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Chapter Text

Two girls leaned forward intently to watch the computer screen on the decadent fourposter canopied bed. Velvet curtains framed the window, and the scent of old books lingered in the air. The carved desk gleamed under the soft lamplight, echoing the room’s quiet grandeur. Café Forbidden was a building and business that had lasted for over a century with no small amount of credit probably going to three young men that ran it and its secret organization that were immortal.

In a world of humans, there were also the creatures often thought of as myths and fairytales that actually were just as real. Throughout the ages, humans that knew of these other species existence often hunted them either for the prestige and power that came with them or to exterminate them. The Twilight organization was relatively young compared to most monster hunting groups, but they were something different. First being that they did not kill or capture the monster species that were grouped under their own phylum line of evolution from the rest of natural animal kingdom by the simple name of Umbra unless necessary with certain rules. The second was allowing the good among the Umbra to work with them to govern and monitor their own kind instead of letting humans muddle things with their own limited understanding of species that were of similar intelligence to them.

The two human girls had adjusted nearly instantly to learning of Umbra and the Twilights in their first hectic weeks in London England and loved being around them. Both were exchange students from China that had come to study for college. Baileu Ton possessed black hair and was the one that had decided to come to London to study because her great grandmother had moved here and had loved the land. Only on arriving had she learned the full truth about her beloved ancestor. Her grandmother, Sha Rijan, had been an Umbra hunter that had established the Twilights and had started Café Forbidden and recruited the three Umbra young men that still lived here and continued to work for her ideals after her death.

The other girl was just as oriental in genetics though her hair was a soft brown. Mu Shinyao had grown up with Ton and they were best friends that did nearly everything together. Though the first few weeks of being separated from each other with all the Umbra problems Ton’s coming had sparked had defined both of them more than the single package they had been previously.

The computer was playing tense music as they leaned in to watch. As a woman screamed dramatically in horror on the device, a chuckle came from the doorway. They looked up to find a silver haired young man with a lock of red in his bangs leaning against the apartment’s doorway with a relaxed grin. His bright green eyes focused on them intensely. “What are you watching?”

“Paranormal investigators,” Ton instantly supplied.

The tall young man that seemed every cent of normal but had his werewolf lineage hidden away gave them an amused disbelieving look. “Paranormal investigators?”

Ton nodded in excitement, “Yeah! They do a lot of research, and they go to different locations to find ghosts and other kinds of Umbra!”

Luke Bowen laughed, “You do realize that we are paranormal investigators, right? You have a literal library which your grandmother collected on all things supernatural, and we have a ghost to do the modern technology search.”

“Actually,” Shinyao started up much quieter than her friend and much more considering on what she was going to say. “I don’t think we’re investigators like these people. They just do research then go to a place to prove that Umbra are real. They don’t try and solve the problem like we do.”

“Yeah! We’re Hunters!” A voice chirped from the computer as the screen character of the resident technology ghost flickered on.

Luke shook his head fondly at them, “Why in the world are you watching people record getting the heebie-jeebies scared out of them when you meet with and sometimes fight Umbra every day?”

“Ton likes not being in the situation and still being able to point out everything the investigators don’t understand about you, and I like the history and stories,” Shinyao said.

Ton flushed in embarrassment as Luke laughed knowingly at the reason. “I’m making a list of known Umbra places in England and close by countries that I want to see some time. I like watching these other investigators experiences so that I know what might happen when I go and what I should probably do when I try to convince them to become Twilights.”

“You’re just like Rijan,” Luke muttered fondly under his breath before smiling at the lighter haired human girl. “By the way Shinyao, have you heard from my little brother lately?”

Mu ducked her head slightly flustered at the teasing. “Last week, he got reception in Nepal. Some of the pictures he sent were beautiful. I want to go there some day.”

“Tell him that and he might take you with him during your school break,” the silver wolf said with a mischievous smile as he stretched. “I get the feeling he’s going to be back in the UK in the next few weeks.”

“He is?!” Shinyao exclaimed in excitement at the news.

“Chris is in Siberia right now and is not on the friendliest of terms with the authorities that think he’s a spy. I know his routine well enough to know that he usually drops down into Germany as soon as he gets around the mountains before heading either down towards Italy or up into Norway and down to England again. And since he’s already been to Italy on this world tour of his…”

“I hope he decides to run out of Russia instead of fight,” Shinyao said softly to herself with a dreamy set to her eyes.

Ton giggled at her best friend’s crush on the hotheaded red furred werewolf. “Why in the world do you like him? He did kidnap you and he isn’t very nice.”

“He is nice! You just haven’t spent much time with him. Chris is… quiet. Sort of shy almost. And he’s truthful, though I guess you could see that as being a little too blunt. I don’t know why I like him,” Shinyao defended the more rebellious Bowen.

Luke smiled in understanding, “Don’t try and get a reason for anything from my brother. He never has one and everyone he interacts with can’t find one either. He’ll give you a thousand reasons to hate him but somehow you still end up loving him.”

“Exactly!” Shinyao agreed with the only other being that loved the impulsive werewolf Umbra. “I want to cook dinner when he comes back. He cooked a lot for us when we were hiding.”

“The kitchen’s yours then,” Luke agreed with a conspiring wink. “I’ll drag my little brother in to make sure that he actually stops by.”

Shinyao giggled before she grabbed her notepad to begin jotting down everything she needed. Ton huffed as she threw herself back onto a pillow on the bed. “He hasn’t even asked you on a date! You’re getting too attached to a rogue that hasn’t shown that he cares about you.”

“He cares. He doesn’t want me to get hurt and killed,” the brown-haired girl said absently as she focused on her growing lists that was orderly and detailed compared to the scattered mess that her friend’s desk was.

“That doesn’t actually mean that he likes you beyond a friend,” Ton pointed out.

“And you have gone on a couple of dates with everyone that lives here, and you still can’t make up your mind which one you like better,” Shinyao returned without any malice.

The canine Umbra chuckled to himself, “This looks like this is going to be a long conversation. I’ve got to be going. Got an Umbra meeting I have to attend.” He turned to leave but paused. This had both the girls’ attention faster than if he had said anything. He was still for a few seconds in thought before he threw over his shoulder. “If you really want to go to places with Umbra in them like those investigators are, then I suggest you talk with Vlad about that. He’s in charge of historical things.”

Then he was gone like he had never appeared. Shinyao glanced over to her friend before she went back to writing down things. “You better think over whatever you’re thinking about really good. Spend a day or two on it before you say it. You don’t want to get caught with a half thought out plan around here.”

“That’s why I have you! Play the video Wayne,” Ton instructed the ghost as she leaned in to watch the footage.

Chapter Text

Ton walked towards a blond-haired young man that was tall but definitely thin. His skin was a soft buttermilk white from not having ever seen sunlight, but he still managed to appear healthy and more than just handsome. His natural crimson eyes that were the first outward sign hinting of his undead vampiric species glanced over to her coolly before he focused back on his work. “No.”

“What?” Ton asked in confusion.

The young man that had once been a blood thirsty murdering descendant of the famed vampire Count Dracula didn’t look up. “No.”

“No to what?” The dark-haired girl questioned.

“To whatever you are thinking about and where about to say.”

“You don’t even know what it is that I’m going to say! You can’t say no until you hear it!” Baileu exclaimed.

“I don’t need to hear it to know that I am not going to like it. Whenever you have that expression, I already know.”

“Vlad! Give me a chance to tell you!”

“It will be a waste of your time and a waste of my ears,” Vlad Garfunkel returned coldly.

One last Umbra young man that was working on the side of the room looked over at them. He had distinctly East Asian features, though he matched Luke and Vlad in height. The jiangshi had his thick bangs covering over the talisman on his eyes as the rest of his hair was thinly plaited back in a traditional Chinese braid. “You can tell me Ton-sama. I find it no burden to listen to your ideas.”

Ton smiled at him for being so nice. “Thank you Tauryu. I might. Luke just said that I should talk to Vlad about this since it was something I guess he’s in charge of.”

“What is your idea? I might be able to help you get it started,” Tauryu offered.

“I want to start a YouTube channel.” Ton declared to the café.

Vlad turned with his forever calm and controlling expression set in place. “Fine. Now what is the other part that I disagree to?”

“Hah! Now you want to listen!” Ton cheered.

“No. I just am unfortunate enough to be in the same room as you.”

“Mean!”

“Ton,” Shinyao said gently as she came through an enchanted mirror from another room. “Tell them about it.”

The dark-haired girl turned hotly back on Vlad. “I want to go to historical sites like the paranormal investigators do and start a channel of us working with Umbra.”

Vlad hummed in understanding as he poured some tea into a cup. “About as reckless as usual for you. No.”

“Why not?!”

“Us Umbra have survived for so long because we have stayed hidden, and Twilights are not too well known. If you put ridiculous videos on the internet, it’s going to make us look like fools and endanger hundreds of Twilight operatives worldwide. Not to mention that brainless humans looking for a thrill would take the techniques you’re showing and use them to hunt innocent Umbra effectively.”

“But you also want people to know about you so that they know that you are good and not to hunt you. The Twilights are worldwide, and anyone can search us on the internet and find us already. The scientific community has already accepted Umbra as separate species, it’s just not known very well in general public,” Ton pointed out.

“You wanted to talk to me about this and my answer is no. Forget it,” The golden-haired vampire stated without giving.

“I bet Luke won’t tell me no.”

“Luke has been MIA for the past five days since he went to that Umbra meeting of his that he didn’t tell anyone about. As far as anyone is concerned, he was captured by demons to be kept in hell for the next five hundred years or a hunter put a silver bullet through his heart and his limbs are currently scattered in trash cans throughout the city. There is no guarantee that he is going to come back,” Vlad returned sharply.

“Does that happen?” Shinyao asked in concern.

Garfunkel frowned down at his cup of tea before sipping at it. “The longest he’s ever gone missing was for three years about sixty-two years ago. He disappears intermittently and comes back in varying degrees of health but never tells us what he was up to.”

“Is that why you are not listening to me? You’re worried about Luke?” Ton demanded.

“No. I wouldn’t listen if he was here. You are just an additional problem to add to the others.”

“Why you…!”

“What am I interrupting?” A voice came from the doorway. Luke leaned tiredly against it with his shirt dyed with dried blood.

“Luke! You’re back!” Shinyao exclaimed happily as she ran over to him. She paused to look him over. “You’re hurt.”

The silver smiled tiredly as he patted her on the head. “Not anymore. I heal fast.”

“So does Chris, and I still don’t like it when he gets hurt,” Shinyao returned.

“Thank you,” Luke accepted the worry as he slowly pushed himself back to his feet and walked into the café.

“Is there anything we can do?” Ton asked in concern.

“Nope. Though you can fill me in on what’s been happening around here the past few days,” The silver werewolf requested as he sat down on a bar stool by Vlad.

“Just school really,” Shinyao said.

“And Ton is trying to annoy Vlad into letting her start an Umbra hunting YouTube channel,” Wayne spoke up from the television he had been eavesdropping from.

Luke blinked before looking at the human girls. “Alright. Explain.”

Ton smiled as she was finally given a chance to explain her idea. “I want to go to different places that have known Umbra activity and make a video of us finding the Umbra and either talking to them or whatever we end up doing. It would be a great way to introduce people to Twilights and how we work. We can explain about each type of Umbra we are after and then afterwards we can each record our own point of view and explain why we did what we did. We could teach people about what Umbra are really like and do more good while we are at it than the investigators.”

Luke smiled knowingly, “How much help did you get from Shinyao on this?”

Ton spluttered, “I came up with the idea! She just helped me think of all the other points.”

“As usual,” Bowen said with a fond smile.

“Vlad! You could be an internet star!” Wayne exclaimed.

The vampire hissed in dislike, “As entertaining as the thought is, its too much work. People paying attention to you means you have to interact and pay attention to them.”

“Lazy Count. You just can’t be bothered to do anything worthwhile in your life,” Luke teased.

“I don’t have time with all the responsibilities you shoved onto me,” Vlad snapped back. “Why did you put Ton on me with this awful idea?”

Shinyao interjected before they could get into one of their famous arguments. “Luke said you were in charge of historical things.”

Vlad huffed bitterly, “The wolf is supposed to be in charge of that. Rijan asked him to be since he was always bringing in artifacts and knowledge tomes, but he whined and complained until she shoved it on to me. Now this mongrel keeps dropping things on me with no explanation of where he found it or what its history is.”

Luke did not reply. He studied the far wall and purposely did not make a move to look at the glaring crimson eyes or defend himself against the accusation. Shinyao stepped up to place a worried hand on his arm. “Luke? Are you alright?”

Bright green eyes turned to her with a smile, “Just thinking about the video idea. I’m not fully sold on it either.”

“What?! Why not?!” Baileu demanded.

“Ton! Hush. Let him speak,” Shinyao gently chastised.

“Well, it’s a good idea, but at the same time it is not a great one,” Luke started as he seriously looked between the young girls. “You have to understand that not everyone is going to be as understanding and nice as we are. There will be people that will say that you staged or photoshopped everything Umbra that you get on camera. They will say awful things about you and regular hunters like Midnight Sun that want to exterminate us will try to discredit you by saying how we handle things is wrong and that you are monsters yourselves. There is a good chance that you will be kicked out of every social media platform you have for doing this and it will probably go on any records that potential job opportunities and universities will look at. And depending on who is looking at it, it might cut your opportunities in life down.”

Both girls glanced at each other in horror at the thing they hadn’t even thought of. Shinyao thought for a moment. “If Ton still wants to do this then I will help her. I’m certain I will be able to find a job in time if any of that does happen, and I’m not too impressed with technology after… I’ll just not look at the comments. Can’t be hurt by what you don’t see.”

Ton nodded, “I already have Midnight Sun bashing me and a lot of Umbra don’t like me because of my grandmother. I see no reason to be afraid of regular people. You guys have dealt with everyone hating you for centuries. I can handle this for a few years to try and make things better for you now.”

Vlad hissed to himself as Luke smiled softly at them. “Then there will be the other end of the spectrum. You will have Umbra geeks that have more fiction in their heads than sense and will be trying to help you put Umbra on the endangered animals' species list and will say a whole bunch of nonsense that they think is true. They are the kind that are too helpful and get in the way.”

“Those are much easier to ignore,” Ton said.

“True, but you have to realize that you two will be on your own for this. You will be in charge of filming and editing and getting everything together. We might be able to give you occasional voice recording interviews and such to explain, but you can’t always rely on that. I’ve been gone for the last five days. I won’t be able to do anything for you during times like that. Plus, you both have school and a night job. Where are you going to fit in all the work that needs to happen for a channel between that?”

The dark-haired girl hesitated as she tried to think of what she could do. Shinyao on the other hand had already considered it, “We can record footage as we do Twilight work and on the weekends for the locations outside of London. We can then put things together on weekends or between classes.”

“I can help them too!” Wayne volunteered from the television. “Making a video is easy.”

Luke nodded, “If you go through with this, the videos have to be professional and nice. Not too weird. You will need to explain the history and reasons and every little thing we do to your audience. And you have to show it to us before you air it to make sure we approve. Your videos will reflect and hold importance to all the Twilights. We need to make sure that you are not accidentally giving the wrong idea.”

“That makes sense. Criticism and other people helping with editing suggestions will make it better,” Shinyao said.

“I am against this,” Vlad stated to the silver.

Luke leaned back to look at the vampire. “I’m not fully convinced this is going to work either. But if they really want to give this a try then why don’t we give them a trial run? Put them to the test and let them find out what they are getting into. There’s no commitment yet. They can drop it if they want to.”

Tauryu stepped over to join their group, “What kind of test are you thinking of?”

Luke grinned in a way that edged towards dangerous mischievous. “Just a normal Twilight work night. If they can grab their cameras and keep up with us with no previous warning or preparation and still manage to get good footage while not getting in the way and still being able to help us in negotiations or fights, then they can definitely handle a peaceful haunted house that they can do everything to prepare for. Then they won’t have to pester Vlad about historical landmarks for a while if they just practice with regular meetings and investigations.”

The Jingzhi nodded in understanding. “That seems sensible to me.”

Ton beamed, “We’re in!”

Her lighter haired friend nodded in agreement. “We’ll give it a try.”

“Great. Now can one of you give me a hand. I don’t think I can get to my feet,” Bowen said as he held out a hand.

Shinyao giggled as she grabbed on and pulled with her entire petite body weight at the Umbra that was not helping in the least. She paused in her pulling to smile much too sharply for her innocent, sweet self. Thick black vines with a violet glow about them summoned from the floor to easily jerk the silver to his feet before disappearing without a trace.

“Thank you. I’m heading to bed. See you guys later,” Luke called with a wave as he walked through one of the enchanted mirrors with a strong limp.

Vlad hissed in frustration before glaring at the only mortals on the London Twilight team. “The moment you become a problem; the videos are ending.”

Ton straightened up combatively, “We’ll talk with Luke about that. The boss is the one that gets to make that decision.”

“I’m not just the boss.  I’m the one cleaning up the mess when things go wrong. And this? This has disaster written all over it," The Count stated.

“That depends on the moment and if Luke’s around,” Shinyao pointed out. As she got a glare that was promising more agony than the conversation was worth, she grabbed her friend and hurried for a mirror. “Come on Ton. We need to see if we have everything we need for this.”

Chapter Text

Ton paused in her passive listening to the news coming through the television as the boys started talking. Quickly she pulled her phone out of her café skirt’s pocket and started recording them. She frowned unhappily as she looked at the screen to only see Tauryu and Luke sitting at the table and the place where Vlad was sitting to be empty. A curse on vampires and not showing up in mirrors and cameras. They were going to have to fix this. “There have been quite a few buildings being burned down recently,” Tauryu noted.

Ton watched with her own eyes as Vlad nodded in thought. “Much more than common accident or even human arson, but none of the buildings are close enough together to really be connected to one area.”

Luke was scrolling through his phone in idle searching as the scent of tea warmed the air. “Police reports show no connection on types of buildings or anything in common. As far as they’re concerned these fires are completely unrelated.”

“They could be,” Wayne said as he walked by them in his possessed mannequin body.

“Doubt that,” Vlad said.

“With the frequency that they have been happening and the tells around them, I think we’re dealing with a mischievous Umbra,” Luke said as he casually slouched in his seat.

“Probably Fae. They do tend towards destructive mischief,” Vlad said as he lifted his teacup to take a sip for the cup to float in the air on its own on the phone screen.

“I was leaning more towards Lemures,” Luke suggested.

Tauryu tilted his head in question. “Spectra demons? I thought they tended to be more slow in their destruction.”

“Unless there is a large group of them, and they are already proven towards mass destruction. There was a large group in New York a few weeks ago that that Twilight team drove out but were not able to stop. They could have just shifted east in location,” Luke suggested.

“I would prefer more of a reason than just a group from another country,” Vlad replied.

Shinyao stepped to the table that they were around with wide eyed curiosity, “What are lemurs?”

Luke waved his hand around in flippant illustration. “Lemurs are tree jumping animals in Madagascar. Lemures or spectra demons are a general classification of demons that do damage to properties and bodies from the smallest degrees of leaving a small bruise or breaking a cup to full on mutilating and putting gorges in the middle of roads and houses. This kind were most popular in England towards the beginning of the great witch hunts because King James was terrified of wicked Umbra. He wrote a book about how to identify witches and demons that got a lot of innocent humans killed with a few actual Umbra. That book and the mass manhunt and murder that the terror inspired created more of that kind of demon than you can imagine.”

“There are other kinds of demons that can cause harm, but they are a lot fewer in number and usually are higher ranking, so you won’t see them unless you are really interfering with their plans or job,” Tauryu added.

“Or are in the right place,” Luke said before he sat up in his chair. “We can investigate both. No reason not to check on everybody.”

“It’s the Fae,” Vlad stated certainly.

Luke shrugged carelessly at the rebuttal, “Why don’t we flip on it?”

Tauryu reached into his pocket for a coin and flipped the British currency. He glanced at it before putting it away. “Vlad won.”

“How do you know?” Shinyao asked as the young men stood up and grabbed their Twilight coats.

“We’ve been together for too long,” Luke explained with a grin. “With this sort of thing, Vlad will always choose heads or hearts, and I always choose tales and claws. We’re sadly predictable.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Shinyao said as she accepted a dressy black woman’s blazer that had a soft periwinkle blue lining it to slip over her café uniform.  Her own Twilight jacket to represent their organization while they were out.

Ton paused recording as Luke tossed her favorite red leather jacket at her. “Think you can keep up with that phone of yours?”

The dark-haired girl blushed at having been caught as she put away her phone. “Of course. I can do this.”

Luke chuckled to himself as he walked for the door out. “Ready Shinyao?”

The light-haired girl smiled as a violet glow surrounded her and huge black wings erupted from her back. “Lead the way.”

“Try and keep up then,” the silver called before he was gone from the door with Vlad disintegrating into a cloud of bats to take to the dark sky outside. Shinyao ran forward for her huge wings to wisp through the solid door frame before they flapped to shoot her into the sky hard and fast.

“Hey!” Ton cried as she ran after them. They were already long gone. She huffed in frustration at being the slowest member on the entire team and the regular occurrence of being left behind.
She turned when a strong hand soothingly clasped her shoulder.

Tauryu looked down at her through the talisman on his eyes. “Would you mind if I carry you, Ton-sama?”

Ton smiled a little at not being completely forgotten. “Please. I don’t know where we are going.” The Jingzhi easily picked her up before they were moving faster than humanly possible, though it was slower than what the others were capable of. The air outside was damp with city fog, and the pub pulsed faintly with bass.  Visible, but cloaked in glamour that made it easy to overlook. The others were discussing by the corner of the building when they arrived. “What’s going on?” Ton asked as Tauryu placed her down.

Shinyao smiled as she quietly held her pink phone that had been recording the previous conversation. “Luke and I are going in to talk with a group of Fae. Apparently, they think Vlad is a prime target to make problems for because of his personality. So, he is going to stay out here with you guys.”

“I want to go in too,” Ton tried in a need to be included in everything.  Not be left out because she was less than others.

Tauryu placed his hand on her shoulder again. “You don’t. Fae developed a vendetta against your grandmother, and it would be worse for you as a descendant.”

Ton drooped at the news. Shinyao cooed as she gave her friend a hug. “Don’t worry Ton. I’ll record it for you.”

Vlad’s crimson eyes snapped over to the light brown-haired girl that looked like a normal human now. “What?”

Luke laughed as he grabbed Shinyao’s jacket to drag her into the pub before Vlad could catch them. “Observant, isn’t he?”

Mu giggled as they passed the bouncer. She held up her phone to record the inside of the club that had music playing and alcohol flowing. Their shoes stuck slightly to the floor that had beer spilled on it and a mop struggled to completely clean. The air was of similar quality of thickness and fermented alcohol.  “So, what are Fae?”

“Fae is the base species and ancestor of the fairy genus. All types of fairies, pixies, and sprites descend from them. Fae are usually forest and meadow living Umbra that enjoy frivolous things to entertain themselves, but if a human and sometimes another Umbra wander into their territory, then they will love to play tricks and troublesome magic pranks on them. But now days with so many cities, there are a few that have started living with humans. They tend to stick to places that are not as serious, and they can easily find people that are an easy target for mischief. Hence, bars and night clubs. We have a flurry that has claimed this as their base. They actually own the club so they can have full reign around here,” Luke explained as he walked up to the bar. “The usual and the same for her.”

The bartender smiled as he recognized the silver. “She’s a pretty one, Luke. Looks nice. I better see her at least a second time.”

Shinyao flushed as she suddenly understood that the man thought they were on a date. Bowen was not flustered in the least as he grabbed the glasses that were put on the counter for them. “You sure will. She’s actually my brother’s. Or should be if he has any sense in him.”

“Your brother has better taste than you do then,” The tender called after them as they walked away.

Shinyao accepted the extra cold glass as they walked to a door in the back. “How can you be so calm about that?”

“I’ve dated a lot, and I’ve lived a couple centuries. Experience has a way of killing embarrassment and awkwardness. You’ll get used to it,” Luke said as he led the way into the quieter private section of the pub.

Mu glanced down at her drink curiously. At finding it clear, she took an experimental sip. “Water?”

Luke laughed, “Yep. It’s better to stay sober around mischievous Umbra. You will also know when they do something to it. Rule number one. If you are at a pub or club, you always need to bring your own drink so that they can’t order one for you. Rule number two, if your water looks different than it should or was when you first got it, don’t drink it, just play around with it. And rule number three, always take small sips, if it tastes weird, spit it quietly back into your cup. From there you just have to play it by ear.”

“How do you remember all of this for so many different kinds of Umbra,” Shinyao questioned.

“This is my favorite sector of Twilight work. I’m in charge of Field Work and Missions. When Ton and you get experienced enough to start going places, then you will be getting assignments from me,” Luke said as he entered a door declaring ‘Employees only.’ He walked straight to a certain door and pulled out his phone. After a minute, it started playing the sound of children laughing. He grinned at the Asian girl’s confusion as his phone played.

Only on the other side of the door came a murmur, “What’s that?” It swung open for a woman that had a translucent quality about her to be standing there. She stood nearly as tall as Luke, her frame impossibly slender, her beauty otherworldly. Her eyes were a light enchanting shade as her nearly white hair fell down almost to her knees softly as if being blown by an unfelt breeze. A smile bloomed across her lips, “Luke!”

“Hey Seidean. How are you doing?” Bowen returned.

She threw herself on the silver wolf in a hug. “Perfect now that you are here.”

“Who’s the girl?” Another voice that was more strong asked from inside. Inside was three other women of enchanting qualities that varied in height and transparency. One other looked similar to Seidean while one other had red hair that flowed long like licking flames and had an inward glow of light that flickered. The last had her long blond hair fluttering with white flower petals and a crown of full blossoms upon her head as vines twisted up her arms and legs to the cocktail dress she wore.

“Everyone, this is my friend Mu Shinyao. She’s a new Twilight that I’m training. Shinyao this is Seidean, Gaoth, Tine, and Glade.”

The Fae looked her over before smiling in a way that was both cute and more than dangerous. “New meat. Does she taste good?”

Shinyao hesitated to answer at the unknown situation, but Luke was staying quiet. “Uhm… I don’t know. I’ve never tasted human before so I can’t really tell you.”

The Fae began to laugh as they grabbed on to them to pull them into the lavish room. “You’re better than the last humans Luke has trained,” Tine said as she threw her flame-like hair over her shoulder, two halves of what might have once been wings glimpsing into sight.

Shinyao watched her curiously then glanced at the others to see if they were similar. They did not have them. “Excuse me. I don’t mean to be rude, but why do you have wings?”

Tine twirled around to display her flame licked feathers that could barely open up. “Mine didn’t fully burn up when I fell.”

“Fell?” Shinyao questioned.

Luke plopped down into one of the soft chairs around a table positioned to look down at the club and bar below and motioned for her to take the one to his right. “Fae are fallen angels. There used to be no separation between heaven and earth. But some of the angels didn’t watch where they were going and fell through the gap. Going through earth’s atmosphere when they had not been fully trained to fly burned up their wings. They became known as Fae of different elements that were rarely seen but took care of God’s earth from their lower state.”

“I thought fallen angels were dangerous,” Shinyao said softly.

“When they fall into darkness and join Hell’s legions then they are a horror you never want to meet,” Luke said before smiling at the Fae as they settled into the other seats. “So, how’s life treating you?”

“Wonderful!” Glade said as the plant Fae pointed out the window at a man that was flirting with a young woman that was out on the town. “That man is married, and he comes here to find his mistresses. That one will become his third that he is keeping. We just decided that we’re going make every step he takes to be a stumble. He will never get his footing.”

Luke snorted in amusement, “Quite a punishment for being unfaithful. Will probably kill his chances of getting more mistresses.”

“We like the girl,” Seidean agreed as she watched the humans below.

“What fun things have you been up to since I last came by?” The werewolf asked as he sipped at his glass of water.

“We got snakes chasing after a whoring man.”

“And shadows always at the corner of the sight of an uncaught murderer.”

“And whispers in the minds of a few gangs of youth that caused a fight here.”

“I’m growing vines up a member of parliaments’ house that is trying to pass a law to destroy peasants’ lively hoods that will forever plague him so that he can never get them out of his door or cleared away from his windows,” Glade shared.

Luke laughed at each in amusement, “You’ve been up to some slight good.”

“What have you been doing to that snotty vampire?” Tine asked.

Bowen threw his head back as he laughed before leaning forward in excitement. “I may have replaced all his books and tomes with exact cover replicas that had blank pages. You should have seen him! He flipped through it, put a spell on it to see if that was the problem then was going through his whole shelf in a panic!” The room lit up in lights and giggling wind as the Fae joined the canine Umbra in mirth. Shinyao covered over her smile as she tried to stifle herself from joining them. That had been hilarious once they had found out about the switch and got Vlad out of a near panic attack and his drive to kill the silver wolf after. “So, have you had any fiery little tricks since last year’s New Years?” Luke asked. “It’s been a while for that.”

Tine rolled her eyes, “That should be easy to know. We gave a young man that was a first-time drinker whose horrible friends had brought him out on his birthday, a cake. We made the candles singe off his eyebrows. He has never been to a bar since.”

“How nice of you to discourage him now,” Luke encouraged.

“Then there is the normal hot foots, and pants on fire. And we did set a poor guy’s abusing girlfriend’s hair on fire. That was glorious,” Tine continued before waving sadly. “Not much beyond that.”

“There he is!” Gaoth pointed in excitement at a man that had just entered the club.

“She’ll be here any minute!” Seidean whispered to their guests.

“What did you do to him?” Bowen asked.

“He and his girlfriend broke up. So, we made it so that wherever they go they will always end up seeing each other,” Gaoth said.

Luke smiled knowingly, “So they feel great pain and heartbreak until they realize they were meant to be and join to never part.”

“You know us,” Glade cooed sweetly.

“So,” Shinyao spoke up. “You cause trouble and hurt people?”

“Only those that deserve it,” Tine dismissed.

“We used to pick on any child, woman, and man that came in our sight,” Seidean said in shame. “Then the Twilights saved us from Midnight Sun. They taught us a new way. Now we play with the whores, the murderers, the abusers, the true monsters among humankind.”

“They report to me on wanted humans and criminals so that I can find evidence on them and turn it over to Detective Gregory so that he can take care of his own species and all the political stuff,” Luke explained.

Shinyao looked in amazement at the five Umbra around her. “You are helping people then.”

Tine winked, “We’re Luke’s team.”

The brown-haired human girl looked over to Luke to see him quietly smirking to himself. He raised his glass to take a sip. He paused as he glanced down at the liquid before he threw the water at Glade and Gaoth. The Fae shrieked as they dived out of the way. As the water hit the table and chairs, thorned vines erupted out.

“You never fall for that,” Gaoth mourned as she floated up to sit on a vine as one cradled Glade.

Luke put down his empty glass in contentment. “I’ll leave that up to the Count.”

The girls laughed, “He always is so mad!”

“The vines down his throat always spare me from having to listen to his griping until I pour vinegar down his throat to kill them,” Luke agreed.

“You basically play pranks on people,” Shinyao said in understanding. “Have you made it so that someone always has soap in their hair no matter how hard they try to wash it out? That sounds fun.”

The room was suddenly silent as the Fae stared at her blankly. Mu glanced over at Bowen to see if she had done something wrong. He was calm but his green eyes were too intense not to be hinting at deadly. Seidean stood up then with a smile. “We haven’t thought of that before. I know just the person to start that on.”

“I like this one,” Tine said to the young man before looking back to his partner. “Come back any time. Anything you want is on us.”

Seidean leaned forward to brush her cool hand caringly along Shinyao’s jaw. “Such a wonderful little hunter.” She screamed in terror then as her fingers turned into a black mist that wisped into the Chinese girl’s mouth. The black mist curled down her throat like smoke, cold and electric. Shinyao gasped, her eyes flashing violet for a heartbeat before settling.  “What?!”

“Careful,” Luke warned. “She might absorb you.”

“You’re Umbra?” Gaoth asked in interest as Seidean checked that her fingers came back into existence.

“No?” Shinyao said unsurely.

“She’s completely human. Just special in that she absorbs Umbra and can use that power. Just don’t touch her when you’re open or hurt. She hasn’t learned how to control things on her side yet,” Luke said as if it was a simple thing.

The Fae studied the girl before smiling. “A perfect little thing. You should join us for a girl’s night some time.”

“Really?” Shinyao asked in surprise at the friendliness.

“Really.”

“I would love to,” The human girl accepted.

Luke got to his feet then. “We better be going. I’ll be back later.”

“Stay safe,” Seidean wished as she gave the silver a kiss on the cheek. The others followed to do the same.

Shinyao shifted uncomfortably at the affection as she got up. “Uhm… I… is it alright if I can have your permission to make a video of you? My friend and I are hoping to do documentaries and such about Twilights and the Umbra we work with so that people can know about you. Would you be alright being on the internet?”

“Us?” Tine exclaimed in excitement. “Yes! I would love to be an internet star! No one ever cares about us!”

“We would love to give you interviews or even displays of what we are capable of,” Glade agreed.

Shinyao breathed in relief at being able to use the footage she had been taking. “Thank you. I’ll look at my schedule and come by sometime soon for that.”

“Come by anytime! We’re always open,” Seidean encouraged as they saw them to the door.

Excited shrieking and giggles came as they walked out of the employee area back into the club. Luke smiled down at her fondly, “You have a way of making Umbra love you. You just made their month.”

“I did alright?” Shinyao asked in worry.

“Perfectly. I would not tempt bringing you with me with more volatile Umbra that are not already allies yet, but with practice that might be a future possibility,” Luke said as he waved at the bartender and bouncer as they left. Outside, the music faded into the hum of streetlights and distant traffic. Luke veered into a shadowed alley. “You guys look like you’re about to mug someone.”

The others were waiting just inside grumpily. Vlad stood up straight, “How do you always come out of that place in one piece?”

Luke winked teasingly, “You just have to treat the ladies right. Hug and kiss them and they’ll fall into your lap.”

Ton blushed furiously at the tease as her friend giggled. “What did you find out?" Tauryu asked.

“It wasn’t them. They haven’t gotten out of the club much. If you hear anything about a parliament member’s house being swamped by vines growing inside of it then it was them, but not anything else.”

Vlad’s glare deepened, “We shouldn’t let them get away with that.”

“Let them. Trust me. He deserves it,” Luke brushed off before he started walking backwards down the sidewalk. “My turn.”

They all caught up with him. “Where would the Spectra be?” Tauryu asked.

“From what I read of the New York team’s report; the group they evicted tended to love scummy downtown areas. They sent most of the gangs running home in terror. Give me a minute and I’ll get an exact area,” Luke said as he paused to knock on a closed bakery.

A light came on a minute later and a sleepy teenager that looked like he had just woke up opened the door. He blinked his bleary eyes into focus to take them in. He smiled as he saw Bowen then hesitated in worry at seeing the rest of them. “Hello?”

“I know it’s a little late, but I need some baguettes,” Luke said.

The kid stretched, “Sure. I’ll get them for you.”

As the teen opened the door for them, Luke motioned in with his head. “Shinyao.”

“What?!” Ton yelled in disbelief as her friend followed the silver wolf in without them.

The kid took out a paper bag as he got out the previous day’s baguettes. “How many and what do you need boss?”

“Half a dozen. Your mom makes the best baguette in London. Have you heard anything about a gang of demons that are willing to hurt people?”

The teenager paused as he put the long loaves on the counter. “How big?”

“Roughly thirty last time I heard,” Luke said as he pulled out his wallet to pay for the bread.

“Oh. Those jerks,” the young man sighed. “Yeah. They strangled half of the east street gang. The others were almost beaten to death. There are other small Umbra gangs trying to squeeze in with them.”

“How long have they been here?” Bowen demanded in concern.

“Almost a week. Not long enough to do anything too big,” The kid said as he accepted the money. “Do you need me to get the team together, boss?”

“No. I don’t want any of you getting hurt on this one. I got my friends to help me with this,” Luke said as he passed the kid a little extra.

The boy smiled in excitement as he pocketed it. “That’s them?! Which one is the Jiangzhi? I’ve been reading all the lore I can on them.”

Luke chuckled as he shoved the kid kindly and handed Shinyao the loaves. “If Shinyao here can make a decent video then you might find a link in your email someday to their channel and learn about Tauryu.”

“You’re going to make a YouTube Channel?! About time! I’ve been wanting one forever!” The teen exclaimed.

“Don’t get your hopes up. It’s still in brainstorming. Sorry about waking you,” Luke apologized as they headed for the door.

“I’ll still get the team together just in case you need help.”

“Forget it. You have school tomorrow and you know the rules,” Luke stated as they stepped outside to join the others.

“It’s only,” the teen tried to argue as he looked at his phone’s time. He frowned, “Three thirty-seven in the morning. Gaffing goblins. Guess I should go back to bed.”

“Yep. Good luck on that exam,” Luke said as he started away.

“Thanks! I need it!” The kid called back before he locked the door and turned out the light.

Ton exploded then, “Why did you let Shinyao go with you?! Why not the rest of us?!”

“You were freaking the kid out, and I’m thinking about making Shinyao a possible partner.”

“Why her? Why not me?”

“Because she’s basically going to be family,” Luke said with a knowing wink at the lighter haired girl.

Vlad scoffed, “You wolves. Where are we going?”

“East street downtown. There are about thirty of them.”

“How did you find that out from a human kid?” Tauryu asked.

“Kids know all the rumors that adults don’t think they are listening to,” Luke brushed off as he began to jog.

Shinyao let her wings out to glide alongside him as the others worked on catching up. “What did that young man mean by team? I thought we were your team.”

Luke smirked at her, “You have a lot to learn, Shinyao. One thing at a time.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” The girl prompted.

Luke did not answer. Soon they were downtown, and the others had joined them. They walked down the nearby streets until they heard raucous laughter as a time of night when no one in their right mind would be out at. They turned the corner to find a swarm of hideous Umbra of all shapes and features lounging around the street, but they all shared the same feeling of pure wickedness and darkness. Eyes glowing with malice, mouths too wide, filled with jagged teeth. Most of them were cheering on as a couple held flames in their hands against an old building.

“You owe me three pounds,” Luke softly said to his blond undead friend.

Vlad hissed unhappily at losing the bet of which Umbra species it was. “Fine. Now can you get them to stop lighting the building on fire?” The silver grinned before letting out a piercing whistle. The street went quiet as all attention turned to them. Both girls began recording as Vlad stepped forward. “Enough of this. You have done enough damage and spread enough fear.”

“Who are you that we should care?” One demanded as it swung on a light post in the dim street.

“I am Vlad Garfunkel, and this is my Twilight team. Your shenanigans are not welcome here. Desist at once or…”

“Oh! Twilights! So scary and terrible! What ever shall we do?” The horde of demonic Umbra mocked cruelly.

“Wait!” One cried with an excited smile. “Vlad. Is that not the name that Count Dracula took to hide with the humans?”

Jeers and awful insults began to be thrown at the blond. Vlad waved his hand to silence them. “It was always my name, I just lived with my title before. It is not recognized anymore now so there is little use for it. I am not hiding among the humans. I am living with them as you could as well.”

The laughter was a shrieking crescendo as the demons were mostly rolling on the ground. One stood up, “Live with humans. Of course! I’d love to! A pretty little house in the suburbs!”

“A boring nine to five job!”

“A tiny little wife that will do anything for you!”

“Sit around all day and watch TV and play video games! You’re killing me Dracula!” They all hooted and jeered.

“That is not as simple as it sounds,” Tauryu spoke up. “Many Umbra like yourselves find that a common life is different than they expected.”

“Like this little coward did? Go from being a Count and a near Prince of Hell then throw that all away because he was scared a hunter was going to get him?”

Vlad was as calm as ever under the accusations. “No hunter has come close to killing me yet. And being a Twilight and living among humans does not end the attempts.”

“We know,” another cut in. “It was that Sha woman that turned your head. Never would have taken you for the domestic family type.”

“Rijan was never…” Vlad started much more heatedly as Luke stepped up to sling an arm around the vampire’s shoulders.

“Why do you dislike something so much when you’ve never tried it? Can’t say what kind of type of scaring is your favorite until you try them all, right?”

“Nice things make me sick,” one spat.

Another cooed evilly, “Is this the thing that makes you behave, Count? Can’t go outside without your guard to make sure you say your please and thank yous?”

“That’s not it, you retard!” The one beside it degraded with a harsh slap. “This is the Count’s werewolf. The one he puts on a leash and takes for walks in the park.” Both human girls steadied their phone cameras as they began to shake in anger at the horrible things being said to their friends. Tauryu tried to put in a word but the horde of demons were creating stories and even more horrible insults for them so they could not get in a word.

Luke rolled his eyes before cupping his hand around Vlad’s ear and whispering to him. “Speak up dog! What are you telling the coward that we can’t hear?”

Bowen smiled back at the horde. “I was just asking him why you’re all so afraid. Him being so similar to you and all once, I thought he would know the answer. Vlad?”

Garfunkel shrugged the silver’s arm off. “I believe it’s having to learn. Most Umbra beyond the nineteen hundreds are completely incapable of thinking.”

“What does that say about you?” Luke teased to receive a level glare.

“We’re not joining the humans, Werewolf! They created us so that they can kill us for fun. They chased us across Europe and exorcised us and burned our bodies!”

“Most humans don’t believe you exist anymore and only exorcise you if you’re causing problems. Very few of them will harm you now,” Tauryu stated.

“Do you think that we would ever forgive them? We’re demons! We are meant to only hate!”

“These humans don’t deserve your hatred. There have at least been a dozen generations since the ones that created and hunted you. Leave them alone and go back to Hell and we won’t have a problem,” Vlad ordered.

“No! We’re not going back. We have lived on this planet longer than all of these pathetic mortals. They should be leaving to let us stay.”

“You’re burning down their homes and businesses. You’re sort of destroying the very things you claim to want,” Luke pointed out.

“Do you think we care? We like seeing how sad the humans get when we destroy their pathetic shelters.”

“We can’t allow that. The humans in this land are under our protection. Return to where you belong or we will deal with you,” Vlad stated.

“Deal with us? Are you going to give us a foot massage coward?” The demons sneered as they moved closer to the group.

Everything moved too fast then. One of the closest launched themselves at Dracula and then Luke was in the thick of them with claws out. The front condensed on the vampire as every other demon surged like a wave onto the silver. Tauryu then ran forward as he reached into his sleeves and pulled out his beloved machine gun that never could have been kept there if he was normal and opened fire on those trying to overwhelm the wolf.

Shinyao jetted up into the air with her dark wings as her hands puppeteered black vines that she had summoned to attack and wrap around demons on the outsides. Ton leaped back as a deformed Umbra leaped at her and without a second thought dropped her phone to reach into her shadow for her family spell ring to sink into the darkened ground. She leaped forward then with multiple chains in hand and threw them forward. The chains wrapped around many of the demons nearly forcing Vlad to the ground and threw them off before she moved to help him with twin knives forming in her hands when she reached back into her shadow for a better weapon. It was a mass of screaming, fire, and weapons with Vlad’s red tinted power flashing through the crowd.

It could have been an hour that flashed by in a minute with the adrenaline and pace of the fight, but it slowly began to settle down. Blackness wisped off of the dead bodies of the spectra demons as a few determined ones kept fighting against a loss cause that was able to focus more solely on them. The smart few started trying to run. Luke paused to blur after them faster than the eye could track.
Then the street was empty of the living save for the human girls. Tauryu and Vlad walked slowly through the carnage it see if there were any that that were suffering as Shinyao lowered herself back down to the street for all the black fog of Umbra dying to immediately be attracted to her. “Everyone alright?” The light brown-haired girl asked in concern.

“Just some bruises,” Ton reassured.

Vlad sighed as he looked around at the Umbra that were of the darker side of magic like himself. “So many dead. I wish that more Umbra could try to consider peace. It would make everything so much better.”

“You tried,” Tauryu comforted.

Ton fumed as she remembered what was being said about her boys, “I would have killed them from the beginning.”

“And that is why you don’t go out on your own on this type of business,” Vlad stated as he stepped over a large demon that would not be there soon.

Luke blurred back to them with black blood dripping off of his clawed hands with his wolf ears and tail on display. “Got most of the runners. A few did teleport and got away, but they shouldn’t be a problem for a while.”

“Are you alright?” Shinyao asked.

Luke grinned with his razor-sharp canine teeth showing but bright despite that. “Couple of scratches you won’t even be able to find any more.”

As the street cleared completely to not even show the signs of a massacre in the area with only the exception of the burn marks on the almost set a flame building, Vlad paused. He glanced back at the girls before smiling smugly. “Where you not recording?”

Ton deflated, “I lost my phone when everything got started.”

“Don’t worry,” Shinyao soothed as two of her vines came back to her with each of their phones. “I picked yours up and they recorded everything.”

As Ton took back her phone in excitement Luke chuckled. “You just can’t win, Count.”

Vlad glared at Mu. “Shinyao, I’m transferring your school credits to New Zealand.”

Shinyao giggled, “I’ll join the team there then.”

“You girls better get going on that editing of yours. I’ll make popcorn when you get it finished,” Luke playfully shooed them away.

Chapter Text

Ton groaned in defeat as she laid her head on the table.  “I’m going to kill him.”

“I might support you in that,” Shinyao agreed as she scribbled on a note pad before she sat back to stare with dead eyes at her computer.  Its screen was grey with loss of Wi-Fi. 

After a minute Wayne popped back on as the page reloaded.  “Got it back and I’ve locked Vlad out.  He shouldn’t be able to turn off the Wi-Fi again.”

“Thank you,” Ton groaned but did not try to take her head off the table.

Mu clicked on the online homework assignment again as she stared at all the equations.  “I don’t think him cutting off our tests would be so bad if we actually understood these stupid equations.  This whole thing should only take us thirty minutes at the most, but we’ve been here for three hours, and I still don’t get it.  Even with Wayne trying to help us.”

“I’m sorry,” The technology ghost apologized.  “I can just try to explain what the internet says.  I don’t know how to teach you guys so it makes sense.”

“I blame our professor.  He never explains anything,” Ton groaned.

Shinyao sighed as she sat back and rubbed at her eyes.  “I want chicken feet dim sum.  Something to give me a break and snack on.”

“I’ll take French fries,” Ton groaned.

They both looked over to the café’s door as the sound of the lock clicked.  Sunlight streamed through the large windows in the daytime when the café was closed.  Luke opened the door and stepped inside to pull off his stylish black sunglasses and hook them on the top buttoned part of his classy button up shirt. A young man that had the exact same build that seemed slightly more muscled because of his preference of sleeveless muscles shirts stepped in behind him.  The red head that had a lock of silver hair in his bangs glanced almost uncomfortably around the café as he crossed his arms and scowled, a black tattoo starkly standing out on his right bicep.  He pushed his colored sunglasses up into his hair to let his bright green eyes take in the inside of the building.

“Chris!” Shinyao exclaimed in excitement as she bolted out of her chair.  She ran across the room to hug the younger Bowen brother tightly.  “You’re back!  I’m so glad you’re here!”  Her heart fluttered as she hugged him.  He was real, here, not just a memory or a message from some distant mountain as the past few weeks had been.

Chris Bowen was stiff as a rigamortis corpse at the physical affection.  He forced himself to relax slightly as he almost smiled down at the girl.  Chris’s arms hovered awkwardly before settling around her. He wasn’t used to being missed, but it felt… nice.  “Hey.”

Shinyao pulled back to beam at him.  “I didn’t know you were coming today.  I wanted to make dinner for you.”

Chris blinked in surprise as he studied her in disbelief.  “You did?”

“Told you,” Luke said as he relocked the café's front door.  “I would have texted you, Shinyao, but Wayne said you were burning brain cells, and I didn’t want to distract you from that.”

The brown-haired girl drooped at the reminder of her homework.  “I see.  I’ll make it tomorrow.”

“And I’ll stay out of your way,” Luke agreed as he looked over to Ton.  “The homework is really killing you, isn’t it?”

“Not like I’m going to kill Vlad,” Ton grumbled.

Shinyao tried for a weak smile, “We just can’t understand what we need to do.  Wayne’s been trying to explain it to us, but we haven’t got it yet.  Vlad’s just been making it worse with turning off the Wi-Fi occasionally.”

“What?” Chris growled dangerously as his stiff uncomfortableness settled into a readiness for a fight.  “Why would that corpse do that?”

Ton pushed herself off the table.  “Because we’re making a video on Twilights and Umbra, and he doesn’t want us to.  So, he’s making problems for us any time he can.”

“Where is he?” Chris demanded hotly. 

Luke grabbed onto the red head’s shoulder to try and act as impulse control.  “I’ll take care of Vlad.  What’s the homework you’re doing?”

“Statistics,” Ton groaned in defeat as she flopped back on to the table.

The silver hummed in understanding, “That often is a killer.  Little brother, did you ever finish statistics, or did it beat you too?”

Chris glared over at his brother, “I don’t remember having told you about me having gone to school when they invented it.”

“Do you think I need your permission to know what’s going on in your life?” Luke returned with a teasing smile that edged towards cold daring.

Chris huffed as he looked away at the floor, “I thought you would have had enough sense to stay away from me back then.  I was determined to kill you.”

Luke laughed brightly as he dropped his full weight on his brother to make Chris support him.  “Like you could have.  Back to the question.  Statistics?”

The red snarled, “Hated it.  It never made sense, but I retook it until I at least knew how to do the stupid things.”

“Works for me,” Luke said as he stood up and dragged his brother over to the table by his neck and kicked his legs out from under him to force him to sit.  “Help them understand how to do the equations and I’ll go talk to Vlad.”

Chris was stiff and staring at the mess of papers, pencils, and technology in shock.  Shinyao pulled up a chair on his left as Ton perked up on his right.  “Do you really know how to do this?  It must have been years since you’ve done this,” Shinyao asked with hope coming back to her.

The younger Bowen shrugged as he shoved the mess at the girls.  “Should.  It’s my big brother’s fault for this idea if this goes wrong.  Read me the equation.”

In minutes both girls were scribbling out their separate equations as the red head switched between them.  “Let go of me wolf!”   The three glanced over to the enchanted mirror as Luke stepped out with Vlad thrown over his shoulder.  The vampire was furious as he tried to fight his way free.  “Worthless mongrel!  What is the reason of waking me?”

“You weren’t asleep, Count.  We’re going out for some fun,” The older Bowen said as he waved at them.  “Doing good?”

“So far, so better,” Shinyao agreed.

“Great.  We’ll see you later then,” Luke said as he dropped Vlad on his feet and dragged the planted blond out the door by his arm.

Chris watched them leave before a quiet tilted smile came to him that promised of pain.  “Too bad I’m here.  I’d like to watch.”

“What?” Both oriental girls asked in confusion.

The red grinned like he was going to eat someone as he leaned forward to take one of their calculators.  “That vampire never stood a chance against my big brother.  Now.  Multiply…”

~

As night drew near, Tauryu came back to the café.  The relieved girls and ghost watched in excitement as the red furred half of the Bowen pair prepared a dinner that was promising to be as large and flavorful as his brother’s.  The jianzhi took in the scene passively before he walked past to get the café ready to open for the night.  “Chris.  What did you do to your brother?"

“I didn’t kill him if that’s what you’re thinking,” Chris replied back.

“Vlad and Luke are out,” Shinyao filled in.

If Tauryu’s eyes could be seen, he probably would have an eyebrow raised in question.  “What happened?”

“Vlad was being a mean jerk and kept turning off the Wi-Fi while the girls were doing their homework,” Wayne shouted angrily as he tried to sneak a taste of the cooking food.  He yelped in terror as Chris buried a knife beside his hand in warning.

The jiangzhi shook his head as he silently got out the dishes for dinner.  Shortly they had settled down to the aromatic food.  Tauryu barely took any as he pulled the ghost back from inhaling and having his plastic limbs ripped off by the hotheaded and often short-fused werewolf.

The girls were almost finished with their heaping portions and Wayne was preparing to pounce on the left-over food when Luke and Vlad came in.  “We’re back!”

“And impossible to ignore,” Chris growled under his breath.

“Chris made dinner!  It’s great!  Come try…  What happened to you?” Ton said loudly.

Vlad looked about ready to boil over in his anger as pink soap suds bubbled out of his mussed up blond hair and huge inflamed pimples covered his always perfect skin.  Luke silently laughed as he explained, “We dropped by the Faes’ pub for a drink.”

“You didn’t!” Shinyao exclaimed in understanding as she took in how utterly jinxed Garfunkel was from the mischievous female Umbra that were more than willing to harass him.

“Yep.  They didn’t like the idea of him causing problems for you. So, they used your idea,” Luke said as he slid into a seat beside his brother.

Shinyao giggled as her honey gaze turned to the soap in the blond’s hair.  Vlad stiffened before spitting in hatred.  “You gave them the soap idea!  You little…” He clamped his mouth shut as the humans screamed in fear as snakes and frogs fell with each word.

Chris smirked as the vampire fumed silently.  “Not bad, big brother.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Luke disclaimed.

The undead vampire huffed before he stormed over to the table.  He glared down at the girls with his crimson eyes glowing with the night returning his powers to him.  More snakes slipped out as he opened his mouth.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t want to mess with your stupid videos and all the stuff that comes with it.  I’ve done everything I can to discourage you, but I should have just left you alone to lose interest on your own.  I’m sorry and I will not make problems for you anymore.”

As he spoke, the snakes stopped falling from his mouth and the zits faded away.  Luke dumped the rest of the bowl full of food onto the last available plate and put it down for the blond before bending down to pick up the closest amphibians and reptiles to contain in it.  “How about we have frog legs and snake soup tomorrow for dinner?”

“Sounds good,” Chris accepted.

Vlad sighed in relief as he sat down.  “Thank goodness that’s gone.”  He then took a bite to hum in adoration of the flavor.  “No garlic.  Luke, you’re fired.”

Chris stood up from the table.  “I’m not working here.  If I had my way with you, I would make you drink gasoline before shoving a match down your throat.”

Vlad tisked, “Savage.  How did your brother turn out a flirting idiot and you incapable of thinking beyond beating everyone’s head in?”

“I had nothing to do with Luke,” Chris growled as he headed for the kitchen.

“And I had a lot to do with him and somehow I still failed,” Luke returned with a teasing smile.

Ton stood up with her dishes, “Luke, you need to make popcorn.  Shinyao and I finished the video this morning before class.”

“Hey! I helped,” Wayne interjected.

“You did most of it actually,” Shinyao said.

“Great! Vlad can take a shower and see if that soap comes out of his hair, and by the time he’s out, we’ll have popcorn ready and we’ll all sit down to see how it goes,” Luke agreed.

Chapter Text

Ton dropped her backpack down as she took one of the café’s bar stools.  She worriedly stared at the wall as she did nothing else.  Tauryu paused in his work of cleaning the cafe as he noticed her despondent expression.  “Hard day at school?”

“No.  We uploaded our video to our new channel this morning,” The dark-haired girl sighed.

“How did it go?” The Jingzhi asked as he came over.

“I don’t know.  I don’t want to look.  I mean, it’s a new channel.  Nobody should really look at it in the first place.  It’s probably not going to be that big of a deal, but I still don’t want to check.  The three of us put so much work into it and I didn’t know what to do with it really.  I would never have been able to do this without Shinyao and Wayne.  Wayne did all the electronic things and made everything smooth and perfect for free of all the professional programs we would have needed otherwise, and Shinyao is so planned out and detailed that we would not have got it put in the right way that would grab attention and teach at the same time.  I don’t want people to be so mean to them when they have worked so hard on my idea.”

“Luke warned you that there could be negative back lash,” Tauryu said simply.

“I know.  I just don’t like it.”

Tauryu was quiet for a minute in thought.  “Criticism builds you.  Words against you may mean that you are doing the right thing if others want you to be quiet.  Rijan-sama was hated by Umbra for being a hunter and hated by humans and hunters for loving and protecting Umbra.  But she thought she was doing right as did those that followed her.  Today, many humans associated with the Twilights love her and Umbra honor her memory.  So are many of the most important people in history.  Kind words are rarely spoken at the time.  Only in the future are things of true worth recognized and praised.”

Ton played with a hang nail she had made throughout the day in stress.  “My grandmother was a strong, fearless woman that was willing to do anything to get the world that she saw.  She made the Twilights and was the first to make it so that humans and Umbra were not killing each other, maybe not entirely peaceful but a good start.  How can I possibly hope to hold up to her standards and expectations?”

“You are not Rijan-sama,” Tauryu stated truthfully.  “You don’t have to build a whole new world and ideal like she had to.  She has done that for you.  Stand on that and build her legacy and your own even higher.  You are not as elegant and ladylike as she was.  You are what Vlad considers a Tomboy that does not take no for an answer.  Maybe that is what Umbra, and the Twilights need now.”

“But how do I know what I need to do to make things better?  I basically just entered this world of Umbra, I don’t even know very much about the human one.  What is my purpose?”

“Start small and work on what you can do,” Tauryu urged.  “I’ve been listening to Vlad and Luke argue lately about this channel of yours.  There are negatives but the positives of what you can do with this are great.  What you could accomplish is faster and more widespread than what we have been doing for the past century.  We have been focusing on Umbra and surviving.  Perhaps it’s your turn with your technology to spread word to humans.  It’s probably an even more dangerous job than ours considering your species reaction to anything not human or what is not their idea of a perfect world.”

Ton rubbed her fingers against the old but well cared for wooden bar in thought.  Slowly, she began to smile as she looked up.  “You’ve needed your side of the story told for a long time.  I’m willing to do that if you think it will help.”

“Vlad might say otherwise, but he agrees with Luke that the idea of having a documentary series on each species of Umbra and their history would be an excellent thing.  You will have our support and help if you truly want to continue,” Tauryu said sincerely.

Ton smiled in hope and excitement at the encouragement and validation that she had been needing since the beginning of this idea.  She startled as the television suddenly clicked on and Wayne’s eavesdropping character appeared.  “Yeah!  We’ll all help you!  I’ve been monitoring conversations going on in other Twilight teams around the world and with some of our allied Umbra groups, and they love it!  There’s a lot of discussion on what they would have personally done and suggestions for next time.  You’ve basically started something that only happens during training new teams and for occasional discussions and meetings.  This video has provided a basis for all the teams to analyze and then use to improve upon.”

“Are we really that bad?” Ton asked worriedly at the news of criticism from other Twilight teams.

“Heck no!  Most of the teams admit that they would have taken the lemures’ heads off after the second slur.  Many have said that they did not realize Fae acted that way and would have probably have drank Luke’s water and had vines grow in their throats.  Our team is the first one ever and we have members that have centuries of experience with new bees that can ask all the questions the other teams have and need answers for.  And we are more than willing to explain it for them.  Not to mention that it sparks debates from others with different experiences and more information!” Wayne thrilled before he froze on screen.  He suddenly grinned as a chat page pulled up behind him on screen.  “This is the Twilight personal messaging route.  Look at this!”

Ton and Tauryu leaned forward in interest at the post of a few seconds ago that the ghost was pointing at.  “Luke’s on this!?” Ton exclaimed in disbelief.

The user picture was just that of a wolf track, but Luke had his name across the top alongside the team location he was a part of.  “Has been since the conversation started,” Wayne said.  “He’s been asking for pointers and advice and has been splitting into private chat rooms with many of the teams to discuss with them.”

“Scroll down,” Tauryu ordered.  As the chat whizzed down from the most recent it kept going and going.

Ton laughed in surprise at the response.  Wayne popped up again with a more familiar YouTube comments box.  They were barely able to glance the name of the channel as Twilights and Umbra and that the views had already gotten beyond triple digits before the chat opened.  “Mostly Umbra that are part of us have watched it so far, but they are just as hyped up about it.  Many are debating if this is a real video or if it was just made up and very close to truth.  But there are some that love seeing Umbra that are not being treated like idiots or serial killers and want to see more like this.”

Baileu laughed in relief as she glanced some of the comments she been afraid to see.  “This is great!  Shinyao and I have been recording other Twilight things we’ve been doing while we were editing the footage for this one.  We can get started on those and upload them for everyone!”

“I’m ready when you are!” Wayne agreed.

Ton bounced out of her seat and grabbed her book bag.  As she rushed for the enchanted mirror, she paused to give the Chinese zombie a hug.  “Thank you so much!”

Tauryu froze then awkwardly patted her back, “You’re very welcome.  I am willing to be of assistance any time.”

“Thank you.  I have videos to make!” Then the dark-haired girl was sprinting through the mirror and up the stairs to her apartment, leaving a bewildered and uncertain Jingzhi behind.

Chapter Text

Ton had taken over the bar for the day.  She had notebooks around her with pencils and her own computer permanently plugged into a charger.  The television on the wall was active as Wayne zipped through the footage and worked on lining it up and removing the pointless parts.  Ton, on her own computer, worked on reviewing and writing up questions she would like answered and rough plot lines for all of the different nights they had filmed.

Vlad walked past her with his eyes barely open in tiredness as sunlight streamed through the windows.  He glanced at her and the operation.  “You make a mess.”

“I know.  I wish Shinyao was here.  She knows how to do planning better than me.  She would make this much easier,” Ton said as she took a drink then began sketching out on a note pad.

“Where is she then?  She rarely leaves you alone to your own devices,” The vampire asked.

“With Chris.  Something about going to a ‘fish monger?’  What is that anyways?”

“Someone who sells fish,” Vlad said as he shook his head.  “I don’t know if it is very wise for your friend to be around Chris.  He is rogue and werewolves are not the greatest role models in the first place.”

“I’ve been considering that lately as well.  It’s her choice though I suppose.  She really likes him,” Ton said as she typed at her computer.

“I really don’t see why,” Vlad said as he walked away.

Ton kept working at her videos in her frantic way.  Tauryu came back later in the day to silently avoid her mess for the mean time.  Only Chris sprinting through the back door into the café and throwing Shinyao inside had them pausing to look up.  The red head was still as he listened.  Then they noticed the men running past the café angrily looking for something.

Ton glared at the red furred Bowen.  “What did you do?”

Chris glared back, “Why are you looking at me?  It was her fault.”

“Yeah right,” Ton called out before everyone paused as a giggle came from the floor.  Shinyao was shaking from how hard she was laughing.

“He-he’s right Ton.  He didn’t do anything wrong,” Shinyao said as she slowly sat up.

“What did happen then?” Tauryu questioned.

Chris huffed as he slung a bag off of his shoulder, “When we passed the SnowMary building she used her vine things to write, ‘Mass Murderers’ and their phone number on their windows about twenty stories up.  Let’s just say that Midnight Sun is not happy with that.”

“What?!” Wayne exclaimed before disappearing from the television.  A moment later he appeared with the picture that had been posted on social media.  “You did great Shinyao!  I’m sending this to the others.  They’ll get a kick out of this!”

“Shinyao!  I never thought you would do something like this!” Ton exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the graffiti.

Shinyao stood up giggling.  “It will wash off.  I think they deserve it for trying to kill all of us.”

Ton smiled with a more vengeance tinge to it.  “I like it.  Maybe we should…”

Vlad stormed into the common area then.  He glanced at the television and pointed at it.  “Who did this?”  His voice was level and calm, but it did not seem like it was.

“I did,” Shinyao said with a smile.

Vlad stared at her long and hard until her smile slipped away.  “That was idiotic.  Disrespectful of property and people, just like a brazen thug that deserves to be hung from the gallows and left to rot as a warning to all others.  Really Shinyao?  I can expect such things of Ton, but I expected more of you.”

“But they tried to kill us,” Shinyao tried to get in. 

“And that justifies committing felony?  Stooping to their level, and for what?  A laugh?” Vlad turned from them.  “You are forbidden from leaving the café until further notice.  Apparently, you can’t be given the respect and privileges of adults.”

The café was quiet as the vampire left the room.  Shinyao glanced around her guiltily.  “I…  sorry?”

“Vampires,” Chris huffed.  “Don’t care about him.”

“That doesn’t make it any better,” The light-haired girl said softly.

“You can mope about it later.  I need some help.  We have a mess here,” Ton said as she motioned from the counter.

Her friend moved to the barstool beside her to help get the videos organized.  As evening came and the street outside became dark Luke came in as usual.  He smiled as he moved to join the gathering around the bar.  “Heard you had fun today.”

Shinyao wilted at the reminder.  “Vlad’s upset.”

“Go easy on him.  He has a tough job.  Really, he shouldn’t be a part of the team,” Luke said as he took one of the scattered colored pens to play with.

“What?!” A surprise chorus demanded.

Luke smiled over at the girls and his quieter half.  “Vlad should be in a comfy office being a CEO of the Twilights.  He’s directing hundreds of teams, projects, training, and negotiations all the time.  He has way too much on his plate to be leading our mess of a team.”

“Oh,” Shinyao said in understanding.

“So, what happened to get you graffitiing the SnowMary building?” The silver asked.

“I wasn’t thinking,” Mu whispered guiltily.

Luke smiled fondly, “I guessed.  I’m sort of used to that.”  An eraser hurled from Chris struck him in the head and he laughed.

“I’m just…  they tried to hurt all of you.  Kill us.  I’m still upset about that I guess,” Shinyao tried to explain.

Luke nodded in caring understanding, “I get it.  Forgiving is hard to do sometimes.  Someone hurts you so bad you are never the same again.  Every day you think about them because there is no way you could forget.  Then they just go about their life without a care or remorse.  Sitting on their plush thrones ordering the same things to happen to others and more than willing to try and kill you again.  Where is the justice?  Revenge is needed for not just you but everyone that they have used.  They deserve to feel just a little of the suffering they have inflicted.”

“This has happened to you before?” Shinyao asked as every word seemed to be pondered so intensely inside the silver werewolf like he was reflecting on memories.

Luke gave a ghost of a smile that showed more of the haunted troubles of his past than he usually allowed any to suspect.  “The Umbra hunts that happened back then were anything but good.  Being turned in by those your thought of as friends and then going through the three degrees of torture in their forcings to have a confession so they could legally kill you is not fun.”

“Three degrees?” Ton asked in interest of the thing she had never heard of before.

Luke shook his head.  “Let’s just say I learned the hard way that being angry does nothing to them and is only you slitting your own throat.  Stewing over it and dreaming a thousand deaths for them does not mean it’s actually going to happen to them.  It only makes you more bitter and hurt, and less likely to let go and be truly happy.  Revenge is a nice idea, but when you get it, you will just feel empty.  The person you have hated for so long has suffered under your hand just as you wanted and they needed, but it does not make you happy like you thought it would.  You still feel the same, but the object of all that is gone now.  What then?”

Shinyao thought it over carefully, “I don’t know.  What should I do?”

“It’s one of the hardest things to do, but you need to forgive.  You can’t let that anger build up and destroy you.  I’m still struggling to do that still.  It’s one of those things I think you just have to spend time on improving.  But I have noticed that if I put myself in their position and find possible reasons for why they would have done it helps decrease the feeling of being hurt for no reason.”  Luke grinned then mischievously, “Another thing that I love doing is being nice to them.  I find that the best way to make them mad is to turn around and be everywhere they are and be nice to them.  Kindness is something the world is lacking in and if you give it to someone who wants and expects nothing like it from you then you have a revenge that will last for a long time and will reap results.  Giving somehow has a way of taking your mind off of yourself and more to others.  It makes you a better person and more worthy of being on this planet.  Sometimes it even has the strange effect of making your enemies respect you.  Hurting people only brings anger or fear.  Being kind in every situation brings you trust and respect.”

“What about when they attacked us?” Ton asked as her work was forgotten.  “You hurt them, and when we do Twilight things you kill Umbra sometimes.”

“Being nice doesn’t mean you’re a door mat,” Luke stated bluntly.  “It means you do everything you can for others and then if they try to hurt you or those you love you defend yourself and keep them from doing harm.  Then after the battle you stop to forgive them and show some respect.  All life, even the most wicked and evil, is a gift.  All deserve to be given a chance and respected for it.”

Chris was leaning into the corner with his arms crossed uncomfortably.  “I’ve met some beings that do nothing with that life and are completely worthless.”

“Those I have decided are here for the sole reason of helping us improve in our patience and other worthy attributes,” The older Bowen returned.  He focused back on Shinyao.  “Justice will come to all in the end.  Twilights understand the reasons of Umbra and can judge them the best on if they are safe enough to keep on this earth.  Humans have laws that have human enforcers to do the same for your species.  Those that get away with it on this plane of existence all have to face it in the afterlife, no matter what religion you are a part of.  Those who have done wrong get less than they had before or suffer the torment they deserve under the hand of those that truly know everything about them that can judge.  You don’t have to get your revenge.  Let others give it for you.”

“I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have done that,” Shinyao said.

“I’m not the one that needs to be apologized to.  I’m just glad I wasn’t there.  I would have laughed with you and then have felt bad later,” Luke admitted.

“Midnight Sun deserves to have problems!” Wayne enthusiastically said.

The soft kindness in the silver-haired Bowen’s features became cold as he turned towards the television.  “They make their own problems.  You don’t have to make more for them.”

“I’m just planting viruses in their software.  You should see the records of all the Umbra they have killed,” Wayne defended himself.

“The viruses and hacking you are doing are doing more harm to the employees of SnowMary that are not involved with Umbra in the least.  There are very few Midnight Sun members that work there.  You are making problems for innocent people, and no one has hurt you which makes you the aggressor and worthy of being killed.  You are making things hard for us and much more dangerous,” Luke returned.

Wayne paused to think, “I’ll just enter the Midnight Sun database and wipe that then.”

“No.  What you are going to do is stop this nonsense.  If you want to cause problems for people, track down hackers and scammers and wreak havoc on them and turn them into the human authorities.  Leave Midnight Sun alone until we tell you we need it to be otherwise.”

“You can’t tell me what to do!  You can’t stop me,” Wayne said from the screen he was safely in.

“I think you will agree with me after you’re finished writing apology letters to every single employee of SnowMary and the Midnight Sun members there,” Luke said with a dangerous smile.

The ghost froze to stare at the Were.  “You’re joking!”

“Nope.  You are not getting a morsel of food from anyone around here other than Ton’s cooking if she wants to let you try until you have written a front and back sheet of paper apology to each person.  Handwritten, not computerized,” The silver declared.

The technology ghost became frantic, “That’s no fair!  Ton’s cooking is ash!  There are almost eight hundred people that work in SnowMary!”

“You better get writing then,” Luke said as he stood up.  He glared at everyone in the room.  “If any more unnecessary trouble happens with Midnight Sun that is not in self-defense, then I will personally go talk with Van Helsing and work out a deal to have all involved clean Midnight Sun’s headquarters by hand.”

“What?!  Big brother, are you insane?!” Chris exclaimed in disbelief.  “They will kill you on sight!”

Luke smiled brightly but cold and dangerous.  “You better not give me the reason to do that then.  I’m going to talk with Vlad.”

“What brain part did your creators forget to give you?” Chris shouted after his brother.

It was silent in the common café seating area.  Tauryu slowly set down his dust rag.  “Well, that was…”

Wayne entered his mannequin sourly.  “Mean.  Where’s the paper?”

Shinyao leaned against the counter as she messed with the ends of her hair.  “I feel awful.  And scared.”

Chris sighed as he dropped down next to her.  “That’s usual with my big brother.  This never gets easier.  He always has some sense that makes you feel bad and want to do better.”

“Will he really go to Midnight Sun?” Ton asked in concern.

“More than likely.  His threats are never idle,” Tauryu said as he got back to work.

Ton turned back to her computer and woke it up.  “Three degrees of torture,” She muttered under her breath as she searched it.

“The degrees are from minor to lethal torture techniques that were used during the inquisition and those kind of Umbra hunts.  Three means you’re dead,” Chris stated.

“Oh,” Ton said as she stopped her internet search.  She glanced over at the red head, “Did that ever happen to you?"

Chris shrugged, “Got caught twice during that mess.  The first time they got a day in on me with the first degree before I got out and tore their heads off.  The second I waited only long enough for them to say that they were going to start on getting a confession before I tore that place to the ground with them inside.  I have no clue what happened to Luke during that time.”

“Maybe you should push yourself to find out,” Tauryu suggested.

Vlad and Luke stepped in through an enchanted mirror then.  “Might be a Spriggan,” The Were was saying.

“My thoughts exactly,” Vlad agreed before he looked at everyone.  He raised a questioning superior eyebrow.  “What has you all down?”

“Nothing,” Chris quickly growled.

Shinyao ducked her head, “I’m sorry for doing that.  I shouldn’t have.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Vlad agreed as he stepped over to the bar. Crimson eyes took in the mess almost tiredly.  “Midnight Sun will be watching the café closely now.  It might be safer for you, Ton, and Chris to not be here for a few weeks until this settles down.”

“What?!  You want us to leave you?” Ton cried.

The vampire nodded, “Yes.  Tauryu, Luke, Wayne and I should be able to handle any backlash.  You three though have a tendency to get into trouble that I would prefer not to have to deal with currently.”

“You’re getting time off,” Luke summarized.

“Where will we go?” Ton worried.

“Does that matter?” Chris asked dully.

Shinyao patted her friend on the arm.  “Don’t worry about that.  We still have school.  I’m more concerned about that.”

Vlad waved them off.  “Figure that out yourselves.  I might even approve you going to historical sites if you will send me locations to approve if it will keep you out of trouble.”

Really?” Ton squealed in excitement.

“How close are we allowed to stay?” Chris asked seriously.

“You can stay near London for school but try to avoid our area and the SnowMary building.  Truthfully, avoid any hunter hotspots,” Luke outlined.

