i'll learn to beg

they fold and fade so slow. althea baines back alley tattoo artist

[devilsvenom]

I think you're looking for us, Lis.

They sent a shiver of realisation down her spine; the words were so simple, yet it felt like they made everything click into place. A puzzle that she had all the pieces for, but it wasn't quite fitting together. Althea had managed to put it in simple terms and give her the answers to questions she'd been asking herself for a long time. The Fellow was right; Brotherhood would spit her out, almost already had done, and it was worse to be out on your ass in the cold than to voluntarily defect, wasn't it?

"A friend told me recently that he never believed in the order, thought that we were protectors once, but we weren't anymore. I think he's right. I don't think The Brotherhood have been protectors in a long time." She murmured, her mind suddenly reeling with whatever the process was of leaving The Brotherhood. Sure, she had known of defects every now and then; it was rare, but it happened, yet she had no idea of the process of it - of what happened. Did she just turn around and tell Kennedy she was leaving and that would be that? Or would it turn to threats and violence?

"I... Have you seen people who have defected from Brothers to Fellows before? I don't know what to expect." She chews on her lower lip, a deep anxiety setting in. She didn't want to have to fight her way out, and she half hoped with everything that had happened with her recently, Aurelia would be relieved and let the little hunter on thin ice leave of her own accord.

[bainesalthea]

Althea chews on her lower lip - if the Brotherhood hasn't been protectors in a long time, it would make sense. There was a chance the branch back east were infested long before she got there, and it was just Murph who brought it all to light in the worst way. She doesn't know anyone other than herself who moved over, and she was never official anyways.

She starts to shake her head, because this is where she doesn't have any information. "Best guess I can give you is.. if you guys have a leader, then maybe talk to 'em. Tell 'em you want out but only because you think you can do better good on your own."

Maybe that'll work. Maybe it won't. "If you.. If that don't work, then come find me."

[rennymatos]

First a hurricane killed his dreams of being a romantically starving artist in the Pacific Northwest and turned him into an actually starving artist. Then the fucking white walkers came. And in the midst of that he'd become pretty sure vampires are real now, but whenever he even thinks about talking about what he'd seen in that alley he feels like he's gonna puke.

And now he's not just pretty sure, he's fucking so sure.

It goes like this. He knows dude's been on him since he left his side jar bussing at a cafe. He knows this because the dude's been there every night for a week, really since the Summer came back. But the guy's taken every turn Ren has now. But Ren has a multi-tool in his pocket, and he's wagering on how quick her can get the knifeblade out of it when he moves to spin on his would-be pursuer.

But as kind as that first run-in with vampiric possibilities had been, this one's not that. He's flushed against a wall, and he can almost feel the splintering weight compacting the bones in his wrist, forcing the fingers on his pocket-knife open as it clatters to the ground. He hadn't even seen the guy move.

He's about to protest, or shout or something, but then he can feel something about the word relax oozing around his mind and making everything else quiet down. Ren thinks he feels teeth playing at his neck, alongside hot breath, but the oily words make that not really matter. He even smiles at the weaselly blonde chick from the record store coming up from behind the creeper.

[bainesalthea]

She's not fast enough. The tattoos on her back are out - fully, completely. She's fucking done for. That sends a cold shock of fear straight down into her stomach, and makes her want to turn tail and run, but there's a guy in trouble. The whole fucking reason she wanted to do this in the first place was make it so other people didn't have to be afraid like she was, and it's that thought that propels her forward.

There are teeth in his neck, and she moves as fast as she can to wrench the vampire off of him. Althea's reward for that is to be flung across the alley, her back hitting the brick wall with enough force to crumble bits of it. Dust and pieces clatter to the asphalt around them as she slides down and gets back up.

Reaching down into her boot, she gets the carved stake out and wastes no time shoving it through his back and up through his ribs to pierce his heart. The dust covers both her and Ren, and she hopes the compulsion fades as soon as the fucker dies.

"..fuck." She can barely breathe. Doubling over, she tries to stretch her back and roll her shoulders as she gasps for a breath that doesn't hurt.

[bainesalthea]

closed starter for: @rennymatos

The tattooed wings on her back itch again. They're running out of juice and she'll have to outsource some ink soon if she's meant to continue this hunt for the person who really turned Heron. Each time she's run into trouble, she's wasting more and more of her resources.

