NationStates Jolt Archive

3936 AC (Assingtonian Calender) – 2213 AD

Map of Assington (http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/Assington/NationStates/NewAssington.gif)

Life was good for James Archer, a senior student at Topaz City Public High School. With only weeks remaining until graduation, James appeared to have his life in order and future appeared bright. Being one of the top notch gymnasts at his school, James was unusually tall, standing at three inches over six feet. James could be described as ruggedly handsome with outstanding blue eyes and straight brown hair that seemed to always be messy yet sit well around his head. Light stubble usually covered his face which seemed to fit well with his lean yet muscular build.

Despite his athletic prowess in the gymnasium, James was not your typical ‘jock’. Most would describe him as a quiet kind of guy that didn’t really bother anyone. He didn’t really have a lot of friends but those he did count as friend possessed his absolute loyalty. Perhaps the most important name within this select group of people is Emily. She could be best described as the centre of James’ life. The pair had been officially together for the last four years and known each other since they were in primary school. Whilst it was odd at such a young age, James could seem himself marrying Emily and she shared the exact same sentiment.

No doubt exists that many of Emily’s male class mates viewed her as pretty, yet she did not fit the stereotypical mould of attractive dumb girl. Emily possessed long black hair that ceased just above the small of her back and was certainly a well proportioned young woman. Her aptitude lay more within studies than athleticism, yet she had always been a reasonable sprinter. Whilst not hugely popular either, Emily was content with her life, friends and James.

Soon they would both graduate and intend to attend the same University, Topaz City Academy. All seemed in order for the happy couple and both couldn’t help but contain their excitement for what the future would hold.
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James hit the mat hard yet his feet planted themselves firmly. At first his balance seemed to be somewhat off but a slight adjustment of his arms corrected such and he remained upright. The landing was successful.

“Good work! You’re landing is getting much better.”

The thick Russian accent echoed around the gymnasium as James’ coach yelled his approval. Boris had coached James for several years now and the pair had formed not only an effective student-teacher relationship but also a strong friendship.

“It’s been a long time coming, Boris.”

“Yes it has. I think that should do us for today.”

“Righto, see you tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow it is. I think you’ll do even better this year, perhaps even knock Alexander off his national champion podium.”

James couldn’t help but grin at his coach’s encouraging optimism.

“Let’s hope so.”

With that said James made his way to the locker room, his training singlet drenched in sweat. He’d been training hard all year in preparation for the National School Championships and along with Boris, he believed there was a good chance he could actually win it. Despite being rather tall, James seemed to have a natural talent for gymnastics and was actually quite a nimble person.

Moving straight into the showers, James stripped down and soaked himself under the refreshingly cold water. It was a Friday evening and James planned to spend the night with Emily, who was probably waiting for him at the front of the school. Drying himself off, James through himself into a spare pair of clothes and began ascending the stairs that would take him outside.

As he crossed the bridge spanning the gap between the majority of the school and the sports centre, James noted a trio of rugby players headed towards him. Unable to stop himself from groaning, James prepared himself for the obvious unpleasant encounter he was about to go through.

“Hey look! It’s the star fag of the gay squad.”

James matched eyes with the offending jock and replied calmly.

“I’m sorry John but I’m not available for you tonight but I’m sure you’ll find someone on the corner of Browning Street.”

Being particularly slow, John didn’t quite understand what James was implying whilst his two comrades burst into laughter, obviously entertained by the implication John paid for male companions. Eventually it dawned upon him and the blank look of confusion had turned into anger. By this time James had managed to slip passed the trio so he had space to run if need be.

“I’ll be seeing you later, asshole!”

Thankful that John couldn’t be bothered to gain physical retribution, James ignored the comment and continued on his way. The school grounds were rather deserted as the sun plunged into the horizon, most students and staff wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible. Making his way up stairs and around buildings, James finally reached the front of the school where Emily was waiting for him in her recently acquired Ford something or other, James could never remember the models. All he knew is that it ran on petrol and didn’t hover like many of the newest cars on the market, hence it had been so cheap.

Emily literally beamed at him with a bright smile when she spotted him, her white teeth a strong contrast against her black her. Looking upon her, James himself couldn’t help but grin back.

“Hey, how was training?”

“Not too bad… landing is getting better.”

“Great, it’s about time you won gold at the nationals.”

James gave her a mocking look.

“Is that so, second place not good enough for you?”

Returning a similar look, Emily replied.

“No, it’s not. So get your arse into gear.”

James couldn’t help but chuckle as he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

“I’ll promise to get first place if you don’t get me killed in this new car of yours…”

“Deal.”

With that said, Emily floored the car out of the car park and onto the main road in front of the school, precisely weaving her way through the traffic until she reached her desired lane. Although one could fairly call her an unstable driver, the truth was that Emily was one of the few girls in James’ grade that could actually handle a car, although it was an automatic.

As they turned onto a side street, Emily swerved to avoid scraping against the side of a rather large vehicle, one of the latest ‘hover tanks’, as people liked to call them. The car was basically a massive ‘four wheel drive’ but upgraded with hover technology, allowing it to move much faster and recklessly than a conventional car.

It wasn’t long before the barbaric grunts and taunts of four footballers erupted from the hover tank, beer cans being launched at Emily’s much smaller Ford. Muttering in annoyance, Emily attempted to get away from the evidently intoxicated assailants.

“God damn assholes…”

Unfortunately the Ford was much too slow compared to the hover car and was cut off, keep both vehicles parallel to each other. A single nudge rocked the car almost off its own wheels, causing both James and Emily to swear loudly as they held on for dear life. Both cars were now travelling somewhere between seventy and eighty kilometres an hour, the Ford still unable to escape.

Coming to a corner, Emily figured this would be her chance to escape. Unfortunately before she could make the turn the assaulting vehicle unleashed yet another nudge into her small car, this time the force was enough to flip the vehicle as the tires hit the curb and it began several airborne rotations. James managed to get one last look at the departing vehicle before everything went black.

There was no telling how much time had passed. James awoke with a painful gasp as he found himself hanging out of the windscreen of Emily’s upturned car. Once he realised he wasn’t quite dead, his thoughts immediately turned to her. Looking to the driver’s seat he noted she wasn’t there, worry immediately flooding through his body.

Managing to drag himself out of the car, James paid little attention to the blood he was quickly losing as he noted Emily’s limp body across the street. Completely ignoring the pain involved, James got to his feet, discovering his left foot to be broken. Dragging it behind him, he moved as quickly as his injuries would permit, each step causing an audible grunt to emerge from his lips. After several minutes he finally made it.

It was obvious she was dead. Emily’s seatbelt had snapped under the impact and she’d been thrown from the car, her head cracking against the brick building across the street. Even death could not rob her of beauty, all the blood somehow avoiding her face, giving a merely peaceful appearance. Of course if one were to examine the back of her skull, they wouldn’t find much of it left. Despite the obvious signs, James couldn’t accept such and attempted to search for a pulse and even attempting CPR. Twenty minutes passed before he stopped, still no sign of help. By now he felt extremely dizzy, the blood loss obviously effecting him. He knew the wound was somewhere on his torso, but everything hurt so there was no determining its exact location.

As it finally dawned upon him, James collapsed against the bricks behind him and screamed. What noise he could muster strongly conveyed his complete and utter anguish, the pain, shock, horror and despair he was going through at that moment. Two things had been the focus of his life, gymnastics and Emily. Now she was gone and for all James knew, he was about to die as well. Although it seemed somewhat appropriate that he should die with her, life was meaningless otherwise.

As the world around him began to dim, James could faintly hear the chuckling of someone nearby. Unable to move his head in their general direction, he simply sat there and waited. Finally a young man jumped into his line of sight, a woman of about equal age next to him. Both were extremely pale and grinned with razor sharp teeth…

James would have sworn if he could. Whilst very rare, vampires did exist within Topaz City, despite the extremely harsh efforts of the local VP to exterminate them. They’d obviously been attracted by him bleeding everywhere and didn’t have any issues draining him of the rest of his blood.

There was no escaping death and his pale mistress as they advanced upon him, their hunger quite obvious. Unable to do anything about it, he merely accepted his fate. Soon he would be dead, which seemed somewhat appropriate as he doubted he could go on without Emily, the grief of her death now far more painful than any physical injury he had. As the pair were reached him, James’ world began to narrow into darkness…

As the vampires advanced upon the human, another person showed up and quickly caught the attention of the bloodsuckers. Just a few meters away from them was a girl who appeared to be around nineteen years old. She stood about five eleven with raven black hair cut at her shoulders and sharp aquamarine eyes. As she stood there, she was shifting her feet constantly, obviously unsure and nervous.

She adjusted her blue denim jeans and her green windbreaker as the vampires looked at her curiously. Finally, the girl spoke. “Go away shit heads!”

The male vampire looked at her and snarled while the girl with him laughed. Life was hard enough as it was in Topaz but it wasn’t the reason why he snarled. He knew what she was. Even with the boy dripping blood near him, he could pick up the faint stench of filth coming from the girl. But, he also smelled a little bit of fear. “Filthy stinking dog…scared of a vampire…that’s a sight for you….but no moon.”

The girl shifted her feet again as the male vampire began to walk forward, the vampiress staying back. As he drew closer, the girl took a step back and the vampire moved forward a little faster. The young girl licked her lips and at the right moment, lunged forward, her fingers slashing across like claws. The vampire stumbled back, surprised at the speed of the girl and cried out as the nails slashed across his face, leaving five thing red lines across his left cheek.

But, he recovered in only a few seconds and he fired a mental blast at the girl’s legs, knocking her down to the ground. She landed with a thump and cried out as the vampire leapt on top of her. She was now struggling…panicking was more the proper word for it as the man pinned her arms down. Even so, it was obvious he was struggling for a reason the young vampiress had yet to understand.

The male stared at her, he wouldn’t risk putting his head down to drink, he had a free meal waiting for him behind him and he knew of the dangers of her teeth. Instead, he concentrated his mental power on his silver dagger; the blade slid cleanly from its sheath and moved down, hovering just between her breasts. “You’ve been a bad dog.”

But, it was then as her eyes twisted to meet with his, he stared into bottomless midnight black orbs. He felt a surge of energy go through her as she twisted and before he could will the knife into her heart, her sharpened teeth had wrapped around his arm and a chunk of flesh was ripped free. The vampire screamed in pain and let go of the knife, it fell harmlessly onto her shirt. He grasped his arm and saw through the gushing blood the white of bone.

When he let go of the girl, he had forgotten to also get off of her. As he turned, the last he saw was her blood stained face, the two black orbs and sharpened teeth bearing down on him before she dug into his throat and twisted her body so that she was above him as she buried her teeth deeper and deeper and shook violently, making his throat into hamburger.

When she pulled back and looked up at the vampiress, a chunk of meat fell from her mouth along with a stream of blood as she locked eyes with the terrified girl. The vampire was still violently spasaming on the ground spraying crimson over himself as well as the thing that was above him. The orbs shifted slightly to a human figure moving behind the vampiress.

The abomination above the spasaming male vampire yelled, but it sounded more like a snarl than speech.

“Break her skull open!”

There was a swift swipe, casting the vampiress up onto her feet, her hands instantly moving to grip the fingers that threatened to tighten even more against her throat. As she struggled, there was a cold voice whispering in her ear.

"Consider yourself lucky."

There was a blast of hot air, and before the vampiress could manage out a reply, she screamed in terror and in pain as strong fingers tore through her lower jaw and took hold firmly. Her head was snapped back violently, and within moments was rapidly turning a dark crimson as blood showered upward from the gaping ragged hole in her throat. The screaming was ended instantaneously, the body dropped to the ground.

Looking up at the other woman whom now rose to her feet, he growled lowly as he spit the larynx out. He raised his hand to wipe the medium length of dark brown hair from his face. He wore a teeshirt that was now ruined with blood, and dark blue, loose fit jeans over hiking boots.

A wheezing sound behind him caused him to instantly turn and glare at the unconscious form that lay upon the ground, a young man whose body was broken in such a way it was a wonder he had even survived the apparent car crash on this lonely road. He was quite lucky indeed that the outdated vehicle had not exploded from the ruptured fuel tank. Had a fire started, there was no doubt the man would've died alongside his female companion.

Kneeling down next to the man, his pulse was checked, and the report given. "Amara, he'll be dead soon. For Christ's sake, he's just a kid!" He looked down at the kid, "I'm doing it."

"No Lorcan!" Amara yelled, but it was too late. She watched with disdain as he stood up with the body in his arms. On his shoulder, there was a new wound, a deep, unforgiving bite that bled through the torn shirt.

Amara Waggner Malone ( http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/screen_gems/when_a_stranger_calls/camilla_belle/strangercalls2.jpg), without being drenched in vampire blood, looked like your normal teenager at about eighteen to nineteen years old. But it was only a cover for a much fiercer, more menacing inside.

She was in fact a lycanthrope, or in more commonly known as, a werewolf. She was also well over a century old. Back when she was human, she had been a drama student at Warrenton University in the city of Karnotz in the Republic of the Golden Simatar. She had done a semester overseas here in Assington, but up in Emerald City. Unfortunately or fortunately for her, she took an evening stroll with a fellow student named Marcus Dante. That evening they were ambushed by vampires and while Amara ran, Marcus stayed and showed his more wild side, namely being a werewolf. He had also bitten her that night.

But instead of being a disciplined teacher or even a caring person, Marcus revealed himself to be a cold blooded killer. He had tracked her back to Karnotz where he slaughtered her friends and family when she was alone at her family’s cabin in the mountains during a full moon. When she had returned home, she killed Marcus after finding him still in her house and gorging on her mother.

But that night her life took another turn when Stephen Malone, the Golden Simatar’s first vampire, came to her home and took her away to his place. Stephen and his wife Nicole had been living undercover and working for the VIB on such matters. The vampires quickly became Amara’s new parents and to them the daughter they could never have.

Amara though was scarred mentally, not only from being turned at such young age but also at the death of her human family and friends. She had grown cold and callous to new people, but the one thing she never got over was a pure and uncontrolled fear of vampires…outside of Nicole and Stephen of course.

That is why she had come back to Assington, to get over her fear. Stephen had suggested she spend time at his friend’s coven in Emerald City. He told her Hondur was the most powerful vampire in that region of Assington and basically controlled all vampire politics so he could make sure she was safe. Even so, Amara refused to go.

Instead, after years of debate and planning, Amara decided to journey to Topaz city where the vampire population was low. There she could get used to being in a city with vampires and not be swamped by them if one was encountered…and if encountered and things were hostile, fight and win. She would spend a week or so in Topaz before slowly moving from city to city, going back home in between each city, building her confidence before she would hit vampire central…Emerald.

But she wasn’t alone; she stared at the man with her. Lorcan Tansho, cousin of the infamous vampire hunter Rikan Tansho. They had met under very bad circumstances, Lorcan had taken a group of rich businessmen hunting in the Golden Simatar looking for a strange creature…namely her or possibly the few ice dragons TGS had at that time. But, during their stay, they were there during the full moon…the time Amara hunted and she made short work of the businessmen but only badly mauled Lorcan. When she awoke the next morning, she brought him home and kept him locked up in a small storage room and spent a month between talking to him, eating bits of his flesh and debating if she should teach him to be a werewolf. She chose the later.

He had begun spending most of his time living with the Malone’s and seemed to have a positive effect on her. Now with a friend that she could be with and hang out with, much of her coldness was lost. When Amara told him what she was going to do, he chose to come along too. It was for the better Amara thought, Lorcan was still very young and could not change at will and was still subject to the power of the moon.

But despite losing her coldness, Amara was still strong and viscous and seeing Lorcan bite the boy brought back anger he had not seen for decades. The girl was on pure emotion, she could not fathom his audacity with doing such a thing, when he even couldn’t curb his transformations and was still by lycan standards a puppy! Anger radiated off of her.

Amara marched towards Lorcan, her eyes black, lifeless orbs locked with his eyes as she moved towards him. Within a flash she had grabbed the boy from Lorcan’s arms and hurtled him into the wall of a building, the body fell limp onto the ground, but she still heard signs of life.

Amara’s hand shot out and wrapped around Lorcan’s throat as she lifted him off the ground with complete ease. Choking him, she showed no signs of stress or weakness as her grip tightened, his feet dangling several inches above the ground.

“What the hell were you thinking?! Have you no conception of the ramifications of such an act?!”

James lingered in the limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness. He was only vaguely aware of faint voices around him. All vision had gone dark and so he didn't even bother keeping his eyes open, his hearing only slightly better than sight.

Despite the enourmous amount of pain that ravaged his nerves, a single new source of immediately grabbed James' attention. Whilst he had no idea what had caused such, he knew it had torn deep into his shoulder. There was something distinctly different about this agony, whilst painful all the same, it wasn't quite right.

Unfortunately James didn't have time to determine exactly what it was as he was promptly picked up and slammed into the brick wall behind him. The sudden shock seemed to pull him back to a slither of his senses, eyes opening slightly in order to gather a glimpse of those before him. Only able to gather an outline, James gave up as he noticed something strange within him.

Despite his grave injuries, he was actually starting to feel better. The pain in his foot had begun to dull and his stomach wound stopped bleeding so much. Of course there was still a significant amount of pain, enough to prevent James from moving anywhere.

Whoever the two figures were before him, they didn't appear to be those vampires and so James relaxed slightly. Perhaps they were VP officers? Pushing such thoughts out of his head, James simply lay there in an attempt black out again, his situation still less than desirable.

Soon he would be gone from this world and reunited with Emily... hopefully.

Her grip was strong, however quick thinking benefited Lorcan to think of a way to free himself. His forearm rose and swung sideways, striking hers and loosening her grip enough for him to land back on his feet and back up a bit. He rubbed his neck where he still felt her pressure, while looking up at her.

"He's just a kid! You heard that wreck. You saw that other vehicle!"

He looked over at the kid lying crumpled and helpless on the ground several feet away, "I couldn't just let him die...I just couldn't."

Casting a glance toward her once more, he moved closer to the young man, kneeling next to him again. He pulled back the bloody bits of clothing, inspecting the wounds. Already, the viral-like curse was showing evidence of presence in this new host. Raising his hand to the kid's face, he turned it and opened an eyelid. The eye that stared at him remained still for a moment before it suddenly blinked. Startled, Lorcan released him and leaned back. "He's coming around."

Only then did he turn and glare back at Amara, his eyes daring her to become the hypocrite.

As Lorcan turned back to look at the kid he heard a very familiar sound. Chk-chk

He turned his head to see Amara holding a Walther P99, the barrel was leveled straight at him. It was obvious Amara was not pleased with him and her patience was growing thin. He also knew what was in there, sixteen silver nitrate rounds and one was already locked and loaded in the breech.

Amara stared at him coldly and her words harbored little compassion for the boy.

“I don’t give a damn about him. He is a stranger, a poor fuck who ended up on the wrong end of a bunch of drunken jocks. Just because he got injured doesn’t give you the right to bite him. Considering you yourself can’t even control the change, who will take care of him then? Sure he is young, but so are many other people who die and you don’t see vampires and werewolves rushing around the world biting and turning every single one that is laying on death’s doorstep.

“When I turned you it was an accident, never meant to happen. I didn’t see you bleeding helpless in the woods and decide “gee this person is in need of help, I’ll bite him and make him better”…that’s NOT how the world works. This…this crosses every possible line of common sense, something which I thought you had.”

Amara caught herself and took a deep breath before speaking again. “The last thing this world needs is another young rabid werewolf who doesn’t know what he is tearing up the streets. I am certainly not going to take care of him and you are in no better shape yourself, you can’t control your changes nor you wolf form with your human mind and you will both terrorize the city and be killed that night. Even with biting him what chance do you think he has against the VP? If this force can keep the vampire population down to only a few hundred tops…what makes you think they will have any trouble with killing one werewolf?”

Amara motioned with the pistol. “Move away from him…I am going to end this before it all gets started.”

Several more minutes had passed and James found his mind was not fading away into nothingness. It wasn't exactly in the best condition, but it certainly wasn't dying. Eyes closed, he'd been able to verify that two people stood before him, a man and a woman. Whilst he couldn't exactly make sense of what they were saying, it seemed somewhat argumentative.

The pain that had previously ravaged his body was still present, yet of a much lesser intensity, as if his injuries were slowly disappearing. It all seemed like a bad dream... as if none of this were really happening. Gathering the strength to speak, James also moved his arm towards where he thought Emily lay.

"Em... are you okay?"

The concern in his voice was obvious, a sense of deep distress lacing his voice.

"Emily? Can someone help her? Is she alright?"

The lack of hearing her voice was likfe a knife in the heart, repeatedly stabbing him as the silence continued. James' breathing began to rapidly increase as his left arm frantically searched for her. Still too weak to get up, it was the best he could do.

Opening his eyes slightly, James ignored the fact that his vision was still blurry and continued his search.

"Where is she!?!?!"

By now he was frantic, the memory of her still form emerging to torment him, to play upon his worst fear. Tears streaming down his face, James attempted to move towards the shady outline of her form, hoping she would be alright.

Lorcan remained kneeling, his eyes fixed upon the kid as he listened to Amara ranting about responsibility. From time to time, the kid muttered something nearly incomprehensible. Inwardly, he growled, yet outwardly, he was as still as could be. However, his tension was centralizing itself into his muscles, a plan already formulating itself in his mind.

