outfit

Eric had been a great help with getting her away from her father, but she had since gone home to Oliver's house as she figured she would continue to be safe there. Although reluctantly, he had pointed out the vampire she needed to make contact with, or at the very described her so Emily could recognize her. It didn't take long before she knew where to find this woman and set up a meeting under the pretense of looking for a new job. After all, her detective skills had to be good for something right? If nothing for more than to track down what was basically her last hope of any kind of freedom after Oliver had just disappeared like that. She had been so devastated by his sudden departure that she had asked Amelita to compel her to forget who he was other than someone who had taken her in when she had needed shelter.

To be sure she wouldn't be recognized by her father or any of his friends that could be in town for all she knew, Emily had had a wig delivered to her current residence and put on some big sunglasses to cover herself up. She even wore a dress, which was highly out of character for the former hunter, all just to pretend to be someone she wasn't, even gone so far as to call a cab to take her to the office building in the next town over.

Once Emily arrived at her destination, she paid the driver and found the receptionist to learn where she was going. She knew she wasn't actually going into a meeting with Arya herself, it had been made very clear that an assistant was doing the hiring, but when she passed the woman in the halls, she made sure to approach her. "Are you Arya? Eric told me what you looked like... I need your help." She couldn't be more specific without being absolutely sure she had the right woman, there were some other likely candidates wandering the halls after all. The woman guided her to an office, when the share turned around, she thought she was seeing double for a moment. "What's the meaning of this Alexi? I thought we were done for the day?" It was after this that the woman seemed to notice Emily. "She said Eric sent her and that she needs your help. I figured you might want to deal with her on your own. I'll make arrangements for you to visit tomorrow." With that, the woman she had first thought was Arya left Emily alone with who she now knew to be the one she had been looking for, closing the door behind her on the way out.

outfit

Arya had spent the main part of her day catching up with her sister. After her trip to Europe to save Marcus from himself and the council, a lot of favors had been called in to keep her from suffering the punishment meant for her maker when she won freedom for one of them. It had been the first time Arya had defied a direct order from her maker and she had wound up saving him from starving for a decade in a dark box. In return, the council had had to find some way to exact their right to punish someone who'd failed at their task. Since Arya was now to suffer said punishment, Gabriel had stepped in with a suggestion to win her services for himself for the allotted time. In the end, he was allowed to alter her memories so she wouldn't remember Marcus as anything but a business associate that she had met some centuries ago when Gabriel had sent her out to deal with him. To best serve Gabriel's needs, Arya would believe he was her creator and that she had known her sister was alive all this time. She had already proven to be extremely loyal to her creator, so Gabriel had seen the benefit of having someone who wouldn't ask any questions when given orders on his side.

To punish Marcus further, Arya was ordered back to work at his company to await further instructions. Alexi seemed to be thrilled to learn that the hybrid project was coming along nicely. Sure, Gabriel had immense resources at his hands and a hybrid of his own to study, but the man had still wanted Arya to report on the progress of Antonette's first hybrid to make sure that the spell was relatively stable. Apparently, he was bringing both the necromancer and the hybrid on a visit just to taunt Marcus with the fact that he'd lost his favorite pet for a while.

After Alexi left, Arya had been about to pick up the phone and let Marcus know that she needed him to take Amelita on for a few days when her sister was back in her office again with a strange woman standing in front of her. The request seemed like an odd one, why would Eric send a stranger to her office to help? She only helped the vampire population of Bitter Springs with town council stuff and this woman definitely wasn't one of them. Nevertheless, she motioned for her to sit down and smiled at her sister before the door was closed and she was alone with the stranger.

"Now why would Eric send a... whatever you are.. my way? I don't deal with your mortal matters as far as the council is concerned, Eric knows this." Getting up from her chair, Arya walked over to the woman and lifted her chin slightly to get a closer look. Zapping her lightly, Arya didn't expect to be zapped right back and couldn't help the chuckle that left her. "See? Now we're talking. So, since we already seem to have a lot in common, I'll hear you out. That's all I promise, unless there's something in it for me."

Emily didn't know what she had expected after showing up like she did but it certainly wasn't to be zapped like that. Naturally she zapped back to answer Arya's first speculation of why she'd approached Eric for help in the first place. From Eric's reaction to her initial suggestion to asking the council vampire for help, the superhuman had been a little nervous about this endeavor but so far the vampiress hadn't done anything to truly alarm her.

In order to enlist the vampire's help, Emily figured she better just be honest about why she was there rather than postponing the inevitable. Taking off her wig and the wig cap as well as her sunglasses, Emily watched the vampiress step back and lean against her desk before she started speaking. "It's my father... He raised me to be a hunter, but I got away last summer and have been left alone up until now. He's back in town and has already tried to take me back in to torture me into submission again, I need you to compel him to leave me alone for good. I don't want to be afraid of going outside in fear of being dragged home, hence the disguise and coming here under the pretense of a job interview with one of your assistants."

