"Parker? Cub?" Aimée called out softly as she knocked on the Squire's bedroom door.

When she didn't get a reply right away, she leaned in closer to the door. She normally made an effort not to use her powers around Parker (or any other humans for that matter), but right now she wasn't concerned with being polite and she allowed herself to use them to hear what was happening inside Parker's bedroom. Almost immediately she could hear Parker mumbling something she couldn't quite make out because even with her supernatural gifts Parker was speaking too quietly for to Aimée to make it out.

"Cub?" Aimée tried again in a louder voice. "Parker? Is everything okay?"

Aimée winced when she heard something fairly large and heavy crash down on the bedroom's floor. Now she could hear Parker cursing quietly and violently. It sounded like Parker tripped over something because she then started to insult her furniture and its maker. While she listened to Parker's quiet tirade, Aimée couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh at or apologize to Parker for startling her and causing her to stumble over what sounded like practically everything in her room.

"Cub? Sweetie are you…?"

Aimée cut herself off when she saw Parker's door open a crack. She remained where she was, expecting that Parker would open it the rest of the way and invite her in. At the very least she anticipated meeting Parker at the door to have a face to face conversation, but instead she as met only with open air.

Very gingerly Aimée pushed op the door wide enough to see inside. When the full state of Parker's room came into view, Aimée threw her hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp of surprise. The chair Parker used to apply her make up at her vanity was laying on its back with hits legs in the air and covered in discarded clothing, a couple of the drawers from her four drawer dresser were flipped upside down haphazardly on the floor with their contents draped over and around them like victims after a plane crash. Aimée's eyes moved slowly around the room taking in the carnage and completely forgetting why she had originally come up to this bedroom.

Aimée shook her head at the state of disarray and without any conscious thought started to pick up random articles of clothing. She moved closer to Parker's bed to start a pile of the freshly folded clothes. Once her hands were empty she turned to pick up more clothing to fold, her eyes finally landed on the human who she had originally been seeking when she came upstairs.

"Oh Cub," Aimée sighed out sympathetically when she saw Parker standing in front of her nearly empty closet because the majority of her clothing was piled up around her feet.

At hearing the bearswan's voice, Parker turned to face her and then she virtually collapsed onto one of the piles of clothing at her feet. Without any conscious thought Aimée rushed to her side and wrapped her in a tight hug. Parker immediately cuddled into Aimée's embrace as silent tears started to sill out of her eyes.

Aimée rubbed Parker's back as the human curled up into her side to use the bearswan's baby bump as a pillow. Aimée then started to pet the length of the human's hair as she tried to calm her down.

"Shh Parker, it's okay. We'll find out who broke into your room and destroyed it. And I promise they will be banned from Sanctuary for life, okay? It's going to be alright Cub. Now, have you noticed if anything is missing?"

Parker tried to laugh through her tears, but her crying had become so profound that it turned into a choking sob. She then tried to calm herself down but all that that did was cause her to start to hiccup as her tears continued to flow freely.

"Shh… Cub you don't have to try to talk yet, okay? Just take your time. We'll figure all this out Sweetie. I swear to you that we will."

Parker didn't try to speak while Aimée did her best to continue to soothe her tears away. While she stroke Parker's hair, Aimée started to sing softly under her breath. Parker snuggled in closer and closer to Aimée's side while the bear continued to pet her softly and surveyed the damage done to Parker's room once again.

"Seriously Cub, I can't believe someone did this to your room."

Parker snorted in a snotty breath and then said something against Aimée's protruding belly. Although the bear could feel the human's lips move against her body, she couldn't make out what Parker had said prompting her to say, "I'm sorry Cub I couldn't make that out."

Parker then took in a deep breath and pushed herself up into a seated position. She swiped her arm under her nose as she tried to take in a couple of slow, deep breaths so that she would be able to speak. Aimée remained silent as she watched the Squire compose herself. She even reached over to squeeze Parker's knee before she gently pet her thigh to try to let Parker know that she was remaining at her side as moral support for as long as she was needed.

After a few minutes Parker took in a last shaky breath before she quietly said, "Aims? No one… uhh… no one broke in… I… err… I did… I did this…"

"Oh Cub," Aimée replied as she pet the side of Parker's head and stifled a laugh at her reluctance to admit the truth. She then lifted Parker's chin with her bent index finger to try to force the human to look at her. "What aren't you saying Parker?"

"You're… you're… I mean, I'm not going to get banned am I?" Parker finally asked as new tears started streaming down her cheeks.

"Parker! Gods no!" Aimée nearly shouted in shock. She then pulled the Squire into another tight hug. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not beyond curious to find out what happened in here. Did you lose something Cub?"

Parker shook her head and then took a deep breath as she sat back once again. "I… I uhh… I couldn't figure out what I umm… what I should wear tonight."

Aimée's eyes bugged out at that revelation. "So you destroyed your room?"

"I got a little… umm… frustrated," Parker replied with an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks.

"Oh Sweetie, it isn't… I mean… Cub you should have called me in sooner, I would have been more than happy to help you choose something before… well before it came to this."

Parker stood up then and started stalking around her room. She kicked a couple of piles of clothes then said, "I don't think it would help Aims."

Aimée pushed herself up to her feet so that she could stand behind the distraught human. "Parker you know that tonight is about more than what you're wearing, right?"

