After Dinner Dessert

[Darren Liten]

Wow, so this night was completely Twilight Zone for him.  He'd had dinner, an actual dinner with a bunch of badass vampires who made small talk, bickered and joked with each other like a family would at Thanksgiving, his parents had been brought in and scared the hell out of him, then been welcomed into the group like honored guests after just a few minutes of what felt like impending doom (there had even been flirting!) and now he'd seen what had been explained as two beings accidentally being bonded and a hunter being brought in looking like he'd gotten hit by a truck.  Darren had been hit by a car before, so he knew the kind of damage it could inflict when it was going at higher speeds; this could have been a lower speed wreck.  He gathered from what the big bald guy said that it wasn't a truck that had caused the damage, and that made him definitely rethink the bald man's strength and appearance.

That wasn't the important part, though.  He'd been guessing that the hunter's purpose would end up being the point of discussion here, but once he'd stated his business, they were still all upset and seemed to ignore it.  Darren recognized him because he'd seen him with Connor before, but he didn't understand what was so special.  As far as Connor had said, Alex was 'lost'; he couldn't remember where he came from and he was a damn good hunter.  Dev, who was a scary bastard when he wanted to be anyway, had taken him under his wing. 

It wasn't like he had the chance to explain that, though he didn't even know if it would help.  This felt like a massive conflict of interests to him; conflicting between his own survival and Alex's, really.  He wasn't sure if telling them what Alex's deal was would help or hurt the other man, and he really didn't want to hurt him, but this was getting out of hand.

He could feel the burning from Iloquil's rage building up uncomfortably, but obviously not to the extent that Persephone did.  She collapsed beside him from the effects when he was only sweating a little and shifting, trying not to bitch about it as it got worse.  He ducked suddenly beside his 'date' when she even started to fall, his intent to avoid her impacting the floor like a sack of rocks, and he at least succeeded there.  He lowered her gently, glancing to Verity as she addressed Iloquil on the issue, then him.

Get them both out of there?  Abso-fucking-lutely.  He nodded quickly, whispering 'of course' and swept Persephone up into his arms as though he didn't feel the burning or the growing danger of this situation.  He had an open invitation to get both of them clear of this, and that was exactly what he was doing; he just hoped Alex could take care of himself, and he really didn't want to see the results if the hunter couldn't.  He didn't stop his movements until they were outside of Iloquil's rather large overflow radius, and then he set Persphone down on one of the surprisingly classy fainting couches that had been set up around the 'castle' so that he could get a good look at her.  It was odd for him to be the one getting her out of danger.

[Justinian]

Justinian truly didn't know how to react.  This was his oldest friend, the same man who had risked his mortal and immortal life for him time and time again, the man that he'd given immortality to.  This man was also a human, somehow, and a human who didn't seem to know what was happening.  Justin didn't miss the surprise on the man's face when Iloquil called him out on being close and needing to talk to Verity 'in person'.  He seemed shocked that they knew of his ability, but then he covered it up quickly, eyes narrowing as he grasped more of the situation.

This was a puzzle, and Justin was far too upset by it to be any good at it; Alexander had always been the one who excelled at puzzles.  The ache that came from seeing his closest friend reduced to this...this bleeding mess of a human, it was more than he'd experienced in hundreds of years, if not more.  It was enough that when Iloquil surged forward for the human's throat, Justin reacted without thought or a real plan to put himself between the two of them and take hold of her wrist.  He didn't damage her, though if she really pushed, this was going to get ugly and he didn't even really know why except that he didn't want her to force the situation like that.

He understood in the brief instant that he moved what her intentions were: wake Alexander up or kill the imposter, then have him enter in his true flesh and blood form so that they could get to the bottom of this, but he had his own intentions.  If they killed him here and now, they lost him.  He'd wake up wherever he was, and if this was Alexander, he wouldn't risk his living, mortal form coming into Midnight.  His ability was his safety net, his escape clause, and it had been since he'd developed it.  Justinian had seen him die in glorious, horrific ways countless times over the ages, ways that would, and sometimes had, upset him to witness even when they weren't permanent.  Alexander would not come to them in his true body. 

They would have to hunt for him.

Justinian and Iloquil hadn't needed verbal conversation since they'd begun their immortal lives, but the exchange of information that occurred in those seconds was still pretty impressive.  They didn't have to explain themselves, it just happened, and it was clear that he didn't want to risk losing Alexander again so quickly.  If it suited his goal of finding out what had happened, then he'd crush the human life before them just as completely as Iloquil would have, but not until he knew. 

