

Welcome to the Fight

(Silent Wars Series #1)

By Glen Romero

Published by Glen Romero at Smashwords

Edited by L.S. Burton

**Illustrated by Erika Harm (E-mail** thrivis@gmail.com **, Website** www.erikaharm.com **)**

**Anita B. Carroll Visual Designer (E-mail** Anita@race-point.com **Website** www.race-point.com **)**

Copyright © 2012 Glen Romero

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

I would like to dedicate this book to my wife Margaret a.k.a. Peg. She has stood by me through the good times and the bad. Thank you for your support.
Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Welcome to the Fight

Chapter 2 Surprises Around Every Corner

Chapter 3 The Woes of Training

Chapter 4 Power Shift

Chapter 5 A Change in Plan

Chapter 6 A Personal Touch

Chapter 7 The Line is Drawn

Chapter 8 The Battle for Pittsburgh

# Welcome to the Fight

Let me introduce myself: my name is Samuel Oscar Smith. The initials made my parents laugh. They chose Samuel because it sounded strong. Ironically, as a child I was anything but. You could actually say my childhood was completely unremarkable. Because I was younger than most kids in my neighborhood I didn't have any friends; hell I didn't even have an imaginary friend. In school I was good with math and languages; it was something about the structure that appealed to me. That is why when I graduated high school I could speak three languages and took math classes as electives. It was only natural that when I went to college I chose accounting. It allowed me to work with numbers and not have to deal with people. I mean, who wants to talk to an accountant?

As an intern for a Detroit area accounting firm, my job consisted of running errands, mostly fetching coffee from Polly's Coffee shop. That day started as so many had with me going for coffee and pastries. The place had the best coffee so it was busy, as usual. I was gazing blankly out the window when a wall of blue caught my eye, five ominous figures advancing down the street. Bandanas pulled low on their foreheads, their overconfident swaggering created a haze of foreboding. Until then I hadn't realized that that type of crime had infiltrated this part of the city like a plague. As the thought struck me, all hell broke loose as an explosion shattered the calm outside.

It was just like in the movies. I watched as the shop's front window slowly warped inward and then shattered into a cloud shards and dust. The world caught up when the shock hammered everyone towards the back wall of the coffee shop. My mind hadn't really cleared when a second blasted knocked a woman on top of me. Desperately, I looked for some place to hide.

The only shelter from the chaos outside was behind the counter. I ran with the sound of gunfire in the street. I only made it a few steps before pain in my leg caused me to fall before reaching the safety of the counter. I looked at my leg and saw that it was bleeding badly. I looked around to see what was going on when I saw it in the window. It was slumped in the frame with half its head missing. It had a shocked look on its face like it couldn't believe that it was dead. I used the word "it" because it had greenish-gray skin with a large ridge on what was left of its forehead. The movement of the other gang members caught my attention. They were running from the firefight going on outside. I looked at the dead thing in the window as darkness over took me.

I awoke with a start as some paramedics were putting me on a stretcher. They saw that I was awake and started playing twenty questions.

"Are you on any medications?"

"No."

"Are you allergic to any medication?"

"No."

"Do you have any medical conditions?"

"No."

"Do you have any artificial openings?"

"What?"

"On a scale of one to ten, what is your current pain level?"

"Seven."

I lost track of the questions as they blurred into one another. My inquisitor regained my attention when he said, "You are very lucky to have survived that gas main explosion." He noted the confusion on my face and said, "Sir, are you all right?" I told him it wasn't a gas main explosion but a gang fight. He looked at his partner with concern. That was when I first noticed her. I couldn't tell you how tall she was but her olive colored skin almost sparkled as we sped down the street to the hospital. Her eyes were as big and blue as an ocean. Her hair was long and pulled into a pony tail. I remember thinking it was the light in the ambulance that caused her hair to look light blue. I was lost in her beauty, watching her hand brush a lock of hair from her face, when I noticed her long pointed ear. I shook my head, trying to clear some of the fog away. When I looked again her ear was still long and pointed. I commented about her ear being like one of Santa's elves.

She quickly covered her ear and said, "He's going into shock." The guy then injected something in an IV line they had started....

I woke up in a hospital bed with pain from my injury. I was pale and feeling weak. I barely had time to orientate myself when a man walked in. His skin was so white that he looked dead and he had wicked, long canine teeth. I was trying to reach for the call button to get help, but he gave me this smile that could scare even the bravest of souls and I lost the ability to move. I just laid there thinking this guy was going bite my neck and bleed me dry. When he spoke, I got goose bumps. It took a minute before I realized he was my doctor. I asked him what was going on. He gave a laugh, and said I had been injured in a gas main explosion. Like I had with the paramedics, I told him that it wasn't a gas main explosion, but a gang fight. I couldn't read his expression, but I was sure he was trying to figure something out in his head. I paused, wondering if I should tell him about the dead thing in the window or Santa's helper in the ambulance. He took that as a sign I was done so he fed me some line, "The mind can play tricks on you during times of stress. The images you think you saw could be a sign that you might be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome." I wasn't sure if he didn't believe me or if he was hiding something so I left the rest unsaid.

During the shift change from days to nights, I saw my night nurse walk by my doctor and give him a weird look. The doctor came in to see me and told me that if my labs came back clean I would be able to go home in the morning. I could have sworn I saw him lick his lips as he got ready to draw some blood from me. It felt like that was all they did, draw blood. I wasn't that excited to go home because I lived alone, and I wasn't sure that my boss even cared enough to notice that I hadn't come back to work. When the night nurse came in to check on me, I got the courage to try and ask her out. Thinking back, it was probably the pain killers giving me the courage. She had the same olive skin as the paramedic with unnaturally blond hair. I had enough sense to figure that guys hit on her all the time and I tried to think of an opening to make my move. Then it came to me. I asked, "Doesn't Doctor Stoker look like a vampire? I'm not talking those new age vampires, but the old black and white ones." She looked at me strangely. My courage started waning as she blinked coldly. Just then a knock on the door got my attention as some guy asked if he could get the trash. I kind of jerked away from him as he got the can by my bed. Not a good idea because it caused my leg to throb in pain. I must have really pissed him off because he started talking in a language I didn't understand. I could tell by the inflection that it was not good.

Then the nurse asked, "What color is the janitor's skin?" I thought this was an odd question but I answered, "Grayish green like the gang members at the cafe." She quickly excused herself and hurried out of the room. I could see her saying something to another nurse and they both looked back at me. I couldn't tell what they were saying but I knew it was about me.

The rest of the night it was all very clinical with her. In the morning the doctor cleared me to leave. They wheeled me to the hospital entrance where some men dressed in black suits were waiting for me. They were clearly from some government agency which I didn't know. It felt like I was in one of those dreams were you can't tell if you are awake or asleep. It was very surreal as they approached me and the hospital orderlies left me there. There was no introduction, just, "Come with us Mr. Smith. We have some questions to ask you." I tried to tell them that I had to get home so I could change. My pants were destroyed when they did surgery on my leg so the staff had found a pair of sweat pants for me to wear. I tried to tell them I needed to change before I went with them, but they grabbed my arms and guided me to the waiting vehicle. I was trying to get the orderlies' attention but they just turned and left as soon as the men took me. The windows were blacked out except for the front window. Not that it mattered. I was seated facing away from the window. We drove a long time before they told me, "We are here."

I wished I had a pair of their sunglasses because it was a very bright morning. With the sun shining off the glass building I couldn't see anything as we entered. I was taken to the basement and sat in a small room. The room was just big enough for two people, a desk, and two chairs. There was a door that opened to the outside but they locked it when I entered. The only light came from a flickering florescent light. My surreal dream was quickly becoming a nightmare I couldn't escape. I would have run if my leg would have allowed that. I couldn't tell how long I waited for someone to come and tell me this was all just some mix up and they had the wrong guy.

A man entered the room. I started to talk, but he motioned for me to stop. He then placed an old style recorder on the desk and introduced himself as Agent Gentry.

He turned to me and said, "State your name for the Record."

"Samuel Oscar Smith," I stated, and tried to say more but I was silenced when he held up a hand.

"Mr. Smith, we have some formalities to complete before questioning begins," he said coldly. "Do you work for KPMG as an intern?"

"Yes, but ...." I was silenced by the hand again.

"Please, Mr. Smith, yes or no answers only. Did you graduate from Western Michigan University class of 2009?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever used illegal drugs?"

"No."

"Have you ever cheated on a test?" My pause caused him to say, "Answer the question Mr. Smith. Have you ever cheated on a test?"

I answered, "No," trying to think before the next question came.

"Are your parents still living?"

"Yes, they are both still living," I said quickly.

"Are you currently in a relationship?"

When I said no my voice cracked a little. The questions kept coming with me simply answering yes or no, then stopped so suddenly that I was unbalanced mentally. From a folder in front of Agent Gentry he pulled out a stack of pictures. "Mr. Smith," he said in the same monotone voice he had been using. "I want you to tell what you see in these pictures." The pictures all had people of various nationalities. A couple looked weird, like a really hairy Mexican guy with a long face, some guy with pointy ears like the paramedic, and another guy with the forehead ridge and greenish gray skin. Agent Gentry could have done well in a poker tournament because his facial expressions never changed once, even when I described the weird features on some of the people. All he did was put the next picture in front of me without comment. When the last picture was removed, the questions started again.

"Have you ever been involved in a relationship with another race?" The pause got me another warning. "Mr. Smith, the longer it takes you to answer the questions the longer this will take."

I answered, "No," thinking it was an odd and personal question.

"Have you ever aided an orc in the commissioning of a crime?"

"What?"

"Have you ever aided an orc in the commissioning of a crime?"

"An orc like from Lord of the Rings?"

"Just yes or no Mr. Smith."

"NO!" That got the faintest of smiles, barely more than a flicker but it spoke volumes.

Again the questions continued one right after another until my voice went hoarse from answering all the questions. As soon as the questions stopped, the door opened and a bottle of water was delivered. After I took a drink from the bottle, Agent Gentry asked, "Mr. Smith do you have any questions for me?"

With my mind still numb from everything I had been through, I could only think of two questions. So I asked, "Why am I here and who do you work for?"

In his monotone voice he answered, "First, because you are a person of great interest to the government. Second, we don't exist." He got up and shook my hand. I could feel a small poke as we shook; I was out almost before my body registered the pinprick.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was overwhelmed and started crying when I came to. I was scared, alone and in pain. Cut me some slack; a guy is allowed to cry under those conditions.

Someone approached me. He looked like a middle aged man about the size of a five year old child. "Stop crying," he told me.

Between sobs, I asked, "Why?"

He plainly said, "If you don't, they are going to come in here and show you how much worse it could get." He tried to comfort me by saying "It's only bad for the first couple of days. After that you start to go numb to everything they do to you. If you cooperate they will even take it easy one you."

I just blinked dumbly at him, trying to figure out what I had done that was so bad. I didn't steal anything unless you count all the music I downloaded from the Internet. I was a good person most of the time. I even helped people cross the street sometimes. Okay, once. Why wouldn't anyone tell me what was going on?

The guy trying to comfort me introduced himself as Todd as he extended his hand to me. I gave him my name and shook his hand. The door opened and one of the agents said, "Give him back his watch, Todd." That's when I noticed my watch in his hands. I grabbed the watch and put it back on. The guard told us it was time to go. As we entered the hallway he put leg chains on all of us. I started to ask him where we were going; that's when he grabbed my head, slammed it into the wall, and told me to shut up. He took a step back and said, "That is your only warning." If that was his idea of a warning, I sure didn't want to make him mad; so I just did what he said.

We were marched to a small bus in an underground parking lot and secured in our seats for OUR own good. I was really beginning to hate this guy as he shoved me again. The pain in my leg was agonizing and his pushing me only made it worse. The bus left the garage and started down the road. I wasn't familiar with the part of town. The bus turned to get on the I-75 freeway entrance when a large truck hit us where the driver sat. The blow knocked us around and I ducked when I heard shots being fired into the bus. The back door ripped open, framing two people with guns yelling for everyone to stay still. I heard someone muttering something and my restraints opened. Todd grabbed my arm saying, "Follow me if you want to live to see tomorrow."

The people with the guns at the emergency exit told everyone to get into the van. From start to finish, the whole escape took less than a minute. I had a feeling that without me there it would have gone quicker. When everyone was in the van, we sped away. I heard some more muttering. As I looked around I found the source. It was an older woman. She was staring into space repeating the same phrase over and over until I saw a pulse of energy radiate out from her. I don't know what happened but when I looked back at her she said, "Welcome to the fight. I hope you survive long enough to make a difference."

I looked at Todd and asked him what in the Sam hell was going on. He looked at me and asked how long I'd been awake.

"Since around seven this morning, why do you ask?"

He laughed and told the woman that was muttering, "We have a newbie, Tammy."

Looking back at me Todd asked, "Have you been through anything traumatic recently?"

I relayed the story of the gang fight outside the café with all the explosions and gunfire and how I got injured. I even told him about the creepy doctor in the hospital always taking blood from me. The driver made a sharp turn off whatever road we were on and pulled into a parking lot. He turned back at me and said, "Check them or I start killing them because I don't work with vampires."

I stuttered out, "Vampire ...." when he pulled a gun and pointed it at me.

Tammy looked at me and said, "Relax and don't squirm too much because Nish has an itchy trigger finger." I had no idea when people forgot that they get better results by asking than through intimidation. Tammy started to mutter; I could understand the meaning of her words slightly. She was muttering about finding something. I didn't understand it. I just knew it. Then her eyes glowed blue, as did her hands. She moved her hands over me and when she got to my head the glowing got brighter. Nish started freaking out about the best way to get rid of my remains.