Parker shrugged with Aimée's hands now gently placed on her shoulders. "I just want her to like me and everyone says that first impressions are the most important thing, so… so I wanted to find the perfect outfit but… but I don't think that I own it."

Not focusing on Parker's negativity, Aimée squeezed her shoulders then rested her chin on one of them saying, "So you were given your Hunter's name?"

Parker shook her head then pressed her cheek against Aimée's replying, "No, no name yet. It's just that after talking to Talon I just figured that Ash or Artemis were shipping a new Hunter into town. Since I'm female, I just figured that my Hunter will be too, y'know?"

"That definitely makes sense Cub. So what look are you aiming for?"

Again Parker shrugged, but this time she let out a loud sigh and picked up one of her discarded drawers to put it back where it belonged. "I'm honestly not absolutely sure. From what I understand, most of the female Dark Hunters are like Amazons or something, so I don't want to look too cute. She needs to believe tha0t I'm a fierce warrior too or she won't take me seriously."

"Alright," Aimée answered as she moved away from Parker's back and closer to her bed where she picked up a black undress covered in a motif of skulls and roses. "Well I guess that rules out this dress then because it is super cute."

Parker blushed and once again avoided making eye contact with Aimée as she replied, "The way it's cut it's actually pretty sexy too, I was… umm… for a second I thought that if… umm… but there's no way, so I…"

"Have had a hard time choosing something else to wear. That's understandable, but make sure you keep this handy for a date."

Parker nearly dropped the second drawer that she was trying to put back into place causing Aimée to let out a boisterous laugh. "Don't give me that look Cub! There are enough single guys here in town that know about our world that I'm sure it won't be long until you catch someone's eye. In fact, I would be beyond shocked if you haven't already."

Still looking more than surprised and somewhat dumbfounded and confused, Parker answered, "You aren't…? I mean you don't…?" She stopped there and pickup up a couple of shirts to fold as she walked to the side of the bed opposite to where Aimée was standing still folding her clothes. "Just please promise me that you won't set me up with another Squire, okay?"

"Another…? Cub does that mean..."

"Aims can we not get into all of that now?" She turned to make a show of looking around her room before adding, "One problem at a time, right?"

"Right," Aimée agreed with a warm smile. "So we're not going for 'Cute Parker' tonight, how about a little 'Bad Ass Parker' then?"

The Squire shrugged then replied, "I guess that would be good, but I don't know if I own anything that would qualify."

Aimée carefully placed the t-shirt she had folded onto her growing pile she had created and gave Parker an unimpressed look. She started shaking her head as she knelt down and pulled out a pair of distressed looking black leather knee high boots. They had fraying black shoe laces woven through their twenty holds, a dark gray skull embroidered on the outside of each boot and a scuffed metal plate on the toes of each. They definitely looked like something Acheron would wear, well if Ash was a girl, and he was the scariest being Aimée knew, so Parker wearing these boots to look like a badass tonight more than made sense to her.

Holding the boots up so that Parker could see them, Aimée then said, "Well I think that these would be a good starting point."

Parker had the grace to look sheepish as she replied, "I… uhh… Would you believe that I totally forgot that I brought those with me?"

Aimée laughed then made a point to turn her head as she looked around the room answering, "Actually yes Parker I think you might be able to convince me of that."

"Har, har," Parker replied sarcastically. "So we have boots. GREAT! Now oh wise bear, what in Hades am I going to wear with those kick ass boots?"

Aimée shrugged just a second before her eyes flew open wide. She then reached out to pick up a black and gray infinity scarf off of Parker's beside table and held it up saying, "This would be good too."

"Great," the dejected Squire said as she walked around her bed to Aimée's side. "So I have boots and a scarf. Do you think she'll like me better if I show up in just that? Oh I might have some black lacey underwear to go with them."

Aimée appeared to be giving that proposition some earnest thought, so Parker gently hit the bear's upper arm with the back of her hand as she whined out, "Aimée come on, be serious! If she was a 'he' that might… but then again we can't… gods this is just… it's fucking hopeless."

"No, it isn't," Aimée insisted forcefully as she took the scarf out of Parker's hand and placed it on the end of the bed. "Like I said, it's a start, which is miles closer to the finish line than you were before I got here. Now I'm thinking something like a pair of black tights or a pair of distressed skinny jeans would go perfectly with the boots. Any chance you have something like that in this disaster area?"

Parker tried to glare at Aimée for the slight jab, but she was feeling too relieved to accomplish it. Instead she smiled and nodded as she walked over to the few remaining articles of clothing that were hanging in her closet. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Aimée was right. Parker should have called her friend in sooner because now that she had talked to someone about her insecurities and cleared them from her mind, she was actually able to think more rationally. But more importantly, she was pretty sure she knew exactly what outfit she want to wear with the boots and scarf Aimée had found.

The bearswan sat down on a chair beside the Squire's bed as she watched the human move around her room with a renewed purpose. She knew that Parker was feeling beyond nervous about the meeting tonight and making the right impression, so Aimée mentally kicked herself for not coming upstairs to check on her sooner. Although she knew about Parker's nervousness, she was pretty sure that no one could have predicted that Parker would have reacted quite like this.

While she was lost in her thoughts, Aimée didn't see that Parker had pulled together a complete outfit. The Squire was standing by the foot of her bed holding a long dark gray tunic styled knitted sweater and a pair of black leggings with strategically placed rips on the knees and thighs with an expectant look on her face.