"Where is she!?!?!" the young man cried, his cry piercing the air.

In that moment of distraction, Lorcan spun low and then rose to shove an open palm against Amara's gun hand, shoving the pistol skyward. His other hand moved in simultaneous movement to his foot shifting behind her leg, his hand providing the forward force to shove her off her feet and onto the ground. It was a simple maneuver and one that required him to move as quickly and use enough strength to overwhelm her own balance.

Standing now, Lorcan looked down at her and scowled, "Have you become the monster you so hated? Don't you remember Marcus?!"

Amara didn’t show any reaction as the boy began to wake up. No doubt he was in a lot of pain from the wounds from the crash but also as the virus began to place bones back to where they were suppose to be and fix up his body. She didn’t pay much attention to him, it would be a while longer before he could move normally, and even then he would be in pain for a while longer. Her eyes were off Lorcan for a split second as she watched the boy slowly move towards his dead girlfriend.

She then knew she had grown a bit soft and less edgy as Lorcan jumped her and knocked the gun away, the pistol flew from his hand and clattered on the pavement as it bounced a few feet away. Amara showed a look of surprise as she watched Lorcan turn into building and then into night sky as she toppled backwards.

Snarling at the other were Amara was now going to reassert herself above Lorcan and put him back in the submissive state he was in after she turned him.

With push on the ground, Amara was back on her feet and her hands on Lorcan. She flung the man into the wall of a building, his body slamming into the brick and leaving an impression. Amara didn’t let Lorcan have the time to get up as she moved forward and slammed her foot into him, driving him back into the wall. Reaching down, she picked him up, and this time she held onto his arms and clenched her hands around them, putting stress on the bone and with some more pressure the bone would begin to crack. It was that pressure Amara began to apply.

“Now look here you little piece of shit! What happened between me and Marcus was different than what has happened here. And I am thinking of our own survival, this city crawls with VP and I rather not be at the business end of one of their guns. You think you were doing something noble by saving this human’s life? All you have done is created problems for him, yourself and I!”

Amara then dropped Lorcan, arms unbroken but as he hit the ground, she kicked him again, sending him back into the wall. She looked down at him coldly and spoke as he started to recover. “Listen up pup, you’ve done a lot of good with these couple of decades since I bit you. But don’t forget you were an accident unlike what you did to that kid there. Now, I am interested in hearing how you intend to take care of him because I am not. He is going to be an emotional wreck and completely unstable.Right now I fighting the urge to leave you here and let you explain what happened when the cops show or just eat you both and be on my way.”

Growling as she reasserted herself, Lorcan glared at her as he rose to his feet with a hand on his side where her foot had impacted. "Nevertheless, it is done. We can either help him, or leave him be."

He looked down at the kid whom had finally reached his girlfriend's corpse. Pity filled his heart for a moment as the kid realized what had happened. "She's gone kid." he stated at last, "I'm sorry."

He looked over again at Amara, "I'll help him. Better to keep him under some control than letting him trigger an international manhunt."

Moving closer to the kid, he lifted him effortlessly to his feet, a hand clenching the kid's jaw to keep his head still. "Come on, there's nothing we can do here anymore."

"She's gone kid. I'm sorry."

Whilst James knew it in the back of his mind, he couldn't quite convince himself that it was true until those five words reached his ears. Outside confirmation of what he feared was true, perhaps the one thing he had ever truly feared in his young life.

Unable to deceive himself any longer, James unleashed a single cry of pure despair, his anguish seeming to contiminate the air itself. He didn't struggle as the unnamed man picked him up. Whilst he wanted to stay with Emily, James couldn't find the will or the physical strength to even move. Whoever this man was didn't seem to have any trouble lifting the young man, although James wasn't exactly putting up a fight.

Now on his feet, James stared into the eyes of the man before him. His jaw held in place, the soon to be lycan couldn't really look away. Still sobbing uncontrollably, James finally nodded. He knew there was nothing more he could do, despite how much he wished he could.

In the distance sirens could be heard, most likely bound for the accident. whilst James wasn't quite sure what was going on, he knew he wasn't going to die.

"I don't care what you do with that...thing...but you are not bringing it back to the hotel room. Lock it in a dumpster or some whorehouse for later...I don't care where. I am going back for a shower and a drink." Amara snarled angerily.

She picked up her pistol and rammed it back in her pocket. She marched over to the dead male vampire and threw the corpse onto the body of the female. Fishing a black zippo lighter adorned with a blue lighting bolt, she struck a flame and fished the wrapping from a piece of gum she had been munching on earlier. Lighting the small paper, she dropped it. Much of the flame had died, but there was still enough there to ignite the blood.

Amara jumped back as she watched the vampire corpses burst into flames. She smiled as she flicked the Zippo shut and moved off, leaving Lorcan with his victim. She heard the sirens and she wiped the blood from her mouth as she moved through the backstreets and alleyways back to the hotel she and Lorcan were staying at.

Going through the back, she managed to make her way to the staircase and up to the third floor and into the room without being spotted, or more importantly, not leaving a blood trail. At least one humans could follow.

Safely inside the room, she went into the shower and stripped, throwing her clothes into the hamper and jumping into the shower. Still fuming over Lorcan, the hot water did bring some relaxation to her tense muscles and she sighed as her head flopped down and she watched as the blood ran down her body and off down into the drain.

After nearly fifteen minutes, Amara slid out of the shower and into the steam filled bathroom. Drying herself off she went into the room and went straight for the small refridgerator and pulled out a beer. Ripping off the cap, she jumped onto her bed and flicked on the TV.

She took a long pull before setting it down. Amara grumbled, she couldn't believe what Lorcan had done. If he was smart, he would be dumping that boy somewhere where he couldn't escape and leave him there.

Giving the kid assistance with an arm under his, Lorcan led him away from the grisly scene of death quickly, in the opposite direction of the main road. Once the police saw what had happened, they would be scouring the neighborhoods, searching for whomever was responsible. They would be relentless, and they would be quick. Turning his head down to the kid held up by his arms, he saw the boy still cried from time to time, yet he seemed to be getting withdrawn into himself.

"I'm sorry for your loss kid, but know that she died instantly and without pain." He watched the boy look up to him for a moment before continuing, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up, get some new clothes as well. Can't have you running around in the manner you are. Cops will be all over you like white on rice."

Turning down a dark alley, he led the kid down and around a corner, before stopping at a door marked as a back door to a clothing store. Pulling at the door, he noted it was locked. A moment later, he held a lock pick in his hand, a trade he retained from living in the slums of inner city life long ago. Picking the lock, he pulled it open, pleased to find no alarm activated in the process.

Moving in, he scanned the racks, looking for men's clothing before leading the kid toward them. He pulled a few clothes off the racks, and held them to the kid.

"These look to be about your size." he stated as he pulled another pair of clothes from the rack for himself. "Changing rooms are over there if you want." he indicated with a thumb over his shoulder. "Better hurry, we might have still tripped a silent alarm."

James was thankful for Lorcan's assistance. Despite physically feeling somewhat better, the young man was still struggling with the death of Emily. The sobs had ceased to be uncontrollable, yet the pain James felt within himself seemed as if it were worse than any possible physical injury.

Remaining silent, James watched as Lorcan gained them entrance into a clothing store, mentioning something about changing out of his bloodied garments in order to avoid the police. Accepting the wisdom in such a suggestion, James merely ripped at his shirt found it ripped with relative ease, falling to the floor in a mangled mess. Shrugging it off as dodgy craftsmenship, James placed a light blue t-shirt over his firmly muscled torso and took on a pair of jeans in favour of his bloodied school shorts. Finally dressed, James spoke to the man before him.

"Who... are you?"

Whilst sure that Emily was dead, James still wasn't positive of what exactly had happened. He remembered being injured, and yet in his current state he felt sore, but not like he was about to die.

"What happened?"

Lorcan looked at the kid, nodding as he saw the clothes fit as he figured they would. He thought about the two questions, and after pulling on his shoes again, he looked at him. "Lorcan. You were in an accident. Your friend died instantly it appears. You however, were about to become lunch for a pair of unsavory creatures. That situation...it was taken care of."

He pondered as to whether or not he should reveal the new beast that now hid beneath James' skin, awaiting the call of the next full moon. He figured Amara would've waited at least a day as well before breaking those news to the kid.

"Come on. Time to get out of here."

Almost as soon as this was said, the store lights suddenly flicked on, and the sound of crashing glass was heard. Looking quickly to the noise, he grabbed James and shoved him toward the back door, "Go! Get moving!"

"Freeze! Both of you! Freeze!"

There was a sound of gunfire, a pistol it seemed, and moments later, a solid pain hit Lorcan's right arm, passing through flesh before exiting and burying itself into the wall next to the back door.

Growling, Lorcan ignored the pain, instead reaching out to the bullet hole in the wall and burying his fingers deep into the cheaply made structure, retrieving the bullet and simultaneously wiping the remnants of blood with his palm. All that remained now was a deep slashing gouging mark, no evidence beyond that left behind.

A moment later, they were out the door, disappearing down the back alley with the sound of police sirens seemingly coming from every direction.

"Come on!" he instructed James as he turned down another alley and moved down to the banks of a nearby river that ran through the city. He led him along the river for a time until coming to a stop beneath a traffic bridge, moving back into the shadows to conceal themselves.

In the darkness, Lorcan could see James clearly, a residual effect of being a lycan, and he knew by the slight shine in James's own eyes, that he had developed such vision by now.

"Welcome to a new life, kiddo."

James was bolting the second gunfire reached his ears. Forgetting his injuries moving for the door, right behind Lorcan. It was only as he got outside did James realise he could run faster than he'd ever done so before and the pain of his injuries was now minimal, as if they were barely there anymore.

Sirens seemed to fill the air, as if they had completely surrounded the pair and yet James knew this wasn't the case. Some of the noises he could hear were some distance off and yet he could still hear them. Perhaps they were just very loud?

Pushing such thoughts to the back of his mind, James continued to follow Lorcan until they reached the riverside and followed it for some time, finally stopping beneath a bridge. Despite the darkness, James seemed able to see quite well. His vision had become sharper, more precise. Looking around him in amazement, James finally turned to the man before him. For several moments James was silent as he contemplated things before finally posing a single question.

"What... the fuck did you do to me?"

Sirens could still be heard in the background yet they weren't at any particular risk of being spotted and so two could converse safely, for the time being.

With his senses sharpening with every passing minute, James picked up the sound of heavy breathing. It wasn't coming from the man in front of him nor himself, but instead from another source.

There was a crackling from the outside as someone stepped on a discarded soda can. The footsteps grew louder, but dispite the fact they were heavy, there was also some lightness to them, a sleath quality. Then, it stopped and a strange odor reached his nose, the smell of some kind of animal, but unlike any animal he had smelled before.

He turned and looked outward from the recess where he and the man were, for several feet there was wall on either side before a small path for matience crews or people out for a stroll. A shape was vaguly...

There was a snort and a cloud of white drew James' eyes upward. The footfalls came again and something monstrous turned the corner.

Its head was large, a mane of black fur wringed it and its body was built like a tank, covered in thick muscle and hide the creature was nearly seven foot tall. A low growl escaped its lips and the thing (http://www.upcominghorrormovies.com/images/underworld36.jpg) moved towards the boy. But before James could move, a massive hand grabbed him by the throat and brought him up to its eye level. The black orbs made no visible shift as they studied him. The creature snarled before throwing the boy backwards into some old cardboard boxes.

As James recovered and looked up, he could see a girl about his age, completely naked standing before him. Shoulder length raven black hair was slightly ruffled but a quick movement of her hand smoothed it out. And her eyes were a beautiful aquamarine, but it was rather obvious by them she was not a very happy person.

She spoke very calmly, yet there was some coldness to her tone.

"Figure out what my friend here did or are you still in the dark?"

James barely had time to take in what was happening before his was lifted off the ground and promptly thrown into a bunch of thankfully empty boxes. Picking himself up slowly since he was still somewhat sore, James turned to find the dog had disappeared and instead a naked girl stood before him. Blushing slightly, James removed his jacket whilst he kept reminding himself not to stare. Then she spoke.

"Figure out what my friend here did or are you still in the dark?"

Almost immediately it came together in the back of his mind. The vampires were killed, he'd been bitten, his wounds were almost completely gone and he was still alive. The girl was the final piece. Everyone in Assington knew about vampires and was wary of them and occassionally one would here about some other supernatural creatures, such as lychans... or werewolves.

Whilst it all made sense, James was struggling with the fact it had all happened to him. He was now an immortal creature whilst Em had died. What was life without her? The anger began to rise up within him, most of it directed towards the man that had saved him. As images of Em flowed through his mind, he remembered the accident and specifically, what caused it. Growing visibly red, James considered that perhaps there was some good in being alive.

Gazing directly into the girl's eyes, James finally spoke.

"He turned me... into a lychan?

Amara smiled as the boy understood what had happend.

"Yes he did unfortuantly." When she spoke, she turned her head to him and gave him a look of subdued anger. Her look and tone portrayed to James that the young girl before him, dispite lacking the physical prowess of the man, was the dominate of the pair.

"While he was a mistake from a hunt gone bad you on the other hand he bite knownly." Amara said as she turned back to him. The girl walked up to the boy and sat on one of the boxes near him. She stared at him and watched as his face turned a myrid of colors as he kept trying to advert his eyes and keep himself acting civil. This did bring a very amused grin to Amara's face, last time she remembered someone acting like this was when she played a joke on one of the college nerds and when he walked into the room he found her stark naked. But this boy had so far yet to faint.

Her face then turned deathly serious. "Now look here boy, you are his responsiblity not mine, I rather rip your throat out and leave you to die, make it look like the vampires at the scene that carted you off. But...might as well teach the pup some responsiblity.

"Now for you....only thing at the scene right now is some vampire blood splattered about and your dead girlfriend, I burend the vampire bodies...nothing left of them. As far as the VP knows she died in the crash, you stumbled out and some vamps looking for a meal jumped at you, you managed to cut one of them before they carted you off for dinner. They left your girl as she was already dead. They drained you and dumped your corpse somewhere

"So, in the eyes of the world...you are dead...but if you do anything that may put me in jeopardy by revealing yourself or trying anything smart, I will hurt you in ways that you could never possibly imagine and your own body could never heal itself from...you get me boy?"

After listening to Amara's somewhat harsh words, James noted he still held onto his jacket and decided to offer it to the naked girl.

"You want to put something on?"

The idea that he was now an immortal was slowly sinking in. Whilst he was still angry about being alive whilst Em had died, the idea of seeking vengence upon those that caused her death seemed more necessary at each passing moment. Whilst it was somewhat unnerving to hear that this girl would readily rip his throat out, James didn't intend to do anything to get in her way.

"Right... I guess my life as I knew it is over."

Already James was going over the names of those responsible. John, Duncan, Richard, Christian and Maxwell. Last names weren't important, he would never forget the faces of those that caused Em's death. Never.

"I'm not here to cause any of you trouble... I didn't ask to be saved. But now that I'm here... I have some things to take care of. I don't expect you guys to help me or even look out for me. But I have to do this... for Em."

James' face was a mixture of solemn seriousness and desparation. He knew this girl could stop him if he wanted and yet he knew he had to try, he didn't have anything else.

Amara looked at the jacket that the boy offered to her. It was cold out and she gave a small smile and a mumbled thanks as she wrapped it around herself. But as soon as he began to speak again, Amara picked up on his tone, the way his eyes moved, his heart...all the signs.

In less than a blink of an eye, Amara was on top of James, stradling him, her hand wrapped around his throat as she choked him. Her eyes had become black orbs, lacking any sense of movement or emotion. She was snarling, her teeth were sharpened, but so far she had kept the change under perfect control, only letting some of her start to turn.

She leaned in, smelling his nervousness and fear. Her voice was low and more of a growl than speech, but he could understand it. "I can tell what you want, but if you try revenge...I'll be on top of you before you even know it and having you for dinner..."

Amara's togune moved across his neck and cheek as she tasted the dried blood mixed with sweat. "And you taste rather good, haven't had lycan yet...."

She pulled back and looked at him dead in the eyes. "Do you understand me? I am not about to have the VP tearing around the countryside looking for a werewolf and getting me exposed because of some kid...you get me?"

Amara's appearance surprised Lorcan, for she had declared she would have nothing more of this situation. However, it was clear she was here to set rules, and ensure their presence was kept a secret. When she had turned back to her normal form, Lorcan did not register any shock or embarrassment. He had seen her like so before many times now.

Watching as she pounced upon James, snarling a few words of warning, and licking his blood, Lorcan then moved forward and pulled her back by the shoulder until she stood on her feet again.

"He's got the idea. Let him go." he said quietly. He offered a hand to James, helping him to his feet. "Right?"

Despite being rattled once again as the girl pounced him, James couldn't help but feel very annoyed with this girl. It was clear by her appearance and accent that she wasn't Assingtonian so if she was so worried about the VP then she should just leave.

Whilst he was definitely afraid of this psycho girl, the thought of Em's death going unpunished was unbearable. Who was she to tell him that he couldn't exact some form of justice?

"Do you even understand!? She was my life... it's pointless now. How would you feel if someone just came along and killed the person you loved most? Wouldn't you want to see things set right!?"

James' voice was harsh and on the verge of a sob as he spoke. He had to do something, there was no question about that. He wasn't asking her to hang around anyway, James could handle things on his own.

Thankfully the Lorcan pulled Amara off him and James managed to straigten himself out a little. There wouldn't be time tonight but over the next few weeks, certain people would find themelves in very unpleasant situations.

James did not know he had struck a deep chord with Amara. She was keeping up a strong outside and to James she seemed just as cold as she was before he spoke, but Lorcan knew the teen's words had hit her deep.

When she had returned from Emerald City after being bitten, her friends and family were understanding and commited to helping her without going to the VIB. But, the werewolf who made her, Marcus, had followed her home and brutally slaughtered all of her friends and family. When she came home from the mountains after a full moon and discovered Marcus dinning on her mother, she shot him and killed him as he tried to get her to come with him. There had been little doubt in her mind he would have killed her as she would be too much trouble.

She had killed him in self-defense, but Amara knew she would have followed him to the ends of the earth to kill him.

Amara stood there quietly, staring at James, as the boy stared, he saw just the barest hint of added moisture in her eyes.

"Pardon me..." Amara said, her voice cool, but slightly cracked as she turned and quickly moved out of the small recess and moved a few meters down the path. Amara sat down on a patch of grass, wondering, thinking of her own past and what the boy had planned for his future. If Marcus hadn't been at her house that night....she would have done the same too.....was the boy's objective that different then what hers would have been?

Amara sat quietly, her eyes fixated on the path in front of her as she absorbed herself in thought.

Lorcan shook his head as the kid swore to avenge his dead girlfriend. He watched as Amara sat, cluing into the fact that James's words had struck a personal chord with her. He knew the story, for she had told him once long ago.

Sitting down next to Amara, he took her in an arm and held her. "I know, it hurts still." he whispered to her, momentarily ignoring James for the time being.

Looking to James after several minutes, he spoke, "You could try to set things right, but the rules have changed for you. Now, you must always be careful to not bring attention to yourself in the slightest way that would bring the might of the cops on your ass. You're a lycan now whether you like it or not. We are too. We've also been around longer than you have, and we know the game well."

He looked at Amara, "In time, you'll get your vengeance--" he looked at James before finishing,"but now you'll wait and learn."

James wasn't quite sure what had happened as the angry woman seemed to shrink in a sense as she moved away to sit on her own. Eventually he realised that perhaps she shared a similar history to him. Remaining silent, James could only watch as Lorcan comforted his friend, evidently her memories were still a little too close to the surface.

Despite his burning passion for revenge, James was not an idiot and he could see the wisdom in Lorcan's words. If he was going to do this then he should do it right and avoid the nasty complications such as the law. Lorcan and Amara had been at this far longer than he and despite still being bitter about surviving whilst Em didn't, he did her to acknowledge their experience and expertise in the area, at least compared to him.

Taking a few breaths to calm himself down, James nodded. He knew they could both stop him if they wanted to anyway.

"Alright, I can be patient. I suppose I should learn about this whole lycan thing too. Am I going to turn into a dog?"

Until then James hadn't really thought about the fact that he was now part canine. Whilst he was vaguely familiar with lycans, he didn't know much besides full moons could cause a change and silver hurt them. Evidently there was still much more to learn.

Amara rested her head on Lorcan's shoulder briefly as he comforted her. She always felt comforted and safe in his arms. When he went back to set the boy right, she smiled, Lorcan might actually be good at this. Though when full moon comes, she would have to keep them both in line to prevent any problems with the VP.

The boy then asked the most obvious question for any new lycanthrope, when will they turn. Without turning, Amara spoke.

"Not until the first full moon, which isn't for another day or so I think. You will be getting highly anxious as the hours pass, energy pent up before that first release of it all when you transform. Since both of you are young I will have to keep you in line. Even in human form you will be able to smell me as lycan and know me as the Alpha. I have never seen what happens when a young male werewolf comes in on an established male in a "pack" but it should be entertaining if any fur flies.

