Someone was shaking him. His face stung and he shook his head and looked down at Merril, her face veiled with concern. "What happened?"

Hewey and Haley were already seated and waiting. Merril lead him to a chair. "We don't know. You've just been standing there staring at the wall for the last few seconds and you just suddenly clawed yourself in the face! Are you ok?"

He raised a hand to the wound and was startled to see blood on his fingers. He'd done that to himself? He thought he heard laughter in his ear as his inner demon laid down deep inside of him to slumber. "I think so."

Merril perched on the arm of his chair. "What the Hell was that?"

Kevfire shook his head. He didn't really understand it himself. What was any of that supposed to have meant? Yes the bit about his goals was rather easy to understand, but he couldn't tell her about that. But that part of learning who he was? How was he supposed to decipher that?

He wasn't aware of his thumb stroking over the top of Merril's hand in a slow, smooth rhythm. It helped ground him, and bring him back into balance. "So, we were talking dance studio." He regard Hewey and Haley with some amusement. "How exactly are you two psychos going to help?"

Haley crossed her legs. "Well, Clayton told me that there's a small group of vampires that live in the sewers."

Kevfire bit back a laugh. "I thought that was where alligators lived. Why are they down there?"

Merril sighed and gave him a playful shove. "You know there aren't really alligators down there right? And they live down there because something went wrong when they were turned and twisted their bodies into hideous things. There's no way that could possibly walk around the city without causing a traffic accident."

Kevfire adjusted his position. "And how are they in any way helpful for this?"

Merril and Haley's eyes lit up. "Because they're information brokers. They can spread anything we give them as fast as the internet allows. Also they're willing to sell whatever they've dug up for the right price. On top of that they offer their services if another vampire needs something found."

"Oh so they're in the same business as me." Hewey added in.

Three pairs of eyes turned to him and he just smiled back. "That's what we ravens are used for. We do all of that but for wolves."

Kevfire's mind was reeling. So Hewey was in the information business. It was likely that he'd already sold much of his experiences here to different bidders. Worse he'd spilled much during their drunken trist. He began to wonder if Hewey's lustful advances had been a ploy to trick him into giving away vital information. As he studied the man he decided that it was unlikely he'd ever know. The worst part was, he didn't even remember what he'd let slip in his drunken, tearful ramblings.

Merril brought his attention back. "So, Hewey you'd be willing to spread word around through the wolves and the rest of the city?" He nodded with a wide grin. "Ok. Haley, have you ever even been to the sewers?"

She shook her head. "No, but I hear the most handsome men live down there."

The other three looked at her in disgust. "You did hear the part where they're all horribly mutated right?" Kevfire asked.

She shrugged. "Beauty's only skin deep. Because I like ugly men."

Merril and Kevfire gaped at her. They'd always assumed that she either was aromantic, or that the damage from the spell that took her memories had made it so that she didn't understand sexuality. But no, apparently every person she knew was simply too good looking. It was a shock to their systems, but suddenly Kevfire started laughing and clapping his hands. "It's about time you found something you liked."

Haley laughed a little with him. Merril elbowed Kevfire. "You get to give her the sex talk."

He blanched as he imagined the frustration of explaining the birds and the bees to Haley. She'd probably forget it all an hour later anyway. "Why me?"

Haley chucked a pillow at his head, laughing harder when it connected with his face. "You have the most experience!"

He groaned but agreed. He did indeed have the most experience of all of them. "So who's going to go shit diving with Haley?"

Merril groaned. It definitely wasn't her idea of a good time, but she couldn't let her go alone. The sewer dwellers were said to hate anyone attractive to the point where they'd turn people out of jealousy and spite. Behind the tangled hair, and tattered clothes Haley was easily above average in the looks department. She however was merely average. Cute, but nobody was going to pick her out of a crowd. "I'll go." Kevfire's hand tightened on hers. "It's ok. I've got this. Maybe I'll have to make one eat shit, but they're probably used to it."

The girls got up to leave and Hewey regarded Kevfire with amusement. "They're going to be in so much trouble."

They were in so much trouble. They had been wandering for the better part of a half hour trying to find someone, anyone. The sewers conveniently had maps of the tunnel system, but that didn't help them currently.

"Why won't they come out and play?" Merril kept her weapon in position before answering Haley.

"They don't know us so they have reason to show themselves." A thought occurred to her. "They're probably watching us, maybe hunting us."

Haley scoffed and scratched her head with the barrel of her rifle. Merril hissed angrily and told her to never do such a dangerous thing. Haley merely shrugged. "I've done it plenty of times and nothing's happened. Besides if they were following us we wouldv'e seen them by now."

