Geoffrey was sitting at his desk, internally debating if he should mark Humphrey as disposed of in their listing. He knew most of his captains would put two and two together of his little outing and the sudden checking off of an Ekon on their list. At the same time however it would be a waste of resources to send men to do reconnaissance of a man who was already dead. He gave a heavy sigh and decided that it was better to just leave well enough alone. He could always update the list before he resigned himself to his fate at the hands of his men. The hunter put the list aside and instead tried to be more productive, looking over some of the lists of supplies needed from some of his captains, it… wasn't going well, he still felt off kilter and too full of energy from his outing earlier in the evening. When was that feeling going to wear off? He wasn't sure if he felt more powerful or just plain antsy. Unable to focus, McCullum got to his feet and wandered to the main hall to speak with his captains.

As soon as he entered the room every muscle in his body tensed up as the heavy smell of blood clogged the room. Geoffrey had to fight the instinct to bare his fangs, if any of his men had looked at him he was sure his fragile cover would have been blown. He wasn't sure if he was thankful that they were all staring at the man, boy really, who was laying between the rest of his squad with a hand pressed to his ribs. Before… before it would have been hard to wager how badly he'd been hurt but now he could tell that the cut must be deep just based on the amount of the blood that was being wasted on the floor. His vision wobbled into that strange monochrome briefly, and he could see exactly where the boy had been cut open… He swallowed and shook his head as the captain who was likely in charge of this squad approached him, barely dragging his focus away from the enticing horror before him.

"Sir, Peterson says they were set on by a whole pack of those feral skals… they're lucky they got away at all." he said, still looking at the boy on the floor and not at his leader.

"We'll see about that…" McCullum growled "Did anyone get ahold of the medic?" he turned back to the captain.

"Well they just got in-" the other man started before Geoffrey stalked away with a wordless growl. At the very least going to retrieve whoever was on hand tonight gave him an excuse to step away from what was spilling all over the floorboards. He took the briefest of moments just outside the door, taking deep, unnecessary breaths of air that wasn't overwhelmed by the smell of blood. It didn't matter that that hunt had only been earlier this evening, the hunger curled and snarled in his stomach as though it were a separate creature from himself, trying to bend him to its will, to turn him into something that he wasn't. He ran his tongue over the fangs that refused to recede, shuddered, and went to find whomever was around tonight who could try to keep this kid alive.

McCullum stormed out after retrieving Peters, who had been tending to an infected bite wound at the time, with a muttered excuse of trying to scope out where they had been attacked. Walking the streets, he wasn't entirely sure where he was going, he considered briefly walking to the graveyard but he didn't think that he could face Carl's ghost as he was. Instead he simply wandered, hungry and angry, until he started to feel a bit more in control. The cold bitter wind helped to clear his head and after about an hour he started to make his way to the area that he had caught in the turbulence of the conversation with Peters and the captain. It didn't take long to find the area that they had been ambushed in; the screeches of the Skals were a dead giveaway. Geoffrey started stalking toward the point from which he'd just heard a howl. Unfortunately, he didn't hear the one behind him until it was already trying to leap onto his back. Whirling around he lifted a hand, initially intending to mitigate some of the damage and blinked when the Skal collapsed to the ground, a bloody spear dissipating into mist as it gave it's final twitches. The hunter blinked, startled further out of his anger and looked at his hand. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd done that but that was definitely something that they'd only seen more powerful Ekons do. Another one of the Skals screeched and he turned back to the direction he'd first been facing and raised his sword for the fight.

Clearing out a whole nest of Skals on his own was something that would have been suicide a week ago. It would have taken a lot of planning and anticipating the loss of several men. But now…? Now it was child's play. The skills he'd had before paired with the natural endurance and strength made for a deadly combination and that was before he accounted for the cursed abilities that he was developing and learning to use. Throughout the fight he'd mostly figured out the trick of throwing blood spears… mostly. It was rather tiring and he found his crossbow more reliable and easier to aim however. He was pushing dawn when he finally found his way back to headquarters. McCullum's plan had been to scurry back to his room and crash before anyone found him but Lloyd was still up, scrubbing fruitlessly at the stained floor. Geoffrey felt his nostrils flare at the mixed smell of cleaning chemicals and blood and hoped that his friend didn't notice.

"Rodger's in bed, Peters says if he makes it through the night that he has high hopes."

