Darling's Day Off

[Alexander Darling]

Just to set the record straight, Alexander would not need to be held down if he met that fox from Crimson (or any other foreign lady), but he definitely would have been interested in talking to her.  The biggest problem he'd actually had with Wren was not that she was American (though having an amazing accent would have probably made him linger longer), but that she seemed to young.  Indrani had called him an 'old soul' since he could remember, and the best he could figure was that he would be happiest dating another 'old soul'.  Wren had just seemed entirely her age, which was young.  Samantha had been very helpful in helping him with that one.

"Actually, I don't think that intelligence factors in all that much right now," he offered with a surprisingly casual shrug.  This was a big deal, but he felt like he'd seen worse.  He caught the glance Samantha shot him, obviously curious and interested even if she didn't point out what she'd noticed, and he figured he'd hear it later.  Since he didn't really know, either, that was going to be fun.  How did they find out?  The hand was actually possible, though he thought it was less likely than a couple of other things, like a snakeskin.  If it was him, he knew that he'd have been sending exactly that, and his jaw clenched at that fact, which he kept silent for pretty obvious reasons.  "We either find him alive and free, or we wait.  If he's been captured, we'll hear about it."

Dev nodded, having been expecting as much, but hearing it from Alexander cemented it.  The things that Raven and Isolde had dug up on the man were enough to make Dev trust his opinion on these things, especially considering who was involved.  They would have to hope that they got to Cobriana first, and if not, wait and see.  It wasn't as though they didn't have enough going on to keep them occupied until they found something out.

"Then, we'll have to be alert for him, but we can't afford even a pair of hunters to go searching specifically for him.  Our guild is making up the rescue squads and bringing in families even as we speak.  Crimson and Frost are taking the offensive to take the attention off of our people while we do this.  Please go to the conference room to find out where we need coverage and who still needs assistance, and keep your phones with you.  I'll be in touch if anything comes up," he instructed, well aware of who his people were.  Samantha wasn't partial, but she came as part of the deal with Alexander, who was very much Dev's man.  If anything serious happened, Dev would be contacting Alexander to accomplish whatever task he needed, perhaps even before Zaine.  Unlike Dev, Zaine was far more loyal to Lucien than anything, and the mamba would go to great lengths for his leader.  It was admirable, but Dev truly didn't know what kind of situation they'd find themselves in where Cobriana was concerned, so having Alexander within reach was a good idea.

Dev was no fool.  

[Samantha Santos]

Samantha's brow arched, and she looked at Dev. Something about the phone situation was bugging her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she swallowed whatever she was going to say, and nodded. To Alexander, she simply said, "I guess we're on." With that, she bid adieu to Indrani and Dev, and re-shouldered her bag.

"I need to stop and grab a few things from my room, and then we can go." She paused, spun on her heel, and turned to look at him so fast that she had to put her hand out before he bumped her. "How is it that they keep finding all of the hunters? Do you think they're tracking the GPS in our phones? Should we keep our phones on us?"

She didn't really know how to function without her phone, which was funny considering she'd grown up fine without one, but in a situation such as this it was kind of integral to be able to communicate. Messenger pigeon?

When Alexander and Samantha had left, Indrani put a hand on her husband's shoulder and smiled a grim smile. "I fear the worst for Lucien, Devraj. This entire situation is just... " It was rare for her to be at a loss for words, but she held her other hand up with her palm open to explain her lack of ability to explain how she felt.

With a sigh and a brief perk of her brows, she simply said, "I hope that you are ready to take over this guild, because I feel as though it might come to that."

[Alexander Darling]

Alexander nodded acquiescence to Dev, gave Indrani's shoulder a light squeeze as he passed her and was gone with his orders, well aware that even if keeping the phones on them seemed like a bad idea, he would do it so that Dev could maintain contact with him, but when he and Samantha split up to prepare themselves for the battles they'd be going into, he was going to make arrangements to ensure that Dev could get him no matter what.

Despite her lack of faith in his reflexes, he probably wouldn't have smacked into her when she twisted around like a maniac, but throwing her hand out to keep him from running into her essentially ensured that he bumped into her hand.  Other than pursing his lips and quirking an eyebrow up at her, he took her usual spontaneity being amped up in stride, and since she actually had a point, he was better off not giving her a hard time about it.