"I had to go through a month of that. Also, you will note your eyesight is getting better in the dark...after you wake up after you first full moon your eyes will make the night almost as bright as day...though it is no where near what vampires have. Its like we have standard TV and they have Blue Ray or HD."

Amara smiled as she added the next part. "Strip before the turn also, don't need to waste clothes."

There was no denying that this whole ordeal had James scared witless, although he kept it well hidden. It certainly wasn't everyday that one comes close to death only to be turned into an immortal lycanthrope that would morph into a dog the next night, most likely with the intent of eating someone.

The idea of losing control as he turned into a wild animal didn't appeal to James yet there was little he could do about it. Acceptance was really his only choice, especially if he wanted avenge Em's death. Nodding his understand, James spoke once again.

"Yeh, I'm pretty sure it's tomorrow night. So what else do I need to know? I'm not going to die of old age, the full moon turns me into a dog and silver is bad. I'm sure there's more than that..."

James had learned plenty about vampires during school as everyone was taught to hate and fead the undead creatures and thus knowing their weaknesses was essential if one were to kill them. Lycans on the other hand were reasonably rare within the nation and thus there was little mention of them.

Amara shook her head. "Nope, thats about it. Spare one bite is all that it takes to make someone a werewolf."

The girl was silent for a bit before thinking of somehthing else. "Oh one important thing. Pizza, chocolate, pasta...the good stuff, can toss all that in the garbage now. You try to eat that stuff you will find yourself very sick. Its meat for you here on out and if you were a vegitarian before now its time to start learning to like meat. Though an upside is you can drink whatever you want. So if you like beer, go right ahead. Regeneration will keep the liver going quite well though you'll still get completely drunk."

Amara turned around and looked at him, he was scared, like she was when she found out about her new state of being those years ago. As she looked at him, she could see that something else was eating at him and she knew what it probably was.

"Don't worry, you won't be eating any humans here...its far to dangerous. Tomorrow afternoon we'll go for a hike deep in the woods where it'll be safer. But then again...should we come across any campers..." Amara visibly licked her lips. "You'll find yourself quite attracted to having a human every now and again. A very tender meat, full of richness and flavor...as long as you get someone good. But then again this being VP central...I'll keep you two off campers and let you terrorize the local wildlife."

The idea of eating people had crossed James' mind and resulted in a sickly shudder. Whilst he seemed prepared to take vengence upon Em's murderers, the idea of eating people was something beyond him. Thankful that Amara wasn't going to allow any people become his dinner, James relaxed a little more.

"Well, I suppose we should probably get out of here. The cops were after us from that store and I doubt they've just stopped looking."

It would take some getting used to but James had the feeling he would learn to enjoy his new found freedom and lifestyle. Nothing could bring back Em but he could at least seek some form of justice for her and she would continue to live on in his mind.

Whatever he'd done, James found Amara was now treating him with a bit more respect. He guessed she may have very well gone through a similar scenario and thus able to empathise with his situation. Either way she was being much more helpful now.

"I know a place or two we could probably crash for the night if you guys don't have anywhere in particular."

Amara looked at the boy, he had a good point. After Lorcan's little break in the police were probably now widening their search area. In their arsenal she knew would be some Simatarian toys that were devloped to specifically hunt down vampires like heat sensors that were registered low enough to pick them up and hooked up to an autmoated machine gun would tear them to pieces. Luckily for the trio, they weren't vampires. But a naked girl with a jacket around her, a teen boy and an older man would raise eyebrows.

She thought of the hotel, but that was on the other side of the police dragnet. Amara looked at the boy.

"Right, where to? Rule out any abandoned buildings as they will be among the first places looked. Also, what is your name? I can't keep calling you boy...I'm Amara and he is Lorcan."

Despite all that had happened and been revealed so far none of them had bothered with introductions. At least Amara had put a blunt end to that.

"I'm James."

Fortunately for James his older brother was out of town on business and so his apartment was vacant. James had a key and was unofficially welcome to crash there anytime he wanted. It wasn't particularly large but it was reasonably close a place to sleep so it would do.

"My brother has an apartment about two k's from here and he's out of town so there won't be anyone around to bother us."

Poking his head out from under the bridge James took a quick look around to get his bearings. They would have to get across the bridge and then it was a rather easy walk, assuming the police weren't lurking about there too heavily.

"We should be able to make it pretty easily and he won't be back for about another week so we've got plenty of time. That work for you guys?"

Lorcan took a look at Amara, momentarily trying to figure out if she had some abstract game in her mind, something she was playing out to see the results of. After a moment, he resigned to the thought that she had accepted James now for what he was now, choosing to establish her position with him as well, although in a nicer manner than she had with Lorcan. This in itself irritated him, but he said nothing.

"Sounds good to me, James." Lorcan replied, watching as the kid looked up at the bridge. He could almost see what the kid was thinking, so he spoke up, "Crossing the bridge won't work. They'll have it guarded on both ends, questioning everyone."

He looked down to the waters, "However, we can either swim, or find some very quiet watercraft. Anything noisy, and they'll come running like--well, you get the idea."

He looked both ways down the shoreline, looking for something they could use. In the distance, he saw a small rowboat tied to a dock. Out in the middle of the river, a sailboat lay anchored, it's sails down, bobbing systematically with the waves.

"I'll be back shortly." he stated before moving into the shadows of the bridge, taking advantage of the shoreline's raised ridges for cover. Before long, they could see him untying the boat silently, slipping into it with ease and turning it into the current. It carried him quickly to where they were. He tossed a rope to them, watching as it was caught and held firmly. "Let's go." he stated, "we don't have all night you know."

"Where is he going?" Amara mumbled as Lorcan went dashing off up river. Her eyes went up to see the rowboat and it instantly clicked what he was up to. Only threat would be the owners seeing him or the VP shining lights down onto the river. But, Lorcan moved back down towards them under the bridge and Amara caught the rope he threw and easily dragged the boat onto some dry land so she and James could get on more easily.

Lorcan helped Amara in and she smiled to him. "Oh Lorcan, a romantic cruise? Oh you shouldn't have dear."

Flashing Amara a grin, he waited as James climbed on board before pushing away from the shore and entering the current again. He held the oars firmly, pumping them through the water with sure strokes as he remained underneath the bridge as best as possible. Before long, they were on the other side, the craft's hull scraping bottom as it wedged itself on the shore.

Ten minutes later, they were in the shadows of the edge of the bridge, inspecting all, looking for trouble.

"Looks clear." he whispered as he glanced at Amara, then to James. "Lead the way, kid."

James remained silent as Lorcan ushered himself and Amara into the boat before making the voyage across the river, rowing against the current at times in order to remain under the darkness of the brige. Eventually they made it to the other bank without any dramas and found themselves on dry land again.

Flinching for a moment, James thought the police had caught onto them when his now enhanced ears picked up a siren. It took him a few seconds to register it was a significant distance away, obviously this whole lycan thing would take some getting used to.

Upon Lorcan's instruction, James led the pair away from the bank and took note of the street sign on the corner as they promptly made their way into one of the plentiful alleys within the city. Alexandria street was on the other side of the building, a main road that would lead them towards his brother's apartments.

"Okay, we're on the right track. We simply need to travel parallel to this main road, Alexandria street for about a K or two, then we cross it and it's about a five minute slow walk from there. No worries."

Attempting to remember the layout of the area before him, James realised further on they would run out of alleys or side streets as everal buildings exist side by side, hindering their efforts.

"We do have a small problem though, we're going to run out of space further on, save for being on the sidewalk, which is probably not a good idea. I don't suppose we can fly over the buildings?"

James knew very well lycans couldn't fly but he felt a little humour to be necessary, even if it was somewhat lame it distracted him from the fact that Em lay back at the crash site, broken and bloodied, dead.

Amara looked at their current situation. Going out on the streets might be suicide if caught by the VP, she could handle them she thought, but it would be stupid and overly risky. She looked upwards at the rooftops.

Stephen would tell her that was the highway for vampires who were too young to fly in Emerald City, up and out of reach of ground bound VP getting a birds eye view. The girl looked at Lorcan and James.

"Do what my dad did in Emerald."

Amara rubbed her palms together, bent her knees and with all of her strength, shot herself upwards. The girl tilted her body forward as she rose over the top of the building and fell downward onto the roof. Amara grunted as she hit with a thump and rolled. She got up and dusted herself off. Should have been a weretiger...at least then I could land completely on my feet.

Amara walked back to the edge and looked over at James and Lorcan. "Throw him up Lorcan...see if he gets the roof or is spread across the alley like strawberry jam."

James followed Amara's gaze up onto the rooftops. He hadn't considered that possibility at all and almost kicked himself for it, it was almost too obvious. Despite now being a lycan, James had figured they'd simply take the fire escape ladder to the roof as opposed to simply leaping into the air.

Not at all confident that he could make such a jump as Amara did, James soon discovered Amara shared his lack of faith in such an ability, requesting Lorcan to throw him up. Looking somewhat nervous, James turned back to Lorcan.

"Can you really throw me all the way up there?"

Although he had just seen Amara make the jump, James still had trouble understanding the strength associated with lycans and other such immortal creatures. Lorcan certainly didn't look like he could throw a seventy kilo kid several storeys into the air.

Gazing back to Amara looking down at them, James couldn't help but wonder what Em would think which in turn brought back the image of her broken corpse. Brushing away a tear, he turned to Lorcan.

"Let's go."
_____________________

OOC: BJB Land, it's nice to see people take an interest in my work but I'd ask that if you have any further comments or such that you please TG them to me so as to not clutter up this thread with OOC material.

And it's far from over.

Thanks.

Grinning at James' question, Lorcan waited for a moment until he announced he was ready. His hands gripped James under his far arm, the other holding his waist. "Only one way to find out kid." he muttered as he gathered the strength in his arms, spreading his legs for balance purposes. Before James could comment back, he found himself flung upward, the bricks whizzing downward in a blur. Before long, he saw Amara standing there, only to fly further up into the air. The angle that Lorcan had thrown him set him just on the edge of the building. Recovering from the fall would be his business though.

Lorcan followed a few moments later, planting himself on all fours as he landed before rising to his full height again. He glanced at Amara, the corner of his mouth curled up in a light smile. His eyes looked for James.

"You'll find that lycans can possess more strength than they appear. Never underestimate those of supernatural races. Appearances can be deceiving."

Whilst James considered himself ready to be launched into the air he hadn't expected such strength from Lorcan, defying gravity at an alarming rate as the bricks whizzed by. James' stomach felt as if it wished to exist his body in what could only be a painful manner, fortunately it didn't.

Before he knew it James was facing Amara, only to continue upwards until the arc was completed and he finally landed on his two feet in a slight crouch, right on the edge of the building. It took him a moment to realise if he stood up he'd probably fall off the edge and so he made a lunge forward, landing on his stomach.

With Lorcan's voice now reaching his ears, James returned to his feet and nodded in understanding. It would take some getting used to but James figured he'd quite enjoy his new found physical attributes, it complimented his already honed balance, strength and agility from years of gymnastics training.

"I'm beginning to realise that."

Looking out over the buildings, James realised most of them would be easy to cross as there were few alleys between these closely positioned structures.

"Well it's not far from here and I get to practice my jump a little..."

"Your jump? This is a little more advanced than your gym class. You miss here, you fall and go kersplat on the pavement below." Amara said as she walked to the edge of the building.

When she was within a foot of the edge, with her next step she let her knee bend before using it to launch herself up and over the alleyway and onto the next building over.

Amara turned around to watch and see what James was going to do.

Lorcan stifled a laugh as Amara laid bare the gritty facts of truth. He looked at the kid, adding in, "If that does happen, chances are you'll survive enough to repair damage to your body. The higher the fall, the greater your injuries."

He held up a finger, "However, I'd highly recommend not trying such a stunt doing, say, skydiving without a chute. That's just plain stupidity, no matter what race you are."

A gathering of strength in his legs propelled Lorcan to the next rooftop. His ears listened for sounds of witnesses alarmed at his movement, and found nothing more than the occasional passing sirens of a police car.

As they waited for James to try this jump, an easy enough jump, Lorcan turned to Amara speaking through their telepathic link shared only between lycans of the same clan. I think he'll do just fine as one of us. Granted, he's inexperienced, but with time and attention to detail, he may prove useful for us.

Amara smiled a little as she watched James ready himself and as she heard Lorcan silently speak to her. James was his responsiblity and it would be interesting to see how he would handle the young werewolf. Though warned by both not to try anything overly fancy, Amara knew that the boy would probably do something anyway...if he did and missed and went kersplat...problem solved and Lorcan and her find a place to bed for the night before leaving the city in the morning.

"We'll see what he can do." She said quietly.

Amara stared at James, studying his breathing, heartrate, everything about him as he prepared for the leap.

A million thoughts raced through James' mind as he contemplated the task before him. The first thing that came to mind was that scene from The Matrix when Neo does his first jump... and plunged towards the ground below.

Considering the physics was also disheartening and so James decided to simply not think about it and just do it. It wasn't a massive leap, in fact a normal person could probably cover at least half the distance, it's just getting the height to land on the building that would be an issue. Either way, James could do it, or so he thought.

Breathing deeply, James backed up a fair distance, giving him plenty of space to gain some speed. Sure he could fall but Lorcan seemed to think he wouldn't die, yet what state would he be in? Pushing such thoughts out of his head once again, James began to run, picking up speed as the jump point came closer and closer until he finally hit it, legs bending in order to launch himself upwards.

The cool night air rushed by James' face as he ascended into the sky, arcing over the gap between buildings quite a bit higher than he really needed to be. As James began to descend he realised his mistake. Whilst he'd jumped significantly higher than any human could he'd angled the jump too steep and so he was going more upwards than forwards. With gravity now taking hold, James began to accelerate towards the brick wall of building before him.

Very nearly soiling himself, James raised his arms in preperation for the impact as he slammed into the brick wall whilst his arms scrambled around over the edge of the building, looking for something to hold on to. Thankfully the tiles around the edge of the rooftop made practical grips and James held on for dear life, despite the entire front of his body aching.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, James pulled himself up with relative ease and rolled onto his back. There were a few cuts across his face and blood trickled down from his nose but otherwise it appeared his was alright.

"Okay... so I've still got a lot to learn about jumping across buildings..."

Before James could get up, Amara pounced on him. Her hands were quick to restrain his head and the only thing the young man could see was her teeth and pitless black eyes. A snarl came from her mouth as she quickly licked up the blood from his nose and the several cuts around his face. Within seconds, Amara's hands had released his head and when she pulled back, her eyes were back to normal.

She gave him a smile before licking off a bit of blood from the tip of his nose and sighed, letting him get a deep noseful of the smell of blood...the same smell he would be hungering for within the next few days.

Amara stood up and looked at him. "Come on, hussle up...we don't have all night."

Shaking his head as Amara finished licking up the blood from James face. He found it sort of strange how she relished pouncing on him unexpectedly, almost as if she were deliberately trying to scare the living shit out of the poor kid. However, he kept his silence, watching as James got to his feet.

"She's right, we're moving too slow." he stated to the kid. "So move it, and don't fall."

James flinched as Amara landed upon him. He had no idea why she was doing such but it was damn unexpected and unfortunately she was a lot faster than he was. Unable to stop her, James merely lay there as Amara licked away some of his blood before returning to her feet.

No words parted James' lips as he got to his feet and simply stared at Amara, as if to say 'is there something wrong with you?'. Not wanting to get into an argument with the older and obviously unstable lycan, James simply nodded and followed the pair across the rooftop. The following jumps were a lot smaller than the first and James had little difficulty clearing them.

Within a few more minutes they would need to cross a main road, then the apartment was merely a few minutes away. Traffic wasn't too heavy at this time of night but there was practically no way for the trio to get across the road without being seen by someone.

Making the final landing, James stopped to gaze across the road.

"We'll need to cross here..."

Landing next to James with ease and lowering himself to the earth to absorb the shock, Lorcan straightened and surveyed the street in both ways. Only a few cars traveled in either direction, only one being a squad car. It was headed in the opposite direction, thankfully.

"No better time than now." Lorcan noted as he began to cross the street casually but with a quick pace, all indicative of one who understood that nights in Assington were not safe, no matter what city one might be in.

He heard the others just behind him, also keeping pace. When they had crossed without trouble, he glanced both ways again, only to pause as he saw a car sitting off to the side, a window rolled down slightly and smoke coming out from the opening. A closer, more careful look inside the car revealed a man watching them, holding something to his chin as he spoke quietly. He was too far away to make out what he was saying, but Lorcan knew trouble when he saw it.

Turning to the others casually, he continued strolling down the street away from the car. To the others, he spoke quickly, lowly. "We've got trouble back there. James, we're going to need to run some diversionary routes. We'll split up if we have to. What's the address of the apartment?"

Just then, there was a distant turning of an engine, and the sound of tires crunching loose gravel and asphalt. Lorcan listened as it came closer, rolling slowly and maintaining a distance behind them. He growled inwardly. Why the hell was this guy doing this? Had he seen them drop from the rooftop? It was possible. They hadn't exactly used an alley like they probably should have to descend.

"James..." Lorcan urged under his breath, knowing the young man would hear him clearly.

Still getting used to his newfound supernatural senses, James was too fascinated with his surroundings in general to notice the car that Lorcan had spotted. Everything was so much sharper and more defined, it was like his senses had been upgraded to high definition after years of the old, outdated model.

Upon Lorcan's words James took a quick glance backwards and noted the car, although he was unable to make out anyone inside. His first thought were the cops or VP. They'd gotten along by themselves fine so far but that appeared as though it wouldn't last.

"Uh... the address is thirty-two Caxton street, apartment 5E. Was that a..."

Before James could complete his question several police sirens burst into life, the blaring noises moving closer to their location. Swearing under his breath, James went over the several possibilities within his head. It was a large city, easy for one person to hide, although the police would not give up easily.

Soon enough they would be surrounded and so James began to cross a street that spawned off from the one they'd just moved across, heading towards a building low enough for him to jump onto.

"Will you guys be able to find it?"

"I will be." Amara said.

The lycan was now seriously angy, the VP was moving in on them. Probably as the car accident and discovering what could be remains of vampires, no doubt they were a wee bit hyper.

Amara would have normally played it off, saying she was trying to get to a friend's apartment and had been trolling around the streets looking for the address. With normal police, that might work. But, with these city cops, shoot first and then questions...no doubt one would try and drill her before they check her.

As she headed calmly down the street, she began to think of what to do to not arouse suspicion. James was already moving away, same with Lorcan, slowly leaving her by herself. As she turned the corner on the street, she picked up her pace to a slight jog. No police lights nor smells of humans were nearby but they were getting closer.

Amara jumped up and landed on a rooftop and quickly began to make her way down the street, easily roof hopping away from the scene. She remembered where some night clubs were in the area, she would try and make for one of those.

James reached the base of the low building before and promptly jumped. He was still getting used to applying the appropriate amount of strength to his jump and so he didn't land on the building but was able to grasp the edge and hold on, securing himself. As a gymnast, he was used to hanging from high up positions, although there were no landing mats this time.

Just as James was pulling himself up he nearly fell as the resounding shock of gun shots assaulted his sensitive ears. It took the young lycan a few moments to realise he was not the target of the shots. Looking back upon the street, he could see a marked police car had pulled up on the corner and two officers were in perfect view of Amara, likely having seen her leap onto a building. No doubt the VP would be involved soon, James swore.

The cops had yet to notice James hugged to the side of a building, the light post near him broken so it gave him some shadow. Whilst he was well aware that Amara could defend herself, James felt compelled to do something. He wasn't able to help Em but he could at least do this. Ripping one of the tiles free from the rooftop, James held on tight with his other hand whilst he bunched his legs up, applying pressure against the brick side of the building.

Taking one last glance at the police, James launched himself upwards and outwards with all his strength. Immediately he rocketed into the air, high above the street in an arc that would land him upon the opposite, flat roofed building. As he sailed through the air, James turned his body to face the police and let the tile loose, hurling it with as much strength as he could gather. Due to being in motion several metres above the ground, James' accuracy wasn't particularly good and so he missed the police officers but the tile did manage to burst through the front windscreen of their car, unleashing an explosion of shattering glass everywhere.

The young man only had time to smile at the sound of breaking glass before he landed hard on his back, sliding across the rooftop and out of sight from anyone on the ground.

Amara snarled as she ducked behind an airconditioning unit as police opened fire. Both were popping away with 9mm pistols, probably shooting off a mix of lead and silver. The lead wouldn't kill her, but it would piss her off. She looked herself over, the jacket James had given her had a few holes in it, but that was it. She knew the humans wouldn't come up after her, they couldn't be that stupid and being regular cops, they probably only had a week or so of anti-vampire work while the VP would spend weeks learning anti-vampire manuevers among other things.

The bullets blew knocked off some bits of bricks, but being safely away from the edge, she was safe for now. She heard some popping elsewhere, possibly they were chasing Lorcan or James...

It was then she heard the shattering of glass and the police jabbering between themselves. Moving forward, she looked at the shattered front windsheild of the police car, both cops were spinning around, looking for what happened. One reached inside the cruiser and pulled out a nasty looking shotgun and slid on a kevlar vest. Either Lorcan or James had broken it or maybe even a vampire who thought they were helping one of their own. At any rate, it bought her some time...but not enough.

