Night's Omen

 Well, this was something. Lily was sitting in a room that was empty, with literally not a single thing in it except for four walls, a ceiling and a floor. And herself, of course, who was in mid-blackout, but fully functioning. Niall's killswitch only intended for her to do one thing that night, and that was to take out people in the crowd; now that she'd fulfilled her purpose, but the link had been broken by Marius on accident (or purpose), she was in a sort of limbo where Niall couldn't close the programming loop, but he couldn't command through it, either. Essentially, she was running off of a hidden program that could access her own, but had additional Easter Eggs for her using pleasure.

One such Easter Egg was Klaus, of course, but her mind wasn't really on him right now. It was on Zaine, who was pretty much the only other man she knew on a deeper level. She respected and feared Niall because it was her job, but her programming otherwise gave her the capacity to interact with people and choose to ignore others; based on this she had built relationships to varying degrees among the guild. With Zaine, it had been a closeness that was both mentor and student as well as something to the effect of friends. They worked well together because of how often they fought together, and there was a level of intimacy that couldn't be replicated with other members, despite her even having other partners. Of course, there were rumours. There were always rumours. But blackout-Lily thought they were silly as much as normal Lily did; blackout-Lily even more so, given that she was involved with someone who was exponentially older than the trainer.

"Zaine," she said dryly, taking her position below the slit in the door again. "Zaine, you have to let me out sometime. I'm telling you, Marius fucked up whatever was happening. I'm fine. Open the door, or at least come in here and talk to me." Her voice was ragged, and understandably so; she'd been screaming her fucking head off earlier due to the sudden link severing that had occurred. It was painful and traumatic, but like all wounds, it too was healing. She still had a buzzing in her ear that wasn't unlike being subject to very loud music for a long period of time, but it would go away eventually. It reminded her of percussion grenade residual.

"I can hear my phone going off," she accused, her voice cracking. She coughed heavily, reaching that depth where it felt almost good and she made a seal-like noise when she heaved. "Give me my phone, you assfuck," she commanded. "I'm sure that's Niall since nobody else would be trying to message me right now. Don't you want to know if he's got valuable information?"

 Zaine did not enjoy the abrupt manner in which Lily had gone from his teammate and easily the next in line for a promotion up to another level to a raving, ranting gun-toting psychopath being controlled by a fucking dragon to take out a crowd full of people - and all because it was funny.

He was pacing outside of the room she'd been locked in, an effective White Room (magically warded to fucking hell and back, seriously, good luck casting in there and not melting your face off) and she'd been mostly quiet until she heard her phone go off. Then, of course, she started trying to level with him, and though it sounded an awful lot like her, her way of speaking, even the pentameter of how she spoke was all wrong. She sounded more like an antagonist who was about to become the anti-hero rather than the protagonist who'd been brainwashed into doing evil evil things. It was probably the lack of raving like a looney that had made him more suspicious of her.

He picked up her phone because she did have a point. "It's a picture of a map," he told her through the door. He could hear her press her weight against it, and he knew she was leaning on it just a few feet away, listening to him intently. "And it says, 'Tick tock, Onyx. Six feet under is no place for a leader to be.' What the fuck does that mean?"

Next to him, Murphy stood, a cigarette screwed in his lips as he looked at the phone screen Zaine held in front of his face. He looked at the snake and shrugged a little. "Sounds like he buried someone," he said, squinting.

Zaine frowned. "It can't be that obvious, can it?" he asked.

 Lily made a loud, frustrated noise and pounded on the door so hard that Zaine jumped back. Murphy had his hand rested on his gun, while Zaine had raised his hands. Murphy was less familiar with Lilyana and therefore way less invested; he'd shoot her and move on if she went nuts again. Zaine would rather have the satisfaction of beating her to death. He found it more... personal that way. Like his way of a Hallmark greeting.

"Zaine, you're looking for zebras at a time like this?" she asked, her tone almost skeptical, but clearly full of sarcasm.

Murphy gave Zaine a questioning look. "Is her shit going all haywire again?" he asked, and loudly at that. He blew a puff of smoke off the side of his mouth that didn't have a large and angry Serpiente stewing, and began wishing he'd brought a beer into the room with him. He bet Noelani was just having a grand ol' time catching up with her good war buddy Dev. He felt a little displaced being sent out of the room like a child to "oversee" an interrogation, which was turning out to be more like a lover's tiff spoken in some gibberish code. "Bitch, you'd better start making sense before I have to go find some whiskey to calm my nerves, or I'll start hitting you," he threatened.

"Zebras, Zaine," she repeated. "If you hear hoofbeats, you don't look up expecting a zebra, do you? No, you naturally expect to see a horse." She sighed in frustration when she was met with silence. "The drunk one's right. Someone's buried alive, and I bet he sent me that map knowing I was in custody and someone here would find it. Now, why don't you and the Oirishman let me out so we can go and dig up Lucien?"

"What makes you think it's Lucien and not someone else?" Murphy asked, clearly unphased by the insults she'd tossed. He actually laughed a little when she'd said 'oirishman'. She was... plucky.

