Delegates Headquarters

Midnight smiled and giggled as Koda wrapped his arms around her. She may be a powerful wolf that just happened to be the head of a large international organization but she was still a woman and enjoyed being treated as one. One thing she loved about Koda, he always treated her like a woman, unless there was a time when that was inappropriate. She smiled at Gabe and how he was obviously slightly confused by her choice in a partner. "I happen to enjoy your mother."

She laughed lightly. "Remember Milan? She nearly sent out every IOI member after us. It took them three days to find us, she was furious. I will never forget the five hour rant she laid on you that day. Italian men are such mommas boys." She teased with a smile.

She glanced slightly over at Grant. "Get out of bed you loaf. Gabe is right, dinner is done and if you lay in bed and let it get cold you wont get any and you can go to bed hungry." She was half joking and half scolding him like a mother would her child. Grant and her had the strangest relationship out of all her other team members and her. It was like a love hate thing.

She slipped out of Koda's arms her fingers brushing against his chest gently. "Alright, you both need to come down for dinner. I'm going to take Gabe down to the kitchen and let him catch up with his BFF Shi." Gabe and Shisou were very close. Shisou may be cold and quite distant, Gabe warm and loving but they were both very serious on matters of business and family. They got along well.

*-*-*-*

Grant grumbled and rolled out of bed. He walked up to Gabe and smiled patting him on the back. "Don't even think about stealing Midnight away again there Mr. Italian stallion. She is not moving to Italy, she is going to stay right here with her family. Plus Shisou's hair starts falling out if she is gone for longer then a few days and as buddy buddy as you are with Shisou, you so would not like to live with him." Grant walked past Gabe smiling. "Guess it is nice seeing you again. We should go chasing some tail sometime soon since everyone else is set on one person, but me and you, we are free men. I'll see you at dinner I have to get changed." He looked back at Koda. "I'll see you at dinner in a couple minutes." Grant wasn't going to say yea I'll pick you up at your room and walk you down to the kitchen like the feeble blind man you are. One it wasn't true and two it would make Koda look weak. Not like it would make to much of a difference, even Midnight looked weak around Gabe. He just oozed I'm a good guy but I can and will kill you in three seconds and there really is nothing you can do about it. Grant went down to his room and slipped something more presentable on, he really didn't want to look like a scrub with the Italian fashionista roaming the halls.

"Yeah, yeah, go, go. I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes" Koda waved Grant away, closing the door behind him. He leaned up against it, sighing heavily. It was gonna be a long fucking eternity. Midnight may not have officially chosen who the father of her child would be but Koda had a feeling she'd chose Gabe. Of all the arrogant bastards ... Midnight just had to have history with that one. Koda would have preferred she'd choose some random prince or something; someone who would impregnate her and leave. Not someone like Gabe ...... someone Midnight liked and would encourage to stick around. Koda wouldn't be able to stand that. Watching Gabe rule beside Midnight while he remained on the sidelines, just because he didn't have good genes or centuries of experience. This is exactly what he'd feared, some guy coming in and ruling next to Midnight. People would view them as a couple and Koda as her whore. And eventually, they'd regard him as nothing to her. Because he'd become nothing to her. Because Gabe with his charm and power, would steal her away.

"Shit" he hissed, lolling his head back against the door. He sighed again and forced himself to stand upright. He had to stop thinking like that. If he thought negatively he would develop one of those self-fulfilling prophecies. He knew himself well enough to know that if he thought someone was gonna steal Midnight from him he'd act like such a douche bag to her until she broke up with him before someone else could steal her. Which is why he had to stay positive. He had to act as if everything was fine.

"I need a fucking drink" he said, going over to his mini bar and pouring himself a shot of whiskey. He'd promised himself he wouldn't drink but he hadn't expected the vain of his existence Gabe to show up and try and steal Midnight from him. He needed a drink, just one. He wasn't planning on getting shitfaced and embarrassing himself like last night. That would be counterproductive. Midnight would get mad at him, Gabe would make fun of him. It would just make things ten times worse. That's why he was only having one. Just one. To take the edge off and make him just a smidge more pleasant to be around.

Now maybe it wasn't healthy to solve his problems with alcohol, but Koda had never considered himself mentally sound.