When she noticed that Aimée didn't appear to be paying attention, Parker quietly called out, "Is this close to what you were picturing Aims?"

After gently shaking her head Parker saw Aimée's eyes focus as a warm smile spread across her face. "That is better than I imagined." She then stood up and moved the chair back to being in front of Parker's vanity as she continued to say, "Why don't you get changed and then I'll help you finish getting ready so that we can get this show on the road?"

Parker was already starting to remove the over-sized sweatshirt she was wearing, so her voice was completely muffled when she answered, "Okay."

Once Parker had changed into everything but the scarf and boots, she moved closer to where Aimée was waiting for her. Without saying a word Aimée ushered the Squire into her vacant seat and started to brush her hair. With every stroke of the brush, some of Parker's feelings of nervousness and apprehension seemed to disappear until she was actually starting to look like she was genuinely relaxed. Aimée had to bite her lip to stifle a giggle because she didn't want to do anything to disturb Parker while she had such a look of contentment on her face.

Instead she started to bundle the humans hair together as she quietly explained, "I was thinking that we could pull your hair back into a simple ponytail and give you a minimalist make-up look so that your Hunter can see you, like SEE YOU see you. We can always do up a whole Goth look for you for the next time you go out to a club and wear your kick ass boots."

Parker took over doing her hair and did not thing to hide her not so subtle groan. "That's okay Aimée. I tried to go Goth when I was in high school and I failed miserably at it. The hair was the only thing that worked, the rest was just… well awful."

This time Aimée allowed herself to laugh at Parker's apparent awkwardness. "Alright no ghost faces for you. So let's forget about all of that and let's get you ready for tonight."

It didn't take the bearswan and the Squire long to do the finishing touches on Parker's outfit, but for some reason Parker still wasn't feeling like she wanted to leave her room. As such she tried to use any tactic she could come up with to stall herself and to keep herself in the safety of her bedroom. First she decided her hair wasn't right, but after trying four different hair styles, she ultimately returned to her original style of a simple ponytail.

After a couple of attempts by Parker to change her pants and her shirt, Aimée finally recognized what the human was attempting to do. She then put her foot down and almost physically forced the Squire to put on her boots. Parker quickly took over the task of lacing up her boots and didn't say anything about Aimée wrapping the scarf around her neck because she was worried that she would actually anger her friend and that the bear would abandon her to face this newest challenge in the young human's life on her own.

They were just finishing with their very last touch ups on Parker's outfit when they both froze in their spots at hearing someone knocking on Parker's bedroom door. Parker stared at Aimée like a deer caught in the headlights, so Aimée patted her arm to try to ease some of her fears.

"You finish up with your boots Cub, I'll go see who it is and what they want," Aimée offered with another pat on Parker's arm.

Parker just nodded as she slipped her foot into the first boot and started to weave the laces through the holes. She was tempted to pick up her cellphone and check the time, but she forced herself not to do it. She was sure that she was dangerously close to being late for her meeting, but she still wanted to delay leaving her room for as long as possible.

"Yeah I know, she's almost ready," she overheard Aimée retort with a hint of a growl in her tone.

"Hey, look, don't shoot the messenger. I heard them bitching and moaning that the Squire was still MIA when her Hunter is expected to be here any second now. Again, I'm just passing on the information, it's not like I really care what happens," an equally incensed male's voice replied.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." Aimée looked up and batted her eyes at him then added, "I didn't mean to snap at you Remi, it's just that my hormones are so out of whack right now."

Parker heard Remi growl at his sister as she quickly laced up her second boot so that she could rush over to the door. Once she made it to Aimée's side she heard the two bears share a soft chuckle before Remi said, "And you, little sister, won't be able to use that as an excuse forever."

"I know, but it definitely works for now."

"And then after that she can just claim sleep deprivation, especially if she ends up having a big litter on her first go around," Parker added with an amused tone.

"Shh… don't give away all of my secrets Cub. The boys aren't supposed to know about all of that yet," Aimée playfully chastised the Squire.

Parker's cheeks pinked slightly as she meekly replied, "Sorry Aims. I promise I won't do it again."

Aimée smiled and wrapped her arm around Parker's neck to pull her into a side hug. "That's all I can ask. So? Are you ready to head out and meet your Hunter?"

The Squire slipped out from under the bear's arm so that she could step into the hallway to spread her arms out as she answered, "I think so. What do you think?"

"You look great!" Aimée replied enthusiastically and with a bright smile.

"I'd lose the scarf," Remi replied shocking both females into silence. He put his hands up in a sign of surrender in reaction to the looks on both of the women's faces. "Sorry, I thought we were giving our opinions on Parker's outfit. I'll shut up now."

Parker was the first to recover and she quickly said, "No, no! I do want your opinion… I mean I did, it's just… well… I didn't… err… not that… I mean…" She stopped herself there and took a deep breath to try to slow her thoughts down. "I meant to say 'thank you' for your critique. But do you mind me asking why you don't like it? I only ask because Aimée and I thought that it helped to complete the outfit."

"It definitely would if you were going out to dinner or something, but since this is kind of like a job interview, I'd say it's too much. It kind of looks like you're trying to hide your neck which would make me wonder if you let people feed form you." Parker's hand instinctively went to her neck as if she was trying to touch or hid a mark that didn't exist. "Plus it isn't very practical for fighting."