Tonight's no fucking different. Up ahead there's a leech stalking its prey of the night. She left the crossbow at home because it's nice, but fucking unwieldy for this kind of work. Ahead of the two of them, there's a guy she's seen around town - mostly at the record store.

When he turns, the vamp turns, and then Althea turns, too.

She doesn't make her move until the vampire does, but it's fucking fast. They're always so fucking fast.

[devilsvenom]

"But those reasons," Lis started, wishing she had something fucking stronger than soda right now, "Do they impact others? If one person has a vendetta, or wants to kill every supernatural, is it held against others if they think you should only kill someone who is actively harming people? Have you ever been ordered by anyone to kill someone?"

She chewed on her bottom lip, wondering how much she could trust Althea, if she should offer context. "I... I don't know if Anika's told you, but her boyfriend? My brother? He's a vampire. Most of my friends, those whom I'd consider my closest allies, have been taken and turned. Wolves are practically human most of the month. Witches are mortal. It just doesn't feel right anymore, unless they're genuinely a threat and I... Fuck, I don't think I can stand to be in a guild that my parents had such a heavy hand in anymore. It's too much. Too much pressure to be like them, when I would honestly rather dive onto my sharpest blade than ever turn out like them."

Tequila would be really fucking good right now, she thinks to herself.

"I want to hunt, but I want to hunt for the right reasons, and I'm not sure that fits anywhere."

[bainesalthea]

Althea takes a moment to think about the Fellows she's met over the years - which ones she gets along with, which ones she doesn't. Eventually her answer is a lift of her hand and waving motion that says, 'Ehhh.' "Sometimes, sometimes not. It's really-- The Brotherhood is like one singular unit, yeah? Fellowship is a whole lot looser. Some people will hold it against you, some people won't - but there's no big, like, conglomerate telling you that you're a piece of shit, and you can't tell the ones who give you hell to fuck off without being kicked out. Common goal, different reasons."

She hopes that makes sense.

After she finishes, Lis explains and it all becomes increasingly clear. There's a shiver in her spine that makes her uncomfortable about Anika dating a vampire - but it's not something she wants to voice about the woman's brother. And she doesn't want to dictate how others live their lives - but now she'll keep a clearer eye out. If Port Leiry ever sees them again, that is. She looks down, jaw tightening some. Her mind doesn't focus on the vampire of it all, but her dead mentor buried on her property. Her grip tightens on the beer in her hand.

Althea allows silence to sit for a moment, while she thinks. When she finally looks up, she's forced herself to relax and not think about mistakes or fears, "I think you're looking for us, Lis. The Brotherhood's only gonna chew you up and spit you out."

[devilsvenom]

An answer she was expecting, but she understood the wariness from Althea. It was well known that the two hunter factions didn't see eye to eye, often at loggerheads with one another.

"I'm cool with that," Lis answered, a small smile coming to her lips in the hopes of showing sincerity, "I get why some aren't but, I'm slowly noticing I don't often hold the same beliefs as many of the Brothers. It uh, it's kind of why I approached you."

Even if she did share in what the Brotherhood believed in, and hated the Fellows, Annalise didn't think she would ever feel comfortable being in their ranks again. Not after her parents had muddied and degraded their reputation in her eyes. She couldn't go anywhere, or do anything, within The Brotherhood without something reminding her of them and threatening to send her off the deep end.

"Do you feel comfortable letting me ask a couple questions about how it works in The Fellowship?"

[bainesalthea]

Her shoulders visibly drop in relief after Lis says she's okay with it. That's.. good, that's good, yeah. Althea rubs at the lower half of her face, as if it to rid herself of the rest of the tension. They're cool, no reason to worry. "Yeah?" She raises both eyebrows, shifting her shoulders as the tattoos adorning her back start to itch - a phantom sensation, she knows.

"You can ask whatever you need, totally." She nods, drinks a bit, and continues on after clearing her throat. "Look, the main difference I noticed is that it's not.. Fellows aren't all bound by that one code. We all have our reasons."

Her reason isn't the same as Heron's, wasn't the same as the other founders, either. She's not sure if it was the same as Anika's. "My reasons are - honestly, fuckin'.. I'm afraid. And I wanna help people be less afraid. I've met Fellows who hunt cause they hate, and others who wanna protect. I guess as long as you want to hunt, no matter why, you're welcome."