"That's good," Geoffrey coughed slightly at the smell, turning his head away and taking a few steps over to start taking the crossbow off of his arm "not good that he's still touch and go, but good that Peters' has hope." the hunter grumbled. He flexed his fingers a few times, hoping that that would ease some of the cold in the bones and would make it easier to work the straps loose from his arm. There was still some blood under his fingernails from where he'd slashed a Skal open with his own claws, but it was no worse that it would get from a regular fight. At least he hoped not.

"Are you alright boss?" Lloyd asked, looking up from what he was doing.

"Yeah?" McCullum said, breathing a sigh of relief when the strap finally came unstuck and the top half of the crossbow thunked gently to the table.

"You seem out of it, I know it's frustrating when they come back injured but there's nothing that you could've done." Lloyd said, giving the floor one more solid scrub with the brush before seeming to decide that it was a lost cause and dropping it back into the bucket with a splash. The hunter realized that the other man was taking his twitchiness from the hunt as guilt for a man injured. It was definitely preferable but now Geoffrey was just feeling guilty for not feeling guilty.

"I know, doesn't make it any easier." he said, he wasn't even sure if he was lying at this point. There was something he could've done though, he could've been there with them, kept them from getting hurt. He was just too much of a coward to face the repercussions of his own actions. To let his men see what had happened and to let them rid the world of him easily. Lloyd stood, grunting as his joints popped in the process and walked over to the younger hunter, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Geoffrey flinched slightly, suddenly hyper aware of the pulse that he could swear that he could feel through the captain's fingertips and the intense smell of cleaning chemicals that still clung to his skin.

"You know that I'm always here for you Geoffrey?" Lloyd said "If you need to talk, or even if you just want to drink and forget the evening, I think I've got a bottle stashed up in my bunk somewhere." he nudged the leader in the shoulder and McCullum could feel just about every muscle in his body clenched tightly.

"Thanks but what I need tonight is some sleep." Geoffrey said gruffly, trying desperately to ignore the fangs throbbing in his gums and turned to walk away. He could feel Lloyd's stare into the back of his shoulders but he didn't turn back, didn't trust himself not to bare fangs in the process.

He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow and his dreams were stained in red and drowned in sweet relief. He awakens the next evening half expecting to see blood coating his hands and a body in his arms. Instead it's just the ceiling of his room, a blessedly boring relief. Were the dreams his own sick and warped desires coming to light or was it the influence of the damned doctor? He couldn't tell anymore and it made a cold snake of fear worm its way down his spine at that thought. How long would it be until he couldn't keep them isolated to his dreams? The hunter swallowed, trying to ignore the icy cold pulsing of want in his throat and stomach. He had work to get through first.

The other early showing captains and recruits greeted him pleasantly as he heads down the main room to work on some of the files and reports that have been stacking up. He nods at them in turn and forces himself to focus on the more tedious bits of running a vampire hunting group. A cup of tea is set at his elbow and he picks it up and takes a sip before the idea even truly registers with him. Immediately his stomach turns, as though he'd taken a gulp of soured milk. McCullum rises swiftly, trying to mask the disgust that must be evident all over his face as he made his way over to the closet of a bathroom that they had and turned on the water to mask the sound of his retching into the bowl. He stood there for several moments longer than was probably necessary, his stomach still trying to dry heave as the only thing that had been in it was so quickly evacuated. When he left the bathroom he received nary a glance, which meant that they were all trying desperately to pretend that they hadn't heard that or he'd been more covert than he'd thought. Geoffrey didn't know which was better but thankfully none of his men brought it up to him.

He continued to work through the paperwork they had and looked back into the list that they had compiled of the leeches known to be associated with the Ascalon club. He planned to continue to thin their numbers but he was musing whether he should continue to go after the small fry or just gun straight for the top. Storming the main building wouldn't do any good, their last, poor attempt had proven that with surefire clarity. He scanned the list of names again. Some of them didn't seem to keep up with the Club's goings on regularly, probably best to start with them, no one would notice for some time if they just… disappeared without a trace. Then he could try to go after those closer to the top, see if their bloodlines were as powerful as they claimed… Geoffrey made a mental note of his next quandary and then made his rounds, speaking to the captains and recruits alike, boosting morale where he could and providing guidance where he couldn't.

Geoffrey waited to head out until most of the rest of the patrols had left for the evening. He checked his ammo and touched the sword at his side in comfortable habit as he reached for the door. He froze when Lloyd's voice stopped him at the door.

"Sir?" the older man's voice sounded slightly worried and McCullum almost flinched. It wasn't as though he'd been caught doing anything he shouldn't have been, so why was he so uptight about it?

