Better Stand Tall

[Camille Farrell]

 Camille felt like her mind was melting. Her whole body was burning, and the more she tried to fight it, tried to kick and scream, the more Daniel held her down. Her voice became jagged and hoarse, and she clawed at his arms, screaming, "No, please don't let them take me!" It almost seemed as though she were having a flashback, but the random yelps about 'burning' would remind them they were depressingly in the present. It was incredibly fortunate for Daniel that he'd rolled his sleeves back down when he saw all the blood, because Camille was taking in the infection and she was capable of spreading it just as well. Daniel didn't want to be a wolf - not like this, anyways.

Nathaniel finally lost his patience, which was scary. He let off of Kieran, turning Daniel around by grabbing his shoulder. A bead of sweat was forming on his brow, and it was obvious that the screaming and the scent of blood was grinding on his nerves. "I need you to get someone who isn't human up here to help me. There's too much blood, and I don't want you getting infected. Rook, GET BACK!" he commanded, as the brunette tried to creep in for a status report. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

"Go sit with Claire. Call her father," he said. He didn't apologize for yelling, because he really wasn't sorry for trying to keep her from becoming furry. "Get Melissa and Clarissa," he told Daniel. "Kieran is stabilized but he needs those wounds wrapped, and I can't let you do that because you're at risk. Go." The way he spoke didn't bode for arguing, and he stepped in front of him, effectively bumping him out of the way. He grabbed Camille's flailing arms with one hand and pinned them down to her chest. In the other hand, he wielded a syringe with enough sedatives to knock down an elephant - or himself, if he needed it. He jammed it into her abdomen while she cried and screamed jibberish, and then slowly released her hands as she mellowed out.

As he hit her with the needle, Camille remembered only that everything began to blur and spin, and the lights became suddenly bright, and then extinguished. The last thing she heard was the man saying, "She's turning."

[Daniel Cooper]

Frankly, Coop deserved credit just for rushing out there with those shadow things tearing people apart.  Fortunately for him and Nathaniel, they weren't targeted (which had Daniel seriously wondering what the hell they were and where they'd come from), so the two of them could drag the injured pair apart and work to get them inside.  He didn't do the macho thing and make any indication that he cared about the fact that Nathaniel deliberately grabbed Kieran because the wolf was heavier than Camille.  That was because he didn't care, and he knew it was true.  Kieran was a hell of a lot heavier than a human girl, and Nathaniel was a hell of a lot stronger than a human man, even if Daniel wasn't weak.  He could be pretty tough, but he was still only human, which was going to leave him at a disadvantage in this case.  He was literally kneeling in a pool of blood as he slid his firearm into his waistband (he hadn't thought to grab the holster before rushing out) and tried to ease Camille up into his arms without hurting her worse.  Since she was wiggling around and whining that she was burning, he wasn't sure that he could really do all that much to keep her from hurting, but he was trying his best.  That was when Frank called out, and Coop nearly dropped her initially.  He was temporarily unarmed, and the first thought was that they were under attack again, but Frank's quick identification of himself helped a good bit.  It meant that he just lifted Camille and started toward the bar again right behind Nathaniel.

"Frank?  Watch our backs going in!" he called out, aware that Nathaniel was just as preoccupied with the body in his arms as he was; neither of them were going to manage any fast attacks.  Frank just had great timing like that, it seemed.  As soon as they hit the place and Nathaniel shouted for everyone to shut it down, Coop laid Camille out on another table (he didn't care about the blood right then, so the cleaning crew wasn't all that important until later) and glanced up at Frank.  "No idea what's going on, man, the shooting started out of nowhere.  You showed up just in time, and I'm not even going to question that coincidence right now.  Can you just keep any surprises from busting in on us and get these people out of here?"

He also flicked his eyes in Claire and Rook's direction when Nathaniel gave them orders, grabbing for some towels himself to press to Camille's wound.  He had to tilt her to press some to her back, then lay her back down to put more pressure on the front.  He could absolutely understand Claire's panic and screaming, seeing Kieran's wide eyes as Nathaniel warned him how much the bullet removal was going to hurt, but Daniel knew it was a good thing that the young wolf had regained consciousness while they were moving him.  With all that blood, the number of holes in the kid and the fact that he was down like that, Daniel had worried for a few instants there.  Now, he was much more worried about Camille and the one bullet she'd taken, though there was also the infection thing with her.  That would save her life, but Nathaniel was right in thinking she might not be quite as thrilled as she should be.  Funny, he had blood all over his legs, chest and all up his arms, but potentially becoming infected himself hadn't even occurred to him.  Camille was actually clawing at him while he tried to hold her still on the table, screaming about not letting something take her, and all he did was try to talk calmly to her and keep her down so that she couldn't hurt herself worse.  He really would have thought that she was completely hallucinating if he hadn't seen the shadows moving around outside and she wasn't still shrieking about the burning. 

He was grabbing at her wrists finally, trying to stop her from attacking him, when Nathaniel took him by the shoulder and spun him around, barking orders at Rook and warning him about infection.  It was then that it dawned on him fully, and he glanced down at himself with that sick kind of realization; he might not have freaked out if he did become infected, but from something like this?  In the middle of all this chaos?  No, thanks. 

