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Body count...

Steve-dead
Cooper- Dead

Ruiz-Dead
Abdi-Dead

Dutch-1 wound

3 Hand killed by Harlow and his wolves
9 hand killed in the hanger...all Hand in the Hanger dead.
6 members of the Hand still outside.

... Player Event Combat Resolution ...Part II....


.... " Get Down!!" Dutch had time to shout before the hanger disintegrated in an eruption of flame, the concusion from the blast sending the two wolves sprawling...Derrik crying out in pain as a shard of white hot metal lodged into his arm.
" Hold still!!" Dutch said as he drew a switchblade from his pocket and quickly dug the burning shrapnel from his companions bicep as Derrik glared at the inferno behind them..
" Ruiz..Abdi...both gone...god damn" The wolf flinched as Dutch finished removing the scrap of sizzling steel.
" yeah.." Dutch said nodding..." And we better get moving...or we'll be joining them" he said helping Derril to his feet..." Come on...it looks like there's more of those fethers up that way." the gangster said gesturing into the distance towards where Harlow and his group exchanged gunfire with the Hand..

... " Cover me!!" Shouted Atlas towards Harlow as he bounded from cover and began to take on the form of the wolf...
Harlow had no time to answer, he and his wolves simply poured fire into the human attackers...Alex and Lukas gunning down a short balding man who tried to race across the tarmac
With an ear splitting roar, the beast that was Atlas leaped over a stack of crates and landed mere feet from a startled member of the Hand..
The fanatic sneered at the towering wolf, ducking as he lunged forward and drawing a silver dagger hanging from his belt...
" Come Hell Spawn!!..." The zealot shouted as Atlas spun and leaped again...with a violent thrust, the man drove the dagger deep into the snarling beasts stomach even as Atlas tore the fanatics head from his body in a fountain of blood.
Glanging down at the blade portruding from it's body..the huge wolf snarled and pulled it free...tossing the dagger aside with contempt.

..."Katherine!!..Come in!!" Harlow shouted ..keying his field radio..." Get that bird out on the runway...we're going for an emergency take off...now!!"
" Emergency?!" Came Katherine's worried voice " I knew I heard a fething explosion...what's happening out there?"
" Katherine...no time now...just get that plane out here fast!!" Harlow shouted again as several bullets whizzed past...one taking Hector in the abdomen ...sending the wolf shrieking in pain to the concrete ..
" I'm on the way!!" Katherine said, cutting of the conversation as Harlow returned fire on the Hand..

... " This is for Ruiz and Abdi!!" Derrik shouted as he and Dutch limped into view...their weapons roaring...sending a hail of bullets into the remaining fanatics, who scrambled to get clear of this new threat approaching from behind..
Two of the zealots managed to duck into cover...firing wildly as they dodged behind a air tram, but another was cut to pieces by Dutch's Tommy Gun and the last was struck in the stomach as Derrik fired his pistol repeatedly..
staggering backwards, the wounded man returned fire...in a panic his rounds went wild cutting the air around the two injured wolves as they pressed forward...
" Beast!!...Demons!!...I'll send you back to hell!!" The man screamed , blood pouring from his mid section as he sought cover..." I'll send you all to .."...the man froze...a hot breath on the back of his neck...he turned quickly and felt warmth run down his leg as he stared up into the blazing eyes of a giant wolf...
With a single slash of his ebony claws, Atlas opened the trembling zealots stomach, his mangled intestines spilling out onto the tarmac in a crimson splash..
" Damn ...you...to..hell" The man spluttered, blood frothing from his lips..
The wolf seemed to grin as he slashed out once again...sending the mans head spiraling away from his gore soaked body..

..." Foul beast!!...Unclean demons!!" the two remaining members of the Hand roared, leaping from cover and firing wildly in every direction...
Derrik yelped as a round struck him in the leg, stumbling he drug Dutch to the ground as well...
" Take them out!!" Harlow roared...his guns blazing as he charged out from cover...he'd had enough of these bastards and by damned he'd rip them both apart if he could.
From behind Alex and Lukas opened fire as well...round after round slamming into the two screaming fanatics...the taller of the twos head exploding as Harlow pumped two rounds through his skull in rapid sucession..
The remaining member if the Hand knelt bleeding...gaping wounds in his body oozed blood as he glared up at Harlow as he approached...his weapon trained on the man..." Don't fething move!!..Who sent you!!" harlow shouted
" No beast.." The man said through a mouthful of blood..." I am of the Hand of God...my life is not for a creature such as you to spare..or take.."...before Harlow could react...the man raised his weapon to his own head and fired...his body flopping like a rag doll as it toppled over.
" Bastard" Harlow said quietly, spitting onto the mans scattered brains...

Atlas approached Harlow cautiously, returning to his human form..." As I said...I will go with you...and speak with your Queen"
Harlow turned and eyed the wolf..." I'm telling you this once and once only...try anything...I'll kill you myself."
Turning to Lukas , Harlow spoke...gesturing towards the plane as it appeared on the runway.." Get our wounded on board" he said, the sound of approaching sirens filling the night...
Alex shook his head..." We have no wounded...Hector didn't make it..."
Harlow nodded, jerking his thumb back at Dutch and Derrik as the limped for the plane " get them to the plane then" he said scooping Bella off the ground and turning to Lukas.." Collect our fallen ..we're getting the feth out of here"

Body Count..

Hector-Dead

Atlas-1 wound

Derrik-2 wounds

All Hand (6) -Dead.

Harlow carried the she wolf's limp body up the ramp even as it finished lowering from the side of the plane. Behind him came Alex who had already taken the other wolf's weapon and was prodding him at gunpoint up the stairs into the plane. Katherine leaned out of the entrance to the craft, he machine pistol held in one hand. A perplexed and displeased look crossed her face as she saw that Harlow was carrying some woman.

"Who in blazes is she?" She asked.

"Fethed if I know." Harlow said as he walked past her and placed the body onto a couch inside. Behind him, Atlas walked up the staircasenext to alex who still held his pistol. Atlas heeded him no mind, however, and focused on Harlow as he rose from depositing his load.

"Hey, when do I--" he began but was cut off as Harlow whirled on him with inhuman speed and planted his fist squarely into the gut wound Atlas had recieved. He heard Atlas wince and groan as he fell back into a seat on the other side of the plane.

"Sidown!" Harlow ordered loudly, baring his teeth frustratedly at him and advancing until his face was just a foot from Atlas' "I make the demands around here, I'm talking, you're listening. I have a few things to do now, you will sit here until I tell you otherwise and if you so much as twitch the wrong way I wont even to think about ripping you apart. Clear?"

Atlas snarled at him but said nothing and nodded as he realized who held the power in this situation. Alex took a seat across from him, his weapon still pointed at him and his face expressionless. Harlow passed Lukas as he came into the plane as well, carrying twobodies which he placed at the end of the cabin and covered with sheets. Dutch and Derrick came in behind him, both bleeding from wounds, they were helped to their seats...

Harlow moved into the cockpit as Katherine quickly flipped several switches and turned knobs to start the plane's engines and close the hatches. From the windshield, Harlow could see the lights of emergency vehicles coming towards the flaming hangar to battle the blaze and hunt for survivors. He could also see speeding vans and cars, paintedblack with flashingblue lights heading towards them on the runway.

"Kitty." He said as a warning.

"Working on it." She said as the plane began to roll and pick up speed, the vehicles were forced to get out of the plane's way as it built momentum and reached the end of the runway where it lifted off the ground and into the sky. Harlow breathed a slight sigh of relief as he stood from his seat and eumaged through a boxattatched to the wall in the cockpit.

"Nice flying." He said numbly as his fingers questeed for the satellite phone in the emergency case.

"Don't thank me yet." Katherine said grimly as she gripped the stick in front of her. "We'll be lucky if we don't get every fighter jet in the UK on our ass in a few minutes."

"I trust your ability, now get us out of here." Harlow affirmed.

"Looks like we'll be flying under the radar...literally." She said, referring to the fact that they were now flying at low altitude.

"Whatever it takes." Harlow said without thinking as he dialed the brick like phone and extended its antenna. There was a momentary pause of silence in the cabin.

"Get me a secure line to the Queen." Harlow said boldly, elliciting a look from Katherine which he didn't return. Another pause. "I don't care what you have to do just do it!" He demanded. Another pause. "When she returns tell her I require a private audience with her and that it is of the utmost importance. Tell no one."

After another moment, Harlow hung up and collapsed the phone while getting to his feet and making to leave the cabin. "I'll be back soon." He said.

"Hey..." Katherine responded softly. "I'm glad you made it out okay." Harlow looked at her with as much of a smirk as he could manage.

"Me too." He said as he left the cockpit and went back into the cabin where Lukas and Alex were helping the others dress their wounds.

Harlow sat across from Atlas who stared at him icily and silently. Harlow's hand brought out his long kinfe and he studied its edge for a moment before turning his eyes to the two bodies at the end of the cabin. He then turned his glare to Atlas to meet his stare.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you." He said flatly. Atlas didn't respond initially.

"What kind of question is that?" He asked.

"You and yours costed me five good fighters...So I want a damn good reason for their deaths." Harlow snarled, knife in hand. Atlas again didn't respond initially so Harlow pressed him. "Start talking, why should I let live the man who leads the Lunar Brotherhood against the throne, why should I allow a wolf to live who has allied himself with vampires? Answer me that and answer me well because my patience is already worn thin."