"But I won't be fighting anyone. Even if there are Daimons here, no one is allowed to touch them because this is a sanctuary."

"True, but what if he or she asks you to show off some of your skills? Won't it get in your way?"

"I could take it off if that happens," Parker answered in a quiet, unsure tone.

"And that's going to make a great impression because Squires aren't supposed to be battle ready at all times or anything," he retorted with a sarcastic bite.

Parker started to look truly embarrassed so Aimée quickly jumped in to try to defend her saying, "Okay Remi, that's enough. Thank..."

"No," Parker interrupted. "No, he's totally right Aims… about all of it. Thanks Remi. I hadn't thought about any of that."

"It's no problem," he answered with a soft smile tugging at his lips.

"Okay, I'll just need another minute to… umm… fix my outfit."

The bears watched in silence as the human turned and rushed back into her room. Once she was sure that they were alone, Aimée turned to her brother and said in a teasing tone, "So that was a lot of words coming from you. And to a human? Wow. You must REALLY like her."

Remi glared at his sister then turned on his heel to start to walk away. Aimée immediately started to follow him. That reaction wasn't what she had expected, so she grabbed his arm to stop him so that she could try to apologize.

"Remi, I'm really sorry. I wouldn't have teased you about her if I you that you really do have feelings for her," she recanted in a truly contrite tone.

"It isn't like that Aimée," Remi replied with his anger still present in his voice. "She likes to clean up at night and she gets really chatty when she does it. Since I've gotten in the habit of doing it alone, I end up in the room with her, which means I get to listen to her. At first it was kind of annoying, but she doesn't actually expect me to respond so I can sort of tune her out, but even then it's kind of hard to do because, I mean she's just so… Well she's a good kid and I know how much she's been stressing out about tonight, so I wanted to help her out to make sure things don't suck for her. Y'know… since her parents aren't around to do it and all?"

"Wow… so you two have become like friends or something?"

Remi glared at his sister again for the surprise he heard in her voice. "Yes Aimée, we've become friends. I am capable of doing that."

"Remi, I'm sorry, but it's just that..."

"Why don't I stop you there before we both say something that we'll regret, okay?"

"Okay," Aimée whispered out in agreement.

"And you better go check on the Squire. She's got less than twenty minutes until midnight and if she's late she'll be wicked pissed off with herself… not to mention so will her Hunter and the Squire's Council."

"Oh… yeah… right. Th..."

Remi hadn't waited for his sister to reply and was already halfway down the hall by the time she tried to thank him. She was watching him intently so she jumped when she felt someone touch her arm. She managed to hide her reaction on her face and instead plastered a warm smile on it by the time she turned to look at Parker.

"Okay, so I think I'm finally ready now."

Aimée could hear the uncertainty that was trying to worm its way into Parker's mind so she tried her best to be reassuring. "You look great Parker. And I can't even tell where you've hidden a few weapons."

Parker's eyes bugged out slightly as she stammered out, "How did…? If you can't see…?"

"After what Remi said I figured that you would conceal a few weapons to prove that you're always prepared." Parker blushed at her misunderstanding so Aimée reached out to give her hand a squeeze. "So Cub, did you want me to go up there with you?"

"No, I think I have to do that on my own," the Squire replied as she leaned forward to give the bear a tight hug. "But thank you so much for the offer and for all of your help tonight."

As they both leaned out of the embrace, Aimée raised her right hand up to cup Parker's check saying, "Always happy to help. Now you know where to find me if you need me. Please don't hesitate to call, alright?"

"I do… thanks again Aims."

Parker had stolen a quick glance at a clock while she made the appropriate modifications to her outfit, so she at least knew that she wasn't going to be late. Granted she wasn't as early as she had hoped to be, but she was willing to sacrifice some time to make as perfect of a first impression as she could manage. Well thanks to Remi she was actually feeling like she was ready to start the next phase in her life.

Remi. She shook her head when her thoughts turned to the bear that she never thought that she would ever befriend. For as long as she could remember he had been the surly, angry and usually scary version of Dev. She had even joke with her mom that maybe the set of identical quadruplet bears were actually one person split into four. They had never shared that theory with any of the Peltiers and it was an inside joke just between the two of them that Parker's mother had taken to the grave. But now it felt like she and Remi had actually become friends and he seemed to better understand what it took to be a good Squire than she did.

If she was being honest with herself it was that last thought that bothered her the most. Here she was, a multi-generational Squire who had been studying and training practically her entire life to only do that one job, so why did it seem like a shape shifting bear understood the job better than her?

At that moment she heard the familiar sound of pool balls clanging together on the table where two patrons were playing. That sound jostled a memory of the first time she had played pool at that very same table with her dad. She had been watching people play for years, so she understood the rules and concepts of the actions required to win the game, but when she had tried to take her first shot she had failed miserably. Her dad had then sat her down, like he had on many occasions, to illustrate a life lesson. This time he explained that she couldn't rely solely on mastering an understanding of the theory of anything because that was only the half of it; that the hands on could be a completely different story. For her right now she reminded herself that her only physical interactions with Dark Hunters had been in a social or academic setting, everything else she had learned about being a Squire had just been in theory. Remi, however, had spent centuries living with and helping Dark Hunters and Squires so it made perfect sense that he would understand the practicalities of being a proper Squire. Hell, he had probably even witnessed said interaction on a much more frequent basis because her parents had been Dorean Squires who weren't tied to any one Hunter, so she really didn't get to see them performing their appointed roles.