Thankfully Todd said, "It isn't him triggering the spell. It's this guy." Todd pointed his finger at another escapee from the bus.

When Tammy moved her hand to him he started to back up. Nish pointed the gun at him, pulled the trigger, and shot him in the chest. The guy's scream was hellish as his body contorted in pain. Tammy grabbed some sort of wipe and washed his face before pushing him out the back of the van. His face burst into flames and turned to ash before Nish floored it and got back on the road. I could hear him cursing under his breath, "Freaking vampires, I hate freaking vampires."

By this time I was in full panic about what just happened. Todd was laughing as I plastered myself against the van wall and started screaming for them to tell me what was going on. Tammy gave Todd a look only a woman can. That just barely controlled his laughter. Tammy told me that for thousands of years, most humans have been oblivious to the truth right in front of their faces. The enlightened call them the sleeping. Sometimes they are awaked by traumatic events like the one I experienced. Those that are awakened usually go insane, trying in vain to make sense of this new world they find themselves in.

Not all humans are oblivious; some are enlightened at birth. All creatures that are born enlightened can sense if someone is enlightened or not. This is not true with those who are awakened. You can never tell if they see you or are just sleeping through life. That is why awakened are feared and sought after. They make the perfect spies because they can get to places others can't. Tammy looked me dead in the eyes and said, "You were on your way to a training camp where they would either kill you or you would become an agent for the vampires."

I was still hoping that someone was going to point at a camera and say something like, "Smile, you're on candid camera." I looked at everyone in the van and said, "How can they get away with this? The government would stop them." This time even Tammy laughed at me. I was tired of being the butt end of their humor and yelled at them to stop laughing.

Todd walked up next to me and clapped his hand on my shoulder. "Thank you for that I haven't laughed this hard since...." He went quiet and walked away.

Tammy watched him and told me, "He lost his brother recently. They were always joking and having a good time. You see the government is a puppet put in place by the enlightened to keep the mass of humans sleeping. The America you knew and loved before the gang fight was actually ruled by a council of vampires. Each of the great vampire houses has a seat on the council. They allow the puppet government to think they were in charge." I asked if the guy pushed out the back was a vampire. Tammy answered with, "Yes, he was a vampire. They are sensitive to sunlight like in the movies but they don't burst into flames like that unless they are given some help." My confusion spoke volumes of my ignorance. Tammy said, "Most of what you know about vampires is all fantasy made up to help pacify the sleeping, like dragons. Though George Romero did get how to kill a zombie right." She made a shooting motion towards her head with her hand as she said that last part. I could only imagine brain matter and other gore coming other the other side of her head.

In a moment of somberness, she told me that I couldn't ever go back to my family. The vampires would be waiting for me. For me to try and contact my loved ones would be to put their lives in danger. The vampires were very strict in their treatment of the awakened. First, detain and recruit them. If that fails, destroy their support base, i.e. kill everyone that has contact with them. It's the simplicity that makes their plans both effective and easy to avoid. So I was left with two options, go see my family and friends and they would be killed for assisting me, or never see them again and leave them wondering what happened to me. I felt like I'd just been kicked in the nuts. I could no longer talk to my family or see my friends again without fear of getting them killed.

Tammy scooted closer, "You can come with us. I don't have it in me to leave a puppy like you to defend yourself against the vampires."

Nish overheard this and grunted out, "Great, that's all we need, another bleeding heart case."

Tammy said, "Just ignore him. I'll work things out when we get to the base camp."

She put her hand on my leg and I noticed that I had started bleeding from my injury. She started to mutter again and placed her glowing hands over my leg. It was a very creeping feeling, like a bunch of bony fingers stitching my leg back together. She looked visibly drained after that. I started to thank her but she put up her hand to stop me.

A minute later she said, "You will have a scar from your injury, but the leg is fully repaired."

Not believing her, I pulled up the leg of my sweat pants and sure enough the injury was closed and there was a scar from the injury and the surgery. She added, "My magic for healing doesn't regenerate the damaged tissue. It rapidly heals the damage, reducing recovery time from days and weeks to seconds. That is why it leaves a scar. Yours was a small wound so it didn't take very long to repair. "

I slumped against a wall in the van and stared, hoping that my family was going to be alright.

I thought, _What a strange new world I find myself in now._

# Surprises Around Every Corner

Department of Parks and Recreation Section 7, Detroit office, sublevel 2. Several people in a conference room are wondering if they will survive the day.

Francis took off his glasses and rubbed eyes. "Let me get this straight, your team of guards was subdued and our agent was compromised. Have I missed anything?"

Without thinking, one of the men said, "There was a newly awakened with the escapees."

Francis shouted, "What! You morons lost an awakened to a group of misfit malcontents?" The room went silent for a moment. The others in the room were afraid to make a sound. "Is the tracking spell working?"

Nigel, a human who looked twenty years more than his forty years, said, "They seem to have either masked the spell or neutralized it."

Francis threw his glasses across the room. The group startled and looked at him. This had the effect he wanted. "If I don't have an answer in twenty-four hours, someone's head is going to roll." Making his point Francis left the room.

When Nigel thought it was safe he turned to Timothy and glared. "You idiot! Why did you tell him about the awakened? I'm not going to die for you. If you don't get me some good news by day's end I'll kill you myself. The rest of you get some leads because mine is not the only head on the chopping block."

The room emptied quickly; no one wanted to find themselves on the wrong side of the situation.

* * * *

Timothy wanted to become a vampire. He knew the risks involved in being turned and the downside of being a vampire, but was willing to accept it all. He'd dreamed of being a vampire since he was a child. His father had been seduced by a vampire and killed when she tried to turn him. Later, Timothy's mom tracked her down and killed her. For her crime, Timothy was left an orphan and placed in a state-run facility. As he was enlightened, he was spared the worst places, but his life was no picnic. He was playing the long game. He knew his every move was being watched for weaknesses. For the moment he had to survive the day.

It only took about an hour to get all the traffic camera footage he needed to create his model. It took another hour to create the spell showing the 3D map of the area with all the traffic from the pickup site to where the bus would be intercepted. He replayed the images over and over again, watching it from different angles. Something was bothering him about the van that made the initial attack. He started back tracking the van and lost it a few blocks from the attack. He ran the plates on the van, fully expecting them to come back belonging to a different vehicle. He expanded the view of the van's route until it disappeared. That helped pinpoint the time the spell was cast. The cameras could pick up the magical effect. He caught a break when he got the footage from the McDonald's parking lot camera. It clearly showed an older woman as the van sped away and disappeared again.

Seeing that, he knew he had information he could use, but he didn't want Nigel to be the one that presented the information. A beeping at his computer confirmed his suspicions about the van's plates, nothing.

Timothy changed the image so that the woman's face was distorted. He brought Nigel over to show him that he figured out what kind of spell was used. Nigel was happy enough with that news, but Timothy knew that he'd flip out when he presented the rest of the news.

His computer beeped again with the name and known associates of the lady in the picture, one Tammy Stone. She was an elf, age unknown, with strong skills in the arcane arts; extremely dangerous: kill on sight. Timothy wondered how best to use the information.

A faint buzzing sound started in his ear, a warning that his computer was being attacked. He knew he didn't have much time before whoever it was would gain access to his separate investigation, and he shut down his computer. In his office, one had to think two steps ahead to live long enough to retirement. He'd seen Nigel taking credit for other peoples' work by stealing it from their computers. After that, he'd installed a program giving him a warning if someone was trying to access his computer, and made an application for his phone that would shut down his computer remotely. That way, even when he was away, his system was safe. This bought him some time to cover his tracks, but he was going to have to come up with a better security method. He could only explain his computer powering down so many times.

* * * *

Nigel didn't trust Timothy. He knew there was more on his computer than just fuzzy images of the people in the van. He decided to find out for himself what the images really looked like. He got a copy of the parking lot footage from when the van stopped and dropped the agent out the back doors. When the footage came up, there was nothing but static. He was going to have to watch Timothy very carefully if he wanted to keep his head.

Nigel had seen young people like Timothy come and go over the years. He knew what to look for when hiring them. Unfortunately, the same traits that made him hirable also meant that they were constantly looking to advance aggressively. Yet Timothy was different. His skills alone got him the job, but he had an ability to know what you needed and to have an answer waiting for you.

The file on Timothy was clean as a whistle - top marks in his classes at college - yet he still wanted to work there making a fraction of what he could for a private organization. It didn't add up. And Nigel was determined to get to the bottom of it. He was a natural when it came to sneaking around and getting items that were hard to retrieve. Few people knew he was very good at illusionary magic. He could cast a spell while in a crowded room without anyone knowing what had happened. Despite this, he still couldn't find anything of value on Timothy. That wouldn't do if he was to maintain his advantage for long.

* * * *

As much as Tammy tried to comfort me, I was still in shock over the news I'd just been given. Even Nish started making comments. I wasn't sure how long we had driven or were we were. I did know that we left the other escapees about an hour after we left the area.

Everyone stopped talking when Nish pulled into a building. I didn't even look up when the doors opened and someone yelled, "Who is this guy?" Tammy told him my name and what had happened to me. I could just barely hear them talking in hushed tones outside the van. The guy said louder, "I'm not running an outreach program here, Tammy."

Nish chimed in, "That's what I told her."

Tammy simply said, "Fine, if he goes, I go."

The guy said, "Wait a minute. You can't be serious here. You don't even know that guy. We don't even know what kind of skills he has."

What Tammy said next, I couldn't understand, but I knew she wasn't happy by the tone of her voice. It reminded me of that old _I Love Lucy_ show – when Rickie got mad at Lucy and started yelling at her in Spanish. I didn't need to understand to know she meant business. There was a long silence before Tammy told me to come out and meet everyone. The guy she had argued with was Max. He was one of those green skinned guys. He nearly crushed my hand when he shook it. When I started to wince from the pain, a sick smile crossed his face. A nudge from Tammy ended my torture.

"Do you have any ethics?" Max asked with a snarl.

"No," I answered quickly, not wanting to give him an excuse to throw me out.

Max ordered a sweep of the van for tracking devices. Two people moved up and waved wands over the vehicle. One of the wands started beeping; the whole place went quiet as the guy said it was transmitting. Max started to give me the "you're dead" stare when Nish said that is where the agent was sitting. Max walked over to the transmitter and reached for it when Tammy told him it was shielded by her spell as long as it stayed in the van. Max smashed the transmitter and grumbled that we needed to move location again.

They couldn't risk using magic to move their base. That much magic would be able to be tracked. They had to pack everything into trucks and move out. Max insisted that I'd be blindfolded until I could be trusted. Tammy didn't have a problem with that.

There weren't many people in this group, only about a dozen. In the van, I hadn't realized how short Nish was. He wasn't as short as Todd, but he couldn't be any taller than 4' 8". With Max, Todd, Nish, and Tammy, there was Sammy and Candy, a married couple of enlightened humans. Then there was Erica, an elf who fancied herself a swashbuckler. Clinton was the odd person in the group. All the others seemed to be able to take care of themselves in a fight. Clinton, on the other hand, looked like he would cry if he chipped one of his perfectly manicured nails.

I knew I was an outsider, but Mathew wasn't treated much better than me by the others. I found myself staring at Allyson way too much for Tammy's comfort. Allyson, I found out, was part elf, part human. She had some elven features, like their shimmering olive skin, but with more muscle tone than elves I'd seen so far.

* * * *

Francis got an incoming message on his iPhone. His transmitter was finally able to penetrate the shield blocking it. Yes there's an app for that. He logged a mental note to have a talk with the techie that told him it would transmit through any spell out there. Olrick, his cat, had jumped into his lap as the map displayed itself on his phone. He knew that by the time his people would get there, the rebels would already be gone.

Francis stroked Olrick as he thought about his next move. Olrick was the only one that Francis had let close to him. Francis called Nigel to get a team together to search the location of the transmitter. A file arrived on his phone a minute later. It was a sound clip; the transmitter had storage for five minutes of voice data. Unfortunately the spell blocking the transmitter also corrupted must of the data. Only about thirty seconds of on the clip was useable, but he didn't need to have it analyzed; he knew that voice anywhere: Nish. He and Nish had a long history together. On several occasions Nish had almost killed him, so he'd set a trap for Nish. He wanted Nish to suffer the humiliation that he had suffered.

When Nish was subdued, he'd cast a spell to permanently remove all of his hair. For a dwarf, Francis knew this was a fate worse than death. He wanted Nish to live with his shame and dishonor, knowing that Nish would never be accepted back into his native lands.

Timothy picked up a coded message saying they had a lead on the location of the miscreant's location. He was to report to the briefing room for further instructions. Timothy was sure he would be able to get some information from the location, even though it was more than likely abandoned already. Tammy was a tough opponent and would not allow herself to be taken so easily. They were going to have to draw the awakened out. Timothy was sure that he could use something from his file to use against him. This Samuel was going to be the weakest link in Tammy's armor. Timothy was using a different terminal to gather as much information about Tammy as possible. He wanted to understand her so he could predict her moves. He knew that capturing this public enemy would get him his chance to be turned, his reward for a job well done.

