The Dark of the Night

[Shane Craft]

For someone who definitely wasn't interested in a repeat, Shane was surprisingly alright with Iago leaving he and Melody alone in their front yard for the moment.  He wasn't lying when he told Iago that they wouldn't be lingering, just to be safe, but he didn't think Kiyoshi was coming back.  Kiyoshi had his toy, a nice, rare snow leopard to play with, and Shane was only sorry because Melody was so upset.  He'd have never chosen to do that to Derek, but he didn't feel bad that Elise had benefited from the deal where Derek hadn't.  Elise > Derek.

Still, Melody was a wreck and she'd been hurt, so he was staying right where they were in the cold, wet snow and covered in blood until she was alright with moving.  Considering she was still human, he was hoping that would be soon so that she wouldn't get frost bite or something. 

Vampire or not, he was her brother, and he could distinctly remember her being there for him whether he'd liked it or not when he was turned after that party, and he wasn't about to leave her to just sit there.  He was a little awkward about it for a second, but he wrapped her up in a firm (non-bone-crushing) hug and figured he'd just hold her until she made him let her go.  It didn't matter (much) that he could smell the cat (and sex) all over her, because he cared about her.  It still burned him up and made him feel less bad about Derek, but it did have the added power of making him feel worse for her.  Damn him for feeling so guilty!

"I'm so sorry, Mel.  I tried, really, I did," he told her, and he meant it.  He'd gotten her out, that had been the important part, but it had all gone to hell after that.  If he could have, he'd have helped Derek just for her, but he hadn't been willing to risk her to do it.  Damn it.

[Melody Craft]

Melody cried for a few more moments, unresponsive until Shane said he was sorry. She would have been content to cry for a while, too, until Shane offered his apology to her. She started to scream - it began as a low growl, something that ripped through her sore throat and made her larynx bleed. It got louder and louder, still not elevating to that high-pitched scream she'd been emitting before. She began to flail until she could shake Shane off of her, at which point she began pulling at her hair, running her hands through it so harshly so that it made her skin tight around her eyes.

"Shut up!" she screeched. She actually sneered at him, though it was hard to tell through all of her bruises and cuts on her face. "You're not sorry for shit! You HATE Derek! You could have told that batshit gypsy fucker not to give in, you know he could have kicked that guy's ass, and you DIDN'T!" Whoa, Melody. She was pretty mad, and she had a good reason to be. Shane just happened to be the only thing there for her to take it out on at the moment, which was bad for him, considering how she was reacting. She flailed around more, and then pointed at Shane.

"Take me to Frost!" She demanded. She took a deep breath and screamed, "NOW!" at the top of her lungs.

[Shane Craft]

Obviously, he had no idea that apologizing was as bad of an idea as it happened to be, since that was what set her off.  He even managed to be surprisingly good about her screaming, considering how amazing his hearing was now that he was a vampire.  Usually, that wasn't an issue with Melody, since she was never all that loud, but she was making up for it all right there at that exact moment in the snow.  Even worse was that he really didn't think he deserved it this time.  Hell, he'd done his share of shitty things, but this one, he'd actually tried.

He wanted to argue, just because that's who he was.  He was aggressive and prone to being argumentative even without much of a reason, and here he was being blamed for something that wasn't in his control to change.  The only reason he didn't want to argue was because this was his sister, and she was upset.  He could understand her being upset, but that still didn't make him less angry at being blamed for it all.

"Listen, I'll take you to Frost," he started, and he deserved some serious credit for the calm-ish, almost quiet tone he used.  Really, he did.  "But I sure as hell don't have any control over what Iago does, and I guess you missed the part where that chinese fucker crushed my entire face in the palm of his hand."

Yeah, he was a little pissed.  He'd just gotten his ass beat, and now he was getting yelled at because it wasn't good enough.  "I'm sorry that you're hurt and upset."

He wasn't going to lie, because she was right.  He didn't like Derek, and he didn't really care one way or the other about the cat's well-being.  He still wouldn't have wished this on the guy, but his concerns had been Melody and Elise when he'd had the brainpower to have concerns.  It could be pretty damn hard to concentrate when your face was being crushed, or when someone was blowing your brain up with mental blasts.  He'd tried, but he was only about three or four years a vampire, which meant nothing against a few centuries.

It also didn't mean much against a guild full of hunters that were probably on high alert, so he hoped that Melody had the presence of mind to keep his ass safe.  He also didn't know where exactly Frost was, so he had to read it out of her mind to know where he was taking them.  Teleporting again on top of all this was a bitch, just for the record.

[Melody Craft]

 Melody steeled her gaze at him. "You'll heal in a matter of hours. Remember?" Meanwhile, she was - well, she was beat to all fuck. She'd have driven to Frost herself but her fingers were mangled, and it hurt to move them. Yanking on her hair had been regrettable, but it had felt good, in a bad way. She was at a total mental loss for what she felt. No word could describe it. She surveyed the house one last time before Shane got them out of there, and focused back on him, her tone much softer than before. "Mom and dad are going to be pissed," she said, expression somewhat empty. Tip of the iceberg, that.