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to face the captain. Lloyd looked worried, which either meant that he was onto Geoffrey or that the hunter was about to get a lecture about pushing himself too hard. That thought made him scoff, how could he push himself too hard anymore? He was a dead man walking.

"Where are you going?" the older captain asked. Geoffrey noticed that he looked ready to go out himself, that was a rarity these days. They both knew that Lloyd was getting older and slower, he was of much more use to them back here at base, keeping things running and teaching the newer recruits the ropes than he was out in the field.

"Out. Does it matter?" Geoffrey asked, taking a step back from the door in order to better face the man.

"Geoffrey." Lloyd sighed, leaning back against the wall "I'm worried about you. You've barely been back from that fight with the leech doctor and you keep wandering out, alone."

"I can take care of myself." McCullum growled. Lloyd raised his hands in a placating matter and shook his head

"I'm not saying that you can't, I'm just saying that you haven't been entirely yourself. I'm concerned, let the old man have his worries." the captain said

"You didn't see what he's become Lloyd…." Geoffrey said honestly, shivering as he thought of the night that he'd attempted to fight the monster that the prodigious Doctor Reid had become. "I don't say this lightly… but I believe we have a Dragon on our hands. I… I'm still not sure how I made it out of there…" He hated lying to Lloyd, but it was necessary, he needed to keep himself in one piece long enough to assist in taking down that leech.

"Are you sure Geoffrey?" Lloyd asked, deadly serious now. McCullum nodded, clenching his fists and trying desperately not to call on his claws. "How are you so sure?"

"I looked into that monsters' eyes… I thought I'd seen true evil before that but I was wrong. I looked into the devil's eyes that night. We need to keep the rest of London from falling to this monster." Geoffrey said

"And how does you wandering the streets help with that?" Lloyd asked, a frown creasing his face as he cut back to the original accusation.

"I've been doing some reconnaissance." Geoffrey grumbled "I told you this, the fewer men are involved, the less likely we are to be found out." he had turned back to the door, ready to walk out on the conversation even if it ended up being a bit childish. Lloyd gave a world weary sigh and stood back up, moving away from the wall.

"Alright, you've made your point sir, but can you at least inform us of where you're going? If you don't return in a day or so I want to know where to look for a body." he said, wrapping his own scarf a bit tighter around his neck, clearly preparing to head out the door into the cold London night.

"I was headed to West End." the leader said before opening the door, and ending the conversation.

-Twisted Fate-

The Ekon that he'd decided upon tonight was even easier to take care of than Humphrey had been. The damned leech had been practicing his fancy fencing in his gardens, it made Geoffrey scoff, how someone could have all the time in the world and not put some time into some legitimate swordplay was beyond the hunter. He dropped down and was able to completely sneak up on the bastard before he was even noticed. The Ekon had sneered at him, another who seemed completely incapable of discerning that he wasn't human any longer. He was glad that he was in a secluded area when he drained the bastard as he needed to sit. He still couldn't control the shaking, trembling feeling that overcame him when the blood poured down his throat. Not as powerful as Humphrey, though damned if he could explain how he knew that to anyone. Instead he leaned back against one of the trees that was probably more valuable than the entire headquarters and just tried to ride out the euphoria that trembled in his veins. There was a click somewhere nearby, the sound of a gun cocking and Geoffrey froze, the feeling amplified after the shock of blood into his system.

"How long?" the voice caused a stone to drop straight through McCullum's stomach. It was Lloyd. He must've followed him here, how much had he seen? Did it matter when the evidence was plastered all over his face?

"How. Long?" it was a command this time. He could hear Lloyd's heart hammering in his chest.

"Only a few nights." Geoffrey said, shifting slightly, despite the shaking in his hands making it difficult to do.

"Why?" Lloyd sounded choked. It probably pained him to see the man that he'd had a hand in raising become the very thing they'd all sworn to kill.

"It wasn't…. by choice." Geoffrey growled, pausing as another shiver of euphoria rocked down his spine.

"The doctor…" Lloyd stepped out into the clearing of the garden into plain view. Geoffrey regarded him through half lidded eyes before nodding.

"Aye, I… well I didn't exactly make it out of the fight alive." he said with half a smirk. The idea at humor didn't seem to go over very well as Lloyd frowned.

"You didn't…" the captain hesitated. They both knew what he should've done, Lloyd clearly wanted to know why Geoffrey hadn't gone through with falling on his sword as he should've done.

