| Valuable Allies |
[09 Nov 2005|12:45am] |
The rustic interior of Searchlight's only bar was just beginning to crowd at sunset. Ranchers and small-town merchants came around for a beer and good conversation before heading home, and were greeted by Jo and Nyx's friendly service. Hayden blended as well as an out-of-towner could. His modest style of dress and casual manner made it easy for locals to be congenial.
He got there just after 6pm, carrying a notebook under his arm and a pencil behind his ear. He went to the bar and ordered what was on tap, said a few greetings to the locals he knew, and headed for the most removed booth to wait for Quinn. Paper and pencil were dropped on the polished wood, and he rescued his cigarettes from a hip pocket before sitting down.
Quinn was almost bouncing with nervous energy by the time she was supposed to meet Hayden, arriving at the Lighthouse Bar at three minutes after six. Her head still ached faintly, but she'd taken aspirin that morning and then again in the middle of the day. She waved to a couple of the shop's regular customers as she came in, then made her way over to the Watcher's booth.
"Hi," she said, sliding into a seat. "Thanks for taking the time to meet me. I meant to catch up with you earlier, but things sort of got away from me." A slightly embarrassed shrug as she eyed the beer Hayden had, then she decided on water instead.
"Have you talked to anyone else besides Devon? Do your...bosses or whatever they are have anything to say about this?"
Hayden chuckled under his breath, largely because Quinn hadn't allowed him a greeting before she got straight to the point. No mistaking it. This meeting was about business. Which was a goddamn miracle, as far as he was concerned. Not even 'lukewarm' would describe the response he'd gotten to his emails.
"Actually," he hedged, and wrapped a hand around his mug. The condensation felt good against the weathered skin of his palm. "This is the first response I've gotten." He took a swallow of the beer and set the mug down. Afterwards, his hand rubbed a denim-clad thigh. "I was getting the feeling we were alone." A faint scowl as a pang of disappointment shot through him.
She scowled at the news as well, but it disappeared just as quickly when she said, "I think it's kind of hard to take in all at once. That might be what's holding folks up. I hope." She sipped at her water, set the glass back down.
"So there's no information at all? Not even from when they turned up to cause trouble before? They just..." The redhead lowered her voice as she leaned across the table between them. "They just want to wipe us off the face of the earth for no reason?"
"There's a reason," he muttered, lowering his voice to match hers. Hayden moved forward as well, and gave a surreptitious glance around before turning back to Quinn to murmur, "It's the same with most of the older demons... the ones closer to being pure. Vampires kill humans, right? But most of them don't want to eradicate the population. They need us for blood."
"But the others," Hayden paused and tapped the table with an index finger, "Others want to return the Earth to the old ways, before control was wrested from the purebloods. I did some reading. Whatever the Scourge was doing in Los Angeles has to do with that mission. Only it failed. A prophesy was fulfilled, something the Lister demons said would happen. A 'promised one' screwed up their plan. So this is probably round two."
( Look! A Game Plan! )
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