Thatcher's Apartment

[Amirah]

Amirah watched Thatcher take his glass into the kitchen with his glass and then tracked him back across the apartment to his bedroom, her hands on her hips. For a moment she stared at his door, just shy of closing flush to the jamb. Only then did she release a heavy sigh, short but deep. She hadn't even really been aware that she'd been holding it in until that point and she bowed her head over, shaking it a little. When she thought about what she wanted to achieve in this city her insides started to burn and shrink and twist. It could be the start of everything falling into place if she succeeded; she had plans in place should she managed to extract Surayya, a place she could take her sister, means to care for her and a way to hide her until it was safe for her older sister to join the hunt, if that was what she wanted. Or it could be her undoing. Swallowing a sharp lump in her throat Amirah picked up the glass that Thatcher had brought for her and took it into the kitchen, cleaning up after herself. She stood over the sink, looking down at the two glasses sitting in it with a hard scowl on her features.

Pulling him into this felt wrong. It felt wrong in her bones, but she was doing it anyway because she had no other choice. Right? There was no other solution to her current problem, she'd had the last week driving through back-roads to think about it and had come up with no alternatives. Nothing that wasn't outright suicidal at least. Amirah usually listened to her gut, she had good instincts but in this case she had to ignore them for her sister instead of following them. She didn't like it.

Huffing to herself, muttering in Polish under her breath, she moved away from the sink and back out to the table she had been sitting at when Thatcher had come home. Amirah picked up the hard leather bodice and settled it around her ribs, pulling taut the buckles, putting her armour back on.

[Thatcher]

Thatcher had no idea what he was getting himself into, naturally, but if it bothered him then he hid it well behind an unmoving mask of level readiness. There was a mirror set on the wall and briefly he caught his reflection in it, the already-fading bruises and his damp and dishevelled hair. He looked as he always did when he caught his reflection. Prepared and indomitable. It was his own kind of armour centuries in the making and it had caused many vampires to break down and turn tail and run in the past, that grim focus and determination that was so plain to see and written in every line of his face, from the strong, firm line of his jaw to the shadow of his hazel eyes. Thatcher had turned himself into a hunter and left everything else behind, abandoned any attempt to rebuild what he had once had and committed himself body, mind and soul to the fight that was never-ending. He had no idea what he was getting himself into and he didn't even care.

Maybe that would be the death of him one day but he didn't care about that either. As a man who had lost everything but his anger, Thatcher was more than ready to die whenever his time came. It could be tomorrow and it could be centuries down the line. When it came, he would accept it.

After tugging on another pair of boots that he took from the foot of his closet and pulling on a black, high-collared jacket, he retrieved weaponry from the fake back of his closet, being quiet and methodical about it. His father's sword was left in its place, the pride of his collection in the centre and carefully and lovingly displayed. His eyes fixed on it for several seconds that seemed to drag out into minutes and then he shut the knives and guns away again. The pieces he had removed with their sheaths and holsters were quickly and efficiently secured about his person and then, after giving the bottom edges of his jacket to the left and right a simple tug to straighten then he stepped back into the living area with a calm announcement of, "Whenever you're ready."

[Amirah]

It was likely the lack of honesty that bothered her as much as anything else. Amirah didn't want to talk about her past, she didn't want to tell him the truth about what she was really asking him to help her with because it was hard, because it hurt; regardless of whether he deserved to know the scale of the task she had in her hands she wasn't prepared to let her secrets out yet and he wasn't asking for any more details for the time being. Still, she thought, if something did go wrong and Thatcher was harmed in some way because of her past she would feel... not good about it.

Hearing him come out of his bedroom and his subsequent announcement she turned around, fingers relieving an elegantly curved knife from its scabbard and giving it a quick toss in the air, catching the blade and then letting it slide through her leather fingers so she was holding the handle again. She slid it back into place and raised an eyebrow at the male wolf.

"Ready."

[Thatcher]

All the questions that Thatcher had needed and wanted to ask had already been asked. Amirah would tell him anything else she chose, if in fact she chose to tell him anything else. Thatcher was expecting nothing other than what he had received and that suited him just fine. If something ugly related to whatever secrets she was keeping reared its head then and only then would he consider asking other questions. Until such a time presented itself he would let her have her privacy just as he expected she would let him have his. He respected her, no matter how begrudgingly sometimes, and he suspected she respected him as well though sometimes just as reluctantly. It was a rare thing for people like them but something Thatcher had accented no matter how unexpected it had been.

"We'll take my car, the two dominating packs claim the entire city, it's too far to walk." It wasn't too far but it would take time and if nothing else Amirah's trademark attire would turn more heads than he had the patience to deal with tonight. He had only just reclaimed some semblance of calm, he wasn't eager to lose it again already. Snatching his keys from where they rested he waved towards the door to indicate he would follow her out.

CONTINUED AT: Parking Garage with Amirah.