He nodded, knowing this was going to be the difficult part. He went to jot down his number and then changed his mind. He asked her for her number, placing it in his phone before sending her a small text with the message of 'hi'. "Just keep the text in your phone. Don't put a name to it, don't save it or anything. As far as you're aware, its just a text you happened to get. Reply when you're ready to meet back up." He moved to the door, adjusting and making sure he had everything on his person.

"If the text message thing seems to be a bit precarious, you can usually find me on the strip around three am, near Caesar's." He gave a quick smile that didn't seem to want to stay on. "I'll leave before you, take the stairs."

"I'll be in touch," Ana said. She checked her pockets and her weapons again, and then carefully moved towards the door. She didn't like turning her back to a hunter, but she didn't really seem to have a choice.

Once she was outside of her hotel room, she made her way outside. She couldn't be seen with Kris again for a while, so she would pretend not to know him. She took a deep breath once she got out into the cool night air. It was already after midnight, so she would have to be quick, or else spend the day with the 'family.' Lucky for her, she knew where the coven was, and how to get in quickly.

She was stopped at the door of the nondescript building, just off the strip. The young man at the door was one of her kind, although much younger than she was. She saw his gaze sharpen, and he held up a hand to stop her.

"State your name and business," he said.

"Anne Fletcher," Ana replied. "I'm here to see Caine." The young vampire hesitated, clearly recognizing her name. Apparently, the coven still remembered her little massacre.

"Let 'er in," A masculine Scottish voice said from inside. Ana recognized the voice, and walked into the building as the young vampire stepped aside.

"Still hanging around here, Seamus?" Ana asked as she looked over at her old acquaintance.

"Still going by 'Anne?'" Seamus countered.

"Touche," Ana replied. She walked straight back towards another door. "Regardless, I need to speak to Caine. I've heard... disturbing rumors on the strip." Seamus gave her a look that clearly said that he knew better, but Ana ignored him and went into the next room.

"Ahh... Anamaria."

The deep, velvety voice made her skin crawl, even as the man used another of her aliases.

"Caine," she replied coolly as she closed the door behind her.

A few hours later, around three or four (Ana wasn't sure which, and didn't bother looking at the time on her phone), she sent a message to Kris.

I'm staying here for the day. I couldn't get anything out of Father yet. She used the word 'father' in place of Caine's name, just in case the message was tracked or intercepted somehow.

Kris gradually made his way back towards the main strip, pausing when he reached the west side of the MGM Grand. There was another 'disciple' of the Hunter Order, garbed in typical bar hopping fashion greeted him and walked alongside him in the direction of Caesar's. The two were silent, morose, their behavior obvious to even the drunks.

They pulled off the strip after passing the Flamingo, slipping in-between hotels, where a Bouncer-esque guy stood outside the door to a miscellaneous buildings storage facility. He took one look at the duo, in particularly Kris's chains, and let them inside. The room was lit with florescent lights, the white walls and cheap white tile flooring making the bright lights reflect off everything. There were a few tables stacked her and there, the cheap plastic kind that a ten-year-old child could break with barely even trying, stacked high with folders, paperwork and containers filled with pens.

A group of twenty or so others were standing in the direct middle, conversing with one another. Kris slipped into the group, finding his fellow 'trainees' and they exchanged information they obtained during their rounds. After trading this information (Kris managing to keep silent about his rounds in the busyness, too many people to keep track of when everyone was reporting on merit alone), he glanced at his cell, reading the text message and responding with his own.

Take your time. I have plenty I still need to do as well.

Like eat, sleep, bathe, avoid his dhampire trainer... things of that nature that needed to take precedence.

Ana didn't particularly like staying with the coven for the day, but she didn't have much of a choice. The sun would rise soon, and she would much rather put up with her blood family than going out in the sun.

Although, she didn't mind the younger vampires giving her space. Apparently, she was still well-known in the coven for her little massacre almost two and a half centuries back. She didn't care that they still remembered, though. It meant that none of the 'younglings' would bother her. As everyone began to settle in for the day, starting with the youngest, Ana sent texts to Mary and Veronica, letting them know that she would be gone for the day, and would let them know come sunset if she would be back the next night.

