Edict was quick to notice Finn join the party, eyes flicking up and seeing a facial structure that had pain in the ass written in big fat letters across the forehead. It wasn't the guy's fault necessarily, and more often than not Edict found him amicable if not a good natured person.
It was his power that became tenuous. The fact that at any time, if there was someone who was going to feel him peeling the thin pink layers back to get to the soft and squishy gray matter beneath the skull, it was going to be fucking Finn Reid. But, he wasn't doing anything just yet. No need to worry so long as he could just get through this meeting and find a weakling to isolate and cozy up to. For now, he had to stick it out, and he glanced up one last time at Finn as the man waddled slightly away from the door to catch the last bits of what was going on.

People seemed to be hooked into whatever premise Auclair was spinning until someone decided to interrupt the party wholesale. Fucking Feds, if you needed something important interrupted, you could always count on them. Weddings, graduations; they seemed attracted to large gatherings like moths to the flame and always barged in with more gusto than sense. But, beyond all the usual contention and general distaste he had for Government police and their secretive practices, this moment was a truly mixed bag. Mixed as in, on the one hand he was rarely worried about Feds; his businesses were legit and most of his money required little to no washing to get it into circulation. He was, for all intents and purposes, a legit man on the up and up in the eyes of ninety nine percent of society.
But, on the other hand, this man was no normal Fed. Not only was he vaguely unhinged and in desperate need of an anchoring point for reality, but he was... Well... Bad news. Hyper Empathy to the point of intrusion and understanding on a scale that made Edict's entire mentality quiver in fear.

Kali Mahendra. At first, Greyson had thought the kid was just enthusiastic. Maybe a little spectrum based, but even back then Greyson was well aware that few people avoided God's funny little quirk stick. But it was all precursor emotion to realizing the bug that Kali lived with. His little glitch in the system. The two were close at first: Kali didn't seem to be concerned with the group's general perception of Greyson, and in turn the young gangster was happy to let the other boy tag along. He'd treated him well, started seeing himself in him even...
That was the problem, eventually. Kali's unique situation became more like a strain, and while Greyson had imagined a world where the ability was utilized as a final gambit to protect himself, ultimately he couldn't bring himself to stare into the dark that long. The way their powers interacted wasn't ideal, and in the end Greyson had isolated himself from his "friend" entirely.

Now he was announcing himself as a federal agent, and Edict knew that it would be as easy for the man to see through his act as it was for the younger man to see through him then... They hired a fucking abomination to hunt him and every other below the bar freakshow around. Edict's hand slowly crept toward where he'd usually keep his pistol, mostly out of reactive fear, but found only an empty holster. He'd left the gun at the apartment, not wanting to go hot when Lord knew there may have been someone blessed with the ability to smell copper jacketed ten millimeter ammunition and fucking gun oil... You just never know, after all.
But, all his comfort was broken. No longer did he feel like he could hide behind the stole and collar, even if it was a thin veil to begin with. It was nothing now. Just a liar, bare and in the open at risk from a force he couldn't stop and couldn't control. As Auri took Kali away, Edict was quick to follow Alizée's example, standing up and taking a deep breath.

"Now, I'm not saying that Judas and I were close when I was here last or anything, but..."
Edict paused for a moment, an ironic thought flashing across his mind. He pulled the Jim Jones style sunglasses from his pocket, fidgeting with them in his hands as he walked toward the front of the gathering.
"-I feel like out of anyone here, he'd be expecting to see me. So, how about a little faith in Father Devola, huh?"
Edict's eyes rotated like stone sculptures in their sockets. One could practically hear them grinding like millstones as they slowly and steadily panned between people. His smile was, to his best effort, sincere and genuine. He held his arms out to his sides, almost like Jesus without the nails.
"How about it, Drake? Wanna come with? Keep an eye on me just like ol-"

Jack, out of nowhere, landed on the scene. So typical. Edict's mouth was still wide open in his attempt to ingratiate himself, but closed as he spun his torso to see the person coming in.
"Oh, Mister Timeless... Just planning a trip to the local strip club, Jacky Boy! You in?"
Edict spun back to wiggle his eyebrows at Drake, sliding his sunglasses over his eyes with a grin.
"Now you can't even use gas money as an excuse!"

And then the pileup at the door got just a little deeper... No sooner had he opened his mouth to fuck with Drake a little more, another cling cling rang the door bell of the shop. A puff of blonde hair, a face beat half purple: Plenty of people got into trouble like that around SP, but this one was here with them now. He probably would've missed her if she hadn't spoken up, using Finn's stature to hide behind ever so slightly. But the voice was unmistakable. He'd heard that same too-cocky tone for years. He didn't even have to try hard to recognize her.
"All my Stars, little Miss Thorn? No shot... Everleigh? You look..."
Edict visibly cringed.
"Great. Just great. Love what you've done with the bruising."

---

"...So, let her have her time to speak and explain properly, rather than quickly!"

"Oh for fucks sake, Greyson," Linqian rolled her eyes, jerking her head back to look at him. She'd actually gotten on alright with him back in the day... Till she'd not. As was the case with most people and Linqian. She liked them, then she didn't. A constant cycle of friendliness and coldness. To be fair, Greyson had done plenty to piss her (and everyone else) off. "You think just cause you're playing priest we'll gladly listen to you preaching?"

The wolf pack sounded... Fun. Linqian had heard of them, of course. She'd only been back a short while, but people were loose lipped at the bar she worked. It was easy to listen in on conversations from middle aged men drinking for most of the day - it wouldve been more surprising if she'd never heard of them at all. Though she hadn't known much beyond them being a criminal gang till now.

A strip club, though, sounded like an actually good time. Not that they were there for a good time, danger and all, but what was the harm in enjoying the sights while there.

She fucking needed it.

Linqian opened her mouth, ready to agree to going (danger be damned), when Kali walked in. Same as always, staring at them like they were a terrifying exhibition, stuttering over his words. She rolled her eyes again, starting to zone him out. Nothing he had to say was interesting.

Until suddenly it was. Holy shit. Linqian was unable to keep the shock of her face, usual scowl morphed into parted lips and wide eyes. Kali, FBI? What the fuck had gone on in the last ten years. Sure, everyone had changed, but this was extreme. Admittedly, Linqian had barely paid attention to him during the old days of the coven. He barely talked, hardly did anything of interest, so she had no inclination to be friendly with him.

"The fucking FBI," Linqian stifled a laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't believe the feds are interested in our old catch-up. Well since they're involved, we don't have to worry, right?"

She spoke sarcastically, of course. Linqian didn't trust government agents, formed coven members or not, to actually figure out this shit. How many more of them would die first? And what, they'd give Father Wolf a slap on the wrist and call it a day. She might not have had much experience with them herself, be she heard things, and dealing with the police when Jinhai was murdered had been more than enough to lower her already bad opinion. They'd been useless. Sure, maybe the FBI would be better than the police. But she doubted it.

Linqian rolled her eyes as Greyson started up again, filling the peppy void that Auri had left when she dragged away their resident wallflower turned government spy.

"I'm coming to the strip club," Linqian raised her eyebrow at Greyson, who was spouting off nonsense again. "Are you sure they'll let you in, Father Devola? Going into a strip club isn't a very good look for a priest. Is that even allowed?"

Not that Linqian believed he was actually a priest. There was no way. Even if he actually was, didn't exactly make the way he was talking any less annoying. If anything, it'd make her lose the little respect she'd had for him.

