Doing what she must [July 25th]

Mary takes the phone from Aisha. "I'm not sure trying to contact him that was was safe. But if Rene still has David's phone, perhaps we can use it to track them with technology. I will see what can be done there tomorrow."

As Aisha calls to Professor 'cGriffin Mary smiles. "Call to Quinn, Aisha. that is how I know her best." Mary taps the surface gently. Then she turns off Aisha's phone, and reaches out to take Exo's hand, and waits.

Aisha waited for several moments wondering if the Professor would hear the message, she called into again and then suddenly Quinn was there. She seemed to be quite aware for so early in the morning. Probably the Pepper-Up she had seen her use in the past.

"Quinn, good morning. Aunt Mary and I need your assistance please. We are currently at her residence. We can fill you in when you arrive." She was brief and didn't elude to anything in the mirror other than a sense of urgency to the witch. She also gave her the address to the residence.

"Please don't try to aparate inside though. It is warded. You can get as far as the front door." She added on before looking at Mary and Exo. Hoping that she conveyed the message properly.

"Should I make myself scarce?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. This was one of their collegues...no one needed to know he was around if it would mess something up that would get David back. Plus he was topless currently.

"I see, it's Mary's mirror. I'll be there in four jumps." She collapsed the mirror without another word and burst open the closet door. The wards hadn't detected any unauthorized entry, but she was careful all the same as she made her way through the rooms towards the front door. The conversation with Aisha could very well have been a ruse to get her to abandon her tent, so she was taking it with her. The only thing she did before leaving was cast her standard inventory spell. She had extras of everything she might need in her magically expanded pocket, and enough equipment to outfit a few more people. It would work, for now. From the outside, the tent appeared barely big enough for a single adult. It folded itself up obediently just as she stepped through the flaps, and she stuffed it into her pocket in a single physics-defying motion. Without pause, Quinn lifted her wand and cried out "Expecto Patronum!" Sure, Dergal was just down the stairs in the mansion's basement, but she was in a hurry. The message: "Leaving to aid Ria and Mary in London. Come to Mary's house at [address] in 10 minutes if I don't check in."

With a Disillusionment, a silencing charm to stop the annoying crack of apparition, a strong Protego and a child's spell to randomly determine which apparition spots to use, she was off. Belfast to the Isle of Man. On to Liverpool. On to Birmingham, where she stopped. With a quick glance at a road map to get a sense of the location, she steadied herself, took a deep breath, and disapparated one last time.

Success! She had landed at the intersection with the main road, and the weather was fair enough to fly comfortably. Now, how to determine whether this is a genuine need or a trap. With anti-apparition up I won't have any quick escapes... Having reached the correct address, owl-Quinn landed in the backyard and became human once again. The wards were obvious, but they only covered the house itself. Simple enough to work around. Raising the mirror to her transparent face, Quinn whispered "Mary" to link the mirrors and continued with "Aisha, if you can hear me, please come out into the backyard. Alone."

Good, she isn't armed. As "Aisha" greeted her, Quinn's wand was pointed squarely in the impostor's direction. She rattled off a list of silent detection spells and finished with a subdued verbal "Expecto Patronum". "Aisha" wasn't using polyjuice, she detected as a conscious, living human and she wasn't under the Imperius. The silvery owl patronus flew up and nuzzled against the Professor with its incorporeal head, calm and accepting. For now, "Aisha" had been upgraded to Aisha.

Responding to a silent command, the patronus returned to perch on Quinn's shoulder. "No, I'm believe I'm satisfied. Lead the way," she said at last, her face shifting from hard and combat-ready to a simple, reserved curiosity.

"I have plenty of Pepper-Up, I won't need anything else."

Quinn was otherwise quiet as they walked into the house, and as they passed into the wards she nodded with approval. Aisha may not have had combat experience, but she was no slouch when it came to magic. Once they reached the sitting room, she didn't point her wand, but she eyed the man with suspicion and immediately spoke to Mary. "Auntie, do one of your shadow tricks. I need some evidence that it's actually you."

With her stern expression firmly in place again, Quinn didn't relax until the shadows began to loom. Even then, she held up her hand to refuse the hug. "You can never be too careful, Auntie. This will do, for the moment." She remained standing as the others sat, obviously uninterested in pleasantries and rather uncomfortable. Meeting new vampires was always a crapshoot, and she had a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that something strange was going on with Mary. That smile set the hairs on the back of Quinn's neck standing up, she somehow felt a lot more like prey than she ever had before. Weird. She'd have to bring that up, maybe Mary had been drinking tiger's blood or something. Not quite unconsciously, her wand hand gripped a little tighter.

What a strange name, I wonder how old he is... The mage only briefly inclined her head at "Exo", firmly placing him in the mental category of dangerous until proven otherwise. "Pleasure. If there's no one else in the house, I think we should begin. What can I do for you, my dear colleagues?"

Mary is silent through Aisha's explanation of events, and sits, idly playing with Exo's long black hair.

"Aisha's husband is one of my ... organisation." Mary adds. She'd never told Quinn much about vampires, or their politics or religion. "And since he has been stolen, we need to steal him back. We do not know their resources, except that maybe, since Aisha's magic has been ineffectual, they may have a wizard aiding them."

She waves a hand dismissively and the shadows around the room settle back to normal. With one exception, Mary's small familiar wanders over, and rubs against Mary's leg in a cat-like gesture.

"Ahh, Balthazar my friend. I have a task for you, too." She looks at Aisha, "Do you have anything of David's with you? Something that can hold a scent would be perfect." She reaches down to per the shadow. "I am sending you hunting, little friend. I need you to find the songbird for us. He has gotten lost." The cat purrs, and you'd swear it nodded.