It annoyed her that she'd gotten next to no information out of Caine, but she'd kind of expected as much. At least she hadn't seen any turned children amongst the youngest of the coven, so that was a plus. Still... the rumor disturbed her, and she made a mental note to ask around once the sun set again, and the rest of the coven rose for the night.

Kris eventually found himself slumped against one of the white washed walls, feeling sleep beginning to overtake him. He would use one of the chains and hit himself in the leg and thigh, trying to use the pain to keep himself awake, just long enough to see whether or not Zecheriah made it back to the base in time. If he did, Kris would have to use his horrible cover story of what happened when he left with Ana (a story he hadn't truly thought up completely just yet). If not, he could rest and try and come up with something before Zecheriah made it back that night. But soon the little bits of pain weren't enough to keep him up, and he fell asleep there against the wall.

When he awoke, his cell was blaring the theme song to Doctor Who; a programmed alert to have him awake by a certain hour every day. Silencing it, he yawned and glanced about the base. Everything was running just as it did before he fell to sleep; the section leaders discussing their latest plans to hunt down and track the vampires that loved the Vegas strip, the recruits sitting in the far corner, either catching up or helping train each other for the early sparring practice. He ran a hand through his hair, stumbling to his feet before stretching his arms high above him, back popping in multiple places and feeling the burn from realizing he slept wrong and part of his neck would be sore for the rest of the evening.

It was only thirty passed noon, so he had plenty of time before the sun would go down. He glanced about for his 'section manager', not spotting the red-haired Irish man of Doom (as he was appropriately nicknamed by the younger hunters), and took that as his queue to leave and get himself some food. He gave a brief wave to the bouncer and meandered to the McDonalds just a bit farther north. In his party clothes, all wrinkled and disheveled from the odd sleeping position, he looked no different than the alcoholics or party-goers who frequently passed out in the clubs and were kicked to the curb. Ordering a quick meal, he chowed it down quickly and started back down the Strip, to hit the Excalibur, the hotel he practically lived in to change his clothes and his weapons for the day.

Ana was dead asleep at high noon, in the most literal sense of the phrase. She had laid down to rest on a bed in one of the 'guest' rooms of the covenstead, although she was fairly sure she had been given one of the better rooms because of who she had been in the coven before she left. Enforcers were generally respected amongst members of the clan, and she had been particularly good at her job. In the middle of the day, she was nowhere even close to waking, and wouldn't until the sun began to set. Oh, she could daywalk, if she really needed to, and many times she chose to, but it was still more natural to sleep through the height of the day and wake at night.

It was nearing dusk when Ana finally woke. Normally, she was slow to wake, but being with the clan had brought back some habits that she'd long since thought she buried. She was fully awake in an instant, and one of her hands found the hilt of a dagger before she'd realized it. Mentally, she stepped back from the old habits with a curse. She was behaving like an enforcer again. This was why she hated having to visit Caine! He had trained her well, and some habits were impossible to break completely.

Getting up, she put on her clothes from the morning before, which she had carefully folded next to the bed, and then left the room. She wanted to get some breakfast before trying to get any more information out of her sire.

Staying on the lowest floor possible meant he more or less used the room to house his clothes and he might possibly sleep in the bed once every week or so. However it was the collection of weapons he had housed in there that made the renting the room worth it. Numerous of them were disguised as normal everyday things like chains that could be found on someone's pants. Or a belt that actually had thin throwing knives on the inside, so thin you couldn't feel them when you ran your hand over the belt, but sharp enough you could cut off a hand. But his favorite was the gun that looked like an average cell phone. The bullet would shoot out the antenna area after pressing one of the keys. It was the simplest weapon he could have on his person, but he never carried it. Too many different scenarios would run through his head, most of them involving him grabbing the wrong phone and accidentally shooting someone in the face.

Kris hopped in the shower really quick, not bothering to even style his hair as he quickly dried off and hopped into the next set of dance club clothes he owned, making a note to ask the hotel staff to send the previously worn outfit out to the cleaners. He put away the belts he used the night before and grabbed the knives he could hide in his boots, the other knives hidden in his belt. At that moment his phone rang, the tall telling ring tone specially picked for Zechariah echoed through the room and Kris reluctantly picked it up. It was only three, the vampire couldn't have been forcing himself to day walk, was he?

