Spades [Dom; Onyx Hunters]

[Severin Van Helsing]

[3:02 AM]

"So, will this really work?" asked Kenzie, settling in against the couch. She was at Onyx because she'd gone to see Rafael, but he'd gone to bed an hour or so ago. It was currently pushing three AM, and as much as he enjoyed Kenzie's company, she was affected by caffeine - he was not. She was on the fourth Mountain Dew that she'd found in the fridge, ignoring the fact that someone would be incredibly unhappy when they realized all of their soda was missing. Probably some lame-o trainee that Zaine would splatter, anyways. She had found Olena, the only cool trainee so far, sitting in their version of a living room, which was probably true if you were a billionaire, shuffling through a deck of cards. When she'd come closer, she realized that they were Tarot cards, or as Olena called them, 'Charting Cards'. They certainly weren't like any deck Kenzie had ever seen before, but then again, her experience was limited to television, the goth kids in high school, and her own poking around online.

Olena looked up and grinned. "Maybe yes, maybe no," she offered, her thick Ukrainian accent making her sound more like a crazy gypsy fortune teller than she actually was. "I did this for a living for many years. Cards are usually accurate, though I don't know if your definition of work covers that. Generally people don't want to see things that the cards show them," she added, shuffling them still very softly. She held the deck out to Kenzie, looking like a gypsy now. Her wispy blouse top had bell sleeves and was of many different colours, like a silk explosion. She wore pants, sure, but her hair was so long and she wore such little makeup that Kenzie almost questioned the woman's very place in the guild.

"Come come, think of question and take the deck in your hands. Careful not to upset it," she directed.

Kenzie did as she was told, receiving the deck from Olena. She noticed that the more serious and focused she got, the more strained her accent became, like she was practiced to speaking carefully and clearly. She held the deck, and to her surprise, the small cards were warm to the touch. How long had Olena been shuffling them? It was like she'd been lurking, waiting for someone to happen upon her. Kenzie swallowed, and then tried to imagine what her question was. "How specific should I be? she asked, unsure.

Olena shrugged. "Asking if cute boy in class will marry you is too specific, if that's what you mean. The cards are... more of a guideline for the future and events within it. Since the future is not yet real, they make it so we can find out the path we are on and alter it as we need," she said.

Kenzie nodded. "I guess I'll be kind of broad then," she decided. She closed her eyes as she held the cards. Will my family relax and let me live my life? she thought. She kept thinking that until the cards almost became bothersome they were so warm. When she opened her eyes, Olena reached for them, making a 'gimmie' motion with her fingers. Kenzie was almost glad to hand them over, and put her hand around that cold Mountain Dew to sooth it.

Olena laid out the first card. "This card represents your present. It is how your current situation stands." She flipped a card and laid it down, face up. Kenzie nearly gasped at it; Olena's cards were like nothing she'd ever seen online. It depicted a hooded figure with its back turned, shoulders sagged almost in sadness. It was upside down to Kenzie, so it was a little harder to see, and she had to tilt her head to do it. He stood on what seemed to be an ocean cliff, and five something were stacked in the dirt next to him.

"The Five of Cups, reversed," Olena said, frowning. "It conveys a sense of false starts or a way of life being overturned. It is a sad card, reversed or otherwise. It is basically symbolizing loss and bereavement of something." She continued on. "This card represents your immediate challenge," she said. She laid another card out, face up, across the first as though to block its path. It was a winding tower reaching up to the heavens, but it was burning and half a wall had been blown apart. People fell from it into the tumultuous ocean below. "The Tower - obviously," she said. "Dramatic upheaval, violent loss. In the end, there is enlightenment and freedom, but it depends on what else comes up as to how I can interpret that." She frowned again, but went for a third card.

"This card represents your past," she said. She flipped another card face up, and placed it to the side of the two. "The Ten of Cups," she announced. The card depicted what appeared to be a family linked in arms, with a rainbow overhead. Ten cups were in a row in front of their feet, two at each person, including the children. Olena's posture seemed to relax a little as this card appeared, and Kenzie only noticed it because it seemed as though she looked... relieved somehow. "Happiness. A peaceful and secure environment - your family, friends, lovers, et cetera. This card represents harmony and love."