Once they'd gotten to Frost, it was pandemonium, but Melody hoped Shane kept up with her. Because he was as beat up as she was and they were both moving with a purpose, nobody gave them much shit - not until they happened across the slender, tall blonde figure of Capricia, who was speaking quickly and intently with Tatyana. The vampire looked sidelong at them for a moment, but it was Capricia who seemed more imposing. She stared at them, and then realized that she recognized Melody - barely - by a photo that Christian had on his desk of she, Derek, he and Evangela.

"Is Christian in his office?" she managed, though she felt like she was going to vomit.

Capricia nodded and gave them a clear path down the hall, hunters making a wide berth not for the duo but for the huntress and the vampire that she spoke to in hurried Russian. Capri was not concerned for Tanya's safety, nor the safety of Katya and Sasha, her siblings, but she had to make sure that Tanya knew what was going on in case of any sort of attempts made. As it turned out, Tanya could take care of herself - Katya always described her as the baby sister, but Tanya's remarkable ability, as it were, gave her a disgusting advantage, just as Sasha and Katya had. Whatever the end of the conversation was, both Tanya and Capri kissed cheeks, and the vampire vanished into the thrum of bodies.

Capricia stood in the hall and watched with crossed arms as Melody entered Christian's office, Shane in tow.

"They took him," was all she blurted out. "They took Derek."

[Shane Craft]

His point hadn't been that he'd take forever to heal, or even that it had hurt; he'd been concerned with the fact that his face had been a pretty damn serious distraction to keep him from getting too involved in the conversation that had led to Derek being taken by Kiyoshi.  He wasn't kidding when he said that he had no control over what Iago did (and he didn't believe that he'd be immune to the gypsy's wrath if he'd fought his decision; save Derek over Elise?), nor did he think that the man really cared about anyone else if Elise was in danger.  That girl was all he cared about, and was actually the only thing that Shane thought he had in his favor in Iago's eyes.  Melody didn't understand it any more than he understood why she actually loved that cat.

She had her parting shot, but she went on to comment on the house and their parents, so he dropped it.  Easier to just continue forward and hope they could get everything to work out, and he sure as hell had his fingers crossed right about then.  He, a vampire, was about to teleport the both of them to the Frost hunter's guild while the hunters were all on high alert.  That sounded like a crazy awesome plan, right?  He just had to hope that nobody would take any notice of him, and then pray to whoever might listen that Christian wouldn't blame him at all for Derek's disappearance (or that Melody wouldn't explain all of how it went down, which seemed unlikely).  Even so, he was right there with her as she rushed through the halls in search of Christian or someone who could take her to him.

Personally, he didn't know any of the people around them, nor did he have any idea what the guy they were looking for even looked like, but Melody seemed to know when she saw Capricia.  Shane followed her right up, not entirely oblivious of the potential danger he was in just by being a vampire around so many hunters that hated them, especially with the Midnight thing going down.  At least he he knew to keep his damn mouth shut as she and the much older vampire she was talking to finished their interactions with a strange kissy motion on their cheeks and Capricia led them to Christian.

Frankly, he'd expected the man to be a little more imposing.  Christian wasn't all that big or intimidating (not that much different from Shane, actually), and he was supposed to be the leader?  Shane was afraid for all of these hunters, and glad that he had Iago backing him up. 

[Christian Shane]

Melody chose the wrong fucking time to tell Christian that Midnight had gotten Derek. No sooner had she blurted it out then did she realize her mistake. Evangela was sitting on the edge of Christian's desk, while Andrea was sitting in one of his chairs reading a Seventeen magazine. Evangela's head whipped around as she processed what had been said, and she immediately stood up.

"What?" she said, her voice cracking. She practically leaped to Melody, grabbing her by the arm in a grip so tight that Melody yelped. "What happened? When? How?" she panicked, her eyes wide and churning with a mixture of fear and rage. She looked past Melody to Shane, for explanation - something, anything.

Christian was up after his wife, trying to pry her off of Melody. "Eva, let go," he said gently, though he firmly had to remove her hand from the brunette's arm. He looked at Melody and Shane, and ushered his wife to his desk, unwilling to take his hands off of her for fear she would turn cat and attack.

"Shane. Melody. Sit. Explain."

That was it. He didn't explode, he didn't scream or swear or throw things. He also didn't start flinging down accusations, which was good. He didn't speak for Evangela either, but he was pretty sure that she was going to blame the two for everything, regardless of what it was. When he heard the full story, though...

"So let me get this straight," he said, his voice calm. "Iago traded Derek for you and the other girl?" he asked. He wanted to make sure he had this right.

Melody nodded tearfully.

"I knew something was going to happen to him," Evangela snarled, eyes focused on the two of them. "This is your fault."