"Yeah, that's totally it," she reasoned out loud as she started up the stairs to the floor that was prohibited from being used by any uninitiated humans. "I mean there's nothing else..."

Parker paused in her spot because she could hear the soft murmur of male voices. Since she knew she wasn't late, she remained silent in her spot so that she could make sure they were members of the party she was to meet and not some Were-Hunters who had just teleported into Sanctuary.

"I don't know what to tell you Sir," Parker overheard a familiar voice stating in a fairly condescending tone. "As I've told you before, I'm surprised that you've given her a post here because she isn't the most reliable person."

"Why you little…" Parker whispered to herself, feeling her anger starting to boil over. As she stepped into the room she announced her presence by angrily saying, "Last time I checked arriving fifteen minutes before you were told to be somewhere is not considered unreliable, Otto."

The other Squire snorted in a laugh, but before he could say anything in reply they heard a male voice answer, "That is very true Ms. Wallace. Thank you for joining us early. I do appreciate when colleagues are punctual."

"Uhh… you're welcome… Sir?" She replied in a questioning tone as she looked around the room to find the man to whom the voice belonged.

Otto chuckled again and then held up the iPad he had in his hands higher for Parker to see it. As her eyes moved to the male's face on the screen, her gaze briefly landed on Otto's face. It was of no surprise to her that he was wearing a haughty look of superiority and she had to make a very conscious effort not to visibly react to it because she knew it would not go over well with the head of the Squire Council who was staring right at her.

"I must apologize for my unorthodox presence here tonight, but myself and many of the other Council members are in the middle of trying to rectify a situation in Vancouver right now. Since Mr. Carvalletti has been a well-respected Squire in New Orleans for many years no, he has offered to take our place to assist you with the transition of starting your role as an Echo Squire with your Dark Hunter."

"I've heard about some of the issues up there Sir, I hope all is going well for you. And please don't worry about not being here…" She paused and tried not to show that she was saying the next bit through gritted teeth. "I'm sure Otto… uhh Mr. Carvalletti will do a fine job of helping me settle in. Thank you for your consideration."

Otto made a face at Parker's polite words because he knew they were nowhere close to the real emotions she was feeling. Parker bit down on a small tuft of her inner lip to remind herself not to make a face back at him and to watch her words. Although she came from a long line of Squires, she had lived a fairly sheltered life so she didn't really know any of the members of the Squire's Council very well. She knew that meant that her words and actions could be easily misinterpreted. Otto on the other hand, he was a little poster boy for them, who she was sure would even offer to pleasure the whole council orally to make sure he got his way. Well that was if she didn't already know that he was painfully heterosexual. Alright, even then she could admit that those were just her vindictive mind letting her think nasty thoughts since she couldn't voice them… yet.

"Ms. Wallace? Does that sound alright to you?"

Parker didn't snap out of her own thoughts until she heard Otto snort in another condescending laugh. She watched him open his mouth, but before he could utter another sound she quickly answered, "Of course it does Sir. If you think it's best, who am I to argue?"

He laughed softly then replied, "It's good to hear that you are as intelligent as I have heard you would be. I don't anticipate you will have any issues with your new Dark Hunter as you were handpicked for this position, but you know how to reach us should you require anything from us. May the gods and goddesses be with you on this new journey."

"Hand…?" She quietly started to ask before she caught herself. "Thank you Sir. And may they bless you all as well while you work on resolving that issue up North."

"From your lips to their ears. All the best to you Ms. Wallace."

He gave her one last quick smile before the screen went completely black. Once council member's face disappeared, Parker let herself get lost in her own thoughts again. When she was told that she was going to be moving back to New Orleans she assumed that it was because she was the next Squire on the list to be placed with the next Dark Hunter needing one, but to hear she was handpicked…

"Whoa," she finally whispered softly to herself.

"Don't let the 'handpicked' comment go to your head. I was too for my last post and I got stuck with Count Penicula," Otto announced in an annoyed, patronizing tone.

Finally able to do it without recourse from the council, Parker finally levelled him with an enraged filled glare before she angrily retorted, "Shut up."

After her simple reply she turned on her heel and stomped towards a couch siting against a wall on the opposite side of the room from where Otto was standing. Parker's preference would have been to head straight to the bar to down one of the bottles of beer she had noticed that the bartenders only served to members of the preternatural community, but she had a Hunter to meet and she wasn't going to let anyone scare her off. Especially not Otto.

"Ouch that almost hurt. Oh wait, no. I meant to say that it didn't hurt at all. So I see -"

"SHUT UP!" Parker nearly shrieked as she turned to point an angry, accusatory finger at the other Squire. "I don't care about what you have to say! And I never did! So just shut your fucking mouth!"

Otto looked shocked for about half a second before he recovered himself to coolly reply, "Hey, listen here Kiddo..."

Parker's eyes went wide at hearing the nickname she loathed that only Otto had ever used as she once again interrupted him by bellowing out at the top of her lungs, "I SAID SHUT UP!"

"Wow. I guess it's a good thing that this floor has been soundproofed," a new male's voice announced with a soft chuckle. "And here I thought you were actually a ladies' man Otto."

Otto just shook his head at that comment and ignored it to reply, "What are you doing here Nick?"

