"No??"

Someone had painted over the tag of the disembodied laar head; it was still visible somewhat under a hasty wash of primer nearly the same color as the rest of the wall around it.

"Whaddya mean, no??" Hawk demanded. He naturally towered over Dina, who stood staunchly between him and the backdoor of the restaurant, arms crossed. Luu leaned quite casually against the doorway behind them; Vlad sat on the crates that were parked beneath the painted-over tag, watching.

"What's not to understand?" Dina snapped. "We're not giving you the machete."

"Why the fuck not?" Hawk leaned toward them somewhat, scowling, which was enough to make Dina show their teeth and bristle. "What are y'all gonna do with--"

"If you can't keep it down, leave," Dina growled.

"We will solve this," Luu put in. "We may not have access to the same spells that the investigators do, but there is more than one way to tie an object to a person. We will track them down."

Hawk regarded them for a moment, frowning deeply. "An' then what?" he wanted to know.

Neither Dina nor Luu answered this; they both looked away.

"Huh?" Hawk prompted. "Answer me."

"The less you know, the better." Vlad spoke up suddenly--even he looked bad-tempered, propping his head up on one hand.