The site was, as everyone suspected, abandoned. They left a burning building behind, very clever of them, and let the fire department put out the flames. None of the fire fighters had noticed that the flames burned so hot they were blue. It was the work of magic to conceal the true nature of the building's purpose. It was an hour before the energy used to maintain the fire was consumed. All that was left was a couple of wall fragments here and there. Everything else was melted, even some of the concrete at the point of ignition. This had to be the work of Tammy; very few had this level of power. Gathering information from this site was going to take the work of a team specialist a couple of days. By that time, the trail would be cold once again. Timothy wondered if he was strong enough to take down someone so powerful by himself, and if he should start recruiting help.

Francis showed up after the blaze was out wanting answers he knew no one had. Francis loved the power he held over people. His 24 hour deadline was fast approaching and he was fairly sure that he would get the privilege of killing someone. He so liked the feel of releasing people of the burden of life. It was one of the true pleasures that one could truly savor, watching someone die, knowing in that instant _who_ that person really was. He had the pleasure of truly meeting so many people. Francis had already decided to kill the new guy, Timothy. The kid had useful skills but seemed to lack the killer instinct needed for the job. Francis approached Nigel and told him his time was up and if he didn't have any answers for him then someone was going to die. Nigel told him they had something back at the office. Francis conceded to wait until they got back the office. The team then packed it in.

Timothy knew that he was in danger if Francis wasn't happy. When they got back to the office Timothy knew that he had to show his enhanced model with a clear view of Tammy in the van. Francis demanded to see what they had discovered. Timothy decided it was now or never. He started casting his spell to show the model of the attack and the escape route. Nigel stepped in saying that the footage from the parking lot was unusable. Timothy cleared his throat and said that he was able to "enhance" that footage.

Impatiently, Francis said, "I'm waiting." Timothy spoke a few words and the image appeared from inside the van. Francis walked up to the image of Tammy and said, "Hello there."

Timothy chimed in saying that he had run her image against the database and found out her name. Francis said it before Timothy could.

Coldly, Francis said, "We are very familiar with each other. This is interesting news indeed. I should have recognized her work at the factory. This has just saved your life. Good work." He left with a grin on his face.

Nigel started screaming at Timothy for withholding the information from him. Timothy just kept saying that he'd just discovered the information before the lead on the building and he had forgotten to tell him about it. Timothy knew he would have to keep a watchful eye on Nigel from then on. Nigel was a dangerous man to cross and he had just done that twice in less than a day's time.

#  The Woes of Training

Max let me stay but there were a few conditions involved. First, I had to learn to take care of myself. This meant I had to learn how to live off the land like Sammy. Plus I had to learn how to fight like Candy and Nish. Then I had to learn to remain undetected by Todd. Tammy and Allyson thought an awakened lacked the ability to learn magic like them so they agreed to help with any other training they could. Two months and three relocations later I was sore all over and covered with numerous bruises. I wasn't sure if they were teaching me or just using me as a way to work off frustration.

Sammy was brutal in his methods. I thought all he would do is teach me the difference between edible and none edible plants. But he wanted to make sure I was physically fit to survive. "Survival is more than just finding food. You have to be able to get to the food before you can eat it," was Sammy's motto. That meant running at least five miles a day. My legs never stopped hurting. I hadn't known that type of pain before. Then there was the upper body strength training. I was starting to think that Sammy wasn't human, but a machine that was fueled by the pain of others. Sammy's training left my arms and legs feeling like limp noodles.

I wasn't sure who was the bigger sadist, Sammy or Candy. I'm still not sure if there is a martial arts style that she doesn't hold a black belt in. She assured me that she was going to take it easy on me. I'm sure she lied. There was no wax on wax off like in the movies. She taught me several blocks and how to use them. Then she beat me black and blue. There was no half speed practice; instead there was real time practice trying to block a martial arts genius. During one of my few breaks in training I watched Candy practice with Sammy. Candy had marked out an area on the floor for their sparring. When she got warmed up, her strikes became little more than blurs. I was amazed that Sammy was able to block any of her blows. With all the moving and dodging they did, neither one of them stepped out of bounds. That was the moment I learned she was indeed taking it easy on me. She could have snapped me in half like a twig.

I figured Nish's training would have been easier. He started off with a shotgun because you didn't have to be too accurate and it was easier to use. Having no experience with firearms it made sense. I mean how hard can it be to point and pull the trigger? He just gave me the shotgun and told me to shoot. I remembered watching a video of some guy nearly dislocating his shoulder by not seating the weapon correctly, so I set the shotgun firmly in place and pulled the trigger. I hadn't seen Nish laugh until then. I went flying to the ground with a thud. I missed all those funny videos of the importance of foot placement. I'm sure someone videotaped my first shoot because later that night I was awakened to loud roaring laughter. I was in too much pain to go see what was so funny, but I could have sworn I heard Allyson saying, "Play it again."

I learned that Nish was a dishonored dwarf. He was like me in that he was not allowed to return to his old life. He never told me what happened but I'm sure it has something to do with him being bald. Every fantasy movie shows dwarves as having full heads of hair and beards. Nish had no body hair that I could see. I respected him enough to not ask the other about his dishonor.

It turned out that Todd was the best teacher. He taught me to ignore my surroundings. Enlightened could tell the difference between enlightened and the sleeping but they couldn't tell the difference between the sleeping and the awakened. So all I had to do was blend in with the crowds. That was easy for me because I was used to feeling invisible most of the time anyways. He taught me how to spot the most likely locations for cameras and how to keep them from getting a good picture of me.

"Relax and walk like there is nothing wrong in the world," Todd said. "Security people get bored just like everyone else. They won't pay you any attention unless you draw attention to yourself."

I learned that no security camera was "closed" to the vampires. Todd wasn't sure how they got the footage but get it they did. Todd and I became very close friends. One night he told me that he liked me because I could make him laugh like his brother used to. Being friends with a thief has advantages. For starters I knew my meager possessions were safe from Todd, not just because I didn't have anything worth stealing, but because we were friends.

Even Allyson was getting into the spirit of educating me, teaching me her dialect of Elven. I was always good with languages. When I mentioned that it was very similar to what my neighbors' spoke, she told me that was because the common Elven language was the basis for the Arabic languages. Most of the Arabic nations were run by different Elven tribes. At one point, the different tribes were great and powerful nations that led the rest of the world in science and mathematics. Then she went silent for a moment and continued the lesson. I didn't ask what she had been thinking about because she looked like she didn't want to talk about it. I was a natural with languages. In high school I learned French and I had a working knowledge of Arabic. Allyson was impressed that I picked it up so quickly.

I had a hard time getting any information about her during our lessons. To reinforce her lessons she would only speak to me in Elven. Tammy and Erica both jumped on this band wagon. Erica spoke a slightly different version of the language. The best I can describe it is like the difference in Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. They are different languages but they can all still understand each other. I felt like a child learning to speak for the first time. As a reward for doing well I would be taught a curse word. I've only learned two so far. My goal is the mother of all curse words: F*U*C*K.

Max was starting to get nervous that we had overstayed our welcome. He gave Todd a list and asked him if he could fill it. Todd gave a nod and walked off. Then Max told everyone to get ready to leave soon. He didn't like staying in one place to long. It made it harder for others to track our location. With the exception of the first place, we left each place exactly as we found it. Max wasn't assigned to train me but I watched him and how he interacted with the rest of the group. He was clearly the patriarch, and always asked the others to do things. I'm sure that half the people could take him but they all chose to follow him. After the first few weeks I could see why. He instilled confidence in those around him. He was careful with his actions, but not paralyzed by the situation. I could see him leading an army victoriously into battle, changing tactics as the situation called for it. You felt awe being near him. At first I thought all this training from the others was his way of making me pay the price for Tammy throwing her weight around. When I arrived I was a ninety-eight pound desk jockey whose exercise was walking up and down the stairs at work. By the end, I wasn't a liability, I was actually useful in the camp. I still felt that Max didn't fully trust me but I was trying to prove usefulness. I hoped I'd soon earn a place in the group.

After Todd finished getting everything on Max's list we changed locations again. The move went like clockwork. Max had us take different vehicles and different routes to the new place. I rode with Tammy, Erica, and Allyson. They wanted to see if I could hold a conversation in Elven. Before we left Allyson started muttering to cast her spell. Erica turned towards me and said, "Silly spell casters always mumbling to channel energy." After a minute, the same flow of energy came out from around her that Tammy had done that first day. I sort of understood the meaning of the words she was saying. For instance, she was asking to make the vehicle undetectable and prevent tracking of all sorts. The spell didn't seem complete. I made a mental note to ask her about the spell later. For the moment I had to concentrate on doing well so I could learn my next curse word.

My job when we arrived at the new place was to help with the unpacking of the communal supplies and to assist anyone that needed help. Because I didn't have much more than the clothes on my back it was easy for me to get ready. All I had to do was throw my bag on the floor and I was done. As usual, Max and Todd were the last to arrive. There was something that Todd did to make the building harder to detect that he refused to teach me, no matter how much I begged. Max would stay to protect him if the need arose. Max looked happy about the progress we had made. Todd called me over to help him set up. He already had a room picked out for us. Todd and I had often bunked together when there were not many rooms. When I was done helping Todd I went to see if Max needed help. When I found him he was mostly done unpacking. He told me, "You should be more careful with your belongings."

Confused I told him, "My stuff was already in my room."

Max said loudly, "If your stuff in already in your room, then what is in the back of my truck?"

Everyone had come out to see what was going on. I could feel them staring at me as I walked to the back of Max's truck. I was feeling nervous about what was going on. I pulled the box with my name written on it. There were clothes, a smart phone, and some other things in the box. I was brought back to reality when Max clapped his hand on my shoulder. "Welcome to the family." I was almost in tears and thanked everyone. Max pointed a finger quickly to Tammy, who nodded at me. I finally felt like I truly belonged to something. It is a feeling I hadn't felt since I left home. Only a single tear got out before I managed to fight the rest back. No one realized it wasn't from joy.

Todd taught me to always have a "fly away" bag. It's a pack you can grab if you have to leave in a hurry. It should include a complete change of clothes, a knife, a pistol, and some money. He told me he lost everything twice before he learned to pack a bag that is easy to carry. Todd had picked a perfect backpack for me to use. In the backpack was a survival knife, a real one, not one of those crappy ones that don't hold an edge. I had a pistol I kept near me. Plus, part of the gear I got was a shoulder holster that carried a few extra clips. It had a low profile so it didn't show under the jacket they had gotten me.

* * * *

I was practicing my blocking with Candy. She had told me earlier that if I did "Good enough" she was going to start working on my offense. Candy wanted me to learn a solid defense before learning how to attack. We were going through our practice with her attacking me relentlessly, then out of nowhere she was on the ground. She had a surprised look on her face. I don't remember what I did; I just did something and she was on the floor. You could have heard a pin drop, it was that quiet. Candy asked what I did. All I could do was shrug. We went back to her testing my skills when I caught her arm and maneuvered it behind her back. I was working on autopilot. As she went to stomp my foot I was able to sweep her other leg before the stomp happened. She looked mad when she hit the floor again. She asked me where I had learned that technique, and in a way that told me I had better answer her or else. All I could think of was that I picked up it watching her and Sammy sparring.

Tammy was muttering something I couldn't quite understand. When she was done casting her spell she looked at me. I was afraid of completely looking at Tammy for fear that Candy would kill me. Candy said, "Again," loudly and we met with the usual result of her landing more blows than were blocked. When I looked back at Tammy she had a puzzled look on her face. Candy decided that I was ready to learn offense and concluded our lesson early. Later I saw her and Sammy sparring. I felt sorry for him as I watched them. I caught him glance my way and knew he was tomorrows lesson more painful than normal because of the beating he was taking from her

A few days later, a drug house opened two buildings from us. The guards out front decided they owned the whole block. Any time they saw us, they drew weapons on us. Max knew they didn't want to bring the cops; they were just trying to scare us, and they were doing a good job with me. Max had Tammy increase the protection spells while he was scouting another location. When Max returned with Todd, things went bad really quick; one of the guards opened fire on the two. This brought everyone running. The guys running the house had automatic weapons. They were turning the car into Swiss cheese. Most people think the skin on a car will protect you to some degree from a bullet. The reality is that bullets go through cars with relative ease with few exceptions, like the axles and engine block. Thankfully, these guys didn't have Nish teaching them proper weapons techniques. They were spraying bullets everywhere. It only took second for us to spring into action. Nish was the first to score a kill. He found a guy with some skill aiming out of a second story window. He quickly assumed a firing position and fired. The gunman fell out of the window, clearing a second shot for him. Just like that two were down with an unknown number left to go.

As I dropped to the ground, my heart was racing as I recited Nish's mantra: breathe out, aim, and squeeze. I hit one of the door guards square in the chest. I watched as debris flew from the weakened body armor. I adjusted my aim and fired two more quick shots as I walked the bullets up his chest and into his head. By the time the third shot landed the other door guard was adjusting fire in my direction. Luckily, his clip ran out before he sprayed my exposed position. I still had plenty of bullets and walked three more rounds up his chest before I got a kill shot. Each round was like a miniature movie as I watched the bullet fly towards its target and hit home. The slightest correction and the next movie started. It wasn't until I saw Erica through a window inside the building that I realized the others were around. Erica made very short work of a guy in a room on the first floor and had moved on to another guy when I spotted a third person entering the room.

I snapped off a quick shot as the new player in the room made a move to attack Erica. She looked out the window and gave a quick wave. Mathew was laying down cover fire so Todd and Max could get back to the building and get the evacuation process rolling.