Two large vans and a cruiser appeared, each emblazoned with Topaz City Vampire Police along the side. A dozen men and women in total, all covered in armor and weapons. Amara looked at thier gear as the commander confered with the two normal cops, she cursed. The vans had what appeared to be machine guns on the top and the VP were handing out what apperaed to be night vision equipment. But she knew what they were, Simatarian toys,...the small gatling machine gun designed to lock onto the small amount of heat vampires put off and open fire and no doubt the goggles were the same. The Simatarians had devloped them after discovering vampires and they had been exported to a great degree to Assington and her other allies.

Amara turned around as she heard someone trying to be quiet coming up behind her. She slid back into the shadows as two VP SWAT officers slowly climbed up the roof via the fire escape. A recon team, juicy...Amara thought. They must have been let off a few buildings down. She licked her lips, time for a nice little hunt. She wanted to kill them, but her objective was to evade them and try to escape. She would have to wait.

Slipping around them, Amara had no trouble getting a jump on the pair. Their goggles were blocking some of their periphial vision and they were not set to pick up her heat. Amara snuck up behind the one in the rear and with complete ease, grabbed the man and threw him into the door that led into the building from the roof. The officer smashed through the wooden door and tumbled down the staircase and out of sight.

The woman in the front spun as she heard the crashing. She only got off a single round, the round clipped Amara's side and the lycan reached out, moving faster than the human could react, ripped the rifle from her hands before slamming the butt of the weapon into her face, breaking her nose and knocking her out.

Amara could hear commotion down on the street and over the radio she heard the VP officer in charge ordering his men up on the roof. Still fairly naked, Amara looked at the woman at her feet. When the officers got to the roof, they found their unconcious comrade without her boots, socks or pants.

By that time, Amara was several buildings away. She had made sure to leap on the side of the building farthest from the street and once she was at a safe distance, she slipped on the socks, pants (slightly too big but the belt tightened), and boots (also a little large). With the jacket zipped, Amara knew at least at a distance she could pass off as someone dressed and obscure.

As she moved away from the scene, she wondered how Lorcan and James were doing.

Despite the accumulating police and vampire police officers on the streets, the law enforcement wasn't going to stop there. In the distance even an ordinary human could hear the rotating blades of several choppers approaching. Evidently they weren't messing around as the choppers were fixed with large caliber mini-guns loaded with silver alloy rounds. The rooftops wouldn't be safe for long.

Back on his feet, James immediately noted the sound of approaching choppers and the increased activity down on the streets. More enemies were turning up by the minute, it was really time to get out of there. Fuelled by his desire to live in order to avenge Em, James began sprinting across the rooftop, making what was perhaps his biggest leap yet safely onto a much taller office building. No one had seen him thankfully and thus his escape was so far unhindered.

Back down on the street, several more vehicles had arrived, some obviously armoured enough to withstand gunfire. The streets were now swarming with VP officers, buildings being scaled by all means possible whilst others setup turrets and night vision equipment. The process was quick and efficient, no one was getting past that barrier, it was now simply a matter of boxing in the targets.

James now sat right at the end of the street, upon the balcony of an apartment building. His sight allowed him to gain a general idea of what the VP were doing and it occured to him that if they were setting up barriers behind him then they probably intended to force him back towards it. The choppers were now in sight, although still somewhat in the distance. He knew he could probably make it to his brother's apartment a few blocks from here, but he still wasn't sure about the others, they didn't know the area like him.

Lorcan had been navigating the shadows of alleyways, occasionally daring to move to rooftops when dead ends greeted him and streets were inaccessible. Backtracking was out of the question as well, for the volatile police nets were closing in from every direction.

Bet they're not used to lycans though. he thought to himself with a grin crossing his face as he gripped the edge of a balcony in mid leap up a taller-than-average building. Planting his feet on the edge of the railing, he launched himself upwards once more, only to be caught in the near blinding light of a chopper's spotlight from a few blocks over.

He almost missed the edge of the building he was scaling...

Rising to his feet quickly, he snarled toward the chopper, watching as it neared rapidly. He could hear the police chatter now, and the squeal of tires below. Exhaling as if he were more annoyed than concerned, he watched as the chopper came to a halt and a voice greeted his ears. "Lie down immediately with your hands behind your head. Now!"

Lorcan frowned, then delivered a double set of birds to the chopper before turning and bolting from the rooftop into the shadows of the next alley. A few seconds later, a squad car pulled up close to the building had its roof crushed with a loud screech of forced metal. However, when guns and eyes moved to the car, Lorcan was on top of them, delivering a solid punch to those closest to them. Their bodies reacted violently, thrown back a few feet.

A few shots rang out, but Lorcan's continued speed kept him out of their accuracy. He heard a cry, "The heat guns are fuckin' up!"

"Idiots." he muttered to himself as he caught sight of a street sign nearby, Caxton Street.

Instead of turning here though, Lorcan continued past the street. If they were still following him, he'd make sure they'd get lost first. After all, they wouldn't want unexpected, unwanted party crashers when they regrouped. After some time, he found that they had indeed lost him somewhere behind. It was a good thing, for it meant that he had only been on the fringes of their net, slipping out before they could tighten it down.

There was a thump as Lorcan landed inside a small bathroom of some apartment in the building that James had told him. Moving quickly to the door, he listened carefully, then turned the knob. Snoring from another room indicated he had not woken the resident. In moments, he was out the front door and moving to a stairwell to move down a few levels. Before long, he stood before the door that bore a 5E on its faded surface.

Figures. Locked. he thought as he looked either way down the hall. He moved to a small common room that held a few vending machines and couches, seating himself on one of the couches against the wall. He lay down and closed his eyes, focusing all his attention on the sounds that echoed his way.

James was now down in one of the many alleys that littered the inner city blocks. Gaining his bearings, he figured his destination was now only two streets away, he was almost there. The police choppers had forced him to slow down a little and lurk about in the shadows but so far there hadn't been any major problems.

Poking his head around a corner, James gazed around the street, assuring himself that it was clear. A sombre click caught his attention immediately as a gun was cocked from behind him. Flinching at the noise, James spun around to see a police officer at the other end of the alley. Thankfully he was a cop and not a VP officer, as they were infamous for their shoot anything that moves during the night attitude.

James gazed at the officer, fear evident across his face as he took note of the distance and realised he wouldn't be able to stop him. For a moment they just gazed at eachother before the cop spoke.

"Up against the wall... NOW!"

James did as he was told, not wanting to be shot.

"Please... I was on my way home when all of a sudden the VP were everywhere... I didn't want to get shot."

"Yeh, well if that's the case then you'll be fine. But I'm not taking any chances. Stay flat against the wall and don't move."

The cop was now much closer and James could hear him withdrawing his cuffs. There was no talking his way out of this one, James knew if he was taken in they'd soon discover he wasn't human. He had to take action.

Exhaling slowly, James sprung backwards much faster than a normal teenage boy could and slammed his elbow into the cop's face. An audible crack rung through his ears as the officer's cheek fractured and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Somewhat filled with a sense of guilt and triumph, James kicked the gun away and dragged the officer back towards the end of the alley. He'd be found there and eventually get the medical attention he needed.

Panting simply from the thrill of what he'd just done, James checked the street again and noticed it was still empty. It was now or never. Taking a deep breath, James began to sprint as hard as he could, covering the width of the street within seconds and making his way through another alley and down another short road before finally arriving at the back end of the apartment building of his destination.

Still full of adrenaline, James made a single leap towards the top of the building but ended up clinging to a balcony as the building was too tall to make in a single leap. Getting onto his feet once again, James was able to leap across the back alley and onto the rooftop of a nearby smaller building before once more jumping back onto the apartment building, now on the roof.

With that done, James simply entered the stairwell and made his way down to the fifth floor.

Amara moved carefully through the alleways, using her hunting skills to avoid the occasional VP and Police officer. After a while of slinking through dirty alleys, jumping over boozed hobos lying in the way, she saw the apartment James had mentioned. Amara smiled, but she paused.

The VP officer belt around her waist wouldn't look too good when she tried to enter. The various pouches and the pistol in its holster wouldn't do. Spending a few minutes scrouging around, Amara found a large, brown paper shopping back and removed the pouches and holster from the belt.

As she deposited them, she did a quick check of what she had. Silver bladed knife, some bandages and first aid, spare pistol magizines, spare bullets plus several tweleve gauge shotgun shells, flashbang grenade, two silver nitrate canisters, batteries, flashlight, and one pistol. Taking her own pistol and putting it in the bag, Amara rolled the top over so no one could peek inside and picked up and walked towards the building.

It wasn't that hard for her to get through one of the side entrances, two teens (rather drunk) were attempting to get the door open but kept missing the keyhole. Amara simply walked up to them and unlocked it for them and slid inside with them and dropped the key back inside the pocket of the one she took it from.

Amara reached the door of the fifth floor and walked down the hall. She quickly picked up the scent of Lorcan and a smile crossed her lips, he was okay. Walking into a common room, she found him lying down on one of the couches and as she moved in front of him, she smiled at him as he opened his eyes to her.

Amara gave him a kiss on the cheek as she sat in a chair next to him and smiled as she patted the bag.

"Did some shopping while I was out."

Lorcan remained where he was as he turned his head to look at the bag. "Shopping? Please tell me you didn't use your credit card..."

Reaching out, he opened the bag and looked inside, raising an eyebrow as he inspected the items. "Grenades? Knife? Police-standard pistol...shit woman, I hope to God you didn't kill the fuckin' cops."

Noise coming from the stairwell caused him to look in its direction, listening carefully. He rose to his feet and moved to the edge of the room, peering carefully around the corner to watch the stairwell doorway. It opened, and out came James. He exhaled in relief and looked back to Amara, "It's James."

Moving into the hallway, he approached the kid, "Friendly town." he commented flatly.

James nodded as Lorcan approached him, not surprised to see him there as he'd picked up the lycan's scent when he'd entered the building.

"Yeh, tolerance isn't a strong point of people around here..."

Throwing a key between both hands, James indicated the door to his right and promptly opened it, motioning for Lorcan to go get Amara and come inside. No one would bother a few people sitting around in their apartment.

The apartment wasn't terribly big but it could certainly house more than one person. It was composed of three rooms, the bedroom, the bathroom and the living room/kitchen. The couch sitting in the centre of the living room could be folded out and hold two people comfortably. Considering the location and the state of the furnishings within it was easy enough to assume James' brother did reasonably well for himself.

"Well here we are, we should be pretty safe here for a while."

Heart still beating fast, James didn't feel like sleeping considering his ordeal over the last few hours, although he ached all over and rest could do him nothing but good. In the back of his mind he feared that if he did sleep dreams would come to him, dreams that he would do almost anything to avoid.

Amara smiled as Lorcan looked through the bag she had. "Kill a police officer? My dear Lorcan you must think of me as a murderer or something."

She picked up the bag as Lorcan went to James and followed the pair into the apartment and giving one last look down the hall, closed the door and went in. She dumped the contents onto the table and looked them over. It wasn't a bad haul and should do them fine for now if they ran into trouble.

Amara walked over to the fridge and opened it up and smiled as she saw some bottles of beer inside. Pulling two out, she easily opened them without the bottle opener and handed one to Lorcan.

She took a sip and smiled as she felt the alcohol move down her throat. "As long as the VP doesn't start doing house to house searches...we'll be fine."

Lorcan listened as they conversed while he moved to the window and pulled the curtain slightly back to peer into the street below. He watched as patrol cars rolled through his range of vision, all moving at casual speeds. Satisfied, he replaced the curtain and took a drink of the beverage.

"We should stay here for a least a day or so, just to make sure they're not waiting for us. Should give us time to think of what to do now as well."

He moved to the couch, lifting a cushion to see if there was a pull-out bed within. Pleased to see that there was, he turned and moved the small coffee table with a push of his foot before pulling the cushions free and tossing them off to the side. Within moments, the bed was opened fully, and simply awaited sheets, pillows and a comforter. Before long, James had tossed him what was needed, and he was soon lying upon the made bed, the beer now empty and standing upright on the floor next to the couch.

"I'm just gonna get some sleep. I've not had a decent enough bed like this in a while..."

He exhaled, then closed his eyes once he found no objection. Soon enough, he was snoring lightly, his mind drifting through the first of several dreams he would have that night.

Amara stared out across the city, she could see the dim glow of police flashers off in the distance and it wasn't hard to see the several helicopters moving in sweeps across the sky. The biggest part of the search would probably end with the coming of the dawn and within a few days they'll probably resign themselves to looking for a corpse of James.

After she finished her beer, Amara layed down on the fold out bed next to Lorcan. Noting the man took up most of it, she gently pushed him to the other side before fluffing up a couch coushin for her head and going to sleep.

With Lorcan and Amara both in bed, James retreated into his brother's bedroom. There were no words to describe how tired he was and yet recent events had his mind buzzing with thoughts and feelings, attempting to absorb everything that had happened. Whilst his grief had been momentarily forgotten there was a part of James that screamed out in fury and sorrow, knowing full well that once he lay down to sleep he would be plunged into a world that could at the very least be described as unpleasant.

Sitting on the edge of the double bed, James placed his head between both hands and sat in silence. The sirens and helicopters could be heard in the background but the chances of being found were minimal, assuming none of them had been followed. Finding himself going back to the moment of the accident, James realised he could not escape it awake or not and thus finally gave in to exhaustion, slipping under the covers of the bed and quickly falling asleep, soon to be plagued by nightmares.

The smell of cooking meat slowly drifted through the apartment. Amara stood in the small excuse for a kitchen area and flipped the bacon that was cooking in the pan. She sipped a glass of water as she checked the sausages in another pan.

It was late in the afternoon and Amara had woken up a short time before, her stomach growling. So she had set about finding a bit of meat in the fridge and started to cook it for herself and the two men. Man and boy... Amara corrected herself. She still couldn't believe Lorcan had the nerve to bite the kid, should have left him to die...he was going to be trouble and probably would want to start his killing spree of those responsible for his girlfriend's death as soon as he could.

She would have to stick close to them, Lorcan was still young and would need some attention but not as much as James would. Lorcan could control himself to a point and might be helpful keeping the young wolf under control. If he didn't kill him...Amara didn't know what to expect from the two after they turned...Lorcan would probably bring James down and pin him to assert he was the Alpha. Either way...the boy would be trouble.

Amara drank some more water before she slid the current batch of sausage and bacon onto a tray before starting to make more.

Lorcan awoke slowly at first to the scent of food, particularly meat wafting through the apartment. Rising to a sitting position with his feet on the floor, he turned about to look into the kitchen. He saw Amara there with her back to him, and let out a sleepy smile.

Rising to his feet, he absently scratched his chest at an itch while moving into the kitchen. Coming behind Amara, he wrapped his arms around her waist. "If only you did this every morning." he said with a chuckle in her ear before gently kissing the side of her neck. "Morning." he greeted her finally.

Releasing her, he watched her cook some more, before moving out of the kitchen again. "I'll check on the kid. Make sure he's still around."

Without waiting for a reply, he was soon at the bedroom door, opening it and peering inside. "Hey kid. Wake up. Food's almost ready."

It was all happening again before James' eyes, the ridiculously large hover vehicle barging into Em's car, almost flipping the dwarfed vehicle. Despite his awareness of what was to come, James couldn't seem to move fast enough or get the words out to prevent the inevitable. The final get wrenching crunch rang through his ears as Em lost control and the car began a death spiral through the air, landing with a thud and launching Em right through the windscreen.

Upon opening his eyes, James found himself looking into the cool dead eyes of his deceased girlfriend. There was something oddly unnerving about her gaze as she stared at him from behind blood matted hair, evidently not concerned with her appearance. Whilst evidently dead, there was still life behind those cold eyes, enough to make James whimper in sorry.

"Don't cry for me, James. You have work to do.

Wiping his eyes clear, James sat up to gaze into her eyes.

"I know... I won't forget what they did."

She smiled. All of a sudden it was too much to bear and he began sobbing again, unable to control it. Somewhere he knew this wasn't real and yet he didn't want it to end, ever. Still unable to control himself, James sat shuddering as Em leaned in towards him, placing a bloody hand on his cheek.

The cold was shocking, he hadn't been expecting it and it took all James' self control not to flinch away from her touch. She smiled again and his heart nearly burst. Leaning in closer she placed a kiss as cold as death upon his lips, conveying all that could not be said with words.

"Hey kid. Wake up. Food's almost ready."

James shook violently as he was yanked out of his sub-conscious embrace and back into the real world. Sitting upright he attempted to gain his bearings, shivering as he looked around. Coughing violently, James soon found himself gagging and launched himself out of the bed, bolting straight out the doorway, past Lorcan and into the bathroom where he emptied the contents of his stomach. The notion of Em being a corpse was enough to make him sick and the fact his body was still adapting didn't help.

Twenty minutes later, James emerged from the bathroom, looking pale and still shivering mildly. The was a desperate air about him, an indication of how troubled he was within.

Amara smiled as Lorcan wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck, getting a giggle out of her. She turned her head as he walked down the short hall to the bedroom door. He was a wonderful person and she had felt an attraction to him for some time, not really love, but an attraction none the less.

When she heard James running out of the room, she at first thought he was starving but when she heard his renching, she simply shrugged. The boy was probably purging himself of any food he had eaten the previous night that disagreed with his now meat oriented body.


Armara looked up from the table where Lorcan and her sat as James reappeared. A large tray covered in sausage, bacon, some burger patties fresh off the George Forman cooker and a large pitcher of orange juice sat in the middle of the table.

She looked at him, the boy could of passed off as a vampire he was so white. Something else was troubling him....his girlfriend... Amara took a sip of her OJ as James slid into a chair at the table. Looking at him, she took a pair of thongs from the tray and gave the boy a little bit of a food and poured him half a glass of OJ, last thing she wanted was him to get sick again and with a full moon that evening, a completely starved werewolf was the last thing she wanted to deal with.

"Go on...have something to eat."

Lorcan had swiftly avoided James's movements by stepping to the side and inside the bedroom. A few moments later, he heard the kid retching and responded with a shake of his head. He thought about how the kid had woken up and thought it peculiar enough to suspect that James was suffering more than just the subtle physical changes of his body.

Moving to the kitchen, he arrived to find a plate of food waiting him. By the time James finally made it to the kitchen, Lorcan had finished off two more plates of food. Amara knew the hunger of lycans, even those in human form and had prepared plenty of food to sustain the three of them for now.

He watched as James sat and was served some food. "Might want to eat up a little more than you normally do." He glanced to the stove clock, "It's just past four in the afternoon now, and the sun goes down at eight." He gave a knowing glance to Amara, "And tonight is going to be a night you'll not forget."

Taking another piece of bacon in hand, he munched on it while reminiscing about his own first hunt. "Why I remember the taste of raw flesh, how I just craved it! The hunt, oh boy...that was something indeed! Every hunting expedition I had led before I met Amara was paled in comparison to the first hunt I had in lycan form. What's more...I found that despite my initial discomfort about it, somewhere deep inside me, I just knew the truth."

He finished the bacon with a lick of his fingers, "I love the hunt."

Still somewhat unsteady on his feet, James made his way to the table and sat down. Despite recently being ill he couldn't deny his stomach anymore, he needed to eat something and it had to be meat. Sitting down, James remained silent and began shovelling down bacon, finding it made his gut feel better rather than worse, as he had expected.

"And tonight is going to be a night you'll not forget."

It was impossible to like the way in which Lorcan had said it. James knew full well what he meant, it was a full moon tonight and thus James would turn for the first time. He would be lying if he said he wasn't scared, the idea of turning into a beast of a dog and going on a rampage around the city wasn't exactly appealing to him, especially when he had more important business to take care of.

Staring up at Lorcan as he went on about raw meat and the hunt, James felt like picking up the table and slapping him across the face. Of course that would possibly be one of the stupidest things he could do, yet at the time it seemed appealing.

"Seriously... I'd rather not hear about hunting and such... keeping this down will be an effort in itself. I've been sick once today and I'd prefer to avoid it again if possible."

Amara listened to Lorcan go on and on about the hunt. She clearly remembered his first hunt, he was scared and only the threat of Amara killing him kept him from trying to run off. But, in the years since he had grown used to it and enjoyed it.

Amara looked at James. "Don't worry, I'm taking you two far enough away from the city you won't cause trouble. If we were at Emerald City, we would have more problems...I hear there is a bunch of eco wackos or something living in the woods killing folks going on hikes and stuff."

Lorcan nodded in understanding about James's behavior. "Quite all right. You should get over it soon enough."

He looked over at Amara, "Are you so sure its safe enough to be hunting people in the woods, no matter what they've done? This isn't Tarlachia or Golden Simatar you know. The Assingtonians have a habit of pursuit. Last night was lucky for us but only because there's a billion and one places to hide in this city. Out in the open, in the woodlands, they only need to turn on thermal scanners and they'll find us sooner or later."

Once that was voiced however, his expression changed, "I always did like the vigilante hunts though. Ya know, that whole righteous attitude and all." he chuckled lightly.

Picking up his dishes and joining them with Amara's own, he took them to the dishwasher and loaded them in, then looked back to see if James was done. Only a few bits of meat were left, he could see.

