SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2014

"Sorry to leave you alone to deal with The Reaper." Charlotte was lying on top of the covers of the motel bed when she was speaking with Gaius on the phone. One day of staying out of town ended up being several days of her hiding out in a shitty room. She should have just stayed in the van, but then again, there’s far too much clutter in that thing to sleep in it right now.

"Better me than you." Gaius reluctantly responded. ”I don’t think Hikari will stoop as low as to hire someone like that to retrieve me. Actually, He wouldn’t talk to me at all. But he’s gone now."

"Great. I'll be going back there as soon as I can." Charlotte sat up and sighed in relief.

"Actually." Gaius hesitated before proceeding. "If we're looking for your father, the town's patriarch may be a good lead. Have you spoken to him yet?"

Charlotte groaned loudly before flopping on the bed. "Absolutely not, and I won’t. Besides, Eclipse is still looking for us, remember?"

Eclipse had kept Gaius's escape under wraps, and not everyone agreed with Hikari's actions. But even if going out in public was relatively safe, speaking one on one with James Whitechapel was right out, especially for Charlotte. She ran her free hand along the covered side of her face.

"He may be loyal to Hikari, but I saw him speaking with your father often. And he's a pretty reasonable person. I'm sure as long as we don't let him catch us anywhere too secluded, we can get some useful information." Gaius tried to reason. There was a part of him that wondered if James could make sense of whatever the hell got into Hikari, but that was just wishful thinking.

Charlotte briefly laughed at the remark about James being 'reasonable'. "Guy, do you want to know why you've never seen me before? It's because my old man's work associates are all horrible people, especially him… No offense."

Gaius inhaled sharply, but then there was only silence. He wasn’t going to take that remark personally, but he was getting annoyed by her lack of initiative. Finally, he exhaled and spoke while he held back his annoyance. "If you're not comfortable, I can go it alone. I read your research notes on him and everything else, and I know him pretty well."

Charlotte's stomach was still churning at the thought of James being involved at all, but Gaius had a point. It would be prudent to actually speak to him, and now she has someone who can help her with that. "Fine. But if anything happens, you need to promise to get out of there. You can get here on your own, right?"

"Yeah, I found a bus route that goes there. It runs in the mornings, but I should be there tomorrow."

After they ended the phone call, Charlotte finally stood up and out of bed and immediately made her way to the bathroom. Charlotte looked into the mirror intently as she brushed back the bangs typically covering the right side of her face. The long diagonal scar across her cheek had not changed in fifteen years, and she didn’t plan on fixing it anytime soon.

For immortals, scars heal on their own quickly, but they an also be preserved via magic, as a reminder of the events that led to it. Each scar is a lesson learned that can’t ever be forgotten. For Charlotte, that lesson was that she should never trust the bottom feeding dirtbag known as James Whitechapel.

SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2014

Despite just how much he slept nowadays, James was somehow up first for once. He checked the clock on the wall of the large bedroom. It was five PM, far too early. He did have a houseguest who kept earlier hours, but this room was soundproofed. James concluded that the stress must be affecting him pretty badly.

“Get up.” He gently nudged the woman sleeping on his chest. Arabella responded by slowly opening her eyes. She realized that she wasn’t up first and bolted upright, which prompted James to grab her shoulder firmly.

“You’re still early. I wanted to talk to you privately.” James always operated like this when he was about to ask her to do something more complicated. He could always guarantee they’d be alone in this room, and he had her wrapped around his finger on mornings after they’ve spent the night together.

“This is about everything that weird mage said, isn’t it?” Arabella remembered the story Alex gave about how he got here, and how he was brought by some vampire who had broken into Eclipse.

“There are some things I can’t say around that guy. There are some things that don’t make sense, and I want you to look into them.” James got right to the point.

“You mean that escaped mage he was looking for?” Arabella looked over towards him curiously.

“No. The vampire.” James decided that now was a good time to sit up and try to stretch out. “Nothing about this entire ordeal has made any sense. Gaius made a few mistakes, but he has a good head on his shoulders. I want to know how he got mixed up with that vile woman and what she's up to.”

“Consider it done. I’ll keep you updated.” Arabella sat up and rolled out of bed. To be honest, some of the things he was saying didn't add up, but it wasn't her place to question it. The politics never made sense to her, she just had to trust James’s judgement.

“Hold on.” James warned sternly. “This isn’t your run of the mill vampire. She’s much more dangerous then she looks. You are doing reconnaissance and that is it. Do not engage her.”

Arabella sighed. She knew he’d be saying that, he always did. But he did sound a lot more serious this time. “Understood.”

After they both got dressed, James made his way to the kitchen. The coffee had been made last night, and it looked like someone just turned on the pot, but only a small amount of it was even touched.

The kid with the funny ears was sitting at the counter with a half-filled cup of coffee. James watched as the young man routinely took small sips, grimaced in an exaggerated manner, and put down the mug.

"You know, there's some sugar right next to the pot." James poured himself a cup and gestured to a ceramic jar.

"I'm not a little kid." Alex pouted like a child. James wanted to refute him, but he didn't want to start the evening with a fight. Instead, James discreetly grabbed a bottle from a cabinet and poured some of the contents into his own coffee. Today was going to be one of those days.