If he'd had any arguments on the way, he snapped his mouth shut and gave a stiff nod.  He hated being pushed out when it was his own bar and Claire's brother bleeding all over, but he could see the rationality in the decision.  He turned and helped chase Rook and Claire off to a booth (without touching Rook, since now he was hyper-aware of the wolf blood he was coated in), and busted into the kitchen with a bloodied handprint on the swinging door.

"Melissa, Clarissa, we've got a serious issue," he called in, though how necessary was that really?  As soon as they saw him coated in blood like he was, they were up and coming at him.  "None of it's mine, those gunshots in the parking lot took out a young girl and Claire's brother.  Nathaniel kicked me out because the girl was flailing and there's wolf blood everywhere."

That was that, then.  Melissa made a small sound and rushed right past him with Clarissa right on her heels, and Daniel was left to his own devices.  He definitely wanted to go see to Claire, but something told him that if he went to her coated in her brother's blood, she might freak out a little, and there was no way he wanted to get close to Rook with the blood all over him.  She was as at risk as he was, and she was impulsive enough not to think about it until it was too late.  He went to the huge sinks they had and tore his shirt off first, scrubbing at his chest and arms to try to get it off.  It was a good thing he hadn't changed his shirt like Clarissa told him to, since it meant he had a spare in his office still.  He wasn't so sure he had pants that he could replace these with, but he sure as hell needed to try to get the blood out.  All he had to do was nick himself somewhere that could come in contact with the blood, and he could be infected.  Not part of the plan.

[Rook Boswell]

Poor Rook knew that this was above her pay grade as soon as they heard the gunshots outside, which was why she instantly grabbed Claire and dragged her back towards the bar.  She didn't know much about guns and getting shot at, but she knew how to get out of dodge when something bad was happening.  Guns were 'something bad' in this situation, though Rook was in the dark about Kieran's whereabouts at that point.  It was doubtful that she'd have known what to do about it if she'd known what was going on, but checking her phone would have been a start.  She didn't know it because she'd been busy, but her sister had been trying to get in touch with her because of the Midnight problem.  She probably could have checked it once Coop disappeared outside with Nathaniel, but by that point she was much more interested in keeping Claire calm; her best friend had taken to freaking out as soon as she couldn't find her brother, and Rook couldn't deny that she'd seen him go outside.  She just hadn't been paying attention enough to know if he came back in.

It wasn't like they were in doubt for long, since Coop and Nathaniel came rushing back in with two bloodied bodies in their arms and a bearded man who was armed and looked a little worse for wear in their wake, and Rook thought she recognized the girl Coop was carrying, even through Camille's hysterics.  It was seeing Kieran's dark eyes wide in his blood-spattered face, then taking in the blood that covered the rest of him that really scared Rook and threw Claire over the edge.  Rook couldn't do anything more than just follow her friend up until Nathaniel started barking orders, and then she just did as she was told.  Really, she was shocked that Nathaniel sent her out to his car after everything going on outside (and secretly hoped that the bearded man who seemed to have taken up guard duty was going to watch her walk out and back), but she forgot about all that as she hurried across the parking lot to Nathaniel's car.

It felt bad.  She was Chumomisto and her talent was with curses, so her magic never felt particularly light and happy, but this was different.  She could almost hear laughter, voicing chittering at each other and at her from the periphery of her mind, and her eyes inevitably fell upon the pool of blood that had spilled from Kieran and Camille's bodies.  She couldn't help watching the blood, almost like she thought something would happen, and it was as she surfaced from Nathaniel's trunk with the first aid kit he needed in hand that she saw a dark form flit through the reflection on the wet blood.  That was it.

Rook managed to choke down the fear long enough to slam the trunk and dash for the bar, Nathaniel's keys held in her hand so tightly that she could feel the metal biting into her hand, but she didn't care.  She wanted to be inside, away from whatever had happened out on that asphalt, and she didn't care if she looked spooked when she handed the kit off to the big wolf that had taken charge.  She wasn't going to argue with anything that man said, if only because there was something bad going on and she didn't want anything to do with it.  Let him take charge.

She even did as she was told in getting the now panicking Claire away from Kieran, though she conceded and went to check on his status after a few minutes of Claire worrying herself into a fit.  Nathaniel screamed for her to get back (which made sense, but didn't help her nerves, or give her the chance to tell him that something was very wrong about it all), and she darted back to Claire with his instructions about calling her father.  She even snatched up her friend's phone, well aware of how unlikely it would be that Claire would get any of the necessary information across to her dad, and hit the speed dial for his number.

"Nathaniel said to call your dad, Claire.  Don't worry, everything will be alright," she promised, hoping to whoever would listen that it was true even as she glanced around for her cards.  They were scattered across the floor, tossed aside when everyone had started rushing around.  She could see two cards face up and overlapping each other from where she sat with Claire, the Knight of Wands and the Hanged Man, and she pursed her lips while the phone rang.  She had the feeling she suddenly knew what was so very wrong outside, and she didn't want to know.