“Yes!  You should have gotten in trouble before!” Ton rejoiced as she began packing everything as fast as she could.

“This is not a full go ahead,” Vlad warned. “I need to approve your locations first before you go to them.  I will not have you inexperienced hooligans getting in more trouble than you are capable of.”

“No problem,” Ton reassured.

Vlad gazed at them as the mess was gathered into two piles. “No problem getting into trouble?  I believe that.”

Luke laughed as he dropped another pencil on top of Shinyao’s full arms.  “I bet five pounds that Chris is able to keep them out of too big of trouble for two to three weeks.”

The palest skinned of them all smiled then at the silver Were.  “I’ll call you.  I bet they are calling in for help between two days to a week.”

“We’re not being hunted.  We will be just fine,” Shinyao said.

Tauryu began wiping down the now vacant counter.  “With in the first hours of arriving in London your luggage was stolen by a goblin and Shinyao was kidnapped and almost murdered.  That is not promising.”

“Chris kept me alive,” Shinyao replied happily as she nearly skipped for the mirror exit.  “We’ll do even better this time.”

In a couple of minutes, the three were out of the café with their things packed.  Ton frowned, “This feels strange to be kicked out of the café.  Now we’re basically homeless.”

“It’s not that bad Ton.  It’s basically a fun camping trip,” Shinyao said optimistically.

“Not really camping in my opinion,” Chris said as he led them down the night darkened road.  He paused to listen for a second before pulling them into an alley way. They retreated far inside when a man in a black fatigue walked down the street they had been on. The red wolf led them out of the area.  “This is just dropping in to live with random Umbra with that channel of yours.  Kind of pathetic.”

“Hey!  We have things to make living easier for a reason,” Ton fired back.

“And get in the way.  Most of what you brought with you is just extra unnecessary weight,” Chris stated.

“Do you even have anything in that little bag of yours?  I don’t think I’ve seen you in more than three outfits the whole time you’ve been with us,” Ton argued back.

“Be glad that I’ve modernized. When I was born, you wore the clothes on your body and brought your weapons.  And I am my weapon. I actually take a satchel with me these days,” Chris returned bluntly.

“Have you thought of going a step further with that?” Ton demanded.

“I got a phone after fixing your mess.  Never had anyone to call before that,” Chris admitted to slowly adjusting to current times.

“And you can send pictures of doing our videos with other Umbra to Luke every night!  He would love to see them!” Shinyao considered.

The red paused and his green eyes blinked behind his colored sunglasses that were down despite the night.  “Huh.  Guess I could do that.

Shinyao trotted up to take his bare arm with a smile.  “I’ll teach you a couple of different things you can do on your phone to stay in contact with Luke while we are out here.”

Chris rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand.  “Thanks, I guess.  Come on.  I know a place.”

~

“What is this place?” Ton asked as they entered the run-down shop that appeared abandoned.

“Used to be a pub,” Chris said as he dropped his bag on the counter.  “A few Umbra started dropping by and the human customers began to get scared.  The more humans that left, the more Umbra that came.   The owners finally moved out because of how uncomfortable they felt here.  But they opened it for rent. The Umbra that stay here do so under lease.”

Ton started her phone recording.  “So, do Umbra do this a lot?”

“No.  Only certain kinds.  Most are decently respectful and pay their bills.  Only less savory ones try and threaten their way into staying here for nothing.  The owners still profit financially even though they don’t ever come here,” Chris said as he walked up to the bar.  “Goven!  Get out here!”

“No need to shout,” a man grumbled as he stepped out of the back rooms to look at them.  “What do you want?

“We need a place to stay for a few weeks,” the red stated.

Goven looked at them all suspiciously.  “We don’t usually have…”

“Humans?” Chris filled in.  “They know about us.  I’ll speak for them.”

The grumpy man turned to glare at the young man.  “And what are you?”

“Werewolf,” Chris growled back as his relaxed posture began to tense in agitation.

“Werewolf, huh?  Don’t usually see your kind in the city.  Or alone for that matter,” Goven said coldly.

“Quit your digging and just give us a room.  I’ve stayed here before about twenty years ago,” Chris snarled.

“Twenty?  Twenty, twenty,” Goven said as he thought before straightening.  “Oh!  A little red tramp.  You’ve cleaned up.  Look slightly respectable now.  Thought a hunter would have killed you by now with that attitude of yours.”

“Keep going,” Chris said softly but his obvious threat of murder was heard.

Goven chuckled to himself then, “You’ve been working on that temper of yours.  You almost bit my head off the second you saw me last time.”

“I’ve had a couple of lectures on patience that I am not going to forget anytime soon, but that doesn’t lessen my desire,” Chris said as he leaned forward.

Goven turned to look at the girls for his hideously disfigured face to snarl at them.  If the girls were not used to Umbra, they would have been scared.  “What’s with the humans?  You’ve always hated them before.  Killed a few of them before you left.”

“That is rumor and untrue.  These are friends of mine.”

“Friends?  Ha!  You don’t have any,” The Umbra scoffed.

Shinyao stepped up to the bar with a kind smile.  “Hello.  I’m Shinyao.  It’s nice to meet you Mister…?”

The Umbra paused before sticking his horrid face in hers with a hiss.  “I’m Goven, and I am the permanent resident of this place.  I run things here.”

“And the inside looks quite well kept up, Mister Goven.  It must be hard for you to go outside to take care of the outside if you have to stay in,” Shinyao returned gently as she stepped back to give them space.

Goven stared at her blankly before looking over to the dark-haired girl.  “And who are you?  You seem familiar.”

“This is my friend Ton,” Shinyao introduced.

Goven turned on the Were.  “What are they?  No human is this way.”

“Twilight Umbra hunters,” Chris stated.

Goven jerked back from the counter in surprise before glaring thoughtfully at the girls.  “‘Twilights?  It’s been a while since any have come around here.  Yes, the only humans that ever come around here.  You here to check on things then?”

Chris answered for them, “Yes.  They are in training and the vampire gave them permission to check out low ranking Umbra and places on their own.  And Midnight Sun is hunting them, so Café Forbidden is not an entirely safe place to stay right now.”

Goven laughed then, “Humans hunted by Midnight Sun?  I always knew those bunch of murderers would show their true selves.  They can stay as long as all of you don’t cause trouble for my other clients.”

“As long as they don’t start it,” Chris returned as he pulled out the payment.

“I remember you having trouble with that.  I’m afraid that I only have one room available right now.  Will that work?” Goven asked as he checked the amount of money.

“Prefer two,” The younger Bowen said.

“Well, I would be able to do that for you if a rude guest of mine would move out like he should have four years ago,” Goven grumbled.

Ton moved closer curiously, “What do you mean?

Goven sneered at them before shrugging dismissively.  “You’re going to find out in your checking anyway.  I haven’t been wanting to call you Twilights because of how things went last time one of you came over because of trouble.  That Bowen wolf boy had his hands full, and I have not fully gotten over the guilt of putting him through that mess.  The others working there are too lazy to come by and I don’t want to pull him back into my troubles.”

Chris smiled slightly, “Wolf boy?  You mean a silver furred werewolf named Luke Bowen?”

“Yeah.  That’s him.  Willing kid.  Has some secrets in him that he holds too tightly to be good in my opinion,” Goven said.

“He’s my big brother,” Chris stated.

“Is he now?  Now that makes sense why you’re such an odd werewolf.”

“Do you need help with this guest of yours?” The younger Bowen asked.

Goven glared at the red wolf.  “If you want to throw him out on his ear for me, I will give his room to you for a discount.  Just don’t hurt the place.”

“Lead the way,” Chris ordered.

“Troublemaker.  That attitude of yours will make more problems for you than good,” The disfigured Umbra grumbled as he led them behind the bar into the back rooms.  Shadows flickered out of sight as they passed.  The feeling of eerie eyes watching followed as Goven stormed up to a door and banged on it.  “Jimmy!  Get out and pay me!”

It was dangerously silent for a long minute before the door slowly creaked open.  A tall hulking humanoid figure that had a bluish tinge to its skin stared down at them.  “Go away,” It slowly growled ominously.

“Pay me for your time here and I will.  If not, I will still have what you owe and you gone.  I have some folks that need this room,” Goven barked back crossly.

Ton and Shinyao glanced around the hallway to find doors barely crack open for creepy glowing eyes to be peeking out at the scene.  “Who?” The large Umbra growled as it jutted out its jaw to show its blunted tusks that were yellowed and blackened.

Chris stepped forward calmly, “Me.”

The thing ducked under the doorway that was too small for him to get right in the red furred werewolf’s face.  “Go away.”

“Pay Goven, and I will let your head stay on its hat rack,” Chris stated simply back.

The brute’s face slowly contorted into a horrible snarl as he drew back his fist.  Chris moved instantly to grab the much larger Umbra by the neck and slam it into the ground.  With a few lightning quick strikes that shook the walls around them, he backed off.  The Umbra groaned as it painfully flopped over to get up.  Its yellowed eyes turned with hatred on the smaller wolf.

“Excuse me?” Shinyao suddenly said as she stepped up to the thing.  She looked like a little child compared to it as she smiled.  “Goven doesn’t seem very nice first meeting him, but he is.  He doesn’t want trouble.  He has let you stay here for so long without being paid because he does not want problems or for the Twilights to get hurt dealing with them.  And we don’t want to hurt you.  So, can you please pay him?”

The Umbra just shoved her, and the girl went sprawling down the hallway.  Chris snarled as he leaped forward to grab the monster.  In a minute, the beaten and bloody Umbra was thrown out the door of the once pub.  As Chris walked back in, he paused as Ton helped her friend up.  “You could get hurt doing that.”

“I’m not afraid.  I know you will never let anything hurt me,” Shinyao said confidently.

They peeked into the just emptied room as they heard Goven talking happily to himself.  Their host was bustling around collecting personal items from the trashed room.  He grinned at them with his twisted and broken teeth.  “Come in!  Come in.  I can’t say anything for the mess.  You’ll have to clean that up yourselves before you leave.  I have got more than what that pig owed me.  Who is going to be staying here?”

“I will,” Chris volunteered.  “Where is the girls’ room?”

“Right.  Follow me you skimpy little hookers,” Goven insulted happily as he left with his arms full.  As they followed him out, doors all down the hallway were quick in closing their curious occupants back inside.

As they passed the doors the eyes would dart away.  Shinyao paused at one to smile brightly.  “Hello!  I’m Shinyao.  I guess we’re going to be neighbors for a few weeks.  Who are you?”

Chris looked at the ceiling in exasperation.  “You’re incredible.  Why do you always do this?”

Claws peeked through the crack in the doorway before impossibly long black fingers kept spreading out and out and out along the wood.  The hinges creaked from lack of grease as five glittering eyes peeked out with huge six-inch stiletto teeth that had no lips to cover over them grinned out terrifyingly.  “Non-sense.” Its voice was a harsh cracking hiss that sent shivers along every muscle.  The door opened enough for it to jut it head out and turn it in a direction that a normal spine couldn’t.  “They ca-ll me nonse-nse.  Th-e nonsense that child-ren say whe-n sc-ared.  A mon-ster under the b-e-d that does no-t exist.  Nonsense.”

“That makes sense to me,” Shinyao said as she stepped even closer.

She yelped in surprise as Chris picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.  “You can talk with them later.  Get settled first.”

“Alright.  Bye Nonsense!  See you later,” Shinyao called as they headed up the stairs.

“T-ea at two.  Not da-y,” Nonsense replied back before he slammed his door shut.

Ton shivered hard.  “I don’t know if that is a good idea.”

“But we could make friends with so many Umbra without the others introducing them to us.  These Umbra are not bad.  Both Chris and the Twilights agree on that,” Shinyao said before she was roughly dropped back to the floor.

Goven threw open the door to step inside and glare around at the dusty but bare room.  “This is yours.  I’m not in charge of you.”

Ton stared around at the set up in disbelief.  “We’re going to stay here?  There’s not even a bed.”

“It’s not too bad though.  At least there is no wind coming through,” Shinyao pointed out optimistically.

“You’ve lived with Chris too much,” Ton huffed as she put down her luggage.

The wolf snorted in amusement as he leaned on the door jam.  “This is pretty luxurious for most Umbra.  They can make their quarters how they need them.  We can see about getting you two a bed or something.”

“Don’t worry about us.  You have a mess to clean up in yours.  We will be fine,” Shinyao soothed.  “Besides, we have classes in a couple of hours. We don’t have time to worry about this place.”

Chris shrugged as he left.  “Good night then.”

Chapter Text

Chris snuck into the pub in the last of the bright daylight before night. He had spent all day gathering debris from his room to dump in the trash around the city and had scrubbed every surface clean until even the slightest stain of age and decay was gone. Goven sneered from where he sat at the bar as he usually did. “Who turned you into a maid since you were last here? You never cared about how you left things.”

“Consider it a couple of lectures from my brother about kindness and leave it at that,” The red growled as he moved for the back.

“I was thinking more about those girlies you brought with you. Pretty caring of you,” Goven teased.

Chris paused to glare in warning at the Umbra. “My brother has been dating one of them.”

“And the other?”

“Training to be his partner.”

Goven’s smile was hideous but more than amused once you were around him a lot. “Partner? He’s one of those wolves that like multiple mates then?”

“Shut up before I put your teeth down your throat,” Chris said as he stepped out of the main pub area. He paused as he heard something different from the common hum that he had experienced during the day. His wolf ears shifted out to allow him to hear the sounds of talking and laughter coming from the basement. Interested, he moved down the narrow steps to the cold room. The basement had a low ceiling, and the single old light bulb barely cast any light to see by, but that did not bother most that were down there. Dozens of Umbra of a great diversity of species were gathered down here. The more lone living kinds were pressed against the walls as the social lovers gathered in groups in the middle. Then in the middle of the biggest group gathered around a small table were two human girls.
Chris ducked under the doorway in and pushed his way through to them. “What are you up to now?”

Ton grinned up at him. “We’re learning how to play Backgammon and poker. It’s kind of hard.”

Chris glanced around at the Umbra teaching them and the ones watching. “Considering you’re going up against Umbra without faces and talent stealers? You never stood a chance. Hope you’re not betting anything on this.”

“We’re not,” Shinyao said as she put down one of her cards. “Luke said to never, under no circumstances, or bullying, to ever bet or promise something to Umbra. Let him do that since he has experience and knows the exceptions.”

“Only sense he has,” Chris grumbled under his breath as he put down his load to watch.

Shinyao glanced at his load curiously, “Paint?”

The red crossed his arms as he stepped back to hide in the shadow slightly more out of sight and disconnected with the group. “Thought we should fix up our rooms a little. They’re falling apart.”

Both girls’ eyes brightened. “I’ve never fixed something before!” Ton exclaimed in excitement.

“I used to cement cracks and build new enclosures for the farm back home. Though I guess that taking care of a house could be little different. My parents didn’t really have enough to repair our home,” Shinyao mused as the card deck in the middle of the table floated up and cards began shooting out to the players.

“You were a farmer?” Chris asked from where you could barely detect his outline in the darkness. “Thought you would have lived in a city to travel abroad.”

“We lived in a small city. I saved up my earnings to come here with Ton,” Shinyao said as she frowned at her cards. “I think this is a bad hand. I’m going to fold, and you can tell me if it is.”

She laid down her cards face up for the table to see. Cackling started up around them. “Not bad,” an Umbra young man with a deep enchanting voice purred to the lighter haired girl as he bent down his wonderfully curved figure to stroke her arms lovingly. His long white hair cascaded over his shoulder as his thick eyelashes lowered flirtatiously. “For a beginner that was not a bad hand. In comparison to the rest of the table, you were wise to fold though.”

“Thank you,” Shinyao replied as she scooted her chair back. She had a soft smile and a light blush across her cheeks as she stood up. She looked back to the darkness she could not see the wall flower Umbra in. “Do you want to join us?”

Chris forced his voice to come out even as he dug his claws into his crossed arms to keep from ripping off the head of the other Umbra that was too close to the girls for his liking. “No.”

Shinyao looked down in understanding and thought. “Oh. Well, everyone wanted to welcome us. You can go take care of your room. We’ll be alright.”

“Look at all the things they gave us!” Ton exclaimed as she waved at a pile of things in the corner.

“Yes! They are so nice! They have been helping gather things for our room. We don’t have to sleep on the floor now,” Shinyao agreed.

Bowen blinked in surprise at the furniture and other items before glaring at the much too friendly Umbra that surrounded the table. “Why would they do that?”

“They’re our neighbors,” The brown-haired girl said simply.

“Neighbors don’t care about each other these days,” Chris stated.

“We’re not exactly from these days,” A female Umbra said with smoke drifting out of her mouth.

Shinyao’s admirer smiled at her as he took her hand. “We take care of our friendly neighbors. And Miss Shinyao is too kind not to love.”

The slight blush that had faded returned as the human girl shifted in giddy uncertainness at the attention. Chris clenched his teeth as he looked away from them. “How long is this thing going to last?”

“We were thinking all night long,” Shinyao shared. “Then we can sleep during the day between classes and work on editing our videos during the night. Vlad’s given us permission to make a video on the Greenwich foot tunnel, and Luke says to talk to the owner of the Old Queen’s Head pub.”

“If you stay up too many times at night, you’re going to become nocturnal,” Chris warned.

“Ton’s always had insomnia. I’m used to staying up with her,” The soft-spoken girl said.

“You can’t make regular friends if you aren’t awake during the day to meet them,” The red head stated.

The girl sighed in discouragement. “No one talks to me. They are all on their phones and they only say a few words before they ignore me. It’s not like back home. Some people had phones, but the regular workers didn’t have as much technology. They were still willing to talk and follow traditions.”

The handsome Umbra flirting with her put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry about humans. They always tend to do this. With the cycle, this era of improvement will collapse to be hidden from all other eras to follow and all technology will be destroyed to force people to learn how to communicate again. But we will always be around. You are more than good enough to be friends with us.”

Shinyao smiled shyly up at him, “Thank you Lelon. I do like being around Umbra.”

Ton groaned loudly in defeat then as all other hands were shown. “How could anyone make money off of this game?”

“I do,” The most human seeming man said as he reached out to drag the pile of chips into himself, a soft blue glow trailing after his hands as he moved them. “Fools throw in their money, and I win it all.”

“Good thing I don’t have any money,” Ton muttered as she sat back up.

Shinyao stepped back towards the table under the dim lightbulb. “Would you like to join us?”

Chris pulled his claws out of his arms and wiped away the streaming blood. “Make it backgammon, and I will. I can’t play straight faced games.”

Chapter Text

Ton stood at the entrance of a tunnel beside the Thames River. She smiled brightly at the phone propped up and recording her. “Tonight, Shinyao, Chris, and I are going to be exploring the Greenwich foot tunnel. It is a tunnel that was opened in nineteen o two for the public to use free of charge to walk between the London borough of Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs. I have no idea why anyone would call an island that.”

“It’s not an island,” Chris said as he stood off to the side watching the girls get ready. “It’s a marshland peninsula attached to the land of London. I wasn’t around when it was named, but some of the theories is that someone misheard when it was called the Isle of Ducks and spread the wrong word about. Another is that it was named after all the dead dogs and their bones that wash up on it. It catches a lot of the trash in the river.”

Ton beamed at the information as she looked back to her phone. “I have heard that there is no chance of the Umbra living in the tunnel harming anyone. We’re going in to meet it.”

“You’re pathetic,” Chris stated as she moved forward to stop her phone.

“You’re no help,” Ton returned.

“Are those new cameras really going to work?” The Were questioned.

Ton fiddled with the extra camera feature that had been secured over her camera lens under the protective phone case. “Should. Wayne tested it on Vlad, and he showed up. We should be able to record less seeable Umbra now with some varying results. We’ll find out!”

Shinyao yanked her new black boots on that made her tiny feet look delicate. She flexed her feet as she tested how they felt moving higher up her calves. “Hopefully we don’t need to do a lot of exercise tonight. I need to break these in first before we go chasing Umbra around.”

“Why don’t you wear them to school to break them in?” Chris asked.

“I will. I just don’t usually wear boots. But, with all the things that could happen, having a pair of shoes that I can actually run in is good. And they match my café uniform, so I don’t have to worry about changing into them when something comes up,” Shinyao said as she stood up and adjusted her Twilight jacket over top of her loose summer dress.

“Let’s go!” Ton said as she set off into the tunnel.

The tunnel was made of bricks that had been painted a dull gray. The floor was a little more interesting with the golden yellow color but other than that there was nothing exciting. Above them ran electrical cables that attached periodically to old lights. For the nighttime it was decently bright, but still not the most clearly lit area. A jogger passed them not long after they entered and then they were alone. The walk was quiet as the tunnel seemed to swallow all sound. Everything silent except for their footsteps. Chris stopped suddenly and held up his hand to sign for the girls to do the same. As they all stopped moving, the unmistakable sound of footsteps continued behind them. Ton turned back with her phone in hand. She frowned in confusion at not seeing anyone. “Hello?”

“It might be someone else from further down that is coming. It might be an echo of them walking,” Shinyao suggested as she kept her phone facing the opposite direction.

“No. No one else is in the tunnel with us. I smell a phantom,” Chris stated as he glared at one place in the air.

Ton looked to her phone screen to hold her breath as she noticed the misty humanoid figure that her altered camera was picking up. Her still normal camera on the other half of her screen showed nothing. “Hello. I’m Baileu Ton. What’s your name?” No response came as the misty Umbra figure continued to walk towards them. “I can see you. We don’t mean any harm. We were just wondering who you were and why you decided to live in the tunnel of all places in England.”

The footsteps stopped for an oppressive silence to settle. Chris shifted in agitation at not being able to pinpoint the phantom. He stepped over to watch Ton’s screen and relaxed slightly. “I could see small distortions as it moved.”

“Your abilities are amazing,” Ton said in wonder before she addressed the phantom. “Can you speak to us?”

The figure on the screen raised a hand to wave at them before motioning to its throat. “It can’t,” Chris said. “Footsteps are as far as it can make sound.”

“Okay. Uhm… can you show us what you want to say?” Ton asked.

The phantom nodded as its hands began moving. “Sign language,” Chris said as he studied the phone screen. “I think I remember the signs.”

“Are there more Umbra living in the tunnel?” Ton questioned. A head shake came.

“No. It’s too plain and not enough hiding spots for any other umbra to want to live in here,” Chris translated.

“Why do you live in here then?” Shinyao asked as she turned off her phone to talk with the phantom.

As it began to motion, Chris spoke, “It’s not as aggressive and powerful as many Umbra are. It needed a home, but it couldn’t stand up against any of the other Umbra outside for the better places. But it is happy here. No Umbra come here, and he can play with humans’ minds and emotions. He likes being noticed. It’s lonely alone. Having humans afraid and knowing he is with them even when he can’t be seen is good.”

“Do you have a name?” Ton asked.

Chris frowned at the screen as the phantom signed, “Slow down. I’m not good at letters.” The red stared for a minute as he tried to piece the communication together. “Nickolas?” An excited nod came from the phantom. The girls smiled as he signed to them. “He wants to know how you can see him?” Chris passed on.

A few hours later the three stepped out of the tunnel onto the isle of Dogs. The girls were giggling in excitement as their translator quietly followed with a soft smile. “That was so fun! Nickolas loves to talk!” Ton exclaimed.

“We should come back again,” Shinyao agreed.

“And maybe bring something for him to play with. I’ve been reading about a ghost buster device that allows ghosts to say words and make sounds. I think he might like trying to work with something like that,” Ton considered.

Chris huffed in amusement. “That ought to scare the public. Have something say hi out of nowhere.”

The girls giggled at the idea before Shinyao paused. “What’s that?”

The others turned to look between the buildings that covered the once marshy peninsula. Chris smirked as he walked toward the movement. “One of the few Umbra that were created on the Isle of Dogs. A dog.”

“What do you mean?” Ton questioned as she jogged to catch up. Around the corner they all looked down the walkway beside the Thames River after a small dog. It did not have flesh on it though. Its bones were white and completely see through. It turned its head to almost seem to look at them through the empty eye sockets in its skull.

Shinyao cooed as she dropped to her knees “Here boy! Come here!”

The skeleton raced forward to throw itself into Shinyao’s arms. Chris looked over to the disbelieving dark-haired girl. “What is she missing? No human acts like this.”

Ton shook her head, “I don’t know. She was always sweet to the snakes back home. Maybe that was a sign of her doing this now?”

Chris tilted his head in bewilderment as he watched the lighter girl. He bent down to pick the dog up by its neck spine. “Shinyao. It’s getting late and you have class early tomorrow.”

“Alright. Good night. Stay safe,” Mu said to the dog Umbra as she patted its skull and walked away with them.

Chapter Text

“Why am I required to go to these things with you? This is kids’ stuff. Human children dare each other to go into these kinds of hauntings and return with no harm,” Chris groused as he helped the girls set up a few new cameras in positions around the large building.

“Because you don’t want to get into trouble when you do something more interesting and let your brother win the bet he has going with Vlad,” Shinyao said as she tested the camera’s position.

The Were rolled his green eyes. “We could be back at the pub finishing moving your stuff that the other Umbra gave you into your room instead.”

“Moving in cool Umbra décor and artifacts in does not get me footage to work with for my videos,” Ton replied.

“And all the places we have gone to this past week?” The younger Bowen critically questioned.

“Are not going to keep me occupied long. I want a stockpile to have at my disposal. Who knows when Vlad’s going to call us back and stop giving us permission to go to different places,” Baileu said as she checked all her new devices on her phone and then glanced outside at the still light sky that the sun had left not too long ago.

“Is there even a point to all this filming and equipment?” Chris questioned as he leaned against a wall.

“People are starting to watch my channel and videos. So, I think that I am doing well. No comments on special effects being too much. Wayne actually says that people are studying the Umbra things to see if they are real,” Ton said.

Chris looked at the ceiling and sighed, “I used to go wherever I wanted and leave any job I took if I no longer liked it. Why am I hanging around with brainless and silly human girls now?”

“You’re trying to get back to being family with Luke?” Shinyao supplied.

Chris looked away from them as he crossed his arms and didn’t reply. Ton smiled as they finished setting up. “Alright. Let’s find a good place for me to give some history on this place.”

“Why don’t we walk along the hallway and show some of the displays?” Shinyao suggested.

“Perfect,” Ton agreed as they walked through the old building to pause a short distance inside a hallway.

Shinyao pulled up the camera app on her phone to start recording when their Umbra companion yanked the device out of her hands. “Chris?”

The werewolf shoved her over to her friend before holding up the phone. Shinyao smiled as she realized he was going to record both of them as she adjusted herself to stand up straight. “Welcome back to Twilights and Umbra,” Ton greeted at the signal to begin. “Tonight, we are in an old, abandoned building that is the perfect home for many different kinds of Umbra to live in.”

“We are at the Ragged School,” Shinyao much more softly put in. “This one in London is one of the few left in existence. Ragged Schools were built during the Victorian era of Britain in response to a high poverty and crime rate among youth in the slums. This particular one opened in eighteen seventy-seven and remained as a school for about thirty years for children that were too poor to gain an education otherwise.”

“When the school closed from the area becoming smarter and having better income, other businesses took over the old building until they decided to turn this place into a Victorian era museum. There are still old wooden desks in the classrooms and many other things that show what life was truly like back then,” Ton said as she slowly walked back to let the young man get a glimpse of the classrooms and displays with Shinyao’s pink phone.

Shinyao continued, “You can see from the outside that the main school building has other buildings of varying height and construction materials that were built against each other at different times. Renovations have happened at different times over its one hundred fifty years since construction and some continue even now to keep this old building in operation.”

“But we are here because of the reports that this place is haunted,” Ton cut right to the lore part. “It is said that the ghosts of Victorian era children still stay here. We are here to meet them and any other Umbra that as living in this historical monument.”

Chris lowered the phone and carelessly tossed it towards Shinyao as he walked away. “Thank you,” The brown-haired girl called as she caught it.

Ton frowned after him, “He’s still kind of cold and rude.”

“Not like Vlad. He doesn’t have to come with us to these places, Ton. Or record us together,” Shinyao pointed out.

“I guess he is sort of nice,” Ton admitted as she pulled some of her loose black hair behind her ear.

“Now that I know what Luke is like, I think they are both helpful, and willing to take care of you,” Shinyao considered as they strolled through the brick walled hallways with darkened wood floorboards under their feet.

“They are completely different,” Ton replied.

“I don’t think so. They are very similar. They have similar ways of thinking and acting. Luke is just more energetic and loud when he does things.”

The natural light from the large windows looking outside was completely gone besides the streetlights down below. The darkness now made the hardy hallways seem so much smaller and confining. The feeling of being watched began as the air became heavy, but there was no sense of danger yet. “Hello? Would any Umbra like to come meet us? We will not hurt you,” Ton called as the girls walked through the building in search of the occupants that were on no census.

“I found…”

Ton screamed as she jumped in fright at the sudden words behind them. Chris stared at her unimpressed with his bright green eyes that shone in the darkness. “Don’t do that! Make some sound when you move around!” Ton gasped as she worked on getting her heart out of her throat.

Shinyao giggled though, “He’s Umbra Ton. He’s supposed to be scary.”

“You never understood that idea,” Bowen said to the quieter girl before he turned around and walked down the hall. “I found some orbs.”

The girls were right beside him then as he led them to a classroom. Small glowing balls of light that were not too bright were floating around the room. “What are they?” Ton asked as she brought up her camera to record them.

“Usually, orbs are lights that are coming off of pixies and some types of fairies. These are just plain lights that understand they exist. They appear and go where they want, then that is it. Umbra that exists because humans were afraid of the dark and created a strange light,” Chris stated as they watched.

“They are pretty,” Shinyao whispered in the quiet room.

Giggling began down the hallway. That was all that was needed to have the three moving towards the sound. It sounded like young children were laughing together as they entered the area but there was no sign of anyone. “Hello?” Ton called as she moved her enhanced phone camera over the space to try and find an unseen Umbra. Nothing was showing up that her eyes were not seeing.

“Imps,” The Were huffed as he sulked in the shadows of the room.

“Do you see them?” Shinyao asked as she moved the flashlight around the room.

“No. Just smell.”

“How do you know they are imps when this place is supposed to have ghosts?” Ton demanded.

“There are ghosts. People have created them with their fear but there are other creatures that like to imitate them so that humans don’t know there are fleshed beings about,” The Were explained.

Giggling came from all around them. “What is it? What is he? Not human says me.” The child like voices chattered.

“Come out and I will show you,” Chris replied with a trace of irritation in his voice.

All sound died. Slow movement came from behind an old wooden dresser then. A small doll sized being with soft green skin stepped cautiously out with its unnatural limbs and joints. “What are you?”
Chris only shifted out his wolf tail, ears and claws instead of verbally answering. “A puppy!” Came an excited cry before giggling came from everywhere. Bowen growled low in his throat. A few more imps started to chance coming out into sight but stayed far out of reach. The girls could only smile at the appearance of the tiny Umbra though the teasing was not something they were used to. Suddenly the imps gasped and disappeared.

“Something else is here,” Chris said quietly.

“Good or bad?” Shinyao asked as the atmosphere in the room became more heavy.

“Something that imps don’t like,” Was all the Were could supply. The temperature in the room dropped to be much more cold. A small chalk board placed on a desk in display of what the children would have used to write on shifted to fall to the floor. “Now that’s a ghost. Poltergeist.”

“What’s a poltergeist?” Ton asked as she picked up the chalkboard to put back on the desk. It was pushed off again.

“A more powerful classification of ghost. Its German for noisy ghost. They usually move things around and talk. Noise making things that are not generally dangerous. The dangerous ones are yurei or demonic.”

“Yurei? That is a Japanese vengeful ghost, right?” Shinyao asked.

“A spirit that is willing to kill,” Chris agreed before snarling over his shoulder. “Don’t touch me!”

“So, Wayne is a poltergeist?” Ton asked as she gave up on trying to get her camera to show the bodiless spirit.

“I’d classify him as demonic. No regular ghost would possess things and love blowing up electronics,” The red stated.

“That’s creepy,” Ton said before calling out. “Can you talk with us? We would like to know who you are.” A table only shifted. The rest of the night things moved but no words came from the ghosts that were about.

Chapter Text

Both girls stared out the train window at the lush rolling green hills that moved outside their window. “This is so different from back home!” Ton exclaimed.

“It is beautiful,” Her friend agreed before looking over to the Umbra travelling with them. “I just don’t understand why we are going to Scotland.”

Chris watched everyone around them intently. “We were in one place for too long. I don’t like being trapped.”

“We have three days before we have to go back for school. Neither of us have classes until the afternoon on Mondays. If you want, you can go somewhere else after we get back. You don’t have to stay with us,” Mu said softly.

“I guess,” Chris mumbled as he looked away from the girls. The scenic landscape slowly began to change into buildings that grew closer together until they were in the city. As the train began to slow down the red furred wolf stood up. “We’re here.”

The girls grabbed their small travel bags that they had packed for the short trip as they followed him off the train on to the depot platform. “So, where are we going?” Ton asked as they walked through the town that most of its buildings made of stone and of a more aged time period. The styles were all different but beautiful and blended seamlessly together.

“I have an idea on that, but we better check with the locals if that is a good plan,” Bowen said as they walked along the brick laid road. More modern apartments and shops peeking out every once in a while, with more of their kind further out of the historical city center.

“What’s the plan?” Ton asked.

The centuries old young man did not reply. “What locals are we going to talk to?” Shinyao followed up instead.

“Scotland’s Edinburg Twilight team. They will know what’s going on with both humans and Umbra and give us the best advice.”

“Does this Twilight team run a café like our London one does?” Ton questioned.

“No clue. Never met them,” The red head answered honestly.

“Are you serious? How can we find them if you don’t know anything about them?” Ton demanded in disbelief.

“Luke taught me some tricks when we were young. I’ll find them,” Chris reassured.

“Look!” Shinyao exclaimed as she pointed at a castle built on a cliffed hillside overlooking the city. The trees around it were turning golden with the autumn while the grass was still green and lush. “It’s beautiful! It's like there is gold all around it.”

“This is what I like about travelling,” The tallest of them all said quietly as the waning day light cast everything in a golden glow. “I could live eternity without the humans and all their luxuries as long as nature was there for me. A ceiling of stars at night and countless jewels around me in the day.”

“How poetic,” Ton teased.

Chris shrugged as they paused at a paved road that was much more new than the rest of the streets they had walked through so far. They checked both ways before quickly crossing as cars zoomed by. “Not good at words. My brother can make things up and make them sound better than life.”

“I think you speak well enough,” Shinyao encouraged as they passed between a set of newer buildings for the sandy beach to open up in front of them and the sea beyond. Other people walked along the beach as well and stood enjoying the view as the last of the sun illuminated the small waves and the clear blue water.

“You didn’t tell us there was a beach here! I would have brought my swimming suit,” Ton said unhappily.

Chris smiled in his ever so quiet way, but it was shadowed by dark amusement. “Why don’t you take off your shoes and try some wading?”

Both girls threw down their bags as they scrambled to get their boots and socks off as fast as they could. Then they went running across the wide beach into the water. Ton screeched as a wave that came up to her knees was her first introduction to the water. She sprinted back out as her friend stood still in the shallows, gasping in shock. “It’s freezing!” Ton shrieked.

Chris’s smile had grown to show his currently human teeth as he softly chuckled in amusement. He walked down to them as Shinyao took a couple steps deeper into the frigid water before she had enough and came back to the dry sand. Both girls sat down as they tried to brush off the sand from their wet feet to get their socks back on. “Yep.”

“Why did you not tell us?” Ton groaned as she rubbed at her now cold legs to bring warmth back to them.

The Were shrugged much too unrepentant. “You don’t learn anything when people tell you everything. You just have to try things sometimes.”

“Is that something that Luke taught you? That sounded pretty good,” Shinyao said as she gave up getting all the sand off her feet to just work her sock on.

Chris ducked his head in embarrassment. “Yeah.”

“Why do they have a beach when the water is so cold?” Ton asked as they got to their feet and took their bags back.

“For people like you,” Chris stated to get an unhappy pout from the black-haired girl. “You can’t expect perfect water this far north. It’s basically winter now, so everything is cold, and the current around here usually comes from whatever iced over place nearby.”

“Are those seals?” Shinyao asked in excitement as they got near the wall ending the beach.

That was all that was needed for the werewolf to be abandoned. The girls joined a few other of the tourists that were taking pictures of the large, rounded seals that looked so happy resting in the just barely descended dusk darkness, looking just right for a hug. “I’ve never seen a seal before,” Ton said as she took pictures in the failing light.

“These are harbor seals,” A tourist beside her informed. “They’re smaller than the gray seals that also stay around here. Don’t get too close or you’ll scare them.”

Gradually people began to thin out as they had their share of admiring the animals. Ton put her phone away, “I’m hungry.”

“We’ll find a place soon,” Chris said as he watched the last two people watching the seals with them begin to wander off.

“Let’s get going then,” Ton said as she started back along the beach.

Shinyao stepped over to Chris when he did not move and just watched her friend leave in irritation. “Chris?”

The wolf turned back to the seals. “You love the attention, selkie.”

The lazing seals tensed as they looked at the young man. “What about it?” A female voice chirped back.

Ton came running back in surprise as Chris responded. “You’re not as shy as your kind used to be.”

One of the seals sat up for the seal to fall back to just its skin bout the waist of a naked but beautiful young woman. She looked at them with eyes that were still the dark softness of her seal form. “And you are looking for trouble if you are searching for Shadows.”

“I’m not looking for Umbra, just the local Twilight base,” Chris returned.

“What are you? If you don’t mind,” Shinyao asked.

“We’re Selkies,” Another of the seals answered as the seal skin folded back to cover over most of her as she propped her chin on her crossed arms.

Ton uncomfortably avoided looking at the naked Umbra. “How many Umbra species are there?”

“A lot, and some that have not even been classified,” Chris stated. “Where are the Twilights?”

The women looked to each other in debate. “We are part of the Edinburg Twilight team.”

“Really?” Ton said in surprise. “What do you do?”

The selkies laughed, “We take care of the sea and its Umbra. Rescue occasional humans that fall into our waters. Usually, we just stay here and listen. So many interesting things are said when thought that none could tell. Little secrets and crimes that were told in the complete privacy of the sea.”

“So, you’re a water-based team,” Shinyao said. "Are there a lot of Twilight teams like you?”

“In water areas,” one said. “Most water Umbra are just additional members of land teams that stay where they belong.”

“Where’s the land team then?” Chris demanded.

The selkies scoffed, “So demanding. Ever heard of asking nicely?”

“Please,” Shinyao asked with a sweet smile as the red wolf seemed to be biting back a not nice retort. “We’re part of the London England Twilight team. We want to know if we can stay here for the weekend to meet new Umbra.”

The mostly uncovered woman smiled at the girl. “You’ll have to talk to Kerr. He’s the team leader currently. Ask for him at the Hidden Inn.”

“Hidden Inn. Where’s that?” Ton asked as she began typing it into her phone for directions.

“Who knows? Its hidden,” The laying Umbra woman laughed.

One of the selkies that was still a seal snickered, “And I’ve heard that there is a café in London that is forbidden!”

“Is there any Twilight base that is welcome?” Chris asked unimpressed.

They laughed, “Don’t know. Never thought to ask.”

“I have it,” Ton announced as she held up her phone with the map on it.

Shinyao looked over to the canine Umbra, “Is there a way we can come back to visit after we do your plans?”

Chris shrugged, “You can. Only had two places that I thought you might want to see for that channel of yours.”

The least covered woman waved, “Have Beathan tell us where and when you want to talk. Fare well.” Then she pulled her skin over her and she was a seal as she rolled over into the water. The other selkies and real seals flopped into the water after her and were gone.

“Bye!” The human girls called as they started back along the beach into the city.

As they crossed over the new road again to start into the narrow winding ways, everything was much quieter among them. Chris suddenly stopped them and looked around the dark street. “What’s wrong?” Shinyao whispered.

Bowen was still as he searched, cautiously he started forward. “Don’t know. I just got a bad feeling. Something’s not right.”

“Anything you do know about it?” Shinyao asked with too much familiarity.

“No. Just not liking the idea of being here now,” The red growled as a stone building that matched the rest of Old Edinburg that was nestled into the newer section of the city came into sight with a wrought iron sign above the door announcing, ‘Hidden Inn.’

“Let’s get something to eat before we start worrying,” Ton said as she picked up her pace.

Chris held the door open for the girls as they entered. An elegant young woman with deep red hair pulled back into a bun looked up at them with a smile. She smoothed out the dressy dark green dress she wore as she greeted them. “Welcome to the Hidden Inn. What can I do for you?”

The foreign exchange students looked at her in confusion as her thick Scottish accent almost made her English words a foreign language to their ears. Chris answered, “We’re looking for someone named Kerr. The Selkies on the beach said that he led the Twilight team here.”

The woman paused for a second as recognition entered her eyes. She smiled much more mysteriously and natural as she walked for the back rooms. “Follow me please.” An office was in the back with cleaning supplies and a laundry room. The woman opened the office door. “Rory, we have some guests that would like to see you. The blubber girls sent them.”

“They are not blubber, Aimil. They are very cute and lovely girls,” A deep voiced man with a slow drawling Scottish accent replied before he stepped out. He had broad shoulders and more than enough muscle about him to be intimidating but had an easy-going aura around him. He smiled as he stepped forward to shake hands with the red head. “Welcome to Hidden Inn. You’re a native, aren’t you? Haven’t seen such a shade of red in a guest before.”

“I’m not, and I don’t have any parents,” Chris stated as he shook hands.

The man blinked before nodding, “Umbra then? Name’s Rory Kerr. I’m the sucker in charge of this Twilight team and area.”

“Chris Bowen.”

Kerr turned to the oriental girls then. “And you are?”

“Baileu Ton. Shinyao and I are part of the London Twilight team,” The dark-haired girl introduced.

“London then. You already are used to us then. Welcome. What do we owe the pleasure?” Rory asked as he shook hands with both the girls.

The woman grabbed his shoulder to pull him back with a scolding expression. “Rory. They are the girls that have been putting Umbra videos on the website. I would guess that they are wanting to do something similar here.”

Rory looked back to them before recognition lit up his face. “You’re those blokes! Forgive me. I don’t try to look for celebrities often.”

“We’re not celebrities,” Shinyao disclaimed.

“You haven’t looked at the views on your videos, have you?” Rory asked with a grin before he pointed to the red-haired woman. “This is Aimil. She and her friend are baobhan-sith Umbra.”

Both human girls looked to the Were for help. “I don’t know that species,” Ton hinted.

Chris stared at Aimil. “Vampire fairies. They come when men wish for female companionship and rip their necks or chests open to consume their blood.”

Aimil laughed brightly, “I haven’t done that for so long.”

“What’s about?” Another woman with flowing golden hair and a long dress in a light green shade asked as she stepped out of the laundry room pushing a cart loaded with crisply folded sheets. She paused as she saw Bowen and smiled in consideration. “Hello and a half.” The Chinese girls shifted closer to their werewolf as both baobhan eyed him in definite attraction. The blond fluttered her eyelashes, “Welcome. My name is Giorsal.”

“I have two other members on my team,” Rory said without paying attention to the flirting of the female Umbra. “I’ll go get them.” He strode out of sight and a minute later was dragging a dark-haired boy that looked to be in his mid to early teens that was wearing white slacks and a green shirt. “This is Beathan. He’s a Ghillie Dhu Umbra. A little shy and you will rarely see him around, but he is the most reliable and trustworthy person on the team.”

The boy ducked his head as he whispered a sheepish hello. “What’s a Ghillie Dhu?” Ton asked.

“A male tree fairy that lives alone and is rarely seen. They tend to like taking care of children in need,” Chris informed shortly.

Rory smiled lazily, “Beathan is one of two of our Umbra that never caused harm to anyone but stay with us for protection. The other is Sorcha. Where is she?”

“In the kitchen,” Giorsal said as Beathan slipped away.

Rory startled, “Again? We really do need to rework her lore.”

Aimil stepped back towards a small door. “Sorcha’s in here.” She opened it to let the small kitchen on the other side be revealed. All eyes instantly focused on the bony woman at the sink that was washing. Her hair was straggly as if wet with skin that was much too pale. Her back was to them as she sang a lilting tune in a language the Chinese girls did not know. Chris stiffened at the sight of her before he creeped into the kitchen silently. Everyone watched silently for what he was going to do. He moved fast as he grabbed the less than physically appealing woman by the arms. She screeched in surprise, “Release me, man!”

“Only if you tell me whose clothes you’re washing,” Chris demanded as he held onto her as she tried to get away.

The Umbra that would have appeared frightening in the dark and in any other situation stopped struggling to look over her shoulder at her captor appraisingly. She smiled then with her dark dead eyes glinting. “I’m washing the clothes of young Clara Duncan and her older brother Thomas. Local youth that just can’t stay away from the gangs. They won’t be returning home tonight.”

Chris let go of her as he stepped back. “Don’t know them. Don’t care.”

As the team around them laughed, the human girls were lost at the events. Sorcha shook her head at the red head. “It’s been a while since someone has done that.”

“I don’t like taking chances,” Bowen returned.

“Uhmm…” Ton hummed as she tried to get in a question.

Aimil smiled at her kindly. “Sorcha is a washer woman. She is part of the Beab-nighe species that is feared for being seen at rivers and streams washing clothing.”

“Why is that something to be afraid of?” Shinyao asked. "It seems a good thing to me that someone is doing their laundry."

The vampiric fairy laughed slightly, “Bean-nighe are one of multiple species under the Ban-sith genus that forewarn of death. You might have heard of the more popular species of Banshee that screams near a house to announce the death of someone inside. Bean-nighe wash the clothes that the soon to be dead person will wear when buried. If you see one, you can sneak up on them and grab them to make you tell you if the clothes are your own or anyone that you care for and you can stop the death from happening.”

“You’re alright with her washing?” Ton asked nervously as she looked inside the kitchen at the washer.

Giorsal moved back to her cart of linens. “She does no harm. People are going to die anyways so we might as well let her do her lore. It’s helpful sometimes.”

“Sorcha has predicted the death of each member of our team multiple times,” Rory said proudly. “With the warning we are able to avoid hunters or bad situations.”

“I see your clothes too often in my wash, Kerr,” Sorcha chastised as she shook the wet dress shirt in her hands that had mostly washed-out blood stains on the white fabric before she turned back to the sink muttering under her breath.

Rory grinned reassuringly at their guests. “Don’t worry. We don’t let her near the laundry. What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

Chris stepped out of the kitchen to join them. “I needed to get out of London. I’m supposed to keep these girls out of trouble. Do you think that Edinburg castle and the vaults would be a safe place to let them film their videos?”

Rory leaned back against the wall in thought. “Another of those videos. I would say the castle is fine. Been there myself. A couple of Umbra but nothing that will eat you. The vaults though. I’ve never been in there.” He shook his head with a laugh. “What kind of Scot am I? My grandfather was a Twilight and both my father, and I have been raised here in Scotland. Been here all my life and I have never set foot inside one of our most well-known Umbra sites.”

“We are much older than you Rory, and Giorsal and I have never been there before,” Aimil said gently. “Though I have heard that there are some places that are not safe. A couple of people say that they feel like they are burning in the fire rooms and even feint. Then there is the witch ring that contains the most evil Umbra that would roam the chambers and cause harm to all if they were not contained.”

“We are not going there,” Chris stated definitely. “I passed through the vaults once after they were built, but it’s been a long time, and I don’t know the layout or where everything is.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you. My team only patrols around the outside of the vaults. As long as the Umbra stay inside, we are fine with them,” Rory grinned bashfully. “Sort of need them to scare people in there to keep the tourism and money flowing. It’s only when they move out into the city that we have problems and step in. Most we can shoo back into the vaults. The ones that don’t… they are quite the handful.”

“Pitying fools,” Sorcha muttered in the kitchen. “The wiccans go in the vaults all the time. Go talk to them.”

Chris snarled low in his throat at the idea. “Wiccan?” Shinyao asked in concern.

“What witches like to call themselves now days to try and make themselves feel better and make people less afraid of them,” Bowen growled dangerously.

“They’re not too bad,” Rory said. “There are a few covens about. All are friendly with the Twilights. The closest one actually rents a room in the vaults for their practices. Their predecessors were the ones that made the witch ring that keeps us all safe.”

“I have never met a good witch,” Chris growled.

“Ah. You’ve met black witches before. Not to worry. We only allow white around here,” Rory tried to reassure.

“Met is not the word I’d use,” Chris growled to himself.

“Hold on!” Ton shouted, “I’m almost as lost as when I first found out about Umbra. Black and white witches?”

The human man smiled at the smaller girls. “Black witches are the awful things that caste curses with plagues and death and awful spells. White witches are their opposite and often bless businesses and ward away evil Umbra from homes. If you want anyone that knows about Umbra and can guide you reliably and safely through the vaults, then I would put my money on the wiccan coven.”

Ton grabbed onto the red Were to drag him along. “Come on, Chris! Let’s go talk to the wiccans.”

“I am not going to work with those things,” Bowen snarled as he yanked his arm back to himself.

Aimil and Giorsal giggled as they came up to both sides of him to flirtatiously take his arms. “Don’t worry handsome. We’ll take care of you,” Aimil reassured with a seductive smile.

Chris was stiff and his expression displayed his current thought process of uncomfortable disbelief at the forwardness the females were giving him as they led him out the door. Rory shook his head, “Beathan will take your things up to your rooms. We better catch up.”

The six walked through the large city to a newer section of apartments. Rory knocked on a door on the second story. After a minute, a dark-haired young man with a calm, friendly feeling about him answered. “Rory! We weren’t expecting to see you.”

“I wasn’t thinking of coming until just before now. We have some questions and a possible favor to ask of you,” Kerr said.

The man smiled as he almost laughed, “A favor. We’ll see what we can do about that. Come in. Can I get any of you something to drink?”

“Something mild if you will. Planning on patrolling the city after this,” Rory returned as they all came in except for Chris that was glaring suspiciously at the doorway.

“You Twilights work harder than most people do these days,” Their host said before looking to the red that had not come in. “Are you with them?”

“What kind of wards are on this door?” Chris said evenly.

Their host paused before glancing outside to see nothing out of place then considered the other male right across the doorway from him. “Protection. They keep dark and evil things away and deter robbers and other ill minded beings.”

“How do they deter?” Chris asked.

“Make the person seriously consider their life’s choices. Are you considering yours?”

Chris stepped forward through the door as the dangerous glares that they had narrowed and held. Giorsal stepped over to pull Chris into the room. “This is Darren. He and his fiancé Liz lead the Blue Dragon coven.”

“Mostly because they have the biggest house to meet in,” Aimil teased.

Darren tried for a smile but the sudden tension between him and the werewolf made it hard to keep. “What is this favor you need?”

“Who is it, Darren?” A woman called from another room.

The wiccan sighed, “The Twilights.”

“Oh! One minute!” The woman called before she hurried into the room with dust across her pants and shirt. “Hello Giorsal, Aimil, Rory. You brought friends…” She trailed off as she stared at the strangers. “You’re the Twilights and Umbra girls! Baileu Ton and Mu Shinyao! I love your channel! I love all the history and information and getting to see Umbra the way they really are! You are completely amazing! You must be here for…”

“Liz!” Her fiancé shouted over her enthusiastic rambling. “Calm down.”

Liz paused before rushing over to a decorated side table. She pulled open a drawer to pull out a necklace with a stone on it to slip over her head and visibly have the uncontainable energy in her bleed away. “Sorry about that. I have a hard time staying even sometimes. It is amazing to meet you both.”

“I didn’t realize we were so well known,” Shinyao said.

“Maybe not to the general world, but we enjoy it. And my girlfriends that are still looking for a boyfriend all love checking out the hot Umbra you work with,” Liz said with a conspiring smile.

“Really?” Ton giggled in disbelief.

“Yah, their divided between Tauryu and Luke the most, but with the video that Vlad actually shows up in has been turning some heads,” Liz shared. She looked over to the red-haired young man, “I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.”

Chris glared at her without giving a response, so Shinyao answered for him. “This is Chris. He has been helping us go to places for the past two weeks for filming. We haven’t had much time to put things together yet.”

“I can’t wait for your next release. Are you here to make more videos?” Liz asked with excited hope filling her eyes.

“That’s what we want to ask you about,” Shinyao said with an uncertain glance at the three from the local team.

“They want to know if amateurs can explore the south bridge vaults safely,” Aimil asked for her.

The two wiccans glanced at each other silently for their ideas. Liz put a hand on her fiancé’s arm in concern as he turned back to them dismissively. “The vaults should be safe. There are a few Umbra that will try to scare you and a few that will do some pushing and kicking, but not too much more than a bruise. As long as you don’t go into the circle that our coven set up a while back. Go in there and anything can happen to you.”

“We’re not going anywhere near your witchcraft,” Chris stated evenly but his hostility still came through.

Rory spoke up, “Thing is that me and my team have never gone in the vaults. We were wondering if there was a way that your people could show us around down there sometime. If that is not a problem.”

Liz lit up in excitement as she looked over their group. “We’ll have to talk with the rest of the coven. Excuse us for a minute.” She pulled her fiancé into another room with her, and they whispered together for a couple of minutes before Darren came back. “Liz is calling the others to get their opinions.”

“Thank you. What have you been about today?” Rory asked.

“Work,” Darren said simply as his gaze stayed on the Were almost challengingly. It was uncomfortable as an invisible stick seemed to be keeping them apart. If it snapped, they would be at each other’s throats faster than anyone could stop them. “Liz and I have been drying some herbs lately to store. We’ve been putting some of them into bottles for use and grinding some for other things.”

“The place smells good. I thought you were cooking quite a dinner,” Rory said with loud positivity to try and dispel the tension.

“That too. Liz loves making curry. Her grandda spent time in India and brought back some recipes. I made some Cullen Skink to tone it down,” Darren said as his muscles slowly tensed under Bowen’s returned glare.

“That’s quite the feast. I wish anyone in our place knew how to cook,” Rory mourned.

“Chris and Luke are very good cooks,” Shinyao shared.

“You are lucky indeed. I probably should have let my ma teach me, but I was too busy following my da chasing after Umbra to care about that then,” Rory shared jovially.

“You will just have to have a wife that can cook,” Aimil said.

“That’s the truth. Though I spend more time with Umbra than humans to be able to find one. I will most likely die a bachelor,” Rory mourned.

“Then why not try dating an Umbra girl if you’re around them more? Falling in love with Umbra is not a bad thing,” Ton suggested.

Rory hesitated, “Tradition, I guess. I’ve always been more wary of the Umbra girls with how their lore will sometimes have them seduce a human man to kill him. Though I suppose human girls will do about the same too.”

“Either kind are impossible to resist,” Darren stated. “They will pull you in before you even know you are hooked.”

Rory laughed, “That sounds about how I became the team leader here.”

Darren smiled slightly in amusement as the standoff between him and Chris continued, “None of the Umbra on the team have a gram of responsibility in them so they beg your London bosses to give them a mortal that is going to die again.”

“Who put you in as leader?” Ton asked in interest.

Rory smiled good naturedly, “Garfunkel. It’s kind of an old chestnut with the other teams about that only the worst Twilight will get put in as leader in Edinburg.”

Chris snorted in disgust, “If my brother heard about this, he would change somethings around.”

Liz stepped back into the room as she clicked off a call. “Most of us agree that you can come with us tomorrow night when we go to the vaults.” She paused as she felt the dangerous tension in the room that centered on her man and the red haired other. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Darren said lowly as he did not break his glare with the green-eyed Umbra.

Liz looked between them for a minute, “On second thought, I have a condition before we agree to take you with us. You have to let me do a read on you before we go.”

Chris glanced over at her at her condition on him. He then turned and strode for the door. “Forget this.”

“Give us a minute,” Shinyao excused herself as she ran after the wolf and pulled him to a stop. “Chris, what’s wrong?”

He glanced over at the nearby wiccans before growling softly under his breath. “No good has ever come from dealing with witches. Going into those vaults with them will get you killed.”

“They say it is decently safe in there.”

“It’s not what is already in the vaults that I’m talking about. It’s what Rory wants to have guide us,” Chris growled with a glare at the white witches.

“They seem like nice people.”

“So do most Umbra and humans before they murder you.”

Shinyao smiled softly as she put a hand on the strong werewolf’s arm. “Luke has been teaching me things since you left. One of the things that he said is, if there is a rotten apple on top of a fruit crate, are all of them bad?”

Chris looked away from her. “Depends on how long they have been left out. You can’t believe that every species in the world is base good with a couple of bad. Some are just bad to begin with.”

“With a few good?” Shinyao asked. Chris glared at the door that had wards placed around this side of it. “I know you’re good even though you don’t always act like it. I don’t want people to be mad or scared of you, but how can they not be if they don’t give you a chance. What if it is the same here? There are so many stories and sentiments against witches, why don’t we give some that say they are trying a chance to prove themselves?”

“I don’t like it. Magic is unpredictable. I can’t fight against it.”

“That’s why you have Ton and I. There will also be Rory, Aimil, and Giorsal. We can take care of each other. Besides, Giorsal told me that most of the Blue Dragon coven is mostly made up of humans worshiping with Umbra power with only two real Umbra wiccans among them. We can handle humans.”

“And this read thing she wants to do?”

“I think she’s worried about how you’re acting. She and Darren probably are just trying to keep their coven safe, and you don’t seem very safe.” She waited a minute as he thought. “Please Chris? I want to see what these vaults are like.”

Chris looked down at her before he huffed angrily and stormed back to the others. “Fine.”

Chapter Text

Ton was almost uncontainable in her excitement. Every few minutes she would look at the time on her phone. “Knock it off,” Chris growled unhappily from the seat he was slouched in.

“I’m too excited! Shinyao and I read up on the vaults and they are very interesting. There is so much history there that I could spend an entire night just on that,” The dark-haired girl said.

Shinyao came in then pulling on her boots. “I think we could leave a bit earlier than we are supposed to meet the coven. We can take some pictures of the top side before we go down.”

“What are you wearing?” Ton asked in disbelief.

Her friend was missing the common dresses she loved so much in exchange for pants. “I heard that it is cold in the vaults, so I thought I would dress a little warmer. That and it is getting colder than when we first arrived here Ton.”

Rory put aside his computer, “So, we’re ready to go?”

“I am,” Giorsal said as she came in and twirled in front of the werewolf. “What do you think of my dress?”

“It’s a dress,” Chris stated blandly.

“Do I look good?” The baobhan-sith tried again.

“Good enough. You don’t look like a prostitute,” The Were replied as he went back to glaring at the wall.

“You look as beautiful as ever,” Rory gave the hoped for compliment.

Sorcha came storming in then from the kitchen with clothes in her hands. “I have almost had enough of this Rory!”

The human man froze at the sight of the blood-stained clothes. “Whose clothes are those?”

“This one’s yours,” Sorcha said angrily as she picked one out and shook it at him.

Ton looked at her favorite red leather jacket she was currently wearing then at the clothes in the Bean-nighe’s hands. “Is that my jacket?”

“Yes,” Sorcha said as she picked out each article she held. “I have a full wash tonight. Fourteen people will all die. Five of those happen to be in this room.”

“I’m ready,” Aimil said as she glided in. She paused as she saw Sorcha’s clothes. Her fair features turned pasty as she stepped forward to take a beautiful green dress from the washer’s hands that had blood on it and held it up for it to be an exact replica of the one she was wearing. “I’m going to die? I thought Umbra couldn’t die.”

“You are, and Rory, and Giorsal, and Ton, and Shinyao,” Sorcha listed as she held up each article of clothing they were wearing.

“Not Chris?” Ton asked.

“Not him I’m glad to say,” Sorcha sighed as Shinyao breathed in relief at the news.

Chris stood up, “How?”

“Tonight, when most the world sleeps many will enter the rooms under the arches of the south bridge. All those whose clothes I have will not be leaving them,” Sorcha foretold.

Chris snarled, “I knew we shouldn’t have made that deal.”

“Try and figure out a way to stay alive,” Sorcha dismissed before turning to Kerr. “Rory, you have to call Liz. The Blue Dragon coven can’t go to the vaults tonight. All of them will die.”

“The wiccans are in danger too?” Shinyao asked as Rory pulled out his phone.

“All of you are going to fall to the same force,” Sorcha foretold.

“They will be if they turn on us,” Chris growled dangerously.

Sorcha gave him an angry glare. “I know from the way the clothes ended up in my pile that all the wiccans are going to die before the rest of you. I doubt they can kill you when they are dead.”

“What’s going to happen down there?” Ton asked in worry.

The gaunt woman shook her head. “I do not know the exact fate that is to befall those who are chosen. Only cryptic hints that could give someone a clue on how to stay alive.”

“Hey Liz. This is Rory. Call your coven and tell them not to go to the vaults tonight. Sorcha says you’re all going to die,” Kerr said into his phone. “Yes. Everyone that you take with you is going to die. Hold on.” He held his phone out to Sorcha. “You tell her.”

The washer took the phone unhappily. “I have your dress in my wash pile in the kitchen right now. I also have Darren’s, Lexi’s, Cary’s, Ceana’s, Barabal’s, Will’s, Blake’s, and Anna’s clothes… Crazy lass. I don’t care how much work you have to do tonight. Do it another when you can stay alive doing it… They’re going to die too. They won’t be able to keep you safe… Brainless girl. Do you have any sense in you at all?” Sorcha lowered to phone angrily, “I warn her, and she is still going to the vaults. Do youth these days have no sense of self-preservation? In the old days, I would have been thrown into a lake to keep from finishing my wash to save a life.”

Rory was thinking fast. “We should still go then. The wiccans are not trained like we are for life and death situations. We have to protect them to keep them alive.”

“And end up in this ruined shirt of yours because you went there,” Sorcha snapped.

“You have warned us. We’ll be careful,” Rory promised.

Sorcha frowned before throwing her clothes on the floor and stormed for the closet. “If you are determined to be a fool then I’m going with you to keep you all alive.” She pulled on a hoody that hid most of her face and unnatural body.

“I have the first aid pack,” Beathan said as he stepped out with a backpack on. “Anything else I should add?”

“Not as far as I can tell,” Sorcha replied.

Rory chuckled to himself. “Looks like we have the whole team now. Let’s go have a talk with death.”

“You won’t be laughing so hard when you meet him,” Sorcha warned as they exited the inn.

They walked through the streets of Edinburg until they crossed the bridge with old buildings built around it. The south entrance down into the vaults was packed with visitors wanting to get into see them in the little time that was left before they closed to the public for the night. “This is amazing,” Ton said in awe of the old buildings you could feel the ancientness of.

“Let’s do the introduction with the bridge behind us,” Shinyao suggested. Chris sighed as he held out his hand. “Thank you,” The lighter haired girl chirped as she handed her phone to him the joined Ton with the bridge stretching away behind them.

“Are you sure you want to do that here?” Rory asked, “There are a lot of people here.”

“We’ll ignore them, and they might ignore us. It’s not that strange,” Ton said confidently before smiling at the phone Chris was holding. Chris had a put-upon expression as he nodded that they were recording. “Welcome back to Twilights and Umbra. Today we are in Edinburg Scotland, one of the largest cities on the British Isles. Tonight, the Edinburg Twilight team and the local wiccan coven are taking us on a tour of the vaults of the South bridge.”

Shinyao took over on the more detailed history part. “Around seventeen eighty-five, construction started on a bridge to the south of Edinburg that would cross over the Cowgate valley that witches were said to stay in to expand the city. The North bridge had already been completed, and it was thought the second would be as good. It was built quickly with nineteen support arches and about one hundred twenty rooms inside of it. These rooms or vaults were for storage and merchant shops, but this purpose was abandoned decently fast after completion due to flooding through the not water sealed bridge.”

“The poor people moved in, and the majority of the vaults haunted history began with murders, deaths, and horrible accidents. With our friends, we are going to explore the stories inside and meet the Umbra that have made these unhospitable vaults their homes,” Ton finished.

Chris turned to film the Edinburg team in various states of embarrassment as tourists glanced over at them as they passed, and locals rolled their eyes. Sorcha made a grab at the phone when she noticed. The wolf stepped back to hand the phone to its owner with his quiet smile.

“That was almost mean,” Ton giggled as they began milling around the area with everyone else.

“I don’t know how you manage to do those videos,” Rory groaned.

“No one cares and if they do, we would be willing to talk to them,” Shinyao said.

As the vaults and businesses closed up for the day and the sunlight began to fade, the people began to move off from this sector of the town. Only a gathering group was the thing that made any notice to them. Chris bristled as they dragged him over to the witches.

“Good evening,” Rory greeted.

“Good to see you too,” Liz returned. “Thought you would have backed out. You are not obligated to come.”

Aimil smiled confidently, “If you are going in despite possible death, then we are going with you.”

“All of you,” Sorcha hissed under her breath. “Idiots.”

Liz ignored the grumblings, “Now, introductions. This is Ceana and Barabal. They are our true Umbra wiccans.” Both of the of the women were among the most youthful and beautiful of all the woman in the group though their features held a great sense of wisdom. “Will, and Blake keep Darren from getting lonely.” The two other men laughed at the apparently common tease. “Then this is Lexi, Cary, and Anna.”

All the female wiccans gathered closer to the newcomers. “You work with the London team, right? Are they as handsome in person as they are in your videos?” Lexi questioned with a giddy smile.

Ton laughed at the usual girl response. “They are. I think Vlad is the most handsome, but Luke is the most fun.”

“And Tauryu?” Cary asked in excitement.

“Most respectful and kind person you will ever meet,” Ton shared.

Chris scoffed, “And my brother wonders why I don’t date.”

Shinyao giggled, “You may not be dating but that does not stop girls from talking about you.”

“I thought we were going into the vaults,” Chris redirected.

“My thoughts exactly. I can miss the chatter,” Will said as he started off for the entrance.

“We’ll talk later,” Lexi promised Ton in a whisper.

The staff that was turning people away noticed them. One of the men smiled as he let them inside. “Going to have some fun tonight?”

“We have been warned that something exciting might happen tonight. Be careful if you find our bodies,” Blake returned as they passed.

The staff man blinked in uncertainness. “Don’t make any ghost that mad, please. Who are they?”

“Friends. We won’t let them make any trouble,” Liz reassured.

Then they were inside. The hallways and the rooms were made of layered stone that was heavily cemented in place. Even with the electric lights on overhead, everything was cast in gloomy shadow. The rooms were all alike in how plain they were. The only difference really being how big the round roofed rooms were. They followed the coven deeper into the layout of vaults under the bridge. Shinyao paused as she felt something pull on her shirt. She looked behind her for only Beathan and Sorcha to be following behind, but they were further back. “Did you pull on me?”

“No,” The Bean-nighe said.

“Then who…” Shinyao asked before yelping in pain as she felt a hard kick to her booted ankles. A child giggled happily as she bent down to rub at her ankle. There were no children in the vaults.

Ton turned around with her camera. “Oh! Hello little boy. What are you?”

The others came close to look at her modified phone camera that was showing a ten-year-old boy in old fashioned clothing that were rugged and dirty with wear. Holes ripped in his pants and mended to try and look decent. He laughed as he moved towards Shinyao and pushed her hard. “Stop that!” Shinyao cried as she stumbled back from the child she could not see.

“That must be the ghost of one of the children that died here,” Cary said as they watched the giggling child look towards them and start moving towards them with a mischievous smile.

Chris huffed, “Don’t try it, street rat.” The boy paused on the camera before he reached towards Liz that was not watching it on the phone. “I said don’t.”

The ghost boy looked over to the young man whose green eyes reflected brightly in the darkness of the vaults. “Good day, sir.”

“Same to you, lad,” Chris returned as his even voice began to lilt with the Scottish accent that everyone else in their group had.

Ton stepped around to keep her camera on the boy as he stepped up to the Were with a grin. “A shilling, sir. Please.”

A smile suggested to come to Bowen as he looked down at the child he could not see without a modified lens. “A shilling. I don’t think you’re worth that much, lad.”

“A bawbee then, sir. My sisters are hungry,” The boy begged for money.

“Where are your sisters? Are they here?” Chris asked.

Ton and the audience breathlessly gathered behind her watched the boy shake his head. “Not here. They’ve left, but I will see them again.”

Chris huffed in amusement as he pulled out a hay penny and tossed it into the air. It stilled impossibly in its flight as the invisible ghost caught it. The boy grinned in excitement as he flipped the coin. “Thank you, sir. God bless you.”

“Be off with you,” Chris ordered as he waved at the spirit. The boy ran off with his new coin with a happy laugh. He looked at everyone that was watching him. “What?”

Aimil and Giorsal were instantly at his sides with flirtatious smiles. “That was nice of you. Giving a ghost child a coin,” Aimil said.

“You’re so good with kids. How would you like to go out with me tomorrow?” Giorsal added.

Chris was completely stunned and unknowing of how to reply as the baobhan-sith pulled him down the tunnel. Shinyao and Ton stared after them in about the same state. “Are girls in Europe always so…?” Mu asked.

“Forward and man hunting?” Liz filled in. “No. Everyone has their own approach.”

“That is not really acceptable back home,” Ton said as they continued.

“Culture and tradition could make a difference in how willing a girl could be to step forward I suppose,” Liz said as she took her fiancé’s hand. “What do you think? Was I too forward?”

Darren’s defensive glare ever since he saw them that evening softened to an adoring smile. “You were not hunting me with how you expected me not to like you being a wiccan, but you were not shy either.”

“I think they are going about trying to catch his eye all wrong,” Ceana said with a familiarity of knowing enough about love to tease inexperienced youth about it. “They are obviously too close and forward for his personal tastes. If they were a little less desperate, it might work out better for them.”

“I am not responsible for them,” Rory disclaimed.

“But they do say that they are yours,” Blake teased. “They always say they’re part of Rory’s team. You might as well have the certificate to go with it.”

“Hush up you…” Rory trailed off as a loud groan shuddered through the stone and concrete structure. Everyone was still as they waited for another with dread filling the air.

Sorcha hummed suddenly. “If the bridge collapses, then that would definitely kill everyone here.”

“Not now,” Rory hissed tensely.

Ton looked to the coven. “Is that usual?”

“Never heard it before,” Will said as Barabal began muttering to herself

The Umbra wiccan frowned as she stopped speaking. “As far as I can tell everything is fine, but it doesn’t feel like it is.”

“We should leave,” Chris stated as he shifted anxiously.

Darren sneered at the red as he stormed past, “Go ahead. We have work to do.”

“Course, don’t let us get in the way of your hot air, witch,” Chris snarked.

Darren turned around with his fist raised. Liz was barely fast enough to catch it before the blow could actually land. “Please, Darren. Let it go. It’s just for tonight and then we won’t have to worry about them.”

“Quick question,” Shinyao interrupted as she held her recording phone still as her friend’s panned around the area. “Who is the guy on my phone that I can’t see and is sort of scaring me?”

The two Umbra wiccans were the only ones close to her to look at her screen. Ceana grimaced uncomfortably, “I didn’t feel him. I think that sound brought to much darkness for us to realize he was here.”

“That,” Barabal stated. “Is the watcher.” Heavy boot sounds echoed down the hall then away from them as the camera recorded him leaving. “Mr. Boots is a purely evil Umbra though he has never harmed anyone that we have known of. He stalks many that come down here.”

Ton shivered, “There are a lot of Umbra down here. What is he?”

“Popular belief is that he is a ghost, but we have doubts to that. We don’t know what he is,” Ceana said before she gently began ushering everyone further along.

They eventually came to a room that had stone Umbra figures on the walls outside the doorway before the inside opened up to a slightly decorated area. Nine stools were placed around the outside of a pattern on the floor with two near the wall set back slightly from the even line up. Fabric, old dresses, and a few relics were against the wall as they were decorations or objects that had no fear of damage from the public.

The coven began unpacking the things that they had brought with them for their rituals of the night as their guests looked around. Chris staid stubbornly outside of the room. Ton and Shinyao stepped back out with the Twilight team to give the coven its privacy as they began their meeting for the night. She took close footage of the small hideous stone creatures guarding the doorway. “I haven’t noticed these anywhere else.”

“I think they were added more recently,” Aimil said. “The wiccans placed the gargoyles here to keep evil Umbra out of their room for protection.”

Chris laughed shortly, “Protection? Are these witches’ heads filled with feathers? Gargoyles are just decorative rain gutters. They were made to redirect rain on old castles and were named such because they made a gargling sound as the rain passed through them. They had no protective properties.”

“There aren’t Umbra gargoyles?” Shinyao asked.

The canine Umbra shrugged, “Maybe now days there are, but not originally.”

“Why are they shaped like monsters then?” Ton asked.

Chris shrugged and wandered down the tunnel away from the white witches’ room. “Find out for yourself. I don’t try to understand human logic in décor preferences.”

“You like some of them,” Ton replied as the rest of them lazily followed to look over the cement and stones that were laid around them. “You have obvious preferences in clothing styles.”

“Which makes you all the more amazing,” Aimil said sweetly.

Chris gave her an off put and uncomfortable look before he tensed and focused on the darkness through an arched entry way before them. Beathan nervously shifted as he clutched his pack tighter. “Do I want to know what you’re off about now?”

Rory patted the young man Umbra on the shoulder comfortingly. “He’s just got a chip on his shoulder for witches. Nothing to worry about.”

Sorcha scoffed, “Or he is the only one with some sense in him. Such caution and readiness could be the reason that I don’t have his clothes in my wash pile. I can feel it growing. Death seems like a plague tonight.”

Giorsal smiled in bright sweetness, “That’s why we are here. We’re not going to allow any death here.”

