Uncharted Territory

Into the Light

The journey from where they had left Sean's friend and her pack to their current location had taken just over an hour, but it hadn't been exactly smooth. The pack had done their part and the stranglers were easy pickins for Sean, Cadius, Lee, and Eleanor, but the constant exertion was starting to compound with interest. As they had moved, Sean had heard the howls of the hunt echoing through the air and he knew Eloise and her crew had kept the brunt of it off their backs. She had always been one of his favorites, and now here she was running her own pack. He'd have felt proud if he thought he had anything to do with it. Instead he just smiled.

As Sean stepped up to the gateway with an unconscious Eleanor draped in his arms, her phone rang, and Sean narrowed his eyes at the thing. With his hands full he gestured for Cadius to grab the phone and put it to Sean' ear. Sean answered, "Adam." He said the name with an edgy tone, "What you got for us?"

Sean could hear gunfire in the background as he answered, "Your safehouses are being watched alright. Sounds like Eleanor's friend knows what he's talking about."

"All of them?"

"Yeah. All of them. I could tell you which ones are the easiest to secure, but I have a better idea..."

"Listening..."

"I've got this place..." Sean could hear crazed laughter, more gunfire and a woman's voice cursing as Adam tried to speak, "Eve! Would you keep it down?..." Some incoherent slur of curse words came back to him as a reply, but Adam continued without breaking pace. "The place is nearly impossible to find unless you know what you're looking for. With that nose of yours I imagine you'll be able to find it, so just head to the downtown industrial area around 8th. Place smells like green tea and Thai food even when no one's there. Of course, the place is warded up the ass - heavy duty shit too- so unless you want to get hit with some nasty shit don't go in until I get there.

"Eve and I will deal with the situation here, and make our way there. Stay out of sight as best you can. I've got some decoys already setting up shop. Should keep them busy long enough to keep from realizing you made other plans till you're safe and secure." He paused a moment before adding, "Be careful... Not sure who the hell you two pissed off this time but they are loaded for bear..."

Sean hung up the phone and looked at Cadius and Lee, "Looks like there's been a change of plans boys." As Sean looked at Lee, an uneasy feeling washed over him. The samurai had been all too quiet since the last showdown and he was actually starting to look almost as worn out as Eleanor. Which served to indicate that Eleanor was probably worse off than she let on.

By the way Cadius was eyeing them both, he must have seen it too.

Sean filled them in on the destination and Cadius spoke up, "Oh I've heard of that place. Even the spirits stay away from there. But if that's where you intend to go, I think we can get to a nearer gateway. Depends on whether you want to deal with Middle hostilities or flesh."

Lee coughed and dust filtered out in a puff in front of him, but he smiled a tired smile that looked eerily like Eleanor's as he spoke, "I would like to take this moment and point out that there are no cops in the middle..."

"No... but there are worse things..." Cadius added. "Up to you mate." He looked at Sean with a questioning stare and a short moment later, the motley crew headed deeper into the dense urban part of the Chicago Middle.

By the time they got to the gate Cadius had mentioned, Eleanor had regained consciousness and was walking beside them with Sean supporting her. Cadius took a bow, "Here we are. I'll keep an eye on the Middle side, but I think you'll be alright for a while." Cadius took Eleanor's hand and squeezed, "Always a pleasure my dear."