"This card represents your future," she indicated, and flipped a card over. "The Nine... of Feathers... reversed. This card is... isolation, distress, despair. Being removed and imprisoned, unable to seek help or release..." Olena stopped what she was doing, and then disregarded the announcements, flipping more cards down to finish the chart without telling Kenzie what was happening. "Eight of Cups, the Devil reversed, Ten of Feathers reversed..." she looked down at the deck, and then placed it aside, hands shaking. She laid the cards out as she'd drawn them in a tier next to the ones previously there.

Kenzie looked at her, eyes wide. "Well?! she prompted, waving her hands.

 "I need you to call Chase," she whispered. "Right now." And with that, she whipped her head over her shoulder. "DOM!" she shouted. She didn't care if he was sleeping or not, she needed him to get up. She looked back at Kenzie as she hurried to the door. "Don't touch anything, and whatever you do, do not leave this room. Not until I come back. Call Chase and get her down here. Tell her -I- said it was an emergency," she commanded. She turned down the hallway, shouting Domingos' name and rousing most of the guild in the process. Olena had a bad feeling that Chase would already be on the same page as her.

[Zaine Martin]

 Zaine was only awake because his schedule had been completely obliterated. He was going to bed at four in the afternoon and waking up at two in the morning, so by the time Olena came rushing down the hallway like a fire alarm on legs, he'd been up, showered, and was just rounding a corner to go get a dig on some paperwork he hadn't done. Trainers had more paperwork than everyone else, he was convinced. Or maybe he just neglected his to a point where it would pile up? That could also have been a good reason. He stopped Olena from getting any further by mere presence, but it certainly didn't make her look any less rattled. She was one of his better trainees - was she choosing now to have a mental breakdown?

"I'm only going to ask once: Why are you screaming?" he demanded. No reason to play nice; was there ever?

"I need to find Dom," she said. She looked panicked. "And you, you need to get Lucien. I don't care if he's asleep at home, you need to get him here, now," she ordered, though it seemed to come from desperation rather than anger.

Zaine put his hands on her arms to stop her from flailing or hitting him, which he wasn't sure she wouldn't do, and lowered them from their aimless and stressful gesturing. Olena talked with her hands, and they telegraphed more than her voice did at times. He was beginning to suspect that this wasn't a simple trainee meltdown, but he still had to get specific details before he woke Lucien up at 3:30 in the morning because Olena was "unhappy".

"Slow down, Olena," he said firmly. "From the beginning, before I decide whether this is necessary or not. What happened?"

"I was charting Kenzie's cards, and -- "

"Wait, Kenzie's here?" he interrupted her. He thought she'd left hours ago. Was she staying at the guild? Did Connor know? He was more concerned for her well-being because Lucien told him to be than the actual act of caring, but he liked to stay informed on her whereabouts in case something happened.

"Yes, I told her to stay in the living room," Olena said. "But listen, her cards - I know you think that I don't have any ability or that I'm making this all up - "

"No, I never said that. Chase confirmed your abilities, so did Raven. You should know that Kenzie will never stay where you tell her to, especially if you tell her to stay, so let's you and I go find her and then you can explain this mess to me," he said. He was trying to maintain whatever damage this had done to the hallway until he could decide if it was enough of a big deal to wake everyone up for. He didn't expect for Olena to argue, so when she pushed herself out of his grasp, and screamed that he wasn't listening to her, he reacted instinctively by reaching out again and grabbing her hand, folding her fingers into an incredibly uncomfortable position. She squeaked in pain. "Calm. Down." he ordered. When she nodded, he slowly released her hand. "What happened?"

"I am trying to tell you but you keep cutting me off, Zaine!" she shouted. She didn't push him again, but instead had taken a few steps back to make distance between them. "They're coming for us. They're coming for everyone," she said as slowly and clearly as she could manage. "If you have someone that you care about, you need to find them, now, and get them here, because they already know about them."

Zaine absorbed this for a moment, but his focus soon left Olena in favour of the background. "Kenzie?" he said, narrowing his eyes. Was she crying? Olena turned as Zaine stepped past her, but she didn't move to follow them.

"I need to find Dom, now," she said, and with that, she hurried back down the way she'd been going before she'd found Zaine.

Zaine waved her off, covering the ground between he and Kenzie. She had her phone in her hand, but it hung so loosely that her fingers threatened to drop it. "Kenzie, what's wrong?" he asked, in his best 'I am not going to eat your face off' voice. He knelt down and put his hands on her own, taking the phone from her gently before it fell.