Naturally, Thane was confused to find Rook instead of Claire on the other end of the line, but it wasn't nearly as odd as it might have been with someone else.  Rook and Claire spent a lot of time together, so until Rook blurted that Kieran was hurt and something bad was happening, he wasn't all that upset.  Once he had that information, he demanded more.

"Hurt?  How badly?  Is Claire alright?"

"Claire's fine, just upset.  I have her here, I'll put her on in a sec, just don't think she'd have been very clear."

"And Kieran?"  It was so sad, Rook could hear the note of panic threatening, but Thane kept it together.  This was only his heir they were talking about.

"He was shot, it looked like a couple of times.  Nathaniel and Coop are with him," she responded quickly, right before seeing Daniel disappear into the kitchen covered in blood, with Melissa and Clarissa rushing out a second later.  "A girl was shot, too."

"And you're alright?"

"Yes, Mr. O'Riley, I'm okay.  Claire and I were inside when it happened, but..."  There was the hesitation, the knowledge that something wasn't right working at her.

"What?"

"There was something, something bad, outside."

"Of course there was, it's--"

"No, I mean, something dark.  Some kind of magic, something that wasn't good."  Yeah, because that was nice and clear, very informative.  The hesitation on the other end made her think that she must sound like an idiot, but Thane didn't call her one.

"It'll be okay, Rook.  I'm coming down there, let me talk to Claire for a second."

With that said, she said her goodbye and offered the phone to Claire, who'd heard the whole conversation with that awesome wolf hearing, anyway.  There was an edge to the air that made Rook feel the slightest bit nauseous, but it wasn't quite enough to be a problem.  She just really didn't like it. 

[Claire O'Riley]

Claire had stopped screaming and howling and carrying on about the time Rook shook her so hard she thought her teeth would fall out of her head. She needed it, though, and they stood, arms locked for a moment before Claire just nodded to her best friend. They had an understanding that Claire was not to scream anymore, from that point on, unless they were in danger again. She sat down in a booth at the corner with no windows, watching in a daze, it seemed, as the two cougars ran in to tend to the wounded. Nathaniel began commanding people around, Daniel went to wash up and change, the rest of the staff was armed or helping wounded, and a man with long hair was at the door taking a very mountain man approach to anyone who saw fit to come through the other side.

And then of course there were the things Kieran had summoned.

Claire had known better than to ever pull some shit like that. Their mother had taught them in secrecy - she wagered if she told their father, he'd be in some sort of serious trouble. If he lived, that was. The thought made her bite her lip to choke back a sob. If was an ugly word. And who was the blonde he was with? He wasn't dating anyone, so how did they end up so close? Her brother, the protector. She covered her face for a moment to try and bring herself into reality, but she felt like she was wandering through a fog. It was all making her head hurt, and it seemed like it was happening in slow motion. Rook was holding the phone to her suddenly, and Claire took it with a numbness in her fingers that followed her arms through.

"Dad?" she asked, weakly. "No, no, I'm fine. I was inside when it happened. Well, I don't know what happened, exactly. No, he's hurt pretty badly. They won't let us near because they don't want Rook to get infected. No, Nathaniel dug the bullets out. An old police friend of Daniel's. Cooper. Yes, Mr. Cooper. Dad... I think.. I think the blonde girl who got shot was with Kieran. I think she's infected. They had to knock her out. I don't know what with. No. No, I'm sitting down. I don't know if it's safe. Someone is guarding the door and he's not fucking around. Sorry, but I think just this once it's okay to say that word. Okay, I'll tell him to look for you. Love you."

She looked at Rook, who was intently texting someone. "I don't know if my dad has a weird sense of priority or if he thinks asking me 20 questions will keep me from stalling out and falling on my face with shock," she said with a frown.

"Well?" Rook said, looking up.

"Well, I'm not in shock anymore," she said. It was mostly true, anyways. Her father could annoy her into feeling normal, even if she was scared. "He said he's coming. I have to tell the guy in front not to shoot him. Who is that?"

"Raven. She's coming with one of the hunters to get me and anyone else who wants to go."

  Claire nodded and pushed away from the booth, taking shaky step and giving Nathaniel a wide berth as she crept to the door. "Excuse me, mister?" she asked to Frank, eyes large and wide. "My dad is coming to get me. Could you make sure not to blow a hole through him?" And how could Frank refuse that adorable face and those massive doe eyes.

[Rook Boswell]

Contacting to her sister really didn't do much to reassure Rook, not when Raven told her that it was bigger than just some shooting at Hole in the Wall and that she was bringing some hunters to pick her up.  Talking to Raven should have made her feel better, just like taking a second while Claire spoke to the guy at the door to collect up her cards should have.  Neither did, especially since she got a cold, heavy feeling in her chest when she scooped up one card in particular.  She turned it over in her hands to see that it was the Empress, and the cold sweat that broke out over her skin only increased the touch of nausea she'd been suffering before.  She sat down hard, right there on the floor with the rest of the cards scattered around her, her fingers tracing the image of the fruitful, lively woman on the front of the card.  She wanted to call, but didn't even know if she dared.  What if her mother didn't answer?  What if the call only distracted her from what she needed to do?  She hadn't pulled the card in a layout, so she had no way of knowing if it was past, present or future.