If this wasn't Alex, so help him and whoever had helped him do this.

[Niall]

This was getting ridiculous.  Niall knew Alexander and understood the problem at hand as well as anyone else in the room, but from a different perspective.  To him, Alexander was dangerous and respectable, accepted as something of an extension of his sire, but this human man was an entirely different creature.

He also seemed to have a purpose, one that didn't immediately require killing him, and Niall didn't honestly give a fuck if they hanged him by his entrails when his job was finished, so long as it waited until then.

"Justinian, Iloquil, my friends," he started, squeezing Verity's hand before taking a step forward.  He didn't need to put himself any closer, just make that one move to make his presence clearer.  "Why don't we let the human talk before we decide to kill him?"

Niall was as intensely interested in this 'trade' as Justin and Iloquil were in why this human looked and sounded like their old friend.  His own desire to ease the situation was out of care for his friends, but also a much more personal concern for Verity.  It was her cat that had been dropped by Iloquil's backwash (he'd felt it himself, and it was uncomfortable), and the way she took his hand in hers spoke far too much of how much she needed him to fix this.  He would.

"I want to know what this trade he is proposing to us is," he told the group at large, and there was a damn good reason for his curiosity.  If the guilds thought they had someone important enough to offer in a trade, then he wanted to know about it.  "And I'm sure that gathering some information from the poor fool before you break his neck would be beneficial to your cause, but I may be wrong."

It was as diplomatic as Niall ever got, and a rather impressive attempt if you knew him.  He could be manipulative and extremely cunning, but he was never this openly accommodating.  He was trying to be gentle, given their situation, and still be the rational voice here. 

There was something scary about Niall being the voice of reason.

[Iloquil]

 Voice of reason? Yeah, something like that. The problem was that Iloquil was already... already... EMOTIONAL. She hadn't had raw anger surging through her veins in at least a few hundred years. It was a hard thing to make happen, even when Justinian pushed her buttons for the sake of pushing them. It was hard to not just drop them all (well, Justin would have been difficult, but she could have done it if she tried). Between Justin stopping her from her goal of attempted "murder" and then Niall trying to assert dominance over the situation (whatever, she made Justin and Justin made him)... snap.

"AUUUGGGGHH!"

That was what she responded with. She flung her arm to get Justinian's hand off of it, and the light in the room began to dim as she drew in for what was about to be an unreasonable amount of pain. Then, of course, she felt her arms being forcibly pushed down at her sides as Justin had to resort to grabbing her in a bear hug from behind. Her beautiful face, a thing men had waged wars over, was contorted into a ferocious roar as she bared teeth and yelled again, Ancient Latin the tongue she chose. Sure, words here and there were understandable, but for the most part, the dead language was so much so that even Verity with her polyglot ways couldn't keep up.

Justinian wasn't even phased, and he yelled right back as he, LITERALLY, carried her out of the room, the shouting match going out into the hallway and then beyond. He knew if he didn't, she'd have tried to kill everyone and just drop the whole building on top of all of them (herself included, like she cared). She had a tendency to overreact when she emoted, which was why he had been glad to know she'd aged out of it.

A little-known fact about Iloquil was that even in her golden age of being a goddess, she was still incredibly insecure - that was where her jealous streak came from (wasn't that where it usually came from?). It was hard to tell who was capable of being more irrationally jealous of the duo, but right now it was clearly Iloquil's moment to shine. Even to Justinian, whose native language was the frothing bedlam she was screaming, her speech was hard to discern through the pained tones and elevated shrieking on things she meant to punctuate. All he could really pick out was "Why did he leave us," and "Where did he go," and "Why now," mostly, along with rather derogatory remarks about his family and what she would do to their graves if she could find them again.

Back in the other room, Verity rapidly blinked and straightened her dress.

"Well, now that that little... hurricane is done and over with," she said, folding her arms and stepping up to Niall's side. "I'm Verity," she said, looping her arm through Niall's and tilting her head. She raised her brows expectantly, and when nothing happened, she prompted with a, "Speak," and a pleasant, bored smile. Good recovery after that little episode Iloquil had.

[Alexander Darling]

Niall wasn't the only person present who thought this was getting ridiculous, but for entirely different reasons.  Alexander was feeling just a little...overwhelmed by these vampires and the havoc they were playing on his mind and memories, and it wasn't just because of the burning that had been getting pretty painful before Verity had gotten Iloquil to stop.  He didn't remember them, though he knew them, and how could that be?  Justinian jerked his head back, leaning in close to his throat, and the sensation was both distantly familiar and a little frightening, as though it had happened before and the effects had been extreme.  Being released only to have Iloquil coming at him was not an improvement, but he stayed put rather than make some useless attempt at scrambling away from her, especially when they all something seemed to know about his little 'trick'.  How they knew, he couldn't understand, but they did. 