Once the team had dispersed Arucan figured he should do a little prowling himself. Lounging around was not going to get things rolling. He left his room and heard footsteps retreating down he hall, accompanied by the voices of Midnight and some male she was speaking to with, in fast, excited tones. That wouldn't have caught Arucan's notice except that the male was nobody he was too familiar with. And it certainly wasn't Grant, or Shisou, or Koda; which were the only males he expected Midnight to be so animated with during conversation, except maybe Dylan.

Hmmm, so there was a new male in Midnight's life; one of the possible suitors perhaps. Obviously someone Midnight had history with. Hmmm, Arucan would have to keep that in mind for his later plans.

But at the moment the only thing he could think of was how if Midnight was here without Koda, then there was a good chance Koda was alone. Arucan slipped away, off to Dakota's room. He knocked once before letting himself in. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Sure enough, Dakota was inside, all alone. He was off on the other side of the room, dressed as he usually was but with the added sunglasses that Arucan hadn't seen him wearing as of late. He was drinking, again. Arucan didn't judge him for that though. If he had to sleep with Midnight he'd drink too.

"Hey there buddy," Arucan said smoothly, "Rough night?"

. . . .

"And this is your room Ace," Hazel said, opening the door to the large, nicely furnished room. It was a nice as room as any of the other delegates room, it was just void of any personal affects. "You got your bed, your plasma, your little sitting area off in the corner, a little kitchenette if you wanna have a quick breakfast sometime. There's a bathroom there, complete with a shower and Jacuzzi."

"You should really get some sleep tiger," she told him. "It's been a long day for you I'm sure; all this new stuff going on. You should really sleep; we'll train tomorrow. I say this out of concern for you but also selfishness. I'm beat and would love a nap." She walked over to him and pecked him on the cheek in a friendly way. "Goodnight. My room's right next door so don't worry blondie, if you have nightmares on your first night you can come sleep in my bed," she teased, her voice a purr as she snapped her teeth at him playfully. "Now get some rest. I'll come get you in a few hours after we've both rested a bit. See you then." She left the room and went next door to her room. Without changing or taking off her shawl or heels, she flopped down in bed, turned the TV on with the remote for a little background noise, and soon fell asleep.

Grant had changed his clothing and was walking back towards the kitchen when he passed by Koda's room. He stopped for a moment hearing Arucan's voice in the room. What could he want with Koda? He put his hand on the door handle and gave it a gentle push. Someone was in front of the door. He pushed hard enough to shove whoever was pressed against it away from it. "Hey buddy, you ready for dinner?" He walked in the room and looked over at Arucan. "Hey I didn't see you there, you coming to dinner to? Midnight made our favorite though there is still a debate whether she cooked it for me or for Koda. I still say me." He had a vague idea that something was going on but he didn't really know what so he tried to keep it friendly as possible. Just a concerned brother coming by to see if Koda was ready for dinner and if he wanted some company going down to the kitchen.

Gabriel walked with Midnight back to the kitchen and decided to hang out with Shisou for a little bit while Midnight was doing her thing in the kitchen. He glanced over at her quickly before turning his full attention to Shisou.

"Tell me, how has it been with Koda being back? I know you two don't always see eye to eye."

He leaned back in his chair with one arm over the back of it, a comfortable position. Gabe had lots of history with Shisou, the other might not know this but it was Gabe that brought him to the Delegates. One could even say delivered him from a horrible life. Shisou had one of those horrible abusive mothers, not like Gabe's mom that would smack him around, one of those lock you in the basement and not feed you until you were almost dead types. The day Gabe found Shisou it was pure luck, he was walking by down the street and he heard a child crying. It was strange to him so he decided there couldn't be harm in checking it out. What he found was terrible. Shisou's mother in a rage touching at him inappropriately, pouring bleach on him and taking pictures while the kid screamed bloody murder. Gabe couldn't let that happen so he killed the mother and took the kid. Gabe couldn't keep him so he brought him to the one other place he knew, an orphanage. Shisou got picked up later by the delegates and brought to midnight by coincidence. But Gabe and Shisou have always been close. He smiled over at Shisou.

"Want to go out for a drink later? Just me and you?"

Koda looked up when his door creaked open. He inhaled and realized it was Arucan even before he spoke. "Whether it is or is not a rough night, I dont think it's any of your business buddy." Koda had never really liked Arucan. He was always so condescending towards Koda, treating him like a child. Koda knew he was much younger than Arucan, but he was even younger than Midnight, and she didn't treat him like a child, nor did the rest of the delegates for the most part. Hazel did occasionally, but that was just her personality. With Arucan it was more personal; he didn't view Koda as a threat, and for some reason that made Koda want to prove him wrong.