This was all too damn much for her.  There was Kieran and Camille bleeding everywhere, the obvious dark magic that felt so familiar while still being utterly foreign, the worry from Raven, and then the cards.  She was certain that the Knight of Wands and the Hanged Man had both been for Kieran, protective and sacrificial, poised to gain power or enlightenment through his sacrifice, and Rook was afraid of what that power was.  She was afraid the dark magic had been his, but how?  How was that even possible?  Just as positive as she was of Kieran's place in the cards was she of the Empress.  That was her mother, absolutely, and it had been lifted in reverse.  Her mother was in danger, or already dead.  Would she have known it if her mother died?  Would she have felt it?  She had to tell herself that, and actually jumped up from the floor to rush for her phone with a sudden desperation to her movements.  Consequences be damned, she had to call.

"Claire," she breathed, hanging up and ringing the number again as her best friend crept back to their booth after talking to the bearded man.  "My mom's not answering.  I pulled the Empress, and it's bad, and she's not answering."

[Frank Laun]

Frank was already in survival mode, and watching casualties getting scooped up out of the parking lot just intensified his resolve. As the other two men picked up the bloodied bodies and headed to the door Frank knelt beside a car and got a good prop across its hood, he aimed off into the darkness where the gunshots had come from. He heard the door to the bar open, then bang back shut as everyone went in. He leaned back over to finish dragging his giant duffel bag inside.

Frank kicked the door open when he came to it and with a strained effort and a loud grunt/groan he tossed the bag in before slamming the door and flipping over a table to obstruct it. The big ass bag landed with a slightly unsettling metallic racket. Frank was glad he had hauled the heavy fucker all this way, because he knew the "Thumper" grenade launcher would come in handy again if there was another attack and he was really, really fucking pissed and wanted to bust out the SAW that was also in the bag. He looked at the mirror behind the bar and for the first time saw the condition he was in. His hair and beard had come untied during the scuffle on the ground, and he was covered in blood, some his, most of it belong to his curb stomping victim. Frank also noticed several jagged scratches on his arm and a couple on his face where the last vampire must have gotten him during their fight.

He headed over to the bar and reached behind it grabbing a bottle of high proof grain alcohol, a towel and a bottle of Wild Turkey. He uncorked the Turkey and turned it up, taking enough of a slug to dull his broken ribs, but not enough to fuck up his shooting. Then he dumped some of the grain alcohol on the towel and with a wince and groan, cleaned his wounds. With his medical issues handled as best he could he turned to his equipment. One shoulder pauldron was dented and scraped, but it was still holding, the real concern was the shattered trauma plate. Frank unhooked his tactical vest and reached into the plate holder and dumped out the 6 pieces his once solid plate had been reduced to. He reached to the back of the vest and swapped that plate to the front since he had no intention of getting hit in the back while running away.

Satisfied his gear was squared away he began taking stock of the situation in the bar, the wounded were over across the room being tended too, and people were running back and forth. Frank knew his basic battle field medical skills weren't going to be of much help, so he he continued surveying the room. There were still a few civilians it looked like. Plus Coop and the other employees that were there when the shooting started. Frank reloaded his rifle and headed back towards the front door to stand guard like Coop had asked.

Frank whipped out his cell as he took up his guard post near the front window. He mashed the speed dial for Mike's number, knowing that Mike would have seen the GPS beacon on his car not moving after the crash. The phone had barely begun to ring when Mike answered.

"Holy shit Frank are you ok?"
"Yeah Mike, I'm good, I got out just in time and they ran me off the road...killed all four of them but I'm a little banged up, nothing serious just a couple fucking broke ribs...listen, I'm hemmed up at Hole in The Wall and there are civilians and wounded here, those sons of bitches hit this place too...I'm gonna need you to check the area out, I'm gonna try and evac them to Crimson if I can, and when we move we're gonna need some intel...you got it?"
"....You got jumped by Vampires...broke some ribs...and you're at the BAR? Aight man, I'll see what I can find out, I'm broadcasting what I can to all the Guilds to try and help out so I'm a little swamped with this shit, but I got your back...be careful out there, I think I'm getting reports of the Vamps bombing a hospital or something, so take the wounded to a Guild House, doesn't matter which one!"
"10-4, I'll call back when we get ready to move."
Frank hung up the phone and resumed his vigil at the window, if all the Guilds were involved, this was serious shit...very serious shit. He almost tried Skye and Connor again, but knew that if he, a relatively new face on the scene, had been hit, they undoubtedly had been too, and it was best to not distract them.

He was staring intently out the window when the girl spoke to him, something about not blowing a hole in her Dad. Well that might prove to be a problem, Frank was ready to blow multiple holes in just about anything that came near that door. First things first....

