Eye of the Storm

She nodded. It was just a scratch. River hadn't taken much blood from her wrist. It wasn't the part that made her own blood boil, it was the not able to move. Not able to do anything. And if anything, Zitora hated feeling powerless the most. "The gentleman who owns this place, but I reckon we can discuss that further when we get home," she kept her eyes locked with Frederik's. Because, making more trouble in this crowd? No. It would be stupid. But one thing she had was touching River, taking his hand earlier, making her able to search his mind as it pleased her, just like she could with Orion. Zitora gave his hand a little squeeze before letting go of it so she could hook her arm around his, before they started moving towards the door. Guy on the left with the demon walking towards him, she informed, getting eye contact with River for a second, a deadly gaze. She would ruin River given the chance.

Getting outside the cold crisp autumn air was nice, winter would come early this year, she could almost feel it. It didn't take long to fetch a taxie so they could get home, and upstairs to their appartement. "So much for taking my friend out for a drink to ease her mind," she mumbled a little bit and shook her head. This wasn't how she wished for Madelaine to have her night, she had finally got her convinced to go out, and this happened. No way Madelaine would ever go anywhere with her ever again. "Fucking River Turner - bloody vampires," she mumbled once again and licked her lips taking her shoes off as they entered the apartment.

Frederik squinted his eyes a bit together as he heard that it was the owner of the casino who had bitten her wrist. “I like that idea,” he spoke softly, and let her hooks her arm with his and started to walk towards the exit as if they were simply going home. He heard Zitora tell him who the owner was, and he was quick to find his face. That face wouldn’t be forgotten. He gave the vampire a gaze that could kill, but it didn’t stop him from leaving with Zitora.

“It might have worked for a few minutes,” he tried to cheer up Zitora, still having her arm hooked in his. Zitora had tried and done absolutely everything to give her friend a good time. He stood by her side as she took of her shoes. When she had her shoes off, he quickly got out of his own and followed after her. “Would you like some wine for that statement?” he offered and started to head into the kitchen to find them each a glass. He didn’t feel the need to defend Griffin, because he knew very well that Griffin wasn’t included in the statement.

She clicked her tongue a little bit, yeah it might have worked for a moment. For a brief second of excitement of actually being out and about. Then Madelaine had seen Orion, and things had went downhill from there, but it seemed like the things River had spoken about Oliver had taken most of the hit. She looked towards her wrist, she should get that healed, knowing she healed a little bit better than just a human - at least the bleeding had stopped. "Babe, I never say no to wine," she chuckled looking back towards him. It was a lot of information for one night, and Zitora had needed this night as well. It was two years ago since Kaiya had died, she had lost her twin sister. Even if Zitora still had some denial about the entire thing, it didn't change the outcome of what had happened. She pushed the thought in the back of her head for a moment. Zitora moved a hand through her hair as she headed towards the sofa and let herself fall down, looking over the entire city from where she was seated. "I'm sorry to have you rush out, but I'm glad you did. The entire thing was just staring to crash down, I don't know what went on," she sighed a little bit. To actually let anyone help her out of a situation like that, that was new. She was all about handling herself, but she had figured out how to keep both feet on the ground now. She had always rather would walk through the chaos and pain rather than lean on anyone, but she wasn't afraid to lean on Frederik - and she believed by now that it only made them that much stronger.

Frederik had already figured that she wouldn’t say no to wine. He picked up some bandages before he headed to the couch where she had chosen to sit. He put both glasses down and poured them both a glass. He put the bottle on the table and handed her glass to her and let his own glass stay on the table. He sat down next to her and took her wrist carefully. “Don’t worry about it,” he took one of the few packages and opened it so he could clean her wounds. “Sting,” he mumbled before he let the tissue glide over the small wounds. He grabbed her fingers while he put away the tissue, when he looked back from the table, he pulled her hand up to kiss her fingers gently. “I might’ve been a bit skeptical from the start,” he said thinking about how he had prepared a summoning circle for two guns and how he had had been ready to teleport to her destination ever since she left. He grabbed the bandages and gently wrapped her in. One thing was, that he knew Zitora could do all of this by herself with no trouble, but he knew how she forgot to relax, and absolutely therefore he chose to do things for her so she wouldn’t have to think about it and was able to enjoy her wine. “How did it happen?” he asked and glanced away from her wrist.