The building was cleared out in quick order as Erica, Sammy, Candy, and Allyson cleared the building floor by floor, with us covering from the outside. When they were done inside Nish and I covered their exit. No words were spoken as we entered the building. Tammy was inside destroying any evidence we were ever there. Clinton was driving out of the garage and confirmed something with Max that I couldn't hear. My ears were ringing from the fire fight we just had. There was another large van in the garage waiting for us. Nish headed for the living area when Todd said, "I already grabbed all the fly away kits." Nish went straight for the remaining vehicle and started it up.

Grabbing my arm Max asked quietly, "You're shaking really bad kid, are you okay?"

"I'm fine", I lied, knowing he knew.

"Listen it's always hardest your first time in combat. Don't sweat it you did good." He clapped me on the shoulder

"Everyone out, we only have five minutes before we can't make it out of here cleanly," Max said in a very commanding tone.

A chorus of "yes sirs" sang out from the rest of us. I could see Max counting as I closed the cargo door. With everyone in we made our getaway before the helicopters arrived. Nish, always one to play it safe, made several direction changes to see if anyone was following us. It seemed like an eternity before anyone said anything.

Max was the first to speak. "I'm thankful that I have a family like all of you. I have no doubt that had it not been for you, Todd and I would be dead by now. Where did you learn to shoot like that, Samuel? That's right ... I taught you." Nish and the others laughed at his joke. Mathew went to Todd and asked, "Do you have any injuries that need tending?"

Todd shook his head. "No, but Max does."

The van went quiet again. Max looked at Todd like a brother who'd just been ratted out to their parents. Then I noticed the blood on Max's sleeve. Mathew chanted while holding Max's arm. The blood was still there but I'm sure the bleeding had stopped. Max mumbled, "Thank you," as he pulled his shirt off and checked Mathew's handy work. I was sure it had to have been a huge wound from the amount of blood involved, but from my position there didn't even appear to be even a scar.

Todd had a shirt for Max before he even asked for it. I was thinking that they really were a family more than a group of people. I knew I would lay down my life for any member of my family. I couldn't say the same for my friends. That day I had put my life on the line for these people and I hadn't even thought twice about it. All of us had thought of the safety of the family over our individual safety. I had killed people. Granted, they were drug dealers, but I had done it. I had been shot at and didn't move so I could cover my family. I learned that it is one thing to think someone had your back, but that night I knew these people had mine. I learned just how much this family was willing to do to protect their own.

Todd broke me out of my trance when he came over and tapped my shoulder. "A penny for your thoughts, buddy."

"I was just thinking that this truly was my family now."

"Don't worry we grow on you after a while," laughed Todd.

We sat in silence for a few minute, then he gave me my fly away kit. Seeing the bag reminded me that I had forgotten to pack my electronics from earlier. It was one of Todd's rules: always keep what you want in the fly away kit when not in use. I had been playing a game on my phone when everything happened. I didn't even get to pack my wallet. "Look inside," Todd said with a grin. I looked inside and found he had taken the time to pack the item I left out. I started to say thank you when he waved it away.

# Power Shift

Francis was furious. Two very dangerous people had slipped through his fingers. He was left to wonder what other people they had with them that would pose a threat. He knew the names of the people that had escaped; however, most were recaptured, and there were only three names left unaccounted for. Sasha McAlister came to mind first. She was an enlightened human with a thirst for blood that rivaled that of a vampire's. She didn't have any particular agenda except to cause death and destruction. He couldn't see her working with Tammy and Nish. Kendrick was another name on the list. He was another enlightened human, a computer hacker that had pushed the wrong button and earned himself a trip to a reeducation camp. He was an unlikely candidate because he was completely useless in a fight. The last name was Todd, a gnome with a knack for getting into even the most secure areas undetected. He was a likely candidate for his breaking and entering skills but lacked that killer instinct. But something else was bothering Francis. Somebody with Todd's skills shouldn't have been caught. Francis didn't think that he was a good fit for Tammy and Nish, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities.

The thirst brought him out of his current thought. There was a feeding station not far away where he could get some freshly tapped blood. There was also some chilled in his mini fridge. Thoughts of finding someone on the street and drinking from them were tempting but he had to toe the line. That meant following the rules and not making waves. In the end he didn't think it would be wise to leave the building in his current state so he settled on the chilled blood in the refrigerator. He didn't care for it that much but it would satisfy him until he could get to a bar. Unlike most vampires, Francis didn't have a favorite type of blood. He had an age preference. He liked his blood from young children between the ages of eight and thirteen, with a preference for girls. This was the blood he would drink on special occasions. Unfortunately tonight wasn't one of those occasions.

His drink was interrupted by his cell phone. The ring was reserved for his boss. He knew this was a call he had to take. He answered with one simple word, "Sir."

"We are disappointed to see that you are not on location already," the voice said in a cold monotone.

"Excuse me sir, but what location?"

"Turn on the local news, any station."

The line went dead. Francis had the remote in his hand and saw what the person was talking about. Police had responded to reports of a gang fight in the warehouse district and found the scene a massacre. Only bodies from the Sureno's gang were found. Meanwhile, what made the report so interesting was that not all the victims were shot; some were sliced with a long cutting blade. The media was calling it a ritualistic killing.

Nigel grabbed for the phone when it rang. He didn't have to look at the caller ID to know it was Francis. "Hello sir, I was just reaching for the phone to ...."

"Shut up", Francis interrupted, "We have a situation and I'm calling you. Do you see a problem with that? I bet you don't even have a team assembling!" Francis paused for affect. Nigel fumbled trying to answer the question. "I'm growing tired of your incompetence, Nigel. I'm leaving for the site now. I want your team on location no later than fifteen minutes after me." Francis terminated the connection envisioning Nigel staring at his phone. At least he could take comfort in Nigel's discomfort.

Nigel had his team at the site with minutes to spare. "I should have left Timothy off the team," he said to himself. Problem was, Timothy had become the "golden child" after the escape. Nigel still didn't trust him, but he had skill. He was just going to have to keep him on a very short leash.

The site was a mess, at least a dozen bodies scattered all over. There wasn't a single style for the killings. It was obviously not a gang fight. This is where he belonged, out in the field finding the evidence, not chained to some desk making reports. He was great at dissecting a scene and coordinating recovery operations, which was how he got his current job. Nigel liked the job and had a bigger piece of the puzzle but he didn't love it like he loved this.

Something about this whole setup didn't seem right. After a quick glance he could see how the fighting had been started by the two at the door. Toxicology screens would reveal that at least one of them was high, if not both. Whoever was in the car didn't get much of a chance to return fire. The kill shots for the two at the door came from a different direction. Someone had been lying on the lawn of the building to the right. He walked over to the outline of a body on the ground, shell casings near it. The rest of his team moved from body to body inside the building. He found another area with more shell casings. This shooter was kneeling. Either this one was a great shot or didn't have many available targets. Nigel could tell the shooter was a dwarf from the size of the indents left on the ground. He got down to the height of the shooter and could clearly see several dead people. This was a very skilled individual.

Looking around, he found some tracks leading further down the road. He followed the tracks to the next building over. Walking back to the drug house he saw a quick flash. Less than a heartbeat later, all the windows on the second floor burst outwards. Acting quickly he set about getting his team accounted for. Secondary explosions rocked the building as volatile chemicals reached their flashpoint. He lost a member of his team, Larry Holsted, an enlightened human with a wife and two kids. The civilian crime scene investigators tripped a trap left by the attackers in the drug room. The trap was cleaver in its simplicity.

Francis came screaming at Nigel calling him every name in the book and Nigel just stood there and took it. Then it happened: something in Nigel's mind snapped. Anger overtook his fear of Francis. He'd had enough; it was time to take a stand. Nigel chopped him on the neck and spun around to sweep his legs. With no thought for personal safety, he didn't give Francis a chance to recover. He paused only long enough to scan for a piece of wood to impale him with.

Nigel had long ago learned the vulnerabilities of his 'masters.' The old legends were only partial truths. Garlic wasn't dangerous to them; however, garlic fumes were like tear gas to them; it wouldn't hurt them, just really piss them off. Holy symbols were a rumor they spread to give society a false sense of security. Wooden stakes could kill them, but not like in the legends. It didn't matter where the stake was placed as long as it went all the way through the skin; it was guaranteed to bleed them dry. Sunlight was the most overrated myth. It was true, they were sensitive to it and would ultimately die from exposure, but to avoid this they just wore really strong sun block and covered as much exposed skin as possible. As a form of punishment, they would strap a victim to a table and leave them exposed to sunlight. It was a slow and painful death. The final nail in their myths: they weren't undead like most people thought. Vampirism is similar to lycanthropy in that it's an infection that changes the body to meet the needs of the infection. So many people think they rise from the grave because when the infection hits a critical level it shuts down the body, leaving it in a comatose state that resembles death.

The pause to look for wood was all Francis needed to recover from his shock. He easily flipped Nigel off of him. Francis' heightened senses gave him an advantage but the blood running freely down his face blurred his vision, rendering him nearly blind.

Wiping blood from his face, Francis said, "It looks like there is still some fight left in you. I've only seen a whipped dog for so long I forgot what you were like." Francis was trying to push Nigel into attacking again.

Nigel recognized the trick and feinted with a punch that he never threw. Instead he aimed a kick to the ribs. Nigel heard a cracking noise and smiled. Not letting go of his advantage, he got Francis into an underarm head lock, knowing that snapping his neck alone wouldn't kill him, but it would give him time to find that piece of wood he needed.

Francis' body went limp as Nigel applied pressure. It took a few minutes to find a suitable piece of wood. Nigel looked Francis in the eyes as he raised the stake over his head and stabbed it into the ground, just grazing him. Shock registered on Francis's face that he was still among the living. Nigel leaned over and whispered in his ear, "I have your number now. Just because you're a vampire doesn't make you better. Don't forget you are still only turned. I can kill you and they might just thank me for saving them the trouble. The sun will be up in three hours. I hope you are a fast healer."

Then Nigel left Francis there with the stake just touching his face.

No one saw the fight happen but everyone noticed the change. Nigel took charge of the site. Directing his team to the building, he traced the tracks to the building next door. He gave very specific instructions of what he wanted done and by when. This was a person they hadn't met and didn't want to anger.

When his team left, he started getting the police to better secure the area in case there were any more surprises.

* * * *

Timothy didn't know where Nigel's newfound confidence came from, but it was going to cause problems for his plan. It was obvious that a power shift had occurred and his plans were in jeopardy. He wasn't surprised when he was given the job of collecting all the data points and plotting them. It was monkey work but he was a possible threat. This was possible good news.

After the entire site was processed and the data collected, it was time to leave. Nigel called Timothy over to talk. "I want to make one thing painfully clear, Timothy. I don't trust you. People I don't trust disappear. This is your one and only warning. You are either an asset on MY team or you won't exist on this plain anymore." His voice was calm and even, with just a touch of malice. Timothy _knew_ he needed a new plan.

Timothy lingered at the site to give Nigel time to leave before going to his own car. He even took the long way around the building. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a whispered, "Help me!" Looking around, he found a barely recognizable Francis lying on the ground, limp, with a stake just touching his check. There was no time to get him to his car. His only hope was to get him into one of the building's inner rooms. Quickly, he grabbed Francis' shoulders and dragged him inside. Still, Francis received several kisses of the sun's rays, not nearly enough to kill him but enough to cause some pain. Francis thanked him adamantly for saving him. Timothy had to wonder if Francis got his job by kissing a lot of ass.

"Now get over here and give me a drink," Francis said.

"Where is your supply, sir?"

"You don't understand, Timothy. I want your blood. I need fresh blood to heal from this injury."

"I don't trust you to not kill me." There was real concern on his face. He wanted to be turned but couldn't trust Francis to not get lost in his needs for blood.

"I have a solution that is safe for both of us. In my car is an I.V. kit. Use that and there is no chance of infection and you control the supply."

It didn't take but a few seconds. "I have one condition," said Timothy. "I want a favor from you. I also reserve the right to take it at a later date."

"Done, now start the I.V."

Timothy cut him off after a few minutes when he started to feel dizzy. Nothing more was said as Timothy prepared to leave. Francis already had some feeling returning to his lower body.

Timothy called for a cab because he didn't feel safe driving. His next call was to the office: to let them know he wasn't feeling good and wouldn't be coming in.

* * * *

The mood at their new 'home' was as foul as the weather. A line of thunder storms had rolled in. Thankfully there were no fatal injuries and only a few minor wounds. I was happy that I had helped but I still felt sick for killing those people, even if they were drug dealers, ruining people's lives with their "product." But I had learned that I wasn't a liability anymore. I had proven under fire that I could take care of myself and function with the team.

The day after the fight, Erica approached me. She said, "Thank you for watching my back at the warehouse." She paused briefly and finished, "I thought Nish had taken out that third guy. According to him it was you that shot him." With that said she gave me a hug. When she pulled away she placed her hands on the side of my face and pulled me in for a kiss. The kiss was full on lips, just more than 'thank you' but without the passion a lover would have. I was left in stunned silence as she left me there with my jaw hanging open and said, "Too bad you are so young."

Todd came over after she left and said, "Kid, you trying to catch flies with that trap?" Laughing at his joke, he walked away.

# A Change in Plan

Tammy and Allyson had been keeping their distance since just before the gun fight back at the warehouse. I wondered what I had done to offend them. I wasn't sure how to approach the situation when Erica opened the door over dinner shortly after the warehouse fight.

"Damn, you can cut the tension between you guys with a knife," she said.

"Here, here," chimed in Todd, Clinton, and Mathew in unison.

"Just what is it that our young Samuel did that is worth the cold shoulder?" Erica continued. "It's not like he didn't hold his own back there."

"This started before that," added Candy

I nodded dumbly in agreement with Candy.

