Samhain remained silent as he watched over the rest of the "meeting" in the Don's office, his posture relaxed and confident as any feline. However, he felt uneasy still, and as his hands rested behind his back his fingers lightly touched over the hilt of a dagger. Not only was he still unsure of the young clan head's opinion of him, but there was a queer tingling running over his spine that made him want to shudder. It was like he was standing outside just before a storm, the power in the air running over his skin.... he knew if he had fur right then, it would all be on end. Something was definitely not right in the air.

Giving the barest of frowns, he tried to mentally shake off the feeling and brought his attention back to Cain, Sai and The Wizard. He would have to bring this up to the Don later, in private. He silently prayed the shifter still trusted him enough to hear him out.

-------------------

Asha gave a smile as she clicked the cap back on the metallic tube of gloss, then pursed her lips at the mirror. "Oh, darling, you look lovely tonight." The red-head said to her reflection, voice still in the masculine pitch of her normal guise until she responded, voice taking on a convincing feminine tone. "You are too kind, love." She said with a laugh before fluffing her perfectly curled hair. Standing, she twisted on her heel and shook her hips, skirt swaying enticingly around her legs. "But, it is the truth." She said, her words almost coming out as a purr as she looked herself over in the mirror one more time, then sauntered out of the room.

After a few more moments she was out on the street and heading for the Flock's headquarters, finding herself almost eager to see if anyone had found out about their newly missing member, or newly maimed one, if the smelly bounty hunter failed his mission. Not that she was supposed to know about all that, of course... The Clan didn't seem to make that devious assassination attempt common knowledge among it's members. It was that kind of detail made it all the more intriguing for the spy, though. She knew there would be profit from this, and though it would make her job more dangerous, the chance to reap in the rewards was too tempting to pass up.

Confident smile still on her face, she parked her car some distance from The Flock's nest and walked the rest of the way to the building, then slipped inside with a wink at the nearest sentry.

(Q U E E N: KageShio: Wyrmskyld:)

Once Max and the wizard had left his office, he turned his gaze to his brother, having yet heard of Revy's death he had decided to put his brother out to kill her, to get rid of the competition in their original business. "Sai.....here is your target." he said to him as he handed him a file with surveillance photos of Revy in it and all the information that his spies had given him of her so that he could do his job. "Be careful of her." he said to him simply as he smiled about it, letting his thoughts wandered to the slightly sweet smile that he could smell coming up from the vents. He waved to the rest of the staff to dismiss them, knowing that Samhain was going to the only on that remained in the room with him, his stomach growled slightly, letting him know that he was hungry. His tongue snaked out his mouth to lick his lips and over his canines as he stood up and stretched a bit, moving to look out the window slightly for a few moments.

((Sorry for the tardiness of the reply, I recently got a job, and was really tired.))

He was sad that she stopped, blinking lazily as she set him down. He watched her for a couple steps. To follow in the sky or on the ground? There were plenty of places he could shift along the way... He took to the skies, green eyes suddenly alert and watching as he trailed the llama. After a while, he noticed the hospital ahead, and the usual bustle of the emergency room for this time of day. Though, looking over it again, it did seem a bit more than normal. He swooped down, landing to shift unnoticed around the corner before hurrying to follow Palea inside.

Running a hand through his scruffy white hair, he blinked at the florescent lighting. His other hand found it's way to a pocket of his jeans, and he stepped closer to Palea. "So, do you know what's going on?" His green eyes scaned her face before moving to the hubbub that was the front desk nurses and doctors. Of course, the Flock doctor was here... Pre'ach'an wondered if he'd noticed the two of them enter.

Jack was tired. It just wasn't his day, he felt like the Flock was losing some of it's key communication. He knew that Pre'ach'an and Jacky were usually the collectors of gossip and daily activity, but he wanted to weave their gossip collection into his business. One day his daughter will do just that, but until then, it was still his to command. He could feel the winds shift, something was very wrong. He needed to know, and he needed to know yesterday. Where where his spies, and more importantly where was Jacky.