"Something - something's wrong with Chase," she said through sobs. "Olena told me to call her, but Jonathan called me before I could. He said that she's freaking out, and then when I said I'd come over she told me not to, to stay here. I went to get my car keys but Rafael hid them, and I can't get into his room, so I tried to find Olena - and now, this," she said, gesturing to where they stood. "Zaine, you have to take me home, please," she begged.

He stopped her with a wave of his hand. "Kenzie, I know this is going to be very hard for you, but I need you to understand that you cannot leave this place until I figure out what exactly is going on. Do you understand me?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes. It was really weird to see the girl who constantly followed him around and acted like nothing scared her freaking out, but she was a teenager, and a little loopy at that. Being related to Connor gave you some coverage of the verb 'to crazy', he assumed. He tightened his grip on her hand slightly. "Kenzie, promise me that you'll stay here."

Kenzie had forgotten her crush on Zaine at the moment, but when she looked into his eyes, she felt... compelled to do what he said. Usually she'd say that she'd stay and then run off the first chance she got, but he seemed very serious. "I promise," she whispered.

"Good," he said abruptly. He began leading her back to the living room. "I'll make sure your sister is okay, Kenzie. Just watch television until I come get you. Don't get off that couch for anyone else," he commanded. His stomach had a sinking feeling he hadn't had in a long time. Normally, someone telling him that "they're coming for us" wouldn't have bothered him, but if two of the guild psychics were freaking out at the same time? Couldn't be a coincidence. Zaine hadn't stayed alive this long by brushing things off that were obviously not in the natural order of progression. He sent a text to Mitzi and told her to come to the guild house, and then lifted his phone to his ear.

"Lucien? We have a problem," he hissed.

[Carlos Romero]

Dom was only awake because a woman was screaming in the hallway, and as he rushed out, a sheathed knife hurriedly strapped to his forearm and his Kimber .45 in hand to compliment the plain white undershirt and light green and white striped sleep pants, it struck his quickly awakening mind that it was Olena and that he'd woken so quickly because she was screaming his name.  By the time he was out in the hallway, Zaine was already handling it, so he turned the corner cautiously and found himself facing his trainee.  She looked upset, frantic, and he could see Zaine moving Kenzie along.  Kenzie.  What was she still doing up, and at the guildhouse?  Hadn't she just been there to visit Ortega?  He didn't see any sign of the parrot, and frankly, there was even less chance of missing those bright, almost iridescent wings than there had been of just missing his hair.  You noticed if Rafael was in the area.

So, the bird wasn't, but Olena, Zaine and Kenzie were, and it looked bad.  Nobody was bleeding, though.  That was a good thing.  "What the fuck are you screaming about, and why hasn't Zaine knocked you on your ass for it, yet?" he demanded, and that was really his way of asking what shit had hit the fan.  There was a reason for her to be yelling if Zaine hadn't put her down for trying to wake the entire guildhouse.  Kenzie had gone back into the den area, and Zaine was on his phone.  At 3-something in the damned morning.  Dom got the feeling he was done sleeping for awhile.

"Olena, talk."  This was giving him a bad, bad feeling.  

It didn't take Lucien more than the first ring to wake up, so he picked his phone up off his nightstand by the second and answered by the third, not hesitating once he saw that it was Zaine.  At 3:30 in the morning, Zaine meant business if he was calling.  Lucien's schedule was NOT as utterly destroyed as the mamba's, so there was no excuse otherwise.  He expected nothing less than trouble from the start, and he wasn't going to be disappointed.

"What's happened?" he asked, the sleep leaving his voice as soon as the potential severity of a call from Zaine at that hour hit him, and then Zaine started telling him what little they knew, and he sat up in his bed, trying to fathom what the hell was going on.  He thought he knew, but he didn't want to.

"They?  Who's they?" he demanded, his mind already on Midnight.  It had to be.  If a psychic, if two psychics, were freaking out and saying that 'they' were coming for 'everyone', he didn't think it could be anyone else.  Midnight, but why?  "Why would Midnight be attacking hunters?  Niall got his point across, and all hunts on Midnight trainers were suspended, correct?"

He was still talking, but also up and getting dressed.  He needed to get Rhona and Irulan to the guildhouse, as well as their family.  "Nevermind, we'll discuss motive when I get there.  Warn every hunter you can, tell them to get their families and anyone close to them either to the guildhouse or into hiding.  I need to call Batten and Shane."