RP:

Atlas began slightly to regret his decision to come peacefully as soon as the insults and resentment came along. The shot Harlow had taken at him to his wound had caught him off guard, and apart from the harsh pain that had followed, it didn’t much faze him, but he decided to groan, just to let the other wolf think he was in power. However much he may despise his treatment, he must know that this is the way to Natasha. This is the way to get back to his rightful place as royalty. For now, he must remain calm, and not reveal anything through his actions.

Words, however, were a different thing.

Atlas sat down slowly, remaining vigilant, watching what transpired around him. The plain was fairly small, obviously big enough just for a small force. White inside, and the seats were quite comfortable. He heard shouting coming from the cockpit up ahead. It belonged to that wolf, Harlow. Sounded like he was angry.
But of course, Atlas didn’t really care.

He heard footsteps coming towards him, and he turned to see Harlow coming towards him, and sitting opposite. He couldn’t help but stare into the man’s cold eyes. The resentment for Atlas showed in his expression. Atlas was curious however, he didn’t exactly know why.

Harlow spoke, wanting to know why he should be kept alive.
Atlas thought this was a stupid question, and replied as such. Then he was brutally replied with Harlow explaining why he despised him so much right now. How he was a traitor to their kind, being the leader of the Lunar Brother hood, and working with Vampires, both of which confused him.

“You obviously know little about me. I am not the leader of the Lunar Brotherhood,” Atlas replied as calmly as he could, but a look of blatant confusion on his face. “I do know who is however, and-“

“You are friends?” Harlow pressed.

Atlas suddenly looked fairly angered by the word “friends”, and bared his teeth, gritting them with slight contempt.
He then tried to hold it back, but his face was still bearing hatred.

“Friends, is more like it,” he said slowly. “But about the Vampires. Why does that matter? I do what I must to get by.”

“You are a traitor to the throne!” Harlow suddenly shouted, stabbing his knife through the neat leather seat next to him, causing a few moments of silence throughout the plane, before Atlas could hear the voices talk again.


Harlow regained his composure, and spoke again.

“Vampires are absolute scum, the most hated race of our kind. Or do you not know this?” he chuckled.

“No. No I don’t,” Atlas said truthfully.

This stumped Harlow, he looked around confused by this blatant disregard for Lycan culture. He swallowed, before speaking again, slowly, and seriously, and for a moment Atlas even thought solemnly.

“Tell me about yourself.”

“You want to know about me?” Atlas asked.

“Yes. You are an odd case. I wish to know what your life has been like.”

“Well,” Atlas said, shrugging. “I do not know that much about myself. It’s all a blur really, but I can remember a bit about when I was a pup.”

“Just begin with that then,” Harlow insisted.

Atlas remained silent for some time, and when Harlow raised an annoyed eyebrow, he finally spoke.

“Have you ever heard of the Crooked World?”

“The Crooked World?” Atlas repeated, rubbing his chin. “I believe the Queen has mentioned it. Something about a world controlled by Vampires, which are more powerful than in this world, and where everything is much darker than it is here.”

“Well, I believe I was born there, to a small pack of wolves, with some of the last remaining loalty there was. I was born to the King and Queen of the pack, but never being able to learn much about our culture, as our pack was too busy trying to remain undiscovered by the Vampire. That is why I do not know much about what we do or believe,” Atlas admitted.

“Go on.”

“One day they finally found out we were there, and on a dark snowy night, they attacked us, and my entire pack was wiped out. My father, my mother,” Atlas sighed. “Everybody.”

He shifted uncomfortably in his sleep, before moving on with the tale.

“I managed to escape. I believe it was because of my mother smuggling me away before she was killed. Anyway, I wandered for years in that world, hunting, surviving, and fearing for my life,” Atlas said. “Then I don’t remember what happened, but I somehow got into this world. Might have been a portal or something. I can’t remember what shape it came in, but all I remember is a dark, crooked house.”

Harlow’s eyes lit up, but he remained silent.

“How old are you?” Harlow questioned further.

“I don’t know. I don’t know how many years went by in that portal. Maybe time doesn’t even matter there.”

“This is all very interesting,” Harlow said, his voice turning quite harsh. I still do not trust you, and I don’t like you. But I must know, where do your loyalties lie?”

“With the throne,” Atlas replied instantly. “I was born royalty, therefore I must stick with my Queen, as long as my position is made clear.”

“Don’t worry,” Harlow growled, standing up to return to the cockpit. “I am sure the Queen will be very pleased to see you, and she will definitely understand your position.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Not really sure if I depicted Harlow that well there, but you can put me straight Warork...

... and all is made clear... :

...Natasha leaned back in the rear seat of the Mercedes as it drifted along the pacific coastline heading towards Erzuli's bunker.
Try as she might, she could still not shake the feelings of impending doom that haunted her...like an unseen hand tightening around all of their throats..
She silently admonished herself, trying to take some solace in Jarins words earlier...but they did little to aleviate her worries...she knew full well that the decisions she made in the coming weeks would either bring her people to the position of rulers over this domain...or forever damn them.
She was jarred from her musings by the ringing of the cars phone and she stared up to the drivers seat as Davin answered the call...
" Relayed message from Harlow my Queen" Davin said " He wishes you contact him as soon as possiable."
Natasha nodded " Then do so imediately...I want to know what progress was made..and if he is well"
Davin punched a series of numbers on the phones dash pad and glanced into the rearview mirror " Putting the call through now My Queen"

After a brief wait, Harlow's voice filled the car speakers..." Wishing to report to you my Queen, we managed to take two of our targets and have them in custody now...the male wolf called Atlas and...the female."
Natasha's face tightened " What of the the one called Dez?" she said
" He nor the Vampires were present at the engagement Mistress" Harlow said " A third wolf...the one listed as Steve was there...but was killed by the Human fanatics...The Six Fingered Hand.."
Natasha snarled.." The Hand?...why...how did they know to strike us there?"
" Unknown at the moment my Queen" Harlow replied " But we are investigating.."
Natasha nodded " Very well...find out what you can...and Harlow..I want the exact location of Dez Blue...His Lunar Brotherhood and the fething Leeches he's working with...the two you have in custody know where they are...I want you to get that information from them...in anyway you must."
" Understood my Queen" Harlow replied " I'll see to it myself"
" Harlow" Natasha said softly " How many did we loose?"
" Three of our own Mistress" Harlow said " two from the Blunted Fang...all killed by the Hand"
Natasha felt her fangs bite into her lip..." Then we will have to send these damnable Humans a message ourselves ...and soon." she said " Be careful Harlow...return safely" the Queen said as she motioned for the conection to be broken.

" The Hand?" Jarin said from his seat next to Natasha.." Their actions against us...indeed all lycan packs has been growing expedentialy over the year...perhaps there is more to their increase in aggresion than meets the eye."
Natasha frowned slightly " Perhaps...but I've no intention of allowing them to go on unpunished..these self rightous zealots will pay for their crimes against us...I swear it."
Jarin nodded " I'll contact my agents in Europe when we return to the Den...they can strike at the very heart of the Hands headquarters "
" That...will be the first of many strikes Commander..." Natasha smiled " I grow weary of being on the defensive side of this war...it is past time that we spill our enemies blood...all our enemies blood...in abundance."

The sleek vehicle continued it's trek northward, twisting along scenic roads into the mountains until it pulled to a stop near a fortified structure...
Natasha smiled as she stepped from the Mercedes ...despite all she faced, seeing her sister always helped ease her.
The Queen strolled along the pathway to Erzuli's bunker , Jarin at her side as The Black Claw followed close behind..
Before she could ring the bell, the heavy door opened and Erzuli stepped out a soft smile on her face as she embraced Natasha...stroking the Queens hair from her face she spoke
" You are troubled...even more so than usual " The Pure Blood said softly " Come..join me...we must talk".

Harlow hung up the phone and sighed, deep in thought about the situation. He momentarily distracted himself by looking over to Katherine who was busy flying the plane at a low level.

"How we doin?" He asked her briefly.

"So far so good, no pursuers on radar, looks like we got lucky." She said equally as flat in tone.

Suddenly there was the sound of raised voices from outside the cockpit. Harlow listened interested for a few seconds before the voices lowered again, he stood up to leave and reached for the door before it opened itself and Alex stepped in.

"Whats going on?" Harlow asked.

"Nothing, I handled it." he responded, Harlow gave him a look and Alex relented.

"The Blunted Fang fellas were sore about their friends getting blown to hell back there, they tried to press Atlas for some answers before I told them to shut it, they didn't like that too much."

"Yeah, well they can tough it, we all lost friends back there and there's still a job we have to do." Harlow responded, sitting back down. Alex nodded but remained standing there in front of the door.

"Was there something else?" Harlow asked.

"What do you think about what this guy has said so far? About the Crooked World and whatnot?

Harlow laced his fingers and thought about that for a moment. "Sounded to me like he was convinced if himself but I don't think he's being entirely truthful."

"I got the impression he wasn't entirely sure himself, but he needs some sort of leverage to get to the queen." Alex said. Harlow nodded.

"That very well may be the case." He said. "What do you think about his claim of being a pureblood?" Alex shrugged.

"Seems pretty farfetched to me, there aren't even a handful of those left in world but if he really is from this alternate reality...anything's possible I suppose." Alex said nonchalantly. Harlow stood to his feet and headed for the door.

"Regardless, he still owes us some answers."

Harlow and Alex made their way back into the cabin where Lukas sat with his weapon across his lap and the others, besides Bella who was still unconscious, were giving each other icy glares. Harlow sat again across from Atlas. There was silence for a few moments before Harlow spoke again.

"You should know that the Queen expects our arrival and undoubtedly is interested in meeting you."

