None of them offered any resistance at all as the military led them away from the opening of the mine. Alain was sure that the thought had crossed their mind, if only because they were marching into something completely unknown, but none of them had dared to try and put it into practice – him and Felix would have been cut down immediately, and even Az and Sable would have had problems getting through an entire heavily-armed detachment.

Eventually, though, they stopped. Someone pulled the hood off of Alain's head, and he blinked as light came flooding into his eyes. After a few seconds, his eyes finished adjusting, and he was able to get a clear look in front of him.

Seated at a wooden table before him was a large, bearded man dressed in an officer's uniform – his rank insignia marked him as a Colonel. He was tall, with broad shoulders, but he was also an older man, probably in his fifties if the white in his hair was any indication. There was a large-bore revolver holstered on his right hip, and in the corner, Alain was able to see a cavalry saber and a double-barrel shotgun leaned up against some boxes of supplies.

"Have a seat," the man offered.

Alain hesitated, but ultimately obliged, pulling up a chair across from the Colonel. The man adjusted his glasses, then leaned in towards him, his hands folded in front of his face.

"State your name," he ordered.

Alain blinked, taken off-guard. "Why should I-"

"Your name," the man insisted. "Then we can talk."

"Alain Smith."

He nodded. "Colonel Stone. I wish I could say it's nice to meet you, but generally speaking, most of the people who meet me and aren't in my unit tend to die cursing my name."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a statement of fact." Stone's eyes narrowed. "We can be allies or we can be enemies, Smith. The choice is yours."

"Tell me where my friends are, and then I'll decide."

"They're in our camp, being questioned by some of my subordinates. You have no need to worry about their safety so long as none of them try anything crazy."

Alain wanted to argue, but the fact that the camp hadn't erupted with gunfire and screaming proved that Sable and Az were keeping themselves restrained, at least for now. And if they could reel themselves in like that, he had no reason not to do the same.

Alain leaned back in his seat, then crossed his arms. "What do you want, anyway? I can only assume Xavier called you."

"The gypsy? Yes, he did. Good thing we got here first, by the way – we weren't the only ones he contacted. You're lucky to have met us and not the Tribunal. But that's beside the point – what I want is simple, Mister Smith. I want to know exactly what happened here that led up to the outbreak from the mines."

"Shit, why didn't you just say so?" Alain asked. He shook his head. "Frankly, none of the four of us have any reason to keep that information from you or lie about it. We just spent the entire night fighting off the people who were responsible for it. As far as I can tell, we're all on the same side, here."

"That we are," Stone agreed with a nod. "So, start talking. What happened here?"

Alain told him everything, starting from the beginning. He left no details out at all; the entire story took quite a while for him to tell. Stone didn't say much during the retelling, aside from the occasional question or two. Eventually, though, Alain's tale came to an end, and he leaned back as he took a sip from a canteen of water someone had brought in for him earlier.

"That's about where we're at now," Alain said, setting the canteen down and wiping his mouth. "Crazy-ass mayor and his little entourage thought they were going to make themselves immortal. All they succeeded in doing was getting themselves and most of the other townspeople killed." At the mention of the other townspeople, Alain's eyes widened. "Hey, what's going to happen to-"

"They'll be fine," Stone promised him. "Anyone who was infected by the undead will unfortunately need to be dealt with, as there is no cure for the undead plague. Everyone else… once we swear them to secrecy, they are free to continue on as they see fit. We have no ill will towards them; we know they're just bystanders caught up in all this."

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"And my friends and I?" Alain asked. "Something tells me the same courtesy won't extend to us."

"Unfortunately not," Stone replied. "You four were directly involved in taking down the mayor and his men. Two of your friends are supernatural in nature. We are going to have to take greater measures to keep the truth contained among you four. Nothing drastic, I assure you – none of you will come to harm. We just need to make sure you won't go talking about this to random people, and that the vampire and her servant can be trusted to walk among humans."

"You know she's a vampire?" Alain asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She has pale skin, red eyes, and is wearing a ridiculous outfit complete with a cape. I'd know she was a vampire even if I hadn't seen her fangs. The only reason most people don't recognize her for what she truly is, is because they simply don't know enough about the supernatural to place her as a vampire."

"So you just want to make sure she can be trusted?"