Ana stalked out of her temporary room, already in a foul mood from the way she woke up. Her mood didn't improve at all with 'breakfast'; that being the clan all sitting at a long table with a live person on the table every few chairs. Although she didn't want to, Ana was forced to feed with the rest of the family, and that just made her mood worse.

The sun outside hadn't even set yet, and already she was awake and feeling vaguely homicidal.

Her feet didn't make a sound as she stormed past the rest of the clan and went straight towards Caine's 'chambers.' Her irritation must have shown on her face, because nobody tried to stop her as she went down the halls. She didn't even pause as she reached the door she was looking for, and she threw it open.

"Ah, good evening, Anamaria," Caine purred. "I trust you slept well?" Ana growled. His voice still made her skin crawl. In a flash, she was in front of him with her favorite dagger resting at his throat. "My sweet little witch, what is this all about?" Caine asked, using his preferred pet name for her.

"Enough bullshit, Caine," Ana spat. "I'm not in the mood for it. I know your influence extends further than Vegas, and I need to know right now whether or not you or any of your other progeny have been turning children." Ana wasn't in the mood for small talk, clearly.

"My dear, sweet witch," Caine started. Ana hissed at the pet name. "If any of the coven has turned a child, would you not have seen them already?"

"Don't play games with me, Caine, I know you." Ana tightened her grip on the dagger.

"What games, Anamaria? Had I turned a child, you would know... Of course, you also do your best to stay away from the family. Such a naughty girl... Unless, of course, you only bring this up because you fear for your little Emily."

Ana's blood ran cold when Caine mentioned her descendant. She was one of the few who had living descendants anymore, and she kept track of her relatives. Emily was her many-times-great-granddaughter, and she was only six.

"You leave Emily and her family out of this," Ana threatened.

"Or what?" Caine challenged. "You don't have the strength or experience to challenge me, my little witch. If I wanted to turn Emily, you couldn't stop me."

With an enraged cry, Ana tried to gut Caine, but he was right. She didn't have the strength or experience to take him on, and he proved it. Mere moments later, Ana was staggering back to her feet, wiping blood away from wounds made by her own weapon that Caine carelessly threw at her. She hissed in pain when it found a home in her right shoulder.

"I think we're done here," Caine said dismissively. "Gentlemen," this he directed to a pair of thug-like vampires at the door, "please escort Ms. Fletcher to the door, her business is through here." The two vampires each took one of Ana's arms and literally dragged her to the door. She could barely manage a whimpering hiss when the last of the day's sunlight hit her skin, and she was tossed out the door.

After a few moments, she fought her way to her feet again and pulled the dagger out of her shoulder. She wasn't sure how, but somehow she managed to find her way back to her hotel, although she stayed in the alleyway just outside of it. She couldn't go inside covered in cuts and blood, people would ask questions. Her hands shook as she took her phone out of her pocket, but she stopped before she could dial Veronica or Mary. She didn't want to bring them into family politics. After a moment's hesitation, she sent a message to Kris.

Back outside my hotel. Caine took it out of my hide. Need to feed... and make sure Emily is alright.

The text didn't make much sense, even to her, but it was the best she could do until she could get some more blood into herself.

Zechariah's voice was gruff over the phone. "Where are you?"

Kris scowled, "Does it matter? I'm busy."

"Have you made any progress?"

Kris rolled his eyes, sitting on the edge of the bed, the springs creaking beneath him at the movement. "None" he cleared his throat, closing his eyes as he lie slipped past his lips, "the vampire refused to assist me. As expected, I killed her to prevent her returning to inform the leading Vampire Lord of our impressions."

There was silence on the other line.

"Was that not what I was supposed to do?" Kris almost grinned, knowing Zechariah had taken what he said as truth. "I'll just have to search for another vampire tonight, or tomorrow, depending on the rounds assigned back at base."

"Understood. Keep me informed."

He nodded, before making a small noise to show his agreement. "And you, Zech? Where are you?" He pocketed his wallet and eternal room key, silently stepping out of the room, allowing the door to close with a small slam, soft enough Zechariah wouldn't hear it through the phone. Kris began making his way to the stairwell, there he wouldn't have to worry about people overhearing the conversation.

