Because Chapter Four was being a bitch to write and we realized that we had to completely revamp it for the story to work properly, we conceded that we couldn't keep people waiting THAT long for another chapter. and I'm happy we did because it gave me an excuse to write THIS thing which I'm actually pretty fond of. :) It adds a lot to the story, I think.


Awful Edges

Awful Interlude 1- Not Entirely

The blanket was vermillion with a fuzzy black cross stitch sewn around the fringe. She had unfolded it very slowly, even though 'slowly' wasn't usually her style. This was mainly because while she was doing it, she had been imagining how much unnecessary time the nerdy vampire must've taken to fold it so neatly. The idea gave her painful little pangs in her stomach and made her throat feel like it was swelling and closing up. She fanned out the blanket, flapping it a few times and as it grabbed air it expanded like a parachute.

She wasn't even really sure when he had told her what his favorite color was... She had just tuned in on it. If she hadn't known better, she would've sworn that if there had to be a Red and Blue Oni between them, it should've been the other way around. Conrad wasn't a person, she had found, who allowed himself much leeway, even when it came to simple pleasures like candy and colors.

Toni associated strong, fiery type people with red. In other words: people that weren't Conrad. Veser, for instance, would've been a good candidate for that classification, but instead he had decided to make his aura a big green eyesore the size of Scotland itself. It was funny how things worked out that way…

She blinked down at the comatose teenager in a distant kind of 4 AM disapproval. He was always subconsciously doing something to troll the people around him. This time it involved falling asleep backwards with his legs and shoe-covered feet still firmly on Conrad's sofa and his head hanging off the side, prominent ridges of silver hair touching the floor. He was drooling everywhere too.

"Gross," she muttered, pursing her dark lips which hadn't been applied with their necessary layer of blue because she hadn't been doing her makeup. They spent all their time here now and the bathroom was always crowded. Well, at least the only people who were around to judge her happened to be an obnoxious teen, a midget, and a zombie. No one from any talent agencies would be hanging around this place, unless they were representing a freak show.

The werewolf would've been mad about the shoes on the couch but…As much as she tried, she just couldn't bring herself to care that much about the state of the vampire's condo. The place she lived in was such an utter rat-hole that it would always seem nice in comparison. Unlike Conrad, she was a real starving artist, or at least one that survived primarily on Eggo Waffles and Chinese takeout.

She ultimately threw the blanket on Veser as if she were trying to cover an unattractive piece of furniture and left it at that, stepping lightly over a three day old McDonald's Happy Meal box and several discarded cans of Cheese Wiz so she could make her way into what had once been Conrad's sparkling kitchen. It was now the" base of operations" in the "Find Conrad" effort- and anything but clean.

For instance, there were three stacks of slightly water-stained copy paper, each at the height where they could've been stand ins for Hanna himself. On each one, there was a picture they had cyber-stalked of Conrad before he had become a vampire (not much different, except he had a dorkier haircut, round glasses and seemed significantly less pale). In big black letters it read, "MISSING "PERSON". Call Hanna at..." There was alsoa lot of dirty dishware lying in cluttered piles with maple syrup and/or ketchup drying on them (she could smell the stuff all the way from here, and needed no werewolf powers to do it) and there were sharpies. A lot of sharpies. Everywhere and in any color ranging from plain black to blazing pink, most of which no longer had any ink to their name.

Toni was used to living in a disorganized jumble with three or four other people sharing the same cramped living space. It usually didn't bother her because it meant people were busy and had a lot to do and were therefore pretty happy. But this was a different kind of mess. It was a cagey, really kind of obsessive I-don't-really-care-because-I'm-obsessivly-thinking-about-something-else type mess.

She frowned, pushing one of the stacks aside carefully so she could place her hand on one of the slumped, weirdly broad shoulders, hunched in stress so thick it could've been cut with a knife. Hanna's arms were folded under his chin. He looked more like a puppy than she did. He was staring out of the window, down at the traffic below vacantly. He wasn't moving much, but Toni could tell straight away that he wasn't asleep. His heart rate wasn't right for that.

"..Hey Hanna," she offered gently, her almond shaped eyes falling on the same sad sight for what felt like the hundredth time. It was definitely one time too much every time it happened. "You shouldn't worry about it so much. Conrad's ...pretty resilient. We'll find him..or he'll come back on his own."

When Hanna didn't respond, she sighed and gave him a shove, having little patience for this anymore. "Hanna, moping about it and refusing to sleep isn't going to help Conrad or the effort to find him."

"I'm not moping...I'm thinking," he grunted in a very Un-Hanna tone of voice. "And I can't think while I'm asleep...I've tried those tapes you know, to like, learn ancient Latin but I don't think my subconscious is very attentive." He trailed off in what she thought was a very mopey tone of voice.

She gave up any hope of continuing that vein of conversation. He was on autopilot and those eccentric curls of red hair were like antennas, picking up a signal she couldn't reach.

She could however feel how agonized he was, how worried and guilty. It was coming off in waves to the point where he literally reeked of it, and it was almost making her feel sick to be around him...but what else could she do? She couldn't just let him die in the next Sharpie avalanche or forget to eat or sleep until he became just as much a zombie as his companion.

He obviously thought Conrad's disappearance was his fault and well, it kind of was, in a way...okay, in a lot of ways, but no one blamed him for it, damn it!

I certainly don't blame you, Hanna. She curled her tanned fingers into the twists of her own two toned hair and sighed, her gaze dropping right along with her thought process.

I hope ...what's his name today again? Uh...Elmer gets back in a hurry. He seems to be the only one who can get through to him right now.

But Elmer was out on the town getting Big Macs and coffee for everyone so it had to be her. Toni forced her hands down, wrestled them into submission and tried again.

"Hey Hanna, remember that ordeal with the cthlu Elder God? That was pretty bad right? When he had Conrad all up in his tentacles...didn't you think he was a goner and…wasn't it kind of all your fault because you accidentally summoned it from the dimension where it was an evil entity instead of a guardian of time and space?"

Hanna frowned and adjusted his large square glasses " I have to admit... I'm... not sure where you're going with this."

Toni took a deep breath. "Well, did Conrad actually get chomped? No. He never does! He always gets through it somehow. Sure, he bitches about it later...but he's never any worse for wear."

Hanna sighed, "This was a vampire hunter, Toni...he knows how to kill 'em. And he kills ones a lot tougher than ours. How could Conman make it?" The question hung in the air for a moment, worry acidly gnawing at the lining of Toni's stomach before Hanna continued despondently, slumping forward … "What the fuck was I thinking, letting that guy in without asking who he was? I'm so stupid!"

There he goes again.

"Now he's probably lying dead …deader in a ditch somewhere with his fang ripped out and even as we speak, it's being sold on the supernatural Black Market..."