Parker turned towards what would be considered the back wall of the room to find a tall, muscular white man stepping towards them. He had that dark and brooding vibe that she associated with Were-Hunters, so for a second she thought he had teleported here because that's what he was, but then she saw it. On one cheek and the side of his neck he had a familiar double bow and arrow brand. Parker had become familiar with how the goddess' brand differed from a tattoo so she tried to hide her wince that accompanied her contemplating what he had done to cause Artemis to drain his soul form such a conspicuous spot.

Nick shrugged as he replied, "I was told to be here at midnight sharp, so I came… but only because I'm curious to find out why the Squire's Council thinks that they can still order me around."

"They told you…? Oh shit, no way," Otto said as he looked between the two of them. He started to laugh then said, "Oh gods, I can't believe they did this, but Nick meet your new Squire."

Nick turned his tall, bulky frame so that he could inspect the petite woman in front of him. Parker tried not to, but she ended up taking a step back and away from him because there was something about the man standing in front of her that completely unnerved her. Although she would be lying if she said that she didn't find him attractive, the aura around him definitely kept her from being attracted to him. He smirked at the fact that she couldn't help but to shy away from him because at least now he knew she had some brains behind that cute face.

"But I didn't ask for a Squire," Nick replied as he maintained painfully direct eye contact with Parker. Although she wanted to break it, Parker forced herself to hold his gaze. One corner of Nick's lips quirked as if he was acknowledging that he was impressed that she didn't flinch from his staring contest first before he turned to look in Otto's direction to add, "I don't need one."

Otto shrugged and replied, "Hey man, I didn't make the decision to give you one, I'm just here to make the introductions between you. But in all honesty, even if you did want one of us to work for you, you definitely deserve someone much better than her."

"Dick," Parker scoffed out under her breath.

Nick turned his penetrating gaze back towards her and lifted a questioning brow as he asked, "You don't agree?"

Parker was glaring at Otto so intensely that Nick's question actually caused her to jump in her spot. She then softened the look on her face before she turned to look at the man she was supposed to start work for and answered, "I'm sorry. I know you two are like friends or something, but no I don't agree with him… pretty much ever. He's a sanctimonious prick who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the wall. So, no I wouldn't want him to write my bio anytime soon or to hear his judgmental bullshit."

Parker's strong words caused Nick to laugh out loud. He then turned back to Otto saying, "It doesn't sound like she likes you at all."

"Whatever," Otto replied with a nonchalant shrug. "You know that I don't sweat the opinions of the mentally deficient."

"Excuse me?" Parker replied in a tone of pure indignation.

Nick smirked at the fact that the unknown woman no longer appeared to be trying to impress him. She now only had eyes for the other human in the room. He suppressed a chuckle as he moved to the couch to watch the two Squires brawl, at least verbally… for now.

"Sorry, those were really big words. Here, I'll simplify it for you; I don't give a shit about what stupid people say about me," Otto answered in a tone so condescending that Nick was surprised that she hadn't slap him yet.

"Stupid? Are you kidding me? I graduated at the top of my class. Not top percent, at the actual fucking top, number one spot. I speak and read just as many languages fluently as you do. What in that makes me the mentally deficient one?" Parker countered taking a single step towards the other Squire.

Otto started to preen in his spot as he replied, "Well I have a PhD from Princeton."

"In fucking Film Studies," Parker countered with a cruel laugh. "Oh how do I put a DVD into the player? Was that day one?"

Nick let out a bark of a laugh which drew Otto's attention back to him. "What? She's funny."

"So not helping," Otto growled before he turned his attention back to Parker. "And you have what? A high school diploma from a bullshit school set up to house the children of Squires that they don't want to deal with anymore?"

Parker froze in her spot because that comment was like a punch in the gut. She almost had troubles breathing because of his low blow. Otto's steely exterior softened ever so slightly at her reaction which helped to stoke the fire in her belly which in turn gave her a second wind because she didn't want to see him pity her in any way.

Parker stood up taller in her place as she confidently stated, "Actually I just completed my BA in Ancient Civilizations and Ancient Languages. In fact I've even been accepted into a Master's program that Dr. Alexander oversees at Loyola. How's that for being orphaned to the Squire's Boarding School?"

Otto was actually stunned into silence prompting Parker to turn towards Nick to more calmly add, "That is if it's… I mean I was going to…" Parker stopped herself there and slammed her eyes closed while she angrily chastised herself for rambling. After a couple of seconds she opened her eyes and then tried to explain what had just happened. "Sorry about that, I have a bad habit of… well… Anyways, that's not important, what I meant to say was that I have been accepted to the program but I haven't enrolled in it yet. I wanted to make sure that my Hunter was okay with it first."

Nick shrugged then said, "Julian's a pretty good guy. I'm sure you can work something out with him so that your Squire duties won't interfere with your studies."

"Julian?" Parked questioned as she slowly made her way towards the couch. "Does that mean that you know Dr. Alexander?"

"His name is actually Julian of Macedonia. He was..."

"The sex slave on the scroll?" Parker interrupted inadvertently due to her surprise. "Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you. I swear I'll work harder at not doing that."

Nick chuckled then replied, "It's totally fine. I'm honestly just shock that you know the story about him."

Parker sat down beside Nick and turned so that she could place her elbow on the back of it. Nick was still one of the scarier beings she had been around, but she told herself that she had to get over her fear or else she wouldn't be able to work for him. If she ignored the air around him and just focused on his face, then she might be able to convince herself that he was just another cute guy that she was trying to impress.

