Hunter Session 29

Previous: Hunter Session 28

The day after the destruction of the werewolf nest and the death of Twitcher (sometimes known as Geraal), Charlotte, Melba, and Randy went about the business of cleaning up the previous night's mess. Melba put Twitcher's remains (which were by now just blackened bones) in a box and stored them in Paladin's closet, since she didn't know what else to do with them. She also asked Chet and Saria what had happened when they talked to Blak. They told her that he had been frightened to see her, and that he had no good excuse for being in Minneapolis. They had been on the verge of intimidating him into leaving when Lisa and her allies had shown up. A fight broke out, leaving several of the guardians wounded, and they decided to retreat. Chet and Saria also reported that Lisa and Blak had spoken to each other like people in a romantic relationship.

Talking to the other hunters about the guardians was a more pressing need than worrying about Lisa and Blak. After a brief discussion, the group decided to call a meeting in the parking garage that afternoon to explain what had happened. Randy talked about the history and legends of the guardians, and Charlotte tried to tie Randy's research into the current situation and put the hunters at ease. They stressed that they weren't forcing anyone to believe anything, and that they simply wanted the others to open their minds to the fact that there were people around the apartment building who, while not hunters, were working with them, and should be treated with respect. Most of the other hunters seemed to respond to the speech relatively well, and if nothing else the group felt that they'd at least prevented anyone from coming up to them later and complaining that they'd never been told what was going on. Afterwards, Randy pulled an all-nighter to finish the hunter bible, which he eventually ended up titling Hope, and made a late-night trip to Kinko's to make dozens of copies and begin distributing them among the hunter community.

Meanwhile, Melba checked the vampire P.O. to find a very rude letter from Sam, the journalist who'd written the article with the "nest" symbol. (This part of the hunters' quest had been amplified when Charlie gave Charlotte a number of other articles written by the same person, about the same subject, and containing the same symbols, and mentioned that a number of his friends were up in arms about "people who were breaking the Masquer...um...you know, those rules that say no one is supposed to know that vampires actually exist.") He seemed to dislike her subtle way of asking about the issue, and told her to do something about it now that she knew what was going on. Melba called Sam's secretary and asked to set up a meeting, but the secretary said that Sam had told him to hang up on her because she was annoying, so he did. So Charlotte called back and did the talking, although the only time Sam was willing to talk to them was at 6 a.m.

Charlotte spent her afternoon having a chat with Oscar, the guardian of homemaking. He'd taken a lot of interest in what the hunters were trying to do with the apartment building, and volunteered his help in making it seem more like a community. This would include informing the leaders of any problems that arose with the other hunters, and also encouraging them to help out by donating food or other supplies or signing up to take care of the guardian babies. He also asked Charlotte if there were any other hunters in the area, and she told him about Jonas, Lisa, and the university students. (Oscar also worried Charlotte a little by commenting that Charlie was "hard to read, not like any of the people I know"...perhaps that secret was not so well-kept as she'd like it to be.)

After talking to Oscar, Charlotte went home anticipating a quiet evening for once. But as soon as she walked through the door, she got a phone call from Jonas telling her to come to campus right away, because there was "a slight situation" in his office. Worried, Charlotte rushed to Jonas's office to discover Shirley there, looking livid. The instant Charlotte walked through the door, Shirley stood up and shouted, "Where's that bastard Kurt? He owes me three months' worth of child support!" Charlotte managed to calm Shirley down, but could not contain her astonishment at learning that Shirley had once been married to Kurt, and that Kirby was their child. Shirley hadn't heard from him in months, and after learning of Jonas's whereabouts from Oscar she'd decided to lean on him for information. Charlotte dialed Kurt's number, and though he hung up on Shirley a few times Charlotte eventually managed to get Kurt and Shirley to have a reasonable and mature conversation. Three hours later, they had reached an agreement that involved Kurt coming to Minneapolis the next day so they could meet in person and solve the problem together, and Charlotte was feeling very good about herself.

At Melba and Charlotte's meeting with Sam the next morning, he proved to be just as unpleasant in person. He identified Melba as a hunter right away and refused to give her any more information than he already had. Nothing really came out of their meeting, but Charlotte gave him her business card and convinced him to contact her if he ever came across any more useful tips about monsters in the area.

Next: Hunter Session 30