Justinian stopped Iloquil in her reach for him, though he was only just in time and Alexander still felt her nails brush his skin in the seconds before her meltdown.  He most definitely approved of Justinian carrying her out, but as with everything since he appeared in their presence, it was a little surreal.  She was screaming and ranting in another language, but he understood it as well as if it were English, which he spoke every damn day.  Well, he actually understood it as well as Justinian probably did, since Iloquil wasn't entirely making it a point to be understood, but he knew most of what she was saying.

None of it was comforting, or really made sense to him.

Why did he leave them, where did he go, why now?  What?!  They couldn't possibly be talking about him, but he knew that they must be.  Why couldn't they just explain?  No, instead, they left him with Niall and Verity, which didn't feel like the absolute worst thing, since he had that same strange familiarity going on, but not to the same extent and it wasn't quite as...fond of a feeling seeping out of that black hole in his mind.  He felt like he knew them, but perhaps didn't trust them quite as much.

That was funny, since why would he trust the other two?  Whatever, he'd figure it out after he finished doing what he came there to do.  It was an effort, drawing his attention away from the distant Latin that he somehow understood, but Verity wasn't unkind in her prompting and he really did have a job to do.  Preferably quickly, since most of his body hurt from Cerberus' attempt to get him to make a mistake (which he really just thought was an excuse to beat his ass because the dog enjoyed it) and he wanted to get back to Samantha ASAP.

"It has been brought to the attention of the Bruja guilds that your people have taken someone of interest to us.  They would like to propose a peaceful trade, one for the other, on neutral ground.  Derek Walsh, a snow leopard, for Xavier Rush," he offered, and then he shut the fuck up and braced himself.  Iloquil and Justinian were both freaking out, and now he was just a little worried he was going to set Niall and definitely Verity off with this news.  The concern that they would 'shoot the messenger' was why Dev had wanted him to go in.  At least if they killed him, he wasn't dead.

[Verity Celestino]

 It seemed that Alexander didn't fully grasp what Xavier meant to the Lady of Midnight, and Xavier had felt it best to leave that little nugget of information out - more than likely it was absolutely deliberate, too. Let them tell Verity to her face that they had him captive and see what that got them. Kimber had assured Xavier that he would not remain held for long in what little time they'd allowed her to have with him, but if Xavier had been in charge, he would have killed Kimber on grounds of treason, and strung the offending party (himself) up as a lesson to Midnight. But then again, that was how Midnight operated, not the guilds. And more importantly, the guilds, despite having taken a valuable prisoner, were otherwise NOT coming from a position of power.

Now it was Verity's turn to react, though to her credit, and mostly for the sake of her mate, she did not do so with such an absolute lack of grace as Iloquil had. Instead, her platinum-hued irises were suddenly vibrant and exposed as her pupils dilated to little slits. Her posture stiffened, while her arms crossed loosely in front of her. She looked at Niall, brows peaking, and then back to the bedraggled hunter.

"You propose to give me back my own cat?" she said, her tone both insulted and disbelieving (though not of the fact that they would give him back, but more that they dared to "offer" him to her as though they had any right to him in the first place). To Cerberus, who was thankfully still standing by, she said, "What Walsh individual is he referring to? I've been up here all night with the exception of the Arena." She didn't want to say that they'd had so many new additions in the last few hours that she'd lost track, but honestly, she hadn't deigned to bother with the new prisoners until the morrow, when she could catalog them properly and go over potential prices with the White Viper on hand who brokered most of their deals.

She also silently commended the Hound of Midnight for having the good sense to remain in the room, despite Iloquil's outbursts. Persephone was strong, but she didn't expect anyone who wasn't on par with the ancients to be able to withstand one of them loosing their abilities as the woman had; she would not have blamed Cerberus if he would have chosen to leave or even displayed outward pain at the event, but it may not have bode well for him in the future when she was feeling moody and reminiscent of past failures (as she often liked to point out). She would have to find it in her time to reward him for his hardy nature.

