?

He arched his eyebrow at his would-be lover. He frowned even though it was hidden as he only trusted her with his secret and now, he had to trust the rest of this group. He smiled as he knew if something went wrong at least he would get to kill them. He hadn’t caused a head to pop with microwaves for a while now. Only for her would he do something even remotely close to this.

?

He listened to her give instructions as he listened to everyone's abilities, he was too much like his father for his own good already plotting how those there could be best used for their skills and abilities. Jordie was clearly a techie that would come in handy for all of them. The first thing he needed was to make all members of this group disappear. Effective to not be traced.

?

He knew Liza…good with calculations. He had worked with her a couple of times to turn his allowance into a large some which currently made washing money a bit easier as they made it roll through enough shell and legit corporations for it to be squeaky clean.

?

They had worked with Mara enough times to trust her and be aware of her, he couldn’t sneak up on her simply because she was sensitive to heat. But he wasn’t without his abilities in keeping an eye on her as well. He too was ever watchful, he had trust issues go figure.

?

Lightning Rod he wasn’t sure about, but he did keep track of him and noticed the visual interaction between him and Mara. ‘Was he trying to impress her? Good luck with that pretty boy.’ He thought, knocking someone out of the sky versus a shapeshifting assassin…yeah. ‘You are the weakest link…bye Felicia!’ He didn’t crack a smile which he would have laughed had it been Brandon introducing himself to knock him down yet another peg, but that was a family thing.

?

“Raine, Body Transformation/Energy/Electromagnetic Spectrum for those of you not familiar with your physics anywhere from Infra-red to Ultraviolet.” He said simply he didn’t have anyone to impress all of those people were elsewhere he was his own person now…no matter how much he missed them.

?

(Aurora)

Aurora noticed that Raine hadn’t lifted his face shield like she had asked.? She would address it later with him.? She wasn’t one to scold him in front of the others.? She looked at Devi who simply shook her head, so she moved on.

?

“Now, that everyone who wished to introduce themselves have we will move forward.? I am able to manipulate and magnetize metal.? If you are wearing or have something metal in your body, I can use it to my advantage.? That is my main power.? I have a couple of others, but for now I will keep those to myself.? Let dinner be served.? Please feel free to talk among yourselves and ask any questions you wish of me.”? With that she gave a wave to a person standing at the door and within minutes food was brought in on trays.

?

Devi stood up and walked to Aurora.? She whispered in her ear and Aurora nodded.? With that Devi simply left the room then the premise.? Aurora would explain if any of them asked.

?

(Jordie/Liza/Misty)

The three spoke among each other after Aurora spoke and the food was being placed in front of them.? Misty was sure that Aurora wasn’t going to be happy with her being late and the other two were trying to convince her to go and speak with their boss before she had time to think it over.

?

[Mara]

?

Everyone dug in once the food was brought in by the servants.? It was always a feast when Aurora set the table, at least to Mara, it being one of the things that the assassin missed the most when being out in the field.? The yuan-ti woman wasn't exactly trained in the art of cooking either.? An assassin was meant to kill with tooth, claw and blade, not by shoving a breadstick down someone's throat, though now that she thought about it, was an awful but very funny way of disposing of someone that didn't really leave a mark.? In any case, being on the move so often meant she could, and would, only eat enough to survive.? Better to complete your mission on an empty stomach than be caught?digesting a full meal.? A full snake was a dead snake.? However, that was neither here nor there, and she wasn't on a job yet, so Mara took full advantage of having this much food before her.

?

Several heaping plates of various meats ringed the yuan-ti at her seat.? Wasting no further time, the snake woman began digging into her fare, swallowing the meats whole as she tilted her head back and dropped the pieces into her mouth.? She didn't stop until her belly ever so slightly puffed out, leaning back into her seat cross-legged as she sighed in satisfaction.? Her eyes flicked to the one who called himself Lightning Rod.? Maybe he should've called himself Static Shock instead, a name she deemed more appropriate, which made the corners of her mouth inadvertently curl up into a smile.? What a faker.? Clearly he was trying to impress her, but for what?