Charlotte needed to kill time, but she also wanted to blend in, and the mall was the best place for that. Now, there are two types of malls. The first type of mall is a large, beautiful building that was once home to highly regarded stores. Of course, nowadays, about half of those are out of business. But that doesn't matter, because this isn't that kind of mall.

This was once a warehouse, and now it's home to some rather dubious businesses. These kinds of establishments apparently existed in the natural world too, but Charlotte couldn’t fathom the logistics of how that would even work. Since the government ignores supernatural communities, they were a good place for entrepreneurs who didn't want to be weighed down by certain regulations. Of course, there are limits, and James and a few other city council members often come in to make that abundantly clear. But immortals needed fake IDs and an ample supply of mortals that they won't feel too bad about attacking, so there was no getting rid of this place.

But Charlotte didn't care about all that. She just needed to get out of that motel room, and let off a bit of steam while she's at it. She still had to watch her back, especially in a place like this, but she could still look around.

Arabella was able to quietly slip in and keep watch from a distance. She was a common sight here, and the only people who turned their heads were some of the dodgier business owners. She gets sent here every now and then to remind them who's in charge, but most of the time, she just comes here because the only gun shop in town's here.

Both women carried about their day and kept it natural in their own way. Charlotte kept a relatively low profile, visiting various shops and asking about the merchandise there, even making a few miscellaneous purchases. Meanwhile, Arabella was clearly looking for something, but the rest of the mall was left guessing as to what.

After an hour or two of this, Arabella was convinced that her time was being wasted. This woman actually seemed more wholesome and upstanding than most vampires. If she's still going to watch her tomorrow, she should probably ask James just what it is that she's supposed to be looking for. Because today? Charlotte's worst crime has been purchasing a knockoff console full of presumably pirated games.

Arabella kept half of her attention on Charlotte, but froze when she noticed another suspicious person. Without thinking, she instinctively dove into a clothing store and peered around the corner hesitantly. Her father was disguised, wearing some temporary hair dye and sunglasses, but it had become very easy to tell for her, even if nobody else could. What the hell did he want? She was confident that he shouldn't even be in supernatural territory.

She noticed he was headed straight for Charlotte, and tensed up as she watched the scene play out. Charlotte, for her part, also noticed, and maneuvered into an unoccupied storefront.

"I've been looking for you, you know." Salvador followed her into the unit and spoke softly. There was music blaring from another nearby shop and construction in the storefront next to them, nobody would be able to hear their conversation.

"Congratulations, you found me. Your prize is not getting tarred and feathered for showing your face in supernatural territory." Charlotte took a moment to realize who she was speaking to, and even if the disguise was good enough to fool her, she could make a guess as to who he was based on his voice and what he was saying.

"I need your help. In exchange, I have information on your father's dealings." Salvador wasn't going to get Charlotte to cooperate, so he took his shot immediately. Charlotte grimaced and

"And you didn't say this at the restaurant because?" Charlotte was listening, but she was also staring him down with a snarl.

"I can't have your new friend around for any of this." Salvador was direct. "No matter what the current situation is, he was still loyal to Daiki."

Charlotte had only ever heard about what happened secondhand. Eclipse had finally caught Salvador after the seventh confirmed murder, and then the head of Eclipse released him on unknown conditions. It was just one of the many reasons why Daiki Inoue was considered a weak and inept leader. Of course, Daiki himself was found dead a few months later, but he was exonerated for that one.

"Fine, what do you want?" Maybe if she let him talk, she can get rid of him sooner.

"I think my daughter's gotten involved with some bad people." Salvador looked around for nobody in particular before he lowered his voice even more. "How familiar are you with the town's patriarch?"

"Too familiar." Charlotte cringed. Salvador might be bad news, but if she was trying to protect her daughter from him? Maybe Charlotte can empathize.

“She’s been working for him for a year now. I-”

“Hold on.” Charlotte stopped him as she scribbled down her number. "I'll play along, but I don't ever want to be seen in public with you. Call me in two hours."

"Fine by me." Salvador abruptly turned and left without another word, disappearing into the crowd quickly, no matter how closely both women watched.

Arabella was out of earshot, but heard bits and pieces. Charlotte seemed like such a nice girl, but she's with her father? Was she another assassin? Was he coming out of retirement? The correct thing to do in this situation is contact James immediately, no matter how much she wanted to pursue her father. She called him as soon as she was out of the mall and in a secluded area.

"I take it you have something to report." James could tell it was serious before Arabella started speaking.

"Charlotte was speaking to The Reaper. He was in disguise, but I can tell." Arabella was speaking more hastily than usual. “I didn’t get a chance to tail him.”

"You'd know better than anyone else.” James kept calm, in contrast to Arabella. “I know how serious this is, but I need you to keep watching The Stray. She's a dangerous woman by herself, and this just makes things worse. Don't act unless there's an immediate emergency, and let me know every time that woman makes a move."

"I won't let her get away." Arabella confirmed.

"As for the reaper, it's best to get a mage on this. They'd be better able to face him if it came to that. But we'll need you to help locate him, so don't go dying on me." The call ended there, and Arabella almost wanted to cry. Did she hear her father mention her? It didn’t matter. There was no way this was going to end well.