"We should get going now, give us plenty of time to get far enough away and allow us a buffer zone for not only our safety but the safety of innocents." He looked at James, "Might want to change into a pair of old, dark clothes. You'll hide better, and your clothes will be hidden better once you become lycan."

He looked down at his own clothing, the same clothes from the day before. Dark blue jeans, black teeshirt with a mercenary biker logo on it. The same mercenary organization that his cousin Rikan led. For a moment, his thoughts sidetracked, wondering how she was doing with her own new lifestyle. Bringing himself back to the present, he nodded.

"We'll leave as soon as everyone's ready."

"Noone is going to be eating anyone." Amara said firmly to Lorcan.

She had thought on this herself for a time, in the Golden Simatar every so often she would be allowed to hunt a Death Row inmate that no one wanted or cared about. The inmate would "escape" in a far isolated forest of the country where Amara could hunt them. Less than a half a dozen people actually knew about this, the report filed would state that the inmate escape into the woods and was later found dead of anything from starvation to suffering an injury and dying from infection or being killed by pursuing police.

Here was a tottally different story, they would hunt large game tonight. A bear or something would probably due at least for a first course.

With complete control over her lycan form, Amara could keep a rein on both of the male lycans and Lorcan's wolf mind knew well enough to do as the Matriarch said.

Amara drained her glass of OJ before putting her dishes away. "It will also do you good to strip before you turn, no sense in wasting clothes. Your bro have a car we can borrow or we going to have to borrow one ourselves?"

Taking in everything the two older lycans had to say, James was still somewhat struggling with the idea that he was going to transform into a giant dog, but at least he was feeling better on a full stomach.

"Your bro have a car we can borrow or we going to have to borrow one ourselves?"

James shook his head, indicating there wasn't any car lying around for them to borrow.

"Nah, he took it with him."

Taking Lorcan's advice, James went back into his brother's bedroom and began rummaging around in the closet. His brother was kind enough to allocate a small amount of space for James' clothing since he was a frequent visitor. After a few minutes of digging around, James emerged wearing black cargo pants and a dark green t-shirt. It wasn't exactly the latest in camo gear but it would do.

"I'm ready to go when you guys are. Although I might need to keep a low profile since I'd assume by now the cops have realised I was in that car and they'll be looking for me."

Lorcan grinned, "Not to worry. You'll find that we are a species capable of being silent in our movements when we need to be. The cops won't know we're there."

Nodding to the two of them, "Let's go. We've wasted enough time as it is."

Before long, they were in the street outside the apartment complex. Lorcan looked skyward to get a sense of direction, although instinctively he knew which way to go. "North."

He began jogging down the street as he felt the time until changing literally ticking away just beneath his skin. He realized that later, they might be forced to hijack a car, just to make sure they got away far enough.

Amara stopped the group after several blocks of travel. As she looked across the street, a smile came across her lips as she stared at a closed used car dealership. Rubbing her hands, she moved into the shadows and surveyed the scene. No cameras, no monitering equipment of any kind....completely deserted.

Moving up behind a sedan, Amara smashed the driver's window with a punch before climbing in and began to hot wire the vehicle. Within a few moments, the car was running and the men were inside.

Driving calmly, Amara departed the dealership and headed north out of the city. She knew the moon was close to rising. She could hold it off, but not Lorcan, though his time of control was near and certainly not James. She smiled as they left the city and went onto a two lane road going through the woods.


Amara shut off the car and climbed out. They were safely away from the city and deep enough in the woods that no one should bother them. The wolf stripped naked and walked over to James as he climbed out of the car. She wrapped her arms around him and smiled.

"Can't ya feel it? That electricity in the air? Don't worry...I won't let Lorcan maul you...too badly when it comes to male dominance." Amara gave James a wicked grin as she backed up and looked at him. "Alright boy, unless you want shreded cotton..strip."

Lorcan emerged from the other side of the car, and watched as a nude Amara embraced James without shame. A raised eyebrow and a shake of his head was given before he began to remove his clothes. His breathing had become heavier during their car trip, his restlessness growing steadily. The hunger, of course, was another issue.

Once finished undressing, he gathered his clothing and walked a dozen feet away and shoved his clothes underneath a bush. If the car was found by someone and towed away, he didn't want to have to go through the city, or any civilization in the nude. While it didn't bother him, he didn't want trouble from the rest of the population.

Before long, he was leaning against the car's hood, paying no mind to the rather warm metal on his skin. He crossed his arms and looked through the trees toward the rather colorful western skies, full of reds, oranges, pinks, purples, blues and the growing presence of the black that was night. A shift of his gaze to the eastern skies gave him just enough time to see the presence of the moon emerge from the clouds and shine its full force upon the earth.

He struggled at first to contain the change, trying to learn how to control it like Amara had been teaching him. His fists clung together tightly as his face grimaced and all of his muscles tensed. A growling could be heard from him as he felt the hairs growing, the bones crackling into new forms, the canines growing slowly against his will. At last, he released his constraint, and unleashed a pained cry as he collapsed to his knees and felt the lycan side of his life howl to claim its dominance over his body.

James was rather surprised to find there weren't any alarms protecting the car dealership as most of Assington these days had easy access to pretty advanced technology. Perhaps the owner was cheap, either way it was luck on their part since they gained an easy ride.

Not saying anything as they drove out of the city, James couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Something within was restless, he could feel it trying to escape. The moon was out there, he could feel it calling to him, the tempo raising with his heartbeat. Breaths came much faster as the call continued until he was panting, almost breathless whilst barely moving. It was coming, he knew it was coming and there was nothing that could be done about it.

Finally the stopped and he jumped out of the car. He wasn't changing yet but he could tell it was coming and it honestly scared him. The last thing he expected was a naked Amara to approach and embrace him. If he hadn't been about to change James would have taken a moment to wonder why she was so strange, unfortunately circumstances did not allow such.

Normally James would have some issues about stripping in front of some girl he didn't even know but right now his only concern was the impending change. Already he could feel it beginning, his muscles stretching and an overwhelming desire to feed becoming quite evident. Quickly pulling off his shoes, James nearly ripped his shirt off to reveal a well muscled and toned upper body as he worked on the cargo pants, finally dropping the last elements of his clothing.

Looking up into the sky, James faced the moon for the first time that night and couldn't help but scream at it. Rage, pain and an unknown urge to kill something filled his voice as he chest began to bulge and his hands soon became paws, tipped with sharp claws. Bones began to shift and reshape, causing another scream to emerge from James' throat as agony ravaged his body.

By now he was on all fours and his face was half way there, a snout quite evident as menacing incisors began to grow out of his mouth. His entire body was now covered in fur, hiding the thick muscle that bulged under his lycan skin. Black pupils looked up at the moon once again but this time James howled, his transformation complete. He still ached but there were far more important things on his canine mind... the hunt... the kill. With his conscious self shoved into the background, James had become a vicious beast.

Amara smiled as she watched James and Lorcan change into their true forms. Lorcan had tried to stave it off, he was getting better at it and hopefully soon he would have it perfected. It would bring a whole new element of fun in their hunts of humans when they both could transform after luring their prey into a false sense of security.

She kept her wolf side in and as she walked up to Lorcan, who now towered over her, she looked up into his face. Though still in human form, Lorcan did not attack Amara, knowing what she was and that she was the Alpha. Amara reached up and scratched him behind the ear, getting a small rumbling of pleasure from the wolf.

Looking at him, Amara moved beside him and watched as James rose onto his two legs for the first time and like a newborn, stumbled for a few steps before finding himself.

Amara took a step back to see what was going to happen when the males first laid eyes on each other.

Lorcan's yellow rimmed onyx eyes watched as Amara moved closer and scratched him affectionately, then stepping back and turning her attention to James. Inhaling, Lorcan turned as well as he took in the scent of the newborn lycan. James. Amara's voice filtered through his primal mind.

Watching as the younger lycan grew accustomed to his abilities, Lorcan felt his lips curling upward, revealing the canines. With sudden speed, he crashed into the younger lycan, sending him down to the earth. Instantly, he was on top him, growling fiercely. A thick clawed paw gripped James by the throat and lifted him with some effort. Another warning growl and the young lycan found himself being flung through the air and crashing into a tree.

Lorcan barked and growled, settling into a combative pose, ready if the younger lycan chose to fight back.

James and Lorcan met eachother's gaze and for a moment the world seemed to freeze, nothing else being important save for those two creatures. All thought of Lorcan being his friend was gone, the only thing James saw was another male lycan and he didn't like it. Growling himself, he considered how best to rid himself of the competition.

Before he could act, Lorcan was on top of him, growling through a mouth full of nasty looking teeth. James returned the growl but was unable to overpower the older lycan on top of him. Attempting to escape the grasp around his throat, James found himself powerless and was easily flung into a tree, ending in a loud thud.

Getting to his feet, James took a few steps forward, then stopped. He was angry that he couldn't do anything but that was just the problem, he couldn't do anything. Lorcan was far too strong. Accepting this fact, James looked away from Lorcan and took a few steps back, indicating he had accepted Lorcan's position as the dominant male.

Amara smiled, this was good. She knew it was a one sided battle from the start and she was a little disappointed it had ended so quickly. She had expected James put up more of a struggle for dominance, but he was smarter than he looked. With the male issue out of the way, it was Amara's turn to change.

Within a few moments, Amara was in her true form. She stood about the same height as Lorcan now, but with a slightly leaner build. Walking up to him, she gave her mate a lick and quick nuzzle as congratulations on his victory. She turned her black orbs to James and barked at him, he would follow as ordered.

Leading the pair through the woods, the Alpha female sniffed the air and ground. Prey was close. After traveling a few miles deeper into the woods, the smell became more intense and Amara licked her lips in anticipation of the kill. The wolves traveled more quietly now as they reached the crest of a hill, Amara saw their first meal of the evening before them.

A large female bear was nibbling on the last bits of her own meal from the day before she got up and began to saunter away from it and away from the lycans. Amara smelled the air again, she knew the smell well enough...the female was in the very early stages of pregnacy and was now bulking up for the cubs that were still months away. A nice fat meal before them.

Amara looked at the males, whenever Amara and Lorcan killed, she would usually feed for a bit before he would join in. But now with the pup, Amara didn't want the smell of blood to drive him wild and while they fed, him run off somewhere and kill a human. Amara would still get the first bite, but her mate would have to wait, at least until James got a mouthful or two of meat into him before she would knock him away and let the Alpha Male eat his fill.

Amara looked at the James and Lorcan and gave her orders in short growls and quiet barks. They would both flank the bear from opposite sides. While Amara distracted the bear from the front, the males would bring it down.

With that, Amara charged forward through the underbrush and leapt in the air. The bear turned around as it heard a roar and thud behind it. The animal went up on its hind legs and roared in return, slashing one of its great paws at the lycan.

Amara slashed back, hitting air as she tried to keep its attention on her.

From the moment Amara started to change, James realised she was the leader, the dominant member of the pack. Her scent reeked of power and Lorcan's submissive position towards her further reinforced this assumption.

Following behind Amara and slightly behind Lorcan, James also picked up the scent, his sense of smell vastly stronger than it previously had been. He wasn't quite sure what the animal was but it would be meat nonetheless and that's all that really mattered to him at this point. The need to sink his teeth into something living was growing by the moment, almost to the point where he would consider taking a chunk out of his own leg.

The scent was now strong as and as they reached the top of a bill James settled his eyes upon the bear, his hunger finally having a target. Barely managing to restrain himself, James listened intently to Amara's orders, he needed to tear into that bear, to taste her flesh and be there as the life faded away. Shivering in anticipation, James moved off to the right in order to get on the flank of the bear whilst Amara continued her distraction.

Within a minute James was in position, salivating as he eyed the bear, merely waiting for the right time to leap forth from behind thick shrubbery and tear into the bear.

Lorcan waited just long enough for Amara to distract the bear's attention and for James to get into position. With a sudden flurry of motion, he was airborne. A ferocious growl emitted from his throat as he dug claws and incisors into the bear's thick fur and pierced flesh.

Instantly, the bear roared and spun about, trying to shake the lycan free. A clawed hand swiped around and slashed the prey's throat, gushing blood milliseconds later. A lucky swipe from the bear sent Lorcan flying into a nearby bush with a vicious claw wound on his torso. Rising quickly from the bushes, he returned his attention to the bear, howling as he charged forth once more.

Amara smiled as she watched her mate attack the bear. She hoped he could take it with the swipe to the throat, but the damn thing wouldn't go down. As she moved forward, James leapt from the bushes and hit the animal from the side, his claws and teeth tearing into the wild beast.

Amara roared as she charged and pounced from the rear, her claws digging into the hide as her jaws clenched around the back of the bear's neck. The massive bear stumbled around as it tried to knock off the two animals latched onto it. Especially the one on it's back, Amara's mouth continued to apply pressure as she tried to sever the spinal cord.

As the bear swung around again, Amara saw Lorcan roaring in, the kill was at hand.

The others had capitalized on the bear's distraction with Lorcan, and now he did the same as it fought them. He bounded forward and leaped, angling his claws of both hands to pierce the bear's thick fur and flesh. He felt ribs impact his movement, and simultaneously received a deafening roar in his ear. The bear stumbled backward in shock, its claws attempting to slash at Lorcan, yet doing little more than swap him. Each time, he dug further inward.

Bones snapped as ribs gave way to his questing claws. Blood gushed freely and more so as he removed his arms now buried to the elbows from the bear's chest cavity. With a roar, Lorcan drove a powerful slash up through the bear's lower jaw and throat, opening that wound even more.

As the bear's body collapsed, Lorcan gave a victorious roar and held up the bear's dying heart in his free paw like a trophy and bit into it furiously a second later. It was gone within minutes.

Turning his attention to the collapsed, bloodied corpse, he yanked James free of the body, growling in his face as he looked to Amara. Seniority rules applied here. James would have to wait his turn.

Amara felt the bear give a violent spasm as Lorcan's arm slammed into it. She jumped off the animal as Lorcan's arm continued to search inside of the beast before ripping out, holding the still beating heart of their prey. Amara let out a roar in triumph and as she turned back to the body, James was still attached and before she could get him from his feeding, Lorcan ripped him free and tossed him back.

She looked at Lorcan before moving to the body. This is where it all paid off.

Amara's claws tore into the body as she grasped one of the massive lungs in her teeth. She ripped the meat free and hurdled it into the grass beside James. He would get his chance at the main body once she had Lorcan had had thier fill. Watching Lorcan shift towards the lung, Amara barked, ordering him to stay put, the meat belonged to the pup. There would be enough meat on the bear, though not the best, for James and it would hold him till they got their next meal.

Amara returned to the bear and began to stuff her face, selecting the best meats for herself. After a few minutes of feeding, she turned and barked at Lorcan, he could now and feed by her side.

Amara watched as he came next to her before returning to the feast.

Lorcan growled in response to Amara barking her command that he not touch the lung tossed to James. He disdainfully watched as the pup ate it quickly, and then turned his attention to Amara, waiting.

His patience paid off, and he was invited to eat his fill. His canines tore flesh and bone apart, filling his stomach little by little with succulent raw meat. At last, he felt his full, and looked over to James, then to Amara as he turned and walked away. His primal mind ran through the hunt over and over, relishing in the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

He watched as James ate rather messily, even for a lycan, and growled to himself in response. His thick, black and pink tongue licked his snout, licking clean any blood within reach.

Amara pulled back shortly before Lorcan. She looked at James, the young were was starving and twitching endlessly. When her mate was finished, the Alphas moved away and allowed him to start his feeding.

Amara turned to Lorcan, she could smell the power and might in him mixed with the warm blood of the kill. Her mate, the strong Alpha wolf that she fell in love with...both in human and in true form. She growled affectionatly to him and nuzzled him.

She turned back to James and watched as the young werewolf almost buried himself in the carcasses, grabbing at the meat that he could. She knew James wanted revenge against those who wronged him and with that raw power, those humans weren't safe and probably nothing that would resemble a human would remain once James was through.

Leaving James to his meal, Amara began to lick Lorcan, cleaning the blood off his face and body.

The thrill of the hunt reached the climax as James pounced upon his target, tearing away at fur and flesh with his sharp teeth and claws, doing his part to distract and injure the bear so his companions could make the kill. The second blood had reached his mouth James went into a frenzy, tearing and ripping in a frantic manner as he attempted to get to meat within.

Not paying any attention to Lorcan devouring the heart, James continued digging until he was promptly thrown off the corpse by the older male. Despite his near overwhelming urge to leap back onto the bear, James could tell he was not permitted until the other two had eaten. Whether he could hold out that long or not was unknown, James was literally shaking with desire to get his snout back into that bear.

Yelping in excitement as Amara tossed a lung at him, James pounced the organ and quickly devouring, barely taking any time to appreciate the gift as it disappeared down his throat. With that done, James went back to anxiously watching the others eat their fill, his paws constantly digging at the ground beneath him.

Finally it was James' turn to feed, without hesitation he launched himself into the bear, tearing it apart even further in his search for meat. James didn't much care for the mess he was making nor that Amara and Lorcan had chosen the best meats, he was simply content to be eating. Several minutes passed before James emerged once again, his fur matted with blood and his muscular canine chest heaving.

Amara looked at James, the way he looked reminded her of a baby who just splattered themselves with tomato sauce. She knew they still needed food and so she led her pack off deeper into the woods, looking for something that would fill their bellies.

It was some time before they found their next large prey, but in that time several rabbits and other small animals were shoveled down the throats of the lycans.

Amara watched as their prey sprinted towards them. The forest had come alive in alarm with the sounds of carnage that came with the lycans. Most animals were now fleeing the area, but now the weres were positioned in front of a group of five sprinting deer, four doe and a fair sized buck.

Amara concentrated on one of the larger females, she'd ignore the buck and let James and Lorcan bicker over it. Just as the deer got within jumping range, Amara leapt from the bushes. Her massive form landed ontop of the doe, who was trying to skid away.

The lycan's momentum made her tumble over the animal, but not before her claws had raked the sides and wounded a leg.

Turning back on the female, Amara didn't bother breaking the neck, she knocked it to the ground and began to feed while it was still alive and warm.

Despite indulging himself in the remains of the bear, James found he was still quite hungry after his first meal of the night. His stomach was full enough now that the hunger wasn't driving him mad, but he would need to eat again before the night was over.

Following the lead of Amara and Lorcan, James sprinted through the woods, the thrill of the hunt driving his thickly muscled limbs. A number of small animals such as rabbits and squirrels had been ingested on the way as the trio scouted for larger prey.

Eventually they'd come across a small pack of deer, the scent reaching all three lycans and stirring them into frenzy, knowing another kill was quite close. With the group sprinting towards, them, James quickly eyed his potential targets. Amara had already made a move towards a large female, one of many. A buck was also amongst the group and whilst he looked appealing, he was also closer to Lorcan and James had learned quickly there was a clear case of seniority when it came to feeding.

Not wishing to be mauled to pieces, James simply charged towards the nearest doe, knocking the smaller creature of it's hooves and leaping atop it before there could be any significant reaction. Without hesitating, James dug his claws into the side of the doe, yet she barely had a chance to squeal as James' jaws wrapped around her neck, tearing into her throat and unleashing a fountain of blood. The red liquid only made James even hungrier, intensifying his attack until it was quite clear the doe was dead and he could begin feasting with little interference.

Lorcan watched as James promptly took down another doe, and left the buck snorting and stamping its feet while its head was lowered, making its antlers a reasonable worry. Growling loudly to make sure its attention was on him, he approached slowly, circling about at the same time.

A swipe, and the buck reared upward and retreated a few steps.

A rather distracting snarl from James proved to be the moment that Lorcan was seeking. The buck snorted and turned slightly to face him. It never got the chance to return its attention to Lorcan. The lycan was in the air, landing upon the buck's backside and burying his claws deep into its flesh. Powerful jaws tore through succulent flesh and gripped the buck's spinal column at the neck. A half second later, it snapped under the intense pressure of the jaws and the body crumpled to the earth. The legs still thrashed, but uselessly so now, devoid of proper electrical commands from the brain. The buck's movements slowed as Lorcan merely held it in place with a massive paw, watching its eyes as it succumbed to the cold, violent embrace of death.

A fearsome cry vented unto the night sky just before he tore his way into the buck's flesh and gorged upon the succulent meat within.

Amara finished the last piece of meat on the doe. She did not know about the males, but she was feeling a bit full at the moment. She got up from her kill and wandered into the woods for a little ways, sniffing out a small stream. Taking a drink from it, she returned to the kill site to find Lorcan finishing up his meal.

Moving over to her mate after he finished, Amara nuzzled him and growled affectionantly to him. If he still wanted to hunt, that was fine with her, she would follow only to keep an eye on James so he didn't run off and kill anyone. Though, at the moment, she wanted to curl up and let her food settle.

Amara licked the blood from Lorcan's muzzle, tasting the blood of the buck and now regretting not killing it herself as it seemed better than the doe she had devoured.

After eagerly devouring the doe, James felt somewhat content, at least as far as not being hungry anymore. This meal had been slightly less messy than the previous, yet evidently a wreck in anyone's standards, even for a lycan. Taking a moment to lick himself clean, James looked over towards Amara and Lorcan, evidently content with eachother's company.