When Grant came in the room, somehow causing Arucan to stumble, possibly by shoving him. "That'd be great Grant" he said, his voice holding a soft sneer just to aggravate Arucan. "I'm starving. Let's go." He threw back the last of his liquor and put his glass back on the bar and grabbed his walking stick where it was leaning against the wall next to him. He walked over to the door and turned his head towards Arucan. "But yeah, you should totally come with. I know Midnight would be overjoyed to see you."

"Easy there mate," Arucan said to Dakota in a friendly tone. "No need to be hostile." He laughed lightly, thinking of how soon, there would be a need for Dakota to be hostile towards him. After all, Arucan was planning on attacking Dakota and then dragging him back to his safe house and then drugging him and roughing him up a bit. But Dakota didn't know that yet. So there was no need to be hostile.

When the door behind him suddenly flew open Arucan stumbled but caught himself easily. He looked up at Grant, narrowing his eyes. Damn Grant, coming in here, all idiot like, ruining Arucan's plan. He took a deep breath to keep his composure.

"Sounds great," Arucan said in his usual sweet tone, "But I have plans to eat with my team tonight. My apologies. Maybe some other time." He smiled before slipping out the door and stalking down the hall. He slammed his fists down on the air and mouthed curse words. He'd been so close to causing Midnight vast amounts of pain. Damn that Grant. He was more of a nuisance than Arucan had anticipated. Not by his own merit of course, just convenient stupidity.

Midnight finished plating and preparing dinner glancing over casually at Gabe and Shisou every so often. She smiled, gabe being around did make things a whole lot less stressful, if it was Gabe that fathered the child she wouldn't have to worry about him doing something stupid or accidently killing the kid. Gabe was very responsible. The boys seemed to be enjoying themselves and she wondered when Grant and Koda were coming down to eat.

-*-*-*-*-

Shisou nodded and laughed a little. "Yea Koda and I are at ends a lot but I missed him a lot. Don't tell him that though or he will think I'm going soft. But in all reality Koda doesn't really see anything anymore, he was blinded in a training accident a few years back. I am impressed with him though, since it doesn't seem to hinder him much."

*-*-*-*-*

Grant laughed a hearty chipper laugh as he wrapped his arm around Koda's shoulder. "Come on then, I am starving and that food smells great. It's to bad you can't join us Arucan, I will tell Midnight you send your best." Grant smiled at Arucan. He helped him out the door making sure everyone was out of Koda's room before closing the door. "Well I guess this is where we part ways. See you around." Grant walked down the hall with Koda whistling a happy tune. "I am super excited for food, but you have to try it first to make sure Gabe didn't poison it to get you out of the picture." Grant chuckled nudging Koda. He loved teasing Koda, it was just to fun to resist.

Koda sighed and rubbed at his eyes as he walked with Grant. "I'm glad you fnd my perils amusing Grant" he muttered. He vaguely wished Grant had a full name so he could use it to express his annoyance with him. People always did that to Koda; since he had a nickname people just called him Dakota when they were reprimanding him. And unlike Grant, he actually had a last name, which people tacked on there if they were especially annoyed.

"Besides, Gabe wouldn't want to try and poison me with Midnight around. You know how he's always sucking up to her. I'm sure you know even better than I do; having been around longer to witness more of him crawling around her feet." He snorted but then softened his voice to a more matter of fact, observant tone. "It's rather sad actually, seeing Midnight make yet another man her bitch. How does she do that?"

Koda sighed. He was being a bit more of a dick than usual. He was trying to get it all out before he saw Gabe. He hiccupped once out of the blue and wondered if it was because he had practically inhaled his whiskey. It hadn't seemed to help him too much. He didn't feel all that relaxed. Maybe a little.

"My life is getting increasingly difficult," he mumbled, rubbing his temples. This time last year his biggest worry had been falling down the stairs. Now he had all this other shit going on. But still, he'd rather have Midnight and all the problems that came with her than not have her at all.

