, and she couldn't be sure if that had been the bolt grazing something necessary or the loss of blood after a few hundred years without suffering so much as a scratch.

From up in the stands, as though they were thousands of miles away or perhaps even under water, she thought she heard Iloquil say, "OH, FOR THE LOVE OF -- " But the words didn't make any sense to her then, not really; all that made sense to her was a sudden and sharp grip of her forearm where the blonde man had taken a hold of her. He said something that she also didn't understand, and then entire world flipped upside-down and then extinguished.

Aaron?

There were sometimes jokes made about Aaron's intelligence level, most unfounded, but they were still made.  He wasn't always the most observant and he certainly wasn't as smart as Nicolette and Eithne, but he was in Diamond for a reason; you didn't get there without having a hell of a brain to go with your other skills.  Besides knowing every weapon that had ever been used to fuck someone's day up inside and out, Aaron paid much more attention to his surroundings and learned much more from little things than he let on, and he'd definitely noticed the hot brunette in the bright blue sari watching him fight since he arrived.  That didn't exactly endear her to him, knowing that she was in the stands watching him bleed and make others (who probably hadn't done any more wrong than he had, most of them) bleed, but there was something odd about the way she was watching.  She didn't seem bloodthirsty at all, not like some of the spectators. 

This whole situation was JACKED.

That a whole dinner party seemed to suddenly join her somehow didn't even surprise him, though it was still weird and just distracting enough that he missed a very important second or so of reaction time when the next opponent was sent in.  He'd made a beeline for cover behind the table with a mad reach for the halberd at the same time the other man fired to fucking crossbow  (how was THAT fair?) at him, and it occurred to him as he aborted his attempt to grab it that he shouldn't have tried to begin with.  Probably because as he was changing his mind, he felt two sudden, unpleasant points of pressure; one was in his right bicep (he'd have never been able to throw that thing even if he got it, not after that) and the second struck him square in the chest (definitely couldn't have), so cover was a better idea.  Not that it would save him for long.

There were a few seconds of grim understanding in his mind as to what had just happened and what was going to happen (namely, his impending death) before the pain actually struck full-force, hard enough to take his breath away.  He'd rolled onto his back after hitting the ground, trying to decide if he was going to be able to function without removing the bolts, or if risking the added blood loss to prevent further tearing of the muscles was worth it.  He had NO TIME before the other hunter would be in his face, so he was trying to regulate his breathing and bring his left arm up to yank the bolt out of his arm when the figure appeared.

For a split second, he thought he was going to die. 

Realizing it was the pretty woman from the stands made him wonder if he had died, especially when she yanked the halberd he'd failed to get at off the table and chose NOT to impale him with it, but to throw it like she was born to do it.  He reached what he thought was the pinnacle of confusion when she said she couldn't let him die with tears (of what HAD to be pain from an injury he was vaguely aware that she'd endured) sliding down her face and onto his cheeks, but it was a very 'okay' sort of confusion; he was surprisingly okay with all of this, except that it hurt to breathe and he'd been trying to do something that he couldn't remember.  That wasn't really okay, but since he couldn't remember, it must not have been that important, right?  Not important, and neither was her warning him that something was going to hurt.  He already hurt, he'd been hurt before, and he'd already decided that he was okay with a very dim, distant sort of acceptance.  He just wished that the fire in his chest would stop raging for just a little while, and then everything came rushing back into technicolor clarity when she ninja'd the bolt straight THROUGH him and reminded him that hurt was NOT okay and he needed to get the fuck out of here.  'Screaming' did not quite cover that situation, and he wondered briefly if he didn't perhaps prefer being shot with BULLETS to crossbow bolts.  He could compare later, after he was done with that wordless expression of the shock and agony she'd just caused, and IF he survived.  He felt weak and tired as he focused on breathing afterwards, unaware of the way his eyes had teared up to stream liquid down his face because his cheeks were already wet from her tears.

Obviously, neither of them was having a good day today, and it was about to get worse.  Maybe.  Depending on your point of view?