Is she recruiting now? Fuck.

[anikabooker]

Whatever Althea thought she'd been doing, it wasn't that. "It was like you were fucking frozen or something, Baines."

Did she think Anika was lying? She'd seen her with her own damn eyes, and unlike her missing limb, those still worked just fine.

The creature was gone, and with the damn fish went her weapon. "Fuck, I dropped my dagger—" Words thrown at the furious ocean, that only ever took and never gave anything back. Cold waves crashed around her thighs, there was no point wading farther in for a blade, no matter how sentimental it had become. It had seen blood, and wounds that were never meant to be cut open, where greed and selfishness split flesh apart. It had seen moths and hallway kisses, and now it belonged to the sea. The waves crashed harder, each one angrier than the last, the ocean telling her to get out and follow Althea back to shore, then stay there.

"Music?" An eyebrow cocked, "There was no damn music when I got there."

Had she really lost her fucking mind? Anika disappeared for a few months, and everyone in Port Leiry fucking lost it.

Her shoulders shivered violently, as her arms folded across her chest, wrapping tightly around her torso. "Where— where do you live? Is it far?" Her face felt numb, she'd lost control of her jaw entirely, words breaking apart as it rattled from the cold.

[bainesalthea]

Her head hurt. Not just a normal headache from looking over old journals in dim light. Not like the headache from drinking way too much and waking up after having not enough water. It was like the creatures claw was stuck right behind her eye, aching and blossoming across the rest of her head. She knew she'd heard something. She knew that she'd reached for her gun. But she wasn't going to argue about it.

Standing up from the icy sand, she holds her head and shakes it - trying to rid herself of the lingering sound. They have to move or they'll die out here either by ice or monster.

"You know where I live." Althea grumbles. She had been so proud to show her off before Anika left. Maybe she shouldn't be so put off, but the shivers overtake her body like she's going to shake right out of her skin. "It's too far - we'll go to Heron's office." It's closer, anyways. And she's been cleaning it out since the visit with Tressa. At least it's warm.

[tressashaw]

"Oh yeah, hated us so much she was taking boudoir shots from the passenger side of a California king,"

She leaves her to ponder over the picture as she eyes the necklace, and nods when Althea asks. "Yeah. I don't know much about it, just that it takes a witch and a lot of blood."

"That's Lucia.... something. You know your politics? Kanemaru vampire. She went missing kind of figured she just... got her sun back an ran off. Guess baddie here must have gotten her. Maybe to get a hold of one of these?" She clicks her tongue. "Doesn't really help us with why she was a werewolf though," she says. "You got anything there" The question comes as she prepares to stash the necklace- no way in hell she's going to let a hunter get ahold of one of these.

[bainesalthea]

She doesn't want to know about vampire politics. She doesn't want to know about anything to do with them. Althea's irritation only grows stronger and stronger with each passing moment. It's on purpose - it has to be.

She watches as Tressa pockets the necklace, nose wrinkling in frustration as she does so. The good thing is: she doesn't care to have it, doesn't want it. But there's also a level where she wants to make sure nothing else here is taken from her.

"You've probably got better equipment than I do to go through these tapes." She slides them over. "You take them, come to me when if anything pops up. I need a fucking drink."

[devilsvenom]

Her drink is virgin, unfortunately, but she slammed it back all the same when Althea did, ordering another for them both. "Anyway," she started, clearing her throat as she tried to think of something to change the subject. The last thing she wanted to do was to speak about Reid, especially about him leaving with Anika when, yet again, his sisters needed him. It was hard to think about, mostly because what she hated most of all was how she understood it. Being away from Port Leiry, being at rehab, it was like a breath of fresh air she didn't know she needed until she'd returned.

"Are you-- You're not Brotherhood, are you? I'd have seen you there, since I got back to town, I mean. Fellowship?" Annalise questioned carefully, trying to keep her tone free of any judgement, considering what follow-up questions would come with Althea's answer.

[bainesalthea]

Althea accepts the new drink, but doesn't sip from it immediately, but she does shake her head. "Naw, not Brotherhood. Had my chance when I was training - but Heron took me in after some shit went down with my trainer and all." She waves it off, though, because even though she still thinks about Murph and still wonders when he's coming to finish the job - she can't think about that right now.