Atlas' expression seemed to lighten just a fraction at this and he nodded.

"But probably not for the reasons you expect. Let me make things clear, despite your claims of loyalty to the throne, you have associated yourself with enemies of the throne, specifically figures who will not stop until they have destroyed any chance of our survival. Why?"

"They were a means to an end and nothing more. I didn't like working with them but I needed a meeting with Natasha and used the Lunar Brotherhood to get one." He responded darkly. Harlow chuckled a bit.

"So, you're telling me in order to get an audience with the most powerful Lycan on earth, you fraternized with her enemies?"

"If you want to put it that way, sure." Atlas said shrugging.

"Well, if you don't care about these rebel wolves and these kindred..." Harlow aid, spitting the last word like it was a foul taste. "You wouldn't mind if they were disposed of?"

Atlas broke Harlow's gaze and was silent but eventually nodded.

"You were the last one to have contact with them. The only way you can prove your loyalty is by giving me their location." Harlow said, leaning forward, his voice low and threatening. "Where. Are. They?"

RP:

Atlas stared solemnly at Harlow for a while before answering slowly.

"I will only do this, if you grant me one thing," Atlas said seriously.

"Depends what that one thing is," Harlow spat.

"That I am with your forces when they travel there to finish the Brotherhood, and that I am the one to drive Dez's skull into the dust."

Harlow laughed for a second, but was surely a little surprised.

"You want that?" he asked, showing a large portion of mistrust.

"Yes."

"Well, I'm afriad only the Queen can give that."

"Then I tell her where they are and only her, if you understand, as one such as yourself must have been in such a state where you mistrusted someone so badly to stay to what you want."

Harlow shrugged.

"I will tell her where they are, and I will be there when the Brotherhood, burns."

_____________________________________________

Sorry for the short one, very busy...

Derrick sat on a packing crate, head in his hands. Despairing.

he seemed –to an outsider- to be muttering incoherently, one of the first things drilled into him.

Leave no man behind.

Even if they were dead. And now, he felt like a failure.

Ruiz, his best friend and agent was a burning skeleton in a collapsed hanger, Abdi, for all his bad habits and silence had been a friend too. Derrick had rarely lost troops before, but that was the thing. They were more than just his troops. They were his friends.

They were his troops. His. And now he didn’t even have their bodies.

He might be cleared for a new team back at Nuketown. Maybe. But so what? They weren’t the same.

With robotic precision, he unshipped the SCAR and field-stripped it, running an oily rag over the disassembled weapon, he hadn’t even noticed Dutch in the corner, glaring at the wall.

Silver nitrate. He was going to load his gun with fething Aquafortis next time.

Next time…
The hand were seeming to concentrate their attacks on lycans lately…the Fang’s Ops Center had no known vampires –aside from a rebel faction up north- getting hit.

Derrick made a mental not to check this against the Queens records –if he was allowed- when he got back.

fething fanatics.

He grimaced at the splint on his leg, hopefully it would heal before they landed. if not he was going to just tough it out.

To stem the incredible depression Derrick pulled a netbook form his pack and typed up a list of things he needed.

Another machine gunner, more ammo. Next time he would be going in hot.

After the list was written and filed away Derrick put the netbook back and made his way to the front of the plane in front of the cockpit bulkhead.

He passed the wolf that they were gunning for on the way.

“something wrong?” asked Atlas.

Derrick glowered at him, resisting the urge to open the hatch and fling the target out, if it weren’t for him, Ruiz and Abdi would still be alive, not to mention those others that were killed.

“Yes.” Said Derrick. “Something is very wrong. You’re not dead.”

“What-”

Derrick fought the urge to stab the fether.
“If you really want to know. We’ll be best of friends if you help me do one thing.”

“what?”

“Help me kill Kraub. Slowly.”

RP:

When Atlas was approached by Derrik, before Alex intervened...

Atlas seemed to be very popular in this plane. He was constantly being approached by wolves all around him who looked like they wanted to rip his guts out.

I'd like to see them try...

He still tried to remain expressionless, but he was taken by surprise when one of the other Wolves, who looked different from Harlow and his goons, came up to him.

They spoke, and the words that hit him were in the cold, dead line that had been directed at his very soul.

"Something is very wrong. You're not dead."

"What-"

The man looked like he wanted to stab him.

"If you really want to know, we'll be the best of friends if you help me do one thing."

"What?" Atlas asked, intrigued.

"Help me kill Kraub. Slowly."

He made a mental note about that. If the opportuntiy came, he would have to do that.

Would certainly score some point with Natasha.

Then he heard somebody coming out of the cockpit, on of Harlow's goons, and he walked over to him.

_________________________________________

Once again, sorry for shortness, and bad quality...

There was a certain conflict in her mind as Natasha sat on the rather basic but large sofa in the darkened bunker: seeing one of her Black Claw, Heather, slink off quickly, near naked, into a back room was both annoying and enlightening. She could smell sex in the air, not so recent but it was there. She was dragged from further thought upon the subject by Erzuli flicking on the main lights and rushing about with a tablet pc, frantically tapping into it. Around the room there was a mixture of the old and new, a projector behind the sofa, a telephone, small fridge and piles of books, jars, pouches and items she seemed to recall had been kept in the Chamber at the mansion. An eclectic mix and not to her taste but at least somewhat functional in its chaos. The stark difference to her own sanctum within the Den brought a smile to the Queen's lips; she could at least be comforted by the fact her sister was fiercely, and proudly, independent.

Finally managing to remember where the 'save' button was; Erzuli put down the pc and leant against the wall opposite the sofa. She would have to get Anya to thank Martin for his vigilance in noticing the Mercedes approach. There had just been time to bundle the screeching ghost plus her over-eager captor into the vault and grab some clothing before the car had parked up. While she was eager to show what she had accomplished, she found herself annoyed at having to either improvise in doing so or covering it up for a later date. She hadn't quite decided which to do as of yet. The Pure Blood just hoped that the Queen's strangely distracted demeanor was something that could help her. She stood there for a few moments in silence; finding herself annoyingly distracted by Jarin's presence also. It had been quite some time since they had been alone, or talked at length.

"So what did you want to talk about, sister?"

Natasha's voice broke through Erzuli's thoughts like a freight train, forcing the Pure Blood into an uncomfortable smile before her response.

"You came here... never mind... lets not focus on that." Erzuli felt a drop of sweat roll down the back of her neck, she hated this odd feeling of nerves. "I assume you have worries for you to turn up here. The approaching storm is concerning to me as well. I have looking into ways to make us more secure."

"How so?" Natasha leaned back into the sofa, finding the turn of Erzuli's speech intriguing, she had to admit she'd expected more of magic and prophecy coming from her sister... not practical concerns.

"Well..." Erzuli took in a deep breath, fighting to find words appropriate. "...I suppose I'd noticed, as well armed as we are... we lack numbers. Though that may or may not be helped in the future... it depends of time..." Noticing both Jarin's and Natasha's faces frown slightly in what she hoped was confusion, Erzuli quickly moved from the wall and walked of towards the corridor leading to her bunker's vault. "...but more importantly I have noticed that aside from myself and my daughter. Most of our kind are sorely lacking in the ability to sense our less mortal enemies, aside from with their nose or eyes and even then it is limited to fairly close range. Plus we cannot always ensure immediate loyalty from each soldier we create... as has been proved in the past."

Leaning to peek round the corner to peek towards the vault, Erzuli was at least relieved to see Anya, followed by a quieter, smaller and looking rather proud of himself, Pike, heading back out of the vault. Her ears caught the faint sound of wailing from within but the ghost was not her primary concern right now. She waved to Anya to keep the dog back before turning her attention back to Natasha. The Queen looked as concerned as she had been when she first arrived.

"I am not quite clear on where you are heading with this sister..." Natasha said in a tone of voice that Erzuli knew meant business.

"We are heading to face an army from a world of those... leeches... and we need to ensure loyal and watchful soldiers to protect our most precious resources..."

"Such as Cass..."

Erzuli fought to not roll her eyes. "Yes... our future. Through my... studies, I've been able to find a way of possibly producing soldiers which are loyal to whom we tell them and that grow as quickly as our beloved prince. Ones with the ability to not only pick out a leech instantly... of those who are not obvious... but also of those who have the energy of the spirit world... which may or may not be linked to that other place. I've yet to find a way of testing that."

Jarin shifted uncomfortably at his lover's words and found himself unable to resist speaking.

"You have created at least one of these, 'soldiers' then?"

"Indeed sister..." interrupted Natasha, leaning forwards, "...is the Commander correct?"

"I think now would be a better time to show results than explain them..." Erzuli let out a short whistle, there was a dull 'thud' from down the corridor from where she knew Anya had been forced to let go and Pike came bounding round the corner. He skidded to a halt in front of Erzuli, tail wagging furiously.

Natasha raised an eyebrow; the dog she vaguely remembered but the extensive scarring she did not.

"The traitor's... rottweiler?" Jarin looked unconvinced.

"Hes just the first step..." Erzuli said, having to avoid his gaze. She tapped the dog on the nose twice. "I see far better results coming soon with some wolves I have acquired. Pike... change!"

"Wolves..?" Natasha sat up straight, unsure of what exactly her sister meant. Any further comments were halted as the dog began to whine and twist in front of her eyes...

... Jarin took an involuntary step backwards as the scared rottweiler threw its head back and pealed off a low mournful howl as it's muscles bulged and elongated, growing massive as the beast twisted and whined.
" Mistress" he whispered " What have you ...done to it?"
Erzuli's eyes darted between her lover and the transforming beast, a small smile playing across her lips " Improved it" she said matter of factlly, leaning back against the wall as Pike completed his painful metamorphosis...