Zaine shook his head. "Six feet under is no place for a leader to be. Shane and Batten are both, as of right this second, accounted for. I know, because I just got off of a call with each of them, equally swarmed with Diamond field agents helping to put shit back together as quickly as possible." He paused and looked at Murphy, as if to seek a second opinion.

Murphy just shrugged again. "I got nothin' better to do. Let's go dig your snake out of the dirt. Let the broad out - but if she tries any crazy shit, I will shoot her in the fucking face. You hear that, lassie?" he asked, laying the accent on thick as he leaned towards the door.

Lilyana smirked. "Loud and clear, you washed up drunk," she said. She was smiling when Zaine opened the door, but it didn't last for more than a second, because the look in Zaine's eyes just... made her twisted up inside. For starters, his eyes were as black as fucking ever, something they only did when he was on the line of shifting. His features hadn't changed, but he looked like a vampire pretty much right then. He must've been running on pure adrenaline. Then, of course, there was the whole betrayed 'you were the closest thing to a lover I had' vibe, which she knew she was picking up wrong, but couldn't otherwise describe properly. Mostly that confused her plain and simple - she had always thought he was all over that Lincei's junk, but she could scent his anger in the air, and there was definitely some betrayal there that wasn't on a professional level.

"My phone?" she said, breaking eye contact with him after he tried to burn holes into her head. Murphy handed it to her. "Huh. You're cuter than I thought you would be," she said, the offhand remark not phasing the Diamond in the least. "I guess you're from the UberGuild, here to fix what we broke? Well, this should be easy as shit. Especially when I send it, like so, and we get a little help..." she trailed off, sending the image in a text to a number she knew by heart.

"I suggest we head for Mayhem. If I know anything about Niall, it's that he put Lucien in that rat maze of a forest. Finding him will be a bitch, but I think between the four of us, we can do it."

"Four of us?" Zaine parroted. "Who exactly do you think is going to come along and play Hardy Boys with us? Because, right now, you're not really in the way of getting any special favours from teacher," he reminded her, venom practically filling with his saliva as he spoke.

"Oh, you'll see," she said ominously. "But trust me, he'll be on our side. Or - well, my side. But I'll tell him you're cool," she promised, picking up the black jacket that had been thrown across the back of a chair. "Shall we, menfolk? Allons-y?" And with that, she went for the door. Zaine grabbed her arm so hard that it hurt, and she made an annoyed, pained noise, but didn't protest much more than that, allowing herself to be dragged along after him as she gave him the quickest directions to the woods. He only spoke once, to silence her with an, "I know where the fuck we're going," and then neither of them spoke again.

Murphy followed, confident that he had chosen the best possible duo to spend his night with. Undoubtedly, he could even convince them to stop and let him pick up a fifth of vodka on the way.

Oh, boy, he'd been thinking that this was a lame babysitting job with the person in Onyx with the worst sense of humor possible.  At least Lani got to hang out with Devraj, who was amusing in a more subtle way, and understood a joke.  He was a scary guy, but Murph liked him.  Zaine was a stick in the mud, and not even in a way that looked like it could turn entertaining because the snake was just so pissed off. 

Eh, well, maybe Lilyana would keep antagonizing him.  That could turn interesting until Murphy could get involved with some fighting, of which he knew there was plenty to go around.  After a few minutes, this situation looked like it might be interesting, after all.  Maybe Lani had given him a babysitting job, but if they were going to be off playing treasure hunters for a lost guild leader, it definitely wouldn't be boring.

Bingo.  That was exactly what was going on.  That, or he'd lost interest somewhere along the lines and they were actually looking for zebras.  He couldn't decide if he thought her horse/zebra thing was clever or annoyingly roundabout when she could have just spit it out, but she was proving herself to be slightly more worthy of be regarded as something other than a looney toon.  It meant he might give her some slack before shooting her if she started to seem a little sketchy.  Part of it was the fact that she called him an 'Oirishman', which frankly cracked him up.  He sometimes didn't think about the fact that he had the accent was he was surrounded by Americans, though they seemed to like to remind him.  He couldn't deny that he actually liked the fact that she called him a 'washed up drunk' and then admitted that he was 'cuter' than she expected, partially because he liked being underestimated (he was a fucking Diamond, how could he be a 'washed up drunk'?) and because he just liked hearing that someone thought it was attractive, though it wasn't all that uncommon.  He had a way about him.

Apparently, Zaine was the opposite.  Attractive enough, but damn, he could put out a vibe to make others shy away.  Murphy simply shook his head and smiled as Lily made every attempt at being casual and friendly only to have Zaine snap at her until she shut up.  This was looking like it was going to be a very quiet car ride.

He was right.

Zaine and Lily didn't talk the entire ride, though Lily's phone went off at one point and Zaine snatched it up only to see that the mystery number had texted her back to agree to appear at the location she'd specified.  Murphy was curious as to who this person was as well, but he fortunately didn't have any personal agendas here.  It made it easier to whistle a pretty lively tune while Zaine drove.  If the snake minded, he seemed to rethink snapping at Murphy, which was okay with the Oirishman, and the trip was pretty uneventful.  There didn't seem to be anyone present when they stopped at the place that Murphy figured was the furthest point that the vehicle could get them in the forest.