?

"Aurora.? What do you think about that one?? The blond boy?" Mara whispered into her host's ear as she leaned close.? "He's giving off a lot of mixed signals, though he can't seem to take his eyes off me.? Should we, perhaps, give him a chance to show off?? He seems so eager to prove himself."? That one would be so easy to wrap around her finger.

?

(Lightning Rod)

?

Roddy picked distractedly at his food, barely able to look away from where the snake woman sat near the head of the table with Aurora. He shivered involuntarily at the way she seemed to swallow large chunks of meat whole without even chewing them.? It was a strange feeling, being at once fascinated and yet terrified on a very primal level.??

?

The blond youth was also unsettled by the strangeness of Mara's eyes.? They could seem to be looking at something else entirely one moment and then looking straight at him the next, without her head moving even the slightest bit.

?

"So," Roddy said, addressing Misty, forcing himself to look anywhere else besides at Mara, "any clue as to what the boss lady has in mind for us?? Or is that gonna be revealed with dessert?"

?

?(Raine)

Was still in bodyguard mode since that is what Aurora wanted him for right now.? “Good with dessert prettyboy, she will let you know when it is time.? For now simply enjoy the fair that is placed before you.”? He said doing his best not to be cold but he was already in a mood for some reason.? He just simply didn’t feel right and couldn’t put his finger on it.? Maybe it was simply time to press his relationship with Aurora a bit further.? They had been together long enough for her to know he wasn’t going anywhere and she was the one he wanted.? He couldn’t make it any plainer if he stenciled it across the sky.? Yet, something was pressing on him that he couldn’t shake as he sat with this group.? He looked at them thinking mayhaps this would be the group that would take over the city with.? Something that would make him clash with his family and yet he knew that he had to deal with them at some point as he wasn’t willing to wait for his father to hand him the keys to the city.? He was going to have to make his own.

He didn’t try to over hear the chatter between Mara and Aurora.? He wasn’t interested even in girl talk right now, which was his fave.? It wasn’t telepathy but knowing when someone liked him or someone else did help him out tremendously even momentarily some days.

Tag: Aurora/NPCs, Mara, Lightning Rod, Raine

"Because I feel the tension between us.? My desire to open up and share and yours' is not.? You have secrets you wish to keep but you keeping your secrets may help us to deal with this faster or sooner."? He said as he listened to her, there were parts of her life that she wanted to keep to herself.? He said nothing after that.? He knew how to kill vampires, that wasn't the issue. The issue was who under her employ was the mole, someone was tipped off.? He listened to her as maybe it was simply his own mind thinking she was wanting to be closed off and not share...having a life outside of him didn't mean a whole separate life.? Not that she had another lover or whole family on the side...right...?!?

"Yes, dear."? Was all he said not sure what to think of how she told him to cool off.? He was not hot...not too hot. He still had a few things going on mentally like where was Arrow's body?!?

(Katya)

As Katya showered she thought about Ashton's comments.? She knew that what was going on with Arrow and Ashton, had nothing to do with her blood bag business.? They had a direct supplier of the blood that came in.? They had their own network for sources for that blood.? Did Ashton think that her business had anything to do with all of the companies at the docks being tipped off, or was his jealousy of nothing getting the better of him like it always did?

?

She sighed as she turned off the water.? He really needed to trust her and not be jealous when there was nothing to be jealous of.? After drying off and getting dressed she looked for Ashton and found him sitting at the kitchen table.? "Shower is all yours.? But before you head in there, just know that I have nothing to hide from you.? The only thing that I want to keep to myself is my business and what it is.? So, the tension you feel is all coming from you.? My business is a vampire business, it has nothing to do with human trafficking.? I know how you feel about that so I would never involve myself with that side of crime.? Now, go and take your shower."

(Ashton)
He looked at the woman there and he was what he was a fallen angel that had found the woman of his dreams and yet in still he was pushing her away.? He moved to stand in front of her.? He looked at her and pulled her into a deep wanton kiss, not too much cause he was still icky so to speak but even as he stood there wanting to hold her but didn’t since she clean now.? He only touched her face, easy to clean.