At that point James' wild lycan mind and somewhat more rational human mind came into contact. It was only for a moment, but one very clear thought crossed over into his canine brain. Revenge. His mate had died at the hands of other males, it was only natural that they should die at his.

With this in mind, James unleashed a howl of pure rage, snarling at apparently nothing before breaking into a dead sprint, taking little notice of the trees that raced by. James had a one track mind, get back to the city and enjoy one final meal for the night. He was already salivating at the thought of ripping into the first of many humans that were fated to meet his fury.

Within minutes he was out of the forest, noting the car he had travelled in earlier as he heaved in the fresh night air. The city was a fair distance off but James was determined to make it, he needed to. Not wasting anymore time, he broke into a sprint once again, muscles bulging as they pumped the lycan forward at a speed no man could match.

The night wasn't over yet and James intended it to be a memorable one.

As Amara nestled up with Lorcan, she looked up at James took off into the bush. The female didn't pay much attention at first. But as she lay her head on Lorcan's shoulder, she thought. James was going the wrong way if he was hungry, the deer had been moving the other direction. Why was he...

Amara was instantly on her feet. She knew what it was, she had experianced the same thing very early, brief memories crossing into the lycan mind before being shut off. His girlfriend being killed....James was going back to the city.

Amara looked at Lorcan and snarled, they would have to get their claws on him before he did any damage.

Going from her hind legs to all fours, Amara charged after James, praying they caught up to him in time.

Lorcan didn't need to be told twice to get a move on. Within minutes, he was charging full speed through the woods on all fours, keeping tight to James' scent and reckless trail.

Occasionally, Lorcan and Amara barked to each other as a means of finding out where each of them were. Before long, they too had exploded out of the forest, hot on James' trail. He could be seen not too far ahead, straining to keep ahead of them. However, the two older lycans were faster, stronger.

In the end, it would be their endurance levels that would trump the youngest lycan.

Drawing right up on James' right side, Lorcan barked angrily, then swiped a leg with a paw, disrupting the young lycan's movements and sending him crashing to the earth in a cloud of dirt and grass.

He slowed and spun about, quickly closing in and halting a few feet away from him, growling lowly.

James knew the other two lycans were following him, he could hear them thundering through the forest, barking at eachother as they gained on him. Despite knowing they would be angry, James didn't care, he had something more important to do and they would have to accept that.

Out on the open grass, James growled with frustration as he caught sight of the older lycan coming up beside him, obviously able to match the pace of his younger companion. Before he could do anything to escape the presence of Lorcan, a massive paw knocked out one of James' front legs, sending him tumbling to the ground in an unruly mass.

Regaining his stance, James didn't even think about the fact that Lorcan could easily maul him to pieces and angrily growled at the culprit. He had no patience for anything that stood between himself and vengeance, his canine mind unable to contemplate multiple trains of thought at once.

Amara looked at James as he snarled at Lorcan. She quickly barked to Lorcan, hoping to cut him off before he jumped on top of the younger lycan and tore him to shreds. As she looked at James, she began to think.

He would return to the city, and without much knowledge in how to move steathly through the city, he would probably get caught and killed by the VP, possibly hit by a car or even killed by a vampire. Or even if he made it through the night, there was always the chance of a VP camera or someone catching him turning back into human form...at any case...there was a good chance in Amara's mind for James to end up dead by doing his revenge in the city, if it was in the country that was a different matter. She would be rid of him and everything would be back to normal.

Amara moved over to Lorcan and barked at James, he could continue on his quest of revenge. Now turning to Lorcan, she nuzzled him, wanting now to just relax in the woods till the sun rose.

Snarling at Amara now, Lorcan continued to keep close to James, blocking his progress toward the city. He would not let the younger lycan inadvertently kill innocent humans. He understood his desire for revenge, but it had to be done a certain way, or they'd all be hunted.

He growled at the lycan, lowering his head and baring his teeth. He glanced to Amara, growling at her to rethink this. Even she knew that if innocents were found slaughtered by something obviously not vampiric, there would be a massive hunt by anyone and everyone. They would be lucky to escape with their lives...

If they escaped.

Ready to resume he frantic spring as Amara barked her intention to allow James to continue on his path, James was quickly disappointed when Lorcan did not move but simply barked his own defiance. James continued to growl but it was more subdued as he faced Lorcan, knowing full well that he was not match for the older lycan.

Whilst avenging the death of his mate was at the forefront of his mind, James still had enough common sense to realise if he attempted to continue whilst Lorcan intended him to stay put, he wouldn't be in any condition to do anything about those that had murdered Em.

Communicating his need to be in the city, James anxiously awaited the decision of Lorcan and Amara. He didn't really care why Amara was willing to let him go, if she allowed it then all was well, Lorcan was the one presenting a problem, a problem he could unfortunately do nothing about. Holding his ground, James began to sub-consciously dig at the ground, itching to be on the run once again.

As Lorcan turned from James to Amara, he found her now in human form. The girl was shaking from the after effects of the change before marching forward to Lorcan. His reactions, though annoying as hell, were encouraging as it meant his human mind was starting to blend with his wolf and hopefully he would be able to think with a clear, human mind soon. But, the downside of being a lycan, she couldn't really talk to him without being in human form.

Walking up to him, Amara stared at him, before leaning in close, her hand resting on his shoulder before she spoke into his ear.

"Now listen here Lorcan, I know you know what I am saying so don't try to act like a pup. You got us into this mess by turning this boy. Now, I am getting us out of it. The VP do not know of you and me so we are safe. Let him run into the city and kill the fucker who wasted his girl. If he kills him in some privacy, we might get a break...but if not, you know the VP will catch him and waste his scrawny ass. Then, we are free of him and don't have to worry about a shit thing.

"James is going back to the city Lorcan, that is the final word of it. If you want to follow him fine, but I suggest we both relax here till morning, we go back to the city, get our things from the motel and find a new spot to be or leave all together. There is a good chance James will be dead by morning if he screws up okay? Now, he is going...that is it. Do you get me?"

As Amara spoke her final words, Lorcan felt her hand squeeze his shoulder, reminding him that despite her human form, her strength was not to be underestimated and was still there.

Lorcan growled lowly, then sighed none too quietly as only a canine could. Finally, he sat down, glaring at the youngest lycan with unblinking eyes. A sharp bark and he watched as James sped past them. When James had gone far enough, Amara felt Lorcan's body trying to shift back into human form. It went partway, then reverted itself back to lycan form.

He growled again, this time more loudly. Looking up her, he snapped at her hand, deliberately missing it. He was sure she knew how he felt.

Without looking at her, he walked back toward the woods, instinct telling him exactly where he needed to go to return to their belongings stowed in the underbrush.

His anger about the whole situation helped him to keep fighting the lupine thoughts that struggled against his humane thoughts, which in itself was a good thing. At the moment though, he didn't give a damn.

Now completely unimpeded, James broke into a full sprint once again. He knew he didn't have long until the night was over and he would change back but he was determined to taste the blood of those that had stolen his mate from this world.

Almost twenty minutes later the city was in sight, James' muscles aching under the exertion he was putting them through. Despite the pain he continued, choosing to crawl atop a nearby house and jump across rooftops through the suburban areas until he reached the inner area of the city. Whilst mostly consumed by his rage and desire to kill, in the back of his mind James knew where to find one of his victims, an inner city apartment not far from the school.

Now bounding across taller buildings, James slowed to a trot, panting heavily as he sniffed the air and pricked his ears. There were people nearby that would better be avoided. Realising they were growing nearer, James gathered all his strength and leapt as high as he could before finally landing two buildings across from his previous location, rolling onto his shoulder in order to lose some momentum.

There was still enough time to spill blood and nothing would get in his way, with this in mind James dived into the river and began a somewhat awkward doggy paddle.

Amara watched James go before turning back to Lorcan as she felt his flesh shift under her fingers. Looking back at him, she smiled as she watched him try to force a change. He was almost there, only a harder push...then he slid back into his animal form. With some harder work, he would be able to force himself back into human form...but as Amara knew, doing that often would be extremely taxing on strength as well as hurt like a bitch.

Amara jumped back as Lorcan snapped at her. She knew he was pissed off at her letting James go, but not like this. She watched him go before following him back to the car.

Leaning against the cool metal of the vehicle, Amara looked at Lorcan's back, feeling the anger that radiated off of him. She wanted to reach out and give him a scratch behind the ears, but knew that he wouldn't react the same way as he usually did. Picking her clothes up from the trunk, Amara got dressed before sitting on the back of the car.

She hoped that he would be more understanding when he got into human form. Even if he was still angry, she hoped that he would put everything behind them so they could get out. Last thing she wanted was to lose him.

Amara looked at Lorcan. "I know you're mad at me....but believe me I did what I did for the best."

It was well past midnight when James landed upon his intended building. It wasn't a particularly tall building but the apartments were very exclusive and expensive. John Munroe was the first target, mainly because James knew where he lived whilst the others were about as specific as somewhere in Topaz City.

John hadn't been directly responsible for Em's death but he was certainly guilty by association, being one of the passengers in the car. On top of such, the extreme distaste for the individual was quite strong within James' human mind, which somewhat crossed over into his lycan consciousness. This kill wouldn't be about feeding, it was something far more important.

Throwing all sense of stealth out the window, James dropped down onto an eighth level balcony and promptly charged through the plate glass door with little regard for the damage it would cause to himself or the noise. Ignoring the pieces of glass now mangled into his thick fur, James spun to his right as a light turned on. It appeared the bedrooms were in that direction and so he began a determined sprint towards the light.

Nearing the first doorway, James didn't wait for anyone to open and simply slammed his shoulder into the wood, continuing forward as it easily gave way. Greeted with two very surprised screams, James snarled at the two adult humans standing before their bed. Whilst they were potential food, James wasn't particularly hungry and thus he simply spun around and exited the room.

Almost immediately another light turned on and a door opened, revealing a wide eyed John as he gazed upon the mass of fur and muscle that was the lycan James. Not hesitating a moment, James leapt forward and landed hard upon John, ignoring screams of panic as he began tearing into the young man with claws and teeth. Within seconds blood was everywhere and a large portion of John's intestines were now outside of his body. Despite his furious attempts at freeing himself, John was no match against the sheer strength of James and unable to move under his weight.

There was no doubt anymore that John would die, his blood loss was already severe and the struggling was becoming less frantic as the life drained out of him. Ignoring the screams of many around him, James continued to rip and shred, not bothering to actually eat his victim. After several long minutes John finally stopped moving and breathing, much to the satisfaction of James and the dismay of his parents. Taking one last glance at John, James slashed deeply across the young man's throat just to be sure he wouldn't be getting up once he'd left, although it was entirely unnecessary.

John's mother was now on the phone whilst his father approached with a baseball bat, evidently the best weapon he could come up with at the time. Covered in blood and tissue, James had no desire to harm the parents and thus charged back down the hallway, knocking over the baseball bat wielding man as he exited through the shattered door and made a leap off the balcony and into the pool several storeys below. Despite the water, it was a hard landing and James grunted upon impact.

Taking little time to worry about such, he climbed out of the pool and began his escape. The sun would be rising very soon and once that happened he would change again, it would be best if he made it back to his brother's apartment before then.

Lorcan remained near the car, curled up on the ground and resting while awake. He did not look at Amara, but ocassionally lifted his head as he heard distant noises that seemed worthy of some concern. However, nothing came to threaten them by the time the sun stabbed its unforgiving rays into the darkness of night and chased the stars into oblivion.

Rising to his feet at last, he rubbed his face with both hands, paying no mind to his nudity in front of Amara. They were accustomed to each other and paid no mind to the fact. Only when he finished rubbing his face of the tingling sensation left over after the change back to human form, did Lorcan finally look toward Amara. He remembered the details of the night clearly, remembering how she had held him back from stopping the youngest lycan.

Now, he really wanted to know what had come of James.

Gathering his clothes and pulling them on, he spoke to Amara, "I hope we didn't make a mistake letting him go like we did." He growled lowly as he opened the driver's door of the stolen car.

Amara climbed into the backseat of the car after Lorcan failed to do much more than grunt after she spoke to him. Curling up, she hoped he would forgive her in the morning...that he wouldn't be angry and rant. Though she was more powerful, she didn't like to be rough with him. She also didn't want to lose him.

Amara closed her eyes and fell into a troubled sleep.

When she woke, she climbed out of the car and looked at Lorcan, now in human form as he woke up. She looked at him as he got dressed and started to climb inside.

"With any luck he is dead."

James kept to the shadows and rooftops, already across the river once again. He could hear the sirens from far off as they approached the scene of his attack, there wasn't exactly a lot left of the young man, although James had left two witnesses behind. Whilst doubting the wisdom of such, he reminded himself he wasn't just some senseless murderer, John died for a very specific reason and so would the others that had been in that car.

The sun would be up in minutes, James could already feel his more coherent human mind taking control once again, the physical changes would not be far behind. Breaking into a spring once again, James used his lycan form speed and strength to his full advantage, leaping straight across a road and onto an opposite building. Since there weren't squads of VP or ordinary police littering the streets in this part of town, James could afford to be a little less wary.

With the intended apartment building now in sight, James leapt high into the air simply for the joy of it, only to see the sun rising up from beyond the horizon. Now completely distracted from the fact that he was flying through the air, James grunted as his bones began to shift once again, reforming back into what would resemble a human. It happened rather quickly but that didn't make it any less painful by the end of the process James found himself inside a dumpster within the alley he had just been jumping over.

Somewhat thankful he had a pile of trash to land on as opposed to the hard ground, James quickly scrambled out of the dumpster and spun around to find himself face to face with a cop. The officer was quite young, only a few years older than James and by the look on his face, he seemed to be finding the current situation rather amusing. James was unsure whether that was a good thing or not.

"Uh... I can explain."

"Please do."

"Well, I was just at my girlfriend's, she lives in that building with her mum. Unfortunately her mum sort of walked in... when I was in there, not wearing anything..."

Evidently this was a lie and one a little too close to his heart, causing James to blush. This added to the appearance of embarrassment and perhaps furthered his cause. The officer didn't say anything and so he continued.

"She chased me out of the apartment and out onto the roof. I didn't have anywhere to go so I jumped down in here. I only live a block away, so I figured I'd be able to make it home."

The officer looked very serious for a moment, as if he were about to shoot James on the spot. Starting to get nervous, James almost jumped out of his skin when the cop before him burst into laughter.

"You're a gutsy little bugger, kid. Was she really bad enough to force you off the roof?"

James nodded, unable to speak due to the shock of passing off his fabricated story.

"Alright, I'll give you a ride back to your place. We can't have you walking around the streets with nothing on."

James grinned a little, thankful and scared speechless at the same time. The ride only lasted a few minutes and once the cop was gone, James exhaled a deep sigh of relief. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Deciding not to enter through the front of the building, James went around the back and launched himself onto the top of the building, then entering through the roof door.

Finally he got back into his apartment and collapsed onto the still folded out couch, mentally and physically exhausted.

As Lorcan drove through the city, Amara had her window rolled down, letting the cool morning air rush over her face. As the various smells of the waking city entered her nostrils, there was one that caught her, faint, yet it was evident.

"Lorcan, turn here."

Amara directed Lorcan down various streets, following the smell. As it grew stronger, Amara's face turned redder with anger until she finally slapped her knee.

"That little pipsqueak is still alive and he made a kill. I've given the VP more credit than they deserve. Thought they would have tracked and killed him by now."

Lorcan growled lowly as she announced the now obvious. He let the car roll quietly past a barricaded area swarming with cops. A few looked up to them, then returned to their business.

"What did you expect?" he growled to her, "You knew he'd kill, and still you let him go."

He looked over at her finally, his eyes blazing, "I'm glad he survived. He was given a gift that he's proving worthy of. Had he died, I might have then regretted making such a decision."

He returned his attention to the road, "Shows that he's got some decent skills in survival at the least."

Captain Alexander Dalton moved through what would have been described as a bloody massacre save for the fact only one person was dead. Despite such, blood was painted all over the room, amongst other various vital components of the human body. The poor boy had been quite literally torn to pieces with little regard for witnesses or keeping things clean.

When Dalton first heard the 666 call recording claiming a giant beast was rampaging through their apartment, he thought it had simply been some kind of wolf and it was simply being exaggerated. Upon arriving at the crime scene he'd immediately thought otherwise. The destruction before him was not the work of some dog or wolf, it was evidently much larger and by the looks of the boy, definitely far more aggressive. The strange thing had been that it only killed the boy, despite coming across the parents first.

Thankful it was no longer his problem, Dalton watched as two VP detectives made their way through the front door, their crime scene unit in tow. When it came to crimes that may have a somewhat supernatural air to them, the police handed the case over to the VP. Whilst probably not vampires, the VP had experience in dealing with many creatures besides your casual vampire.

"Gentlemen, do you have any idea what we're looking at?"

The shorter detective seemed to sniff the air, then bent down and scooped up a clump of fur.

"Do the occupants own any pets?"

"No."

Sniffing the fur, the detective placed it into an evidence bag and looked around once again.

"Captain, I'd appreciate it if you kept this to yourself, it looks like a lycanthrope."

"Lycanthrope?"

"Werewolf. My guess is whomever this lycan is, he knew the murdered boy. I highly doubt this was a random feeding, from what I've been told little of the boy was actually eaten."

"Yeh... there's more of him splattered across the wall."

The other detective began instructing his team, telling them to cover every corner of the apartment before they even started on the boy's body. Dalton sighed, it was never easy dealing with scenes like this and this lycanthrope thing made it even stranger.

"Alright detective, it's all yours. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

The detective flashed Dalton a brief, somewhat forced smile.

"Thankyou Captain, you've been far more cooperative than some of your other colleagues."

Nodding his understanding, Dalton strolled out of the apartment whilst ordering his men on the radio to stand by until further VP forces had secured the area.
_________________________

James awoke with the sun blaring into his face. A quick glance at a nearby clock informed him it was mid-afternoon. So far no police had come knocking on his door, so far so good. His memory of the previous night was somewhat hazy, he knew John was dead and he was responsible, yet it didn't fully sink in that he had literally torn the young man apart.

Sitting up, James watched his hands shake for a moment. Despite having justified his actions to himself, it still didn't feel right. Shaking such thoughts up, he decided it was time for a shower since he smelled like a dog his hands did indeed have stained blood over them.

Noticing that Lorcan and Amara were nowhere to be seen, James wasn't that surprised and figured they knew where to find him if they wanted to see him. Right now he just wanted to be clean.

Amara rubbed her temple over and over again. The VP had not acted as swiftly as she would have liked. Her first thought was to call from a pay phone and give an anonymous tip, but to be so exact would bring the VP questioning how she knew such exact details and since it was possible to track a pay phone, a witness or a security camera somewhere would pick her up. She highly doubted the VP would show mercy...even if she was helpful.

"Got any ideas?"

Lorcan mused to himself as he turned down another street. Several minutes passed before he finally answered, "We'll leave him be for now. Let him finish his business. If he's still alive after that, he'll have proven himself to me-" he looked over at her sternly, "-and you to be capable of survival even with the VP alert."

He pulled into a parking spot near a park and shut off the engine. "And if he's managed to survive that long, then you must allow him to travel with us until at least he comes of age to control his change and behavior."

Looking over at her as he tilted his head simultaneously, he finished, "Agreed?"

Amara gave Lorcan a snarl as he talked to her in his harder tone. She hated when he talked to her like she was a kid, sure she might be a little immature sometimes, but she was older than him.

Christ, its all his fault anyway. Feeling sorry that those fuckers ran him off the road, kid might have died before the paramedics arrived, but then again he might not have...Christ Almighty this is a fuck of major proportions...

When they stopped at the park, Amara only half listened to Lorcan as she was absorbed in her own thoughts of how to get out of this mess. She knew Stephen and Nicole had a friend up in Emerald City, an ancient named Hondur. If all else fails...maybe go to him and see if he could help get Lorcan and her out of the country.

As she looked out into the park, she could see a young man walking his toy dog down the path. She smiled to herself as she looked at the tiny animal, reminding her of her pet dragon who was about the same size. She chuckled as a large dog passing by barked at the little animal, causing it to back behind its owner and she heard the larger dog's owner say "stupid rat dog...."

"Ow...I was listening you know." She felt Lorcan give her a pinch to draw her back in. Amara stared back at Lorcan. "Fine, drag your little pup along. But...but if heat starts coming our way, he gets dumped and we get the fuck out of the country. And when we go back home, he stays here. Alright?"

Lorcan growled lowly. Again, she was trying to ditch the kid earlier than would be safest for all of them. Turning to her, he shook his head negatively, "Nice try, but he's not leaving our supervision until he can control his change to a reasonable extent. Then, he's on his own terms."

Shaking his head for a moment, he opened the door and emerged from the car. Immediately, one of the dogs being walked caught his scent and looked his way, its head held low and a rumbling growl clearly heard.

Lorcan merely stared the canine down as he sat on the hood of the car, arms crossed in front of him. Eventually, the dog was pulled away by the owner, whom looked at Lorcan with a suspicious look in her eye.

James stepped out of the bathroom and into the main area of his brother's apartment just in time to notice a man standing by the door, dressed in a business suit and wielding a briefcase. At first, not realising who was standing before him, James launched himself over the table, grabbing hold of a kitchen knife from the nearby bench before he landed. At that point, he looked up into the face of his brother and sighed, dropping the knife.