"Names Frank...what does your Pop look like? I'm lighting up anyone I don't recognize that tries to come through this door. I think these same bastards already tried to kill me once tonight and I'm not giving them another free shot."

Frank really didn't want to plug a civvie, especially considering this girl already looked half scared shitless, but he also needed to know who to free fire on and who to be looking out for.

[Camille Farrell]

 Camille was in some sort of place in her head she'd never been before. The events of the night kept flashing back and forth in rewind and fast-forward, as though she were in some sort of infinite loop that she'd never escape. She kept hearing the whispering on the air, like it was wafting in and out of her ear-shot on a breeze. Chitter chatter, the voices said. Chitter chatter. She could see figures slowly stretching from the natural shadows cast by the fray of people, the limbs becoming elongated and the mouths opening, displaying rows of teeth.

  She started to scream, and they all turned to look at her. Tasty, tasty? they said curiously. The flowed across the ground like water, long slender things with long slender fingers outstretched to her. She turned and ran, but it was like trying to outrun an airborne virus. They swirled around her in a tornado and began grabbing at her, biting her. When she opened her mouth to scream, they swooped up and grabbed her mouth, wrenching her bottom jaw open so far that they nearly broke it. She fell backwards into the dirt, watching the world go sideways and black as one forced itself inside her mouth.

When she awoke it was with a yelp. There was a blonde woman standing over her, taking her pulse.

"What the fuck happened?" she asked.

She could still hear commotion from the other rooms, and she became unclear as to where she was. There were booming male voices and several female voices as well, but nothing she could make out.

"I think it's better if you rest more," the blonde said.

Camille closed her eyes. She thought the woman smelled like a cat, but she didn't know how she could determine that. Unnoticed, a shadow crept beneath them on the floor.

[Claire O'Riley]

Claire sat with Rook, her hands tapping nervously at the table. "We can get out of here and go find her," Claire offered. Shit, she would get into so much trouble if she left right now, but Rook was her best friend. "We can wait for Raven or we can go ourselves." She didn't know if Raven would even go to the house. Raven worked for the Guilds, and as nice as Raven was, she was still a very Guild-minded woman, and may not have had that on her schedule. Of course, Claire didn't know that Raven was dragging other hunters with her on her little mission because she would have otherwise gone solo.

"We're not that far away," she added. "I don't know if dad would take us or not." She looked up at Kieran and sighed. "They won't let me get close enough to see him," she said lamely. "I still don't even know what happened! Did someone out there just start shooting, or was there a fight?"

Nathaniel suddenly appeared by where the girls were standing. "You two aren't leaving until your father or sister come to retrieve you," he said, his voice firm. Such an alpha. "Just stay here and sit tight." He had his hand on the table as he turned, watching Clarissa scoop Camille up and take her to a back room. He watched them like he could see something strange, and he looked back down at Claire, who looked up at him with an open-mouthed innocence.

"I hope you told your dad to take any blood pressure medication he has before he headed here," he told her, head dipped down with his brows raised.

[Ryan Shane]

Well, that had gone somewhat like a meteor hurtling itself at Earth at a bazillion miles per hour. One minute, he and Camille were trying to kill eachother, and the next, Ryan was bleeding a generous amount into the sweater of the brunette who was half-crawled over his seat while his best friend piloted the blue rocket the fuck out of dodge.

"MY FUCKING ARM!" was all he said, looking up at Jared with an expression of -- annoyance, actually. Further examination by Veronica provided evidence that he'd merely been scraped by a bullet, which was incredibly lucky considering what could have happened - what had happened to the others. He was gushing blood because he'd had so much to drink, which was problematic, but he hadn't had any major veins or arteries severed by the chunk of lead he'd encountered, so at least that was good.

Ideally, had Midnight called for Ryan's head, Veronica would have taken this opportunity to poison him, but as it was, Yvette had instructed her to bring him alive. It was terribly annoying - well, not it, but rather they. Veronica, however, was smart enough to keep her act up.

"If you can get to Single Earth, I have medical supplies," she offered Jared. "City or county, I don't care which one." They were undoubtedly closer to Ramsa's Single Earth center than New York City's, but Veronica wasn't about to start tossing orders. She felt it was important for Jared to think he was in control. If he refused, she could come up with another plan, but it'd probably be more violent. Never mind Yvette was tracking them with ease courtesy of Veronica's phone.

"I'm really feeling kinda dizzy," Ryan slurred. He rested his head on the seat, closing his eyes and trying to take a shaky breath. He felt dizzy, but moreover, he felt like hammered shit. He regretted getting so drunk, because the whole car was spinning, and the world outside was spinning, but in a different direction. He thought he was going to hurl, and sprang to his window, hanging his head out of the car as they came to a red light.

Classy.

[Kieran O'Riley]

Nathaniel hadn't been kidding when he said that getting the bullets out was going to hurt, and Kieran had done his best not to scream and cause a fuss, but having someone digging around inside of you for some little pieces of lead was ridiculously painful.  He managed to stay mostly still, his muscles tightening with the effort and probably making it hurt worse, but keeping quiet was harder than one might have thought it would be.  He bit down hard to try to keep from yelling, but that really wasn't a good idea if he didn't want to mess up his teeth (which was perfectly possible).  At some point in there, Nathaniel stopped what he was doing to shove something into Kieran's mouth for him to bite down on, which helped, but he still couldn't keep from screaming and yelling some.