There's something more she's concerned about - if Lis is Brotherhood, does that mean that she's one of the types that looks down on the Fellows? Althea's face shifts into something more of a grimace. "You're cool with that, right? I know some Brothers don't really.. approve."

[anikabooker]

Icy water prickled her skin through her clothes, cold enough to numb every nerve in her body. The creature slithered deeper into darkness, and Anika lunged after it, reaching with one hand, dropping her dagger into the water. Her fingers caught for a moment, coming away slick with blood and something green and slimy.

What the fuck is that?

She'd never seen a beast with a damn fish tail like that. But before she could get a proper grip, Althea grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back toward shore. "Fu— Hey! What the fuck?" Anika pushed back, "I need to see what that fucking thing was—" Althea's boot came down so fucking hard it almost crushed the damn thing's skull. It was too damn late now, she thought, as she watched it plummet into the watery graveyard below, its body sinking farther and farther into the black depths until it disappeared completely.

"I'm fucking fine. What the fuck was that, Althea?"

Her words came out harsher than she'd intended, but rage was already storming through her veins. The fucker could've killed her right there if Anika hadn't acted on impulse. If she hadn't come back to that fucking shithole. Althea just stood there, unmoving and stiff. Anika had never fucking seen the other so fucking frozen. Her anger faltered as frantic green eyes swept over the other woman.

"Why the fuck were you just standing there?"

[bainesalthea]

She shivers with both cold and adrenaline as she watches Anika go for the creature's body. Staring at her incredulously, she shakes her head - "I wasn't just standing there! I was trying to shoot the fucking thing!" She yells, mostly over the waves, her voice cracking, as the body of the creature slides back into the waves - grabbed by something? She can't look, doesn't want to look.

There's no anger in her tone, and she looks down to the water lapping at her body and starts to trudge out of it, her entire body shivering as the exposed parts of her clothes start to freeze over in the wind. When she's back to shore, she holds her head in her hands to try and stave off the headache. "I wasn't - it started to - there was music or some shit, or singing. And I reached for my gun, and then next thing I know, you're here."

They have to dry off and get somewhere cold. Her teeth chatter, threatening to crack with the force of her body trying to warm up. Witches' Walk isn't far - maybe there's a coffee shop. "W-we have to get dry, Anika." She forces the words out, looking up at her. "Shit's been.. fucking weird."

[devilsvenom]

"Well, if you ever do, judge away, I do." Annalise teased, looking over at the other with a smile. "I haven't spent quality time with her, but he ditched town with her after..." after Booker died, but Lis didn't know if Althea would know that information, "after our parents died. I guess she needed him more."

It brought a bitter taste to her mouth, one that she could make a face about and spit out, and she wasn't sure which one of the two she resented more for it. It was easier to blame Anika because she had already lost so much time with her brother. She didn't want to lose any more.

"Nah, you're fine, don't worry about it." She assured Althea, taking a sip from her drink. "From the sounds of it, yeah. Though trouble seems to follow around Halstead's and Booker's, so they might have had absolutely no fun at all."

[bainesalthea]

Althea does laugh at the teasing. Anika's a special case - hard to care for, because she doesn't want to let people. She takes it as a challenge, in any case, because their childhood together wasn't exactly easily erased once they started going their own way. The hesitation on Lis' part has her nod - "Yeah. Hard to.. sit with, yeah, I get it."

There's been a few times where she'd had to sit with and confront her own feelings about Murph, about Anika, about Heron-- none of it ever got easier, for entirely different reasons.

She slams back more of her drink, because hell, she needs it. Wonders if Lis needs it, too. "I'm hoping for middle of the road, that way you don't get caught in the crossfire, too. Only a little bit of fun trouble."

[tomaspriestley]

That changes the whole damn game. There's no accounts of claws doing the change thing, either. It's moonshifter teeth that do it, venom, according to the written evidence. It's always a bite. Wherever it ends up being; foot, or shoulder, stomach or arm. Always. Always. Always. Althea's widened the range of what is known about mooneys, and Tomás is vibrating with excitement in being first to know, and let the world know. He just wishes it wasn't when he's lost a friend. But how else does someone get mooned if not with the teeth?