Somewhat speechless, James' brother just stood there, evidently surprised by what he'd just seen. After several minutes he spoke.

"James... what the hell?"

Sighing once again, the young man wandered over to the couch and sat down.

"It's a real long story, sit down and I'll tell you about it."
_________________________

With the scene in the apartment thoroughly under control by the VP, remaining forces began wide search radius from the location of the attack, looking for any potential clues that could lead them to the whereabouts of the lycan.

Several building tops had become off limits and even some streets were closed down, all in the name of hunting a wild dog. Whilst the public inconvenience was sizable, the VP of Topaz City didn't earn their reputation by keeping the public comfortable, they kept them safe.

There was no doubt in the minds of all officers involved that they would upturn every possible hide out until they discovered the culprit and dealt with it appropriately.

Amara growled as Lorcan stayed with his idea of them staying with James until he could control the change. Fuck...that would be a lifetime. It was a few decades before she got the mental and physical strength to do that. Safe for her in this situation meant either killing James and making it look like he was killed by a vampire after the crash or ditching him and beating it out of Assington.

Amara got out of the car and walked towards a coffee shop for something to drink. She was annoyed, she was not going to take James home and because of Lorcan still acting like it was the right thing to turn him and protect him she might get fucked.

Amara returned a few minutes later with a mocha in her hands. She sat next to Lorcan on the hood and took a sip, the smell and the warmth relaxed her tense insides a great deal.

She looked over at him, he was the closest thing she had to a boy friend...ever, and she didn't want to lose him. Trying to calm the seas between them, she smiled and stroked his arm.

"You know...you are handling this better than how I handled it when I bit you."

Lorcan looked back at her, "I did it by choice. You didn't." He looked away, "You could have killed me easily to clean up the evidence of your mistake, so to speak, but you didn't. And I'd like to think that you did it because you saw something in me you liked."

He looked back at her, "And I see a lot of potential in James, whether you do or not. He'll do just fine."

He sighed quietly, unfolding his arms and planting his hands next to himself on the car. "We should go find him. I imagine he's gone back to his brother's apartment."

Michael, James' brother was speechless for several minutes after James completed his recollection of the last few days. Evidently it was a lot to take in and James was just glad his brother hadn't reacted like he thought his parents would. Looking between his brother and the floor, James awaited a response.

"So you haven't told anyone else?"

"Yeh, it's not something I really wanted to spread around..."

"Of course. Although I hate to say it, I think you need to get out of the city, maybe go north. It's too dangerous for you here, especially with the VP looking for you. It was all over the news as I drove over here. They won't stop until they find you."

James knew that would be the logical thing to do, but his mind hadn't been working logically since Em's death and likely never would again.

"I can't do that... I've got things to take care of first."

Michael looked at James, a sombre expression plastered across his normally cheerful face.

"I figured you would. Jim, I'm not going to stop you but it's not a good idea, they'll catch you and put a silver bullet through your skull."

Whilst the prospect of death wasn't appealing, James felt he couldn't leave without seeking justice for Em.

"We'll see, they haven't caught me yet."

"Also, what about the normal cops? I'm sure they found the crash scene and are probably looking for you. Mum and dad are likely to be roaming the streets..."

"Yeh, but I can't see them... the cops will find me then and that will lead to the VP."

Choking back a sob at the thought of not relieving the concern of his parents, James sighed.

"Maybe once all this is over..."

"If you're still alive..."

"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?"

Michael grinned.

"I try."

Amara nodded and climbed back into the car as Lorcan suggested they go back to the apartment. She only wanted this incident to be behind her as quickly as possible. She would never take James back home and if leaving Lorcan meant...no, she couldn't think of it that way. Sooner or later the VP will corner James and kill him, if not here but then in another city or if he flees the country, they could get him there. At any rate, she knew she really could never leave Lorcan, he was the closest thing she had to a boyfriend and probably ever would.

Amara sat in silence as she drank her mocha, the soothing taste calming her nerves. Lorcan parked a safe distance away from the apartment building and they walked the rest of the way. Amara finished off her drink and threw away the cup.

When they got outside of the room, Amara paused at the door. Another scent, human...the pup's brother. Taking out a coin from her pocket, she placed it in front of the eye hole and knocked on the door.

Michael and James turned as someone knocked on the door, Michael looking somewhat worried. James merely moved towards the door and looked through the eye hole, noting it was blocked. Chuckling to himself, James spoke.

"What are you playing at Amara? I could smell you and Lorcan as soon as you came walking down the hall."

Opening the door, James ushered them inside.

"This is my brother, Michael."

Michael gazed upon the two strangers before him. Judging by the manner James spoke to them, he figured they knew the details of his current predicament.

"Mick, Lorcan is the one that saved my life after the accident. If it wasn't for these two I would have been vampire food."

With that explained, Michael lightened up a bit.

"Good to meet you, can I get you guys anything?"

Lorcan's eyes were cold, calculating as he studied Michael with unmasked suspicion. He remained silent for several seconds before he spoke. His words however didn't match his facial expression, "I'm good. Thanks for letting us crash here."

He glanced to Amara, knowing that she wasn't liking the fact that yet another person knew about them. Dealing with James was one thing, for James was also in the same boat as they were, so to speak. But Michael? Well, Lorcan couldn't just bring himself to trust him. He didn't know him. He might run to the police and create a stir of trouble for them, even if it meant he had to turn against his own brother. It was a concept that wasn't foreign in the ways of the world.

Looking to James, he questioned him, "How much does he know?"

Amara growled as she marched past Michael, allowing him to see some of her sharp teeth and letting him know she was keeping her eye on him. She wasn't happy with the situation already and the fact another person had been brought into the fold, that made everything worse than it already was.

Amara planted herself on the couch as she looked at Michael coldly for a time before turning her heard to James. A thin grin appeared on her lips.

"So, how did it feel? To make you first human kill? You enjoy it? The warm blood on your lips and the sweet taste of flesh? Feeling, satisfied?"

James noted the reactions of Lorcan and Amara as they entered the flat. He didn't really care how suspicious they were, Michael was providing them with a safe place to hide out and James knew his brother would never betray him.

"Look guys, you may not know Michael but I do and if I say he's cool with all this then there isn't anything to worry about."

Michael nodded, feeling the need to defend himself.

"What matters to me is the safety of my little brother. It won't exist if the VP find out so this place will remain friendly to you guys as long as I live here."

"So, how did it feel? To make you first human kill? You enjoy it? The warm blood on your lips and the sweet taste of flesh? Feeling, satisfied?"

James blushed bright red at this. Whilst he didn't want to admit it, he had enjoyed it, the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of delivering his own form of justice. Composing himself, James turned to Amara.

"It wasn't about the kill... this was justice."

Whilst James didn't fully believe it himself, he wasn't prepared to state he actually enjoyed killing another human being.

"Ohhh, justice...I see, heh..." Amara said with feral grin on her face. He had enjoyed it, from the way his face moved to the smell off his body, he had enjoyed it, every last second of the kill.

"Maybe you think its about justice, and maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But no matter how you look at it...when you get right down to it...when you get right down to the bone of the matter, its the pleasure of the hunt and the kill that drives you."

Amara got up from the couch and walked past James into the kitchen, she grabbed a beer bottle from the fridge and popped it open with her thumb. She took a sip.

"Got to hand it to you Assingtonians, know how to make a good brew."

Upon hearing James's answer, Lorcan simply laughed. Long and loud. He knew a lie when he heard one. He studied the kid a moment, then with a dark and sinister smile he made his way to the fridge, opened it, pulled out a drawer, and with a fingernail, peeled back the thin plastic wrap of the raw meat. He removed it from the case and held it in his hands. Turning to James, he approached him.

"Justice? No...you hardly understand justice. You do understand anger, and hunger now." He let loose a low growl, his eyes challenging the kid. From behind his back, he suddenly flung the meat onto Michael, hitting him square in the chest.

His attention however, was on James. His face was serious now, knowing what troubling thoughts would go through the kid's mind.

James continued to blush, realising he wouldn't be able to slide his half truth past the two werewolves.

"Alright, so I did enjoy it... but he died because of what he did, not simply because I felt hungry. It's more than that."

More concerned with the discussion at hand, James ignored Amara's comment about the beer, despite it being a point of pride for many citizens.

Michael didn't have the reflexes to dodge the meat and it hit him square in the chest, sticking to his shirt. Keeping his eyes on Lorcan, James removed the meat off his brother's chest and threw it on the ground. He didn't need to feed again since his multiple meals on the previous night.

"I don't really care what you think it is, what would you have done if you were in my position?"

Lorcan shook his head, "You still don't get it. You're going to kill soon, and not those worthy of death, but those unfortunate to meet death in your guise." Lorcan walked over and picked up the meat from the floor. He tore a piece of it off to chew on, then tossed the rest to Amara.

In between bites, he studied James and Michael. "The question is...can you handle the guilt, the knowledge that will haunt you upon your hours of human consciousness? Can you survive?"

He glanced to Amara, yet remained talking to James, "I took a calculated risk keeping you alive kid." he looked back at him, "Don't you fuckin' disappoint me, or I'll hunt you down myself and kill you outright."

His expression softened slightly, his gaze locked with James. "I have faith you'll do just fine though."

Amara looked at Lorcan as he chucked the piece of meat at Michael. She could only raise an eyebrow to this. Certainly it wasn't a way she would see if James could hold off on his animal instincts, she would wait till it got closer to the next full moon when the animal was more at the surface.

The girl looked at the piece of meat that Lorcan chucked to her. She smiled. "So the Alpha is being given scraps now?"

Amara drained the beer in a single, final gulp as she locked eyes with Lorcan. He could see in her eyes her happiness when he said that he would personally hunt James down and kill him. Amara threw the bottle away and looked at James.

"Meanwhile I'll be happy to kill you...and your brother without much provocation."

Lorcan ignored Amara's comment about the pack's ranking, but he still gave her a look. Upon hearing her comment following however, Lorcan spun and growled, "You kill him before I say so, and you can consider me gone for good. You said you'd leave him under my charge, and I expect you to live up to your word." He growled lowly at her, although if she listened carefully, she would have heard the slight playful tone hidden beneath the layers of anger.

He knew that it might just make her wild...

Amara was taken aback when Lorcan said he would leave her. He would leave her over a worthless mutt. Amara hadn't registered the slight playful tone Lorcan had, she was still trying to take it in. Lorcan was the closest thing she had ever had to a boyfriend and he was her only friend besides her pet dragon Tolkien. She didn't want him to leave her, sure she had Tolkien and her vampire parents, but Lorcan was special to her.

Some mist formed in her eyes as Amara tried to think of a response. The girl fought the tears back before they could fully form. Amara simply shook her head before she looked at James.

"So, how many jocks will you be killing in order to make up for the loss of your girlfriend?"

"You still don't get it. You're going to kill soon, and not those worthy of death, but those unfortunate to meet death in your guise. The question is...can you handle the guilt, the knowledge that will haunt you upon your hours of human consciousness? Can you survive?"

James had in fact considered this earlier, he just didn't want to admit he had become a killer. As long as he could justify to himself that this was some form of justice in Em's name, he figured he could live with himself. Hopefully.

Not taking too much notice of Amara, James looked back to his brother to let him know things were alright. He knew Amara was probably serious but Lorcan's threat had evidently hit a nerve that would likely prevent her from carrying out such an action.

"So, how many jocks will you be killing in order to make up for the loss of your girlfriend?"

"Three more. Then I think I should leave..."

Lorcan watched James and soon began to laugh, quietly at first, before it grew louder. He knew James was trying to retain his past, his old life. "James," he laughed, "You're a killer now. Might as well embrace it. The sooner you do, the easier your life will be."

He looked over at Amara, "It took her a while..." He returned his attention to him, "but she realized it after a little bit."

He gave him a twisted smile, "It's not so terrible really. In fact, it's almost sporting to dodge the law enforcement or crackshots."

Whilst James didn't want to admit it, he knew it was true. He was a killer now, even if it was justified in his own mind.

"It's not so terrible really. In fact, it's almost sporting to dodge the law enforcement or crackshots."

"Perhaps, it's not what I had envisioned for my life last week though, it's going to take some getting used to."

Considering it was still late morning and he wouldn't dare do anything during the day with all the VP out looking for him, James slumped himself onto the couch.

"We've got nothing to do until tonight, feel free to catch some sleep if you guys want, whatever works for you guys."

Amara arched her eyebrow at Lorcan. "Took me a while? Look whose talking puppy."

She winked at him, remembering the first time he changed, up till that point he had been resisting it and trying to say no to killing, but after his first kill...that all changed. Amara continued to nurse her beer as she lifted herself up onto the counter top. Amara starred at James, a question had been itching at the back of her mind ever since Lorcan got her into this mess.

"James, what exactly did you do to get those jocks to come after you?"

Lorcan's eyes flashed at Amara as she spoke an inevitable truth. "Be as that may, my point remains." he looked over at James, "Sooner or later, you're going to have to accept the fact that you are now stronger, better than you ever have been before."

He passed by Amara, heading to the kitchen. A hand reached out and squeezed her knee for a moment before he was at the fridge and raiding it of another beer. This powerful hunger of lycans made his metabolism quite high, and thus, even after having a drink, he felt no change. Opening this beer now, he returned to stand in front of Amara, leaning back on her legs and his arms for the most part crossed in front of him.

As they waited for James to answer his question, Lorcan turned his eyes upon the brother. "I imagine you're not so comfortable at the moment, knowing that any one of us three could tear you apart." He noted the look in the man's face, "Yes, even your brother. He's fed now and still full from it, but watch. It won't be long before he's hungry again, and well, he's going to find he prefers raw meat over cooked." He grinned, "Nice raw meat. Juicy all over. Nourishing in the best way."

"James, what exactly did you do to get those jocks to come after you?"

James' face grew stone cold as the question sunk in. Ever since the crash he'd been going over every interaction he'd had with those in the car and couldn't find a single incident that would warrant such an attack. The simple truth was that he had done nothing to deserve it and Em especially didn't have it coming.

"I didn't do anything to deserve this. Neither did Em. Simply put, they are assholes who seem to measure their self worth by how miserable they can make those around them. They have earned the fate that I'm going to give them..."

"Sooner or later, you're going to have to accept the fact that you are now stronger, better than you ever have been before."

"I know, but it's meaningless if I don't put it to good use."

Evidently James was talking about avenging Em's death. Whilst he was quite aware that once his work was done he would be seemingly aimless, he wasn't going to think about that now.


"I imagine you're not so comfortable at the moment, knowing that any one of us three could tear you apart. Yes, even your brother."

Michael didn't look concerned, despite the very real possibility that any one of them could actually eat him.

"There are more worthwhile meals out there. Anyway, it is rude to eat your host.."

Whilst he was nervous, it was obvious Michael was trying to remain pretty relaxed about the situation and didn't want to provoke anything.

Night finally arrived without Amara eating anyone and James began preparing himself for his bloody tasks. He didn't own any weapons but figured they would not be necessary, even if he wouldn't transform tonight his strength would be more than enough to overpower a teenage thug.

Amara and Lorcan had opted to leave Michael's apartment as Amara had flat out stated she wanted no part in what would supposedly get James gunned down by the local VP. Despite her warnings, James wasn't going to change his mind and he could tell that at least Michael and Lorcan understood.

Bidding his brother goodbye, James set out in a dark t-shirt, jacket and jeans, gloves covering his hands and a ski mask in his pocket. Despite not being worried about actually accomplishing his task, it wouldn't do for the supposedly dead kid to be identified beating the crap out of the local schoolyard bully.

Tonights target was a young man named Alex Dubov, the passenger behind John in the vehicle that ended Em's life. Generally Alex wasn't considered to have as much of an attitude issue as some of his other companions. He usually never initiated any attacks on those weaker than him but did participate when encouraged by the other three within the car.

Whilst it was never spoken aloud, everyone knew that Alex liked to sell pot in his spare time and there were several locations where he could be found on any given night marketing his stock. It was a Saturday night and Alex was usually known to be at whatever big party was happening that night. Already knowing the location of such, James simply jumped on the necessary bus and waited. The party was located at a house just on the outskirts of the inner city, where the suburbs began and the high rises ended.

Twenty minutes later, James got off the bus and was immediately assaulted with the noise of the party. Whilst it was at the end of the street, James' enhanced hearing picked up many individual sounds that would be hidden to most, under the blaring music. Purpose set in stone, James began a casual stroll down the street, taking note of his surroundings. Generally the street was still in silent, save for the odd party goer kneeling over someone's garden, emptying the contents of their stomach.

As James drew closer to the party, the pungent odour of burning weed reached his nostrils, drawing him towards a house just across the road where a few teens were leaning against a fence, a small light obvious in each of their hands. Drawing the hood from his jacket over his head, James made a bee line for the three teens, only one of them not holding a lit roll. The trio now had their eyes on him as he approached, stopping in the shadow of the fence before them. Facing who he suspected to be Alex, he spoke.

"You Alex?"

A short silence passed before he replied.

"Who wants to know?"

James plunged a hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of fifty dollar notes, the light of the lit rolls enough to identify them.

"Listen, I hear Alex is selling and I am looking to buy. So are you Alex?"

The sight of the cash changed Alex's attitude immediately, causing him to stand up straight and become more definitive.

"Yeh, I'm Alex. How much you want?"

James simply chuckled mildly as he stepped forward and delivered a thundering right hook into Alex's face, dropping him immediately and yet allowing him to just hold onto consciousness. The other two gave a start and moved forward slightly before coming to a dead stop as James eyed them both.

"Get out of here, don't go back to the party and don't tell anyone anything."

James' tone was menacing enough to make them run immediately and never look back. Turning back to Alex, James moved to stand over the disorientated teen.

"I suppose you weren't expecting this Alex. Think of me as a force of justice, your crimes have caught up with you and now you're going to pay the price."

Slightly more aware of what was happening, Alex let out a slight whimper as he began to bargain.

"Take the money man... I promise I won't sell anymore weed, just don't arrest me."

James merely shook his head.

"I'm not a cop and I don't care what you sell. It's what you and your friends did that concerns me. Many would say you lot have had this coming and I would have agreed with them. But it wasn't until a few days ago that you finally pushed me too far. And now here we are."

It took Alex a few moments to realise what James was talking about but eventually it dawned on him and his face grew even paler.

"James? Aren't you supposed to be dead???"

Hauling Alex by the collar with one hand, James pinned him against the fence.

"You may have murdered Emily but I'm still here."

"Oh shit man... come on, it was an accident, we didn't mean for that shit to happen..."

"What the fuck did you think was going to happen!?!"

James was literally heaving with rage, his eyes glaring directly into Alex's.

"It was just messing around... come on, you know what it's like."

"It ends now. A quick death is more than you deserve but I don't enjoy seeing people suffer, unlike you and your partners in crime."

With that said, James dragged Alex to the road, ignoring the thumps to his arm and back as if they were from children. Without uttering another word, James punched Alex in the face again to daze him then proceeded to lift him from the waist and hang the teen over his shoulder for a moment before slamming him forwards, the impact of his skull hitting the road echoing within James' ears.

Still breathing heavily, James looked down at the limp body. He could smell the blood pouring out of Alex's head and moved to check for a pulse. Alex was dead. With two of his four targets now dead, James sighed and spun around to begin the jog home. It would take a while but he had to get out of the area quickly without being noticed by anyone.

Turning around the corner, James took one last look at the corpse in the middle of the road and muttered to himself before breaking into a sprint.

"That was for you, Em."

As head of the Topaz City Homicide Squad, Captain Dalton was indeed a busy man and yet this murder was different. Initially he hadn't bothered to attend the crime scene and left things in the hands of his capable detectives but soon afterwards he'd received a call explaining the odd nature of this crime.

Whilst there were currently no suspects, someone had picked up a kid and slammed his head so hard into the road the entire back of his skull was turned to mush. So far there were no witnesses and no sign that there had been more than one culprit and yet logic would dictate it would certainly take more than one man to slam the victim against the road with so much force.

Staring down at the dead young man, Dalton sighed. Whilst the kid had been carrying enough weed to make it obvious he was dealing, no one deserved this. Initial suspicions led the police to believe this was the result of a drug deal gone bad but it didn't add up in Dalton's head. These were kids, not hardened drug gang members. If it was a drug related murder Dalton would have expected it to be a stabbing or even a shooting, not blunt force trauma to the head like this.

Turning around, Dalton found himself face to face with one of the VP detectives he'd encountered at another crime scene the previous day.

"Detective, I don't think this one was killed by a werewolf. Nothing like the other kid, he has a few bruises on the face but otherwise it was a single blow to the back of the head."

The detective nodded as if he already knew.

"Don't be so sure it wasn't the same culprit, Captain. This boy, Alex Dubov was a close friend of John Munroe's. Also, it was not a full moon last night, the lycan would have been in human form."

Dalton was speechless for a moment. If everything the detective said was true there was a clear pattern here. The 'why' was still a mystery but they might be able to predict who could be next.

"I see. Any idea on who might be responsible?"