Toni could've slapped herself for it, but she was finishing his sentence for him, in her mind, before she could stop herself.

...what are we going to do if he really IS dead? I mean, for-real dead?

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, with much more confidence than she felt. "Hanna, you're just…trusting that's all. He said he was Conrad's friend right? Well we don't know that much about him before he turned so…it couldn't have been hard to believe."

"Toni..he had a gun with him. And a ferret. And he was wearing goggles and a ventilator mask." He scratched his scalp through that spaghetti plate of red locks. "I really don't think he'd fit in with Conrad's crowd".

"Okay" she admitted "That was pretty stupid."

"Yeah..." he agreed sadly. "I know."

Damn it! That's not what I meant, Hanna! Toni almost face-palmed. She really wasn't good at this "comforting people" stuff. It wasn't like she minded or anything, but she was just a biiit high strung and that tended to make for a poor shoulder to cry on. But she was doing her best.

Her lower lip quivered but she refused to submit to the urge to curl up in a ball near the door and cry like a little girl. No! Okay, maybe later, but not until she was alone and there weren't a bunch of impressionable man-children around. For now, she had to just suck it up. With the zombie out of the building, the level of competence in the group was dizzyingly low and someone had to pick up the slack.

She looked down briefly at the crumpled pile of papers, and then glanced back at Hanna's hands which were covered in ink and tangled in failed runes. Conrad's sigil was a series of straight diagonal lines with a kind of curly one slashed through it…it hardly resembled anything, but she couldn't look at it without feeling an ache to hear his torrent of passive aggressive rambling. Sigils were supposed to represent the magical entities they symbolized, and Hanna should have been able to summon the nerdy vampire, just by drawing it and saying the correct incantation, but so far his efforts to do so had been a complete failure.

She had to admit: the signs weren't exactly pointing to Conrad being in Tahiti, enjoying the temperate climate but she refused to believe he was anything but more-or-less alive. He had Donald Duck luck, wherever he was, he was probably miserable, but alive. Yes. He would definitely be okay!

"Okay, So this Van Slyke guy..." she muttered, not at all confident that Hanna was even listening to her. "He's part of an organization of vampire slayers?"

To her surprise, Hanna's answer was prompt, just a sudden flow of what he'd obviously been worrying over before she'd prodded him. "Yeah. Vampire Slaying Services LTD... The fuck-heads are employed on a global level by this big mega-industry... they have different outlets everywhere. This city is pretty rampant so they need a big doberman like Van Slyke to police it."

She sat up startled when she heard Hanna's fist collide with the table.

"I really hate these guys... I mean I know vampires kill people, but they used to be people too... So killing them indiscriminately… like friggin' mice is just as bad! It's murder...no, it's friggin' genocide!" He brooded, pale blue eyes narrowing. "How could they not realize that?"

Toni raised an eyebrow. Way to be a bleeding heart Hanna. I don't know any vampire besides Conrad that wouldn't jump at the chance to wolf you down if you didn't smell like rotten milk to them.

"Do they make money off of it?"

"Well," his awkwardly huge shoulders suddenly went limp, making him look even smaller than he was, and that was pretty small. "…Yeah."

She found herself sucking air through her windpipe, for what felt like the fourteenth time that night. "Hanna, their just like any other business...plus it's probably more beneficial towards humanity than you may think. Besides, we're just trying to find Conrad and... regardless of what other vampires might do...he definitely hasn't hurt anyone."

He really hasn't, she thought grimly. And if I find out someone has hurt HIM…I'll tear them apart limb from limb…

Hanna shook his head. "What I'm weirded out about is this: Why would Van Slyke keep him alive? He's apparently one of their most efficient agents...he hardly ever misses a kill."

Toni's heart twisted. Was it only Hanna's vain hope that they were clinging to? "So..." she managed quietly "You think he's probably..."

"No no" Hanna replied, but his shock blue eyes darted back and forth like monochromatic traffic lights in a busy intersection."At least I don't think so...I mean no guarantees or anything, but there's a good possibility he's not dead...really dead. I mean, usually he couldn't be, if he was than his sigil would look different after I drew it," he glanced down. "Then again, when a magical creature is alive and on this plane, it also usually lights up...I've never seen anything like this happen before...and Slyke really doesn't seem the type to dabble in the black arts so..."

"How do you know anything about this guy"? she said, her voice suddenly stern. "Did you...Google him or something?"

The red head smiled sheepishly, but it was a weak attempt. "Yeah heh, I used Conrad's Mac..it's faster than mine..Heh, speaking of dinosaurs... his password is 'velociraptor', pretty nerdy right?"

She frowned, "Hanna how do you know that-"

But he interrupted her, suddenly switching gears again at the drop of a hat, it seemed. "Hey Toni you're good with people right?"

"Well I um..."

"You're like a dog! You can immediately tell whether a person is good or bad right? Sniff 'em out?"

Toni simply glared at him, but Hanna didn't pick up on it. He was on a roll.

"...Cool. Cool. Yeah. So…what was your impression of the two vampires you guys were scuffling with back there?"

Toni frowned "They cheat at poker."

Hanna cleared his throat. "I mean uh- besides that?"

Okay, now she actually had to dwell on it, though it was a bit difficult with Hanna staring at her so expectantly. Eventually however, she was able to articulate the vague feelings and sensations that always whirled within her when considering people. She usually decided within the course of five minutes whether or not she liked someone, but there was a level of complexity to her decisions that even long term relationships didn't have.

"Their obviously very old and experienced...unlike Conrad, they kill," she frowned "I could smell fresh blood on them...I could even see it in the way they moved…the way they looked at people, but I guess they don't kill very often because the scent was at least two weeks old...personality wise, the thin dark one...there's something wrong with him, obviously, which you'd know more about than me I'm sure... but beyond that he's just kind of a jerk. A blowhard, I mean... full of hot air. His partner was very thoughtful and didn't say much, but he was watching everything...taking it all in. And he stopped us from really getting into it because I guess he figured it wasn't worth the damage. He…made a calculation and there was no profit.

...I don't think they were evil, perse, but pretty dangerous, yeah. Unpredictable." It only stands to reason that one of them would end up threatening to kill us all...That was what happened when you hung out with Hanna. Not that she was worried or anything, if it came down to it, she wasn't afraid to fight and there was safety in numbers.

Hanna nodded. "I guess what I'm kinda confused about is that they showed up there with Conrad. They wanted something from him. They'd have to be with him now, wherever he is I'd guess...if I could find out their sigils I could experiment, but it'd just be a waste of time if they turned out the same...I wonder what they could gain from hangin' out with Conman...?"

"Didn't they say that he had a connection with Adelaide?" Toni asked, tapping her fingers on the table impatiently. "They mentioned that we could use Conrad to find Adelaide and draw her out…but it looks like they beat us to the punch."