Natasha stood silently, her face stunned, Erzuli restrained a small laugh, having rarely seen her sister appear so amusingly startled before..." Zuli" the Queens lips moved in whisper " This is.."
The creature let out a loud bark, it's tail wagging furiously ...it bounded towards Natasha, it's tongue lolling from it's gaping maw...drool splattering in it's wake...
" Pike NO!!" Erzuli shouted as the creature rapidly closed the distance between itself and the Wolf Queen...unheading of The Pure Bloods command..
with a joyful howl, Pike leapt towards Natasha....who quickly snatched the creature by his collar and forced it to her feet..." Be still beast" the Queen said softly, her icy eye locked with those of Pike...
The massive creature let out a low whine and rolled onto it's back...it's tail waving madly..
Natasha reached down and stroked the creatures head, her face a mixture of amusement and pity as the beast panted happily ...
Glancing up at her sister, Natasha shook her head in disbilief..." Zuli...how?...what?...how did you?"
The Pure Blood laughed a bit as Natasha uncharateristicly stammered...words evading her.
Erzuli raised a hand " The process took some time to discover...and as I said...I've more test to perform" Her eyes fell to Pike " But...I'm certain that the process I began with Pike can be duplicated...perfected even in the Lupine subjects."

Natasha was silent , staring back down at the creature that nuzzled against her leg...lifting her head she stared at Erzuli " So...what your saying is that you could create an army of ...these...things from common wolves?"
The Pure Blood nodded " All loyal without question...possessing heightened senses...if my theory is correct...each one fiercely devoted to us my sister."
Natasha stepped towards Erzuli, pausing briefly to ensure Pike stayed where he was, his eyes following the Queen as she moved to the Pure Blood..
" Zuli...My beloved" Natasha said, a small smile spreading across her face " You my beautiful sister... are a genius without peer"
Natasha embraced the Pure Blood stroking her skin and kissing her " You may have given us the chance we need to ensure our survival"
Erzuli returned Natasha's smile, stroking the Queens midnight hair " I'm happy that your pleased my sister...I still have much work to do...but I am confident of the process"

" I must admit ." Jarin said, his eyes still taking in Pike " The theory is sound...they...could make excelent shock troops...guards...even assissains...though...he doesn't appear to be very...bright."
With that Pike turned his massive head his eyes locking with Jarins...eliciting a laugh from Natasha " Have faith Commander" she said " He's clearly bright enough to know when he's been insulted."
Jarin laughed despite himself..." Yes...apparently he is" The big wolf sighed " Your skills exceed even my wildest dreams my Mistress" Jarin said bowing to Erzuli., who smiled back
" I thank you" the Pure Blood laughed " In time...we shall have dozens of such soldiers"
" In time" Natasha said nodding " For now..it has been far to long since I've had time to enjoy your company...work can wait while we talk...and spend some time together"
Erzuli nodded embracing Natasha..." Yes...it can wait"
Pike lifted his head and howled happily as the Pure Bloods seated themselves nearby..

Jimmy had been gorging himself on the remainder of the black pudding that was left in Atlas' fridge when Valentin had told him,

"Jimmy, Atlas and the others have already left." Jimmy stopped his eating and stared dumbstruck at Valentin.

"They did what? The bastards left us?! Oh for f*cks sake," Jimmy smashed his plate and the remainder of the black pudding on the floor, muttered a few words of Shakespeare that he had macro'd as his casting for exsanguinate and the black pudding exploded like a grenade, partially trashing the kitchen.

"Oh come on! That was my one chance to find out about myself!” Jimmy threw himself onto a chair and banged his head on the table in anguish. Valentin kneeled down next to Jimmy and rested his hand on his shoulder,

“Well there is a reason I was left with you,” he said. Jimmy turned his head and became interested in what Valentin had to say,

“We were left behind, in order to find an entrance to the Crooked World,” Jimmy’s eyes widened in a mixture of excitement and horror,

“The Crooked World? Were going there? Oh god no not again…..” Jimmy cried in anguish. Valentin looked at Jimmy concerned,

“What do you mean not again?” he asked worried. Jimmy sighed nostalgically,

“I went there before,” he said, “It was ten years ago in Russia, after some nuclear disaster. The energy radiated from the fallout managed to break the void between the two dimensions. I stumbled upon it by accident and stumbled in. Its absolute hell.” Valentin looked shocked at this,

“You actually went to the Crooked World? And you know where it is? Well what are we waiting for?, the plane leaves in a few hours…”

... Kraub slammed his fist against the polished wood of his desk causing Brother Karas to jump..
" Over a dozen of our agents in London" Kraub snarled through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing " Over a dozen!!...and still the beasts evaded death."
" My Lord" Karas said cautiously " Our men managed to slay at least half a dozen of those abominations ...surely.."
" WE don't deal in half measures Brother Karas!!!" The Chief Administrator roared " Our sacred duty is to purge those abominations from the sight of our Lord!!...ALL OF THEM!!...Every last one Karas...every last one of them."
Brother Karas took a step backwards as Kraub stood trembling with Rage before him " Yes my Lord." he said softly, bowing his head.

Kraub seated himself again, regaining some measure of control.." We failed to eliminate Bruss..and we failed to eliminate all of that Lycan she whores servants...but we won't fail a third time Brother" He hissed.
Karas simply nodded in agreement , not wishing to further anger Kraub.
" I have received ...information.." The Chief Administrator smiled " The Bitch Queen...Natasha ...she and her followers are located in Northern California...we shall make ready Karas...draw our plans...and send that foul she wolf screaming into hell along with every beast that runs at her side."
" Yes my Lord." Brother Karas said, never had he seen Kraub so....furious...so...enraged...he feared for his Lords sanity in these dark times.
" We shall also strike at those in our own Network Karas" Kraub continued " Those who refuse to bend their knee to the Allmighty and continue their perverse attempts to breach the very gates of hell..."
" But my Lord.." Karas stammered " That violates the truce between the seperate arms of the Order...it endangers a peace that has existed for over five hundred years."
Kraub smiled up at Brother Karas " I've no interest in...peace" The man spat " I only seek to do the work of God."

one year ago...

Suzie and Isaac ran through the streets of Prague, beside them ran three more Juli guards. The attack had failed and the bitch queen still reigned over the lycans. Fires burned throughout the city. Crossing the bridge they headed towards the crooked house, through twisted streets. After coming out of a particularly annoying sections they had arrived at a cross roads. Taking a minute to check their bearings and rest they paused.

“Stop right where you are!” a voice cried out from an alley

“Identify yourself” Another cried.

Startled, the groups of Vampyres rose to their feet. Down one alleyway they could see several scruffily dressed people coming towards them. At the centre of the mob was a male and female dressed in ornate golden plate armour. Several of the nearing people carried firearms. Warily all the Juli raised their spears.

“You raise weapons to a king?” one of the creatures inquired, “don’t you recognised monarchs upon sight?”

“I see no monarch just some lost ghouls” Adami, one of the Juli, replied with distain obvious in his tone.

“Bow before he has your head, Juli.” the ghoul spat back. Now the two figures stepped out of the alley way. Suzie didn’t recognise the female but the male was…

“Vukojevic, you bastard” Suzie spat out at the disgust of seeing the treacherous brutus.

“Ah hello Suzie, now that you can see my power, kneel before me or lose your head.” His icy cold reply floated through the hot Czech night. “And my I introduce my queen Kara, Queen of the ghouls and my mistress and servant to Caine, the Crimson King”

“Bow the knee to Ghouls and traitorous scum like you, Never!” Adami spat out their reply to the ultimatum.

“Then prepare to die Juli.” A ghoul replied as he drew a sword and charged.

Adami and the other two guards took positions in front of Suzie and Isaac who drew their handguns. The shots ran rang out in the dark Czech night. One ghoul dropped to the ground two bullets in his head, another dropped his sword as a bullet broke his humourus broken in twain. Adami, Amri and Took counter-charged the oncoming ghouls. Quickly they where surrounded by ghouls desperate to kill them for Caine and Vukojevic. Seeing his opportunity Vukojevic dodged passed the engaged Took and began firing wildly at Isaac, showing less mercy than before in his blood-crazed eyes.

Adami was surrounded by ghouls. Four of them swung their swords at him at high speeds, but even ghouls seemed sluggish almost to his Vampyric reactions. His shield was being hacked to bits by the iron swords. Quick as a flash he plunged his spear into the eye of the ghoul in front of him while simultaneously smashing his shield into the bridge of another ghoul’s nose knocking him to the floor. One of thee two standing ghouls saw his exposed flank, eyes gleaming it plunged his sword at him. His sword never reached him, a bullet from Suzie’s handgun smashed his sword. Reacting to the sound of smashing metal Adami swept his spear in a silver arc opening the ghouls stomach to the pavement. Blocking several frenzied swings at him with his shield from the remaining ghoul he was driven back several steps. Spying his opportunity he threw his spear at the ghoul. The ghoul was surprised as the spear plunged into his thigh. He nearly lost consciousness as the battered shield smashed into his chest. Adami drew his dagger and slit open the dazed and confused ghoul’s throat. Cleaning his dagger on his robes he picked up his shield and spear which he then plunged it into the chest of the fourth ghoul.