Tammy went on the defense, "I would rather not say just yet."

"Your actions are creating a rift, Tammy. He was your pick, NOW you won't say more than 'hello' in passing." Max's statement left Tammy no choice but to answer the question.

"I think he may be a mage," she said bluntly.

That one little statement caused all eyes to focus on me. No matter how hard I tried I didn't turn invisible. Looking back at Tammy Max added, "What makes you think that?"

"I've seen the effects of it. Candy, remember that day he knocked you down in training?"

Candy's face flushed as she said, "How can I forget that?"

"That was a spell," Tammy continued. "I'm not sure if he knows that he case the spell or not."

"I knew someone like him couldn't take me," Candy said, a little too excited. "No offense of course, Samuel."

"None taken."

Allyson added, "He also knew about the problem with our cloaking spell."

"We had a problem with our cloaking spell? And I'm just NOW hearing about this!" Max's tone made me grateful that I was not the focus of this inquiry.

"Well, yes, it only covered the vehicles outside, not its inside." Not wanting to keep anything else secret, "They may have been able to see me on CCTV when we stopped to get rid of the vampire agent. Plus the bug in Nish's van was able to transmit its contents when the door opened."

I hadn't heard Max yell the whole time I'd been with them until then. "WHAT! You've been sitting on this information and you didn't THINK to mention this to me. Dammit woman if they know who we are, they can adjust their tactics to trap us. I don't know about you but I don't want to go to one of those camps."

I wasn't sure about the rest, but just being in the same room as Max was scaring me. Everyone knew Tammy was by far the most powerful in the group because of her magic. She was also the oldest. But the sight of Max mad with his anger directed at her was enough to make her squirm.

"I'm sorry I didn't think of the implications," Tammy said.

Using his finger to emphasize his point, Max said, "I am responsible for EVERYONE here. I need to know when information has been compromised."

As the tension in the room settled, Max turned to me and looked me right in the eyes. I felt helpless to look away. "Are you a mage?" His voice was in a nice even tone.

"I don't know," was all I could get out.

"Okay, that takes care of that. Tammy, you and Allyson are to start his training in the morning. Work with the other to get a schedule established for his training. The last thing we need is for him to accidentally cast a spell and blow this place up." With that said he left. I'm sure I wasn't the only one confused by Max's reaction. Something was going on.

"All right," said Clinton, "Another heavy hitter in our little band of misfits. This calls for a celebration. How about we go find a pub and get hammered?"

I was surprised that Clinton offered the little outing. He was outgoing and always friendly but never went out of his way to engage me like this. Before I even had a chance to answer, Todd spoke up, "That sounds like a great idea. I'll talk with Max."

An hour later we were in a place called Carlos Murphy's, a Mexican-Irish pub. I was still nursing my first beer; they were on their third. As a joke Todd asked, "If you want, Samuel my boy, we can get the waitress to put a nipple on that for you." This had them and several people in earshot laughing. When the laughing died down Clinton asked, "Todd, how did you get Max to agree to this 'outing'?"

"It was easy. I'm teaching young Samuel here to blend into a crowd. You're here to assist me in my lesson."

"That was brilliant, Todd," said Clinton in admiration. "We should have done this a long time ago."

Not wanting to be the butt of any more jokes I quickly downed my beer and ordered another round. The waitress brought over different beer this time. She placed a nipple on my beer and winked at me. I turned several shades of red as she walked away. There was another round of laughter as I removed the nipple and took a big drink. I was never much of a drinker so when I finished this beer I was starting to feel a little buzzed. Another beer was placed in front of me right about when I saw Max walking straight at us with a scowl on his face. I was sobering up quickly as adrenaline pumped through my veins. I started tapping Todd on the shoulder as Clinton look surprisedly at Max.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing here?" He was looking right at me, already knowing the answer.

"I tried to wait for you but our waitress was just so quick," Todd answered. They all started laughing. They laughed even harder when I tried a weak laugh with them. Todd let me off the hook by saying, "Got you!" Realization hit me like a ton of bricks as the set up became obvious. With that Max sat down and motioned for the waitress to bring another round.

The beer was flowing and I was loosening up when some drunk said, "I guess they'll serve anyone in this dump." I started to smile, thinking this was some friend of Max's. I looked at Max's face only to notice four very large guys standing around our table. Todd caught my eyes and shook his head, meaning 'don't do anything stupid.' The same drunk then added, "We have a leprechaun, a pretty boy, a scared puppy, and one ugly half breed." Some gasps escaped nearby patrons and I saw knives being drawn by the drunks. I could see the gears turning in Max's head, wanting to defuse the situation.

It took me a minute to realize that he'd called Max a half breed. He must be enlightened. The others were clearly following his lead. Todd, always the kidder, in his best Irish accent added, "How about we buy you lads a drink?" The guy behind him grabbed his beer and poured it over his head.

Thankfully the manager picked that time to come from the back. "The police have been called and are on their way."

The drunk motioned for the door and said, "We'll finish this later half breed. Mark my words."

With that said, he exited to a flood of lights. It seemed that two squad cars were enough to take the fight out of him. Todd gave Max a nod and grabbed my arm; we moved quietly to the kitchen door. Todd stopped me as he listened . Satisfied with what he heard, he opened the door a crack. After a quick look around he grabbed my arm again and led me out the back door into the parking lot. We made it to a wall and hopped it. I was about to ask why the hasty retreat when I realized we were wanted criminals.

Todd saw the gears turning in my head. "They are not wanted by the government. Only by a few jealous husbands."

We made our way to a store down the street were we could watch the events unfold. It was about an hour later that the police left with their prisoners in tow. Max left on foot, heading in our general direction. Clinton came out with a woman who handed him a piece of paper and gave him a passionate kiss as he left to meet up with Max.

"It looks like it time to get some new vehicles and change homes again," Max said, as flatly as possible.

Todd asked, "Do you have any idea were to start looking for a new place to live?"

"I was thinking of taking a road trip to, say, Cleveland, and hit a vampire stronghold."

Clinton's eyes grew wide as he processed what Max had said. "Max, I'll be back in the morning. If I'm going to be a dead in a couple of days I need to unwind tonight."

"Alright, but I want you back early so we can get an early start. This area is getting a little hot for my liking."

Clinton gave a quick nod and headed back to the pub. I couldn't understand how in the span of an hour Clinton was able to hook up with some random woman. I wished that I had that kind of skill with women. Never having been very lucky with women, my big problem was that I lacked confidence. This resulted in me making off the wall comments when talking with women I was interested in, leading to some very memorable failures.

A quick nudge from Todd brought me back to the here and now. We walked down the street a short distance. We stopped when Max asked Todd, "See anything you want in there?" Todd shook his head. There was another lot down the street. This time Todd pointed out a large van. He gave a quick look around and spotted two cameras with very poor coverage.

"I don't suppose you can do some magic to take out those two cameras?" Max asked

"I just found out that I can do magic. I don't think I could make bubble if I tried."

"There is a Walgreens not far from here. I'm sure they have bubbles for you," Todd said with a laugh.

"Okay, girls let's focus on the issues at hand. How do we get past the cameras without being seen?"

"You're right," Todd said, "I'm not sure if we can get past the cameras." He was looking around rubbing his chin, and added, "If I had my bag tools this wouldn't be an issue. We could just break into the trailer and hope for the best."

I had gotten to know Todd and knew he never went anywhere without any sort of fly away kit. "Todd, do you have any tools in the old van?"

"Yes I do, but that could be a problem if the cops found it."

"But if they haven't found it by now, they aren't going to find it until it gets reported, correct?"

"They could be sitting on it, waiting to see if someone comes for it," Max added.

"What makes you so sure they know we are wanted?"

"We don't know. Caution says to treat the situation as a worst case scenario."

"All I'm saying is they may NOT know we were there."

Max must have been drunk because he saw my logic. "Okay, we'll see if they are sitting on the vehicle. But we only approach if I get a warm fuzzy."

It didn't take long to get there and sweep the area for surveillance. Max was uncomfortable going back to the vehicles but this was not the normal situation. Todd was able to approach the van and get our packs without being seen. When Todd was safely with us again I was able to breathe again. Less than a minute later an unmarked vehicle pulled into the parking lot and another one in the lot across the street. Max gave me a look that spoke volumes.

Todd made short work of what little security systems were at the lot. Todd was grinning when he came out with two sets of keys. "Don't break too many laws," he said to Max as he tossed him a set of keys. When Max pushed the unlock button on the fob, a charger flashed its lights. Max gave Todd a smile as he quickly moved to the car. I made my way to the driver's side of a van that Todd was approaching. After we put some distance between us and the pub I changed direction and started taking winding roads home.

It was really late when we got back. Max had only gotten there a few minutes earlier. We all smelled of alcohol and smoke from our outing. Allyson and Erica gave me raised eyebrow stares, letting me know they wanted to 'talk.' Thankfully, Max said, "Clinton will be back in the morning. When he gets back we have some planning to do. So everyone get some sleep and leave Samuel alone." With only a slight pause he added, "Good night."

Max walked up to me and in a hushed tone said, "You're welcome." He clapped his hand on my shoulder as he went to his room. Tammy had joined Erica and Allyson in glaring at me. Their stares sent chills running down my spine. How I longed for those drug dealers.

Clinton showed up shortly after eight o'clock. I was thankful when he showed up because I wasn't sure how much longer I could avoid the women.

Max gathered everyone to the dinner table. "We have been sitting idle too long. Now that I know our little family will take care of each other, I think we need to go on the offensive. We will start with a small target to test and refine our new dynamics. Tammy, Allyson, I need you two to make sure Samuel over here doesn't do anything stupid with magic. Test him to find his potential. Nish, Candy, work with Tammy to set up a new training schedule. We are going to pack up and take a road trip south of here. We leave in two hours. I have the lead; everyone follows me. I'll give more details when we are on the road. Now let's get packing."

His last statement silenced all questions before they were asked. Todd and I made short work of our room and started packing the communal items. Everyone was packed and ready to leave in an hour.

Max had us drive down I-75 and pull over at the last rest stop before Ohio. I was not a happy camper because Tammy insisted that I drive her. So there I was in the van with Nish, Tammy, Allyson, and Erica. Nish was not happy with me for not inviting him along for a night of drinking. By the time we pulled into the rest stop I longed to be back in that small room with agent Smith.

We went to an area in the back where no one was at. "We are headed to Hershey Pennsylvania. The vampires have a blood farm there. We are going to take out the facility and leave a little surprise for them. When we get there, we are all going to have to pull together to take it out and have everyone walk out alive. Does anyone have any questions?"

Mathew was the only one in the group that looked worried. Not scared but worried. He caught me looking at him and nodded his head away from the group.

"I don't like going home. My parents had my life planned out for me. If I had stayed in the priesthood of Trest I would have been a high ranking member by now. My family knew all the right people to get me the right training and chances. All my life I had been told I was destined for greatness, but in my heart I knew my path didn't lie with her." After a long pause he continued. "I was on an expedition and found an old tome of the goddess Aaryan. What I found out about her was that she was killed in the battle of the gods. Upon her death it was written that her followers were killed and her temples razed to the ground. I can't explain why I didn't simply torch the book. Instead I reproduced it and distributed it over the internet." His eyes glazed over briefly. "They followed the cyber trail to me and extended punishment for my transgressions." When he saw me looking for scars he added, "Not all torture leaves physical scars." He walked away looking very pale at that memory.

Tammy and Allyson started bombarding me with instruction as soon as we were on the road again. It was confusing because Allyson would start with the lesson and Tammy kept stepping in to correct this or that. With all my other training I absorbed the principle easily enough but the two of them working together were confusing me. I was ready to explode when Erica took pity on me. "Ladies, far be it for me to tell you how to teach, but you two are confusing the lad more than teaching." Then turning to me she said, "Take five while we get a game plan together. By the way, you're welcome." I don't know why everyone felt like rescuing me from them, but I was grateful they did.

I grabbed my phone and started playing a game I'd just downloaded. The game didn't hold my attention long. Images of Mathew turning white kept making their way into my mind. I decided to look up any information on this long dead goddess that he was so willing to protect. It didn't take that long to find the tome Mathew uploaded. It was a large file. I was about to scan it for viruses when the screen blinked and I heard the camera take a picture. I quickly removed the battery from my phone. "Guys, we may have a problem." Allyson's phone clicked like a picture was just taken.

"What is going on Samuel?" Tammy demanded.

"Erica, signal the others to pull over!" She quickly started flashing the high beams in code with her turn signal on. Tammy had already removed her phone's battery and was moving to take care of Erica's phone since she was driving.

As soon as we stopped, I ran to the next van and told them to remove the batteries from their phones. Max was already removing his battery when I approached his car.

"Have the others meet at the next rest stop. We'll talk about this there." Max sped off as I turned to the others.

Todd stuck his head out the window. "What's the word?"

"Remove the batteries and toss the batteries and phones here. Then we meet at the next rest stop." Todd had a questioning look so I added, "My phone was compromised and it started infecting the other phones."

When I got back to my van I passed the word about the phone and the meeting with Max. Erica pulled off the side of the road heading to the next rest stop. After a long silence Allyson asked, "What happened?"

Shaking my head I answered, "I don't know. I looked up that file Mathew uploaded when...."

I didn't get a chance to finish. Tammy cuffed me in the back of the head. "Are you stupid or just careless? What were you thinking? You should know better than to look up forbidden information." She yelled at me, anger flashing in her eyes.

