Episode 14
Opportunity
After adding Randy to their group at least temporarily, most of the other hunters were a little bit unclear on what to do next. Melba, however, knew exactly what she wanted to accomplish. She’d spent the past few weeks going through Marta’s notes and resolved not to let all of her friend’s work go to waste. Melba decided to collect the information on the Hebedites and the guardians, along with the group’s own experiences and their knowledge of how to succeed on the hunt, into a sort of “Hunter bible.” Paladin (who looked a lot healthier but still insisted upon living in her apartment) agreed that it was a good idea, and Melba began work on it in earnest.
At around this same time, Charlotte and Randy both took an interest in the data they’d heard Marta and Melba had collected and began to work their own way through it. (In the meantime, Arie decided that he wanted to learn more about explosives and started out trying to teach himself. In the process of doing this, he blew up the kitchen in his apartment.) While looking at the files, Melba noticed that the files Marta had taken out of the compound, thought blank before, were now filled with information about the scientific processes that had gone into creating the Zodiac Crysalis. Intrigued, Charlotte made copies of the files and decided to investigate them further, hoping it might lead not only to more answers about the guardians but also provide a path toward her own goal of finding a scientific explanation for the existence of monsters.
However, Charlotte’s interest in the material stopped there. Though Randy accepted almost immediately and agreed to help Melba write her hunter Bible, Charlotte remained skeptical. She considered herself to be first and foremost a scientist, and she told Melba that her reason wouldn’t allow her to take this outrageous story of magic and time travel at face value—or to believe that Chet and Saria were supposed to be hunter gods. She tried to make it clear that she didn’t necessarily think that Marta’s findings about the Hebedites and the guardians’ connections to hunters were entirely false, just that she thought there had to be a more reasonable way to explain it than the one Marta’s work promoted. Still, Melba took offense (and Charlotte refused to budge) and they got into an argument. Randy eventually broke it up by inviting Charlotte out to a movie with Arie, Charlie, and himself, effectively separating her from Melba. The fun evening served well to cool things off a little, but no one could deny that a rivalry was building between Melba and Charlotte.
Charlotte spent the next day trying to find more evidence to back up the claims in the files but came up completely empty-handed. That evening, she went back to the apartment building after Randy invited everyone out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Realizing that the restaurant was relatively fancy and Charlotte was still in her work clothes, Saria took it upon herself to make her look more presentable (which ended up taking the form of a complete makeover). The entire process made Charlotte a little uncomfortable at first (especially after she caught Charlie checking her out—and spacing out), but she actually found herself enjoying it before too long.
Dinner at the restaurant proceeded more or less calmly until Randy decided to liven things up by challenging Chet to a drinking contest. Arie, who was already completely drunk after consuming an entire case of beer throughout the course of the day, also joined in. What neither of them could have known was that Chet was immune to toxins, so there was really no contest. They didn’t realize this until they’d all downed six cups of sake apiece, Randy could barely stand up, and Arie was displaying the early signs of alcohol poisoning. Somewhat disgusted at their companions’ immaturity, Melba and Paladin took advantage of the opportunity to go home. Chet and Saria took the drunk Arie and Randy home to the apartment building, where both guys spent the night bowing down to the porcelain god.
That left Charlotte and Charlie alone in the restaurant, and with neither of them really wanting to end the evening so early. So they went dancing at Gower’s Nightclub, then walked around Lake Calhoun and had a long conversation. They had such a good time that they made plans to leave the rest of the group behind and go out again at some point in the near future. The rest of the group was more than a little perplexed and disgusted by her romantic involvement with a vampire, but she didn’t seem to be very concerned about that aspect of Charlie. (It’s also worth noting that when Charlotte recounted this story to Jonas, he got very quiet and seemed to disapprove for reasons that may have had nothing to do with Charlie being undead.)
The next few days consisted of more of the same: Melba working on the hunter Bible (with a little help from Randy) and staying in with Paladin in the evenings, while the rest of the group wandered the streets of the city without really finding anything interesting (at least, not in a supernatural sense). But one morning, Melba found a small scroll in the PO box. It was written in Saigow’s handwriting and said only, “We request a meeting soon to discuss the status of our agreement.” The group made plans to meet at Chino Latino the next night, not entirely sure what they’d hear when they got there.