Hanna snapped his fingers and there was something maniacal in his expression that sent off warning signals. INVESTIGATE. "Hey there's that! We just need to find Adelaide and ASK her about them, and then once we know that connection- maybe we can-"

"Um Hanna," Toni interrupted him hastily, not liking at all where this was going. "I think that's a bad idea..the mysteries just keep piling up and you're in enough trouble as it is-"

"''EY!" Both of them turned suddenly when they heard an unapologetic banging noise at the door. It was a sound like a large goose repetitively hitting a windshield, and it made her ears ache, her skin crawl, and her fingers itch to hurt someone.

Toni straightened up to shoulder past Hanna who simply blinked in a state of drowsiness. She lept nimbly to answer it, intent on stopping the racket before it could have a chance to wake up Veser—they had just managed to get him passed out and silent, and there was no way she was risking waking up the Teenage Selkie at this hour, whose only state of lethargy was when he was playing his DS or sleeping.

When Toni opened the door, she wasn't sure what she was expecting. But a nasty-looking, stooped, pissed-off blonde man in a filthy fur coat, a receding hairline and a cigarette shoved in his snarling mouth certainly wasn't on the list. Toni almost closed the door, before he stuck his foot in it, causing her to hiss and step back, dark glare turning icy and mistrustful. She wasn't a dog okay? But she had no trouble smelling a rat...that, and her vision wasn't bad either.

"What's your problem? If you're selling something- we're not interested so go away."

This guy dosen't look like he peddles vacuum cleaners though. Unless Hanna has worse habits than I thought he did.

The skinny dude scowled at her with an utter lack of remorse. "Lemme in."

"Uh, let me think – no."

"Wha' the hell 'ya stuck up yer vag Sweetheart? 'm here t' see a limey faggot and a redheaded midget not some blue haired bitch. Lemme in!"

"What'd you call me?" She snarled opening the door wider, already beginning to bristle. She was totally ready to go off on this drug-selling bastard, daring to threaten her friends, and she thought she saw the fur on the nape of his neck and shoulders do an odd flaring thing before he began cawing at her like a molting crow.

"You fuckin' HEARD ME-"

"You," she said, balling her fist as her amulet began to glow. "Are making a huge mistake, buddy-"

"HEY WORTH," Hanna broke in, slithering between them with a huge grin plastered uncomfortably, sewn into the lines of his face. Toni had been trying to make him smile for the past week without success, but she would've preferred crying to that uncomfortable monstrosity.

"THIS IS TONI!" He said with a gesture at her- pretty much all of her as if he were selling a used car. He bared his teeth in nervous energy. "My werewolf friend."

"A...Ah." The older man furrowed his brow- and he had a lot of brow to furrow, incidentally. Then he smiled too, and Toni almost felt like she was about to vomit a little in her mouth. "Tha's..." he coughed.

"...and this," Hanna said in a small voice, giving her a meaningful look. "Is Doctor Worth, my physician, who I would be so dead and splattered on an alley way floor without. Hey! Great that you guys have finally met!"

"Fuck ya very much too, Hanna" the 'doctor' growled.

"Huh. Nice to meet you, I guess?" she said anticlimactically, once again needing to force her hands into submission as she tried to keep from them from reaching out and strangling that that very turkey-like neck.

"Eh.." He grunted non-committally, pulling his lighter out of his pocket and fiddling with it.

There was an incredible, record-breaking awkward silence before he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to Hanna, glare fully restored to laser-beam power. "Where the FUCK've ya been doin' for the past week? Ah pass'd out on Monday, wake up on bloomin' Sunday- goes 't show 'ow much ya value my damn company. Why hasn't Fagula been by witcha to pick up 'is care packages?" He stuck a finger in Hanna's face. "An' why 'aven't ya been mortally wounded by now?"

Hanna stared at him, it was clear that out of the amount of questions Worth had just asked him..about, well, none of them had been filtered through. "Worth, why exactly are you here?"

"Ya didn't think 't call me?" He griped, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a packet of medical blood, waving it so the contents sloshed around in maybe what he thought was a seductive way for any vampires that might've been watching. "I brought yer damn pet his fuckin' nommies if you'll let me in."

"How did you know to come here?"

"Ah sensed a disturbance in the fuckin' force!" he said in exasperation. "'Twas like a faggot cried out in terror an was silenced.' Now. Let. Me. Fucking. In."

"Uhh...I'm glad you were ...concerned? Enough? I guess? To...come out of your clinic and...walk all the way here ..I…I assume?" said Hanna, giving Toni the impression that this bird really didn't leave the roost much, and his rising-from-the grave indicated that this was some cause for concern.

She hadn't known Hanna or the rest for very long, after all, and she'd heard the name Worth, or Doc Worth, but she'd never connect the term Doctor with this guy. Come to think of it, hadn't she heard Conrad rant about him before?

I should pay more attention to him sometimes, she reflected sadly. Next time, even if he bitches for more then an hour, I'll inhale every word.

Worth stuck his head in the door and stooped down so he was nose to nose with the still grinning redhead.

"Ya didn't answer my question. Why 'asn't Princess Sparklepyre been by?"

"Princess...ahhaha" Hanna answered with an explosion of nervous laughter, weaving his two sets of fingers together, his grin suddenly, slowly slipping off his face.

Worth was Not Amused. He bit down on his cigarette and sighed, rolling the whites of his bloodshot eyes in a way that suggested he had been here before. "Don't start in with 't laughin' ya leprechaun..I get 'nuff of that from Mont…What the fuck did ya do?"

Hanna's lips trembled under Worth's accusatory gaze, his blue eyes shining and then, Toni could've counted it off- he broke. She supposed this had been the last straw. Worth obviously hadn't been shooting for this and the expression on his face when he got his prize would've been priceless …in any other circumstance.

"We fucking LOST him, okay? There-was-this-guy-who-showed-up-at-Conmans-door-while-he-was-getting-me-Oreos-and-stuff-and-he-had-a-gun-OKAY THAT WAS STUPID-but-he-also-had-a-ferret and I'm SORRY IF I'M INCLINED TO TRUST PEOPLE WITH CUTE FLUFY ANIMALS-"

The blonde man looked flustered, and put his hands up as if that would stop the torrent of emotion from flooding. Honestly Toni sympathized; this was a big cloud of Do Not Want.

"Wot the fuck...are ya even..."

Hanna's wringing of his hands quickly turned into flailing as he practically began shrieking. "-And and then he SHOT AT CONRAD-and-I-tried-to-stop-him but-my-spell-backfired and I got SHOT THROUGH A WINDOW AND THEN HE TOOK CONRAD AND THOSE OTHER TWO GUYS AND I HAVE NO IDEA IF HE'S DEAD AGAIN OR WHAT-"

"HolyfuckingJesuskid…Shuddup!"