I fired back, "How could I know what is and isn't forbidden if no one tells me anything." My anger at being treated like a child had boiled over. "I'm new to THIS world. I don't know all the rules but if YOU don't tell me you can't blame me. The way I see it, you can either start spinning me up or let me off at the next town. I will not be treated like a little kid anymore."

Tammy started to say something but Allyson stopped her. I just turned my back to her and stared out the window, listening to the silence. Thankfully the rest stop was only half an hour down the road. I was the last out of the van. Tammy was waiting for me. She placed a hand on my shoulder as if to say something. I quickly brushed it off and glared at her. I wasn't going to let her off the hook that easy for the way she had been treating me.

I made my way to the group. They were waiting for us to arrive before starting. Max gave Tammy a nod. She cast a quick spell, masking our little group from being monitored. Max looked at me and asked what had happened. I told him about looking for the file Mathew uploaded.

"I'm so sorry for that Samuel," said Mathew. "I should have warned you against it. They attached a really nasty virus to find anyone who wanted to learn her ways. That is my fault."

With anger barely contained, Max said, "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. We can't go to that farm now." He gave a quick look around before walking to one of the vans and opening a map inside. He pointed to the map. "We are here. We can replace our phones here." Pointing at Pittsburgh he continued, "I have a friend that owes me a favor. From there we'll go to Live Oaks, Florida, and hit that blood farm. Same plan, different location. Follow me in Pittsburgh. Where we are going, it's a very bad area. No one goes anywhere ALONE." I could have sworn I saw him look at Clinton when he said "alone."

"We are going to get new phones and vehicles there, nothing else. Do I make myself clear?"

With that said, Max went to his car. I traded rides with Clinton. I didn't want to be anywhere near Tammy. I also wanted to learn more about Aaryan from Mathew.

# A Personal Touch

It had been five years since she'd had her heart ripped out. She often dreamed of the day she would see him again. Now here she was with her dream close at hand. It was a fuzzy picture but she would recognize him anywhere, Mathew. Even in her head his very name sounded evil.

Celine hated him with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. Even so she didn't want him dead. No, death would be too easy for what she had planned. She wanted him to witness the destruction of his new religion, to watch as those who helped him were killed. She was going to need help to locate him. There was no one better for that than the vampires. They were cunning hunters with valuable resources everywhere. The drawback was that their prices were high. They often required a payment in blood from the priest. This, however, was important enough to contact them, for every person Mathew converted weakened her place of power. She had to find him, damn the cost.

Monica's voice was flat and bored as she talked with Celine. "So you need the assistance of the Department of Parks and Recreation, Section 7, is that correct?"

"As I've explained before, we have a heretic spreading false information and we need your resources to find him." Frustration crept into Celine's voice. She knew being placed on hold and routed to several different people was a ploy they used to frustrate and confuse callers.

"Ma'am, if you could e-mail a copy of these pictures, I can see what I might be able to do."

Exasperatedly Celine said, "I've already e-mailed the pictures, twice! I sent the pictures when I first called and again two transfers ago."

Monica said, "Let me check my messages about that." There was a blinking message on her computer. This was not just a message, it was a priority alert. It flagged a fingerprint from one of the pictures which the computer identified as Tammy Stone, a wanted vampire killer and very dangerous individual. Monica saw a promotion in her future IF she could bring Tammy in. A slight smile crept onto her lips. She blessed good fortune that Celine wasn't there and that she was so desperate for help.

"Celine, it would seem that we might be able to assist."

"That is good news indeed. I look forward to working with you on this endeavor." Celine was in a state of barely controlled rage as she hung up.

It took Monica's team thirty minutes to find the location of the phones that were infected by the virus. From there it was short work to find the direction of travel. A time stamp on the photos was the final piece they needed. They now knew the when and where; all they had to do was get the camera's footage. Celine watched from one of the seats as three vehicles pulled over and a lone male emerged from the last vehicle and made his way to the lead vehicle. Some words were exchanged, then he went to the second vehicle and traded places with another male. When that male went to the last vehicle and they all pulled off the road, Monica asked a question, "Did anyone see any faces or identifying marks?"

As she looked around, only one person said no; the others shook their collective heads. A slight scowl appeared on her face. Monica could appreciate the skill these people had. She was left with more question than answers. Not once did anyone show any sort of identifying feature. They had skill ... but then why did someone trip such an obvious trap? Why did the two people trade places? Her thoughts were interrupted when Mark said, "Ma'am, they went into a rest stop just down the road and their vehicles haven't left."

"Check to see if any vehicles have been stolen from there. Two, possibly three vehicles. If I had to guess I would say look for SUVs or a minivan. While you're at it, see if you can find them in the parking lot." Monica didn't expect to find much. All she needed was some small piece of evidence.

"Ma'am, I have what you wanted." With a key stroke an image was on the big screen and a small group of people appeared briefly on the camera before they disappeared from the view. "Here is the list of vehicles stolen during that time." A Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Chevy Express were reported stolen within an hour of their arriving there. They were smart, taking older vehicles so they wouldn't have to deal with GPS tracking.

"Mark, can you get me a better image of them before they disappear? Hold ... on ... just ... a ... minute ... there I have it."

Sure enough, the telltale signs of magic. This had to be Tammy. "Play that in a loop for me." After a few minutes the image was replaced with a map and an arrow.

"Ma'am, I've found the vehicles. They turned off the turnpike and took I-79 South bound." An image of the vehicle popped up, then the vehicle disappeared from the camera.

"Damn it!" Monica looked around to see who had said that when she realized it had been her. Everyone was looking at her now. "Okay people, we lost them just outside Pittsburgh. They are going to need some clean vehicles and new equipment. We need to start running down our lists of contacts. Let's shake the trees and see what falls out."

She knew the hit on Tammy's print would get attention but she was confident that she could track her down. That was the easy part. The hard part was going to be bringing her in alive or leaving enough of her intact to identify. This one fugitive would help her out. She was the child of a council member. If she brought in this real life boogieman, she would get her chance to sit on the council.

* * * *

Francis got the alert while he was feeding. He hated having his meals disturbed. This person tasted very good. Reluctantly, he released his dinner to answer the message. He read the message twice, then verified with the sender. He sent a message to Nigel telling him to get the team prepped for a trip to Pittsburgh. Even though he wanted Nigel dead, he was irreplaceable. His skills at a site were a gift from the gods. He could see things that others ignored as unimportant or missed altogether. If he was going to find Tammy before the local team, he needed Nigel on this.

Francis quickly looked up the regional office information to see who was in charge. He was not happy to find it was a true born with a reputation as a hot shot and high aspirations. Anything Francis did, she would get credit for it. The only saving grace was that he had a few hours to form a plan.

* * * *

Nigel couldn't prove it but he suspected Timothy had saved Francis. Luckily, Francis had seemed to have learned his lesson and had started treating him better. After placing the calls to assemble the team he called a friend of his from the IT department.

* * * *

The team was on the ground in less than three hours. Francis was greeted by Monica in the hanger, wearing a completely neutral, almost bored expression.

"Agent Kiev, I've read your report on Mrs. Stones' activities in Detroit." Monica said the city's name with such disdain that it seemed like it caused her pain to say it. "I'm still unclear as to what your team and you are doing here."

Francis said, "As I stated in my report, we have been tracking Mrs. Stone for the last three months. We have actually come as close as an hour from acquiring her." Francis could read most people. He figured her cold façade was a mask she wore. She had a pot of gold placed just outside of her reach. She needed his team's insight or Tammy would disappear into the day as she had so many times.

"Very well, agent Kiev. You can assist _my_ team." The emphasis was barely perceived when she said "my." "Now gather your things. I have arranged transportation to our office here in Pittsburgh. The longer we wait, the colder the trail gets."

* * * *

Max wasn't kidding when he said that part of the city would be dangerous. It turned out that his friend was the leader of a small vigilante operation.

"I'm telling all of you right now, I don't want any trouble while I'm arranging replacement supplies." Max felt he had to address this one more time as he entered the building.

"I'm not sure about you guys," said Nish, "but I'm hungry." With that said everyone started walking down the street. We all followed as he led the way to a small hole in the wall place. Nish grinned and walked to a large table that would fit all of us.

"Please sit over here," a waitress said, gesturing to two tables that she was in the process of pushing together.

Nish asked, "Miss, why can't we just have that table?"

"There is a special party coming for that table."

That peaked everyone's curiosity, but we accepted the answer and took the offered table. The place had a barely clean feel to it. Even the menus felt slightly greasy. The place served the kind of food that keeps cardiologists in practice. I don't think there was a dish that didn't have something that was deep fried. They even had deep fried ice cream. After all that healthy food Sammy and Candy made me eat, I intended to love every artery-clogging bite.

The bell above the door rang, signaling a new customer. The waitress turned pale as she saw who it was. I looked to see what had spooked her. Coming through the door were a few very large members of the local gang. Doing a quick head count, I knew there wasn't enough table space to fit them all at the table. I started assessing the situation like I was taught and realized there were sixteen of them and they all had pistols. They were a mix of humans, orcs, and goblins. One of the orcs was definitely the leader of the little group for two reasons. First, no one sat until he did, and two, he didn't care who saw the cannon he used as a pistol, almost daring someone to say something.

He grew agitated when he saw what was left of his crew standing. It was at this point he noticed I was checking out his people. With distain dripping in his voice he said, "Fool, what the hell are you eyeballing my crew for?" This had the effect of getting everyone in the room to look my way.

The waitress tried to defuse the situation by saying, "Big D, these people are waiting for their take out."

That's when Big D made his fatal mistake. He punched her in the face, sending her falling backwards. Nish put a bullet in his head before she hit the ground. Erica's blades sliced through another before they could even pull their weapons. Allyson erected a small barrier around the waitress. My body was acting on pure instinct as I rolled out of my chair into a kneeling firing position. I squeezed off two rounds, hitting the guy next to Big D, once in the gut followed by a second round into his chest near his heart. I moved again before finding a new target. I put three rounds into him before he went down, hitting him in the neck with my third shot. I moved and looked for a new target but there were none left.

The whole thing from start to finish took less than a minute. We had fired two dozen rounds before they could fire a dozen. It was exactly six heartbeats before I saw the bullet hanging in the air pointing at my heart. As I scrambled out of the way the bullet fell to the ground. My movement caught Todd's attention.

"What's wrong, Samuel?"

"I was just startled when I saw the bullet in front of me," I answered.

"You're welcome," Allyson said from across the table.

We left twenty on the table as we walked out. When we got around the corner we took stock of our situation. Nish had suffered a grazing shot that was hardly bleeding and Erica was hit by a gun when one of them clubbed her. He only got her shoulder because she had mostly dodged the blow. All of the blood on her was someone else's. Tammy threw up an unobservable spell while Mathew healed Nish and Allyson took care of cleaning the blood from everyone.

We took the long way back to meet up with Max. When we were close I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then it dawned on me there was no one on the street near us. A block up the street, the yelp of a child got my attention. I looked just in time to see a mother scooping up her child and running into her house. Erica vocalized my feeling.

"I think we're in the shooting gallery."

A car turned onto the street heading towards us and accelerated. As it sped up people with automatic weapons popped out the windows and opened fire. Everyone scrambled for cover as a hail of bullets sprayed at us, everyone except for Tammy. A hot wind started swirling around her. She raised her hands at the car as it tried to ram her. Just as the car was about hit her, it stopped and was lifted into the air violently. One of the gunmen fell out of the window and landed on the ground lying at a funny angle. The other gunmen were trying to get back into the car when she moved her hands and then thrust them down. The car mirrored her movements and rolled until it was upside down and slammed into the pavement. With a snap of her fingers the car burst into flames so hot the metal side panels started to melt and the asphalt pooled.

Screaming, she said, "Tell those pathetic bastards I'm going to send them to whatever hell they believe in." Then she looked down and sobbed openly. At her feet lay Allyson in a growing pool of blood.

Mathew was already running to her when I started to look for him. Tammy raised a hand as if to kill him. When she lowered it he continued to approach Allyson. They exchanged quiet words, then Mathew prayed over Allyson. Tammy placed a hand on his back and a flare of brilliant golden light burst forth from where she touched him. When the light faded, sirens could be heard approaching. Mathew was slumped over Allyson.

We ran over to them. Erica grabbed Tammy while Clinton and I grabbed Mathew. Sammy and Candy carefully lifted Allyson and we started moving as quickly as we could away from the sirens. We were several blocks away when a hushed voice called out to us, "Over here!" Todd saw the darkened figure waving. Todd and Nish moved towards the offered shelter.

The figure in the doorway held a door open for us and pointed towards the stairs going down. Once down the stairs the figure spoke, "I'm Taneisa, what remains of the local neighborhood watch." She paused with sadness in her eyes. "You have picked a fight with a very nasty gang called the Dreadnaughts. They moved in here about a year ago and have started taking over the streets with extreme force. They are real bad news. I don't know what kind of weapons you have, but you sure did a number on them."

# The Line is Drawn

Taneisa was explaining how the Dreadnaughts had started with a block and now controlled most of the city. It would seem they had someone with deep pockets sponsoring them.

"The bastards are in bed with the Mexican cartels. I've seen them with Mexican power brokers. I tried to give this information to the police. My payment was a drive by that killed my wife."

Allyson's soft moan broke the silence and Tammy exclaimed, "Thank Aaryan."

"Don't thank her yet," warned Mathew, "She is not out of the woods."

"Any chance she has is because of her and you," Tammy said, stroking Allyson's hair. "I swear I will forever be in your dept., whatever the outcome."