Yes, she had a point, and even more surprising was that he had an answer.  He hesitated before telling her, but that was more because he wasn't sure how he knew and even how much of it he should trust because he had no idea how he knew it than because he didn't trust her.  Dev's faith in his knowledge of this situation was worrisome enough, but that he was consistently delivering was worrying him more.  Hesitation or no, he still flicked his eyes away just a moment to choose his words a bit more carefully, and then returned them to her.  He didn't like not understanding his own mind, but he'd thought he'd gotten used to it by now.  Obviously, he hadn't entirely.

"They're listening in and using the GPS to find and trap us, so being careful about discussing anything in a call is still important, but we don't have a better form of communication right now.  We have to hope that Crimson and Frost take enough of the heat off of us that we can get through to the civilians," he explained, not mentioning that while he knew somehow that there was someone on their side that could tap into all of that as easily as the rest of them drove to the supermarket, he didn't know who it was, what they looked like, or even how to find that information out.  He had no way of knowing that the time he'd spent with Niall and Verity had told him that much, but that he'd never met the lovely lady who was causing such havoc with her ability.  "Unless you have a better plan?  I have to grab some shit, too, so I'll meet you in the hall in a few minutes."

He didn't wait to hear what her better plan was, figuring he'd give her time to think on it.  If she really did have a better idea, he was all for it, but short of losing contact with everyone, he didn't know how else to utterly fall off the grid, and even then, they'd have to steal an older car, one that didn't have the modern computers and GPS locators in them.  It was possible, but it'd be a pain in the ass.

Fortunately, he had something of a response for the issue of ambushes.  When his door shut behind him, he didn't hit his closet and load up on weaponry.  Instead, he pulled collapsed onto his bed, throwing his alarm clock a glance as he considered whether or not to set it, and decided against it; if he got into that much trouble that he needed to be woken up, he was going to have to figure out a way to kill himself, because he couldn't risk being yanked out of a fight at a crucial moment if his timing was off.  With no alarm set, he laid back, took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes.  With the mess they were in, sleep certainly wouldn't have come easily, but he had centuries of experience in passing out quickly and getting on with it.  He crashed out and projected his thoughts into the still room around him.

He stood up from a seated position at the foot of the bed, dressed in a suit that was custom-tailored to him and designed to prevent snagging or restrictive movement in a fight, as well as to hold the weaponry he would be needing.  Having already wasted a few precious moments, he armed himself quickly and completely before pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and dialing Dev.  "The usual routine and location are acceptable if you need me."

With that said, he returned to the hallway to meet Samantha, hopefully ready for the night ahead of them.

Watching Samantha and Alexander leave the room, Dev had to wonder if Indrani shouldn't be fearing the worst for ALL of them.  He could only hope that it wouldn't be the last time he saw those two leave a room, and though it wasn't going to stop him from using them as the weapons that they truly were, he didn't like this.  That was likely Indrani's influence on him.

"I fear for Lucien as well, but he has to make his own way through this situation.  Whether the final insult to Midnight was his doing or not, he pursued the chain of events that brought us here, and it may very well be necessary for him to work that karma away on his own.  I won't cheat him of that, or save him from it," he said firmly, though he wasn't pleased with THAT idea, either.  Whether it was for Lucien's own good or not, he had a lot to atone for, and Dev wasn't sure if the snake was going to survive it.  He might not have had Zaine's loyalty to the man, but he was Lucien's friend, and he didn't want his guild leader to die.  He also wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of taking his job, either.

He should have thought about what Eden thought of taking Lucien's other job.  "Lucien will be back when the time is right, and I will hold his guild for him until then," he agreed, and he hoped he was right.  She'd gestured very clearly that she didn't have words for the situation, and he certainly didn't have anything to fill in the blanks, but he took her hand in his and leaned in to kiss her, gentle and chaste.  "I hope that I'm ready, as well.  I don't think I'm the strong, compassionate leader that this guild needs, but with you here, I am less likely to fall short.  Come, Indrani, let's try to ensure that Cobriana has a guild to return to after all of this."

The way things were looking, he might not, but Dev was going to do his damnedest to get this situation under control.

[Samantha Santos]

Samantha didn't really have a better plan. She'd grown up in Brazil without things such as cell phones and the internet, so she could have thrown her phone away and never thought about it again. Of course, that wasn't the way the world worked, and so she had to join the rat race like the rest of them, regardless of how she felt it might negatively impact her later on. She could have suggested a pager, but she hadn't seen one in years, and the prospect of trying to talk Alexander into carrying one with his four-digit figured suit on was... not likely.