Grant laughed a little. "Man after all these years you still don't know hows she operates? Guys line up because of what she can do with that little charming thing of hers. It's wild, word got around pretty quickly about that. She hasn't used it on you huh? You really don't know what your missing, so yea that's your answer, guys just can't resist, especially ones that have slept with her." He thought a bit about Gabe. "He is a good guy, loyal, and not to bad on the eyes. I don't see a reason to dislike him, though I think you have more against him then me at this point. Yea your life is difficult, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, but really I would rather rip my own arm off and beat myself to death with it then live in Midnight's. She has not had it exactly easy like the rest of us. We all had it pretty good in the Delegates. Midnight always had to work twice as hard to prove herself being the bastard of the boss you know? Before you came along our team always got the most dangerous missions and I always figured it was because Byron was trying to get rid of us. Midnight would always go on all the suicide missions herself and send me and Shi on the ones that she knew we could handle. I am glad that is all over because man there was a few times I didn't think she was coming back. That woman scares me to death sometimes always trying to be so strong and take on the world. She is going to fall eventually, there is going to be a time when she can't go it alone, when she can't fight anymore, I don't want to see that day, but if it comes she has all of us to help her out right? Gabe would be a good ally in that fight if we needed it. Arucan is not going to lay down and just let midnight win, he is going to kill her if he gets the chance. I know that kid pretty well, we practically grew up together."

Grant shook his head. "Enough about all this depressing shit. I can tell you all about Midnight's past later over drinks if you want, but for now let's get some good food and some good wine."

Koda furrowed his eyebrows at Grant. "Little charming thing of her's?" he asked "What do you mean?" He knew that Midnight was charming, but he honestly didn't have a clue what Grant was referring to, and Grant had even implied that Koda wouldn't know what he was talking about. Grant really should have elaborated on that.

He thought about Grant's description of Gabriel. "So so far he sounds like a golden retriever" he noted. "A golden retriever I have a vendetta with conecidentially." He was quiet as Grant told him of all the suicide missions they'd gone on. He didn't really understand why either. Why would Byron want to get his own daughter killed? It just didn't make sense. But obviously Grant didn't want to talk about this at the moment.

"Tell me later" he said "But not over drinks. And stop talking about wine. I'm really trying to not drink any more this evening and you're mking it inceasingly difficult. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to get me drunk on purpose." he accused "Just so I'll embarass myself."

Caddie wandered into the kitchen at that point. She'd been making her way around the building in an attempt to figure out the layout of the place, but by the time she'd gotten halfway, she'd forgotten where she started and had just ended up wandering around aimlessly for a while.

"Um...hi...I got lost and some of the pictures on the walls were looking at me..so I came in here. "the altered vampire remarked vaguely, walking in and starting to examine kitchen implements with a sort of curiosity, taking one of the knives from the rack and looking it over...something that was a little unnerving.

-------

Meanwhile Nero of The Sanguinarius had started the journey north. He sat in the back of one of the cars while the driver concentrated on the rather tricky navigation required to reach the Delegates. It didn't matter too much of course. He wanted to arrive with plenty of time to spare, but not too early. That would just look unprofessional. He glanced away form the blacked-out windows, and towards his fellow passenger.

"Looking forward to seeing your old friends the Delegates then?" he asked.

Oren glanced over at him, narrowing her dark grey eyes in contempt.
"Go fuck yourself Nero. Go fuck yourself with something wrapped in sandpaper." she growled.

Oren was not looking her usual intimidating self at that point. She was sat forwards in her seat, head forwards and arms wrapped around her ribs. Her hair could have done with a wash and a comb, though was still as thick and dark as ever, with thick strands hanging into her face. There were dark rings under her eyes, and a large, swollen cut snaked across her cheek from the corner of her mouth. Along with that she didn't have her usual trench coat and gloves, wearing some old clothes that clearly didn't belong to her. It made her look an awful lot less intimidating.

"You're so crude Oren, it's no wonder you're so unpopular. You'd think you'd be more gracious considering the favour I'm doing you here." Nero stated, rolling his eyes.
"You'd be dead by now if it weren't for my benevolent actions after all. Bear that in mind before you open your mouth. Last thing I need is you making me regret my decision, isn't it?"

Grant chuckled as him and Koda walked into the kitchen. "Midnight, your boyfriend here doesn't know about your charm. Please don't tell me you used it on Gabe here but not your man, because seriously that would be kinda fucked up. Perhaps you should explain it to him so i don't have to because I am starving." He looked over at Caddie as he was making a plate. "Hello there, are you finding your way around alright?" He decided it would be nice of him to make Caddie a plate to and he did, he even went as far as to get her a bag of blood out of the fridge and a straw since he knew she was a vampire and needed blood at one point of another. "Sorry if this isn't up to standards with your other half but it's what we have. I have heard that vampires get used to it after a while. Isn't that right Shi?" Grant ruffled Shi's hair with his free hand smirking. "Oh don't you look so cute with your little savior around. Anyway I'm going to eat then fall into a food coma." He sat down at the table and started eating beckoning Caddie to sit next to him and have some of the plate and blood he got for her. Grant still kept his eyes open to see if he would need to step in between Gabe and Koda. It probably wasn't great that they were in the same country never mind the same room.