Amri panicked as three ghouls dived for him, barely getting his shield up in time to block the wild swings from the ghouls. His sweep cut a ghouls hand off. “This isn’t so bad isn’t it” he though as he looked around he only saw too ghouls; “Where’s the other o… OH gak” he thought as he felt a cold iron blade slice through the back of his legs. One the ghouls had ducked under his sweep and rolled behind him. As he went down he managed a wild swing which slashed the throat of the ghoul without a hand. He hit the deck with a burning pain in his legs and a face covered in blood from the ghoul’s throat. Rolling onto his front his lower left arm was cleanly hacked off by the swing of a greatsword from the third ghoul. His sword was kicked from his right hand before he could react. Tears of blood began to run freely down his face as he saw the two ghouls remove his breastplate and position a sword above his heart, his last thoughts went out to his long dead family and his lover in the crooked house as the ghouls sneered as the sword plunged into his ribcage and heart, slowly his mortal shell turned to dust covering the ghouls in a grey powder.

Took, unlike the other two Juli had been embraced during the dark ages, when he was Ser Took of Raven’s Hall. He still wore his Plate armour under his red robes and used a long sword instead of the traditional; short sword or spear that his clan frequently wielded. He also still carried his crest of arms on his shield, a black crow on a silver field with blue stars. His plate slowed him yet he still had an edge over the three ghouls who edged forward to engage him. One carried a spear and used it’s superior reach to stay out of the reach of Took’s Long sword. In a flash one ghoul stabbed at Took, who block it with his shield, another swing followed and again it slammed into the shield chipping the paint, slowly Took was being driven back towards the wall of a building. The other ghoul aimed a thrust at his head, Took saw the blade coming yet couldn’t dodge it completely in time. The ringing impact left Took stumbling but the ghoul was woefully over extended, in a flash the long sword had opened the ghouls stomach and tore at it’s sword arm in one blow. Yet still he was being driven backwards by the spear wielding ghoul. His thrusts were hard to block and allowed his companion the space to manoeuvre. His end was nigh.

Dodging past the ongoing melees with the Juli guards Vukojevic and his queen strode towards Suzie and Isaac, Vuko fired off a couple of shots. The first missed but the second smashed into Isaac slamming him into the ground

“NO YOU BASTARD” Suzie screamed, Frenzy gripped her mind. Wrenching her short sword from it’s scabbard and charging towards the couple. Surprised by the sudden charge of Suzie; Vuko was unsure what to do. But His queen wasn’t, quick as a flash she parried the frenzied swing at Vukojevic’s head. Swing after swing went just missing her head or catching on her sword. Retreating quickly she could barely hold her sword from all the impacts of the blows. Suddenly she tripped over a loose stone on the ground, falling to the ground Suzie’s next swing broke her sword in half. Rolling to avoid several more swings her golden armour gained several large dents in it and her crown fell of her head. The next swing took off the top her head. Suzie sat on her prone form stabbing down with her sword in two hands, slowly denting her golden breastplate, eventually it opened and Suzie’s sword slid into her chest cavity. Turning around Vukojevic’s sword slammed into her forehead and knocked to the floor. Now it was Suzie’s turn to try and block Vuko’s frenzied blows as he wept over his dead queen.

Isaac staggered to his feet, the bullet had only went through his shoulder yet the momentum had knocked him over. Slowly he drew his handgun and aimed it.

Vukojevic staggered of to the side as the bullet pierced his breastplate, seeing her opportunity she sprung to her feet and swung her sword in a silver arc, it connected with Vukojevic’s head but it only split his crown in half. Seeing his fallen ghouls and queen Vukojevic turned and ran for his unlife into the Czech night. Seeing his fleeing form Isaac fired at the fleeing figure but his aim was poor and Vuko quickly ducked into a side alley.

Took spun and slammed his shield into the front of the ghoul in front of him. The ghoul dropped to the floor rolling in pain, but his success was marred by the sudden pain he felt as the ghoul with the spear thrust it into the exposed weak mail at the back of his knee. He fell to the floor face down, there was nothing he could do. The fight had worn him down and his heavy armour further compounded this fault. Everyone knew when a knight went down they stayed down. Twisting his head he saw the leering face of the ghoul as he stood over him. Suddenly a red flash barrelled into the ghoul and took him away from his line of vision. A few seconds later Adami grabbed the spear in Took’s leg and ripped it out of him. Grabbing his forearm he dragged Took to his feet. On the floor next to him the ghoul lying on the floor, a startled expression on his face, Adami bent over and grabbed his dagger from the ghoul’s lung.

Suzie looked away from the fleeing form of Vukojevic to the two ghouls that had killed Amri. Firing her pistol she moved closer to get within melee range. One ghoul flipped forwards as three bullets slammed into his back. Another bullet slammed into the calf of the other ghoul who charged and swung his greatsword in a massive arc at Suzie. Throwing up her shield she caught the blow but it splintered and it’s momentum carried through and cut through the flesh of her arm. Letting her arm fall backwards with the greatsword still in it she used the ghouls momentum to let it show it’s flank, spinning the sword in her other hand she used it lake a dagger to skewer the ghouls lungs and heart. Wrenching the sword out she stalked over to the ghoul who was disembowelled by Took. Using the last bullet in the mag she aimed it at the helpless ghoul, she could it’s panting breath

“Me..rrrr.ccc…yyy” It pleaded

“This is mercy” Suzie coldly replied as she put the bullet between the ghoul’s eyes. Running over to the injured Isaac she helped him up. Now they really looked odd, like two teams in a three legged race, her and Isaac versus Took and Adami.

“Hour till sunrise Suzie” Adami reported looking out at the horizon,

“Then we best hurry to the Crooked House, or another shelter quickly” She replied. Slowly the odd party limped their way to the crooked house getting inside barely minutes before they turned to dust.

________________________________________________

Sorry for the latness and wall of text

Andy woke up to being shaken by Jim, "You're awfully brave." Andy said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah I am, saved your ass twice so far." Jim said. "Get your wife up, leave the kid."

"I'm not leaving him anywhere Jim." Andy replied, "Why would you want me to leave him anyways?"

"You've got two dead babies in the bathroom." Jim said, "I know you're still coming to grips with everything, but they need to be buried."

Andy looked towards the bathroom and then at his wife before nodding, "Yeah, but where?"

"I think I know a place." Jim said.

..........................

After an hour or so drive out to the coast they were looking from the top of a cliff to the roaring waves. A solitary copse of trees marked the spot that Jim had in mind.

"You're right, it does look nice." Andy said.

"Looks better when there's a sunset." Jim replied, "This is just a suggestion of course, the decision is yours and Wendy's."

Andy looked at Wendy who was still clutching a sleeping Michael to her chest, "What do you think?"

"It looks pretty." Wendy said, "But how will we remember it being here?"

"The trees, we can carve them or put some nice stones where they are." Andy said, "I think we should bury them in the shade.". Andy looked over the entire site, he imagined that it would be something to sit there and watch the sunset each night in the shade of the trees while the salty ocean air embraced him. It seemed a nice place to spend forever, away from the pollution of the city, next to the ocean, and looking out at an amazing view of the never ending blue ocean.

"We'll take care of it." Jim said as he handed a shovel to Mike. The sound of the crashing waves covering up the sound of the shovels as they excavated the dirt. There were two proper graves dug in front of two of the trees, both facing towards the coast. Andy and Wendy took each one and gave them a kiss on the forehead before placing them into their respective graves. A quick prayer and they were covered in their linens and dirt, Andy took out his knife and carved "Sven Bruss" into one tree and "Vegas Bruss" into the other. The trees would grow and last throughout the years along with their memories and their grief, but it seemed a fitting memorial. Jim and Mike sat in the car while the remnants of the Bruss family stood in front of the pair of freshly interred dirt mounds, Andy crouched and patted both of them, "I'm sorry for what happened to you two, I wanted both of you to be happy and to live long lives but that was taken away from you. I promise that the one who did this to you will burn in front of you and the one who told him to do it will be like you. I promise that Pontius will remain alive for eternity, but will sit their immobile and tortured for that eternity. Remember that your daddy and mommy love you and we hope you enjoy this spot as much as we think you will." he said before standing up. Wendy held a now awake Michael and went up to kneel next to the graves as well, "I'll miss you two, and we promise that we'll visit you but for now we have to go. Say goodbye Michael.".

"Bye, bye." Michael said as he waved to the dirt.

"Nothing sadder than that." Jim said as he sat next to Mike and watched the couple as they began to walk back.

"Yeah, that's why we have to go kill those fethers from the hand." Mike replied, "So they can't do that to anyone else."

"For Murray and for Sylvia," Jim said, "and for the countless others the Hand killed in their fanaticism."

"Then on to the vamps and wolves." Mike said, "Well except for them of course." he said quickly in response to a glance from Jim.

"They're more human than anything else and there are some wolves out there who are." Jim said, "If you've ever read his file you should see some of the gak he's survived, the guy has a shield around him or something."

"At least he's on our side." Mike said as the Bruss's finally reached the truck.

"So, you two ready to head back now?" Jim asked.

"Yes, we said our goodbyes and made our promises." Andy said as they climbed into the back.

"I hope that you can give them everything you promised them." Jim said with a wink before starting the engine.

"I do to." Andy said as he tousled Michael's hair, Michael grabbed at his father's hand to stop him.
..................................

"On to the new mission." Jim said while in the confines of the apartment, "We know about your friend Joker and some other plans.".

"What other plans?" Andy asked.

"Pontius has his sights on more than just this world we think." Trish replied, "He hates you and anyone who helped you so Joker and Bjorn are in trouble because Pontius is probably going to use the Hand to get to them."

"How close can they get to them though?" Wendy said, "Joker is part of a different group than Bjorn, they wouldn't be together after what happened in Prague."