Sweet, a hike in the woods after dark with monsters prowling around.  "This was a wonderful idea, Mister Martin.  I'd just like you to know this before we get out of the car and possibly get eaten by a creepy crawlie.  After you."

 Lily had tried to talk to Murphy along the way, but Zaine kept jumping down her throat, to the point where it was going to get downright uncomfortable to be in the car with them. Fortunately, Murphy had begun to whistle, and loudly at that, which was a sign for both of them to just mind their Ps and Qs until they could get out of the stifling tension that had risen. At least Lily wasn't enduring it alone, and honestly she was thankful for Murph's presence. It stopped Zaine from asking a whole hell of a lot of questions she knew were just at the tip of his pointy tongue, ready to pour out onto her.

Probably not the best analogy, now that she thought about it.

When the car came to a stop, she tried to jump out, but Zaine grabbed her arm as soon as she'd planted her feet on the ground. Through his open window, no less! "Hey!" she shouted, yanking back as hard as she could. She deserved some credit - she yanked so hard he smacked his upper body on the door as she practically ripped him out of the car, and the two of them ended up in some teenage scuffle as he struggled to get the door open so he could presumably beat her with his free fist.

Just as Zaine was about to do exactly that, which Lily was uncharacteristically not backing down from and actually grinning a wild slasher smile at him, chanting something about, "Do it, you know you want to," at him in a husky voice, they were interrupted - and not by Murphy, surprisingly enough. He'd chosen to take a back seat to that mess, preferring to let the two lovebirds quarrel it out before they delved into their digging expedition. Also, he'd found a flask of whiskey in the glove box that he'd forgotten about.

They were broken up, of course, by a low growling sound. Zaine and Murphy were the only ones on point about it, and the Serpiente let Lily go with such force that she stumbled back a few feet, though to her credit she didn't do an assplant like she might have had she been any more stunned by the action. Instead, she reclaimed her footing and looked at them, holding her hands up.

"Really don't recommend drawing on him, boys," she said. She didn't even have to turn around to know what was there. "He's going to help us out in more ways than one." She looked over her shoulder, hands still in the air as a sign for them to be still. The rest of her body eventually met her owl-like craning, and she took a few cautious step toward the large lupine figure that was crouched, tail stiff and ears folded back.

"I sincerely hope it bites your face off," Zaine spat, but he did take his hand off of his gun. If this was a trick, it was an obvious one, and he had enough anger in him that the gun would only inhibit his wish to do physical harm at that point.

"He will do no such thing," she said, her tone changing to a softer, more murmuring one. She'd slowed the pace of her voice down, dropping back to the Lily he was much more accustomed to hearing, and dropped to a crouch, holding her arms open. "Come here," she cooed, as though she spoke to a puppy. "I missed you," she confessed, burying her face into the soft, shaggy fur of the dark animal.

"Now that's somethin' you don't see every day," Murphy said. He still had his hand on his gun, because quite frankly, he wasn't such a pompous ass that he didn't think he could do better than a bullet to the head. "A fox and a wolf. I half expected a zebra." When nobody laughed, he said something rude in Irish, then took another sip of his fire water.

"Zaine, Murphy," she said softly, standing again and turning. "This is my... " and she trailed off. She didn't know what he was, really, to her. It didn't matter, because the wolf wasn't the wolf anymore, and he could speak for himself.

Truly, the last thing he'd been expecting that night was to get a string of texts messages from Lilyana, one of which was obviously a map, one a riddle and one a request for assistance.  It was rare anymore that she even remembered the role that he played in her life, nevermind knew to ask for his help when she needed it.  It meant that she was in an odd frame of mind, and the situation was weirder when she showed up with two men who seemed to be hunters, neither of which were human and one of which seemed to want to beat the hell out of her.

Yeah, so not happening. 

Klaus had dropped into his wolf form before they arrived because it meant that he blended in better, though an attack was unlikely; most creatures knew better than to try.  They didn't know better than to fuck with Lilyana, as the snake exhibited, but he intended to right that very quickly.  A low, deep growl did the trick well enough to make both men reach for their weapons, and that would have been stupid on their part.  It would take more than they could shoot in the time they had before he killed them, of that he was certain.  Fortunately for them and the guild leader that needed to be found, Lilyana got them to refrain from trying to shoot him.

She crouched and beckoned him closer, which he gladly did.  It wasn't usual for him to be in his wolf form around her, though she'd seen it before, but he found he liked the feeling of her fingers curling into his fur and her face pressed close against him like that.  As much as he hated the fact that he had a mortal attachment (one that had already proven itself to be trouble), he'd missed her more than he would ever admit. 

"Klaus," he informed the two men once he'd shifted and she'd hesitated in her label for him.  He wasn't really sure what to call them, either, so a name was probably a better idea. 'Boyfriend' seemed too childish, and he could find faults with most other labels.  "My name is Klaus.  Lilyana was brief in her explanation, but it sounds like we're searching for someone buried alive?"