She didn't bother to change much, but she did shove her hunting knives into the recesses of those tall boots she wore. She had a compact .45 caliber at her back, and after a moment she kicked her boots off and whipped out a pair of boot-cut jeans from a drawer. The shoes and skinny jeans went flying across the room as she leaped (literally) into the jeans while simultaneously kicking a tower of shoeboxes down so that she could locate the ones she wanted. Finally, a pair of more practical black shoes came out, and with that the freedom of an ankle holster, where a .22 could be reached. She hesitated on her knives, and finally found a way to secure the sheathes to a leather wrist cuff she had, making it a hidden but effective piece should she need it.

She dropped a few extra magazines into her bag as she walked out the door, tossing aside her long sand and sable coloured hair as she did so. She almost took a full tackle by one of the Force siblings as he came jetting down the hall, looking concerned.

"Cody?" she asked, shrugging her bag onto her shoulder comfortably as Alexander waltzed his way up to her through the thrum of people.

"I can't find Amanda," he said. "I think she's with Rose."

Samantha looked from the boy to Alexander, her brows raised as her mouth fell half-open. Samantha had sort of assumed Alexander would have made provisions for Rose in the event something like this should occur, but she could tell by the tight-lipped expression he wore that he had obviously assumed Amanda would have been smart enough to just bring her to Onyx as soon as the call came in. Cody confessing he hadn't seen either of them was... bad.

"Alexander?" she prompted.

[Alexander Darling]

No, a pager was NOT happening, and part of that was convenience.  If you didn't have a cell phone to call the number back or some kind of code set-up, you had to find a pay phone to respond, which was a stationary target instead of the moving one that a cell phone could be, and practically impossible to find.  It just didn't work.

He'd thought he was ready to take off with Samantha when he wandered over, but she was already involved in a conversation with Cody Force.  That was a bad sign, and Alexander knew it immediately.

See?  He should have called Rose, or better yet, gone and collected her himself.  Now, he'd avoided contacting her to keep her off of the hit list, and Amanda had gone and put her on the radar anyway.  Excellent, and they already had orders.

He clenched his jaw as he considered their options, feeling stupid all the while for thinking that Rose would be safe without his interference, either because Amanda would bring her to Onyx immediately or because she wouldn't be targeted, and then frustrated that he couldn't just go and get her right then.  It left him few options, and one of the best was standing directly in front of him.  He gestured Cody along with him and Samantha as they made their way to the parking garage, and he was certain to drop orders of his own on the young hunter.

"Bring them back here," he instructed, and no, he wasn't leaving any room for failure there.  "If there's too much heat, one of you let me know immediately."

Hopefully, there wouldn't be.

[Samantha Santos]

And so Cody went.

"They'll be fine," Samantha said as she and Alexander picked up their pace again. She could hear Cody ripping out of the parking garage as she held the door for Alexander, and nodded to herself, as if to confirm her thoughts. She had no idea what was actually in store for them, but Cody's attitude did inspire confidence at least. That and the threat of what Alexander would do should he return with only one or neither of the girls in tow -- it simply wouldn't happen. Cody would die first. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"First on the list," she said with a sigh as she sat in the BMW. "Oh, Rhona," she said, her tone unenthusiastic. "I don't suppose you think she's with Lucien? Or should we try for Dr. Batten first?" She glanced up at Alexander as he began guiding the car out of the garage.

[Alexander Darling]

Oh, the things he would do to Cody if he survived and those girls didn't.  Alexander wasn't known for being irrational or unreasonable, but there weren't many conditions that would grant Cody any sort of clemency if he didn't protect the two of them, especially Rose.  Alexander was surprisingly fond of her, in a way that he didn't really feel was usual for him, and he wasn't about to lose her just because a group of vampires decided to be idiots.

Samantha wasn't exactly the most comforting force at that moment, telling him that they'd be fine as the two hunters went out to his BMW, but she got credit for trying and then did one even better and moved towards distracting him with business.  That was a much more fruitful venture, especially when she offered him options.

"If I were to guess, I would bet Lucien went to Rhona first.  He's predictable that way," Alexander offered dryly, knowing that Lucien had a brother who ran a business with plenty of exotic shapeshifter breeds represented, but Lucien wouldn't have gone there.  It would have been to Rhona.  That meant that Rhona was either already dead, or she was safe.  Either way, Alexander figured traveling to her would be a waste of time.  "Let's see if we can fine Batten.  I'm sure Crimson would be happy to have their surgeon back right about now."

All things considered, he was probably right, and he didn't even know what condition Connor had shown up in.