I walked over to where Allyson was lying on a cot. Her shirt was covered in her blood; I nearly retched when I saw it. Tammy grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. Sitting on that chair she looked old. She patted a spot on the bed. When I was seated she placed Allyson's hand in mine.

"It will help to keep her anchored to us if she is surrounded by family and loved ones," Tammy said with a weak smile, as if she almost believed the words herself.

I lost track of time sitting there with them. Police patrolled the streets heavily the rest of the night. At some point Taneisa came by with a blanket and another chair for me.

"She was always a gifted mage," Tammy said. "From an early age she could speak the language and manipulate the power. It was hard keeping this from her father."

Fresh tears flowed as she sobbed openly for the first time. I moved my chair next to hers and hugged her to me. Tissues materialized next to me. I handed one to her and pulled one for the tears running down her face. Years of repressed anger and sorrow for all she had gone through with her husband came pouring out all at once. "I can't lose her. She is all I have left of him," came through the sobs.

"Mom," a weak voice cracked.

"Save your strength, baby. Do you need a drink? Just nod your head."

Allyson nodded her head and Taneisa went to get something for her. I whispered to Tammy, "Is she enlightened?" Her answer was a quick shack of her head, no.

When Taneisa returned with some water, I asked, "Is this your house?"

"Yes, Ella and I bought this place ten years ago. My insurance fixed the holes in the walls but only time can heal the holes in my heart."

It wasn't until I looked at my watch that I realized the light I saw when the door opened was the morning sun.

"We need to find Max and get out of here," I said. "Max must be going nuts with everything that is going on."

"You can't leave until night," Taneisa said. "Your _encounter_ with the Dreadnaughts has been all over the news. Where did you get napalm?"

"What are you talking about?" said Nish. It wasn't official but Nish had become the de facto leader in Max's absence.

"According to the news, you guys used napalm on that car with those people still in it. I wish I could have seen those bastards burn," Taneisa added with evil glee.

Sammy answered this time. "You can't believe everything you hear on TV. Besides, we didn't get a chance to stay long, the cops were already coming because of the dinner _encounter_."

"Taneisa, can you give me a tour of your house?" Todd asked.

"Sure, anyone else want to see the place?" Everyone but Mathew, Tammy, and I went; Allyson was still too weak to sit up.

When the door closed, Mathew went to the cot and took Allyson's hand and started to pray. His hands glowed that same golden light, there was something new with his magic. Sure there was always a glow but not like this. I was still trying to figure out how a dead god was able to grant magic. Next to me Tammy started casting a spell. When it was done she spoke softly, "We are safe, Allyson was injured, will wait until nightfall to find you." With a wave of her hand, wisps that had formed near her mouth moved towards the door and disappeared.

The next thing I knew Allyson was stroking my hair and it was nearly evening. Allyson was alive, but pale and still weak from her injures. When I wiped my mouth I discovered drool on the side of my face. Allyson gave a weak laugh. I was saved by Todd, Tammy, and Taneisa as they brought down food. The sight of the food reminded me I hadn't eaten since before the fight at the diner the other night.

After we all ate, Taneisa said, "I think it's dark enough if you want to leave."

We thanked her for everything she did for us. After eating something we all had more energy for the trip at hand, and it was a long trip to find Max. We weren't able to go straight there because we had to dodge gangs and police alike. At one point Nish had us hiding in an abandoned house for half an hour. When he finally felt safe, we left. He refused questions and just waved us on. Whatever it was that had spooked him caused him to double his pace. Everyone but Sammy and Candy were exhausted by the time we got there. As we approached the door, little red dots decorated our clothes. Two people walked up to us.

"What business do you have here?" the guy on the right said.

"We're here for Max," Nish answered. "We're friends of his. Tell him we didn't stay out of trouble."

He smiled, nodded, and walked away. The red dots moved in tiny little figure eights to the breathing of the marksmen, but never once left our chests. I could have sworn I heard Max yelling. The guy came back and waved us forward. I didn't feel safe until after the door closed and the red dots blinked out of existence. Max opened and closed his mouth several times before anything came out. Then he said, "One simple little order, DON'T GET IN ANY TROUBLE! You weren't even gone thirty minutes before you started shooting the place up. What the hell were you thinking? Why did you have to pick a fight with the most powerful gang in the city?"

"Let me explain, Max. All we were doing was getting something for dinner. Anyway, several of them came into the place we went to and started beating on the waitress that tried to get us out of there."

"That was just the first fight, what about the second and third fights?"

"We only had one other run in with them. That was the drive by with the melted car. What was the other engagement you've heard about?" Tammy asked.

"We heard of a bloodbath right after you melted the car full of people. The fact that most of the people were killed by knife cuts made me think of Erica."

"We were helped by, get this, the neighborhood watch, or what's left of it," Nish said with a smile.

"A black woman named Taneisa?" the guy behind Max asked.

"Forgive my rudeness," said Max in a mock greeting. "This is Blaise, Blaise this is everyone."

"Yes, she claims to be the last of the neighborhood watch," Nish said. "She says she has been fighting these guys using the system."

"We try to protect her as best we can," said Blaise. "She has suffered more than most and still sticks with it. She is the why some of us still fight."

"We need to stay and help, Max," Tammy said with most of us shaking our heads in agreement. "We have the resources to make a difference here. Besides, I owe her. She took us in; I'm not sure what would have happened if she didn't. I also owe those bastards that nearly took my Allyson away from me." That last statement was said with such deadly intent that Blaise looked surprised to hear it.

"We could use the help with these guys. Their numbers are growing fast, plus they have more firepower than we do. We are fighting a losing battle with these guys."

Max said, "If we do this, we do it my way, no more of this Rambo crap. Blaise, I need maps of the area marked with as much intelligence as possible. Nish, do you think you can find your way back to Taneisa's house?"

"I'll get someone to take him there," Blaise said.

"When you get there, ask her to come here so I can get whatever information she may have," said Max.

"She is _sleeping,_ Max," said Nish. "What can she do that could really help?"

"She is alive out there, in the thick of it, by herself. I want to know what she knows. Then I'll decide if we stay or go." Max paused and looked around at everyone. "What are you waiting for, get moving."

In the chaos of the moment, Allyson came to me and placed her hands on each side of my face and pulled me into a kiss. Time stopped and everyone disappeared in the world except for us. Her lips against mine felt like heaven. Then all too soon it ended. "Thank you for keeping watch over me," she said.

Then just like that she left me standing there, stunned.

* * * *

Nigel was on site of the second attack. By this time the site was a mess. The local police were idiots or worse. The fire fighters could be forgiven for their part, but not the police. The large pool meant someone was hurt, not Tammy. The spell was powerful; the heat turned the car to slag and the occupants to bone. He could envision what had happened: seeing the car round the corner and starting the drive by, where the car swerved left tire tracks. He walked over to where the others had been hiding. The tracks there were trampled to nothing by the police. The only reason the blood remained was due to the heat from the car burning it onto the ground.

Why didn't Tammy just leave? The hole in the wall where they are was mostly a waste of time. They couldn't get any information except for that her group started the fight when the waitress was punched. This action was contrary to Tammy's file; it was a cold calculating murder, causing excessive collateral damage. The only excessive damage caused was the melting of the car. That was after the possible fatal wound her companion had received. That's when the light went off in his head.

"I need that file on Tammy Stone NOW," he demanded to no one and everyone.

Timothy was the first to approach him with her file already open in his tablet computer. It only took a minute to find what he needed. He had been so caught up in her psych profile that he forgot to read between the lines. She had several children, but only one thought to be in the country, the only child produced for her last marriage to a guy named Dorian Stone; she kept the name. It was a female child named Allyson. Tammy didn't become number one on the vampire most wanted list until six years after Dorian was fed to a vampire.

"Crap," escaped Nigel's lips.

"Do you need something?" Timothy asked quickly.

"Sorry, no, I'm just learning something new about our criminal."

Timothy wasn't convinced but knew better than to question him. The wolf in him was awakened again. The weak tyrant was cast down that night. Now the team no longer feared his word, they feared his actions. The first person to openly question him had his head slammed into a wall, spent several hours in surgery, and a week in the hospital recovering from the force of a wall stud shattering his shoulder.

Nigel walked into a field near the abandoned building the group traveling with Tammy had used as cover from the bullets. They'd left through the field, but with all the damage done to the tracks Nigel couldn't be sure where they'd left from. He decided to continue away from the fight in a straight line. They wouldn't be able to move very fast with a person wounded that bad. Another thing nagging him was the lack of a clear blood trail. He should have been seeing blood everywhere, but there was only the initial pool at the melted car. Tammy's magic couldn't fix that kind of injury, yet there were no additional bodies.

He walked too far from the others, following the tracks. He was concentrating on the tracks and failed to notice the five men in the shadows until they had surrounded him. He didn't have his gun so he stood there in his suit waiting for them to close. They assumed he was a lost business man. Their ringleader was a big guy; he had six inches, eighty pounds and twenty years on Nigel; and had no idea that he never stood a chance as he approach with his knife in hand.

"Give me your money, car keys, and all your jewelry!" the big guy demanded.

Nigel's quick glance revealed two guys behind him three paces out of reach, only one with a weapon, a knife. The guy was holding it with a death grip. The kids couldn't be more than fifteen. The other two were flanking the big guy, slightly behind him.

The ringleader took a step towards Nigel as he yelled, "I said give me your money, car keys, and all your jewelry!"

"You scared him stiff, Bull," the guy to his right said.

"Shut up!" Bull said as he turned to the guy behind him.

Nigel moved forward and punched Bull in the throat, crushing his wind pipe. Next he grabbed the knife from Bull's hand and stabbed him through the heart. He was now in striking distance of the flankers. He moved to attack the left flanker because he was grabbing for a gun. Nigel drew his blade across the inside of his arm, nearly cutting to the bone, and the gun was never leveled on him. Another slash and he lay dying on the ground, bleeding from his carotid artery.

The right flanker managed to get his pistol out. Nigel dodged towards the two guys behind him. The scared kid looked like he was going to wet himself, no treat. The other guy was the opposite. Nigel had just enough time to duck out of the line of sight. His shot barely missed him. Now he was between the two gunmen. Nigel advanced inside the effective range of the guy that shot at him. He grabbed the gun wrist and twisted it in his armpit. A sharp downward thrust with his left elbow popped the gunmen's elbow out, causing him to drop the gun and yell out in pain. His pain was ended by a palm strike to his nose; the gunman was dead before his body knew what happened. Not wasting a second, Nigel turned towards the flanker as he heard the shot fired. It was a minor hit to his upper left arm; it hurt but he could still fight. Three other shots were fired wildly, giving Nigel a chance to throw his knife into the flanker's chest, sinking into his heart. Nigel grabbed the gun at his feet and shot the running kid in the back twice before his team arrived.

# The Battle for Pittsburgh

Blaise couldn't offer much in the way of people: eight to be exact, but he gave a wealth of equipment and information. Max had been hoping for more people to help reduce the five to one odds we were facing. He knew that by picking small targets we could reduce their numbers, but that would only work on one or two targets before they adapted to our tactics. He was going to lead twenty people into a situation where he wasn't going to be able to get everyone out alive. This knowledge weighted on him heavily. The information Blaise had was good but not complete. He needed more; he needed to talk with Taneisa, needed the intelligence she had to formulate a plan that could succeed. It turned out that it wasn't that hard to convince her to help us. She had two conditions: keep the fighting off the streets as much as possible, and two: she wouldn't be part of the fighting. She just simply couldn't kill another person, no matter what they had done to her.

All of Blaise's men respected Taneisa so it was no surprise when the offer was made for her to stay on the compound. When she politely refused, we did the only logical thing, we posted guards on her house around the clock. Tammy made a charm to protect her and Allyson placed some protection wards on the house. No one wanted anything to happen to her. To most of Blaise's crew she was a guiding light of morality.

Due to the pending encounter, my magic training was reduced to two spells: night vision and shielding. It was more difficult to actually cast a spell than I originally thought. It was more than just saying the words and poof the spell is cast. You had to first understand what you wanted, then you could form the spell with the words. Allyson drilled me over and over again on casting the night vision spell. I just couldn't cast it with the same effect as her. The image that formed in my mind's eye as I formed the spell was a cat, so when the spell was cast I ended up with cat eyes. Ultimately they wanted function over form so we moved on to the second spell, shielding, which went easier because I already had an idea of how the spell worked. The last challenge came in the physical exhaustion from casting a spell. I was only able to cast a few times before I was too tired to continue without a rest.

On one of my breaks from my task master Allyson I came across Blaise and Max poring over intelligence in front of them. They couldn't seem to find the pattern to it. As I watched them for a few minutes I could see them hitting that mental wall. Max swore once in frustration, which was completely uncharacteristic of him. Looking at them, I remembered what my tutor from college used to say: when you get stuck on a problem, approach it from a different angle. So I risked bodily harm by disturbing them while they poured over the information.

"Guys, could you explain this to me?" I said as I waved my hands over their table.

"We don't have time to give you lessons today," Max said sharply

"Max, we need a break; explain to him what we are trying to 'see,'" Blaise said, distracting Max from my interruption.

"You asked for it kid, now you're stuck with us for the next few hours," Max said with an evil grin.

Max was true to his word. They kept me there for hours as he first explained what he was doing. Then he started going over all the information they had on their activities for the past three months. It was a lot to go through. It wasn't until we got through all the information that Max and Blaise saw what they were looking for. I swear I saw a light bulb over their heads when they said, "Do you see that?" I was still clueless but they had found what they needed and started ignoring me again. I was never so glad to be invisible.