He hung up a moment later, then hit his contact list for the next call as he armed himself.  If Midnight was really after them all, it'd be stupid to be anything less than a walking armory.  He honestly expected that the first people Chase would have called after she finished freaking out would have been her brother and sister, so he called Shane, gave him a 30 second rundown of what was apparently going on (better safe than sorry), and he was in the car as he was calling Irulan and Rhona.  He wasn't going to the guildhouse until he had them.

[Severin Van Helsing]

 She was shaking, badly. Olena didn't usually do that; hell, not even on some of the hairier missions she'd accompanied Dom on had she done that. This was bigger than that, than all of them. She tried to calm down, and felt a little better when she knew that he was aptly armed. Not likely for Domingos Verde to be caught without weapons during a time of screaming women.

"I was charting Kenzie's cards, and I don't even know what she asked, but these cards started coming up, and they started pointing to disaster, to immediate disaster. She kept pulling reverses, Feathers, bad cards," she insisted. Domingos made a face that clearly showed he didn't know what the fuck she meant, and she groaned. "I'm a FarSeer - it's what my mother called it. I can tell the future, but it's only by using those cards. When I use them, I get a sense of what's happening. Not a dictated, this and this sort of sense, but I see things. And this time, I saw for miles, and all of it was bad."

She stopped for a long time and let that sink in, and then looked directly into his eyes, taking an aggressive step forward. "If we don't do something now, everyone we love is going to be dead within weeks, if not days," she finally said. "Does that make sense?"

[Chase Paxton]

Chase, meanwhile, had been asleep at home through all of the mess with Midnight, through Sarah's attack on Niall and the various retaliations, but she was probably the most up to date when she regained consciousness.  Unfortunately for her unsuspecting, slumbering husband, she didn't wake quietly.  Actually, that was a lie, because she did, but she didn't wake him up gently.  The problem was that she couldn't tell if she was awake for quite some time there, her mind being overwhelmed with images of blood, pain and death, the capture and torment of people she called friends.  Family homes being torn into by shrieking vampires and savage shifters, the same dark-shrouded man as she'd seen in Rafael and Gabriel's memories laughing and tearing at her sanity.  It was like everything around him started to fray at the edges, until it melted away into insanity, and she tried to pull away, to preserve herself, but all she found was more blood.  A beautiful blonde woman with wings of browns and tans, screaming and writhing as electricity crackled around her.  Victor, breathing hard as the fragile wisp of smoke from his cigarette floated up around his ankle where he'd dropped it to the ground, knives flashing.  He was in her mother's house, and there was furniture overturned in the darkness.  

Connor's house, ransacked.  The weapon rack was wide open and used, blood on the carpets.  

The lights still on in the LeCroix household, baby mobile still singing a goodnight lullaby as the glow from the living room light displayed the deep gouges and holes in the walls all the way down the hall.  The baby was crying as a roar shook the broken walls of the home.  

Kenzie was crying, screams erupting around her, blood washing the walls and the death throes of everyone they loved falling silent one by one.  This was extermination.

Chase's eyes were open, only whites showing with her ragged breathing and her hands clutching at the sheets of the bed, but she was silent thus far.  It was seeing Connor's pale blue eyes flick up, almost as though he was staring at her, the sweat and blood glistening against his face in the space of a deep breath before he rushed his attackers, too many even for the guild leader to take.  Chase's voice joined his in her mind's eye as he was overtaken, the scream tearing through the darkness of the night.  Her own scream seemed to break her out of the 'dream', and she truly wasn't sure what she would have done if it had been just her.  She didn't know what to do, and honestly couldn't even try to separate what she'd seen into anything resembling logic.  She didn't know what was past, present or future.  She didn't know if any of it had happened, or if there was still time.  Jonathan woke immediately, of course, but even clinging immediately to him as she cried and just babbled at him wasn't helping.  She didn't know what to do, what was happening or who to even call just yet, but it clicked in her mind all of a sudden.

Kenzie.  Kenzie needed her to call.  

"Please, please, call Kenzie.  She has to stay at the guildhouse if she's still there," she sobbed amidst the rest of the insanity, feeling almost like Niall's madness hadn't lifted.  This was his madness, truly.  "They're coming, God, Jon, they're coming.  Everyone is going to die."

