The calm before the storm.....

[Izabell]

Her ship had set down at the spaceport of Enton, and she waited till nightfall to leave. Her midnight blue cloak covered her royal blue velvet dress and her face. It took a while before she found someone who actually went out of his way to give her a hard time about finding the person she sought, but after a little force use on the dimwitted man, she got the info she needed.

Standing before the doors to the establishment, she took in a deep breath and pushed the doors open. Stopping just inside, she peered out of the confines of her hood to see if she could "spot" the person she was looking for.

Where are you? Which one are you?

She thought to herself.

She made her way to a side booth and sat down, Keeping her hood on to hide what she was. Knowing the reception she would get if she dared show herself. She didnt discount Kariss's take on this Hera person. She believed her sister in-law would never lie about such things.

The same colored eyes as Ezra....Fawn pools...surveyed the area.....would she be of help for her brother or would she be as Kariss said she was, and not give a frell about him?

[DarthHERA]

"Poseidon's Gate" was not as full as it normally would be at this time of the evening. Izabell would be forgiven for assuming business was slow, or that it was on a precarious profit-downswing if she happened to judge by the number of clientel occupying its dim interior.

Sure, there were patrons, but it was hardly the hurly burly Mos Eisley Cantina. She found herself a quiet booth and sat, guarded features behind a dark hood, and appraised those who shared the bar's scant company.

Two men, seated in booths ahead and behind hers, swung about where they sat, and Izabell heard before she saw the weapons power up even as they were levelled at her from either side. With Ezra's hastey departure, and the nature of the deed that prompted it - Hera knew enough of his background that it would only be a matter of time before the undead crawled from their crypts and sought their wayward son out. She had made certain preparations, such as aquiring the handheld flame throwers now holding the woman in their sights. Hera's encounter with the Vampyre Master Saurron lent her enough experience to know that the Damned feared immolation.

Stepping from the shadows to loom menacingly in front of Izabell, the Faene Mistress greeted the Blood Pack vampire with cold welcome.

Word travels fast on Enton. The arrival of a pale stranger asking all the wrong questions was like sending a memo through the underworld crime hotline. Hera had many unsavoury friends who seized any opportunity to gain her favor, and earn the odd hundred cred for valued information, whenever they could. Hera had been given advance warning of what could only be a seeker with hostile intent and prepared her ambush accordingly.

Luminescent blue eyes locked onto the shadowed face as Hera spoke in the newly mastered vampryric tongue, a thin malicious smile accompanying her words. Those that sought Darkmere would find no welcome and even less patience from one who considered them an enemy of one of her own.

"Est un ami sen e'su"........."We've been expecting you"

[Izabell]

"En 'ut ami sen'su." - As I've been expecting you.

She slowly removed her cowl and the familiar face which Hera known appeared on this woman. She was definately Ezra's sister. Same features, same eyes.

"Please, I came here to ask of your help...... You seem to have my brother's allegience, where our own father does not. "

She looked at the men who had their weapons drawn on her, not really paying any attention to them till now.

"Is that neccessary? I have not come here looking to confront you, although they rest may....but its up to you if you want to help my brother or not. I lost one brother....I dont want to lose another."

She looked at the Faene mistress in hopes she would help her troubled sibling.

[DarthHERA]

The face was almost a mirror image of Ezra's. The features were strikingly familiar, but it was more the expression than anything else that confirmed the kindred line.

The guns never wavered, but held true to their mark as Hera seemed unmoved by the woman's words. Blood was thicker than water...but Hera well knew, these creatures had ice running through their veins. Family loyalty might be at play here, but to which man this woman really sided - the father or the son, Hera could not be sure, despite her words. Ezra had never spoken of his sister, let alone expressed his trust in her. Hera would not take a chance on guessing wrongly.

Her words were hard, clipped.

"I cant help you. You've come a long way for nothing."

[Izabell]

Sighing to herself, Izabell slowly slid out of the booth. She fixed her cloak, brushing the wrinkles out.

"It appears that I have."

Thinking back to Kariss's opinion of the woman, 'She may have been right about her after all.' Her voice echoed in head.

"Maybe this is your way of helping him, if it is, I pray it works when the others arrive.....For if they find him, one...he would be put to death on sight, or two....he will be taken back to Khar Sian where our father can watch him die and gloat about it."

The last words brought a crimson wetness to her eyes that threatened to fall. But she refused to let them.

" I wont waste any more of your time....I know the way out."

She pulled the cowl over her head and headed to the front entrance where she had come in through.

[DarthHERA]

"Vampyre" Hera called after Izabell's retreating back, "Tell your cold-blooded cronies that if even one more of them show up here looking for Ezra..there will be no conversation except the kind that can be done by my flame throwers. They are not welcome. They will not be well received."

Hera's tone was hard with no edge of wavering. She would kill the next Blood Pack seeker who sought knowledge of Ezra from her, and she wanted that to be crystal clear.

Turning to the men seated in the booth, she spoke in a low voice.

"You follow her - be extremely careful - and see she returns to her ship. Did Evan place the tracer on her ship at the space port?"

The first man nodded.

"Good..."

Hera then addressed the second man.

"We need to appraise Ezra of this visit. Get Jamo - we'll need him to establish us a sterile communication that cant be hacked. "

The man nodded and got up from the booth to do as instructed.

Hera murmered in half thought to herself as Izabell disappeared from the bar, the Faene Mistress watching after her... Ezra would have to make his own call wether to trust this sibling of his or not.
She hoped the woman sincere, for his sake.

[Izabell]

Making her way to the Crimson Star, Izabell wished that Hera person wouldve been more receptive to help her brother. 'Ezra.....where ever you are.....stay hiding...please.'