At least, he hoped it was alive.  He might be able to get a better scent that way, or pick up on a mental signature to lead him to the site.  If it was just a body, that would be annoying.  He almost wanted to ask if they had anything that smelled of the man they were looking for, but that was probably too good to be true.  Surprisingly, there seemed to have been a number of people moving about in these woods recently. 

 "He's your Klaus?" Zaine spat, choosing to direct that at Lily because he wasn't having any of this mystical magical vampire transmogrification shit. "What the fuck have you been doing?" he asked, his voice rather accusatory for a man who was merely her trainer.

"You know Zaine, for someone who prides himself in keeping his emotions bottled up to tightly that one day he'll just spontaneously combust and everyone will know why, you sure are slipping right now," she hissed. She was all teeth when she spoke, too, and one could hear it in her tone. She took a step forward, ready to go at it again with him, and he did the same.

"All RIGHT, you two, just cut your shit out," Murphy finally interjected, having had done with their nonsense. He looked at Klaus. "I've had to listen to this for the last two hours. Can we get moving with the digging? You two can slap at eachother like little girls later." And the cool thing about that was that since Murphy outranked both of them, his word was the final one, regardless of what little insult he chose to throw in, and they either had to comply or he'd knock them both on their asses. They just didn't even know what he could do when provoked.

Lily made a loud huffing noise, but turned deliberately away from Zaine and looked at Murphy. "The two of us should be pretty good at scenting him out. You can follow, or stay behind, and we can call for you when we've found him." She didn't dare even give them idea Klaus could just find him with his ability, because nobody really knew what his ability was, and it was like that for a reason. "I'd recommend waiting, though, because we're still awful close to Mayhem, and regardless of how spectacularly awesome you are, just darting around in the forest right now probably won't be as stealthy as we want it to be."

They seemed to all agree to this. Zaine had yet to acknowledge Klaus aside from a baleful glare, but that was as good as it was going to get. Normally, Klaus knew that Lily and Zaine got along, so something had to have changed, and it was probably the same something that had lead Lily to contacting him in the first place. He'd find out eventually, so there was no use in wasting any further time.

"He can't be far. This damned wood all smells of fresh, wet dirt to me right now," she complained, turning to Klaus. She gave him a genuine smile, however faint it was given the circumstances. "Once this is over, I'll give you the whole play by play. Swear." And with that, she was small and furry and fast, darting off with her tail poked straight up in the air like an antennae.

"I'll be damned," Zaine muttered. "She never does that in public."

That was the cool thing about Murphy, and even Klaus could see it.  He knew that neither of the men that had arrived with Lilyana were human, one obviously a shapeshifter, but he hadn't seen one of Murphy's kind in a very long time.  They weren't very common anymore, especially in this area, and even if he had quite a bit of human in him, he was far more dangerous than any of the mortals around him knew.  Klaus knew, and so when Murphy told Lilyana and Zaine to shut the fuck up so they could do what they'd come out to the woods to do, the vampire believed that the man could enforce his orders even without knowing that he was a Diamond. 

Your Irish friend, don't underestimate him, he sent Lilyana, just in case she might.  He was willing to assume that most people didn't think that Murphy was anything impressive, and warning her was only right.  He was confident that he could take the Irishman without a problem, but he probably wouldn't be present for most of her interactions with him.  It was true that he'd have to go hunt the bastard down if something happened to her, but that didn't fix the problem, did it?

Klaus had to give the Irishman credit for being personable, though.  Zaine was blatantly ignoring Klaus' presence, and if the vampire hadn't been so utterly apathetic to what the snake thought, he might have antagonized him personally.  He'd heard of Martin, but so far, he was wholly unimpressed with the shifter's behavior and his treatment of Lilyana.  Whatever had happened to make her even remember that she knew him, nevermind think to contact him for help, must have thrown quite the wedge in her relationship with Martin, whatever that entailed.  Zaine almost seemed jealous.  He wanted details, but he was patient.  If their leader was buried alive, then he was already starting to put the picture together based on rumors he'd been hearing.  None of it was good for the guilds, or good for him if he was going to be taking a side.

"That would be appreciated," he told Lilyana when she promised to tell him everything when it was over (wondering if it would be over, or if she was really just being hopeful), and then she was off and he couldn't help but smile after her.  "See you gentlemen shortly.  I'll let you know where he is."

He'd barely finished before he darted into the woods after her, shedding his own two-legged form for the sleek black wolf in mid-stride.  She was ahead of him, but not far enough that his longer stride couldn't catch up to her.  Being a wolf alone would have been helpful in this situation because of his sense of smell, but being a vampire just made him a much more incredible machine in the woods.  He could hear the minds of every little animal around them, smell everything, and there was nothing that could outpace him here.  It would just be a matter of time before he heard the man they were looking for, especially considering how few mental signatures came from underground.  As long as he was still alive, anyway.