[Zaine Martin]

"Why would they be attacking?" Zaine repeated, pacing the hallway as he spied on Kenzie, who was staring at the TV wordlessly, her phone cradled to her chest. He looked away. "I don't know Lucien, but I'm willing to bet that it has something to do with someone trying to be a fucking hero," he snapped. "I'm going to start waking everyone up and calling everyone in. Xander is still here, though he's asleep. I'll be using him directly as an alternate until you get here. He commands a lot of fear out of the trainees and low-level hunters," he added. Ulrich was worth it when he needed a violent second hand. Zaine was glad that the wolf didn't hold back. It made him like him more.

When he was off the phone with Lucien, he made another phonecall - to Mitzi, which went to voicemail. He growled, and then found Dev's number in his contact list. "Dev? I need you to come in," he said. He filled him in as best he could with what knowledge he had, watching Kenzie stare blankly into the light of the television infomercials. "And bring some painkillers. I think Kenzie needs a Lortab 10 to keep her head under control. She's about to start drooling," he added. It came out more harshly than he'd meant it. At this point, he knew she believed that everything that had transpired had been directly because of her, and he sighed angrily that he'd need to do some damage control about it.

Or maybe he wouldn't.

"Kenzie? Come on, get up. I'm putting you in Rafael's room. I don't care what Connor says about boys' rooms, you're going to stay in there. Oh, no, he'll be awake. I promise," he said. He lead her down the hall to Rafael's room, and pounded on the door.

"Ortega, wake up!" he shouted. Behind him, other hunters were being woken up or arriving. He could already hear Xander screaming at people far off in the building, and smirked a little.

[Carlos Romero]

No, none of what she was saying about cards was making a lick of sense to him, and he really didn't care.  What he wanted were details.  If she and Zaine were treating the situation as though Midnight were assaulting hunters and their families, just say that.  He could deal with it.  As it was, he almost wanted to shake her as she tried to explain the background information, which was only wasting valuable time, in his opinion.  Dom liked being well-informed, but he was a man of action.  He could wait until there was a spare moment or the information was truly required.  Right now, he didn't give a flying fuck about cards.

She finally hesitated, looking like she was giving it a second to sink in as he tried to figure out what the hell she was saying.  He opened his mouth to shoot a nasty remark about getting to the damn point when she did exactly that.  Everyone dying had his attention, so the rest of the situation's ability to be serious and dealt with went up.

"Who is attacking?" he demanded, but he was already on the move.  He had a pretty damn good guess, and he pulled out his phone with his free hand, joining in with the yelling as he started banging the butt of his handgun against doors.  "Don't FUCKING SCREAM AT ME, DOUCHEBAG.  GET UP!"

People were appearing in the hall in pissy moods, and Zaine had moved on to other calls and getting Xander moving. Dom had heard the wolf yelling somewhere else.  Fine, he had this one.  "EVERYONE GET YOUR ASSES UP AND MOVING.  ARMED, NOW!" he bellowed, the phone in his hand ringing and cutting off his orders.  "Shannon, get your ass to one of the guildhouses along with anyone you give a shit about, and do it now.  Midnight's on the warpath."

He glanced up and gestured for Olena to stick with him.  They had so much shit to deal with that it wasn't funny.  He broke away from the phone call for an instant, addressing the retards in his general vicinity.  "ARMED, I SAID!  COLLINS, IF YOU DON'T GET SOME PANTS ON, I'M GOING TO PUT MY FOOT UP YOUR ASS!  WARN YOUR FAMILIES TO GET TO SAFETY, AND GET TO THE TRAINING HALL!"

Back to Shannon, who was asking questions.  "I don't have fucking details, all we have are some psychics losing their shit.  Chase Paxton's husband called in, she's saying the exact same thing as Olena, and it's that everyone's gonna die.  Get your ass here, or I'm coming to get you."  He meant that.

"COLLINS.  FUCKING.  PANTS."

Yeah, he meant that, too.

[Rafael Ortega]

Rafael was already dragging himself awake at the sounds of yelling, glancing at the clock and realizing that he'd been asleep for about an hour and groaning.  He pulled himself out of bed, aware that the yelling was only getting worse, and pulled a hunting knife out from under his pillow as he padded towards the door.  His hand was reaching for the doorknob when Zaine started calling for him and banging on the door, which only meant that he whipped it open within about a second, staring in sleep-deprived confusion at the snake and the teenager at his side.  Knife in hand and wearing only his wings and a pair of linen pajama pants, he glanced from one to the other like just their faces might tell him what the hell was going on.