“Thank you.? I know I can be a jealous ass and I apologies for that as you have given me no reason to be.? And thank you for assuring me…of my thoughts of my heart being even semi-involved in something I loathe.? Again I apologize for not giving you the benefit of the doubt.? Love you Kat…please forgive me.”? He said moving away from her slowly.? He was a terrible mate in that moment but sometimes even his emotions got the better of him.? He hated to be betrayed but something about this didn’t feel or sit right which made him wonder so many things even about himself.? Was it that he just trusted the wrong people…or could he even be trusted with his own judgment?!??

The water came on and he stripped.? It was cold and he hadn’t yet gotten in, he had to de-weaponize all of his clothes cause these wouldn’t be worn again.? He put them in a bag and put them in the corner.? He put his weapons in the bottom of the closet he would have to clean those later and he washed all the grime off of him as he turned the heat back up.? A part of him wished Kat was in here with him, he had a lot of making up to do.

Tag Katya

"Oh do what, do I owe the pleasure?"? He asked as he drank her in.? Nothing set his senses off but for the moment he was perfectly content and relaxed having her in his arms and feeling her body close to his own as he pulled her into her into his lap.? He watched as she adjusted herself to seat herself even more comfortably upon him.? He smiled as she said she thought he was the most inviting of all.? ? "Actually Autumn is my favorite time of year, the cool brisk air, the changing of the colorful leaves all around.? The call of desire of nature herself to make a home with another and settle in before winter.? Yes, gorgeous, I love autumn!"? He said not realizing what it was he was saying that might capture her attention.? Something about her made him long to claim her lips.

(Autumn)
With a smile at Cho's answer of Autumn, she kissed him wantoningly.? She could use him right there in front of the creamery, and wouldn't care who saw, but wondered if he was that kind of being.? As she kissed him her hand moved along his chest and then slid down his torso to his stomach.? Then she moved it around his side, he didn't seem to have any weapons on him.? "MMmmm." She moaned as he returned the kiss.

(Cho)
He wished he was the kind of man that spurned that kind of wanton excitement in women.? But even he had to say that he wanted to enjoy this and just throw caution to the wind.? He found her not only beautiful,? but ravishing she was gorgeous out here in the middle of the night.? She hadn’t been alone which would have set something off to him but when her friend left he was only slightly disappointed but his own ego didn’t want to miss this opportunity because he still had his duty to attend too. ?

What happened next, he wanted but didn’t expect as the woman kissed him.? It wasn’t that he didn’t want it he was shocked at the wanton gesture and the yearning hunger even he couldn’t deny he had for her.? She was pure delight to his eyes and to taste her she was like strawberries and cream…perhaps it was his ice cream.? The taste of her lips and tongue were candy to him and he felt that aching delightful hunger for her.? His alarms should have went off but her kiss kept that tamped down as well as his hand moving over her lovely firm behind.?

He felt her hand moving over him, he enjoyed her touch, he remembered once a very seductive pat down he had received once before, he kept his weapons much lower that and he was the weapons so he was rarely ever without one.? There was something about her that spurned his desire and even he couldn’t say he wasn’t interested in a threesome but seemed like her friend or companion was looking for someone perhaps more exciting.? Maybe later in the moment when his hunger became…too great.? He wondered some days was he predator or prey…maybe a bit of both.?

He would have loved to taken her right here, right now, but he didn’t want them to get arrested for indecency nor once they started was he in a hurry to stop.? He seemed to shiver as she moaned for him.? He wished to create a portal and walk them through it into his bedroom but he would simply have to try to convince her to walk a few block with him to his place.? Surely she could wait that long.? Her moans were so sexy and his body now all but screamed for her touch.

Tag Autumn

?