"Well Squire-hood is in my blood, so it seemed pretty natural to study the myth and legends of the Greek pantheon. Since Julian is Aphrodite's son, I read everything that I could get my hands on about the scroll myth… err… I meant to say legend."

"Yeah make sure you say 'legend' because it'll probably just annoy him if he hears you call his life story a myth."

Parker groaned softly and covered her face with one of her hands. "Oh gods, I hadn't even thought of it that way. Ugh what's his face over there might actually have a point, I'm the worst."

"You aren't that bad," Nick offered as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, I've been known to stick my foot in my mouth on more occasions than I dare to admit, Chère."

"Thanks, that's really nice of you to say. So since Otto seems to have dropped the ball, it's nice to meet you Nick, I'm Parker Wallace."

Otto scoffed then said under his breath, "I didn't drop anything, you just ramble on so much all of the time that no one can get a word in edgewise."

"Parker? Wait does that make you Jimmy's daughter?"

"Yeah, that it does."

All of the features on Nick's face softened so much that Parker almost felt silly for thinking him to be sinister or scary. "He was a great Squire and an equally good man. He fought hard and all of us were saddened by his loss."

"Thank you," Parker whispered before she swallowed thickly. "I heard about what happened here with… well y'know. It sounded like a truly horrific time to be here. I never had the privilege of meeting your mother, but I can tell that her loss can be felt here. Customers still talk about her kindness."

"She was the best. So tell me more about what it was like for you to go to school overseas."

Otto watched the two of them settle onto the couch and start chatting like they were lifelong friends. He knew that Parker could never work as Nick's Squire, but he held his tongue because he also knew that she would never listen to him, no matter how in the right he may be. So he instead just stepped back into the shadows to watch them, just in case.

What he didn't know was that he had actually stepped to stand directly beside Artemis who had kept herself invisible so that she could watch the introductions. No one was to know what she had been the one that had picked this Squire especially for Nick because she wanted to do something to make his life easier. Plus, as she had reasoned with herself, he was now a Dark Hunter, so he should have a Squire. She was providing him what was rightfully due to him, so she really wasn't giving him any special treatment. Even if that's what she was sure everyone would accuse her of doing, especially her daughter Katra, who was trying to constantly demonstrate to her mother how she would be able to show the people around her that she cared. Artemis still wasn't certain that it was up to her to do that since she was the goddess and people were supposed to worship her.

When she heard Nick say, "Parker? Wait does that make you Jimmy's daughter?" she let her emotions get the better of her and she became visible as she shouted, "No! NO! That's not right!"

Otto and Parker jumped in their places while Nick just looked bored. As she watched the beautiful redhead dressed all in white stalk her way towards them, Parker moved away from Nick as far as she could without getting off the couch. She wasn't sure who the woman was, although she did look vaguely familiar to the Squire, but Parker figured she had to have some sort of magical ability because she had just appeared in the room. That meant that she would be able to hurt Parker fairly easily, so she wanted to try to appease her in any way that she could and right now that meant getting some distance between herself and the man that held the new comers attention.

"Artie, what are you doing here?" Nick finally asked in an unimpressed tone.

"Artie? You don't mean…? She isn't…?" Parker whispered in wide-eyed fear.

"Yeah it's the goddess you all have pledged to serve," he replied while stifling a yawn.

Artemis pouted at Nick then said, "I wanted to make sure that you got along with your new Squire alright." She then turned her burning green gaze towards Parker as she stated heatedly, "Yes human, I am the goddess Artemis. And you better remember that because you really don't want to get dirty with me."

Parker stared at her in stunned, reverent disbelief until the goddess' words registered in her mind. Artemis smiled because she had rendered he human speechless, but Nick could tell it wasn't just Artemis' presence that kept Parker silent. He saw how her eyebrows started to knit together as her thoughts started to race in her head.

He then leaned over to quietly tell her, "She meant to say 'mess with her'… you don't want to mess with her."

"What?" Parker asked automatically, still looking dazed.

Nick leaned back then directed his commentary towards Artemis in the hopes that it would jostle Parker out of her stupor. "Mess with you, Artie. The phrase is 'you don't want to mess with me'."

Artemis made a noise of disgust before saying, "Like I care." She then turned her angry eyes back to Parker while she snapped, "Why are you lying? You aren't Parker Wallace. He was the top of his class in every subject including weapons forging and stuff to do with fixing cars. He's also a master marksman in all known types of firearms as well as archery and swordsmanship. He's… he's the perfect Squire."

Parker blushed at what should have been considered a compliment and then nearly whispered out, "I wanted to be sure that I could be prepared for anything my Hunter might need me to do."

"No, it isn't you," Artemis retorted, sounding like a petulant child.

Nick stole a quick glance at Parker and saw that she was on the verge of breaking down into tears. One lesson that his mother had taught him that he could never forget was that he should ease any woman's tears any chance he was given.

With that in mind he asked the goddess, "When you were checking out Squires' résumés, did you by chance check if they were male or female?"

Artemis squirmed slightly and stared at her feet as she replied, "No, they didn't include any of that."

"Well then," Nick retorted almost mockingly. He then stood up and took a couple of steps closer to Parker where he offered her his hand. Reluctantly she placed her hand on his palm and was hoisted up to her feet. He then gently led her to stand in front of Artemis as he said, "Artemis I would like to introduce you to Parker Wallace. SHE comes from a long line of Squires and is very excited to finally put her education to work as one."

