Mary felt the fear rising within her and moved even closer to James, whom she suddenly realized had a huge smile on his face.

James: "Are you guys for real?"
Obsidian: "We said to SHUT UP!"

Tristan: "Wait- you're really serious?"

Tristan was fighting hard to keep from openly laughing at the spectacle playing out in front of him- he'd never seen such enthusiasm before. He did everything he could to keep from making eye contact with James- surely they'd both lose it if they so much as looked at each other. Instead he turned his attention to Emily. He gave her a reassuring smile, mildly surprised when she smiled back. There was something new in her gaze, as if she were seeing the world with fresh eyes.

Jasper: "Do you want us to show you just how serious we are?! Shut the fuck up!"
Tristan: "I didn't say anything!"
Markus: "Wh... what do you want?"

Markus couldn't remember the last time he'd felt fear as strongly as this. He felt off balance, gripped in an unfamiliar spinning world of uncertainty. He tried to fight off the panic he felt growing in his head, threatening to break free at any second.

Amethyst: "Where's Stone?"
James: "You're looking for some rocks? You had to cut the power to do that?"
Amethyst: "No, you idiot- Andrew Stone!"
James: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Amethyst: "You do NOT want to mess with me."
James: "Ooo, scary. I think I may need to change my knickers. No, really."

Mary's startled gasp caught him off guard. He hadn't exactly forgotten about her, but he suddenly realized that while he may be fine going up against a group of vampires, she stood the very real chance of being seriously hurt. He shifted gears, changing his approach to the situation. James sighed heavily.

James: "Look, we seriously don't know. He's clearly not here, though."

Onyx looked desperately to Amethyst. This wasn't playing out the way they'd planned it.

Amethyst: "Right. Well then, I guess we'll just have to go looking for him."

Tristan: "Hey good luck with that. Let us know how it works out for you."

Markus was horrified- he couldn't for the life of him fathom why his friends would be toying with such clearly dangerous people. Part of him wondered if maybe they weren't actually in on the whole thing. Markus shook his head, squinting. Where did that come from? This was James and Tristan, not... not...He fumbled about for who it wasn't before settling with it just being James and Tristan.

Amethyst: "Not so fast, funny boy. You're all coming with us."
Onyx: "Maybe we should split up. We can find him faster that way."
Amethyst: "Right- Obsidian and I will take Mr. Gigglepants and his lady friend, and the Egyptian god. You and Onyx take Bonnie and Clyde over there. We'll get the power back on so we're not looking for Stone in the dark. We'll meet back here in 20 minutes."

Andy: "Chris."

His animosity twisted the name into a hiss- that son of a bitch was going to pay for this.

He made his way downstairs and into his office, quietly going through the drawers of his desk until he found what he was looking for. Then, he settled into his chair to wait.