Zechariah's voice turned into a whisper, a murmuring he couldn't understand except for faint words like "text", "later", "danger". He said his goodbye and hung up the phone, slipping it into his back pocket before practically running down the stairs. When he emerged from the backside of the hotel, his phone beeped and he checked the message. It was from Ana, not Zechariah, and it made little sense, the words "feed" and then checking on someone named Emily.

He blinked at the screen before typing his response, reading it over briefly before sending it. Need to stop by one of the clubs, talk to an informant. Give a call when done feeding. Kris never thought he would speak so blasé about a feeding, about the possible death of an innocent, but it just showed how easy it was to become desensitized to these things.

As long as it wasn't a child Ana was feeding from, as long as no children were being Turned, Kris figured it was something he could be used to.

Ana pounced on the first person to come back into the alley and immediately sank her fangs into the poor person's neck. Normally, she would have been much more careful about it, but at the moment she was hurt and starving and needed blood. She let the young man go before she killed him, but it was a near thing. At least his heart was still beating when she let him go. Her feeding was messy, but she was already covered in her own blood anyways, what as a little more from someone else?

She ended up feeding on two more people before she felt well enough to sneak inside and up to her room. Now that her bloodlust was satisfied for the moment, she desperately wanted a shower. As she unlocked the door to her room, she absently checked her phone and saw the message from Kris. Pressing the callback button, she set the phone to speaker and listened to it ring as she undressed.

The informant was unorganized, disordered, and appeared to be falling apart at the seams. The way he jittered in his seat, eyes glancing around nervously behind thick glasses, and his formal office wear wasn't buttoned up neatly, nor appeared to have been changed out of in at least three days. Kris resisted the urge to make a face in disgust and continued questioning him about the Vampire Nest the man thought he stumbled upon.

Mid-question, his phone began to ring. He asked for the informant to give him a moment before stepping away. He already was beginning to recognize the number, and didn't even bother with a greeting when he answered. "You know, the text you sent me made very little sense. Was it code for something?" Kris glanced at the time and knew this was going to take longer than anticipated. He motioned for another hunter to continue the questioning before walking farther away, slipping out of the room entirely.

His voice lowered to a whisper, knowing she could still hear him. "Also, Zech thinks I killed you. I can't let him know that you actually agreed, he'll think there's something else going on." He leaned against a wall, eyes closing slightly. "He's too paranoid, and I can't help but feel like telling him would ruin everything." Kris cleared his throat.

"Anyway, how are you? Healing alright? And did you manage to uncover any information or did he punish you for being too curious?"

"No, it wasn't code," Ana replied as she went around her room and gathered up clean clothes. "I was nigh on delirious when I sent that message. It almost made sense at the time." Taking her phone with her, she used a wet wash cloth to get the worst of the blood from her skin. "I'm alright now. The trip went pretty much the way I expected it to. I got sick of playing the good little enforcer, became defiant, and Caine took the punishment out of my hide. He threatened the daughter of a family I protect, I attacked him, and he threw me out." She sighed. "I didn't get any concrete information out of him, but he also didn't deny anything. I'm not entirely sure if he was doing that to play mind games, or if he really is covering something up, but there's no way I can get back in with the family for a while, not after my little display this evening."

Kris nodded, before confirming audibly, "Understood. Is there anywhere else you think we can get information without him knowing? At least until we can get you back in to see him?" He paused, hearing a noise from further down the hallway. "Gimme a sec... I need to check something."

He placed his phone in and slipped silently along the wall towards the noise. There was no sound of breathing, no more sounds of movement, but Kris couldn't let himself lower his guard. He reached the corner, taking a deep breath before glancing around it.

There was a hiss, and a form stood right there. It wasn't breathing, but it stared at him, the body steadily tensing. Kris' hand steadily drifted to his belt, slipping a blade out, letting it rest against his palm. "Hey there... Can I help you?" It's eyes widened, and against the natural human instinct, Kris stepped closer. The sound of footsteps behind him had Kris turning to glance over his shoulder.

There was another one.

His other hand drifted to his belt. "Ana, if you can hear me, I'm at the back entrance of Tao, the club in the Venetian. I have a problem." There were a series of hisses, and two more joined. "Okay, four problems."

