Praefect walks through the Christmas tree lot a week before Christmas with an axe on one shoulder. Icy wind carved through the trees, making the jacket wound tightly around his body ripple as it tried to knife its way through. He glances back and forth at the rows and rows of trees, each one a different size, and curses Maeve under his breath for telling him to go out in the freezing cold to get the tree for the Headquarters. Why couldn't she just have one delivered, like all the ordinary people?

"Too small, too big, too bushy..." Prae mutters, as the sun starts to hang higher and higher in the sky. He looks down at his golden watch - one of the few luxuries he allows himself - and sees that the expensive Swiss movement froze around nine. "Just perfect."

A twig cracks behind him as he walks, but he pays no mind to it. Probably a deer or something.

"That one looks nice..." Prae says. Before him stood a big, beautiful Christmas tree, just waiting to be cut down. He'd just put both hands on the axe when he saw a black jacket flashing behind a tree. "What the hell was -"

Then came the sound, the unmistakable rasping of a knife leaving its sheathe. Prae instinctively spun and fell backwards, just in time for a razor-sharp bayonet to rip his jacket where his heart had been mere seconds before. He pulled his .38 and fired three quick shots, planting them all in his attacker's chest.

Snow crunched behind him and he spun, loosing another shot between his target's eyes. A third, that he'd mistaken for another tree-hunter, came roaring after him. Prae fired his last two shots into the man's chest, but to no avail. He dropped the revolver and brought his axe up, just in time to stop the downward swing. He kicked the axeman and swung, planting the axe head in the man's neck. Blood erupted from the assailant's carotid, spraying blood across the snow. In less than a minute, the battle was over. Three men lay dead or dying. Already he heard the sirens echoing, and he knew there was no way he could get out of a chat with the cops. It was going to be a long day.

Maeve sits back in her large cushioned chair, a glass of rum in one hand and a cigarette in the other with a book opened in her lap. Nearly falling asleep, nodding off every now and again, she glances up at the clock and shakes her head. What is taking Prae so long? Honestly, how hard is it to pick out a tree? She sighs and looks back down at her book, scanning the page for the spot she left off at. If he isn't back in an hour or so maybe she'll send a search party. If she's even still awake. He had better come back with an amazing tree, or she's taking it out of his flesh.

Praefect slams the door behind him, stomping his heavy winter boots on the carpet before reaching down and taking them off. He walks through the arched hallway into the library just off the main entry way, still clad in his blood-and-snow soaked jacket. The axe, still caked with blood, hangs in his hand. He planned to wash it off before replacing it, but the sight of Maeve waiting up makes him jump and drop the axe on the rug.

"What the hell are you still doing up?"

With a raised brow, Maeve sets her rum down, takes a puff on her smoke, and does the whole slow but dramatic turn around in her chair, her face neutral as she looks at Prae.

"Apparently not having as much fun as you. Care to tell me what happened?"

Prae unbuttons his jacket and tosses it into one of the laundry hampers to be washed by the servants later, before taking a seat down in one of the big padded armchairs.

"Those trees are getting fucking mean, I'll tell you that right now."

Seeing that his joke wasn't taken very well, he starts to explain about what happened. He places his still-empty revolver on the table next to the copy of A Study in Scarlet that he'd been reading the night before.

"They had Durden tattoos on them, I had just enough time to check before the cops showed up. I'm a nobody, though. Why would they want me dead?"

After listening to Prae's tale of trees coming alive as Durdens, she sighs and shakes her head.

"Well, there ya go! Durdens don't pick specific targets, they go after whoever they can. I guess they thought three against one were pretty good odds, especially late at night." 

She looks at his empty gun then looks him over, her brow furrowing a bit.

"Are you okay?"

Prae sighs, and pulls a cigarette from his pocket and lights it. He takes a long drag and sits it in the ash tray.

"As good as can be expected, I guess. And I'm not so sure that was a random attack. Too...public."

With a soft smile she rolls her eyes.

"Durdens have never been known for their intelligence..."

Her look hardens a bit.

"If it wasn't random though... Then why?"

"Weren't you the one that was supposed to go out to get the tree, today? You and Iocaste? You told me he had a sudden meeting and had to cancel. Maybe he thought that he'd get too people in charge in a single attack."

Praefect runs his fingers through his hair.

"So close to Christmas, though, and three people are dead. With more to come, I'm sure. God help us."

Maeve allows herself a small, if somewhat sarcastic, laugh.

"If that's what you'd like to call 'in charge'. They would gain nothing by removing us from the equation. Sure, we run a family, but we hold no real power. Maybe it was a personal grudge?"

"What if they weren't trying to kill me? What if they were trying to get info about that shipment coming in from Canada? That boat isn't exactly hard to hide, and everybody knows that we're working on the biggest shipment we've ever gotten."

Takes another puff off his cigarette.