Toni was so unbelievably happy for this to be over when Worth lunged forward and whacked Hanna across the face, silencing him and causing him to fly backwards immediately, with as much weight as a teddy bear thrown amidst a tantrum.

Of course she felt bad about it instantly and turned on the self proclaimed 'Doctor', dark eyes blazing, ready to show this motherfucker out of the nearest window (no matter how tiny it was: his ass would FIT).

"How dare you!" She spat.

"Toni," Hanna piped up suddenly, wiping his mouth, before letting out a small relieved giggle, not really a laugh, just an exhaustion of pent up air. "Stop."

Toni snarled, her heel digging into the tile floor, as she turned back reluctantly, as if being pulled back by an invisible lead, which was really just her new-found affection for him.

"I'm serious. Stop."

Sorry Hanna, but this guy just clocked you, and I'm not letting him get away with it... But hold on, the look on Hanna's now purpling face as he stared up at the blonde man was actually...better.

Waybetter. In fact, it was better than it had been every single damn time she had tried to cheer him up. For the first time in many days and long nights, he looked mildly at peace.

Toni's shoulders slumped, and even though she had never smoked in her life, she felt like she could've used a cigarette.If I'd have known punching him would've worked, I would've done that in the first place. Would've been stress relief for us both, she thought tiredly, thinking of sleep.

She turned to look at the blonde, who was still glaring down at Hanna. After a second or two more of contemplation, he made a noise that sounded like 'meh' reminding her of an angry billy goat as he continued to chew on his cancer-stick, and drew his arms over his bird-cage chest.

"Peachy. Now tha' you can put some words together, Can you explain 't me how the hell you manage lose a vampire? For fuck's sake Hanna, he's not a damn puppy, what'd ya do, leave the front door open?"

"You don't understand"! Hanna argued in a small voice, hugging his knees. "It was a vampire hunter. Abner Van Slyke... he...like I said, er, screamed, he was here at Conrad's condo waiting for him...and I..." he gulped down what felt to Toni like a lot of tears. "I let him in...and he...he took Conrad and two other vampires with him...and I don't really know if he's..." he stopped, closing his eyes for a moment.

Toni bent down immediately, wrapping her arms gingerly around him. He trembled for a moment, and for a second she had to work hard to remind herself that she was cradling a 24 year old man and not a child.

Hanna consisted of nothing, it was like under his skin and wiry skeletal frame there was just a cloud of nervous energy piloting his body, forcing it to sleepwalk instead of organs and muscles. Werewolves didn't have a lot of heightened supernatural senses, but they could tell a lot about a person, just by touching or sensing them. For that moment Toni realized why the zombie might've clung to him...he had a pull, a fragile pull, like an origami creation, but it was there nonetheless. He was all spirit and folded paper. He made a person nostalgic, he made them remember that they had emotions, not that Toni needed as much reminding as the zombie...or even...

Worth made a disgusted sound, a puff of air and smoke billowing out from between jagged teeth. He neared the door but didn't pass the threshold, lingering uncomfortably in the kitchen like a finicky coyote, skittering around the edges of a carcass. He certainly didn't look like he belonged in Conrad's apartment, even in a state of disaster it was still decidedly domestic, even homey. How the heck did he even know where it was anyway? Toni pursed her lips at the implications behind that question.

"Right. You just..." he made a strange, flippant hand gesture. He's probably on something, Toni thought, biting her lip as she watched him closely. Or several things.

"Jus'...be a good little hobbit an' hang tight," he growled. "Ferchristsakes Hanna, I don't know how the fuck you get me to do these things." Toni lifted her head, realizing too late that he was already halfway out the door, and then had proceeded to slink away down the hall. She could hear his faint footsteps on the stairs and then sighed in relief.

That was one less nutcase she had to worry about. At least while he was here he had seemingly both tired Hanna out and... Apparently punched him into clarity of mind.

Now for this nutcase- it was time for bed.

"Hey Hanna" she muttered. "You still want McDonald's?"

"...No," he replied in a low voice. "Not really hungry."

"You have to eat..." she said with a sigh. Poor Elmer, walked all the way there and back and now by the time he comes home no one will be eating.

"...Tired," Hanna mumbled, there had been other words, but somewhere along the way they had gotten misplaced.

She blinked in pleasant surprise. "Does that mean you'll agree to actuallysleep?"

Hanna sounded a bit calmer than before, thankfully, "Yeah, for a couple hours heh, don't let me be a Rip Van Winkle, repeat okay? I doubt Conman would appreciate us leaving him- wherever he is for 100 years." He took a deep breathe. "..and if...Worth for some reason shows up later, don't freak out okay? Wake me up." A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "I know you don't like him, but he kinda heh heh staples me back together occasionally. I need him".

She shook her head. "The company you keep...it suits you I guess." She smiled. "Okay. Lets go, kiddo." She really doubted that man would be back anyway.

"I'm 24," he said with a yawn.

She helped him to his feet. By the time she reached Conrad's room, she had to forcibly restrain herself from trying to tuck him in. That was one thing she was strict about—Hanna was the only one allowed to sleep in there and he always had to make the bed when he got up. If Conrad was dead again at least he wouldn't be rolling in his grave...too much.

Okay he wouldn't be happy to have Hanna sleeping there..but if Hanna needed to ...he would let him. That's why Conrad's pretty awesome.

She sighed, looking down at the mess of red hair again and admonishing herself for wanting to ruffle it.

24. He's 24. Her mind hummed in reprimand. He babbled to her a bit about runes and sigils and Bugs Bunny cartoons as she sat on the side of Conrad's bed, chatting back at him until he nodded off, and then she quietly crept off of it her weight barely making any suggestion of movement on the bed.

She turned away from the sprawled form of the amateur magician or warlock or whatever the hell he was- staring back at Conrad's Apple for a second. She felt guilty for wanting to open it, not really out of any desire to watch Youtube videos or do research, but just to feel kind of close to him. It was silly, she supposed, but it couldn't do any harm and if it made her feel better, why not?

She unplugged it carefully from it's comfortable place on the desk, picking it up very carefully and placing under her arm. She returned to the kitchen and poured herself some iced tea, stirring in as much honey as she could before sitting down and shakily opening the computer, kind of afraid it'd just break in half if she wasn't careful. She wasn't really a techie kinda person. In the past when she had used one, it'd always been her friend Sheila's beat up Dell. This thing was obviously at least twice that expensive.