"I wasn't lying when I said I faced down a Dragon. You're gonna need every scrap of help you can get." McCullum said carefully. The frown on his captain's face just deepened.

"Priwen doesn't collaborate with leeches." he spouted, hand tightening on his gun. Geoffrey sighed

"Neither do we kill humans. I haven't forgotten that Lloyd." the leader rumbled. "Nor have I broken that."

"Why should I believe you? You've been parading around, pretending to still be one of us for the past several days." Lloyd said.

"Look in my eyes Lloyd, you know that the eyes don't lie." Geoffrey looked at the older man. Lloyd flinched like he'd slapped him.

"I'll have none of your tricks!" he snapped before it was followed with the sharp retort of the pistol. Geoffrey flinched at the bullet tore through his shoulder, the pain was intense but it helped to bring him back to reality, down from the high that the blood had brought him to.

"It's not… a trick." McCullum ground out. He knew that if Lloyd had wanted to end him with that shot, he could've, that had been a warning. The wound was quickly closing, the fresh blood in his system being put to immediate work. There was pressure on his chest that swiftly turned to pain and the leader looked up to see his captain slowly pressing a stake into his chest, easing underneath the sternum. Geoffrey resisted the urge to shove the other man off of him, if this was how he was dealt with, so be it.

"Tell me now… leech." Lloyd spat the words as if they were poison in his mouth. McCullum grit his teeth, fighting through the pain to give an answer.

"I haven't forgotten my values, all leeches need to die. Even me. But you need me. Reid is… has become… a Dragon. Take my head… but take my help first…" he managed, the stake was definitely pressing into one of his lungs now, the blood spurting out of the wound around Lloyd's gloved hand. The older man stared him down for another moment that felt like it stretched into eternity before slowly removing the stake from his chest. The removal of the wood left his skin itching and squirming and he resisted the urge to lift a hand to rub at it.

"It rubs me the wrong way… but if what you say is true and he is a Dragon… we're going to need all the help we can get." Lloyd grumbled, taking a step back from him, wiping the blood from the stake on his coat. Geoffrey sat up a bit more, cautiously, he didn't want to startle Lloyd into shooting him.

"I certainly have no reason to lie to ya." he said, taking a full breath, unimpeded this time and spat some of his own blood off to the side.

"No reason but your own nature." Lloyd said, tensing up as McCullum rose to his feet. The leader sighed.

"I didn't want this Lloyd."

"That's what makes it hard Geoffrey." Lloyd said, finally looking at him. "We've all seen this. We all know how it goes."

"I know." the younger man said, he thought of all the men he'd seen over the years, turned out of spite or accident, it didn't matter, they all lost themselves eventually. Most had the foresight to turn themselves in, but there were one or two every few years that had to be hunted down. "I… can feel it, Lloyd. The yearning to just bury myself in the bliss and never come up again…" he flexed his hands, the blood obeying his call and wrapping around his fingers in the dark claws they'd all seen shred through skin and muscle alike. "I don't know how long I have." he admitted, it was harder to say out loud than he'd thought. He already knew that he was walking on borrowed time but every kill he made made him think that he could just keep going, just like he had always done.

"Then we best work fast." the older hunter said, and then looked uncomfortably at the claws on Geoffrey's hands "How many of those tricks you got?"

"I don't know." Geoffrey said honestly "The…" he hesitated, unsure how much of this information that Lloyd would actually want to know "the more that I… consume, the more of them seem to appear." he said. The older hunter gave him a disgusted look and McCullum sighed, letting the claws go and starting back toward headquarters, rubbing the blood from his face as they went. Lloyd followed after him a moment later and the fledgling could feel the captains' gaze burning a hole in the back of his coat.

"What is it?" he asked, pausing to look behind him. Lloyd looked at his face, seeming slightly more comfortable now that the evidence of what his leader had become was no longer in plain view.

"Who was he?" Lloyd asked, jerking his head back toward the garden that they'd just left.

"Thompson." Goeffrey said "Some minor lord associated on the fringes of the Ascalon club. "Technically" a member but our records don't show him leaving his manor much. I didn't want to rise too much suspicion out of the club too fast, figured this one wouldn't be missed." the leader shrugged, he was trying to act as though it'd been more about disposing of the member of the Club rather than filling his belly with the power that the other leech had.

"I… see. So this is why you wanted our data on the Club? To start getting rid of them?" Lloyd said, matching his pace now and keeping his eyes shifting from corner to corner. Goeffrey hadn't thought much of how much easier it was to see in the dark but it was now blatantly obvious that his captain was struggling to see through the dark corners.