For some reason, Emily had almost expected to be escorted out of the building now, or worse, for making demands of the vampiress. She had not expected Arya to laugh at her and guide her towards the door. "Do your interview first and then we'll talk. I'm sure you acquired some useful skills being raised as a hunter and it would be rude to leave my assistant waiting. If he suggests hiring you, we'll talk about how to solve your problem. If not, I'm afraid you're not worth my time."

A little confused by what was happening, Emily got up, still holding onto her wig and sunglasses and was about to leave the room when Arya spoke to her again. "Leave your things and don't tell Jake why you're truly here. If he's to make a fair assessment of you, you can't go in there looking like you're on the run from something." So she did what she was told before she left the room and looking around, trying to figure out where to go. It seemed Arya thought she knew where she had to go, so she tried to remember what the receptionist had told her. When she finally found the conference room being used for interviews, she introduced herself a young man that seemed to have a mean creative side as the notepad he had was covered it drawings. He went straight to business once they were introduced and she was settled in with a glass of water though, and it was clear straight away why Arya trusted him to do the interviews for her; He seemed to be very perceptive.

Jake had been Arya's personal assistant for a few years now and only of the few people who had yet to fail her when she was struggling with something. As far as humans went, she trusted his judgement which was why he mainly dealt with interviews of potential new workers. He was also one of the few people who'd been with her since before her smaller company officially merged with Marcus's. Sure, it had been a risky move since she was only partnering up with Marcus to keep Gabriel informed if anything happened to his former pet, but so far it had worked out for the better. Marcus had even gone as far as trust her to run a lot of things on her own without consulting him.

While Jake was busy interviewing this strange woman, Arya did what she'd planned on doing earlier, she called Amelita and let her know she needed to stay with Damien and Marcus for a while. After that, it was time to get caught up on some paperwork, which was what she was doing when Jake entered her office. The look on his face said everything she needed to know. "Send her back in," she said with a slight smile and watched as Jake let Emily back into her office before he dropped his notes on her desk before he left them alone and closed the door.

Glancing over the notes briefly, she put it away and looked up at Emily. "Looks like we have ourselves a deal,-" here she looked briefly at the notes to learn this girl's name "-Emily. So before you go tell me all about your father, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to come in and work for me. I could use someone with your skills as far as digging up information goes and it sounds like you could use some like-minded people around."

Folding her hands on the desk in front of her, she looked at Emily almost eagerly as she was aching to learn what she would say to her offer. It wasn't every day that she was faced with someone so similar when it came to abilities and she wanted to know what the superhuman would do now.

Jake hadn't really told her whether she got the job or not after their interview was over. It had been an intense session with loads of questions both related to the the potential job and how she was privately as well as some rather personal questions about her love life. Apparently Arya wanted to know everything about potential employees before she would hire them, but she figured if she wanted the vampire to help her, she might as well be as honest as she could without mentioning her gifts.

Once she was back in the office where this had all started, Emily quietly sat down in the same chair she'd been seated in before and waited for Arya to speak. She hadn't expected to actually be offered the job, even if Jake had decided she was someone she could hire. It took her a moment to just digest it all, especially when Arya was looking at her like she was going to pounce at any moment. "Well, I'm flattered that you would actually offer me a job, but what would I be doing for you exactly? I have my own practice I'd like to keep to some degree if I were to accept a job here, I like helping people."

Arya leaned back in her chair and glanced her over once more before she picked up a pen and paper before sliding it across her desk. "This would be your starting salary, and all I need from you is that you use your skills to get information when I need it. We have a research unit set up that I think you'd fit in at. As for your private practice, if a case comes up that you feel strongly about I suggest you let me know how long you think it will take and we'll make room for it in your schedule."

After Eric's reaction to the mere mention of Arya, Emily had almost thought she'd just rip her throat out for daring to ask for her help. So far she was surprised at how well it was all going and she was a bit baffled by the number Arya had written down for her and how well she seemed to take her wanting to keep her practice up and running. "Well, I guess it would be good with a new environment. As long as I can keep my practice I'd be happy to try something new." Smiling slightly, she ran a hand through her hair. "I guess you want to know about my father?"

When the vampire gave her a slight nod, she looked down at her hands as she started speaking. "Well, he has a place in Bitter Springs that he stays when he's in town. He mainly hunts supernaturals that have committed crimes, so his hunting isn't an issue for supernaturals that haven't been implicated by some police department or another in some mysterious crime. I really only need for him to leave me alone, and possibly move out of town just to feel more comfortable. I can show you where he lives and let myself be taken in so I can invite you inside if you think it's better to take care of him at home." Emily wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea of going back home to him, even if it were just to get Arya inside so she could compel her father, but one last time in order to be free of him forever couldn't possibly be so bad.