All he remembered as his breathing became more labored, almost like the heat was going up and he was being dunked underwater at the same time, was hearing her surprisingly soothing voice telling him to relax, and he actually started to.  It sounded like the perfect plan, like relaxing and just letting the current take him was exactly what he needed to do, and he went with it for a brief moment before his own natural inability to follow instructions quietly kicked in and he sucked in a deep, harsh breath with suddenly widened eyes.  His left arm slammed back into the ground painfully to try to push him up while his right flailed pretty uselessly because the sudden spike of pain in it impaired its movement, and something was WRONG, but his whole world had shrunk down to include only the rush of water in his ears and the woman leaning over him.  His left hand shot up just as quickly as he'd nailed that elbow into the dirt, gripping the woman's arm almost like he thought so might be an anchor to keep him from being swept away, but that might have actually only made it worse because that sensation of water around him only increased.  There was another sound over the crashing waves, and it confused him just a little.

"Azhure?" he murmured, and then he was out.  The water could have him.

 Azhure felt as though her body was being slammed repeatedly against craggy remnants of an empire long past, sunken into the waves of an angry sea. She could hear the rushing water all around her, and kept trying to get far enough away from them to get a decent breath of air, but for some reason she lacked the grace to be able to do so. She felt entirely like she imagined a human might in the situation - helpless. She began to sink, swallowing mouthfuls of bitter, freezing salt water as she did so. She felt debris tangling around her and weighing her down as she sank further and further, the sapphire light at the surface of the water becoming more and more dim.

Just when she began to succumb to the numbness that she felt, something warm firmly clasped her arm, wrapping around it. A hand? She heard her name, and then she felt as though she were free - free of the waves, free of her own power, if not but for just a second.

She hit the ground so hard that, as a human, she could have easily shattered her wrists and knees. She had reeled back from him, stumbled, and fallen forward, barely catching herself before her face smashed into the ground. She began to vomit, and buckets of seawater spilled forth, something that had never happened before. It felt like rejection; like her body was angry with her. So many vampires had gone through the same things as they were changed, but as a solitary Lyr, she had never dreamed that she would be bonded. It was painful.

From behind, a soft voice said, "I think it's time you went."

She looked over her shoulder in between heaves and a rather saddened Iloquil stood there, her hand firmly around Justinian's arm in a manner that could have been described as anxious.

"What - BLURK - happened?" she heave-demanded, closing her eyes before they felt like they'd bug out of her head. She turned and threw up what came to be known as seaweed when it hit the ground in front of her, forced to reach up and pull the clump from her throat when she began to gag.

 Iloquil had been watching with a mild interest, chatting among her friends and simultaneously checking on Darren to ensure he wasn't going to run away screaming. The fortune was in the court of the man in the arena; if he were a Diamond as they said, he would not be allowed to die. However, Niall as usual saw fit to try and tip the precariously balanced scales out of his own personal indignation. That Verity encouraged the behaviour was unhealthy, but did explain why they complimented eachother even still. It did not, curiously enough, explain why they did not kill eachother, but Iloquil supposed it was either one extreme or the other.

She jumped up as her friend hurtled the railing and, rather swiftly, dealt with the problem at hand. "Azhure, get back up here!" she shouted. "We have someone who can tend to his wounds, but you need to tend to yo - OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD."

With that, Iloquil had hiked up her dress and went right over after her, but it was already too late. She had to back away, and not because she wanted to, as the pulse of energy came from the center of where the two were, and she did not fail to notice that it even rustled her fine strands of chocolate and crème brûlée coloured hair. She waited until the moment had passed, ignoring the magic bubble that they'd been plunged into, and went right through it to yank the Lyr off of him. It felt like she'd opened the door to a very, very cold walk-in freezer when she crossed the boundary, but just as she'd grabbed Azhure's arm, she felt someone grab her own and pulled her back with a hard jerk.

"You would be wise not to," Justinian warned her.

