Earlier...(Vamp time)Fox's reply to his harsh questions was a pout. Why was he not surprised?
"Must it always be business first between us, Lover?" she said.
"I haven't seen you all day. Didn't you miss me?" He just looked at her. Sure, he was being rude, and he had missed her, but he wasn't about to admit that. He was angry with her for waking him up at four in the morning. She then leaned forwards walked two fingers up his arm to his shoulder and then heaved herself so that she was draped across his lap.
The smile she flashed him was innocent and angelic, and he finally gave in. "You're right Fox. I'm sorry." He said and gave her a slight kiss on the cheek. "I missed you, now can you please tell me what this letter is about?"
"Although, maybe you're right. I'd hate for either of us to be distracted... Now, what was it that I was supposed to tell you..." She tapped her lips for a moment as she thought.
"Oh right. Aurora Mortenson proposes a deal. She will be here tomorrow morning to join her Coven with your Pack. You will protect each other from these humans, these Cacciatori. And she said something as well about princesses and that magic letter, but I wasn't really listening. Either way, she was not asking. She'll be here at ten." That had caught him completely off guard. Aurora just expected to show up at his house and move in like everything was okay? They'd been fighting for almost two centuries and she expected him to just throw up his hands and let her bloodsucking family in his home, near his pack? He shook his head. "Tell her no." He said plainly. "It's not happening." He held up the letter. "How do I know this isn't a trap?"
Presently...(Werewolf time)âOkay, so when?â Damien asked, not objecting, but clearly not happy about it either. Emmanuel breathed.
"Ten." He said, glancing at the clock. 9:30 am. "Half and hour."
"So, let me get this straight..." Emmanuel turned his eyes on Alex.
"We're going to let a coven of powerful, blood-sucking vampires who have always been nothing but trouble for our kind into our home in order to protect ourselves from a secret group of 'human hunters', all because of some magic letter? Look, Emmanuel, I trust you with my life man, but this is crazy! All of this just screams 'trap!' to me! Why take the risk? Haven't we lost enough to them?"Now there was the argument he'd expected. Emmanuel sighed. "Look Alex," he held up the letter "this letter is real. It even
smells like magic and old age." He shook his head. "Even if Aurora is just trying to pull one on us, there is no way she could have faked this letter. And if she does try anything, we'll be ready. What if we do what you say Alex, and refuse them," he paused, "And you're wrong." He shook his head. "If these humans
are out there, we will need them whether we like it or not."
"Are you two insane?! I mean,Emmanuel I love and trust with my life but,come on. Humans tiny little humans can not know how to kill us. How do you know that this isn't a trap,you wouldn't just be putting my life in danger but more importantly you're putting your life,my cousin's,your sister's, Adrienna's, and my brother's lives all in danger. Hell,if I die I couldn't care less but if I lost you guys to those bloodsucking demons I would have nothing left. " Natalie's sudden outburst made Emmanuel jump a bit and he turned to look at her.
"I trust you almost as I trust Alex but,we have all hated those spawn of Satan ever since we changed and now you and that blond headed witch are trying to get us to play nice!? Look this is crazy and damnit haven't we lost enough already!" And with that, she stormed out of the room, cherry red hair trailing behind her. The slam of the door rattled in the silence and Emmanuel pushed his hands into his pockets, looking at the ground. That question again.
Haven't we lost enough already? He sighed and looked up. "I'm not asking you to agree with me, but we have to do this. You'll see. I wont let them stay here long if nothing happens, but if Aurora's telling the truth and this group of hunters is after us, we'll need everyone we can to finish them off. They're a huge operation and we've lost a lot of pack members to the feud. Not that I don't want to fight." He grinned mischievously. "We just need a common enemy. Think of how unstoppable we'd be."
"And afterwards," he added, "if you guys want, we'll kill the vampires. Rid ourselves of all possible threats. Rose City
and Moon Forest would be ours. Not to mention, we could take their house." He said with a slight laugh. While the werewolf mansion was massive, the vampires's made it look like a hovel.
The look on Priestly's face instantly changed in that way of his. Now, instead of being a goofball, he was giving her a sensual, smoldering stare. It shocked Caprice and she looked at him, confused. What had she said...?
"Well it depends..." Oh. She should have guessed Priestly would make a joke out of her comment.