The sudden thump of Jack's boots against the floor made Linqian jump, almost getting to her feet. She covered it up with a heated glared at him. Did he have to do that in here? Could he not have made his weird portal outside and walking in the door like everyone else? She was already on edge, lack of sleep after her brothers death combined with seeing all these people making an even tetchier than normal Linqian. "Can you not appear out of fucking thin air?!"

She ignored everything else. She was too busy trying to suppress her temper, which had been simmering under the surface since she'd arrived and was triggered by the sudden appearance of Jack out of thin air. Linqian gritted her teeth. This was fine. It wasn't an attack, and nothing had been directed at her. It was just Jack, the edgy piece of shit. Not a threat.

Didn't stop her feeling pissed off, but it stopped her from snapping.

---

---

Drake was right. They had voted Britney out of the group, and it didn't look like she was showing up today. Good. Sure Luca didn't hate her, not like people probably expected him to, but that didn't mean he wanted to see her. Hating her took too much energy he didn't have, and forced him to dwell on the negatives. Seeing her would be the same. He didn't have the time to waste on her.

"Well, as long as she isn't here, we're all good."

"I can see when my advice isn't appreciated. But I will say this: you're asking the wrong question..."

Luca shrugged, offering Alizee a slight smile, though she didn't get to finish what she was saying. She was right, he was asking the wrong question. But what would the right question be? A question needed an answer, didn't if, and he didn't really think there was an answer to his problem.

Not truly.

Though if she considered that advice, she really needed to work on helping others. She'd basically just told him to suck it up in nicer words. Which, yeah, he was doing pretty well, actually. Didn't stop him from wanting to find a solution.

It seemed like everything was moving on. The first lead would take them to a strip club... Which Luca definitely couldn't go into. Sure, he wouldn't kill anyone unless he touched them (which was a risk). But just being in his presence was enough to hurt people. There was no avoiding that in somewhere so crowded. It was a kind of pain he knew too well, after all, and didn't want to inflict on others. Shame. It sounded fun.

Luca's attention quickly shifted to Kali's attention, sending a bright smile and a wave his way. He was just about the only one he'd kept in contact with after the coven dissolved, outside of Olivia, so he'd count him as a friend. Probably one of his only friends, sad as it was to say that. His little peculiarities had never bothered Luca, who had plenty of his own, except-

Kali, with the feds? That shocked Luca. He hadn't let it slip once, even when they'd seen each other occasionally the last few years. Perhaps he'd been saving it for a time like this, when he could dramatically announce it. Or more likely cause it wasn't exactly something you went around bragging about.

"What have I missed?"

Ignoring the aggression coming from certain people in the group (Linqian), Luca actually answered his question.

"What haven't you missed?" He began counting things off his fingers. "We're moving on from past issues, the leader of a criminal group seems to have the same name as our murderer, and Kali's with the FBI. I think that's the important points. Oh, and the strip club, of course. Very important, since that's where we'll find our information."

Luca sighed, leaning back in his chair. He immediately regretted it, hearing the poor thing creak underneath him, and swung back forward so it had all four legs on the floor.

"Much as I'd love to come along I don't think I can. Too many people and risk." He shrugged. He appeared unbothered by his circumstances, his smile genuine and eyes slightly creased. "Nothing quite kills the mood like crippling pain. Wouldn't want to ruin that for everyone... I can stay outside as backup, though."

Then there was another late surprise appearance... Everleigh, Luca vaguely remembered. People really couldn't turn up on time, huh. Maybe being late was fashionable.

She looked an absolute mess.

"If you want some painkillers I got some," Luca offered, against his better judgment. Should he be offering his prescription painkillers (the only good thing to come out of his doctors appointment, if expensive) to someone he barely remembered? Probably not. Would it make him look like a drug dealer? Probably. Would explaining why he had them all on him be a pain? Definitely. They didn't just hand out strong stuff to anyone with chronic pain. But, it was fine. Anything to ease some suffering. "I got the normal over the counter stuff, then there's some codeine as well... Got some low dose morphine tablets too. What do you want?"

He also had stronger morphine tablets, but those were sustained release (according to the doctors) and only there in case he was still out at the time he had to take it. Not that it helped loads, the whole rotting thing really reduce the effectiveness of medication. He definitely wasn't offering it to anyone else... And it'd only cause more questions. That one was harder to explain.

Not that his list of drugs wasn't already suspicious.

It was fine. Surely something else dramatic would happen before anyone has a chance to question him about it.

---

Sloane’s eyes were hollow shells as they fell upon the priest that had come to “Sister Auclair’s” defense. She knew well enough that guilt was the preferred tool of the cloth when it came to manipulation, yet it was so wonderfully wielded that for a moment Sloane actually almost felt something. Then she realized that the master manipulator was none other than Greyson Devola. Fitting that the man raised in one “legitimate business” would find himself involved in another. She sniffed at his closing statement. Sloane tried to hang on to the idea of being innocent until proven guilty. The evidence back then had only been circumstantial, Greyson’s verdict little more than the unfair results of a bunch of witches on a witch hunt. She’d dealt with similar accusations. Had that been a confession, or was he so full of fire and brimstone these days that all he could blow was hot air?

Sloane tugged at her collar as Auri admitted to not inviting Emily. She might’ve been an absolute bitch, but she had been one of them. Emily and her toady at the very least deserved to know that they were being hunted. She gave Auri a slight head tilt as Auri recruited Sloane and two others to the welcome wagon without even asking. Sloane guessed that being less of a dictatorship didn’t necessarily equate to a lack of dictates. She wouldn’t fight if it meant they got to the meat of the subject: Father Wolf, Judas, head of a gang called the Wolfpack. Auri wanted them to go talk to a stripper at the club the Wolfpack frequented. Maybe one or two of them would be able to follow the lead. Sloane’s clothes were too nice to get covered in glitter and cheap lipstick.

“Mayb—”

She was cut off by the door opening and a man dressed for a funeral stumbled in. She didn’t immediately recognize him until she glanced towards the others and saw him as a blur in her periphery: Kali. It was unusual for him to make himself the center of attention. Before he’d come in through the door she would’ve believed that he was already there, tucked behind the leaves of an oversized house plant. Sloane felt her heart rate spike as Kali pulled out his badge and declared himself with the FBI. Obeying the law and doing the right thing weren’t always one in the same. She didn’t seem to be the only one uneasy by the presence of the feds—Alizée bolted the second Auri pulled Kali into another room. Not suspicious at all.

Jack’s appearance from the Void was odd in how calming its familiarity was, having quite the opposite effect of Kali’s badge pull. Finn had quietly snuck in before him, soon joined by a woman latching on to his shoulder for balance and looking like absolute shit. Jesus, was that Eve? Sloane was so distracted by how badly battered she hardly had time to bristle about her smoking inside. She nearly cringed at the mention of their healer. Sully was skilled at becoming a ghost the moment someone needed him, and Jade was…Sloane stole a look towards Drake, trying to get a read on him. Her eyes shot to Luca as he started mentioning some heavy duty painkillers. She didn’t need to look at Tayla to feel her getting tense.

“Let’s j—”

“So y’all think they’re making out in there or what?” boomed a rich voice from the doorway. Sully McPherson stood in the door, taking up much of the frame, a heavy knit blue cardigan tight on his large frame. He beamed a massive smile which drew away from his eyes that were red and puffy. He carefully squeezed past the other newcomers, his hand deftly reaching back to catch his backpack before it swung into Finn. “Why you all blocking the door, damn?”