When he caught up to Lilyana, rather than slow down to pace himself to her, he kept moving, coming in close to lick at her face before darting ahead of her with a playful yip.  Yes, he was still on-track, but it was the first time he had the chance to run with her, and he found that he liked it.  Oh, how he'd missed her.

Personally, Murphy thought there were a lot of cool things about himself, but he might admit that he was a little biased.  Regardless, once he'd put Zaine and Lily in their places for a few minutes, he was content to sit back with the flask of whiskey he'd found and let the scene play out.  It wasn't his guild leader that had presumably been buried alive and the guild leader in question was actually one of the main antagonists of this whole situation, so he couldn't say that he'd be totally broken up if the guy didn't make it.  Just sayin'.  That didn't mean he wasn't going to try to help out, but there was no sense in lying about it.  Actually, he was almost hoping that they didn't find the bastard, because digging a grave, even if it was a recent one, was a bitch and there was no way he was going to be drunk enough off of just this flask of whiskey that he wouldn't care. 

"So.  You're positive they're gonna come back?" he asked conversationally once the cute little white fox had scampered off and the huge fucking wolf had followed.  He didn't know how old this Klaus guy was, but he was either from a time period where the wolves were all fucking massive, or he'd just gotten lucky and had a leg up on his packmates.  Murphy, being the sharp bastard that he was, whipped his phone out to text his sister about it, giving her the guy's name and what little they knew about him so that she could look him up.  If the vamp was smart, there wouldn't be much in there about him, but Murphy seriously would have been happier with just an age.  If anything else showed up, that'd be even better.

Honestly, he wouldn't have been surprised if Lily took off with her vampire buddy.  He'd been thinking it since she'd said she had help coming, and then once the guy had shown up and been revealed to be one of the few vampires out there who had been shifters before they died, he'd really considered it.  Now, they'd high-tailed it into the woods and left him with Zaine; he'd be impressed if they came back.  Of course, he didn't know Lily very well and didn't know jack-shit about Klaus until Eithne got back to him, so maybe he was wrong.  He hoped so, because if he and Zaine had to find Lucien alone, then dig him up without the help of the big, strong vampire, he'd be cranky.  Zaine would be even worse if he lost Lily with such a trick, Murph was sure.

It was why he was glad when the silence was broken by Klaus' return ('silence' because Zaine's only response to Murphy's rather legitimate question had been to glare and make some kind of frustrated sound that the Irishman couldn't even think about imitating without chuckling to himself), even if the vampire simply appeared between them and nearly scared Murphy into dropping the flask. 

"Oy!  You could have warned us before you did that!" he snapped, glancing down to see if he'd spilled any on himself.  A little on his hand, but his clothes looked fine.  "You find him?"

Klaus looked like he was holding back a smile at Murphy's expense, but he grew more serious at the question.  "Yes, and I'll take you both to him, but we have only a little time to decide what you'd like to do."

"You mean, besides digging him up?" Zaine snapped, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.  Murphy didn't really blame him, but Klaus didn't look stupid, so there had to be more to it.  The vampire's eye roll and patient sigh suggested as much as he reached for the two of them and teleported to a location that looked pretty much the same as the rest of the woods.  Lily, as though to demonstrate what Murphy didn't immediately see, kicked some leaves and other forest debris away from a spot of dirt to reveal how much it had been churned up. 

"Great.  You know we left the shovels in the car, right?" Murphy asked, mostly because he hadn't planned on the teleporting and all. 

"They aren't necessary," Klaus said dismissively, shaking his head.  "He's still alive, but personally, I think it would be a kindness to leave him there.  If you insist on retrieving him alive, then shooting him might be quicker and more appealing to your sensibilities."

Zaine simply stared, while Lily didn't seem to surprised.  Klaus must have mentioned this to her before fetching the two men, but Murphy had to ask.  He couldn't help himself.  "Stop being vague.  Why?"

"He's been tortured extensively, and his mind is...badly damaged.  I highly doubt that there is enough left of him to rehabilitate," he told them, trying to pick his words carefully, and Murphy looked to Zaine.  Technically, Murphy outranked him, but let's be serious: this was Zaine's guild leader and best friend since childhood.  Murphy wasn't going to be the one to go, 'oh, yeah, I get it, just leave him in the dirt' on such a touchy subject.  It was Zaine's call, and they all seemed to realize that, including Klaus.  The vampire looked to Zaine when he continued.  "I can have him out here in no time if you want."

It was a comical sight to see, indeed; the long-legged wolf darting into the darkness with the short-legged (and very dwarfed fox piddling after at a rapid rate of speed. Soon Klaus' form vanished, blending into the black that swallowed the enchanted wood whole, and the stark-white fluff of Lily did, too. It was a little disorienting for Lily simply because of the vampiric aura that Mayhem territory exuded, however Klaus had no issue at all with it, which was what she had been counting on. She chased after him, giving a hilariously cute snuffling noise when he ran his coarse tongue over her fur. In four-legged form, gestures such as these were not unlike a squeeze or a kiss, however romantic the intention behind it.