Zitora bit her tongue as he said it would sting, it did sting, but she didn't care about the small burning sensation that brushed over her skin, her mind only fixated on the events that had happened. "Oh?" She chuckled a little bit, "have you just been waiting for me to call you darling?" A little giggle escaped her lips for a second before she sipped a little bit of her wine, letting him clean the wound. How did it happen? Zitora exhaled and licked the small leftovers of wine off her lower lip before responding to his question; "one simple answer. Compulsion, and because of Madelaine's boyfriend, mate whatever they are," she clicked her tongue a little bit. "She wanted me to do a background check on Oliver, and as we talked about him. River showed up, knowing him. I should just have blown him across the room and hoped he would break his neck on the way down to the floor," she mumbled a little bit annoyed as she took another sip. "But well, here we are, at least he didn't get to take much before Madelaine slapped the guy. Which was perhaps a mistake, I told her I could handle it," Zitora sighed a little bit shaking her head. Perhaps no, Zitora hadn't deserved to handle it, but she could have if she had needed. Despite she knew Frederik could feel it if something happened. It gave her some sort of security, especially with the things that had happened to her in her life.

"But I have free access to his mind by now, I'm sure I can find something to bury the bastard," she looked towards Frederik with a little smirk before taking another mouthful of wine. First thing first was to find out who she was dealing with, but it would distract her for her whole scheme to take down Umbrella Corruption - even if she had promised her mother and everyone back then that she would let it go. She hadn't. "But I also need to do Maddie that favor and find out some more about that Oliver Jones guy," she looked towards Frederik. He was a retired hunter, he had to know some things about the powerful families - Zitora knew some, okay - she knew a lot, and she could find out everything herself. But she would much rather work closely together with Frederik.

Frederik shook his head a little. “No,” he mumbled and looked up at her. “I’ve also been preparing things,” he said and bit his lip a little. “I can show you that later,” he laughed a little. He might have to remove the summoning circle, before they went to bed after all, and besides from that, he should be looking into getting a spot which would permanently be a summoning circle. It would be quite useful for hectic days.
Zitora replied to his question and believed that it was a quite simple answer. Even though it wasn’t visible on Frederik, the fact that the man had used compulsion to make her immobile was enough for Frederik to want the man dead. He knew how much she disliked being helpless. He listened carefully as she started to talk about how Madelaine wanted a background check on Oliver. He chuckled a little as she mentioned how she should’ve sent him across the room. He looked up from the bandaging he was in the middle of doing as she mentioned that Madelaine had slapped him. He knew how greedy vampires tended to be, and even though he hadn’t been able to be there, he was quite sure that slapping the guy might not have been the smartest move. He tied a little knot on the bandage and let his hand hold on top of it for a moment. “And Madelaine is okay?” he wondered. He had already connected the dots, that Oliver had arrived to pick up Madelaine and that they probably were on their way home, but he couldn’t help but worry a little, especially since she had wished for a background check. Of course, Zitora knew close to everything about the people she knew, because she liked to know what was in their story.

A mirrored smirk appeared on Frederik’s lips as she mentioned how she had access to the jerk’s mind. “I’ll look forward to that,” he assured her and grabbed his own glass of wine to drink. She mentioned the background check and he could almost feel her eyes on him. He smiled a little and leaned a little closer to her. “So, you want to know more about the witch family?” he wondered and studied her eyes for a moment, “And the vampire family too, maybe?” he added. It wasn’t really because he didn’t want to share it, but he found joy in hearing her actually tell him what she wanted him to help with. Frederik could be talking for hours about the families. Some of the things had been things that he had been taught by his father, which might not be as correct as so many other things. But most of it hang onto his spine like the ABC.

She made a small lift with her shoulders, she didn't know if Madelaine was alright - but she trusted she would her from her tomorrow once everything had settled just a little bit down.