As the login screen flickered to life, she began to hunt-and-peck the word 'velociraptor' and waited as the Mac hummed and started up, showing a valiantly colorful desk top, which was a web of red and black gear-ish graphics. She found herself staring at that alone. It was intricate and mathematical...Conrad had certainly designed it himself and she felt a surge of pride for him. He'd probably stayed up until 3 AM making sure it was perfect and had still woken up unhappy with it the next morning...but eventually he had gotten it right. If he hadn't liked it, he wouldn't have put it as his desktop. I'm sure assuming a lot, she thought, with a wince. I need to keep that in check.

She browsed around for a bit, a bit anxious at what she would find. She was curious but was trying not to be overly invasive. If Conrad was the type of guy who had any kind of porn, she really didn't want to see it. He probably hides it like a ninja if he has any at all, she reassured herself, and then cracked a smile when she thought of the day she and Veser had united to torture him with cheesy pick-up lines and racist jokes. He's such a prude. He's more likely to have like, Batman scans and kittens. Heh, totally, kittens.

Finally after puttering around for a few minutes, she found the folder. It was kind of obviously labeled 'Work' but for some reason she had equated that with excel sheets and calculations instead of well, drawings. Shouldn't there be a 'Drawings' folder?

She'd been wrong, he took his work seriously. The designs, whether it was for hair care products, or backgrounds and logos for web pages, she could feel the passion he'd put into heating up from the keys. It was an odd sensation- being a werewolf meant to experience everything with greater clarity and strength, but it also meant you could be easily overwhelmed. The link formed by the colors and patterns burned in her mind for a solid minute and she continuously clicked, flipping past different images, like memories.

"Finas, are all werewolves blue?"

Toni shook her head as if to shake water from her hair and closed the laptop, feeling a lurch of nausea. For a long time, she leaned back against her chair, afraid she might throw up if she moved and staring up at the modern paneled ceiling of the condo. It was only after a solid three minutes of recovery that she shakily got to her feet. But once she did she had to really reign herself in to keep from running into the living room like an escaped mental patient and flapping her arms, and screaming. With happiness.

She'd heard Conrad's voice! He was alive!

There was Veser, out like a light on the sofa with his terrifying mouth hanging open, half covered by the blanket she had thrown to serve the double purpose of mopping up excess drool and improving the general atmosphere of the room. Waking him up after ten hours straight of both being subject to his constant staring at her ass and having to weirdly surrogate-mother him, made Toni feel oddly helpless and it stopped her right in her tracks, but she swung back and forth on her heels in frustration.

I have to tell them! I have to let Hanna and the others know he's alright, said the crazy voice.

...But this is the first time he's s slept in days, a more reasonable one offered uncomfortably.

...Screw sleep! Conrad's alive! They'll be so happy!

They'll be just as happy if I tell him when he wakes up after a good four hours or so, Toni thought trying to reason with herself, but at the idea of waiting that long made her deflate and she found herself spinning slowly in place for a few seconds before leaning against the wall and crossing her arms in a rage- okay- a tantrum.

Dammiiiii-iiiiit! I wanna tell someone!

I have to tell someone!

She felt like her heart was beating out of her chest, singing to her like a stereo on full blast and it wouldn't slow down no matter how many times she drew deep breaths through her lungs. She was happy but at the same time it doubled-no tripled- those feelings of utter helplessness. The more she thought about it the less sense it made.

"Hey guys," she rehearsed in her head. "I kind of shared an empathetic link with Conrad and heard his voice but I have no idea where he is or how to save him."

Useful?"

It wasn't like they wouldn't believe her, I mean, selkie, werewolf, magician- a little telepathy was nothing in comparison...but...it just wasn't really worth waking them up yet, no matter how incredibly excited she was about it.

Toni all but resisted from stamping her foot into the now sticky tile floor. It's not fair, she whined inwardly. It's just-ugh!

"Is everything all right?" The voice was so flat it barely deserved the question mark loosely stapled to it. It wasn't a deliberate flat though, it was a mellow ambivalence, like cool concrete on a windy night in the park. Toni felt the muscles that were threatening to burst from her chest immediately relax- and the ability to make Toni relax was still not something she was so used to encountering. But Francisco had that effect on everyone.

Francisco is his name now, Hanna hasn't given him a new one since last week and 'Elmer' is grating on me.

His paper-lantern eyes cast an orange glow like two mini-flashlights on her probably kind of whacked-out-looking face. The small array of expressions he could express varied from mildly pleased, to calm, to mildly concerned- maybe, if the situation was dire enough. Right now she would've tagged it in the 'mildly concerned' category and it had stayed that way for the past few days, the more Hanna had sunken into uncharacteristic bogs of depression.

Or I don't know, he could be worried about Conrad too.It was really hard to tell how he felt, and her empathy didn't seem to work on the level three dead. But she could glean that whoever the zombie had been before he kicked it- now he was good. He was the best kind of good and he had brought McDonald's and coffee.

"Francisco!" she blurted suddenly, causing him to raise his eyebrows at her, which was impressive because he has maybe three or four way to emote- tops. In the course of three seconds Toni found herself across the room immediately hooking her arms around him and jumping into his arms, which were already full of paper bags that smelled like cheese and regret. She wouldn't have normally made it a habit to jump on people but she knew that one: the zombie didn't sleep and two: she didn't have to worry about any negative repercussions with him.

He frowned down at her genially, furrowing his brow and she continued in a spastic blather.

"I...I was...okay I was on Conrad's computer, and I know what you're gonna say and all, but Hanna found the password not me, and anyway, I wasn't doing anything bad I was looking, well, really staring at his artwork and-" she took a deep breathe. "I..I heard his voice!"

The dead man casually set down the bags which smelled like they were full of cheeseburgers and Mcnuggets, but he didn't try to push her away from him.

"Really?" he asked, jack-o-lantern gaze leveling before he glanced around as if he expected to see Conrad glowering from the hall. "Has he come back all of a sudden?"

"No, no," she said hastily, suddenly feeling awkward and beginning to loosen her grip as she looked up at him. "It's...It was like in my mind." Great Toni, she admonished herself. Way to sound like a spacecase.

"Oh," the zombie replied cordially. "You had a dream about him then."

Toni sighed "No, not exactly. I mean...haven't you heard of empathy?"

"Identification with and understanding of another person's situation, feelings, and motives" he quoted, straight from Webster's.

She was beginning to suspect that the only reason he blinked at all was to avoid making other people feel uncomfortable. She knew he'd read a lot of books about magic and investigation techniques since he'd started following Hanna around, but maybe he hadn't gotten to the more…intuitive branches of magic yet.

"Well, yeah," she said, taking a step back and running her hands through her hair, the words coming fast in a confused spill.

"That's right, but I mean, in a more...mystical sense...it's a bit less...textbook. Anyway..! I had a kind of…connection to Conrad because ..I dunno maybe he was thinking about me at the same time I was thinking about him, and I was concentrating really hard...and," she looked down, suddenly feeling an odd heaviness strike her all at once. Her shoes seemed like they were getting closer and closer as her knees began to give out with the sudden rush of blood to her head. Yet for whatever reason, her mouth kept moving.