Someone had to have done it, passed on the moon gift to the next. She makes him think that maybe she's always been a moonshifter, or a late bloomer, or something? Tomás wishes he saw the body too (respectfully), to wonder if he'd see something they didn't. Like what, he doesn't know. But something. Because now they're digging a fresh hole, and the soil they're throwing could land anywhere. Where do they look now?

"We'll find out." He won't say he doesn't know. But it's obvious he's grasping at straws. He's determined to solve the mystery, now that he knows there's something far more to the story. "They heal with like moon juju? You sure it didn't uh, heal?" Just to be sure. Not to say he doesn't believe the revelation. "We gotta solve it. This is important. When you saw her... um, sleeping, was it just how she died that well... no other marks?"

He's trying to be polite, and honourable about her autopsy. But he hadn't been there.

Nightchildren. Artists, and the family of such. Tomás doesn't see the conection. Even in all the collections of documents, first accounts, pages ripped out of books he probably shouldn't have been allowed near, printings and sketches with maps and locations. Endless lists, and photographs, blurred or otherwise. They're missing something, but he's not sure what it is.

He feels less stupid knowing she doesn't think it makes sense either.

"Well, you think we should talk to them, then? Maybe they know things we don't." He thinks the artist liked him, maybe. He doesn't like recalling what he remembers of that night, really. But this is bigger than him. "If that'd been her um, job, then that's gotta have something to do with it, right? ... I got a lot of accounts where they talk about different times of moon changes, for the... first time, yeah? Maybe something happened with those people, or the job, something new." Had to be. He doesn't know why Althea doesn't want to try talking to the packs — but he's mostly denying admitting he does know, but doesn't like to think he's got any part in hurting anybody. "I think we should start with the family you said about, the ones Ms. Yearwood knew, and the nightchildren that you know about. That makes most sense, doesn't it?" He looks down at the self-made markings of the moonshifters he thinks he's spotted in town, and wonders if there's correlation to nightchildren in the same spots. 'Cause maybe they're friends or something, and they have information that'd help.

Suddenly, he's rummaging for another sketch of his on the table.

[bainesalthea]

"Wolves heal, but they still have the scars of the bite." In her experience, at least. She'd killed one or two before Heron, but she doesn't want to mention that to Tomas. Every time, she'd found the teeth marks if they were turned. If they were born, there was no way to know - but she was sure Heron wasn't born with it. "I went to Embrace - Tressa. She helped me out with the body. Couldn't find anything with her, either."

Tomas seems nice enough, and she hesitates to say anything too inflammatory to break his fragile little heart. Seems like he wants to believe the best in people - even her. That sucks for both of them, she thinks.

"Yeah." She chews on her lip. She does know the last remaining member of that family, and unfortunately there's no talking to her right now. "I can't get in touch with Anika right now. But as soon as I can, I will." If she'll even want to answer questions about that night - she highly doubts it. She's about to take her stuff, and call it good, when he starts rummaging again.

"Uh? You got something?"

[tressashaw]

A studied hand in forensics, Tressa already knows to affect care and be gentle with whatever she finds in what appears to be a huntress' weapons locker. Death doesn't come easy to a vampire, but it can come quick. Still, given this rascal-girl's trepidations around her, the concern is almost touching."Will do," she acknowledges, before turning to take the sheaf of notes, flipping through them.

"Wow, I recognize some of these names," she says as she cards through. A few memorable cases from her first year working as a medical examiner in town involved a few of these people, either directly or indirectly - she snorts, because it only fortifies the notion that she was only ever a step away from connecting the dots - something that frustrates her for prideful reasons.

The little grunge girl's wandered off though, and she looks in the direction of the universal eureka that is Bingo. She sets the notes down and closes the gap between them, arching over Althea's shoulder. "Nice."

She lets Althea pull the cart of tapes out. "Okay. So this is gonna take a lot of time to go through. I say we split the load."

What she actually prefers is for this girl to butt out and leave it to her, but she has a deep inkling that won't happen... and then she sees something behind Althea, at the bottom of the now mostly empty door.