Zitora raised her brows a little, as he almost teased about his knowledge without saying anything specific. And she moved a bit around in the sofa, placing herself closer to him with her arm snaking around his neck once her wrist was covered, just as he leaned a little closer to her as well. "Don't mistake me for not knowing at least a few things at hand, but given your expertise I would say you know something that I might not know," Zitora replied with an almost sensuel voice keeping her eyes teasingly locked with his. Because this was indeed her favorite game. "I always want to know more you know, knowledge is key," she pointed out leaning in almost to kiss him, but she didn't - not yet. Now, she knew her mother was hanging around with the Radclyffe's, she didn't mind them. She hadn't spoken extremely much with Damian, but she liked him, anyone that could bring out the side of Zitora's mother that Damian seemed to have found, already had her entire heart. So, Damian already had Zitora's full trust, which said a thing or two. Then she had spoken with Elias before, even briefly had a few chats with Leon. But she looked toward to more. "Do you want to help me bury the bastard called River Turner?" She asked raising a playing brow a little and folded her lips a little keeping her eyes locked with Frederik's. "Perhaps make it two bastards, depending on what we find on Oliver," she added with a small nod. "What do you say, wanna be my partner in crime?"

She didn’t know whether or not if Maddie was alright. Something about it worried him a little. The thought however was thrown to the back of his head, as she moved around on the sofa and placed an arm around his shoulders, making the pleasurable electric feeling run down his back. “I am very sure that you know a couple of things already,” he assured her, using a matching sensual voice. A smile, spread on his lips, and it clearly showed some kind of appreciation and sensual thoughts. He hummed a little as she mentioned that knowledge was key. He agreed. It did give hunters a big step ahead to know who they were going to be up against – and sadly for Oliver, he had been leaving tracks close to New York, where he had lived once with his family. Frederik was quite tempted of her, as she almost leaned in to kiss him, but didn’t. He even opened his mouth a little, being quite ready to receive a kiss.
“Yes,” he replied, his eyes were shortly distracted by her lips before they found her eyes again. He hummed once again, as she mentioned burying to bastards. Now, Frederik did know quite a bit about Oliver Jones, but of course there were some wholes in everything. But he was certain, that some of the things he knew might categorize Oliver as a bastard, but it wasn’t something he would guarantee. As she asked if he wanted to be his partner in crime, he leaned in to let his nose stroke hers once. He put his glass on the table. “Anytime,” he chuckled before he finally leaned in to kiss her.

He let one hand snake around her and slowly laid her down on the sofa. The other hand grabbed her glass of wine and put it on the floor next to the sofa.  He kissed her down her neck while he spilled some of the tea he knew. His words sentences were only broken to pieces when he places yet another kiss on her. “Oliver Jones. He has three – full siblings. One’s missing - the other - none we should worry – about.” Frederik mostly gave small points to Zitora, so she would be able to question what she wanted to know more about. “He got a daughter. He took Elias’s wife. Elias beat him.” He couldn’t help but chuckle a little about the karma. “He opened brothels. Settled. Moved around. Started teaching - at the academy…” he hold a greater pause from spilling his knowledge and untied the bow over Zitora’s shoulder.

His lips met hers, and she returned the kiss as he let his hand snake around her, and moved her down on the sofa, taking the glass from her hand and placed it next to his. Zitora liked the way he informed her, simple information, easy to put the notes on a mental board and connect the dots later on. Not that she was planning on doing the guy anything, she just wanted to make sure that Madelaine was in good hands. The Jones family was far from unknown on these parts of the region, and despite Zitora only had lived here for five years - she already knew just enough to make it count, but she didn't know anything personal about any of them - not yet anyways. Then he mentioned Elias. Well, if anyone had tried to make a move on Frederik, Zitora would sure have beaten the person up as well, or at least close enough to it. She chuckled a bit letting him untie the bow over her shoulder. She knew Alison was headmaster now at the academy. Zitora had been a part of the group trying to keep Gaia safe ages ago before things had gone down the drain as Amery had died. But she still had much of the files and the archives in her storage room. Then along with that she did have some of her father's old journals, maybe there was something about these people, their families.