[Alexander Darling]

Oh, nothing about Xavier withholding information from him and the rest of the guilds would have surprised Alexander, but then again, that was just another reason for Dev to send him instead of another hunter; if there was vital information missing, Alexander might suffer, but he wouldn't be perma-banned from the planet.  Alexander, for whatever reason, had an idea as to just how much the tiger meant to Verity, which was actually why it was Verity that he seemed to mostly be addressing.  One couldn't forget Niall because that was suicide, but it was Verity's cat and Alexander knew it.  He might have guessed that Xavier mattered a little less than he actually did, the shifter being a failed operative, but he understood that there was more than just a business deal there, so he wasn't taken off-guard by Verity's unhappiness. 

That didn't protect him from her fury should she choose to get nasty about it, though.  That also didn't change the fact that Alexander would never have played this trade out if he'd been in charge, but there were few people he cared about enough for that to matter.  Of those that he did concern himself with, one was in his car with a tiger and the others had all already been attacked.  He was running out of fucks to give, and it was very likely that the dynamic duo and the wonder twins were going to use up the last fucks he had available to him. 

Verity looked to Niall for a moment and then spoke to Alexander, and yep, this looked promising.  Her incredulous and pissed off tone of voice wasn't encouraging, but other than the kind of Gallic shrug that was much older than Alexander thought he was as a response, he didn't have much.  Yes, he was proposing that they give her the cat that was already hers in return for something that was already theres; technically, both parties possessed each other's cat, so trading was logical enough, but there was nothing stopping both sides from just killing the shifters and moving on.  Hopefully for Christian, that's not how it was going down.

The big man that she addressed on the subject of Walsh was still in the room only through sheer force of will.  Yes, Iloquil's power had been painful and extremely unpleasant, and Cerberus had backed off a step or two for some breathing room, but he wouldn't risk leaving a hunter, even an unarmed and beaten hunter, in the room with his bosses.  He wasn't stupid, whether people thought he looked it, or not.  Fortunately, he'd also been keeping close tabs on the new arrivals and anything he might need to know for the following day, when he would likely be showing Verity around and pointing out anything he'd heard about the prisoners.  He knew who Walsh was, especially after hearing the hunter name his breed, and Cerberus smiled. 

"Snow leopard, like the hunter said.  Male, early to mid twenties, good shape, short blonde-ish hair and blue eyes.  You mentioned that you liked his eyes, mistress, just not as much as Persephone's friend's," he offered, hoping that some part of that would jog her memory on the cat being called for.  He'd go get Walsh if they wanted, no questions asked.

[Verity Celestino]

 Unhappy didn't begin to describe it. Niall didn't look like he was going to lift a finger here, when it was him that had started all of this. Well, a rogue hunter from one of the guilds had really started it, but they could have just dealt with her and accepted that it was someone who wasn't acting with the blessing of the guild behind them. No, he had been in the mood for a fight, and now they had one. She was incredibly irritated that he felt this was fair, because she sure didn't, but the way she poised herself left little room for one to read her thoughts. Instead, she just looked irritated about the general situation, rather than at Niall's hand in this particular incident.

"Mm. I recall, now," she said. To Alex, she only smiled, hands clasped together. "We have so many, you see," she explained. Yes, hunter. We have friends and family of many. I hope you are happy with your one, single pass. She turned, unwilling to see Cerberus out of the room just yet. "Get Persephone," she commanded, and a well-dressed servant did just that, hurrying out of the room.

For several moments, the room was utterly silent save for the loud ticking sound of the ornate clock located behind them on the mantle of the fireplace. She could see how worn out the hunter was, even if this wasn't his true corporeal form, and she watched his leg tremble as he tried not to shift his weight off of it in order to lessen any weakness he might potentially show them. He'd already gotten his ass beat, so he didn't need it to get any worse.

Persephone came into the room after a too-long and very uncomfortable silence where Verity just stared at him, her back effectively to Niall despite standing no less than two feet from him. "Fetch the Uncia called Derek Walsh at once for me, my dear. See that he doesn't find his way into any doorknobs on his way up," she instructed, which sounded more like she was urging the girl to harm him rather than asking her to keep him safe.

"While we wait, I'd love to know why it is you inspired my two friends to foam at the mouth," she said, and this did not sound like a question or a request.

[Alexander Darling]

Niall wasn't necessarily unwilling to lift a finger, but he was quite alright with observing for the time being.  Yes, this was technically started by a rogue hunter, but he knew that he'd had a choice about how far to take it and he'd chosen to go all the way.  He'd known that there would be casualties on both sides (though, as expected, most of the casualties were on the hunters' side, and if he went on long enough, he could have probably wiped them out completely), but there were certain individuals that he simply trusted not to get caught.  Naturally, there would be extenuating circumstances, such as Lucien Cobriana being overtaken or Xavier gunned down and captured, but for the most part, this was very much a culling of the weak.  This wasn't fair, and Niall was very interested in getting Verity's cat back, but he didn't think the guilds knew quite what the messenger they'd sent was capable of.