It's a single glossy photo - two women, one taking the photo, and the other an older woman, smiling and shying away from the camera. Atop it rests a neckles, the pendant of which bears a singular red jewel. Tressa reaches for it, picking it up in her gloved hand and eying it before she scoops the picture up too - the woman's in the same necklace, absent the big, fat red jewel present in the one in her hand. "Was homegirl a fang banger?" There's an almost callous laugh there as her composure breaks, reflexive and full of uncontrolled contempt.

[bainesalthea]

Althea jumps when Tressa moves right behind her and tries not to flinch towards the gun in her back pocket, instead focusing on pulling out the the tapes and putting them on the top of the desk.

She doesn't get far in trying to go through the organization that Heron laid out - nor figuring out the names, dates, and numbers that are scrawled on the label - because Tressa picks up a necklace and a photo. Frowning, she turns her head from where she's still crouched on her knees.

"What?"

Fang-bang..? Her nose wrinkles as she realizes what Tressa means, "Fuck no. She hated all of you guys." But Tressa laughs, and that makes Althea get up to see the photo in question and her cheeks color red - not in embarrassment, but shame and anger. How long..? What is a means to an end or..?

She scoffs and spits down by her boot. "Fucking hell, that's a daylight thing - isn't it?"

[devilsvenom]

That was a question that Annalise truly didn't know the answer to. She had met Anika when she first rolled into town. The next thing she knew, the woman was her big brother's girlfriend, and everything else was a blur, considering her own rapid spiral. All she knew now was that Anika was the person Reid left town for, and Lis and Rose weren't enough to have him stay.

"Her boyfriend is my brother. I met her when she first came to Port Leiry. She seemed cool enough, but we were each going through our own shit. Didn't really get the chance to bond with her or anything." Lis shrugged, looking over at Althea to see what the reaction might be.

She missed her brother, but she'd be foolish if she blamed Anika for taking him away. He was a big boy who made his own decisions; if he didn't want to leave town, to leave his sisters again, he wouldn't have done.

[bainesalthea]

Althea's lips part slightly into a soft 'o' shape - she knew that Anika had a guy, but she hadn't realized he was.. known. Clearing her throat and trying to recover, she straightens and tries to recover from the obvious shock. "Knew she had a man, didn't know he was - y'know, I didn't meet him. Didn't get a chance to judge." She laughs, hopefully the joke coming across.

But she swallows down a swig of her drink to stop herself from talking too much.

"Shit - sorry, though. She is pretty cool - or was, I haven't talked to her in a while." Only a few times before they dipped out of town. "God. Damn. I feel like I put my foot in my mouth for, like, no fuckin' reason." She laughs again, rubbing her face, "They must be honeymooning all over the US, huh?"

[tomaspriestley]

Ms. Yearwood is an awesome person, and Tomás had known it the moment she'd caught his attention in the coffee shop and gifted him the bracelet. Althea only confirms the fact, opening up about how deeply woven the friendship had been. Tom's gonna make sure she gets remembered the best way; he'll write about it, and he'll be sure it's known that she only went out to help people. Like him. Like Althea.

Something awful happened to her, and it probably wasn't her fault if her brain was juju mush for a little while.

"I'm sorry." Priestley says, solemn and honest. He takes pause in the quiet, where some barebones respect beats the excitement for what knowledge they could share with each other. The silence is three seconds long. Althea's got tears at the ducts and it make Tomás think about loss, and his sister. He's a coward about going back, and he knows it. He doesn't know what he'd say if he sat at her bedside whilst she slept as his parents bickered about work like nothing was wrong. He dreads the day they think enough time's passed, that there's no longer a bed for her. There's going to be a way that's gonna bring her back, juju can best sleep; he had a boyfriend — ex, now with juju powers to go into minds. There's going to be a way.

Just as there will be a way for Heron's memory to be respected. "Juju fog. Yeah." Something else to research more.

And then Althea presents him with an equation he's never once considered.

"No bite?" Tomás eyes bore into hers, expectant for more than that. "Whadd'ya mean there's no sign of a bite?" Did it heal? No scar? Did she hide it all this time, she's one of the moonshifters born that way? "There's gotta be a bite. That's how it works—"

This changes it all. Pity, and loss goes out the window because there's a puzzle now.