"What about River, what do you know about him?" She asked before giving him a small peak on the corner of his lip, then let her lips brush over his cheek. River was after all the one she was the most interested in with this matter. Then the phone sounded from her purse she had left by the door on the counter. She lifted herself up a little sneaking teasingly out of his embrace, adjusting the loose bow that was just about to fall from her shoulder, but she moved over and took her phone out. "It's from Madelaine. She is alright - and she wants to call off my offer to check up on Oliver," she licked her lips a little, texting back that she was home safe as well. Then she walked back towards the sofa looking out at the skyline for a second. "Well, too bad, I don't trust the guy - so I'm gonna look, just peaking a little - make sure she is in good hands," she moved her head towards Frederik on the sofa.

Frederik smiled as she asked about River. “He’s a lot older,” he let his hands travel over her body. The sound of Zitora’s phone made him stop, and shortly after, she crawled out of his embrace, only leaving him hungry for more. As she walked over to the door, he sat down again and waited patiently on her to come back. Madelaine didn’t want the background check anyway. Too bad that Frederik had already spilled some of the tea about the bastard. Of course, there were a lot of holes, but he was sure that he would be able to access the files in one way or another. She finally came back and sat down next to him. He gave her a soft peck on her shoulder, and carefully let his hand find the bow again, and slowly pulled it off her shoulder, looking up into her eyes as she mentioned that she would be making the background check anyway. He moved his lips away from her shoulder. “We’re already started, so why stop the research,” he chuckled a little. He agreed that it would be for the best that they made sure that she was in good hands. After all, none of them wished for their friends to be with anyone who wasn’t good for them. “But do you want to continue the research right now, or go to bed?” he asked and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

River was older. It didn't surprise. Age didn't surprise her since she knew her father was 200.007 years old. She chuckled by how unsatisfied Frederik was about her leaving the couch. Zitora licked her lips a little reaching for the wine as he untied the bow letting the fabric leave her shoulder, she took a sip more of the wine, "my words exactly." She downed the rest of the wine looking back towards Frederik, as he asked whether they should keep up the research or go to bed. As if she could sleep now. "They say business before pleasure, don't they?" She placed her lips against his soft passionate, short before slowly pulling away, a tease really. But once Zitora put her mind to something there was a little stopping it before it was satisfied with the information provided, and they both knew for a fact that she could stay up all night and live of coffee before that happened. It was the same with her cases, once her mind was put to a task she went on with it. However, usually she didn't work together with Frederik on finding her research, so this was different - but it didn't mean she liked it any less.  "I might have something that can provide you with a little excitement," she whispered against his lips before getting up from the sofa again and took a small step back. "Come along," she said almost playful.

Well, she had never really let him see the archive or told she had it. Zitora was not without her own secret layers, or not secrets, just untold parts. So, she used her hip to open up a secret door that otherwise was perfectly hidden away , and opened to a surprisingly large room with shelves filled with organized files, books, a desk in the middle with a few computers. Well, he knew she could get any information she wanted. She was good at that - that was just a fact. Because combined with the knowledge he had on the supernatural world with what she could find about a person and that person's life and everything in between, they were close to unstoppable. "I promise I'm not turning into a super villain or anything, but you know I like my research."

Frederik licked his lips and closed his eyes as Zitora mentioned business before pleasure. “They do,” he sighed softly against her lips, refilled the glass of wine, and tied her bow with magic. She mentioned something that could provide him with some excitement, but now that she already had said business before pleasure, he was quite sure that it wasn’t going to be some kind of red room. “Go on,” he whispered back to her and followed her as she asked him to. He could see how much this meant something for her and almost feel how she felt excited about it herself.

A secret door opened up, and he followed her inside. It was a giant room. Organized with files, books, and computers. No, this was no red room, but it certainly excited his old hunter. God, how many people he wished to find a name on and simply show them to the end of their life. Now, that was a little brutal, but it was the core of his hunter, to show evil their way out of the world. He was quite occupied with looking at how things were organized, and therefore had to redirect his gaze to her as she mentioned how she wasn’t turning into a super villain. He walked over to her and grabbed her by the hips. “And I love how you love your research,” he said looking into her eyes. He shortly leaned in to place a sensual kiss on her lips, before he looked towards one of the shelves. “So, what’s the plan, Bonnie?” he asked with a slightly sly smirk and looked over towards her.