“Always wanted to have a reunion. Kinda wish it was under better circumstances, but it’s good to see all your bright, beautiful faces! Except you, Drake. You still ugly as fuck, bro,” he said with a loud laugh as he took a chair, spun it around, and sat down with his hands folded over the headrest. Sloane inhaled and stared up at the fluorescents. “So what’s everybody been up to? Kill any other ancient, world-devouring monsters? Fuck up and have a kid? Dude, you’re a priest? How did—”

“We were discussing how to capture Ashley’s murderer,” interjected Sloane in an attempt to turn things back on track. “We’ve tracked him to a stripclub.”

“Oh, great, yeah, let’s go serve some justice and see some titties. Can’t really have a party in a flower shop any…” Sloane traced his eyes to Eve. “...way. Holy shit. Why didn’t you ask for a healer? It’s cool, girl, I got the medicine.”

Sully rummaged around in his pack and produced a silver cup in the shape of a wine glass. Sloane shifted at how haphazardly Sully treated the artifact The Chalice looked small in his hands as he popped up from his seat and took a slow stride over to Eve. He held the cup up to the woman, the empty vessel filling with a shimmering red liquid as his thumb traced the runes on the outside of the Chalice. One solid drink was all Eve needed to heal all of those cuts and bruises. Sully nodded in encouragement.

“To your health.”

---

---

Now Drake really got why Victoria and the others passed.

This was a clusterfuck.

More and more people trickled in one at a time... starting with the weird-ass Kali walking in with a suit. It took Drake a minute to recognize the guy... he was this skittish, eccentric guy ten years ago, but he stuck out enough for Drake to commit him to memory. Naturally, Kali stumbled over his own words for a minute before he pulled out a fucking badge and said that he was with the FBI. Drake's jaw fucking dropped as he damn near fell out of the chair that he was leaning back in. He shouted...

"Yo, what the fu-"

However, Drake fell backward and landed on the floor with a thud. Fortunately, this shitty folding chair took the brunt of the impact, but it was not something that Drake liked to do for fun. He was quiet momentarily before saying, "... Ouch." Drake ignored the various people asking if he was "fine" or "okay" or whatever as he got up and dusted himself off. At this point, Auri had done the smart thing and pulled him into the backroom, hopefully, to tell him what a moron he was. The FBI were the last people Drake wanted to oversee the group - they were a buncha dickheads who thought they were hotshit.

Drake needed his cigarette. Badly.

While he was dusting himself off... a fucking portal opened in the middle of the store. Now, while the rest of the so-called "Coven" took this lightly, Drake was just a little bit on edge due to the little thing known as that serial killer that was targeting them and the lingering memories of the fight against the Stygian Snake. On complete reflex, Drake had created a thick, long sword made out of crackling electricity, and the second that Jack stepped out - he was met facefirst with Drake's blade aimed directly at his face. Drake was standing sideways and gave Jack one helluva death glare.

It was years since Drake had even thought of Jack, so Drake had no clue who the guy was, and his own personal tunnel vision made it difficult for him to pay attention to the others.

---

---

The seedy strip club was picking up in activity... in the center of the room was the stage where there were two "performers" out. Making a U around the stage was the massive bar, which had many husbands there to hide from their wives and get a little attention from a stripper - at least before Judas' crew rolled in. Various couches and seats were all over the place with patrons and strippers. However, the second Alizée stepped in, everyone eyed her and continued to eye her (some blatantly, some subtly) as she walked up to the bartender and asked about Violet.

The bartender she asked was a slightly chubby caucasian woman wearing a black dress that was just a little bit too short to cover everything. When Alizée asked for Violet, the woman grimaced... before she asked,

"... Sure thing, babe! But, Violet doesn't work here," She started, then pointed off to the side as if trying to direct Alizée to anywhere but here, "She quit a few weeks ago, but I'll get you your drink if you still want it."

However, right next to Alizée was a similar conspicuous sight. A very muscular redhaired woman who wore a white button-up, jeans, and brown cowboy boots with a leather cowboy hat on her head. She had her phone on the bar counter, and when Alizée asked for Violet... she looked down and sent a quick text.

Before she went back to drinking her beer, she kept her eye on Alizée.

---

Finn was distracted by Jack's sudden appearance and was prepared to throw some hands as a reflex. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to look and, at first confused stare. He did not recognize Everleigh at first and let her balance herself on his shoulder. As he tried to figure out who this mystery person was.

"Who are yo..."

Then he heard her voice and it started to click as he realized who this person with a black eye and broken nose is.

"Wait... Everleigh? Only this Everleigh was different from the one he knew besides how battered she looked. She looked like she has been through some stuff and coming out like this. A survivor with a hard stare, far from the happy person that he remembered.

"Nice to see a friendly face, and what hap..." He stopped midsentence since this might not be the best time to ask that, given her state. Though with how she looks, talks, and spat out blood. Who knows when the right time will be? But before he could say something else, Sloane and the newly arrived Sully interrupted him.

"Okay, nice, we have a lead and to a... stripclub." Sounding surprised, and why a stripclub of all places is their next stop is beyond him, but a lead is a lead. "Either way, it's nice to see you two as well." He said, friendly to Sully and Sloane. At least they seemed the same and had not changed that much, or at least it is not noticeable like Everleigh. Not an FBI agent like Kali or something that will cause problems for them. Well, it's time to see who else shows up, and asking for no more surprises is a no go tonight, it seems.

Interactions: Everyone Still at the location

---

Flower's and Canvasses
Late Evening

---

There was a moment of silence, as Auri took a step back and sat on the edge of the table.

“And what is all of this you have access to?” Auri said as you tilted her head. “I know it's better this way, but you have to remember that we aren’t… Normal. A lot of people would have trouble working with the government. Because of that.”

She sighed,

“What I am asking is that you should have at least talked to me beforehand.”

Kali looked away for a moment. It was less than a second but that sharpness in his gaze lightened up ever so slightly before returning stronger than it was before.

“That would’ve broken protocol” he says, like a machine reading from a script, “And I get that Auri... but they’re going to be under increased scrutiny whether they like it or not.” he says before lowering his voice for the next part “They may all be potential victims, but they’re also potential suspects. We’re not kids anymore. This is something all of us are going to have to deal with, whether we want to or not, so better to deal with me than anyone else.”

Auri turned away, awkwardly rubbing her arm. She glanced at the door, “... You never answered my first question; what resources do you have?”

“Information, weapons, and most of all...” he says before glancing towards the part of his inner jacket where his badge is stored “legitimacy. As long as I’m here we can look around and make moves without people questioning us.”

“There has to be more to this,” Auri started, “Now I am not Anti-Government, but the FBI is not going to hand us all of this on a silver platter.”

“Well, okay the weapons are a bit of a stretch.” he says somewhat reluctantly, his eyes look away suddenly for some reason, brow furrowing but the small interruption was rectified as quickly as it came. “But, as for the rest of that, think of it less as the FBI giving us all of this and more, me giving you all of this.”

His hand moves into his jacket again to once again take out the badge as he says, “The Portwell PD respects this thing. A lot of people fear this thing just as much as they respect this thing. And I’ve been around situations like these enough times to at least have a decent idea on how to approach it with that kind of reputation in mind.”