Ana could hear the rustle of fabric through the phone, and assumed that Kris had put it into his pocket. She could still hear what was going on on the other side, so she wasn't worried when she heard his quiet footsteps. She busied herself with cleaning up; there was still blood marring her skin in sticky smears all over from her chin to her wrists. She hadn't exactly been neat in her haste earlier, and she still had her own blood on her skin from her fight with Caine. She paused when she heard Kris's voice over the phone again. He sounded calm, but she could just barely make out the hissing from the other side of the phone. She knew what that sound was, she made it herself when she got angry or when she was injured. Apparently, Kris had run into a few other vampires.

She would have asked him if he could take care of the problems himself, but she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her, especially if the phone wasn't set to speaker mode. She knew which club he was talking about, though, so she disconnected the call and finished cleaning up quickly. If she hurried, she might be able to help him take care of the 'problems,' or at least get close enough to see what was going on. She couldn't be seen helping a Hunter if her own family was involved, but she would give what assistance she could otherwise. She was older than a lot of vampires were able to get, so she'd picked up a few skills that might be helpful.

Once her body was free of drying blood and other grime, she dressed in simple, dark clothes, armed herself with her silver-edged knives, and left to see what was going on at the Tao.

To say Kris was prepared for the fight was being a bit optimistic. He only had a minute number of blades and the number of vampires closing in seemed to be doubling. However he remained calm, as this wasn't his first hunt, and took it one vampire at a time.

The one he first spotted was the first to lash out, claws and all. Kris managed a duck an stabbed the vampire in the chest cavity with one of his silver knives. Shoving it off, his free hand went to grab another blade when the second pounced on him. There was a grapple for the blades, the sharp ends cutting and scrapping the palms of Kris's hands, causing him to hiss out his pain. A well placed kick had the vampire rolling off of him, and Kris hopped to his feet. He stabbed the second in the back of the neck, unable to help notice the way the vampire's skin seemed to actually burn under the silver.

The other vampires grabbed him from behind, claws digging into his clothing and flesh, another pair of hands ripping his well-equipped belt from his waist. Kris lashed out, but was unable to truly get away from their grip. Groaning, he glanced about, mentally praying Ana was somewhere close by. Especially when a pair of fangs seemed to be getting suspiciously closer. Fudge...

It didn't take long for Ana to get to Tao. It wasn't all that far away, and it was dark enough by now that she could move as fast as she pleased without anyone being the wiser. She was barely around the building when she heard the sounds of the scuffle. She slowed down and walked around the last corner, into the glow of a nearby streetlight.

"Gentlemen," she purred, "why are you interfering with my hunt?" Claiming Kris has her prey seemed like the best way to get the others to back off. For once, she was glad she'd thrown on whatever clothes she could find; the simple black tank she'd pulled out revealed faint scars along her arms and shoulders that seemed to briefly shimmer in the light whenever she moved. None of the scars were all that bad, but there were enough of them that most other vampires would think twice about tangling with her. Her gaze shifted across the faces of the four vampires.

"This one?" one of them scoffed, gesturing carelessly to Kris. "This one seems a little outside your taste, Anne. Or did Caine finally knock some sense into you?" He snickered at his own joke, nudging one of his buddies.

"Oh Marcus," Ana crooned, adopting the tone of voice she used to use as Caine's enforcer. It was a tone that suggested that the person on the receiving end was only alive for Ana's pleasure. "You should know better. You know I don't have a sense of humor. And you know I don't like to share." She moved closer to him, her hips swaying just slightly. Marcus took an unconscious step back, but then held his ground.

"If this one is your prey, then prove it," he challenged. Grabbing Kris's arm, he shoved the human at Ana. "Take him. If he's your prey, I'm sure you've already imagined what his blood will taste like on your tongue. Hell, you've probably wanted a taste this whole time, so go on and take it."

Kris could say that he was more than relieved when 'back-up' arrived. He had been caught completely unexpected by the sheer amount of vampires in the area. With the chance to catch his breath, he couldn't help but wonder why there were so many so close to a normally secure area? His mind finally decided to start paying attention again when he was practically thrown towards Ana. The vampires wanted Ana to bite him, to feed off him.

