"When you expect the worst, unexpected will happen. Whether good or bad, use that 'unexpected' for your own gain. Keep this in mind and you might survive."

~Meredith Allesium, The High Commander of the Battle Witch Forces;

IX.

It was the next day when Adrian had finally slithered into the office. Nicole knew something must have happened after she and Jonnatan left Giuseppe's home – the boss seemed to be distressed more than expected - but she didn't know exactly what was it. Aside from his left brow twitching, Adrian's face was blank. Taking all of that into account, Nicole concluded it must have been something really bad. Anger is normal, annoyance is normal, heck, amused is a normal facial expression for him, but this face devoid of all expression was...new, for the lack of better word. And slightly terrifying.

"Ann, notify me when everyone arrived," he said.

Even his tone was emotionless. Nicole frowned at that.

Ann raised her eyes from the monitor to glance at him quizzically. "Does that mean I need to call them all in?"

Adrian passed her station and continued towards his office room with an affirmative grunt, his steps jerky and soft, so unlike him that it made Nicole wonder.

Ann kept staring in his direction even after he disappeared through the door, her brain running a mile a minute, eyes flashing here and there every time she came to a conclusion and then rejected it.

"Is he going to quit?" The question broke through the silence in the room, making Nicole whip her head toward Ann in horror, staring incredulously for a long moment.

"I hope not!" She yelped out, clenching her fingers tightly into fists, troubled with even entertaining that idea. It would be my fault, she thought, remembering what happened at the demolished Arthur's.

"What is this about? I have more important things to do."

Nicole's eyes widened when she took in the appearance of their enchanter, Lana, carefully shoving her previous thought aside. It wouldn't do good to panic about something she wasn't sure it would happen.

Lana was wearing a fancy dress and it wasn't even 10 in the morning. Nicole couldn't comprehend why anyone would tidy themselves up so much for going to the plaza. It was fine when you're going out because some places had a specific dress code, but, in her opinion, this was just a bit too much for – she glanced at the clock - 9:37 in the morning.

Lana's white dress complimented her tanned completion, courtesy of her ancestry, though her caramel skin tone made an unusual combination with her pale - almost white - hair and crystal clear pale blue eyes and Lana knew just right ways to make herself stand out.

Next thing noticed was the quantity of makeup on Lana's face, something Nicole would never be proficient with. She wasn't a stranger to makeup, one shouldn't take it wrong, but she certainly didn't go around looking like she took a dive into the bucket of paint, and maybe, just maybe, she didn't have a hand steady enough to make it happen.

"Adrian wants us here." This time Ann didn't raise her eyes off the screen and the somber tone hinted she was worried. Her small figure seemed unsure in the movements that usually came to her so naturally, the sounds of keyboard quieter like she was trying not to be heard.

A frown transformed Lana's face into something Nicole was familiar with: an annoyed expression with just a touch of fondness so it lost some of its natural harshness. Her eyes softened some more to leave room for mirth forming in the deep pools of icy-blue.

"Does this have something to do with the wreckage of Arthur's?" The blonde enchantress' amused question piqued Nicole's interest.

"How do you know about that?"

Lana shot her a smirk. "It was all over the town. The gossip channels were raging about it. And the oldest rumor said that that was a vampire fight for territory."

Oh, great! The rumors had already started circulating. It shouldn't be such a surprise, but Nicole hoped it wouldn't come to this. Wait. The oldest rumor? Did that mean there was the 'newest' rumor too? Curiosity raging, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to know, Nicole asked about it.

"Well, the newest one says it was a love quarrel," Lana answered, simply.

Nicole almost spluttered. She didn't want to be present when that rumor reached Adrian's ears. The Arthur's had looked pretty nice with broken walls and windows, destroyed furniture, and falling ceiling in comparison with what could happen to their office if Adrian had a temper tantrum. She had had enough difficulty washing out all the dust and sand clinging to her hair last night.

"Do you know what happened?" Lana asked, her compelling stare usually making anyone answer truthfully. But Nicole wasn't just anyone and was quite used to the blonde woman's interrogations.

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Aw, Nicky! Come on. I want to know," Lana whined as she hanged up a brown handbag on the chair and sat down at her desk. Just like her tidied up appearance, the desk was filled with neatly arranged miscellaneousness.

"As I said before, you'll find out soon enough. And stop calling me Nicky!" She growled out the last part through the clenched teeth and was rewarded with an unimpressed expression from Lana.

Ann ignored them just like she always did and instead watched for the responses from other branch members coming in. "Jonnatan said he would be late," Ann told them and then paused for a long moment.

The screen flashed which was obviously some kind of signal because Ann turned on her black chair to add through a smile blooming on her face, "Xavier is on his way. Though, his message 'fuck you! I'll be there in 10' is cranky as always, he must've been very happy to be woken up."