"Actually they would be and are." Jim said as he plopped down some documents in folders. The words and images on the pages told the story of how the Network planned to get into something called the Crooked World.

"The Crooked World is the dimension the Crooked House comes from, its supposed to be completely ruled by vampires, humans are just food sources, and wolves are common slaves." Jim said, "Your pals Joker and some of Bjorn's pals were called to a facility here in Oregon to get into the Crooked World... several Hand members are supposed to go with them."

"Holy gak." Andy said as his eyes scanned the papers, "They got them to get into the same place before they could take them out."

"Like flies to a web." Mikhail put in his two cents.

"We've got to stop that from happening." Andy said, "Do you know where this facility is?"

"Slightly, we don't have any hard proof of where it is, but we do know that its in the state. Maybe near the border." Jim shrugged.

"But we do know something else." Trish teased, "Pontius has a hand in the Network getting into the Crooked World."

"Why does he want to let the Network in?" Andy asked.

"Maybe he wants to let us in for some reason, or maybe he wants them to let something out. Either way its all Pontius's doing." Kristen added.

"So let's get motivated then, we have to stop them." Andy said.

"Stop who to be exact?" Mike asked.

"Stop the Hand from killing Joker and Bjorn's friends and stop the Network from opening the portal." Andy replied, "This has to be done and fast."

"We can't rush in there." Kristen said, "Kraub has his men in place looking for anything that could interrupt the will of Pontius.".

"We see anyone from the Hand we kill them, simple as that." Andy said, "We go to that facility, kill the Hand there, Joker should have our back if they're still alive."

"What about the Network then?" Kristen said, "You want the entirety of the Network working against us?"

"We could tell them everything." Andy said.

"Andy..." Jim said, "I respect your enthusiasm, but you need flea dips, Kristen is just a kid, Mike is well Mike, and Trish and I are just smugglers. I doubt they'll listen to any of us."

"We could try." Andy said, "If they don't listen and get in our way then we do to them what we do to the Hand."

"I hope we can get the Network to help us with this." Jim said, "Would be nice to have an army, I get the feeling we'll need one.".

“I will inform you this is very stupid, awful and should never be recreated!” Illuminatus was standing the middle of a large room, about 30’X30’ in size. The walls and floor were all etched with runes and symbols, Illuminatus’s fingers were covered with chalk, paint and a bit of blood. Sophie was setting up 23 candles around the circle while chanting quietly to herself “We are about to dive into another realm, so you all know the Veil is weak and tearing. The most minor action and you shoot this whole thing to Hell...not the Judaic Christian Hell but something closer an endless realm of infinitely changing matter and energy, which isn’t that bad depending on your point of view.

Joker and Knight listen to Illuminatus patently while Spades had a dumbfounded look of interest on his face. The Purifiers were holding tightly onto their crosses and kept a deep scowl on their faces. Marty stood behind a computer typing furiously as the ritual was taking place. “So please, turn off you interfrequency channelers and all objects with an electronic emission!”

Sophie then chimed in “Please turn off all cells phones and electronic, that means your computer too, Marty!”

“But I need this!” Marty protested but his words were ignored as Illuminatus shot a bolt of energy into the tower of the computer.

“I know ask all of you to plunge your minds into a realm of positive energy or as some like to call it ‘Your happy place’”

Knight leaned over to Joker “This sounds like psycho babble to me.” Joker just shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

“It’s blasphemous babble, my friends” Replied a Purifier “An insult to God’s will.”

“I think it’s kind of cool babble! He should write a book or something.” Spades Interrupted.

Marty was just trying to piece together what was left of his computer.

Illuminatus stepped to the center of the circle and sat in the lotus position “I will start opening this. I want you Sophie to keep things under some kind of order.” He then started to breathe in and out slowly. He was keeping this up for about 30 minutes and it seemed like nothing was happening until he began to sweat and breathe heavier. Now the room was becoming darker and the candles began to glow with a purple arcane fire.

“Things are going fine!” Sophie shouted out. Then a loud splatter sound hit the floor. Illuminatus had vomited up a blue, glowing sludge, it was all over his mouth and the front of his chest but he was still in his trance. “gak, is that ectoplasm?” Sophie started to put her figures on her temples and began chanting. Illuminatus spewed another batch of the slime and reared his body back with his face pointed in the air. Sophie’s body began to shake and she fell to her knees as she chanted louder.
Spasms shocked though Illuminatus’s body as he started to yell, he started to stand to his feet, vomiting again. He then strung his arms out to his side and starting chanting but it seemed like a thousand voices were coming from his mouth as he roared in an ancient tongue. He clapped his hands together and a shockwave blew out, knocking everyone off their feet and onto the ground. The room became silent as everyone stood to their feet to Illuminatus smiling and a big 20 foot tall greenish, purple vortex behind him

“It worked!” Illuminatus shouted in delight!

Harlow sat in his seat and watched as Derrick walked away, distraught, taking a seat at the head of the cabin and putting his head in his hand. Harlow sighed, it seemed it had been his luck to find a group of wolves who took badly to loss. Harlow had since been inebriated to such things, his heart hardened to the horrors of the world after his experiences in it but he could not help but feel a slight pang of pity for Derrick. Perhaps it was his first time losing friends, perhaps it wasn't, that still didn't make it any easier.

Harlow turned his attention back to Atlas who sat there looking bewildered by Derrick's sudden interjection.

"Who is Kraub?" he asked. Harlow would have been surprised if it hadn't already been established that Atlas was possibly not from this world.

"The bastard leader of the Six fingered Hand. Those fanatics out on the strip, those were his goons. He is a human who believes he is inspired by God to cleanse the supernatural filth from the world."

"They are...a threat to our kind?" Atlas asked slowly, trying to get the bigger picture. Harlow just nodded.

"One of the biggest in fact." He then raised his voice so all in the cabin could hear him. "And soon we won't have to endure their cruelty. Our time spent biding is at an end." He met eyes with Derrick. "Kraub and all the blind fools who follow him will soon get exactly what they deserve."

A few moments of silence prevailed in the cabin. Atlas was looking down at his feet as if in deep thought. He then looked to Derrick before looking away again.

"I didn't hurt him in the fight did I?" He asked curiously.

"Don't mind him." Harlow said flatly. "He's grieving for his lost friends right now, they went up wit the hangar."

"Then what's his problem with me?" Atlas asked. Harlow shrugged indifferently.

"The Hand took his friends from him and he didn't get to pay them back. If I was any lesser of a man I'd agree with him. Understand this Atlas, you have no friends here."

Atlas nodded grimly but said nothing.

There was a sudden stirring movement from a few feet away where Bella was lying on the couch. Harlow watched as she drunkenly tried to get up and then dart her eyes in confusion as she tried to make sense of her surroundings speechlessly. Harlow saw her eyes widened as she spied him and apparently recognized him. She gasped and quickly began looking for something, seeing a pistol sat on a table next to her she reached for it.

Lukas was standing there next to her and he grabbed the pistol before she could. She shrank back, seeing that there was no escape. Her reaction made Harlow smirk a bit.

"Ah ah ah...wouldn't want to do anything too hasty now would we milady?" He asked rhetorically.

She began looking more slowly around the cabin, still dumbstruck, until she saw Atlas' uncompromising face.

"I'll leave you two to catch up." Harlow said, standing up and moving to the head of the cabin. He went and sat across from Derrick who was now examining his weapon. Harlow watched him as he did so and saw him look several times at Atlas with a hateful glare only to go back to his busy work.

"You know its not his fault." Harlow said simply. Derrick's head snapped up swiftly, anger etched on his features. Harlow didn't flinch, he'd been expecting that.

"Tell that to Ruiz and Abdi! They didn't deserve what happened to them! They deserved..." Derrick began trailing off.

"Happiness? A good life?" Harlow asked.

"Yes." Derrick said.

"They were good men? Good friends?" Harlow persisted.

"Yes." Derrick answered again.

"And you want more than anything else to rip the guts out of the man who did that to them?" Harlow summed up.

Derrick leaned forward and nodded once, a fire in his eyes. "Yes." He said.

"Good." Harlow said grimly. "That's normal, now do yourself a favor and direct it at the people who deserve it."

--------------------------------------

The plane made a safe landing on the airstrip near the mountains and a small convoy was waiting on them as they departed the plane. Harlow watched as the bodies were unloaded and Lukas escorted them away to wherever they would be put to rest. With a deep breath he turned back toward where some of the wolves with the convoy had gathered.

"Escort those two back to the Den. Have them put in security cells and guarded. Tell the Queen we've arrived and the prisoners are ready. No feth ups." Harlow said to them, indicating Atlas and Bella who were soon driven away in the convoy. Harlow then turned to Alex.

"You do what I asked?" Alex nodded and pointed to one side of the hangar.

"It's over there." He said, pointing to Harlow's parked bike. Harlow began walking over to it, Katherine behind him.

"Can I drive?" She asked.

"Is it yours?" Harlow came back, Katherine pouted.

"Do you want to sleep on the couch?" Harlow rolled his eyes and sat on the bike, putting his hands on the handles.

"You wanna make me?" He asked snidely and revved the bike. Despite herself, Katherine laughed and shook her head at Harlow's stubbornness as she took the back seat.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked indifferently.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be around." Harlow responded over the throaty roar of the bike's engine as it rolled out of the hangar and onto the road after the convoy.