Sorcha sneered at the blonde, “No one can stop or delay death. It comes with or without your permission. Just accept it and stay out of trouble if you want a chance at growing old.”

“What’s knocking?” Shinyao asked in interest.

Everyone grew quiet to the now easily heard knocking on the stone about them. “Knockers,” Beathan stated in interest. “Not native in Scotland, but different Umbra of the British Isles are mixing more these days.”

“And Knockers are?” Ton hinted.

“Unseen Umbra that knock on walls and such. They are Cornish lore and often knock on the walls where a deposit of ore was stashed for miners to find or to get them out of danger,” Rory explained as he frowned uncertainly into the darkness. “Maybe we should follow them. They are a more helpful Umbra species.”

“The wiccans are still doing their stuff back in the room. We can’t leave yet,” Aimil said practically.

“Run. You should run,” A whisper came around them. The walls seemed to shift around them. The cement was firm and in place, yet it seemed like something was moving underneath it like a fish in shallow water.

“Why?” Ton questioned as she turned with her phone to keep the anomality recorded.

“Don’t you feel it, little mortal? Do you all not? Umbra have lived here in this sanctuary since its creation. Danger is present but contained. We live in peace here and the humans come to adore. But tonight, something broke. Do you not feel how heavy the air is? How thick? How you cannot draw it in in your breaths? Is not doom drawing near and loose here? We cannot stay here no longer.” The shifting wall whispered in distress.

“What’s broken?” Rory questioned as he shifted into his position as a Twilight.

“None know. We must go. We must go,” The wall swirled in agitation.

Everyone looked up at the ceiling as the cement and stone about them suddenly groaned and shuddered like before but closer to them. The walls themselves did not shake but they could all feel it inside themselves as the eeriness stillness of Umbra presence cracked into a dark wickedness. The Umbra in the walls squeaked then darted away. All held their breath as they slowly looked at each other in growing fear.

“We need to get out of here,” Chris growled softly. “Forget the witches.”

“We can’t abandon them,” Beathan whispered.

“They are always down here. They can handle themselves,” Chris urged.

“I doubt we could find our way back up without them,” Aimil pointed out.

“And this is amazing! Look at all the different types of Umbra we have already met, and we haven’t even started on the actual tour!” Ton exclaimed in excitement.

Shinyao hummed uncertainly as she put her hand on her friend’s arm, “Ton, I don’t think you are focusing on the right thing. I get the feeling that there is a reason all the Umbra down here are active and that it is not good.”

Ton was unconcerned, “We’re Twilights. We can handle it. No one has ever gotten too badly hurt by Umbra down here.”

Chris huffed, “You’re an idiot. Why is my brother dating you?”

“Hey! That’s mean,” Ton protested.

Bowen’s green eyes shone in the darkness of the vaults that was nearly swallowing him, but their flashlights barely kept them in the light. “And true. You have no common sense, respect for orders, or anything the rest of your species has naturally developed for survival. All that you have is a drive to do everything that you can’t to prove yourself and math equations for school.”

Ton gaped at him as she tried to come up with a retort but failed. Aimil quietly stepped up to the Were to gently pull him back down the tunnel. They waited outside of the witches’ room as they worked at blessing the country for safety and good in the coming winter. The coven smiled and laughed without a care as the bridge groaned and shuddered and again and once more. The Twilights stayed quiet outside as they tensely waited for them as it felt like the vaults were closing in and the darkness reaching forward. At last, the coven packed up their things and stepped out. “We’re done for tonight. Thanks for waiting,” Liz said before her sunny smile wobbled and she looked around. The other wiccans had similar reactions as they stepped out of their room. “What’s going on out here?”

“Our deaths are growing near. The bridge is groaning and ready to fall in on our heads,” Sorcha muttered negatively.

“The bridge is shaking,” Giorsal said.

The coven glanced at each other in confusion. “We haven’t felt anything,” Lexi said.

Blake grinned, “You fellas are pulling our legs.”

“We’re not,” Giorsal tried to convince the coven. “The bridge has groaned three more times since you went in.”

Will joined Blake in his laughing, “If you got that from Rory, that makes sense. His head is always groaning.”

Cary moved past them. “Come on. There are some vaults down here that we know have Umbra in them.”

They moved through the arched cold rooms and past the cribbed bunks that were meant for storage of crates and barrels that were all empty of life like they should have been. The Twilights were tense and quiet as they stayed ready for whatever doom they could feel close by as the wiccans laughed and talked around them. The coven pointed out the rooms and talked about the Umbra, history, and stories of each as they went. Then even they slowly began to quiet down. Barabal stayed in the middle of the group as she glanced around the vaults as they passed in growing worry. “They’re gone. There are dozens of Umbra that live in these rooms, but they’re not here. This is wrong.”

Chris turned back to look at the Umbra witch only to meet Darren’s unfriendly glare. The human held the connection dangerously, “What?”

“Just wondering why humans like the idea of witches so much when they don’t have enough of anything to survive. I don’t know how Barabal and Ceana survived the witch hunts.” The red furred wolf stated as he turned back to walking.

Darren fumed but kept from replying as they moved forward. Their steps were thudding against the stone and at times echoing as they moved. Ahead, the sound of movement was an interesting break in the dark dreariness. The beams of light from their flashlights raised to the opening at the end of the vault they just entered for something to pass by. Ton was instantly at the entrance with her recording phone. “Hello?” A group of tiny women that came up to her knees screamed in fright. “Sorry! I won’t hurt you.”

They gasped as their slight, barbie doll-like bodies trembled. “Thank goodness! I thought you were it!”

“It?” Baileu asked.

Another of the tiny women pointed back down the hall they had come from. “It! They! Them! They are hunting us!”

Shinyao glanced at Beathan, “What are they?”

“A type of pixie. Flightless, and harmless,” The Ghillie Dhu informed.

“Whose they? What’s hunting you?” Ton questioned as the coven and Twilight team gathered close to see the tiny Umbra.

Another of the pixies shook her beautiful head, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s no Umbra that I know. We were all in the lower levels when that groaning happened, and they came. Gravsil the orc told them to go away, and they ripped off his head! They were eating him, and Gravsil is huge and mean! We have to get out of here!”

“Where are you going?” Rory asked as the pixies ran past with their little feet sounding more like rats scurrying. “You know you’re not allowed in the city to cause problems.”

“Humans and anything else are nothing compared to that! We want to live! We can’t stay!” The pixies screamed as they continued to race upwards for the surface of the bridge.

Before the pixies were out of sight, the running of four legs could be heard coming towards them. Just outside of their light, it stopped and growled threateningly. Chris shifted out his wolf features to stand in front of their group and return the vocals. The others brought more of their light around to reveal a huge black dog that had teeth so huge that none of them fit in its snout and claws that curled up and out of its paws like daggers. It snarled again as it took a step back from them.

“I have not the foggiest clue what that is,” Rory stated.

“Barghest,” Chris said simply. “Omen of death in the moors.”

“It’s hurt,” Shinyao said as their lights picked up the blood seeping out of huge tears in its side that was dripping on to the floor.

“Don’t even think of helping it,” Bowen growled.

“But we should,” The lighter haired Asian girl said.

The barghest glanced behind it and snarled in warning before looking back to them wildly. Chris slowly stepped back, “Everyone into the vault.” The group shifted back inside the larger room just as the barghest took the opening and bolted past them without a second snarl. Chris watched after it for a long moment before silently stepping back into the passageway and looking back at where all the Umbra had come from. Wiccans and Twilights noticed how tense he was and looked into the darkness as well.

In the quiet, Shinyao panned her phone around to pause as her camera found an already identified Umbra standing quietly in the corner of the room behind them. “Mr. Boots is back. He’s watching us.”

Ceana glanced back at the being she could not see. “As he always does. I wonder what he’s watching for. Waiting for. Nothing that evil can lack a purpose or do nothing with their time.”

“He is the least of our concerns,” Sorcha said in her rasp.

Soft, gentle footsteps came down the passageway towards them from the lower levels. A regular woman quietly stepped into their lights. Her dress did not define her body as it hung loose and completely covered her except for her hands and her head. A long, fine cloth scarf was draped around her neck as her beautiful deep tanned skin and black flowing hair framed her enchanting brown eyes. She smiled slightly as she bowed her head to look at the ground submissively. Then she turned with a smoldering glance before stepping back towards the darkness.

Blake moved through the others to go after her when Darren grabbed his arm to keep him back. “What are you doing?”

“She’s beautiful. I want to ask her to go out with me,” Blake said with an excited grin.

“We’re in the vaults for pity’s sake! There are no human women down here at night. She has to be some sort of Umbra. You have to be more careful with them,” Darren rebuked his friend harshly but in care.

A dreamy sigh came from the blackness at the end of the hallway as the woman stayed just at the barest reaches of their lights with her back to them. Blake took another step forward before Lexi and Cary grabbed on to him to help Darren to pull him back from the woman. The dark woman looked back to their watching group before turning fully to softly walk towards them.

Shinyao grasped Chris’s upper arm as the unassuming woman came closer. “Chris? Every single Umbra we’ve met down here is terrified. Something is hunting them. Why is she not afraid?”

The wolf was quiet as the woman stopped a few feet away from them and gave them a shy smile. “Because I doubt she belongs here. And she’s not alone. There are more in the darkness. I can’t see or hear them, but I can smell them. There’s blood on their breath.”

“So, what do we do?” Anna asked as she listened.

“Pull back,” Rory ordered softly. “See what she does.”

None dared to make a sound as they stepped back into the room and away from the entrance. The woman followed to be framed by the opening in perfect seduction without seeming like she was wanting to suggest that. “Liz,” Darren said much too loud in the silence. “We need to leave.”

His fiancé nodded in agreement. “Let’s go.”

Cautiously, they started to turn back the way they had come as Chris guarded their rear that the woman was watching them from. Cary suddenly gasped and grabbed tightly onto Barabal for reassurance. “What’s wrong dear?” Barabal lovingly soothed.

Cary stared in horror at one place instead of answering. The others followed her gaze toward the wall of the vault that had a rare fireplace built into it for the once expected merchants to use. “Oh my…” Giorsal started in surprise that words drifted away from.

At the top of the fireplace opening, long black fingers with bone white sharp claws that were over a foot long each were wrapped over the edge and facing upwards. Slowly, they shifted as a head inched downwards into view. Its skin was black as crude oil as only its huge black eyes held the sheen. Then its gleaming white teeth that had fresh crimson blood trailing down lowered out of the chimney to smile with its foot long daggers at them.

“What are you waiting for?” Chris growled as all the wiccans jumped at his sudden harsh voice. “Get us out of here.”

The thing in the chimney twisted its clawed hand around unnaturally to put it on the floor as it began pulling its shoulders that were much too huge to fit in the space free. Aimil, Giorsal, Sorcha, and Beathan were then shoving the petrified wiccans forward.

“Stupid witches. Think you can handle anything and then freeze when the warned death is coming for you,” Sorcha hissed as she dragged Ceana and Will out of the vault into the next one.

Blake though was resisting as he looked back at the woman that had stepped into the almost abandoned room and was standing without fear as the monster in the chimney squirmed its huge bulk out next to her. Her dark brown eyes were soft in wanting as her full lips smiled slightly. “Wait. She’s still…”

“She wants to eat you,” Chris growled lowly.

Blake blinked in disbelief at the red wolf before looking back to the enchanting woman. “Wadaa,” She whispered before her lips pulled back to show teeth like shards of a sword as she lunged forward.

Blake screamed in horror as Darren threw him back from the woman’s reaching hands. Chris caught her before she was on the white witches. She screamed as she turned to try and bite the red, only for her head to snap back as his claws tore through her neck. She collapsed to the worn cement ground as she tried to turn to come after them. “What did she say?!” Blake screamed as he ran without help.

“Goodbye,” Bowen translated as other women like her and those that were much more gaunt and corpse like flooded through the entrance after them. He threw himself into the front of their tide. The delicate bodies of the female Umbra were thrown hard under his immense strength into the walls and floor to crack sickeningly for them to get back up and come after the group again. Chris was fast on keeping them back from the retreating group as he tore off limbs and extremities in an attempt to stop them. The women were not fazed as they threw themselves on him and bit their jagged teeth into any flesh on him that they could access. The red struggled against them and to stay up right as they mobbed him. A much larger male of a similar species to the rest of them pounded out of the darkness to barrel into the Bowen boy. Chris hit the cement ground with a yelp before he was snarling ferally and slashing at those on top of him with all he had. The male thing smiled as he grasped a black furred hand and bit down on the clawed fingers. Blood flooded down the Were’s arm as it drew back with his last three fingers in its mouth.

“Chris!” Ton screamed as she stopped running. She crouched down to reach into her shadow with her spell ring to draw out chains. With a cry, she thew them around to slam the Umbra off the werewolf.
The red rolled to his feet before backing up to fall back into his defensive stance beside Ton.

He grimaced as he looked at the thumb and index finger that were left to him on his right hand before he shifted to his other side. “They’re not dying!”

“We’ll find a way then,” Ton said as she threw out her chains to wrap around the swarm growing in the room. More squeezed around them to come after them.

More women suddenly went flying back into them. Shinyao stepped forward with her huge black wings bumping along both the floor and the ceiling in the small room. “There’s too many of them! I think they’re trying to come around another way!” She flung out her hand for her black vines to erupt out of the cement to pierce through the Umbra coming after them.

“Keep moving,” Chris ordered as he shoved the girls on and guarded their retreat.

The others were not too far ahead as they kept glancing back for them. The Twilights were fending off the few Umbra that had gotten past them as they went. Rory sighed in relief as the three caught up with them as he bashed a beautiful woman’s head hard against the cemented stones. “Glad you decided to join us.”

“Glad you are worth your keep,” Chris returned as he drove his good claws through the heart of the woman trying to bury her teeth in Aimil’s arm. The dark red-haired Baobhan-sith paused in surprise before smiling in love at him. “Move.”

“Right at the stair way?” Will questioned as the coven rushed to lead them out of the labyrinth trap.

At the end of the tunnel, the chimney creature turned the corner to grin at them with all its teeth. Now upright, its bunched small hind quarters did not fully fit or support its four times larger shoulders that were held up by its arms that raised it to the low ceiling. Cary screamed as she stuttered to a stop in front of it. One of its arms raised and it's much too long bone claws swiped at her. Will threw himself against the smaller woman to throw her around and both of them hit the ground. Ceana ran forward to pick them both up as deep cuts in Cary’s side and arm began to bleed and the same liquid poured from across Will’s back where he had taken the rest of what little of the attack they had not missed.

The thing leaped forward clumsily to land almost on top of them. Darren then tackled it fully before it could finish his friends. The thing fell back into the hard wall as he scrambled back from it. He solidified his standing as it turned over back to its unnatural feet and focused on him. With a slight fumble, he reached into his bag and pulled out a thick bundle of dried herbs that they had used in their rituals that night. His voice was almost steady as he began the spell and held the herbs out in front of him like a shield. The creature tilted its head in questioning before moving awkwardly forward to swipe at the warlock. Its claws bent back as the spell repelled it. The thing tilted its head again before it began huffing. Liz paled in horror as she realized that it was laughing at her fiancé. “Darren!”

The thing sat back on its low haunches as it drove both of its hands at the dark-haired witch. The impossibly fast strikes slowed, but they did not stop coming through the spell as the bundle of herbs in Darren’s hand turned into ash. The warlock’s eyes widened in horror before he grit his teeth and ducked under the slowly reaching claws to slam a punch into its chin. The thing’s head snapped to the side then instantly back on the human as he continued to hit blow upon blow desperately to any weak point on it with all his strength. It huffed in laughter again before striking. Darren tumbled across the rough floor for the cement to rip the rest of his cut shirt off. It was then on him. Its huge teeth unhinged to bite down on his left shoulder.

Its jaw was then torn open and off as Chris slammed into it. The two Umbra were all claws and limbs as they rolled and tore at each other. Chris’s snarls had all drawing away from them in a fear they could not control as the other thing grunted and huffed. “Shinyao?” Ton asked desperately as they watched their friend be shredded.

Mu shook her head, “They’re too close and together. My vines will hit Chris as much as it.”

The thing rolled over to pin the physically smaller werewolf to the stones before all of it left the ground to slam into the ceiling and collapse on the spot that the red furred Bowen had been a split second earlier. Chris stood over it with his teeth bared. The monster turned its head to look up at him before slowly getting back up to tower over him. It was still as it stared at the werewolf. Chris growled low in his throat as he stepped towards it. The thing ducked as low as it could before loping back into the darkness. Chris took a breath and huffed as he wiped at his face that had claws cut halfway across it to get some of the blood out of his eyes, then turned around to look down at the witch on the ground. Darren met his gaze with his protective glare that he had all night. Chris grinned in his quiet lopsided way that spoke of nothing good as he held out his intact hand to him. “Not bad, witch.”

Darren glared at him and the offered hand before cautiously reaching up and twisting his hand to fit in the one that was not on the right side for them to clasp comfortably. He was brought to his feet so fast that he stumbled before regaining his footing. Liz was there to balance him then as she wiped at the blood flowing down his chest. “Oh! That’s bone. Those are your ribs!”

Darren looked down at himself to see the claw marks had sliced cleanly through all muscles on his chest and that only his rib cage had stopped them from going further. “Oh. That’s not good. My shoulder’s probably worse.”

“How are you so calm about that?!” Liz cried as she stood on her tip toes to get a better look at his shoulder. “It’s not too deep. It wasn’t able to fully bite down yet.”

“Excuse me,” Barabal said as she pushed Liz to the side and picked a jar out of her bag. “Reality hasn’t hit you yet. That will make this easier.” She then began to chant the spell as she spread the salve in the jar across the wounds. Darren grimaced as the pouring wounds closed to look puss filled.

“What are you doing?” Shinyao asked as she pulled Chris down to check on his head. She grimaced in alarm as she wiped away the blood to find the claw gorges had gone through his skull into his brain.

“I’m okay. It will heal fast,” Chris whispered to her.

“But the rest of you is about the same. How fast can you heal all of it?” She whispered back. He squeezed her small hand before focusing on the others.

Blake helped pull Will back to his feet as Ceana finished healing his back the same as her sister Umbra was the others. Ceana capped her jar as she put it away and answered Shinyao’s question. “It stops extreme bleeding fast. It is not a permanent solution as it would kill the victim if left untreated too long, but we should be able to get out of here long before that becomes a concern.”

“He can handle it even if you don’t,” Chris stated as he looked behind the group towards where they had come from. Beathan hurried up to him with his pack out. He was fast and practiced as he slapped a compressing bandage to a wound on the red head that was pumping blood like a water hose. He added a few more here and there to the worst of the shredded wolf and staunched the bleeding from his nearly fingerless hand.

Darren glared back at him before his expression softened to the relaxed friendliness it always should have been. “It went easy on you.”

Chris almost smirked as he glanced at the dark-haired warlock. “Want to see how easy I am?”

Darren smirked before he grabbed his discarded flashlight and started leading them up a stair way. Lexi gasped for air as she tried to keep her terrified tears from distracting her, “I thought that nothing wicked like that could be in the vaults. The previous members of our coven sealed them in the circle.”

The wiccans froze as they stared at each other in horror. Liz darted back and into another passage they had not been aiming for. “Where do you think you are heading, crazy lass?” Sorcha called as all the rest of the witches ran after her.

Anna called back over her shoulder as the Twilights chased after them. “Our predecessors set up a circle in one of the vaults to contain all entities that would cause harm. That’s what keeps the vaults safe. Nothing roams that will do harm, but if it is broken then all those things would be released! We have to check it!”

The tunnels and vaults were mostly empty as they stampeded through towards their destination. Only a few of the Umbra that lived there crossed their path only to scream and run for their lives in terror from them. Adrenaline fueled them to run beyond their normal human limits to come to a sudden halt inside a wider room. The corners were darkened and unseeable, but a simple circle in the middle made of rough stones was plain to see. It seemed like something that children would build for fun with its construction.

The Blue Dragon Coven quickly went around it looking for anything wrong. “I don’t get it. It’s just fine,” Will gasped as their run began to catch up to all of them.

“Maybe,” Barabal mused before she and Ceana stood on opposite sides outside of the ring and began to chant.

In a minute, they stopped. Ceana shook her head in disbelieving terror. “The circle is whole. None of the spells or wards are tampered with. There are still things being held inside. Hundreds. They know what’s happening and are loving it.”

Aimil stepped forward to bend in to see the inside of the circle but did not cross over it. “If a tourist or someone did not destroy the circle, then where are all these things coming from?”

“The shaking,” Rory said. “It happened four times and that Umbra in the wall said that something had broken. That had to be it.”

“But where? And how?” Liz asked as she began to panic.

“Calm down,” Darren said gently.

She looked back to him as if he was insane then reached into her bag to grab a stone necklace. As it settled, she relaxed slightly. “Maybe it would be a good idea for all of us to wear our lepidolite or hematite. We need as much help as we can get.”

Lexi stifled back a sob as she slipped on her helping stones with the others. “I didn’t bring enough stuff to deal with this.”

“We’ll have to make do then,” Blake sighed as he fiddled with the stone around his neck. “We can’t get out.”

“We need to stay positive. We just need to look for a new idea,” Liz tried to encourage him.

Blake groaned in frustration, “That was not what I meant. What I mean is that we can’t go back to the surface. Whatever those things are will follow us up and everyone in Edinburgh will be in danger.”

“They would never stand a chance against these Umbra,” Rory agreed seriously. “The only thing that has kept Umbra down here is that it is an abandoned place that no one minds them being in and that they decided to stay here. The Twilights are a slight deterrent with them knowing we will be up there to deal with them if they come out. These things have nothing to stop them.”

“What do we do then?” Ceana asked desperately. “We can’t stop them, and we can’t lead them up to the surface. We’re as good as dead here.”

“Not yet,” Kerr said as he looked around the room. “We need to move again before they trap us. Is there a way you can set up this room to keep them out? If we can keep that circle intact, then we won’t have more problems than we currently do.”

Liz nodded in determination as she reached into her bag. “What do we need?”

Barabal thought, “Lime pips, rosemary, basil, chalk, olive oil, rose petals.”

The coven drew out the necessary ingredients from their bags for the spell and in military precision had everything set up and the room enchanted against any dark willed visitors. Then they were out. Will looked back at the vault they had left. “Does this make sense to anyone else? We just made that room safe for a bunch of rocks and then left it to get eaten in the apocalypse. Please explain that to me.”

Aimil did, “If we stay in there then there will be extra focus on getting into that room to kill us and get the circle. Besides, we can’t do much good sitting inside there.”

“How much good are we going to be dead?” Cary asked.

“Ghosts are made from humans dying tragically before their time and others learning about it so they can be scared. You can die and then come back to help us stop them. A ghost can’t die twice,” Sorcha suggested with a not nice smile.

Cary frowned at her, “I think I understand the reason you don’t come out of the Inn often.”

“Sh!” Chris hushed them as his black wolf ears perked. He stared into the darkness ahead of them. His determined expression tightened into more of a glare to let them know it was not a peaceful Umbra he had heard. “They’re not the same. These are different.”

“What kind of different?” Rory asked. Chris gave him a dead glance and he deflated. “That kind of different. Is there a way to go around them to find where they are coming from? If we can find the entrance, then we won’t have to deal with more.”

“There will be more when we get close to it. They’re coming from it,” Giorsal pointed out.

“Maybe we can get them to tell us where it is at so we don’t have to search every room,” Will suggested as he tenderly stretched his back.

“These things don’t give in to ‘please,” Ceana said.

“I don’t think we have enough time for an interrogation either,” Rory muttered.

Chris darted off into the darkness for a scream to gurgle up. Shouting and pounding began as they ran after him to find an assortment of Umbra going against their wolf. A few goat headed Umbra were disintegrating into a black fog of permanent death as Chris pushed back the sea of living bodies. All threw themselves in to help, protecting each other and doing all they could against their common enemy. Darren worked his way over to the reckless red wolf that was cutting a swath in the Umbra and formed a protection spell around them as he knocked others out cold. “Ever heard of teamwork?”

“Ever heard of weak link?” Chris returned as he paused to let their enemies come at them instead of running off.

“Are you capable of working with anyone?” Darren demanded as his spell faltered for a second to let an attack hit his leg.

Chris did not respond as he thought, “One. Almost. Maybe two?”

“It took you that long to count? Well, I guess you do only have one finger on that hand,” Darren joshed.

Chris huffed a laugh before he paused. “I’m an idiot.”

“Tell me what for and I’ll agree,” Darren urged as his spell weakened again.

Bowen glanced around before moving back. “We need to get back to the others. There is no way we’re all going to get through this.” They pulled back to the others that had grouped up with the Twilights and were barely managing to survive the mob. “We have to go! Now!”

Shinyao nodded in acceptance, “Liz! Get us out of here!”

The witches took off and led them through the tunnels as fast as their legs could move them. The horde was right behind them, and more were pouring out of side alleys. “This way! Hurry!”

Ton paused as she glanced a woman in a dress motioning desperately to them to follow her. She had blood streaming down the side of her face but had none of the wicked feeling that every other being down there seemed to have. “Over there!”

“Please! Hurry!” The woman motioned. The coven hesitated but Shinyao did not as she took off towards her. They all followed the woman as she rushed along a narrow passage. She paused at a stair way and urged them on. “Go left. It will be empty for now.”

“Thank you,” They all breathed to stare as she faded away from the solid seeming form she had before into nothing.

Lexi shifted before racing up the stairs. “I think that was the ghost of the woman murdered on these stairs. A group of men ganged up on her and bashed her head to pieces here.”

“I like her,” Ton decided as they followed the ghost’s instructions to an empty room with another way out.

Chris sighed as exhaustion suddenly hit him. He leaned against the stone wall to sink down to the floor. “Are you okay?” Shinyao asked as she knelt beside him.

“Yeah. Just… hurt. Not good,” He mumbled.

Shinyao checked him over to find him even more torn apart and not healed enough to tell as he should have been. “Rest. We need you.”

“What are those things?” Rory asked, “I’ve seen a few Umbra, but nothing like those things.”

“Ghouls,” Chris breathed. “Most of them are ghouls. Some of them are other things.”

“Kay. Ghouls. Description please,” Ton requested.

The red wolf glanced at the others to see them just as interested and unknowing. “They’re Arabic Umbra. From what I know, they are considered to be somewhat similar to demons that were destroyed and disfigured to put it simply. Most of them are women, so ghulah is their proper name, the few males are ghul. They are usually solitary Umbra that live in deserted places or homes by themselves and lure usually men into their territory to eat them. They can’t stand the sun. Some can transform themselves into hyenas or the last person they ate. At least the traditional ones. The ones now days are more similar to zombies. They are almost corpse themselves and live in the cemeteries to eat the dead brought there.”

“How do we stop them?” Blake questioned.

Chris shook his head as he pulled out his phone and swiped the unlocked screen up with his undominate hand. “No clue. When in doubt, ask the one that knows almost everything.” He tapped at it for a minute before groaning. “No reception. The bridge is built too good.”

Ton peeked over to see his call screen up. “Your phone should be good enough to reach in here.”

“It’s not.”

“Try Wayne then. He’s a tech expert. He can help you with whatever you need,” Ton suggested.

Chris frowned before handing his phone up to her. “Alright. Do it. We don’t have much time.”

Ton passed her still recording phone to Sorcha as she worked the thicker phone. “I’m texting him. Text usually goes through where calls don’t, and he always checks his messages.”

In a minute, a cheerful voice came from the phone. “Hey Chris! What’s up? You never… do anything with me really.”

“It’s me. We need help. I’ll pass you back to Chris so he can tell you what he needs,” Ton said as she gave the device back.

“What are you guys doing? Someone is blocking you. Seems pretty Umbra to me,” Wayne’s little screen figure said.

“Wonderful,” Chris groused before getting to the point. “I need you to connect me to my brother. I have to ask him a few things.”

“Alright. Try calling to talk with me next time,” The ghost said before disappearing from the screen to pull up Luke’s number. Chris held his breath as he held it to his ear. It started ringing, unlike it had before. On the fifth ring Luke answered, “Hello?”

“Hey big brother, I need some advice.”

“And I have some to give. Whether it’s good or not is another matter,” The silver teased.

“The girls and I have run into a problem. We’ve run into Ghulah and some other things. How do you stop them?”

“How big is problem?”

Chris hesitated as he tried to weigh the situation. “Uhmm… along the lines of trapped?”

“Where are you?”

“Edinburg.”

“You’re in the vaults, aren’t you.”

Chris sighed at the accurate guess. “We are.”

“That seems a little more active than Vlad is willing to give you permission for. You didn’t tell him, did you.”

“That vampire can’t tell me what to do,” Chris returned with a small smile.

“That makes two of us. Now, there are no ghouls in the vaults. What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

“I know you, little brother. If you’re not the one causing the problem; trouble is coming for you.”

“I’m serious! When we came down here, the bridge shook and groaned a couple of times then all the Umbra in here went crazy. They all got out of here when they could. Now we have a swarm of ghouls down here and a few other hell beings that are trying to turn us into hamburger.”

“Do you know the Throne Verse?” Luke asked over the wind blowing on his end.

“No. What’s that?”

“The Koran, little brother. Just like reading the Bible and praying will fend off some Christian Umbra, the Koran has a few verses in it that will ward off Muslim and those kind of Umbra. Do you know anything from the Koran?”

“I read it once. Don’t really remember much from it.”

“And I bet that’s the same with all other books,” Luke teased.

“I don’t follow every single religion in existence like you do, big brother.”

“If you even stayed refreshed in one, that would cut down that one religion for me to help you with. There is not a definite way to kill traditional ghoul that I am aware of. Modern ones are easier, but I don’t have any of the supplies currently to help with that. And you don’t know any sort of scripture in any language or religion that could give you time. So, you’re dead.”

“Thanks,” Chris rolled his eyes at the flippant run down.

“How many are going down with you?”

Chris counted off the gathering that was watching in hopeful desperation, “Ton and Shinyao. The local Twilight team, so five, and the Blue Dragon witch coven that has nine.”

“You went in a group? With witches?! My little brother is growing up! I’m so proud!”

“Are you going to help me or just be useless in whatever pub you are flirting with girls in?”

“How are you doing? You don’t ever ask for help unless you’re mostly dead. Like last time.”

“I had three silver bullets in me and fell into the river. Basically dead.”

“And now?”

Chris glanced down at himself and hesitated. “Just put a check mark next to every body part.”

“Shinyao there?”

“Yeah.”

“Pass me to her for a second.”

Chris handed his phone to the girl beside him. “Hello Luke.”

“Hey beautiful. Care to tell me what’s going on with my brother?”

“Uhh… I think kimchi is more solid than he is right now. Everything? Majorly everything?”

Chris huffed, “That makes me sound worse than I am.”

“And the rest of you?”

The girl looked their party over. “Not good. We all are bleeding and hurting. Beathan, Ceana, and Barabal are trying to keep us alive. It’s been close.”

“No casualties yet, right?”

“None.”

“Is the witch circle broken?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s good I guess.”

“You don’t sound too sure on that,” Shinyao tried for a lighthearted tease.

“Truthfully. I would prefer it if the circle was broken. Easier to deal with and would make my job easier. By the way, what vault are you guys in?”

“One to the left of the stairway that a woman was killed on,” Shinyao said before whispering to the others. “Where are we?”

The soft sound of unassuming footsteps had all words frozen in their throats. Up the stairs and down the tunnel until a beautiful Arabic woman peered in. She paused to smile so kindly at them as three others came up behind her. Their smiles drew back to reveal their teeth before they lunged into the room. Chris tried to stand up only for all his injuries to keep him down and against the wall. He tried to stay calm as Rory’s team and the girls faced the four ghulah on their own. They were good. Each knew their style and technique as they went against them. Rory’s large knife being the only weapon among them as they kept the ghouls from the coven. Giorsal ducked under one’s hands as she jabbed her hands up hard under her ghulah’s ribs. “More will be here soon.”

“We can’t even kill these things,” Barabal fretted with a hand raised to cast a spell if needed.

Beathan then stepped back wrong for his ankle to twist and give out from under him. Ton and Sorcha barely had time to try and put a mark on it as it rushed forward and was on the downed darkhaired young man. Her head lowered fast for a killing bite when suddenly she was gone. Sorcha and Ton glanced around for where she was going to appear next before a hunk of mangle organs hit the stone at their feet. They looked back to find their ghulah behind them and having body parts removed and flung about the room by an undistinguishable blur. The blur was then on the other three Arabic Umbra. Anna squeaked as a head landed at their feet and she kicked it away fast.

In seconds, the ghulah were in more pieces than they could come back together from. And the blur had stopped to be a silver furred werewolf in white slacks and a blue button up shirt that had the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. “Luke!” Ton exclaimed in relief.

Luke tried for a smile but could not hold it with how hard he was breathing. Carefully, he reached into his back pocket to leave smears of blood on his perfectly clean pants to pull out his phone and end the phone call with Chris. Then he leaned against the room’s wall near Chris and braced his blood covered hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. “You sure know how to get into trouble.”

Chris huffed in surprise as he smiled at his other half. “You came?”

“Of course. I promised you I would,” Luke returned.

The younger Bowen looked away in shame. “That was centuries ago.”

“And still true. Though I would prefer it if you would get into the habit of calling me when you go somewhere and when you leave so I know if you’re still alive and where to come pick up your body.”

“I’ll work on that.”

“Who are you?” Rory demanded as he faced the new Umbra.

Luke weakly waved, “Luke Bowen, London Twilight team. Chris is my brother. Sorry. I need a minute.”

The coven women began to smile as two tried to make themselves seem normal but where almost wiggling out of their skins. Cary leaned over to Lexi and whispered, “You’re right. He is handsome. Much better than in the videos.”

“He’s right here,” Ceana warned in a high-pitched whine as she went red in embarrassment.

Beathan stepped over to the silver furred werewolf in concern and checked his pulse. “You don’t have a heartbeat!”

“I do. Just going too fast for you to feel. Give me a minute to bring it down,” Luke gasped.

The Ghillie Dhu stared at him skeptically, “I didn’t think that werewolves got winded.”

“Give me a break. I was in Bathe. I might have shattered a couple of windows getting over here with the sound barrier that I broke,” Luke took a deeper breath to try and calm his gasps. “Boy! Am I out of shape. I haven’t had to go that fast in a long time.”

“You were in Bathe, England?” Giorsal questioned in disbelief. “The city on the far south end of England?”

“Yeah, that one.”

The baobhan-sith’s eyes light up in excitement. “You ran all that way in less than a minute?! I had no idea that your kind were so fast!”

Luke got back to his feet as he began to recover. “I generally try not to be, though I think I need to start working out again. I think we were built wrong, little brother. Our lungs are too small.”

“Followed by brains,” Chris snarked back with a fond grin.

His brother shrugged in acceptance, “And that. Luckily, we’re goodlooking enough to make up for the lack.”

Shinyao giggled, “I think Chris is a little lacking on that right now.”

“When is he not?” Luke heckled before looking at the others with them. “Sorry about dashing in like that.”

Rory smiled as he relaxed, “Don’t be. I’m glad you’re on our side. So, you’re the werewolf guy in London that is turning all the girls’ heads.”

Most of the girls present went red at the straightforward stating of their fascination. Luke just laughed, “That’s been happening longer than the Twilights have existed. I don’t believe I know you.”

“Rory Kerr, Edinburg leader,” Rory introduced himself as they shook hands.

Luke curiously looked over the team, “A human? I thought one of the ladies were going to take over after Johnson finished getting things set up around here. Didn’t he die about fifty years ago?”

Rory chuckled good naturedly, “Yeah. Got gangrene while getting the Hidden Inn fixed up. None of my Umbra like being responsible though, so us humans get pulled in to take care of them.”

Luke’s smile faded as he thought with his bright green eyes so intense that many shivered. “I’m going to have to look into changing that.”

Chris grinned dangerously as he pushed himself off the floor, “Knew it.”

The older wolf smiled over at the wiccans. “Hello. It’s nice to finally meet you. I know all of you from four months back.”

Darren watched the new wolf suspiciously for any signs of danger like his brother. “I don’t remember you.”

“That’s to be expected. You were working in your room, and I was just passing through to check on everything here,” Luke then grinned as he took in the warlock’s lack of shirt. “Got an excuse to strip?”

“Umbra sliced right through it,” Darren returned with a smile at the positive response.

“You would fit in with the rest of us back in London. I’m pretty certain there is an unspoken rule to lose your shirt at the first opportunity to show off to the ladies,” Luke returned.

“I don’t remember you guys doing that,” Ton put in.

“Really? Who have you not seen without their top? Or are you too busy checking Vlad out when he gets too lazy to go to the dressing room to remember the rest of us?” The silver teased. Ton sputtered as her face went dark in the little lighting. The three warlocks hooted at the bold call out.

Shinyao giggled at her friend’s embarrassment before focusing. “I hate to say this, but we should probably try to figure out what to do before all the rest of the Umbra hunting us come.”

The silver nodded, “You’re right. Where are they coming from?”

“We don’t know,” Liz answered. “The circle is fine.”

“Where are they the thickest then?”

“There were more of them lower,” Barabal said as they thought.

Ton perked up in excitement, “The good Umbra said that they were being attacked and killed in the lower levels! They’re coming from down there!”

Luke nodded, “That’s helpful. Listen to me. I put a paper drawn sealing spell that I bugged Vlad into drawing for me on the north exit when I came in. It’s not as good as an in-person spell like a witch’s, but it will keep anything from getting into the city until I can deal with them. Rory, I need your team and mine to get the coven and yourselves to the south exit alive. Wiccans, when you are out, I want you to cast a spell that will keep everything inside. Understand?”

Nods came from around the small room as Rory frowned. “And what are you going to be doing?”

The uninjured Bowen smiled so brightly it was as if danger never existed in his mind. “I’m going down to find their entrance that they are coming through.”

“Alone?” Kerr questioned.

“Unless you count accused multiple personalities as one each then no,” Luke returned.

Rory smiled slightly at the response. He patted his knife securely into its scabbard before glancing back at his team. “Aimil, get everyone up to the surface.”

“You’re staying?!” The red-haired fairy exclaimed in surprise.

Rory held Luke’s interested reflecting eyes in determination. “Brave people are interesting to hear about, but I prefer being around those who do the dirty work first before pulling in others.”

Darren adjusted his pack, “I haven’t been practicing for too long, but I’m willing to go with you to give the others a chance to get out.”

“What?!” Liz cried. “You’re going to stay down here and die and leave me alone!”

Darren looked away from her, “I would rather you be alone and find someone else then die down here.”

The white witch smiled softly as she took his hand. “I’ve been so afraid since you proposed that you were going to be one of those to run at the first sign of trouble and look out only for yourself. I’m glad that you’re exactly what I wanted. But if you think that I’m going to live with myself after getting you a head stone then you are off your crock.”

“Liz, no. You are not coming. That…”

“Mind if I stop you there?” Luke interrupted, “Feel free to try this conversation again later, but sometimes women can be more stubborn than mules. Unless you plan to carry her up and chain her outside, you’re not getting rid of her this time.”

Liz smiled victoriously at her fiancé in agreement. Aimil glanced over the others, “Is there anyone that wants to get out? There is no shame in surviving. I’ll take you up.”

Everyone glanced at the others to see if they were, but none indicated wanting to leave. Rory smiled slightly, “Do you have any experience working with a team or are you like your brother?”

“Aren’t you asking that a little late after already throwing in your towel?” Luke ribbed.

Cary hummed as she leaned close to Ceana, “Mind borrowing me one of the posters you’ve made of him that are plastering your bedroom’s walls? He’s better in real life than Toryu is on screen.” She shrieked as Lexi and Ceana turned on her and started trying to strangle her to shut her up.

The embarrassed women stopped their murder attempt as Luke laughed and stepped over to them with his blood smeared phone in hand. “I’m not really good with technology. There’s been something wrong with this ever since I got it. I know! It doesn’t have your phone numbers!”

The witches giggled as they quickly took the device to tap their numbers in. Chris scoffed as he watched his other half get his future dates ensnared. “Playboy.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to be a gentleman once in a while, little brother,” Luke returned before his large black wolf ears flicked back. Chris tensed as they stared at their back exit. “I think that’s our cue to move. We need a room we can have a good defense in. Is your rented room still good?”

The coven jerked at the mention. Will groaned, “Why did we not think of that? Our room is guarded against these things.”

“We’re pathetic,” Anna agreed.

“I don’t think so,” Luke said as he led them out of the vault and along the passages. “Ton’s first time dealing with Umbra was a lot easier and she had a mental breakdown afterwards. You guys are doing great.”

“Hey!” Ton shouted in betrayal before wincing at how loud that had come out.

“Do you have a plan?” Rory questioned as they jogged up another set of stairs.

“Kind of. The coven’s room will be our safe area. The coven will stay inside there and help keep us safe and alive. Ton, how’s your energy levels?” The silver took charge.

The dark-haired oriental girl considered, “I’m starting to get tired but not enough to change my hair color yet.”

“Save your energy. You’ll be with the witches. It will be better for all of us if you help here and there and not pass out when we need you the most. The rest of us will take the mess of troublemakers.”

“We can help,” Barabal offered.

“Unless any of you are trained in combat magic, then I’m going to treat everyone on the side of caution to get us all out. We will all definitely be a little more beaten after this, but I promise that we will get out of this alive. Witch division will be a fall back after main Umbra force is worn out.”

“But we can’t kill these things,” Giorsal pointed out.

“You’re right. We have nothing that is needed to handle whatever is coming at us, but I have found that there is one silver bullet for most Umbra, and we happen to have one with us,” Luke outlined.

“We do?” Ton asked in confusion.

Luke looked back seriously at the lighter Chinese. “Shinyao. Some humans have mutated to be able to absorb Umbra. Shinyao is one of them. If we can open wounds on all that are attacking us that can give her a physical opening to drain their power and life from them. They will be dead, and she will be much stronger.”

Shinyao messed with her hand in worry. “I don’t know, Luke. You’ve been helping me learn how to control my power but I’m not very good. What if I turn into a monster after absorbing all of them?”

Luke smiled gently as they reached the coven’s room, “You have to let yourself be one. Nothing on the inside or outside can make you into something bad; you have to choose it. If you don’t want to, we can do this the normal way.”

Shinyao straightened up even though she was still worried. “If you think I can, then I will do my best.”

Luke lovingly patted her on the head. “I know. I want you to stay out here just outside of the room. Sorcha will stay close to keep you safe while you concentrate. If you start to feel off or anything, then I want you to stop and get back into the room. Kay?”

“Yes,” Shinyao agreed as she began to brace herself.

Luke smirked as he stepped back and turned to the endless blackness. He raised his head to howl long and eerily. He grinned back at them as he finished. “They’re coming. Open as big of wounds as you can to make this easier for Shinyao.”

Footsteps came quickly towards them as more and more joined in. Chris raised an eyebrow. “I don’t remember you being so willing to throw random people into a deathtrap before.”

“I don’t remember you being willing to talk and be around random people before,” Luke returned with an excited grin. “What to do a kill count?”

“Like we used to when we hunted? What are you trying to do? Bring back the past?” Chris demanded with a growl.

“No, make the present and future the way it always should have been,” Luke replied as the shine of more eyes than could be counted began to gleam in the darkness behind him.

Chris glared at him for a moment before smiling. Then the brothers threw themselves in opposite directions in the hall to face the swarm boxing them in. Rory threw up his hands before grabbing his knife. “Split up and try to keep them alive!”

The red wolf barreled through his side of the passage blunt and brutal as his silver half flipped and slid with impossible agility between his side. Shinyao wrung her hands as she looked at both sides of the passage around her. “Are you okay?” Ton asked in worry.

“Yes. Just nervous. I’ve never absorbed someone on purpose before. I’ve been training how to stop doing it, not do a lot of it.”

“You’ll do good lass,” Sorcha rasped not quite comforting. “We always do the things we hate the most the best.”

Shinyao frowned before she held out her hands in both directions. A violet glow came from her as thin black vines twisted in both directions into the darkness. As they touched the swarming Umbra, she breathed in and pulled. Shrieks of surprise came from both ends of the hall as a black fog of Umbra power poured out of open wounds and twisted along to end at her. Sorcha knocked back one that rushed at the human girl in desperation. Shinyao gasped in panic before pulling with all she had. The fog swirled and funneled down into her like a veritable tornado.

“I can’t see!” Giorsal panicked as the blackness of Umbra death blotted out their lights.

“Get back to the room!” Rory called, “And try not to touch these black things of her’s. I doubt she can tell what Umbra she’s taking from right now.”

The Twilight team pulled back until they could see again. The swarm they had been holding back surged forward at the lack of defense. The first ghulah to come into their lights raced forwards desperately as the blackness billowed out of her. A few feet before Beathan could stop her she disintegrated.

“That’s… unnerving,” Aimil stated as more came into the light hissing and doing everything they could in their final moments to stop their impending death. The team moved to keep the evil things back for most of them not to ever get back to their feet. Slowly the fog lessened for lights to show either way down the passage for only a few Umbra to be left. The Bowens were at the far ends watching and avoiding the writhing black vines.

Gradually the violet glow around Shinyao faded as her vines drew back. Both werewolves were with them then as she doubled over. “How you feeling?” Luke asked as he knelt in front of the petite girl.

Shinyao swallowed hard, “Like I’ve eaten too much and am about to lose it.”

The silver smiled softly in understanding, “I was wondering if that was not going to happen. You did good Shinyao. Get some rest.” He stood up then to check over the others. “All of you. Let the coven
have their fun. I’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?” Chris demanded.

The older Bowen grinned back, “No one knows but I’ll go there again.” Then he was gone in a blink.

“I like your brother,” Rory said as they all moved back into the vault with the coven moving closer to the entry way to watch for the Umbra that they could hear coming.

“Everyone is unfortunately fooled by him,” Chris agreed as a less human appearing creature stepped in front of the entrance. It tried to step in but was stopped against an invisible barrier made by the wards. More joined it outside the room staring in on them.

Barabal stood with a sweet smile, “I haven’t cursed anyone in two centuries. This will be fun.”

Ceana giggled as she joined her sister Umbra before the vault entrance on their side. Chants flowed from their vindictive lips. The creatures outside began to scream as ice formed around them and others began to transform into fish. Chris leaned against the inside wall as he watched the fish and Umbra freeze in the growing wall of ice. “I want fish and chips now.”

“I won’t eat those,” Darren grimaced as he held his injured shoulder.

The red wolf smiled slightly, “There is one thing that I have learned about life. Never look up stream after you finish drinking. You don’t want to know where it came from.”

“Good advice. I’ll stick to store food. It’s actually real,” Darren said.

“Or some human that was turned into a fish. Even anything normal that seems good can be put in a bad light if you decide to make it so. Might as well stop running at some point,” Chris stated.

“You look too young to have my grandda’s wisdom,” Darren said as he leaned against the wall beside the canine Umbra. “Fish does sound good, as long as they are not something else.”

“Umbra are hunted in mass just like every other animal on the planet. What’s the difference of eating them and not a fish or a chicken? It’s not human, so it’s not cannibalism.”

“Chickens are stupid. Anything with a low IQ and passes safety inspection is good in my opinion. Umbra are more intelligent than most humans and with how most of them look, I am certain that corpses and human eaters are not safe for consumption.” Darren pointed out.

“Valid.”

“No more food please,” Shinyao begged weakly as she breathed heavily to keep from throwing up as Ton hugged her comfortingly.

They all quieted as they enjoyed the show the witches were displaying for them in glee at being able to display their full potential for once. Someone calling from the outside caught their attention enough to pause for a moment. “My kin! My kin! Fellow Umbra! There is no need for this. We are of the same mind and heart.”

Everyone in the room glanced at each other. Barabal and Ceana glanced around in concern before Barabal cautiously answered, “Who are you?”

“An Umbra like yourselves. We mean you no harm.”

“If you mean no harm, then why have all the Umbra that live in these vaults fled? Why are we being hunted?”

“Only a mistake. The scent of humans have driven many mad. For too long have we been driven by their pathetic kind, locked away from the world we are meant to roam so they can rule,” The thing mourned as it moved closer.

“There is no reason to kill humans either. They are another species on this earth as much as the rest of us,” Ceana replied.

The Umbra on the outside stepped into view through the ice. He was handsome and nearly human in appearance with a charming smile. “Of course, one could never forget them. They will be well taken care of once all is in place. They will no longer rule, but they will still be plentiful.”

A low warning growl vibrated out of Chris’s throat. “The day that Damnation holds a promised lie is the one that he loses his silver tongue.”

The Umbra on the other side blinked in surprise. “You! I thought the humans had annihilated you.”

“Glad to ruin your night,” Chris growled back.

The man glanced around the inside of the witches’ room, “Your brother’s not here? I would have never envisioned you to be the one hiding with the women and children. The other way around actually.”

“Why you!” Chris lunged towards the smiling creature of darkness on the other side of the entry way.

Rory, Aimil, and Giorsal grabbed onto him and were dragged easily across the rough floor as the Were was set on murder. “Get a hold of yourself! Now is not the time to lose our heads,” Kerr shouted.

“Unless you happen to be a wolf with gray hair,” The Umbra on the other side considered. “His head has been promised to be lost for centuries. I think you even agree with that idea, my friend.” Chris snarled in hatred. “No? Well, it seems your opinions are prone to drastic changes.”

Luke’s bright laugh sounded down the tunnel as he came into the weak light coming from the room. “Damnation! It’s been a while. I was wondering when you were going to come through.” The Shadow did not reply as he lunged at the flippant Bowen. Luke ducked fast to catch the arm snapping over his head and flipped around it to rotate the bones around and jammed his foot against the back of its shoulder. A pop sounded as the Shadow screamed, then the arm came loose as Luke stepped back. He dropped the limb to be on the thing again. “You haven’t learned very much since we last met.”
As the black fog of death came off of the Umbra, Luke stood up and turned to smile at them. His light colored, once clean and stylish clothes had blood of varying shades and hues staining it as from the collar down his front slowly spread with the same vibrant red that was dripping from his face. He aborted reaching up to wipe at the blood streaming into his right eye and mouth. “I’m glad you didn’t step out of the room. Damnation always had a taste for charcoaled Umbra. You won’t believe how many of his followers he has eaten.”

Ton smiled in relief as she rushed for the entrance, “Luke! You’re hurt!”

Chris grabbed her by her jacket to keep her from going out of the room. “There are shapeshifters. That might not be my brother.”

Luke grinned through the blood, “I don’t think you’re my little brother either. He never uses his head.”

The red wolf frowned for a minute, “What use is a sword?”

The silver waiting on the other side for verification of if he was safe grinned. “Swords are great for gutting then spitting the prey. They even have handles so you can turn them in comfort over a fire to evenly roast them. And when you’re done, you can have it cut in half without even trying.”

Chris relaxed slightly as a smile began to peek through. “Roast pig is good.”

“Good enough. Though I prefer to spit them with wood and humans on their own weapons. They taste about the same,” Luke agreed.

The younger Bowen huffed in amusement, “He’s real. You’re safe.”

“And you accuse me of being sentimental and digging up the past. That discussion happened ages ago,” The silver returned as almost everyone stepped out of the room to glance around.

“I only remember the interesting things,” Chris defended.

“Sure,” Luke returned with obvious disbelief in his cheekiness. “Grab Shinyao. It’s safe for all of you to go back to the Hidden Inn to get fixed up before you go home.”

“Are you sure? We don’t want anyone getting hurt because of us,” Liz asked.

“Positive. There are still Umbra down here that are a problem, but if we get to the south exit of the bridge and you wiccans seal it off, then they can’t come out until we are rested and ready.”

“We can’t leave until the problem is fully taken care of,” Rory said.

Luke placed a bloody hand on the thick shouldered human. “Rory, you are my brother in arms, and I have great respect for you. Count Dracula doesn’t even follow me most of the time in to battle and all of you refused to leave me when it was your mortal lives at stake. But sometimes you need to rest, even when it does not make sense and things of great import are at hand. The will is strong and endless, but the body is not. You can’t go far without both being up to par. And that of your team’s too.”

Kerr glanced around at all of them. The coven was almost collapsing from physical and emotional exhaustion as his team and a few others were hunched in with bandages nursing wounds that would have been serious without Umbra intervention. Both werewolves had more blood outside of them from their wounds than all of them and a young Chinese girl was curled up in a ball in the red’s arms trying to get through. His head drooped as he took it all in. “I’m a horrible leader. I can’t take care of anyone.”

“You are doing more than well enough for me,” Luke said as they grabbed their things and headed through the vaults for the south exit out.

The upper passages were becoming more crowded with Umbra as they moved. Between them, they all managed to get out safely and the coven was fast in creating a spell to keep everything inside. Then it was a trudge to a nearby parking lot that a couple of the wiccans had parked their cars in. Conversation was something they all had a lack of energy for as they drove to the Hidden Inn for an unspoken debriefing. They dragged themselves inside and with a very short hesitation about getting blood on the furniture in the back staff room and, being assured that it didn’t matter at this point, they collapsed. Ton glanced at her phone one last time before powering it down. “Three percent battery left. That was close.”

“Stupid girl,” Chris muttered as he grabbed a blanket folded under the coffee table to put over Shinyao’s curled up form. “Your videos are not as important as surviving.”

“I can’t wait to see how you put that one together,” Cary breathed.

“What in the world even did happen? No harmful evil is allowed in the vaults with the wiccan spells and most of those creatures don’t belong here in Scotland in the first place,” Beathan demanded as he slowly moved around with his medical kit to begin patching everyone up.

No one had an answer and eyes turned hopefully to the silver Were that he did. Luke sighed as he brushed still streaming blood away from his lips. “I’ll tell you a little that I know. Someone created a rift in an unopened vault in the lower levels that is sort of similar to a gateway to hell. I’m not a magic user, so I don’t know the full specifics on it, but I’m guessing the ritual to get the rift set uptakes a lot of power and having a whole bunch of Umbra energy in a place helps. They can then leave the set up and it will feed off of the energy around it until it has enough to tear itself open to let those on the other side free.”

“It opened because of our practices?” Liz asked in concern.

“It’s not your fault. It’s none of yours. The rift has been feeding off all the Umbra that have been living in the vaults as well as your nighttime activities. It was going to open no matter what. All it took was all of you going tonight to give it the last kick start of energy that it needed to open.” Luke glanced around at all their guilty expressions. “I’m glad you went.”

Heads jerked up in surprise. “You are?!” Giorsal asked in disbelief.

“Have you lost your mind?!” Will agreed.

The older Bowen grinned, “I think it’s a little too late to be asking that. But I am glad you went. If the Twilight team had not gone down with you, you all would have been torn apart as you came out of your room one of these nights. And if my brother was not there to call me, none of you would have gotten the rift shut until the city was swarming with Shadows. You all kept your heads and protected each other. I cannot think of this situation ending any better than it did.”

Tired smiles began to spread around the room at the praise. “Who opened the rift?” Sorcha asked as Beathan wrapped her arm.

Luke shook his head, “That I don’t know yet. I’ll check out the rift site for clues after I’m finished cleaning out the vaults.” He breathed deep as he stretched then got to his feet. “Well, I better get going.”

“Where are you going?” Blake questioned.

“The vaults. There’s two or so more hours before the sun rises and it’s Sunday, so the vaults will be closed to visitors luckily. I’ll go through them and get rid of our unwanted trespassers before tourists are allowed back in.”

Rory sighed before he forced himself to his feet. “Let’s be off then.”

The silver wolf laughed kindly, “Rory, you have made yourself one of my favorite humans, but you are hurt and almost dead tired. All of you need to rest. I’ll take care of the vaults if you will take care of the bigger mess.”

“What mess?” Rory asked through a yawn.

“Collecting all the good Umbra that escaped the vaults that were their homes. They should be causing trouble up here and you don’t know where. That’s your team’s responsibility.”

The Edinburg team groaned in remembrance. “I’ll help,” Lexi volunteered.

“I believe we all will,” Barabal agreed.

Aimil watched the lighter furred werewolf. “You’re going back there alone? They’ll kill you.”

Luke’s grin was carefree. “They can sure try.”

“You’re not going anywhere until I get you fixed up,” Beathan stated as he got up to move over to the silver.

“That’s alright. I can heal on my own,” Luke began to protest as the birch fairy reached up to wipe at the blood coming down his face.
The ghillie dhu yelped in surprise and drew his hand back to him. As he opened it and wiped away the blood, red flesh was exposed on his previously uninjured fingers. He looked back up at the werewolf that had moved away. He frowned as he advanced on the silver. “Werewolves heal almost instantly, don’t they? So why have those cuts on your face not closed yet?”

“They’re closing. We don’t heal instantly like rumor says, just fast,” Luke tried to reassure before the ghillie roughly wiped away the blood on his face with a towel. Four smooth slash marks were gashed across his face with one going through his eye. They were as fresh as ever as the blood welled back up. The silver grabbed the compression bandages from Beathan’s hand and moved back. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be gone by the time I get back.”

“What gave you that?” Chris demanded.

Luke slapped the sticky bandage over the bleeding side of his face completely. “Something that was even faster than I am and will soon be dead. I’ll give Vlad a call and tell him not to get too mad at you rogues.”

Chris was then on his feet and in front of his brother. “Can you even handle going back right now?”

Luke smiled gently as a quiet growl came from his throat. The canine language went between then as they discussed before the silver held out his hand up right. Chris glanced down at it before clasping it hard. Then with a laugh Luke shoved the red back and slipped his sunglasses on to mostly hide the bandaged half of his face. “I’ll be back soon. I’ll try to call you once a day until this is cleaned up. Maybe you can try doing that on a regular basis too.”

“If you don’t call me for three days, I’m coming to drag your dead body back,” Chris growled.

“Fine by me. Bye!” Then Luke was out of the inn before anyone could try to protest.

Rory plopped back down into his seat. “Your brother is quite a man.”

“That’s one way to say it,” Chris said as he went back to the couch that Shinyao was asleep on.

Kerr looked around at everybody gathered in the room as Barabal and Ceana forced themselves to move to work on healing their coven. “Alright. My plan is to sleep for the rest of the day and work out Umbra problems up here after that. Then in a few days, we can go back into the vaults to do a double check ourselves. Anyone else in agreement?”

All unanimously were. Giorsal then leaned forward with a smile. “Maybe after Chris and I go dancing.”

Bowen looked at her unimpressed before he stood up carrying Shinyao and jerked Ton to her feet. “What are you doing?” Baileu asked as she stumbled out of the room after him.

“We’re going to bed,” Chris grunted.

Chapter Text

“You really don’t look good,” Ton stated as she and Shinyao walked back to their apartment in the abandoned pub Monday afternoon after their classes.

Shinyao smiled weakly, “I don’t feel good, but I am feeling better than I was.”

Ton sighed as she shifted her backpack, “I wish we didn’t have classes. I’m so tired.”

“Maybe we should try sleeping tonight,” Mu suggested.

“That would be smart,” Chris said.

Ton jumped slightly at his sudden appearance behind them. She smiled slightly at a friendly being. “You don’t scare me as much as you used to.”

“I’ll try harder,” Bowen said as he took their bags from them. “Did you fall asleep during class?”

Shinyao giggled before stifling a yawn. “Almost.”

“Lucky. I never could,” The red head said with a straight face but underlying it was a tease.

“Is it okay if we don’t go out tonight? I think we should get some videos edited and get some extra sleep,” Ton asked their tall guardian.

“You can do something you like without us getting in the way,” Shinyao encouraged.

“You’re not in the way,” Chris mumbled as they turned the corner to come in sight of the pub.

Goven’s hunched figure hurried out of an alley way as they approached. “Goven? What are you doing out here?” Ton asked in surprise as he rushed up to them.

He sneered at her in his usual manner. “Am I not allowed to leave my own home?”

“No, forgive me, that was not what I meant. I’ve just never seen you out before,” Ton backtracked.

“Stop yakking woman,” Goven growled before looking between them all in concern. “I have to warn you. There is an Umbra man waiting for you inside. I do not like him.”

Chris was paying attention instantly, “What does he want?”

“To talk with you is all he said, but I do not trust his kind. He says whatever to control others to his will and not have to lift a finger. All vampires are the same and this one is even more than the rest.”

The three relaxed slightly at the species. “What does he look like?” Ton questioned.

“Tall, blond, and everything else vampire. He’s Count Dracula, though he pretends to be a lazy Twilight,” Goven informed.

They all smirked in amused relief that it was an ally that was waiting for them before it faded away. “This is about the vaults, isn’t it?” Ton groaned.

“Probably,” Chris muttered before looking down on the disfigured Umbra. “Thanks for the warning. We can’t run from him though. Better to just get it over with.”

Goven slunk away from them angrily muttering, “You warn them, and they go right into the problem. Idiot kids these days.”

With one last doomed glance, they marched into the pub. Vlad was calmly sitting at the bar sipping slowly at a glass of wine. He did not turn to look at them as he took another sip. “Mind telling me why your brother called me yesterday morning after being MIA for three days without a whisper of existence to say that it was not your fault and to let you three off the hook?”

“What did he tell you?” Chris gauged.

“Nothing. I have found out though that Wayne’s loyalty to me is hinged upon Luke’s decisions of how much I should know and his food.”

Chris smirked, “That’s to be expected.”

Vlad turned around to face them then. “What did you do?”

The three were lined up for judgement. The wolf sighed, “It’s my fault. I wanted out of London, so I took them to Edinburg. We talked with the Twilight team there and the wiccan coven to go to the vaults. Someone made a rift there and Umbra came through try to kill us. My big brother came to help us and the problem’s over now.”

Vlad raised a silent eyebrow at them in dull question. Shinyao shriveled under the silent stare, “Don’t blame Chris. We wanted to go to.”

“I don’t recall a request for the vaults ever appearing in paper or electronics for me to approve,” Vlad mused pointedly.

The red crossed his arms, “I don’t need your permission to go places.” Then he looked away. “Next time the girls go with me, I’ll check if you think it’s safe for them first.”

Vlad stared at them for many long minutes as the girls shifted uncomfortably. Then he smiled slightly as he took a sip. “Excellent. You’re all tearing yourselves apart over this. This saves me so much trouble. I want a fully detailed report on everything that happened from each of you on my desk before sun rise tomorrow.”

“You’re not mad?” Ton dared to hope.

“Not really. With an impulsive tomboy like you and a rogue like Luke’s brother, I was expecting something like this to happen much sooner. I’m only upset that you waited so long to make me lose the bet,” The vampire calmly stated.

Chris huffed, “And my brother wins again.”

“Such is my plight,” Vlad mourned before his crimson eyes focused on them more intently. “Speaking of which, where is your brother?”

“He called this morning. He’s out of the vaults and should be back in two days,” Chris supplied.

Vlad frowned, “I’m starting to tire of this game of ghost that your brother is playing.”

“He’s been playing it ever since we were pups. Why do you think that I want to tear his head off sometimes?” The red replied.

Garfunkel finished off his glass of wine elegantly. “Until I read through all your reports, you three are grounded. We’ll see how things turn out for you once I’m done, but from now on Toryu, myself, or another responsible chaperone will be escorting you on these historical problems. Am I understood?”

“Yes,” The girls agreed meekly.

“We also have worked out the mess with Snowmary that you made, and it should be safe for you to come back to the café,” the vampire finished.

“Great!” Ton rejoiced.

Shinyao hesitated, “That is good, but I sort of like it here. Everyone is so nice and helpful.”

“Yeah. Overly so,” Chris growled with some overly flirtatious neighbors in mind.

“Is it alright if I stay here? I’ll come work in the nighttime, and I’ll still meet you at school Ton,” The lighter haired girl suggested.

Vlad walked past them for the door. “Fine by me. It would cut down on the annoying giggling.” Then he was gone.

Chris glared after him, “How has my brother not broken his neck in the last hundred years?"

Chapter Text

Ton typed fast at her computer as she worked on getting a report for school completed in her room at the café. Nothing was stopping her as words became visible in quick lines across her page. “Ton!” Shinyao called in excitement from the floor below. Baileu ignored her as she tried to finish her work. Her friend’s light footsteps pattered up the stairs in rush before Mu was in her doorway. “Ton! It’s snowing!”

That stopped the inspiration dead in its tracks as Ton looked up in surprise. “It is?!” She turned around in her seat to look out the window behind her to see the white fluff falling into the street. “It’s snowing!”

Ton slipped her boots on before the girls ran giggling down the stairs. Luke smiled fondly as they charged through his kitchen and out the enchanted mirror. Vlad glanced after them then turned back to putting away his teapots and cups in his designated cupboards. “It’s just snow.”

The silver wolf chuckled as he leaned down to pull an assortment of perfect cookies out of the oven. “Don’t try that again. Winter is your favorite season just like it is mine. The cold doesn’t bother you, and you like how quiet and peaceful it is.”

“And the stupidest reason for everyone to be overbearing in music, traditions, shopping, and every other thing that goes with it,” Vlad stated as he closed his cupboard.

“Every season is like that, Count. It’s the way of life in these days,” Luke said as he stepped out of his kitchen and out to the sidewalk that had a couple of inches of snow already laid on it.

The girls stared up at the sky in awe as the large wet flakes swirled down out of the gray heavens. There was no exact pattern that they fell in but at the same time it was an impossible onslaught to try and focus on. All sound was muffled so everything was quiet, nothing dared to break the peaceful calm that was here. Shinyao held out her hand to carefully catch a snowflake on her glove to study the fluff that was too large to be crystalline in shape. The flakes began to speckle the girls’ hair and clothes as they stood staring.

Ton shivered as her shorts and summertime clothes did little to protect her. “It’s so cold.”

“This is pretty warm actually,” Chris said blandly as he leaned against the café’s wall with his other half.

“Warm?” Shinyao asked in surprise.

Luke smiled as he watched the snow swirl down around them. “The temperature can’t be too cold for snow, or it can’t even form. Whenever it snows, it is generally the warmest times of the winter. By the time winter’s over, you will be breaking out your swimming suits for a snowstorm.”

The red-haired Bowen snorted as he rolled his eyes, “That’s just you.”

“Is this what its always like?” Shinyao whispered as she followed single flakes in their path down and then on the flurry as a whole.

“Mostly,” Chris agreed as his brother did not comment. “Sometimes less, sometimes a lot more with wind. Haven’t you ever seen it before?”

The soft brown-haired girl shook her head, “No. It never snows back home. At least in our area.”

Luke stood up to walk out into the street that only had a few tire tracks in it and no cars in sight. He crouched down as the girls switched from staring at the falling frozen water to seeing what he was doing. “You have a couple of winters to go through with us. I think you ought to know how to deal with snow properly.” Then he stood up and turned around with a bright smile.

Shinyao squealed in surprise as the snowball hit her. The girls gaped at the grinning and unrepentant Were. Then they were smiling as they bent down to pack handfuls of snow. Luke laughed as his café uniform without any weather protection was pelted with the snow as he moved at a normal human speed to return fire. The fight had begun.

Chris smiled slightly as his brother got the fun and shrieking started. Nothing was wrong in the world as the three focused on hitting each other and getting off the street occasionally for a car. His enhanced hearing pricked as a quiet mumble came from inside the café. “Childish. You would think that he would grow up by now,” Vlad hummed in contentment as he and Tauryu watched everything through the large windows.

“I doubt he is able to. It’s part of who he is. I like it though. You don’t see kids outside playing very much anymore. What is winter without these activities?” Tauryu replied as he stood right at the window.

“Just don’t step outside and you won’t turn into a snowman,” Garfunkel warned.

Chris blinked in surprise as a snowball cut off his eavesdropping. He looked down at the remanent of impact on his more thin winter coat that was only for appearance and not actual necessity. “Chris! Come join us!” Shinyao called.

“No.”

The girl only bent down to pack another snowball and throw it at him. Chris stepped to the side to let it miss then walked for the café entrance. “I am not getting mixed up with this.”

The snowball to the back of his head was so powerful the red werewolf stumbled before looking back. His older brother had another one in hand with clear intent. “Come on, little brother.”

“I am not going to let you provoke me this time. I’m working on ignoring and letting things go,” Chris said as he inched back for the way inside.

Luke’s smile was too manic to be anything good. “Wonderful. Great goal, but I don’t think this counts as murder. So, you are more than able to join us.”

“Please Chris!” Shinyao begged.

“No.”

Luke sighed as he tossed his snowball meaningly to himself. “Shinyao… Catch!”

The Chinese girl caught his snowball as the silver was suddenly not there to do so. Then Chris was plowed body wise through the snow. The red wiped the snow off of his face before looking at his mischievous other half on top of him. The surprise shifted into a snarl. “You’re dead.”

Luke leaped back and ran with a laugh as the chase began. Both brothers were at each other trying to snow out the other into submission as the girls aimed their attacks on the red head. But the tide of war was just as quick to switch on the aggressor. Luke laughed as a few projectiles struck him, then not even Chris could get his hands on him. The silver was always a few inches away from all attacks.

“No fair! We can’t keep up with you!” Ton shouted as Luke dodged her snowball with extreme ease.

“Maybe,” Shinyao giggled before she checked that no one else was watching then her vines came out. The barrage was as thick as the falling snow, yet Luke still danced through it.

As he slipped pass the café entrance, Tauryu suddenly reached out and grabbed him. The jiangzhi held onto the wolf tightly as he came out. “Now!”

“Traitor!” Luke playfully shouted before he was plastered in inches of white moisture.

The war continued with Tauryu now with them and alliances shifting as fast as the wind. There was no safety in this world of white from one’s own friends. As the girls began to get tired, they calmed down to build snowmen on the sidewalk to guard the café. Then as Ton finally gave into the cold, they moved inside.

Vlad smirked at them from behind the bar. “You are all wet.”

“And in more places than one,” Luke agreed. “I think I have snow up my nose. Thanks a lot traitor.”

Tauryu smiled as he took off his work shirt to shake the packed snow off outside. “My pleasure.”

“My hair is one big snowball! How do you get it out?! Chris! I’ll get you for that!” Ton shouted as she worked at trying to pull the snow clumps out of her hidden black hair.

The hot-tempered Bowen that was usually more serious was grinning like a young boy though it was more toned down than his brother’s. “I’d like to see you try.”

Ton glared at him, “I don’t try. I do.” Her cold kissed rosy cheeks then went hot as Tauryu with his shirt still off came over to try and help pull the worst of the snowballs out of her hair.

“I suggest,” Luke began as he took off his boots to dump half melted snow clumps out of them. “That we all get dried off and changed then settle down in the private seating area for hot chocolate and cookies to get warmed up.”

“I already have tea prepared,” Vlad said.

The silver stared at the undead blond unimpressed. “Tea? Count, tea is good for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but when you come in from the snow you have to have hot chocolate. There are no two ways about it.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Chris said as he stepped through the enchanted mirror to the kitchen to get the chocolate started.

The girls hesitated to leave as Luke’s smile was too big and he was much too focused on the vampire on the other side of the bar. Vlad glared back at him. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Why Vlad? Whatever do you mean?” the silver asked way too sweetly.

“The same thing every year. If you try to slip snow down my shirt again, I am going to kill you, bury you in the snow, and make a snow headstone for you,” Dracula threatened.

Luke held up his hands to show they were empty. “Fine. I won’t touch you.”

Vlad still glared untrusting. Then the mirror behind him rippled and he shouted as a huge amount of snow passed his shirt collar. Chris grinned as the blond turned on him. “You!” Vlad hiss furiously.
“Forget rogue. You’re just like your brother. No matter how much you try to deny it. You are exactly alike. And I’ll bury you just the same.”

Chris shrugged carelessly as he hopped over the tall bar to be with his brother. “I know that. We’ve been told that ever since we came into existence.”

“Good job, little brother. I can now go to my grave in peace,” Luke mockingly said in relief.

“I’ll try to remember to shed a tear for you in Egypt where there is no snow,” The red returned.

Luke skipped backwards as Vlad untucked his formal shirt to let all the snow fall out. “You forget. I did not touch him. I’m safe!”

The main café area emptied as all ran to get changed as Vlad shouted angrily after them, “You both are going to get essence of wolfbane in your hot chocolate!”

Not long later they were all changed and lounging in the warm lounge with the girls curled up in blankets contently. Cookies were more plentiful than even Wayne could consume as they sipped at their steaming mugs. “Barbarians,” Vlad huffed.

“We’re practical, Count. No reason to try for something decorative when we need bulk,” Luke defended the huge pot of molten chocolate sitting on hot pads on the counter with a ladle for them to dish up their own refills.

“It’s criminal. You should be locked up for that,” Vlad dramatically lamented.

“Ale comes from a barrel and that’s alright. It’s not that bad,” Chris huffed from his corner he had tried to seclude himself in but was not left alone with.

Vlad tisked as he sipped at the chocolate all the same. “Have you no decency to attempt to be civilized once in a while?”

“Not decency. We have none,” Luke said flippantly. “We have ability and pure skill to keep up with all you civilized snobs all without any suspecting anything otherwise.”

Vlad did not roll his eyes, but his expression could have been the nobility mask of the eighteen hundreds version of doing so. The quiet was content and lulling. Ton sighed as she reached for another cookie. “I want to stay, but I have an essay rough draft that I have to finish tonight.”

“I can do that for you!” Wayne volunteered.

“Wouldn’t that be essentially the same as having Artificial Intelligence write it?” Shinyao questioned.

“AI is the way of the world. Nobody wanted to use calculators when they first came out because they could do it themselves. It will be the same with AI,” Wayne declared with gusto.

