Anna smiled at her friend, it was good to have someone who believed in her the way Serena did. She knew Gunner had faith in her but his faith made her feel worried that it was misplaced... scared she wouldn't live up to his hopes for her. Serena had pointed out the obvious flaw, Anna was still having a hard time seeing herself as someone of value. Maybe if she could just-

Serena's face changed, the color faded from her skin... She looked...

Anna was already scanning the street outside the window when Gunner and Seb came over. She didn't see anything but that didn't mean nothing was there. The sun had gone down just enough that Strigoi would be fine travelling about and it was shadowed just enough to give them dark places to hide. She slid her hand to the stake at her hip as she stood, still scanning the shadows until she saw a slight movement... and again.

"There's at least two... I don't know if they know we're here but I don't think we should take the chance."

She touched the bluetooth in her ear and frowned when there was no answer. "The other two guards aren't picking up... The car is just outside. What do you want to do Serena, Gunner? We can go for the car past those two or we can stand our ground here... There's a backdoor but it leads to a darker ally. I don't know if there might be more, but if the other two aren't answering it's likely."

~*~

Seb noticed the change in Serena's aura as Gunner's abrupt stance caused him to glance that way. He stood and frowned, a quicksilver jolt of fear and anger zipping through him for a moment before he put a muzzle on it and reminded himself his friends were trained for this... that he wasn't completely helpless anymore either. He moved to Serena's side and took her hand, rubbing it with his thumb as he waited for Gunner and Anna to decide what to do. When Anna asked Serena's opinion he frowned, his friend had better not be even thinking about letting Serena fight.