She skittered to a stop behind him, jamming her nose into a pile of leaves that had obviously been moved. She could smell blood and fear on them, and her paws sank down into the fresh, moist earth below her. Aha, there he is, she thought to herself. Klaus was gone in the blink of an eye, the span of time with which she used to return to her upright form. He appeared shortly after with Murphy and Zaine, and then it got a little intense.

She watched as they spoke, locking eyes with Zaine as Klaus basically informed him that his best friend was honestly better off dead. "There's another way," she piped in, coming to Zaine's side. The Serpiente closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath through his nose and exhaling slowly. "You know what I mean."

Zaine's expression was dark and obviously torn. On one hand, he couldn't just leave Lucien to die there in the dirt like another faceless victim, but on the other hand, was the quality of his life really going to add up to much if they recovered him? He took Klaus' explanation very seriously, and in truth, had it been anyone else, he would have just let them die, and then brought the body home for proper burial rites. But the fox had a point, however much it bothered him, especially given that the whole reason she was even standing there with them was because Niall had put a little trap door in her head for later use. Who was to say he hadn't done the same with Lucien?

"Get him out. We'll take him to the mad scientist, then figure it out from there."

"On it," Lily said quickly, unwilling to hesitate and put Zaine through any further grief. That was more like the Lily he knew, and while it may have been a little odd for Klaus to witness (because he never really had seen her around Zaine, nor did he know the full scope of how close they were, despite not being romantically involved), it shouldn't have really bothered him any. Klaus was... secure. About a lot.

She changed back and began digging fiercely, and presuming Klaus helped her, they would have Lucien unearthed in only minutes. With two sets of able paws clawing at the dirt, it really was only a matter of time before they scratched on wood. A coffin, Lily realized. That's traumatizing.

She was back in human form, "helping" pull the item from the hole, which really didn't say much given that Murphy and Zaine were now assisting. With two shifters, an old vampire and a halfling all having a hand in the retrieval, it wasn't nearly as heavy as if four normal humans were at odds with the same weight.

Murphy's phone went off in his pocket - Eithne's only reply to his query being: Old. And a very private individual, from the looks of it. He doesn't have a reputation for waylaying towns like some of them do, but that doesn't mean he isn't dangerous all the same. No word whatsoever on a special ability, but you'd better believe he's got one. Watch your ass. Well, wasn't that informative? Mr. Koenig was under the radar enough not to have given the Therreyan council a chance to document his unique talent. That pretty much told Murphy all he needed to know, which was pretty much what Eithne had said - to watch his ass.

"Now, we need to get him to Grayson... if his place is still standing," Zaine said, wiping sweat and dirt from his brow.

Lily glanced at him, her brow furrowed. "You're kidding, right? He's got a Triste, a rotting vampire, a necromancer and a badger in his company. Not only do I say that place is standing, but I warrant there's a row of undead hanging out in the lawn waiting for whoever decides to come pay him a visit." To Klaus, she said, "Take us to the car, then you take Lucien and Zaine to Grayson. We'll drive out after you. No sense in trying to carry all of us. I'll phone ahead."

When they got back to the car, she rolled up to her toes and gave him a light kiss on the lips, followed by a soft, genuine smile that was uncharacteristic of her. "I'll see you soon," she whispered. She turned to Murphy. "You drive, Legolas. I'll call and make our appointment."

Forget what was odd for Klaus to witness, this whole mess was odd for Murphy.  He didn't know Lily well enough to know which was her usual (or that each of the other two men was used to a different 'normal' out of her), but he could see the differences in how she reacted to both.  Then, of course, there was the fact that Murphy knew Zaine's reputation and a great deal about the things he'd done and the kind of training he gave, so seeing his more irrational behavior about Lily and Lucien was...unusual.  He was glad that they'd decided to put Devraj in charge of Onyx in Lucien's absence, because Zaine was not impartial enough.  Yes, he'd let Zaine decide what to do about his best friend and leader, but Murphy had expected him to let the man die, or bring him up to kill him.  Instead, they were leaving him in a fucking coffin with his mind apparently shredded to ribbons while they took him to Grayson.

Well.  Was that really a good idea?

On the one hand, Lily had obviously not worked out entirely after being taken from Midnight, and did they really want a fucking guild leader as a doll?  Whether or not he'd be able to take leadership back from Devraj would have to be decided by Diamond after it was all said and done, but the thought worried Murphy just a little.  On the other hand, Grayson's procedure wiped the subject's mind and rewrote who they were.  Diamond would be involved with that, and could design the guild leader for Onyx.  Hell, it could be a perfect solution.

"Legolas?" he demanded, breaking from his thoughts for a moment at Lily's words, since she was obviously on drugs, or something, and required his full attention.  He got into the driver's seat (he'd been planning on driving whether she liked it, or not) and gave her a look that made it clear how stupid he thought she was.  "Is there something in particular about me that makes you think 'homosexual fictional elf'?  Because if there is, I need to know about it or you need to have your head examined.  Actually, you need that, anyway, but we'll get there."