With the door open, he could hear even more screaming, shouted orders and complaints accompanying mass amounts of movement, like the whole guild was preparing for war.  Suddenly, he wished he had tried for a robe or something, regardless of how difficult that would have been with the wings, just so that he wasn't half-naked with Kenzie there.  Always a bad idea with that girl, and the fact that she hadn't seen his wings yet totally escaped his attention for the moment.  Amazingly, he was more worried about being half-naked in front of her than her seeing the bright feathers that she had to have heard about.  Looking at her, she didn't look like she was in the kind of flirting mood he was used to.  This had to be bad.

Zaine would have the information, though, so he just cocked an eyebrow up at the man.  He wasn't going to demand answers, not of Zaine and not when he'd get them anyway just by keeping his mouth shut.

[Dev Rashana]

Although it wasn't much of a surprise, Dev was awake when Zaine called him.  Awake and alert, able to absorb the limited information they had available quickly and with as few questions as was possible.  He thanked Zaine calmly for the call, walked into his bedroom, and gently shook Indrani awake.  If he was panicked or afraid after what he'd been told, he was taking it surprisingly well, and once he was certain that Indrani was up, he was collecting their things.

"Indra, we need to return to the guildhouse, and quickly.  I'm getting our equipment, and Zaine asked that you bring Miss Ellesman something to help her deal with a shock; he mentioned Lortab.  From the sound of things, Midnight is taking the offensive," he explained, giving her the story in a nutshell as he changed his clothes and armed himself.  His kit was already in the closet by the door, which he'd be taking. 

He was confident after years of marriage that Indrani would react quickly and efficiently, leaving him the opportunity to call his cousin.  He wasn't sure how long they'd be at the guildhouse, but he wasn't thinking this mess was going to be over quickly.  Hopefully, it was all a false alarm, but he wasn't going to hold his breath.  Better to assume the worst, then pick up the pieces later. 

His cousin answered with a cheery chirp, obviously fine and in a quiet environment.  "Where are you, Sitara?"  She explained that she was still at the Crimson guildhouse, drawing a relieved breath from him, and he continued.  "I've gotten a call from Onyx about Midnight attacking hunters.  We don't yet know the level of damage, or threat, but I'd appreciate it if you stayed in contact and didn't leave Crimson.  Spread the word."

She agreed quietly, thanked him, and hung up.  He gave it ten minutes before she was out of the safety of Crimson, if that.  Damn it.  "Indra?  Ready?"

[Zaine Martin]

[3:42 AM]

Zaine sighed at Rafael's expression, and shoved Kenzie into his room, with or without his consent. "Short version, here we go: Olena and Chase are losing their minds, they think Midnight's attacking, and now we're finding out that people are missing or already dead. I have no idea when it started, but it seems like they decided not to play nice anymore, and I'd bet anything they'll work from the outside in. Use our provisions for accounts overseas and get whatever family you have out of where they are. Oh, and watch Kenzie," he said.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Kenzie said, stopping him from shutting the door. She hadn't reacted to Rafael's form - she was going to ignore it for the time being, because she was too bent out of shape to worry about ridicule at the moment. She looked up at Zaine, utterly helpless.

Zaine turned around, mouth half open. "I'm going to All Hallows," he said finally. "Lucien and Eden may not be friends, but it'd be a fun way to turn potential allies against us by attacking the candy jar and blaming it all on Lucien," he said. "Mitzi isn't answering her phone, and I know you have friends there, too, Rafael." He sighed. "This guild house is going to have more women in it than I think anyone will be able to stand," he muttered. He looked at the both of them, and then fixed his eyes on Kenzie, and lowered his voice.

"Indrani and Dev are on their way. If you leave Rafael's side, you'd better be with one of them until I come back. Indrani is going to give you something when she gets here, it will help you to relax. You do whatever she says, and I swear to god, Kenzie, if you try to get cute and sneak out of here -- "

He stopped when her facial expression cracked, and he sighed again. "Just... do what Rafael says until they get here." He looked up at Rafael as he stood, leveling his gaze. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his lips curled a little. "If I ever find out who tipped Midnight off to you and the vampire's intentions, I will make them wish that they were locked in a room with Dev and all his tools," he said angrily. It was probably the nicest thing Zaine had ever said to the parrot, when one thought about it.

