~Denae Reese~

Denae was in love.

A lifetime of living in a cramped facility with dozens of others had made him accustomed to small living spaces and mediocre comforts. Throughout all his nineteen years of life, he'd never had anything incredibly extravagant or lived anywhere luxurious. But now...now that was going to change.

For starters, the Council's tower was enormous. Denae definitely approved of the whole "look how important and fancy we are" vibe it gave off.  Most of the buildings in Vivifica were tall - it saved space - but they didn't even come close to matching the one he was in right now. Not to mention, the whole place oozed opulence. Denae's new rooms alone were roughly a fourth the size of the entire facility he'd lived in before.

After being dropped off that morning, he'd first taken an hour to admire every inch of his suite. All the Hunters were getting their own rooms in a special wing of the tower, which was a testament to just how large the entire structure was. The bare basics of their new situation had already been explained, but the most Denae had been able to gather before hurrying off to explore was that they were supposed to use their years of training to entertain the public. He hadn't stuck around much longer, but anything that involved showing off to adoring fans sounded great to him. Besides, the man in the fancy tunic had told them he would explain everything after they'd had a chance to settle in. Denae was more than happy to wait until then.

"I could live here for the rest of my life." He collapsed onto the positively enormous four-poster bed, letting himself sink into its spongy surface. It would seem his new role in society was an important one - there was no way the Council would waste such extravagance on just anybody, even if they were supernaturally skilled and incredibly good-looking. From what Denae had heard, he and the other Hunters were going to be nothing short of celebrities. Well, he more than them, obviously. No one could entertain crowds better than he could.

Thumps from outside of the room made him sit up, and he peered curiously in the general direction of the sounds. They seemed to be coming from the hallway that the Hunter suites branched off of, though he couldn't be entirely sure. A moment later he heard the sound of a doorknob turning. His doorknob.

Denae slid off of the bed and marched towards the main chamber of his suite. It was nice having a room in between where he slept and where others could be found. Then again, the whole point of that was defeated the moment people began intruding into his private area.

"What do you want?" His voice immediately took on a snappish edge when he saw who it was. Denae would recognize Stryke's self-satisfied grin anywhere, not to mention that ridiculously absurd hat he always insisted on wearing.

"From you? Nothing." Stryke was holding the door open with one hand like he could barely stand to be there, let alone talk to him. At least that's what Denae thought, since he felt exactly that way. "But I've been enlisted to make sure no one misses out on the Council's crucially important announcement, so I'm here anyway." He began to edge his way back out into the hallway. "You might want to hurry to the lounge if you want to hear it."

A moment later he was gone, leaving Denae to stew in his own thoughts. As much as it irked him to do anything Stryke recommended, he couldn't ignore his curiosity. What exactly was the reason they had all been brought here?

He probably would have spent more time deliberating, but it occurred to Denae that he had zero idea where the lounge was. In an effort to make it seem like he wasn't following Stryke, Denae exited his suite and started down the hallway as purposefully as he could. He schooled his expression into one of nonchalance and studied the tapestries hung on the walls, though he could see Stryke glancing back at him with a smug expression that hinted he was aware of what Denae was up to.

It finally grew to the point where he was almost glad when a pale boy with black and grey hair darted in from a side hall and practically bowled him over. Denae stumbled backward, away from the newcomer, his expression a mask of surprise that quickly morphed into an easy smile.

"Oh, hey there Denae." Lucas Volkov waved a closed fist in his direction, his gaze fixed on a point just past Denae's shoulder. If he hadn't been familiar with the other boy's ability, he would have felt the urge to glance backward. As it was, Denae knew that Lucas was simply sparing him an embarrassing paralysis episode by avoiding his gaze.

"Nice seeing you, Luke. You too, Will." His eyes flicked over to the figure standing just behind Lucas, their tussled black hair almost as messy as their friend's. "Been exploring already?"

"Of course!" Lucas gestured at the surrounding area, a lopsided grin spreading across his face. "This place is huge. They ought to give us maps so we don't get lost."

William made an exasperated sound. "If you paid more attention to where we're going instead of just wandering aimlessly in search of-"

"Shh!" Lucas cut him off with an impish glint in his violet eyes, which were still focused on a distant point. "That's a secret. Need to know only."

Denae wasn't overly surprised to learn that Lucas was up to something again, though he had thought it would take him longer than a couple of hours to continue his rogue tendencies. "As long as it doesn't keep everyone up all night like the last time, I won't push for details." He raised an imperious eyebrow. "Some of us need our beauty sleep to function, you know."

Lucas barked a laugh, elbowing William companionably. "That's the Denae we all know and love. I mean, I saw your face when we got here. You were practically drooling over this place."

He wrinkled his nose in as affronted a manner as he could. "I was not. It was just a lot to take in."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Lucas replied, his tone so flippant that it would have made Denae's teeth grind if he didn't partially concede the other boy's point. Luxury and extravagance were his sirens' calls, without a doubt.

William stepped in before Lucas could think of another subject to irritate him with, for which Denae was grateful for. "Not to disturb you two or anything, but there's an important announcement we're supposed to hear, and right now we're not doing so well on the whole 'actually being there' thing."

"Wise as always, Berkenbosch." Lucas stifled a yawn and Denae got the feeling he couldn't care less about what the Council and co. had to tell them.

"The lounge is that way." Denae pointed in the direction Stryke had gone earlier. While he wasn't thrilled about following orders, especially ones passed to him through quite possibly his least favourite Hunter, he couldn't ignore his curiosity. "Let's move before we become any later than we already are."