“Kids now days also have no idea how to multiply, divide, and add at a split-second notice without pulling out a device. It takes them longer to tap things in than it would if they tried to use a little brain power,” Vlad said as he took a cookie. As he took a bite, he smiled in contentment. “All the world needs to end is kids that don’t know how to spell, write, or even converse in their own language because computers do all the work for them so they can have less use that dead logs.”

“Wayne makes me feel like a dead log when we are putting our videos together,” Shinyao sighed without ire. “He’s so good at technology.”

Ton perked up in excitement, “We’re almost finished with the Vaults video!”

Vlad tilted his head in interest, “For once, you have my reluctant attention. I want to see the footage of that night. The reports I got were in the ranges of the fantastical.”

“It sure feels that way in a horror sense,” Shinyao agreed.

“I hope that you had a camera on Luke so that I can see what happened on his side,” the blond said as he leveled a demanding stare at the silver. “For some reason, his report has not appeared.”

Luke just gave the vampire a lazy grin as he slouched against the cushions. “Yep. I have filed my report with copies of Chris’s and the girls’ with the Missions and Field Work division.”

Vlad’s crimson eyes narrowed dangerously, “The vaults fall into the Historical division.”

“They did until a combat situation with civilians at risk came up. It then became an active mission.”

“One that apparently did not start with an already recorded gateway,” Vlad pushed as one of their regular arguments began to brew. “How did a werewolf that can’t use magic end up closing a rift in Umbra realms as reported?”

Luke waved Dracula off, “With one of your paper spells. All it needed was one of the Umbra coming through to activate it and seal the rift shut.”

“When did you get one of my spells of that kind?” Came the suspicious question.

“You were practicing them a couple years back and I snagged a couple extra just in case.”

“And you just happened to be carrying one of that kind when you were doing whatever it was in Bathe? I don’t believe you.”

Luke laughed, “You don’t believe your spells are good enough to close rifts? Now you tell me.”

“That’s not what I meant! My spells are more than capable, but there are other parts that don’t make sense to me,” Vlad tried to rephrase.

“Let me guess. You would have preferred it if Chris had called you instead so that you could close the rift and be the hero of the day so you can have an excuse to pull Ton away from her schoolwork for a date,” Luke mused with laughing green eyes.

“What?! I don’t need any help in that matter,” Vlad protested.

Luke laughed as he got up and walked for the kitchen. He paused to try and pat the blond on the head comfortingly like he did the girls for the vampiric Umbra to slap his hand away with a warning hiss. “You better ask Ton out now before I make any reservations for this week.”

Tauryu watched the silver wolf head for the enchanted mirrors out. “Why are you letting Vlad request a date? You usually do not like letting him have any.”

Luke smiled playfully back at them, “Vlad’s self-conscious. I have to let him build his fragile, prideful ego once in a while.”

Vlad got to his feet instantly to whirl on the wolf to find Bowen had already left. He hissed angrily as his fingers flexed in and out of claws as he tried to control himself. After a minute, he breathed out and relaxed. “Wolf. Either way. Ton, Shinyao, I am planning on visiting a historical site this week, a country manor house. The human occupants are friends of ours and allow us to check on the Umbra about their property every few years. Would you like to come with me?”

“Really?! I’d love to! We’re almost out of footage to work with,” Ton exclaimed in excitement.

“Ton, I think he was meaning for this to be a little more personal than our channel,” Shinyao suggested.

Ton blinked in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“I think this is supposed to be a date with a layer of work to give deniability to actually having one,” Shinyao said with too much of a teasing smile.

Ton went red as Vlad tried not to let himself stall at the gloading that the soft brown haired Chinese girl had never done before. Chris though huffed in amusement, “You definitely are taking lessons from my brother.”

“It’s fun to tease lovers,” Shinyao said calmly as she stood up.

“That may come back to haunt you,” Tauryu warned.

“I know. I’m already getting it from Luke,” Shinyao said as she ladled herself more hot chocolate.

Vlad huffed, “Very well then. I’ll call the owners and request that we visit this weekend.”

“Great!” Ton agreed before drooping. “Except that means I have to get my essay edited and mostly finished before we go.”

Chapter Text

The manor house was beautifully placed among the green pastures and occasional farms out in the country that were now covered by slushy, partly melted snow. This part of England had not grown too much in its population since the manor was built but modernization had occurred. It was a large stone two story manor that was starkly rectangular in its built, yet it still had elegant and sophisticated décor to inspire awe in all that looked upon it.

“I want a house like this,” Ton declared after the family had welcomed them and then left to visit their cousins in another town.

The three of them strolled through the simple but immaculate garden that was beginning to prepare to hibernate for the winter as they looked around in the day light. Shinyao nodded in agreement, “It is beautiful, but maybe a little too big. You would have to have a lot of people living here to make all that room worth it.”

“My castle back in Romania was even larger and I was alone. It was quite nice,” Vlad shared.

“Did you take care of it though?” Shinyao questioned.

The response not being immediate was more of a tell. “I was more busy terrorizing the world and creating an army of vampires than concerned about house keep at the time.”

“So, you had an extremely large bachelor pad that was falling to pieces. You were just as lazy back then,” Shinyao filled in.

Garfunkel tisked as the truth was laid too bare for his liking. “Don’t you dare bring up Luke’s excuse for a fight. Nobility back then had nothing to do with cleaning and men had even less to do with it unless it was a profession. You forget that the dark ages had no concept or concern of cleanliness. The state of my castle was common and even impressive compared to others.”

“Would you like one now days?” Ton asked.

“I would love one. It is my home after all and all the old imperfections I would flourish in compared to a human. I would run things a little different now, but it is a dream,” Vlad sighed in wanting.

Ton brought everything back to what she was interested in. “So, what’s going on with this house?”

“It’s a manor house,” Vlad started as the girls discreetly began recording him. “That was built for the upper middle class of late seventeenth-century that had gained their wealth by merchant ship. The family would have been desperate for a nice house and land to display their wealth. At that time, it was popular to not have to lift a finger in any form of work. Even brushing one’s hair as a lady was thought to be too exerting. But, of course, those tasks of living require someone else to do it for you and such money to pay them. Only the more wealthy could truly lounge with nothing to do. This family would have raised themselves from doing all the work themselves to having a cook, a housekeeper, possibly a man servant to attend to the men of the household and care for the horses, and maybe a maid or such to help if they were doing well.

This particular manor was first built for the Evans family. It passed through the family for three generations before the eldest son joined the regiment and died and his younger brother racked up an enormous amount of debt and was forced to sell the manor to pay. For many years after the bank would rent out the manor as temporary home for more wealthy visitors that would pass through for the hunting season or for a couple month holiday in the quaint countryside.

Then in eighteen thirty-six, the Jones family became well enough to do to buy the place. There are a few ghosts about that are from that family. One such is Mary Jones that gave birth to twins in the manor. Both babes were too much for her to deliver and she died soon after childbirth and the twins followed a few days after. She usually wanders the upper floors of the manor with an infant in both arms. Her only noise is the soft hummed lullaby to her babes. There are three other ghosts that succumbed to the cholera outbreak of that time as well, one of them being the gardener that we may have a better chance at meeting at dusk. Then in the first world war all the Jones men died in the trenches. The widow and her daughter tried to survive here, but it was too much for them to maintain and earn a living off of, so they placed it up for sale once more. In nineteen fifty-six it was then bought by the Taylors that have passed it down to its current descendants today.”

“You know a lot,” Ton said in amazement at the rundown that was more thorough than most history websites.

“I lived through the eras. I should know some about history.”

“So, you know the history of every home around here?” Shinyao questioned with a little too much knowing to be exactly like her.

The tall blond breathed out through his nose. “I know the history of this manor because it falls in my division, and I have to check up on it once in a while to make sure things are doing well.”

“That makes more sense,” Mu said.

Crimson eyes looked down at her, “You need to stop spending time with Luke. Chris is even less of a problem than he is.”

“I like them both,” Shinyao said happily.

As the garden path brought them back to the manor, Ton spoke up. “So, what’s our plan?”

Vlad opened the door for them to go inside. “Tonight, we’re going to check the inside of the manor and then tomorrow will be the grounds.”

“Great! We can set up the cameras then,” Ton cheered as she rushed to her luggage to start pulling out cameras and tripods.

Vlad sighed at the technology mess that appeared. “Why do I put up with this?”

“Because she’s pretty?” Shinyao supplied.

She giggled as the vampire looked down at her unhappily. “You should reconsider your values in life if you are starting to take after that wolf.”

“Look what Wayne got us!” Ton rejoiced as she held up a boxed electronic. “An EVP transmitter!

Shinyao stepped over in interest, “Do you know how it works?”

“No, but it shouldn’t be too hard,” Ton said as she looked over the box.

Her friend took it from her, “Set up the cameras. I’ll read the instructions.”

When nightfall came, everything was set up and the three sat back to wait. They only got up to go upstairs and to different rooms when one of the cameras picked up a ghost. The EVP was working well and in all everything was decently quiet. “This is nice,” Ton sighed in contentment as they finished talking with Mary Jones and her two babies.

“You mean not having everything trying to kill us?” Shinyao clarified. “Yes. I like this too. It’s so relaxing. I see why you like historical things if it’s this quiet, Vlad. Not even regular Twilight meetings are this calm.”

“I do like doing these checks,” Vlad admitted as they settled back down on the couches. “Only grievance that it gives me is Luke and his junk that he drags in.”

“Do his things ever make trouble?” Shinyao questioned.

The Count glared down at the floor. “No. Which is good, I suppose. I just wish I knew what it was and why he wants me to put it away.”

Ton pouted, “You talk more about Luke than me. I think you like him better.”

Vlad’s red eyes lit up in a bright glow in the darkness in surprise. “What?! I don’t. He is only a grievance to me that I have had to deal with for too long. I prefer your problems and shortcoming over his best any day.”

“And that is why Tauryu says you go running after him when you know he’s in trouble?” Shinyao asked with slyness too much like the silver wolf’s.

If the girls did not know him so well and had faced much more dangerous Umbra, they would have passed out from the terror that the flaming crimson eyes instilled as they glared at them. “Nothing is as you hint, and I would appreciate you refraining from such comments in the future.”

Ton looked uncomfortably away to see the EVP transmitter blink with action. She leaned forward in interest to see if she could hear the ghost messing with the device. A low purring was coming from the device. “Hello. Who are you?” Ton asked as she brought out her modified phone to try and get a sighting of who had come over to them.

A bright rippling meow coming from the speaker had all of them pausing in confusion. Another followed. “Is that a cat?” Shinyao asked in wonder as Ton brought up her phone.

The dark-haired girl stared at the distinct figure of a cat slinking around the room. “It is. That is a ghost, right?”

Vlad had his eyes closed as he felt the room with his power. “All tells say it is so. I was unaware of this Umbra’s residence.”

Ton’s smile was huge as she knelt down on the floor and held out her hand. “Here kitty, kitty. Come here.” A curious purr sounded as on the phone camera the cat moved over happily but stayed just out of arm reach for a moment before stepping in to rub against Ton. The girl giggled, “Its cold!”

“Let me feel,” Shinyao said as she knelt down by her friend and reached out to touch the spirit. Her hand paused in midair before moving horizontally and then lifting up to repeat in an invisible stroking. “It is a little cool, and you can almost feel it. It’s not solid, but there is a pressure.”

Ton was radiating with joy as she handed her phone to her childhood friend and reached her hands out to grasp something unseen and drag it back into her lap. “She’s so nice!”

“Must have been a well-loved pet of one of the women that once lived here,” Vlad mused as he watched the girls love on the spirit.

“Why is she still here?” Ton asked as she cooed at the unseen pet that was purring loudly through the EVP in joy at the attention.

Garfunkel passively watched them, “Could be that the cat loved her owner so much that it could not move on after death. The owner may have moved on not knowing whom was left behind.”

“You poor thing. No one here to love you,” Ton cooed to the cat as she gently hugged it.

“We don’t know that, Ton. The ghosts here could love it. We should ask them,” Shinyao suggested.

“You’re right. We should ask,” Ton agreed then looked back down at the not solid feline nudging at her stomach. “Vlad? If no one here takes care of her. Can I have her?”

Vlad raised an eyebrow in question. “Have her?”

“Like… take her back to the café. I’ve never had a pet before. I’ll take good care of her,” Ton nearly begged.

“Why in the world would I let you take the rat catcher back?” Vlad asked indifferently, “We already have a ghost. You can’t see this one and you won’t be able to always touch it. It will scare our customers when they suddenly hear meowing but do not see the animal.”

“It needs the EVP for us to hear it,” Shinyao pointed to the device. “We can set them up only in the rooms we’re in so we can hear her but not scare our guests. Or we can turn off the transmitter in the main area during open hours.”

“Please!” Ton begged as she squished the spirit for her arms to then go straight to her body. She looked down at the unseen spirit that she had just gone through. “I’m sorry. She won’t be any trouble. She’s a ghost. She can’t trip you or get under foot. She doesn’t have a body like a real cat to get fur everywhere or make a mess. And she doesn’t need to eat so she will not be a problem that way.”

Vlad looked away seemingly unfazed if it was not for a barely noticeable smile. “That does seem optimal. If you insist.”

Ton squealed in happiness as she lightly hugged the cat until she was just starting to go through the spirit. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“There is one thing though,” The vampire said casually. “If you actually are able to take the thing. That cat is attached to the house and possibly land to stay here. No matter how you try to carry it out, it will fade away to remain here. You then have no way to keep it at the café and not wonder off.”

Ton looked sadly down at her lap. “Too bad you don’t have a body. I might be able to make a talisman that could let me take you home if it could stay on you.”

“Why don’t we try?” Shinyao suggested. She turned back to their bags to pull out a small bit of extra string. Watching the phone camera, she looped the plain string around the cat’s neck and tied it off. The looped string stayed in the air as she lifted her hands away. The brown-haired girl smiled, “If we don’t put anything too heavy on her then it should stay. Then we will know where she is without our phones.”

“Shinyao! You’re a genius!” Ton exclaimed as she hugged her friend. “I can attach the talisman right to her! We can get her a pretty ribbon and everything!”

Vlad sighed dramatically in his teasing way, “What have I done? I guess you are going to have to name it, so I don’t insult anyone.”

Ton looked down at the light presence as it slinked off her lap. The string in an open circle moved languidly over to the young man to seemingly rub against his legs. Vlad tried to ignore the Umbra he could obviously feel. “How about Leng? She is pretty cold.”

“Works for me,” Vlad said as he stood up and his legs passed through the cat. “Let’s see if any of the other Umbra about will miss Leng before you work on that talisman.”

~

“This is Leng!” Ton declared as they got back to the café. She held up her ghostly kitten that had only its new hot pink satin ribbon decoratively bowed to view.

Wayne in his mannequin stared at her like she had lost her mind. “What?”

“We found a ghost cat at the manor and Vlad let me keep her. I named her Leng,” Baileu explained.

Luke grinned, “Really? Someone just made a huge jump on the affection scale of young ladies.”

Vlad looked away from the werewolf at the blunt teasing. Wayne though was just as excited at the girls. “He let you have it?! Now I’m not the only ghost around here!”

Tauryu walked over to look at the empty space in Ton’s cradled arms. A curious meow sounded from Ton’s travel bag as the EVP activated. The jiangzhi smiled in amusement. “Welcome Leng. Are you sure it will not leave?”

“She won’t,” Ton said positively. “I set up the talisman that is inside her ribbon to feed her power for existence when she is here or near me. She will start to lose that power the farther she goes until she can’t be firm enough to keep her bow on.”

“You’re getting a lot better at your talismans,” Luke complimented as he came over and reached out to pet the new addition.

Leng hissed and a warning yowl came from the EVP as the spirit in Ton’s arms shifted to defensively stand. “Leng!” Ton scolded.

Luke laughed though, “It’s alright Ton. Cats don’t like wolves very much. We’re just going to have to ignore each other.”

“I’m sorry,” Ton said as she frowned down on her misbehaving pet.

“Don’t be. I’ve had a lot worse reactions to animals before,” Luke waved off as he headed back for the kitchen.

Shinyao put down some of their gear as she turned to the vampire. “Thank you for inviting us Vlad. That was nice.”

Garfunkel nodded slightly as he removed his coat. “You are most welcome. If you enjoyed that, then I am going to check another historical area this week. You are welcome to join me if you so desire.”

“Where are you going?” Shinyao asked.

“Pluckley. A small town with many Umbra. Usually, the Umbra are only seen and never interacted with,” The blond informed.

Ton paused, “Pluckley. That sounds familiar.”

“It might have come from one of the paranormal investigating shows we watched if there are many already known Umbra there,” Shinyao suggested.

The dark-haired girl perked up, “Pluckley! The most haunted town in the world!”

“You say that as if it were a carnival.  Though you are not far off with what the towns people have portrayed it as. There are other places with much more,” Vlad stated.

“I want to go!” Ton volunteered before turning to Tauryu. “Can you go with us?”

The Jingzhi paused, “I am uncertain if Vlad would appreciate my presence.”

The blond nearly glared over at the Chinese young man. “I have no reason to loath your presence in any activity. I have nothing to hide. If Ton would feel comfortable with you coming, then I am willing to bring you along.”

“But the café…” Tauryu asked in concern.

Luke shoved him forward into the group with a laugh. “Go have fun, Tauryu. You’ve been working too hard lately. Take a holiday off for once.”

Ton cheered as she hugged the new addition to their travelling group. She then turned with a hopeful smile to the last of them. “Luke? Can you come?”

The silver shook his head happily, “Nope. I don’t do historical things. I’ll stay here with Wayne and Chris and keep the café going.”

“Are you sure?” Ton asked in concern.

“Certain. If it makes you feel any better, then I’ll take you on a single date after you get back,” Luke flirted.

Shinyao giggled as her friend went red. “We better get going. We have to show Leng around.”

~

“This is so cute,” Ton gushed as they walked through the small town of Pluckley. Most of the buildings were small and built of stone from a passed time that had not faded away. Businesses and families still thrived in them in comparison to other countries that teared down to build new and larger. “I wouldn’t mind a home like this someday. They’re just right.”

“You might have a hard time finding one available in England,” Vlad said as they strolled through the inches of fresh snow that covered the streets in the just fallen night. “Most houses are quite expensive and are kept by the family for years. They rarely are for sale.”

“Unless it is the Cage. That place is almost always for sale,” Tauryu pointed out.

“Cage?” Ton asked as she adjusted her new winter hat down on her ears with her bulky gloves. Warm boots, pants, and a thick coat also now insulated her against the elements she had not been prepared for.

“Another historical house that we keep a close eye on. No owner has allowed us to come and take care of the dangerous Umbra that are living there. Most of the Umbra want to harm or kill the inhabitants, but the humans wisely move out before they are,” Tauryu explained.

“No. You cannot go, and the owners will not give you permission to look around,” Vlad cut off any budding ideas for the girls.

Shinyao smiled all the same, “That’s alright. There are enough places around for us to film without going there. Until Ton saves up enough to buy it.”

“I’m not surprised,” Vlad stated as they turned a corner. The group paused as a horse drawn carriage with light streaming from the windows clopped by. The horses snorted as they passed and then they turned down the lane. “The horses are still doing well.”

“I’ve never seen a horse before,” Ton said in amazement at the sight.

“You haven’t. Those were Umbra,” Vlad stated as he continued on.

Tauryu explained to the surprised girls. “That carriage and its horses are solid if you manage to touch them, but you can’t always find them. They appear and disappear randomly but are quite common a sight to those that live in Pluckley.”

“Do they stop for passengers?” Shinyao asked with a hopeful smile. “I’ve heard carriage rides are fun.”

“Only you would think to try that,” Vlad murmured to himself as they continued.

“You can try to hail them if we see them again. I’ll go with you if they do stop. We don’t know where they go,” Tauryu said.

“As interesting an activity that is, we’re almost at the church,” Vlad said.

Down the road an outline of a steeple jutted out from the bare limbed trees to stand above the small houses about. Everything around them was quiet as they drew closer. There were no buildings directly beside the church as an open stretch was there. Only the poking shapes of snow-covered headstones revealed this lawn as the churchyard. They stopped in the soft stillness to look at the grounds. None spoke as they just enjoyed the dark night peace. None of them reacted as a woman in a white dress suddenly stepped from behind a headstone with a red rose in hand. She strolled through the churchyard without her feet leaving an imprint in the fresh snow. “The Red Lady,” Tauryu whispered to the girls. “She is the spirit of Lady Derring. She comes here to search for the grave of her stillborn baby.”

The lady paused in her walking to stare at an unmarked spot in the snow. Then in the next blink, she had faded away. Vlad turned away to keep walking. “Are we supposed to do anything on these checks?” Shinyao asked as they went down the winding road.

“Note any Umbra sighted and those that are supposed to be around that are not. Pay attention to how they are acting and if there is anything suspicious,” Tauryu outlined, “Usually there isn’t much going on and these are just to make sure the Umbra in the area feel safe. Occasionally there are problems, but not enough to care.”

“So, historical places are where the problems are already taken care of and there is peace?” Ton tried to clarify.

“Usually. Or safe enough not to be a danger to mortal habitants,” the jiangzhi said.

“These areas are what we are aiming for in Umbra-human relationships,” Vlad said as he paused outside a small house. He watched it for a minute before moving on, “The monk still has not returned since we got rid of him.”

“How are these areas like you want them?” Shinyao asked as she jogged up to walk beside the long strided vampire.

“Humans are accepting and mostly calm about the Umbra about them and Umbra cause little trouble. There are rarely instances when we are called to help, and each species takes care of those that are not acting as they should. It is the ideal way of life. We know it can exist because of this. Someday the whole world will hopefully be like this,” Vlad said as they walked.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Shinyao agreed softly.

They all paused as chilling screams came from the trees they were walking near. They were agonizing and terrified as the being screamed with all they had. “What is that?” Ton asked.

“No one knows for sure,” Tauryu said as they listened to the screams disrupt the still snowy silence. “We have never found an Umbra that will take responsibility for them.”

“There isn’t a story?” Shinyao questioned as she tried to see further into the trees.

“Many stories,” Vlad said calmly. “None for certain though. That is Derring Wood. The forest that surrounds the entire town. It has more Umbra inhabitants that Pluckley, but less friendly and passive than the town living ones.”

“Can we go there someday?” Shinyao hoped.

Vlad hummed as he turned away from the woods. “Someday. Perhaps when the day actually comes.”

Tauryu smirked, “He means in the morning.”

Vlad tisked at his teasing being interrupted. “Luke would have continued it for a little longer.”

“Thank goodness he decided not to come,” Ton breathed.

“Where are we going now?” Shinyao asked.

“Black Horse pub. It houses the most mischievous Umbra in Pluckley,” Vlad said as they continued through the streets. “There are goblins that live there. They like to steal things, but luckily, we don’t have to destroy them as they have agreed to give what they take back after a couple of days.”

“Why can’t you teach the goblins in London to do that?” Ton mourned. “We are always having to fight those things for what they steal.”

“The goblins that go through London are always newborns and are travelling too fast to convince to peace,” Tauryu sighed.

“Someday,” Vlad wished.

Many minutes later they arrived in front of the Black Horse. It was dark with being closed with how late it had become. All goers had been shown out a while ago. “How are we going to check on the goblins inside if the pub is closed?” Ton spoke up.

“They will come out to us,” Vlad calmed before forming a spell and sending the crimson tinted ripples through the air. Hideous green beings faded into view as the spell revealed them to normal eyes. The goblins began to crawl and slink out of the pub to meet them.

“Why? Why do you always come? You just left,” one gurgled tiredly.

“This is our deal,” Vlad stated coldly as he looked imperially down on the disfigured beings.

Groans of defeat came from the fiendish mob. “We have not done anything to the humans. No tricks, no stealing.”

“Rumor says otherwise,” Tauryu said easily.

“We borrow for a few days then give back. It’s not stealing when you give back.”

“We’ll see,” Vlad replied with the same indifference as he turned away.

“Find your own pretties! We find our own!” The goblin screeched before they scattered.

“This is the most interesting part,” Tauryu said as they began their way into the trees behind the pub. “We like to check that the goblins are giving back. So, it’s a scavenger hunt to find a couple of their treasure stashes to make sure they are giving some of it back.”

“I would prefer a wolf’s sense of smell for this,” Vlad said before sighing in woe. “Yet Luke never comes. I’m left to my own devices.”

“Are you that insufficient?” Tauryu asked.

“I am more than capable. This is a game for human children,” Garfunkel stated as he whirled for a thicket of trees.

Tauryu smiled as the vampire left. “When in need for entertainment, turn to questioning Vlad’s ego.”

The girls giggled at the subtle teasing before they ran off into the woods to help search for goblin hordes. As the night got the darkest before the sun would rise, the four dropped onto a bench beside a road to rest. “That is better than a scavenger hunt,” Ton hummed in contentment as they relaxed.

“Most hordes accounted for and with little enough things in them that we know they are holding to their promise of returning what they take,” Tauryu agreed.

“I’m hoping food is a promise too,” Shinyao sighed in wanting.

“Very well. You might want to walk a bit for it then,” Vlad suggested as he got up.

The girls groaned playfully at the effort as they got up to follow. He led them away from the main part of town towards the outskirts. “Where are we going?” Ton asked.

“None of the pubs or restaurants here open for breakfast, and the inns only serve to their guests. If you want something to eat before noon then I suggest the cooking of a local acquaintance,” Vlad explained.

“How well do you know this acquaintance of yours?” Tauryu asked.

“They gave us suggestions and local lore to help us with the last trouble that occurred here,” Vlad said.

“Of course. Only that. You have no such thing as friends,” The jianzhi agreed much too amused with himself.

Garfunkel glared back at him. “Careful.”

“Keep moving!” Ton demanded.

Sun light was just starting to lighten the sky as they got to a stone cottage. Vlad knocked on the door confidently and a moment later a middle-aged man opened it. He blinked as he took them in. “Whatever you have, give me some of it. You haven’t aged a day, Vlad.”

“I thought you were aware of that,” the blond said as he stepped inside.

“Aware doesn’t help the jealousy. Are these pretty ladies your daughters?” The man asked as the others followed.

Vlad froze for a moment before clearing his throat in the only way he was going to show how flustered he was at the question. “No. Just friends.”

“Just friends? And what kind of friends are those?” their host asked with a grin.

“John. That’s enough. Give the poor vampire a break. He gets enough heckling from Luke,” A woman of about the same age but with dark brown hair dye to disguise her graying hair said as she came in the living room. “What can we do for you?”

Vlad dismissively looked over the cozy room. “I just wanted to ask to pay you for breakfast. We have two pathetic human girls that didn’t eat last night and have been exploring Pluckley for the rest of it.”

“Mean!” Ton exclaimed in almost hurt that was almost fond at the now usual insults.

“No worries. I was just working on breakfast,” the woman said as she motioned for them to follow her into the small kitchen. “What can I get you? Toast, muffins, scones? Bacon, ham, sausage? How do you like your eggs? I can make them boiled, poached, and scrambled. I’m afraid I never get fried ones done right.”

“Keep it simple Sandy,” John said as he sat down at the small table with the Twilights. “Vlad doesn’t eat very much, you should remember.”

“Of course I do. I’m certain the girls eat more than birds do. Timothy! Come help me!” Sandy called as she poured a glass of fruit juice. She placed it down in front of Vlad before turning away.

“This is unnecessary,” Garfunkel protested.

“Not in my mind. You need something to survive on as well. Wouldn’t want you to grow so hungry that you decided to eat one of the stray cats around,” Sandy replied with a smile.

“I have not touched blood since before your parents were born,” The undead blond said as he sipped at the juice.

A groan came from another doorway before a half-asleep teenage boy plodded through. “Yes mum? Today’s not a school day. I thought I could sleep in.” The boy paused to stare almost blankly at the visitors. He blinked a couple of times to clear his vision. “What are the London Twilights doing at our table?”

Both parents looked at him in surprise. “How do you know the Twilights?” Sandy asked suspiciously.

Timothy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to make sure he was seeing properly. “Some of the kids at school like ghost videos. They’ve been talking about this new channel “Umbra and Twilights’ and my friends and I watched it over at Evan’s a couple nights ago. I sort of liked it. Though that Edinburg one was a mistake. I still have the shakes.”

“It was worse being there,” Ton replied.

The teenager nodded as he stepped over to help his mother cook. “Can imagine. Just watching the video has me double checking shadows.” He then glared at his parents. “How do you know them?”

“We were having a little trouble when we were first married with unhuman neighbors. Vlad and Luke were very helpful,” Sandy explained.

Timothy paused to stare at his mother in disbelief. “You’ve known Umbra existed for longer than I’ve been alive, and you’ve never told me?!”

“We didn’t want to scare you as a kid and you wouldn’t believe us now if we had told you,” Sandy defended herself.

Timothy huffed in frustration, “It would have been nice to have known that the thing in the boy's restroom at school was an Umbra instead of me thinking I was losing my mind for years.”

“We couldn’t help you with that. But I never questioned you when you said there were monsters under your bed that were going to eat you. I knew you were telling the truth,” John said as he read the news on his phone.

The kid seemed like he had checked out of reality for a minute as Sandy placed the food on the table for breakfast. They all started on the food as the teen shuffled over. “So, what are you guys doing in Pluckley? I haven’t heard of anything bad happening around here recently.”

“Nothing has been happening,” Ton answered. “We are just doing a check to make sure everything is good. This place is very calm compared to others.”

Timothy sighed in relief, “That’s nice. I would hate to see how creepy this place actually is.”

“It’s not bad. It’s actually a very beautiful and interesting place. I would love to go on a ride in the Umbra horse carriage,” Shinyao shared.

“Ride with the horses?” Timothy questioned in amazement as interest began to grow.

“No more talk until you have eaten,” Sandy ordered as she handed her son what was left of the breakfast to finish off.

Once they were done, they thanked the family and started to leave. “Where are you going?” Timothy asked curiously.

Ton beamed at him, “Screaming Wood.”

“It’s Derring Wood. Don’t try to make it into a horror story to make yourself happy. It is a real place with a rich history,” Vlad scolded.

“But there was screaming coming from it last night, so it’s not untrue either,” Ton hotly returned.

“Have a nice day,” Vlad said to their hosts as he pulled the dark-haired girl way. Timothy watched them walk down the lane in excitement.

The four walked along the lane that was puffed in snow until the trees filled in around them in place of houses. Then they left the road to enter the woods. The snow was dazzling in the sunlight and the small birds around chirped as happy as ever.

“Who would ever imagine this to be one of the most haunted forests in England?” Shinyao said as she enjoyed the pristine beauty of nature as a slight low-lying fog rolled between the trees.

“You never had to live through what this forest has had to. It once was much larger than it is today. But with it shrinking, all the Umbra and history that goes with it is condensed into a much more crowded area,” Vlad said as they stepped down into a hollow.

“You should see this wood in the summer,” Tauryu said as he helped the girls over a more marshy area. “It’s very green and lush. Everything looks like the enchanted fantasy movies.”

“Maybe we can visit this summer,” Shinyao suggested as they came over a rise in the forested landscape for a small river to come into view. “I don’t remember a river running through Derring wood on the websites.”

“At the tip of it there is one. This is the river Sherway. It used to go through the entirety of the forest, but it barely even touches the woods now,” Vlad explained as they slowly walked along the rolling river that was so idealic with the water’s movements over the stones underneath.

“We’re at the edge of the forest? But we haven’t seen any Umbra,” Ton said in surprise.

“It’s also daytime. Most of them will be sleeping or hiding away,” Tauryu pointed out.

“Then why are we out?” Ton questioned in confusion.

“Because we have a schedule, and the condition of the forest itself gives us signs to if the Umbra are just being frightening or are actually causing harm,” Vlad explained. “Umbra here are predictable enough to have a general gauge without having to meet them.”

“That is both good for everyone and unfortunate for me,” Ton pouted sadly. Tauryu’s hand then fell on her shoulder and held strong without budging. “Yes? What’s wrong?”

The jiangzhi stared into the woods. “I think there are a few Umbra about for you to meet.”

Ton looked into the woods in excitement as the others did the same. Slowly, a dark suggestion of a figure tilted out from behind a thin tree trunk. Others flickered into sight and out before you had the chance to know they were there for certain. “I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Shinyao breathed.

Vlad frowned as the Umbra moved just enough for them to see them and then darted away. “Enough of your nonsense. Come out and meet us.”

“Meet us you demand. You always demand,” Came an unhappy voice that was neither deep nor high. One of the dark Umbra stepped out of the woods to them as it crouched its huge self, sort of like a frog.

“Shadow people,” Tauryu whispered to the girls. “They are their own species. They are the shadow at the corner of your sight, the extra darkness that does not belong, sometimes just a black figure that is to terrify you.”

Vlad considered the bold Umbra. “Are you making the screams at night, or do you still deny involvement in that?”

Another shadow stepped out and towered nearly double the height of the young men over them. “If we did make those screams, we would take credit for it, but we can’t take credit for anything since you joined the Twilights. You took away everything from us.”

“Mass murdering humans that come into these woods is adequate reasoning to do so,” The vampire returned.

“It was only for fun. You would have loved how terrified and panicked all the humans became when you were actually useful. Did you bring us these girls to play with?” The frog like humanoid replied.

“No. They are with me,” Vlad said.

“With you. We see. We won’t touch them then,” Another shadow said as it came up right behind them out of nowhere. It raised its hand towards Ton’s worried face.

Tauryu batted it away with his hand. “You have sworn to never kill again. Keep that oath.”

More shadows massed behind the trees as they sneered out at them. The feeling of wrong and danger grew much more dense. “Swear. Swear. You don’t allow us to do anything anymore. It’s not like the humans can catch us. We kill with carbon monoxide. It makes no sense to the mortals, and they can’t figure out who to blame for it. We want to be useful again,” a disproportioned shadow with glowing red eyes in its otherwise featureless physique said.

“You can move into a pretend haunted house that humans like to set up for entertainment,” Tauryu suggested. “You can then scare humans without harming them.”

“Be a joke! Never. This is our home. We want fear here. Let the humans come to us to find their respect for the greater beings and let the foolish ones die.”

Vlad looked over the amassing gathering. “Think of what you are doing. Impulses like these will get you killed. Your kind can continue to live here in Derring wood if you behave.”

“You think this is an impulse? We have been wanting this for years. We were willing to hide away the first few years after you beat us, but we have grown in numbers and strength once again. We know what we are meant for.”

“Don’t touch me,” Shinyao warned with a dangerous sharpness to her voice as the shadows drew much too close.

“Even humans think they can order us about! We’ve hidden for too long, Count. Our lore demands death, and we have fought against it for too long. It would have just been humans, but getting rid of you is even better!”

The frog shadow leaped on Vlad as the Umbra surged forward as if the night was returning in a blanket. The girls that had been watching the proceedings quickly joined in against the mob of hate filled Umbra. Ton tried not to breathe as the air became heavy and not right as she ducked under the hands that were reaching to seemingly smother her. One shoved her conjured sword aside and then her with it. Ton yelped as she stumbled over the uneven terrain and fell, her fluffy winter coat taking some of the impact of hitting the snow cover rocks. She was then sliding down the slushy bank and right into the river. The freezing water soaked her instantly and her breath caught in her throat at how horribly cold it was. After too many seconds, she snapped out of her shock to make her limbs push her back up to the surface.

Back in the air she took a stilted gasp for oxygen. It was so cold. Her skin felt like it was trying to bunch up on her muscles as those were trying to become stiff. The dark-haired girl glanced around to try and find the shore. It wasn’t far away, but her friends were not in sight. Then, with how she was still being moved down stream, they were probably up the next bend. Tauryu then sprinted through the trees to pause on the bank. “Ton-sama!”

“H-here!” Ton called as she began swimming towards him. Her snow boots and winter gear dragged at her as she ignored the frigid temperatures to swim towards the shore as the jiangzhi walked along the bank to keep pace with the current pulling her downstream. Baileu kicked harder as she felt the current change to pull at her. “Tauryu!”

Then the stronger current whisked her faster down the river. Fear kicked in as Ton desperately tried to get to the bank. Then she was under. The current sucked her under without a second’s warning. The temperature was forgotten as the only thing that mattered now was getting back to the surface. Ton tried to swim as best as she could, but the water was much too powerful to listen to a weak mortal. The dark-haired girl then felt as the water pressed her against the stones of the river bottom. With hope, she pushed off of the bottom to get to the surface only for the current to pull her back under. As the rocks touched her again, Baileu turned herself to try to push off again as her lungs began to squeeze painfully.

Her boots touched stone, then they were under it. Ton tried to push herself out as the current jammed her further in. Then she slammed forward into the underwater boulder. Almost everything faded in importance as she just existed. Then the current slammed into her again to shove her body forward even more. She screamed as an almost electrifying agony shot up from her trapped legs.
The water that came with her instinctual gasp was almost enough to take her attention from her legs that were behind her in a way they should not be. She tried to push herself up so she was not plastered against the boulder. She was going to die. The thought was strangely calm for how terrified she was.

Then something grabbed her and with a hard jerk pulled her free. As her vision almost went black, actual air that her lungs had been trying to breathe for entered. Ton coughed hard as the water spurted out. The rolling water of the river kept throwing itself in her mouth as she tried to get a breath in, and then she was on the white snow-covered bank.
She coughed and coughed more until her throat was raw, but most of the foreign liquid was out. Then she breathed deep to refill her depleted body. A strong hand stayed heavy and comfortingly on her back. Slowly, she turned over to see Tauryu looking down at her. “How are you feeling?”

“My throat and lungs hurt.”

“That’s all? Not cold?” The jianzhi asked in concern as he rolled up the large sleeves of his coat to keep the soaked material out of the way.

“No. I’m not cold,” Ton said as she coughed a bit more.

Tauryu frowned as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m surprised this is still working.” Then he raised it to his ear. For a minute he waited before taking it away and tapping at the screen again. “Vlad must still be busy.” He called again and this time the other end answered. “Luke, we have a problem. We’re in Derring wood. Ton was attacked by shadow people and fell in the river. She is wet and says she is not cold. She almost drowned and her legs are broken.”

“What!?” Ton exclaimed in surprise as she tried to move to look at her legs.

Tauryu didn’t even try to put effort in to keeping her down as he just kept his hand on her shoulder to keep her put. The girl cried out as she recognized the numb but sharp pain now. “Vlad and Shinyao are dealing with the Umbra… And the cold?.... I’ll hurry. I’ll call you when I get there.” Tauryu then put away his phone and placed his hands under Baileu. “I’m going to pick you up. I don’t know much about medical things and with all that has happened, you will need a hospital.”

“Is it bad?” Ton asked before she was gently lifted and the jianzhi began to run unnaturally fast through the woods.

“I can’t tell. Your winter clothes may be hiding too many things.”

“Should I take my coat off? It’s all wet,” Ton said as she moved her soaked gloved hands feebly.

“No. Luke says that as much as it would be better for you to be in dry clothes not to. Since we don’t have any, it’s better for you to have a little insulation, even if it’s wet. I’ll try to get you to the hospital soon so they can warm you.”

“What hospital? I don’t remember passing one in Pluckley.”

“Ashton is closer to us now. They have a very good medical service.”

“Where’s Vlad and Shinyao?”

The jianzhi glanced down at her. “Dealing with the Umbra. Vlad can’t swim or he would have come after you.”

“So, Shinyao’s safe?”

“Should be. Vlad will take care of her.”

“Shinyao likes Chris taking care of her more,” Ton said as the pain in her legs faded to the back of her mind and things began to dull around them.

Tauryu looked down at her in worry as he tried to run as fast as he could. “Tell me more. Don’t stop talking.”

“More about what?”

“Anything. What’s your favorite food?”

“Dumplings,” Ton sighed in contentment as buildings began to come into view. “Soup dumplings. I love how there is more soup inside of the dumplings. Shinyao likes fried snake. Her family gets a snake to cook on occasion.”

“Stay awake,” Tauryu ordered as the girl began to fade out of consciousness. “Do you eat snake?”

“A couple of times. I like pork better.” Ton hummed as her eyes closed, “I’m tired.”

“Don’t!”

~

Everything was dark and comfortable. So warm and soft. Ton tried to sink back into the perfect deepness of sleep again, but it was just outside of reach. She did not try to search for her memories of where she could be as they came to her. As she remembered that she was hurt, she sighed and then yawned. She opened her brown eyes to look at the ceiling of her small hospital room. The quiet sound of music came from her side. Reluctant to move out of the comfortable position, Ton looked over to find Shinyao sitting in a chair against the wall. She was focused on her phone as the music came from it. “Shinyao.”

Mu looked up and smiled as she came over. “Good morning. How are you feeling?”

“Good, but I probably shouldn’t be, right?”

“You scared the doctors when Tauryu brought you in. Probably not.”

“How did it go with the shadows?” Ton asked as she tried to will the last remnants of rest away.

Shinyao smiled softly, “They’re taken care of. They should be too scared to try anything for a few more years.”

Ton groaned then, “My phone! It’s probably dead! All that footage!”

Shinyao laughed then to her friend’s surprise. “It’s alright. You dropped it on the bank when you were pushed into the water. Wayne has ordered us indestructible body cams though. He thinks that it would be better for us to have our hands free and not have to hurry to get our phones out when something happens.”

“That sounds nice,” Ton agreed as the doorknob turned.

Vlad and Tauryu stepped in together. They paused their conversation at finding both girls awake. “I’m considering taking you off historical checks as well,” The blond stated.

“What?! Why?!”

“This was a simple, peaceful check and yet you almost succeeded in dying in multiple ways,” Vlad said as he came to stand beside her bed.

Ton blinked slowly at him, “I did?”

Shinyao held up her fingers to check that she named everything. “Extreme blood loss from severe compound fractures on your legs, final stage hypothermia, and Tauryu says you almost drowned. You’re lucky he was able to keep you from going into shock or that would have made everything worse.”

“Compound fractures? Hypothermia?” Ton asked weakly in horror.

Shinyao nodded as she held up her hands to demonstrate. “Yes. You see, your knees only bend one way and Tauryu says that you were pressed stomach down on the bottom with your feet mostly right directly under the rock. That is the opposite direction that your legs should bend. Both of your legs snapped to allow that, and the bone went through your muscle. The hypothermia basically froze you solid. You went to sleep, and your body temperature dropped a lot lower than it should have been, though a nurse told me that it could have helped since being so cold would have slowed your heartbeat and blood flow out of your body. You…”

Vlad chuckled in amusement to himself as the detail-oriented girl described what happened with too much detail for Ton apparently as the dark-haired girl steadily lost color to her skin. “One would never imagine how violent you are Miss Mu.”

“You’re safe now,” Tauryu reassured Ton. “The doctors have already pieced your bones back together. You can go back to the café as soon as the doctors check you over and instruct you on how to heal the best.”

Ton smiled weakly, “Thanks Tauryu. I would have died if you were not there.”

Tauryu nodded, “I’ll always be there to help you.”

Chapter Text

The kitchen in the café was an organized mess. Ingredients were stacked on one counter to be added to bowls to be mixed as the sink was over filled with appliances that needed to be cleaned. All the rest of the space was lined with baking sheets and cooking cookies. “This is fun,” Shinyao said as she carefully put icing on one side of a crisp dark biscuit and connected it to finish off the main square for a house. Ginger was the most prevalent scent in the kitchen as more of varying shapes waited for their frosting glue to be put together.

Ton sat beside her at the counter also constructing a gingerbread house with her legs encased to heal from her last adventure. She carefully used the frosting to create a decorative design on her assembled Victorian style house. “How do you get your cookies so perfect when mine all turn out black?”

Luke smiled as he pulled out the latest batch out of the oven and popped the next set up of shaped dough in. “Practice. I’ve been doing this for as long as biscuits have existed. They have changed some. Gingerbread used to be much more plain and there was no icing. The bakers would use decorative stamps to put shapes into the dough before baking and that was it. No frosting.”

“So are yours that you have made that way look very nice,” Shinyao said as she looked over at the stacked counters around them that had huge architecture perfectly created by the werewolf with their tiny houses that were obviously amateurish in figuring out how to make them placed in between.

Luke then sat down on the opposite side of the counter from them as he worked to carefully fit the cookie beams together to create a three-foot Eiffel tower for himself. “Thank you. I love using techniques from all over the world. Plain biscuits with no frosting, just a little for all our neighbors more English tastes, and then after these, we can decorate the soft and very sweet American style cookies that you girls like.”

Ton giggled as the music they had turned on made the entire mess so much more warm and lighthearted. Leng was happily purring on the counter in front of Ton and would have been in the way if she actually was solid. The cool feeling feline was more than happy to have her girl’s elbows resting in the middle of her to balance the piping bag. “Thank you. Maybe later you can show me how to make good cookies. No one likes the ones I make.”

“I would love to. Maybe next time I do this.”

“How often do you do all of this?” Shinyao asked as she held her breath like it was going to keep her new chimney from moving. As it stayed still, she relaxed.

“During these winter months I do these ‘biscuit explosions’ as Vlad calls them a couple of times. Many of our customers and neighbors watch us during this time for my little city of biscuits to come out. They like walking through the main area looking at them. It’s like an edible gallery. It doesn’t last very long though. Everything is snapped up to be taken home to be shared with their families before you know it,” Luke explained as he added a little decoration to his tower before fitting it in an unclaimed corner to start on something else.

“People buy something as big as the ones you are making?” Shinyao asked in surprise.

“They do. If you’re having family over or are having a party, then they are great conversation pieces before they go down in deliciousness. Your small ones are for smaller groups,” the silver that had flour smudged on his clothes said.

Ton shook her head in wonder as she sat back to check her work. “Do you always make this much?” She asked as she slid her newly done house over to start on another.

“Yep, though I make much more two weeks before Christmas. Everyone has family coming, students are out of school for a bit, everybody is ready for a treat and even this is not enough to fill that desire.”

“How do you make all of this on your own? We’ve been here for hours helping you,” Ton asked.

“I’m a werewolf. Enhanced speed is a wonder,” Luke said with a wink.

“We’re probably slowing you down then,” Shinyao said as she added a lacy boarder on an eave.

“You are, but cooking is not always meant to be done fast and in bulk. Sometimes going slow and enjoying the process with friends is worth much more. It’s the memories and the time spent together that means more than the final product. By tomorrow, all of this will be gone, but you will still have this,” Luke said as he carefully set a specially baked dome on top of his model of the Taj Mahal.

Ton smiled softly at the silver haired young man. “Thank you so much for this. I’ve been feeling useless not being able to do much lately. I’m far ahead in my schoolwork now and I have no more footage to edit.”

“You’re welcome to join me anytime. I’ll teach you how to cook European style,” Bowen said as he started frosting sugar crystals on his masterpiece to make it glitter.

“Ton doesn’t know how to cook anything,” Shinyao stated simply.

“Shinyao!”

“It’s true. You barely know a cookie recipe from that class in school back home and you did not do very well in that unit,” The brown-haired girl said without any judgement.

Baileu frowned as she flexed her aching piping hand. “I was more worried about other classes. My mom cooked for us. I didn’t have to do anything like that.”

Luke shrugged unconcerned, “It makes sense considering how hard you study over there. I can also teach you how to cook your traditional foods. Toryu would be more than happy to taste test on that for you. He misses traditional Chinese food. I hear that Xiaolongbao may be a good thing to start with?”

“How did you…” Ton wondered as the mischievous Umbra grinned at her.

An enchanted mirror entering the kitchen rippled before Chris stepped through. He calmly looked over the mess of the production area before looking back to his brother. “Are you planning on proposing to some one?”

Luke laughed as the girls watched in interest and confusion. “Find me some one that can’t say no to my food, then you’ll be right.” The silver then paused as he noticed the girls. “Ginger in the dark ages was expensive. If one gave gingerbread to their beloved, then it was considered similar to a valentine. It was a very intimate and special gift.”

Shinyao giggled as she understood, “You must be trying very hard to impress someone then with all you’ve made today.”

Luke sighed in mock exhaustion, “Alas! For a century I have made and made and no maid turns an eye to me. I am doomed to an eternity of bachelor hood.”

Chris scoffed before looking over to the girls. He strode over to them in his way that seemed that he was dead set on battle. Then he just stood there and shifted uncomfortably. “Chris?” Shinyao asked in concern.

He looked straight at her then huffed, “There’s a Winter Ball. Will you go with me?”

Shinyao blinked not understanding, “Ball?”

Chris uncomfortably glanced at his brother to only get a huge teasing grin from him. “A dance.”

“Are you asking me on a date?” Shinyao asked to be sure she was not thinking of the invitation wrong.

“Yes.”

The brown-haired girl smiled in excitement. “I would love to go with you.”

Chris nodded then glanced around uncomfortably. Luke laughed to himself, “Can you take some of our stuff out to the main area?”

The red took the offered diversion as he stepped over to pick up Buckingham Palace. “You should consider working with only what you can handle at a time instead of this wreck.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” the silver replied.

As soon as the younger Bowen was through the mirror, Ton and Shinyao began to giggle. “He asked you out!” Ton exclaimed.

“I truly was not expecting him to,” Shinyao said with a slight blush.

“Has he not before?” Luke asked as he tended to his building.

“No. He hasn’t. He’s kind of shy,” Shinyao said in excitement.

The silver wolf paused to look at them seriously. “He hasn’t made a step before, and you have been getting attached?”

“He doesn’t flirt with everyone like you do,” Shinyao replied softly.

Luke frowned as he shifted to face them head on. “Shinyao. Listen to me. I know my brother is not like me. He is different, but that does not exempt him from being a gentleman and doing things right. If this little crush of both of yours is going to keep going, he has to take you on multiple dates.”

“He takes us to meet Umbra and to different places all the time. That’s sort of like a date,” Shinyao pointed out.

Chris stepped back in to grab another building. Luke watched him leave again quietly until he was gone again. “That’s more than many get now days, but that is more work than date. Dates are supposed to be creative activities that allow all involved to have fun while at the same time find out what each other likes and dislikes.”

“We almost know everything about each other with all the time we’ve spent together,” Shinyao put in.

“Good. That’s a step, but if my brother is such a coward that he has not officially asked you out before then that is not a good sign. He is centuries old. He should be capable enough to court you properly. You deserve the best you can get Shinyao. Don’t settle for someone that is the first one to pay you any attention. If my brother is not that, then forget him.”

“How can you say that?” Ton asked in surprise. “I thought you wanted Chris and Shinyao together with how you tease them.”

“Teasing is fun, but truth is more serious. I love my little brother, and I want him to be happy, but if he’s not putting in the effort for one of the most perfect girls I’ve ever met then I’m willing to break it up. I’ll help you find someone that will actually care for you Shinyao if Chris does not treat you right,” Luke stated. He suddenly smirked as the red came back in. “You’re getting slow little brother.”

Chris huffed as he picked up another huge gingerbread building, “Toryu is making sure that the tablecloths are on and that everything is perfectly positioned.”

“Take some lessons sometime,” the older called after him before looking back to the girls.

Shinyao messed with the frosting smeared on her fingers. “I’ve never dated anyone like Chris before. I can’t imagine someone better.”

Ton scoffed, “Chris is a thousand times better than Mingze was.”

“Mingze?” Luke asked as his brother passed back in.

Shinyao ducked her head uncomfortably. Ton filled in, “He was Shinyao’s boyfriend in high school. He was a jerk.”

Chris almost paused as he heard that but stepped back out. “Mingze was not that bad,” Shinyao nearly whispered.

“He did nothing for you!” Ton exclaimed with a hotness of fury for her friend.

“Explain,” Luke ordered.

Mu kept her eyes on the sugar sprinkled wood floor. “Mingze took me to the movies, and I became his girlfriend. I would go over to his parents’ apartment to see him. He was a gamer. We were together for eight months.”

“He ignored her,” Ton spat. “He only cared for those games of his. He barely got decent grades in school and did nothing else. He only wanted Shinyao so he could say he had a girlfriend. He wanted Shinyao and his mom to take care of him so he could waste his life.”

“He did talk about marrying me,” Shinyao defended as she shrunk into herself.

Ton looked like she wanted to beat someone to a pulp. “He only wanted to sleep with you. He wanted you only for the fun.”

“Did it ever get that far?” Luke asked calmly.

Shinyao barely shook her head, “No. I asked him to spend more time with me than his games and he…”

“Blew up and screamed at you,” Ton stated then glared at the young man listening passively. “Shinyao ran out of his parents’ apartment and came to mine crying. She stopped eating. Then that jerk would ignore her at school. He even asked her to come watch a movie with him!”

“And?” Luke asked.

Ton clenched her hands into fists. “I told him no and tried to keep Shinyao away from him.”

Luke nodded before gently focusing on the lighter haired girl. “Shinyao. Look at me.” When sad soft hazel eyes lifted to meet his bright green, he continued. “Your first try at dating was bad like Ton says. I can see how you attached to my little brother so fast even when he kidnapped you in comparison to that. But comparing steel to water is not a very accurate way to do things. My brother may not be wishy-washy and made of nothing like Mingze, but how can you be certain that you would be willing to settle for less than gold? You need to be certain exactly what things you need for certain from the one you love and not compromise on them. Set standards that you keep for yourself and don’t settle for someone that doesn’t measure up. Yes, he may be different from you and won’t do everything exactly right, but if he fills the most important things and is willing to work with you on the difference then it will work out.”

“How do I do all of that? That sounds even more complicated than working with Umbra,” Shinyao asked softly.

Luke smiled slightly, “You have friends like Ton and me. I get the feeling that neither of us are afraid of interrogating whoever is dating you to see if they are really worth it. We’re willing to see if they are really the best you can do. Talk with us and we’ll give you advice on how to handle things and then we’ll go and break any jerk’s arms for you.”

“Even Chris’s?”

Luke huffed in amusement, “Currently Chris’s. You and Ton are special. Not just because you’re a little Umbra and all that, but your personalities and minds. That is why you both are so respected among Umbra and the Twilight community. Everyone that does not want you dead sees your worth and wants to be close enough to enjoy it. You both deserve someone that thinks you hung the moon and keep the stars from falling. Then is willing to still stand firm in who he is and asks you to support him while holding you up. You nor he should do everything in the relationship. You should build, help, support, and encourage each other to be better. Is Chris anything like that?”

Decorating had been put to the side as Shinyao thought. “Chris does say I’m amazing. And he is willing to film us for our videos even though he doesn’t really care about them. I think he likes taking us places and I’m never afraid with him around because I know he will do everything to keep me safe.”

Luke nodded encouragingly, “Considering my brother, those are pretty big tells, but can you stand his personality long term? Is he willing to step up to help you or try to do better? Is this apparent lack of initiative to actually take you on dates just a warning sign that he is going to expect you to do everything if this becomes serious? Is he going to ignore you like Mingze because he is not very vocal or a people person?”

Ton stared at the silver, “You’re being pretty hard on your brother.”

“Someone has to. No one gets better if everything is easy, and relationships never are. Some can just be a little easier if you are willing to ask these kind of things and not let emotions get the better of you. I heard it put this way once. When you’re dating take off the rosy colored glasses and pick apart every flaw of those you are considering, then when you’re married, put the glasses back on and never take them off again. Don’t just blindly walk into a problem and hope that everything will change. You wouldn’t date a raping serial killer, would you?”

“Of course not,” Both girls answered certainly.

“Then study them and find out if they are one. Then decide if the good and the bad that they will bring is going to be worth adding to the mess that is already your life. Can you handle the worst that may come with them?”

“What do you suggest I do with Chris then?” Shinyao asked.

Luke got up to pull the cookies out of the oven and slide in the next batch. “Go out with him. Have fun and be yourself. Throw yourself fully in but not your heart. See if he’s going to put in the effort. If he doesn’t or you find there is a big problem with him that is too much for you, then come to me and I’ll be there to help you when you tell him that you don’t think that it’s working out. If he is your perfect dream and Ton and I agree that he is doing a decent job, then grab on and drag him down with you. At that point, don’t give yourself away for anything less than a promise of eternity. Make your kisses hard to get until your boyfriend begs to marry you and give you a home that you can rule as a Goddess with him at your side.”

“That sounds like a fairytale fantasy,” Shinyao stated with a small smile starting to come back.

“Is there anything wrong with demanding love that is real and exactly how you would dream of it? Men that are willing to do such things are becoming rare in this world today, but that doesn’t give them an excuse to be wastes of space and not be gentlemen. Save yourself for the perfect someone and neither of you will regret it. It’s better to be alone than unhappy,” the canine Umbra sat back down at his art piece. “Besides, you have literal fantasy Umbra around. Is a romance that is considered impossible these days really that unrealistic when there are guys around that can literally cheat death?”

Shinyao smiled as she picked up her piping bag again, “Not at all. I think some of my Umbra neighbors have been flirting with me. What should I do about them?”

“If they ask you out, say yes. Unless Chris puts a ring on your finger, you’re free. Have fun and see if any of them could be even better than my little brother. Then come back and tell us everything. We would love to be part of your love life,” Luke teased.

“I agree,” Ton said with a giggle. “Now let’s talk about this date of yours.  If he doesn’t bring you flowers, I’ll make him eat my cookies.”

"Oh no. The horror!" Luke wailed dramatically with a wink.

The brown-haired Asian girl smiled as she slid another completed house over. She paused to look around, “Chris hasn’t come back.”

Luke’s cunning smirk flickered away before his helpers could see it. “Tauryu’s a perfectionist. He’s probably wearing my little brother’s patience thin getting everything into place so that all of this fits outside.”

Shinyao picked out the cookie pieces that she needed to put together her next house. “What do you wear to a ball? I don’t exactly have any nice dresses.”

Luke shrugged as he checked out his Taj Mahal then slid it into a newly opened space. “Don’t know. I’ve never worn a dress to one before.” As the girls laughed, he joined, “The winter ball happens every year. They have a live orchestra and sometimes a popular singer. You can wear whatever you want, but a ball in my opinion is an excuse to dress fancy and do something you would not normally do.”

“I don’t know where…” Shinyao thought before brightening. “Do you think it would be alright if I ask some of my neighbors if they might have a dress that I can borrow?”

“Your neighbors are kind and safe. You might end up with more dresses than you can possibly wear knowing them,” the silver encouraged.

Ton beamed for her friend but sighed, “You’re so lucky. I want to go.”

“The notice probably just came out,” Luke said as Chris quickly came in to grab a baked house and was back out again. “The others will see it soon. Don’t worry. If one of them doesn’t ask you, I would be more than happy to take you.”

“You’re not going to ask me?” Ton questioned in disbelief at the normally forward flirt not doing so.

Bowen chuckled as houses and structures started disappearing from the counters in a blur that had a suggestion of red. “I think I’ll let the others try to get their footing. I’m not worried about them anymore. I personally think that we are good enough friends to be able to stay that way no matter what happens. I’ll still take you on dates, and if this gets even more serious, great! If not, then I have a wonderful friend that I can tease and give advice to.”

Ton’s cheeks turned red with the kind openness that she was not used to. “I don’t think I will be able to go anyways. Vlad and Tauryu don’t think I can even walk.”

“You will, you just will have to go slow to heal,” Shinyao said.

“I have been going slow, and I’m going crazy!” Ton stressed, “Vlad won’t let me go to any haunted houses and sit around. He doesn’t even let me work in the café!”

“I think that means he cares for you and wants you to get healed,” Shinyao pointed out as she started to decorate again.

“I already have multiple healing spells on. I should be healed faster than the doctors say I will. I can run and almost do everything I usually do. Vlad just doesn’t like to let me do things,” Ton groused.

The other two with her exchanged a glance. “What would you like to do Ton?” Luke questioned.

“Anything! I want to get out of the café.”

“Are you good enough for field work?” The silver asked.

Ton’s eyes lit up, “Do you have something I can do?”

The silver wolf hummed as he worked at his massive building. “Not currently but depending on what you feel you can handle; I could find something.”

“I can handle anything like what we’ve seen so far,” Baileu declared confidently.

Luke smirked, “Alright. I’ll get us something. Let’s get our biscuits finished.”

Chapter Text

The snow was swirling down thickly outside to layer over the slick ice that had formed on the streets of London. Shinyao’s sweet smile was unable to be removed as she and Chris stepped inside. “Hello!”

Tauryu eyed the snow built up on their coats and her hat. “May I take those for you?”

“Thank you,” Shinyao said as the jianzhi took their wet things. She hurried over to Ton that was working at her computer at a nearby table. “How are you doing?”

“I want to disappear. Where were you? Your class ended four hours ago,” Ton asked as she looked over her perfect grades.

Shinyao basically sparkled, “Chris took me to the ice rink and taught me how to ice skate!”

“Wow! Really? That sounds more like a date than a random idea.”

The quiet girl glanced at the red head that had gone over to his brother. “I’m hoping it is. He wanted me to make dinner with him tonight. Why do you want to disappear?”

Ton slouched in her seat as she motioned over at the young men. “Luke told them he’s taking us on a mission and Vlad is throwing a fit over it.”

Shinyao glanced over at the gathering by the bar. “I’ll be back.”

She walked over to listen. “… completely idiotic and only a fool with no ability to think would consider taking child mortals to a place where no one should ever go,” Vlad was angrily criticizing.

“What’s he talking about?” Shinyao whispered to Chris.

The red shrugged, “Don’t know. Haven’t heard more than every insult a dictionary can put together since I got over here.”

Luke smiled as he suddenly ignored the blond vampire. “Hey Shinyao. It’s snowing.”

The girl smiled, “It is. It’s so beautiful.”

“It’s been snowing all week,” Vlad grumbled as his crimson glare tried to stab into the older Bowen’s back to turn him around.

“And every time it’s still as wonderful as before,” Shinyao said before curiously looking at the silver. “Ton said you have a mission for us?”

The Were brightened as the undead Umbra behind him had murder beginning to emanate from him. “I’ve picked up a story that there have been mutilated unidentified bodies popping up in a river in Somerset. Police and forensics have attempted to classify what species the bodies are, but they can’t. So far, they are guessing they are black wolves that have had the fur mostly decayed off. But every body is shredded and mutilated so badly that they can’t tell body confirmation. I managed to get a couple of pictures and have identified them as an Umbra species. I want you and Ton to go with me to check on what is happening and see if we can stop strange bodies from scaring the local humans.”

“What kind of Umbra?” Chris asked suspiciously.

“Svartalfar. Black elves,” his brother answered.

“Those scum! You’re taking the girls down there!” Chris snarled.

Vlad gave the red wolf an appreciative glance. “I am beginning to like you more.”

“They’re not that bad, little brother. Have you ever met one?” Luke asked.

“Once.”

“In their home?”

“No. He was up here,” Chris growled as he stepped back.

“They’re different in their home,” Luke reassured.

“They are worse,” Vlad stated.

“Have you ever met one?”

“I have heard enough from the dwarves they trade with to never have a care for them,” Dracula stated.

“What’s going on with these elves?” Shinyao asked to try and get enough information to understand the argument.

“They obviously were killed and ended up in the river. The dark elves live in the caves beneath the earth meaning that the current down there is bringing the bodies up to the surface. We need to head down to their cities and find out what’s happening to get these bodies in the river. If we can get the bodies to stop coming up, then no more interest will be given towards them. Elves prefer to be left alone by almost all species in existence,” Luke explained.

“They all think they’re too good to be bothered by any other species,” Chris growled.

Luke gave in, “They are prideful, but I’ve been around Vlad for so long that they almost seem humble.”

Wayne hooted with laughter before disappearing into the television to save himself from the Count. Vlad flexed his hands to try and stay calm. “Leave the elves alone. If a hunter wants to find them, let them try. There is no reason for you to get lost searching for them.”

“I won’t. I’ve been to Ovre and some of the dark elf cities before. I know what they are like. I see no problem in the girls coming with me to meet them.”

“You are not taking them on any of your brainless adventures. Ton has two broken legs and needs help walking anywhere and both of them are inexperienced,” Vlad started in again on a tangent he had apparently been on for hours.

“I don’t think either you or I know what the girls are capable of. If Ton thinks she can handle going on this, then I believe her. They know their bodies and their limits. I am only there as a guide. Yelling at me is not going to get you anywhere. Talk to them,” The lighter Were defended himself.

“I want to go!” Ton called as Vlad went to argue. “I’m tired of you babying me! I can do this.”

Vlad hissed to himself, “Impulsive tomboy. You will get into trouble someday.”

“And Luke will be there to help us,” Shinyao pointed out.

“That comforts me beyond imagination. A wolf that never tells anyone what he is doing,” Vlad said as he meant the opposite.

“I’m going with them.” Chris stated.

“This is going to be fun,” Luke cheered. “We all get to go cave exploring and see some amazing things and then I’ll ask Ton to go with me to the Winter Ball on the way back.”

The other two young men of the café paused. “You haven’t asked her yet?” Tauryu questioned.

“No. Timing is everything. She’ll be impressed with me when we get back up and will love to go out with me,” Luke proclaimed.

Vlad tisked even as he glanced over at the girl sitting at the nearby table. “As if you can impress anyone. You have nothing to do so.”

The chef smiled cockily as he turned for the mirror to the kitchen. “You should talk to my dates. They would give you more examples of how impressive I am to be a partner than you could handle.”

Garfunkel scoffed as he left. “Your brother has a high opinion of himself.”

“Only when he’s teasing,” Chris replied.

“There must not be a serious muscle in him then,” Vlad said as he focused on Ton thoughtfully. Deliberately, he stepped into an enchanted mirror and came back out of another one on the other side of the bar.

Tauryu glanced over at the blond as he took the final step to be beside the dark-haired girl. “Ton-sama? Have you heard of the Winter Ball?”

“A little. Chris asked Shinyao to go with him to it,” Ton answered as she looked up at the jianzhi.

The tall oriental young man inclined his head, “May I ask to be your partner for that night?”

“You mean like a date?”

“Yes.”

Baileu smiled up at him. “I would love to go with you Tauryu. Though I don’t know how to dance.”

“I can teach you. Vlad and Luke taught me the steps of European ballroom,” Tauryu reassured.

Vlad huffed in frustration as he was beat to asking the girl out by a few seconds and stormed away. Shinyao tried to hide her smile as she turned to Chris and softly whispered. “Do you think that being manipulative is a requisite to go on missions?”

“Must be. My brother is a mission master for good reason. He obviously has his art well refined,” Chris muttered under his breath with a smile almost making its way out of his quietness.

Shinyao silently laughed to herself as she pulled out her homework to sit with Ton. A prideful vampire did not even realize that he had been urged into doing something by a seemingly harmless flirt with no apparent impressiveness.

~

“Are you sure this is enough?” Shinyao rechecked as they hiked through a snow-covered forest. All four of them had packs on that were much too light from lack of supplies to mean anything good for even a day expedition, not to mention the possible multiple days they had been warned to expect.

“Certain. It's just a trip between cities. We’re not going to the middle of nowhere,” Luke replied as he almost skipped through the winter forest.

“It almost sounds like it,” Ton responded as she walked carefully and slower than the others to accommodate her legs casts. She tried to ignore them and act as naturally as possible. Luckily everyone was going along with it other than Chris that would send her occasional unimpressed glances.

“It doesn’t sound ideal to you humans, but it is not that different from what your kind has become either. Here we are,” Luke said as they came over a hill. Below them was a small black hole in the snow.

“You’ve gone down there before?” Chris asked with uncertainty.

“Once. It was a lot harder then. I had no clue what I was doing or where I was going. This should be better,” Luke said as he dropped down into the hole. “I remember a little of what to do.”

“That is still vague,” Shinyao stated as she carefully sat down at the edge of the hole and slid in to be caught by the strong arms.

“And more scary than if you told us exactly what is down here,” Ton agreed as she dropped down and Chris leaped in.

“If you don’t think you can handle it, Chris can take you back to the train station,” Luke offered.

Ton scowled, “Which way?”

Luke chuckled to himself as he ducked low under an embankment of soil. “I’m pretty sure we need more than batteries though,” Shinyao said as they followed after him into the cave that was becoming less soil and more rock.

“I can actually agree with that,” Chris seconded.

“All of you worry too much. None of you are claustrophobic, are you?” Luke asked lightly as he dropped on to his stomach to wiggled through an unnoticeable gap.

“Doesn’t matter now,” Ton groused as she carefully followed through the hole she could barely get through. “A little advance warning on somethings would be appreciated.”

“What’s that?” Came a much too flippant voice in the darkness ahead.

As she came loose, Ton reached into her bag for a flashlight to illuminate the rocks all over the place and low ceiling. Luke grimaced as his green eyes reflected back and blinked to adjust his sensitive night vision to the light.

Shinyao came through easily. “I think being prepared mentally is just as important as physically. This feels too impulsive. Ton, let’s turn on the body cameras that Wayne got us. That way we can record anything without taking up needed hands.”

“And reckless. Both describe my brother,” Chris continued as he stuck his arm and head through. He snarled as his wide shoulders got stuck in the crevice.

Luke stepped back to shove Chris’s shoulder back and move him into position to drag him out. “Yet, I sometimes feel like I’m staring at a colored mirror with you around.”

Chris shrugged as he got up and they began picking their way downward on the uneven floor. “I guess I’m also like that. I just don’t have any responsibility and can’t drag others into a mess like you can.”

“You might be surprised with the responsibility that you do have little brother,” Luke replied before stepping off a ledge into the darkness. The girls did not panic as they curiously looked into the darkness not to find him. “I’ll catch you.”

“I still have casts on my legs, Luke. I don’t want more,” Ton called down as her flashlight did not illuminate the bottom.

An amused laugh was all the answer she got. Shinyao took a deep breath. “Well, we’ve fallen off of buildings before with less trying to save us. Coming!” Then she leaped off the edge.

Ton glanced over to see Chris was tense. “Why are you not down there?”

It was eerie how his green eyes gleamed in the darkness that nearly swallowed the rest of him as he gave her an unimpressed glance. “Waiting for you to get down there so I can keep someone from being eaten in the back.”

Baileu turned back to the drop off before her. “I’m coming down!” Then she leaped. Her heart stopped as the wind passed her in the blackness. Then she was in Luke’s arms without much of an impact.

“You made it! See? You’re starting to get the idea of how things work. Soon you will be a field operative and will be able to go on all the missions you want,” Luke said as he put her down.

Chris landed on his feet beside them and shook his head. “I will never understand your ideas on dating, big brother. Bringing a girl down to a dark cave that has Umbra living in it does not seem very inspiring for romance.”

“It's not too bad,” Shinyao said as she unzipped her snow coat as the temperature became pleasantly cool but warm as they traveled deeper. “I like seeing new things.”

“I love Luke for bringing us. He’s miles ahead of Vlad in my opinion,” Ton declared as she carefully placed her heavy feet on the cave stones. “Vlad’s too controlling. He won’t let us do anything.”

Chris was quiet as he silently walked behind them. “Guess I don’t understand females’ logic.”

“Most of us don’t,” Luke yipped back. “If you find a species with males that do understand female thought process, then I would love to meet them.”

“Same in the reverse,” Shinyao agreed. “Men are so strange.”

“Glad it's not just the Umbra shining through,” Luke teased as they picked their way down a water smoothed incline of rock in the darkness.

“I think the Umbra parts make it easier to understand you. You know we won’t always understand and are willing to adjust to help us. That’s more than most human men do,” Shinyao pointed out.

“I hear too much experience in that,” Luke almost sang.

“Can we focus on these elves that we’re going to meet?” Ton questioned. “Or are you going to tell us to find out when we get there?”

“Now that is something that you should be forewarned about,” Luke agreed. “Who has done their homework?”

Shinyao raised her hand, “I did a search on elves when you said we were going to meet some and I got toy making ones that help Santa Claus and the a few others with Lord of the Rings being one of the most popular.”

The silver whisked the light brown-haired girl up to spin her in the air and then toss her up to an opening ten feet above their heads. Shinyao staggered as she kept her footing on the ledge but landed nearly perfect. “I’ve been training Twilights for a century, and you are one of the few that makes my life so much easier. Where have you been?!”

“Waiting for the perfect blip in time to meet you?” Shinyao asked as Ton was tossed perfectly up to the opening as well.

As the brothers easily leaped up, Chris glanced over to his elder. “She’s starting to flirt like you.”

“Is it not wonderful? My life’s work has been accomplished,” Luke rejoiced before going back to the topic. “Tolkien did his research. His version of many Umbra are very accurate for the ones that were created centuries ago. Though he did do a little adjusting to make them fit in his stories right. The elves he described are the most similar to the ljosalfar or light elves. They are an extremely fair and beautiful species. So much that the sun was considered to lack at times to their grace and glory. The ljosalfar live in the third heaven or Vioblainn and guard important structures whose fall would bring the end of the world. They are a very proud people because of that.”

Chris scoffed, “They are completely arrogant and vain from what I’ve heard and seen.”

“They seem that way to those outside of their culture. In it, that is just the way everyone is so there is no comparison. They learn to act that way and it is considered honorable to do so. For how much flak they get for being snot nosed brats, they surprisingly don’t judge other species. They just accept the insults and lesser ways as part of other’s cultures.”

Chris almost glared at his brother in suspicion. “And how would you know that?”

Luke’s long strides stalled for an instant at the question before he had his awkward smile up in the ghostly beams of the flashlights. “Well, I met them. I had been having some trouble about a century after we split up and they thought I looked pathetic enough take home. Humans are not the only ones who like to take in strays.”

The red wolf huffed, “I bet you loved the chance to flirt with them.” The other not instantly agreeing brought suspicion. “Didn’t you?”

“Of course I did! They thought it was a very interesting custom and found it very amusing. I just stopped after that mess and they started taking my compliments seriously,” The silver defended.

“Mess?” Ton asked curiously.