“Look…” Auri said, “I want to leave it up to the group to decide. A vote. But please let me know next time!” Her tone went from neutral back to her chipperly tone.

There was a moment of silence. Slowly, gradually, the expression began to soften.

“Alright.” he says, relenting with a shrug as he rubbed his temples for a moment, “But I don’t know if we have time to figure this out democratically. We don’t know when the perpetrator is going to strike next. Joining together right now, it’s not even about the greater good, it's about our survival.”

“And they probably already figured that out,” Auri said, sticking her tongue out, “You weren’t here to see all the fights, correct? I doubt anyone would have shown up if the circumstances were any different.” She laughed.

He gives a nod before looking towards the doorway they both came from.

“Maybe… but you saw them just now. That’s not a coven, I wouldn’t even call it a team.” He says crossing his arms, “I’m not saying everyone doesn’t understand the stakes… but I have a feeling they still don’t realize those stakes apply to them as well. The atmosphere would be different if they were all afraid of something, together.”

“Well…” Auri trailed off, “I really can’t do anything about that.” She shrugged with a smile on her face.

“What can you do when you can’t do anything?” She raised an eyebrow.

Kali’s eyes closed for a moment as he took in a deep breath before saying “You do what you can.” Then after a brief moment of pause he’d say, “We should head back… at the very least I should get everyone else on the same page.”

“I’ll let you explain.”

He’d give a nod, making his way towards the doorway, opening it, and walking back inside the main room where everyone else was gathered. Immediately, his eyes seemed to scan over everyone that was present, never stopping for more than a second over their face with the exception of Luca who he just gave a small nod of acknowledgement to and Simone who he... well he didn’t look at her for long, hopefully.

Still, eventually his eyes would settle, not on a person, but a space. A turned over folding chair. Someone was sitting there. White hair... average height and build... that description... Alizée. It hasn’t been that long since they went into the back room. It was at that moment that Kali’s eyes looked over everyone again. He saw them enough to at least remember their positions before he was dragged away and now he was checking to see the differences.

But in the end, whatever questions were being raised were for another time. Right now, he has a situation to control.

Once more, Kali walked towards the center of the room. Slow, deliberate, and very noticeable steps.

“Well, it seems most of us are still here. Good. There’s a lot I have to explain about this and I’d rather do it now than later.” he’d say before giving a small pause to see how everyone would react.

Location: Veni Vedi Veni
@Punished GN

---

The eyes on her were apparent.



She mumbled under her breath, trying, yet failing, to appear unnerved.

"... Sure thing, babe! But, Violet doesn't work here," the bartender said. "She quit a few weeks ago, but I'll get you your drink if you still want it."

Alizée took a step back, pale eyes watching the bartender carefully, before she leaned her elbows on the counter, ignoring the performers and mens' eyes on her. Her fingers drifted over the bills she had placed on the counter, before reaching into her wallet and slapping a hundred on top of the stack.

Her eyes went dark when she stared at the bartender again, lying through her teeth. "Real shame, that. My boss was looking forward to booking her for a good gig."

That's when Void swirled in front of her vision. His voice echoed in her mind. "We're looking for a biker gang, right? I got someone that fits the description, and they can't stop staring at you."

"Hm?" she thought.

"And they just sent a text."

"Did you see to who? Or what?"

"No. Just that they sent it damn quick."

Her eyes flicked to the side, eyeing her red-haired companion. Muscled, rough around the edges. How did Alizée not see this beast of a women when she first walked in? Her hands were large enough to wrap around Alizée's throat without much hesitation.

The real concern that made Alizée's heart quicken a beat was the text. There was only two possibilities she could think of. Either one, the muscled woman sent a text to Violet directly. Or two, and unfortunately, more likely, she sent a text to her 'friends.' Possibly the Wolfpack. A one-way ticket straight to Father Wolf, if such was the case.

Damn, she hoped she was wrong. What a way to send yourself on a silver platter.

She took another long moment, silence stretching as her fingers pressed on the hundred on the counter. With a click of her tongue, she slid it over, eyeing the bartender again.

"Come on, I know you know more than that. Why did she leave?"

A pause. "And uh, two gin and tonics. And a beer, same as her." She gestured to the muscled woman beside her.

"That sounds about right, right about now."

All Simone could do now was sit and watch while chaos ensued. As soon as the Britney hate train was over, Tayla and Linqian finally voiced what she had thought this whole time. This wasn't a family. Listening to the conversations, it was highly debatable if they were even friends. Seeing Linqian brought up some feelings Simone wasn't necessarily prepared for. She was friends with the girl's brother, Jinhai, and his death was still fresh in her mind. She even quietly attended his memorial service and shed a few tears at the loss. The look that Linquin sent her way seemed less than friendly, and she took a mental note of that.

At first glance, Simone could barely tell that it was actually Tayla hiding behind those baggy clothes. What the hell happened to her? Simone had no idea. She cut off most of the members after leaving for tour, and even when she came back home, contact was limited. Many of the Coven members may not know or remember Simone, but she studied every single one of them, trying to understand their personalities, abilities, and secrets.

Sloane intimidated Simone, even as her monotone voice droned on about Father Wolf, but she was nothing compared to the Priest, who looked and spoke a whole lot like Greyson. His whole aura poked at Simone like a hot sticker telling her to stay far, far away. She remembered what he was capable of, and as a person with a lot to hide, her intuition was probably safe to trust at the time.

Finally, some tangible knowledge of Father Wolf's whereabouts was offered to the group, and Drake pounced on the information like a hungry lion. She viewed him as a lost soul, especially when she heard about Jade's passing. His one-track mind and thirst for Father Wolf's blood emanated from his every pore. Simone barely had time to ruminate on Auri's question "Who's in?" before Kali's dramatic entrance into the flower shop. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the not-so-little boy whom she once saved from the brink of his own mind.. and then promptly ghosted at the time he probably needed her the most. He was different and even more unrecognizable than Tayla, especially in his demeanor. Proudly announcing his new career choices almost made her physically recoil from the man. God, how things have changed.

Finn walked in soon after and looked just as dumbfounded as she probably had. The burst of energy from the room at Kali's announcement set off another wave of chaos, and it seemed to never end as Jack popped out of oblivion. Simone stood from her chair, startled as the air shifted around them. Alizee stormed out, and she couldn't blame her. This was all starting to become a lot.

Simone smelled Eve before she saw her, the scent of cigarettes thick in the air. Goddamn... she thought, her nose crinkling at Eve's condition. She was never good at hiding her emotions. It was one of the things she feared the most about herself. Evoke a strong enough emotion, and the truth would surely show on her face.

Then a massive teddy bear of a man made his arrival, and quickly got them off track, though they had already fallen off course in the span of only a couple minutes. Sloane saved the train from total derailment.

Finally, after witnessing the absolute madhouse of characters, there was a situation that Simone couldn't ignore. "HEY!" she shouted in the direction of Drake, using her low-frequency sonogenesis spell to try and knock him back a couple of feet, at least enough to get him out of swinging distance of Jack. It wouldn't have hurt him, but if successful, he would feel something like a burst of invisible force propelling him backward. Anyone surrounding Drake may feel some of the leftover reverberations in their bodies, but she had practiced the spell enough to be as accurate as possible.

"Can we just... chill the hell out and try to get on the same page about what we're going to do next? I know we're all a little on edge, but we'll never get anywhere going at each other's throats."