Now there's a new name? He thinks he knows that one. Waits. Eyes dart to the pages to think back to his own foggy, messed-up memory. "Like Anika Booker, the artist?" Nouveau. He remembers, in pieces. The way it ended, not so much. "Where's she come from? She's not a moonshifter." He knows that because he's talked to her, he thinks he recalls that conversation about animals, too.

And nightchildren? If Althea didn't just widen her heart about Heron, Tomás might have thought she was screwing with him, and taking him for a ride.

But now it's just got messier. "Okay." he begins again, deep breath and fingers strecth out on the documents between them; backtrack to the first lead. "You know the packs? That's awesome. Wow. Neat." Holy fuckballs. "You talk to them?" Maybe they'd have said something about Heron being around, if that's a new thing?

A new spell from juju, a curse? A gift, maybe, to them. "Where's the last you had contact with her before uh, y'know..."

Murdering her, I guess.

[bainesalthea]

"No bite. That's why I'm scrambling." Her lips are pressed into a tight frown, and she scratches at the side of her nose with her thumb as she tries to parse together the memory of it all. "Cause if there was a bite, then maybe it was on purpose and I could just go confront who did it." He'll know what she means, she doesn't need to elaborate. "But there's nothing - I talked to the gal at the funeral home, and she couldn't find evidence of even bite marks on her fuckin' bones. There's nothing. And for the life of me, I can't even figure out what would cause a turn without it."

Heron had wolf venom, but she was careful, and she would have taken herself out if she'd accidentally infected herself. Or told Althea before it was even a problem. So the conclusion is that she had no idea she'd been infected either.

"Yeah, Heron was involved with her family, and all." Althea chews on her lip, "A bunch vamp clan shit was involved with that, I think, which makes no sense, but that was her last big hunt and job. And nah, I haven't talked to them." She looks up at him, leveling him with a blank stare. "My type isn't exactly welcome in pack territory. But, uh, last time I talked to her was just touching base when I first got into town."

[tressashaw]

It's not really enough to fill the full car-ride over to the dark, quiet office, a small space wedged into a row of shops and offices in a quarter of town she doesn't think she's ever really been in. She tells it simply - without a scar on the outside or evidence of damage on the insides, there's little else they're going to be able to tell from a months old corpse riddled with decomposition and corpse-wax. Althea seemed to think it was a recent development, and so it stands to reason something might be amiss at frequent haunts. It's a hunch, or a lead - nothing concrete. She suggest to Baines that she ought to temper expectations before they get there; this might be the literal definition of a cold case.

YEARWOOD INVESTIGATIONS, the door announces quietly as the Hunter keys them in. The air's stale, and the space is cold as it is dark. Orderly, too - pictures of various adventures line the walls.

"Uh, look for logs, or you know. Records. Tapes, videos, journals, whatever she might have talked about stuff in."

She peers through the dark, unaffected by the dour, dim place. There's a locker at one end of a small nook that connects to the office. She tugs on the door; locked. "Heads up, loud noise."

Metal screeches in protest as she pulls the thing open with brute strength, the door whining as it hands on warped hinges. Tressa's eyes peer over a miniature arsenal; crowsbows, stakes, firearms, bandoliers of silver and wooden ammo. "Good grief."

[bainesalthea]

Althea stews in the car ride over - understanding what Tressa says, but still feeling completely off kilter and uneasy at the idea that she has to work with a vampire to find anything out. But she's been a good help, with what little information she can provide, so she doesn't say anything - just bundles up and shivers as they go.

Inside, she stares at what's left of the office. She'd not cleaned it up. It's the first time she'd been in here since she died - and it's only Tressa's voice that kicks her into action from her frozen state. There's a lot of stuff to dig through, but Althea knew where Heron kept her information - she'd gotten her whole note taking system from her.

She finds the folders and notebooks full of case notes to dig through, and winces at the screeching noise of Tressa ruining the safe. Pausing, she looks over and laughs. "Yeah. Well-stocked." Case notes in hand, she wanders over and plucks a bolt off of the wall, touching the tip with her hand. "Careful touching the sharps and looking in vials and shit - she liked to keep souvenirs. Venom, teeth, you know. But I found these." She holds the notes out for Tressa. "I've gotta find her recordings, but these are both regular human shit and hunt shit, we'll have to sort."