"But - " she began. He cut her off with a meaningful look, and then wrapped his arm around her, guiding her back a few more step.

"Watch."

Then it happened. The fusion. And then Azhure was up, then down, then - vomiting? Iloquil could barely watch. Her own transformation had been horrible; she'd literally been tortured for days before it had happened. She understood it on a fundamental level, but not like an actual Elemental would. She would probably relate more to the man's side when he awoke rather than Azhure's, and in truth, the only reason she related at all was because Azhure was a fine creature who very much liked to be alone. Now that she was suddenly...

"Oh, Azhure darling," she whispered softly. It would be one of the only instances in her several-thousand year reign in which she whispered with such sadness and not have it directed at Justinian or Alexander. "I think it's time you went."

The Lyr began pulling seaweed which had been lodged in her throat out, making awful gagging sounds as she did it. Iloquil shuddered, feeling more and more like the images were being burned into her collective recalling memory. She clutched Justinian's arm a little more tightly.

"Darling, you bonded him. I'm afraid this really ends the session, friends," she said, looking up.

 Niall was smoldering. Verity, however, slapped his chest lightly with her fan. "I know exactly how she feels," she said with a small grin on her round cheeks. She looked at him, trying to draw in his gaze, and raised her hand to trace her finger gently down his jawline until she had his full attention. "Don't pout, my love," she begged, leaning in to kiss him.

The kiss was returned, but barely. "You realize this means that a rather powerful creature now allies herself with Diamond, correct?" he spat. "That she is a friend is unfortunate, but I fail to see why I shouldn't be even the least bit concerned - especially since none of you are."

"Because," Verity said, hiding her frustration with his masculine approach, but only barely, "she's not suddenly going to change her entire personality simply because she's been bonded."

"You did," he reminded her.

"I did no such thing. My life made me, not Rikai." She stopped at the look he was giving her, and then tilted her head sheepishly. "Oh," she said, the noise high-pitched and full of understanding. "I see what you meant. But I still didn't stop because of you. I stopped because it got old after a while. And I didn't need any money; I'd amassed enough. And furthermore, you still had to work through your crazy so one could say that you changed for me."

From the ground, Iloquil made a frustrated noise. "Can we skip the history lesson? I love you both very dearly, but right now, Azhure is still my friend and I'd still like to see her safely somewhere else, at the very least."

Verity blinked rapidly. "I do tend to go off on tangents, don't I? Alright then, darling." She looked past Niall to Persephone. "Will you assist your friend in taking these two somewhere safe?"

Persephone stalled. "Back to Diamond?" she asked. That would be so... so bad for her. Even if Darren was there as a shieldbuffer.

Justinian was pulling his phone from his pocket. "I actually have a contact - yes, it's me. Listen, I think I've found one of yours. Where? Well, currently he's on the ground and heavily bleeding... No, of course I didn't do it." He paused. "Do you want him or not? Oh, one second." He lowered the phone and looked up at the rest of them still elevated, now all standing and drawn to the railing for the sake of the situation. "His name?" he asked.

"Aaron Thorson," Niall said, gradually finding his anger simmering as Verity kneeded on the small of his back with her knuckles.

"Did you hear that? I have no idea! I don't care where he's supposed to be, I - Last time, do you want him or not? Okay, where are you? Nn, can't transport him like that. Because he's plus one. Because they're both hurt. Because she has to. Because they can't be separated. BECAUSE I SAID SO!" he bellowed. Another pause. "Fine. One hour. Iloquil and I will meet you. Come alone, don't come alone. I don't care either way. What charges? Oh, right. No, Orion is having them dismissed. You don't need to go to court, it's just a meeting in chambers."

Verity perked her brows after he finished the call. "Well?" she asked, incredibly interested in what had just happened.

"I've got a contact within Diamond who's agreed to take them both. Iloquil and I will deal with them, since we've known Azhure for most of her natural life. I guess it's only... fair." He frowned. He was feeling the same thing Iloquil was, and he also didn't enjoy it. With a long life often came the tendency to forget how certain emotions felt, and when they came back, it could be a bit jarring. This was... not sadness, but the memory of it, at least.