He stopped there, letting his thoughts wander just a little while he talked to her, partially just because he had plenty to think about on the ride to Grayson's, including all of the previously mentioned things but spreading also to the way Klaus behaved towards Lily.  Eithne had confirmed that the guy was old and that he definitely had some kind of badass power, so the fact that he'd been taking orders from the pretty little fox suggested one of a number of things to Murphy: he was either playing them all and had some scheme cooked up that involved keeping Lily happy until he could make his end move, Lily was in on the scheme, or he really had a thing for her.  Murphy hadn't missed the kiss Lily had given the vampire when they'd arrived at the house again, or the way her smile rang true when she gave it.  Either she was a fantastic actress, or she meant it.  The vampire had looked a little like the situation amused him when she said that she'd see him soon, but Murphy didn't get what was funny and didn't think they'd tell him if he asked.

So, he didn't.  Not then, anyway.  He had Lily stuck in the car with him for awhile, though.

"Alright, so you know I gotta ask, girlie.  This vampire friend of yours, I need a little more information than just, 'he's my Klaus'.  I know he's old, and he's powerful enough for one of those superpowers of theirs, but that's about it.  If we're going to be working with him like this, I think I deserve to know what kind of heat his packing," he told her, and it wasn't just because he didn't trust strange vampires, but also because it wasn't unlikely that they'd be attacked at some point.  He didn't know whose side Klaus was on except that he liked Lily, and he certainly didn't know what kind of threat level the vampire could take on without help.  He knew the vampires in Diamond well enough to do his own job and trust them to handle certain things.  This guy, he didn't know.

Alright, so, this night?  Fucked.  

Grayson hadn't actually been at 'home', which meant the Inn, when it was attacked, but let's be serious about one thing.  If anyone could handle an attack from Midnight, it was Chandra and the pile of people Grayson had there at any given time.  Lily was right, he had a triste (which he didn't know about, but Othello had to have some kind of use that Grayson recognized without actively thinking about), a tiger shifter, a fucking badger, a necromancer (even if he still hadn't talked Ethan into letting him run experiments), a blind guy who was supernaturally lucky (except for that one time) and a vampire who rotted the people he didn't like.  Seriously.  Grayson's place was covered, and it wasn't like he showed up alone.  The lemur and honorary lemur (Jack, who was still human until there was some kind of accident that was accidentally-on-purpose Otto's fault) had been his company that evening, so they came with him (minus Otto, fortunately for Chandra), and he had one extra member of his entourage.

The unknown doll.

Grayson had, mostly because he'd forgotten, failed to use the code-phrase that would turn Marco into a killing machine, so the guy was following along with a twitchy kind of sad acceptance.  He knew he had to, but he didn't really like it, didn't understand the situation Grayson was taking him into, and was kind of scared about it.  Grayson would remember the killswitch eventually.  Probably when Chandra or Ethan, or both, asked him wtf was going on with the guy.  That, or when they were attacked.  

Surprisingly, they weren't attacked.  Considering how nasty the night was, it was just further proof that the universe loved Grayson for some unknown reason, because he rolled up with his 'reinforcements' in tow to a line of zombified baddies.  Creepy, but other than giving them an unpleasant look and figuring they were Ethan's doing, he had Jack pull the car up to the side of the building (did you really think that Grayson was driving himself?) and walked in to the sound of Chandra on the phone.  

He was used to it.

"Wow, what a mess," he remarked, looking around.  Nobody on his side looked too badly hurt, though Quentin had a lot of blood on his clothes (so did Othello, oddly enough), and Ethan was crankier than he usually managed with Clover attached to him.  The cuts and blood spatters on his skin and clothes explained that well enough, but Grayson wasn't used to seeing the necromancer worse for wear.  Ethan was a smooth bastard, and the only area that he seemed to slack in (other than not sleeping for days on end, which even Grayson didn't do) was hair care.  He had a habit of getting a little...shaggy sometimes, but his clothes were always presentable and he was a very clean person.  He even showered promptly after playing with dead bodies or in grave dirt.  Grayson could respect that.

"You look like shit," he pointed out to Ethan, who gave him a dark look.

"Who the fuck are these retards?" the necromancer asked in turn, glancing at Grayson's buddies.

"Friends.  Has anyone made coffee?"

 Lilyana had only snorted when Murphy contested her calling him Legolas, holding a finger up as Chandra answered the phone. Pretty much, she cut off the rest of whatever he was saying right then. "Hey, it's Number Three. We're going to be bringing in a high priority that we need work on immediately. I'm sure Grayson will love the challenge. I've got Zaine and Klaus headed to you now plus the package, and a Diamond and I are on our way by car. Is the building still standing?" she asked, sarcasm in her voice.

Chandra surveyed what damage they had taken - broken glass, a few ruined pieces of furniture, and some bleeding. "Yes, still standing," she confirmed. "In truth, you didn't miss much. Quentin and Ethan handled most of it." There was silence and then her voice perked up a little. "Oh, Grayson's here now. Oh." And it went into a low, morose hiss. "He's brought the lemur along."

Lily started. "Not Otto," she begged.