When Nathaniel seemed to have gotten them all and Kieran could finally catch his breath, he fell still on the table-top, eyes heavy-lidded and his breathing still harsh from the yelling.  His voice was also rough and all he really wanted to do was sleep, but there was part of him that didn't want to, like there was some part of him that dreaded it.

"If you missed any, leave them.  I'm done," he murmured, not really meaning it, but he hoped to God that Nathaniel hadn't missed any.  He knew he'd taken a few shots, but he was pretty sure that he hadn't taken more than the other wolf had dug out.  Of course, he'd been distracted, and he was distracted once more when he saw a shadow flit across the floor.  Nathaniel didn't seem to notice, but he did, and he knew he wasn't imagining things.

SHIT!  He'd called them, and he'd broken the spell when he passed out before he'd put them BACK.  He wasn't even sure if he could now.  Fuckfuckfuck.  He was going to have to talk to his grandmother and great-grandmother to see if they knew anything to do with it, and hope his father didn't hear about it.  There was no doubt that Thane would, and in turn Kieran would hear about it, but he wasn't sure how much he cared.  The extent of his ability to care right then was being expended on the fact that he hadn't put the shadow things back, that Camille was hurt, and that he didn't know where his sister was.  His father being upset with him just didn't factor in there.  He was all out of care after that.

[Raven Boswell]

 Because Raven had not let Domingos or Olena drive, she put their lives in greater danger than she realized. Rook may have known through signs and horrible feelings that their mother was in trouble, but because Raven was older and more fine-tuned for the use of the Guilds, she'd left the airwaves open for her any signs of trouble. It had been a stupid move, but not one she told them about, because it gave her a heightened sense of perception. That was, until the killing blow struck.

Raven let out a loud, surprise noise and jerked the wheel without meaning to. She took the SUV into oncoming traffic without meaning to, wrapped up in the sensation of, well, dying. Domingos had the good sense to jerk the wheel, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a large semi, and ran them too far to the right as he over-corrected. He jerked it left again to get them back on the road, and by now Olena was trying to get Dom to stop the vehicle. When they finally did pull over, Domingos turned to yell at Raven. She sat as still as a mouse, eyes wide and transfixed ahead, mouth opened in a silent scream.

Against Olena's better judgment, she grabbed her by the arm to shake her, and got a full dose of the 'vision'. She shrieked and let go, then tried to explain what had happened to Dom, who "didn't care if she saw a vision of Jesus, she shouldn't have driven if she was going to get blasted like that". When they finally had her into the back seat and Dom driving, Olena tried to talk to her, but Raven just shook her head.

"Can't change it. Just have to keep going," she said. "I had no idea I was even a spot on Midnight's map." She looked at Olena and frowned. "We need to get to my sister as quickly as possible."

"Of course you're on their map," Olena said. "I hate to contradict you, but Therreyans are the most important part of the guilds."

From the front seat, Dom snorted.

Olena ignored him. "And right now, we need you to focus. Can you focus?" she asked.

Raven nodded, a shaking sigh leaving her body. "Let's just do this."

By the time they arrived at the bar, it was already under duress. Olena and Raven got out and managed to show ID before Frank opened fire on them. Thank God he could recognize them as Guild Members. Raven ran up the stairs and burst through the door while Olena and Dom rolled out the welcome wagon of guns they brought.

"ROOK!" she screamed. So many fucking people. So many fucking people. She used her magic to PUSH people out of the way, unable to find her sister. Finally, a large man stepped in front of her, and held out his hand.

"She's over there," he said.

Raven hesitated; something about him was... familiar. But she didn't wait long, and ran past him to where her sister and Claire sat. She felt so out of breath as she sat down, and for a few seconds, couldn't speak at all.

[Thane O'Riley]

Thane didn't actually HAVE any blood pressure medicine, though after tonight, it might be something he should look into.  Getting the call from Rook that his son had been shot up and his daughter was a wreck was NOT about to go over well, but from the sound of things, Kieran had infected a girl in the mess, there was some kind of nasty magic, and there was a hell of a lot more going on than any of them really knew.  That last bit he got from Diarmid, who was in touch with a LOT of people, and frankly, he was pretty glad that they didn't have much in the way of Guild associations in their pack.  No family, nothing that would stand out and get the whole pack targeted, but there was Claire's job at the Hole in the Wall that was making things both interesting and dangerous.  Diarmid had been standing there when Thane spoke to Kieran, and he'd heard his nephew offer to go wait around for his little sister to get off of work even before they'd even known anything was happening.  He'd also been with his brother when Thane had gotten the call from Claire's phone about what had happened, making it clear that thinking the danger posed to the two O'Riley kids was minimal was a bad move. 

