Tier walked out from the room where everyone was gathered and down into the kitchen to find Michelle. He stepped onto the tiled floor and leaved up against a counter. Michelle was racing from station to station preparing a platter of what looked like rat omelettes. Tier smiled a wicked looking, but sincere, half smile.
"You're not cooking for yourself. Did you forget that or something, Michelle?" he taunted. Michelle looked down at the food she had prepared between her mitts.
"I...I guess you're right." Michelle set down the tray on the counter next to Tier's arm. He took the liberty of grabbing one and taking a monstrous bite out of it.
"I'm nervous about these people. I'm just trying to earn my keep with them right now." Michelle admitted. Tier finished swallowing before opting to speak, minding his manners of course.
"They're not too bad. They're hospitable enough. But when you're acting like a vagrant, it's best not to be too picky." Tier commented. His paw was moving around wildly as he spoke, making small gestures and sending egg and rat meat everywhere.
"Great, now you've made a mess too." Michelle sighed. As she bent over to pick up some of the scraps, she continued talking. "I guess the vampire one is alright. Louie was his name." Tier laughed at this statement.
"Don't get too attached. Especially to a fickle minded vampire who's more powerful than you. As our kind says, let the vampire deal with the vampire troubles. All this masquerade crap does is slow one down."
Michelle laid her paws against the edge of the counter and gripped down with her fingers.
"That Parker is spelling out trouble for us, isn't he?" She asked. Tier shoved the remaining slab of food into his mouth, and licked his digits.
"What's gotten into you and suddenly caring about the affairs of vampires? You need to become a bit more detached from the world of humans. You're dead, remember?" Tier said while giving Michelle a light tap on the arm over the counter. Although a reassuring gesture, Michelle was slightly unsettled by the fact that she could feel her bones slightly cave with the pressure of Tier's paw. Her body was still decaying, and she was far from used to this new sensation.

Tony was sitting alone at Yakira's bedside. He felt a bit sick. Of all of the people he was with, why did it seem like he was the only person who cared about her well being still, he wondered. Tony banished the thought though, realizing that so much has happened recently, and that they're already doing the best they can do. He almost began to feel guilty. Everyone was going through some personal drama at this point, and he didn't have anything to occupy himself. Except for this girl's troubles. He reached over with his left paw to pull up the sheets closer around her neck. He grabbed the hem of the spread, and felt a slight irritation on his skin. He let the sheet fall out of his grasp, and looked at his paw quizzically. A light powdery film had collected on his fingers, and it was making his skin itch. Tony left Yakira's room and made his way down to the kitchen to wash it off his hand. Michelle and Tier were still talking when he entered.
"Hey, where is the sink? I've got to wash this stuff off." Tony asked, preoccupied by holding his wrist. The irritation was turning into a terrible pain.
"It's over there." Michelle said with a head jerk. She resumed talking to Tier. "I wonder..what's going to happen to use next? Are we going to sta-"
She was interrupted by an unholy cry of pain. Tony had withdrawn his hand from the running water and was holding it above his head. Blood flowed freely from gouges that had etched themselves deep into his skin.
"What the hell? What happened?" Tier bellowed. He locked eyes with Michelle for a minute, whom mirrored his expression of confusion and fear. They both rushed over to Tony and tried to restrain him, whom all the while was screaming.

At this point, Susan had made her way into the kitchen. She began to announce that everyone was to go up to the living room, but quickly began to shout and run over to the scene that was unfolding in the kitchen.
"His arm...it looks like Yakira's." She commented in disbelief. "The ointment we use is up in her room. Michelle, run up and get it, and be swift." she commanded.

"I don't care if you think it'll work. It's way too dangerous, and no way in hell am I going to work with that nutcase who's trying to kill me." Louie shouted. Majo had her arms crossed, and had a look of fire in her eyes.
"And what is so much more dangerous than Parker coming into power anyway? It could be the start of...uhh...a civil war. Or at least an open war against the undead. And why risk it?" Majo yelled back. Michelle suddenly burst into the room at this point. She looked around confused, and then embarrassed. She drew her paws up to cover her mouth as she gasped.
"I'm so sorry." she stammered. She pivoted and was about to step back into the hallway, before Louie called out to her.
"It's fine. What's going on? You seem to be very upset by something." he questioned. Michelle stopped moving and dictated over her shoulder that they would have to go to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Alexander was in the living room of the Bradhurst house, stopping his exit long enough to thank Tom for his generosity.
"It was no trouble. Besides, this town has certainly entered an empathetic spirit, what with all of the giving to the refugees, no?" Out of the blue, their conversation was decimated by the sound of Tony's cry of pain. Tom drew his paws up to his ears, and all color left Alexander's face. In pure silence, they both dashed as quickly as they could to the source of the sound, joining the entire party minus Yakira, for obvious reasons, and Michelle, who was entering right behind them. She forced her way up to Tony, who had been held down into a chair and his paw was thrashing around. He was pressing down with his right paw on his wrist to try and keep it from moving. Susan was kneeling by his side, clutching the armrest. Michelle forced her way past the onlookers, and began applying the lotion onto his lacerated hand. Tony winched in pain, but the affects of it's application began to take in, and his arm started to relax, but still occasionally twitch. Susan took the bandages that Michelle was holding out of the crux of her arm, and prepared them.
"Thanks." Tony said with a gasp after Michelle had finished rubbing in the ointment. She turned a color that put red to shame when she realized that she was still holding on to his paw, and stepped back.
"No problem." she said quickly, and retreated back to Tier's side.
Louie was standing side by side with Alexander towards the back of the crowd around Tony, and leaned over.
"What the hell do you think caused that?". Alexander's mind ran through every possible substance he could think of, and came up blank. He gave a frightened no, and then began to sort out mentally what was going on.
"(-), do you think Yakira is cursed? Her wounds aren't healing, and now it's spread onto Tony." Louie suggested.
"Don't kid yourself. You would've been able to sniff out a curse on her a mile away." Alexander submitted bluntly. This statement however, shocked both of them back into remembering exactly what the other person was. Louie pushed the feeling aside, and tried to make light of the situation.
"And I'm sure with your experience, you could have told us that from the start."

And as such, the seeds of an awkward friendship, or at the very least mutual respect, were sown in an unsettling moment.