As the months of confinement and torture dragged on, Elijah Mason found his thoughts drifting more and more to Irene Putman, a vampire he'd first met back in the 1960s and hit it off instantly with her. It had been a pleasurable surprise to find out that she was one of Isaac's Fledglings as well and they had been together for a handful of years before parting ways on an amicable note. They'd seen each other on-and-off over the years whenever the both of them showed up for Isaac's holiday dinners starting several years later. However, his thoughts that night had turned to the more recent span of months he'd spent with her...

Center for Disease Control
Atlanta, Georgia
November, 2499

It was a typical sunny day in Atlanta, although for Eli and the rest of the vampires that had volunteered to help find a vaccine didn't see much of the sun these past few weeks as doctors and scientists poked, prodded, and questioned them nearly to death. Elijah really didn't mind. After all there was a purpose to the questions, to the poking and the prodding. There was a reason for the strenuous exercise routines. Everything that they learned about his species brought them that much closer to a vaccine and quite possibly a cure.

The day was just ending for Eli as he left the training room, a towel draped around his neck and winded after working several hours on the treadmill for his handler. Heading toward the dining hall, he stopped several times along the way to chat with personnel and other vampires he'd befriended before finally reaching his destination. Grabbing a bottle of water, mostly unnecessary for his kind but it made the humans feel more comfortable, Eli took a seat at a table with a sigh. Pulling the towel from his neck, it was dropped onto the table before he unscrewed the cap on the bottle and took a sip.

Returning the cap to the bottle, Eli closed his eyes and sat there at the table in silence. The vampire felt good, although given his current state, it was a bit odd not to feel the beat of his heart pumping through his veins. In a way... he almost missed the feeling. It was rare for him or his species to feel tired, but... That afternoon, Elijah sure felt tired after running on the treadmill for as long as he had. In fact, the vampire was seriously looking forward to a shower and many hours of sleep.

The Story So Far...Sylvia Wilde, Second-in-Command of Territory 21, reported to Territory Leader, Amaru that without proper medication and medical treatment, a patient of hers wouldn't last much longer. The only known place Sylvia knew of where to find the specific treatment was smack in the middle of a massive Revenant infestation. Since the Collapse, no one ever ventured in this part of Territory 21 due to the sheer number of Revvies. Yet, not only did Territory 21 need this precious medication, but there were other medical supplies that Territory 26 and 30 would need. A plan was formed, a date set, and representatives from each Territory were chosen.

As the creator of the plan and the only individual who knew the location of the medical building, Sylvia Wilde was the first of Territory 21 chosen to go on the mission. Prudence Lautari, a scavenger and trader in the Territory, volunteered to lead them as she knew the best way to get to their intended destination. Due to his Gift and combat skills, Johnathan Ackerman from Territory 26 was chosen to accompany the party on their mission along with Deirdre Prewett, a combat-ready vaccinated human and Irene Putman, a trusted vampire in Isaac Holt's inner circle were assigned to the mission from Territory 30.

The goal of the mission was quite simple: Get to their destination, retrieve the necessary supplies, and leave with as little conflict at possible. Rarely do such work out as planned, however. Not only must the group travel on foot, increasing their travel time by quite a lot, but they are racing against the impending thunderstorm coming their way. Time, unfortunately, is not on their side. By the time they reach their destination safely—much to their surprise—the storm is upon them and with sun gone, their party is ambushed by a single Revenant as soon as Sylvia starts toward the hospital entrance.

Completely caught off-guard and terrified, the good doctor is unable to use her vampire powers but Deirdre Prewett and Irene Putman easily take out the insane Revenant with their firearms. Afraid the noise will attract more of the creatures, Johnathan Ackerman takes point and clears the broken glass at the entrance to increase their chances of entering undetected. ( Once inside, they find the lobby eerily void of chaos and destruction save for the glass from the broken windows... )

He stood in the middle of the greenhouse, fidgeting nervously with a plant leaf even as he chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip. Ever since Aubrey had announced she was having a dinner party with guests arriving from other territories, Toby felt like his stomach was going to slowly fly away with all the butterflies he was feeling as of late. He wasn't nervous about the formal attire or anything like that—He had attended plenty of family gatherings to rid himself of that particular brand of nervousness—but what the gifted man was currently having a mini-crisis over was the fact that the majority of this shindig was going to be held in the massive ballroom. Ballrooms usually tended to have well... dancing in them, which... Toby did not know how to do. At least the classy kind of dancing one did at these sort of functions and he wanted to make an impression on Aubrey...

The problem was, he wanted it to be a surprise and aside from Aubrey herself, he didn't know of anyone else would be knowledgeable in that type of dancing other than James Greer and Johnathan Ackerman. Toby wasn't quite sure if he should approach them about his lack of dance skill considering that was rather trivial compared to what was currently going on. A moment passed as he concentrated on improving the quality of some of the plants before finally coming to the decision that it couldn't hurt to at least ask. Pursing his lips with determination, Toby straightened and tidied up the greenhouse before leaving it to go searching for the other two gifted men.

After his inquiries were made, Toby learned the two gentleman were in the Training Room where he found himself pausing outside of to gather his nerve. Hands were lifted to push back his hair as he pulled in a deep, calming breath and let it out. His arms swung back down to his sides and he pushed his way into the room.

Tobias' sudden entrance surprised Johnathan, who's attention darted toward the door and the dark haired figure standing just inside it. He was properly distracted from the grapple he was currently in with James and suddenly found himself on his back with the witch standing over him. He blinked up at James several times, his mind wrapping around the fact that his distraction had been used against him. Johnathan, of course, held no ill will toward his lover for using such an advantage and he grinned up at James before his attention, once again, shifted toward Tobias as he remained sprawled on the floor.

"And what can we do for you, Mr. Kingston?" Johnathan asked before suddenly moving on the floor, his leg aiming to sweep the witch's legs out from under him so the vigilante would be a position to pin James to the ground. Toby looked around to see if anyone else was present and ducked out into the hall real quick before ducking back in and closing the door behind him.

"Uh, well..." he began, always finding it a little bit weird that Johnathan was so formal, "It's like this..." he said, informing the two men of his predicament.

It had been a long, productive, but enjoyable day for Sean. The redhead had worked the morning shift in the bookshop where he had the pleasure of meeting several new people and spending time with a couple of little girls that reminded him of his sisters. The two girls came to the shop during their free period before lunch time. As there wasn't much of an education system, many kids and students were home schooled if it was possible and Beth and Emily were no exception. When he was in the shop, Sean would read to them for a little bit while their mother ran an errand or needed to do some trading. The Gifted redhead didn't mind as he enjoyed the company.

When his shift was over, Kerry arrived to have lunch with Sean and Daniel before they sequestered themselves in the room where the piano had been moved to so they could practice the latest batch of music Kerry had written. Their session was quite productive and the music lovely, all of which made Sean very excited about the next musical gathering there would be at the Bridge. Once their session was wrapped, the apartment was now peacefully quite in more ways than one. Sean was able to completely relax now that he did not have to deal physic readings from his friend thanks to Daniel's presence.

In the quiet aftermath, Sean disappeared into the bedroom a moment before reappearing in the living room with a small box of cosmetics. The redhead plopped down beside Daniel on the couch and rummaged around the box briefly before he triumphantly produced a small bottle of black nail polish and asked the other boy, "Can I paint your toe nails?"