Episode 16
Network
The days leading up to the second meeting with Saigow were effectively devoted to the initial stages of developing the network. Melba put together a flier that incorporated a cryptic message, some hunter code, and the address of their P.O. box and went about plastering the city with it. Essentially, it instructed hunters who received the message and who were interested in joining the network to send a postcard to the P.O. box with an alias and a place to meet them. At that point, one of the eight founding members of the group (Arie, Charlotte, Chet, Jonas, Melba, Paladin, Randy, or Saria) would meet with them . This was supposed to prevent the entire group from being compromised, or anyone from knowing the leaders, if any of the newer members were ever captured or questioned. She also got Paladin to take her on a second date, which went very well (though Melba was more than a little frustrated by Paladin’s continued and apparently pathological inability to kiss her).
Encouraged by his earlier success with Leslie, Randy went to the U of M and started wandering through the dorms looking for hunter symbols. In one dorm, he hit the jackpot: two rooms had the “allies” symbol on their doors, while a third, interestingly enough, had the symbol for “shapeshifter.” Randy knocked on the doors of the two rooms with allies symbols and introduced himself to the inhabitants. The first room was inhabited by an Innocent named Phil. He said his roommate was a Defender, though the group didn’t meet him on that visit, and that “the girls down the hall” had put the shapechanger symbol on the door, since they didn’t really like the (apparently supernatural) guy who lived their. Phil thought he seemed very nice, though, and agreed to join the network after Randy explained it to him. However, no one was present in the second room, so Randy just slid a flier under the door and went home.
This was all the progress the group made before their second meeting with Saigow took place. Charlotte, Melba, Paladin, and Randy attended this meeting, with Arie waiting in the car completely drunk (the reasoning being that just in case they ended up having to give him up to the vampires for information, at least in that state he wouldn’t be able to tell them anything worthwhile) and Chet and Saria acting as backup. In the restaurant, Melba made the offer the group had discussed earlier, knowing full well Saigow would reject it: They would allow the vampires to talk to Arie if and only if Saigow would provide the group with the texts newly made vampires read to learn about their culture. Saigow did indeed reject the offer, at which Melba pointed out Haji’s indiscretions and suggested they simply reinstate the pact as it was.
Some more negotiation followed, but the final agreement was that the pact would be reinstated if the hunters would start keeping an eye on their own people, effectively policing themselves in the same way vampires did. If any hunters started causing problems for Saigow, he would inform the group and they would stop the other hunters from interfering. In exchange, he would stay out of their business and keep his people from harming them. The group agreed and left, glad they’d finally straightened everything out. Still completely drunk, Arie celebrated by getting various hunter code symbols tattooed on his neck and arms, having decided it would expedite his search for other hunters by making him more identifiable as a hunter.
The next day, the group continued trying to build the network. Arie and Randy kept scouring the Twin Cities metro area for hunter code and found nothing until, by sheer chance, they decided to take a bus to another part of town. On the bus, they noticed the symbol for “meeting place.” Arie approached the bus driver, who noticed his new tattoos right away. The driver introduced himself as Steve and explained in a low voice that every other night, the bus made an “extra run” after going to its last stops, apparently to pick up hunters all around the city. There would be a meeting tomorrow, and Arie and Randy would be more than welcome to attend, along with any other hunters they knew. Of course, they said they’d be there.
Though the group out a lot of not-terribly-interesting administrative and logistical details about exactly how the network was going to function, the only other really noteworthy thing they did was come up with code names to use when postcards from other hunters came in and they had to meet with these people. Arie was “Curiosity,” Charlotte was “Seeker,” Chet was “PapaDuck,” Jonas was “Blunt,” Melba was “Ward,” Paladin was “FratBoy,” Randy was “Ender,” and Saria was “MamaDuck.” These were the names other hunters would always know them by if the network became a success.