Episode 7
Negotiation
The day after their confusing victory at the Tarbol mine, the hunters awoke to find Chet and Saria gone, leaving only a note saying they’d gone to take care of some things and didn’t know when they’d be back. Everyone was very confused (and Melba was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to get more information from them), but they realized they had to go on with their plans anyway. Everyone worked together to write Saigow a letter about what they’d done, then made a copy of some especially incriminating clips from the video from the club, then mailed the package and sat back and waited. It didn’t take very long before the group received a response, delivered to a PO box they’d rented for that very purpose. Saigow said that he wanted a meeting at Chino Latino to discuss the terms of an agreement in light of what they’d brought to his attention. Delighted, the group agreed and set up the meeting for the next night.
The group made their way to Chino Latino, where Saigow and Haji were waiting for them. Things were a little strained at first, both because Arie was angry at Saigow’s people for stealing some drugs from him during his imbuing (Saigow eventually agreed to reimburse him) and because Haji didn’t seem at all happy to be granting any sort of concessions to the group. Saigow reported that he’d taken notice of the group’s efforts and said he’d be willing to do what he could to clear their names if they didn’t expose him, and if they returned to him the box they’d taken from Martin Bowers’ apartment. Melba asked him why he’d attacked the people at the restaurant, but all he said was “I was making a delivery,” implying he’d been working for someone higher up. Still, the meeting was relatively peaceful and ended with both sides agreeing to work toward getting the other what they wanted.
After the meeting, as Arie, Marta, Melba, and Will headed back to the apartment building, they noticed something disturbing: they were being followed by Haji and his people. They changed their course so as not to lead them directly to the building, but all the fancy driving maneuvers that Arie tried couldn’t shake them. Marta suggested that they might only want to talk, and Will (who generally had a good sense for danger) decided to let her try. They pulled over to the side of the road, only to have their car rammed by Haji’s people. Everyone piled out and confronted each other in a parking lot. Marta asked Haji what he wanted, and he said, “To see all of you cattle killed.” Haji, it seemed, had a serious superiority complex when it came to humans, repeatedly referring to them as “cattle” and believing that vampires should rule over them. The group tried to calm him down, but he wouldn’t listen. It looked as though the only result could be a fight—and one that the hunters couldn’t possibly win, since there were only four of them and Haji had ten or fifteen vampires backing him up.
Suddenly, Melba noticed movement on the other side of the street. The vampires and the hunters alike watched as Kai and his fellow gang members (about twenty of them) slowly walked over to the parking lot to surround the vampires. Haji, seeming somewhat dissuaded by the sudden appearance of the mob but by no means less angry, hissed “This isn’t over,” got back into his car and drove away. Melba thanked Kai profusely for his help. Then everyone went home, relieved by their narrow escape and excited by the prospect of getting at least part of their old lives back.