"I know it doesn't mean anything because it's not like I can use it to actually help him or anything, and it's not like it's any reassurance that he's safe, but it's the only lead we have so far and it's proof that he's alive but I still can't help him so...

It's just..."

She took a deep breathe, but her lungs just wouldn't fill up with enough air " useless."

Somewhere along the way her head had drooped until her chin almost rested on her collarbone. Her heart made a rapid-fire ugly thudding sound like a croquet mallet beating down a wooden door in some low budget horror flick. She could feel her breathing changing into dangerous paces, whistling out raggedly. Toni knew what would happen by the time she felt her eyes begin to redden with irritation and then the rest just followed before she could stop it.

Toni was adamant about appearing strong, but she also wasn't as good as say, Conrad or Hanna at hiding her emotions...and it felt like the tears had been backed up over the past several weeks when she'd had to force herself to smile and lie through her teeth, were all draining out noow. She knew she 'd have to eventually do this but- Why now of all times, when she actually had some sort of proof that her friend was still alive and kicking- sort of? It was just that she so freaking unsure- and guilty- and she wanted Conrad back here where he belonged, fussing over the increasingly alarming rate at which his condo was getting trashed- and she had to make sure he was because if not it would kill Hanna and why couldn't' anything ever be simple?

For the first time since the 80's…I finally manage make some real friends. Close friends…and then one of them just disappears off the face of the earth. What kind of person am I, that I would allow that to happen?

She wanted to reach back around and kick herself in the ass, but the sobs kept coming. She placed her hand over her trembling face to cover it because she could feel the zombie staring at her even now- and how the hell was she supposed to know how he felt about it? Her skin burned with embarrassment, despite how much she tried to tell herself- he doesn't care- he's mellow- he's a zombie, she couldn't help but imagine that he was judging her weakness.

She was surprised to find herself being instantly eclipsed by lean forearms, hard only because there was very little flesh separating it from bone and what was there was toughened like worn out leather. Ordinarily she wouldn't have been lining up to hug the undead- but it turned out to be oddly comforting the way he smelled like nothing- if anything like it was a pleasant earthy smell, a cross between unground coffee and sand.

At the encouragement she buried her nose in his orange shirt and let her crying fall into a steady rhythm. She couldn't help but glance up once to check his expression, but it was the same as ever, maybe a little concerned- but placid. He had obviously spent enough time with them to learn a few things about how to deal with people- an important one being: when in doubt: hugs are great. Actually, she thought, burrowing, Hugs are pretty frickin' awesome.

Toni didn't even try to bother denying it, if the zombie had been alive and not well- all moldy green and glowly-eyed he would've been pretty hot, so she'd figured that he deserved a harlequin romance novel name. Francisco. But the general consensus she had reached was- He's like level three dead now- it'd be like dating a bone I buried. Plus he didn't seem overly concerned with romance at the moment when presumably, he couldn't even remember his own name. Keeping up with Hanna, the way he was normally, also must've been a full time job.

Well hyperactive psychotic Hanna is better than the mopey Hanna we have currently, she thought, beginning to sober up.

After it was over, Toni pulled away and wiped her tear-stained face on her sleeve, glancing at the bags of McDonald's and then back at the zombie, waiting for the awkwardness to set in. But actually it didn't. It just had seemed so natural- and neither of them seemed particularly bothered by it. He did however apparently, feel the need to say something to break the silence.

"You did well to hear him, but there's nothing more you can do for him other then try to keep things together here. You shouldn't agonize over it," he said softly. "Conrad is going to be fine...I don't know about you, but I've known that all this time."

How the hell are you so sure anyway, zombie? She thought suddenly, with a surge of uncharacteristic bitterness. Are you the voice of God? How do you know Conrad isn't ferret chow by now? Are you just standing there narrating everything while the rest of us act out little puppet shows for you?

"I just...I'm so scared for him" she muttered, feeling silly, like a whiny little five year old being comforted by a patient older brother "Wherever he is, he's all alone."

His voice was so distorted, it was like hearing an echo...and he sounded so weary. He might've been alive then...but how long will he stay that way?

The zombie shook his head at her, and gestured open palmed in her direction "Not entirely."

Does he mean those other two vampires? She thought, dumfounded Or...?

Toni squared her shoulders and shook her head to clear the thoughts scribbling inside her head like the doodles of a toddler with little motor control. I need a distraction…. I can't really think like this. She then strolled over, extracting a soda and a box of chicken McNuggets. "Well...since you say he's fine...I don't see the harm in taking advantage of his flat screen," she said flashing an uneasy smile, uneasy, yeah, but getting better. At least she felt a little calmer now that she'd gotten crying out of the way.

Followed by practically having an aneurism after discovering that the zombie couldn't remember having ever seen an animated Disney movie, they made their way through half of the Lion King before she fell asleep on the loveseat, curled in a ball with her hands hugging her knees. It was thankfully a bit before Simba's dad died, because even like, twenty years later she couldn't handle that crap.

The condo had gotten so unnaturally silent for a blissful couple of hours or so, and she was so exhausted that she couldn't fight the hooks dragging her down into a nod. The last thing she saw was an orange blur that was probably Francisco's back as he lifted himself up and walked slowly towards the room where Hanna was sleeping, a Neil Gaiman book straight from Conrad's shelf under his arm.

She felt like she had barely closed her eyes, of course, when the godawful racket started again and she drew the couch blanket (this one was blue, actually) further up to cover her eyes at the explosion of movement all around her.

"Hanna!" RAP RAP RAP.

"Did ya mix up a recipe for mustard gas or what? Let us in!"

First of all- Veser woke up…well…kind of. "Dude, shut the fuck up!" The teen snapped, aggravated. He was also a bit confused about the position he had fallen asleep in, cracking his neck and turning over like a grumpy child, to give the world his back as well as a huge 'fuck you'.

Thanks, leave me to deal with it, she thought, frazzled as she listened to the snarling outside the door, which was barely recognizable as the English language, a really bastardized, inbred version anyway. Crap...It's the Australian again, she thought with a groan, dragging herself to her feet. Hanna said I can't turn him into a chew toy. Bleh. As if he'd taste good anyway, he'd probably give me all kinds of pox.

She answered the door unceremoniously, almost causing Doctor Worth to fall forward because he seemed to be using the entirety of his upper body to make as much noise as he possibly could. His slouched posture stopped twisting mid air, slits of pale dishwater blue eyes barely visible and shining manic from burrows dark circles, like small, angry little animals.