Zitora narrowed her eyes a little very observant of his reaction to this. Because it was perhaps a little dark, the things she had on people, the things she could find. The lives she could destroy if she wanted, only a few clicks away from changing someone's life completely. She could see he found it interesting, the way he looked around, almost daring her to take a look into his mind, but she didn't. Instead she just waited till he turned towards her and walked over to pull her closer by the hips, a soft chuckle left her. "Babe, there is a reason why I'm the best," she whispered a little after their kiss, placing her hands on his shoulders, then following his gaze towards one of the shelves, "I don't know Clyde, let's see where it takes us, shall we?" She moved her eyes back to him as he looked at her, and raised a slightly playful brow. She moved her hands from his shoulders towards his jaw for a short moment. "Where do you want to start?" She asked moving her head back towards the many shelves with endless information. Well, they could start with tonight's project, anything really.

“I never doubted that,” he whispered back to her, letting his nose simply touch hers for a moment. See, the thing about the matemark was that it both gave an electric pleasurable feeling and a strengthening feeling and both things were something he wouldn’t be without, and the way they both showed their love through physical touch, well, it made him only feel so much more loved and undefeatable.
She followed him on the Bonnie and Clyde reference, but after all, she had asked him to be her partner in crime, and it just suited so well together. “That is excellent enough for me,” he said, as she mentioned just see where it would take them. He licked his lips a little playfully, just like she raised her brow. He hummed satisfied as she let her hands glide up to his jaw, “Oh, honey that is unfair,” he mused with a little chuckle. “It’s like asking a child to pick somewhere to start in a fun park,” he laughed a little. “But do you want Oliver out of the way as quickly as possible, or do you want to dig into tonight’s bastard’s life?” he whispered sensually to her. Of course, the bastard was River, since she had hurt Zitora – Oliver hadn’t yet gotten that far.

Zitora cracked a delightful laughter when he mentioned it was like being a kid in a candy store, or not the way he put it, but it was how she saw it. It was dangerous with so much information and knowledge within reach, where to start, should you start and what would you do once you got hands on information you might not be one to hold? Now, Zitora was no stranger to knowing too much, she was pretty sure if anyone found out everything she was aware of - that things would go down pretty quickly. In Zitora's eyes, Oliver Jones wasn't in the hurry to research - she knew where he was, who he was with and the basics from Frederik. And something told her once they started to uncover things she might have wished she didn't, but only because of Madelaine. Now, River was another figure the way he acted. The casino thing, the mysterious demon Orion, the siren - all of them seemed to be working together in some way. "Let's start with River Turner and see what we find," she clicked her tongue a little. "Maybe we should check up on his little friends as well the demon Orion and the siren at the bar," she zoned out for a mare second, "Kai - has to be short for something," she mumbled a little bit, that was the same nickname she had used for her twin sister Kaiya when she had been alive, so of course it stung Zitora a second, before heading towards one of her computeres and started it. "Let's see. Vampire history --" she looked towards the many shelves, and let her eyes scan the tags on the different books and boxes with files. "Also, I'm sure if we were to call Elias, he wouldn't mind telling us a little bit - I could text him and see if he is up for wine or coffee tomorrow?" Zitora suggested taking one of the boxes out and placed it on the counter next to the computer, old journals from years back. Now it was easier to text him as well, and she knew he was in town because well Zitora's mother was seeing Damian. "Try to see if you can find anything about River in 17th century in Italy - he mentioned he met Oliver back then, perhaps we can trace it down from that."

Frederik got a wide smirk on his lips as Zitora chose the bastard of the night to dig into. It sounded so interesting. Ruining the stupid vampire’s life would be an endless goal for him. Frederik furrowed his brows a little as she mentioned a demon and a siren. Frederik hadn’t really been that much inside of the casino, so he only really knew things from when they exited and saw the different people. “I think you’re perfectly right about it being a nickname of some sort,” he said, taking Zitora in while she walked towards one of the computers watching how she managed it. Who knew, maybe he would be borrowing her system one day? While Zitora spoke about Elias, he moved closer to her and let a hand cross over her back to her hip. “Or I can…” He was about to suggest that he could call Elias. After all, she knew her system right now, and if they had to be productive, well, then that would be the way, since Frederik already had some knowledge of River, the demon, and the siren. But he didn’t get that far, since Zitora suggested for him to look for something in the 17th century in Italy. God, it was really like letting a kid loose in a candy store. Though he didn’t let go of Zitora’s hip, his free hand sought to the box and started looking through it. Already completely mesmerized by the system she had.