He turned and went down the hallway, disappearing into literal chaos.

"VERDE," he screamed, motioning for the Spaniard. "Dev is on his way. You and Xander have it until he gets here, and then either one of you, I don't care which, can cut loose and try to handle it somewhere else in the building. You called Shannon? Good, I'm touching base with Stavros on the way to the club. What a fucking nightmare," he hissed, stepping back and heading down the direction to the parking garage. He was through trying to call the club; it was too goddamn loud in there, and he wouldn't get through. He figured if he rolled up in person, he'd be much more effective.

[Rafael Ortega]

Rafael nodded at the 'short version', and like most hunters, that was all he needed.  Details could come later, when time wasn't so goddamned important.  Zaine's promise of vengeance if they found out who had tipped Midnight off was unexpected, which threw off his otherwise business-like attitude about it all, but other than making some mix of a wince and a grimace, jaw clenched, all he did was again nod his acknowledgment.  He wasn't going to get all sappy, and neither was Zaine, but Rafael definitely knew it was the 'nicest' thing Zaine had said to him.  The mamba was tough, and had basically treated him like nothing had happened, which wasn't unappreciated.  It was nice to have someone that didn't treat him like an invalid, or stare.  Of course, babysitting duty wasn't exactly a primo job.

No matter, he was used to it.  Connor had been known to pay him on occasion to keep Kenzie out of trouble, so this wasn't all that different.  He doubted he could get her to sleep, so he'd have to keep her company, but he'd try.  The instant Zaine was gone, Rafael shut his door, and tried to guide Kenzie around to sit her on his bed.  He knelt in front of her, smiling and trying to be reassuring.

"We've got people on this, Ken, it's going to be okay.  Why don't you call some of your family members, let them know they should come out here or go to Crimson?  Your brother and sister are probably already on it, but helping can't hurt, right?" he offered, and that was actually what he was about to start doing.  There were people that he was betting still needed to be warned, starting with Saffron and Audrey.  "How about your mom and dad?  Drop them a line, tell them to stay here.  I'll bunk with someone else, and you guys can have my room."

God, he hoped her parents answered.  Of course, they could just be asleep.  He was betting that was the problem with a LOT of the people that weren't answering.  He waited until she looked like she might be okay doing that, and then he pulled his own cell out, dialing Audrey first.  He was pretty sure Saffron would be at work, which was a little safer.  Marius and Drake wouldn't let anything happen to her, at the very least.  Audrey would probably be at home if she wasn't at the guildhouse, and if she WAS, her boy would be with a babysitter.  Not cool.

"Audrey?  Midnight's attacking hunters and their families, get Aaron to the guildhouse," he said quickly, and thankfully, she reacted without freaking out.  Yeah, she sounded upset, but not like she couldn't manage.  That was a good thing.  He was off the phone a few seconds later, leaving her to get her son together.  Next, it was Saffron's phone, and she wasn't answering.  He stared at the phone for a second as it went to voicemail, then left a hurried message telling her what was happening and that she needed to come stay with him for a few days.  Then, his parents, and he was sending them away. 

That wasn't an easy conversation.

[Indrani Rashana]

Indrani rose as Dev instructed, listening carefully to his words. She had already stepped out of bed and into her slippers, wrapping her raspberry coloured robe around her shoulders. While he readied himself, she went into the bathroom and washed her face, brushed her teeth, and grabbed her overnight kit, packing it with necessary items. She glanced over her shoulder as Dev informed her about Kenzie, a brow arched.

"Hydrocodone, for Kenzie? Hm," she said. She shook her head, putting a small orange prescription bottle into the kit bag, and zipped it up. She came out of the bathroom, and reached under the bed, pulling out a small suitcase that looked like the type you'd bring on an airline. She extended the poles of it, and smiled. "Nice to know that you keep me prepared," she said.

  She dressed herself quickly, and readied for departure, bringing her things to the front door. "Devraj, you were able to contact Sitara?" she asked, having not heard his conversation. "What is the state of the guilds? Are we walking into chaos?" It was unnerving how pleasant she could be, but it was more than likely because Dev hadn't begun to freak out, one, and two, Indrani was schooled in the art of dealing with bad information in large doses. She wouldn't panic until there was a reason to.

