Jack and Ronnie have been in Reno for a couple months now. Ben Two Bears was out for three weeks, during which time Jack had been given increasing responsibilities by Prince Slade. Now that Ben is up again, Jack's been his primary deputy. Mostly that hasn't been too much trouble, though Jack has had some tense moments with Carthians who are aware of his role in capturing Misty and bringing in another of the former-Carthian poachers. The current plan was for him to be executed at the upcoming court.

Ronnie had become very quiet. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, and she REALLY didn't want to run into Slade ever again. She was uninterested in joining a Covenant, or in meeting other vampires. She spent her nights training Devlin, her newly ghouled dog. Dev helped her feel marginally safer. It was a pleasure being able to run alongside the dog, get back into a workout routine of sorts. Ronnie never left the house without the dog at her side. During the day Dev slept next to her in the second floor bedroom she had picked.

Her bedroom windows were blacked out on the inside, and there was a heavy sliding wooden panel covering the inside window. The room was outfitted with fire extinguishers, and the wooden door leading to the interior hallway had the strongest deadbolts money could buy, in addition to a security bar that could be added during emergencies. The door was also reinforced with a steel panel. The windows on the main floor had iron security bars. There was an emergency power generator in the basement. The house also had camera surveillance and burglar alarms, with monitors in the bedroom. In short, everything that could be done to protect the location had been done.

Jack had been busy. When he wasn't helping Ben with Reno, he was preacticing his technique with a blade. He was growing more and more worried about Ronnie and her growing isolation. He frequently kept an eye on her, waiting to see if she was ready to start talking like she did before they reached Reno or even show interest in one of the Covanants even after his lackluster explenation. He did make an effort to try and teach her more about her own innate abilities of her blood and did his best to help her with the Power of Nightmare. Something that was beyond his purview.

He kept a room next to Ronnie's with the same precautions to keep it secure. He was glad she was already showing forsight into problems that will affect her Requiem, but the sudden need...It only make him more and more uneasy. Misty's words about not going back to Slade only made that worse along with guilt that he might have caused more pain for someone. Sometimes I wonder if I can ever be a ruthless bastard and still mean it afterwards....