* * * *

Nigel and Francis worked together to hunt down Tammy Stone. The people she was with had gone to ground. Nigel wanted Francis out of the picture; he was a petty, vindictive little bastard on a good day. It was only a matter of time before Francis turned against him. He had only won because surprise was on his side. He had taken to carrying a small wooden stake that resembled a pencil. Maybe he could get Tammy to take care of his problem for him.

Nigel was disturbed from his thoughts when reports came in that someone was sniping gang members from a rooftop. Nigel had his team on site in five minutes, just before the locals got there. They found the site the sniper had used; it wasn't that hard. Six bodies were on the street from that vantage point. He was only on site for a few minutes when the call came about more sniper activity in the area.

"Take your team to the new site," Nigel said to the local team leader. "I'll keep my team here and be ready to move if more activity happens."

"Don't forget you are a guest here," said the team leader. "I want a full report when we get back."

"You'll know what I know, now leave." Nigel started barking orders. "Get into your teams and do sweeps. I want everything plotted, marked, and tested. If anyone finds spent casings I want to know before you touch it. Timothy, I want you looking on the street for spent brass." Nigel examined the shooters perch for a minute before going to the apartment below the perch. It was an older woman that answered the door.

"Can I help you, sir?" she said through the crack between the door and frame. The chain holding the door was clearly visible.

Nigel showed his badge to the woman. "I'm investigating the shooting that just happened. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Hold on just a minute." She closed the door and released the chain on the door. When the activity stopped she opened the door once again. "How can I help you officer?"

"I just need to how many gunshots you heard from the roof."

"I didn't know anything happened until they started shooting from the street. I didn't actually see anything. I was too busy hiding. I'm sorry I didn't help much."

"Thank you for your time ma'am," said Nigel, pointing at the cell phone number on his business card. "If you remember anything, please call this number."

After he turned to walk away the woman called out, "Somebody ran up the stairs. They were cursing something fierce. I think they went up to the roof."

"Thank you again for your time."

Nigel went to three other apartments with the same results: shooting from the streets, cursing on the stairs going up, silence, then more cursing going down. This told him that the sniper had a silencer and was gone before they got to him. He went back to the roof; he doubted the shooter had fired more than five shoots. It didn't take long for him draw the connection to Nish. He was a known associate of Tammy's. _She is still here_. He was disturbed from his thought with the news that another shooting had happened. He took two people with him to the new site. There he got lucky; Nish left a spent cartridge behind. He had the round bagged and tagged but 'forgot' to tell Bruce of the discovery.

The one spent round contained a wealth of information. The round was 7.62mm, a NATO munitions. Not the same effect of a body-mangling .50 caliber round, but the target was just as dead. It also narrowed the number of rifles. The lab guy would be able to get more from it. He went back to the first site; on the ledge he found marks from a bipod. He pulled out a laser range finder. The range was an impressive 3,000 feet, with four dead bodies, one shot each, kill-shots each and every one. This little outing was nothing more than a challenge. Who was challenged would be easy to find out. The bigger question was: would they take the bait and where would the battle be?

* * * *

"Max, we have friends here from Detroit," said Nish. "I saw Nigel admiring my handy work. If he is here, so is Francis."

"That wasn't unexpected. Tammy's little stunt with the car must have sent up flags in the system."

"Who are these guys?" Blaise asked with a hint of concern in his voice. "What kind of crap have you brought with you?"

"Don't worry about it," Max said. "We set the hook now let's see if they take the bait."

"That's all good for you to say," Blaise fired back, clearly worried about the new players in the game, "you don't have a stake in this; I do."

"Blaise, I do have a stake here. How am I going to collect on this favor if you're dead or 'detained'? I'll lead them on a chase away from here." Max clapped Blaise on the shoulder and left as if the matter was closed.

As it turned out, the Dreadnaughts consolidated their operations to better defend themselves but this gave us our opening. Max had Nish snipe a few street dealers to squeeze them more. It took two days but we finally got them where Max wanted them, into an area that was mostly abandoned. Just after midnight, I had long since cast my two spells when Max gave the order to start the slaughter, and that's what it was, a slaughter. There were maybe 150 of them left in an old mid-rise apartment complex. As the order was given Tammy stood up with a bright blue light shimmering around her. It was so bright I had to cancel my night vision spell. The Dreadnaughts opened fire on her from the building we were attacking. I was in such awe of her that I forgot to open fire myself.

I knew Tammy was casting a spell, but with all the noise from the firefight I couldn't hear her. When she raised her hands above her head, the ground began to shake. At first it was barely noticeable, but as the shaking increased a roar could be heard. Small arms fire bounced off the shimmering blue shield. Suddenly she clapped her hands together; the clap could be heard over the cacophony of noise. The building collapsed in a cloud of smoke and debris. Max started yelling orders to evacuate the area before the dust cloud rolled over us. In the chaos of the aftermath, weapons fire from two previously empty building rained down on us. We were caught in crossfire and pinned down. I could see the golden light of Mathew using his magic. My mind went numb as an explosion went off near me. My ears were ringing so loud that all other sounds were muffled by it. The force of the explosion had knocked me down. As I laid there, I felt something warm and wet on the back of my head.

I felt someone grab the collar of my shirt, then I was being dragged somewhere. My mind was too numb to realize what was going on. The dragging stopped and an unfocused face appeared. After rubbing my eyes, the face came into focus. It was Clinton. Another explosion rocked the area and he covered me with his body. When he pulled back from me, he was yelling something but I couldn't hear it through the ringing. If I could think past the fog in my mind I would have been scared. Then suddenly Clinton's head snapped to the left and part of his face was missing. Blood poured from him as his body fell onto me. I could see a figure in the cloud and it let a howl that pierced the ringing and caused goose bumps to raise the back of my neck. That howl cleared the fog in my head as adrenaline pumped through me. I grabbed the rifle Clinton dropped and emptied it in the figure; screw the mantra. I was able to crawl out from under Clinton and made my way towards the figure. It was writhing on the ground _alive,_ but in pain. I couldn't understand how it could still be alive after I put all those holes in it. Sammy's voice came screaming in my head: _when in doubt, remove the head_. I slit its throat; it grabbed at its neck and then stopped moving. I quickly removed its head and checked on Clinton. He was dead; there was no way for a human to survive that amount of damage. I grabbed Clinton's unused ammo, three twenty-round round clips for the rifle. My hearing was still crap but my mind was working again, thankfully.

The smoke was clearing. Where I stood was going to be a killing field shortly. I moved quickly to a large chunk of debris. The Dreadnaughts were spraying the area with bullets. Luckily, the smoke was making it impossible for them to see me. I started moving towards what I thought was gunfire. I cast my night vision spell to help me see. Even though the smoke blocked most of the light, I was able to see where the fight was happening. I almost tripped over Todd; he had found a low spot on the ground. I could feel the smile creep across my face. His smile at seeing me matched my own.

"Todd, Christ, I wasn't sure I was going to see you again," I yelled at him. I'm sure it was more like a scream.

Todd was talking to me but I still couldn't hear anything so I yelled at him, "I can't hear anything Todd." With a pause I added, "Something out there killed Clinton." The words burned as I spoke them. Todd tapped my shoulder and motioned in the direction I was going.

"I was going to a building to clear it out," I said as quietly as I could. Todd shook his head at me and motioned for me to lead the way. I started back towards the building with him close on my tail. The dust had thinned but when the building collapsed it took out the power so the only light was from muzzle flashes and a few stars that refused to be blocked by the dust and pollution in the air. I was no Erica when it comes to blades, but I was able to get around a guy outside the building and place my blade between his ribs and into his lung so he wasn't able to call for help. Todd had four grenades; I didn't have any. The door we entered led from one side of the building to the other. There were four apartments on each side with a stairway in the middle of the hallway. Two of the apartments facing the courtyard were had open doors. We could have stomped all the way to the first doorway and no one would have heard a thing over all the noise.

There were two guys that I could see. I signaled Todd what I saw. I chose the guy on the left, leaving him the guy straight down the hall. Before Todd could get around the corner, my target turned and noticed me while he was reloading. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking so it took four shots to drop him. Todd fired two rounds into his guy before he fell. Two more guys came out of a hallway leading off from the living room. We dropped both with two shots each and then we swept the rest of the apartment. We went to the main hallway and approached the next open door. As I looked around the corner, someone shot at me. Luckily for me, the person must have been tweaking and the shot went wide. I cursed myself for not making sure my shield spell was still up. Outside, when the explosion had happened and my mind had gone fuzzy, I'd lost concentration and my shield dropped. Mine wasn't form fitting and shimmering blue like Tammy's, mine was green and looked like the armor from HALO. Once my shield was up again I found out what it felt like to be shot with the shield up really quick. I rushed down the hall to the living room. Todd followed in my wake as I picked off the tweaker and his friend. Todd took out three more in the hall leading to the bedrooms. Nine dead on the first floor, we didn't know how many were left upstairs.

The smoke had cleared enough to see a large domed shield in the courtyard. It looked like Tammy but I couldn't be sure. Todd grabbed a flashlight and started signaling the group. Someone replied back. I couldn't see the message because I was covering the front door. My hearing was still crap so Todd mouthed the words, "We have to get out of here." I gave an acknowledging nod and we headed towards the main hall. Todd signaled he'd heard some noises so I looked around the corner to see a group of people going down the stairs to the basement. I thought it was odd that they weren't going out one of the side exits, but I watched until they passed out of sight. I signaled to Todd what I'd seen, but the ground started to shake and Todd pointed towards the way we came.

Once outside, I could hear the blaring of sirens over the ringing in my ears. We kept running while another cloud of dust rolled past and the ground stopped shaking. Todd grabbed my arm and pulled me to the left just in time to avoid a spotlight from a helicopter. The helicopter slowed to a hover and was parting the cloud like Moses parted the Red sea. The wailing of the sirens was nearly on us as we ran for cover in a nearby field. We were headed towards an old building. From the look of it, it had been a convenience store at one time. I hazarded a look over my shoulder and saw a figure in the helicopter's spotlight open fire on the helicopter. They returned fire and the figure on the ground jerked several times as bullets ripped through his body before he hit the ground, dead. My attention was now clearly on escape. With all the big spells cast by Tammy and Allyson, the vampires were sure to be there shortly if they weren't there already. Thankfully, Todd's pace was easy to keep up with. When we got about three blocks away we felt safe enough to rest for a minute. The ringing in my ears was getting better but it still drowned out all but the highest pitched noises. Todd's voice was hopelessly lost to the ringing.

It took us nearly two hours to travel the five miles to get to the rendezvous, including hiding several times to avoid police patrols and people on the street as I was covered in Clinton's blood. We came out of an alley across from the rendezvous when movement caught my attention, a person leaving the building. They quickly broke into a run and I could clearly see it was Allyson. My spirits soared, knowing that she made it out of there. I had always liked Allyson, but it wasn't until that moment that I knew that I loved her. I could hear enough to know she was yelling something but I couldn't understand it. She nearly knocked me over as she collided with me, wrapping her arms around me. I put my hands around her and enjoyed the feeling of her in my arms. She broke the hug too quickly for my liking and placed her hands on the sides of my face, pulling me in for a kiss.

When I opened my eyes I could see her mouth moving but I couldn't understand anything she was saying. I took my hands from her waist and cupped my ears. She stopped talking to me and discovered that Todd was standing there near us. She started talking with Todd and he gestured towards the building. She grabbed my hand as we walked towards the building. I felt better being inside the safety of the building. At a quick count, there were only about fifteen people inside. I didn't see a person without smeared blood on them somewhere. I watched Allyson walk over to Mathew and bring him over to me. He placed his golden glowing hands over my ears and the ringing was replaced by mumbled conversations around the room.

"Can you hear me now?" Mathew asked.

"Dear god, Mathew, thanks for fixing my ears." I pulled him into a hug and gave him a firm pat on the back before letting him go as per guy-code dictates.

"It was no problem. There is a lot of blood on you. Do you have any other injuries?"

I shook my head and said, "Most of it is some creatures, and the rest is Clinton's." I could feel several pairs of eyes on me as I said that.

"Where is Clinton?" Max said, appearing as if by magic.

"He was killed in the courtyard. That first explosion knocked me senseless. Next thing I know he is dragging me somewhere when some large creature killed him. I emptied a clip into it and it didn't die. I remembered Sammy telling me if you're not sure of what to do cut off the head, so I did. When I got back to Clinton he was dead."

Max placed his hand on my shoulder. "Clinton was a good man. He will be missed."

* * * *

Celine watched on the news as the copters circled the battle from a safe distance. The events unfolding on the screen looked like something you would expect to see in a third world country, assault helicopters killing people on the streets, but this was Pittsburgh. She wasn't interested in the fighting. She was instead looking for some proof that HE was there. Then for just a second the camera panned over a golden glow in a cloud of dust. She knew she had to act fast; he would be gone soon; that she knew all too well. She was over two hundred miles away; she had to make it there before he disappeared into the wind again.

"Your powers are growing strong, my love, but I will find you before it is too late."

###

About the author: After taking a 22 year oath of poverty I finally retired from the military. During that time I had exciting adventures around the country with two brief tours overseas. I'm a business analyst that dabbles in computer programming. My greatest accomplishment to date is raising my two sons to adulthood without screwing them up. They are both in college and plan on getting PhDs in their respective fields. I guess I should to give my wife some credit.

Connect with me on-line:

E-mail: Glen.Romero2@gmail.com

Smashwords: <http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CaptChaos>

ISBN 9781476096063