"No, the younger. And the human. Who will surely become one if his company is any testament to his intelligence level. I'll see you shortly. Don't mind the Red Rover of undead. They're just a buffer in case someone decides to get cute with us."

Lily hung up the phone and gave Murphy a look, then shook her head. "There's a lemur," she informed him. That pretty much told him everything he needed to know about how to ration his whiskey out for the next few hours... fortunately, the inn also had a fully stocked bar.

Just when it seemed as though she'd ignored his questions about Klaus, she said, "And if you want to know about him, you can ask him yourself." Just like that. Hey, she was already in a heap of trouble - disobeying the request for information from a Diamond would get her kicked out of Onyx, but at worst they could black list her from re-entering any other guilds, on a global network level. Yeah, they were the top of the food chain, so they had connections like that. And honestly, Lily wouldn't be surprised if they did; nor would she be upset. She could pretty much just do whatever, now that she felt connected to herself again.

 Retards was right. Will had lagged behind and, despite the unrelenting behest of Jack, had begun to "dance" with one of the undead. When I say dance, I mean he upswept the corpse into a riveting waltz, complete with Will's aloud singing of Blue Danube. But, since Blue Danube has no lyrics, all he actually did was this:

"DA NA NA NA NA, NA NA, NA NA," over and over. Will couldn't remember the entirety of the piece, so the sound of him singing and constantly laughing wildly began to become rather repetitive.

The corpse, who was more or less a husk, was a rather damaged piece. In fact, the only reason he'd been able to take control of it at all was because Ethan ultimately didn't care about the undead once they'd served their purpose (they'd all drop eventually, or he'd feel puckish and march them into a neighboring town's Wal*Mart [for fun, he'd protest when Chandra had to put a memory loss agent into the groundwater for those affected]). One arm hung tattered and shredded from the aggressive Chamita's jaws only a few moments prior to the abduction of his soul, but that didn't mean that was all the damage that the poor mindless mook had incurred. At least sixty percent of his body was burned and charred (how Will even tolerated the smell was amazing, but then Lemurs were known for their willingness to let a lot go for the sake of their urges) and his clothing was melted to what was left of his flesh.

The "zombie" let out a disturbed, "UNNNNNNNNNH," as Will sent it into a dip, the good arm flailing and struggling to free itself from the Lemur's retard-strength grip.

"Will you get inside?" Jack finally begged, interjecting himself between the duo to free the corpse of its captor.

"Oh, fine," Will said. "It was getting boring, anyways. It's hard to dance with someone who just stands there and makes you do all the work. I don't know how necrophiliac's put up with that sort of nonsense."

"I - WHAT?" Jack sputtered. "Just - no - GO INSIDE!" he exploded, a firm shove placed at Will's shoulder as his other arm jutted out, forefinger angrily crooked towards the building.

"Oh, fuck me," Murphy hissed when Lily told him there was a lemur at the location they were headed for.  It was a rare type of shifter, probably because they were so fucking annoying that anyone in their right mind either avoided them or killed the fuck out of them.  Murphy couldn't just kill it, so he had to try to endure.  He did not have enough whiskey for that.  He also didn't have any information on Klaus that he didn't already know, which was frustrating.  

"Don't you think it defeats the purpose if I don't trust him right now to ask him about himself?" he pointed out, voice gruff and kind of annoyed, but he didn't think he was getting any information about the vampire out of her.  He'd try the others when they arrived at their destination, since Lily had told the woman on the phone that Klaus was one of the ones en route with the package.  It suggested to him that they knew Klaus there, even if it wasn't likely to be as well as Lily did.

The vampire himself didn't realize that Murphy was asking about him, but he probably wouldn't have been surprised.  He also wouldn't have told the Diamond hunter anything the man didn't already know, or he'd have 'traded' information, which Murphy wouldn't have liked.  Klaus was too old to be that stupid, nor would he have been foolish enough to trust Lilyana if she couldn't keep some of his more personal details from a Diamond who wasn't asking too hard.

Klaus, Zaine and their 'package' arrived outside the Wanderer's Inn as Lilyana was hanging up the phone, so they were just in time to see Will dancing with the disfigured zombie and Jack freaking out on him for it.  Klaus simply stared, taking in the sight before him without seeming to really judge, but wow.  It was only when he caught a whiff of lemur on the air that he understood, and then he wished he'd been warned.  Fucking lemurs.

Fucking necromancers, too.

He was way too old to truly fear the necromancer, mostly because his mental and metaphysical power was just too much for him to really think that Ethan could make a puppet out of him (though that was a damn good reason for other vampires to keep their distance), but that didn't mean that he trusted the infernal man.  Seeing the vile proof of his magic in front of the building was just plain distasteful, though Klaus could admit that it was effective.  When there weren't lemurs slow dancing with the beasts.

"Lead the way," he told Zaine, gesturing forward before hefting the coffin off the ground.  There were sounds of movement from within that he ignored because he could read Lucien's mind and knew that there really wasn't any intelligence to the scrabbling.  It was just instinct to escape.  He wasn't looking forward to the reveal.