She tilted her head a little then nodded as a sign that he sure could be the one calling Elias if he wanted. If they wanted to include him in the matter, she was rather sure that Elias had seen greater places like this for secret keeping, and she was even more sure that he had dirt on River. Then again, you should always be critical when you invited someone to the party that had a beef with the person you were looking into - because their judgement would always be clouded. However so, Zitora was very aware of that, and usually able to sort the information rather well despite of it. "If you eyes aren't busy eating all the boxes for information," she teased him a little bit, looking at the hungry look in his eyes. She chuckled a little bit, while searcing something not minding him really still having a hold of her hip. There was something intriguring about seeing him just as passionate as her about something, which only made her love him more than she already did.

He chuckled a little as she asked if his eyes weren’t too busy, “Mhmmm… They might be,” he mumbled before he dragged his eyes away from the box, keeping his hand where he had reached. “I’ll give him a call and ask him,” he said, giving her a quick, but very passionate kiss before he put a little mark on the spot where he had reached in the box and let go of the box. He walked behind her, letting one hand replace the other to pick up his phone and start dialing. While he waited for Elias to pick up he ended up next to Zitora, with his hand traveling over her lower back. Only when Elias picked up Frederik would leave Zitora to find some blank paper that he could write on with some magic. Practice made perfect right?
“Hey man, are you busy?” he wondered. He wouldn’t really want to bombard him with questions if he was busy. If he replied that he wasn’t busy, or had some time to talk, Frederik would continue: “Can you tell me something about River Turner?”

Zitora kept herself busy looking things up while Frederik got a hold of Elias. Now, she knew Elias had just gotten to Athena, but he had also just flashed around this key that was said to be able to get him anywhere. So, she only looked to the side for a second as Frederik walked out to talk to Elias.

Elias picked up rather quickly, sitting on the couch with a beer, just chilling really when Frederik called him. "Hey, no I'm not busy - what's up?" Elias asked, knowing Leon would argue that well, Elias was busy and should not be sitting there chilling like this. But then Elias sat up, by the mention of River, "if I can? The question is how much do you need to know? I will come by to tell you,  I will be there in a second," which was of course the thing. Elias got up, yelled to Leon that he was going out, not sure if Leon was actually still up, or just finishing up some documents - it was getting pretty late after all. Then, heading out the first door seen and opened the door to Zitora and Frederik's home. "Told you it would only be a second."

Frederik couldn’t help but smile as Elias replied. He was always so calm and ready. Frederik appreciated it. He chuckled a little the way Elias responded with how the question was rather how much Frederik wanted to know. “Alright, see you soon,” he said before he hung up. He turned around to Zitora, “He’s coming over now,” he warned before he walked out of the secret room and let the door almost close. He didn’t know if it was going to lock automatically or not, and he didn’t want to lock Zitora in.
The front door opened as if Elias had the key to their home. “Yeah man, I don’t doubt you,” he laughed and walked closed to greet him with a firm handshake and a brotherly hug. “Want something to drink?” Frederik offered pointing over the shoulder towards the kitchen.

"One can't say River bloody Turner without peaking a little bit of my interest," he joked, but it was true really. Elias did as well have every single reason in the book to hate River. Their story was old, but built on the lives River had ruined and the people the vampire had killed. Elias greeted Frederik with the firm handshake and brotherly hug, see he did appreciate these sort of greetings and was already more than hype on what him and Zitora had in store. He knew Zitora was close by because of her scent as well. "Yeah, thanks mate, what you got?" He would take whatever that was available, also knowing they didn't go down on the good stuff here in the house. "So, what peaked your interest on River?" the old werewolf wondered.