"Good," Alexei replied at Luna's assurance that her home was big enough.  Still, he added, "It will be temporary until everything is sorted out."<br/><br/>The ride was particularly quiet other then Luna giving the briefest of directions but Alex didn't try to start any kind of conversation unless she or Vergil desired it.  Anytime Luna told him to take a turn, he silently complied, turning the wheel until they finally got to her home: a twenty-story building that actually had Alex taking a moment to tilt his head up to try and take in the full height of the building.<br/><br/>"Big," he couldn't help but say lamely.  Obviously he knew the whole building wasn't Luna's but the fact that so many people could actually live in such tall buildings put him off.  He was too used to the wilderness and other, poorer countries that demons liked to prowl where a tiny hunt was supposed to fit over two dozen people in a few instances.<br/><br/>Fortunately, when Alex pulled into the parking garage, the pendant around his neck offered no reaction.  That would have been troublesome; that a demon or demons would have either happened to follow Luna home or there was one that happened to be nearby.  The last thing he wanted to do was have a battle so close to where she lived and draw a whole lot of unwanted attention.  It certainly wouldn't be a great start to their partnership.  Which reminded him...<br/><br/>When he stepped out of the car, Alex dug into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone to dial a number.  He remotely locked his car while waiting for an answer...and then had to jog a little to catch up when he saw that Luna had made such a quick shot to the elevator.  Guess she really wanted that change of clothes.  By the time she keyed her floor, someone picked up and Alex was greeted with a question from the other end.<br/><br/>"Da, zdravstvujtye," he spoke into the phone.  The switch from English and back to Russia came easily to him and he did glance over towards Luna for a reaction.  She may not have any knowledge of his language - unless she knew some kind of spell that somehow translated his words - but there was a chance that Vergil might.  As the Guardian of the Underworld and having been forced to live throughout the many years without any sort of reincarnation like the Guardians, he may know how to translate the differing languages of humanity whether through magic or he had legitimately picked up the knowledge.  After all, what if the Guardians had reincarnated at some other part of the world?<br/><br/>Putting such musings aside, he focused on business.<br/><br/>"<i>What's the the progress on the shipment</i>?" Alexei questioned to his associate, still in Russian.<br/><br/>"<i>Arrival will be in a day or two.</i>"<br/><br/>Unable to help himself, Alex made an unsatisfied click of his tongue that Luna or Vergil wouldn't need to know Russian to understand. "<i>You're usually more on time...</i>"<br/><br/>"<i>You don't usually need them shipped around the world.  There is more sophisticated security that needs to be avoided, more people that need to be bought off.  This is why my price was higher then usual.  Besides, I didn't think you would get settled in so fast.</i>"<br/><br/>This was true.  Where he usually prowled, Alex could either bring his weapons with him or, if he needed help, someone could do it with less trouble from security forces.  But this was America and people here were a bit more...sensitive to that.  Sighing in time with the elevator doors opening as they made it to Luna's floor, Alex continued, "<i>What can you give me?</i>"<br/><br/>"<i>The 1216 and a couple flashbangs but only because you had recently placed an order for the former and its made in America.  The flashbangs are easy to obtain.  When and where?</i>"<br/><br/>"<i>Soon as possible.  A big, twenty-story apartment building on Sunset Avenue.</i>"<br/><br/>"<i>I know the one.  Will be there soon.</i>"<br/><br/>"Spasibo," Alex thanked before hanging up.<br/><br/>“Welcome to... home, I guess. It’s not much, but...” Luna gave a small shrug. “Just leave Rae’s stuff alone and she probably won’t kill any of us.”<br/><br/>"Everything will be as she last saw it," Alex assured, reverting back to English.<br/><br/><i>Cosy</i>was certainly one word that could describe Luna's residence.  Taking it all in, Alexei felt a brief flicker of a smile appear on his face.  Immediately off to his right was one of the several plants that directed the room and, unable to help himself, he reached out and allowed his index finger to brush against one of the petals.  This was definitely a lot more...homey then he was used to.<br/><br/>It was only then that Alexei realized the dull ache of his stomach at the suggestion of food.  All the exploration of the city and demon tracking, followed by a meeting with a Guardian and Vergil, it was high past time he got something to eat.  So when Luna disappeared into the right, Alexei had ventured off to the kitchen, was about to pry open the door to see what was inside...until Luna came back in a towel and his jacket in hand.  With a small nod of thanks, Alex took the jacket but settled with tossing it over onto the couch in the middle of the room for the time being.<br/><br/>Resuming his search in the fridge, Alex settled with a bunch of cold cuts that he put on the counter and searched for bread.  He found both the bread and the tuna in the pantry and Alex took a can of the latter and held it out for Vergil to see, tilting his head in silent question if the miniature Cerberus wanted it or not.  If he did, Alexei would open it and place it on the floor in front of him.  As for himself, Alex made a sandwich - a bit of a hearty one at that - before putting everything back where he found it and taking a seat within the comforts of the couch to enjoy his snack.<br/><br/>This certainly wasn't what he was used to when compared to most of the third world countries he hunted in.  His forays in Burma and Africa especially did not involve access to housing such as this but, unfortunately, it was what demons tended to be attracted to.  Whether it was the savagery of the areas - and especially the local populace - or just due to more open hunting grounds, demons tended to prowl within them the most.  At least twice in Alex's career there had been the occasional, self-declared witch doctor or shaman that thought themselves a master of the dark arts and, while their methods had been crude, their savage - if also ineffective - rituals and human sacrifices did draw out a few of the Dark Ones from hiding.  And if they had not been consumed by the same forces that they had inadvertently summoned, it was Alex's job to eliminate them and whatever cult following that they may have established.<br/><br/>He hated those instances if only because he was being forced to see just how low humanity could go in order to obtain the smallest degree of self-importance.  Delusions more like.  Demons - especially the lesser, feral ones - had no use for humans and Alex couldn't imagine the greater ones treating them any different.  There had been the rumors and stories of humans that worked with the Dark Ones as agents but, if they existed, Alexei assumed they were few and their contracts tended to be terminated very quickly.  Maybe it would be different here...where demons did not possess as much freedom of movement as they did elsewhere.<br/><br/>Munching on his sandwich thoughtfully, Alexei pulled out his phone and brought up some documents that he had stored there.  Nothing surprising; just data about some of the kidnappings and demon movements that had forced his relocation here.  But now that he was here, perhaps he could try to find some correlation between them; where the most attacks occurred, on who, that sort of things.  Which eventually brought up a certain series of questions that only one person right now could answer.<br/><br/>"You were there when the Guardians sealed themselves away into the cycles," Alexei spoke, directing his attention on Vergil.  He took note that the shower had stopped running and the only sounds he could hear from that direction was the door opening and Luna's footsteps as she rejoined them. "I don't suppose you would know how many were left...who they were...their powers...  Actually, have you found any others besides Luna?"<br/><br/>Maybe Vergil was able to deduce what Guardian Luna was a reincarnation of.  True, she had only discovered her powers recently but maybe that was enough...<br/><br/>More importantly, however, he wondered how many of those kidnappings were normal, every day women that had been at the wrong place at the wrong time to sate a demon's thirst and how many of them were actually the latest reincarnation of the Guardians that - unlike Luna - had gotten very, very unlucky.<br/><br/>But his questions could give them an idea of where to start as Luna rejoined them, asking the same thing.  In truth, Alex was slightly surprised that the young woman was ready to go out and get started so quickly and he gave her a look that gave off the smallest sign of being impressed while nodding his head in approval.  To be fair, he probably should've expected this from one of the Guardians.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>