"Now, Quinn, how might you be of aid? What do you need to begin?"

Aisha listened to the things that Mary had added and was glad for the second input. She was also glad that she, herself didn't mention anything involving more of the Sabbat world as it seemed that Quinn had not had as much knowledge in it as she had. At least with Mary's wording on 'organization' gave her that impression.

"I do have a shirt of his I brought along. There are more things at the flat I am sure. I didn't think about grabbing anything else." She said softly. She looked at the cat that formed and gave it a curious look. Could shadows smell? Could the track? Why didn't she think of getting some sort of tracking animal on the case herself? Her head had been so fuzzy as of late that some things just seemed to pass over her mind. She sighed softly.

"I can go get it from the room if you wish." She replied looking at Mary.

Near the beginning of the story, Quinn retrieved a mechanical pencil and a notepad from her pocket and began to take her notes. It was rather a long story, and by the end she had a couple of pages filled with names, times, small sketches, conjectures and arrows connecting it all together. At Mary's final question she looked up, but didn't answer for a little while, collecting her thoughts.

"Hm. If Aisha performed all of the scryings she listed, to no avail, there isn't much I can do magically to help you find him. Scryings work best when you are intimately familiar with the target, and I of course don't know him at all. I don't even listen to his band. Also... well, depending on the actual nature of vampiric life force, which I haven't studied with much depth, all of your kind might be considered 'dead' to scrying spells. That would certainly make them much less effective, and easier to block. I'll add it to the list of tests. In fact, there are about a dozen tests that I-"

She stopped herself, shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm getting off topic. During the story, I began to list ways that I could help:
- Once our reconnaissance is finished and we are more fully appraised of the enemy's capabilities, I can put together a detailed, contingency-heavy battle plan. That should help everyone make it out alive. I'm including my empirical tests in this.
- With access to the right amount of funds, I can put you in contact with at least one group of mercenary mages who would be happy to fight a nest of vampires (for a nominal fee).
- I know a few fantastic enchanters, alchemists and potioneers throughout the U.K. and Ireland, willing and able to work on short notice, if you've got deep pockets.
- If, as you say, they have a mage or two in their little crew, I will be more useful by far. Much of my skillset from the old days was focused on hunting my own kind... Countercurses, battle magic, tricky strategies and plots, I know what a mage is capable of, and how best to destroy them.
- Through necessity, it being one of the most useful of the great Dark magics, for many years I have trained myself in the art of Fiendfyre. It is difficult, and I can't guarantee more than a few minutes of control, but in my experience... a few minutes of Fiendfyre is all you ever really need.

As for what I need:
- Money, preferably very large amounts of it. Mr. Alexander is a millionaire rockstar, correct? Get me his accounts. I can have piles of galleons in a Gringott's vault by tomorrow.
- A test subject. Mary, you don't happen to have any vampiric captives or slaves that I could test spells on, do you? I have a laundry list of things I never got the opportunity to try in the old days. It wouldn't cause any permanent damage, I'm sure.
- Information. Every shred of information I can get on this "Rene", his gang, his abilities, the brand of shoes he wears, it will be helpful. I can help you gather it, as well, and I can tell you what I think would be best to focus on during our scouting trips..."

Finally stopping for breath, she thinks for a few moments, and turns back to Mary. "Does that sound reasonable?"

"Darren, yes ..." mary mused.

"The band's publicist will. Contact me tomorrow evening. By then the documents Darren has promised will be here, and research can begin, I will be arranging. A press release about your marriage, and the kidnapping, and who is responsible. We will bring these bastards into the light of day, and fry them. He whole world will be looking for David and Rene wen I am done." She smiles. She seems to be enjoying this. To her, perhaps it is no more than a game of control

"Quinn, I can also arrange funds, though pounds and Francs, not galleons. I like the sound of mercenary mages, as long as they can guarantee leaving Mr Alexander untouched. I'm not familiar with Fiendfyre. Should I be?" She asks.

"Aisha, my guess, from what you've said, is that by now they are at sea. Once David's journals arrive, I will summon a hunter to track him, though it will only be effective once they make landfall. I want you to be very careful. Never go anywhere alone. They may try to get you back, it was luck I think that you were overlooked the first time. Quinn, could you stay with her in the daytime while we sleep?"

"Well if you have anything to help me sleep that would be great." She half joked. She had stuff just the problem was that she didn't have it with her. Though she could probably use the sleep to be honest. The last several days had been sporadic at best for her sleep cycle if she was honest with herself.

She struggled to sleep with David gone. She sighed and held the shirt in her hands. Brought it to her face, sighed softly. Missing David so very much. "I think sleep could be a good idea if I could find it." She repeated herself.

She sighed and stood. "Thank you for your help Quinn. I know we don't know each other that well and I am moving to the states soon enough at least that is the plan when David is found. Your help means more to me then I could express. I owe you one Quinn and I mean that." She walked over to Mary. "Thank you both for your help as well. Forgive my comments about the tea cup thing. It was said in anger but more as a joke then anything else." She leaned down to hug the woman. "Thank you for offering me a room here as well. I do appreciate it."

She turned and headed off up the stairs. Tomorrow she would need to actually eat something semi normal. She hadn't eaten in two days now and it would not do her well to not be at full strength when news hit the media and the battle to get her husband back began. She found her room, shrugged at the light switch and walked over her many books and notes, pushed her bags off the bed and hit the pillows. Her dreams were filled with David being lost to the sea.