"Yes." McCullum nodded "I… The damned doctor's powerful, too powerful for me right now. I needed to increase my own power and the Club has been a thorn in our sides for so long now. I figured two birds, one stone." He could see Lloyd shiver out of the corner of his eye but didn't say anything. The other man kept quiet as well as they continued on their way back to headquarters. Dawn was just starting to peek over the edges of the building as they made their way inside, much to Geoffrey's relief. Being caught out in the sun didn't seem like it would help in his quest much. There was no one else in the main room as they entered and Lloyd went into the kitchen to fix a cup of tea. McCullum sighed and settled down in one of the chairs for the talk that he was certain was coming his way.

"So." Lloyd said after getting the kettle on and settling across from him. "What is your plan?"

"Take out as many members of the club as I need in order to be able to have the power to take care of the leech doctor, turn myself in, hope you make it quick." It felt strange to rattle off his own death in a short to do list but it was the honest truth and the more he reminded himself of the fact, the easier he hoped it would become to swallow.

"And how many is that? All of them? A few? What if you get rid of the entire Club and it's still not enough, what if it's never enough?" Lloyd pressed. "Geoffrey you said yourself that it's hard to resist, what happens when other leeches aren't enough."

"It won't come to that." Geoffrey said quickly

"And what if it does?" the older man said

"I hope that one of you would stop me long before that." McCullum said, trying to stifle the yawn that was trying to work its way out. The rising presence of the sun was starting to weigh heavily on his consciousness, he wanted nothing more than to sleep but he knew that this conversation needed to happen and Lloyd brought up some good points.

"If it were that easy I would've already put that stake the rest of the way in ya." Lloyd said. "So how far are ya gonna take it?"

"With… how everything has been so far…" Geoffrey tried to consider what he had already found himself capable of and what he'd seen the leech doctor do during their fight. "Taking out the inner circle within the club will probably put me at enough of an advantage to give me a fighting chance. If our sources are correct, the inner circle are from old bloodlines and are old blood themselves. If our sources aren't correct… well then I suppose it'll be a bit of a challenge against the doctor but I've always liked a tough fight." McCullum said, trying to insert a bit of humor into the moment. Lloyd clearly wasn't having any of it as he stood to take care of the now whistling kettle. Geoffrey struggled to keep his eyes open as he could hear the older man moving about the kitchen. Daytime was… a struggle. He'd jerked himself awake at least twice when the captain returned with a steaming mug and a pile of papers.

"So… this is our current list. We can cross Thompson off, any others?" Lloyd said, though the words were blurring together a bit for the leader. "McCullum?" Lloyd asked, raising a brow at him. Geoffrey shook his head

"Humphrey. Can this wait until the evening?" he asked, succumbing to the yawn this time, sure that he accidentally flashed his fangs at the captain based on the worried expression he got when he opened his eyes again.

"...it would be best if we could settle on a target prior to going to bed. In the evening I can send some scouts out to confirm some locations for the others while we go on your hunt." Lloyd said, looking back down at the papers in his hands. Part of that statement stuck with Geoffrey.

"We?"

"I'm not going to let you go alone. Someone needs to keep a leash on ya."

"Alright, hand them over," Geoffrey sighed, gesturing at the small pile of papers. The captain grimly passed them along so McCullum could choose his next target.

-Twisted Fate-

The following evening started just like any other, though McCullum was still adjusting to being forced to sleep until sundown. He didn't like the fact that his new status took some of his normal working time from him. Not that it would matter for long… he sighed, signing off on the few remaining bits of paperwork that needed to be done. Lloyd had already sent scouts out on the other members of the inner circle that they'd pinpointed the previous morning; they were hoping to get more information on their residences while it was still daylight and any leeches would still be holed up inside. Meanwhile himself and Lloyd would make their way to Atkinson's residence as soon as the usual routine was handled back at headquarters. Geoffrey checked his crossbow, the edge of his sword and the pistol at his hip before heading out into the cold of the London night. Lloyd was waiting for him, rifle slung across his back.

