Steiner giggled. "You said ass! And fuck...and eat me. Come to think of it, you are ruining my fun." He suddenly sounded serious, he was obviously having another of his rapid moodswings.<br/>"How am I supposed to shock and offend if you talk like some drunk sailor? What is wrong with the women of today?!?"<br/>His rant ended in a shrill shriek, and he was jumping up and down in his seat, to agitated to sit still.<br/>A sharp crack echoed through the van as Pretty Boy slapped Steiner in the back of his head. Once again Boy had moved so fast Gina had only seen his arm blur, and then Steiner shrieked in pain.<br/>"Manners, you little rat turd. Treat the lady with respect." The way Pretty Boy smirked as he lectured Steiner told Gina that Boy himself had precious little respect for her. This probably had more to do with the chance to crack Steiner over the head than concern for Gina.<br/>Steiner sulked for awhile but finally his need to hear his own voice won out. His response to Boy's slap seemed to be pretending he wasn't even there, and that seemed to suit Pretty Boy just fine.<br/>"Not all of us have a seat at the Council, not even close. You have to have a title you see, being one of our very own royalty! The Invictus are very set in their ways, and those are ancient indeed. They like to run a city like a feudal kingdom. So you need a title, and there are three kinds. Title of Primacy, Title of Land and Title of Office. A Title of Primacy is given to you if you are considered the first of your clan or faction in the region. Title of Land shouldn't be to hard to figure out, remember the feudal kingdom bit? The Prince can reward her supporters by giving them dominion over different parts of the city. Mostly this mean they get to decide who gets to hunt there and who doesn't. Awarding hunting rights give them a great deal of power, people who are indebted to them. And they owe the Prince, of course." Steiner's mirth seemed to have returned. It struck Gina that he probably didn't get the chance to talk with someone very often.<br/>"I bet you didn't know there are a duke of Queens, did you?" he said, and Gina could imagine him grinning behind his mask.<br/>"Title of Office are given to those who are members of what you might call the Prince's government. Look at our dreadfull hunk of a leader here. The Hound is the name we know him by, the name we love and fear. But it's also the name of his title. Most vampire run cities have a Hound to deal with all the violent stuff. But this one is so good at what he does and so tightly connected to the office that his title has become his name. Not sure if anyone even know his real name, so I bet it's something lame. Like Courtney or Bambie!"<br/>A low growl was coming from the front passenger seat, clearly a warning. The Hound was not amused.<br/>"Beg your pardon, your Awesomeness. You can look forward to a lot of groveling in the future, just as soon as I've tended to our girl." He never seemed to learn, Steiner. He just got slapped by Pretty Boy, but instead of backing down he went straight for the alpha dog. As far as Gina could tell Steiner was clearly at the bottom of the pecking order, but that didn't seem to hinder him much. He was constantly testing the limits. She supposed she had to admire him for that, while making damn sure to not forget who and what he was.<br/>"So there you have it, your very own private line to the Prince's inner circle, the ever so cuddly and fabulous Mr Hound!" Steiner flung out with his arms like a demented ringmaster, Gina half expected him to yell "tada", but for once he showed a little restraint.<br/>------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>The Hound was staring out into the night, trying to block out the sound of Steiner's voice. He found it irritating on the best of nights, which this was clearly not, the tiniest of things would set him on edge. Grendel knew that better than anyone and Hound could feel him glancing at him as he piloted the van in silence. Grendel could be a thoroughly unpleasant individual and most likely would hold a grudge over the way Hound had snapped at him, but he knew damn well who the alpha was and what the only possible outcome would be if it ever came to blows between them. Hound wasn't worried, Grendel was a problem he knew how to deal with.<br/>With a sudden crack, almost unhearable, a small hole appeared in the windshield and small fractures spider-webbed out from it. For a moment Hound wasn't sure what was going on, but a surprised yelp from Grendel made him turn his head and everything suddenly became very clear. A big, red wet stain had appeared on Grendel's white t-shirt, approximately over his heart, and the stain seemed to grow bigger. Someone had shot him, and while a bullet, even a bullet to the heart, wouldn't even slow him down it had distracted him, making him forget all about driving the van. Hound tried to grab the steering wheel, but only managed to avoid a head on collision with a rapidly approaching lamp post. Instead they skidded along the road and slid into the post left side first. With the sound of tortured metal and vampires to cool for seatbelts smacking into hard surfaces the van rebounded of the post and tipped over on two wheels. It seemed like it would tip over on the side, but luckily it takes more than that to flip a van. Unluckily, a mountain of a man called It crashing into the side of the van and shifting it's weight seemed to be more than enough. With a spray of broken glass showering Gina she felt the vehicle tip over and she hit her head against something. The night grew darker still as she felt her grip on consciousness slip through her fingers...