The three sped down the street, towards the shattered window in Griff's.  Sakuya was the first to throw open the door.  It hit the wall behind with a lound thunk, and actually dented it, sprinkling a light dusting of drywall to the old carpet.  The man behind the counter looked up as if this was a common occurance, shook his head, and then went back to the comic he previously had his nose buried into. Cyrus, in an attempt to get past Sakuya, and to possibly impress her by showing concern for her partner, or friend, or whatever was up here and in trouble, sped past her to the room.  Daren raised an eyebrow at the action.

Cyrus knew where he was going just by where the window had been located in relevance to the street, and by seeing the layout of the lobby.  He had to admit, it was impressive. Cyrus got to the door first, and began pounding on it's exterior. 

"Hello? Are you alright? We heard a scream!" 

When no reply came, he began again, succeeding in drawing an exasperated look from Sakuya. 

"Hey! I asked if you were alright! The window shattered, what's going on?" 

After another 30 seconds of knocks, and incoherent yells about the window, and a possible scream, Sakuya took matters into her own hands.  She made a rather undignified noise in the back of her throat, then shoved him out of the way; practically spitting somthing in Japanese that Daren knew just from the tone, was an insult.  And probably a good one.  She raised her hand, and lightly tapped the door, "Mara, hunny? It's me. Open up."

"I'm coming!" They heard a female voice say from inside the room.  Daren heard the creak of the knob as she opened the door.

"What citizen of Blue Haven are you that you would actually be concerned about another human's well...." When the door fully swung open, she paused, staring straight into Daren's eyes. "...being..." she finished. 

She dropped a glass of water she had been holding right onto Cyrus's shoes, succeeding in pulling what seemed like a rare giggle from Sakuya.

"Aw man!" Cyrus whined, as he began to shake his leg like some kind of wet animal.  "Italian leather...VINTAGE...do you have ANY idea how hard these are to find?"  The woman seemed to not notice his ramblings, as she continued to stare at Daren. 

Sakuya giggled again, "I don't know, I think it's good for you, might knock you down a few pegs."

"Hey." Cyrus pouted. "They took alot of time, and WAY more money to aquire. DON'T knock the shoes." 

Sakuya put her hands on her hips, and opened her mouth as if to retort with a snappy comeback, but Cyrus cut her off.

"No. I don't care what you want to say. Doesn't matter. These are lady killer shoes. And, they work. Well. Like I said...DON'T knock the shoes."  

Daren would have been amused by thier banter, but he found himself transfixed by the woman behind the door, she wouldn't release his stare; and she looked like she was starting to hyperventilate. He raised his eyebrow, and in typical Daren style, said, "Yeeesss?" drawing out the word for the full effect. The woman didn't say anything, but she did blink. 

"Okay, a blink." He said, putting his hands out to the side, "That's a good start. At least it's movement."

By this point, Sakuya, and Cyrus had noted the statue-like demenor of Mara.  She suddenly snapped back into reality, shaking her head slightly, and blinking a few times to break his stare, though it succeeded in doing nothing but making her eyes water.  She raised her finger to his nose.

"You." she said with a rather misplaced conviction. Daren's eyes widened. "Who the hell are you?"

He looked to Sakuya for help, seeing that Mara was rather distraught by his presence.  Like him, her eyes were wide, and she looked just as confused.

"Well," Sakuya said with a finality to her tone, "that answers my question; obviously, your intentions aren't malicious if Mara's never seen you before.  She knows ALL her enemies..."  She pushed past Mara into the room.  "...and that's not all she knows." But only Daren heard the last comment.

"Well, if we’re all done here, then after I get beautiful's number in there; I suppose I'll be on my way."  Cyrus said with a rather boisterus conviction.  Sakuya put her hands on her hips and pivoted on her heel, beginning to look as though a nasty remark was on it's way, but Mara beat her to it.

   "Ok, first of all....rude." She said re-directing her finger at Cyrus' nose, then diverting her attention back to Daren. "Second of all...you haven't answered my question."