"Of course," Verity purred. "For what it's worth, I am so sorry."

The situation with Aaron and Azhure was upsetting for most of those involved, that much was obvious, but it wasn't the end of the surprises for the evening.  It was somehow fitting, considering just how much the rest of the local supernatural population was going through, that those responsible should have some shockers of their own.  Darren had weathered the entire evening fairly well, all things considered, and hadn't pissed anyone else off or gotten himself into more trouble (that he knew of, since having these vampires fond of him could change his life), and he pretty much figured that the night was winding down after Iloquil and Justinian took Azhure and Aaron Thorson somewhere.  They returned a short time later, and Darren was proved to be wrong in his assumption.

By a great big bald guy pushing a slighter young man ahead of him.

Cerberus had been in and out of the Midnight Fortress all night, though he'd mostly been out of it.  This was the first time he'd spent any real amount of time there since the attacks began, and he was certainly glad he had.  This Onyx hunter had brazenly approached the complex asking for the Master, and he'd refused to give a reason.  The doberman had initially expected there to be a bomb or something equally extreme in the equation, but after he checked the man over and found no weapons, he'd been puzzled.

So, he'd gone ahead and beat the shit out of the guy, just to be safe.  In case you were wondering, the Onyx asshole didn't have any tricks up his sleeve.  Not that Cerberus could find, anyway, and he was pretty good at finding sneaky little advantages. 

Thus, when he dragged Mr. Alexander Darling in for his audience with Niall and Verity, the normally sharp hunter was bleeding, favoring one leg and disheveled, but he had a determined set to his jaw that somehow helped counter the bloody nose.  Cerberus was rather proud of his handiwork.

"Master, Mistress, this hunter is requesting an audience with you.  Figured that if he was still interested after I was done with him, it had to be important.  No weapons, no attempts to fight back," he explained to the vampires present.  He hadn't been wrong to try to get Darling to fight back, since any excuse could offer Midnight a reason to keep someone, but the man had been careful.  He hadn't broken any rules for Cerberus and the vampires to use against him, so if they didn't return him, the only thing they could claim was that he's human and therefore fair game.  Unless he was freeblood, but Cerberus didn't think so.  Someone would have to grant him that, and he thought he would have heard about it.

Alexander was not pleased with the plan, though he understood the necessity.  Samantha, as upset as she was with him, was babysitting the tiger in the car while he 'slept' in the passenger seat beside her.  She was supposed to wake him up if he started to display any serious bruising or if he went into 'nightmare mode', which would mean that he was being tortured.  Otherwise, he'd go in, do the negotiating, then handle the trade.  It seemed simple, but when dealing with these kinds of vampires, there were likely to be problems.

Cerberus was the first one, and a painful reminder that being human sucked.  Even so, Alexander took the abuse as quietly as he could, not making any attempt at fighting back, even though he could have.  He was unarmed because going into Midnight with a weapon was suicide, and his only real option was to continuously ask for the zealous guard's master.  Finally, he got what he asked for, though it was in the form of handcuffs (for the second time that night) and being shoved through a series of corridors to a chamber with a number of people in it that inspired the aggressive shapeshifter to be much more polite than he had been previously.

What a shocker. 

Actually, this was a surprise.  He already didn't seem incredibly happy for obvious reasons, starting with how badly this night sucked and how much worse it was getting every time he ran into someone new, but there was something strange about some of these people.  They seemed...like he'd seen them before.  Like they were familiar.  He chalked it up to having heard about them, since it was no secret that he could supply information to Dev about Niall and Verity, but he just wasn't sure how he knew that stuff.  He just knew it, just like he just knew how to handle weaponry.  He didn't question it, but right about then, he wanted to.

Both Persephone and Verity seemed as though they had about just enough with surprises for the evening, and Verity had opened her mouth to say something to that effect when Iloquil interrupted her - and so quietly that it was strange they even heard her. It was more than likely because Iloquil never spoke with genuine shock or softness to her voice; she had, once perhaps, but it had been a true thousand years or so since then.