"What?" she said, giving him the slackest, most bored expression she could force her face to relax into. It was an act of course, Toni had a hard time actually being bored with anything but she figured this sort of thing was the reason he had apparentlymemorized the route to Conrad's apartment anyway, so she might as well fill in the gaps for him.

They didn't have long to simply glare at each other however, because a few seconds later a sweaty tanned face appeared over his filthy-fuzz covered shoulder, black semicircles of dark eyes quirking up from a square shaped forehead. The man she would for now refer to in her head as "big lug" had a half moon smile and a mop of greasy black hair.

Despite how sweaty he was and the huge number of bruises painting his high cheek bones, Toni couldn't help but bite her cheek. He's super cute.

She forced down a few choice words, still feeling as if she'd only slept five minutes. How long had it been, like, three hours? That was the best track record so far, but spread out the course of a week it fell a bit flat and she wasn't all that happy about it The stupidly cute guy just gave her a nervous smile, and thankfully interrupted before his companion could say anything more, putting his meaty hand on one of Worth's pointy shoulders, which made the other man scowl and draw back as if he'd been burned by holy water.

"I'm sorry to disturb you guys, but I'm a friend of Hanna, Worth dragged me here, heh."

"Dragged 'cause you were too much of a pussy 't sign up voluntarily," the other man said without much sympathy in his tone (real shocker there).

Toni leaned against the door, blinking sleepily and crossing her arms over her chest "No offense but...Why are you two here?"

"Didn't come for 't the sake of 't company," Worth said again, this time flashing a glare at the Italian."Here fer an audience with His Royal Shortness if that's alright with you."

"Heh heh heh heh heh,"he tittered like a broken record, briefly pressing his palms together and Toni sighed inwardly. Aw man, he's cracked too. Why are all the cute ones dead or crazy? Then he stopped abruptly and cleared his throat."That's a good question..and I'd be happy to answer it, but uh, first...May we come in please?" He paused again, awkwardly and added, "Sorry, my name is Lamont." He smiled and offered his hand genially, "And you?"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Came the disgusted exclamation. "Ah already told ya her name was... Tony or some shit. One of those artsty-fartsy hipster names wot can be fer boys or girls. Can ya keep it in yer pants for ten minuites?" He turned fiercely on Toni. "And you. Move It. I'm sick of standin' in the fuckin' hallway."

Before Toni could answer, Worth rolled his eyes, flashing the whites of them and angrily shoving Lamont aside. He kicked the door and stomped past the werewolf and into the condo before she could even have the time to frown at him. It was more weariness than anything that kept her from moving- after all Hanna had told her to expect him even if she hadn't believed him at the time.

Lamont however hung back, giving her a shrug that said Oh well, ain't he a card?as if he was used to his friend, or whatever, breaking and entering on a daily basis. It really didn't seem like a stretch of the imagination, looking at either of them. Individually, they were trouble but together they were an entity that t looked like it belonged perfectly in Hanna's life for its sheer destructive potential.

She watched the Italian closely as he limped after Worth. It looked like he was carrying all his weight on his right hip, while the left one hitched uncomfortably with every stride. She didn't smell any blood on him however.He's got some kind of muscle injury though, she was certain of it.

She walked faster, following nervously as the Australian made his way past Veser who had fallen asleep again, this time curled into a tight ball in the blanket with his face in the couch. The Australian was weaving in his weird slithering, half-drunken walk through the condo (with far too much familiarity, Toni thought, but who knows, she could've been imagining it).

She winced as he burst the door open in Conrad's bedroom where Hanna was sleeping. The redhead, unlike Veser, was a very light sleeper and was immediately startled, popping up out of the plaid covers of the bed like a piece of toast with lots of strawberry jam spread over it.

"Woah-hey Worth!" said Hanna, rubbing his eyes furiously and quirking his thick ginger eyebrows. "Heh I knew you'd come back, you were bein' all mysterious and shit. Congratulations on Toni not mauling you and stuff."

The zombie put down American Gods. A tiny bundle of pages held between his green thumb and forefinger indicated that he was almost all the way through with the book. Folding the corner carefully, Francisco looked up to acknowledge that there was an angry Australian man huffing and puffing right in front of his face. "Did you find something else about Conrad's whereabouts?"

"Yeah, Worth," said Hanna with a huge, anticipatory grin. "Tell us what you found out!"

Now that Worth had all attention, he didn't seem to know quite what to do with it, and recoiled , distinctly ruffled. "Look this ain't 'Doctor Worth' 't the rescue or anythin' like that. I'm not in the business of goin' after dainty litt' damsels 'n what not."

"Yeah yeah, "you don't give a shit about Conrad"." Hanna mimed quotation marks in the air. "Whatever. I get it man. But if you know something, just spit it out!" he blurted hastily and continued staring at the Australian with huge expectant eyes.

"Yer damn right I don't give a shit 'bout Fagula," The Australian snapped back, bristling. "I just don't want ya cryin'on me all 't time..."

The younger man almost stood up impatiently, practically whining. "Dude, Worth please…"

Worth rounded on him, poking him in the chest. "An' I ain't yer fuckin' Dude either." He looked around for a bit and then honed in on the Italian, who raised his hands in a gesture that could only mean. No. No. Not Me.

"If ya want a lead, don't look at me, look no further than this dipshit here," he snapped, fixing two claw-like hands over those broad shoulders and pushing him forward into the proverbial spotlight. "A supernat'ral entity can't take a fuckin' leakin this city without 'im 'earing about it eventually an' I bet if ya poke him 'ard enough he can help ya."

"Worth" Lamont hissed, obviously not at all interested in being poked.

I need to tell Hanna about …ugh, this seems important. It'll have to wait.

Toni lifted her head, coming face to face with the Italian, brown eyes widening as she regarded his nervous mannerisms. "Do you know anything? Do you have any idea of what that Van Slyke guy could've done with him…if he didn't kill him?"

"I-…hehehehehe," Lamont responded, his eyes widening into round expressions of discomfort while his smile remained large and forced. "Yeah, that's kind of why- at least I think," he shot a glare at Worth. "That's why I'm here." He coughed into his own fist and straightened up. "I might…heh, I dohave certain connections that keep tabs on successful vampire hunters in the city..one of those…hehheheheh..."

Toni frowned in confusion as the man in front of her blushed and became broken up in one of those odd little fits. "She...She might have an idea of where he could've taken Conrad."

"She?" Hanna said, brow knitting- before he raised his fist. "Y'mean that vampire lady you've been screwing around wi-"

"Hanna" Toni said, wanting to laugh at the way Lamont's face suddenly turned beet red but somehow managed to swallow it down and settle for a twitching smile that she kept trying to force back down into a frown. Her attempts were unsuccessful.