Lana kept humming through their wait, some time along she brought out her nail file and tidied he nails with it.

"Why are you doing that?"

Lana raised her eyes to look at Nicole. "Why am I doing what?"

"Your nails," she pointed out.

Comprehension entered the blonde's face. "My nail got grazed when I was cleaning back home."

Nicole intently stared at her nails like they held some big secret; they looked as if she came out of manicure session right at this moment with their whit ends and peach colored polish, no grazes, just perfection. Nicole sighed, realizing she would never understand it, her short clean-cut nails were a standard thing for her, and anything else was a luxury she didn't need.

"What's up, ma babes?" Xavier asked in form of greeting as he entered the office, his magic flaring in a warm and controlled way.

"Please refrain from calling me a babe." Ann's deadpan tone would be taken more seriously if the accompanying, deadpan look was directed anywhere else than at the monitor. Really, she needed to stop hanging out just with electronics.

Xavier took off his almond brown leather jacket and sat at his chaotic desk, it was obviously a new jacket since the usual one was black.

"What about a lady, then?" He smiled. It was probably supposed to be charming, but it only looked like he was high as a kite, like it always did. Xavier just didn't have the face for that, frowns suited him much better after all.

"Well, that's certainly better. I didn't know your brain can hold such vocabulary inside." Without a doubt, Ann wasn't holding her punches.

"Tsk, whatever you say, my lady."

It seemed ignoring him was the best course of action. Though, he didn't stay silent for long, fidgeting on his chair like he couldn't wait any longer.

"Does anyone know what the hell happened last night?" Xavier asked, slowly meeting the eyes of each of them when no one answered immediately.

"No clue," Ann replied. "Nicole says we'll find out soon enough, so be patient."

Just as he turned to speak to Nicole, Ann interrupted him, almost visibly snuffing out his bubble of curiosity. "Even Lana couldn't make her talk, so don't bother."

"Huh?" Xavier looked confused but heeded the advice, shifting on his seat impatiently.

Jonnatan walked right through the door. Not the open door, a closed door, startling Xavier and making him fling a pen at the intruder.

"Don't scare me like that, you moron!" Xavier yelled at the local ghost who in turn offered him an unimpressed stare, shifting to look at the blue pen that was now rolling on the floor until it got stuck on the end of the grey carpet.

"You should have known I'm coming, I wasn't even trying to mask my magic," Jonnatan said, slowly like he considered Xavier an idiot.

Xavier really shouldn't have been surprised, but that was normal, Nicole thought. Xavier was pretty attentive to his surroundings when he was on the field but in the office...he didn't pay any attention. Nicole considered it a sign of trust, nothing less and nothing more. It was enough.

They fell into a comfortable silence broken by Ann's typing and a half a minute crawled by.

"I see everyone's here."

Ann almost fell out of her chair when Adrian spoke. She whipped her head to look up toward the doorway in surprise.

No one heard him opening the door of his office.

"Holly shit! Boss! You almost gave me a heart attack." Xavier was kind of slow on uptake and didn't notice Adrian's stern face.

Jonnatan didn't react because the blonde must have been in his sight when he'd entered, standing across the door to Adrian's office. For that matter, Jonnatan hadn't seemed much surprised yesterday, too. Had he known all along? Maybe.

Nicole shifted her eyes to Lana who was the only one having a different reaction from everyone else. Blue eyes stared lasers in the blonde's direction and the frown meant she was thinking hard – Lana always said frowning was waste of time and would give her lines prematurely and yet she exhibited that facial expression without a second thought. Which brought another fact to the front of Nicole's mind – there had been an enchantment on Adrian hiding the truth, one that hadn't been made by Lana. She must have noticed it before and now being absent, it confused her.

Nicole knew exactly what this was going to be about as she watched Adrian standing straight, still as a rock, obviously fighting with himself. Judging by the somber expression flickering off and on mixing with sadness in his brown eyes, he was going to tell them.

Was he thinking they would judge him or be angry with him or whatever? He must be thinking that and had another thing coming if she was right. There was no way any of the team members would be angry with him, it was his story to tell, when he wanted and how he wanted. All of them had some private matters they kept to themselves, Adrian's just comprised of what he ate. Now he was angering her.

That moron should have more trust in his team. No one was going to leave the branch or him for omitting a little detail.

***

Adrian watched the emotions and expressions shift through the familiar faces of his subordinates but didn't comment at their reactions, instead he sauntered to the center of the room.

"There's something different about you," Lana quipped. "And I don't mean the new no-one-hears-me-walking-so-I-scare-the-crap-out-of-Xavi different." She kept frowning at him like there was a puzzle to be solved.

Xavier's protests for being ridiculed were ignored in pursuit of finding the mentioned difference. Ann even rotated her chair to watch the plot unfold, curiosity radiating from her in waves.