*-*-*-*

Midnight sighed finishing up setting everything out just in time for Grant to spill some idiotic shit out of his mouth and get his dirty mitts on the food. "Your an ass Grant. So yea I never used it on you Koda. I doubt you have even heard about it. It's my secondary ability. I tried to keep it from everyone best as possible." She stated nonchalantly as she started to clean the flour off of her hands. "It has many uses but I guess it's primary use would be simulating the emotion of love and desire. If someone infected with it already feels some kind of desire or love it will heighten it to an astronomical degree. What Grant here is referring to is when it is used in the sexual application, used in that application it would be similar to the feeling of 10 orgasms rolled into one and on being on E to top it off. Over the years I have fine tuned it as I have done with all my abilities. I can turn it off now, which is nice so I don't have people knocking in my door so much anymore. Currently I'm working on manipulating the emotions it effects and learning to control the level in which I infect someone. Right now it is more like, I charm someone and it is full force. I want to be able to do it in smaller doses if necessary."

She dried her hands off and removed the apron. "Satisfactory answer?" She glared at Grant. God he had a big mouth. "Anything else you want to point out to the group about my sex life before we eat Grant?" She made Koda a plate just the way he liked it and placed it down at the table smiling. "Just how you like it." She took Grant's plate away from him. "I made it for Koda, and your being a dick, wise up or you want eat and you can slink off to eat at the nearest taco bell which is 500 miles away."

*-*-*-*

Shisou shook his head. Why people thought he was such an asshole he would never know. Grant was way more of an upstart, perhaps it was that cool attitude or his idiotic personality. Shi would never know. Regardless he went to go and get a plate and a bag of blood with a straw much like what Grant had gotten for Caddie. He sat down to eat. "Gabe you can grab a plate, Midnight is only mad at grant right now, and let's be serious she always gives the plate back to him. Grant is like a puppy, it will chew up all your slippers and shit all over your house but when you punish it, you feel like an asshole. Grant always wins with those doe eyes."

Ace looked around his room at the different things he wasn't used to but gladly accepted. "Wow, uh thanks." He watched her leave, his golden eyes trailing after her retreating figure before he closed the door and returned inside of his new living quarters. This place was great.
He went to his humungous bed, his hand brushing over the comforter before he climbed on top of the bed. He removed his clothes down to his boxers and quickly got under the covers. It had been a long day, but he was eager to see what tomorrow had in store.
Randomly his mind went back to Oren and he wondered how she was. It was usual that he thought about another woman when they were not around, but she had seemed like the one who had really snagged his attention. He wished she might actually return his texts once in a while, but shrugged at the thought. She was probably off doing something scientific, and he couldn't blame her. He had been rather busy lately as well.
With her still in mind he searched through his contacts before finding her name and sending a quick message to her, "Miss you(:" He closed the phone and it seemed almost instantaneous that he was asleep.

Gabe turned around briefly as Koda and Grant walked in. He chuckled at the conversation.

"Oh Midnight we all know you couldn't let little Grant here go hungry, give him back his food."

He thought for a moment back to the brief few moments he was under that spell of Midnight's it was intoxicating like a drug. He had been hooked on her before that but that little gift of hers just pushed him over the edge and no other woman would come close in comparison. He got up and made himself a plate before resuming his seat near Shisou.

"You know I do have to say that gift you have is pretty wild. How come you didn't use it on me more often? Seriously it has to top any feeling in the world, kinda like your mind just exploded into a million pleasurable fragments. Wild I tell you."

He took a bite of his food and smiled.

"Well maybe not the best, your cooking is pretty damn fantastic to. That there is exactly what I love about you, a woman of many talents. I wonder is there anything you can't do? You sing like an angel, cook better then any woman I have ever met besides my mother, your highly trained and educated, a demon in the sack, stunning. Tell me why I never married you again?"

