Magnus, sir Mithias, sir Bedevere and lady Mo sat in the luxurious backseat of the former presidential state car of the former president of the former United States of America. The Cadillac One, or as their special service used to call it "the Beast", was one of a few things Magnus's forces 'acquired' while he was out of town. And it had arrived just in time to pick them up from the airport. The chance to show off some new toys to the other oldbloods and knowing they brought a human along, locked in a coffin in the trunk, put him in a pretty good damn mood.
Nevertheless none of them had spoken much since the plane ride. Maybe everyone's minds were elsewhere, maybe the reason oldbloods don't usually see each other much is because aside from the schemes, there wasn't much to talk about.
Through tinted windows they could see the sun set behind the trees as they drove down the winding road to his base.
Home sweet home.
Hale woke up to the sound of a low humming engine driving in his direction. He groaned as he rubbed his eyes and tried to block the sharp neon headlights. He was lying beneath a slightly withered tree. On a top of torn and filthy pillows, on top of a broken tent. He was surrounded with empty cans of beer and energy drinks, fast food bags and pizza boxes. Angrily he got up and shouted at the car.
"A bloody month!? You stay away for a god damn month!?"
The vampires calmly exited the car.
"A few days without sleep, hanging around town, no problem. But you stayed on your fancy pants vampire vacation for a fuck-ass long time I gotta sleep man. You made me sleep outside! Like an animal!"
He gestured at the pile of trash that had been his den of gluttony this past month.
"Hell I've practically gone feral! Having to live off the land like that."
Magnus scoffed and shouted at Hale in return.
"You slept a hundred feet from the base under cover of sniper rifle, it is high summer and you ordered pizza!"
"No. I had to have fuck face inside order pizza for me. I ran out of phones."
"Great! Now everyone knows where we live!"
"They already do. Last week a few new websites popped up. Information on vampires is being leaked. Strongholds locations and equipment, vampire weaknesses and other data. We've been on the list since day one, SOLDIER has sent a few recon missions in our direction before, they know exactly who and where we are." Hale calmed down a little.
"The only reason I see why we haven't had a large scale attack yet is because they can't get a large enough strike force together. A month is a long time in this time man. We got to keep up."
Magnus thought about this for a second, then remembered something important.
"That's all very interesting, but I'm not running this show right now. On the war end the council has decided it's lady Mo's problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to break someone's mind."
He had the doors opened and servants carry the coffin to his happy place, the torture room.
As they walked trough the long halls they once again were silent. Hale followed from a distance after quickly grabbing a left over beer.
The only thing they could hear was a slow rhythmic pounding on the coffin lid.
Magnus broke the silence.
"So what questions do you have for your little human friend?"