Setting them down back on her desk, she crouches down to feel along the drawers and edges and finds the hidden lever, which unlocks a hidden compartment. Inside, she finds a veritable ton of tapes. "Bingo."

[anikabooker]

Back in Texas, her gun had been put to rest in the back of her closet, tucked safely away from tiny, sticky hands. There had been no danger lurking there, in the armpit of fucking nowhere. At least none they knew of. Anika had mapped the woods around their trailer herself, and Reid frequented the shadows for dinner and unwanted visitors. Hunting had become a forgotten part of her, something she no longer felt served any purpose in her life. The mark on the back of her neck was still there — a reminder she only caught in mirrors while pinning up her hair. But there was no magic running through those inked lines anymore. No vervain pulsing through her veins. Anika had retired from a life she'd always hated.

There was a grave at the beach in Port Leiry she hadn't brought flowers to in months. The small stones forming a circle laid under a thick layer of snow, uneven heads poking through the white blanket as if dreaming beneath the frost. No name marked the grave, but it still rested quietly on her lips as Anika knelt and pulled off her gloves to touch the frozen ground.

The peace of the moment shattered with a scream somewhere in the distance. Her head snapped toward the sound, green eyes catching on a thin figure standing waist-deep into the cold ocean. Who the fuck was taking a dip in weather like this? Waves crashed against her boots, as Anika stepped close enough to notice this was no human. Scales covered it's neck and ribs. Long hair stuck to pale shoulders. What the fuck—

It opened it's mouth and from the depths of it came out a sound that wasn't aimed at her. Anika was so focused on the creature, she never took any notice of who was standing across from it. Althea's hand was outstretched but frozen in place, fingers twitching away from her gun, as though in a trance. Anika assumed there was not much time for strategy, so she dove knee deep into cold waters, pulled out a knife from undernearth her jacket and lunged straight for the creature's throat. A wet, gargling sound came out, choking on velvety dark blood that hissed like it was acid. Eyes turned grey, glassy and dead.

[bainesalthea]

She'd thought she'd grabbed her gun - she thought she'd shot it dead, but as Althea blinks rapidly the scenery shifts in front of her. Her hand froze near her gun, still tucked neatly in its holster, and she looks down as if her body betrayed her. On her back, she can feel the tingling feeling of the magic activating in her tattoos - giving her strength and speed in equal measure. There's not much juice left, but she stumbles forward faster as if her body had been locked into place.

Blinking again, she realizes the scaled, icy creature lay dead underneath a familiar body. Taking in a shaky breath, she runs the rest of the way towards the two of them, and she wrenches Anika away from the dead thing - pure instinct to make sure she isn't hurt. The thing doesn't move.

She stomps its head in just to make sure.

But then, she turns to Anika - "What the fuck are you doing here?!" - her hands tight on her shoulders, shaking with adrenaline, fear, and the burst of magic speed still thrumming through her system. "When - are you okay? Are you hurt?"

[tressashaw]

"Probably look there," Tressa says. "I've seen dead werewolves - there's always some sorta mark - a scar or chipped bone or something, if they get turned like that." She supposes if a bite was superficial enough to break skin without going deep, it'd be an exception, but werewolves aren't scalpels - they're hammers.

Tressa leans back, knuckle to her lip as she ponders, and her eyes land on the shrouded corpse. She moves over, lifting the sheet up again, eying the rigors of decay.

"What is your secret," she asks out loud.

Althea's answers linger, and Tressa scoffs. "You know, maybe if you all stopped trying to kill us out of hand you wouldn't have to scrounge for magic. You guys are like... the PETA of the monster world, it's insane. Like, yeah, animal cruelty's bad but so is running a kill-shelter for abandoned pets, it's like you make your own p..."

She stops, like a lightbulb's turned on over her head. "Can you take me to that office?"

[bainesalthea]

There should be a mark, Althea wants to say - but she knows magic makes things tricky. She'd not really been around a lot of witches to know the ins and outs of what exactly they can do, so any protest she has will fall flat. Tressa potentially knows more - definitely about bodies.

She doesn't interrupt, doing her own thinking. There might be something in the office. Althea'd just been too overtaken with fucking grief, of all things, to even try and go there.

Looking up, her expression shifts from contemplation to glowering. "I.. can. Yes. I need you to tell me what you're thinking while we go."