...Natasha seated herself on a reasonably comfortable couch ,curling her long legs under her and pulling Erzuli to sit nearby as Jarin stood still curiously studying Pike, who glanced at him sleepily, yawned once and lowered his massive head, the creatures actions bringing a low chuckle from the big wolf " Is he always so...docile?" Jarin asked turning to Erzuli and taking a seat nearby.
" Hardly.." The Pure Blood laughed " Oh...he's tame enough...I suppose..but" A smile spread over Erzuli's face " He gets ...rambunctious from time to time." she burst out laughing thinking of Pikes recent pursuits.
Jarin frowned and smiled at the same time, arching an eyebrow towards his Mistress " Private joke?" he asked
Erzuli shook her head slightly, regaining a dignified composer .." He get's...distracted at times..." the Pure Blood said " I'm certain the lupine specimens will yield better results"..
Pike yawned again, his shimmering eyes staring up at Erzuli in happy obideance.
" I'm quite happy with the results with Pike." She concluded turning to Natasha.

" ...But...you my sister" Erzuli continued " I...sense much trouble in you" the Pure Blood ran her fingers through the Queens raven hair, her hand coming to rest on her cheek..." More so than usual that is."
Natasha said nothing, simply fixing Erzuli with a loving gaze and nodding slightly.
" Our situation has begun to weigh heavy on your heart...taxing even your considerable reserves." Erzuli's voice softened as she ran her hands over Natasha's shoulders.
" It is as if an unseen danger stalks us" Natasha whispered " one I can sense...but can not locate the source of...I only know it is close to us...all of us.
Erzuli's eyes closed as her hands moved over Natasha, the Pure Blood nodded " I sense it as well...an aura of betrayl..very near to you...a danger that lurks ...within."

Jarin frowned.." Within?...you sense a ...traitor near the Queen?"
Erzuli spoke, never taking her eyes off Natasha..." It's cloudy...muddled...as if a veil is purposely obscuring sight..." she nodded " But...yes...I ...I know that very close to my sister...some one...some...thing...is bidding time...waiting to strike."
Jarin's face grew grim " But you can't ...see..who it may be?"
Erzuli's eyes closed again, she paused for a long moment then shook her head..." No...no I can't...but it's there....of that much I am certain." The Pure Blood opened her eyes and stared at Jarin " What I sense is a great threat to all of us...My sister, myself and...the young Prince in particular."
" Cass?" Natasha said , anger filling her voice.
Erzili nodded..." Cass especially.."

" Jarin" the Queen said, urgengy in her tone " Contact the Black Claw at Once....double the guards around Cass...triple them...I want no harm to befall the child"
" Yes my Queen" The big wolf said opening his cell phone rapidly.
" The Princes Father has not returned?" Erzuli asked, her head tilting questionly .
" Ryan was sent on a special mission..." Natasha sighed..." As of yet I've recieved no word from him.."
Erzuli simply nodded...a small smirk on her face.

" I've alerted the Black Claw of the situation My Queen" Jarin said " And was informed all is quiet at the Den...Cass is in training and extra guards have been deployed...with orders to exterminate anyone attempting to get near the Prince without clearance from both of you."
Natasha nodded " It will have to do for now...until we can discover from where the threat comes." she turned to Erzuli, stroking her face and hair gently " I wish you would return to the safety of the Den...I'm concerend about you being here unprotected."
Erzuli smiled " I have Black Claw here...and Pike" she laughed " I shall be fine."
" String willed and stubborn" Natasha said with a laugh " ...It's why I love you so" she nuzzled Erzuli's neck playfully, kissing her lightly..." still...if you insist on staying out here...I'm sending you more guards...and that is not up for debate"
Erzuli sighed and nodded " Very well...if it will keep you from worrying ."
" It won't...but I'll feel better knowing they're there for you" Natasha said " Jarin will also be staying with you...I know he will allow no harm to come to you.."
The big wolf smiled slightly at this prospect.
Erzuli laughed softly " I'm not certain how much work I'll be able to get done with him around." she looked up at Jarin and smiled.
" Isn't there a human saying about all work and no play?" Natasha smiled stroking Erzuli's long neck softly.
" Why yes.." Erzuli purred " running her hands over Jarin's muscular chest as he knelt before her "...I believe there is."

11.5 months ago



Juli loomed over Suzie, her mood had lasted several days but now it had retreated below the surface. To make things worse the Crimson King refused to do anything over the assault on them, his retainers had even suggested that they should be punished for the deaths of the 12 Ghouls and Kara. Despite it all they were all still alive.

“Here take these” Juli thrust the envelope at Suzie, inside were 4 tickets and passports for a private jet at the Prague Airport.

“Ma’am I don’t understand?” Her replied seemed immensely quiet,

“You four must go to America, Caine I can divert here but until you leave it just adds extra pressure on me, it must seem like your going in disgrace but you aren’t. I need more field operatives in more places, this unfortunately it a good enough excuse to send away my kin; without it looking like an obvious ploy. Some ghouls will assist you at the airport, the plane leaves at 23:30, get ready to leave.”
Begrudgingly the four left the room and departed to their rooms. The fight still played itself throughout Suzie’s mind, most hauntingly was Kara’s frozen expression of fear wouldn’t leave her thoughts.

Unable to sleep probably she picked up her short sword and shield and went to the drilling halls. She was relieved to see Adami and Took both there practicing as well. Slowly she circled her opponent; a young Brutus, tried to blank out her face. Several jabs came at her head which she easily caught on her shield. This continued for several minutes until the Brutus landed a hit on her left arm; reeling from the sudden pain Suzie left down her guard, Three blows landed on her head in head quick succession; one cut open her right cheek. See his sudden success the Brutus started to sneer; As Suzie turned to face her opponent again all she could see was Vukojevic’s sneering grin. With a cry of rage she swung her sword. The next thing she remembered was getting hauled off the Brutus’s body by Adami, Took and several other Vampyres. The brutus lay unconscious on the floor. His sword broken and the forearm of his sword arm was shattered. Several nasty cuts lined his face and there was Suzie’s practice sword sticking out of his stomach and another hole in his thigh.
Tears streaming down her face she ran through the crooked house until she reached her quarters where she threw herself down on her bed and eventually reached an uneasy sleep.

The past few days had been incredibly tiring for Andy and his family. The death of their young twins had metaphorically blasted their hearts to pieces and drained them mentally. Nothing was left save for the thought of revenge, torture, and protecting the only child they had. Everything seemed bleak and with what they had just been told they were sure that the world was beyond saving or redemption, but at least they could do something to make a slight difference. So it was with a heavy heart that Andy and Wendy decided to place young Michael into a metal pod that would keep him safe and alive while on his journey. The pod itself would supply all necessary oxygen and nourishment while they were on their travels, and the thick metal alloy would protect him from all harm. As the last seconds of the planet's life began to countdown Andy whispered something into Michael's ear, closed the pod, and then depressed the button that detonated several tons of C4 and launched Michael into the sky, the youth screamed joyfully at the speed he was going and the sights of the sky zooming past gave him much merriment. He even delighted in seeing the faces of several passengers as his metal pod shot through their airliner. The extra detonation from the airliner's fuel catching fire rapidly sent the pod even faster into orbit where he would be flung into the dark reaches of space. Alas an unaccounted for anomaly in the space time continuum caused the pod to traverse not only space, but time and dimension as well.

A young werewolf played in the fields near a compound, watched on upon by his father. The shrieking of something coming from the sky caused both of them to look skyward. It was far too late for either of them to do something as the pod crashed into the Earth, crushing the young werewolf to orange pulp. The elder wolf, distraught in the death of his son, ran towards the metal pod in languish and curiosity. He did not know what had killed his son, but it had saddened and angered him greatly. Much to his surprise the latches that held the glass covering of the pod closed, opened and air hissed as it shot out while the pod opened. The werewolf stopped for a second and then walked up slowly to the pod only to watch as the pod's lid was sent flying into the nearby ground, the solitary leg of its content sticking high into the air.

A toddler climbed out of the pod and looked at the wolf, recognizing him immediately. To the wolf, the scent seemed familiar and his eyes widened quickly with realization before turning into a glare of anger.

"You..." the wolf said, "the spawn of Andy Bruss will die."

"You must be Ryan." the toddler said as it pulled out a cigar and lit it with a zippo lighter from his overall pocket. The toddler's voice was high pitched, much like a child's, but his tone seemed more mature than what a child of that age should possess. Ryan was taken aback, not just by the voice and tone of the child, but by the fact that Andy's poor parenting skills had led to a mere infant smoking a large cigar.

"You must be the pathetic spawn of Andy and his bitch Wendy." Ryan spat, his claws extended and prepared to strike.

"I am." the toddler said as he took another drag from his cigar, "I would guess that I'm either standing in natural orange juice, or that must be your liquified son.".

"You little bastard!" Ryan shouted as he lunged towards the toddler. The sadistic smile on his face quickly turned to surprise as the toddler grabbed him by the claw and halted his attack immediately. The toddler grinned as he took the large wolf and slammed him against the ground with relative ease. Ryan was hurt and he knew that he was in trouble, with a loud howl he summoned an army of ninja werewolves that encircled the toddler. "Hah, now you will die." Ryan said, his mouth seeming as if it was speaking even after the English words had left his lips.

"We shall see." the toddler returned, his mouth continuing speaking movements well after he had finished saying what he said. With his hands clenched into fists and his arms strained downwards the toddler groaned as he sprouted dark sunglasses and a long black trenchcoat.

"Well Mr. Bruss." Ryan said, his fur color changing to look like he was wearing a suit and tie and also donning his own dark sunglasses, "Let's see you dodge all of this."

