Episode 29
Unity
The day after the destruction of the werewolf nest and the death of Twitcher (sometimes known as Geraal), Charlotte, Melba, and Randy went about the business of cleaning up the previous night's mess. Melba put Twitcher's remains (which were by now just blackened bones) in a box and stored them in Paladin's closet, since she didn't know what else to do with them. She also asked Chet and Saria what had happened when they talked to Blak, and they told her that he had been frightened to see her, and that he had no good excuse for being in the Twin Cities. They had been on the verge of intimidating him into leaving when Lisa and her allies had shown up. Then a fight broke out, with several of the guardians wounded, and they decided to retreat. Perhaps more frightening was the fact that Lisa and Blak had said some things to each other that implied to Melba that they were having some sort of romantic relationship. Still, there was no way she could learn more at this time, so she decided not to worry about it and focus on more immediate concerns.
Foremost among these was the need to talk to the other hunters about the guardians. After a brief discussion, the group decided to call a meeting in the parking garage that afternoon to explain what had happened. Randy talked about the history and legends of the guardians, and Charlotte tried to tie Randy's research into the current situation and put the hunters at ease. They tried to stress that they weren't forcing anyone to believe anything, and that they simply wanted the others to open their minds to the fact that there were people around the apartment building who, while not hunters, were working with them, and should be treated with respect. Most people seemed to respond to the speech relatively well, and if nothing else the group felt that they'd at least prevented anyone from coming up to them later and complaining that they'd never been told what was going on. Afterwards, Randy pulled an all-nighter to finish the hunter bible, which he eventually ended up titling Hope, and made a late-night trip to Kinko's to make dozens of copies and begin distributing them among the hunter community.
Meanwhile, Melba checked the vampire P.O. to find a very rude letter from Sam, the journalist who'd written the article with the "nest" symbol. (This part of the hunters' quest had been amplified when Charlie gave Charlotte a number of other articles written by the same person, about the same subject, and containing the same symbols, and mentioned that a number of his friends were up in arms about "people who were breaking the Masquer...um...you know, those rules that say no one is supposed to know that vampires actually exist.") He seemed to dislike her subtle way of asking about the issue, and told her to do something about it now that she knew what was going on. She called his secretary and asked to set up a meeting, but when she talked to his secretary he said that Sam had told him to hang up on her because she was annoying, so he did. So Charlotte called back and did the talking, although the only time Sam was willing to talk to them was at 6 a.m.
Charlotte spent her afternoon having a chat with Oscar, the guardian of homemaking. He'd taken a lot of interest in what the hunters were trying to do with the apartment building, and volunteered his help in making it seem more like a community. This would include informing the leaders of any problems that arose with the other hunters, and also encouraging them to help out by donating food or other supplies or signing up to take care of the guardian babies. He also asked Charlotte if there were any other hunters in the area, and she told him about Jonas, Lisa, and the U of M students. (He also worried her a little by commenting that Charlie was "hard to read, not like any of the people I know"...perhaps her secret was not so well-kept as she'd like it to be.)
After talking to Oscar, Charlotte went home anticipating a quiet evening for once. Alas, it was not to be. As soon as she walked through the door, she got a phone call from Jonas telling her to come to the U of M right away, because there was "a slight situation" in his office. Worried, Charlotte rushed to Jonas' office to discover Shirley was there, looking absolutely livid. The instant Charlotte walked through the door, she stood up and shouted, "Where's that bastard Kurt? He owes me three months' worth of child support!" Charlotte managed to calm Shirley down, but could not contain her astonishment as she explained that she had once been married to Kurt, and that Kirby was their child. She hadn't heard from him in months, so when Oscar told her that Jonas was in town she had burst into his office demanding to know what was going on. So Charlotte dialed Kurt's number, and though he hung up on Shirley the first time she eventually managed to get them to have a reasonable and mature conversation. Three hours later, they had reached an agreement that involved Kurt leaving for Minneapolis the next day so they could meet in person and solve the problem together, and Charlotte was feeling very good about herself.
At the meeting with Sam the next morning, he proved to be just as unpleasant in person. He saw through Melba's pathetic attempt to disguise her identity right away, and refused to give them any more information than he already have. Nothing really came out of their meeting, but Charlotte gave him her business card and convinced him to contact her if he ever came across any more useful tips about monsters in the area.