Lost and Found

[Stavros Arun]

The mess at Hellcat's Hollow had taken less trouble to clean up than they'd expected once the idiots responsible had taken off, though the issue with Zaine and Lily had stood out as almost a bigger problem to certain individuals.  As the commotion calmed down, Connor had come to Stavros and Sean to fill them in on what had happened while they were actually working crowd control and trying to figure out who had caused it; Connor's information, including the theory posed by Lily, was relevant to their interests.  Extremely relevant.

After the Midnight attack, Stavros had actually tried to talk Lily into retiring again - that she'd taken a medical leave for awhile due to the damage Niall had done would have just made it easier to not go back, and it would have been better for Alice, as well.  Not that Stav and Alicia minded having Alice around while Lily was healing, but the reason for it was the problem.  After what had happened to Tucker, the absolute last thing she needed was to get back into the business, and she'd seemed so happy with her first retirement.  He didn't understand it, and it irritated him.  That Connor had told him about Lily and Zaine's altercation after the rest of the mess was about taken care of also irritated him, but he understood why.

"If we're done here, I'm going to Crimson," he stated, and it was a firm, no nonsense decision.

"I figured you would.  Victor said she's stable and that her healing is picking up, so she might be awake by the time you get there.  Quinn's with her."

"And Zaine?  I want to know what's happening with him as soon as you do."

"You know it.  Send Lily my regards."

Stavros nodded and in that moment of eye contact, he was certain that the decision they'd discussed in the wake of Midnight's night of terror was now going to be put into place.  He set his hand on Sean's shoulder as he passed, headed for the car and confident that his son would follow.

That had been a half hour previous, and before he'd talked to Victor, checking on Lily's status, found Dev waiting outside her door, and had a chat with him.  When the three of them went in, Quinn stood in case it was a threat, but she nodded at them and stepped back towards the wall.  Stav wasn't so certain he wanted anyone present for this, but if there was one person he trusted not to be a problem, it was her.  She pretty much blended in with the wall as soon as she backed off.

"How are you feeling, Lily?" he started, because that was the right thing and damn it, he really was concerned.  She was family, and if she'd have died, so would Zaine.  "Connor said you saw Tucker."

[Lilyana Winter]

Lily wasn't in the mood for visitors, but that didn't really matter. She'd been in and out of it for a while now, awake but not thanks to people checking on her and noises and various other issues, like nightmares of Zaine fucking strangling her. Seriously, and people said she was the one who'd cracked? She'd only been trying to tell them all she'd seen Tucker, who, by the way, was supposed to be as dead as a fucking doornail, but apparently had chosen today to start walking around again.

She was beginning to wonder if she was crazy, honestly. What if she hadn't seen Tucker? What if it was another one of those smart-bombs, way down inside of her that Niall had placed? What if Zaine was right? The feeling that she couldn't even believe what she honestly thought to be right in front of her was pretty disheartening, and she started questioning whether or not she should even be in the guild at all, or if she was responsible enough to continue raising Alice. So many questions, suddenly - her entire reality was called into question now.

"I wish I'd never come back," she said, the stale, dryness of her throat making her words scratchy and hoarse, which was to be expected considering Zaine had probably crushed her windpipe before or after biting her. She may have healed, but she was still sore. The little stuff she'd have to cope with in order for her body, and the magic of the healers, to have taken care of the larger stuff.

She didn't even have the confidence to meet Stavros' eyes, not regarding Tucker. Not when she had just sat there and questioned the validity of what she'd seen, resisting the urge to believe Zaine. Why did he have such a strong pull over her? Why? It made her angry, which in turn simply hurt her chest. "I thought I saw Tucker," she said bitterly. "I don't really know anymore. Now that I've had time to think about it."

It was obvious she was changing her story around, but only because she would rather be called crazy and given therapy or whatever they did, rather than think that Niall had made another boom go off in her broke-ass brain.

[Stavros Arun]

Nobody could have blamed Lily for not wanting visitors, and Stavros would have left her to sleep the night through before coming to see her in the morning had it been any other situation.  Tucker, though...that brought him in immediately, and it was making him doubt a great many things himself.  They hadn't even found a body, for starters, and it had seemed reasonable to assume, given the absolutely ridiculous state of wreckage the pier had been in after everything had gone down, that he'd been lost to the ocean, but he'd never washed up.  That was still a possibility, or that there had been an explosion of some magical type that didn't leave scorch marks everywhere.  With Tucker, one never knew, and Lily hadn't been able to identify their attackers. 

Now, Stav was wondering if David Tucker was dead, or if he'd been taken, and if he had, what had been done.  He almost didn't want to think about it, both for personal reasons and because Tucker's appearance at the Hollow that night meant very bad things for the guild if that was the case.

At her 'wish', the corners of his lips quirked up slightly, but it never reached his eyes.  It was a bitter sort of thing, having her finally agree with him when he had to ask her to stay with them.  "I need you now, Lily.  You know I want you out of this, but if Tucker's out there, we have to find him," he told her, and yes, her changing her story made him wonder, but her losing it when Midnight attacked made sense because Niall had been on-site, and he'd sent her into Terminator mode to the point that Quinn had to focus on her.  It had been a very good move on the vampire's part, keeping Quinn busy, if nothing else.  Did this make sense, though?  Why put Tucker in her mind?  She was the only one who'd claimed to see anything like that, so why the personal target? 

Maybe he just wanted to believe that Tucker was still alive.

"Alexander did not report any vampiric influence," Dev offered.  It was true that Darling had been much more involved in reporting Zaine's actions, but when Dev had asked for the details, he'd said she'd seen someone she knew.  He would have noticed if it was a vampire, and Dev had come to understand that Alexander was older than almost anyone they'd heard of.  It was a little humbling, actually.  Dev had obviously chosen well in helping out that poor, lost man five years ago.

Stavros didn't look at Dev, but the tilt of his head suggested he was listening before he focused in on Lily again.  "What was he doing, and did he see you?"