"JACQUELINE!!" His voice boomed across the building, there were many places that she could have been that she wouldn't be able to hear him, but he knew his daughter. She was probably either up in the attic filing and cataloging things into those index card things she kept, or she was trying to spy on others in the area. But she didn't come. Jack felt the worry eat at his insides, Revy should be back now, even if she went against his words and followed the assassin she would be back too.

~~~

"No. No no no no no, Revy stay with me, we're almost there." Tears had left their tell tale stains down her cheeks, but the rivers were now dry with nothing left to give. "Revy, Revy, listen to me. We're almost there, we can make it, you can make it..... you have to make it." the last part was a whisper, breaking the mantra that had gotten her so far. The bridge was far behind them now as the small raven girl carried her friend's body down back alleys, memory guiding her to the back doors of the clinic. Her black coiled hair was becoming matted with sweat and blood, her dress in ruin, blades still attached to her forearms. The last of her strength had left her long ago, and she had been running on adrenaline and hope.

The cold metal met her head as she brought it down again, BANG BANG. She knocked as best she could without dropping or changing her hold on the lycan. BANG ... bang.... bang..... Jacky tried to use the coded knock they had in place but she just wanted to collapse now, her head aching from using it in such a way. "Revy, we're here. We're here, Doc Rhodes will help you pull through. He has to. It's what doctors do, right?"

Beau had been leaning in close to smell the intoxicating aroma of blood and death, licking his lips with sensual pleasure when there was a sudden pain and a gush of warmth on his face and a weight on his back. He went limp as he felt himself falling, and attempted to roll mid-air and get his opponent underneath him. Unfortunately for him, she was much better in the air, and the breath was knocked out of him explosively as they landed. While he gasped for breath, the raven-shifter sliced off his ear and delivered her threat.

The possum watched Jacky hauling off the dead girl, slowly recovering his bravado enough to call after her. "Thanks fer th' ride, sweetcheeks!" He suspected she hadn't heard him, but it made him feel better despite the screaming pain where his ear used to be. The pain subsided somewhat as he shifted back into possum form and began climbing the embankment on the way back to his truck. The trip seemed to take hours, but eventually he smelled the gasoline-oil-rust of the battered vehicle. The return to human form was agony, but bearable because he knew there was relief at hand.

Beau wrenched the truck door open and half-fell across the seats, reaching into the passenger floorboard for a tackle box. He spilled the top tray of lures and hooks as he fumbled underneath it for the stash of potions hidden in the depths of the box. Painkillers, right... and then Ma's Antidote. A few pills were quickly washed down with the fiery contents of the jug in the glove box, and he closed his eyes a few moments to let the pain subside before opening the small plastic bag containing faintly luminous powder. With infinite care he measured a small amount of the powder onto a small mirror and snorted it, careful to inhale every bit.

Rainbows exploded inside the possum, and he screamed and writhed at the excruciating pleasure of the new substance in his system. When the brief eternity of blissful pain ended, Beau sat up and grinned at his reflection in the mirror the powder had rested on. The grin caused some of the dried blood to crack and flake off his face, revealing half-healed scars where there had been fresh wounds only minutes ago. "'Marked for the kill and poisoned?' Heh, that's what sugarlips thinks. Gotta love bezoar and unicorn horn... But jus' 'cause Ah'm a gentleman, Ah reckon Ah'll go pass her message on ta th' bossman."

Beau gunned the truck and swerved out onto the road toward town, leaving a foul-smelling cloud and two streaks of rubber behind him.

The possum's red pickup tore through the city, finally careening into the alley behind the Black Cat Cafe. Beau grinned toothily at the wizard and his dog as they scrambled out of his path. Ordinarily he'd enjoy playing a little chicken, but right now he had a mission. One that should make him a nice chunk of cash. Instead he parallel parked at high-speed and checked his appearance in the mirror while the smoke of burnt tires dissipated. He ignored the dried blood flaking off his face and sprinkling itself across his shirt and the interior of the car in favor of inspecting the new scars and missing ear.

Ah like the scars... but maybe Ma kin whip up somethin' ta grow the ear back when Ah git home... Shrugging philosophically, Beau sauntered up to the back door of the cafe. Generally he insisted on coming in the front, simply because it annoyed the cats, but today he was looking for a reward. And besides, walking past vampires while covered in blood was just plain stupid.

He strode up the stairs purposefully, ignoring the people whose job it was to stop him from entering Cain's presence unannounced, and opened the door without knocking. "Hey, boss-man, Ah got good news for ya. 'Member that feisty lil demi-lycan y'all bin moanin' about? Well, ya don't have ta moan about 'er anymore."