So Gabe was sucking up a little bit, but he knew how much Midnight liked compliments and he loved to give them. Midnight was always a sucker for a smooth talker, and Gabe knew that was exactly what Koda wasn't. Koda was rough around the edges, not very refined, and tended to be quite the asshole. He wasn't going to go out of his way to steal Midnight away from Koda. He knew Koda would fuck up and Midnight would realize she was much better suited to him. They were an amazing couple and could be a formidable team. Her and Koda, that may be love but it was doomed even before it started and Gabe had a feeling that Koda was starting to realize it. He happily ate his food smiling.

"Oh Midnight, didn't we have business now that your whole team is here? I do have some things I need before we can go ahead with this little merger."

Koda frowned as he sat down. "Weird to think that I never knew that ...." he mumbled "I lived with you for twenty seven years and nobody ever mentioned this to me? I get that it was a secret for, whatever reason, but you'd think you would have trusted me enough to tell me at least." He wasn't really upset. He was mostly just curious as to why they hadn't told him. He took a bite of his food and nearly choked on it when Gabe began shamelessly schmoozing Midnight.

He swallowed hard and then exhaled heavily, but it came out as more of a growl than a sigh. "Good Lord man have you no dignity?" he demanded. "Seriously Gabriel, it hurts me to watch this. I mean you're clearly hitting on my girlfriend, right in front of me I might add. But on top of all that, you're practically licking her boots. Seriously man, have some self respect."

He laughed a little so it seemed like he was joking, but he meant every word. Gabe was pissing him off. "Merger huh? Is that what they're calling it these days?" He laughed some more, looking down as he ate. He shook his head as he thought of what Gabe was saying. "You need more? You get to have sex with Midnight, and satisfy your mother who you are clearly afraid of, in the process.....And you want more? Jesus boy you are certainly pushing your luck."

Koda shook his head and laughed. "Grant, I changed my mind. I think I'll have that drink." He just wanted to be with Midnight, but all this shit was getting in the way. He could overlook the fact that Midnight was gonna have another man's baby, but if that man was Gabe. Gabe obviously had the full intent of taking Koda's place as Midnight's mate, demoting Koda to Midnight's whore or worst of all, her nothing.

Gabe smiled knowing he was pestering Koda. It was worth it.

"Clearly you have not met my mother. And yes, I do need more. I want the baby to come with me for six months out of the year, to see my family, and to train with us. I will also require approval to visit once a month to see the child and weekly updates, pictures, so on and so forth. During the pregnancy I will be staying here in the background to insure your safety, and I will stay until the child is born, then I will leave back to Italy without the child for the first six months then after that, you will come personally to bring the child to me and then you may stay or come back here. These are my terms and I do believe they are fair. Contrary to popular belief I do not want to stay here and rule, I have my own organization to look after. This would be more of a joint custody thing unless you ask for more, but I will not push for anything other then those terms. Sound agreeable?"

He finished his food and leaned back in his chair.

"I just don't want to have a child to satisfy some obscure law and never see him or her again. I know the Delegates are all about child abandonment and all but that is not how I function."

He thought about how that sounded, it was a little harsh. The Delegates did normally turn their children over to training at a very young age, a practice that Gabe didn't exactly approve of.

"That came out wrong, I am just afraid of never seeing my child because he is in training or worse someone kills him in training. The delegates are very well known for their intense training, and many children don't make it through. I do think a child with this parentage would be very strong but I hear there is a little uprising amongst the group. I'm sure you can imagine my concern."

Midnight shrugged as Gabe laid on the schmoozing. She was used to it by now and it had lost much of it's charm. She was more concerned with his 'terms' She thought about what he said for a few moments. It sounded decently reasonable, but she didn't like the idea of her 6 month old going all the way to Italy. That was a far trip, and what if something happened when she wasn't around. "I don't know Gabe, 6 months seems a little young to be traveling such a great distance. I do agree with you visiting once a month and me sending you updates and all that jazz. Can't we start the 6 month visits when the child is at least one? And another thing, you know I can't spend 6 months out of the year in Italy, I have so much work here. Plus my life is here."

She sighed when Gabe mentioned the little uproar Arucan was causing. "Nothing I can't handle, plus I have a feeling it is going to end with one of us dying, and I am obviously leaning more towards him. I really want to make everything work out but I just don't think anything will convince him. He doesn't seem very interested in peace even though he is very cordial face to face. He hates me to his core. Nothing I can say or do will change his mind so I guess I will just wait and see how that plays out. I am not so worried about Arucan trying to kill a child of mine. He may be a spoiled brat hell bent on taking me out but he is still honorable to a degree, and I don't believe him to be a child killer. No one would follow him if that is how he gained power. Not something we have to worry so much about.