He waited, because there would be the time to step in and make this happen.

For Alexander, this was just a mess all around.  He understood what Verity's point was when she pretended not to remember who Walsh was and then declared how many they had, and yes, he knew that was true.  There was nothing he could do about it, and if nothing else right now, he could follow Dev's orders.  He wasn't sent in here to save everyone, just to trade the tiger for the snow leopard so that Christian Shane and his wife didn't have to face the fact that her brother was gone from them.  Alexander was positive that they were going to have to deal with a changed young man, but he didn't know the extent and once again, didn't care.  He had a job to do. 

Yes, the silence was uncomfortable, with Verity watching him and Niall watching both of them, but other than standing there and trying to keep from letting on just how badly Cerberus had wrecked his leg and how uncomfortable it was to stand there handcuffed and knowing that he could be about to take another beating at any time.  The only hopefully encouraging part of this situation was that Verity called for a woman whom she instructed to go get Walsh, which to him meant that there was at least a chance of success here.  That was for the best, because if he couldn't kill Xavier to eliminate the very large threat that he was capable of being, he didn't want to spend too much time hoping that he wouldn't flip shit on Samantha. 

Finally, Verity broke from her staring to ask him why her friends had flipped out about him (the raging in the distance had quieted some, but Alexander knew that they'd be back once Justinian deemed the situation under control, so it wasn't finished, yet), and he glanced to Niall, though why, he didn't know.  All he saw there was an intense interest in his answer, and that didn't help.  She wasn't asking so much as demanding an answer, and he knew this, but that didn't mean he could just give her the answer.  He didn't have it himself.

"I honestly don't know," he said, dipping his head both because he hated the fact that he didn't know, and because he was certain she wasn't going to believe him.  As long as she hesitated in attacking him, should that be her chosen route, he could offer her a few little things, but no real answers. 

"They seem familiar, he seems familiar," Alexander offered, looking up to Niall, who inclined his head ever so slightly, but said nothing.  "But I don't know why.  I know I haven't seen any of them in the past five years, and before that, I don't really remember."

Usually, this wasn't something he'd have told anyone, especially someone as dangerous as the master and mistress of Midnight, but let's be real; there were answers to be had here, just not from him.  The question was whether or not someone would speak up, which right now, could only be Niall.  The vampire gave him one of those blank looks that vampires (and Alexander) were so good at, obviously considering, but it wasn't Alex who got answers immediately.  It was Verity.

Alexander and I are the only ones Justinian sired in all of his years.  They were close like brothers when they were human.  I was told that there hadn't been any word from him in a few years, long enough that Justinian and Iloquil were starting to wonder where he was, but I don't know what to make of this human.

It was a quick, reader's digest version of the more complex thoughts surrounding the subject.  Alexander wasn't someone that Niall had known for long or incredibly well, but he remembered the man as being like a dark shadow behind or at Justinian's side, very much the logical part of the equation at all times.  There was no logic in this situation, and how this human could be Alexander, Niall didn't know.

[Verity Celestino]

 "Curious," she said, her silver eyes narrowed. She had been about to say something when Iloquil came back into the room, Justinian on her heels. Verity quickly looked up, as though searching for someone to catch her before she got to Alexander and tried to strangle him again, but she looked much more calm than she had before. Justinian must have been able to make her settle down (and Verity suspected that it may have involved violence).

She stopped short of Alexander, arms at her sides and hands clenched. It was obvious by her face she'd been crying, which was something Verity had seen maybe once or twice in a few hundred years. It didn't happen often. Iloquil held her arms up, as though beckoning him, and said something in an archaic Roman dialect, with a heavy accent on it. It was her specific way of speaking, having come from the Middle East and then to the Roman Empire; only Justin and Alex had ever really been able to understand her.

Verity felt herself holding her breath. That was one hell of a limb her friend had walked out onto. She instinctively stepped forward more, taking Niall's hand. There was a fair chance that if Iloquil was rejected, she'd be impossible to contain. She gave Justin a warning look from across the room. That he even tolerated her trying to call another man to her, a supposed friend or not... If Niall ever reacted like that to another woman, Verity would make his life very hard. Of course, she didn't know the situation like Niall did.