That was when Kali and Auri emerged from the room they had scattered off to.

"Maybe we can start by listening to his explanation," she said, motioning her head toward Kali.

---

Luca was glad that nobody questioned his sudden offer of a shit ton of painkillers (yet), cause he hadn't really wanted to deal with giving out answers. And Sully came in just in time to save the day, by healing Everleigh and saving Luca a bit of money on the meds he would've given away. Perfect.

"Hey, wait," Luca jumped out of his chair when Drake pulled out a sword right in Jack's face. His knee buckled underneath him and he had to grab the back of the chair to not fall over, concentrating on not destroying it and grimacing at the waves of pain radiating from his left leg. Ah, fuck. He really shouldn't just jump up like that. And Simone already had it sorted. What had he even been planning to do?

Pretending nothing had happened, Luca sat back down... Just in time for Kali and Auri to reappear. He gave Kali a cheerful wave and grin.

When Kali and Auri walked in, Linqian looked up and finally stopped ignoring everyone else. She was still on the edge, and the reappearance of Kali's smug face (in her vision, he wasn't actually looking smug at all) had her clenching her hands into the rough material of her trousers. The irritation, bordering into anger, that she'd just gotten under control flared up again. He had a lot to explain now rather than later, as if he was already running the show. Yes, he had a lot to explain, but Linqian doubted it was going to be what actually came out of her mouth.

Hopefully Drake would turn his blade on Kali next.

"Never thought I'd say this, but Everleigh's right." Linqian fixed Kali with a sharp glare, arms crossed over her chest. "I don't want to hear his bullshit explanation, unless it includes why he should even stay. Why is he even still here? Does anyone want government oversight? I don't fucking think so. Y'know, maybe this'll be the first thing we'll all agree on." Her heated gaze moved to Auri. "Or were all your words about coven not being a dictatorship bullshit? Cause 'heading the investigation here' is just a nice way of Kali saying he's going to be in charge this time."

She gritted her teeth, tone growing sharper with every word. She knew it wasn't Auri's fault, she'd been taken by surprise like the rest of them, but that didn't stop her from getting in the line of fire. Linqian's mind was filled with the anger she’d been trying to hold in, trying to push down by pretending she was more mature than she used to be. Kali hadn’t even said anything yet, but every move of his ticked her off, pushing her over the edge. Jinhai wasn’t here to hold her back. He wasn’t here at all, and this piece of shit wanted her to hand over the reins and let him take charge finding who’d done it. Fuck that. The temperature in the room ticked up, slowly, almost imperceptibly.

"I don't even care if you threaten us. You can send your other fucking agents after me, you can throw me in jail after, I don't give a fuck. I have nothing left to lose. I’m here to avenge my brother, and I won’t let anyone get in the way."

---

---

The bartender lady gave Alizee a very narrow look as she stared at her in complete silence. She didn’t even get her the drink yet, but she pushed the hundred back across the counter with the tip of her fingers. She tilted her head as she said,

“Well, your boss is going to be very disappointed; she found work elsewhere. That’s all I heard.”

She turned around and finally got Alizee her gin and tonic, and a Bud light beer - much like the redhead sitting next to her. Who got done typing out another text. She got a text back, read it, and then looked up at Alizee.

“Hell yeah, sister, chug that shit!” The woman said.

“We have other performers who might be interested, but otherwise, go be normal and watch the girls shake ass and stop acting like human traffic-.” The bartender said before she was interrupted at the worst time by the worst person in these circumstances…

The DJ.





The bartender sighed and mumbled, “Oh lord…”



Walking from the back were two women, both African-American with pink hair. The one in front was a caramel-skinned woman with a pink afro. She wore tall, pink, sparkly boots that went up to her knees and a matching thong and bra.

The one behind her matched the first one, and she wore a sparkly pink dress that was so short it exposed the bottom of her buttocks. She was a slightly taller woman with straight pink hair and tattoos.

“Lotta newcomers tonight! Well, I’m Pink…” The one with the afro said as she leaned forward and grabbed the pole with both hands.

The other one did the same as Pink, except she shook a little ass and said, “… And I’m Violet.”

“Together we make…” Pink grabbed Violet’s hands as they shouted in unison…

Well, things are going...well, Finn thought sarcastically as more things unfold before him. The air of distrust towards Kali is strong and at the moment. It seems that only Eksa and Simone are willing to hear Kali out so far. Though some of the others kinda have a point about them. Maybe he is just using the FBI angle to be in charge, and they have to do what he says, or they get arrested or something. However, now that he thinks about it, Why would the FBI care about nobodies being murdered with no connection that they would know about? It is starting to feel off and even though he is a coven member. Kail seems like one that Finn cannot trust.

Finn only sighed as he continued to lean against the wall. Watching the scene unfold and thinking how things have gotten this bad. All it took was one person, and now things are tense. Excluding how Jack showed up and Drake breaking out his sword in response. Which Finn was ready to start punching had Everleigh not leaned against him. At least she is better now and not in a battered state.

He could only imagine how Bella would have handled this mess. Probably... be pissed on how the group is doing and be annoyed at them. Try to get things under control, but with this group. Finn is sure that will not be easy, especially with Kali being here.

He sighed again and waited to see what would happen next. Maybe they will kick Kali out or something, and maybe they will try to calm down and focus on the reason they are here. Dealing with Father Wolf and stopping him before he kills more of them. So he will just see what happens next and hope things do not get worse, though at this rate, it is not looking good.

---

---

---

The blast of sound hit Drake and utterly caught him off guard; he quickly dispelled the blade made out of electricity and created a long halberd made out of lightning. He slammed the blade into the ground to quickly stop, looked up at Simone, and gritted his teeth. "What the hell?!" Drake shouted as he dispelled the spear. "Can't you see I'm trying to-" Drake tried to protest, but he heard Jack's name among the chatter.

"Wait-" Drake turned towards Jack, finally being reminded of his existence. He had completely forgotten about the guy! Though... "There's such a thing as a door, you know." Drake felt a little bit justified in his actions, given that he was probably not the only one who had a little bit of PTSD from fighting the Stygian Snake and its bullshit minions coming out of the shitter. He sighed as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes - his hair was probably ruined! He looked down, and his hoodie and jeans were covered in dust and debris from Simone's blast. He looked around, and it also knocked a few plants on the floor and broke a few paintings. Drake knew that Auri was gonna be pissed when she got done with her smooching session with Kali.

There was that urge to go out and smoke a cigarette, but he didn't want to miss a second of this. He took a deep breath and looked around... Alizée left, and Drake wasn't sure, just when she left, probably between when Mr. FBI flashed the badge and Drake whipped out his sword. Not that Drake blamed her, but there was that urge to go out and ensure she wasn't terrorizing these streets. He noticed that Finn had discretely entered the flower shop, and leaning against him was... Eve? God, she looked waaaaaaay different. Drake almost didn't recognize her for a moment. Though, it was very disrespectful of her to smoke indoors like that... and it caused a damn near coughing fit on Eksa.

"Hey, Eve," Drake said (a small part of him hoping that he was talking to the right person). He pointed at the cigarette and said, "Take that outside." He said firmly but calmly. His eyes landed on the giant motherfucker that entered the flower shop... and it was non-other than Sully. Then his inner frat boy came out.

"SULLY, YOOOOOOOOO!" Drake shouted, probably louder than anyone in the damn flower shop was speaking. He powerwalked over to Sully and said with a smile, "Tell me you brought it, tell me you brought..."