"Why kind of show do you want?"She didn't respond, merely leaned back in her chair with a slight smile as he did his little dance. When he finally composed himself, she simply looked at him and quirked up one eyebrow. It was hard not to laugh. "You done?" She asked with a smile.
"I guess there's a time and a place for everything." She laughed lightly and rolled her eyes.
"Yes, but your judgement of that seems to be completely mixed up." She smiled.
"Speaking of time and place... I brought pie!" Pie? She watched with brown eyes as Priestly brought a pecan pie over and placed it on her desk. She'd been half hoping that it would be raspberries, so that she could throw it at him and complain about how she was allergic. Pecan however, was her favorite so she was forced to give him a smile and a thank you instead.
After giving her the pie, he sat on the other side of her desk and looked suddenly serious. His ability to switch moods so quickly annoyed Caprice, but he was always good for a bit of amusement if she ever got bored around the office and there was nothing to hunt. He threw a file on her desk and Caprice lifted it open with two fingers and looked at it. Veronica. She dropped it again and looked at him, listening.
"Anyway, that's all the data I got on my latest kill. She had the same contact as the others and the same code pattern as the other texts. I'm not sure what it means exactly, but I have a theory. I think it might be some kind of... secret... Vampire... spy network. All of the targets were from different covens and I doubt knew about each other. So it's nearly impossible for it to get back to their leader... this "Big H", this Vamp must have a good amount of influence." Spy network? She'd never heard that one. Interesting...
"Every time Ive tried to contact Big H, about 7 minutes later, the phone disconnects. I did it twice now, once on the others phones." He placed a phone on her desk and Caprice reached forward, grabbing it and looking it over for a second before setting it down again and returning her chocolate gaze back to him. He looked apologetic and sincere.
"I'd be able to give you more, but as you stated earlier, I'm not very good with codes. That's all Ive got.....sorry."It's true, she wished he had more, but he had done a good job so she just nodded. A gesture that could be taken either way. Not a second later had he gone straight back to the Priestly that annoyed her.
"Umm, right, yeah anyways. You said you had a new assignment for me? Oh yeah, that thing Chandler said.....WHAT?! Why did he say he was injecting himself into Vampire blood?! Were you just okaying that!? WHAT IS GOING ON!!!????" He then immediately changed his posture to one completely at calm.
"You know.....if you can.""Not that it's any of your buissness..." Caprice said with a small smile of amusement as she leaned back and crossed her legs. "But Chandler's going undercover. And yes. I agreed." She shrugged. "As long as he doesn't use his new gifts to kill innocent humans, he's extremely valuable to us. Not a target." She pushed the file on her desk towards him.
"Anyway, as for your assignment, I think we've let up on the werewolves a little too much lately. You're going to be going after Emmanuel Cross. Their leader."
Of course Aurora heard Julien coming, but she didn't care. She just stayed where she was, gloden hair splashed across red silk sheets as she stared up at the ceiling. And that's exactly how he found her.
"So, let's just get straight to the point. Who are they?" He said plainly and she sat up, moving to the center of her huge bed and sitting there, looking him over. He was going to argue with her. Why not? As if her night hadn't been stressful enough. At least it would feel good to yell at someone.
"They're humans." She smirked, blue eyes challenging, daring him to fight with her. "Or could you not tell by the smell?" She rolled her eyes and quirked her eyebrows. She knew that hadn't been the answer he was looking for, but she didn't care. "Spies." She said with a shrug. "I hired the boy to do some looking into things. To see if something was... suspicious. The Cacciatori found out and threatened the sister." She pretened to yawn. "Are you mad that I brought humans in or that I didn't tell you?"
She rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist dismissively. "Men." She said plainly. "Always think they have to know everything. You know Julien it's not th-" She was cut off short.
Standing on her balcony was a man. She looked at him in confused shock as he gave her a little wave. What the...? A cold breeze floated in, rustling her sheets, tugging at her nightgown and hair, and bringing Aurora the mans scent. Vampire. But not a full vampire... She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at him. He'd interrupted her argument. She'd been
so looking forward to screaming at someone.
"Who the hell are you?" She hissed, trying to control her boiling anger. "And why are you here?"
"You better have a damned good reason."