[Alexander Darling]

Verity wasn't the only one who gave their attention to the very old and very dangerous vampires walking back into the room, but Niall seemed to be the least affected by the fact that Iloquil had seemingly been crying; he knew more about the situation at hand than Verity or Alexander did, and he had the most ability to understand that Iloquil might care about Alexander (the vampire, since he was uncertain whether he believed that this human was him).  He also recognized the dark look on his sire's face, and that was what made him a bit uncomfortable.  If not for the trade that was apparently going to go on, he might have suggested that he and Verity give the other three some space, mostly because the last time Justinian had looked like that, Scarlet got an impromptu magical lobotomy.  Niall had already endured and eventually worked through one of Justinian's experiments in crazy, and he never planned on doing it again. 

Alexander was, surprisingly, more cautious and less afraid of the two very volatile ancients, and he couldn't have said exactly why.  All he knew was that he knew what they were capable of and knew that smaller, more petty violent acts were more likely.  Justinian could do terrible things to the mind, but he wouldn't to Alexander, and Iloquil was downright malicious when she wanted to be.  He would have expected her to strike out at him now, perhaps with nails instead of intending real harm (he didn't remember, but it just seemed to feel true that he'd worn nail marks of hers in the past), but she surprised everyone outside of Justin when she spoke to him in a language and accent that even Niall didn't understand.  He'd heard it from her and Justinian many times, had picked up a word or two from his sire, but couldn't ever understand Iloquil.  That Alexander looked at her almost suspiciously, like he didn't understand the situation and the laws of physics had changed, made Niall wonder.

Then, the hunter slowly, cautiously approached her, one pained step at a time.  Why, when he was an Onyx hunter and she was an ancient vampire friendly with Midnight? 

He understood her.  She'd told him that if there was any part of him that knew her, he should come to her, and yes, this was dangerous.  He knew that, thus the caution, but he understood, and that wasn't an accident.  Justinian watched, and it was he who broke the curious, slow approach and guarded distance.  All he did was make a comment, in that same ancient dialect and a shockingly casual tone of voice, about whether or not he should be jealous, and Alexander shot back his response in the same language.  "Jealousy is beneath you."  What he didn't know was that it was an old response, something he'd been trying to teach Justinian as a way to curb the rage that followed whenever Iloquil succeeded in making his friend jealous.  He was beyond caring, too overwhelmed by this entire situation, by the familiarity, the vague bits of memory that managed to flit in and out before he got a grip on them, the fear that came from having things within his mind triggered by these people. 

This was probably bad.

[Iloquil]

 At Alexander's utterance of the old back-and-forth that he and Justinian always had (where Alexander tried in vain to stop him from being jealous and Iloquil would only laugh and flirt harder with her prey) made her stop everything. She just sort of froze in place for a moment, and then her eyes got really big. Then, she jumped a little in her stupidly ridiculous high heels, screamed, and raced the rest of the distance to Alexander. She didn't take a flying leap at him to attack him, though. She jumped on him, wrapping her arms around him, and nearly took him over - that was the thing about vampires. They hit a lot harder than humans, even when they didn't mean to.

She went back to totally unintelligible speech, mostly about how happy she was, how long they'd been waiting, hoping, et cetera. And then she pulled back, a confused expression on her face, and in English said, "But why are you human?" She held his face in her hands, eyes narrowing as she scrutinized him. She turned to look over her shoulder, still having Alexander's skull in her hands, and spoke to Justinian.

"Why is he human?"

There was a... tone to her voice. The sharp, high-pitched sound at the end of her words that made the next thing that happened, if you knew her, predictable. It was probably why Alexander flinched, even though she still had him in a rather dangerous position.

"WHY. IS. HE. HUMAN?" she roared.

Verity decided to step in right then. She turned to Niall, a knowing look in her eyes. "She goes from a ten to a two and back up to an eleven," she said with a hand in the air. She stepped around him, her graceful form approaching the vampire who was now staring at anyone and anything that moved as though it would give her an answer.

"Sweetie, let go of his face," she cooed.

Iloquil turned back to Alexander, promptly letting go with an embarrassed "Oh." as she did so. She took a step back, then flashed that gorgeous, very sheepish smile, at him. "Sorry," she added, a little laugh. It was so amazing how she could switch back and forth between her moods, but thankfully NOBODY in the room was stranger to that. It would have been stupid to assume that just because she was a female she was temperamental - Justinian could be every bit as petty, and more, he just knew that right then, he was not playing the 'crazy' one. At least after a few thousand years, they had balanced out their good cop, bad cop routine.