His eyes landed on the Chalice, and he threw his arms up into the air, valiantly shouting,

"THE BEER CHALICE!"

At this point, Auri and Kali concluded their "talk" in the backroom. Drake had desperately hoped that Auri was trying to convince Kali to kick rocks, but it was something (somehow) even worse.

"... We're going to hear Kali out and take a vote on it!"

With one sentence, that Fratboy in him utterly vanished, and he returned to the more relaxed and reserved demeanor he had exhibited during the meeting thus far. The first two to speak were Linqian and Everleigh, and while Drake's reaction wasn't as extreme as theirs.... he couldn't help but agree. The next person to speak was Eksa, who acted like a devil's advocate and wanted to hear him out...

"Hell no," Drake said to Eksa, trying his best not to sound hostile. Everything else she said besides hearing him out went over Drake's head entirely! "He's going to try and sugarcoat it, but at the end of the day, there's more to this. There always is. Do you guys remember all the other times people worked with the FBI and got screwed over? Like you said, why would the FBI care about some random murders?"

He looked between the entire group before he continued.

"Far as the world is concerned, the Coven doesn't exist. The fight against the Stygian Snake never happened. Unless somebody went blabbing, but I think as stupid as the old Coven got, people had a little bit more sense than that.." Drake started his valiant speech, before scanning the room, "I don't think we need to take it as far as some people want to-" He paused, briefly glancing at Eve, "But, I think it'd be best if you just saved us the bullshit and just made your exit."

He stared Kali dead on, utterly unafraid of him. His badge. And whatever the fuck this weirdo stood for.

---

---

It was absolute chaos that Auri returned to! Auri remained with a calm smile on her face as she gazed at Simone, destroying half her damn sword to stop Drake from stabbing Jack. There was that urge to shove her staff so far up Drake's ass it was going to come out his mouth for being bullheaded and reckless again. However, something popped out despite the insults, threads, and overall anarchy overtaking Auri's harmless and quirky flower store. One thing made Auri lose her cool and almost blow a gasket.

Her eyes landed on Everleigh as she dramatically pointed a finger at her.



Auri shouted so loudly that it drowned out everyone else's speech and probably could even be heard from down the street. Catching people off guard who are always used to Auri being preppy and calm. Afterward, that frown quickly turned into a tooth-bearing smile, and she clapped her hands together, and then she said,

"Alright, I'm glad to see everyone has kept themselves occupied destroying my store like this stuff doesn't cost money! Hello, everyone that trickled in while I was gone! Snacks will be here... shortly, I hope - but let me get to the point; me and Kali have had our little talk, and I decided..." She dramatically let her words hang in the air before she continued, "... We're going to hear Kali out and take a vote on it!"

Mentions: Everyone at location

---

Flower's and Canvasses
Late Evening

---

Not an unexpected response. If anything, I was expecting more violence. Still, if these people have something to hide I guess it isn't worth fighting the government over it... yet. My eyes then look over towards the spot where Alizée used to be sitting. They might be an exception. I'll have to look into that later, but not now. They weren't part of the inner circle even in the original coven so there's no real point to it now. Besides, Eksa did give me an in. Not a massive one but I had this story prepared for a reason.

I let out a sigh as I then begin to say, "Well, you're not entirely wrong," looking over to Eksa before addressing the crowd at large again, "They don't know about... this" I sweep my hand across to gesture to the store at large, "At least not yet."

"Ordinarily a string of seemingly unconnected murders like this wouldn't catch our eye... but that's the thing. They're not seemingly unconnected." I say before taking out from one of my other inner jacket pockets the pictures of the wolf statues. "With this much we at least know it's the same person, or organization. Some highly motivated entity that's not only acting across state lines but also across international ones" I say pointing to the location written on one of the pictures of the wolf statue, "Halfway across the globe. Of course the government wouldn't jump the gun and go magic must exist but this pattern of mass killings with little to no evidence left behind does have some similarities to mass spy purges we've dealt with in the past. Sometimes the Russians even left calling cards like this to throw us off the scent."

I put the photos away before looking at Drake and saying, "The main point is, it set off a few red flags, especially since all of the victims seemed to have been active in this little area of Oregan during a specific period of time and the statues were all carved out of Sycamore native to this region." after which I then look to the crowd again, "What I'm getting at here is... If it weren't for me this entire town would currently be under mass surveillance. No camera would be safe, your phones are laughably easy to tap, cellphones especially, your internet browsing habits would be the NSA's playground, and a good deal of you would likely be tailed just to make sure you're not an out of state actor on the run. You would have no privacy, you would be under constant scrutiny... and the original plan was to also use you all as bait to draw Father Wolf out. The main reason they're not doing that is because I convinced them it would be easier if they just let me handle it. Less noise. Less potential for public backlash. I have enough of a... history with these types of cases that they're willing to give me, and by extension, all of you some time."

I then walk over to a chair, turn it so my back is facing a wall that doesn't lead into any other buildings and sit down. Wait- why am I sitting down? Well, this doesn't exactly impose an image of... power... but whatever.

"The main thing I'm trying to get across here is that I'm the nice option. I can go back but that doesn't mean they're going to stop. The people who will come to replace me I can one hundred percent assure you are far worse and far more willing to use those guns we have" I say looking to Everleigh with that statement. "They're going to find out about us. Especially since I know you're not exactly known for... subtlety" I say looking to Drake, "And I'm sure you don't want to find out what might happen when they do."

Alright, that should freak them out enough to at least get on board with me sticking aro-

"And you can do whatever the hell you want to me."

What?

"Throw me out, beat the ever living crap out of me, hell... You could even kill me" I say before reaching into my inner holster and taking out from it... my gun. Glock-19, gen 5, just as solid an weighty as it always is in that disgusting sort of way. I place it in front of me using a free chair and turn it so the barrel is faced right at me, no one else.

What the hell are you- Shut up we're doing this my way now.

"The safety's on and there isn't a bullet in the chamber but it's not a complicated mechanism to figure out." I say before looking over to Drake in particular, "Use it, if you really think I'm too dangerous. I came here fully prepared for that. If anything" I can't help letting out a slight laugh before saying this one, "It'd make things easier." but I manage to cut myself off before I went in too deep.

Come on Kali. Now's not the time for that... Deep breath. Breath in. Breath out. Look at the crowd. You're working from a place of weakness. Let them know that.

"My job is to find Father Wolf and if I think he's a threat to the state then my job is to deal with him. It doesn't matter how. If you want to kill him..." I say looking over to Linqian, "Fine by me. If you want to brutalize him and then kill him" I say looking over to Drake, "Also fine. If you want to stuff him in a barrel full of concrete and dump him in the lake..., I say looking at Grayson, "I wouldn't recommend it, it's not as discreet as you might think especially with the metal fishing trend going on these days but... that's not my problem so knock yourself out."

I then lean my back against the chair. Funny... right now I'm probably in the most danger I've ever been on a mission in my entire life and yet, it's nice. I'm fully relaxed.

"I'm not here to boss you all around. I'm not here to give orders and make you do dangerous things on my behalf that you might not want to do. I can do my own job, with, or without you." I say before looking towards ever single person individually as I talk, "I'm here to find the bastard that's killing us, keep this place from becoming another warzone, and even though this isn't part of my job I consider this the most important part... keeping all of you alive." I say as my gaze lands on Auri.