"Alexander, darling?" was all she said. Her honey-brown eyes were absolutely saucer-sized while her mouth hung half-open in genuine shock.

She righted herself, angry at the sudden bewilderment of the situation, and crushed the champagne flute within her delicate hand, ignoring the glass that cut her. The wounds hadn't even time to bleed before healing thanks to her age - one of the many things being old benefited you with.

"Is this some sort of a joke?" she demanded. Her voice was dangerously low and quiet, but of course in a room full of supernatural beings it wouldn't much matter how softly one spoke. "Justin?" she said, snapping her head back to look at him before looking back at the "human" hunter in the body of her old friend who should have been just as old as she.

Once you're old enough, surprises tend to lack any real...surprise.  Justinian and Iloquil had seen some ridiculous, crazy things in their time, and they'd participated in most of those situations.  To have multiple legitimate surprises in one evening seemed impossible, but when Justinian turned to see who Cerberus had brought seeking audience with Niall and Verity, he stopped dead, eyes narrowing.

"It's impossible," he snapped, and he truly believed that.  He didn't know where the hell Alexander was, but that wasn't him.  The caution and confusion at Iloquil addressing him didn't escape Justin, but it was still impossible.  That wasn't Alexander; even shielding, Justin could sense the power in his movements.  This human, while injured, was obviously very used to being capable, but he was still human.  He was an imposter.

He glanced over the faces of his friends, reining in a temper that didn't often get the best of him for years now, and waved the doberman away from the hunter as he walked up to him.  His mind pressed on the human's more aggressively than his literal approach, but there was...nothing.  It was as though nothing was there, even though Justin could see him, smell the blood on the air, hear his breathing and his heartbeat.  It was...

"Fucking impossible," he breathed.  He knew Alexander's tricks, what he could do, and was that what was happening here?  How could this be?  With a sharp, quick movement, he had a handful of the other man's long-ish hair, just about the length and even the style he last remembered his friend wearing it, and he used that grip to yank the man's head back so that he could get a deep, close breath of him.  The blood didn't smell quite right, too human, but there was this old, nostalgic feeling to it.  He didn't immediately realize that he hadn't smelled this in literally thousands of years (not since Alexander was human), but it was familiar.  He let the man go like his touch burned, flinging him back and turning on Niall and Verity.

"What is this?  How is this even possible?"  Had they known?  No, that couldn't be.  They were both smarter than that. 

Okay, so these vampires were freaking him out just a little.  Yes, there was something weird about the way he thought he'd met them before, but he was used to not remembering things.  Then, one of the women, Iloquil, called him by name, and the man with her, Justin, approached him.  Alex was unaware of the attempt on his mind because his brain wasn't actually in the room with them, but being grabbed and having a rather dangerous set of teeth so close to his throat was still frightening, no matter how good at his job he was and how temporary death would be. 

A joke?  Impossible?  What the hell was going on?

Being grabbed and then suddenly shoved back was rough on his leg, so it was a good thing that Cerberus stepped up to steady him, or he'd have been on the hard floor from the force of the push.  He couldn't figure out why they were reacting the way they were, but he was damn sure that what guild he worked for had nothing to do with it, and he really didn't see how his reputation could have preceded him.  He was good, but he wasn't a guild leader or even ridiculously open about his kills.  This was too much for that, so what?  Did they know him from before?  Oh, God, what was going on?

"You know my name," he said, not really knowing anything else he could have said in response to their words.  "That gives you another advantage.  This isn't a joke; I'm here to speak with Niall and Verity Celestino about a trade on behalf of the Bruja guilds."

Stating his business seemed to be the only thing he could do right about then.  Maybe offering that would distract them?  Christ, he hoped Samantha was ready to pull him if things got crazy.