"Come on, Sybil, give him some space," Verity said, pulling her equally tall, equally beautiful friend away by the arm.

Sorry my love, I know this isn't our fight, but I feared she might smash his head like a melon between her hands, and then we'd never here the end of it, she said to Niall. She flicked her gaze over to him, fluttering her lashes as she flashed him a smile that was laced with frustration. It's like having children, no? Aren't you so glad we dodged that bullet?

[Alexander Darling]

Having Iloquil react as she had immediately to what he'd said completely outdid Justinian's jaw pretty much dropping (it was the simplest phrase, but might be enough to convince him that this actually was his friend), and Alexander's eyes widened as she did that little jump in those heels, screamed and practically tackled him.  She didn't do him any intentional harm, but the initial impact felt like he'd just been thrown into a brick wall, and then came the embrace.  He was pretty sure he heard a rib or two crack, but other than gasping and enduring, he was silent.

She was talking enough in that moment for all of them.

He wasn't sure he understood all of this, but like before when she'd been screaming and Justinian carted her off, it was because of the speed with which she was speaking.  He didn't realize that it was his native language and that he and Justinian were probably the only two that really caught most of it, but none of it made much sense to him.  Why was she happy to see him?  Waiting and hoping?  How did that....oh.  Oh.  Why was he human.

If he hadn't been taken so off-guard by that question, the surprise evident on his face (which was saying a lot, since he could be incredibly expressive, but avoided it in situations such as this) as she held it in her hands, and he didn't like the way she repeated it.  Actually, he flinched at that tone, eyes squeezing shut as he tried to lean away.  Obviously, she wasn't letting go, so he couldn't, but he had a bad fee---yep.  There it was.

It was a good thing for Verity stepping up to make Iloquil let go of him, since Justinian was still staring at the two of them like he couldn't believe it.  The triste's involvement seemed to snap him out of it, and his eyes narrowed, flicking from the trio to his younger fledgling.  Tell me what he said when we were gone.

No questions for Justin, just instructions, and Niall didn't hesitate, not here and now.  He may have been the master of this establishment, but this wasn't the time to assert anything.  He used his impressive mental capabilities (which Justin took credit for, obviously) to simply play the whole scene almost like a video for the older vampire, and Justin nodded approval.  Necessary information.

Surprisingly, Alexander may have been the least concerned about Iloquil crushing his skull in the room, though that was because he'd just wake up and be free of this situation; nobody else wanted him to disappear, for fear that he might really take off.  Of course, he'd showed part of his hand in being here on Onyx business, but tonight was a night of extreme circumstances - if he disappeared from even Onyx, he would be labeled 'missing in action' because the guild didn't have a body.  His death would be assumed, but then, he'd still be in the dark about his past.  He wanted to believe that this was all bullshit, that they were messing with him, but there were too many things they couldn't be responsible for.  He almost wanted to ask questions of his own, but he got the feeling they would drop more accidentally than if he asked directly.  He wasn't wrong, but Justinian knew Alexander about as well as Alex knew him.  He was somewhat prepared for certain reactions, which only made it more disturbing to him.  This weak little human with his friend's face also had all of his mannerisms and patterns. 

"Tell me, Mr....?" he prompted, mostly out of sick curiosity.

"Darling."

"Excuse me?"

"Alexander Darling," the hunter repeated, and Justin almost choked, surprised and actually a little heartsick as he glanced at Iloquil.  This was cruel for a being who didn't feel these things and hadn't in centuries to experience them now.  Iloquil not only had this habit of calling others 'darling', but she'd made it a bit of an endearment for Alexander specifically.  'Alexander, darling' had been how she usually greeted him. 

"...Mr. Darling.  Tell me, how is it that Diamond put so very much into trying to recruit you, and here we find the perfect soldier on a mission from Onyx?" he asked, thoroughly displeased by that fact.  Diamond was bad enough, mostly because of the conflict of interest, but Alexander had refused.  Calling him 'the perfect soldier' was Justinian being petty, just as it usually was.  There was no denying that it was quite possibly true, what with Alexander's ability to cheat death and the devotion to weaponry, strategy and fighting styles that he'd pursued over the centuries; he was an artist, and war was his medium.  It was something that, unless Justinian was angry with him for some horrific death or no-win situation he was attempting to turn around (Alexander and Iloquil continued to be among the few that could truly upset him even in more modern times), wasn't mentioned.  Justinian was revealing some of his feels here, however well he was maintaining his composure.