The hospital doors flew open, reacting to the motion detector installed to improve the usefulness of the gurneys but there was a pitiful looking girl with another girl in her arms looking scared- no, terrified. It suddenly occurred to Dr. Rhodes he knew these two faces, he knew the rushed pattern of the knock the farrier made on the door frame and for a second longer he looked at them shocked. Mob business usually took place in the after hours when no one would take as much notice to stab wounds and what not (well, at least he wouldn't have to fear for busy-bodies taking notice of those he patched up), but judging by the amount of blood and panic this was much more than that. "Don't just stand there, get her up on the bed."

"MARTY!" Dr. Rhodes bellowed down the hall to the nurse's station "I'm taking ER 17, page my worthless intern an if he doesn't show up in the next minute and a half you can personally kick his sorry ass out of this hospital." He didn't wait for poor Jacquelin, likely exhausted from her run to the hospital, to get Revy fully on the gurney. They were moving down the hall with her on wheels before he managed to swing her legs over onto the bed fully... but even that felt wrong. The doors swung open when the gurney collided with them and Dr. Rhodes snapped that Jacquelin should either wait in the corner. This was the first time he could get a look at what he was dealing with and he was not at all pleased.

The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed "What the hell did you two do? Where did you go?!" he snapped. Jack would kill them if they lived through this. "What happened! I need to know n-!" There was a grotesque glimmer from inside one of the deep pits and from it the appearance of what could almost be described as crimson steam. He frowned and pulled out some fine tweezers to extract one of the many brilliant silver shots. He looked down at Revy once more, right into her eyes with the tweezers still up high. If she could see at all it would be clear why she was in such agony and even the cat that was her doctor was humbled by the sad discovery. But Dr. Rhodes was not a patient man nor cat. With a low growl he dropped the shot into a pan and went hunting for more. In the back of his mind he was certain he would not be able to get them all out in time to save the lycan, but he HAD to try.

Jacky was moving in a fog once they made it inside the hospital. She could feel eyes drift her way and linger for a moment, the amount of blood and the shimmer from her wing-blades certainly captured attention. Normally she would either revel in the attention or she had a way of moving the attention off her depending on the situation, but she was just going through the motions, quickly instep behind the doctor now. Everything was a blur, things weren't registering at the speed she was used to, but here she was, covered in her friend's blood with the mob doctor in a hospital. Her thoughts were in a stand still, as she let the doctor push her around.

The loud clink of metal on metal snapped her out of it as if she was slapped across the face. Jacky stared at Dr. Rhodes, "It was buck shot. Silver, I think, by the way she went down." that much was obvious from the magical hissing coming off the metal. She continued in a catatonic manner, still in shock. "Dad had sent her on a culling of a new turn, I followed to be her high eyes. That went well and fine." Pausing she watched as more silver rounds were extracted, watching as the heavy clinking rang out. "There was a possum hiding, I had missed him during the passover, they must have known and planted him. He shot her.... It's my fault, I missed him, I didn't see him. It's my fault she's like this." Her eyes were dry, but there was pain and sadness behind them, before they darkened over with a dangerous clouding. "He's marked now, and I will see to it that one begets another, and more."

Clink - hisssssss... Clink - hisssssssss...

Dr. Rhodes worked silently as Jacky worked through her thoughts. As more shot came out of the poor girl's body it was becoming increasingly clear that this was all for naught. He was having to dig too deep, the shot must have been from terribly close- what chance did he or the lycan have now? His face twisted up, doing his best to remain silent so his rage didn't overtake him... and then Jacky's voice and manner grew dark.

It was an icy current that took the room. No sooner did the words travel from her lips that all of Dr. Rhodes' frustration at the failing situation turn from irritation to hatred. "That opossum won't likely see the other end of the week... for the three of us and the clan." He wasn't a violent man, but he could do something much more despicable. He could refuse to help the villain.

But his hands had stopped. Even now silver shot sizzled from within deep pockets of the lycan, invisible, but audible. The red mist of the supernatural blood in contact with the silver rose from the wounds and the pellets which were already removed, making the room heavy with the scent of burning blood. His eyes were fixed on Jacky, one hand clenched around the tweezers he had been pulling the devils out with, the other was a balled fist, clearly white in the knuckles from his grip. "It was the opossum, not you, kid. Don't ever say that it was you unless you pull the trigger."

It was clear he was finished working.