"We have some suspicions, nothing concrete though. I'm here to request that you send us reports and copies of all findings you make from this investigation. There's no reason why we can't cooperate here and in return we shall share anything definitive we get our hands on. There is one condition though, when we find this guy the VP is taking him down."

"Of course..."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Captain. We are not in this for the glory. We are dealing with a lycanthrope here. Depending upon his age he could easily slaughter a squad of your men, even if they do manage to squeeze off a few rounds into him. The police are not equipped to deal with him, we are."

"I understand detective, you'll get everything we have."

"Thank you Captain, I'll be in touch."

Dalton sighed again. Once upon a time police work used to be simple. There was a crime, a victim, a culprit and evidence linking the two. There was always something. Nowadays there were vampires that could fly off without leaving a single foot print, lycans that could tear apart a body until it could not be recognised and all sorts of other creatures out there.

Returning to his car, Dalton figured it was about time to inform his superiors of what was going on, especially now they were apparently cooperating with the VP.

James hadn't encountered any trouble in returning to his brother's apartment that night. As far as anyone was concerned he was simply another kid going about his own business and not someone that had just committed his second consecutive murder.

When he arrived back at the apartment James found it empty. Lorcan and Amara had made no effort to return and Michael had left a note to say he was out with friends. Going over his two kills within his own head, James felt a twinge of regret, not enough to alter his path but regret nonetheless. The previous week he would have never seen himself in a situation where Em was dead and his sole purpose was to hunt down and punish those responsible

Sighing to himself, James moved into the kitchen and raided the fridge, finding most of a chicken intact and practically begging him to eat it. Not caring that it was cold or that he'd never really been a big fan of chicken, James simply recognised meat and began devouring the carcass, stripping every bone clean.

Without further delay, James strolled into his room and promptly collapsed on his bed. He didn't want to be awake, alone with his own thoughts and hoped that his dreams may be more tolerable.
_____________________

Captain Dalton sat in his office, going over the initial forensic reports of last nights murder. There really wasn't much, a partial footprint in the dirt and an imprint of a ring left on the victim's cheek. Dalton was hoping once further tests had been conducted they would have something more substantial since he pretty much had nothing to work with currently.

A knock at the office door pulled Dalton away from brooding over his lack of evidence as he called for whomever was behind the door to enter. Logan, one of his senior detectives entered, looking somewhat pleased with himself.

"What's got you in such a good mood, Logan?"

"Well Captain, it looks as though we may have some witnesses to the murder of that kid last night."

Shooting upright, Dalton was out the door and heading towards the interview rooms.

"Which room?"

"One."

Navigating his way through the desks and various people occupying his homicide squad room, Dalton found himself outside interview room one and didn't bother to knock, opting to move directly into the room and take a seat before two teens.

Taking a seat, Dalton was all business.

"Alright boys, let's not bugger around here. I know this kid was a drug dealer and I don't care why you were nearby, just tell me what you saw. That being said, Dalton his record on the audio equipment behind him and watched quietly as the two kids exchanged a look before the slightly older looking teen on the left spoke up.

"Right. We were outside the party, having a talk with Alex when this guy approached, asking if Alex was selling. We couldn't see his face since he was wearing a hoody, but he sounded kind of familiar, like a school kid at least. He flashed Alex a bunch of cash, which obviously got his attention.

They were about to make a deal when the kid just smacked Alex, biggest damn hit I've ever seen, dropped Alex like that."

The young man clicked his fingers to emphasise the point before continuing.

"Anyway, we were like 'what the hell?' and he just looked over at us and told us to leave if we wanted to stay in one piece. The guy was crazy and we weren't about to argue with him. So we left... but then we heard about Alex at school and yeh... we thought it was just some biff or something, not that he was going to get killed. Anyway, that's pretty much what happened..."

Both kids looked anxious, as if wondering whether their statement would get them in trouble. Dalton remained silent for a moment before flicking off the recorder.

"Alright boys, thanks for your time. All you need to do now is talk to one of the detectives and give him as full a description of the guy as you can and fill out a little paperwork."

Looking relieved they weren't in trouble, the kids nodded and moved to the door as it opened, Logan at the door.

"Just head over to my desk there, I'll be with you soon."

Waiting for the pair to move out of earshot, Logan looked back to Dalton.

"Captain, there's a phone call from the VP for you."

Dalton sat in his office, facing the familiar VP detective that seemed to be stalking him as of late. The man was all business, all the time it seemed and a nasty looking scar under his left eye left the impression he was all business because doing otherwise would leave you dead in his line of work.

"Well detective, that's everything we have so far. The two kids weren't able to give us much."

"Agreed, but I think it's enough to confirm our suspicions that we are dealing with a lycan. We still have no idea why these kids are being attacked but if we don't establish a pattern soon more are going to die."

"Seem so. I know this really isn't our area of expertise but I'd like to help however I can. This guy might be a werewolf but he's still committing murders under my watch."

"Of course captain. When it comes to taking this guy down I'm afraid I must defer to the VP's right of jurisdiction but up until that point cooperating will help us catch this guy faster. I think we may be at a point where warning the high school these kids attend is necessary."

Dalton simply nodded.
___________________

James awoke to the sound of the front door opening, his first thought being the police had found him and were going to take him away. Rolling out of bed, James rushed to the door, poking his head through the door whilst half tensed, ready to make a dash for the bedroom window if necessary.

Before he'd even registered who was coming through the door, James picked up the scent of meat and something else, something familiar. Simultaneously, his eyes and nose told him it was Michael and he visibly sighed, relaxing and moving into the main living room.

Michael dumped several bags on the kitchen bench and gazed over to his brother.

"I can only assume that was your work plastered on the news this evening. They say it was a drug deal gone bad."

James simply nodded, not sure whether he could actually speak. After a moment, Michael spoke again, coming to sit before James at the round glass table on the other side of the kitchen bench.

"I know you think you have to do this... but, have you stopped to think what happens afterwards?"

"It doesn't matter... I don't have anything worth living for now that she's gone. The least I can do is get justice."

"And justice is murder?"

James nearly growled as he glared at his older sibling.

"You weren't there, you didn't see them as they knowingly tried to run us off the road, you don't do that sort of thing without intentionally trying to cause harm or death. And yet if it was taken to these so called courts of justice there's every chance they'd get off completely free, where's the justice in that?"

Michael didn't say anything, realising there wasn't a way to rationally convince James of a different course of action.

"Alright. Promise me this though. Once this is over, don't even think about killing yourself. Mum and dad have it bad enough thinking you've been kidnapped or eaten by vampires, it was bloody difficult not telling them."

Guilt ran over James at the thought of his parents. He hadn't had any contact with them since the morning before the accident and for all they knew he was dead like Em.

"When this is over, I'll let them know I'm alive. I don't think I'll be able to stay here though, maybe not even in the country."

"Likely. We'll address that when we come to it though. So what's next on your agenda?"

"First, food, then... work."

The main auditorium of Topaz City High buzzed with the conversation of over a thousand students as they shuffled into their seats, intent on speaking with each other as opposed to paying any attention to the single man standing upon the stage before them. As far as they were concerned they were missing out on class time and that's what was important, the reason didn't matter.

Detective Robert Wells of the Topaz City Vampire Police stood in stony patience as masses of high school students took their seats. Every face he noted reminded him how much he disliked kids and personally wouldn't care if they ended up as lycan food. He took his job seriously though and that job stated he was to protect everyone he could from such creatures as vampires, lycans and anything else of a supernatural nature.

With the majority of the kids now seated, Rob turned up the volume on his mic to full capacity and uttered two words.

"Quiet, now."

He didn't need to shout to make them take a notice. A tone that oozed with anger and contempt echoed around the hall. All eyes were now on him and so he began.

"There is a lycanthrope loose in this city and it is killing kids. Two kids from this school are already dead, as you are likely aware. Despite what rumours may tell you, they were murdered by a werewolf. Consider this your warning."

No sounds save for Rob's footsteps filled the hall as he made his way off the stage and exited the building. He could hope the kids would be wary after that but he knew many would still go about themselves as if there wasn't anything out there ready to tear their throats out. Natural selection as far as he was concerned if they were going to disregard his warning.
_________________________

Chris and Jack sat in a corner of the auditorium pretending not to pay attention to man on the stage whilst they really considered every word. Two of the four that had been inside the car on that night were dead. Jack still wasn't convinced it was James since he had seen the mangled, bloody body.

"I'm telling you Chris, he's dead. It can't be him."

"And you think it's coincidence that John and Alex are the only ones to die?"

"Yes. There's probably more out there."

"Whatever, I'm getting out of here before he comes after me."

With the speech over, the pair rose and began moving towards the exit, keeping their voices low as they discussed the potential danger to their lives.

Upon exiting the auditorium Jack moved away from the crowd of students heading to classes and made his way across campus instead, not caring whether he would be spotted by teachers or not. A detention certainly wasn't worth losing his life over.

Leaving the school grounds, Jack crossed the street and made his way into an alley between an apartment building and bakery, the odour of freshly baked pastries hanging heavily in the air. Jack couldn't help but feel he was being watched and continued to look over his shoulder half expecting to find someone following him. Despite not believing that James was alive and out to get him, Jack had been questioning his own denial even as he attempted to convince Chris.

Going over the events of that evening in his head again, Jack knew it couldn't be him. He'd seen the car crash and both of them sustain mortal injuries, no one would get up from them. And yet, Em's body had been found but James' never was. They said he was probably taken by vampires but there was no evidence of anything.

Too focused on what may be behind him, Jack didn't notice the figure that seemingly fell out of the sky and landed before him until he ran into the man before him. Stumbling backwards onto his backside, Jack looked up into the cold eyes of James. Apparently he wasn't so dead after all.

James didn't say anything as he stared down at Jack, the air surrounding them seemed to be chilled simply by his presence. It took Jack a moment to gather words, his mouth suddenly very dry.

"You're... dead. What the hell do you want?"

James maintained his silence for a few more moments before speaking softly.

"Sorry to disappoint you but you didn't manage to kill me though. Emily is a different matter. She died because of you."

There was an unnerving calm in James' demeanour that thoroughly disturbed Jack to the point where he was almost shaking.

"Look... James. It was an accident, we didn't mean to kill anyone."

"Ha. Did you call for help? Did you even come back to see if we were alright? It would not surprise me if you're only concern was making sure the scratches were buffed out of your car. "

Getting to his feet, Jack managed to gather whatever courage existed within him and step towards James.

"Listen. It was an accident. Shit happens."

James' calm vanished in an instant and he snarled at Jack as he grabbed the young man by the throat and threw him into the brick wall beside him.

"Shit does not just happen. Shitheads make it happen Jack. I'm here to make sure you don't cause anymore shit."

Stunned and feeling sore all over, Jack was helpless as James picked him up with one arm and pinned him against the wall. Slowly coming to his senses, Jack tried to struggle but was powerless against James' strength, a strength that certainly wasn't natural.

"What... are you?"

Rage burned in James' eyes, delivering a gaze that could sear straight through stone.

"I am what I need to be."

Drawing a fist back in line with Jack's head, James prepared to deliver his final blow until a stern voice interrupted him.

"Don't do it, kid."

Whirling his head around to the right, a man holding a rather large pistol stood at the head of the alley, his gun trained on James. Detective Robert Wells had identified Jack and Chris in the auditorium as being two regular companions of the already murdered teens. Noting that Jack was not going to class, Rob had followed him into the alley.

James snarled at the detective, furious that he was being interrupted and that he hadn't noticed the man approaching.

"You can't stop me."

Rob mere smiled, although it wasn't friendly.

"The silver bullets in this mag say I can."

James cursed to himself. This wasn't some passer by but a VP officer of some kind. He was trained to kill people like James.

"You have one chance kid. Surrender or I'll double tap two silver rounds into your head."

"He will die for his crimes."

With that said, James leaped several metres into the air, taking hold of a fire escape ladder on the wall behind him, using the grip to gain leverage against the wall before pushing off with his legs and onto the rooftop of the bakery. Rob certainly hadn't been expecting such and James was gone before he could even squeeze off a round.

Keeping his weapon in hand, Rob moved down the alley towards Jack.

"You alright?"

Jack simply nodded, looking up at the rooftop where James had simply launched himself towards.

"How???"

"Lycan. Your friend there is a werewolf."

Still taking in what had just happened, Jack's eyes widened as he saw James peering down at him from the rooftop with what appeared to be a brick in hand. Before he could even open his mouth the brick filled his vision as it rocketed towards his face. Then there was nothingness.

Rob swore loudly as he aimed up at the rooftop finding no target. Gazing back down at the corpse before him, Rob swore again. He had the kid in custody, until a brick imploded his face.

Pulling out his radio, Rob contacted the other VP officers around the school.

"Our target has struck again and I have a suspected identity. Jack is dead though. Apprehend Chris, the little bastard won't get this one."

James sat upon the balcony of his brother's apartment, watching the sun descend into the horizon. Chris was the only one left now, saved for last as he was ultimately responsible, being the driver of the car that had ended Em's life. Tonight would be the final stage of his quest for what he called justice and others considered revenge. Whatever it was, James knew it was all he had left in his life. Little consideration had been given to what would happen once Chris was dead and James honestly didn't care.

The likelihood of Chris being under guard was quite high but that wasn't going to deter James, despite the cautious words of his brother. Michael could think of a handful of reasons why it was a bad idea but he could never really back them up because he agreed. Despite being several years older, Michael had always had a respect for James' judgement and ability to reason out the best course of action.

"You're sure you want to do this tonight? It's not going to be easy."

James didn't turn around, he'd heard Michael's soft footsteps approaching and his distinct scent filled the air.

"Yeh, it has to be tonight. If I wait too long he could leave the city or even the country..."

Michael merely nodded.

"Yes, I know. I'll be careful as one can be in such a situation. I'll see you later Mick."

With that said, James rose to his feet and made his way out of the apartment. Chris lived in the suburbs and thus jumping around rooftops wasn't going to get him there. Even supernatural creatures used a cab sometimes.
_______________________

Chris sat within the confines of his room, looking up at the pain in the arse VP detective that was restricting him to his own room for however long it would take them to catch this lycan.

"I'm telling you I don't know why he is coming after me. How do you even know that he will?"

Rob scowled down at Chris, quickly losing his patience.

"I'm getting sick of your bullshit. All of his victims have been your close friends and you think he's not coming after you? Lycan or not, someone does not simply kill certain people without a reason. This isn't a coincidence and if you're not prepared to tell me why he's coming then how am I expected to protect you?"

Chris sighed, slamming his fists against trembling knees. He'd tried to ignore the trend and pretend it was simply a series of accidents but he couldn't ignore it forever, especially when he was next.

"You remember that car crash last week that killed the girl? He was in there."

"Yes, the local police never found James' body. They figured vampires must have taken him."

"Yeh... well we might have been there. We nudged them and she lost control of the car..."

Rob remained silent, gazing down at Chris with a stone cold expression. It certainly made sense now. Chris and his idiot friends had killed this Emily girl and somehow James had managed to survive the crash and end up a lycan.

"Great. We'll deal with that once we have him. Don't go anywhere. He'll be coming after you and I'm not going to let him get away this time."

With that said Rob stalked out of Chris' room, closing the door behind him and nodding to the two men standing before him.

"No one goes in or out. Also, switch to tasers but turn them up to full charge. I want this guy alive but he may be tough to bring down."

The pair nodded and Rob moved on, making his way down to the ground level of the two storey house. Chris' parents and younger brother were also confined to their rooms whilst the VP had spread out within the house and surrounding yard. It was simply a matter of time now.
___________________

James jumped out of the cab after handing the driver a few notes; not particularly worried about the change. It was completely dark now and Chris' house was a block away. A lack of street lights in the area made it reasonably easy for James to stick to the shadows as he promptly began a light jog down the street, keeping an eye out for any other movement.

Within a few minutes James found himself sitting in a tree on the corner of a street, opposite Chris' house. VP officers filled the street in pairs, several standing outside the front gate whilst others walked up and down the footpath. No doubt there would be more inside but James wasn't about to go home because of a few men with guns.

Considering his options, James dropped out of the tree and moved further back from Chris' house until he was on the far side of the block opposite to the house. Using the cover of the houses between himself and Chris' residence, James promptly ran down the empty street before him and rounded another corner. This brought him to the opposite end of Chris' street where there were less guards.

Darkness and distance were not issues for James' eyes as he gazed upon the houses that lined the street before reaching his target. The VP had placed visible guards in front of the house and in the yard but nothing in the surrounding yards. Quickly crossing the street and leaping over the fence of the house before him, James considered his approach. He could move down the block of land via the yards of the houses leading towards Chris without being detected.

James could barely hear his own footsteps as he jumped over the fences blocking his path and made his way closer to his target. He could smell Chris and the others now, each scent identifying an individual in the area. There were a lot more guards than James had expected and it appeared getting in would be more difficult than initially thought. Stopping before the final fence, James pressed his face against the wooden pales in an attempt to gaze through the gaps. There were two guards facing the house, gazing up at a window. James continued to wait in the hope they would move on.

"That's the kid's window up there, we've gotta make sure he doesn't try and pull a runner."

"Right. How did we get stuck baby sitting some brat? I doubt we'll even see this lycan tonight, there's too many of us here to even try it."

"Ha, don't be so sure buddy. It might not be a full moon tonight but they can still go into a bloodlust. I don't know what's motivating this one but Rob reckons he's after this kid."

"Whatever. The sooner this is done with the better."

James didn't need to wait any longer to realise these guards weren't going to move and he'd have to deal with them himself. Leaping over the fence, James cursed to himself as his eyes met those of the VP officers. They must have heard him move and spun around but it was too late to stop now. A solid right fist crashed into the face of the first officer as James landed upon him, blood spewing from the man's nose. Not waiting to see if he was down for the count, James spun around to the second officer and promptly kicked him in the knee before slamming an elbow into the side of his head, knocking the man unconscious.

The confrontation hadn't exactly been silent and James could already hear men running towards his location. He'd have to be quick. Crouching against the fence, James looked up to the window the officers had indicated was Chris' room and launched himself through the air, plunging head first through the glass and landing in a roll upon the carpeted floor. Several pieces of glass were now wedged in his face but that could be dealt with later. Springing to his feet, James moved to the door and locked it before spinning around to face a startled Chris.

"You knew this was coming so don't act so surprised..."

Chris simply gaped at the bloody James and attempted to move further back against the wall behind his bed. Not wanting to waste any time, James moved towards the frightened teen with the intent of ending it quickly. As he reached the bed, the closet door burst open to reveal the man James had avoided earlier that day.

The initial surprise was all Rob needed to plant the taser straight into James' chest, causing the young lycan to fall to his knees and groan in pain. Despite such, he still attempted to move toward Chris, ill intent shining in his eyes. At that point the door burst open, allowing two more VP officers to enter the room and hit James with their own tasers. Finally he fell onto his face, twitching in agony before finally passing out.

For a moment, everyone stood in silence, gazing down at the unconscious boy that had been responsible for three murders. Rob sighed and nodded towards the officers, indicated they should attach the silver nitrate injecting handcuffs. The restraints clamped onto the wrists of a prisoner and injected them with a very small and mild amount of silver nitrate, rendering lycans and vampires docile due to pain and weakness.

Chris jumped off his bed and delivered a sharp kick to James' ribs, a smug grin plastered across his face.

"Bloody asshole, they'll put you down for this."

Frowning at the teen, Rob pushed Chris back onto the bed.

"Stop it. Before we get out of here I'd like you to have a chat with a fellow civil servant."

Another dark haired man stepped into the room, wearing a long coat, pants and tie. The badge hanging out of his shirt pocket identified him as a standard police officer.

"Chris, this is Captain Dalton."

Dalton gave a slight nod to Rob before withdrawing a pair of handcuffs from his coat pocket.

"Christopher Ardus, you're under arrest for the murder of Emily Marks."

James awoke to the unrelenting cold of a cement floor, and an overwhelmingly bright light. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust but it soon revealed his surroundings as a cage. The room was entirely cement save for the bars, which appeared to be silver from first glance and would prove to be so if he decided to touch them. A bucket sat in the corner, also appearing to be at least partially silver. Otherwise the room was completely unfurnished, not even a bed was provided for prisoners of the VP.

Several minutes of simply lying still passed before a voice startled James to his knees. Rob sat on a chair just outside the bars, watching James with a stare that could have drilled holes through the cement behind James.

"You were rather evasive for such a young lycan. I suppose your sire is long gone by now, it's been a month since we caught you."

James didn't speak. All he could think about was how he'd failed to get justice for Em. Chris had escaped and was likely living a life he did not deserve.

"I know why you did it, James. I can understand it, even if I don't agree. I thought you'd like to know that the police arrested Chris. They tried to get him on murder but his parents got him a fancy lawyer and managed to drop it down to vehicular manslaughter. Even so, he's in prison for five years."

"Five years??? Em is dead and he loses five years? He should be dead."

"Perhaps. Killing him won't bring her back though and it won't make your life any better. You should consider yourself lucky. Normally we execute lycans and vampires that have murdered citizens."

Rising to his feet, James met Rob's gaze.

"What now?"

Rob's face split into a wry smile.

"People in high places have plans for you. If you do as you're told then you won't be kept in a cage for the next hundred years..."

With that said, Rob rose to his feet and disappeared down a corridor, leaving James to his own thoughts.