Worth stuck his pockets into the enormous folds of his coat and drew himself up to the half-height he inhabited. Toni didn't even want to think about how tall he would've been if he'd stood up straight, like one of those giant spindly stick bugs one sometimes saw late at night. "Well I'm getting' t' the fuck out of here Hanna, and don't never say I never did nothin' for ya."

"I'd never say that," Hanna protested "Jeez why do ya have to be so crabby-"

"Wait Worth," Lamont said, his heavily lidded eyes widening. He walked closer, his smile beginning to flicker. "You can't drag me halfway across town at 8:15 am and then just leave me here..." With these freaks. Toni finished for him in her head.

Well, she couldn't blame him- she knew how it felt to be dragged from her warm bed so early in the morning in search of adventures and whatnot. 50 percent of the time it was really irritating, the other 50 percent was usually a lot of fun and like all other branches of the supernatural community, it was always pretty dangerous.

"Don't be such a puss Mont, I see you gaddin' about wif ghouls an' harpies 'n shit so don't tell me yer afraid of these clowns," the pseudo-doctor said, with very little sympathy.

Worth hunched over (more than usual), discarding his current cigarette and searching briefly for another in the depths of his filthy fur coat but apparently his quest was unsuccessful. He released an aggressive snort of breathe and went still for a moment...and then without warning he preceded to aim a punch at the zombie who had been standing very still, listening to all of this closemouthed and pensive.

There was a weak muffled sound, like someone had punched a bag of sand as the tall undead man stared down at Worth's outstretched fist with no more emotion than before.

"Why did you do that?" he asked wonderingly, no more offended than if say, someone had politely disagreed with views on global warming.

The blonde man squared his shoulders and whirled around again, socking Hanna quickly in the arm. However rather than reacting in favorable manner, the redhead only squeaked and almost fell off the bed, clutching his arm and glaring with a hurt, almost pouty expression. "What the hell,man!"

The "Doctor" hung there in disgusted silence and then pocketed his fist again. "'S not the same," he muttered sulkily, and then shook his head. "Fuck this."

The same as what exactly..?

"H-hey!" Lamont stammered as the blonde man began to stalk away.

"Thanks Worth!" said Hanna cheerfully, his eyes brightening as he heard the front door slam. From across the house, Toni winced when she heard what sounded like the entire coffee table tipping over and a harsh THUD which couldn't have been anything other than Veser falling off the couch. Or maybe Worth kicking him off the couch on his way out.

"HEY-! WHAT THE FUCK!"

Yep, he definitely kicked him.

"I knew I could always count on him," Hanna said with a copious and thoroughly undeserved amount of confidence and hope... Towards Worth. Directed at Worth.

"Hanna, you have terrible judgment," Toni said with a sigh as she thought about having to put up with another entire day of pick-up lines all along the lines of 'Strike yer panties and prepare to be boarded'.

The makeshift magician didn't hesitate- with a seemingly endless fountain of energy flowing under his feet, he sprung off the bed as if it were a diving board and landed without a hitch. Toni let a relieve smile replace the look of confusion on her features. It'd been way too long since she'd seen him like that and it was a relief- possibly a signal that they were getting somewhere and things were eventually going to be "normal" again. Or at least, as normal as it got around this place.

"Calm down, Monty," he reassured the nervous thug with a smile. "We're just trying to find our friend." He shook his head, "I don't know why I didn't ask you earlier if you knew anything about this Van Slyke guy. I mean duh, Lamont knows everyone. Well..." He shrugged "Everyone you can make a buck off of."

Lamont sighed, shifting back and forth on his feet. There was something in his eyes that told Toni that this- meaning Hanna's blue eyes- was exactly what he had been trying to avoid. I guess he just can't say no to Worth or something.

"What I do know isn't encouraging. He's known for being really adamant... He rarely lets vampires live under any circumstances. My lead..." He ran one of his hands through that incomprehensible tangle of greasy black hair. "If it's true it's a long shot, and I mean a really long shot. It's much more likely... I mean with his youth and everything..." He winced. "Hanna it's much more likely that he's gone."

Before Hanna's face even had time to fall, Toni interrupted, taking a swift glance from Francisco as a warning signal to butt in. She didn't need any other motivation. She'd been bursting to tell everyone about what she had heard since the moment it had happened.

"Conrad has to be alive," she broke in, not surprised at all when it caused everyone in the room to turn their eyes on her. But she didn't waver, after all she was used to that sort of thing.

"Or at least I'm certain he was three hours ago..I.." she paused for just a second, using the time to take a deep breath. "I heard his voice. With my...empathy. I'm almost sure it's because we were both thinking about each-other at the same time and I was focusing really hard...but the thing is..." she trailed off.

"He didn't sound like he was here did he?" Lamont answered for her, looking suddenly very resigned. "His voice was an echo, right?"

She frowned at him, eyebrows sinking downward as she nodded. "Yeah..exactly, but how did you know that?"

"Because fuck it- I do know where he is," he said, not looking very happy about it. "And it's going to be a giant bitch-," He blinked and cleared his throat. "I mean heh, it's really not going to be easy to get him out of there."

"Out of where!" Hanna and Toni both said simultaneously- Francisco remained silent but he looked more interested than usual, his dark slanted eyes narrowing and his jaw setting on that broad jaw.

"Cirque des Damnes," Lamont said the foreign name synonymously with a sigh, though he said it with an air of practice that led Toni to believe that he was in fact, used to the language. The name sent a gigantic chain reaction of ringing- like clanging church bells in Toni's mind. Hadn't she heard of that before? But where? In an old story..maybe?

She had already opened her mouth before seeing that Lamont had held up his hands to staunch the questions that bled from both of them like a mortal wound. "Hold on. I'll explain it later- and how Adelaide is involved. But this is important- Worth said there were other vampires with him when Abner took him. Which ones?/I What were their names?"

Hanna and Toni glanced at each other. It was right on the tip of her tongue- Breadstick-Man and Loafy. Lumiere and Cogsworth. Jay and Silent Bob. Crap Crap what were their names again?

Veser poked his head in the door, still very grumpy from being woken up in such a pleasant way. "What the fuck is going on in here?" he muttered, pointing at Lamont. "Who's that jack-off?"

Everyone ignored him.

"Finas and Casimiro," the zombie offered. "I think that was it."

"Heyguys-"

Lamont glanced at both of them, and suddenly the nervous laughter and blushing was back ten fold, in a gigantic eruption. Hanna shrugged and gave Toni a baffled look, poking the inconsolable Italian in the chest.

"What's the deal Monty, do you know them or something?"

"GUYS what's going onn-" Veser whined.

By the time they got him to calm down and explain himself, he was already cursing.

"Hehehehehe- Fuck."


As usual the beautiful coverart can be seen over at DA on the account of SuperCatGirl! Go check it out. Also characters and plots and everything are credited to Tessa Stone. 3 (I miss you, Tessa!)