The older Bowen’s laugh was more strained, “It was nothing. They were used to battling off invaders wishing to destroy or rule the world. I was just there during one of them. The difficult part was convincing them that we were great friends as I left to avoid getting married to a couple of them.”

A soft but deep amused chuckle came from Chris then. “I am interested that you are not mated yet. You should have the biggest harem that has ever existed. Why haven’t you?”

“Now that is a secret I am not willing to share yet,” The silver Were said. “Back to the point. Tolkien made his elves more like the ljosalfar. He only made wood elves and such to make a difference in powers and abilities. The actual difference in the species is the dokkalfar, or dark elves. These elves live obviously in the caves deep in the earth. They have dark hair and skin that is also darker. There are two different kinds of dark elves down here. One is just the dark elves or dokkalfar and then there is the svartalfar or black elves that are even darker in complexion to be described as being a black as tar. Both of them have a similar way of honor and acting to their light cousins, but they are… more warrior like.”

“I don’t like how you paused,” Ton said.

“All elves are warriors. Each kind defends their homes and their sacred places. The darker kinds though tend to enjoy the thrill of the battle more than the light ones that only do so as a last resort.”

“Do we need to be worried about that?” Shinyao asked.

“Not yet. Dokkalfar usually are curious about surface dwellers. If they are anything like the last time I came down here, then they will have questions.”

Ton smiled to herself as she picked her footing carefully. “You know everyone.”

“It’s a hobby,” Luke joked back.

“Are there any rules for how to work with Dokkalfar?” Shinyao asked as they went deeper.

Luke thought for a long minute, “They are pretty accepting for a species. They know they are isolated and that others are different. You might have to live with a language barrier. Their language used to be a Germanic and Norse base but being down here, and then a couple other differences have made their language different than any other on or in the earth. Though they have learned how to speak a dwarf dialect for trading purposes with one of the only other species that come down here.”

Ton nearly bounced in excitement if it wasn’t that she had bulky brace boots on her legs. “I just found a translator talisman in my grandmother’s books! I can try it to see if it works!”

“If it works then I’m really missing a diamond ring right now. You better get that made,” Luke returned with his smile so wide that his sharp wolf teeth glittered in the mechanical light.

Chris huffed in amusement as he shifted his own wolf features out with no one else to see and judge. “You already scared Tauryu into asking her to the winter ball. You have to wait to marry her until after that.”

A red glow illuminated the open cavern they were in as Ton pulled the talismans out of her dim shadow for them. Luke snapped in fake agitation as his party each took one, “Rats! Me and my overly helpful self. You couldn’t get a more unique destination wedding that no one else can brag about than here.”

“If I like it down here, I might consider it for a honeymoon,” Shinyao said as her friend went silent in her flustered state at the sudden talk of marriage.

“I am willing to pull some strings to get you and your husband into Vioblainn. The light elves' kingdom is wonderful and is probably more beautiful and grand than any place on earth. Down here is a little too dark for enjoying unless you want to be intimate the whole time.”

“You finally got Shinyao blushing. You don’t have to go much further,” Chris stated.

“What is the fun of having single people around if you don’t heckle them? You used to be so easy to get blushing. Back with, what was her name? Inga? I almost thought she was Umbra with how you couldn’t get a sentence out around her.”

“I’ve grown since then! I wasn’t used to females that were nice!”

“You have. I’m so impressed. You have so much familiarity and control. Able to remain so cool. Now you just keep your mouth shut until you can say something intelligent. No wonder why everyone thinks you’re a mute.”

Both girls giggled as Chris was quiet then growled dangerously. “I’m not interested.”

“Of course not. You just stare from the shadows at everyone you like like a stalker. If they are really cute, you just might grab them off the street and take them back to one of your hiding places.”

Shinyao ducked her head at the tease that the red werewolf liked her. Chris’s growl dropped even deeper. “I’m starting to like this cave more. No one will ever find your body.”

“If that happens, you have to name your fifth son after me. There has to be a Luke Bowen on earth to continue this greatness.”

Chris sputtered then the cave rumbled as he slammed the silver into the stone walls. Luke’s laugh was infectious as he tried to save his life. Shinyao giggled, “Aren’t boys so cute?”

Ton smiled as she shook her head at all of them. “I think they are when they are not making a murder scene.”

“So, you like them better when they are blowing things up? Or do you like elegant martial arts more?” Shinyao referred to the Umbra boys back on the surface.

Ton felt even hotter in her cheeks. “Chris? Can you help me hide Shinyao too?”

“Do that yourself. I’m busy making myself an only child,” Chris replied as he and his brother wrestled on the rough cave floor.

The red wolf suddenly went tumbling. When he stopped, he had a spear against his chest. The tall lean figure holding it was relaxed above him. “How do you want him to die, furred wanderer?”

Ton and Shinyao held each other tightly as others held their own weapons against them. Luke sat up though with little care. “Tharur! It’s been too long.”

The intruder about to kill the red Were inclined his head for his silky dark brown hair to ripple with hints of red in the flashlight’s glare. He was extremely tall and lean with a complexion that was a gray paleness. “Perhaps for a surface dweller. You have left and time does not seem so great since. Your attacker?”

Luke got to his feet to step over to Tharur. He smiled as he pushed the spear to the side and pulled a glaring Chris up. “Let him live. He’s my younger brother.”

The elf that held an air of grace and superior perfection calmly took in Chris with appraising eyes that lacked white, only brown color and huge black pupils that took up the rest of the center. No emotion was given away. “Battle practice or removal?”

“Practice,” Luke replied before motioning to the girls. “These are our friends.”

The spears dropped for other Umbra similar to Tharur to step to the last reaches of the light. Tharur gave them each the same cool appraisal before turning back to the silver that was a head shorter than him. “You would not return without a purpose, furred wanderer.”

“We need to have an audience with your King and Queen. Events on the surface have brought attention to your halls,” Luke returned.

Tharur stared long into Luke’s green eyes like he was waiting for him to fidget. At last, he turned away. “Hiya. Inform their Greatenses of our visitors.”

One of the other figures nodded before leaping off into the darkness. Luke paused to help the girls get down the rocks to him before following after Tharur into the darkness. “Are you alright?”

Ton nodded shakily, “Just surprised. You sounded weird when you were talking with that guy.”

“I was speaking his language if that’s what you mean.”

“You sounded like you were echoing like the other elf was,” Shinyao said.

“Probably the translator talisman,” Chris guessed before focusing on his brother. “Furred wanderer?”

“That’s what they call me. Our names mean nothing to them, so they give you one,” He smiled then with a quirk. “At least you understand what they are saying. That will save you from being called mentally unstable or a babbler like I was when I first came down. Learning their language was not easy.”

“I wouldn’t blame them. I would still call you that,” Chris replied.

Luke only smiled, “Ton, turn off your light.”

“What? Why?”

“Trust me.” The darkhaired girl clicked off her flashlight. They paused as the blackness surrounded them, the soft footsteps of the dokkalfar slowing around them. As their eyes got used to the blackness, details began to be picked out. The stones about them gave off a soft glow of light. Just enough that the girls’ human eyes could pick out the path and a few obstacles. “Lead the way.”

Ton stepped forward carefully to make sure she knew where she was placing her feet. “How is this possible?”

“It’s only the stone itself. When the elves down here truly want light they grow it,” Luke said as they moved along.

“Grow it?” Shinyao asked in surprise and interest.

“Yes. There are bioluminescent and florescent algae and lichen that are grown down here. If light is needed in a place, they will add a plant to a wall or ceiling, and it will spread. That way they have light without the sun.”

“That’s amazing. I wonder what else they do that is so simple but useful,” Shinyao thrilled.

“Well, they lack technology for one. So that is a great improvement.”

“Hey!” Ton cried as she tried to sound hurt.

“What do they use then?” Mu asked.

“You’ll see,” Luke nearly sang.

They continued on quietly until they turned a corner, and an immense cavern opened up before them. Elevated above them was a city carved from stone. Where the stone gave light before the lichen and algae here were three times brighter. Different colors of light blended together from every surface and crack to amplify the light until it was almost as strong as a full moon. Many buildings were built up the ceiling of the cavern as if trying to reassure support of the huge space that housed a city as large as any on the surface.

“Do you think that any of this lichen would survive up top?” Shinyao asked hopefully.

“I’ll ask them for you,” Luke said as they climbed upward to a tall gate that was the only opening in the stone wall that extended out a short distance from the cave opening.

As they were allowed to pass, Chris watched it close behind them untrusting. “What do they need a wall and gate for down here? I doubt that many other species would come this far down.”

“Only dwarves come down here. But the gates are not just a guard against lost cave explorers. Humans built walls against each other for the same reason.”

“The elves are trying to keep each other out?” Ton clarified in disbelief.

They were led into a street. Most buildings were built up in height and were sharp in design with exact cut decorative lines. The walls were few and mostly just floors and support pillars. No need for shelter from elements down here. Not all reached the cavern ceiling hundreds of feet above. Then elves came into view. They swarmed about as if it was a normal shopping day. The only real difference between the men and women was that the girls had an extremely thin waist and well-rounded bosoms compared to the lean flatness that lacked curves.

All cloth seemed similar down here as a light gray shimmering cloth. Clothing styles on the other hand were as diverse as on the surface. Men had anything to robes to bare chests. The females seemed to vary to barely covering private parts to flowing dresses. Age and status did not matter. Style was only determined on personal preference. All the dokkalfar paused in what they were doing to stare at them as they passed. Calls of greeting sounded around to the wanderer. Luke smiled and waved back to them. They were led to a structure that was carved into the cavern’s far wall. It looked more like a decorative piece until stone doors opened to let them in. The halls were extravagantly carved with shapes and patterns. Gemstones glittered from every surface. Silver covered the floor beneath their feet to reflect the light growing between the hugest emeralds, rubies, and other gems that none of the upper world were aware could exist. They were led through the twisting halls until they reached one with a taller ceiling. A long table made of wood with wooden chairs lining its sides was first and foremost. Then at the far back of the room was the huge thrones carved into the wall that twisted up to the roof.

Two elves sat upon them. The male was simply dressed in pants and a loose shirt that seemed too casual for royalty with furs lining. His wife had a short miniskirt around her sharp hips and cloth that circled her back to hold her breasts and cross over to tie behind her neck. Only her soft fur boots covered the most of her as they ended just below her knees. Luke bowed as they approached, “Your Greatenses. As ever I am amazed that you would permit common strangers to see you when you have many others so much more important to attend to.”

The man smiled slightly, “Visitors from the surface are always of great importance. All others will still be here tomorrow for their trials.”

“I’m certain their trials are much greater than ours when we have come on holiday to see the divine personages of the dokkalfar and the marvels of your cities,” Luke returned.

The Queen laughed softly, “As ever you are a flatterer, furred wanderer.”

“And I assure you that it is not undue.”

The King of the Dokkalfar looked back to the others that were trying to copy everything the silver wolf was doing in hopes of not making a mistake. “You have brought companions.”

“I have. King Grevon, fair Queen Fredel, I have returned with my younger brother and our lady friends. I have told them some of your proud species and they wished to see for themselves the wonders below that I could not give justice to in utterance.”

“Words like that could make one vain,” Grevon said as he studied the silver’s companions.

“Brother?” Fredel questioned as she looked Chris over. “Is he the one you compared to the sun? Hot and burning in battle and warm in sharing kindness? Giving light and all things good to those about him?”

The bioluminescent light in the room was enough to display Chris’s sudden embarrassed blush as he glanced guiltily at his brother that had been apparently bragging about him to obscure royalty while he had still been wanting to kill him. “He is.”

Fredel nodded, “How kind of you to bring him to meet us. To see if your tales are as amazing as they seem is much greater than anything we have to offer here.”

“Are your ladies as great?” Grevon questioned.

Luke smiled, “I suppose that is for you to judge. They are human and recent additions to my household. The dark one was recently injured in an ambush.”

“Are you warriors or providers?” The King asked the girls directly.

Shinyao and Ton stalled. Luckily, their silver haired friend knew what to say, “They understand what you are saying yet they cannot respond in your tongue. They can perhaps try to gesture. They are both warriors and providers in my house, yet they are mainly scholars.”

“Quite well accomplished,” Grevon complimented. “Join us later for a feast. Rest yourselves.”

“Thank you,” Luke said before letting other elves guide them through an opening.

“I feel useless,” Ton grumbled. “I can’t say anything to them. Why did you ask us to come with you when we wouldn’t even be able to know what they were saying to us?”

“You wanted to get out and experience of all kinds is good. Even this kind. You can’t be prepared for missions if you don’t know all the different ways it can go. Not to mention that if I get stuck halfway across the world and trouble starts down here. You can come fix it while I’m not here.”

“And how do you expect us to do that?” Chris demanded.

“Use your head. You guys can figure something out. I’m not going to be here to translate for you the whole time we are down here,” Luke said before they were taken to a hall that opened up to look down at the glowing city below. “So, before we split up, I’ll answer some concerns. Yes, you can change or bathe if they offer it to you. There is nothing you can or can’t do that will insult them down here. They expect us to be weird and different and they enjoy our oddities. Only thing you could do to get us in trouble is doing something secretive.” The older Bowen winked at them then with a wave as he turned down a corridor. “See you later for dinner.”

Chris and the girls glanced at each other in question before hesitantly following the elves still leading them on. “Why do I like him?”

“Because he’s your brother?” Ton guessed.

“Being family doesn’t mean you like them. With all the trouble Luke gets me in to I should just remove his head to save myself,” Chris sighed.

“You already tried that. You can’t kill him when he’s not holding back,” Shinyao pointed out.

The red growled lowly, “Sometimes its only the thought that counts.”

Shinyao waved as another of their guides broke off and motioned for one to follow. “See you later. Don’t punch anyone out a window.”

Chris frowned as she walked out of sight. “Everybody has something against me.”

“Is hard not to. You give it to us,” Ton replied before nervously moving after the next one. She paused to look back. “You and Luke will be able to hear us if we need help, right?”

The red wolf nodded, “Scream and I’ll be there.”

She smiled a little as she moved away, and Chris was led on. “Thank you. I don’t know what to do down here.”

Ton was led to a room that was more enclosed than most that she had seen that had a soft bed in the irregular shaped nook in the side. A warm spring trickled down from the rocks above to the side and drained away into another crack in the floor. “Do you wish for fresh clothes?” The elven woman who had led her asked as she stepped to an indent in the wall that held the shimmering gray clothes that was so usual down here.

Ton nodded as she tried to keep her actions plain and easily readable. “Yes please.”

The woman that towered over her even worse that the boys held out multiple styles of dress that the women in the city liked to wear. “What would you feel comfortable in?”

Baileu glanced over the different styles before taking a short dress similar to her summer ones. “Thank you.”

With some searching and guessing on purpose, she found something that acted sort of like soap but was so good that she had never felt so clean before as the sweat and dust of cave exploring washed away. The casts on her legs made everything difficult but she tried to ignore them as much as possible as she dried and put on the soft light fabric dress. She could feel how the elves down here were so beautiful and confident in themselves. What they used was better than even the most advanced formulas for hair and skin than the humans had developed above. The cloth was wonderful to touch, yet it was so light she was almost afraid that someone could see through it.

As she came around the gem fitted privacy wall back to her main room, she found a couple of the female elves had gathered and were touching her clothing. She stayed quiet as she listened to them. “This is so hard and tough,” One whispered as she felt the red leather jacket. “This must be some form of flexible armor. It’s so much lighter and easy to move compared to metal.”

“This too,” Another agreed as she held out Ton’s loose pants that protected her from winter’s coldness and managed to get over her casts. “It’s made different but is extremely strong.”

“Feel this fur! I’ve never felt fur before! I wonder what animal above is this soft,” one holding her fuzzy lined thermal leggings exclaimed as she held out the knitted fabric.

Her shirt was being studied seriously by two others. “An interesting attachment,” the woman murmured to herself as she unfastened and put the buttons in and out of the holes. “Similar to dwarves, but much smaller.”

“I’ve never seen clothes in so many different colors,” An excited elf said.

Ton giggled as she stepped out. Some of the elves dropped her clothes to seem disinterested in everything while others held them and watched her as if they did not care that they had been caught. The oriental girl paused; they did not understand her. If only there was a talisman she could make for her words to translate to them. Suddenly inspired, she reached into her barely existent shadow to pull out another talisman like the one she had. She handed it to the tall woman holding her shirt. “Can you understand me?”

The elf blinked in surprise, “I was made aware that you were a human. Not a witch.”

“I am human, I can just do a few Umbra things,” Ton explained.

The woman nodded without emotion as she handed the small mortal back her shirt. “Your clothing is rough.”

Ton pulled out more talismans to give to the other elves as she answered, “Yours is so soft. It’s almost like silk. What is it?”

“We make it from the strands that form in the river. They grow from deep in the water caverns and stretch out to us. At harvest the river is silver and sways like hair being flowed in the current.”

Ton fingered her current dress. “May I have one of your dresses to take home? We have nothing like this up there. You can have my shirt or another one in exchange.”

She got startled glances before hope and excitement came through. “You are willing to do that?”

“Yes. I have enough clothes at home. I would not be sad to let you have some of what I brought.”

“They are so strange,” one said as she held up the leggings.

Ton smiled as she rifled through her backpack for her phone. “I don’t have reception down here, but I do have some pictures of some other clothes I have. I can show it to you.”

“There is no need…” One began to reassure before Ton turned on the screen and blinded all of them with the bright light.

“Sorry. I’ll turn it down,” Baileu said as she dimmed her screen to the right level. Instantly, she had a gathering staring down at her device and the pictures she was showing them.

~

In the large room around the wooden table the others had gathered with the royal couple. Ton was led in with a swarm of elven women that were peacefully containing their excitment. The darkhaired girl smiled in joy as she came over to her friends. “Sorry. We lost track of time.”

“I get the feeling you have a reason for that,” Luke stated with a grin. Ton moved towards the royal couple as she reached into her shadow. In the red glow two translation talismans came free. She offered them to their hosts with a respectful bow. Grevon took in the offered papers and shifted his attention to the silver wolf in question. “It’s a gift.”

Grevon took the talismans. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Ton returned. Grevon blinked in surprise. “They are translation talismans. They will make it so you can understand us.”

The King nodded as he passed the other one to his wife. “Truly a great gift.”

Ton bowed as she hurried to an open seat beside Luke. The older Bowen patted her head encouragingly, “Good thinking.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before,” Ton whispered back.

“You were relying on me. You didn’t need to try something new with me holding your hand.”

“Truly interesting,” Fredel hummed. “Impressive for a fallible mortal.”

Chris was not quite able to keep the growl out of his voice. “You’re not that unfallible.”

Attention lacking expression turned to the red. “Would you care to explain?” Fredel requested.

The younger Bowen bared his teeth before forcing his lips down over his teeth. “You think you are more than those above because you hide away down here. You think you are infallible because you run from what would fall you. There is only you down here. You don’t have hundreds of species to hate and hunt you. You have nothing to make you as good as you claim to be. You’re only cowards too proud to see that others have what you lack.”

Fredel tilted her head in curiosity, “And you have the courage we lack?”

Chris huffed uncomfortably at the conversation he had gotten himself into. “I don’t hide away from my troubles and disappear into the most unreachable places on earth to escape them. If facing your hunters and crushing the entire trouble is courage, then I have plenty.” He paused to glance at his brother. Luke just watched in interest without offering a hint of help. He looked away from all of them. “But I guess that I’ve never been afraid to fight. It’s what I’ve always done. If you’re not afraid, then it’s not courage. It’s being fearless. Courage is pushing through fear. No. I don’t have courage.”

Grevon turned back to Luke, “You’ve done well training him. Not many are capable of considering and admitting their weaknesses.”

Luke smiled back, “I didn’t teach him that. All I am is weakness. I’ve spent my entire existence trying to make up for my mistakes.”

“Then perhaps it’s time for you to see the influence of others and make them take responsibility for their role,” Fredel suggested as platters of food were brought out.

Ton hesitated as she scanned over the meal. Insects of various kinds crawled in their steep sided bowls. Raw fish were laid out on trays. Nothing was the most appetizing in appearance. Yet Luke happily took one of the fish and bit right into its soft flesh. “Well,” Shinyao said as she picked up a worm that tried to squirm out of her fingers. “This is about like home.” Then she slurped the wriggler down like spaghetti.

“My family didn’t go to that market as often as yours did,” Ton said as she felt her stomach suddenly shrinking. Yet she picked up one of the crawling beetles and it crunched under her teeth. Its insides were slimy, and the taste needed some sauce for improvement, but she forced herself to smile as she took more. China did have a similar selection of ingredients for food after all. Just cooked and flavored differently. She settled for the fish in the end as Shinyao and the brothers worked on clearing out the entire selection.

“Now. What is it that has brought you down to meet us? I’m not so blind as to believe you would leave the warmth of the surface for our darkness,” Grevon requested as they ate.

“It’s actually very cold up there right now,” Ton said.

The King nodded, “I forgot you must endure with fickle weather.”

“We came down because there have been Dokkalfar and Svartalfar bodies coming to the surface from the rivers. Humans are starting to ask questions that we can’t create adequate lies for. What’s happening down here?” Luke asked.

Grevon slowly chewed a beetle before answering. “Much. Our brothers, the svartalfar, have been stealing our women and young girls. We have sent ambassadors demanding their return to receive denials of any knowledge of such events. We have then sent force to retrieve them, and the battles have been sore. There have been some that have died, yet we managed to claim many of the stolen.”

Luke was still in thought, “Has there been any reason given for the captures?”

“Do they need a reason to bring us grief?” Grevon questioned.

“If there is no reason then why do they wish to give it to you?” The silver returned.

Fredel sat back as she accepted a drinking horn. “As ever since you stopped your nonsensical speech, wanderer, your words are more than one could want. Am I correct in believing you wish to meet with the svartalfar to bring our battles to an impasse?”

Luke smiled, “You know me too well.”

“It is what you have done before,” Fredel said before standing. “I will send a messenger to alert Halrid.”

“Thank you, my lady,” Luke replied as he stood with Grevon.

The King nodded to the rest of them. “Rest well. Come. Let’s discuss.”

“Rest well. I’ll see you later,” Luke wished as he left as well.

Chris glared after him, “I get the feeling he’s trying to teach me something.”

“I think it's starting to work,” Ton agreed as she finished off the last of her fish. “It feels like the lesson is just starting and the point will come out just when we are emotionally ready for it.”

Shinyao giggled as she snacked on a large larva. “You’re starting to know how Luke works now.”

Ton sighed, “Why can’t Vlad be the one to get these kind of lessons? He needs some.”

“Probably because he’s too prideful to accept them,” Chris grumbled.

One of the women elves stepped forward. “Pretty mortal, would you like for me to show you back to your room to rest?”

“Yes please. I would like that,” Ton agreed as she pushed herself up.

“This way pretty mortal,” The pale complexioned elf said as she led Ton out.

Shinyao smiled as she stood. “I think Ton just got her name.”

“Not bad considering. I get the feeling I’m not going to get a good title down here,” Chris muttered.

“You’re not coming down here again. You will be fine with a lesser name,” Shinyao replied sweetly before turning in.

~

Time was hard to determine underground with the same amount of light. Chris had paced restlessly along the open hallway that displayed the city below until Shinyao got up and found him. None of the newness down here seemed to put her off and only fueled her excitement. How she was able to do that, the red werewolf couldn’t figure out. Eventually they wondered down to an open space that those dressed in light metal like one would imagine a warrior would wear were practicing with their spears forged in a curved design. They were ignored as they watched them spar with a graceful deadliness. Chris huffed after a while. “Don’t know who they learned to fight from but it’s almost painful to watch them be so incompetent.”

“I think they are doing quite well,” Shinyao replied.

“Maybe it’s their own style and their bodies do better this way but everything they are doing is too far apart.”

An armored woman sitting nearby turned to look blankly at them. “You have enough skill in a spear to tell?”

Chris sighed as he felt the unsaid weight of once again insulting the dokkalfar. “Yeah. I have some. The first humans my brother and I met after reaching earth were extremely great spear warriors. Probably the ones that made your lore to possess spears in the first place. I never liked weapons much, but my big brother forced me to learn with him.”

“Would you care to show us?” The elven woman requested.

Chris glanced to the petite girl at his side. “I would love to, but I better stay with her.”

“Whatever for?” One of the men called. “There is no danger here.”

“And yet you are at war with your own species that are your distant kin. Why should we that have come from a different place and species expect you to treat us any differently?” Chris growled back.

The elves did not really react. The man from before tilted his head slightly in consideration, “The little one can join as well. The furred wanderer is an uncommon ally of ours. None here would risk his savage wrath in harming his companions. Come. Let us be as brothers in arms and see each other’s strengths.”

Shinyao smiled giddily up at the red Were. “Let’s try it, Chris. It sounds like fun.”

Chris nearly snarled as he closed himself off to look at the ground. “I don’t trust them.”

“That’s why you are here. Luke says that the best way to learn is to try new things with others,” the light brown-haired girl pointed out.

Chris huffed, “Fine.” They stepped around the construction to join the warriors in the training area.

Shinyao stepped up to one of the elves that was open to spar with. “I don’t know much about fighting.”

“Very well,” the warrior accepted as he stepped forward but did not fully attack.

Shinyao moved back fast with a quick punch that barely sounded on the refined metal armor with her lack of strength as she gained more room. The elf was considering as he moved into her space again. Mu’s kick was basic but much more strong as it connected with his knee. The elf paused as he considered the hit before taking Shinyao’s arm. Her hesitant attacks instantly shifted as she twisted to break away and drove her elbow back into her opponent’s thigh. She ran a couple steps away before turning back to watch him. Instinct of basic fight patterns was running now more than thought. The elf moved with a choregraphed attack that she darted away from as a violet glow began to eliminate around her.

Chris smirked as he leaned back. Physical fighting? No, she was not good. Using her power to fight for her? More like how good were the dokkalfar at adapting to an inexperienced goddess.
Shouts of surprise came from all around as Shinyao snapped into the air with her black wings and hovered there as her vines cemented her opponent to the ground. The other dark elves paused before some began to smile slightly in interest. Taking their weapons with them, they stepped forward and faced the vines. They flipped and stabbed at the tangible power as they tried to get through to Shinyao. The girl safely stayed above their reach as she twisted her hands to control the friendly war below. After a while the dokkalfar backed away and she landed beside Chris.

“I didn’t do very well,” She murmured in disappointment.

“Keep practicing with Vlad. You did good enough,” Chris replied as whispers that his sensitive hearing could pick up spread in unseen hallways about the one who could fly.

Shinyao smiled up at him, “Thank you. It’s your turn.”

“Great,” Chris growled unhappily as he stepped out into the main area. With out a word he took a spear from someone and planted himself challengingly to anyone who dared to approach.
There was not much concern as one did so. The elf settled into a battle stance with graceful ease as the hot tempered Were uncomfortably shifted his grip on the foreign weapon and did similar. The battle form was obviously not normal to him, his style had an almost balled up feeling compared to the others around.
The elf moved first with a jab towards the red’s torso only to be intercepted and the spear thrown to the side for Chris the whirl under his arm and slam the blunt end of his stolen spear on the back of his leg. The elf staggered before turning and attacking fast. Shinyao forced herself from bouncing in excitement to let her body camera catch all of the fight that looked like it should have been from an action fantasy movie.

Chris no longer seemed uncomfortable as he and the warrior aimed strikes for each other fast and hard and deflecting them suddenly and pushing away. Even then he was still positioned closer together and more compact than the dokkalfar that was using his longer body and reach to his advantage. The elf danced around him with so much more experience in the weapon that it was almost painful though. The younger Bowen suddenly was inside his opponent’s space and the elf’s spear went flying out of his hands like it was a silly toy. The warrior did not back up in defeat though as he grasped the spear Chris still held and fell back to throw the wolf over him. The red easily landed on his feet and jammed the blunt end down hard on the elf rolling to get back up.

It suddenly was silent is the man curled up in agony. Chris did not pay attention to him as he kicked the elf hard to get him facing up right. “What to try again?”

The elf gasped for breath as he soothed his expressions out to neutral. He unlatched a part of his armor and held it up to see a huge indent going inward where he had been hit. “Not until I get this replaced.”

Chris huffed as he stepped back and threw his spear in the direction of its owner. “You’re too far apart. You can’t keep a good hold that way.”

“You could use some work,” Another elf commented. “Your positioning seems good but nothing else.”

“I don’t need work. What I need is my hands open. Weapons get in the way,” Chris returned with an irritated growl that said he was finished with interacting.

“Care to prove that?” A woman near his path to Shinyao asked.

His green eyes turned to her before he stepped right at her without a word of acceptance. She attacked fast with no holding back. The Were stepped to the side as he pushed the spear out of the way and socked her hard in the face. He didn’t even pause to check as he got to Shinyao as the woman elf clattered to the ground with her spear and didn’t twitch in any form of consciousness. “I’m going to remove my big brother’s arms for bringing me here.”

“You volunteered to come. It is your fault,” Shinyao reminded as they walked away from the training area.

“You’re right. Next time I’m going to lock you and Ton in your rooms, so I don’t have to volunteer,” Chris snarled as they left.

The warriors watched him then looked back to their female companion that was more than down for the count. The next elf that approached them was much more common and only motioned for them to follow. They went back through the open hallways until they reached the thrones of the King and Queen. Luke grinned at them as they came in, “Really little brother, haven’t you ever heard to never hit a lady?”

Chris frowned at his pale furred other, “I don’t hit ladies. Females that want to be treated as equal to males should accept a punch just like them, and what goddess did you flirt with to give you omnipotence?”

Luke just laughed as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in relaxation. “None that I know of, but if you happen to know one, I wouldn’t mind getting her number.”

Chris rolled his eyes as Shinyao giggled. “What are we going to do now?”

Fredel answered the question, “What we are about, dangerous protector, is waiting for the rest of our party to assemble. Shortly yourself, the flying sorceress, the pretty mortal, the furred wanderer, and ourselves will travel to Svar to meet with Halrid and his advisors.”

“I’m here!” Ton called as she rushed in with her backpack and a new elven dress on.

“We shall begin then,” Grevon said as he stood. He extended a hand to his Queen, and they led them through the castle carved into the cavern’s wall.

Ton would have been skipping if it was not for the casts on her legs. “Luke, when we get some extra time, I want to bring a lot of clothing from home down here. I want to trade them for some of these amazing dresses! Did you know that anything organic from above is considered priceless? Everything wood, animal, or plant based everyone will fight each other for. All of this gold and jewels are worthless. They’re just rocks that everybody trips over and gets in their way like common rocks. They’re only something pretty. We’re paying for something that is so common that actual soil for growing things is actually rare!”

Luke grinned at her as they met the warriors of their travelling party. “Isn’t a different perspective amazing? Now you know where you have to go for this sort of stuff that you could basically get for free and have a market for your wares. If you got the right connections and learned how to use them right, then you could become a millionaire and set for life.”

Ton blinked in surprise before beaming, “You’re right! Then I could become a full-time Twilight! I could spend all my time on my videos.”

“I’ll help you with getting things down here, but I think I would rather do something else full time. Being a Twilight is something that seems like a side hustle like it is now,” Shinyao offered.

The warriors now with them gave them obvious space as they stayed in the front of their group as they walked through the streets of the cavern and out through the gates into the much dimmer tunnels. “What are you considering to do full time?” Chris asked as the glowing stones of the tunnel guided them deeper into the earth.

Shinyao hummed, “I’ve considered a secretary job before. They are always needed and I’m good with details. That should be good paying. My mother wants me to be a doctor.”

“And you?” The red asked.

Shinyao focused on her feet as she thought. “I have never known. I have things I’ve wanted to do but nothing beyond them. I’ve always wanted to see things and travel. I sometimes dream of having my own house. For a job I used to think that being a farm worker like my parents were was good, but there is no opportunity or money in that. I’ve been forbidden from going back to that.”

Chris shrugged, “So what? Come trade down here and become rich and then become the owner of the farms. Don’t worry about the money and do what you want.”

“Is that how you live?” Shinyao questioned.

Chris huffed as he tried to explain his lifestyle. “Not really. I’ve never needed money. I don’t need a job to give it to me and tie me down. I go and do what I want and go without what has a price.”

“You would never stay for anything then? What about Luke? Would you stay in one place for him?” Shinyao asked critically. Luke glanced back knowing of her searching to see if his brother was actually worth putting her heart into permanently and nodded encouragingly.

Chris began to stutter, “I-I could stay. My big brother can take care of himself so I’m not worried… But if he needed me too, I could stay in one place. I did when we first came here. Luke and I stayed in a werewolf village for nearly two centuries before it was destroyed.”

Luke spun around to walk backwards impossibly over the uneven stones on the cave floor. “Can you really call it staying though? We were gone on hunts more often than staying in our hut.”

“I hated that thing,” Chris snarled.

“It worked.”

“It was too small. I thought we were going to suffocate or be crushed in that thing during the winter.”

“It was well built. It would have taken an elephant to bring that little thing down.”

Chris glanced at the girls, “The only time I would ever go into our shack back then was when it was winter, and it was too miserable to be outside in the wet and cold all the time.”

“Not that you went willingly,” the silver teased. “I had to drag you in from hunts to keep you from freezing solid.”

“Where did you live in the summer then?” Shinyao asked in interest.

“Outside,” The red answered simply. He shrugged at the disbelieving stares from the modern humans. “It was warm, and the forest and stars were better than being inside. We slept on the ground in our hut too.”

Shinyao deflated as she began to realize that the Bowens lived and were more comfortable in conditions she could not always be content with. “It must be frustrating to you to be living in an apartment at the pub and staying near the café.”

“I’ve gotten used to it,” Chris brushed off.

“Yeah right,” Ton blurted.

Green eyes froze the dark-haired girl as the Were glared at her. “I was forced to live in cities to hide from those hunting me. They didn’t think I would ever get near humans without running or killing them. Cities are just organized forests of buildings with a more dense amount of prey in them. I don’t have as many problems with buildings anymore since they are being built better and bigger. As long as my space is big, and I have multiple ways out I have little complaint with living in a shelter.”

“But you still want to travel,” Shinyao pointed out. “You got anxious being in London for too long. That’s why we went to Edinburg. Perhaps you once could stay in one area, but now you only know how to move.”

Chris looked away from her. “I’m trying not to.”

“Just come back to say hi once in a while,” Luke called back from a conversation he had started with one of the warriors.

“Says you, wanderer.” The younger Bowen huffed, “You may have stayed in London for a while, but you don’t exactly stay there either. I think these people down here know you better than everyone you’ve fooled up top.” Luke only smirked as he ignored them to animatedly discuss with the warrior.

“So,” Shinyao interrogated with innocence covering her sharp focus, “Could you actually settle down if you wanted to stay part of Luke’s pack?”

The red wolf took many long minutes to consider as he roughly helped Ton over obstacles that were too troublesome with her legs not in top condition. “I think so. I would probably set up a couple of places to stay around him. Then I could move from that place when I can’t sit still to another one somewhat close by. If that was not enough, we could find things for me to do away for a while until I was able to come back. Sort of like this. A change in scenery and something that is not entirely predictable.”

“What about hunters?” Ton asked. “They are pretty good at finding you even when you are moving.”

Chris scowled before his lopsided smile that meant an anticipated murder scene twisted out. “Then it is time to let my enemies know who is staying and that if they don’t want to end up in pieces across their headquarters that they better stay away from me and my brother. Humans are so fun to play with. They are so easy to scare.”

“I think we missed that link in our genetical instincts,” Mu stated.

A huff came as the red caught them both at the bottom of a short drop that was too tall to be a comfortable jump. “Agreed. It still throws me off.”

“So, what would you do if you did stay close to Luke? Would you actually consider a job?” Shinyao questioned.

Chris growled in disgust at the idea. “Can’t move if you are forced into a routine like a job. I…” He paused to think. “I don’t know. Maybe temporarily sign on to construction crews that I can easily ditch or get new locations. I’ve always liked making things better than sitting around.”

Luke stopped walking to let them catch up. “You could try being a mechanic and work from home. You could do your own projects and sell them when you are finished and not have anything promised to anyone. Or there is the mercenary option. You could destroy things and gut people and get to see the countryside!”

“You haven’t changed at all,” Chris stated with a tiny smile that was more fond than he usually let through.

“Don’t pretend you were expecting me to. As much as you may hate it, we are almost exactly alike. There isn’t anything we can do that the other wouldn’t know about.”

The younger huffed in almost amusement, “I’m going to thank the one who made us that they gave you the extra dose of glitter.”

“And that they gave you the extra bit of heart to share between us.”

The red kicked his brother hard in the back as he offered Shinyao a hand to balance with. “Being a mercenary is counterproductive to the idea of settling down, big brother.”

Luke held up his hands in surrender, “Fine. Go start a farm with Shinyao and fix all her equipment for her. Be my guest. We’re at Svar by the way.”

Chris growled to himself as the end of the cave began to be brighter than where they were. “One of these days. One of these days I’m going to stop loving him enough to kill him.”

“But you want to kill him because he’s so much like yourself that you love him. Can you not stand having others to care for and that care for you?” Shinyao asked sweetly.

The red head grunted as he tried to come up with an answer to that. Ton giggled at everything before they came out into a not as tall cavern that was still huge. At the gate a group of elven warriors stopped them. They were exactly like those with them with the exception of the pale skin being instead so black that it looked like someone had forgotten to place the bioluminescent algae on these humanoid figures.

“I am King Grevon. We are here to see Lord Halrid,” Was told to the guards.

The black elves encircled them as the gates opened to let them in and then locked shut. The streets were so similar to the city they had left before but whereas there had been quiet curiosity and cheerfulness this one only possessed emotionless faces that stared at them as they passed. The hatred though was completely able to be felt in the near silence. Luke seemed to have missed the feeling as he greeted everyone they passed and flirted with some of the women. Ton pulled her red jacket up to hide her face in embarrassment and fear. “I never thought I would die because of Luke flirting.”

“You should have,” Chris stated with only the familiarity that family could have. “I knew that was going to happen since we were born. He just wouldn’t stop getting close to things that were too dangerous to approach.”

“Since you have survived all these centuries, I think we’ll be fine,” Shinyao said confidently as she smiled and waved at the svartalfar they passed.

The trip to the palace in the center of the city took too long with the tension around them. Unlike the palace in Ovre it was made of pure white stone that glowed in the varying colors of bioluminescence. Its build was that of pillars holding up floors with a lack of walls all together. Every block what exactly cut in to sharp right angles with not a single curve. They ascended up multiple open levels with floors that were made of polished quartz that glittered under their feet. Gold accents covered the bottom of all the pillars in distinct bands. At the highest level that had a view of the entire city in every direction a large throne was set in the center on a slight dais. The throne was not carved in any amazing way as it was exactly rectangular in design with everything else about, only the thick veins of gold twisting through the glistening black stone made the eyes stare. The black complexioned elf upon it passively watched them approach. Only the royals did not bow in respectful greeting. Everything was stilted, no one said a word as they stared emotionless at each other.

“You still haven’t found a wife yet?” Luke piped up with a huge grin.

Ton stopped herself from shrinking into her jacket in embarrassment in front of their current audience, though Chris had no such restraints as he slapped a hand over his eyes. The black elf smiled ever so little, “No. To find a lady that is worthy of being my queen is not a task of a short time. She is not among the common people.”

“Or she is, and you haven’t asked around to find that she is above the others,” The silver replied.

Halrid inclined his head as if accepting to ponder the issue. “I will consider your words. What has brought you to me once again, furred wanderer?”

“Bodies. Naked svartalfar and dokkalfar bodies that are so mutilated that they are almost unidentifiable are appearing in our rivers on the surface. The humans have no clue what they are, but eyes are beginning to turn towards Umbra. What is happening?” Luke stated plainly.

“War, furred wanderer. Many have died. We have no room to bury our dead in our caverns that hold our cities or our caves that are our paths. We take their armor and surrender them to the rivers to carry them away,” The lone king answered.

“And the cause of this war?” the older Bowen asked.

“Is about the topic of marriage. Some dokkalfar have created lies to stir their people to anger against my own, yet the truth is plain and has no reason for insult. The dokkalfar that have gone missing from Ovre eloped to join their beloved here. The unions are at peace here,” Halrid stated.

“Your people have been stealing our own. No word is heard from the captured.” Grevon declared.

“I’m certain that if dokkalfar are not so willfully deaf that such words would be heard,” Halrid returned.

That sparked a calm voiced argument. Both sides placing out their points of view and emotionlessly trying to tear down the other. The surface dwellers stood quietly in the midst of the war of words. It stretched longer and longer. Ton nudged Shinyao to motion slightly towards the boys with a smile. The lighter haired oriental turned to smile as well. The brothers had matching expressions of being done with this entire interaction. Dead and unimpressed with everyone’s nonsense and ready to pop their heads off if they were addressed. Arms crossed, you could have exchanged their hair color and clothes, and you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between them. Completely brothers. They would have to send a picture of them to the others later. Chris eventually muttered, “Are you going to stop them, or should I?”

Luke barely smiled, “As entertaining as it would be for you to do so.” He stepped forward and howled long and eerie. All eyes turned to him and conversation ended. “Thank you. I think we’ve each heard everyone’s information, but I don’t think I’ve heard from those that were supposedly taken or the svartalfar that are accused. Is there a way that we can meet them?”

Halrid was still for a minute before glancing at one of his subjects and barely nodding. As the elf ran off, quiet descended. Luke refused to let it stay, “So, did you ask Dortal to court like I suggested like last time?”

A maiden waiting with others to the side looked at the ground in embarrassment. Halrid glanced at her, “I have not. I do not know what it is that you see in all that you suggested.”

“Perhaps you would know if you were not so prideful to actually be able to speak with them,” The silver wolf suggested.

Chris muttered to himself, “He’s not Vlad.”

Halrid raised an eyebrow in question. “And what has my pride missed?”

Luke’s smile was tempting danger, “Perhaps not much. Some have some things with their family, some with strange skills, some with their own selves. I can’t fully remember. It has been a long time on the surface since I was last down and spent time with all those I once courted.”

Halrid sat back in almost lazy uncaring. “You intrigue me.”

“Me? But I am so plain. I don’t hold any comparison to the exotic beauties that are hidden here.”

The lone king turned his attention to the others from the surface, “Who are your companions?”

So, introductions were exchanged as Dokkalfar and Svartalfar couples began to slowly show up. More and more gathered until roughly thirty pairs were clustered together to meet them. At last, the sent elf returned and nodded that all had been collected. “Here are those you wished to meet.”

Luke waved in appreciation as he turned to the gathering. “Hello. Thank you for joining us at such short notice. There has been quite a lot of contention over you, and I wish to understand what is truly happening. May I ask the Dokkalfar to tell me what happened to you? There is no reason for fear. Your king and queen are here, and you will be heard and what is best for all will be done.”

The pale skinned elves glanced at their darker companions hesitantly before a woman spoke, “I was washing clothing for my mother and family at the river. Durdin came out of secret and took hold of me to bring me away to Svar. In a rush we were wed.”

“Did you wish to be wed or brought to Svar?” Luke questioned gently.

She shook her head, “No. I had no thought of such things. I was brought away against my will.”

“I was in the river,” One of the men dokkalfar said. “I was harvesting the threads that create our cloth. When I came up my brothers were not there. Serlia and her friends had taken their place. They pulled me out and concealed me in a thread basket.”

“Most of us were dancing by the river,” one other women said as she motioned to those around her. “We were enjoying ourselves before those that have claimed us came out and carried us away. None of us had ever seen them before that time.”

Luke just listened without any show of what he thought. “Svartalfar?”

“I loved my wife long before that. None could dance like her,” One of the svartalfar men declared.

“Our women are too busy trying to be greater warriors than us and have no ability to be wives,” another added almost sullenly. “The Dokkalfar have the ability to let themselves be loved.”

“You blame us for your lack of love,” Serlia huffed in scorn. “You men have even less care in your hearts. You have no desire to court or give admittance to any worth. I watched the Dokkalfar men for one that had more than enough to give to his family.”

“Alright!” Luke called over them before the black elves started an argument among themselves. “This sounds to me like this was a case of kidnapping and forced marriage. I understand that it may be hard to find a good spouse, but that is no excuse for going about it in the wrong way. Your actions have started a war. Both of your people are dying because of it. Is the want of love so great that it outweighs the amazing lives of those that are about you? I would not think so.”

“You have a suggestion on how to solve this?” Fredel questioned.

“Simply the idea that the marriages be released and the taken returned to their families with no contact from their aggressors.”

“What?! I will not lose my wife!” came a furious shout. Others of similar idea agreed with him.

Luke turned on them coldly, “The only other way I can think of fixing this would be for the offenders to submit themselves to punishment to make up to the taken and their families for the wrong that is done or for death to be the final means of removing the problem. Is that any more agreeable to you?”

The svartalfar held their silence. “Please, do not do that,” one of the pale elves requested quietly. “My husband and the others did do wrong in taking us, but I would mourn to lose him now. I have grown to love him. Please, do not kill him.”

Agreement began to come from the other Dokkalfar. Luke smirked in amusement to himself before holding up his hand to quiet them. “Do any of you not love those who took you? You may return to your families.” All the couples glanced around at each other to not find any that volunteered. “Very well then. We’ll have to make sure that the wrong is righted to the families then.”
The Were turned to the listening royals. “I suggest that you grant access to the Svartalfar spouses of your people into your cities so they can meet their extended family. The taken will want to reunite with those they belonged to before on occasion. In the future, I would suggest that a period of courtship be required before marriage. Any brought or taken to the other’s city will be given the option of returning or staying. The family must be in approval and your highnesses would have to recognize any unions before to ensure that no wrong is going to set one against the other again.”

The rulers looked to each other coldly. “This is wisdom,” Grevon stated.

“Wisdom we could have come to,” Halrid agreed while insinuating that the others had been the reason that there had not been peace before.

“Can I have this agreement written on both sides?” Luke requested.

“So, it is being done,” the lone king said as he looked over to a scribe that was scratching the agreement into a thin sheet of gold.

Luke not too subtly leaned against the shoulder of the dokkalfar scribe that was doing the same in a copper plate. He read over what was being written before grinning and wandering over to intercept the svartalfar one before the gold could be submitted. “Excellent! They’re almost identical. With this agreement in place then there should be no more reason for war that can’t be settled diplomatically.”

Fredel turned away from the black throne gracefully, “I do not suggest you encourage your people to indulge in fantasies of our own. I would prefer to lack many more cases of this.”

“That may be difficult. My people are extremely enticing,” Halrid teased without hinting to doing so.

Grevon turned away to face the surface group. “Will you return with us?”

“I’m afraid we have to return to our own homes,” Luke informed. “There are other matters that we must all attend to. We all wish we could stay longer, yet it is not possible. Is there a way that we could return at a later date?”

“Whenever you return, we will accept you wanderer,” Grevon agreed.

Halrid smoothly stood then and glided down from his throne over to them. “With your time so short here, let me have the honor of hosting you and your companions for a feast and rest.”

“Thank you. We accept,” Luke agreed.

Grevon was almost icy as he turned away and led his warriors and queen out of the palace. Halrid was more than smug to have them stay instead of letting Grevon and Fredel continue to host them. “Come my friends. A feast is prepared, and I am quite curious to many things. How has your companions come by their names?”

A svartalfar feast apparently had the same ingredients prepared the same as the dokkalfar, but in much greater bulk. The fish were heaped high, and the bowls of crawling and squirming insects had increased greatly. Ton managed to get a decent portion of fish down before letting the werewolves gorge themselves on all the rest. Conversation was an easy thing to keep and share among all of them and Halrid was more willing to demand responses from all of them. Afterwards they were then led to a collection of stone couches that had soft cushions placed upon them for beds. There were no walls to separate them as they settled down. It was not difficult to fall asleep with the lack of extreme light and all that had been happening. When they all got up Halrid provided a smaller meal before walking with them to the gates. “As ever wanderer, it was a pleasure to once again be in your presence.”

“Same. Though I have to ask my brother a question. Are elves as haughty as you have experienced before?” Luke questioned.

Chris glared away from them. “Still proud and down looking, but not as bad or on purpose as I thought.”

Halrid nodded as the gates began to swing open. “I am honored to have changed your mind in such a way. Are you ready wanderer?”

“I wouldn’t have expected anything else. Though I suggest that you give us a head start. We have two mortals, and a group is harder to move,” Luke responded with a grin.

Halrid nodded, “Very well. All of you will return soon. I have taken to desiring red wolf fur for my robes.”

The silver wolf laughed as he pushed the girls along without letting them pause to properly say goodbye. “You might have to settle for gray. Fare well Halrid.”

“Bye!” The girls called before Ton began to push back against Luke’s urgings. “What are you doing?”

“We need to get some distance before the warriors come after us,” Luke stated.

“What? Why would they do that? I thought we were on good terms,” Shinyao asked in confusion.

“We are. That’s why we were not cut up and dropped on the table at the feast. Supplies from the surface are extremely hard to get for the svartalfar since they are so deep in the earth. So, anything that comes down they are desperate to keep. Visitors from the surface are the same. If they catch us even the meat on our bones will be of great worth to them.”

“They’re going to eat us?!” Ton shrieked as she picked up her pace to nearly jog in a stilting fashion with her casts.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that before we came down here?” Ton shouted.

“That would have taken away the surprise. Alright. There are two ways I know out of here. We can go up the way we came down or we can take a faster and slightly harder route up. Any preferences?”

“Faster,” Ton stated. “I don’t like surprises.”

“Really? That’s sad. Surprises are what keeps everything from being boring,” Luke said as he turned down a side tunnel.

Chris was surprisingly calm, “I agree with them, big brother. You can drag me into these messes that might kill us but doing that to them is not okay.”

“You used to put up the same protests when I first started dragging you along. Look at you now! So willing to come and confident enough in yourself to be able to survive.”

“Stop being sentimental and get us out of here. We have girls that have short life spans with us, and they won’t survive having their limbs ripped off,” Chris snarled.

“Not hard to do. We just go straight up,” Luke said as he stopped at a crack in the wall. The fracture stretched up through the cave’s ceiling. “Ladies first.”

Ton frowned as she stepped up to look for how they were meant to get up the crack. “Why are you not going first?”

“So that you can take the lead and work on figuring how to get out of these things on your own,” The older Were stated.

The dark-haired girl grunted in frustrated anger as she worked herself into the crack, so her back was braced against one side and her legs pressed against the other. As she tried to move up her back stayed stuck to the one spot of rough stone. Using her arms she managed to push her back away and up and started up the crack.

“Now you’re getting started,” Luke encouraged as he came after her with just bracing each leg on each side.

Shinyao watched him and tried to copy. She groaned in discouragement, “My legs are not as long as yours. I can’t reach.”

“Find your own way. You will never be able to do things exactly like everyone else.”

Mu watched the other two go up out of sight in thought. Carefully she put her arms against one side of the crack before putting her feet on the other and using both to walk herself up diagonally faster and easier than Ton’s method. Chris almost smiled as he copied his brother to follow her. As soon as he passed the cave’s ceiling the crack below them was blocked off in a net of violet glowing black vines.

“I feel that your lesson for this trip is about to come out,” The brown-haired girl said as they slowly worked themselves up the chimney of natural rock.

“What do you mean?” Luke asked in false innocence.

“Don’t try that!” Ton shouted unhappily. “You have been abandoning us the whole time down here. You’ve been wanting us to learn how to take care of ourselves without you there to help.”

“Has it been working?”

“When we get out of here, I’m going to beat you up,” Ton grumbled to herself.

“How has not telling us what any of the elves down here were like helping us?” Shinyao asked with less negativity.

“That was how things were when I came down last time. I knew nothing and walked blindly through everything. They probably kept me alive for their amusement at listening to a blabbering wanderer.”

“Do you ever know what is happening around you?” Chris asked in accepting familiarity as Ton worked a flashlight out of her backpack to turn on. The rock that no longer glowed for light was suddenly illuminated much too bright for their dark adjusted eyes.

“Usually not. Vlad doesn’t even tell me what’s going on at the café or around London when I’m not there. Going back is just as interesting as coming here.”

“You do a pretty good job of knowing everything despite that,” Shinyao gasped for breath. They had not gone far or fast, yet her arms were beginning to tremble from holding herself up. Her muscles were starting to ache.

“Thank you. It’s the attitude.”

“You have plenty then,” Chris huffed. “You used to do the same thing since we were born. Always going into places you always knew were not good and meeting Umbra that were going to kill us.”

“So, this is since birth trait?” Shinyao asked before gasping. “They broke through my vines!”

“This is not exactly a good place for a fight,” Chris said simply.

“We could always drop you on them. Who needs a dead weight when we have you,” Luke replied.

“I was considering mutiny. You haven’t been helping us very much,” Chris snarked.

“We’re going to die,” Ton’s voice wobbled in warning of her about to start crying. “They are going to catch us, and my legs have lightning going up them! My legs are still broken, and the crack is too wide for me to brace any farther!”

“My stomach muscles are hurting too. They are kind of jumping? I think I need to work them more often,” Shinyao agreed before she paused. “I could have made this so much easier.”

Her vines came out to wrap around all of them and lift them up to the top of the chimney with ease. Ton laughed in relief as they were put down on a mostly even floor. “Thank you so much.”

“We should keep moving,” Shinyao suggested as she bent over to try and give her stomach muscles a break.

“Right this way. We don’t have too much farther to go,” Luke said as he started off.

Shinyao set her vines over the chimney exit again as they followed after him. Ton was limping badly with both of her legs as she forced herself to move. “So, you’ve been trying to kill people like this since you were born?”

“Killing was never the intention for those on my side,” the silver disclaimed.

“But it was for those that made problems for us. You have something with going, knowing nothing about the situation, and taking out those that don’t like you because of that big brother,” The red wolf said.

“I don’t think anyone knew what was happening. There was always some secret that someone was keeping,” Luke replied as he dropped to a knee and rolled under a rock overhang.

“You had to do this a lot,” Shinyao said as she crawled under with Ton to find that the ceiling was too low for them to stand up, but enough for them to comfortably crawl through.

“We never stopped,” Chris huffed behind her. “No matter where I go and at what time in history there has never been a manual on how to interact with every single being that I’ve unfortunately had to meet.”

“I’m pretty certain that if you don’t kidnap people, you will be doing a lot better in that,” Ton said as she got her cast unstuck and continued to crawl.

“You’re not going to forget that any time soon, are you?” Chris said in resignation that did not sound unhappy.

“It’s the only thing I can really hold to you, and until you give me something to use against Luke, I have to pick on you,” Ton declared.

“This isn’t enough?” Chris asked.

“True. I’m never going to forget about this Luke. If it wasn’t that you were such a good friend and get me out of the café when Vlad puts me on lock down, I would give you to the svartalfar in exchange to get out of here.”

“I don’t know if I would watch you do that or try to help him,” Shinyao said as she took Ton’s backpack so the darkhaired girl could move easier.

“Would you reconsider my offer to go on a date with me?” Luke requested as he ducked under a downward swell in the ceiling.

“Didn’t you tell me that dates are meant to teach you more about who you like?” Shinyao asked as they came out into a dead end.

“Exactly. We’re going to have to do some squirming now. Hand me the backpacks when I’m through and then come through. I’ll be on the other side if you have problems, little brother,” Luke explained as he pointed out a small crack at the base of the cave. “Go in backwards. You’ll have to go down and bend back up to get into the caves below.”

“Are you insane?” Ton asked in disbelief.

Luke grinned before he flipped into a handstand that faced the wall and dropped headfirst into the vertical crack. His fluffy gray wolf tail and legs squirmed downward and out of sight. Chris shook his head with a slight smile. “I’m dead. There is no way I’m going to get through that.”

“Same. My legs don’t bend very easy,” Ton agreed.

Shinyao dropped the backpack down before trying to get herself facing backwards as she went down. “Don’t know until you try.” The crack went down five feet before becoming vertical. The space was tight and claustrophobic with how close it was. A few feet more and the crawl space opened up into a tunnel below. Luke caught each of them to put their feet steadily on the stone ground. As they partially crawled through the new cave Shinyao continued, “With how much I know you just from this and all the training you’ve been doing with me, I don’t need a date to find out if we would work. You’re fun and these things are very interesting, but I don’t know if I would like to get into a more serious relation with you past being a partner.”

“I agree with that. Can we just be friends? I think I might kill you for doing something like this to me if you became my boyfriend,” Ton gasped as she tried to push the pace to be faster.

“I would love to be your friend and threaten the guy you decide to have for a boyfriend like an overprotective big brother. As long as you stay in contact and cause me grief like now,” Luke agreed.

“You bet! And I’m going to embarrass you in front of all the other girls you date,” Ton declared enthusiastically.

A theatrical groan came from the silver. “I now have no chance at getting married. Between you, Vlad, and Chris, a second date might never come into existence.”

“Like you didn’t plan to bring us down here so Ton could make up her own mind that she didn’t want you,” Chris huffed. “You put her in that friend category in your mind before I asked Shinyao out to the Winter Ball. If you actually wanted her the others would never have had a chance.”

“Is that true?” Ton questioned as the silver paused at a thin opening at another short wall’s base to let them catch up.

The older Umbra slight smile was cunning before he turned to worm his way into the hole. “You have a ways to go little brother before you get good enough.”

“I do not want to be manipulative like you are,” Chris stated before looking back into the darkness behind them. “I can hear them.”

Ton shoved the backpack through and then desperately wriggled through the hole that was tight on her petite body. When she came through, the ceiling was barely a foot above the ground.

“Keep going,” Luke encouraged as he stayed near the tight hole. She continued to pull herself along the smooth floor as a blast that sounded like Shinyao’s power came from behind her. Muted svartalfar voices shouting was enough to tell her what was happening. “Hey beautiful. Have we met before?” Bowen’s sauve flirting tone asked.

Shinyao giggled despite herself as she clawed her way free of the hole she had thrown herself into. “If we have it was in your last life.”

Luke pulled her out and gave her the backpack before grabbing Chris’s sudden hands and yanked him out hard. The red snarled in pain as he held at his side. “How much do you actually love me? Tell me the truth.”

“Want me to shove you back through?”

Chris was smiling despite a spear striking out of the hole behind them as they army crawled away. “You’re coming with me. I’m not going to be put on a king’s robe alone.”

After hundreds of yards the ceiling raised to let them up to their knees. Ton handed Shinyao the flashlight as the brothers came out with the black elves pursuing with much more grace but still seeming like a horror movie monster. “I’ve got this.” She reached into her shadow to pull out a talisman shaped into an origami butterfly. She gave it a kiss and it fluttered out of her hands into the small crawl space. The svartalfar barely had a chance to roll out of the way as it exploded. The tiny crawl area collapsed on itself and blocked their pursuers.

“Good job. Vlad will love hearing about that trick,” Luke complimented as he led them further.

“How did you ever find this route?” Shinyao questioned in disbelief.

“Escaping last time. They didn’t give me a head start. Only because of my extra speed was I able to double back when I came to dead ends. I saw cracks and thought I should at least try them out and they surprisingly worked.”

The brown-haired girl glanced back at Chris. “Are you this unplanned and crazy?”

“No. That’s just my brother. I like to have a more open tunnel to go through than a crack. I would have just killed the stupid elves instead of this.”

“How unplanned do you get then?”

“Spontaneously deciding to save young women from dying and giving up my own safety to stay with them,” Chris stated.

Mu blushed slightly as she smiled. They passed through two more tight places before light began to come from a source other than Ton’s flashlight. A small opening covered in blue iced snow was over head soon. Luke pushed through it, and they all crawled out into the winter claimed forest. The girls laughed in relief as they had to pull out their winter things.

“Sunlight!” Ton exclaimed as she tenderly stood up.

Chris looked back at the hole they had come from that no one would ever guess to where it led. “Will they come after us?”

Luke shook his head. “None of those elves come out into sunlight. That is only for the ljosalfar to enjoy. We’re good.”

“Well,” Ton said as she brought out her cell phone. “I’m good on adventuring for a while.”

“I agree. Next time we go down there we should plan things out a little better now that we know what to expect. Maybe we should go to the svartalfar and then the dokkalfar. The pale elves won’t kill us after, right?” Shinyao planned.

“Not that I’ve ever heard of, but that is not unproven either,” Luke shared with an uncertain shrug.

Ton stared at her friend. “You would go back down there!? Are you insane!? They just tried to kill us!”

“But if they learned that they could get more things from the surface from us by letting us live I think they would cause us no trouble,” the quiet girl pointed out.

“I’m never going back down there!”

Shinyao looked down at the inches of snow around her boots. “I guess I can go alone. They need things and it would be a good business opportunity.”

Ton gaped speechlessly. Luke chuckled to himself as he began to walk. “Fortune favors the bold.”

“I’ll go with you,” Chris quietly volunteered. “You might need some help.”

“Thank you,” the brown-haired girl accepted before Ton cried out. "What’s wrong?”

“We’ve been down there for four days! We’ve missed our classes!” Ton shrieked in horror.

As the werewolves laughed at the not life-threatening worry after the mess they had gotten out of Shinyao smiled as she comfortingly hugged her friend. “Ton, we have the highest grades out of the entire class in all our courses. I think we will survive missing this once.”

“My parents would kill me and no one would even ask about where they put my body because they would agree,” Ton groaned in despair.

“Good thing you are no longer with them,” Chris stated as he moved past them. “You would blow them to the moon if they tried. You have more experience than most people in existence have claim to.”

“Murder is not something we should be talking so calmly about,” Luke said idly.

“No one has pinned our bodies to us,” Chris shrugged off.

“Except for that time in…” Luke didn’t get to finish as Chris was after him with claws out.

Shinyao giggled at them before pulling her friend along. “Don’t worry Ton. We’ll have Wayne hack the attendance record and place us on it.”

“That doesn’t help me,” Ton sighed as she pulled up directions. “We’re thirty miles away from where we went down!”

“Nothing is really able to be expected, can it? I wonder if working with Vlad in his division could be this exciting,” Shinyao mused.

Chapter Text

“Where is he?” Ton fretted.

“Luke left less than thirty seconds ago, Ton. You have gotten too used to his speed,” Shinyao checked through the jewelry box in Ton’s room in the café.

“I don’t think I’ll be ready in time,” the dark oriental girl worried.

A knock came at the door. Shinyao opened it to pull Luke in. “Ton’s about to have a nervous breakdown.”

The silver laughed as he strode over to the seated girl. “Whatever for? You’ve gone out with Toryu before. They always were just fine, and Toryu likes you.”

“Those were never this important! This is a ball! I never had to dress up and there was never anyone else there to see,” Baileu stressed.

“You don’t have to dress up. You could just go as your usual self,” Bowen suggested as he gently brushed out a handful of black hair and looped it up and tied it in place with a hair tie that he had just brought in.

“To a ball! No way!”

Shinyao shook her head at her friend. “There is no need for this Ton. You’ve dressed less before and Toryu loved it. He’ll love you just as much now.”

“And everyone else will love seeing you girls’ dresses. Trust me. They may not say anything, but they are going to be watching you. They are so beautiful and unique that they won’t be able to stop themselves,” Luke encouraged as he finished fixing Ton’s hair and slid in the final decorative piece. “There you go. I’m almost jealous.”

“I don’t think your hair will be able to do that, Luke,” Shinyao hummed in thought.

The silver turned around to poke a finger into her sensitive side. She giggled as she shied away. “Considering that five inches is my current record for fur length, I can agree with that. No matter how much I try it just doesn’t get longer.”

Ton turned around in her seat. “Thank you so much for helping us. I would have been a mess without you.”

“Don’t give me so much credit. You girls know more than I ever want to about makeup and the dresses had nothing to do with me. I just helped with your hair,” Luke brushed off.

“You are good at it,” Shinyao complemented her hair that was mostly down long with thin braids circling around the loose strands to join the larger one coming down from the crown of her head.

The silver laughed as he pulled both girls into a hug. “Just got pulled into many hair sessions with little girls throughout the ages. Have a great time to night and show everyone what fun is.”

“We will,” They promised before he walked out.

“The girls will be coming down soon,” Luke announced as he came into the common room that everyone else was waiting in.

Vlad glanced at him as he worked at his tea station. “Since when did they like you enough to make you their personal dresser.”

Luke’s smile was uncaring if the devil himself asked the question. “We became very close on our last mission. I’m certain that they are going to edit those parts out of their new video. It’s not exactly what I would call good for a video.”

Chris laughed to himself at his brother worrying the other men in the café with suggestions that were actually innocent in truth. “Someone’s boyfriend is going to kill you one of these days for doing that.”

“I’ll come right back and haunt them,” the silver said as he flopped down into a chair. “So, who do you want to bet is going to come down first?”

“Did you not say they were both ready?” Tauryu asked.

“They are. Girls just like coming down one at a time to get the full attention and compliments they can each receive before the other comes down to steal the show. Don’t you guys know this?” Luke explained.

Chris huffed in amusement. “Better question is how do you know these things? What did you do while we were separated to gain all this random knowledge?”

“It’s not hard. If you actually tried to stay instead of running, you would have it too.”

Vlad scoffed as he sipped at his tea. “The things that your brother knows, Chris, are useless. He has no actual skill or ability.”

The red Were went to argue for his nearly albino half to raise a hand to keep him quiet. “Shinyao’s coming down the stairs. I bet you’re going to wish you were on a date with her, Vlad.”

The vampire scoffed, “I have no consideration in the least for Miss Mu.

Chris glared at his brother and in a soft growl, “Why are you letting that corpse get away with not knowing what you are capable of?”

The mirror shimmered like water, and then Shinyao stepped through, her green dress catching the light as if it carried the forest with it. She beamed as she twirled around to show her whole dress. “Do I look good?”

Chris stood up to step over to her. His green eyes took in the whole outfit without missing anything. “You’re very beautiful. Maybe elegant and fantastical too.”

Shinyao’s dress fell to her feet in green fabric. The renaissance style dress with all its yards of fabric made the cute Asian girl seem like she had just stepped out of an ancient manor with its decorative fabrics of multiple kinds that had traces of the medieval style of dress blended in. The girl looked down at her outfit. “Really? I borrowed it from one of our neighbors that lived through the time period. It was much too big, and they had to take it in for it to fit me.”

Chris smiled softly down at her. “Dresses back then were meant to be adjusted to different sizes. You look beautiful. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a dress like this that is not a cheap knock off.”

Vlad was taking in the dress in interest too, “What kind of neighbor do you have?”

“Looking for a date?” Luke teased him.

Shinyao and Chris stepped aside as the mirror rippled again, and Ton came through. Tauryu just stood still without a word as his date for the night beamed at him. “Where did you find that?”

Ton’s smile slipped away to uncomfortableness as she messed with the long sleeves. “In the attic. Luke said that some of my grandmother’s clothes were kept there. I thought this was one of the prettiest.”

Tauryu stepped over to look down at her. “It’s been a century since I’ve seen these. Thank you so much Ton-sama. You look just like Rijan-sama.”

The traditional Chinese Hanfu dress had a black skirt that went to her ankles with a decorative red top that had full hanging sleeves that folded over her torso and hips and was held in place by a yellow belt. Her hair was done up in traditional loops atop her head with an exquisite gold head piece peeking out. Ton swished her sleeves back and forth uncertainly. “Really? There was also a ruqun and a couple of Qipaos.”

“Rijan always wore the short Qipaos with a skirt in her regular days and was elegant. It was rare for her to wear others. You are as beautiful as her and honor her spirit and memory in wearing it,” Tauryu said.

Ton smiled up at him at the kind words that while not directly complimenting her had more weight than just such a compliment. “I love your jacket too. Did you used to wear it back in China?”

Tauryu shook his head at the mentioned purple, gold, and white Tang suit he was wearing. “No. Rijan-sama got it for me after we came to this country. I try to only use it for special occasions.”

“I think this counts,” Luke said.

Ton glanced at the others for her jaw to drop. “What in the world?!”

Chris frowned at her staring, “What?”

Baileu stared at the red head that was wearing a three-piece tuxedo that fit him perfectly. Even his common colored glasses were missing as the wolf that always seemed like a delinquent would have passed for a businessman at a black-tie event. She looked over to a quietly watching silver. “How long did it take you to lock your brother away and find someone that looks like him?”

Luke laughed as his younger brother rolled his eyes, “Not long. I actually only checked in on him a couple of days ago to make sure he was not doing anything too stupid and found that he had himself taken care of.”

Ton did not stop staring at the red werewolf. Chris’s hackles began to rise. “Knock it off. I know how to dress. I just like other styles better for every day.”

Ton blinked and double checked the others in the room to find them in their normal wear. “Shinyao, I apologize. He is good. Keep him.”

The brown-haired girl blushed at her friend’s sudden approval as Luke laughed. “Alright. Wayne wants couple photos before you go. We need a proof of life.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to them,” Wayne said as his mannequin held up a camera. “They can post this on social media.”

Vlad hummed to himself as each Umbra young man put an arm around their own petite date’s shoulders for the pictures. “Considering how they all get into trouble, I would agree that proof of life is more accurate.”

“Is someone jealous that he didn’t get to pull his cummerbund out of mothballs to join them?” Luke teased as the couples slipped on their protective layers to keep their clothes nice from the small swirling flakes outside.

Vlad glared at the wolf, “How did you fall short in finding a date so that I must suffer with you? You always go to this thing.”

Luke sighed as if in distress, “All my dates kept being taken before I could ask them. Have a great time!”

“I wonder why Luke decided not to come with us,” Ton hummed as they walked away from the café.

“I’m certain he has his reasons,” Tauryu said before pausing. “Ton-sama, may I carry you? Your dress is going to be soaked by the snow.”

Ton blushed, “You may. I would like to get there a little faster.”

The jianzhi picked her up and they were gone. Chris glanced at his date. “Do you want to do that?”

“I don’t exactly need to be carried to keep up with you anymore,” Shinyao said brightly. The snowflakes spun in the lamplight, catching in Shinyao’s hair like tiny stars. “I’m alright walking. I love the snow. It’s perfect that it is snowing during the Winter Ball.”

“Most people hate winter.”

“They should move to Egypt where it is not cold then and gripe about the heat and spare us their negativity.”

“I can agree with that.”

Ton stared at the large venue that had been set up. Snowflakes decorated the snack tables and walls as strings of Christmas lights were everywhere else. A band was playing on a stage at the front but speakers set around the room let them be heard but not deafening. There were some that were already out on the dance floor. Most of them were bopping and swaying to the rhythm that the band was setting while a handful displayed actual dancing capabilities in their steps and movements. Girls grouped together to talk as men strung themselves out along the side lines and either were looking at their phones or were watching the scene without a hint of asking the eager girls to dance. The style of dress ranged from normal jeans and skirts to cocktail dresses that were sexily tight to actual suits and evening gowns.

As Tauryu turned back to her after putting away their coats she shook her head. “I don’t think I can be here. Everyone is watching.”

“I see no shame in that. They are always watching,” Tauryu said as he gently led her into the ballroom. No one seemed to look up at them or care. It was disappointing as much as relieving.

“I can’t dance,” Ton informed.

“According to Vlad, neither can I. He put much effort into ensuring that I could do the steps properly, yet I could not put them to use accurately. Fortunately, Luke explained to me that skills in dance are not entirely necessary in this age although they are helpful, and to not act like you have made a mistake when you have. Its surprisingly simple.” Ton tried to step with Tauryu as he began the ballroom steps. He was slow and she quickly found the pattern to keep up without stumbling.

“Ton’s doing good,” Shinyao commented as Chris joined her to look over the room. The Chinese dressed couple were among the better dancers there even as they were slow and careful. They did not move far as they talked and occasionally completed a spin or dip.

“I’m surprised she’s doing as well as she is in something that actually takes skill. I was expecting her to be jumping with the club goers.”

“Ton can do anything she sets her mind too,” Shinyao stated confidently. “I can’t do that.”

“You don’t have to prove yourself to others like she has to. You already are perfect. Ever danced before?” Chris asked as he took her hand and moved his other to lay against her shoulder blade to guide her.

“No. I did ask Luke for some lessons, and I watched some YouTube videos, but I have never danced.”

“We’ll start there then,” the red said without any worry as the band began a new song.

Shinyao stepped on his foot and gasped. Chris only smirked. “See? You’re already better than Luke. He broke my foot once.”

“I feel jealous,” Ton stated as she and Tauryu stepped over to a table to get something to drink after dancing for over an hour.

“Reason?” Tauryu asked.

The Chinese girl motioned over to her friend and red-haired date that were whirling around the dance floor at a ridiculous pace, twirling and moving in new complicated ways that made you stare. “Those two. I feel like I’m watching professional dancers or a movie. They’re too perfect and Shinyao has never danced in her life! How are they doing that?!”

“Probably Chris having plenty of skill and practice. He’s been surprising me lately. Strangely gentle and mannered compared to his murderous aggression before,” Tauryu said as he took a drink.

“Me too. I’m starting to like him better.” Ton frowned then, “Does my dress flare and flow like hers does when you twirl me?”

The jianzhi paused to watch the girl in her renaissance dress as the bottom flared out in yards and yards of fabric that flowed like a satin ribbon in the wind or a river over smooth river stones. “No. Your skirt is not as big, but it does twirl out and your sleeves do nicely flutter after you.”

“You’re nice, but she’s prettier than me.” Ton sighed even as she smiled in happiness for her friend.

“I don’t believe that,” Tauryu countered.

“Excuse me?” A woman in a cocktail dress said as she came over to them with her similarly clothed friends following. “Can we take a picture with you? Your dress is so beautiful.”

Ton stalled for a second. “Uhh… sure.”