"Not necessarily. I was taught in training that they have they same ability as the assassin cult, so they can just be pretty much invisible when they want to be. Or at least they can make your mind not register their existence and ignore them. Fish does that too."

"Fish?"

She couldn't have seriously forgotten her friend. Fish's disappearance had in fact started this mess. Merril whirled around intending to remind Haley of that small fact but stopped dead as she took in the pair of yellow eyes right behind her friend. She trained her pistol to the spot between the two gold orbs. "We're just here to talk and as a favor. Please come out so we can speak."

Haley turned, keeping her rifle at ease as more and more eyes appeared. Merril's heart sank as she took a quick count and realized how terribly outnumbered they were. Good thing that she was so hearty.

One approached, slowly his form became more apparent from the receding shadows. His head was misshaped, with lumps and bumps all over it. One eye was drooping down his face in the mass of scarred flesh there. His nose was practially non-existent, the nostrils however were large and cavernous. Merril's gorge rose and she quickly swallowed it back down. Haley on the other hand dropped her gun and nearly skipped up to the man. She twirled a bit of her tangled hair around her index finger and batted her eyelashes with a coy smile. "Hi, I'm Haley.

This was obviously not the response he'd expected. He turned back to the eyes behind him and pointed to Haley. "Can-can I talk to her?" There was a murmur that seemed positive so he extended his scarred and pockmarked hand. "Hi. I'm Sebastian."

Haley giggled, causing Merril to stare in horror. Haley never giggled. Sebastian seemed even more confused. "Uh, sorry for um-" He stopped and pulled a ski mask out of his pocket and put it over his face.

Haley frowned and reached out to take it off of him. "You know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?"

Sebastian fought against her to keep the mask down but after a short scuffle she managed to remove it and smiled at him. He looked behind him again before answering her. "I look like I got hit by a truck."

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I think you're handsome."

Sebastian blinked in confusion before viciously biting his own hand until it bled. As the vision before him didn't fade he let out a confused huff. "Thank you?"

Merril watched all of this with confusion and quite a bit of amusement. However it was time to rescue Sebastian and get down to business. She stepped forward and held out her hand. "Hello Sebastian, I'm Merril. Merril Smith."

A collective gasp went through the crowd followed by a thick silence. It was almost reverent. She kept her hand out, willing her heart to slow down. She didn't know what was happening and she was certain she wouldn't like it. The silence swelled, beginning to choke the air before Sebastian finally took her hand and shook it. "Ok, so why are you here?"

Merril cleared her throat. The past minute had spooked her demon, so she took a moment to clear her mind and soothe it. It was a stubborn beast and it was a short but vicious battle. "We are here on behalf of Kevfire De'Mir."

Sebastian said the name several times, all with different inflections and finally asked, "Person, place, or thing?"

Haley chuckled and Merril tried to ignore the fact that she was pick-pocketing Sebastian's phone. "A member of the main branch of the royal family."

The groan of annoyance and disgust that came from the group echoed down the tunnel, drowning out even the squeaking of the many rats, and the flowing water. Merril continued. "He asks for your aid in helping spread the word of his new dance studio. I have the details here." She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and held it out. "He's prepared to pay handsomely."

Sebastian took the paper and returned to his group, quickly being lost in the darkness. Merril grabbed Haley, who had made to follow, and dragged her back. "No. And what were you doing with his phone?"

She smiled at the smaller woman. "I gave him my number."

Merril sighed and noticed that Sebastian was coming back. He stopped at the same spot and gestured to the paper. "Ok, we can do this but we want more than just money."

Merril's heart sank. Of course they did. "What do you want?"

He smiled and she noted with some distaste that all of his teeth were sharpened fangs. "We'll be in touch about that." He pointed down a side tunnel. "Go that way and you'll find a ladder up and out. Same yourselves some time." He wandered back into his group and they watched as one by one the yellow eyes faded into black.

Haley huffed. "I wanted to play more with him."

Merril grabbed her and dragged her along down the path Sebastian had pointed out. "You left your number. You can play later." Haley huffed but followed, shaking herself free of Merril's grip. Even if Kevfire's plan failed, Merril was sure that their lives were about to get much more interesting. And that was just a headache. She'd given anything for a normal life instead of interesting.

Merril clasped her hands tighter behind her back. They had been waiting in Malcolm's office for the last ten minutes. It wasn't like him to keep them waiting. Kevfire was seated, staring at the ceiling, his mouth moving as he silently counted the tiles for the fifth time. Haley was pacing the room, occasionally stopping to examine something that was most likely far too expensive, and far too fragile.