They should have had more people with them, both of the wolves knew that, but Thane didn't want to wait around once he heard that his son was down and his daughter was freaking out.  Frankly, it was hard to tell which one upset him more, considering his faith in Kieran's strength and the 'daddy's girl' thing Claire had going on, but he was obviously a wreck over the situation.  Still, he opted to drive even after Diarmid offered, and though he broke some speeding laws, he was pretty focused.  He deserved credit for that. 

It was pulling into the lot for the Hole in the Wall that shook him up.  It felt like something nasty had gone down, and Thane's mouth went dry, his thoughts turning to memories of Midnight, specifically the night he'd gotten out.  The air had possessed a feeling much like this, one that was thick and heavy, imposing, and though he didn't have the time to pay attention to every little shadow, he kept getting the feeling that they were moving.  It was distracting and put him even more on edge than the stench of blood (Kieran's blood) did, to the point that he'd stood a chance of being shot by the guy at the door if Diarmid hadn't taken a few quick steps and raised both his hands (one with a gun in it) to show good intent, or something.

"Diarmid and Thane O'Riley, we're on your side!  You have some of ours!" he called out as they approached, and the fact that they hadn't been shot must have meant that it worked.  Thane knew that, but he hardly bothered with the bearded man when they entered, instead zeroing in on Claire just a moment after Raven busted in for Rook.  He was relieved, actually, that Rook's sister had shown up so quickly, but he would have been insisting on taking Rook with them if she hadn't.  As far as he was concerned, she was one of theirs until her own family stepped in.  Hell, she was at his house often enough.

"Claire?  CLAIRE!" he called over the conversation and noise already in the room, and he had no way of knowing that Kieran's consciousness piqued some at the sound of his father's voice because he couldn't see his son, but he'd be headed that way soon enough.

He agreed with Raven that there were 'so many people', but he ignored the others just as completely as Raven had when he sidestepped the hunters and shot the massive male wolf in the room with Cooper at his side a look that was nothing more than acknowledgment at the moment.  He was going to have to talk to those men in a moment to see what they'd done for his son, but first, he had to tend to Claire.  Seeing her made him feel better already, the panic that he'd been trying like hell to swallow rising up suddenly and releasing some.  She was tear-streaked and pale, obviously very upset, but she was safe and unharmed, and that was the important part.  Rook jumped out of the booth to let Claire out (a good move on her part, because Claire probably would have shoved her out in her attempt to get free, that or climbed onto the table), and Thane scooped his daughter up into his arms even as she threw herself at him.  Diarmid stepped up silently behind his brother, watching the room and paying slightly closer attention to the wolf at Daniel Cooper's side.  He was quite obviously glad to see his niece safe (and had a hug waiting for her when she was ready to let go of her father), but one of his roles in Thane's pack was security and that mattered tonight.

[Jared Bastian]

Okay, this whole situation was BULLSHIT, and Ryan screaming at him about his arm when Jared had holes in him and was bleeding all over the driver's seat was pissing the Akkan off.  He understood that he'd heal up nice and quick while Ryan didn't, but seriously.  "Whoop de fucking doo, princess, as long as you're not bleeding out.  OR PUKING!  FUCK, MAN!" he snapped, jerking the wheel some just because he HAD drank a drunk bimbo before they'd gone to Hole in the Wall, he was bleeding pretty nicely himself and Ryan was THROWING UP.

"Unnnggggh, it REEKS!  Dude, you get that shit in this car and I might kill you myself," he warned, but Ryan seemed to have made it out the window for now.  Jared couldn't deal with that stench in the car.  Gross.

Actually, there was another thing in the car that he wasn't so sure he could deal with, and that was the fucking bird that had landed in there with Ryan and seemed to take it upon herself to take care of him.  Seriously, Jared wasn't stupid; Ryan was an asshole and there was no reason this chick should want to help him this badly.  Yeah, he knew the Single Earth shit meant that those people were all helpful and peace-loving, but Ed and Camille had both just gotten shot up with no sign of medical care anywhere, yet this bitch had followed the two drunken assholes who ditched the rest of the group?

Bullshit.  Something was wrong.

Jared was a young vampire and everything he'd learned so far about being one was basically self-taught, and that included mind-reading.  He had a few things in his favor, mostly his own ingenuity and ability to pick things up fast as a survival instinct, plus the fact that Akkan vampires seemed to have been designed to deal with the fact that they had some pretty retarded weaknesses.  He wasn't fantastic at all the shapeshifting stuff they could do, but they weren't exactly weak in the mind-reading department and general vampire abilities, probably because they self-destructed so quickly and had to learn fast.  Jared wasn't going to be left in the dust. 

As a result, he managed to fling his own brain waves off in the bird's direction, trying to get a grip on her and her intentions.  Whatever her deal was, he was too drunk and inexperienced to get actual thoughts, but he heard 'Yvette' (which meant nothing to him except that she had a friend with a stupid name) and got an impression of impending violence.  Yeah, Single Earth was not their destination.