The women gathered in close to her as they held out their phones for the selfies. They checked their pictures as they all exclaimed over the foreign dress. Ton was quiet for once as she took the compliments. Slowly she stepped back to Tauryu that was watching with a soft smile. “I wish my boyfriend would wear something to match my outfit to these things,” One of the enthusiastic women mourned.

“I doubt that he would look good in a shoulder less shirt and shorts to match the length of your dress,” Tauryu responded.

The whole group paused to stare at him in uncertainness and growing uncomfort. Ton couldn’t keep her giggles quiet as she recognized the Umbra’s quiet sense of humor that had shocked her before as well. “I think she was meaning about coordinating the style or clothing color.”

“Exactly! You two did that so well!” One of the women exclaimed before looking over towards the wall where many men were lounging about. “My boyfriend doesn’t really like this. We’re going to a pub after.”

“I wish you all an excellent rest of your night then. Shall we dance?” Tauryu asked his date.

As Ton fell back into the regular guiding position she giggled, “You’re almost mean.”

“I’ll attempt to apologize if someone has genuinely hurt feelings. Do you actually like this or are you only here to humor me like that poor woman’s boyfriend is? I have no problem taking you back to the café or somewhere you actually want to be if you are.”

“No! I love this. It's very fun and exciting. You would definitely know if I was not happy. You know how I am.”

“Yes, I do. I hope you also are willing to look at yourself as the more than amazing being you are as well as Shinyao. You are even more special than she is in my opinion.”

Ton wanted to laugh but the warmth and happiness she was battling made her breathless as her smile stretched so much that it hurt in a wonderful way.

Shinyao laughed as she stumbled over her feet as she had endlessly been doing. Chris only had his quiet smile that had not faltered all evening as he adjusted to her mistake to make it smooth and guide her along into a collection of steps that seemed complicated until you became used to them. She looked around in confusion as her dance partner slowed them down and looked over to the side. The Asian couple came up to them. “We’re leaving early,” Tauryu announced as they came close.

Ton smiled sadly, “I wish I could stay, but I just got the pins out of my legs a couple of days ago and they say I’m not fully healed yet.”

Shinyao let go of her partner to hug her friend. “Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Tauryu smirked at the other Umbra as his petite date took his arm for him to escort her out. “You better make it home tonight safely.”

Chris’s glare made its first appearance that night. “I don’t care if you’re talking about me or someone else being the trouble. It won’t happen and I think I will call in tomorrow to see if you actually behaved yourself on your way back.”

Shinyao shook her head as they went back to dancing as their friends left. “Saying something like that could turn into a war. Your brother might get caught in the crossfire of dating and honor.”

“He deserves it. If he ever did anything wrong, then I would do a lot more than verbal hazing.” Chris ducked his head, “I wish they would come back.”

“Why?”

“When Ton was here, everyone was splitting their pictures and videos between the two of you. Now they’re all on us.”

“Are you camera shy?” Mu teased.

“No. Just don’t see a reason to be on one.”

The songs shifted from classical to through the time periods to even modified popular songs of today as they rarely stopped. They only stopped as the band did, and the host announced that the Winter Ball had finished. Shinyao sighed sadly as the venue slowly began filtering towards the exit. “I wish they didn’t have to end. This was too much fun.”

“Most people sleep during the night. It’s almost three in the morning.”

“I still feel completely awake. It’s like we’ve been chasing Umbra all night.”

“Chasing? Or being chased?”

She lightly pushed him to not even get the slightest leaning away. “Either way, it turns out in the end.”

Chris took down Shinyao’s borrowed cloak that went with her outfit's time period and placed it around her shoulders before turning to grab his own over coat as she fastened it. Then they stepped out into the swirling snow. Out here it was cold and drove most fast to their vehicles to get home. They wandered down the sidewalk that was steadily getting deeper in frozen water banks. There was little hurry as they enjoyed the coolness and the falling white specks in the black night.

“Tonight was very nice Chris,” the brown-haired girl said softly. “I wasn’t expecting you to be so…”

“Unlike myself?”

She giggled, “You could say that. Mannered is a better word for it.”

“I can be a gentlemen. I learned everything that happened in society as it evolved. Dating is not that hard,” Chris stated.

“Why do you not use it then? I’m certain that there are hundreds of prettier and more skilled girls that you could date that are better than me.”

“I think those criteria are easily adjusted to personal taste,” Chris said as he lifted her over a large snowbank that had been pushed up. “I… just don’t date.”

“Why not? Your brother does.”

“And I do not understand why.” Chris was quiet for many minutes before he sighed to himself. “I… used to like dating. When Luke and I were first starting out on this earth, we began learning how humans and different species courted each other. I became emotionally attached to a young human girl. Romantic feelings. I guess you could say that I fell in love with her. I was considering asking her family if I could marry her.”

“And?” Shinyao asked with a bright smile at the story.

“Her tribe that had been so friendly and welcoming of Umbra were influenced by other Umbra species and they turned on us. Our pack hid away to stay safe from them.”

“What?! What did your girl do? Didn’t you love her?”

Chris looked away uncomfortably. “I did. I snuck away to see her. She came to meet me, and she told me that she had no love for her family. That she did not believe any of the things she was being told.” Shinyao held her breath in excitement at the love story that almost all human women loved to hear. “Her father, brothers, and male cousins ambushed me. When I turned to face them, she took a knife across my throat. She had only been talking and telling me lies so that her family could surround me.”

“That’s insane! She was just baiting you out! She wasn’t just trying to keep her family happy and help you get away later?”

Chris looked back to her with tiredness in his bright green eyes. “She nearly beheaded me when she slit my throat. All her brothers and cousins stabbed and bludgeoned me when I fell. They then started dragging me back to their village to finish me off and she ran ahead smiling to tell everyone that they had got me. I didn’t want to believe it either then. I had hopes like you that it was a trick. The only reason I’m alive is because Luke followed me. He watched as I met her hoping that she was actually going to elope with me. But when they had me back to their village, my girl held the knives that were going to cut me apart, he came out.” He chuckled without humor. “They had always laughed at him and said that he was only entertaining. Their screams were nothing like their laughter as they ran to get away from him. My big brother cleared the village and set everything on fire before he picked me up and took me back to our pack.”

Shinyao placed a small hand on the red’s arm in worry and support. Bowen glanced at her then tilted his head back to stare searchingly at the black sky above them. “I haven’t been able to bring myself to date since then. I gave too much of myself away to a monster that never cared other than to use me. All humans are the same. They all destroy and take. They don’t deserve to live. But I will not blindly throw myself and my emotions away to anyone ever again. Love is not worth the betrayal. Heartbreak is easy to live with compared to betrayal.”

“I understand,” Shinyao said softly. Her excited smile had softened slightly in sadness. “I’ll tell Luke to stop teasing you about going out with me. You know what you are doing and know what you can do. I wouldn’t love anyone after that either. Heartbreak is hard enough. What happened to you… I’m glad that you have let me be your friend. I’ll try not to disappoint what little you have given me.”

Chris stared down at her before his smile came back slightly. “I’m certain you’ll succeed in that.”

“What about Luke? What is his dating history like?”

The Were laughed bitterly, “Worse than mine from what I know. He was pretty close to a demon girl when I was falling for my human. Her superiors were the ones that turned everyone on us. Luke knew what she was and what she was doing to kill us, but he kept going back. He said that he was going to try and convince her to stop. That there had to be some kindness in her from before.” Chris sneered then. “He could have killed her and everyone around them and saved all of us. He could have kept everything from happening. Our pack wouldn’t have been destroyed and everyone hunting us. It’s all his fault!”

“That’s why you used to hate him? He had been in a position to keep you and everything you loved safe? Would your human girl have married you if things had not changed?” Shinyao asked.

“Exactly and then some,” the wolf hesitated, “or it would have changed nothing in the end. I’ve spent too much time thinking about everything that could have been done. I doubt it would have been much better if he had done something. He did end up killing the demon he had been courting. That might have been hard.”

“I’ll ask him later,” Mu reassured as they came in sight of their haunted pub. “Chris, you can date someone else. If I’m still alive when you find someone you feel is not going to kill you or hurt your trust, then I will be more than glad to threaten her for you. Luke’s going to be too accepting to give a woman the proper scolding she needs to even consider having you.”

Chris laughed as he opened the door for her. The Umbra in the bar area looked up at them as they came in. “You’re wearing my dress! You look so beautiful!” One of the women cried in delight.

“He doesn’t look too bad himself. I think our trash monger is a prince when you pull him out of his garbage can,” another giggled as they took in Chris just as much.

Chris rolled his eyes in irritation as they quickly crossed the open area. “Good night.”

Goven sneered at them as they got to the back door. “Your little witch has a lot more spells to cast on you to make you respectable, wolf. No magic is that good.”

Shinyao giggled as Chris slammed the door to the bar area shut behind them. “You don’t want to talk to them?”

“I’ll leave that to you tomorrow. I’m certain you will be able to charm them unlike me.”

“You are very charming.”

Chris’s smile grew slightly as he walked her up the stairs to the second level. “Thank you. May I take that as an opening to ask for a possible second date?”

“Really?!” Shinyao asked in surprise as she gathered her snow wet dress up so she could actually get up the steps without stepping on the fabric. “I thought you didn’t want romance.”

“I have no problem having fun and getting to know one of the first friends I’ve had in a long time. Even if you are human. But we should do something that you actually like to do instead of suffering with my likes. What are some of your hobbies?”

Shinyao paused outside of her apartment door. “I loved tonight. I was not suffering.”

“I still would like to plan something that you already know how to do and like.”

“I can make you a list in the morning if you really want to. I would love to go out with you again,” Mu agreed.

They looked down the hallway as a door opened and one of their neighbors stepped out. The handsome white-haired Umbra that was always willing to flirt with the human girl smiled as he came down to them. “Good evening Shinyao dear. You look as elegant and radiant as ever. I suppose you just got back from the Ball?”

“Yes. We did,” She agreed.

Lelon gave Chris a not quite hostile appraising. “So, you are the one that asked our fair lady to the dance mere hours before me.”

Chris crossed his arms as he closed off to his more aggressive seeming ways. “I don’t like waiting for second rate beings that are slow to get things done.”

The other man nearly sneered before he turned his charming smile back to the petite Asian girl. “Lady Shinyao. Perhaps you would accept my offer for a time of courtship. Tomorrow perhaps?”

“I’m available tomorrow,” Shinyao agreed.

“Wonderful! Have you ever been introduced to archery?”

“No, I haven’t,” Shinyao replied.

“Excellent. You shall then. Have a wonderful rest of your evening my lady.” Then he continued on.

Shinyao reached up to poke at Chris’s arm. “Smile. It makes you look better. You don’t have to like everyone, but you can at least pretend that you are not plotting murder.”

“It’s my favorite pastime recently,” Chris sighed before opening her door. “Good night.”

Shinyao watched as the red wolf turned and walked away. “You’re not going to try kissing me?”

Chris stopped to glance over his shoulder at her. “Anyone that only wants a reward for spending time with you is not worth much. A date should be to grow admiration for who you are as a person, not for you or your body.” Then he was gone.

Shinyao stared after him in disbelief before a giddy smile came. She rushed into her room and locked the door. She then thew herself on the canopied bed that was surrounded by Umbra and occult like things and decorations that her neighbors had gifted. She pulled her phone out of the pouch hidden under her skirts and activated it.

“Are you home?” Ton’s voice asked as she answered.

“Yes! We just got back! It was amazing!”

“Wayne’s collecting all the videos and pictures of us that people have posted!”

“He didn’t kiss me!” Shinyao burst.

“What?” Ton asked in confusion.

“Chris didn’t kiss me! He said that he didn’t want me because I could kiss!” The lighter girl flopped back on her bed in excitement. “I thought everyone wanted a kiss after a date. Mingze liked it when I would kiss him.”

“Mingze didn’t deserve it!”

Shinyao stared up at ceiling. “Maybe. It… feels nice for some reason. Chris just doesn’t want to be around me for something he could get. I’m almost sad now that he’s not going to be my boyfriend.”

“He’s not? Why?”

“He can tell you if he wants, but he is not going to fall in love for a long time. He’s just an amazing friend. I think I understand what Luke means about dating. I don’t want anyone that is going to treat me less than Chris does. I’m never afraid or uncomfortable around him.”

“You’re certain that you don’t want him for a boyfriend? I think he sounds more than perfect.”

“Maybe, but he needs someone he can love and trust more. By the way, he asked me to go on another date with him.”

“He did?! Maybe he likes you!”

“We’re good friends. And guess what? One of my neighbors just asked me to go do archery with him tomorrow!”

“How are you getting all the guys?!”

“You have all the boys in the café. I think I can have all the rest.”

“Fine. You have to tell me everything tomorrow!”

“Only if you tell me everything too. Good night.”

Chapter Text

Ton walked into the café after her last class. The sun was bright outside and nearly blinding on the white snow. With the clear skies, the cold of winter had started to display its wicked coldness. Breath froze instantly and each inhale was like a cutting blade. Skin prickled and burned in seconds of contact with the air. She sighed in relief at the cozy warmth of the café as she came in and started taking off her winter things. Tauryu stepped over to take them from her. “Did your day go well?”

“As hectic as finals always seem to be. More desperately checking to make sure you got everything before it ends,” Ton replied as she looked around. She paused as she found Luke and Vlad watching the television together. On screen was a view of the café’s kitchen with Shinyao and Chris in it. The red easily flipped a ball of dough for it to seemingly float in the air as it spun flat and large. It became wider and wider until it was allowed to fall and had its edges drooping over the edges of the wide counter. He started getting toppings out for the pizza as Shinyao took her own ball of dough and tossed into the air. She caught it for nothing to have happened. She kept trying for the dough to sort of stretch out lumpily.

Luke was snickering unrepentantly as he watched her fingers tear through the dough. “This is in poor taste,” Vlad hummed.

“And you haven’t walked away. You are loving this just as much as the rest of us,” the silver returned.

“What’s going on?” Ton asked as she stepped over to watch her friend pinch the holes in the dough closed and try again for her fingers to stretch up into it like claws. Leng meowed as her ribbon floated over. The girl picked up her spirit animal to cradle the misty coldness.

“Chris is trying to teach Shinyao how to make pizza and she is having beginner struggles,” Luke explained.

Shinyao on the screen groaned, “I can’t keep my hands closed. Can you tape my fingers shut?”

“You would have a problem tossing it then. It just takes practice,” The red wolf said as he slipped his huge pizza into the oven.

“I’m starting to feel like an Umbra. I’m destroying it,” Shinyao said unhappily.

“Good thing you’re used to destructive Umbra and trying to get them to do better,” Chris returned.

Tauryu smiled slightly, “Very sweet. Your brother’s becoming better at encouraging than you are Luke.”

“It’s about time, isn’t it,” Luke said happily.

Vlad glanced over at her and stood up to pour her a cup of hot tea. “How were your classes?”

“Slow. Only getting dates for finals is all that is left,” Ton said as she took a sip and cooed happily at the warmth and taste. “Oh! I did get us booked for the night before finals start for Shinyao and I.”

“Is that wise to spend the night being a Twilight before your tests begin?” Tauryu questioned.

“It will destress us. Besides, tests and classes here in London are not as intense as they are back home.”

Luke raised a questioning eyebrow, “Booked? I’m guessing that you are referring to having talked to the owners of some historical site.”

“Yes. It’s one of the places on my historical checklist that I want to see, and Vlad agreed to take us! I want you to come too, Luke,” The dark-haired girl invited.

He smiled slightly as he looked away, “Thank you, but I’ll pass. I have teams that I have a video conference with on the other side of the world planned for that night.”

“Can you ask them to get up a little earlier so you can do those during the day? You gave us a chance to go with you on a mission to see elves; can you not give us a chance to take you with us on a historical site thing?” Ton pleaded.

Luke shook his head as he got up. “I went on historical things before. Rijan took me on a few and we both decided that as much as my long life gave me an advantage with history, I was better suited to missions and planning active events and possible fights. Vlad has lived forever and loves studying that sort of stuff better. That’s the reason he’s in charge of that. I’ll skip out on the fun Vlad’s going to show you.”

The vampire glared at his coworker, “You whined and bothered Rijan until she could no longer take it and dumped everything she needed of you on me.”

“You could take my suggestion and get a few new directors for historical things and for coordinating with other Twilights in other places. Then you only have to worry about this team,” the silver suggested.

“And give you a reason to call me lazy? No. I am doing more than well enough. I only find it strange that you are so determined to stay uninvolved with history,” Vlad said.

“You have done historical things before! You came to help us with in Edinburg. The vaults are a historical place,” Ton pointed out.

“I came because it was dangerous. I wouldn’t have come any other way.”

“You told the coven you had been there a couple months before. What about then?” Ton demanded.

“Super speed check. I was passing through the area.”

Shinyao burst through the mirror then. “Ton! You’re back. Chris is making pizza. I’m getting in his way.”

“I’m too fast for you to ever get in my way,” Chris said as he stepped through to lean against the wall with his flour dusted hands crossed out of the way.

“Shinyao! You have to help me convince Luke to come with us to see the Umbra there!” Ton exclaimed.

The brown-haired girl smiled sweetly at the silver Were. “Please Luke?”

Luke smiled softly as he patted Mu on the head. “You are becoming nearly lethal with your cuteness, but I still pass.”

“Chris?” Shinyao turned on the younger Bowen.

The red shrugged, “I have no problem going to historical sites. Where are we going?”

“The Ancient Ram Inn!” Ton declared.

Both brothers tensed. Chris stood up straight. “You’re going there!?”

The girls nodded in excitement. “Yeah! A lot of people have had some very strong Umbra encounters there,” Ton said.

Vlad coldly studied the brothers. “We have never been able to get into the Inn before. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet the Umbra there and settle them into peace or dispose of those too dangerous.”

Chris scoffed, “No one should go there in the first place. Count me out. I wouldn’t get within five miles of that hell.” He stormed back through the mirror before anyone could blink.

It was quiet in the main area as everyone glanced at each other in surprise then over to the older Bowen. A cold calculating smile slowly came to Vlad as he considered the werewolf he had worked with the most. “Interesting. If I did not know you for so long Luke, I would say that you and your brother were afraid.”

Luke met the crimson eyes in questioning amusement. “Really? Why?”

“You are always the first into a problem. Always running recklessly into fights that you never had a chance in before we can arrive. Yet you have always avoided historical things. Always a reason. Always an excuse. Even your uncaring brother is refusing to go to this site so vehemently. You are afraid.” Garfunkel said smugly.

Luke was not impressed, “That is how you came to that conclusion. Not a reason why we would be afraid.”

Vlad smoothly stepped up to the Were like a stalking predator. “How could I have one when it is your primitive mind that created it? You do not deny it.”

“If I did, you would not believe me. Why are you wanting me to come with you so much? I thought you said you were capable enough to take the girls on your own without them getting hurt.”

Vlad frowned at the mocking smile he now was facing, “I am and I am not insecure enough to be diverted from this. I want to know what has you so afraid.”

Luke rolled his eyes as he walked past the undead Umbra. “I’m not afraid Count. Some of us Umbra are missing things to make us not think and act like humans just like you. You may have no ability to love or care about anything, but my little brother and I were born without fear. Kind of gives us a deadly mindset, don’t you think?”

Vlad turned to watch the silver, his voice silk over steel. “Prove it.” Luke glanced back with a shining smile. “If you are so fearless, then show me. Come with us and show me what it is that you are avoiding.”

Luke’s laugh was loud and genuinely amused, “Wouldn’t giving in prove you right?”

“I don’t understand,” Tauryu put in.

Bowen turned back to all of them as he placed an arrangement of holly to decorate for the Christmas season on the top shelf of a cupboard. “Everyone says to show you are not a coward by going where you say you will not to prove that you are not afraid of the place or things there. But if you do go, don’t you prove to them that you are truly afraid? Afraid of what they think of you? Of being left out and excluded? That you are afraid of them?” Luke shook his head as he stepped for the full length mirror to the kitchen. “I’m not afraid of what any of you think or do to me. Consider me a coward if you wish. I’m not going to give you power over me in that way to gload me against my restrictions.”

He passed through the mirror then. Eyes turned back to Vlad. The blond considered the entry way before his real smile that barely came out of his icy demeanor cracked. “Impressive wolf. I didn’t think you could consider such things.” Then he strode through the mirror after him.

“Ton,” Shinyao said softly as she rushed after him. “I think you should disinvite Luke. I’m starting not to like this. If Chris is uncomfortable then we shouldn’t push Luke either.”

“Are you kidding? Luke is always willing to go places. Why is he not wanting to come now?” Ton exclaimed in excitement as she came into the kitchen too.

“I think we should wait for Chris to trust enough to tell us instead of getting into a situation bad enough to force Luke to,” Shinyao replied before they found Vlad trying to back Luke into a corner.

“I said no and that is my answer. Go make yourself useful for once,” Luke stated calmly as he shoved the vampire aside to get to a cupboard.

Garfunkel had his controlling smile in place as he coldly watched the chef. It was like watching a shark circle a thrashing injured fish with blood in the water. No emotion or compassion in the least. Just taking its time before coming in for the kill. “I think I’m busy enough. I’ve looked away all these years as you have run. You come and go like a phantom. Never an explanation. Never a reason or destination. Now you are staying so close when a building is brought up. You’re hiding something.”

“What?! Hiding something?! This coming from the great Count Dracula that is running from his past? The one that is too afraid of what he once did and what others think to settle into being himself now? That never tells the truth and always tries to sloppily cover what needs to be seen? That is so embarrassed over his own mistakes that he tries to take every bit of credit that everyone around him deserves? Hiding? Is there such a thing around here?”

Vlad kicked hard into Luke’s chest to send the wolf slamming into the counter. The counter cracked under Luke’s back from the force, flour dust rising like smoke around them. The vampire’s grip on his throat was iron, cold and merciless.  Chris stepped out of the way with a glare at the two. “Do you have to do this here? Get out of my kitchen idiots.”

Dracula only hissed furiously at the werewolf in his grip. “Yes. I hide and I lie. If I was who I really am, humanity wouldn’t survive. What is your excuse? Who are you and what have you done that gets you off with your behavior?”

Luke was almost completely calm as he was pinned against a counter. Deliberately, he reached up to take Vlad’s thumb that was locked around his throat and pulled the weak joint back and off. Then he smiled sadly. “You don’t know? We’ve been working together for a century, Count. I thought that someone who was a real friend would have figured that out long ago. I don’t exactly close myself off like you do, your highness.” His push that got Garfunkel out of his space seemed so gentle. “Need anything little brother? I have anchovies in a cupboard if you want.”

“Yes,” Chris agreed instantly. “No one puts anchovies on pizza anymore. We’re going to run out of basil soon too.”

“I’ll put that on the stocking list,” Luke agreed.

“Wolf.” Vlad was quieter than he normally was. “Perhaps you are right. If I had actually cared, I should have forced this issue long ago. And truly, I have no care for you in the least. Yet, I am beginning to see that you are not as open as I thought. What do any know about you or your brother? Very little. Vague ideas and all the rest is you being more than willing to flirt. I am finished asking my questions to deities that have no consideration of me about your unreliable self. You are coming to the Ram Inn with us and to any other place until they are answered.”

“Good luck with that,” Luke hummed as he wrote at his stocking list and then brushed past Tauryu and the girls to get to a shelf. He began looking through all the ingredients for something in the back.

“I get the feeling I will need that luck, but you are going to come willingly.” The undead Umbra replied. He stepped over to touch the exit to the back rooms for it to light up in a second burst.

Chris snarled as the enchanted mirror the other way did the same. “What are you doing, vampire?”

“Nothing you have to be concerned with,” Vlad ignored as Luke met his eyes. “We still have the empty room that Rijan gave to you that you refused to take back then. It is warded. Nothing can get out of it once they are activated. Is going to an old Inn for a night truly worth being locked in there for a month?”

The silver’s always cheerful expression had dropped to a nearly hate filled stare. “Is a night really going to be worth your while getting me there and dealing with me during and after?”

None of the bystanders dared to take another breath as an invisible barrier kept the two apart. A little crack would start a bloody fight that none of them could get out of the way from with the locked exits. Vlad seemed to be considering the same thing as his features tightened like he had eaten something bitter before he relaxed and tilted his head back. “Maybe. Maybe not. Protesting so much is making me consider that I might get what I want.”

The silver werewolf was completely still with no change. They all flinched as he suddenly shrugged with a smile starting to work its way back. “We’ll see. If you get what you want or not, either way you are going to end up the loser. If you want that, then by all means, stay near me.” He then grinned in a wicked dark way that did not belong to him. “Please do. I want to see you suffering for the mistake you just made that is all your own.”

Ton stepped back as Luke suddenly turned towards them. “Come here Leng. Your girl is going to get herself killed.” The ghost cat meowed happily as she leaped out of Ton’s arms and padded along the counter to Luke. The werewolf picked up the floating ribbon to take her over to the refrigerator. “She doesn’t deserve you with how she pulls others into battles she should not pick.”

“Hey!” Ton yelled in surprise as her cat was stolen from her.

“Leng isn’t hissing at Luke like she was before,” Shinyao interrupted in interest.

“Of course not,” Chris stated. “She’s learned who around here is actually worth liking. Vampire, undo the barrier and all of you get out of here. Only Shinyao’s allowed and I am not feeling ready to find a place to bury all the rest of you.” Garfunkel sneered in cool disdain of the red wolf as he undid the wards on the exits.

Luke set Leng down on the counter with a small bowl of cream. “Will do little brother. It’s annoying to have to dig through dirt on top of your grave to get out.” He moved past the blond vampire to get to the back rooms.

Vlad was then slammed into the wall by the doorway. Chris bristled in fury as his wolf side shifted out. “You don’t get to threaten my big brother that way. We are not your slaves that you can order and throw away.”

“Is your brother so weak that he needs you to defend him?” Vlad asked with a cruel smirk. Chris tightened his clawed hand for organic cracking to come from the blond’s throat as it was slowly crushed. Vlad began to kick and hit at the canine Umbra holding him as he struggled to get free.

“Chris,” Tauryu said quietly. “Let him go. What he has done is wrong but killing him now is pointless.”

The young Bowen fidgeted before snarling, “If anything happens to my brother then all that will be left of you is your lore. Van Helsing and every other Midnight Sun member might have failed to get rid of you, but I won’t.”

The walls of the café shook as Vlad hit the base of the staircase. Ton and Tauryu edged their way past the irate Were as Shinyao suicidally went right up to him. He did nothing to her as she gently rubbed at his trembling hands. “Vlad?” Ton asked in worry as she and the jianzhi came over to check on him. Garfunkel winced as he sat up from the broken stair boards and held his throat. He shook his head negative. “I think you should apologize to Luke and take everything back. I don’t think it’s worth it to have both him and his brother against us.”

A splintering crack sounded through the café then. Luke skipped down the stairs from above then with a door frame in hand that had plaster attached outside of it. He stepped over Vlad to drop the wood on him. “Sorry Tauryu. My room seems to have been broken recently. You’re going to have to fix it. No help from anyone else.”

“Some things should never change,” Tauryu stated simply as the silver wolf left the entire building through the back door. “Perhaps not being close and knowing what is truly happening with those around you is better. Many things need a step of courage to become better. This time though, I think you just pushed beyond something that was much better in innocence.”

~

The Ancient Ram Inn in a small town by the name of Wonton-Under-Edge. The town was closer to the western edge of the British Isles than London that was in the middle of the island. Most of the buildings were older, but it was obvious to anyone passing through that the building surpassed all of them. The building was L shaped in structure with a barn having been attached to the main inn. On the outside the owner had obviously had been trying to take care of the once pub with the whitewash. Some of the wood was starting to age enough to crack and fall apart. The main side that had windows and was one of the more photographed things of the outside was bowing outward into the cobblestone street ever so slightly. The rest of the building was made of mortar and stone with a wood shingled roof.

Ton took a picture of it. “How has anything that old stayed up? Most things made today fall apart pretty fast.”

“Things were built to last back then,” Luke said unconcerned as he leaned against a building across the icy street. “They didn’t need engineers back then to get a simple job done. What was made was either horrible or beyond this current human generation’s ability to replicate. This thing will probably still be standing when all species on earth are extinct and the next organisms to dominate it become intelligent enough to wonder about those that came before.”

“You have too much faith in that pile of rocks and lumber,” Vlad returned.

Shinyao had been the only one that had been uncomfortable out of all of them. She stayed back and watched the two young men in worry. Luke didn’t seem like he had a problem with Vlad or the place in the least and Vlad was ignoring the prior threats. It seemed like everything was just fine, but it was everything said that led to this that warned of something not. “You can go back to the café, Luke. You destroyed your room, and Vlad can’t threaten you with that anymore.”

Luke smiled at her, “Shinyao. I want to slit your throat so badly.”

Ton and Vlad turned too fast to stare at the silver Were in horror, it was almost like an over reactive cartoon. Shinyao just blinked in confusion, “Why?”

“You don’t belong on this earth. You’re too perfect and kind for it. I have half a mind to send you back to heaven so that you can stop hiding your angel wings,” Luke replied.

Shinyao smiled back, “Thank you. I think I would be lonely with out you and Chris to show me how to work with angels. I haven’t worked with that kind of Umbra before.”

Vlad tisked to himself as he turned away, “You are becoming as savage as the Bowens.”

“If savage is how you consider those that are capable enough to handle their problems and others then I will happily be one,” Shinyao stated.

Luke chuckled, “Shinyao. If you don’t get a better offer, will you marry me? I have to have you in my family.”

“Only if you take me on a date first,” the brown-haired girl returned.

“Come on! We have equipment to set up,” Ton said as she started for the door. Vlad did not move after her as he waited for Luke to follow first. The Were smirked fondly after the dark-haired Chinese girl. “What are you waiting for?”

“Nothing. Was just wondering if I was the only one that sees a woman watching us from the window up there.”

Everyone looked up at the window to find a woman that was in her twenties staring passively down on them. Without words she had a feeling of eeriness, there was something not right with her. Ton slowly raised her phone and began recording her. “Only my modified lens is picking her up.”

Luke happily moved for the door as the others watched her. “You’re in luck Ton. You’ve already got an Umbra sighting. From what I’ve heard, that should be the witch’s room. So, you might have just seen a witch.”

“I’m starting to get a bad feeling,” Shinyao whispered as they hurried to catch up to the Were as he knocked on the door.

A minute later a young woman opened the door for them. “Hello.”

“I’m Baileu Ton, and these are my friends. We have an appointment here for tonight?”

The woman smiled as she motioned them in. “You do. I’m Rachel. Please come in.” The entry way was small and barely big enough to fit all of them inside. Rachel closed the heavy wooden door behind them and sidled past into one of the doorways it opened to. “This way please. I ask that you please refrain from touching things as there are items that we would like not to be broken. If you have equipment that you wish to set up in an attempt to record anything that may happen tonight, you are free to do so after I show you around.”

“Is the air always this heavy?” Ton asked as she focused on her breathing.

“It is. The Ram is hundreds of years old. Not only can you see its history, but you can actually feel it in the air.” Rachel said as she led them into a larger room. There were items everywhere as she began a practiced run down on the history of the Inn and what each room had in its personal lore. The Inn was almost like a museum with all the different things that had been collected to decorate every available wall space. The rooms were not big and were almost confining in their build, but all the knickknacks made them even closer though also more welcoming. The upstairs rooms managed to have a little more spacious of a feeling.

Once the tour was done the equipment was brought out. A camera was staked out in each of the rooms. As Rachel left, Ton brought out their body cameras. “Alright. Everyone gets one.”

Vlad frowned at the small device. “This is pointless.”

“It’s easier to use than handheld devices. You and Luke may get a different angle than we will on any Umbra here and your footage may be what we use,” Ton said.

Luke clipped his on easily, “I feel like an official police officer now.”

Vlad did the same, “This is pathetic. Now, there are many known Umbra here. This place earns its keep by having encounters with Umbra. We need to see if we can negotiate the Umbra living here to only interact with humans but cause no harm. If they remain aggressive, we will dispose of them. No extras if we can avoid it.”

“No one has died here. The Umbra can’t be too bad,” Shinyao pointed out.

“People also are known to run out of this place. They could have been saving themselves,” Luke replied.

As evening came and darkness began to settle, they began wandering through the rooms more in search of an Umbra appearing. Other than the atmosphere being so heavy it felt like they had to focus on drawing in their breaths, everything was still and quiet. No one responded when they were called for.

“If Umbra live here, then why do they not always show themselves to the visitors?” Shinyao asked as they stepped through the entry way into the barn addition.

“Why be predictable? If you change things around, then you’ll have a better chance of scaring humans. Disappoint the believers and terrify the doubters out of their minds. No one will know who to believe,” Vlad said as they glanced around the barn that was cluttered on one side.

“Every Umbra has their routine,” Luke said as he slowly walked around. Not quite to the entry way end of the barn, he paused and looked down at his feet. “There’s no reason to wear yourself out meeting strangers every night. Even we like getting some personal time.”

“But with so many living here, there should be at least one that is active tonight,” Ton said as they began to leave the barn.

Shinyao looked back through the door to see Luke had not followed them. “Luke? Are you coming?”

The wolf shrugged flippantly, “Would love to, but I can’t move.”

“Why not?” Shinyao asked as Vlad and Ton paused for them.

“I’m standing on two bodies,” Luke stated simply.

“Bodies?” Ton repeated in surprise as they came back in.

“Yes. Corpses? You know, human remains,” Luke teased.

“How do you know?” Shinyao asked as she looked at the stone floor in interest.

“This is a pagan burial ground. Rachel told you that.”

“No, how do you know you’re standing on bodies?” The brown-haired girl rephrased.

Luke sighed as he leaned to the side and seemed to be trying to pull his leg up. “I didn’t until I stepped on them. Mind helping me out a little?”

The girls moved over to push against his back. Luke fell forward but his legs barely moved. They stared in confusion before trying to pick up his boots. None of them could get them to budge. Vlad scoffed at them, “Why would standing on a grave get you stuck wolf?” He formed a spell, and a transparent red shockwave rippled out. The girls screamed as they suddenly came face to face with now visible men. They scrambled back from the Umbra but did not go far as many more stood around the room surrounding them. Vlad raised an eyebrow as he took in the many muscle-bound men that were dressed in armor from an ancient date. Most were standing, watching the physically solid. Then there were two that were holding onto Luke’s legs. “Am I correct in assuming you are spirits?”

One of the warriors closer to the vampire that was partially in the wall reached out to him. “Help me! Please! Mercy! I beg of you! Don’t kill me!”

The girls grouped closer to Vlad as all the warriors began screaming the same things to them. Desperately reaching with terror in their eyes. “What’s happening?” Ton shouted as she tried to keep herself from panicking.

“I think those that are buried in this land are active. Their souls are not free to return to their particular afterlives,” Vlad said.

Luke chuckled, “You think that druids would be that nice? These men were sacrifices. They were part of an enemy force. Either the original owners of this land or a rivalling tribe that wanted it. They were taken alive after the battles and brought before the druids. Look at them. You can see the marks of the ritual on them that gave them to the pagan gods and binded them to giving their souls to strengthen their enemies. They will never escape the hell that they were brought into.”

Vicious stab wounds into some of the men’s chests and slit throats that were so deep that the heads were almost decapitated were obvious now. “How do we help them?” Shinyao asked.

“You can’t. Nothing other than a druid could free them and priests and priestesses of their kind were the ones to put them here,” Luke said.

Vlad waved away a reaching hand. “We all walked over them. Why did they grab onto only you?”

Luke smiled but it was not its sunny brightness. “You notice they are reaching for you too, Count. Do you not know your lore and Umbra history well enough to understand why?”

“What are you referring to?” Vlad asked as he moved back from one of the souls that threw himself on the ground to reach for him, only his grave keeping him in one spot and not able to reach.

The silver’s smile was tinting more to a dark thought. “Do you know anything about the Germanic tribes?”

“They were the ones that ruled most of northern Europe two thousand years ago. There were multiple tribes that fought with each other. Famine and war pushed different tribes to new places. The Anglo-Saxons were one of the most notable tribes to take over the British Isles,” Vlad summarized.

“Basically. Do you know what their religion and Umbra lore was like?” Luke asked again.

“Multiple gods that were essentially exactly like the ones that the Norse tribe have immortalized. Pagan deities that are rumored to have required human sacrifice,” Vlad added.

“Do you know what those tribes feared the most? The fear that traveled across maps and through ages?”

“Of course I don’t! All of those people hated my kind. I was hunted worse by the tribes than by those influenced by Christianity later,” Vlad snapped in irritation.

“Exactly,” Luke said quietly.

“Explain please! I’m not following,” Ton demanded.

Bowen began, “The tribes we’re talking about were some of the most fearsome in European history. The Romans called them barbarians and attempted to conquer them. They later realized their mistake when the tribes played with them as roebucks during a hunt. The Roman legions were picked off slowly, and then other times wiped completely out. The dark forests and mountains that these tribes claimed were the places of nightmares and Umbra were made by the hundreds to inhabit them. The tribes themselves had little fear of their lands and the Umbra that lived in them. Many tribes accepted the Umbra as part of their religious system. There was one kind though that they absolutely feared and hated. The undead.”

Vlad hummed in thought, “So these wretches are trying to kill me?”

Luke laughed although it was wicked. “No, silly! The rituals that killed them were also made to keep them from ever rising again. It would not do for your enemy to rise from the grave to take their revenge, but what more can protectors of their lands want if they could not go on to their afterlives? Would you not want to gut the ones that had tortured you to death?”

“So, you mean that since Vlad is undead, they want him to make them that way too?” Shinyao asked.

All the spirits instantly stopped their cries and turned towards the far back of the barn. The silence was sickening now. The heavy atmosphere of the Inn became cold and awful. “I think we need to leave,” Ton whispered as the feeling of danger filled her. Something bad was about to happen.

From the far end of the barn a dark mist formed and drifted in. It was only darkness. It slowly came to hover a few feet behind Luke. As they stared, a shape began to come out of a woman. She was older and had many jewelry pieces hanging from her, yet there was no kindness in her face. “Druid priestess,” Vlad stated as she stared at them.

“What is she doing here?” Ton asked.

“She’s buried here,” Luke answered. “Not everyone here is a victim. Some of them are high ranking and got fancy burials.”

The woman in the dark cloud held out her hand and pointed at Vlad as soft echoing words sounded. “What’s going on?” Ton asked.

“Nothing good,” Garfunkel stated before he evaporated as something dark barreled at him.

The girls fell to the floor as it knocked them aside and chased after the vampire’s black mist. “I’m guessing that druids don’t like undead beings even when they are dead,” Shinyao said.

Ton watched the knee high almost canine like Umbra that were hunting Vlad down in disbelief. “Can they even hurt him?”

“I guess that depends on what those things are. Luke?” The wolf did not answer. The girls got up to see him staring blankly. The ghosts holding his legs had let go and disappeared, yet he was still without them holding him down. Shinyao tried again, “Luke? Are you alright?”

The priestess in the black mist stepped forward to place the suggestion of her hand on the taller silver’s shoulder. Bowen slowly sank to his knees to kneel in front of the mist shrouded woman at his back. “Is that a knife?” Ton asked in worry as the wicked feeling being pulled the hint of a blade out of her mist.

“Looks like it. It's not solid though. It's probably just retained energy of her having done that in her past life. Like a movie like all those paranormal investigators say on the shows,” Shinyao suggested with worry starting to come through. Shrieks of agony came from elsewhere in the Inn before a muted blast sounded. “I’m guessing that Vlad just took care of his heel eaters.”

“Good. I think we need his advice…” Ton gasped as the woman’s knife slipped across Luke’s throat. Blood began to flow from a thin cut on his neck.

“So, she can cut! That’s not good,” Shinyao said as her voice raised in frantic octaves.

“What’s not good?” Vlad asked as he suddenly formed beside them.

“I think Luke’s about to be killed,” Shinyao said as they motioned.

Garfunkel had an unimpressed expression for them before he looked at the canine Umbra. His calm gaze snapped wide in surprise. The priestess slashed across the silver’s throat again for the cut to deepen. “Luke!” The Count leaped forward to grab Bowen and shove him away from the black mist. The vampire dodged back as the incorporeal knife swiped at him. “Wench. How did a murderer like you ever be given such a high place in your society?” Vlad struck out for spell of blasting wind to roar through the room. The mist dissolved away with its personage. Garfunkel glanced around as a blackness like an oil spill began to seep up from the corners of the room before dropping to his knees beside the silver wolf that was lying still on the mortar floor. “Take care of that.”

“How?” Ton shouted as she and Shinyao came on each side of the boys.

“Easy. Just like Luke taught us,” Shinyao said as she held out her hand and she began to glow in violet. Her vines reached for the darkness as she tried to absorb it. The other woman in the blackness formed to glare at them. Shinyao pulled at her energy, but it did not come.

Ton crouched down to pull a talisman out of her shadow. “What’s wrong with him, Vlad?”

The blond royalty grasped Luke’s jaw to tilt his head upright. Bright green eyes that were always so sharp were blank and unseeing. “A thrall of some sort. Someone is keeping him pliant. I’ll break the spell.” Vlad’s crimson eyes lit up to glow. The silver’s on the ground shifted to the red shade as Dracula entered his mind. Ton slapped her talisman on the ground as the oily blackness reached towards them to create a barrier around them. The black mist priestess shifted to try and get closer for Shinyao’s vines to keep her back. Vlad leaned back as Luke blinked a few times with clarity back in his eyes. Bowen jolted upright as he clasped a hand over his bleeding throat. “Are you well?” The undead Umbra questioned.

Bowen took in everything around them. “All considering, I’m still alive and as such, wonderful. I’ll lose my stomach later. We need to move now!”

“How do we do that?” Ton shouted as the blackness writhed over her barrier to cover the air above them.

“Like this,” the silver Were said as he grabbed all of them. Three simultaneous yelps came from them as they were one second in the barn and then in the opposite end of the Inn.

Vlad staggered before getting his footing back. “I detest your speed.”

“Ask if I care later,” Luke snarked back as his other hand came up to catch a few free-falling drops of blood that escaped his other’s hold on his neck.

The blond young man frowned before pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and handing it to his friend. Luke nodded in thanks as he put the once spotless cloth against the gash on his throat. "Reports have never come in of such Umbra activity happening here before. Why is it now?”

“Probably because it was waiting for the chance to get an idiot that was willing to force some one that avoids these places just in case they act up just like this to come,” Luke growled.

Vlad slowly met Luke’s eyes. “You were expecting this? Why? What do you know about places like this to avoid them?”

“I don’t think this is a good time for an interrogation,” Shinyao said as more sacrifice warrior spirits raised above the hard floor to reach for them, begging for help. The broken floor against the back wall of the room that had a cross placed in it to mark the sight of a body once found was empty of its ghost.

“Think she says,” Came a horse cackle.

“As if she could speed up time to avoid Dracula’s plan,” a more masculine voice agreed.

Vlad’s expression puckered as he turned to the seats in the room with them. “We are currently dealing with a situation superiorly older than you. We will deal with you demons after.”

A man and woman with tattered bat wings that were completely naked faded into sight. They were physically perfect to have been models if their fangs did not curve out of their mouths and their horns twisted out of their foreheads. The man definitely leered at them, “Of course my lord. Once you are finished disposing of the werewolf, we will be more than willing to await your orders. Perhaps I can have one of the girls. So many of those that come these days dare not leave their friends for me to have a chance with them.”

Ton glanced nervously back at the barn to see black oil slithering across the mortar floor towards them. “You will not lay a hand on any of my company. I have much to do now,” Vlad told the succubus and incubus of the inn.

“Please do. We will watch you raise your army, and we will join you after,” The female demon accepted.

“What army?” The Count asked suspiciously at the eagerness.

“The army that sleeps. They fell in battle but never died. The druids were clever. They made a spell to keep all those men from dying but also preserve them for one who was truly worthy of commanding their great army.” The succubus exclaimed in joy before frowning. “That is why you brought the werewolf, is it not? To sacrifice to raise your army?"

“Definitely not. I have no intention of letting any with me tonight die or raising any cursed armies. Excuse me,” Vlad whirled away from them to face the approaching blackness.

“How disappointing,” The succubus sighed.

“My thoughts exactly. Though I see no reason not to take advantage of the presented opportunity,” The incubus replied.

Luke sighed, “They all have to try at exactly the same time.” Then he ducked under the male demon that launched himself at the wolf to flip him and snap a wing in the process. The wolf then shoved the female back as she tried to claw at him.

The succubus didn’t get to come at the silver wolf again as Ton hit her hard with her summoned shield. “Shinyao and I are the only girls allowed to touch Luke!”

Luke laughed at that, “Should I be concerned with how possessive everyone is?”

“I have become so, and I want to know why they want you,” Vlad stated as he tried a spell that rolled the blackness back, but it did not stop reaching.

The silver grasped the back of the blond’s collar to pull him along. “We need to get off the ground floor first.” They followed the wolf up the stairs to the next level up that had wood boards for flooring under their feet. Luke marched to one of the rooms to knock loudly. “We’re coming in.” He opened the door and stepped inside the small bedroom. “We are going to be talking, and I ask you to leave if you don’t want to get mixed up with the mess downstairs.”

After a moment’s pause, a woman faded into translucent sight with her cat in her arms to walk out the door and fade back out of sight. Vlad watched her leave passively, “I’m going to let the witch and her familiar remain here. They seem well behaved enough.”

Ton closed the door, and they all waited. It was strangely quiet in this room compared to the floor below them that still had screaming spirits. “So…”

“Only chance we have at surviving this is to jump out the window in the Bishop’s room and get out of the area. If we stay here, one thing or another is going to kill us,” Luke summarized.

“I’m not leaving with homicidal Umbra on the loose,” Vlad stated.

Shinyao stepped over to the window that Luke was staring out at the street through. “Luke, I wish we weren’t in this situation to require this, but I think that you need to tell us what’s happening so that we can keep others safe.”

The werewolf stared out the window quietly. Finally, he sighed, “I heard rumors that there was a sleeping army here, but I wasn’t certain they were true.”

“I was meaning more about knowing to avoid this place and that it was going to do something like this. Why do you not like historical places?” Vlad cut to a main point.

“It’s not so much the place as the company,” Luke said as he gave the blond a level stare.

“Luke, please,” Shinyao requested.

Ton tried to ignore the faces that were appearing in the mirror beside her as the older Bowen answered. “I don’t come to historical places because this always happens. You want to know why Rijan dumped historical things on you, Count? It’s because as much as I love history and am good at it, I can’t get near most places or things from it without some mess exploding. She took me to a couple places and we both decided to keep me away not just for my safety but everyone else’s. I can fight and handle myself. So, I am in charge of Field and Missions that have that, but historical things always have some sort of ancient magic that I am almost completely unable to handle that wants to cause ultimate damage and chaos.”

The Romanian vampire was very interested as he stepped over to the other side of the window. “Why does this happen? How do you know which historical things are to avoid?”

The canine Umbra looked at the blond in disbelief. “You don’t know?”

Vlad tensed defensively, “No. I do not know. I have not the slightest idea what is going on with you or what other Umbra think I should know.”

Luke silently laughed to himself, “I guess you were hiding like a coward down in the southern reaches of Europe trying to save your lazy self. If you got out more often, you might know.”

“Just tell me what is happening, wolf,” Garfunkel hissed.

“My brother and I lived in the upper reaches of Europe. We were introduced to earth in a place that held the kind of peace that Rijan dreamed of. Humans and Umbra living together for each other’s gain with little disputes. The Germanic tribes considered most Umbra to be gifts from their gods. What else could something that is not exactly human or animal with great powers be? The only downfall of that perfect peace between species is that instead of building each other to new levels of goodness, they taught each other evil. How to kill, torture, steal, lie, and every other horrible thing. Humans have always had a natural tendency to want to do those things, but with Umbra encouraging it, the humans that were nearby became some of the most violent and blood thirsty people in existence and the Umbra more vindictive and destructive than any other in the world. The rituals of the priestesses that once had dealt with just dancing and celebration of nature and life slowly shifted to sacrifice of animals, to enemy warriors, to their own children, to their Umbra neighbors. Any Umbra with sense fled the villages and became solitary to save their lives. Each species having their own rituals for certain things. Werewolves have near instant healing and most mortal wounds are not actually mortal to us. Rituals to slaughter them have the end goal of taking the Umbra’s life to raise hundreds instantly from the dead to perfect life and to make basically Superman like warriors among humans.”

Luke looked away from the window to glare near the door. “I’m making a kill list. Do you want to be on it too?” A ripple flashed up into the ceiling at the threat. “Most time periods after that and in the European cultures is not a good place for me to be around. The ideas of a werewolf’s power have transferred to most Umbra. Even if they don’t know how to kill us properly for our power, they become active around me. They are excited and want me to join in their plans or something. Soon you have too much Umbra energy in one place for anything but destruction to happen. That’s why I avoid a lot of historical places with known Umbra activity.”

Vlad paused in quiet surprise, “You’re a Germanic werewolf?! I thought you were Irish.”

“How did you ever get that idea?” Luke asked in disbelief.

“Your hair color first of all and then you seem very nice. I never would have guessed you were a murdering brute,” Garfunkel tisked.

“Why would where he came from make a difference?” Ton asked.

“Different areas and countries have their own lore for the same species,” Vlad stated.

“Irish werewolves are the most peaceful ones since they were good humans that did not respect a saint, and he turned them into wolves. On the opposite side you have, for example, French werewolves. In the rural areas in the Middle Ages, lore described the Were’s as humans that made pacts with the devil to shift between men and wolves and would rape and devour young girls out of the fields. My area had my species willing to talk with their victims and play with them before eating them or making them part of our cursed kind.” Luke explained.

“Did you eat anyone?” Shinyao asked curiously.

The silver laughed at the question. “A couple. I liked hunting with the tribal warriors as they went into battle against their enemies. I admit to being guilty to dragging warriors back alive for the priestesses to torture. I regretted doing that the instant they turned on my brother and me.”

“So, you are used to druid sacrifice burial grounds like this?” Shinyao questioned as the room’s door shuddered like something big just threw itself against it hard.

“I am. Probably better than most beings in existence now,” the werewolf admitted.

Vlad idly watched the door shudder like it was about to splinter apart. “None of my spells work against that druid.”

“I think I have the wrong culture to actually fight back,” Ton agreed.

“I couldn’t absorb her either,” Shinyao added.

Luke shook his head as he pulled his hand back from his throat to find that the cut had closed up. “You won’t be able to absorb her. She took so much life in her mortal stage that it has given her exceptional power. She has been here watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity for a sacrifice that will be enough to bring her army back to the purpose they must serve before they can pass on. I wouldn’t doubt she has been scaring Umbra investigators as she comes up to check a potential victim.”

“How do we stop her then?” Ton demanded as she settled herself in readiness for whatever fight was coming.

Bowen took in all of them to grin at Vlad that was looking to him too. “Are you going to throw a fit over not being in charge of this?”

Vlad almost scowled before his features smoothed as he sighed. “I do not prefer that I had no idea about anything I have learned about you tonight, but there should be no concern. We’re in a team for a reason. When one is not enough or runs out of experience and skill, there are others that can make up the marginal lack. If you happen to know how to handle a situation like this that originated from blood lusting barbarians, then I will gladly accept the lack of knowledge on primitive savages.”

The silver furred wolf blankly looked at the undead young man then gave the girls a glance of how unimpressed he was with his coworker. The girls giggled as he started to laugh with them. “We’re not in that bad of a situation if the Count can give insults and avoid a compliment like it will kill him.”

“Amateurs,” Vlad grumbled under his breath. “Are you going to laugh until they get in or do you actually know what to do?”

“You’re not going to like it,” Luke warned.

“There are many things I already dislike about this situation.”

“Do you know how to speak Old English or any of the ancient Germanic languages?” the wolf questioned.

Garfunkel’s bored crimson eyes sharpened in interest. “I’ve studied it in text. I did not learn the English language until it became modern. I believe I know a little of the Germanic languages. I can make do.”

“Great.” Luke took a deep bracing breath as he looked at the girls. “The incubus and succubus have been attacking humans for centuries. They need to go. You’re in charge of them when they show up to help their druid roommate. I’m going to focus on the priestess.”

“Why do I get the feeling that is a bad idea?” Vlad questioned.

Luke grinned, “Because it is. I may not be a druid or priest, but I still remember the rituals. I’m going to raise that army that is sleeping. The priestess is definitely going to try and take control of the ritual and turn it to her advantage. Between sacrificing myself and trying to get rid of her, I’m not going to be able to handle the army. That’s your job, Count. Take control of them and try to convince them that their objective for living has been fulfilled. If everything works out, then we’ll have an impending apocalypse shut down permanently.”

“Or you dead with an army of battle-hardened soldiers slaughtering everything that moves in their once lands. As you said, you are no druid. You have no chance at using that old religion properly,” Dracula stated.

The wolf’s happy smile bled into something dark. “It was my first religion. You forget that my people are cursed with a love of destruction.”

Ton stepped forward, “If you think you can handle it, then I’m ready.”

“We’ll see,” Luke answered as he stepped over to the door. He yanked it open for nothing to be on the other side to have been battering it. “Excuse us. We’re going down.”

A deep huffing laugh replied before slamming footsteps ran down the hall and stairs to below. Vlad glared as they stepped out to return to the ground floor. “We will most likely have to deal with him as well.”

“I’ll leave that to you,” the wolf said as they stepped down the narrow staircase. The girls yelped as the items placed around for display began to be thrown at them by unseen assailants. Below, the trapped souls of the past reached for them desperately.

“Are we going to release them too?” Ton questioned.

The silver shook his head as he stopped in the men’s pub room. “I can’t do anything for them. They are trapped here.” Uncaringly, he slashed his claws across both of his black furred palms. He cupped his hands together as his blood began to pool. He grinned back at them as if daring them to do something insane. “The second my blood hits the ground, you’re going to see how bad this little party can get.”

“You consider this a party?” Ton asked in concern as he knelt on the mortar floor and separated his hands to press to the floor. The pooled warm red blood splashed on the stones to spread. Then it sank into the floor without a trace of stain as if it was water sinking into sand.

Words of no language they knew tripped and flowed from Luke’s mouth. It was almost song-like in its strong, guttural vocals, just without music to make it radio worthy.The words rolled from Luke’s tongue like thunder in a dead language, each syllable vibrating in their bones. The air thickened, tasting of iron and ash. A crash sounded in the barn before the dark mist swirled in for the priestess to stop right in front of their wolf. Her words sounded exactly the same other than her voice was soft and echoed. The entire Inn shuddered and wobbled. The mounted ram and wolf’s head on the fireplace swayed on their placements. “Why did we not ask if there was another way to handle this?” Ton shouted as they staggered to keep their footing.

“I don’t think we know enough of anything to know when to ask questions,” Vlad said unhappily.

“You can always ask me,” the succubus lilted as she appeared in a red velvet chair to watch the druid and wolf. Luke voice was strong and loud against the soft echoing whispers of the woman against him. His blood pooled under his hands on the floor before seeping away at the edges.

“Very well. You seem to know about this army. How are they going to wake up? Where are they even?” Vlad demanded.

The succubus sucked at her fingers in what may have been seducing if it was not disgusting to one not inclined. “They were covered close by. I think a couple buildings have been put on top of them. From what I understand, the resting spirits will be awakened by the words of the ritual. It’s the blood of an Umbra like this werewolf of ours that will allow the dust of the earth to return to its living flesh. Your army should be gathering outside, my lord.”

The vampire had a disgusted expression as a hard rap came at the door of the Inn. He nodded to the human girls before he moved to the entry way to check who had come. Ton moved to stand in front of the medieval demoness. “We need to talk.”

Vlad opened the heavy wood door out to find a man that was shorter than himself but much heavier muscled. “Where tis the priestess?” The man dressed in thick leather armor demanded.

The blond nobleman glanced down the street that was quickly filling up with more and more men as they raced from a nearby field where they were forming. “She is currently occupied with a ritual,” He replied in the ancestor of the English language that was so heavily rooted in other languages that an English speaker would not recognize it. “Who is in command?”

“I am. Aelfstan of the village by the shore. I demand to meet the commander that the priestess has put in charge of directing my forces.”

“That would be myself.” Vlad said as he closed the Inn door. “I am Count Dracula, prince of the undead.”

“The undead?” Aelfstan exclaimed in horror.

“Indeed. I will not pretend to understand the nonsense of sleeping for centuries and not being dead. Your original bodies have decayed and in my opinion that means you have risen from the grave. You belong to me,” Vlad said as he walked among the warriors. Not all of them were perfectly in shape but not one of them had an extra ounce of fat on them. They ranged from old men to teenage boys.

“To you? How can that be? The druids promised us when we fell that we would sleep and rise again without tasting death.”

“Perhaps they meant ‘without tasting the life to come.”

“What would they have to gain with not explaining what they were doing to us?” Aelfstan questioned in disbelief.

“Much. It is called lying. I am certain that you have used it before, every organic thing on this earth uses the technique,” Vlad said as he slowly walked through the crowd of ancient soldiers. Most of them were not hardened for war, taken from plowing fields and fishing the rivers to fight in defense of their homes and territory. They stared after him with wide eyes as the whispers of the conversation passed to the far ranks that were still coming. “How many are there of you?”

“Before we went into battle, we were over three thousand strong. If the druids set all of us to slumber or some were slain before then I am not currently aware of them,” Aelfstan reported. The Count glanced in concern back at the Ram Inn. How much did the wolf have to give to revive each soldier in that ritual of his?

Both seduction demons lazed on the chairs in complete boredom as the girls tried to talk to them. “Do you need to feed on humans?” Shinyao asked.

“Obviously. We feed on sexual feelings,” The succubus replied.

“I meant do you really need to feed on that. Do you really need to feed or do the feelings have to be sexual or is that just a part of your lore?” Shinyao tried again.

“It doesn’t have to be sexual. I find that terrifying humans beyond their limited abilities is just as delicious,” the male responded.

“This place exists because of humans,” Ton exclaimed. “People don’t hunt you anymore. You can stop hurting them and get what you need to survive without hurting or scaring them.”

“If you need sexual feelings to feed off of then why don’t you move to an environment that has that more? Luke told me that many incubi and succubi now days live near strip clubs and such for easy and willing food,” Shinyao gave an example.

The male demon sneered, “We are not weak gluttons like them. We were created to force ourselves upon the pure and wholesome to stain their souls. Consent and willingness is not allowed. So many of the humans that come here each night are just that.”

“Don’t you understand? If we can’t find a way that you can live with humans, then you can’t live on earth. You’re too much of a danger to let live. Are you so desperate to stay the same that you are willing to die?” Ton stated out right.

The demons slowly sat up right as they glared at the petite mortals. “Humans change like the wind. Each generation wishing for something different than the last. Each human demanding something different from the other. And that single human varying from all ranges of hot and cold depending on their split-second mood. Today you will force us into kindness and tomorrow into slaves and the next to be the prey in an Umbra hunt. Tomorrow night an ‘paranormal investigator’ is going to come here and call on us to assault him willingly. The next generation is not going to have any virginity from the womb and will desperately throw what is most special and sacred to the wind in the pursuit of a moment of being wanted and needed. Then all of this civilization will fall and those that start again will be afraid to even give themselves away to their spouses. Endlessly we have seen this happen. Humans are fickle and weak in their desires, yet we remain the same. We are not going to fall over and beg for your consideration because we truly do not care for what your current mind is.”

Shinyao looked over to her friend, “They do have a point. History does show that we do that.”

“We’re trying to improve, not justify,” Ton said.

The incubus stood up and walked towards them. “If you are so willing to help them perhaps you can feed me. I haven’t fed on any this innocent in a long time.”

“We would rather not,” Shinyao turned down softly.

The demoness smiled as she unfurled herself from her seat. “Those that refuse are our favorite meals.”

The girls uncomfortably avoided looking at the naked Umbra. “Why do simple things end up bigger than they should?” Ton sighed.

“Something to consider later,” Shinyao said as she threw out her hand. Her vines wrapped around the demons before the man broke free and threw her across the room.  Her body hit the wall with a sickening crack, the sound echoing louder than it should have. Blood trickled from her temple as her vines withered back into the floor.

“That’s it!” Ton shouted as she reached into her shadow, darkness boiling up around her like smoke.

“What are your orders?” Aelfstan asked as Vlad looked over the ever-coming army.

“That depends upon your purpose,” The blond vampire said.

“How so?”

“I protect these lands. If the purpose you were preserved to continue is going to harm those under my care, then I will have to dispose of you.”

Aelfstan grimly nodded in understanding, “We gathered from all the lands round about to fight off our enemies so our wives and children would be safe and supported upon our lands.”

“Then you should be relieved to hear that your enemies no longer exist. They are long since dead,” Dracula stated.

“And our families?”

“Passed on into peace. They no longer fear and toil for their support.”

Many of the men looked stricken at the news that their loved ones had left them behind in the way mortals could not fully avoid. Aelfstan lowered his head sadly, “What do you wish of us?”

“I am not fully certain. When I heard of a sleeping army, I came to see if they were an enemy I had to deal with. If you are not, then I currently have no use for you. I suppose I could put you back to sleep until a conflict too big for myself requires your assistance, but I doubt you would be fond of that. The only other option I can think of is if you wish to join your families in the life beyond.”

“In death?” Aelfstan clarified in surprise.

“Your time has already long passed.”

“But we have not been victorious in the battle we were meant for.”

“You were honorable before,” Vlad stated with all the seriousness he could enforce. “I do not understand all that happened before in your last battle other than if it was not for the druids, you would have died. You fell honorably in battle with all the strength of your hearts in fighting. They dishonorably kept you from what waited for you beyond life. I see you as honorable, good men and no shame will come upon you and your names if you return to your families now.”

The soldiers looked amongst themselves in question. A young man in his early teens stepped forward with the lack of fear common among youth. “How do we return to our families?”

Garfunkel sighed as he glanced back at the Inn. “I am uncertain to that as well. I will have to consult with a friend that is more knowledgeable in this area of expertise as to that.”

The boy frowned down at the cobblestone street before brightening. “Perhaps to pass on we only have to die.” He took a knife from his belt before hesitantly stabbing himself in the throat.

Vlad jolted in disturbed surprise as the young man gasped and then fell to the street as a pile of dust. Aelfstan grimly looked back to the vampire, “Will the druids’ spell bring him back?”

“I do not know.”

“Then we shall wait and see,” the commander of the army said as others among the gathering began throwing themselves on their weapons and turning back into the dust they were just made from.

“Do what you wish as long as it does not influence the living. I will consult with my friend and ensure that steps are taken to get you where you belong if this is not enough,” Vlad said before he whirled around and strode back for the Inn.

Back in the ancient building everything was loud. The trapped sacrifice victims shouted as crashing came from further in. Garfunkel rushed into the men’s pub room to find Luke and the witch glaring each other down and exchanging their strange words. Behind them both demons were struggling to get at Ton with Shinyao’s vines wrapped around them. The brown-haired girl was curled up against the wall holding her head and barely focusing on the fight as Ton leaped at the hell beings with a high-pitched war cry. A summoned sword in her hand as she drove it through the male’s stomach to whip around and decapitate the female.

“Took you quite a while,” Vlad commented as he moved around to help Shinyao to her feet.

“I tried talking to them first,” Ton huffed for breath as she let her weapon disappear. “Think Luke needs help.”

“I have no idea what to think about this situation. If he asks for my help, I’ll lend it but not the fore,” Vlad said calmly as they watched the silver wolf.

Luke was still kneeling on the floor, but his words had turned almost conversation like with the druidess instead of chant like. After a minute he switched back to English, “What did you do to send them out of this realm of existence, Count?”

“They are killing themselves. I believe you would enjoy watching the footage later,” Vlad answered.

“This trip has given you some stuff to use against me.”

“More things to understand you than not,” the vampire returned. Bowen snapped back at the druid in response to her rant. “What’s the situation?”

Luke smoothly rose to his feet as the woman came a little closer. “Overall, it is better. At this rate the army will be no more, long before morning and we are two demons down. We, on the other hand, are kind of at an impasse.”

“What do you mean?” Ton questioned.

“She didn’t get control of the army, so her next step is to try and come back to life. If she gets my blood she will, but I’m not exactly liking that idea.”

Vlad studied the figure in the dark mist. “She no longer has an army. How much trouble can she be without a force to control?”

“Enough trouble that she can still cause harm without a body?” Luke reminded, “She’s not just a deceased spirit. She was a very powerful magic user in her mortal life. She managed to make herself into a decently powerful entity after her death. Not quite low-level deity, but still enough that she can control and harm others.”

The druidess drifted forward in a testing lunge as the silver. The priestess’s gaze lingered on his bleeding hands, her whispers growing hungrier. Luke flexed his fingers, knowing she was waiting for him to falter.  The Were did not move other than his freely bleeding hands away from her. They shouted back and forth at each other for many minutes before they grudgingly stopped. “Mind if I ask how to be rid of her if she is not going to agree to peace?” Vlad asked in feigned boredom.

Luke gave them a strained smile, “I’ve been asking myself that. I don’t know. She has bound herself to this burial ground. There is no way to send her away to her destined heaven.”

“How did something that was once human ever figure out how to do that?” Vlad tisked.

“Druids had a way of learning that surpasses current human abilities. They held knowledge that kings were desperate to have. Perhaps some of that knowledge came from Umbra or from building that knowledge through generations. The druids and their religion were good, it was only when they got too enthusiastic in how they went about their worship that everything went downhill.” Bowen mused. The priestess tried to lunge at him as his words in a foreign language to her seemed like he was distracted. The war of words returned then as Luke spun out of her reach.

At a small hum, Shinyao looked up at the golden-haired young man. “What?”

“Just considering how perfect our team is in diversity. All of us have completely different styles and specialties as well as religious lore background. I could have used advice on this area of Umbra troubles if I had known he was involved with them.”

“I’m certain he didn’t tell you for a reason. Probably because of something like this possibly happening,” Shinyao said as Luke backed up towards them quickly.

“You three still willing to help me out?” The silver asked.

Vlad stepped up behind him. “You have a plan?”

The Were laughed, “Count, you know me better than that. When do I ever have a plan?”

“What do we need to do?” Ton demanded as she readied herself to pull whatever was required out of her shadow.

“Keep her away from my blood. None of you have the right thing to keep her back but it should be enough to keep her unsteady.” Luke ordered before he moved away and towards one of the trapped spirits watching in terror.

“Tell us what you’re thinking about for once!” Ton shouted as she pulled out a talisman and tried to create a barrier around the black mist.

“You won’t like it. I’ve only seen it done twice before and it has been centuries. Not the best chance for getting it right in the first place,” Luke replied as he darted from one sacrifice victim to the next, leaving splatters of his blood at their feet before leaving the room.

The druidess broke free of the barrier to launch herself at one of the buried warriors. The spirit managed only a step back but was not able to escape her as she zeroed in on the warm blood left behind. Vlad swirled into solid form between her and her goal. Her soft scream of rage rang around the Inn as she continued forward as her knife appeared. “Abomination,” Vlad calmly insulted as his spell released.

The black mist was flung back to instantly turn towards another sacrifice that Luke had left some of his blood with for whatever he was planning. Shinyao moved her vines in the way to keep the druid back. “Vlad?” Ton questioned in concern as the blond held his neck with a grimace.

Crimson eyes opened to look at her before he drew away his hand to look at his own dark, dead blood on his fingers. A thin cut was open on the side of his neck. “Mildly disturbing. If given enough time or force, then she could be lethal.”

“Hopefully not for long," Luke said as he blurred back into the room. He staggered slightly as he stopped before standing firm. “This might take a while. Bare with me.” Then he held out a bleeding palm as words rolled from his mouth.

The druidess paused to watch the silver furred werewolf before her features lengthened into something similar to surprise and gradually fear. The other Twilights managed to surround Luke before she threw herself at him. “I wish you would tell me what you are thinking so the rest of us can prepare,” Vlad grumbled.

The chinese girls giggled. “You need to learn how to think as you go Vlad,” Shinyao said with too much practice from Luke.

The druidess desperately attacked from every angle relentlessly. Time seemed to move fast until they were all exhausted and hurt. Ton was gasping for breath, “I’ve come to the decision that any place I’m really excited to see is going to end up being an end of the world situation.”

“What does it mean when Luke is the only one in both situations that knows how to stop it?” Shinyao asked as she wiped at blood coming from a cut from the druidess’s knife as she dodged the malicious mist.

“I will find out later,” Vlad promised before he paused. “The spirits.”

The girls focused on the trapped warriors around them to freeze as their incorporeal states began to change into something much more solid. “What’s happening?” Ton squealed.

“Ton!” Shinyao shouted in warning before the woman wisped past her friend and stabbed her knife into the center of Luke’s chest where his heart was.

Bowen stuttered slightly in his rolling words before he smiled as he kept going. The entity screamed in rage as she repeatedly stabbed into the werewolf’s chest for blood to not come up to stain his shirt. Then she was gone. The others looked around for where she was going to attack from next as Luke finished in relief. The Inn had gone silent. Only the trapped sacrifices there watching them. Luke chuckled then, “I’m going to sit down before I fall down. Anyone want to join me?”

The hard mortar floor was so nice as they all sank down to it in varying styles from graceful to flop. “Is it over?” Ton whimpered.

Luke slowly nodded his head in agreement even as his naturally tanned complexion had an unhealthy pallor to it. “Should be. She’s not gone. She never will be, but her strength only allows her to be in the barn. She doesn’t have enough strength the travel and harm anymore.”

Vlad precisely wiped away his blood that was streaming from open gashes before turning ever so slow and in control to the silver wolf. “Now that we no longer have any immediate threats, what did you do?”

The chef breathed a barely existent laugh. “You don’t give a guy a break, do you? I have died more than three thousand times to night and revived a dozen more.”

“You died?” Ton asked in sudden worry.

“I can’t tell you. It would be my ego if I tell you,” The Were joked. The girls laughed despite the heavy atmosphere that was trying to stifle any levity. “That army I woke up. My blood gave each of them a body. So, when they died and left this realm, I could feel my blood dying to let them go.”

Vlad scooted closer to the other young man. “How much did you give and how much do you have left in you?”

Luke’s green eyes were cutting as a closed smile seemed contemplating of a horror fraught chase. “I gave more than you can take in a month of serial slaughtering, Count. I’m going to live to do it again someday.”

Shinyao took one of his clawed hands that was freely bleeding still. The blood dropping onto the floor and still being soaked up without a trace worryingly without a ritual to blame for it. “Shouldn’t you be healed by now?”

“Normally I would have been healed a minute after I cut myself. The rituals forced them to stay open. They are not going to for a couple of days,” Bowen dismissed.

“We’ll see about that,” Ton sighed as she reached into her shadow to pull out a healing talisman. Her black hair that had become mostly red in hue with all the energy she had used gained another full lock of unnatural color.

“You better stop doing that for now,” Vlad ordered her as Shinyao’s vine pulled over her bag for her to grab a first aid kit out of it. As the girls bandaged and healed the werewolf, he focused on the silver. “What did you do to the druid?”

“You’re annoying.” Luke stated, “I took a guess that she had bound herself to this land and gained her power through deaths of others. Probably through those around us now. All I did was attempt a binding ritual. I bound all the trapped spirits here to myself. Any of them that were supporting her were taken away and she lost her power to harm and move.”

“What does that mean and why are all the victims here looking so weird?” Ton asked as she frowned at the already blood-soaked bandages. “We’ll check your hands before we leave.

“The spirits look so good because I revived them. It was an accidental side effect of what I needed to do. They’re revenants now. Almost undead and almost spirit. They don’t have a true body, but they are not just spirit. They are still trapped to this land, but they have some slight mobility and power to act from me. It’s perfect actually. They can keep the paranormal thrill seekers happy with their interactions without being a danger. The priestess will be able to huff and puff in her usual way but unable to ever cause harm to others again.”

Vlad raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “How did a werewolf incapable of using magic become able to do so?”

Luke shoved the blond over playfully, “I can’t. Magic is completely beyond my ability. Rituals on the other hand direct life in a certain way, and I have plenty of life and blood in me to give to direct. Don’t expect help from me in your spells and normal problems. I know when you are worthless and when my memories will work.”

The vampire tisked as he thought, “We’re going to talk about your abilities, so we know how to properly incorporate you. You should have told me a century ago.”

Luke hummed noncommittally, “We have been doing just fine during that time.”

Shinyao waved to catch the boys’ attention. “What do we do about the rest of the Inn? It’s five in the morning. We have about two more hours in here.”

Vlad sighed as he looked up at the ceiling to frown at the oily blackness that was quivering like dripping slime from the bottom of the level above. “We’re going to have to come back to face the other hostile beings living here that we were expecting another time. Next time, we’ll leave Luke at home so that nothing happens.”

“You’re going to start listening to me when I say no, aren’t you?” Luke teased.

“I’m going to do more than that. Get your revenant pets settled before Rachel comes back, wolf.”

Chapter Text

The ancient army that had been awakened at the Ancient Ram Inn played on Ton’s computer. The Asian girl stared half asleep at Vlad’s body camera footage as it played. Chris walked past her little corner in the café to pause to stare at her before moving on. A couple minutes later, a bowl of soup slid on to the table beside her. The red head crossed his arms as he sat beside her. “What’s wrong?”

Ton stared at him not fully comprehending. “Nothing. Just a few more days of final tests before the semester ends.” Even through his colored sunglasses the Were’s eyes were intense, daring her to push her luck and find out how bad he could make this. “What exactly are you referring to?”