Callie took Flynn to a corner of the cave away from the others and got him comfortable with a bedroll and some blankets. She held him for a while and stroked his head while humming a song her mother used to sing to her when she was a child. She was working her way up to providing him something else to relax and give him the good thoughts he needed to continue his rest when she looked up and saw Etienne tell Sicilien and the others she was going to look for food. She walked off away from the cave and to Callie's chagrin, no one followed her.

?

"For Christ's sake," she muttered. She got up and rested Flynn's head on her bedroll, then kissed his cheek. "Back in a few minute, luv. I need to see where Etienne is off to. No one else seems to be paying attention to her."

?

Callie strapped on her guns and put her hat back on before heading out the mouth of the cave to find where Etienne went

?

(Flynn)?

?

The sound of Callie's soft humming was soothing, seeping into the pookah's dreaming and filling it with visions of quiet comfort and safety. It was a song of hearth and home, and Flynn's mind conjured up image after image from his past and from the pasts of others.? It was a nurturing dream, a restorative dream, not as powerful as one of passion or adventure might have been, but he could feel the glamour slowly rising back up within him.

?

He felt the the presence of one of the group - Etienne? - rise up and move away.? The thought troubled him, but he could do nothing but push it aside and hope that Callie, who seemed to be going after her, would be able to steer her back before she ran into one of the creatures seeking the group.? For now, replenishing his reserves of magical essence was vital and so he focused on that and that alone, letting his consciousness flow even further into the dreaming.

?

[Sicilien]

?

When Etienne hesitated in coming in, Sicilien first gave her a funny look and then looked back into the cave to see what was causing her hesitation.? It wasn't till he saw the fear in her eyes as she trembled and turned that he remembered why.? However, before he could even reach out for her or call her name, Callie came up behind him.? He only had to turn his face and Etienne was already gone from sight.? He sighed.

?

"Callie, wait.? You're Flynn's partner and the only one who knows how to take care of him," Sicilien said, raising his arm to bar her from going any further.? He did soften his look to let her know that he meant no offense.? "Let me go after her.? I'm a bit...more familiar with her behavior, so I know how to handle it."??Plus, she and I need to talk, but that's not a thought that he was willing to share with the group.? Slinging the sniper rifle back on, Sicilien gave Callie a quick smile and then headed out.

?

The bounty hunter kept silent until he was sure he was far enough from the cave that they wouldn't be able to see, or hear them.? The path that he took wound upwards onto a small plateau of sorts that was ringed by several large boulders, an evidence of a recent avalanche.? Leaning up against one, he took another drag on his cigarette and blew out a column of smoke into the sky.? The moon was just a crescent, but it was bright and beautiful, surrounded by millions of twinkling stars.

?

"Etienne, come out.? I know you're here.? I can feel you," Sicilien called out, not bothering to look around.? Let her be the first to make the move.? "Or we can play hide and seek, if you wish, but I will find you."

?

Etienne

?

It took several moments for her to calm down. Several moment for her to get her bearings. Cave of all places a cave...why a cave...

?

She wasn’t going to be able to go in there...she just wasn’t. But...she didn’t have to really, ?did she? She didn’t owe these people anything. She didn’t even really know them. She wasn’t any obligation to stay close to them.? Even less now that they had apparently out ran the big bad.?

?

She could just sneak away...

?

His voice rang in her ears then. The arrogance. Crossing her arms over her full bosom, she didn’t move. Hide and seek indeed.

Chase:

He was in the cave.? He watched it all unfold.? He smirked as he did his best to help out in anyway he could.? He knew for the moment they were hidden from sight of whatever was watching them or hunting them? till they could figure out how to get to the crossing.? He made sure Flynn was comfortable, Callie would now take care of him.? He on the other hand watched as Sicilien went to procure his woman.? He only shook his head.? ‘Lucky man.’? He thought to himself as he moved to layout all of his weapons and clean them before resting up.? He needed to help these people…and himself if any of them were to be free.? He was pretty sure this was the last battle for him, for a number of reasons actually but he was well aware of his limits right now…


Tag - ??Callie, Flynn, Sicilien, Etienne, Charity (jumping in periodically), Chase