"I suspect she can be, given she helped defend the town and hasn't turned anyone, despite having ample opportunity for it. But we need to make sure."

"And how do you intend to do that?"

"By showing her what she stands to lose if she goes against us. But that is a subject for later, Smith – for now, we have other things to discuss."

"Such as?"

"Cleanup, of course," Stone said, leaning back in his chair. "Containment. How are we going to make sure you all stay silent about this?"

Alain's eyes widened. "You want to keep the Veil intact?"

"We have no other option."

"And what do you mean by that?"

Stone opened his mouth to respond, only for a sudden commotion outside to catch his attention. He froze for a moment, his jaw tightening, before his gaze narrowed and he abruptly rose to his feet and pushed past Alain.

"Follow me," he said.

"What for?" Alain asked.

"This meeting was going to happen eventually. We might as well get it over with."

"What meeting? What are you talking about?"

Stone stopped at the entrance to the tent, then turned towards him.

"The Tribunal is here," he said simply.

–

They gave him his weapons back. Alain wasn't sure what to make of that, but something told him it wasn't because they trusted him.

After he'd been properly armed once more, they led him out into the center of town, led by Colonel Stone and flanked by a squad of soldiers armed with rifles and shotguns. Alain almost felt intimidated, even though he knew none of the weapons were for him. Really, though, his primary concern was still for his friends – he hadn't seen them since leaving the mine.

Eventually, Stone stopped, and the others came to a rest behind him. Alain only had a moment to wonder what was going on before several figures clad in black cloaks and hoods rounded a corner at the other edge of town. Unlike the men flanking him, most of them were unarmed, but a fair few were carrying guns, and – of all things – crossbows and silver swords. There were seven of them, and as they closed in, the one who had to be the leader stepped forwards, lowering his hood as he did so.

He was tall, and very dark-skinned, with piercing red eyes. His head was shaved, and his face was covered in scars. He glared at Stone and his men, then crossed his arms in defiance.

"Colonel Stone," he greeted, his voice coming out with an accent that Alain couldn't place. "For once, you seem to have beaten us here."

"Happened to be in the area, dealing with something else," Stone said absentmindedly. "Perhaps if the Tribunal invested in some advanced technology for once, they'd make better time." He looked towards several of the other cloaked figures, his gaze lingering on their guns. "Then again, perhaps some of the old habits are finally starting to die out, after all. But then, that doesn't explain why they'd keep you around, Lawrence."

Lawrence's red eyes narrowed, but he didn't rise to the challenge. Instead, he looked over towards Alain. "This him?"

"Depends. Am I to assume you want the usual treatment for all four of them?"

"Of course. An incursion such as this warrants an investigation, does it not? You of all people should realize that."

"I do, which is why my men and I are here. We will be handling this."

Lawrence glared at him once more. "As you'll recall, we have jurisdiction over-"

"I don't care what the damn charter says," Stone growled. "Undead incident or not, this occurred directly on American soil, and it was barely contained. That means we're taking over."

"No, you are not. Or shall I escalate this directly to the President and see what he thinks?"

Stone's eyes narrowed. "You don't have the authority-"

Lawrence grinned, showing off a set of sharpened teeth. "On the contrary. Or have you not heard? The Tribunal has been working very closely with the White House ever since the war. We now have a direct line to the Commander-In-Chief himself. But if you insist on stonewalling our investigation, I'm sure he will be very interested to know why his subordinates are trying to take over an investigation we have direct jurisdiction of."

Stone let out a low, irritated grumble, but reluctantly nodded. "Damn bloodsucker… fine. But know this, Lawrence – these four are the reason this incident was contained in the first place. If anything happens to them, there'll be hell to pay."

"If they truly did as you say, then they have nothing to fear," Lawrence said evenly. He looked to Alain. "Come, human. We must make haste."

Alain watched with surprise as Stone and his men began to back away. He looked back to Lawrence, unsure of what to think.

"I'm sorry, what's this about?"

"The Tribunal has authority over any kind of large-scale undead incursion," Lawrence informed him. "We will be handling the investigation from now on. I suggest you and your friends come quietly – we do not wish to use force, but should the gravity of this situation require it, we shall."

Alain hesitated, but then reluctantly nodded. "Alright, fine. Just promise me there won't be any more hoods over our heads this time."

Lawrence smirked, and Alain had to bite back a curse as he realized what was coming.