 "Please stop... talking," she commanded/stammered, the hand that was not full of glass raising to make a halting motion as she turned her head for a second to try and grasp the situation. She knew that the focal point of the room right then was on the three of them; Alexander, Justinian and her.

Iloquil flicked pieces of broken glass that were stuck to her palm away absently, but the look on her face was still there. She was getting exceptionally mad, and the more he spoke, the more her anger rose. So much so that her power began oozing off of her in waves. Alexander would no doubt feel a slow burn in his feet, rising up through his legs as though he'd stepped in hot coals and was too dense to move off of them.

It was more than just Alexander, too. It wasn't targeted; sure, his presence was what set her off, but she hadn't felt this much raw emotion in ages. Persephone was who cried out first, grabbing onto Darren's shoulder and clamping down as the sensation of being burned alive caught her. For the sake of everyone in the room, Justinian took a step in the right direction by grabbing his mate's hand and squeezing it, trying to stop her from lashing out any further and doing damage at the expense of her friends' hospitality. It was well enough; just as he had, Verity rather loudly said, "You're hurting. My. Cat."

She stopped abruptly, but she wasn't done. She started digging, reaching into the mind of the hunter to try and find out what the hell it was he'd been doing, and why he was playing at human after all these years. She was stunned to find that what she found was nothing. Nothing at all. A pit of hollow memories that only started recently - seconds to her, perhaps years to him, but there were no childhood memories, and they all felt detached and disjointed. That was when she got really mad.

"Sorry, Persephone," she said, inclining her head just enough to make a brief eye contact with the girl. She was sincere in that apology, because Iloquil did not just lose focus so easily. No, she had to be pushed to accomplish such a childish mistake. But now? Now her eyes were all black, and they were completely fixated on the imposter before her.

"I don't know what it is you think you're doing, but if you really are Alexander, then I do know that you can't be terribly far away, so if you want to talk to Verity, you'll have to do it in person."

And with that, she reached out and grabbed for his neck, intending to break it.

 This was all just a little more than she had planned. Honestly, things were getting out of hand. First, Azhure had to take that hunter away - of course, Diamond was Diamond and they just tried to play nice all around with them. She understood that, of course, and had no problems with the decisions as they'd been called, but still, it hadn't turned out as she'd liked for it to. The dinner itself was good - Persephone seemed to enjoy Darren's company, the cat himself had appeared to have a good time, and he was especially relieved when his parents had been cleared and deemed "hands off" - and then they'd even stayed for coffee and biscuits, which was interesting. Rajz has flirted with his mother, which had been exceptionally funny given that his father had in turn flirted with Darren's date, which had both confused and entertained Darren.

And now? Now, Niall's guard dog was escorting a hunter into their domain under the pretense that he wanted to trade. What did he want to trade? She hadn't gotten that far, because suddenly her two friends were just... beside themselves. Verity grabbed Niall's hand out of a long-forgotten need of protection, despite how little she actually needed it. She didn't know what direction this was headed, but she didn't like it, and she was fairly certain that it was out of her control.

Then, the pain started. She was somewhat surprised that it was Iloquil instead of Justinian, given Niall's temperament it was only fair to assume his sire would be every bit as - well, hostile was the word that came to mind. But when Persephone fell to her knees in agony, that was enough.

"You're hurting. My. Cat." It wasn't simply a statement of fact, it was a warning to Iloquil to reel it the fuck back in before Verity had to do it for her.

"Darren, take her out of here," she said over her shoulder, and then turned her silver gaze back to the situation - but by then, of course, Iloquil had gone to the next level. "ILOQUIL!" she shouted, but of course, it was too late. Verity was a literal fraction of Iloquil's age, and despite being a Triste, she really just hadn't seen that coming. Instead of lashing out as the vampire had, she realized that her abilities would probably do more harm than good.

She didn't even have to say anything, she just let go of Niall's hand, hoping he'd handle it. She had been way too blindsided to act appropriately in that she'd just do more harm than good. Of course, it would be tantamount to Iloquil's outburst, and still even Justinian had yet to act, so that was another storm a'comin'.