“What are you using to tear your insides apart with.”

Ton sighed as she sat back and barely focused on the footage playing. “The way you said that should not make so much sense.”

“So?”

“My parents want me to come home for winter break.”

“And the problem with that is?” Chris probed surprisingly gentle for himself.

“When I sent them a link to my Youtube channel, they sent me some… not encouraging emails. They said that I was wasting my time with a worthless video channel based on creatures that don’t exist and are even more worthless. They said I should be focusing on school, and getting a high-profile job, and finding a rich husband.”

Chris hummed in understanding as he messed with one of his bracelets. “And?”

“They just emailed me that there is a haunting that is mildly creeping people out nearby. They want me to come take care of it.”

The red head glanced over at her with a frown. “They insult and degrade you then want you to take care of their problems that they are not willing to acknowledge?”

Baileu nodded sadly as she looked up at her computer screen just in time to see one of the soldiers stab a sword into their own chest. She yelped in surprised horror at the action to stare at the scene as even more began to do the same. Sickened, she closed her computer to stop the footage. “That’s disturbing.”

“Too bad the vampire didn’t do the same,” Chris growled.

“Let Luke take care of Vlad. I think we all learned a lesson from that. What should I do about my parents?”

“Leave them,” the red stated. At her staring he shrugged, “Delete their email and phone number?”

“They’re my family.”

“So?”

Ton pulled her black hair in frustration. “I can’t just completely disappear like you can! I love them! There is no way I can just leave them without a word like you did to Luke before.”

Chris glared at the floor, “Running is easy. Leaving is not. You shouldn’t stay in a situation that you hate though. No matter how much you care.”

“They care too. Just not for Umbra.”

Chris looked around the café uncomfortably. “Well… at least you got the good grades.”

Ton smiled despite herself, “Chris. Thank you for listening, but I think you need to work on your advice.”

“It has worked perfectly well before for me,” The red grumbled before he pulled out his phone.

After a few rings Luke answered, “Who’s trying to kill you know?”

Ton giggled as Chris huffed, “No one. I can take care of myself. Ton wants better advice. Take care of it.”

The girl took the phone forced into her hands. “Hi Luke.”

“Is my little brother getting soft and wanting to help out weak humans?”

“Yes. Very soft. I would almost say he is being nice,” Ton teased back.

“What?! Nice?! Exorcise the monster! Save him Ton!”

Chris rolled his eyes at them. “I’m going to tell Vlad where you’re living.”

“Say a word to that corpse and I will permanently remove your ability to see the world. I already have him bothering me too much since we got back from the Ram. So, what’s the problem?”

“Her parents are down grading her work with Umbra and her videos but want her to go back to China to fix their Umbra problems,” Chris summed up.

Luke hummed in thought, “What do you think Ton?”

The dark-haired girl sighed in stress, “I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid to go back to face them. They are so disappointed in me, but I also want to obey and honor them. What should I do?”

“Do you think your parents will harm you?”

Ton paused as she considered, “I don’t think so.”

“What do you think is going to happen and what is the worst that can?”

“I think they are going to insult all of you and speak to me a lot of how disappointing my videos are and that I should do better in school and my career. The worst… I might get beaten if I am in too much trouble, but I don’t think they will do that.”

“What does Shinyao think?”

“Not much. Her parents don’t disapprove like mine do. It doesn’t matter if I go or if she stays. She’s fine either way.”

“Think your parents would behave themselves better with her there?”

The dark-haired girl shook her head, “She’s my friend. They wouldn’t try to hide anything that they are doing from her.”

“Would they if you have someone new come back with you?”

“No. They would keep up appearances with a guest.”

Luke chirped happily over the phone. “Well, if you decide to go, I’m happy for you. I would suggest you take one of us with you as a chaperone just in case. They can take care of your parents and make sure that no one with bad intentions harasses you. I wish I could recommend Tauryu, he would love to go back to China, but I’m not certain how steeped in traditional lore your area of the country still is and if they would try to kill him. The rest of us are available. Though, if you stay and take Vlad to all your historical places for the break, I would be extremely grateful.”

Baileu giggled, “I think you have disappeared well enough without me there to help you. I wish you would wear a body camera when you do things so I can see all the amazing stuff you do.”

“I can’t ever remember it. Good luck on whatever you decide to do. Give my brother some feedback on how he can improve his advice for next time.”

Chris took back his phone as this older half clicked off. “Any better?”

Ton looked down unhappily, “He left the choice to me, so no. But he has given me a couple different options on what to do either way which is more than I had before.”

The red huffed, “My advice is never going to be like that.”

“That’s alright. I know you will never lie about what you think.” It was quiet for a few minutes as they just looked at each other. Ton finally broke it, “So, what has your brother been doing since we got back from the Ram Inn? I haven’t seen him.”

Chris scowled, “Trying to keep me from killing the Count and beyond that I have no clue.”

“I thought you were getting better at talking to him.”

The red smirked at her, “I am. You just don’t know my brother.” He stood up and took her empty soup bowl. “Talk to Shinyao and have her decide what you want to do. You’re not going to make up your own mind anytime soon.”

“Mean!”

~

The train rolled along its track in a near blur. The car was packed with people both standing and sitting as outside a lush green jungle whipped by. Ton and Shinyao both were beaming as they took in the jungle terrain that surrounded their home city. “I didn’t think I was going to miss this,” Ton whispered.

“I think it’s beautiful in its own way,” Shinyao agreed. "Though I didn’t think it was this hot when we left.”

“You adjusted to the cold,” Chris said as he stood behind them.

“How? I was freezing the whole time back in London! How could I have adjusted so much to think that its hot here?” Ton mourned.

“Human bodies are amazing and strange that way,” The red head hummed as the jungle outside thinned out slightly to sporadic buildings and farms and gradually built its way into a city.

As buildings drew close enough to the train tracks that it was sickening to look out the windows, Ton turned to look at their chaperone for the trip. Chris had volunteered as a last resort, but when Vlad had been indecisive for some reason instead of leaping for the chance to get another date in, he commandeered the position. His clothing was so different from his usual styles that it was strange to look at him. The usual sleeveless muscle shirts had been replaced by a loose white cotton long sleeve that hid the tattoo on his upper arm and gave him a softer, gentler feeling than his common sharp brooding. He could have blended in back in Europe just fine for once.

The old train began to slow as it reached its docking point. The three stood still as the crowd around them pressed for the exit as it opened in a sluggish rush. As the space began to clear a little, and others began to come on they moved out onto the open platform. Around them new business buildings and factories bustled with workers. There was some slight smog created by them, yet the air was still relatively clean with the jungle nearby to keep the pollution down.

Ton stretched before she took hold of her suitcase. “We better get changed.”

Chris raised an eyebrow over his colored sunglasses. “Why?”

“This is not what we usually wear,” Shinyao said as she motioned to Ton’s and her own outfits that were similar in fully covering jeans and their personal boots. Ton’s red jacket over her black t-shirt gave her an almost bad girl feeling. Shinyao had a hot pink shirt underneath a glittering white decorative jacket with her pink baseball cap on.

Chris glanced over their outfits and shrugged. “So? I don’t think you look like you are about to be an embarrassment to anyone like this.”

“Girls are not exactly supposed to have… an attitude like this. Or stand out,” Shinyao pointed out.

“You don’t care if people stare at you when you film your videos. Why do you care here? No one cares. They will forget about you if they look up from their phones,” He pointed out the crowd around them that were mostly on their devices and not paying any attention to those around them.

Shinyao hesitated before smiling slightly. “Home’s this way.”

“What?! Are you crazy?! Our parents will kill us if we go home looking like this,” Ton shouted.

Chris gave her a level glance, “That’s why I’m here.”

“Don’t worry Ton. We’re only going to be here for two weeks. If this does not go well, then we can go back to England and never come back,” Shinyao calmed as she took her friend’s hand.

Ton smiled slightly although she was still obviously stressed. She glanced back to find their friend was no longer with them. “Where did he go?”

“Not far. I’m certain he is watching us,” Shinyao said as she lazily looked around without expecting to see the Were. “Oh! There he is.”

They pulled their wheeled luggages over to the red that was almost completely hidden from unsearching eyes. “You stand out very well around here. We’ll never lose you in a crowd,” Ton giggled.

“My hair and eyes tend to do that no matter where in the world I go,” Chris replied as they started away from the train platform.

“It’s not just that. You’re taller than everyone here. Everyone can see you,” Ton exclaimed with a laugh.

Chris smiled slightly, “Not my fault that there is an entire nation that is genetically made to be small and cute.”

The girls giggled as they moved through the crowd. The renovated part of town that they had arrived in quickly faded away to reveal the old, worn section that had not been considered in years but was still being lived in just the same. Ton breathed deeply at the smell of food wafting in from a side street. “I’m hungry now.” Chris turned down a small street suddenly. “Where are you going?”

“We might as well get you something to eat. It’s going to be a while before any of your families get home for dinner,” The red stated as he kept going.

Shinyao rushed to catch up with him, “The best food stalls are this way.”

Ton pouted as she joined them, “Have you ever considered telling others what you are wanting to do so we can stay together?”

“You’re not any better when it comes to Umbra. If anything unusual suggests to come up, you run after it without even thinking for yourself,” Chris replied as small street vendors with ingredients and supplies out in the humid weather for easy access displayed themselves.

“I’m trying not to do that. You could try to do the same,” Ton snapped back before looking over the vendors. “What do you like to eat? I don’t know if we have anything you would like.”

Chris ignored her calmly, yet he still felt annoyed and steadily becoming more ready to break something. “Pick what you both want, and I’ll have that too. I’ve lived through enough centuries and countries not to be picky.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have to go without your favorites,” Shinyao said as Ton took the lead to march up to a booth that had whole pig legs with raw meat hanging to view and no refrigeration in sight.

The insects swarming around the exposed meat became more active as intruders came closer. A young man looked up from his phone to put it to the side to greet them in Chinese. “Welcome. Ton! I thought you were in England for school.”

The Umbra huntress smiled at him, “Hello Yin. We came back during the break between semesters.”

Yin nodded in understanding, “What would you like?”

“Char sui, of course,” Ton ordered the barbecued pork on a skewer. Yin turned to grab two skewers off of the flame that had been slowly cooking them for who knows how long to give to her before glancing at the others for what they wanted. Ton turned around to look up at the normal seeming European young man. “Do you want anything?” She asked back in English.

His green eyes flicked down to her through his colored glasses. “Do you have any Hong Shao Rou?” He asked in perfect Chinese that was barely off in the accent.

Ton’s jaw dropped in surprise as Yin didn’t even let out a twitch that he had expected any different as he grabbed a foam bowl out from under his seat to scoop the caramelized and braised fatty pork belly meat chunks into it. “You know Chinese?!” Ton exploded as Chris paid the young man and walked away.

“I thought you had figured that out by now,” Chris said as he shooed Shinyao ahead of them to lead them to her lunch of choice.

“How am I supposed to figure something like that out?!”

He looked down at her in disbelief. “I’ve been traveling the world and have lived longer than most dynasties have been recorded back too. Use some common sense and guess.”

“Hello Feng-sama,” Shinyao greeted an aging man at another vendor.

He smiled back at her slowly. “Shinyao-chan. It’s been a while since you have visited me. How is the distant lands you have visited?”

“Cold right now. It’s winter back in England and the snow is getting very deep and the ice is very slippery. I love it!” Shinyao replied with a smile.

Mr. Feng nodded as he stepped over to a fish tank full of fish swimming in it. “What would you like? The carp, yes?”

Shinyao nodded as she pointed out a silver carp in the fish tank that was swimming happily. Feng reached into the tank to grab the fish and pull it out flopping. None blinked as he gutted the fish and cut surely into its sides before placing it in a steamer still twitching.

“I thought you would have had your fill of fish down with the dokkalfar,” Ton mumbled around a mouthful of her pork.

“They need spices down there. I’ve been wanting this ever since,” Shinyao said as the older man pulled out a disposable bowl for her.

“I will have the catfish,” Chris ordered as he pointed to the largest fish in the tank.

Mr. Feng looked him over before smiling at the girls. “He’s adventurous for an outsider. Very well spoken. Who’s boyfriend is he?”

Shinyao smiled at the assumption, “Not ours. He’s a friend.”

“Friend,” Feng hummed teasingly as he pulled out Shinyao’s fish to put in a disposable bowl and sprinkle herbs on top before pouring a ladle full of spiced broth on top. He then turned to grab the catfish out of the tank to gut alive and slice before putting it in the steamer.

Ton blushed at the quiet teasing they were getting. Shinyao smiled unaffected, “Ton’s dating his older brother. He came to see China and make sure that we are safe.”

“Good. Good,” the man nodded in appreciation. “It will be good to see you married to a rich foreigner, Ton-chan.”

Baileu was turning a deep red shade in her embarrassment. Chris smirked down at her. “Yes. I would like to see my big brother married too. Unfortunately, Ton-chan cannot cook or she would be perfect.”

“What?! I thought you didn’t want me with your brother!” Ton exclaimed as she tried to keep her embarrassment out of the way.

The red shrugged with a quiet amused smile, “I wouldn’t mind him finding someone for me to tease him about.”

“You already tease me too much,” Ton grumbled as the catfish was pulled out of the steamer and seasoned in its bowl.

“You give me too many things to tease you about to not,” Chris replied as he accepted the dish and paid.

They slowly walked down the street and further into the city as they ate their food. Ton groaned, “Why did you decide to come with us? Why couldn’t you have made Vlad come?”

Chris shrugged as he finished his pork. “I tried that. He really wanted to come to be with you, but I think he is also going into a panic over my brother. He learned that he knows nothing about us and wants to get back in control. It’s annoying.”

“Luke convinced you to stop trying to kill Vlad over the things that happened at the Ram Inn, right?” Ton asked in concern.

Chris frowned, “My brother is too forgiving.”

“Or maybe he knows what is important to focus on killing,” Shinyao suggested as they finished their food and threw away their trash.

Bowen chuckled to himself, “You realize that most humans these days are trying to get away from killing anything. Animals, insects, trees, even rock. Why are you so willing and accepting of this kind of death when everyone hates it?”

Shinyao looked up at him, “I don’t know. Maybe I’ve learned that leaving everything alive is not that good or useful in the long run.”

“Shinyao! Our hill!” Ton exclaimed happily as she ran forward.

The brown-haired girl jogged after her for them to stop at the top of a hill that the street descended down. Chris paused behind them as they hopped up to sit on top of their luggage. “What are you doing?”

“We used to roll down this hill all the time while we were in school,” Shinyao said as their wheeled luggage slowly rolled forward and then faster down the incline.

Chris smiled to himself as they rolled faster and faster down the road. “Looks like something I have to try.” He jogged after them as the laughing girls on their wheeled rides slowed down. “I’m starting to regret having a traveling bag now. Did you get wheeled suitcases just for this?”

“No,” Shinyao giggled, “we used to roll old office chairs down that.”

Chris huffed in amusement as he grabbed the handles to pull the luggages and the girls on them along. “No one would ever guess you would do anything like this. Well, Ton maybe. She’s an infamous Tomboy.”

“It was Shinyao’s idea! She came up with it. I never would have dared to consider it back in school,” Ton declared, kicking her legs as they were pulled along.

“So, she taught you how to be impulsive and full of trouble. I see. I better warn my brother to watch his back when he takes Shinyao on patrol with him. Anyone that can have a pupil of such caliber is definitely even more dangerous.”

“That’s why he takes me in the first place. You’re a little slow if you’re just starting to realize that,” Mu giggled.

“Where am I going?” the Umbra asked as buildings became older and more run down around them.

“To Ton’s house. My family is coming over for dinner tonight there,” Shinyao explained as she pointed out a turn off ahead. “We decided that Ton and I will stay at her place, and you can stay with my parents.”

Chris glanced back at them, “Stay with your parents?”

The lighter girl ducked her head, “They wanted to know where you were staying. I told them that you didn’t really sleep at night and that you would probably prefer camping in the jungle compared to staying at a building. They didn’t like the idea of you being homeless, so they told me that you are staying with them.”

“That’s very nice of them. I’ll try not to be too big of an embarrassment,” Chris mumbled.

“Don’t worry. We know you. You will be,” Ton teased.

“If your parents weren’t expecting you, I would dump you in a river for that,” the hotheaded Bowen kindly threatened.

“I’ll drag you in with me,” Ton replied before she hopped off her luggage. “We’re here. I live on the third floor.”

The apartment complex was quite old and starting to show its wear, yet it was still in good enough condition. It had went up three stories with half controlled jungle growth trying to climb up it. Chris picked up their suitcases before they could take them back and started up the narrow stairs to the top.

“We can carry our bags,” Ton protested.

“There is a code of chivalry that is no longer remembered or cared about by your generation that says for me to do so no matter how capable you are,” Chris replied back as he shooed the girls out in front to guide him to the right door.

“Thank you,” Shinyao accepted. “It’s strange. I thought your stairs were a lot more work to get up before.”

“We have been working out more since we got to England,” Ton pointed out as she came to a door and unlocked it. “Hello?”

“Yes?” A woman asked from further in. A woman that was almost an exact but older version of Ton stepped into the main room. She smiled as she saw her daughter, “Ton, you are home.”

“Mother!” Ton exclaimed in excitement as she ran forward to give the woman a hug.

Her mother indulged her with just the slightest bit of happiness and affection coming through before she calmly looked back to the others. “You brought a guest.”

“This is Bowen Chris. He is a good friend to us in England,” Ton introduced.

The red head stepped forward to shake the petite woman’s hand. “Hello. It is an honor to meet you, Baileu-san. Your daughter is very brave and skilled in many things and has gained much respect among many different types of people. I am glad to meet the ones that gave her that strength.”

The elder woman studied the tall young man critically before letting out a suggestion of an approving smile. “I am glad that she has not brought dishonor to our family while abroad. Welcome to our home, Bowen-san.”

Shinyao stepped up with her gentle smile, “Hello Yinou.”

“Welcome back Shinyao.” Baileu Yinou returned before looking up at Chris. “My husband is not home yet, and I am still making dinner. Make yourself comfortable if you wish.”

“Do you need any help cooking?” Chris asked.

Yinou calmly stared at him with little emotion if not for the disapproving surprise. “A man wishing to cook?”

Chris shrugged, “I’m a chef. I like learning new recipes and ways of preparing food. Though I don’t wish to seem disrespectful.”

“If you want to,” Yinou relented as she turned back to their small kitchen.

The girls’ glanced at each other in hope that Chris was going to make a good impression but not in certainness of it as they all moved into the small space to help get ingredients prepared. It took a couple of questions about what had been happening here in their absence before Ton’s mother got comfortable enough to speak freely with a guest as she watched him to see that he was truly comfortable in the kitchen. Enough so that she started asking questions in return. “How have you been doing in school?” Yinou asked.

“Good. I am the first in all my classes,” Ton stated.

“Me too. We’re taking different classes,” Shinyao added.

“How much longer until they let you into medical school?” Yinou asked.

The girls hesitated. Ton swallowed heavily before she answered, “I’m not going to apply to medical school.”

Yinou glared at her daughter, “What?”

“I’m not going to become a doctor. I’ve been thinking about going into other things,” Ton said softly.

“Such as?” Yinou demanded almost coldly.

“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about video production and interpersonal relationships.”

“That?” Her mother angrily demanded. “I raised you better than that. I’ve seen the video you put online, and it is a disgrace. I hope you will be smart enough to marry a doctor, since you are not smart enough to become one yourself.”

Ton ducked her head low in shame. Chris idly commented, “She’s doing quite well actually. She’s currently employed by a worldwide peace organization and has been dating the top CEOs of it since she came to England. One of them happens to have some European royalty in his bloodlines.”

Yinou paused as interest came to her. “Worldwide organization? What does this organization do?”

The girls hid their faces in embarrassment at the older woman’s obvious goldmining. Chris didn’t seem to mind though, “There is a lot of different things they do. Most of them are ambassadors between people and countries. There are also historians, business owners, detectives, and specialty combat teams for hostile situations that common military are not suited for.”

“Really? How interesting. And what are these CEOs like?” Yinuo asked in obvious planning from the vague description of the Twilights.

“They’re each over a different section of those operations. My brother is over the combat and detective sections, though Ton doesn’t have much of a chance with him anymore. She has a better chance with the royalty born that is in charge of historical things and ambassadors and our Chinese descendant that works with businesses,” The red enticed.

Yinou smiled contently at the prestigious sounding positions. “Why did you not email us that you were dating such men?”

Ton was blushing a deep shade of red in embarrassment. “Didn’t want to say anything until any relationships were for certain.”

“Make it certain then. Stop being worthless like all your classmates,” Yinou ordered.

The girls glanced over at their Umbra friend for his reaction to the elder woman’s statement to find him fighting a smile and laugh back. Ton sighed, “I’ll work on that mother.”

The apartment door opening and closing stopped the conversation. Yinou stepped to the doorway and bow slightly, “Welcome home.”

Ton’s father grunted tiredly, “Are you finished making dinner?”

“Not yet. It will be ready soon, and the Mu family is coming over as well,” Yinou softly reported.

Ton’s father glanced at them to stop and stare at Chris. He blinked before taking in the young women. “You’re back. About time. Welcome stranger to my home. Can you speak Chinese?”

“I can,” Chris returned in the Asian language as he bowed and stepped forward to shake hands with the shorter man. “Thank you for having me, Baileu-san. It is an honor to meet the parents of my dear friend Ton.”

Baileu turned for the low table at the side of the room. “Will you drink with me while we wait for dinner?”

“If your wife no longer needs my help preparing dinner, then I would be honored to do so,” Chris accepted as he looked over to the women to check.

Yinou’s features went taught in fear as she motioned that she did not need him before retreating into the enclosed kitchen. Her husband, Qiang, glared as he picked up a bottle and two cups to put on the table. “You want to cook with the women?”

Chris stepped over to kneel at the low table across from Baileu. “I find it no insult or lack of time to help our female counterparts that do so much for us in their daily lives. I have been to cultures that only the men cook in because the women are so valuable that they are served their meals. I prefer to treat domestic situations with the most respect towards all.”

Qiang almost sneered as he poured the alcohol into the cups. “No wonder my daughter has become unrestrained if people over in England think this way.”

Chris accepted the glass to take a slow drink from it. He nodded in thanks for it as he swallowed, “She has grown in many ways into our culture, yet she has not grown much in the domestic necessities. With being the best in school and aiming to be a business leader, she has little time for simple things like cooking. I believe you raised your child to be more like yourself. Independent and progressing.”

Baileu took a swig from his glass. “Tradition is dying.”

“I can agree with that. I’ve seen many traditions die to be replaced by others.”

Baileu put down his cup to watch the foreigner for a minute. “Are you one of the monster hunting fools that my daughter has disgraced herself with?”

The girls peeked around the corner that they were listening from to see what Chris’s reaction was. He was calm and composed compared to what they thought his usual hotheaded personality would display. “Disgrace is relative to each person’s ideals. I am not an official monster hunter, but I am willing to meet them.”

“Monsters don’t exist.”

Bowen nodded in acceptance, “Perhaps. For you they may not exist.”

“What do you mean?” Qiang asked unhappily.

“Maybe Umbra don’t exist because you do not recognize them. Those beside you can see them commonly in the same situations.”

“That makes no sense.”

“When you were a child, did you know there were police watching you without them wearing a uniform?”

Baileu paused to think, “No.”

“Now can you recognize them in their common clothes when you walk down the street? How often do you see them secretly observing everyone outside of their uniforms?” Chris asked. The two men watched each other quietly for a minute. “Just because you didn’t recognize the police as a child doesn’t mean they were not there. You may not realize that creatures of the Shadows are about now, but that does not mean they are not present.”

Qiang did not react as he took a drink. “You are a fool that speaks like a scholar. Have you studied Confucius?”

“No. I know him and he was very wise, but I’ll leave study and anything else too in depth for my brother. He holds the wisdom and knowledge for me,” Chris disclaimed as he finished off his cup to fill it again.

“And what do you hold then?” Baileu questioned.

Bowen paused to think. “Willingness, I believe. Willing to do whatever is needed at the time and circumstance. I’m willing to share, and help others, and… probably trust. My big brother struggles with that although he seems not to.”

“And what use is that?”

The red head shrugged, “Probably none. There’s a reason my big brother is a CEO of a worldwide organization and I’m not. Maybe not trusting everyone and not throwing yourself into every situation gets you places. But I rather have friends and people who actually know me and care about the trouble I get into that are willing to help me. I don’t think anyone has ever helped my brother before and I doubt any would know when he needs help and be able to help him.”

“CEO?” Baileu focused on the title.

Chris shrugged uncaringly, “He directs the intelligence and combat division.”

“I would like to meet him.”

The small dangerous smirk was not missed by any watching the canine Umbra. “I would like that too. I’m afraid that I don’t know where he is right now. He’s gone into hiding to avoid another executive that is digging where he should not.”

A knock at the door had Shinyao stepping out of hiding to answer it. A dark-haired woman and a light brown-haired man were standing outside. “I’m so glad that you are home,” Her mother greeted as they stepped inside.

Chris stood up to greet them before the Mu father sat down with them at the table. Mrs. Mu checked him out with a smile as she put down her arm full of dim sum dishes. “I remember you from Shinyao’s videos. You are in quite a few of them.”

“I try to stay out of view,” Chris replied as the other women brought out the rest of the food and sat down with them.

“And we try and make sure we include every one that comes with us,” Ton returned as they filled their plates and began. Burps in compliment of the food sounded around the table.

“So, Bowen-san, correct?” Shinyao’s mother began with an excited smile. “You are an Umbra?”

Chris looked away uncomfortably at the conversation that had never been very good for him before. “I am.”

“Werewolf, if I remember from my daughter’s videos,” The man that Shinyao had gotten her hair color from said.

“That’s one of the things I’m called,” Bowen accepted.

Qiang scoffed, “Monsters. You still believe in those fairy tales? They don’t exist.”

Shinyao’s mother frowned at the dark-haired man. “You don’t even look up to see who is passing you on the street, Qiang. Your eyes have almost as much use as a blind man’s. I would not expect you to see what is right in front of you unless Yinou puts it there.”

Her husband quickly stepped in, “We have noticed that Xinyi’s family tends to have things that are not normal happen to them.”

“Let me guess,” Chris started with a knowing gaze. “Black fog appears and disappears around them. And those around them either die or become extremely weak and tired.”

Xinyi startled before nodding. “Of course you know. We do not understand our curse.”

“I don’t think of it as a curse,” Shinyao said quietly. “With the training I have received for it, I have found it to be very useful.”

“Who trained you?” Xinyi asked in interest.

“Bowen Luke.”

The older woman’s eyes lit up in excitement. “He is so handsome. Do you think that he can train me?”

“I will ask,” The light-haired daughter promised.

Shinyao’s father smiled at Ton. “You can tell that we truly enjoy your videos and find them very interesting.”

“Thank you,” Ton accepted happily.

“Do you have any others that you are going to put on YouTube?” Xinyi requested.

“We filmed at the Ancient Ram Inn before we came here. We’re working on editing that,” Shinyao shared.

“How did that go?” The light brown-haired man asked.

“Awful,” Ton stated to Shinyao’s, “Definitely interesting.”

At the interested looks from all the parents, Chris sighed. “I didn’t go. If I had, they wouldn’t be able to make a video with me murdering Vlad and hiding any body that was left over.”

Ton spoke up at the worried looks, “Vlad doesn’t get along with everyone very well. Everyone threatens everyone to keep boundaries. It’s usually a form of teasing.”

“It’s not for me. I always mean it. Just don’t act on it every time,” Chris grumbled.

Shinyao giggled as she shoved him slightly with her whole-body strength. “Don’t scare them. You need to stop giving people the wrong impression.”

“Stop getting friendly with everyone you meet then I might do that,” Chris returned.

Xinyi leaned over to Yinou, “Isn’t it wonderful to have such a strong young man taking care of our girls? Shinyao chose a good boyfriend. We couldn't have made such a match with the young men here.”

The girl ducked her head in embarrassment. “Mother, Chris is not…”

She paused as Bowen placed his hand on her shoulder gently. “Your daughter is more than strong enough not to need me, Mu-san. I’m just glad that she is willing to let me stay near. She is very special. To be her boyfriend would be an honor above all.”

Chris looked over questioningly to the smaller young woman. Shinyao smiled at him. Mrs. Baileu nodded, “Yes. Now we have to wait for Ton to stop playing and get herself someone. She is close to two CEOs.”

Her husband considered, "Company executives would be good. If she finishes her education in London, I can arrange a match with a government official or a doctor."

Mr. Mu swallowed his mouthful. “I prefer having an Umbra as a son. Someone rich would be nice but if he can handle Xinyi’s curse in Shinyao then that is even better. I have to sleep on the opposite side of the room away from them to keep from getting sick and all the dark shapes flickering everywhere gives me no peace.”

“Money is not hard to obtain if that is what you want,” Chris said.

“Make her a citizen of one of those European countries and you can have her,” Her father settled.

“As long as it’s not an elf kingdom,” Xinyi put in quickly.

Shinyao stifled a laugh at her mother’s concern. “I’ll just stay friends with them. This next semester I am planning on going back down there with Chris. I’ll send you one of their dresses when we come back up.”

Qiang shook his head as he sulked bitterly over his food and cup. “You want a foreigner that thinks he is a monster for a son. There is definitely something off in his head.”

“Not going to disagree with you. I’ve had too many things go through it for something not to be left altered. Probably trauma,” Chris muttered.

“And very interesting stories,” Shinyao added.

“I would like to hear some of those,” the light-haired Chinese man requested.

Chris did not reply as he stood up. Everyone watched him curiously as he moved over to Ton’s suitcase in the corner. “What are you doing?” Ton asked as he opened her luggage.

“I think you have a stow away,” The red wolf stated as he came back to the table with a satin ribbon floating above his arm.

“Leng! How did you?” Ton exclaimed in surprise as her ghost cat purred and leaped over to her.  Yinou’s chopsticks clattered against her bowl. Qiang froze mid-drink, his eyes narrowing as if staring harder might force the ribbon to make sense.

“I think airport security is not perfect,” Shinyao mused.

“Can I hold her?” Xinyi requested as the Baileus stared at the floating ribbon that was moving on its own with no logical explanation.

“Of course, you have to focus on touching her like she was a live cat,” Ton shared as she passed the unseen spirit along.

Chris and Shinyao glanced at each other to fight back their smiles at how shocked and baffled their friend’s parents were at actively noticing an Umbra.

~

Shinyao came out to the landing outside the apartment to stand beside Chris. Inside the families talked with Qiang trying desperately to avoid the topic of Umbra. “They think you are my boyfriend with what you said.” The younger Bowen hummed in agreement. “I think we better explain to them that you are not.”

Chris glanced over, “What would you prefer in your boyfriend?”

“Oh! You are amazing, and I hope that I can find a boyfriend that is a lot like you.”

“A lot like me except which parts?”

“I don’t think there is very much wrong with you. I understand that you don’t want a relationship, so I am not going to let others pressure you to do that.”

The red sighed as he looked up at the sky that let only the brightest stars through but none else with the slight smog and light. “You are making this hard.”

“What hard?”

“The pressuring into a relationship.”

She looked down at the ground below sadly. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to. Tell me how I can stop, and I will.”

Chris huffed, “That’s making it even worse.”

“How? What do you mean?

Chris straightened up to look right down at her. “You are making it hard for me not to like you. You’re too nice and amazing.”

Shinyao blinked in surprise, “Sorry?”

He sighed in frustration, “Everything about you seems perfect and I want that. There is nothing you can do to keep me from liking you more, and that scares me. Everyone else I’ve ever gotten close to ends up turning on me and I don’t want you to be one of them.”

“I have already been mind controlled and tried to kill you. I think that’s as far as I’ll go.”

The red smiled slightly, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should have talked to you sooner before this. Shinyao, you are very special. I would like to try dating more seriously with you. I want to know if there is a chance that we could work out as a couple. You can say no if you don’t want to, but would you like to try being my girlfriend?”

Shinyao looked at him quietly. “You want to try a relationship with me even though your past girlfriend almost killed you? Are you sure?”

“I can’t exactly force myself to hate you. At some point I have to stop running from my fears when they are already with me.”

“If you don’t want to be with me, we can stay apart so you don’t have to see me.”

Chris took her hands, “That’s not going to help me anymore. I am going to remember you no matter what happens. I’m willing to give this a test run to see if we could actually work together. If not, then we separate as friends. If we do, then your father has a new son-in-law.”

Shinyao smiled, “I would like to try this too.”

“Can we leave your parents to the assumption that I am your boyfriend?”

“Only if I can call Luke to make him assume the same,” Shinyao replied as they looked back out at the city of lights.

~

A knock sounded at the door. Shinyao rushed to open it to find Chris outside. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“First time I ever tried to stay still during the night,” Bowen answered as he glanced inside. “Almost ready?”

“Coming!” Ton called as she grabbed her jacket and Leng to dash out the apartment door.

Chris eyed the floating ribbon that was placed over the dark-haired girl’s shoulder. “Do you have to bring Leng?”

“Yes. The talisman keeping her here only works when she is near me or the café. She has to stay with me.” Ton stated as she smoothed out her summer dress. “I got my parents to talk about their Umbra problem. Apparently, one of the companies has been having a girl show up that no one knows and then she disappears. It has set people on edge.”

“That sounds more calm than we usually deal with,” Shinyao hummed.

“Countries outside of European influence tend to be more mild with less Umbra troubles. They do have their own kinds of Umbra, but it does not usually manifest itself with the same force,” Chris informed as they walked along the streets that were bustling with people going to work.

“Is there any reason for it to be that way?” Ton asked.

“That European Umbra are bold and powerful and maybe their lore has them revealing themselves more might be part of it, but other than that I am not certain, “The Were stated.

Shinyao smiled as she held up the small body cameras. “Well, I remembered these. Maybe we’ll get some questions answered.”

“Shinyao! You’re amazing!” Ton exclaimed as she took hers.

Chris huffed as he took his, “This is pathetic. How did I ever end up doing this?”

“Because you like me,” Shinyao stated happily as she took his hand to hold.

Ton noticed and grinned, “Are you two together now?"

“Currently,” Chris said dismissively.

“Is this where we are going?” Shinyao asked as she pointed out a multistory building.

Ton checked and nodded. “It is. Cameras on everyone. Let’s see if we can find an Umbra.”

They entered into the lobby and stepped up to the desk. A young man glanced up from his computer. “How can I help you?”

“Hi Tao! You got a job here?” Ton greeted.

The Chinese young man paused to take her in. He studied them for a minute. “Oh. You were the class below me. You were Mingze’s girlfriend.”

Shinyao smiled politely, “Tao. We were told that there have been sightings of a girl that disappears here. Is it alright if we go to where she is most seen?”

“Why?” Tao questioned.

“We’re checking on paranormal abnormalities. For the safety of all the work here we would like to check,” Chris stated seriously.

“Paranormal? You think there is a ghost living here? I have heard of the girl, but I’ve never seen her before. There is no reason for you to be here,” Tao stated completely unimpressed.

“Is she seen around a restricted area?” Shinyao asked.

Tao stood up and left the other receptionists to show them down a hall. “No. It’s a general public area. Please make this quick.”

The human young man stopped in a hallway with doors splitting off from it. “I’ve heard that she usually is seen around here.”

They glanced around before Ton called out, “Hello? There is no reason to be afraid. We will not hurt you. Can you show yourself to us?”

Chris huffed in agitation, “Now we’re starting to sound like the idiots that are speaking to the air in all your ghost finding shows.”

A soft breath had them looking down the hallway. There was nothing there. Then a young girl faded into view as she walked along. Tao startled as she came towards them. “What? How?”

“Don’t panic,” Chris ordered beside him.

The girl paused in her walking to stare at them with empty dead eyes. “Ton?”

“Yon?!” Ton shouted in surprise as she ran forward.

The Umbra collapsed to the floor sobbing as the girls knelt beside her. Tao stared in horror at them. “It can’t be. She’s dead.”

“What? What do you mean dead?” Ton demanded as she tried to comfort the being.

Tao pointed down the hall to the women’s restroom. “About two months ago, Yon committed suicide. She hung herself from one of the stalls.”

Shinyao quietly spoke to the girl. “Yon, what happened?”

“Wei doesn’t love me,” Yon sobbed.

“You’re boyfriend? What makes you say that?” Ton asked.

“I… I became pregnant. He broke up with me when I told him and started sleeping with another girl. My parents wouldn’t understand. There was nothing else I could do,” Yon sobbed.

“Why are you still here then?” Ton questioned.

Yon looked up with tears streaming from her empty eyes. “He did this to me. Wei will suffer for all that I have suffered. He does not deserve to have pleasure in women if he is going to destroy them as he has me. No man does.”

“What are you planning to do?” Shinyao asked as Yon’s fingers began to lengthen into black claws.

“Make them suffer,” Yon stated as she gazed around the hallways.

Chris glanced over to the shorter man beside him. “We’ll take care of this. Go back to work and try to care for any girl perfectly if you don’t want to end up with them wanting you dead like this.”

Tao shakily nodded as he unsteadily walked away, constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure that Yon was not coming after him. Shinyao put her hands on Yon’s shoulders, “What Wei did was horrible, but that does not merit hurting him or other men.”

“Why? Is it not right to end a wrong? Is it not justice to end a sin? A mercy to dozens of others to come in the future that will be hurt the same to destroy the one that will be the cause to save them from having to suffer?”

“Well…” Ton thought.

“You are right,” Shinyao agreed. “But with the ending of those who are so horrible, when do we become a monster as well that people need to end to save so many others? At what point will others be trying to harm us to keep us from getting that justice? Are we getting justice or are we the ones that deserve justice?”

Yon stared at the ceiling blankly, “What is right then?”

“I think that is for all of us to decide for ourselves. I think that we should let people make their own choices and then deal with them as the situation requires. Let the authorities for each species decide what is the best to do with them. As wonderful as it would be to stop harm from happening to anyone ever again. I think there would be no one good that would be willing to do hard things if they had not had those things happen to them,” Shinyao considered.

“He brought shame upon my family!” Yon cried.

“And you have passed on. That shame is gone. They don’t matter to you anymore. You can pass on without fear of them,” Ton tried.

“I have not shamed them?”

“No. And there is no shame in leaving them now either,” Ton stated.

Yon sighed as her claws faded back into her normal fingers. “I can rest without hatred or fear for others?”

“Yes. You can move on and take care of your family beyond this realm,” Shinyao encouraged.

Yon let out a breath before smiling slightly. “I’ll try.” Then she slowly faded away.

“I hope she does let go. She was such a nice girl,” Shinyao said sadly.

“I wouldn’t have shed any tears if she did stick around and took care of some of society’s problems. Humans need all the help they can get,” Chris stated.

“You think that about Umbra species as well,” Ton retorted as they walked back to the lobby.

“And that is wrong?”

Shinyao waved at the receptionists as they left. “Have a good day, Tao.”

The young man was pale and looked sick as he nodded in acknowledgement. “So, we have about two weeks left of being here. What are we going to do?” Chris asked.

“I’ll look into if there are any more Umbra around that we can go meet,” Ton offered. “We can also explore the jungle and go to some of the historical sites.”

“I would like to stop by my old job some time,” Shinyao suggested.

“Why don’t I go with you tomorrow for that while Ton does her research?” Chris questioned.

The lighter haired girl smiled, “I would like that.”

~

“When I was envisioning the job you had to save up enough to go to school foreignly, I was not thinking of this,” Bowen stated as Shinyao guided him towards a cement complex slightly out of the city in the jungle.

“My parents have worked here since they were young too,” Shinyao said as they entered inside. The enclosed area was small as the cement pens with no roof overhead made up the majority of the complex.

Chris smirked in amusement, “A snake farmer. No wonder that you have less fear of Umbra when you used work with a possibly dangerous and volatile species.”

“They taste good, and they grow fast. I think they are better than chicken,” Shinyao shared as they watched a woman go out into one of the pens to push aside vegetation to find snakes that were over two meters long to pick up and put in her bag for harvest.

“Somewhere in Europe and America, someone is having a fit over this,” Chris hummed to himself.

“They have never lacked food options then. They would be much less critical if eating snake was in their culture or they were hungry enough to try it.”

“Story of my life. Though you might still think it’s wrong if I suggested that you try human.” The girl gave him an off look. “Your kind taste pretty good actually.”

She smiled, “I think there are a few things that should stay off of the menu for even me.”

“Unless you get desperate enough. Who knows, someday apartment complexes might become an optimal place to harvest humans for eating.”

“You’ve lived through too many cultures and plagues,” Shinyao stated fondly.

“I can agree with that. Why don’t you go find a few of the best snakes and I’ll buy them for dinner with your family?” Chris suggested.

Mu lit up in excitement. “I would love that! It’s been so long since I last had snake.” She rushed to get a bag and a pole before stepping out into a cement pen to start picking through the slithering reptiles. With a rippling bag in hand, she came back. “These ought to have a more delicious meat.”

The red wolf took the bag from her. “Who do I pay for them?”

“He should be this way,” Shinyao said as she went back into the roofed section of the complex. She turned into a small side room that had a complex of computer and parts that were obviously a new addition. She froze at the sight of the two men working together there.

One looked up and smiled at her, “Shinyao. I was not expecting to see you again. You have come back to work?”

The girl shook her head after a small respectful bow, “No Xi-san. I am visiting my family for a break in school. We would like to buy these snakes, please.”

“You always have had a taste for them. I will go weigh them,” Xi said as he stood up to take the moving bag from Chris and stepped out.

Shinyao forced an uncomfortable smile in place. “Hello Mingze. I didn’t know that you were hired here.”

Chris bristled as he realized the computer worker had been the young human’s old boyfriend. Mingze focused on his computer. “Had to get a job when I couldn’t stay with my parents anymore. I’m not making enough right now as a professional gamer to avoid this.” He glanced up then to see Chris. “The American looks like he’s a character in a fantasy video game.”

“All I see you as is a rat in a garbage dump,” Chris growled lowly.

Mingze looked up in surprise and growing anger. “What?! Why do you call me that?!”

“For more reasons than you will understand or care about. Let the easiest one be that I’ve heard a little on how you treated Shinyao when you were together and that alone warrants me removing parts,” Chris growled.

Mingze glanced at the way out as his fear instincts kicked in.  Mingze’s chair scraped back as if he might bolt, his knuckles white on the desk. His eyes darted to the door like a cornered animal. “Who are you?”

“Her real boyfriend. I would say the only if you did not exist.”

Shinyao placed a calming hand on the red’s arm, “Chris. It’s alright. I’m not bothered anymore.”

“Just because you have forgiven doesn’t mean I want to forget,” Bowen stated as he stared in full obvious desire to maim at the naturally shorter male.

“Just play nice. You are forgetting that I know how to gut snakes as well. This one is not worth it.”

Chris smiled at her, “You’re right. This one should be chopped up into fine pieces and fed to the snakes outside.

Mingze was trembling by now in terror of them as Xi came back in. “You chose some fine snakes, Shinyao. Your family is going to enjoy them.”

“We will,” The brown-haired girl agreed as Chris paid for the reptiles.

Chris gave the computer worker a final glare before they left. “No one would care if he went missing.”

“You’re very sweet. Though I never thought you would be the possessive type.”

“Only with those that try anything against you.”

Shinyao giggled to herself, “Maybe it’s a good thing that Ton didn’t end up with your brother. He always shares a little of everything with you. If he was possessive over her, Tauryu and Vlad wouldn’t survive very long.”

Chris smirked, “The vampire is not really anything to morn getting rid of.”

Shinyao laughed, “Come on. Let’s drop off the snakes and go pull Ton out of her apartment for some fun.”

Chapter Text

The alarm went off softly. Vlad sighed as he was forced awake. With an effort that bordered on painful, he pushed up the lid of his coffin and forced himself to get out. Bright sunlight glowed behind the scarlet black-out curtains covering his window. No vampiric being should have to get up at this time of day. Yet, there was someone that had been sneaking in at some time while the sun was up to cook food for the café and then disappear before anyone could see him. Leading to the necessary evil of having to wake up at different times throughout the day to check if he was about for the last few days. Luke had yet to come into view. If he had not been a werewolf for years, he could have been a phantom. Quietly Vlad crept down the stairs. Outside the kitchen he paused to listen. No sound. The café was silent. The blond vampire stepped inside to go check another room to instantly stop. Food was out and nearly ready for the night when last time he checked there had been none. Luke himself glanced over from where he was putting away a pan without even the slightest clink to give him away. “Food’s ready. Heat it up when you need it.”

“Luke. Where have you been?” Vlad demanded.

“Here and there doing more things than you care about.”

“Wolf,” Garfunkel warned.

Bowen smirked back at him. “Yes?”

Vlad sighed in frustration. “I understand that I have not been doing very well at getting to know you. What happened at the Ram Inn is more than enough for me to realize that. I am ready to make up for that mistake. I want to know more about you.”

Luke’s smile edged toward dark, “Are you sure that you can handle everything that I am?”

“I’ve survived the past century with you without knowing. I don’t see how knowing could make anything worse,” Vlad answered.

Luke laughed to himself, “Oh Count. So confident in yourself and so naive. I enjoy listening to you.”

“I’m hardly innocent and unknowing of this world that we live in. I doubt that there is anything from your past that can surprise me.”

“And yet I did surprise you back at the Ram. Count, I have not shared myself with you for a reason. If you knew everything about me, you would get in the way.”

“What is it that you don’t want others in the way of? Is it something that I should get in the way of to keep the world safe?”

Luke shook his head with a laugh as he undid his apron. “So naive. Why be the villain or the hero? They are both too exact in their measurements. I might not be back for a day or two.”

Vlad strode forward to get in the way of the exit as Luke put away his apron to leave. “I don’t know what you mean, but I am not going to let you walk away. Knowledge is power and if that knowledge is good or bad, it will still be of use in one way or another. You can either tell me here or I am going with you.”

“Telling is not a very fun way of doing things.”

“Then I’m coming with you. I am finished with you disappearing without an explanation. We are a team for a reason, and you are going to have someone there with you no matter what it is.”

Luke stepped around the undead Umbra. “Some things are not meant to have a team.”

Dracula grabbed the werewolf by the arm to keep him from leaving. “Werewolves are supposed to have a pack. You are not supposed to live as a lone wolf. You’ve lived as such for too long and your brother does not count. That is ending today. From now on I am going everywhere you are. Like it or not, you have a partner now whenever you are not with the team.”

Luke shoved the nobleman away hard. “You tell me that I have to be with someone every minute when you can’t even do the same. Whenever we are in a team you take off on your own without any warning. You don’t like being around others. Don’t tell me that I need someone else when you are much worse than I am.”

Vlad looked away guiltily before focusing. “A character flaw that is effective but is facing its end. You always say that I am too lazy and proud to change. Are you against helping me do so?”

Luke’s green gaze was flat. “You’re provoking me again.”

“Perhaps if we worked together there would be no need to provoke. Two is better than one.”

“Unless you are yourself and me and then it’s better to be one or zero.”

“Don’t tempt me to try for that,” Vlad grit out as his patience began to be worn.

“Then don’t bother yourself.” The Romanian sighed at the response before lunging forward to grab on to Luke. “What?!”

“You can either take me with you willingly or I will come with you as a parasite. We are going to be partners no matter how you accept it,” Garfunkel stated as Luke worked at prying his fingers off of himself.

The silver wolf growled low in his throat as each finger he pulled back snapped back down into place when he went to the next one. “For being so weak, you have a good grip.”

“It’s more that I don’t like to let others do things without my control. Mind over matter is my philosophy.”

“And I turn stubborn minds into jelly. People who go too far tend to go missing.”

Garfunkel was not concerned with the warning threat. “It's good then that I technically don’t exist.”

Luke sighed as he eyed Vlad’s pale fingers and then to the door out as if gauging how much trouble it would be to get rid of his attachment and escape. “I guess it wouldn’t be too bad for you to come with me this time. It should hopefully just be a routine check. But you better keep up and not keep asking questions I already told you I don’t want to answer. If you are too nosy or get in the way, I will set my brother and the girls on you when they get back in a week.”

The vampire nodded seriously in understanding, “Very well.”

~

As they got out of the car, Vlad looked around at the small village that was surviving quite well. “Are you going to tell me what we are looking for?”

“Not yet. Care to make any guesses,” Luke yipped happily as he started to almost skip through the deep snow that had become hard and iced.

The Romanian nobility frowned down at his black pea coat and perfectly kept dress shoes before reluctantly stepping into the broken in path that Bowen made in the snow. “Considering the location I do have a guess, but I distinctly remember that you have an absolute hatred of historical sites. So, I believe I am wrong.”

“Depends. What are you thinking we are here for?” Luke asked as the snow reflected the sunlight blindingly into the green eyes.

Vlad looked around at the tiny stone houses that were built in a past time and over a field to an old church surrounded by bare limbed trees. “We are in Bedfordshire in a town called Clophill. This place is infamous for its ancient church that was desecrated and was connected as a place of black magic rituals. If I did not know how you avoid historical things, I would say that we are here to visit the first church of Saint Mary, the Virgin.”

Luke laughed to himself, “If you didn’t second guess yourself then you would be correct.”

Vlad raised an eyebrow in question that did not give away any other emotions connected to it. “We are going to the church? I thought you preferred to avoid historical things.”

The silver furred young man led them through the village towards a hill on the outskirts. “There are certain things and places that I prefer to avoid that comes through history, but I don’t hide from it. Look around. Every foot of ground we step on has a history. Every single building has one. Even the newly made buildings have a history in how they were made and the dreams and aspirations of those who created them. You can’t avoid history and its places. You can only avoid the big places you know are going to not be good.”

“I got the feeling that there were quite a few things that you avoided with how you avoid going with me or the others.”

“There are those I completely avoid and those that I avoid going to with bystanders. It's easier for me to take care of myself without an audience.”

Vlad smirked, “You? Put off by an audience? I thought you loved gathering them to yourself.”

“True, and also false.”

“How is that?”

Luke smiled mischievously as he hopped over the gate into the deep snow on the other side that had no trace of being disturbed until now. “You’re going to have to do some detective work. There is more than just hiding from my past that got me into the position to manage Missions and Field Work.”

“Let me guess. It has something to do with how I’m just barely finding this out after a century of working with you.”

“Someone is starting to use their head. You might want to be careful, Count. Too much more of this and you might hurt yourself.”

“I’ll take that risk. Someone has to,” Vlad stated as they trod through the snow, twisting along a path through the hibernating trees. He then held out a device to the Were. “It's one of Ton’s body cameras. I’m wearing one. I think you should too.”

“What for?” Luke asked as he took the camera.

“I think we need to start wearing them more often. We can go over footage later if we missed something, and with Wayne we can hack into them to know what is happening and if others need help.”

Luke frowned down at the camera before attaching it. “Only because you’re with me. I’m not going to wear one of these every time I go somewhere. I would like some privacy in my life.”

“Perhaps you have too much privacy,” the blond said as the ruins at the top of the hill came into focus.

The trees opened up around them to have an open expanse around the old church. The snow was heaped slightly higher where the grass had not been cut to make nice paths during the summer. Quietly they walked up to the centuries old building. The roof had long ago decayed to leave only the strong stone walls. Large empty holes were left in the main building that had been the chapel where windows once rested. Only the windows in the spire a top the front of the church had its own left behind. The stones were not entirely even in their mortar that made up the walls. Smooth, exact bricks were only used on every corner and structural hole.

They stepped inside to find snow had filled it. In the summertime, a laid pebble path would lead feet as grass grew where pews and the altar once rested but no longer had a suggestion of that. Vlad trailed his bare fingers along the cold stone without feeling the biting temperature. “Such a shame. They truly built their work to last. These walls will stand for centuries to come and the houses and buildings of today will decay and fall apart with in the century.”

“I thought you would not have so much respect, considering it is a church.”

The vampire gave him a haughty look. “This building is only a ruin. It’s no longer sanctified and holds no power over me. I pity it actually. It was built for a great purpose but then was abandoned to face this fate and all that has happened to it. If only I could put a roof on it, then it would be fit to use again.”

“And so, we dream of many things,” Luke agreed as he moved out through the once door opening at the back of the church.

Garfunkel followed after as they slowly circled around the church. “Why are we here?”

“Just to check to make sure that nothing Umbra is happening around here,” Luke answered as they finished the full circuit around the church and started off for the tree line.

“I know that’s not completely true. You wouldn’t come to this place if there was not some sign that something was happening.”

Bowen was quiet as they came to a headstone that managed to peek out of the snow. “You know the history of this land. How it became corrupted and is remembered for its darkness.”

“Yes. It was very concerning to us when the graves in this churchyard were being broken into and the bodies stolen for satanic rituals. That was a mess that we had to clean up,” Vlad sighed as they trudged through the snow along the line up of headstones and graves.

“A small group of practitioners sparked interest in the public by what they did here to start a craze of black magic. This entire area became a slaughtering ground for animals for those rituals,” Luke agreed before looking back at his required partner. “There’s been rumors going around that a cult is starting to come out of obscurity again.”

The undead Umbra sighed, “Why can’t humans ever worship beings that are not going to harm them?”

“I have no answer for that. Maybe they like the idea of having no control over their lives? Or is it the lies that they will receive power and strength for what they do?”

“When the worship is willing, I can’t answer that. Only when it is forced by fear do I know.” The hard snow broke under their feet as they worked their way around the small graveyard before pausing to overlook the farmland below that swelled with snow covered fields and groves of trees. “Is there a certain demon or devil that we are supposed to be taking care of when we find this cult?”

“Not that I know of. News like this just makes me uneasy. Especially with how everyone jumped on the bandwagon last time.”

“Yes. It certainly broke your heart to have more witch girlfriends to go out with,” Vlad stated sarcastically.

“There were a couple human girls that were practicing vampirism if you had any attention to give to them.”

Garfunkel tisked, “Attention seekers.”

The werewolf glanced over at the sun that was low in the west. “It should be night soon. Let’s split up and search the area for any possible places where they could get together at. I’ll take north and east.”

“Very well. I’ll take the others.” Luke waved and then was gone it a plume of kicked up snow. Vlad smiled slightly, “You’re not as light on your feet in this.”

The blond stood still in the shadow of the abandoned church as the last rays of sunlight dimmed. Soon the bright orb of light disappeared beyond the horizon for night to begin to darken. With his powers returning, the Romanian noble took off into the sky in a dark cloud of bat wings. For hours he twisted back and forth over the south and west of the land encircling the old church until he was too many miles out to be considered in the vicinity. Then he started working his way back. His cellphone ringing brought him to a stop to form into his humanlike body to float in midair as he answered, “Hello?”

“As much as I would like to leave you out of this, I know you would have a fit about it later. In the woods about eight miles north of the church. I have six humans around a fire that are cutting apart a horse.”

“It’s the middle of winter. What in the world are those mortals thinking at being out in the snow at this time of year in the middle of the night when it is the coldest it can be? Don’t they think they can play with the devil when conditions are more comfortable?” Vlad questioned as he started flying in the specified direction.

“When you are hiding from your own species and doing something awful then this is the perfect time to do this when no regular person would even think of coming out to find their deeds. See you soon.” Then the call ended.

From the air, the fire in the woods was plainly visible. Dracula circled around it trying to find Luke. The group was mostly made up of men with a single woman. A horse was laid out on the packed snow with warm blood melting and spreading across the perfect ground. The woman was hacking off the head with a knife as another worked on eviscerating it. One of the men standing around watching looked up at the stars in confusion. “That sounds like bats. What are bats doing out when it’s this cold?”

“We should probably ask you the same thing,” Luke said as he stepped out from the trees. Vlad twisted down to form beside him.

The humans froze to stare at them. Their fear of being caught and seeing someone appear from nothing startling them. One recovered that seemed boisterous enough to lead the others on in a strange idea like this. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for idiots that happen to be you,” Garfunkel easily insulted.

“What? Can’t handle someone believing differently than you? There’s no law in place for what any religion someone can’t practice,” The leader declared.

“I’m not concerned about that,” Vlad stated.

Luke stepped forward then to look over the animal. His sharp green eyes fell on the horse’s heart that had thirteen long thorns pierced through it. “How far along are you?”

The woman stood up, “Why? You know something about this and want to join in?”

The silver gave them a small smile. “I do know some things about this, but I don’t want to join. I have much more important things to do than try and recreate scenes that are vaguely understood from a horror movie.”

“A horror movie? We got everything from an old book that is real,” The woman declared loudly.

“Who or what are you dedicating this black mass to?” Vlad questioned.

The group blinked at him. “What?” one of the others asked in confusion.

“What are you killing this horse to and for what?” The undead Umbra rephrased.

The whole group paused to look at each other for an answer to that. “Uhh… to the devil of course,” One declared.

Vlad closed his eyes in emotionless disgust. “Morons.”

“Hey! We’ve done this a lot, and nobody has caught us yet!”

“That is the least of my concerns,” the blond said as he stepped into their midst to look down on the mutilated body in detachment. “Taking a life in such a way as to summon dark power has to have a transference to another power. It is simple chemistry. Everything equals itself out. You have taken a life here and used it to gain yourselves power. Some other being that is dark has now taken a life to gain more power for itself. Whether your own or another’s. And beings with power are rarely content to hide it.”

“What are you? Occult police or something?”

Vlad looked blandly over them. “Something like that.”

A stilted hissing began to come from the darkened woods. The humans tensed as they began looking into the night for what was making the sound. Luke was leaning against a tree unconcerned as eyes darted over to him. “Now that is more of what I was expecting to find.”

Vlad raised an eyebrow at his coworker as a skeletal arm with ligaments stretched taught and hanging without any muscle reached out into the far reaches of the fire’s light. “Where you expecting this when you came to investigate or since you found these fools?”

The arm dragged a legless torso into view. The head grinned at them with no lips over its sharp teeth that were missing in many places. It hissed stiltingly at them as if laughing but unable to do more. The silver shrugged, “I don’t know. Still don’t. How about I go find out and you can try to keep our new friends from being eaten? Sound good?”

“I get the feeling that you are trying to get away from me,” Vlad stated as he stepped around the horse carcass towards the creature.

“Partnership does not mean attached at the hip in all things. It means two people work together for a common goal while doing different tasks. There’s no reason for anyone to do the same thing twice when it’s already been done. Consider this me trusting you enough not to need me to hold your hand in handling these things until I can find out what we are really dealing with.” Luke seriously held the undead Umbra’s gaze.

The woman in the group shifted away from the monster that was dragging itself towards them. “Alright. Can you two stop whatever argument is going on and tell us what in the world that is!”

Vlad did not break eye contact with the Were for another minute as the thing drew closer to him and grabbed onto his ankle. Finally, he nodded. “Go. I’ll handle this.” Then he jerked his leg out of its grip before forming a scarlet tinted spell to blast down into it.

“What in the world?!” The satanic worshipers shouted in surprise as the deformed creature disintegrated.

“You worship dark powers and monsters and yet you are not familiar with them? Your patheticness is increasing faster than gossip spreads,” Garfunkel insulted as he settled himself into a martial arts form. The space behind the easily seen trees began to move and sway as other things approached. Horrible creatures beyond description emerged. Vlad scoffed at them, “Weak abominations.” Then he wisped away to attack.

The cult leader began to grin. “Guys. He’s not human. Did you see those red eyes?”

“Where’s his friend?” The woman asked in panic.

“Does it matter? We’re finally meeting the beings that we have been wanting to meet for so long! Our masters are right before us!” Their leader exclaimed in giddy excitement.

The group began to smile as they realized the same before jumping as a huge creature went flying back to crash right through a tree. The vampire sneered at the creatures still coming. “I suggest you mortals start considering fighting back if you want to stay alive. Not all Umbra would like for humans to exist.”

“Why not? We’re…” one of the men started to ask before something that smelled wretched leaped at them.

All the humans screamed as they ducked out of the way. One of the men tried holding it back to be easily dragged across the ground that was turning to ice with the cooling horse blood. The woman with them screamed as she threw herself at it with the knife she had been using to hack off a head with to go into a craze. Stabbing into every place without considering the last strike. “Your sister’s insane,” One of the men stated as the monster fell to the ground trying to get away from the human woman for her to get on top of it to keep stabbing. It was becoming shredded with her assault.

“She’s killing animals with us. We all know she would be just fine murdering one of us too. You need to take some lessons from her,” The leader stated as he pulled out his own knife. “So, who are you, our master?”

Vlad barely twisted on one foot to pivot out of the direct path of a ragged sword trying to go through him. “I am disgusted and embarrassed to have disgraces like yourselves calling me master. I would rather have intelligent beings worshipping me that know how to do so properly.”

“Teach us then. We’ll do whatever you want,” The leader said as he threw himself at a monster and began to stab with no obvious plan but enough zeal to make up for that.

The nobleman grimaced in disdain at the humans that were starting on a carnage spree in hopes of impressing him as he formed a spell to disintegrate the creature coming after him. He blinked as the clumsy sword wielder was suddenly gone. “You’re getting slow, Count.”

The well-dressed gentleman sighed through his nose before idly looking over at Luke that was now sitting on top of the decapitated body of the Umbra he had been fighting with a grin. “Can’t you make yourself useful in handling an Umbra that is not already neutralized?” He returned as he carelessly reached to the side to lightly touch one of the Umbra that was trying to retreat from the cult. His unreleased spell instantly dissolved it to their amazement and joy.

The silver chuckled, “You always want me to be useful then demand to hang off me like a leech.”

“What did they release?” Garfunkel demanded.

Bowen got to his feet to duck and spin with too much teasing flippancy under an Umbra leaping at him from the darkness. “All hell.”

“You better start explaining more before I get rid of you to take care of the deficiency of information.”

“Like what’s your number?” The woman asked as she dried the blood off her fingers before sticking her hands in her pockets to keep them from freezing in the cold, blood still dripping down her face.

Luke turned to smile at her. “Now that is an important question. Mind if I wait to get yours until after everything calms down?”

“Not at all as long as you don’t know anyone with the police,” She flirted back.

“That depends on what you’ve been up to. We’ll see if I can remember any of my friends, or they just happen to completely slip my mind. Listen. We have to go take care of something. Can you guys protect yourselves and stay here until we get back?”

“We’ll be here,” the cult leader promised.

“Great. Come on Count.” Then the silver werewolf was gone.

Dracula tisked before dissolving to reform a short distance in the blackened woods beside his coworker. “That was dramatic.”

“Like you were not enjoying the attention. That’s quite the fan club you’ve gathered,” Luke said as he started to jog at a speed that would seem like a dead sprint to any regular human along an already broken path in the deep snow.

“What I would enjoy much more would be you stopping in avoiding the subject. What demon did they summon?”

“None specifically. Just every other one. A rift was set up recently. It only needed their one sacrifice to tear itself open. Either the entity that the sacrifice was originally meant for is helping its own kind escape hell or the power never reached them.”

“A rift between realms? That’s much more dangerous and skilled in Umbra power than those fools are capable of,” Vlad stated.

The silver’s smile was grim. “It wasn’t them or any normal human cult that I know of. It’s a group that has been moving all over all of Europe and its side islands for the past three years.”

Crimson eyes snapped over in surprise to the wolf as he sprung over a snow covered fallen tree. “Three years?! They have been opening rifts for that long?!”

“At least.”

“How come I’ve never heard of this?”

“Because I haven’t told you.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve been busy with all the responsibilities you have. Besides, this is my division. It's my responsibility and I have been taking care of it. Hell hasn’t got a foot hold on this Earth yet, and you haven’t heard about it. So, I think that means that I’ve been doing a good job.”

“Possible invasions to conquer the mortal realm is more than a single person problem. You needed to have told us.”

“I have teams and operatives everywhere that are watching for possible rifts and handling any stragglers that get out. How do you think I got the tip that this one was possibly around here?”

Vlad kept his mouth closed as he flew after the werewolf until he was certain he had a good response that would not just be anger. “Your secrets seem to be growing faster than anything in existence can.”

Bowen laughed to himself. “You haven’t learned anything yet, Count. Listen. We’re coming up on the rift. The beings coming out of it will want nothing more than to destroy. We need to take them out before they spread out too much on the countryside and close the rift. Follow my lead for now.”

A minute later they came up on a collection of Umbra that had different animal characteristics to them. Luke smiled as he slowed down and approached. “Welcome to the mortal realm. At last, you have come to join us.”

An Umbra with ram’s horns circling the side of its head smiled at them as it took in Bowen’s wolf features and Garfunkel hovering in the air. “You live on this realm?”

“Yes. We have been trapped here for too long without any way to rise above the pathetic humans that live here,” Luke mourned, “Who leads you? Let us meet him to discuss how best to conquer this realm.”

“Come! This way!” The ram Umbra enthusiastically motioned for them to follow after it.

Vlad settled down on his own feet to walk beside the green-eyed wolf. “What are you doing?”

“Getting close to where we need to be. There are a lot of Umbra coming through the rift. If we pick a fight at the edges, then we’ll never get to the main site.”

“And acting so proud?”

“Is my inspiration from you,” Luke replied with a laughing smile.

The blond huffed in disgust although it held a hint of playfulness. “If that is your attempt at impersonation, then it was really lacking.”

“True. No one can be as prideful of you and manage to be as insulting without trying.”

They became quiet as the amount of mythical creatures around them increased to a swarm. It did not take long for them to enter the small clearing that was barely big enough for twenty to be crowded into, a circle of stones that had melted away any snow on top of them held a black void in its center. “Master! I have found some of our kin from this realm! They are here to help us conquer this land!” The ram Shadow called.

An Umbra with a birdlike head turned to smile at them. His features dropped to emotionally dead as he saw them. “You.”

“Hey Mahkal! It’s been a while!” Luke greeted.

Mahkal stared at them. “I would have been surprised if you did not come after all that you have done to us, but I can always hope to have a peaceful day.”

“Peaceful? What’s that? You’re from hell. Peace does not exist down there,” Bowen returned.

“We would in the least be successful in taking this realm for our new home. You already have, and yet you refuse to let anyone else join you. After all I’ve done for you, welp. You can’t even bring yourself to repay me.”

The Romanian noble glanced between his coworker and the invasion leader. “I get the feeling that there is something that you purposefully neglected to tell me of wolf. You two know each other. Care to tell me how now?”

Mahkal sneered as much as his beak could allow him to. “I protected and cared for this werewolf and his brother when they came into existence. I kept them alive and taught them how to survive. How did they repay my kindness? By torturing and killing my soldiers. They ran away and now stand in my way of ruling over this realm. Ungrateful welp.”

The silver wolf just grinned back. “Gratitude is for heaven beings. You would curse yourself if I did give it to you, but that’s not what you want. You want me to feel indebted to you and crawl at your every command so you can send me to die for your plans. I admit that you did teach me about life and how to survive but nothing else. I taught myself how to torture and kill to keep you and every other upstart down. And I am more than willing to do that now.”

Mahkal looked over to the undead Umbra. “Who is your friend that you brought to die?”

“This is Count Dracula,” Luke enthusiastically introduced.

Everything around them took in a surprised breath at the infamous name. Mahkal glared at the blond. “I heard that you had betrayed us, but I did not believe it. It seems that those with the most potential are the ones that become prideful and turn their backs on those whom they belonged to. Bowen has been declared to either eternal torment or death for the trouble he has caused us. By associating with him, Dracula, you have brought the same fate upon yourself.” The bird-like Umbra looked back to the canine. “You are not closing this rift this time. We prepared for the possibility of your arrival.”

“Great. I hate it when my prey are playing games while I am playing with them,” Luke said before he blurred forward. As his claws tore through the closest Umbra, Vlad disintegrated to keep from being tackled by others.

“Really wolf. You have a price on your head, and you told none of us. Does your brother even know?”

“Take a guess. A few months ago, he was more than willing to help them remove my head.”

“I’ll take that as a no. You have no one that even suspected what was happening and to alert anyone else when you went missing. You are completely lacking in common sense and planning.”

The Were was a blur of flips and twists as he put his unnatural agility and speed to its limits to dodge between the horde that was after him. Blackness of Umbra dying rose up behind him so thick that it was a perfect smokescreen to disappear into. “According to you.”

“I believe any imbecile that is not yourself would agree with me,” Vlad stated as he formed to blast a concussive spell through the mob. Umbra went flying back as he flew into their midst and began unleashing spells that were fatal.

“You’re right. Any imbecile would think like yourself since you are one of them. I happen to have my own plans and ways that are much better for me and my problems than that.” Luke said as he skipped back out of range as Mahkal came after him with a long knife in each hand.

Garfunkel scowled at the returned insult that was so common in their arguments. “How could anything be better than that?”

“Anyone else around me that knows my life is in danger of being picked on by others. If you are not a part of my life or you don’t know anything then you are worthless to any potential enemies. You haven’t been kidnapped and tortured by anyone connected to me too many times, have you?” the canine Umbra asked as he tried to take on Mahkal but was obviously against a much more powerful and skilled opponent than the others coming out of the rift. He twisted between others to give himself a barrier against his once friend and worked on cutting down the army that was attempting to amass.

“Only here or there. Usually, they are not much to worry about. This is much more concerning though. You turned on the one that was once your family from what I am hearing.” The blond replied as a club tried to strike him. He leaned back as he latched his arms around his offender in a way that did not seem smart until he used his woven grasp to anchor his strong points and push against the Umbra’s weak to drop the weapon and bring it down to the ground to dispatch. Another pounced forward to wrap her arms around the thin vampire and pick him off the ground with his arms trapped.

“Family? Now that is worse than a horror movie to consider. Next time you want to joke about that suggest that I’m cousins with a slug please,” Luke said as he lunged forward to hit Mahkal hard in the chest and was a blur as he pushed his aggressive advantage. “You have no idea how things work in hell, Count. Torture is the thing that friends do to each other to pass the time, and murder is as common as walking. The only thing that anyone is upset about is that I keep stopping them from coming up here to continue that. I’m only considered a traitor because I am not doing what they are doing anymore and I’m stopping them from doing what they want.”

Vlad dropped his stance and weight to curve himself into a position to throw off the being trying to crush him. “When did you spend time with hell beings?” The falcon Umbra went crashing down into the trampled snow to create a furrow with his impact before Bowen was back on him. “I would like an answer. I’m not going to let this slide.”

A snarl had the Count looking back to the rift. A giant black dog with glowing red eyes was wiggling its way out of the rift opening that was much too small for anyone to think that it could make it. “Kill them!” Mahkal shouted as he slashed at Bowen on top of him. The wolf crouched back to avoid the blade but kept his advantage.

The hellhound looked over the gathering to find the ones that its masters was setting it on. It pulled its back legs free of the rift to spring for the undead Umbra. Garfunkel unformed to avoid the attack before becoming solid behind it. His spell skidded off of the hunter as it whirled around to snap at him again. He dodged back to run into the mob of Umbra still coming after him. The hellhound leaped forward as its prey was trapped for the second. Vlad froze for a second as he began to disintegrate yet the canine Umbra’s jaws were going to be on him before he could fully do so. Then he slammed hard into the wall of hell beings around him. He blinked to adjust as he blasted an offense spell through them. The hellhound was not focused on him anymore as Luke twisted through the crowd right in front of its nose. The hunter that towered over most bowled through the crowd, snapping and killing any allies that Luke put between them.

“That worthless wolf. He is always in the way. Can’t he just die like he should have the second he was born?” A skeletal deer with fangs for teeth spat in hatred.

The vampire wisped forward to strike that Umbra hard enough for it to crash through its wave of friends. “That wolf is my friend and is not going to be dying any time in the next eternity. You won’t be so lucky.”

“Vlad! Move!” Luke shouted. The blond leaped into the air instantly to be yanked back as the hellhound bit down on his mid-length cape. Being flung from side to side like a toy as the canine tried to kill him, Vlad struggled to grasp the clasp. Sharp claws from a short furred black hand swiped down to slice the cape apart right at the hound’s jaws. “Get to the outside! You’re losing room to maneuver in here!”

The hellhound didn’t even pause before it bit down on Bowen’s shoulder and began shredding into his body with its claws. The vampire hissed in anger as he regained his footing and turned back on the monster that was working on killing his friend that had been keeping him out of its jaws. “That’s enough.”

The spell lit up from his fingers before being released into the hulking creature. The hound shrieked in agony as it dropped Luke. The Were rolled up to shove one hand through its chest as the other came across its throat to nearly decapitate it. The hellhound collapsed to the ground thrashing in its final nerve bursts as blackness began to wisp off of it.The beast’s shriek split the night, its body convulsing as black smoke poured from its wounds. Its glowing eyes dimmed to embers before winking out, leaving only the stench of sulfur and blood in the snow. The Twilights gasped for breath as they looked at each other as the mob around them roared in fury at the death of one of their greatest killers. Luke’s left shoulder and arm bones were obviously crushed and broken even as his blood flooded down his shirt to hide the flesh damage. Blood streamed in other places from deep gashes. Then the surge was on them again. Garfunkel pushed himself to move faster and changed his strikes to much more fatal and less defensive to cover his injured partner. The wolf pushed himself the same even with his sudden weaknesses. “I hope you’re keeping count, Count. I’ve got thirty-six and many more coming,” The silver declared.

“Seriously? You just had your arm torn off and you want to do a kill count contest?” Vlad asked in disbelief as the mob moved in too close for him to properly maneuver.

“If you feel threatened by my still being able to beat you with even that…” Luke taunted.

“To what were you ever a threat? Only thing I can think of is garlic. I’m surprised that it is not extinct by now with how much you use it,” Dracula returned as he glanced over at his friend as he barely avoided getting smashed by his new casualty. His crimson eyes landed on Mahkal who was pushing through to the silver. “You have a bird coming in.”

