Walk in the Park

[Christian Shane]

It was a clear, beautiful day in the park. Christian had brought Evangela and Andrea there to spend some family time together, after much begging from them both. He had to remind himself that they were both capable of handling themselves as long as they didn't get caught off guard. But that's what I worry about the most.

He found it ironic that the only jacket his daughter liked was one that was made of fake snow leopard fur. She played in the snow, gathering clumps of it and throwing it at her mother as the three of them walked.

"Thanks for coming out with us honey," Evangela said, getting hit in the back with a snowball. She flinched, and kept walking.

Christian smiled that charming smile at his wife, giving her a light kiss on the cheek. "Anything for my two favourite women. Although, I think one of you is feeling a little rambunctious today."

Evangela held a wry smile as she got hit in the back again with a snowball. Behind them, Andrea ran around in circles, giggling maniacally.

"It seems so. And I wonder where she - " she got cut short as a snowball pelted her in the face - "gets it from." She turned to give her daughter a stern look, and the girl instantly stopped and looked as though she had just broken a piece of good China.

"Eva," Christian began. He stopped as he saw her reach down, utilizing the lightning fast reflexes of her natural blood, and grab a handful of snow, throwing it directly in her daughter's face. Her angry expression broke out into a wide grin, and the two women ran off, laughing and screaming.

Christian sighed. If only he could live every day like this. He watched as Eva ducked a high snowball. It sailed past her, and while he couldn't help notice that Andrea would do wonderfully when she started softball, he winced as it pegged the back of a man walking nearby.

Andrea's eyes got wide. "Oh no!" she said. She clapped her hands to her hooded head and did the typical 14 year old dance between both legs as she tried to figure out how to say she was sorry.

[Connor Batten]

Connor flinched when the snowball hit, his back still scabbed up from his ordeal with the vampires, but reacted fairly well, turning around to see a young girl standing there looking horrified.  He smiled at her to let her know it wasn't a problem, and his eyes passed from her to the man and woman who were also present.  His sight was taking its sweet time in returning completely, but with the sunglasses, it wasn't so bright, so he could see them fairly well.  And recognize the man.

"Christian, good to see you," he said, smiling a bit at the unintentional pun there.  It was good to see anyone, really.  He approached with his usual confident steps, taking no notice of the pain in his still-healing feet.  He wasn't nearly so much of a mess as he'd been not long ago.  He'd even gotten his 'haircut' adjusted, so that it didn't look quite so bad.  It still had that 'punk rocker' look Lore liked, but it didn't look quite as scraggly.  He missed it being long and covering his neck now, though.  It had decided to snow again, reminding everyone that winter hadn't really been gone at all.

[Christian Shane]

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Andrea called as Christian quickened his steps to his family. The man turned and spoke, and for a moment, Chris didn't even recognize him. Then Capri's story suddenly became brought to life, and he managed to hide his surprise only through years of practice.

"Connor. Sorry, my daughter seems to think that random people make good targets," he said with a laugh. He gave Andrea a pat on the shoulder and pushed her towards Eva, who was coming their way.

"Connor, hello," she said, voice even and serene as always. She held her hand out to her daughter. "We'll go play over there so you two can talk." She gave Christian a wink and headed off. Eva was aware of what he did, but they tried to keep Andrea as uninvolved as possible. She knew, but she did not know details.

[Connor Batten]

"It's not a problem, sweetheart," he said, smiling in as harmless a manner as he knew how, and meaning it completely.  She was beautiful, that little girl.  He commended Christian on that, and hoped the man would remain as impressive as he had so far, if only to keep that family of his safe.

"Eva, you look amazing, as always," he told her, nodding his greeting when she spoke and took her daughter off to play elsewhere.  He might have usually offered to shake hands or the like, but he was a bit protective of injured bits, and his wrists were still healing.  He'd risk them to fight, but not to shake hands.

He looked to Christian, tilting his head to the side a bit.  "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt the family gathering.  I didn't know you'd be in the area, or I'd have probably gone to get some air elsewhere," he said with a careful shrug.  "How are things?"

[Christian Shane]

"Eh," he said, putting his hands in the pocket of his dark green jacket. "It's fine. They were doing that thing that women do where they totally alienate anything male and become in and of themselves. I dread when she gets older." He grunted. "I'm also not looking forward to chasing boys away from her."

He looked over at Connor again, blue eyes studying him. "How are you holding up? I spoke to Capri not too long ago. She's healed up fairly well, though she's become obsessed over this King vampire. He really did a number on her. I caught her in the gym beating the sand out of a punching bag. Literally."

He worried about her sometimes - it was the father in him. But he knew she, like the rest of his girls, could take care of themselves. It was ironic that his paternal instincts extended to every woman in Frost. They were like his little girls. Except with guns.