Alexander deserved credit for his eyes narrowing, obviously picking up on at least some of it, but he was also gleaning more information.  Diamond.  If he couldn't get answers here, Diamond would have them, it seemed.  He ignored the 'perfect soldier' dig, but seemed to realize that Justinian was being petty.  He'd been right to expect pettiness rather than serious harm.  "I don't know anything about Diamond recruitment techniques.  An Onyx operative took me in," he explained carefully, and even saying it, he wasn't so sure if he was telling the truth.  He remembered...something.  It was just the slightest bit of an image, just some redhead with a hand to his bleeding head screaming in an Irish accent about who the fuck carried iron around nowadays, and he figured Diamond had tried, and failed.  It was scary that he was remembering more here and now than he had in five years.

"What Onyx operative?" Justin asked, carefully just a little curious and all too aware of everyone in the room watching.

"That's not information I'm at liberty to discuss," came the carefully textbook response, and that was what caused Justinian to shoot forward, grabbing Alexander up by the throat hard enough that the hunter made a choking sound and clutched at the vampire's wrists as Justin lifted him some. 

"You've forgotten much, my friend, but allow me to jog your memory on one thing in specific.  You are mine, and have been for over two thousand years.  I will not lose you so easily."

Niall glanced at Verity, cocking an eyebrow up.  Welp.  There went the 'good cop, bad cop'.  I'm not so sure we dodged it entirely, my dear.

[Iloquil]

 Iloquil was aptly stifled when Justin finally got tired of the back and forth, and she was strangely quiet as she snatched her wine glass up from the mantle and thrust it at a servant who instantly filled it to the brim. This repeated two or three (or six) times while Justin basically pissed on Alexander - or he may as well have, because he was pretty much establishing himself as the dominant one in the house. It wasn't even in any insult to Niall - it was more or less that Justin was fucking done letting this hunter not answer things.

And nobody in the room was surprised that Iloquil just drank repeatedly. They may have been ancient - Niall and Verity less so, but that didn't matter much - but despite the bronze goddess banking the eldest by even a thousand years more, they were still from a different time. She may be argumentative and petty and powerful, but she had chosen as a mate a man who had these same qualities, and it was just one of those things where, when he decided to take charge, she would follow along. Most people worried about pissing her off because she was the tempest of the duo, but it was only because she was more vocal. If Justin spent half of the energy that Iloquil did, things would probably be a lot more bleak for humans in general. They were only so lucky he enjoyed his time relaxing and not being bothered.

But this was beyond bothering - this was flat out pissing him off. Even if Alexander looked beyond him to the female, he would hopefully not be surprised when she only set her jaw and watched the scene play out. Hell, back then when Justin had been away, Alexander had been "in charge"; older or not, Iloquil was forever in their care, even if she didn't need it. When Justin reminded him that he owned him, it wasn't a joke; just like it wasn't a joke that Iloquil was officially out of this conversation for the moment.

Alexander would probably have better chances of reasoning with Justin, anyways. Iloquil was tipping back another glass of wine.

[Alexander Darling]

There was a moment there where Alexander didn't respond at all, just staring wide-eyed at Justin and fighting to breathe through the choke-hold the vampire had on him, but he seemed more upset at the 'two thousand years' thing (since that was when his eyes had bugged) than the rest.  His feet didn't fight to reach the floor, and though he was holding tightly to Justinian's wrist and forearm, he wasn't trying to fight him.  One, it would have been impossible unless Justin gave in, and two, dignity.  If there was one thing Alexander fought to maintain at all times, it was his dignity.  Even hanging there from the vampire's grip, his breathing cut down to a minimum, he looked about as calm as a person could.  Justinian didn't miss that, but it only increased the level of familiarity and made him somewhat angrier.  This was his friend, if only he could dig through the ugly layers of humanity that had been thrust upon him.

"The operative.  I'm not threatening him, if you're worried about protecting the fool," he ground out, irritated that this was necessary, but he did want his friend back, damn it.  "I'm trying to understand your mess.  What is the first thing you remember?"

Yep.  Alexander, because he'd been difficult, got to go through this questioning process with minimal breathing, at least until he started cooperating some.  His eyes flicked to Iloquil and the others briefly, but it was only enough to catch Niall squeezing Verity's hand, then going over to quietly take the wine glass from Iloquil's hand.  No help there.

"I woke up in an alley, killed a vampire that came upon me and Devraj Rashana was tracking it."  Did he feel guilty dropping the name?  Yes, but he got the impression Justinian wasn't lying, and he didn't know why.  Fuck this entire situation.