"The government doesn't want to help any of you. Truthfully, they couldn't give a shit if any of you were dead or alive by the end of all this. But I'm not them. Despite of the years..." I say before my gaze instinctively looks over towards Simone, "Despite everything... I still care. Not just about the people I was close with, but about everyone. Even if most of you probably don't."

---

Dirty boots splashed through a crystal clear brook as the sun peeked through the boughs of massive evergreens. Sully heard nothing more than his own heavy, labored breaths, the soft babbling of water over stones, and the chirping of birds too stubborn to migrate south. There was a pain in the side of his ribs that wasn’t wholly unpleasant. How long had it been since he’d pushed himself like this? College? High school? He pushed the past out of his head and focused on the path before him. Nothing mattered more but the sticks, stones, and leaves on the ground before him and the destination he had in mind. Just another two miles. Two miles was nothing. But when he factored in the distance he’d already gone, and the distance he’d have to go to get back, it made him pause. The Spring Maiden had said it was an awesome view, but a view couldn’t really be worth all this effort, could it?

He heard his dad’s voice on the wind whisper to him to push on and so he did. Each step was heavy, like the mud around his boots had turned into concrete. The fire in his side spread to his lungs, the gasps for air becoming pained. He remembered how Coach barked at him and the other boys, pushing them until some of the boys were bent over on the ground and heaving up their breakfast. He’d probably laughed, not in a mean-spirited way but in a way that said not to worry about it, everybody made an ass of themselves at practice, and then gave them a hand up. He was happy there wasn’t anyone out here now to watch him struggle, although he would’ve taken a shoulder to lean on. He settled on a tree instead, letting the mountain air cool his lungs down.

The Chalice felt heavy in his backpack. Sully knew he could just reach back, undo the zipper, take a big swig of its elixir, and be ready to keep pushing on. He didn’t. The reward at the end of the trail was amplified by the struggle. He leaned back against the tree and groaned, staring up at the branches overhead, the world a swirl of colors. He closed his eyes and listened to the nature around him as his breathing slowed. The reward at the end? He was already being rewarded with this moment away from everything: away from the city, away from the pollution, away from the dead-end jobs and neverending distractions and obligations. A moment of peace, a second of clarity.

Ashley was being buried today. Sully was supposed to be at the funeral, supposed to give a speech, even had it jotted down on a crumpled piece of paper in his pocket. He’d be expected to lighten up the mood, make everyone leave feeling slightly better then when they had arrived, leave them thinking that they’d all gathered here today not because of one senseless death but because of one magnificent life. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t lie to those people. He couldn’t lie to himself. It had been a pointless death piled on top of other pointless deaths: Jade, Ripley, Lionel, Kura, Sam, Elsa, Kari, Jin, Bella. He felt his legs grow weak. Sully let himself sink down to the dirt, buried his head in his arm, let his shoulders heave. He wasn’t making it to the summit. He wasn’t going to the funeral. Maybe he’d just stay lost here in the middle forever.

---

---

Sully may not have made it to the funeral, but he was happy he’d come for the reunion. Even if all he actually committed to the group was letting one more of the witches forget that there were consequences to her actions it still meant he was of some relevance. He patted her—Everleigh, Eve—on the shoulder as she latched onto his other arm, polite code for ‘alright, let the fuck go’. She eventually took the hint. Sully turned to Eve’s crutch and clapped him lightly on the back.

“Good to see you too, Finn. Where’s—” Sully stopped himself. He’d almost stupidly asked about Bella. “Sorry. Dark times, man, dark times. Bella was a good egg. How you holding—” "SULLY, YOOOOOOOOO!" “AYYYYYYYYYYYY, LOOK WHO FINALLY CAUGHT UP! DRAKEY BABY!”

Sully left Finn hanging, as thankful that Drake had pulled him out of an awkward moment as he was that he’d put away that lightning sword. Something about Drake yelling the Beer Chalice triggered a devolution in Sully, further reverting him into a simple meathead. He let out a valiant cheer of his own and scooped Drake up like he’d just scored the game winning goal in a mighty bear hug, complete with a full spin. He was about to holler for someone to bring him some solo cups when Auri and Kali ended their seven minutes in heaven with about four minutes to spare. Auri shouted so loudly at Eve for smoking in her store that Sully felt like he was guilty by association for not saying anything.

He set Drake down, patted him on the shoulder, and found himself a chair as Kali took the floor. Everybody was talking over one another, seemingly in protest of something Kali had done. Sully had the sinking feeling between showing up late and spinning Drake like a ballerina he’d missed something massively important. Nevertheless, Sully knitted his brow and rubbed his chin as he pretended like he was following along as Kali showed off a picture of a wolf carving. “Right, the Russians,” he muttered, suddenly feeling like he was being held hostage at the Thanksgiving table by the weird uncle who’d already shown up to dinner six jack and cokes deep. As with Uncle Jim, he just nodded along. Mhm, yeah, NSA, yeah, totally. Oh, you need help cleaning the dishes?

Sully shifted in his chair uncomfortably. Surely, someone would speak up and put an end to this unhinged speech. Kali was always one of the quieter members of the Coven. Not necessarily a bad dude, maybe a little weird, but nothing like this. This guy seemed completely incoherent. This was cruising past the lands of uncomfortable straight down the highway to depressing with a brick tapped to the gas pedal. And then the gun came out. Sully tensed up in his seat as the air sucked out of the room. His eyes darted across the room towards the others, trying to gauge their reaction, trying to judge the distance between himself and Kali if he needed to tackle the man. He watched Everleigh move towards Kali, saw the look in her eyes, the signal from his brains to his legs firing too slowly as he made the connection. Sully stood up too slowly for his own likely, the metal legs of his chair screeching against the floor as it slid back. Eve had already closed the distance. His pupils dilated as she pushed the gun against Kali’s head.

“Hey, wait—” His voice broke, his throat running dry. Ancient shadows of limp bodies too close to the end to drink from the Chalice flashed on the walls as Sully braced himself to watch yet another person die right in front of his very own eyes. Oh God. Everleigh tucked the gun away. Sully heaved out a loud sigh mixed with a ‘what the fuck’ as he began to pace with his hands on his head. Eve proposed they continued with a vote. Sully stopped, still unaware of the full situation, and exploded on an assumption, “Jesus fucking Christ, I’m not voting on a public execution!”

“We’re just voting on whether or not to crowd-surf Kali out the door!” clarified Auri.

“Oh man, what the hell you guys,” said Sully, wiping his hands across his face with relief and sinking back down into a chair. He looked at Kali. The man seemed unstable, unwell. He’d offered to let them kill him and had hardly even flinched when Eve grabbed the gun. It’d be uncomfortable to keep him around, but throwing him out in the cold would likely mean it was the last they’d ever see of the guy. He’d been part of their team once. They couldn’t do that to him. Even if Sully had been fully caught up to speed, his decision would have remained the same. “I mean, let the guy stay right? He said he still cares. I still care about you too, dude.” Sully gestured towards Kali. “So, like, no more Russian Roulette and I think we’re good.”

“A vote where the final call is made by the one with a gun doesn’t seem very democratic,” said Sloane. “I abstain.”

---

Eksa disagreed with her… Or at least, wanted to hear Kali out. Linqian rolled her eyes as she suggested he didn’t have to be there as an FBI agent. Right, cause that was possible. If Kali had wanted that he could have just not told them. Then this meeting would’ve been a lot faster.