[Connor Batten]

"You could always have her live in the guildhouse.  If anyone can chase teenaged boys away from a young girl, it's a building full of protective hunters.  Frost has a lot of women as well, so she'd be incredibly safe," he teased, shaking his head.  "She's going to be a heartbreaker when she's older, you know that?  She's already beautiful.  You're a lucky man."

Connor himself had no illusions about having children, not with the way he risked his life and conducted his social situation.  He would have loved a daughter, but he didn't see it happening.  Maybe, but he wasn't betting on it.  

"I know, Capri's pretty set on finding the guy, and I don't blame her, but I got a bit interrupted in helping her," he said, rather matter-of-factly.  "Have any of you gotten any big leads?  Any new information?"

[Christian Shane]

"She is. She's starting to look more like Eva every day too, thank God." He chuckled a little. "We discussed that option, but Eva decided ultimately that the Guildhouse is a last resort. Andrea is aware of the things around her, but we don't want her directly involved unless we absolutely have to."

He walked slowly, keeping his family within eyesight, just in case. "It's a little tough, sometimes. I worry about them." He looked back at Connor, realizing he had asked him about new leads for Capri's attackers.

"Well, she's dug up some files on this King guy. He's a Kendra, we know that much. He's old, too, but not... ancient. I don't remember precisely. He's got a knack, though, for getting a little too caught up in his work. I hope Capri didn't make an impression on him or he'll keep coming until the job's done."

He sighed softly. "I know she can handle herself, but I still feel like she might've bitten off more than she can chew. Especially with your encounter, now. She's tough, but she's still really young. She's.. too impulsive sometimes."

He changed the subject. "What are your plans for resolving your situation? I assumed you wouldn't get back into things fully until you were more recovered, but then again, this is a full time job, so I wasn't sure."

[Connor Batten]

He nodded at what Christian had to say regarding his little girl, completely understanding.  It was how a lot of hunters felt regarding their children.  They'd made their money hunting, could provide for those children, and didn't want them doing the same.  It was hypocritical, but the work was dangerous.  Nobody wanted that for their baby.

"How incredibly vague.  A Kendra, like we aren't swarming with those, and not old, but not young.  Capri sure does pick them, doesn't she?" he grumbled, sighing.  The light reflecting off the snow was starting to give him a headache.  

"My encounter has nothing to do with Capri's.  I can only assume it was to make a point, and based upon what I heard while I was there, we're looking into Ancient Greeks.  We have two so far, and one is reclusive enough that I doubt it could be him.  That leaves one, and Onyx had a problem with him breaking in to attack a hunter not too long ago," he said.  "Whatever the deal was with me, I know they meant for me to have a chance of surviving up there.  Capri escaped, and I'm not really sure if they really intended for her to have a chance to hunt them down.  She had a concussion, though, so some of the details are a little fuzzy for her, from what I heard."

[Christian Shane]

"Yeah. She has a good damn description of him, though. I really hope that she doesn't intend to go after this guy herself, though. She's still healing, and that puts her at a big disadvantage."

Christian began walking more, blue eyes placing Eva and Andrea in his center of vision again. He watched Andrea fall, taking Eva down with her, but the subject matter was too grim for him to smile at the small accident.

He looked back at Connor again. "I don't like that a vampire broke into a guildhouse. We need to sit down and go over some new security measures, I think. Especially not if we have some really raging psychotics on our hands." He made an irritated noise.

"I'd like to say it wasn't this bad before, but I know better. It just happened to different people." He raised a brow. "Make a point? What point is that? Do I even want to know?"

Vampires made no sense to him. He didn't agree with Single Earth. He didn't agree with Bleeders. He didn't agree with a change to save a life. What sort of life was it? He shuddered again. He couldn't imagine if he were ever turned. He'd probably set himself on fire and then have someone shoot him while jumping out of a plane with no parachute AND  a bomb strapped to his chest. Just in case.

[Connor Batten]

"She's also crazier if she decides to hunt him down alone, which might be an advantage," he pointed out, then sighed again.  "I don't know what sort of new security procedures you're thinking of, but Cobriana is the most careful of all of us.  If the thing got past him, and I mean, it literally fought its way through him, then it could have done it to either of us.  Think about it, he's a shifter, which is what saved his ass, and the leech still bowled right over him.  We just need to figure out something new to throw at them, I guess."

And for the life of him, he didn't know what.  The one that had taken him had very brazenly mocked religion by crucifying him, and with the carvings into his back.  "I don't know what point, maybe that they could?  They snatched a Guild Leader off the street, and as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't stand much of a chance of fighting anyone off.  I was blind before I even knew I was being attacked, and why leave me alive if not to use it as a point?  They could have easily killed me during any of that.  There was a knife in use almost constantly.  If they wanted me dead, they'd have had it."