Running the situation over in his head, he was quick to realize there was no easy way out of it. He met Ana's gaze and gave a faint twitch of a shrug. He couldn't do anything at this point, and his knives were currently embedded in multiple downed vampires - something he couldn't deny he was pleased about - thus leaving Kris to make a mental note to by more knives if he survives.

Ana didn't want to jeopardize Kris's mission, but she also couldn't risk blowing her cover, not in front of Marcus. With a sharp glare sent at the younger vampire, she tugged Kris a little closer.

"I'm sorry," she murmured in his ear, too quiet for anyone but him to hear the words. Then, without any more warning than that, she quickly sank her fangs into him, trying to make it as painless as possible. She hadn't been expecting what happened next.

She was used to live blood. She would even go so far as to say that she would take live blood over bagged blood, given the choice. But she'd never tasted anything quite like Kris before. She recognized the taste of his blood type, having tasted it countless times before, but there was something more than that, something... vibrant. She wasn't sure what it was, because she couldn't actually taste anything extra in his blood, but the sensation was there all the same.

She broke out of her reverie suddenly when she realized she was still feeding on him. Quickly, carefully, she withdrew her fangs and gently ran her tongue over the puncture marks, sealing them up so the bleeding would stop and the healing could begin.

"Satisfied, Marcus?" she asked in a bored tone.

"I could ask you the same, Anne," Marcus replied. Ana hissed slightly at him, bearing her fangs, and he backed away a few steps, hands raised. "Okay, okay... He's yours, take him."

Kris took the "I'm sorry," with a small half-shrug. He reflexively took a quick breath, being sure to release it all as Ana's fangs slipped in. Having the muscles relaxed helped slightly with how painful it could be, but nonetheless it still hurt. The sensation of having his blood sucked out from his neck had his muscles trembling with the urge to both try and throw Ana off of himself, or to just collapse and let the vampire do as she wished.

His vision swam and the darkness was welcoming. There were flashes of light behind his eyelids and he heard a buzzing in his ears. When she withdrew from his neck, Kris slowly began to slip back into awareness. By the time she finished lapping at the bite and sealing them, he was completely awake. He took a few calming breaths and his hand slipped along the edge of his belt. There was still a few more knives, and among the few vampires he managed to injure, if not kill, had some embedded in their body.

The vampire hunter whirled around and slashed out at the one Ana called Marcus, landing a cut along his collar bone. He knelt down and grabbed the knives he had in his boots, quickly taking out a few more nearby. A few actually took off running away, but Kris didn't care about them. He wanted to catch Marcus. Maybe he knew something Ana didn't. If not, then there was no issue killing him. If he did, he'd try to get what he knew before killing the vampire, but at least it would let Kris know he's on target.

Ana managed to get out of the way just in time when Kris lashed out with his knives. Marcus, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Perhaps it was because he was younger and slower than Ana, or perhaps she was just that much more experienced, but it didn't matter in the end. The cut opened up along his collar bone, just barely missing his major veins. Blood flowed out of the cut sluggishly-- it was a sizable cut, but there was no heartbeat to really circulate the blood, so it didn't pump out as it would have in a human.

Marcus stumbled backwards as he tried to get away from the hunter. He hadn't realized that the human he'd cornered and threw at Ana was a hunter... He looked over at his 'elder' and noticed that Ana didn't look surprised, or afraid.

"Traitor," he hissed. "You bring hunters into our territory? Have you led them to our home?"

"This is not my home," Ana replied. This seemed to make Marcus even angrier, and he lurched to his feet and lunged at Ana. Ana stepped out of the way, not making any move to put the younger vampire on the ground again. She would let Kris have that moment, if he wanted it.

After clearing out the remaining vampires, Kris practically pinned Marcus to the ground with the remaining daggers. "Okay, vampire, listen up. I'm only going to offer you this one chance, and if you screw up, you're dead." He did a quick glance about, counting how many of his blades were spread about and making a mental tally for when he would gather them up.

"You answer my questions, you live a little bit longer. You don't and you'll wish I wasn't as well trained as I am." Kris let a dark smile cross his lips. "I know just the right amount of things that can seriously harm a vampire, make you experience excruciating pain without death. I've never had a chance to use them before, but I am looking forward to it."