Oren had been sat staring out of the window, watching the passing countryside, when she heard the electronic sound of her phone going off. She immediately lifted her head and looked round.
"That's my phone." she growled.
"Who has it?"

One of the vampires in the passenger seat slipped the thing out of her pocket. The thing look battered, like it had been stepped on a few times, half the screen a mess of dead pixels. Oren reached out to grab it, but the vamp threw it to Nero, who deftly snatched it away from Oren and looked it over, chuckling in amusement.
"Oren, have you got yourself an admirer now?" he asked.
"Some poor supernatural with no taste or no sense? My I do pity him...so many beautiful vampire ladies out there and he ended up interested in you. No accounting for taste I suppose..."

Oren lunged forwards, trying to grab it and Nero held it out of her way.
"Give it to me you smug bastard!" she hissed, baring her fangs.
"I'll bite your fucking hand off!"

The clan leader raised an eyebrow.
"Is that a threat?" he asked.
"I can tolerate your rudeness Oren, but I will not tolerate being threatened."

His hand snapped out and he grabbed her wrist, engaging his abilities. Oren gasped as double over, clutching her ribs as a red stain spread across her top. After a moment Nero pushed her back towards her spot by the window and put the phone into his pocket.

"You can have the phone if and when we choose to release you. Until then, threats are not going to be tolerated."

At the point the car drew to a halt for a moment. The driver pointed it out to them, revealing the Delegate HQ downhill from there. Nero nodded his head.
"Alright, take us down there, we may as well get a measure of the place now."

Arucan made his way down to the cafeteria and spotted Mimi and Kora sitting together eating. He went straight over to them and sat down with a heavy sigh. "I almost had him," he announced to them. He stole a french fry from Mimi's plate and examined it with apathetic concentration. He was looking at it but not really seeing it. "Dakota was in his room all alone, and I almost had him," he elaborated, taking a bite of the french fry, and then another, and then it was gone. He took another on from Mimi and examined it as well. "But then Grant came in, and spoiled everything. He seems a tad suspicious of why I was hanging around Koda. We'll have to watch out for him. Dakota however, seemed preoccupied. He was annoyed that I was in his room of course, but he didn't seem susicious. He was drinking again. Something's bothering him."

He ate his fry and then proceeded to examine his fingernails. "Something's going on in Midnight's room. They have a guest. Somebody I'm quite familiar with, by the scent, but I couln't get in her room to get a good look. We'll have to wait I suppose." He cracked his knuckles restlessly. His hands felt aggravatingly dry and he was feeling very fidgety. He was agitated over his lost opprutinity to kidnap Koda and annoyed that he didn't know who this new comer was.

"Where the fuck is Finn?" he demanded. "And Sage too. I told them to meet us down here, did I not?"

Sage wandered in to the cafeteria after not being able to find finn anywhere. The only good thing about her wandering around was she got to overhear Midnight and her groups little conversation. She walked over to Arucan and his group quietly and sat down for a moment.
"Gabe is back. And I can't find Finn anywhere." She signed.
She shook her head frowning. This just made everything so much more complicated. Gabe was powerful, not as well trained as a Delegates but when it came down to brute strength he was stronger then Midnight even.
"Koda thinks Gabe is trying to steal Midnight away. Gabe wants to be the child's father."
Sage ran her fingers through her curly hair and sighed which sounded more like she was exhaling since she couldn't make any sound.
"This sucks but maybe we can make this work to our benefit? Maybe Mimi here can imitate Gabe or Koda, alls you would need would be a few words to spark some kind of battle royal."

Caddie beamed at Grant and added a hasty thank-you before tearing the corner off the blood bag with one of her sharpened canines and beginning to drink.
"N-no...this is fine...I never drank stuff any...any other way." she replied, wiping a red stain from the corner of her mouth.
"This place is really big....I forgot where I came from..."

----
"Well, there's Sage." Kora remarked, leaning forwards in her seat and resting her forearms on the table.
"As for Finn....well it's not exactly a surprise that he's slacking off. Probably saw a nurse he liked the look of in the infirmary and is taking advantage of his injury to the fullest extent....anyway...regarding the Gabriel and Koda thing...I can see how that could work...but we don't want to piss of the IOI if we can possibly help it. We don't want there to be some kind of big turf war when Arucan gets in power. If we're going to piss him off...we've gotta make sure it's not too much, Not enough that he goes running back to mommy."