Andrea's head snapped up, and Christian stood. "Eva, take Andrea and go to my room. I'll be there in a few minutes," he said. The way he said it didn't sound like a request, either, but Evangela did exactly as he instructed without another word. It was scary how she obeyed him, actually, given the fact that she was such an independent-minded woman.

Once they had gone, Christian picked up the phone. "Xander? Are you in the guildhouse? Can you come to my office for a second?"

As they waited for the wolf to arrive, Christian looked at them. "This isn't your fault - either of you. But right now, I'm very concerned with details. The vampire who took him - I need a description and information. As much as you can give."

[Shane Craft]

Right, so Shane officially didn't like cats.  Derek had first made him lean in that direction, but now meeting Derek's sister cemented it; cats sucked.  That, or maybe it was just their kind of cat, but he didn't like them and that was the end of that.  The daughter was pretty, but young, which was fitting because her parents were both pretty and young to have a kid her age, but Shane didn't care about that.  He cared about the fact that he was a vampire in the middle of a hunting guild, talking to the guild leader, and that the crazy cat lady was blaming them.

"Um.  Asian, faggy-looking, probably Japanese.  Like, he was definitely a dude, but he had those weird girly features going on.  That, and he was totally batshit," Shane told Christian.  He'd been told to sit and he'd done it because he was told to (which was a miracle in itself right then, but he had a vague idea that he knew this guy, and that the last time he'd seen him, it hadn't gone well; he didn't know that Christian had been intending to kill him for good), but that didn't mean he was at ease.  "He was old, definitely old enough that he didn't back right down when Iago hit the scene, he manhandled me and Elise at the same time, and he did something with the shifters, like they were puppets, or something.  He kept forcing Derek to shift, and to take a half-form.  When Iago showed up, it was already so blown to hell that he didn't have much of a choice, I guess."

He tried to get the explanations and descriptions out of the way without setting Melody off or having her mention the fact that Elise shifted, too.  He didn't know if that was a big secret for Elise and Iago, but he wasn't going to be the one to blow it out into the open, and he didn't want Melody to, either.  It probably wasn't well-known if he spent so much time there and hadn't known.

"And he didn't really trade Derek," he added, and this was what Melody was going to disagree on, but Shane had been living in Iago's house for awhile; he was understanding more about gypsies than most people ever did because Iago was vintage Gypsy.  "He just agreed not to interfere with the Jap taking him."

Why he had to specify that, he wasn't sure, but the way Christian had asked about that made him worry.  The thought that Frost might suddenly hate Iago for a misunderstanding on some wording here wasn't cool.  It also meant that Iago wouldn't have been messing up the deal he'd made if he had to help Christian get the cat back later on.  That was between Christian and Iago, as far as Shane was concerned, but at least they might not blame the old Gypsy.  Shane kind of liked the guy.

[Christian Shane]

Christian frowned a little, and then stood up and grabbed a phone off of his desk. He pressed down on it, and it made a loud beeping sound.

Beep. "Remi, you there?" he asked.
Beep."Yeah, ass-deep in books. I heard my sister tried to pick a fight with Stav," the voice said on the other line.
Beep. "She did, and she's lucky she didn't succeed. Listen, do you know of any vampires in Midnight that can control shapeshifters?"
Beep. "Like how Katya can?"
Beep. "Like how Jim Henson can."
Beep. "Ooh."
Beep. "Asian, crazy?"
Beep."Man, that guy is all over the place tonight. Yeah, that's Kiyoshi. He's - he's bad news, man. Really bad news.
Beep. "I'll get back to you."

Christian set the phone down just as Xander knocked on the door. When he opened it, Shane would probably recognize the massive wolf who had seen him at the Bash when he was turned - the wolf who had made a game of crushing skulls with his foot like they were glass bottles. The wolf shut the door behind him, looking large and imposing, but said nothing.

Christian sighed for a moment, resting his elbows on the table, hands clasped while his thumbs scratched his chin for a second as he thought. "So, he never actually said the words, 'I'll trade you," or 'You can have him for," or anything of the sort?"

When Melody and Shane shook their heads no, he nodded. It was against Midnight's law for a vampire to take a shifter; even more against it was not even having a verbal contract to support the deal. Freeblood status was a big thing - or, it had been, before all of this happened. Christian didn't know what the fuck to do, but he didn't want to seem disorganized in front of the two Craft siblings. He had to cut them loose and think.

"Melody, when you leave this office, take a right and go down a long hall. To the left will be the infirmary. I want you two to go in there and get checked out. I'll have someone get you and set you up a room here after that. In the meantime, I'll try to figure out a way out of this."

No sooner had he said that than did the door of his office bust open, a very shocked Holly the culprit.

"Ryan's outside," she announced. "He got shot, but he's alive. And man, is he fucking annoying."

Christian was silent for a very long pause before he nodded to her. She turned and shut the door, and he resisted the urge to scream and kick his chair across the room. "If you'll excuse me," he said, voice carefully neutral, though almost tired in tone.



(This thread is continued HERE with Christian.)