[Kenzie Ellesman]

Kenzie watched as Zaine left, and then went to sit at the chair at Rafael's desk, looking at him like a lost puppy. She didn't really know what to do, but she felt like everything she understood was falling apart. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing at all, putting her hands between her knees and looking down at her feet after a while.

"It all started when I asked Olena to chart my cards. I had come to see you, but they said you were asleep, so after I walked around and talked to a few people I'm probably not allowed to, I found Olena and we started hanging out. She said she could do this thing called a 'card chart', which is like Tarot cards. I figured it would be bullshit, but she made me feel like she was serious about it."

She shrugged a little. "All of the cards she flipped had bad meanings, and then she started to freak out. She told me to call Chase, and she got up to go find Domingos. When she was gone, my phone rang, and it was Jonathan. He said that Chase was losing her fucking mind, and then all of this just started happening, and it's my fault," she said, breaking down into tears. It was obvious that Kenzie believed she'd started all of this. She wasn't a crybaby.

[Dev Rashana]

It struck him in situations like this that one of the things he loved about his wife was her ability to handle bad news well, and act with it.  He woke her and told her what was happening, and she was efficient in readying herself to leave.  It made the entire situation much easier to deal with, and that was something he was infinitely grateful for.  Unless it was a tough member of the Midnight crew or sheer numbers, he pitied the fool that came for Indrani, and even then, Dev would cut a gory swath through their people.

"Good to know that you listen," he returned, smiling back and lifting their things with a kiss dropped lightly on her lips.  "I spoke with Sitara, yes, and she's fine.  She's at Crimson, and the area was quiet, which makes sense because she didn't know there was anything happening.  That doesn't bode well to me, but I told her to stay put."

Yeah, and they knew how that was going to go.  If the guild was uninformed, he was guessing that Batten wasn't present, which made him wonder where the man was.  Hopefully, Sitara would be sounding the alarms within Crimson.  "The background of Zaine's call was a little more like I'd have expected; yelling and chaos.  We're going to have our hands full with civilians being brought in for their own safety, hunters that can't get in touch with their families, and then whoever is missing, I'm afraid."

He also wouldn't be surprised with the inevitable forming of a team consisting of some of their best to go out searching for those who were missing.  They were going to have to confirm and control this situation, and quickly.  Remaining on the defensive wasn't going to work for long, but he'd handle that when they reached Onyx and he had a better chance of taking charge.  He needed to get in contact with Lucien, as well.  

"Shall we?" he asked, giving her a moment to brace herself before they opened the door.  He was openly armed, and once they were out the door, it was all business and getting his beautiful wife out safely.  He wasn't slowing or stopping until they were within the walls of the guildhouse, and then, it would just be a different kind of fight.  

[Rafael Ortega]

Once she settled on his desk chair, Kenzie didn't go anywhere, and that wasn't so surprising, but she didn't call anyone, either.  He HAD expected her to take the opportunity to call her family, so when she didn't, he went back to kneeling in front of her, taking her hand in his and watching her as she talked.  It took him a second to realize exactly what she was getting at, but he nearly facepalmed when he realized.  She was blaming herself.  Holy shit.

"Kenzie, look at me and listen closely," he told her firmly, grabbing her chin so that he could guide her to eye contact.  "Let's get this straight before anything else happens.  Whatever goes on, it's not your fault.  You actually probably saved lives, because nobody knew what was happening until Olena and Chase started freaking out.  Everyone would have been in their beds, sleeping and completely unaware of this threat right up until Midnight's people walked in and starting slaughtering them."

He didn't use nice words, because he wanted her to know exactly WHAT she'd stopped.  "Because of you, Chase and Olena, the guilds are mobilizing, word is getting out, and people who might have died tonight are arriving in one piece at the guildhouses.  My friend Audrey and her little boy are packing up and driving to Frost because you are here, and because you and Olena were hanging out.  Don't you realize how good that is?"

Smiling for her, he wiped at her tears and stood up, but the fact that she was here, in Onyx, was nagging at him.  Her brother and sister were both in Crimson, and Capricia was in Frost.  Kenzie should have been with someone she loved, not stuck with him.  He felt bad for her, but moving her at this stage of the game would just be stupid.  She was safe, and that should have been all that mattered, but he still didn't like that she couldn't be with her family.