The ninja werewolves took their cue and attacked the toddler one on one. In an epic display of karate and martial arts the toddler bravely fought off all of the ninja werewolve's attacks while fast techno music blared from the sky. A flash of fur and fury surrounded the toddler as he delivered open-palmed strikes to the wolves. One ninja werewolf brought out a long blade and swung at the toddler who stopped it with both hands and shattered the blade by twisting his palms, sending the broken bit through the ninja-werewolve's heart.

The toddler knew what he had to do in order to finish the fight and with all of his power he began to spin in a circle. Soon the surrounding wind turned into a whirlwind that sucked all of the ninja-werewolves into it. Within a matter of second the sudden twister halted and the bodies of the now dead ninja-werewolves fell to the ground around the toddler who still had the cigar stuck in his mouth.

Ryan pulled out a werewolf gun and shot several puppies at the toddler who merely caught each one with his hands and sent them back at Ryan. The cuteness of each puppy cut deep into his very soul and he fell to the ground, breathless and tired. The toddler walked casually towards the heavily-breathing wolf and kicked him in the chest. With a grunt Ryan found himself looking up at the sky and then into the young face of the toddler.

"Impossible." Ryan said as cuteness poured from his mouth.

"Well, well, it looks like I won't be dieing afterall." the toddler said, his voice still resembling that of a young child, Ryan wondered how the cigar smoking had not deepened the child's voice.

"But how." Ryan said dejectedly, "How could you?"

"Because my name is Michael Mir Bruss," Michael said as he pulled a golden M60 out of his trenchcoat's pocket and aimed it one-handedly at Ryan's face, "and the last thing my dad told me to do was to feth you up.". The boom of the gun resonated and echoed across the world as Michael took a final drag from his cigar and flicked it away. The eerie calm around him signaled the end of his mission and as the tike shouldered the golden machine gun he walked to the bodies of the ninja-werewolves. With amazing skill he separated the bones from their bodies and boiled them into gelatin, using their fur and flesh he made artificial flavors, and using the stones around him he created a mold. Within a matter of an hour he had turned every single werewolf in the area into gummy wolves with varying flavors. He then wrapped them into bags with colorful labels and carried them along with him into the sunset, with hopes of establishing the largest candy empire in the history of the world.

The plane was soaring through the night time sky. Thankfully they were on one of the Clan’s private jets. Public air travel was nigh upon impossible with their condition. Their entire luggage was safely stowed away in the hull, 4 ghoul attendants saw to their every need. Took and Adami were unsure, having been born centuries before the technology still unnerved them, Isaac meanwhile tried to gain as much comfort he could with his left arm in a sling. Knowing their flight would take a while to reach Pittsburgh, Suzie decided to flick through the in flight entertainment; nothing really caught her attention but it made the flight seem quicker.

“How can you watch this” Adami asked her from across the aisle; “It just makes my head spin looking at these little screens”

“Most of it is rubbish but it passes the time; besides I’m used to all this sort of stuff. It must be quite hard for you to adjust to it”

“Harder than you could possibly imagine young one”

On the other side of the room Took and Isaac were trying to take their mind off their wounds by playing cards. Isaac’s pile of chips was a lot smaller than Took’s and he was looking unhappy.


Meanwhile somewhere in Prague.

Vukojevic carefully dialled a number into his phone;

“Hello, this is the Detroit court? Good. I need something from you.”

“And what would that be?” The voice on the other end gruffly replied.

“Some servants of the Crimson King were killed; the group who did this are about to arrive at your local international airport, at roughly 5:40pm”

“And what does the king want from this group??”

“Officially nothing, but unofficially they must pay for their deeds; their heads will suffice.” Vukojevic savoured the words as they left his lips; safe in the knowledge that his nemesis would die soon.

“It will be done; for the King watches us all”

“He watches us all” Vukojevic replied to the greeting as he hung.

Stretching back in his leather chair he lit a cigarette. Life was getting good again. Suddenly a loud banging sounded from the door. Startled his head whipped round, the cigarette falling from his mouth. The wooden door splintered to expose Juli and 2 of her guards standing with spears and shields in hand.

“You scumbag. You deceiving little feth. Too weak to do it face to face huh?” Juli’s rage was magnificent, in a truly terrifying way.

“H-h-h-h-o-o-w-w d-d-d-did y-y-y-o-o-u-u-u know?” He managed to stammer back;

“Be careful of gifts you receive” Juli indicated at a new book on the table with her spear. A book he had received from a Strigoi a few days back.

“Feth you all” He cried as he grabbed his pistol from his belt
Before he could fire it a spear head lodged itself in his calf. A cry of pain flew from his lips, another spear head plunged into his elbow; the impact driving him to the floor. Finally Juli stabbed through Vuko’s wrist, severing the tendons making the gun fall from his limp hand. Vukojevic tried to cry out; he tried to desperately but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. His last vision was the spear being ripped from his wrist and thrust into his chest.


5 Minutes before they landed

“Please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts in preparation for landing” the automated voice chirped over the intercom.

Suzie settled back in her seat and closed her eyes. Her body ached from boredom. The flight had been a long one, boring aside from Adami’s company.

Adami looked terrified when the plane hit the runway and the G-forces slammed in them. Eventually the plane was able to taxi into a private gate. Several airport workers drew up a staircase to the door. The ghouls opened the pressured and started to climb down the stairs. Adami and Suzie quickly followed suit with Isaac helping Took down the stairs. Three baggage handlers were slowly taking their luggage out of the hold. They tried to move as quickly as they could across the tarmac, in the slow soft rain. As they turned the corner there was a bang like a large hardback book being dropped on a table and one the ghouls went down; blood flowing from a hole in his thigh.

“We’re under attack” It screamed on the floor. The three ghouls still standing simultaneously and fluidly drew handguns and started blazing away at an unseen foe while the fourth tried to drag himself into cover and back around the corner. Running over to the baggage handlers Adami grabbed a long bag and tore it open inside were three silvered spears. Grabbing them him ran back to the group. Meanwhile Suzie wrenched her dagger from her belt and dashed over towards the injured ghoul. Before he could get into cover his head exploded in gore. His lifeless body flopped to the floor blood spraying all over the tarmac. Another of the ghouls dropped to the floor. Grabbing the dead ghouls sidearm Suzie turned the corner.

Ahead was eight ghouls in cover with three more bodies lying bleeding on the ground. Quickly diving behind a crate behind which the two surviving flight attendants were cowering. Quick as a flash Adami appearing hurtling his spear and diving into cover in fluid action. The spear flew in a silver arc and went through a crate and exiting the assailant hiding behind it. Several shots were fired in his direction.

“You three; give me covering fire” He indicated to Suzie and the two attendants. In unison they jumped up and began blasting at anything that moved. Two more ghouls died and another was hit in the arm. Adami seizing his opportunity jumped over the crate he was hiding behind and dashed forwards before ducking into cover closer to their enemies. Without a warning a ghoul started opening up with an Uzi. One of the final attendants fell a bullet in his right shoulder and in his lung; their time was limited if they kept this up. Suddenly two spears embedded themselves in the chest of the gunman as Isaac and Took rounded the corner and launched their spears at him. Suzie grabbing her opportunity launched herself over the tops of the crates and slamming into one of the surviving assailants. They both slammed into the ground losing all sense of direction. Suzie was the first to react; grabbing her dagger off the ground and plunged it between the ghoul’s ribs. Unfortunately it snapped off inside the ghoul’s chest cavity. Adami sprung into the ghoul slowly moving forward looking for more targets. His fist slammed into the ghoul’s temple knocking it sideways; the next shattered its collarbone and the flurry afterwards broke several ribs. The ghoul trying to reel and roll away from the raging vampire. Took and Isaac using the distraction charged at the two remaining gunmen. Despite the multiple volleys of shots at them they kept on coming. Several punches from Took knocked his opponent out cold but Isaac struggled as both he and his adversary reached for their daggers. Dodging several short thrusts Isaac slammed into his opponent ripping at the jugular. Blood flowed freely from the ghoul’s neck as he collapsed in heap. A laugh escaped his lips until he looked down at his stomach. The ghouls iron dagger was wedged in until the hilt had stopped it. His laughter quickly turned to ragged breaths. Suddenly the ghoul Adami was tackling fired three shots: Isaac jerked violently as the shots tore through his chest. He collapsed heavily. He could feel his body slowly turn to dust. In flash Suzie was by his side cradling his head; he could see her lips move but couldn’t hear any words she said. Adami finished off his opponent and ran to Suzie but it was too late, Isaac was already dust in the wind.

Twas the night before Christmas, when through the Crooked House
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The entrails were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The kindred were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of blood festivals danced in their heads.
And Pontius in his ‘kerchief, and Oliver in his cap,
Had just settled their brains for a long winter’s trap.

When down in the dungeon there arose such a clatter,
They sprang from their beds to see what was the matter.
Away to the monitor he flew like a flash,
Tore open the window and grabbed his lash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to his wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature gun, and five hunters without fear.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
He knew in a moment it was that bastard St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Andy! now, Vegas! now, Joker and Sven!
On, Ace! On, Wendy! on to kill those within!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now blow away! Blow away! Blow away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, scream to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the truck full of crosses, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in an instant, he heard on the roof
The swearing and sawing of each little goof.
As he drew in his head, a plan to turn it around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in black, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with blood and soot.
A bundle of ammo he had flung on his back,
And he looked like Arnold, pulling an M60 from his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a cigar he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a cool pair of shades and a bared round belly,
That shook when he fired, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave Pontius to know he had everything to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And loosed all of his rounds, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving the finger, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his truck, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all drove with the speed of a missile.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove into the night,
"Good job team, we fethed them up right!"