[Christian Shane]

Christian nodded, understanding more the severity of the situation than he had before. "It's hard to grasp. They all die just the same, but while they're out running around, they are capable of very improbable things. If I could just invent some sort of bomb that blew them all to bits..." he trailed off.

Christian bit the inside of his lip thoughtfully. He was right, Cobriana -was- probably the most cautious. "I just don't know what's going to happen. I dislike not knowing. I know, join the crowd. I suppose things have just suddenly gotten more hectic than usual. Or maybe they always are, but now it seems like the constant hum has suddenly had random outbreaks of shit."

"Still, I feel like there's something I should be doing that I'm not."

[Connor Batten]

Connor shook his head, sighing.  He didn't know what to do about it all, and that worried him.  They had no real plan except to continue the way they already were, which obviously wasn't working.  It wasn't really like they had enough hunters to take a more aggressive approach, but what were they to do?  Stop taking hits and start patrolling the streets for ANY vampire?  That could work, but it was probably suicidal.  Some vampires didn't bother with humans more than necessary because the humans didn't bother with them.  If they started hunting any and all vampires, they could very well have something of a war on their hands, and they were horribly outnumbered, once you counted the shifters in as well.  He had no delusions that the vampires wouldn't employ shapeshifters in their fight.  What else could they do, though?  It wasn't as though they could just up and invent a new weapon, not really.

"I know the feeling, but I can't think of anything to change that would make things work better.  More security, like you said, but there's only so much that security can do.  I was grabbed off the street walking home.  Guild security won't protect us all the time."  He scowled, not a usual expression for him, but this whole situation frustrated him to no end.  What could be done?  "Something seems to be out of the ordinary, though.  They're getting bolder, it seems.  There was a witch, an older, more powerful one, that was nabbed not too long ago.  He hasn't been heard from since, and they're trying to keep it quiet, but I spoke to the man keeping his affairs in order.  That's not the usual sort of victim, just like Capri and I aren't."

[Christian Shane]

Christian seemed to zone out on Connor's words, listening, fully absorbing them, but his eyes followed Eva and Andrea as they embraced eachother in a tight hold. He reluctantly looked back at Connor, and cleared his throat.

"Well, there's little we can do without starting something massive, so perhaps we should all just step it up a little with security - I realize we can only do so much, but it might make it that much harder next time. I've just enlisted another Frost hunter, and she might have some knowledge we can use. She's a Witch, Vida/Arun mix. She says she has no formal training, but I know that she has advantage over even myself, and I intend to help her use it."

He folded his arms tightly, the protective measure not meant for him so much as for his thoughts. "Don't you think if something dark and big was being plotted in the underworld of the leeches one of us would have found out by now? All of them make the mistake of talking eventually.. This can't actually be the day they all managed to get their shit together. Maybe if there was a way to know who.. someone could use old rivalries or something to set them on eachother instead of us.. Ugh, I'm just rambling now."

[Connor Batten]

"I've already stepped up security, and I know Cobriana has.  He's not the sort to take that kind of a hit lying down, but there's only so much..." he broke off, following the gaze Christian had just broken to the man's wife and child.  Connor smiled some, finding the image almost as comforting as any normal person might, though there was the fact that he doubted he'd ever have that himself.  Who wanted a man who killed for a living?  Christian was a lucky man.

"I'm sure someone will talk eventually, I'm just worried how long it'll take.  I've got everyone I know listening for whatever they might find.  We might want to see if we can get someone in there to talk to that voodoo creeper and that old witch guy who runs the bar.  They both always seem to have answers whenever someone mentions talking to them," he offered up with a shrug.  Christan wasn't the only one just throwing thoughts out there.

[Christian Shane]

Christian let out an abrupt, loud laugh at Connor's mention of Papa Aristide. "Man, he IS a creepy bastard," he said in accord to Connor's remark. "The Witch guy, though, do you mean Ash Leone? He's not so much creepy as he is spooky. The voodoo guy, now he gives me the heebie-jeebies. But Ash, I mean, he's a Triste, or so it's been explained to me. He's a good guy, too, or at least I have come to understand he is."

He thrust his hands into his pockets, not so sure what Aristide's alignment was. His own, more than likely, and Christian couldn't quite say he blamed him. "Well, all we can do is, I hate to say it - wait. Wait and see. I hate waiting, and so does the rest of my Guild. They're some violent people, and when they aren't kicking the living crap out of things they get restless, and that's usually bad for business."

He didn't have to carry on too much about the overall temperament of the Guild. He knew Connor and Capricia were an on-again off-again item, so Connor had to have a good idea of how wrathful they could be when it suited their purpose. "Anything else going on lately? Any good news?"