At least Drake agreed. One more person on the sensible side… Even if he’d damn near destroyed her eardrums a moment before. Maybe it would’ve been better if he did, cause then she wouldn’t have to hear all the bullshit Kali was spewing.

Offering to let them kill him was new, though. The whole thing, mentioning Russians, tracking them all and using mafia style concrete barrels on Father Wolf, was so ridiculous that it dampened Linqian’s anger. She was still irritated, but she was also insanely miffed. Did this guy even hear himself? Had he taken lessons in speeches from a right wing politician?

”You’re talking circles… The feds don’t know about us, but they were going to use us as bait? Really? Do you think we’re stupid?” It didn’t take a genius to tell most of what he was saying was bullshit. Too many contradictions. Sure, Linqian didn’t have her brother’s brain. But she had a healthy dose of scepticism and was far too disagreeable to just accept what someone said. ”If you’re really FBI, you’re real bad at your job. Could’ve just led with the whole wanting to keep everyone alive thing and left the rest out. Or better, just kept quiet like you used to.”

Linqian shrugged. The whole thing was stupid to her now that he’d given an incredibly long, inane speech, and her anger had gone away as quickly as it came. She was just bored now, and her remaining annoyance was mostly about how much bullshit she’d had to listen to.

”I vote to kick him out, without murder, but I don’t really care as long as he isn’t going to tell us what to do.” Linqian glanced at Eve. ”He isn’t the only dangerous one anyway.”

”Oh, and thank you so much for not spying on our phones, by the way. You really saved some poor underling from browsing my porn history,” Linqian added as an afterthought, the corners of her lips twitching up into an almost smirk. ”You should consider yourself lucky.”

---

---

”Hey let’s not jump the-” Gun. Yeah, ironic. Luca was out of his seat the moment Kali pulled out the gun. Seriously, what the fuck. This whole FBI thing went completely over Luca’s head, and he really didn’t care either way, but offering to let people shoot you went too far. He wasn’t fast enough, though, barely standing when Everleigh had already grasped the gun.

She wasn’t actually going to shoot him, right?

Luca hesitated, smile dropping from his lips. What would be faster, Eve pulling the trigger or him running over there? Definitely Eve, with his knee acting up. There was a risk of touching Eve as well if he tried to grab the gun.

He let out a breath he hadn’t even realised he was holding when Eve lowered the gun, almost as quickly as she’d put it to Kali’s head. Luca kept his eye on it as Eve decided it was hers… Which he didn’t really feel comfortable with either. Really, he’d rather there was no gun at all. Sure, they all had various paranormal abilities, but resistance to bullets wasn’t a shared trait. He did wonder if a bullet starting to rust once it got near him would slow it down… He didn’t want to test that out, though.

”Maybe no one should have a gun?” Luca suggested, glancing at Auri. He was sure the last thing she wanted was someone dead in her flower shop… Which somehow everyone else had destroyed a lot more than he had. ”Let’s not start killing each other too.”

He shook his head. Not like anyone, especially Eve, would listen to him on that. Whatever. No point dwelling on the possibility of being shot! Best to stay positive and assume everyone would make it out of here alive!

Including Kali. Honestly, Luca wasn't so bothered either way about the whole FBI thing… If it was true. On one hand, he'd count Kali as a friend. He trusted him. But on the other, a lot of what they did wasn't going to work under government watch. If Luca slipped up, touching someone and rotting their skin off, would he suddenly find himself in jail?

That would be an incredibly depressing last few years. But he also really doubted Kali would do that to him. Yeah, trust definitely won out. Kali was a good, if weird, guy. And Luca could understand why he was like that, just a bit.

”I vote to let Kali stay,” Luca said with a far too relaxed smile, finally sitting back down. “He’s just here like everyone else.” If you ignored him announcing that he was FBI. ”And it’s better to have someone who knows what he’s doing, right? Everyone’s jumping to the worst case scenario, when it’ll probably be better to have his help! I mean, this whole thing could’ve been prevented if he didn’t tell us in the first place, but whatever! He was just being honest.”

Luca clapped his hands together, expression unwavering even as the fraying gloves on his hands completely disintegrated. It was fine, they’d lasted a good amount of time! He had plenty more in his bag.

”We did agree to move on from past issues, so why don’t we count this as in the past too and move on?”

---

---

Location: Veni Vedi Veni
@Punished GN

---

The grin that spread across Alizée's face was sharp, fervent, and cold.

Target acquired.

"Now, how do we take her?"

"Let's be civil with this first. We just want to book her, remember?" she thought.

"I. WANT. Her," Void's metallic and dark voice hissed in her mind, biting out each word. "Just hurry up. That lady beside you sent out another text and can't stop checking it. Can't stop eyeing you."

Alizée's eyes darted over to the muscular woman, who was indeed staring at her as the bartender placed Alizée's drink order down. “Hell yeah, sister, chug that shit!”

She smirked, taking the hundred and slipping it back into her wallet, which was then nestled in her purse. The bartender really was a son of a- ...well. The burning thirst tearing up Alizée's throat made her slightly more forgiving. The bartender was likely just trying to keep her girls safe. Safe from the haunts of the night. Safe from folks who would do the girls harm. Folks like... her.

As she withdrew her hand, she held the top of the opened beer bottle, sliding it over to the red-headed woman. She gave a small, innocent smile. "Here. My treat."

There was a sleight of hand at play as Alizée withdrew, moving to nurse her own drinks. A small white tablet had been dropped in the woman's beer. A sedative. Mild, of course. But enough to make her feel more than just tipsy. Alizée had picked up a few tricks on her own in her years of night-stalking. This was a fun ploy to use when she was in a public setting and wanted to get a target to feel exhausted. Feel numb in the bones. Due to the lady's muscle size, she wasn't sure how effective the sedative would be. But the redhead set off a lot of red flags for both her and Void, so a sedative, clearly, was the next logical step.

Making herself a little comfier, Alizée curled a strand of platinum hair out of her eyes as she took a seat at the bar, spinning to face the stage.

"So, what's your plan?"

"Depends on what this lying bartender says."

She enjoyed the lights, show, and music of the DJ welcoming Violet and her friend, before tossing back the first gin and tonic.

"Is drinking a good idea right about now?"

"Gotta look like I either don't know what's going on, or don't care."

She made a face, setting the empty glass on the counter with a confident thump. She was tossing it back, just as the muscular woman said to. It was strong! The bartender made a good drink. Allowing herself a moment to recover, she moved to face the bar halfway, resting her elbow on the glossed counter before tossing back the second drink.

The effects on her empty stomach were almost instant, and she used her elbow to keep herself sitting a bit straighter. The world had a nice swinging-ship feel to it.

"You're an idiot."

"Yet you're still here."

She took a pause. If the Coven saw her right now... The thought made her chuckle. That was, until she thought of Kali and his damn badge. It had been a while since something spooked her that bad. But... Eh, she could take him. Him and his whole damn army, badge or no badge.

"Now the drinks are talking."

"Shut up."

Alizée glanced sideways up at the bartender. "So, now that Violet is here, how does one go about getting a private dance? I want Violet all to myself, you see."

She ran her finger around the rim of her now empty glasses before glancing back up, a dark look in her eyes.

"You can tell me, or I can drag her off the stage myself. Your choice." She smiled, not bothering to conceal her threat.