"The energy I always felt around you disappeared," Lana continued through Xavier's 'Hey! I wasn't scared!' excuses, which managed to shut Xavier up as he blinked a few times before sitting deeper in his chair and stared at Adrian with a questioning look.

Ah, that answers that question. Adrian had wondered if their enchanter noticed the enchantment keeping his true self hidden. No matter how hard he'd tried to find out - besides outright asking because then he would have to explain it - she'd never admitted she was onto something.

"What you felt was an enchantment of illusion." Adrian sighed, pulling a hand through the blond strands of his hair as he continued, "I'm done with this illusion, you all should know what a hypocrite I am." He chuckled dryly when everyone's eyes widened.

"I am a vampire," He said, flashing his fangs visible, a sour look formed on his face that didn't really belong there. "The illusion kept it hidden."

Adrian kept his face blank, sadness brewing inside him. When he decided to keep a secret from the Bureau all those years ago, he'd never thought he would ever be a part of such fine team. He betrayed them, their trust, for the bond between Callahan's Morrow's branch members was forged on trust. They would probably be wary of him, and he would need to leave to keep that bond whole – the one who betrayed others should leave. His heart kind of cracked and he almost laughed how tragicomically the idea of a 'vampire with feelings' sounded.

The sound of the crash perturbed the dead silence.

Xavier managed to fall out of his chair. It didn't stop him from staring at Adrian in... Was that amazement on his face?

"Oh, my god! You're even more amazing than I thought you were!"

Adrian blinked. And then, blinked again.

Xavier pulled himself from the ground, patting his pants and discarding any dust that could dirty his clothes as he continued his monologue with a pretty much awed expression, "Dammit, and here I thought you couldn't get more awesome, your powers, your presence, and now you tell me that on top of that, you're actually a vamp. Holly shit! You're so cool!"

"I'm cool?" Adrian blinked once more. He knew Xavier was a bit on a slow side, but this was ridiculous. "You realize I lied to all of you?" He asked incredulously.

"Who cares? I'm sure you had your own reasons." Xavier couldn't be deterred with anything Adrian said.

"It's certainly a surprise, but it doesn't change anything," Ann put in.

"Nicole, how do you feel about all of this?" Lana interrupted the merry exchange, head turning to stare at Nicole with knowing eyes.

Adrian flinched. He knew it would be coming to bite him in the ass. He should have also assumed that Lana could know about that incident while he actually hadn't a clue that one of his subordinates had such a strong connection to that old case. He remembered it. When he had transferred in the Callahan's Morrow, the previous commanding officer had just closed the investigation of illegal blood parties which had been conducted in collaboration with adjacent branch office from the nearby city. And the report was... meager and pathetic, though they had done their job nut he'd had a feeling that hadn't been all.

Taking a deep breath that was quite loud in the room, Nicole answered Lana's question, "I have no qualms with the boss; only vampires I have qualms with are those on the wrong side of the law."

Lana nodded, but her reaction stayed subdued. The magical air which had formed around her just as she started talking, lost some of the sharpness when she accepted Nicole's answer. That was when impatient questions started flying from Xavier's mouth, Adrian told him something along the line "One at the time," and Ann asked hers too, but couldn't be heard over Xavier's yapping. Someone laughed but Adrian couldn't be sure who in that chaotic racket, and the last straw was a crumpled paper that sailed in a perfect arc from one side to the other.

"Enough!" Adrian bellowed because he didn't have the patience for Xavier's exasperating behavior. He shuffled to one of the sofa's that was put in the middle of the common room just for him since he didn't have his own desk in here and sat down heavily. The commotion stopped, giving the opportunity to Jonnatan to speak without imminent interruptions.

"Before you all ask me, I had known him a long time, and I knew he was a vampire," Jonnatan admitted to his teammates before turning back to look at Adrian. "But I never found out how old you are. That picture in Viola's mansion, the one with you and him, it was from your human days. Correct?"

He stared at Adrian, expecting an answer. There was a twitch. Adrian felt it, felt his eyebrow twitching.

"Yes, Giuseppe and I had known each other while we were human, which means I'm over 200 years old, at least. I'm not saying more so don't ask." Adrian paused watching his team mulling over that. It was obvious Nicole and Jonnatan expected a positive answer, and Xavier seemed shocked the most if his "Wow!" and "You're a gramps!" exclamations were any indication and that almost made Adrian develop a headache.

It kind of pissed him off; Adrian had truly expected them to feel betrayed. He even worried, for fuck sake. But these morons decided to follow him to hell and back, it was obvious they won't lose trust in him so easily. He should be elated his predictions hadn't come to pass; however, the only thing he felt now that the tense line of his shoulders relaxed marginally was fatigue. He decided to stick to what was more important at the moment.

