Meeting at Prima

~~Baton Rouge/Prima Vitae Offices~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quinn pulled the pickup into the parking area, slipping into a place near the door. He walked in and told the receptionist that he had an open meeting with Ms. Griffen. The secretary showed him the way down the hall and pointed out Kiara's office.

He walked up to the office door and knocked...

Kiara rubbed her eyes. She'd been working the books most of the day while Bill slept at her house. At least a shower and several good meals later had her back to normal after her near death experience. She looked at her door then at her schedule and remembered she had a meeting with Quinn about a gig.

"Come in.." she said, moving to close down a few windows on her computer and lean back a bit.

~Quinn was not quite sure how to act, as they had parted on good terms, but...~

He decided to play all business....

"Hello, Kiara. Did the copy of the catering requests arrive from Fangtasia?"

He watched her for a cue as to how she wanted to run this meeting...

She nodded "Yes... and I must say an item there confused me. Aside from donors and candy and party favors they wanted... of all things... cat blood, fresh" she said with a puzzled look in her face.

She could smell Quinn's awkwardness, which she didn't understand but she ignored it. Quinn was nothing if not an enigma.

Quinn shifted his weight and smiled....

"No, Kiara....not cat blood.....cats...live cats...to the specs provided...."

He watched her reaction, chuckling and continued...

"They are for a special guest of Pam's...with a very specific and unusual diet..."

The look he gave her left no question what the cats were for...

She quirked a brow again and shook her head "It's a good thing as a wolf I tend to naturally dislike cats but seriously... what kind of messed up vampire lives on animal blood?" she mused mostly to herself as she stood.

"Well, I suppose if I can procure donors and fancy blood candy I can find some cats by friday"

"Remember the specifics, Kiara. The special guest is very specific...and she needs three tabby cats by Thursday...for his trip down here. The rest can be delivered Friday afternoon. Daniel will be at the club early to help setup for the event."

He smiled, and relaxed. She seemed to be taking their past in stride...so could he....and he smelled a scent...one he thought he recognized...

She nodded "yes mom, I promise I'll be done with my homework by then" she teased before she leaned against the wall. "What are they getting you to do? I assume prepare the venue" she said calmly.

"Actually, I am arranging the entertainment and greasing the right palms to get Pam's special guest here."

Quinn smirked at her 'mom' comment...

"I will of course be indirectly assisting in the venue, but my primary involvement is getting the Guest of Honor here...."

He chuckled, enjoying the cryptic banter...

She rolled her eyes "seriously... who died and made cryptic famous? Pam wouldn't even tell me who the guest was that I was having to be so particular about" she said with almost a pout.

Quinn smirked, realizing that he knew far more than Kiara.

"I am sure she has her reasons for the secrecy. If I were at liberty to do so, I would tell you more..."

He smiled and thought about the scent....he knew it.....why?

She rolled her eyes again. "Well as long as I'm getting paid I suppose people can keep their secrets. Although I'm sure I'll find out one way or another" she said, figuring if there was something fancy going on Bill would know and chances were he may tell her.

She actually grinned at that and suppressed a childish giggle.

Quinn barely heard her response...he was lost in his own mind.....Jess had gone to the Estate...Bill was not there.....Bill and Kiara had a past.....the scent could be him...but it was faint...hard to read....

He looked up, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry, was lost in thought there for a moment."

Quinn stretched his arms in front of him, cracking his knuckles...and decided to gamble on his hunch...

"So how is Bill doing? Jessica mentioned the guards told her he was visiting you when she called the Estate..."

She nodded calmly. "Yep, he's visiting. He doesn't seem to... eager to be around Jessica, I think those two had a bad falling out that he can't get over" she said in a thoughtful and worried voice.

"Poor Bill... it's tearing him apart with more guilt"

"You can assure him that she is safe. I have assigned a hand picked Were I brought back with me to her personal protection. He was my star fighter in the Pits and will give his own life to protect her. That is, when she is not otherwise protected. I am working on getting her ready to talk to him again...whatever their fight was about, it was a bad one..."

He smirked...

"I'll let you decide how much of that to pass on. You know his moods better than I do. He and I have reached an accord...and I would like to keep it that way..."

She nodded and looked at him. "Bill aint too fond of your either Quinn. Whatever you two have in your past must be pretty bad for him to react like that" she said, giving him a questioning look and wondering what, if anything had happened between them.

"Do you remember the file you gave me? there were a few things you might have missed in it..."

He decided to leave it at that.

"As to the current Accord, we have agreed that Jessica's happiness is worth putting all of the past aside. That is one of the reasons I am trying to ignore the fact that your Bill kind of tried to end you...and nearly did...."

He hated to bring that up, but wanted her to know that they were both setting things aside.

"But let us speak of more pleasant things....how are the improvements to your facility coming?"

She shrugged as his comment of Bill killing her. She was courting death after all, so eventually her end would come at his hands, but she wouldn't tell him that.

"Well, they're coming along. With true blood prices sky high I've had to increase production, and re-double security around my donors. A lot of hungry baby vampires out there" she said calmly.

"I still have access to the EEE stockpiles if you run a bit low..."

He smiled, happily surprised that things were going so smoothly.

"Please assure him that I will make every effort to at least have her call soon, if not meet with him in person."

She nodded "I will tell him that. And you be careful Quinn. Rumors of Victor trying to take over are strong, who knows whose safe and whose out to kill us all" she said softly.

Quinn nodded, but decided not to alarm her by mentioning the attack on Jessica.

"I have heard rumors of minor attacks and such. I will keep you both posted if I find anything out."

"Oh...a point of interest. She has begun some basic defense training and is actually showing quite an aptitude in it, now that she is starting to trust her vampire abilities a bit more...I thought he might find it interesting. She really is coming into her own as a vampire. Her speed is rather impressive actually."

Quinn smiled.

"If there are no other issues, I do not want to take any more of your time. I know you have a lot to do."

She nodded and inclined her head "Just... try not to get her over her head. What is training to us is child's play to you Quinn, and last I checked you could hit like a freight train" she said with a grin.

"I'll ring you up if anything else for this gig crops up"

Quinn laughed

"Nothing like that, Kiara. Just basic avoidance and counter strike...with a bit of stick fighting thrown in."

He laughed again as he headed for the door...

She nodded "yeah yeah... basic" she said as she walked him out "Just make sure its actual fighting and you not you know..."fighting" " she said, even putting air quotes around the last fighting word to emphasize her point