"Of course I can get to Single Earth!" he snapped, not giving any indication that he'd made up his mind not to go there, and he was only glad that Frost and one of the Single Earth locations was in the same direction.  He was still watching her in case she pulled a fast one, because he COULD teleport himself and Ryan the fuck out of there if he had to.  He'd be REALLY pissed if he had to, since that would wreck the car, but he could do it.

[Veronica Cross]

Veronica could tell that something was up, but she didn't say anything. She kept her thoughts focused carefully on the situation at hand, and would occasionally drift to some mundane thing from her cover story - her cat, her bird, whether her apartment was going to be safe to go home to, where her friends were, and the like. She avoided getting splattered with any of Ryan's vomit, thank god, and leaned forward to survey their damage more closely. Jared - she wasn't sure what sort of vampire he was, but he was young still. He wasn't healing as quickly as the ones she knew - Kronos, for example, would have been settled within ten minutes. He was also a shifter, too, so that could have had something to do with it.

"We have blood there, too, if you need to feed," she said. She leaned back in the seat and looked out the window, closing her eyes for a brief moment as they traveled in silence. When they passed the road to Single Earth, Veronica blinked her large blue eyes a few times. She could see Jared in the rearview mirror, and he was boring holes right into her head with his eyes.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice small. She had such a girlish voice, really. It made her sound terrified, which she wasn't, but she did intend to betray a little apprehension. When he looked ahead and didn't answer her, she shifted uncomfortably and hugged her arms to herself. That fucker was taking them to Frost! So, he didn't trust her, did he?

When they finally pulled up, Jared was beeping the horn to try and attract attention. Veronica practically scrambled out of the car, and as dark figures began to swarm them - silhouettes of hunters, no doubt - she looked back at Jared with a nervous expression on her face. And then, she hit the jackpot.

"Ben!" she shrieked. She went running past Jared to one of the figures, and as the man stepped into the light, she practically leaped upon him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "I thought he was taking us to Single Earth, but instead he came here. Look," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the car.

"His friend got shot. We were at a bar," she said, ignoring the look on his face, "and it just happened. It was awful," she added. (Shit, goddamnit, Yvette, I'm at Frost. Abort.) As she projected the thought to her vampire contact, she stepped aside to allow Ben to survey the damage. "They just showed up and sprayed the crowd. I don't know why... Why are you here, anyways? And where... is here?" She tilted her head, unwilling to let go of his hand, and looked incredibly confused. She bit her lip in that way she always did, big blue eyes flitting nervously around the people she didn't know.

God, she was good.



(Ryan, Jared, and Veronica are continued HERE.)

[Claire O'Riley]

This was too much goddamned shit happening at once. Frank began escorting people out of the bar - civilians, mostly. All that remained now were Coop, the cats, her brother and the blonde, Rook, Raven, the two hunters, Nathaniel, two other vampires and a human who were speaking to Coop suddenly (why had she not seen that?) and now her father and her uncle.

"Claire?  CLAIRE!"

Raven emerged from the departing sea of people as Rook stood to let Claire stand up. Claire turned to see the older woman had grabbed her sister into a hug and told her something Claire could not hear, she watched her best friend literally crumble in Raven's arms. She could hear a muffled, "No, no," but when she reached to touch her, she heard her father calling out for her again. She whipped around and saw Thane literally shoving someone out the door to Frank, while another man came up the steps to help him - presumably another hunter.

She ran to him, confused tears in her eyes and a yell of panic and sudden delight at his presence on the tip of her tongue. "Daddy!" she cried, jumping on him. She always forgot how small she was, and how big he was, until situations such as this, where he could scoop her up whole and shield her from the world. She tried to speak and explain what was happening, but she just started to cry - not a little bit of crying, a lot of crying, like the time Kieran had stolen her favourite Barbie as a child and then accidentally left it in the hotel they were staying at on vacation.

Nathaniel, meanwhile, was trying to keep control of everything that he possibly could. He left Daniel speaking with the human, Chris, while the two vampires who accompanied him (who didn't hardly even rate as vampires on his aura-of-evil scale, by the way) followed Melissa (or Clarissa?) into the back to help tend to the two wounded wolves more with the changing of bandages and fetching of water and whatever else they needed. He walked straight for Diarmid, actually, and though he didn't precisely hold his hand out for a shake and a hug, he didn't radiate HOSTILE OVERTHROWING MANIAC either.

"Kieran and the girl are back here, if you'd like to see them. The girls are checking on them, and then I can take you." He didn't want to try and fit everyone into the back room, at the moment. The cougars were already getting testy - Melissa had almost taken the face off of a drunk patron who wouldn't leave her alone earlier, and Nathaniel didn't feel like throwing more testosterone at her for the moment. The two girls - Ella and Posey? - were Single Earth, so they knew her. He suspected it was the only reason she'd called them into the back.

He looked over Diarmid's shoulder to Rook and Raven, his eyes curious over the exchange. He couldn't hear what they were saying just yet due to the amount of din still in the room, but it didn't look good. He turned abruptly to the two who had come with Raven. He was unsure if they were hunters or just friends of Ravens, at least not until he saw the gun tucked under the man's jacket.

Damn, there were a lot of hunters in this room.