-----
Meanwhile, the small assembly of neatly-dressed immortals approached the entrance of the Delegate HQ. Nero strode at the head of them, with his two lieutenants stood either side, a tall, red-haired young woman of Scottish heritage, and an enormous man of Balkan descent. While Nero fully intended to approach the Delegates in view of becoming allies with them, it was simply naive to walk straight into their lair without any backup. Cray might have done it, granted, but his underestimation of the organization had been his downfall after all, and Nero carried out his affairs with a bit more caution.

Behind the three of them walked Oren, shoulders hunched forwards and hands in her pockets, watching Nero venomously as she did so, but not making any attempt to go after him.

Soon they reached the door and stepped inside. Nero looked around the entrance hall, vaguely impressed with it.
"I like what they've done with the place." he mused.
"Now we'd best make ourselves known."

Koda was feeling a little slighted at the moment. There were a lot of things going on around him. They all concerned him, but his imput was not really valued he decided. Besides, he had lost his appetite, witnessing Gabe shamelessly lick Midnight's boots. He really couldn't stomach to remain any longer, and chances were, he was just going to keep running his mouth and eventually say something that got him trouble. He was just too irate, and the only way to fix that was with a stiff drink, and if he had to many of those then he'd just embrass himself again, or upset Midnight again. Yeah, he was just better off leaving.

"I'm done" he said, getting up, even though he'd probably only eaten half of his meal. It wasn't like Koda to not finish his food. But he was willing to make an exception this one time. He grabbed his walking stick and went over to Midnight and pecked her on the lips. "My stomach's still bothering me a bit" he lied "I'm going to go lay down for a little while." He rested a hand on her hip and leaned in closer, nuzzling her neck with his face briefly. "After you've sorted with all this planning you should stop by my room, if you're in the mood for some fun that is" he suggested lowly. He blamed some of iritability lately on the fact that he wasn't getting laid as often as he usually did. In the past ten years he'd had sex nearly daily - save for extended traveling or days of recuperation after nights of extreme partying or really crazy sex. He'd been a bit of a party boy and had developed some sort of nymphomatic disorder over time.

Koda pulled away from Midnight, running his fingers across her hip before walking away. He paused by the door and saluted everybody. "I'll see the rest of you in hell. But that most likely won't be for a very long time, so, see you in the morning."

He left the room and fully intended to go back to his room like he told Midnight. But he heard the sound of the front door opening and went to investigate. He walked down the hall until stepping into the main room. He smelt several people, all unfamiliar, except for one.

"Oren?" he asked, recalling the name of the bitchy Russian vampire "What are you doing here?"

(Will post Mimi later)

Oren glanced up for a moment as she heard a voice that was somewhat familiar, glancing up and seeing Koda, Midnight's partner. They had not exactly hit it off. In fact she probably would have been even more hostile in the past had she not wanted to attract the wrath of Midnight. The recent events meant she really felt no drive to re-ignite her argument with him...but really he was one of the people she really didn't want to meet in her current state.
"...here on b-business." she muttered, her voice rather on the scratchy side.

Nero chuckled, noting Oren's obvious discomfort.
"Hello there sir, we're representatives from The Sanguinarius." he explained.
"In light of the uh...current political climate we thought that it would be in our best interests to have some of our members here, especially as I believe the IOI already has a member hovering around."

Koda had no idea who Oren was with, but he knew it wasn't Ian or anyone else from Springside; he would have recognized their scents. No, these were people who Koda had never met. But one thing Koda knew was that these people were, they made Oren uncomfortable. Her tone made it clear. And although Koda had never gotten along with Oren, he trusted her instincts well enough. He would be wary of these people he promised himself.

"The Sanguinarius?" he repeated, stepping deeper into the room. "Sounds familiar. I do believe we've had conflict with your group in the past. I do believe your old leader Cray tried to kill my mate on several occasions." His tone was friendly, but in a way that implied that he was actually being sarcastic, even if it wasn't obvious. "But I suppose it would be diplomatic of me to say that he put the past behind us, yes? Although I can't promise my mate will be as forgiving."

When he heard mention of Gabe he snorted and rolled his cloudy eyes, tapping his walking stick against his foot irately. "Groveling is a more accurate word for what he's doing" he grumbled childishly. He brushed his hair out of his face as the overgrown strands were starting to tickle his cheekbones. He needed a hair cut, he noted distantly.