 "Well, if it was that rude, I'd take your number too....Mara? Was it? And your name took way less to get ahold of." Cyrus said with a smirk that made Daren proud.  Mara turned on him.

"You've been put on 'ignore'." She said, rather matter-of-factly. Cyrus made a confused expression, then looked at the floor, no doubt, attempting to work out exactly what that statement meant.

 "What do you want?" Daren asked, starting to become unnerved by her un-wavering, and unwanted attention; not to mention, her bizarre behavior. "You want my name? Fine.  But I don't trust any of you enough to give you more than a first name, and even giving you that is making the red warning light in my head go off."

"Fine." Mara said, finally lowering her accusing finger. "What is your FIRST name then?"

 "Daren."  And it took him no time at all to realize that what he had just said had not remedied the situation even in the slightest.

 "Who was your father?" She said coldly, as her eyes began to snap fire.

"Pardon?"<

"Did I stutter?" She said. "Your father. Who was he? For you slower members of the club, that means his name."

"Goodness. We are just OOZING the sarcasm aren't we?" Daren retorted with his hands on his hips.

"Gushing it. Answer."

Just then, Sakuya walked over, she had removed her top layers and was just in a tight tank, and her spandex pants.  "I'd do it if I were you." She said with a warning tone. "Last time I saw that look, she put the guy through a wall. And no...before you ask; she didn't use her hands to do it."

"You know what?" Daren said, sick of this game. "I came up here as a concerned citizen, and now I'm getting the 3rd degree on a life I really don't want to reminisce. I'm off to do what I came here to do."

 "And what was that?" Mara asked to his back, as he turned toward the stairs.

 "Talk to Griff".  He heard footsteps running up behind him, and then felt a small hand grab his arm. Small, but with a surprising grip.  He turned to meet a set of piercing green eyes.

"You know Griff?" She asked suspiciously.

 "Yea, for a while now."

"How well?"

He sighed in frustration. "What now?"

"How well do u know him?" She repeated. "Aquantinces? Friends? Lovers? Come on, how dense are you?"

He thought about that last statement. He smirked as he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Griff is gay? Huh. Learn somthin' new every day." She tightened her grip, succeeding in drawing a wince from Daren, no small task.

"Don't mess with me DAREN." She said, putting an emphasis on his name that said without a doubt she thought it was fake.  "Answer the question."

 Sakuya and Cyrus, who had stopped everything to watch the two of them, stood in the doorway, gaping.  "This is better then pay-per-view." Cyrus whispered to Sakuya.  She slowly nodded in response.

 "He helped me out of a jam before, then I helped him, so...aquantinces then...if you need a label."  Daren said gruffly.  Mara lowered her arm from his, and her expression softened.

"Well, that makes more sense then."  She said as she began to walk away.  "You may as well go home.  You won't find what you’re looking for here."

 "What are you talking about..." Daren said, stopping Mara before she entered the room.

"He's dead." she said flatly, though the slightest hint of tears began to mist her eyes.

Daren backed away. "Damn." He cursed under his breath.  "It seems you knew him well, I'm sorry for your loss."

She looked momentarily stunned by his response. "Thank you." She said with the tiniest of sniffs.

"Was he a friend?" Daren asked, genuinely concerned.  Which is what shocked Mara the most.

"Um...you could say that." She said, folding her arms over herself, and looking at the floor.  "More like the father I never had, really." Daren raised his gaze to meet hers.  "He took pity on me, when the world turned its back."

Now THAT was a feeling Daren understood all too well.  He suddenly had the overwhelming desire to comfort her, though he didn't know how she would receive it. 

Aw, hell.  He would give her what he never found.  Daren walked over to her, and embraced her tightly.

Mara couldn't have been more stunned had he flashed her.  She didn't even move, she just stood there; and surprisingly, was shocked at how good he felt pressed against her body.  She unfurled her arms, and put them around his waist to give a tight squeeze.  God, he smelled like heaven.  But he felt so much like Damon, that she couldn't stand it anymore.  She pushed him away, and then wiped the tears that had escaped her eyes, cursing her weakness the whole time.