She sent out knowing he woudlnt get it, but hoping beyond hope he would.

She boarded the 'Star' and set for take off.....Her next mission...finding the mortal pack member...Dorian

[DarthHERA]

As the "Crimson Star" lifted off, conveying a disappointed Izabell away with it, and broke from the gravitational pull of Enton's mass, a red flicking light lit up the communications Console at Fascinataru's communications hub.

Across the leagues of space and darkness Hera's pending communication alerted soundlessly.

The Faene Mistress waited, seated like a statue in her Base Communications room - cold and without outaward emotion - as Jamo tweaked and checked the connection to keep it clean and untainted. The electronics whiz was in his element and went about his business with his trademark high-energy ticks.

"Why dont they respond" Hera demanded impatiently. She was not looking forward to seeing Ezra face to face. His abrupt departure still sat ill with her and she needed to steel herself against his soulful entreating eyes. "Frelling Vampyre's" she growled to no one in particular, "always fracking up a persons plans"

[imported_Ezra]

And those soulful entreating eyes is exactly what had met her face to face. The screen came to life as the connection was made, and those fawn colored eyes on an expressionless visage stared back at her.

He was silent and still for a while.....then his infamous smile slowly crept in. He looked better then when she last saw him, the dark circles around his eyes were still there but not as dark...and the conflicting pain in his eyes were no longer evident.

'Hera....."

Was what he could muster.....he was obviously glad to see her, but it didnt seem the other way around....but it was how it was normally.

[DarthHERA]

"Seems life among the wolves is agreeing with you, Ezra"

Hera's bland statement held the truth of it - or more pointedly, his time spent with Daiquiri had lifted a load from his mind already. That tortured look that had laid him captive had relented its grip - Hera could see it in his face.

"I trust you are finding the answers you could not seek here.."

[imported_Ezra]

His eyes went to the floor then back up again. He knew she was still bothered by him taking off. But did she honestly think he would beg her for help when she was the one who did this to him? He had his pride.... And it showed, when she said her last statement his head came up slowly in a regal manner, and he went blank faced again.

But like the wind itself it was a fleeting moment.

" I am getting the help I needed..... They are surprisingly hospitable.....seems years of fighting have overstayed its welcome with "us"."

His underlying statement of he and Jacob....it was a shock to see them both actually talking lately instead of trying to yank each other's heads off.

"What can I do for you Hera?"

[DarthHERA]

The relationship between herself and Ezra was a complicated one - for her atleast- and trying to close the distance between them, trying to nurture some form of mutual understanding was impossible to do over such means of long distance communique.

In her usual abrupt manner, Hera got directly to the point.

"Your sister came to see me."

[imported_Ezra]

His eyes widened a bit at that little tidbit of info. Why did his sister go to her? He looked off to the right as if in thought... And how could she without their father knowing? Unless.....

"Izabell......Was she alone, or did she have someone with her?"

He also hoped there was no violence between them, his sister was next to his mother, the only family member he loved.

"What did she want?"

[DarthHERA]

"She was alone"

Hera stuck with the facts, allowing Ezra to form his own conjectures as to the womans motivations.

"She wanted to know where you were. I didn't tell her, which did not make her happy"


The last was an understatement, and in her own defence, Hera added rebukingly, "You could have told me you had a sister."

[imported_Ezra]

Alone.....good, that meant she went without thier father knowing....which could get her trouble. And he only nodded his head as she made her last comment.

"If she was alone my father doesnt know.... Im sorry about not mentioning my family....I didnt think it was something you wantd to hear."

And then he smiled.

"You know, with you're hating us and all."

The smile faded back to seriousness.

"You dont have anything to worry from Izabell.....she's the one who stood next to me when my father banished me from Khar Sian.....she almost got the same for that move."

[DarthHERA]

Hera's sharp flick of her eyes dismissed her irritation at Ezra's needless baiting comment.

"Well, for the record - you'd better tell me if you have other family or friends that you trust, as I plan to kill the next Blood Pack Member who steps onto my premises..."

"Im tracking your sister by the way" She added for explanation, "In case you wanted to contact her. I myself dont really trust the little wench, but she was insistant she wanted to help you"

[imported_Ezra]

"The rest of the Pack are good people....Quinlin Torr is the leader, he hates my father as much as I do....he would be the one to talk to if they show."

He couldnt help but smirk at her irritation, he could always get that little area by her right eye twitching when he wanted....but this time she didnt rise to the occasion.

"No, it's better I dont.....keep my tracks clear. I will ask you to not harm her, she really means to help."

He leaned back in the chair he was in and canted his head to the left....he watched Hera closely....

"Hera.....do me a favor.......smile."

[DarthHERA]

As Ezra explained about Quinlin Torr and the rest of the pack, Hera nodded her understanding.

As he mentioned his request for his sister's safety, she nodded her understanding and aggreement also.

He leaned back in his chair, that hint of a smile playing about his lips and asked her a favor.

She lent forward slightly wondering what he could want.

...a smile.....

With a scowling "hurrumpff" she vacated her chair, pressing the disconnect button as she did so.

The final image Ezra saw as the screen shrank to a white pinprick of light on a black screen, was Jamo's grinning, impish face peeping over the back of the now empty chair.

[imported_Ezra]

As the screen faded to black and that visual of her expression and Jamo's face burned into his mind, Ezra leaned back and his shoulders shook as he leaned his head forward, then a laugh escaped his lips....and that would cause him to let out a good loud laughing fit as he did what he hadnt done in a long while...

That was show his old self to anyone.....Hera should feel happy she was the first to see his improvement....the old mischievous vamp was making his way back....he wiped the wetness around his eyes and got up from the chair to go about his business at the Van Dervelds Keep.