"Are you ready?" he asked his leader. McCullum nodded, leading the way through the quarantined districts, pausing now and again to let the older man catch up until he stopped, ears catching the sound of a Skal's howl in the distance.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"Skal, this way." the younger hunter said, continuing forward without checking that the captain had followed. He used the shadows to slip up to the top of a short building nearby and then peered over the edge. The Skal was howling near a bin, probably trying to paw through it for something that it deemed edible. Geoffrey dropped down to the cobbles behind it as silently as the shadows would let him. The Skal still turned to face him with a vicious screech despite his efforts. McCullum just snarled back, baring his own fangs at it before moving forward with his sword. As he did he could feel the shadows around him, and pulled on them ever so slightly, wrapping them around the blade just as easily as he would a bit of fabric. And then the cold metal and shadow bit into the Skals' flesh, shadows bursting out into spikes at the slightest provocation and doing enough damage to stagger the beast back. Geoffrey could feel the low growl work its way from his chest as he stalked forward, about to dive for the jugular when there was a sound like thunder and the Skal fell back, blood oozing from the neat hole in its head. Geoffrey turned to see Lloyd, gun still smoking where he stood at the end of the alleyway. The older hunter looked between the body and Geoffrey briefly before holstering his weapon.

"C'mon, we still have a bit to go before we get to the house." he said, clearly not wanting to acknowledge what he'd seen in his commander only moments before.

"Right." McCullum didn't exactly want to talk about it either and followed after his second. The silence between them was no longer that of simple companions but that which could nearly be cut with a knife it was so tense.

Geoffrey was about to open his mouth to speak on the matter, awkwardness be damned, when Lloyd nodded at the house at the end of the street, where they could both see lights on in the parlor. McCullum looked up and down the street, keeping an eye out for the cops. Two men of their appearance would not go unnoticed on the nicer streets and it wouldn't be the first time that the hunter would have to back down from a hunt just because someone had called the coppers on them. Thankfully the streets were devoid of anyone, the cold probably shooing even the nightowls off into their homes. Geoffrey gave a sigh, stuffing his hands even deeper into his pockets and looked over to the older hunter who just gave him a shrug.

"Now what?" McCullum asked, he glanced back to the house, gaze slipping into that which he'd first awakened to, Lloyd's heart become a veritable beacon next to him while those inside the house were more muted by the walls. Atkinson was clearly not the only one in his home, there seemed to be a fair amount of staff there as well.

"What do you mean? I figured you'd just… well you know." Lloyd said, gesturing vaguely at the house. "I can't exactly make the same plans that I would since you're one of them now…"

"Lloyd," Geoffrey let the strange change in his vision drop to better look at the older hunter. "I can't even get in the building like this."

"Can't you command one of them to let you in? Not that I approve of such manipulation but it is an option."

"It's not." McCullum growled

"I know that you may not want to-"

"It's not a matter of want, I don't know how." Geoffrey admitted. Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Great, not only am I working with a leech, I'm working with an incompetent one." he grumbled. Geoffrey growled slightly at the implication and Lloyd gave him a suddenly wary look. It was only expected that the man would mistrust him, but McCullum hadn't anticipated that it would hurt this much. The leader paused, looking at the building again, musing. This first one would be harder, they hadn't had a lot of time to prepare, and a lot of their plan would have to be improvised. A trickle of an idea sprung to mind and he began heading toward the back, waving Lloyd to follow him.

"Follow my lead." he said, stashing his sword in the bushes. He hated to leave it behind but he needed to set it aside for this to work. After that he walked up to the back door and gave a quick knock. There was a pause and then he could hear someone coming before the door opened a crack, revealing a suspicious looking older woman.

"Excuse me ma'am, my associate an' I, we couldn't help but notice that yer chimney looks as though it could use a good sweep. We're on our way to another job, but if you or your boss would like, we'd be more than happy to talk about our prices with ya." Geoffrey let his accent slip a bit deeper and tried to give the most earnest look he could, as though he really were just a man looking for a bit more work to make ends meet. The older woman brutally stared them down for so long that Geoffrey was sure she was going to turn them away. And then she sighed and fully opened the door.

"You're in luck," she said "we've been in the market, please come in, and I'll see if Master Atkinson is able to take a visitor." She turned away from the door and McCullum was grateful that her invitation was qualified enough to let him in the building. Lloyd followed cautiously after him, trying not to let his coat float open to reveal the firearm within.

"Please wait here." she said upon arriving in the kitchens. The pair of guards stood, waiting silently while other servants scuttled about with different tasks until the older woman returned.

"He can see you now." she said, waving a hand briefly and not looking to see if they actually followed. She knocked briefly on a nice wooden door before opening it and gesturing them inside. Atkinson was working on something at his desk when the older woman shut the door behind them and didn't look up until the steps receded down the hall. When he did his face was that of surprise

"You." he spat

"Me." Geoffrey grinned