"We found out a few things that could turn over this case," he said as a beginning of an explanation of what happened yesterday and then told them the whole story, sans his and Giuseppe's 'talk'. His team listened to him with apt attention while he laid out the facts and made faces (mostly Xavier) when he moved on possible choices for future investigation.

A whistle sounded in the room. "Boss, you really brought down the Arthur's!?" Xavier asked in awe.

"I think the possibility of a fey being perpetrator is more important than that," Adrian grumbled through his teeth, face darkening.

"And this PI Tucker could be of great help as far as I can tell." Lana seemingly got over whatever was bothering her and joined the discussion.

Adrian agreed before his scowl deepened. "This also means we can't trust anyone." He inhaled before continuing, "Even the Bureau."

They watched him warily but with a certain amount of steely acceptance. With that, they could make an enemy out of their own agency which could end up even bigger disaster than this damned case.

"What's our next course of action, boss?" Ann asked, her face still showing the signs of distress.

"We wait to gather more information, and then we go talk with Dariuss," Adrian answered, already plotting next few steps ahead. "He might know something and anything, no matter how small detail, could help us get a clearer picture."

Dariuss was an exiled fey of the Light court; he manipulated the elements, specializing in water, particularly ice; he was strong and cunning, the testament of it was his fast rise in power when he had arrived here; he didn't appear much in public, preferring secrecy to power displays and worked from the shadows, and even though he would appear at some social gatherings, he wasn't bold and flashy like Giuseppe.

Also, there were a lot of unknowns about him, like, if he had any kind of connection to the culprit (no matter what Giuseppe says, Dariuss does work from shadows), or would he even give them anything substantial for that matter-

"Gather more information?" Nicole cut off his train of thought.

Adrian looked up to see her giving him a surprised gaze. Ah, he hadn't explained, now had he?

"I got a redacted file among the reports I had requested from Astoria," he said. "It's suspicious."

"Which means more evidence to having a mole," Lana piped in, sounding unconcerned but her eyes betrayed concern.

"I'll deal with that," Adrian offered as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the nearby kitchen surface that had somehow ended up in the office a few years ago and now served the purpose of holding the coffee maker. "For now, we wait and act normal."

Yes, that file sat heavily on his mind. Who was covering and what was being covered? Maybe the next video-meeting with Zaxin would answer some budding qualms but he wouldn't bet on it. He was tempted to lower his head to his hands and sigh, and then smothered the urge violently and immediately because then he would have to deal with more questions than he had answers to. This bloody mess had become even more complicated before he even realized it could.

"Hey boss," Xavier started sheepishly and Adrian knew the next thing that comes from the black-haired man's mouth would be trying his patience.

"Do you drink blood?"

He knew. Adrian knew something stupid would come out of that idiot's mouth. How can he even manage that? Dammit! The guy was one of the top-notch investigators and he manages to put a foot in his mouth more often than not, it was as if he plugged his brain in only when it suited him.

The chilling smile displayed his fangs clearly as Adrian let the power seep out.

"Guess."

Xavier wisely keeping his mouth shut.

"That doesn't explain why you don't have the power decrease in the sun," Lana commented, pushing the pale blonde hair over her shoulder, her narrowed eyes staring holes at Adrian. When he didn't react, she pressed on, "The vampires get their strength sucked out of them, some of them even get those special sunburns, but you walk in the sun like it doesn't even affect you."

"Because it doesn't."

She snarled. "And how do you explain that?"

He raised an eyebrow, outward appearance indicating indifference.

"Royal blood," the smirk lit up his face as he evenly replied to her.

Eyes widened like saucers, Lana stopped breathing for a second. Others froze too, no one moved.

Adrian continued like he hadn't just dropped the bombshell on them, "I'm not a royal, but I must have some royal lineage to be able to walk under the sun. That's, at least, my conclusion."

"But that's the stuff of the legends!" Xavier was the first one to get his ability of speech back.

"Gargoyles are the stuff of legends," Adrian deadpanned. "And yet I had a chat with one just the other day."

Xavier growled without any kind of self-preservation. "But there are recent records of them, the royal vampires hadn't been 'seen' for centuries. And the only evidence of their existence is described in old dubious books that seem more like fairy tales than educational literature."

Oh, so he knows a few fancy words, Adrian thought as he contemplated how much he should say. He'd met a royal vampire once a long time ago. The strength, the magic, and the raw power they possessed was indeed the stuff of legends and he didn't know if he should warn his team about them and consequently scare them for life, or just leave them in blissful ignorance. Maybe a mix of both ideas would be a good start.

"Take my word for it, they exist and occupy another dimension. Thisrealm isn't interesting to them which is why no one has seen them for a whileand that's good because they're basically monsters," Adrian said as if meaningto finish that discussion, and then saw Xavier pouting. "Oh, stop that petulantact, we have business to do."