Artemis raked her eyes over Park and looked less than impressed. When she spoke, she only directed her words towards Nick. "But she can't be YOUR Squire."

"Okay, especially since I didn't ask for one."

Artemis smiled and opened her mouth to reply but stopped when she heard a pitiful sounding, "Please?"

Nick turned to look at Parker who once again looked like she could burst into tears at any second. Seeing Nice give the human his full attention caused Artemis to turn her eyes towards Parker as well.

As soon as the two women made eye contact, Parker tearfully pleaded, "Please? I swear I will be a great Squire to him. Please your… uhh… goddessness… uhh Ma'am, please let me stay, please?"

Groveling, now that was something that pleased Artemis greatly. She crossed her arms over her chest and then replied, "Since you asked so nicely, I might actually consider it. Now, if you are as good of a Squire as you say you are, then you know that girl Squires can't work for male Hunters unless…" By this time Artemis had started to walk a circle around Parker. She knew she was making the human nervous and she was really enjoying it. "Unless… are you married?" The goddess snatched up the human's left hand and then clucked her tongue at her. "It doesn't appear so. How about being a lover of women?"

Otto finally snorted out a laugh but Artemis ignored it while Nick gave him a questioning look Otto just waved a hand at the Dark Hunter while he clamped his other hand over his mouth.

"I think the other Squire is rudely implying that that's a no. What about you, Potential Squire Parker?"

With her chin turned down and eyes staring at her feet Parker whispered out an almost inaudible, "No."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you," Artemis replied in a faux sing-song voice.

Parker closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Once she was sure that she somewhat had her emotions in check, she opened her eyes and tried to make eye contact with the goddess as she more audibly replied, "No Ma'am. I'm neither married, nor a lesbian."

"Well then there we have it," Artemis announced as she stood up tall in her place closer to the center of the room. "If you might have a chance of being attracted to your Hunter then you can't be a Squire for him."

Parker's eyes went walk at hearing that, but it was Nick who replied, "Artie, come on. You know that she and I won't..."

"NO!" Artemis shouted over the rest of Nick's statement while stamping her foot like a toddler on the verge of a temper tantrum. "No, it's not allowed! It's… it's… It's Acheron's rule and you know that that means that it can't be broken."

Nick scoffed and rolled his eyes. Parker gently touched his arm to keep him silent before she meekly replied, "Of course, it's one of the cardinal rules. You are more than correct my goddess. I'll… I'll just…"

At that point Parker's voice broke, so she sucked in a breath and tried to hold in her tears. Since she wasn't sure that she wouldn't be to hold her tears in, she chose to just leave. Parker knew she was a woman in a man's world, so she didn't want any of them to misinterpret the origins of her tears.

As Parker got closer to the stairs, Nick took a step forward and called out her name. She didn't stop moving, so he moved to follow, but he was stopped by the other Squire in the room stepping in front of him.

"I've got Parker," Otto said as he raised a hand to physically stop the Dark Hunter. "You go and try to calm down the goddess."

Since the only interactions he had witnessed between the two Squires could only be described as negative, Nick gave Otto a questioning look as he inquired, "You sure?"

"Yeah… well no, but I have absolutely no sway with Artemis, so it only seems logical."

Nick chuckled then answered, "Touché. Bonne chance."

Otto didn't reply to that and instead rushed to follow Parker's route. By the time he was down the stairs, she was no longer in view, so he remained cemented in his spot while he tried to find her. He knew he would be the last person from whom Parker would accept any form of comfort, but he still had to try. She had a tendency to internalize things which led to her being self-destructive. He still wasn't sure if it was a conscious effort or not, but when she was upset with other people he knew that it usually led to her losing her temper, which in turn led to her getting hurt.

When he finally spotted her again, Otto could see that Parker was moving calmly through the dining room. He watched her intently and only allowed himself to relax once he noticed that she never once attempted to raise her hands up to her face, which to him meant that she hadn't started crying and therefore didn't need to do anything to try to conceal it.

Otto turned to make his way back up the stairs to see how Nick was doing when he heard a familiar woman's voice worriedly calling out, "Parker? Cub?"

Faster than any human should be able to do, Otto moved stealthily through the dining room until he was at Aimée's side. Not wanting to startle the pregnant Were Hunter any more than he needed to, Otto simply touched her forearm with the tips of his fingers of one hand. Thankfully she stopped to investigate who had touched her without treating it like she was being attacked.

"Umm… it's Otto, right? Whatever you need, I'm sure that one of our servers will be happy to help you. I have somewhere important I have to be."

After that statement she turned to continue to follow Parker. Otto then tightened his grip on her forearm. When she turned back to look at him, Otto immediately released her flesh and said, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to challenge or fight you Aimée, I swear to you that I'm not."

Her demeanor soften slightly as she replied, "Alright. Explain."

Otto heaved out a relieved sigh. "Parker just got some really shitty news, so she probably needs some time to process." He saw Aimée perk up and look like she was ready to jump into action so he added, "She has a tendency to take her anger out on the first target she meets… I think she would be devastated if she took this out on you."

Aimée took a second to digest that and couldn't help but to nod. "You're right. But do you think that she's going to be okay?"

Although Otto loathed to have to lie to an ally of so many Dark Hunters, he nodded then answered, "Of course she will."