Daren caught it, though he pretended not to.  He knew she wouldn’t have wanted him to see it.  "I really am sorry."  He said, and the look of pain in his eyes told Mara he was sorrier then he was saying.

"Thank you." she said, "For everything. You know the rushing up the stairs for a complete stranger and all."

"Any time."  He said with a smile. "Here," he said, pulling out a business card with a logo of Max's bar and tavern on it. "If you ever need anything, call this number and ask for Daren.  They know how to get a hold of me there."

She looked up into his gold eyes and saw the sincerity and pain behind them.  "Thanks. I will." She said with the corner of her mouth belying the smile she was trying to hide.  The stunning part was, she felt as though she WOULD call him again, if for no other reason than to get another look at the fine specimen of the male anatomy standing before her. 

She watched him as he turned to leave, and kept her eyes on him until he turned the corner for the stairs, and disappeared behind the wall.

   "Mara?" Sakuya asked, a little concerned about her friend.  Mara slowly turned her head to look at her, her eyes being the last to lay to rest on Sakuya's gentle face.  "You should really get some sleep. You've had a long day."

Mara sighed.  "I know...I just can't seem to get any."

 "I understand the feeling." Sakuya said.  "Anyway, I trust that you would have problems sleeping with the windows spontaneously shattering and all..."

"Yeah..." Mara said with a sigh. "I figured that might come up.  You know me too well."  She stopped up short and turned to face Cyrus, who was now leaning against the wall beside the door.  "Were you going to leave with him? Or stand here like an idiot?"

He laughed low in his throat, a deep, resonating sound, almost like honey. "Well, that depends." He stated, crossing his arms in front of him. "Will standing here like an idiot get me a number?"

Mara raised her eyebrows, "Really?  That's where you're going with this?"

Cyrus just shrugged, "I'm rather practiced at standing around like an idiot."  He then proceeded to raise his hand to Mara's face, and gently nudge her chin upwards with his curved pointer finger.  It was a rather enduring motion.  "You should always play to your strengths, yes?"  He asked with a quark of a smile.

Mara didn't have time to respond before Sakuya was standing between them. "Careful homeslice, Mara doesn't really like being touched, least of all by strangers."  She put her hand on his chest, and firmly pushed him back a few steps.  "But.." she said with an exasperated sigh, "you're starting to become...god help me for admitting it...intriguing to me." She finished, putting her hands on her hips.

Mara's mouth practically fell open.  Cyrus looked like a kid who had just convinced his mother to buy him a new toy.

"Are you fucking with me?" He asked with a laugh.  "Cause I'll be honest with ya'," he said, putting his hands up in surrender, "I'd never worked harder for a name in my life, and I find it a little hard to believe the number was this easy."

Sakuya made a dainty giggle-like sound in the back of her throat.  "Yea, I can imagine.  Which is part of the reason you're becoming so intriguing."  She walked back into the room, and came back with a pen.  Cyrus beamed from ear to ear.  She took his hand, and wrote what Mara assumed to be the number on the palm of his hand.  

"Try not to sweat too much on your way home."  She said, crossing her arm under her breast.  "You wouldn't want to lose it after all this hard work now would you?"

Mara was stunned.  Was Sakuya FLIRTING with this moron?

Cyrus simply smiled that shit-eating grin of a smile, and began waltzing backwards down the hallway.  Without saying a word, he pulled a phone out of his back pocket, and began punching in the number on his keypad.  When he finished, he gave a quick salute to Mara, then blew a kiss to Sakuya; turned around, and left the two women standing outside the open door.  Sakuya smiled and shook her head, then spun back towards the room, meeting Mara's open-mouthed cod-fish-like face.

"You wouldn't want to lose it after all this hard work?"  Mara sputtered with disbelief.  "Are you friken kidding me?  Who the hell are you??"

   Sakuya just narrowed her gaze at her.  "Don't think that you've successfully changed the subject..." Sakuya said as she pulled Mara into the room, "we're still going to have a talk about that window escapade.  I'm sure there's a wonderful story there that's going to lead to trouble of some kind."