He paused, as if recalling Ana being there. He gave a quick glance, taking in her appearance and nodded. "Thanks for coming. Wouldn't have lived if it wasn't for you."

Ana nodded from where she was leaning against the building. The brick was cool and rough against her bare arms, but it didn't bother her in the slightest. She didn't mind coming to save Kris, especially since he had been kind enough before not to kill her first.

"Please, don't let me spoil the fun," she said. She gestured to Marcus, who flinched. "When you're done with him, I would rather like to find myself a proper meal, so if you please?"

"Whatever it is you think I know," Marcus said quickly, "I don't know it. I don't know anything." He'd changed his attitude quickly, now that he wasn't in control anymore, and he was well aware that he wasn't anywhere near the most deadly creature in the alley. In terms of age and experience, that honor went to Ana, but in terms of sheer specialized skill, Marcus was sure that this hunter was the most deadly one. He might not have special abilities, the way old vampires like Ana did, but the hunter was still a force to be reckoned with.

"He might be telling the truth," Ana commented in a bored tone. "Marcus is barely out of his fledgling phase. Barely more than a child, really." She gave a small smirk and looked at Marcus. "Isn't that right, brother mine?"

"I'm not a kid!" Marcus protested. Even as he did, though, his eyes kept flickering to the hunter, as if waiting for the knife to come down and end him.

Kris barely resisted the urge to rub his hands together gleefully. "Ah, but see, the questions I have for you I believe any vampire could answer, fledgling or ancient." His eyes lit up with a dark light, as if hinting at the things he could do. "It just so happened that I picked lucky you because you know my friend Ana here." He began toying with the closest dagger, humming a song to himself as he knew how annoying it could be for someone forced to listen to demented humming. "Now, where would you say dear vampire lord houses his prey? I'm aware one such as him doesn't go out and hunt for himself, as that would make him far too vulnerable to attack."

He positioned himself on his knees, humming some more. "And I could tell you why I want to know this, but I bet you'll come up with your own reasoning. And if you think about it long enough, you'll realize the temptation to tell me an incorrect location, or a place where others like you can ambush me. But see, here's the thing." He dropped one of them near Marcus's face, just barely missing his ear but severing strands of his hair on the way to the ground. "You tell me, and I'll make your death fairly painless. Not too shabby of a deal, yes?

"Its also not out of my power to keep you locked up for a bit while I have someone check on the data you give me. But I'd rather avoid all that horrible paperwork that has to go with it." Kris gave a carefree grin. "It's all fun to me."

Marcus' eyes widened as he absorbed what the hunter was saying. Then they narrowed again.

"So I'm dead either way," he stated. "If you're going to kill me anyways, why should I tell you anything?"

"Marcus, dear heart," Ana crooned as she pushed away from the building, "what makes you think you have a choice in the matter?" She'd adopted her previous tone of voice, the one she thought of as her enforcer self. It was a tone she'd used to keep youngsters like Marcus in line, in the past. "Even if you don't want to tell him, you can always tell me, and I won't say anything to Caine about it." She knelt down next to Marcus and gently caressed his cheek. He shuddered violently at her touch. "He won't ever have to know that you told."

"I... I don't have to tell anything!" Marcus managed to say. Ana was grudgingly impressed. Marcus was stubborn, moreso than she gave him credit for. A few more decades and he might actually make a good enforcer himself one day. It was almost a pity that he wouldn't make it that long.

Kris couldn't help the cackle he gave, and reached into his pocket. "I was hoping you'd be stubborn. There was this one technique I wanted to try." From his back pocket, he found a small, minuscule container of salt. "Supposedly, I can pour salt into a wound, in particular this would right here" he traced the cut along Marcus's collar bone with more pressure than necessary, "and it'll actually remove the blood from your system. Sucks it right up. And yet it keeps you alive, starving but alive."

He shook the packet above the wound, fingers positioned to open it. "I've heard the vampires who survive it tell the hunter anything, as its the most painful thing they've experienced. Want to try your chances at it?" He situated himself ready for the long wait. "And I never said I'd kill you right after word, I said you'd get to live longer. Didn't say how long."