“I’ve been watching it. Think it was waiting for its pets to corral me before moving in,” Luke called back as he kept trying to get out of the press keeping them almost immobile. Vlad tisked in frustration before turning into a black mist to get into the crisp air. Umbra went everywhere as his spells blasted down into them. The flight capable ones then launched after him. “Vlad! Draw back! We need to try something else!”

The vampire sighed at the retreat even as he completely understood and agreed. He wisped away after the being that was racing away from the rift faster than most Umbra. Two miles away he formed beside the silver that was leaning against a tree. “Have the other rifts you have dealt with on your own in the past been this complicated?”

“You got Chris and the girls’ reports on the Edinburg Vaults, right?”

Garfunkel paused, “That rift is connected to this one?”

Bowen nodded seriously, “Yep. Same group set them up. We had a hoard about as big as this one that is just as dangerous. The numbers have been increasing as time passes and the Umbra get more desperate to get out.”

“How do you manage when you are on your own?”

“Depends on the situation and moment. Sometimes it’s a lot like this. Others it’s a lot different. The rift has always ended up closed in the end so that’s all that matters. It’s not often I have someone around to critique me as I’m working.”

“It’s not critiquing yet. I’ll save that until after all this is taken care of.” Garfunkel paused to look over the silver. “What’s wrong with your leg?”

Luke sighed as he slid down the tree trunk to sit in the snow that collapsed under him. “Of course, you would look at the thing I don’t want you to see.” He let go of his hip to show a huge slash up his leg and inside hip. His femur twisted out from its place with the tendons and ligaments holding it in place hacked completely through on one side.

“How long until you heal?”

“My shoulder should be good in about ten minutes. My leg though is not going to heal.”

“What do you mean?” Vlad demanded in concern.

“This is one of Mahkal’s hits. His knives have a nasty habit of eating away at the flesh after touching it. Even unharmed skin that touches a wound is harmed. See?” Luke held up his hand that was holding his leg to show raw muscle along his palm. “Mahkal got me across the eye in Edinburg. My healing is good enough that a cut does not spread, but not good enough to be able to close it.”

“How do we heal you then?”

“Destroy the knife that gave it to you. It’s the only way.”

The blond sighed, “Of all the times for you to withhold information and end up hurt. We have the apocalypse amassing and you can’t walk anymore.”

Luke scoffed as he pulled a small coil of twine from his pocket and wrapped it around his leg before tying it off to the opposite side of his belt to pull it back into its socket. “Dramatic vampire. We have more important things to do than mourn over my leg. Have you ever closed a rift before?”

Vlad thought for a moment, “A few times but long ago.”

“You should try practicing more often. I would have liked for your magic to have done that for me.” Bowen sighed, “I’m going to use a ritual to stitch that rift closed. It takes a long time. You’ll need to keep them off of me while I do that.”

“I was not aware that werewolves had spell casting abilities.”

“We don’t. I just remember how to order life and power in certain ways from the old pagan rituals. No magic needed. Do you think you can play a good enough bodyguard while I do that?”

Vlad straitened confidently, “I have some ideas on how to do that effectively.” He glanced back at the tree to find Luke had disappeared. Only the blood-stained snow where he had sat and a new trail of footprints through the snow the only indicator of him and what had happened. Unconsciously a small smile came to him.

The silver furred werewolf flipped through the mob in a blur. Death fogs came up in his literal wake as he moved for the rift. With an aerial somersault over the stone circle setting the boundary of the realm gap, he grasped the winged Umbra that was just starting to emerge. Bodies dropped around the rift with their throats torn open as Luke began to speak to himself in the ancient language that had long been replaced.

The mob roared as it rushed at him. Right before they tackled the silver, a transparent scarlet barrier surrounded him. Luke glanced up at the tree line as the barrier was almost completely covered with writhing Umbra trying to break through to get to him. “Nice trick.”

Dracula tisked as he sent a collection of spells blasting down into the crowd. “And to think that we send you to train new teams. You can’t even talk and stay with me.”

“I can’t help it that you are too slow and weak.”

“Weak? I am the most powerful vampire in existence. Your misbred self has no ability to criticize.”

Bowen only replied with an amused smile as he turned back to the rift. His words were hushed under the shouting throng around him. The blood of the Umbra he had just dispatched around the rift lit up and began to snake its way into the circle to begin crossing over the void.

Vlad darted in and out of the mass as he began working to cut down the army and take attention to himself. Every time he passed by Luke, he restrengthened his barrier as he moved on. The rift began to thrash and roll with black energy as the life of other Umbra was used to begin closing it and release what it had taken to open. Mahkal suddenly was slashing at the barrier with all the fury he had to get at the wolf. “You will not close it this time! You are going to die!”

The barrier cracked under the special knives, yet Luke’s expression was blank. Uncaringly he stuck his tongue out at the falcon Umbra before turning back to his work. Mahkal screamed as he stabbed his knives into the barrier and shattered it apart. Then Garfunkel kicked him hard in the back. The bird slammed face first into the side of the stones bordering the rift. Vlad picked up his knives. “I believe it’s time for you to go.”

Mahkal rolled out of the way of the Were’s claws as he struck down. The falcon got to his feet. “Kill them! For all our kind and our princes! Kill them!” Then he dived through the closing rift.
Luke huffed in amusement, “Coward. He always leaves when things start getting tense and sends everyone else to die for him.”

“Though that is smart for himself,” The undead Umbra pointed out as he reset his barrier.

The barrier closed obviously slow as the ritual worked. Umbra still managed to crawl out of it, but they were having a harder time to do so. The rolling blackness slowly shrank until it was barely open. Luke frowned down at the black and decaying Shadow that had its arms and head out but was basically stuck now. Without any kindness, he stepped on it to push it back through to let the rift finish knitting itself back together. Once it was closed, he grinned as he turned to throw himself into the mass that still existed even with Garfunkel working to thin it down the entire time.
The army of hell beings was wiped out fairly fast between them until any left had fled and separated. Vlad stepped over to the stones that once were part of the rift. “You used other Umbra to close it.”

“If we are going to have to kill them anyways, why not make them useful? Saves me having to bleed out to do it anyway.” The silver replied as he began throwing the stones apart and breaking them.

“May I ask what you are doing?”

“Breaking it up so that if our friends who made this come back then they won’t have a very easy time rebuilding it. I have a thing against letting anyone have an easy time.”

The vampire glanced around the woods. “So, I have learned. Though I would prefer it if you would be so kind as to tell me if you have any more enemies that are powerful and wanting you dead, so I am not struggling to learn of them when they appear.”

“But that’s no fun! I love watching you be surprised then so accepting.”

The blond young man turned away. “Whoever kills you deserves a reward for ridding the world of your presence.”

“Does that mean that you are going to leave me alone to my fate now?”

“No. Only that I’ve made a rash mistake in swearing myself to your side.”

“But you have admit that for someone you have forced yourself to be around that I’m not too hideous to look at.”

“Quite the contrary. I wish I didn’t have to look at you at all,” Vlad replied back even as he checked over his partner to see that the knife wounds seemed to be closing up. The silver wolf silently laughed to himself at the response as he focused back on his task. The vampire turned away to hide his fond smile. Arguing was so enjoyable with both of them on receiving and giving ends.

The cult jumped in fright as they faded in from the early morning blackness into the fire light. Luke grinned at them with his razor-sharp teeth gleaming almost eerily in the flickering low light. “I would almost think that you were afraid of us even though you’ve been playing around with hell beings.”

“We’ve just never been around your kind before. It's an honor to meet you at last,” The cult leader greeted in trying to be subdued excitement.

Bowen smirked at his golden-haired partner. “We should probably introduce ourselves. This is Count Dracula, the most powerful of vampires created by the human imagination. Prince and Lord of the Undead.”

“Your Majesty,” The humans cried as they collapsed into the snow to bow on their knees.

Vlad gave the werewolf a long dead stare at his grand title only he introduced himself as. The canine was definitely manipulating the mortals and causing some kind of trouble for him if he was willing to share his titles. “Wolf.”

The winter night was cold and crisply quiet for a minute before the woman spoke up. “What do you wish of us, Your Greatness?”

“To stop acting like fools and get off the ground,” Garfunkel stated sharply.

The cult scrambled to their feet like over eager children trying to act like the military. Bowen smiled at them, “It’s wonderful to finally meet mortals that are dedicated to what they believe in even though they have never seen them before. You may be of use to us.”

“What do you want us to do...?” One of the other men asked as he hesitated on a title. All eyes took in the wolf features that had not been hidden.

“I am a lone werewolf. You may call me Alpha. The Count is my partner,” Luke introduced himself cryptically while giving a powerful title. He smiled in sly consideration as he began to circle around the area that was illuminated by the fire’s glow. “There is much you can do for us. So much, but is it worth our time to waste on teaching mortals? There is so little your kind are capable of.”

“We’ll do whatever you want of us. Even if it is hard we’ll find a way. Don’t abandon us,” The cult leader begged.

“Perhaps you can be of use,” Luke nearly seductively growled as he seemed to be pondering what to do.

The Romanian Umbra tisked at the theatrics, “Wolf.”

“Quiet!” The silver snapped back. The blond blinked in surprise at the tone that Bowen had never had towards him or the demanding order. The Were fought back a laugh at the surprise that began to scare the humans at what he could have planned for them. “What to do with you. What can I do to you? So many options. Perhaps we should start simple. Give us your occult book. You are not going to be playing with demons anymore. You belong to us and any that come from us. Understand?”

“Yes Alpha,” The cult agreed as they scrambled to get their black magic book out to give to them.

When the book was offered to him, Luke did not reach to take it in the least. He waved for the vampire and Vlad stepped to take it. Once in hand, he began flipping through its pages to check on what the humans had discovered. The vampire sneered at the powerful and dangerous spells that were cryptically described to trick the user into preforming it without knowing what they were truly doing. “Now give me your phone numbers and I’ll send you instructions on what you are supposed to be doing later. What I mainly want from you is for you to patrol this area. Watch for anything Umbra related. Structures, signs, and such. You will report them back to me along with all monsters that you find. After what you’ve done tonight, there are now some very dangerous Umbra loose in this realm. You will track down every Umbra in this area and send me pictures and a description of them. I will then tell you if they are good or troublemakers. You will take care of them if they are safe or remove them from existence if they are not. Understood? You are going to clean up your mess.”

“We understand. We’ll do whatever you want us to do,” The leader promised.

Luke nodded as his normal bright smile came back. “Good. Clean up your mess here and you’re all free to go home until I contact you. I don’t want any flesh not as ashes of this horse and the bones not to be found.”

“Alright.” The humans agreed before looking around in surprise as the werewolf was suddenly nowhere in sight.

Vlad tisked as he closed the occult book. “Wolf.” Then he dissolved right before their eyes into a swarm of bats that took to the skies. In a minute he formed beside the silver that was walking back towards Clophill. “You were very dramatic. I thought you preferred to be friends with others rather than being feared or worshiped.”

“There are times when it's easier to work with expectations than kindness.” Bowen answered as he stretched. He began to laugh to himself then.

“Do I dare ask what you find amusing?”

“My clothes have frozen stiff,” The Were answered.

The blond shook his head as he took in the huge amount of blood covering his partner that had frozen in the winter coldness. “That is not amusing.”

“If you don’t want it to be. I don’t see any reason for it not to be.”

“I wonder if there is a psychotherapist that specializes in Umbra. You need medical help,” The nobleman sighed.

“Except medication does nothing for me with how I heal and I’m too stubborn to want to change.”

“There is that as well.” They trudged through the snow back towards civilization quietly. The undead Umbra watched the wolf carefully as they went. “What are you thinking?”

Bright green eyes that reflected in the darkness glanced back at him. “What?”

“You’re thinking. I want to know about what so I can be prepared for what’s going to happen.”

“Just about the rift,” the canine Umbra shared dismissively.

“Then share those thoughts with me. I am new to the situation and would like to understand everything I can about it.”

A nearly silent growl of frustration came from the silver before he smiled slightly at his unwanted tag along. “Just trying to solve this case. The people that have been creating these rifts are very thorough. They always destroy all evidence or hints to their identities when they leave and it’s frustrating. They’ve been a couple of steps ahead of me these past couple of years because I can’t figure out their identities, purpose, or their target location patterns.”

“You don’t know anything about them after all this time? You are our best detective and solid information gatherer on the British Isles.”

Luke looked away at the compliment that was rare from the prideful vampire with a laugh. “I even have Wayne helping me and I still fall short. What I do know though is that it is a fairly large group with both Umbra and humans in it. No specific numbers on either or what kind of Umbra species we are dealing with other than a definite dark magic user. They are not extremely strong as they only set up the rift site and leave it to open itself. They move their locations around almost randomly so I can’t guess for certain where they are going next. Their rift locations are always near places that have a history of Umbra or magic practice. Generally, out of the way or not visited often to hide their work away until it saps enough power away to tear itself open.”

“What troubles you then?”

“All of it.” Luke then smirked as he pulled a Ziplock sandwich bag out of his pocket that contained a pen in it. “But our friends slipped up. One of them dropped this in the snow and lost it.”

“So?” Vlad questioned as they got back onto a mostly snow cleared road that was iced from being driven over.

“Its advertising the Wilmslow Hotel. One of them either stayed there or is connected to the place.”

“And you are thinking that you can figure out where that hotel is and find them. That is almost as bad as a needle in a haystack. What if a family member passed through that hotel and our suspects never got close to it? Then it is a dead lead.”

“A dead lead is still a lead. It led us to what is not right. There is also a possibility that if they did stay there that I can then have Wayne compare the guest list to previous lists that I have gathered from other similar slip ups to narrow down who the same people are, and as such, our suspects.”

The blond huffed in mock contempt. “So much busy work.”

“You can head home. It shouldn’t take me long to check this out.”

“Nice try. I’ll get used to checking these mundane things with you,” Vlad said. “Where are we going?”

“There’s a Wilmslow Hotel in Wilmslow.”

“How do you know that is the right hotel?”

The Were grinned, “I searched it on my phone.”

Garfunkel scoffed, “And how are you certain that of the hundreds of results it pulled up that this one is correct?”

“Because Wilmslow is near Prestbury. Can you think of anything Umbra related there that might make it an ideal place to set up a rift?”

“Prestbury has one of the largest ghost and Umbra populations in England. Its Umbra sightings and activity are common and draw humans. A rift like the one we just delt with would easily be able to feed there.”

“And the town has woods and old buildings that beings don’t often go by to hide such a thing.”

“Lead the way. We don’t have much time to waste if they were there before coming here.”

~

“Are you even sure that that pen belonged to our suspects? Anyone could have dropped it,” Vlad questioned as they walked towards a more modern multi-story building in the early morning. They had changed into fresh clothes that did not reveal any blood or damage to spend the whole night scouring the area around and in Prestbury for a possible rift to come up empty.

“Certain. No one had walked in that area since the snow fell besides our friends and it was in such a way that it was specifically during their time. If you don’t like my way of working then go home and leave me alone to get my work done,” Luke replied brightly as he almost skipped into the Wilmslow Hotel.

“How would I then know when I need to actually be here?” the blond replied as they went up to the reception desk.

“Welcome to Wilmslow Hotel. How can I help you?” A young woman asked behind the desk.

Bowen’s charming smile flicked on instantly. “I would like to talk to a manager here, if that won’t be any trouble.”

“I can call him. What’s your name?” The young lady asked as she picked up a phone to call her boss.

“Luke Bowen. I don’t have an appointment. I just have some security questions that I would like to ask him.”

“One minute please,” The girl requested before she began talking to her manager. In a couple of minutes, they were directed down a hall to the manager's office.

The human man met them at the door to let them in. “What can I do for you?”

“Mr. Johnson, I’m Luke Bowen. My partner and I are investigating an illegal immigration and smuggling operation. We have received a tip that the leaders of this group may possibly have stayed here a while ago. Is there a way that we could possibly have the guest list and pictures for the past couple of months of all your clients?”

The manager paused in surprise. “I… I’m not certain I can give that to you. There is confidentiality and I am not certain you have the authority to demand such a thing.”

“I understand. Do you have someone you trust among the police or MI5? Call them and I’ll direct them to check in with my superiors,” Luke suggested.

The manager thought for a minute. “I do have an old friend that went into filing for MI5. I’ll try him.” Johnson picked up his cellphone to tap on a number and wait. “Hello Arnold. This is Will. I have some men here that are claiming to be investigators. Can you call their people and verify that they are good for me? Thank you.”

Johnson then handed his phone over to the silver. “This is Luke Bowen. I would like you to contact Sergeant Alice Shoman. Tell her that I need some power from on high.”

“The Sergeant! I can’t call her! She’s way above my position and I don’t have her number,” Arnold protested.

“Then try this one,” Bowen replied as he gave the man a phone number and code.

A few minutes later Arnold called back, “Sergeant Shoman says that Bowen is good. She said to give him whatever he wants including your first-born child. She was almost threatening me if you don’t help him out.”

Luke laughed, “I’ll pass on the child stealing. I would have to let my partner take care of the kid.”

A scalding crimson glare was given in response. The manager smiled in relief. “Thank you, Arnold. I’ll call you back after work.” He hung up to smile at them. “Let me get those records for you.”

“Thank you. If you will have your people submit all of that to my email that would be appreciated,” Luke thanked the man as he hurried to get everything for them.

Vlad frowned over at him. “How do you have connections to MI5?”

The Were chuckled to himself, “That is more of an explanation than you are capable of handling.”

“And would be essential to know incase situations pop up that we have to ask you to contact those connections.”

“If I could remember everyone that I am friends with in one sitting, even I would be surprised. I just don’t take girls out to pubs on my nights off, Count. I have business meetings too.”

“Perhaps you should consider starting to introduce me to these business partners of yours.”

“And what are you going to do? You already are swamped with diplomatic things and helping other teams get set up on top of the café and our team. You don’t have time or ability to do anything extra. Especially chasing me around.”

“Then perhaps it is time that I open a couple of positions for hire to take care of that. I can then have all the time necessary to deal with you and the café.”

“That’s smart and something I have been hoping you would do some time, but you are still not on the roster to be transferred to missions since you are already in charge of historical things.”

Vlad looked ahead calmly, “In that case, I will come as an unwanted nuisance that you will have to adjust to to be able to do your job.”

“I thought you were that in the first place.”

“That is completely a matter of opinion on whom is the nuisance and dead weight between us.”

Johnson came back to them then. “My people are working to email all the information you wanted.”

“Thank you, Mr. Johnson. We appreciate your cooperation.” Luke accepted as he stood up to shake the manager’s hand. “If you will excuse us, we have more appointments today. Thank you so much for your time.”

“You’re welcome. If you need anything else, please call me and we’ll get that to you as soon as we are able,” The manager encouraged.

As they stepped out of the hotel, the canine Umbra silently laughed to himself. “I know that expression too well. What harm are you contemplating to my anatomy?”

“Just considering how powerful of a shock collar I need to get you to stop being foolish and how to keep you from taking it off,” the blond returned thoughtfully.

“If you are wanting me to behave or actually be helpful, then there is no power in this realm of existence that can help you. I’ll do the opposite even if it is lightning that is striking me.”

“I think you are right about that unfortunately. I will just have to find a spell that makes some use out of you.”

“Try that and I will set Ton and my brother on you. I would like to find out the limits of that immortal life of yours.”

“Even with that I would outlive your fast healing stubborn self. One of these days you’re going to make an enemy that you can’t beat on your own. You’re going to die without any friends to ever care and no one would ever notice.”

“You’re right,” Luke agreed as he turned to meet the crimson eyes seriously. “My brother and I were born fighting for our lives. Everyone wanted us dead, and none wanted to even claim knowing us on good terms. Living with the werewolf packs and the humans was the same. I’ve known for a long time that is exactly how I am going to die. If not by the hand of one that pretended to be my friend, then without a single one in all the realms. I have met many beings in all races and times that say that we are friends, but I have never seen them think twice about me when I am out of sight. You are the same. You never notice that I am gone until it inconveniences you. So, stop pretending that you actually care what I am doing or if I’m in one piece. You are only doing this because you want to control me as if I was a game piece.”

No emotion passed Garfunkel’s features as he looked back. “I will never claim you to be a friend. You’re too troublesome to even bother with that. But you are wrong in some ways. I think of you more often than I ever wanted to. Usually when you are missing. I wonder what shape you are going to come back to us in, or if you are even going to come back. You come and go worse than a ghost and none have a chance to hold on to you. You hold so many secrets that should be spoken. I hate you for how much time I spend on the subjects that involve you. Perhaps with this partnership all these invasive thoughts will dissipate, and I won’t have to ever consider you being in too much trouble again.”

The silver wolf smiled slightly in a way that was almost fond and knowing. “If that’s your reason. I’m glad to have such a kind enemy.”

“I’m not your enemy,” Vlad stated as the wolf turned away to keep walking. “You are my unpredictable ally, and I am your partner. It would be easier for both of us if you are willing to share a similar relationship with me.”

“Only when you are given the chance to get rid of me for a minor reward and refuse it will I even consider that. The second is when you decide that you could like me enough to actually make the possibility of any closer relationship than coworkers not a horror to live through.” The detective replied as he checked his phone. He quickly perked up as he called someone. “Hello. Is this a good time?... What’s going on?” The Romanian stepped closer to try and catch the other side of the conversation as Luke had his phone’s volume turned down to the last decibel to cater to his oversensitive hearing. Even that only gave him a slight murmur. “Are you certain? What does it look like?” Bowen demanded. For a minute he listened as his twinkling, laughter filled eyes hardened to have a laser like intensity that could have sliced the building he was unnoticingly gazing at into paper thin slices if he had any magic abilities. “Where are you?... Stay there and watch it. Take a video of anyone that comes by. I’ll be there as fast as I can. See you soon.” He clicked off the call and slipped his phone away as he turned to look at his tag-along. “Ready?”

“I would be more so if you told me what is happening but considering your brainless self, I’m lucky to know that we are going somewhere. Let’s go.”

“You’re getting better at this. Who knew that it took my amazing self to get you to have enough inspiration to stop being lazy? Though I guess that wouldn’t be too much of a surprise with all that I am,” Bowen teased.

“Even a paralyzed person would stand up to strangle you to get you to close your incessantly yapping mouth,” The blond insulted back.

“Well, I currently have a corpse following me around in the daylight outside of his coffin. So, I think I just have a way of working that kind of miracle.”

Vlad hissed in agitation to himself as he slowly flexed his fingers in and out of claw like positions to try and keep his patience with the wolf that was purposefully trying to annoy him. “What is going on and where are we going?”

Luke glanced to the side in confusion. “You didn’t hear that?”

“No. I have to have my phone calls off of mute to be able to understand the other end of the line.”

The silver laughed, “They also have to be speaking snob for you. We need to get to Roll-Right-Stones. One of my people says that he has found a stone circle that is very similar to the description of rifts that I gave him to look out for. We need to check it out now.”

“Another rift? How often do you find these? This is the second in three days.”

“When they are found depends. None of us can find them the instant they are made unfortunately, but we try. If this is a rift, then we might be in time to destroy it before it activates. I like those, but they are harder to find. Usually, I get dragged in by the time it has torn itself open and the apocalypse is starting.”

The nobleman tisked to himself, “Wolf.”

~

The snow was almost up to their waists as they pushed along an already broken path that had not been cleared yet. Clumps of old woods stretched between winter covered pastures and fields. They worked their way upwards along the hill while dodging between risen snow lumps and pock marked boulders. The entire landscape was filled with countless stones that human progress had not removed. If they could. Vlad ran his bare hand over the freezing cold stone as he passed to smile slightly as it wiggled like jelly at his touch. “I love Roll-Right-Stones.”

“For its natural beauty, of course. Or were you referring to the army of boulders here that once were humans before they were cursed into this state? Or the fact that the stones are still sentient and refuse to be moved? Or all the power that is around here,” Luke questioned.

“Why not all of those?” The werewolf smiled as he easily moved through the snow. He pulled out his phone for his smile to fade away. “What’s wrong?”

The silver sighed as he put away his device. “Wayne texted me. None of the people that have stayed at the Wilmslow Hotel match those of previous lists. We have no further leads from that.”

Vlad shoved through the snow with a lack of grace to place a hand on his partner’s shoulder comfortingly. “You tried. I can see from how you worked on an impossible clue that you are working on every possibility and as such your lack of answers is not from your lack of effort.”

“Thanks. Just wait until I start assigning you tasks to help me on missions. Then you are definitely not going to like me as you start to realize how much work it takes to get to this easy stuff,” The silver replied.

“I also get the feeling that I will possibly respect you more and understand how to help you better.”

“Don’t make yourself too nice. It puts me on edge, and I might throw you in a warded room when we get back to the café to get rid of you to have peace of mind,” Luke replied as he paused to squint over the blinding white snow.

“Truthfully. I am surprised you didn’t do that when I first demanded to come along.”

“There’s my friend. Come on Count,” Bowen said as he followed a branching off broken trail. They moved through the next two miles before they got to a hollow with a hill towering above it. Below, the snow was packed hard with stones that had been pried out of the frozen ground, set in a circle. A few of them had moved themselves out of the circle while others had runes keeping them in place. “Carter! Has anything happened?”

A human man that was middle age but very fit with a tan that spoke of years of being in the outdoors stood up from behind a snow covered bush high up on the hill. He smiled down at them. “Nope. Nothing has moved other than those rocks. Nothing alive is up here other than us.”

“What are we dealing with?” The Were asked as he looked back at the rift set up.

“I was doing my usual patrol when I noticed that some people had made a new path. I followed it to here. It looks like what you wanted me to keep an eye out for,” Carter reported.

“Did you walk around down here?” Luke asked as he scanned the snow.

“No. I kept my distance.”

“Good. I’ll work on getting some shoe print pictures and measurements then. They must have been working on this last night. All of this powder hasn’t shifted too much.” The detective started walking around the hollow as he took pictures of the snow.

“Who are you?” Carter asked as the silver wolf worked.

“Vlad Garfunkel. I’m Luke’s partner.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Carter. I report to Luke on everything Umbra related in this area. I can’t fight though. He has to send people to do that for me when problems come up.” The human introduced himself.

The blond curiously tilted his head. “You watch over this area? How many others like you are there that watch over areas like this?”

Carter shrugged, “I don’t know. There’s twelve of us that are grouped together for this district of areas. We get together to report on anything big to the others. There are other groups, but I haven’t met them yet.”

Crimson eyes turned to the silver. “And you all report to Luke?”

“Yes. He asked us to watch over our towns for him,” Carter replied.

“Wolf,” The vampire demanded an explanation for the Twilights that he had not been aware of.

“So far, I have counted sixteen different shoe prints. So, we have that amount of suspects. That gives me some idea of how big they are,” Luke replied on a different topic.

“You set up operatives and teams.”

“It’s a network, Count. I have an entire world that I have to assign missions to. I have to delegate responsibility to others for information and work. I don’t have an obsessive habit of needing to be in control of everything and everyone like you do.” The wolf paused to stare down at the beginning of the rift at his feet in thought. “This doesn’t have all the markings it needs the spells to get it to work. It’s incomplete. I bet they are going to come back tonight to work on it.”

“We’ll wait for them then,” Garfunkel stated.

“Exactly my thoughts,” Bowen agreed before looking up the hill. “How did you get up there?”

“Come around the hill. I think they came over when they were looking for a spot to put this,” Carter motioned.

They moved around the hill and over on already broken paths to lay beside the human. “Are you warm enough for a stake out in this weather?” Luke asked.

The man that had aged slightly more than them grinned. “I have my warmest on and warmers for if I start getting chilled. I also have emergency bars for if we need to stay overnight. This is not my first time out here.”

“That’s why I asked you to patrol this area instead of someone else,” Luke stated.

Vlad idly pulled off his shoe to pull out a packed snowball that had not melted in the least from his lack of living body heat out. “If we are going to be here for a while, then I’m going to get some sleep. My lore did not design me to stay awake for days and nights on end.”

“That’s not a good idea. You’ll freeze to death if you stop moving and paying attention,” Carter warned as the blond laid down and closed his eyes.

“He’s a vampire. He’s already dead and he would love to be frozen stiff. It would give him an excuse to not have to do anything,” Luke reassured.

Carter pulled off a glove to feel Dracula’s bare hand to grimace in horror at how unnaturally cold it was. The afternoon passed fairly fast with the winter coming in fast to push out the short daylight. As dusk set in to cast every swell and abnormality into elongated shadows Luke reached over the human to roughly jostle Vlad awake. The blond sighed as he turned over. “What is it?”

“Some one’s coming. Dressed in all black. Thin and on the shorter side. A woman I think with the way she is moving. She’s coming along the path that leads to the hollow,” Luke reported as he slowly reached up to turn on his body camera.

The other two strained their eyes to try and find who the wolf was talking about. After a while, the figure got close enough that they could see her too. She was wearing black leggings and a hoodie that was pulled up to conceal her face. She came closer to drop down into the hollow. She sneered at the stones that had moved themselves out of the circle. Then she paused. A feeling of awful darkness came over them as instincts screamed for them to get away from her before something terrible happened. She turned to look up the hill towards them. “You’re Umbra.”

Luke grinned as he got to his feet. “Yep. And you are too.”

“What are you doing here?” The woman demanded.

“We’re here to see who is setting up a rift.”

The dark Umbra looked over the three of them. “And? What do you want with my portal?”

“Mostly I want to understand why you are creating them. They’re not very good. Releasing hell beings is not very smart,” Luke replied.

She snarled as a dark black, red glow began to come from under her hood where her eyes were. “You want to stop us.”

“That’s the simple way of putting it.”

“You’re the ones that have been closing our portals!” She screamed in rage.

Luke waved flippantly, “I’m the one that’s been doing that. These two came with me this time for fun.”

Black flames began to lick at her hands as she glared at them. “Come here. I have something to give you.”

Bowen laughed as he slowly broke his own path down the hill without giving away any of his Umbra characteristics. “How tempting. I love gifts.”

“I will love giving this to you,” She hissed as she threw her hand out at him.

The silver flopped into a snowbank to avoid the fire ball that boomed towards him. The snow caught on fire and the frozen liquid began to burn as if it was dry grass. Vlad quickly formed a spell to put it out as the Were rolled out into the hollow and rushed at her. “What’s your name? I like knowing who I’m dancing with,” Luke questioned as he spun and dodged her attacks.

“What are you?” She demanded back as he tried to kill him.

“You tell me that first and then I’ll tell you.”

She spat as her hands came up. The wolf stopped as flames shot up to surround him. “You’re going to be no more than ash.”

The silver glanced at the flames as they pushed closer to him. “This is one of the more common hell powers. You’re more powerful than I am used to most demons being. Are you high ranking or special?”

She clenched her hand for her flames to surge inward. Bowen leaped up to somersault over the wall of flames and land on the other side. The glow of her eyes dimmed in surprise. “What?!”

“My offer is still open. Tell me what you are, and I’ll tell you what I am,” Luke volunteered.

She hissed as she raised her hands. Transparent crimson runes appeared to float in front of her palms. “I don’t care what you are.”

Vlad caught her hands before they could release their spells. “I agree with you.”

She glanced back at him in surprise before roaring in a way that was between human and not vocals. “Fine! Take this portal! I am done waiting for one to work! I’m going to open one that you can’t close and then I will laugh as you are killed for trying to stop me! I hope you enjoy hell. It will enjoy torturing you in the worst ways possible for the rest of eternity for stopping it.”

Her hoodie then tore open in the back for black bat wings to snap out. Vlad slammed back hard as they hit him then she was in the air. Then she was a blur in the air and almost instantly out of sight.

Luke hummed to himself as he stepped over to his coworker and offered a hand. “That was fun.”

Garfunkel let himself be pulled back to his feet. “She got away. Unfortunate.”

“Not that much. I think we just met the leader of our problems, and I have learned a lot about her,” The wolf said as he looked back up at the darkening sky that was almost completely night now. “She looks human, but she has demon features. I think she’s a cambion.”

Vlad scoffed, “Cambion. Human demon crosses. More powerful than both of their parents.”

“And often considered malformed by both species. An awful state to be in. Loved for their power and hated just as much by all,” Luke agreed.

Carter stumbled through the snow to them. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You are not a fighter. You did good. This gave us so much more to work with than we had before,” The silver reassured before turning back to the stone set up. “We better get these stones back where they belong. I doubt they are going to finish with this now that they know that I am after them and was here.”

“I’ll keep checking over this area. I’m not going to let them try this somewhere else here,” Carter stated as he bent down to begin rolling stones back to where they had been forced up.

Chapter Text

“We then went to the nearby river and met the dragon that protected it!” Ton shared the adventures that the three of them had in China with Leng laying invisibly on her lap.

The rest of the young men in the café were gathered around to listen. “You were busy,” Tauryu noted.

“We were. It was fun showing my parents all the Umbra and how uncomfortable Ton’s were,” Shinyao giggled.

Luke grinned at them, “Are you sure that part of that is not because you suddenly decided to be dating someone?”

Chris growled low in his throat, “The Mus love me more than you ever did.”

“Of course. Everyone instantly loves you. I’m just blessed to have been born with you and know what a demon you really are. As the big brother, I have the responsibility of making your life hard,” Luke proclaimed.

“As if you even have to try,” Chris grumbled under his breath.

Shinyao giggled at them. “I wish I had a sibling to do this with. It seems like so much fun.”

“It really is,” Luke agreed.

“It’s not,” The red contradicted.

Tauryu interrupted them, “Shinyao-chan. Are you certain that you want to be Chris’s girlfriend even though he has not been decent in behavior before? If you don’t truly want to be then don’t let anyone pressure you into being so. We are willing to help you if he gives you any trouble.”

Shinyao smiled at them, “Thank you. I guess that proves that you are good friends for being willing to do that, but I do like Chris. I want someone like him to marry. He may not be usual, but I love him for what he is.”

The red wolf shrugged, “If she doesn’t like me, she can go find someone else. This is not permanent yet.”

“Yet he says,” Luke teased with a wink. “He already has the Mus preparing to throw their daughter at him and is starting to spread the word around. And the loner that never likes to let anyone see how much emotion he has says not yet.”

“Probably because he’s waiting for her to take off his head. I would if I was in her place,” Vlad calmly said.

“That’s you. If anyone wanted you alive, I would be surprised,” Chris snarled.

“Congratulations to the two of you. I hope this ends well,” Tauryu told them.

“Thank you,” Shinyao accepted.

“I agree with that. Congratulations little brother. Shinyao, I feel sorry for you. Are you sure there was not someone that was not as ugly as him that you could have chosen? A girl like you could get anyone to fall to their feet for you,” The older Bowen asked.

Shinyao giggled, “I guess I could, but it would be hard to have to drag them everywhere. I like Chris being able to stand.”

The red huffed, “You’re more ugly than me. How many girls have you talked with that you have ever gotten serious with?”

“How could I be serious with any of them when I tell them that they look good and I’m only referring to the reflection of myself that I see in their eyes? I mean, look at this perfection! Who could match this?” Luke teased as he stuck his gut out to look like he had a girth.

“Ew,” Ton muttered as she fought back a smile.

Shinyao leaned into Chris’s side as she laughed at him. The younger quietly smiled, “Too bad women don’t care to go into sumo wrestling. One of them would be perfect for you. Match your body perfectly.”

“I feel attacked. I’m going to go cry in the corner,” the silver dramatically sniffed.

“Go ahead. It would save me from having to look at you,” Chris said.

Vlad chuckled slightly as he tried to fight back his enjoyment of the friendly argument as the silver continued the heckling. “Alright. Just as long as you don’t look in any mirrors. We do have the same body after all.”

Tauryu shook his head at them. “Brothers. You are cruel to each other. Shouldn’t you be more kind to your own family?”

“No,” Chris growled. “I am not going to be nice to someone who only goes on dates with demons.”

“Be nice?! That would be breaking the law of family!” Luke protested, “Rule number one. If you have siblings, then you have to be a living hell to them. This can result in either absolute hatred or love that only manifests itself when someone else is hurting them. Luckily, I got both at the same time.”

“I only got the last one,” Chris grumbled unhappily to himself.

Vlad thoughtfully looked between the two. “I just realized that you have never mentioned having a mother. What was she like?”

“Never had one. We were born out of fear and not flesh,” the red informed.

“I know,” Luke seemed to surrender. “How did mirror twins come into existence and have almost the exact same DNA when they did not have any parents to control what they got? No clue. Just happened that way. Talk to whatever human was afraid of us why they made twins.”

“I would like to compliment them. They did a good job on making you,” Shinyao said with a smile at her new boyfriend. Chris looked away in embarrassment that made Ton coo at him.

A knock came at the café door then. A young man that looked to be in high school stood outside in the dark street. Luke quickly stepped over to let him inside. The boy smiled up at him. “Hello boss! The…” He trailed off as he looked around at those inside. Nervousness and awe battled for his expression as he glanced at each of them.

“Hello,” Shinyao greeted as she recognized the boy that Luke had bought baguettes and information from a few months earlier.

He smiled back at her. “Hello.”

“Are you doing well in school?” Luke asked the suddenly hesitant boy.

“I am. Math is a bugger, but I’m still getting good grades,” The school boy answered. He glanced around again. “Um… I have to tell you something….”

“Go ahead,” Luke invited as he leaned down and cupped a hand to his ear for a secret. The boy leaned in to whisper into his ear what he wanted to say. After a minute they leaned back from each other. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll take care of it.”

“Alright,” The boy agreed as he looked around again and inched for the door. “Good night.”

“Good night. Stay out of trouble,” Luke shooed him off. The boy slowly walked across the café and then he took off sprinting the second he was outside. He slipped on the icy road to go sprawling before scrambling back to his feet.

“I’m glad that he’s doing okay,” Shinyao said.

“Boss?” Vlad angrily demanded.

“Yes?” Luke replied as if he had been called.

The vampire clenched his hands to keep calm. “You are pulling children into this?”

“Not all of them. That group was a common gang. If they think they are tough enough to live as men and fight as such among themselves then I can take them out of that situation and turn them into something useful. The Shadow gang knows almost everything that is happening around London. If they don’t, then they go find someone else that does.” Luke brushed off as he obviously was thinking about something else.

“How many teams do you have watching London?” Shinyao asked.

“Huh?” the silver asked as he tuned back in to the conversation. He then smiled mischievously. “Shinyao, would you be a dear and keep my little brother safe and go take care of that for me?

“Of course. Do we need anything?” Shinyao agreed as she stood up to get her Twilight blazer.

“Don’t know. Don’t know what it is. Call me if you need any help,” Luke wished them as he dropped down beside Ton and looped an arm over her shoulders. “So, meet any cute boys back home?”

“Hoping that she has one for you?” Chris taunted as he got up.

“Maybe. More that I want to make sure that Ton has every option other than Vlad.”

Ton smiled at her friend, “Why don’t you want us together?”

“The Count’s been getting on my nerves lately and I like you too much to let you get stuck with a jerk.”

“Thank you, Luke. Hey! My mom taught me a recipe! I want to make it for you! Come on!” Ton exclaimed as she jumped up and began pulling the silver for the kitchen.

“Don’t die!” The older Bowen wished as he disappeared.

Chris smiled, “With Ton’s cooking, he’s the one most likely to die.”

“Be nice. Ton’s getting better,” Shinyao said as she pulled her boots on.

“Where are you going?” Tauryu asked.

“Heard the kid mention something about weird things happening at Hyde Park. We’ll be going there,” The red head answered as he held the door open for Shinyao as she slipped on a coat. Her wings came out and she snapped out of sight instantly for Chris to disappear just as fast a split second later.

Tauryu turned back to the vampire that was storming over to the bar. “Vlad?”

“Werewolves. I’m going to pretend they don’t exist or I’m going to strangle one, and the fur color doesn’t matter.”

“When are you going to admit that you like both of them and think of them as friends and their secretive habits scare you?”

“Don’t you have some supplies that you need to pick up?”

Shinyao landed lightly on the shoveled main path that led along the water way of Hyde Park of its multiple walking trails. A gust of wind was the sign that Chris had just stopped beside her. “So, what exactly did he say?”

“Just that something strange was moving in the secret Hyde Park cemetery and that it’s getting out of the enclosure,” Chris said as he led her towards the north of the park.

“There’s a cemetery here?! In a park?!”

Chris chuckled, “Pet cemetery. It has mostly dogs buried in it with a handful of others. People think that there were about a thousand animals buried there.”

“Was it a cemetery before the park was made? Is that why it’s in a park?”

“No, actually. The park came first. The cemetery is the garden behind the park keeper’s house. Animals that died nearby were given to the keeper for a convenient burial. With a couple of prominent people losing their pets and burying them here, others decided to do the same. It was closed a century ago to stop vandalism and such. Some people thought it was morbid to celebrate having so many pets with headstones in one place like that too.”

“Where else are you supposed to bury your animals?”

“In a random hole somewhere like I would do?”

“I guess that could work,” Shinyao hummed before she came to a sudden stop.

Chris hummed in interest as something large moved on the path ahead of them. “Never seen one of those like that.”

“What is it?”

The thing moved closer to them on four feet. As it passed under an occasional lamp its features were vaguely distinguishable. Its feet were like that of a bear’s with its main body more like that of a moose. A head of a wolf snarled at them as caribou antlers reached up. “I’m guessing a chimera specialized for northern winter climates. Pretty powerful and dangerous. They like killing any living creature. Probably hunting humans if it's in the city.” Chris said curiously.

“How many are there generally in Chimera packs? Or whatever you call their groups.”

“They don’t have groups. They are solitary,” The red wolf stated before looking beyond the monstrosity stalking towards them at the things moving behind it. “Oh. It looks like some humans saw this and let their imaginations and fears go rampant.”

“Those are newborns then?”

“Probably. If not, then they were already existing Umbra that were summoned by the thought of them.”

“Do you know what they are?”

Chris glanced at the chimera as it crouched in preparation to attack. “Not that. They look somewhat canine like. My guess is that it’s either a soul stealer or reincarnation. Humans tend to associate those kind of Umbra with cemeteries. So, they could be hellhounds or a human imagination summoned simulacrum.”

“Simulacrum?” Shinyao questioned as she jetted into the air as the chimera attacked.

Chris snarled as he let out his wolf features. “Think Tauryu and Frankeinstein’s monster. Parts put together and brought to life. I’ve got the chimera. Take care of the others. Tell me which one it is. If it is hellhound then be more careful. Either way just kill them.”

“What if there are some good among them?” Shinyao asked as she watched the chimera lunge forward faster than she could have dodged away from in time to claw and bite at the werewolf as he rolled out of the way. The chimera lunged again, its antlers gouging furrows in the frozen path as its wolf jaws snapped inches from Chris’s throat. The air reeked of wet fur and burning frost.

“Hellhounds don’t have free will. They follow the orders of their master demon that is always bad, and simulacrum’s don’t have much intelligence to change themselves to something else. They are brainless destroyers. Get rid of them the easy way.”

The human girl glided away to look over the horde of other creatures. They had canine builds, yet they were odd. They were disproportioned. Legs and other parts were obviously larger or smaller than they should have been. An occasional wing and feline part was to be found as the mangy fur or decaying flesh underneath moved. It was as if someone had taken all the animals that had been buried in the enclosed garden, put them in the blender to mix them all up, and then let them decay. “I think they are simulacrums! They look like put together zombies of the pets buried in the cemetery!” She called back.

Chris blurred forward to grasp the chimera’s antlers to flip it over his shoulder and hard into the ground. “That’s good. Those are easier. Send the things back to their graves.”

“Any specific way to do that?”

“Dismantle?”

“I’ll try that,” Shinyao accepted as she lashed her hands out. Her vines erupted and crashed through the dog zombies that had managed to jump over the garden’s fence or wiggle through. Pained yelps and snarls came up as the Umbra squirmed their way loose as the vines worked at dismembering them. Black fog came up from their separated limbs as they disappeared to reappear back on their bodies. “Alright. That’s not working. Let’s try this,” The brown-haired girl murmured to herself.

Her vines changed to wrap around the creatures before she pulled. The black fog began to come off of them to circle into the air to her to be absorbed. The things faded away from sight and existence. She smiled as her power worked to fly over to the main cemetery itself. The snow inside was bumped in waves over the small headstones for the animals buried there like goosebumps. Trees and bushes about the mostly open enclosure were asleep for the winter, but the mass of undead creatures filled the entirety. She ducked lower to get a clear view of the simulacrums. Despite the original bodies of the pets having long ago decomposed and possibly their bones with them, these unrealistic Shadows possessed their flesh though not all their fur. “Go back to sleep!” Shinyao called.

The animals turned to snarl at her dangerously. She frowned sadly at having to kill creatures that had just been born and had no understanding of what was going on. She raised her hand for her vines to go into the mass. The black fog began to come up from them. The creatures shrieked and howled as she began to pull the life from them. Then they rushed towards her. Shinyao stopped trying to absorb them as she desperately began using her vines to bat the dogs that launched themselves up into the air at her away. Carefully, she began moving herself towards a more open space for her wings so she could get above their reach. One of the zombie dogs climbed up the vine that tried to knock it back to leap up.

Mu cried out as she tried to dodge out of the way. Its sharp teeth missed her leg to catch on her wing as it flapped back. With the extra unbalanced weight, she crashed into the graveyard. She laid still for a minute before she forced herself to take a small gasp of air that hurt more than not breathing. As she worked to refill her lungs with air, she rolled off of the stone headstone that had hit her hard in the gut. Before she could even start to think about living, she was suddenly drug back. A simulacrum had her booted foot in its mouth. Aggressively it began to shake her. A blade formed in her hand for Shinyao to force herself up to slash at the Umbra attacking her. The knife cut deep into the canine’s face, but it did not let go. Other’s lunged forward to join their companion in tearing her apart. Desperately, the oriental girl knocked them back with her wings and vines as she tried to get free to get back into the air. Another creature rushed up from behind the one that was forcing its sharp teeth through her boot. It jumped right past her vine that was sent to intercept it to land on the other dog.

It bit down hard on to the first’s neck and began to jerk and shake it. The other let go of Shinyao’s boot to savagely bite back. The dog fight was terrifying as they went at each other with all they had. Blood and muscle was being lost. Mu got up as she formed her vines around her as a cage to keep the simulacrums from getting to her. Others she snuck through to work on absorbing the zombies’ power. One of the dogs pinned the other to finish ripping out its throat before racing forward to place itself between herself and the majority of the Umbra. It snarled and snapped at all that approached. The other creatures hesitated at one of their own going against them. But the vines touching them to act as conduits for the human girl to kill them off was enough to drive them on.

Shinyao smiled as the canine Umbra fought to protect her even against its own kind. She pulled the simulacrums attacking it to hold out of the way as she forced their life power into herself. The hoarde of Umbra quickly diminished. In a couple minutes Chris sprang over the fence to throw the remaining newborns away. “Sorry. Chimeras are difficult.”

“I don’t mind. I think you took care of it very fast,” Shinyao replied as she grasped the last to finish off. “There we go.”

“Behind you!” Chris shouted before blurring forward. A simulacrum yelped in surprise as it went crashing back.

“Wait! That one is nice. It got them off of me,” Shinyao pulled her boyfriend to a stop.

“Nice? Simulacrums are brainless. They don’t know anything other than destroy or what their creator designed them to do,” Chris growled as the dog zombie got to its feet. The newborn Umbra whined, and it crawled towards them then flipped over on to its back. The red wolf raised an eyebrow in surprise at the submissive action.

Shinyao stepped forward in curious excitement. “Sit.” The Umbra quickly got up to sit. “Lay down.” It laid instantly with so much enthusiasm that it made a thump as its torso hit the snow-covered ground. “Chris, I think it’s been trained!”

“How?” The younger Bowen asked.

“Maybe one of the dogs that died here that make up this Umbra was trained before it died and somehow that transmitted to this one,” Shinyao suggested as she stepped forward to cautiously offer her hand to the dog that came three fourths of the way up her body with one shoulder sagging much lower than the other with its much smaller leg. The entire thing was mismatched with fur in some areas and none in others. Each part seemed to come from different dog breeds with some more thin and streamline, and others more muscular. “Thank you for protecting me,” she said softly as she ran her hands over its skull that was mostly bone yet had muscle in different areas, especially its ears. Empty eye sockets looked back at her as a vertebrae bone tail that curled up over its back wagged in the only sign of its happy emotions.

Chris sighed as he pulled out his phone. “I better check that you can actually have it before I just agree.”

“What?” The petite girl asked in confusion.

“I know you well enough that you will want to take care of it since it is nice and a newborn. But this thing is bigger than Pumkin was and much more hideous.” Chris said as he entered the call.

Almost instantly Luke’s voice rang clear from it. “What’s trying to kill you this time?”

“Will you stop asking that every time I call you? There is rarely anything I can’t handle,” The red snarled.

“But you only call me when you need something. Try calling when you are good and just tell me about your day or something. That might get me to stop asking if you are about to die if you do that.”

“I’ll think about it,” Chris muttered.

“Good. Now, what do you need?”

“We took care of the problem. It was a chimera, and a whole bunch of simulacrums that the humans made from thinking the chimera was them. We only have one simulacrum left, but it protected Shinyao and seems well trained. She wants it for a pet. What do you think?”

“I think you were boyfriend material from the beginning. First you let her have Pumpkin as a pet and now this one? Can I suggest flowers and chocolates next?”

“I’m serious! This thing is big, and you can see bone, muscle, and not working organs. We’re not exactly on the run anymore so it would be more difficult to hide it.”

“Not really. Especially when you are not hiding it. I think Goven would have no problem with it living with Shinyao at the pub, and I’ll do some compromising with Vlad, and it can come to the café. It can stay here while she’s at school.”

“And how it looks like a Halloween horror corpse?”

“Bring it in and we’ll work on that. I have a couple of ideas on how to deal with that. Both of you are good?”

“I am,” Chris answered as he turned to look at Shinyao to check over her.

“Just bruises and strained muscles. I might have a few teeth marks too.”

“In one piece but antiseptic and a painkiller are needed,” the aggressive Were summed up.

“I’ll have Tauryu get that out. Come on in. I have dinner ready, and I want to meet the newbie.”

“Right. See you soon,” Chris said as he clicked the call off. “Think you can convince that thing to come with us?”

“I think so,” The brown-haired girl said as her Umbra power disappeared from sight, and she searched her phone. In a few seconds she looked back at the dog simulacrum. “Heel!” It stood up to go to her side. As she turned and started walking its uneven shoulders limped exactly at her side. “See? I just need to learn all the commands and see which ones it already knows.”

“How do you always do this?” Chris asked fondly as he picked her up to jump over the garden’s fence. The simulacrum sprang over easily to join them.

“I don’t know, but I think I do a good job at it,” Shinyao said as she was placed back on her feet. With a bright smile she took his much larger and stronger hand.

Chris paused to look down at their joined hands before gently clasping hers back. “You’re amazing. You know that, right?”

“I think I’ve heard that before somewhere,” She teased as they walked through the winter landscape of Hyde Park like star struck lovers with their large monstrous pet right with them.

Chapter Text

Vlad stepped back into the private seating area of Café Forbidden. Carefully he set down a tray with cups of hot tea prepared on the hard wood floor beside both girls. “How did my life ever end up like this?”

“What do you mean?” Shinyao asked as she concentrated on her task.

“How did I end up collecting oddities?”

Ton carefully sketched out what she needed for her talisman to double check it with others that she had practiced with before to find it satisfactory. Leng’s floating ribbon was laying in her lap as she worked with the EVP broadcasting her happy purring into the room. “You gave me Leng. So, that was part of it.”

“You were desperate for Ton’s attention with Leng, and you are desperate for Luke’s. So, that’s why you let me have Huan.” Shinyao stated simply as she reached for the scissors.

“I am not desperate. I work with both of you and have no need for bribes,” The vampire denied.

Tauryu walked by to place instant glue next to the girls. “Considering that Luke has stopped tying you up and locking you in rooms to get you to stop following him when he works says otherwise. You did capitalize on the situation.”

The large simulacrum dog lay on its back on the floor in front of the girls in utmost patience and bliss. Talismans were stuck to every muscled limb as a pile of creamy reddish tan faux fur fabric that looked very natural was heaped beside it. Its main body had already been fitted with a layer of the cloth and sewn up the stomach by Shinyao. Its curled Sptitz tail had been stitched in place and fluffed to look like it was always supposed to be there as the girls worked on getting the fabric to fit around its hindlegs perfectly to not let any fabric sag or restrict movement. Only the front half was left of its true original self at this point. Between the brown-haired girl’s attention to detail and exactness and Baileu’s talismans, the outer covering didn’t have any odd lines or anything else to point to it being man made. As soon as they finished the front half, no one would guess that Huan was an Umbra unless they questioned its limb proportions.

Chris cut another length of thread for Shinyao with his claws before handing it to her to replace in her needle. “If I had known that the price of this thing would have been my big brother having to deal with you when he has work then I would never have let Shinyao have Huan.”

“I would have found something to get to this point regardless. You don’t have to deal with your brother often, so I can’t find any sympathy for your protests.” The blond stated coldly.

Chris growled unhappily to himself as Luke stepped through an enchanted mirror. The silver wolf dropped a box beside them. “After you’re finished getting everything sewed on you can use this to shorten up areas to make everything look more normal. Just be careful that you don’t shave too much off. You can’t get it back without replacing the entire section.”

Ton picked up the electric shaver in interest. “Thank you. We’ll be careful.”

Shinyao giggled, “I never thought I would have to pick my pet’s fur color and put in on. This is so fun. My parents are going to love this when I send it to them.”

“I want to see their reaction too,” Luke agreed as he held out a biscuit towards both Umbra pets. Leng meowed in curiosity as her ribbon floated off of Ton’s lap and her offered biscuit padded off to slowly disappear in tiny bite size pieces. Haun was more than happy to wolf his down.

Ton pouted, “How did you get her to like you so much?”

“Through food, just like everyone else he controls.” Vlad stated, “Though I want to know how a spirit is able to consume food.”

“Because its Umbra. That’s all you need to know at times,” Luke answered.

“You’re trying to steal my cat,” Ton whined without actual animosity.

Chris huffed in amusement, “Considering that she’s a cat and has no body at all, I’m surprised you get any affection from her.”

“She’s very affectionate,” Ton defended her beloved pet.

“I think even Leng will have a hard time competing in loyalty and affection with Huan,” Luke said as he rubbed the bare muscles between Huan’s ears. “What would you like his nose to be made of?”

Shinyao paused to think. “I don’t know. I don’t know of very many things that could be similar to a regular dog’s nose texture.”

“You could use black leather,” Tauryu suggested. “It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just close enough to seem normal.”

“That will work then,” The quiet girl accepted.

“Any specific eye color you want?” Luke asked as he measured the size of the eye socket in Huan’s skull.

“Blue or brown will be fine.”

Luke stood up from the floor. “I know a place that has glass eyes. I’ll go see if they have any that are the right size.”

Vlad turned to follow him, “Good. If we pass one of my shops, I need to pick up some supplies as well.”

The older Bowen stopped. “Our deal was that you would come with me on missions. Not on everything else.”

“I happen to find it hard to not suspect you going on one when there is a place that you go to buy bread from that also gives you information. I believe there is not a thing that you do that doesn’t have another use,” the undead Umbra returned.

“I still have a life, Count. I prefer sleeping alone and other things like that.”

The blond smirked coldly, “With how much you are protesting, it would seem that you were planning on going somewhere else.”

“Fine! Come with me and see where I am going!” Luke snapped in frustration.

“Big brother,” Chris said as he handed his girlfriend the scissors so she could cut her tiny piece of left over thread so she could rethread and start again from where she had left off. “I don’t like this corpse and his pushing, but I would be willing to go with you to get him off your back. I... have been wanting to spend more time with you and learn what happened to you while we were separated.”

Luke smiled softly at his other half, “I would love to do that. Especially if it can get his highness to leave me alone once in a while.”

The red Were got to his feet. “I’ll go with you then. Go back to your coffin, corpse.”

The silver enthusiastically wrapped an arm around his younger brother’s shoulder. “This is great! I have so many things I want to show you. You’re going to learn so much.”

“Why is it that every time you say that it ends up changing my life?” the younger wolf groused.

“Because I have the most amazing things that you could never have imagined to teach you.”

Chris shrugged his brother off. “Now I’m worried if I should willingly let you show me.”

“You’re a part of my work now. Even if you try to remain innocent the world is still going to fall apart.”

“Joy. I’m going to start to want to kill you again,” the red mumbled. “Alright. What mess do I have to deal with because of you?”

“Make that plural and I’ll get started on that,” Luke said with a conspiring wink.

“If you can wait a minute for me to finish this leg then I’ll go with you. I want to see if we got this fur to move and work like it should before we get too far,” Shinyao said.

“My legs are going to sleep sitting here. I’ll go with you,” Ton agreed as she slipped another of her talismans under the last few inches of loose fabric that her friend was closing up.

“You can come with me. I need to pick some things up,” Tauryu invited the dark-haired girl.

Vlad smiled almost cruelly, “In that case I’ll go with you. Having some extra hands to carry my things would be great.”

The silver furred werewolf glared at everyone in the room. “Let me guess. These shops and places you are all going are in the area that I am. I feel like you all are conspiring against me.”

“I want to know more about you. If Vlad who has lived with you for a century has questions, I think I have more,” Ton replied.

Chris glared at the floor, “I’m getting tired of everyone asking me questions about you and not having an answer. I want to know you like I used to back then.”

Shinyao was smiling widely as she worked. “I never see anyone rile you up. I think it's fun to watch you try and avoid us.”

Luke stuck his tongue out at her with as much show of immaturity as he could transmit. “See if I ever do anything nice for you again.”

“Please big brother,” Chris requested seriously. “You were the same way back in our pack. You never told them anything. Everything fell apart. I think you’ve found a good group to live with. I don’t want everything we have to be destroyed again. You need to let us in.”

The older Bowen deflated as he listened to his mirror twin. “I know. That’s why I’m willing to show you and Shinyao, but…”

“You don’t trust the others,” Chris stated in complete certainty and understanding.

Vlad scoffed, “Not trust us? He’s stayed for the past century. No one would stay that long with those they don’t trust. What could we have done to not encourage some form of it?”

Luke was quiet instead of optimistically answering as all expected he would. Chris snorted in familiarity. “Don’t get us kicked out or them killed, alright?”

The silver dully glanced around at everyone watching before sighing. “Fine. You can come with. And yes Count, I was going to make a stop somewhere else before that store that is very important. All of you can come with me.”

Garfunkel smirked in victory as he turned to get his coat and mid length cape. Shinyao quickly finished off her seam for it to disappear from sight on Huan’s inure leg. “We’re ready to go. I’ll watch to see if this actually works well.”

As she stood up, the dog Umbra rolled upright and stood. Huan shook hard and looked back at its covered parts. It then looked back to its girl to wag its fluffy curled tail happily. Ton ran her hand along its covered back contently. “Much better. You are hard to work with Huan. What with every part of you being a weird size and shape.”

“Are you coming?” Luke asked as he tossed his green lined Twilight jacket over his shoulders but did not bother to put on anything warmer for the weather.

“You’re in a rush,” Ton said as she and Shinyao hurried to put on their heavy winter coats, hats, and gloves.

Luke’s smile was back as he led all of them out into the clear night that was bitterly cold in its freezing bite and slight wind. “Kind of. I don’t often hear from these friends of mine. They’re lazy home bodies, but extremely loyal beyond life and death.”

“Where are we going?” Ton asked as she forced Leng to stay inside the café as she closed the door behind her.

“Well,” The older Bowen trailed off with a mischievous smile.

“I got all of our body cameras,” Shinyao spoke up in his pause.

The silver young man chuckled, “You’re too good. But also, you probably won’t regret that. Give it a guess? What is one of the most infamous and haunted places in London?”

“That’s no fair!” Ton cried as they walked along. “All of London is completely filled with Umbra in every place and time! Finding one would be nearly impossible!”

Shinyao hummed in thought as she watched Haun walk beside her. “Is it a castle or building? Ton, I think your talismans worked. Huan’s fur looks like it is moving right.”

“Yes! We did it!” Ton rejoiced.

“Where we’re going is man-made but is not lived in,” Luke shared.

“Has it been abandoned or closed down then?” Mu tried to narrow down.

“I guess you can say that. Although it is still a beautiful tourist attraction.”

Ton groaned at the cryptic answers. “It’s not lived in or used but is a tourist attraction. How is that not used?”

“Well, not used for its original purposes,” the silver amended.

“What century was it made in?” Shinyao asked.

“Eighteenth.”

Tauryu tilted his head in interest. “Is it a pub or a place involving death?”

“Some one’s on the right track. It’s the death one,” Luke grinned.

“So, a tomb or cemetery. Considering that you say that it is well known, I believe that Highgate cemetery fits that description as it was founded in the eighteen hundreds. Its crypts and tombs were beautifully crafted, but it is no longer accepting residents for interment. Its only used for tourism and letting nature grow rampantly.” The Jianzhi hazarded a guess.

Vlad’s emotionless features lit up in excitement. “Wolf, are we really going there?”

“We are. Though I thought you would be the one to guess that one, considering it used to be your home and all,” the silver said as he skipped ahead.

Garfunkel quickened his stride to catch up. “I only know one kind of resident in Highgate that is not doomed to eternal sleep. Have any others moved in?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you about that? I thought you would keep close tabs on this place,” Luke said as a tall metal fence rose up along the walk.

The darkness of the night made it almost impossible to see the other side of the fence. Grasping bare arms of trees reached into the clear night and the snow lay in lumpy mounds at all heights and inclines. Ton jogged to stay caught up with the long-legged Umbra they were with. “Highgate cemetery? I think I’ve seen its name before. Why do you say it is known for its Umbra?”

Shinyao placed her hand on Vlad’s arm to get his attention. “I put in a request for us to go to Highgate when Chris, Ton and I were on our own. You turned it down.”

“There were a couple of reasons for that,” the blond vampire said as he turned to the path ahead.

Luke ran forward to stop. “We’re going to cross here. No cameras and the other side is not going to break any ankles.” He then leaped up to grasp the top of the metal fence to flip over it to the other side.

Chris huffed, “I get the feeling that you have snuck into this place when you shouldn’t have a lot.”

“I try to avoid getting into someone else’s territory as often as I can, but I occasionally can’t resist,” the silver admitted.

Vlad grasped Ton around the waist as he flew off the ground and gently to the other side. When he let her go, she gasped in surprise as she sank up to her waist in the snow. Chris with Shinyao in his arms hopped over easily with Tauryu and Huan following. “This is deep,” Ton grunted as she tried to move.

The vibrant furred Bowen shifted Mu to his shoulders to keep her from having to push through the snow that was too high for her. “I would suggest you get help from one of our zombies since the corpse is obviously not going to help you.”

Ton glared at the vampire floating inches off of the snow above her. “You’re right. You’re mean Vlad.” Huan moved over to her in concern. The dark-haired girl grasped the dog simulacrum around the neck to pull herself onto its back. Huan looked back at her in confusion but carefully leaped over the deep snow by huge distances until they got to a shallower path that allowed it to walk. “I love you Huan.”

Luke moved in front of them with a motion to follow. He slowly wound through a smooth and relatively shallow path. Trees, bushes, and collapsing thickets of growth that would have encompassed everything in a green lush in the summertime was on either side. Carved marble figures stood up from the snow with ice of the melted moisture on their sides. Peaceful angels prayed and cried silently. Animals stared blankly at them. Headstones, and then larger stone coffins came out occasionally with a sharp edge. Elaborate large tombs and mausoleums that looked to be too beautiful for the dead and more fitting as picnic buildings in some monarch’s garden passed by and beckoned to them in the bright moon light on different paths.

Vlad paused to stare at a single person crypt silently. The others stopped for him. “Vlad?” Ton asked as he did not move for many minutes.

“This is where they found him.”

“Who?” Baileu asked as she searched in the snow for an encryption to name whose remains laid here.

Garfunkel bowed his head, “My loyal servant. I could perhaps even call him my first friend.”

“What?” Ton asked in complete confusion.

Tauryu spoke up, “In the nineteen sixties, horror grew in the minds of the people of England when something not human came to live in this cemetery. A vampire that preyed on the innocent and weak around the cemetery. It was said that a coffin had been brought from Transylvania containing a nobleman that had been alive for so long it could basically be an eternity. That some teenagers playing in the dark satanic arts accidently summoned him to awaken and begin a mass of deaths and ills with blood involved. Two human men instantly took to the stories and vowed to destroy the Umbra. The hunt would have made Van Helsing’s ancestors proud in how passionate and determined they were to kill the monster. They and their followers hunted the entirety of this cemetery for the vampire, vandalizing and destroying many graves in their search for where it slept during the day.”

Vlad spoke quietly, “There was not just one vampire living in this cemetery. There were a handful that lived as servants and slaves for their noble master. They all moved each night to another grave to stay hidden. One night, this one did not move fast enough. Florin went out to hunt and found one of the young women that had been making a nuisance of themselves here during the hunts and attacked her. Manchester managed to kill him and put an end to the vampire panic.”

The blond smiled slightly then, “If only those Umbra hunting fools realized how childish and ridiculous they had behaved. Especially when it was a different Umbra hunter that had brought the King of Vampires down and the one they consoled themselves on was in truth just a servant. Sha Rijan understood what was at stake and faced me multiple times before she discovered the proper way to bring me to peace.”

“You?! You’re the Highgate vampire?!” Ton exclaimed in surprise.

Vlad looked over at her with his crimson eyes glowing. “I lived very well in Transylvania for many centuries as a Dracula. When humans began to spread rumors and stories about a vampire so similar to Bram Stoker’s, I was summoned to this cemetery to rest. I am exactly what the humans here wanted. So, I ruled and spread the story even further. I turned so many reporters and journalists into Umbra to have them continue to spread my story and name.”

Shinyao smiled as she rested her arms between her boyfriend’s wolf ears. “I bet you had fun doing that.”

The Romanian noble nodded as he moved on, “Very. I enjoy watching everyone around me rush around pointlessly when there is no need to accomplish. Saying and doing the right thing to get others to behave how I want them is a favorite hobby of mine.”

“We’ve noticed,” Ton agreed. “You just can’t get it to work on some of us sometimes.”

Chris grinned quietly, “And one of us enjoys returning the favor.”

Vlad blinked in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“You haven’t noticed?” Shinyao asked in surprise.

The nobleman huffed in agitation, “No, I have not. Who and when did this supposed manipulation come from?”

“Figure that out for yourself,” Chris growled.

They came into a gathering of highly elaborate tombs that were stunning. A gust of wind circled around them before pale toned men with glowing crimson eyes stood around them in formal burial clothes. They all smiled at the group before dropping to their knees. “Lord Dracula, welcome.”

Garfunkel suddenly became even more cold and emotionless as he stared down uncaringly at the lesser of his own species. “Rise.”

The undead Umbra got to their feet in excitement. “At last, you have returned. We have followed the every order of your commander in exactness. We obey your werewolf as if he was yourself.”

The golden-haired Romanian slowly turned to look at Luke that was grinning at one of his secrets being given away. “You have done well. I shall see if my ‘commander’ has done so as well later.”

Chris huffed a laugh, “My big brother won again.”

“That is very usual. Though he has been losing a little bit lately with how Vlad wants to be with him now,” Shinyao agreed.

Luke stepped forward to bring the glowing eyes to him. “What is it that you have to say to me?”

“Many things, sir. Many things,” One replied with a wide grin.

“There were visitors that came three nights past,” Another shared. “After the gates were closed and making much noise. No tourist or respectful admirer of the dead.”

“Loud and boisterous. Not drunkards. More like foolish adolescents except all of them were of accountable age.”

Luke inclined his head in thought, “And this is worthy of bringing to our attention?”

“They explored the cemetery. We watched them. They found a place that was away from sight of most that come. They began to set stones in a circle with spells. We decided that they were creating trouble and scared them away. Just as you commanded us to do. To protect this land and keep harm and terror away from it.”

The elder Bowen focused on the vampires sharply. “Stones in a circle? You didn’t happen to understand what they were doing, would you?”

“The spell’s words were gibberish and utter nonsense to us,” One stated.

“But their language was English. They were mentioning that they were creating a gate or portal. That it was of utmost importance and that they have to get one to work.”

“They mentioned something about an Umbra man that had been closing the others they had made. They were discussing ideas of how to kill him.”

The silver furred werewolf fought his smile back at the news as Vlad’s expression became tight in understanding of what kind of thing had almost happened in their city. The others were unknowing of the situation. Another of the undead put in quickly for the attention, “They were desperate to get a gate to work. But we did not let them. This land belongs to our Lord, and he must give all permission to set such things into motion.”

“How many were there?” Luke questioned.

“We did not count. About twenty I would say.”

“There were humans and Umbra among them.”

“Any rough estimates on numbers of either?” Luke asked.

The vampires glanced at each other. “Mostly humans. There were a few Umbra similar in power to us. Then there was one that led them that was of similar power to yourselves. Not as great of course, but more than us. She nearly incinerated us before her followers convinced her to run.”

One laughed, “They were falling over headstones and bushes in their flight from us! Stepping and pushing each other to escape!”

Luke pulled out his phone, “Did they go out an entrance?”

“Yes. The main gate. They climbed over as fast as they could.”

He smiled, “What time did they leave?”

“They came after midnight, and we let them stay for two or three hours.”

“Wayne,” Bowen said into his phone. “Hack the security cameras around the main cemetery gate. Three nights ago, between two to five in the morning. There should be a large group of twenty coming out in a rush about then.”

“On it!” The technology ghost chirped back

Vlad took over as his partner slipped away his phone. “Was the leader a cambion?”

The undead paused to think. “Perhaps, we could not see her face. Her powers were very similar to one though. Although I don’t recall any demonic features.”

“Do you remember any names?” Garfunkel demanded.

“No, my Lord. Forgive us for not paying more attention to such a thing,” One begged as they fell back to their knees.

Vlad sneered at them as he turned to the silver wolf. “Anything else of worth that you think we may get?”

Luke thought, “Did they drop anything when they were running?”

“Some, but they were picked up the next day to be thrown away.”

“That is fine. You have done very well. Dracula and I will confer and decide what reward will be fitting for such wonderful obedience,” Bowen told the undead servants.

The vampires bowed until their heads touched the snow-covered ground. “That is unnecessary, sir. We exist to serve our masters.”

“A reward will still be given. Now excuse us. We have matters to attend to,” Luke said as he turned and walked away.

All the others followed. Chris bluntly got to the point. “What’s going on and what do we need to do?”

Vlad answered, “A group has apparently been opening rifts across Europe for the past couple of years and your brother was the only one that knew. He’s been sending random people out to find these rifts so he can close them, and it seems that Highgate was considered good enough to create one as well.”

“Rifts to what?” Tauryu asked.

“Hell. And the one leading the group is a female cambion,” The Romanian informed.

Chris growled, “I hate demons.”

“You’re not very fond of many species,” Shinyao pointed out.

“Demons are among my least favorite.”

“So, someone is making rifts? Are they like the one that we dealt with in Edinburg?” Ton asked from her place on top of Huan.

“Exactly the same,” Vlad agreed as they cut across the snow again. “That one was made by our group.”

“And they’re making more!? What do we do?” Ton exclaimed.

The nobleman looked over to the silver. “That depends on what a certain wolf that can’t force himself to share any information in the least decides.”

“In time you may find out. If you really care enough to keep trying that entire time,” Luke replied before he hopped over the fence.

They all crossed over to the regular street. Ton cried out as she fell off Huan when the dog leaped across. “At least it's not too deep over here.”

Tauryu helped her up as Wayne shouted over Luke’s phone. “Luke! I have some things for you!”

“Give them to me then.”

“I got the footage of those leaving the main cemetery gate. I have faces and have checked them against the lists we’ve been working on making. I’m getting positives back. They split themselves up so that their large group was not as noticeable. I’m working on getting dossiers made on them. Not really a connection standing out so far. We have businessmen, cashiers, and a whole bunch of other random careers. Some of them are connected friends on social media but I’m not finding anything about a cult or Umbra there.”

The silver tilted his head back to stare up at the stars that were dimmed by the city. “So, they most likely didn’t meet there. They had something else that brought them together. Any friend or family connections that you’ve noticed yet?”

“Many friend ones. Some of the people I’ve been able to trace are friends of a friend or another person’s family friend. Biggest group of direct friends that I have so far is a group of women that were roommates in Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. I don’t have confirmation that all of that group were at the cemetery. Those women are officers in the British army and have good recommendations. I don’t understand why some of them would do something like this,” Wayne supplied.

“Good job. Can you send me pictures of our military girls and their written characteristics? You’ve earned yourself some desserts with being so fast and thorough on this,” Luke said.

His phone screen’s light levels change to show that something had been pulled up. “Here they are. I’m working on hacking into one of the known phones so that I can see if they have a group chat that they plan their rift locations on,” Wayne said.

“Do that,” The Were said to stop walking. He frowned down at something on his screen before holding his phone out to the rest of them. “What do you guys think of her?”

The woman on screen was in uniform. Her skin was a pleasant tan with her extremely kinky curled black hair pulled back as flat as it could into a small bun at the back of her head. Ton frowned back, “She doesn’t seem very happy. It’s like there’s no excitement or happiness in her.”

“Are her eyes black?” Chris questioned.

Everyone stepped closer to look at the woman’s eyes. There was no other eye color in the iris. There was the white of her sclera and then just blackness. “Zoom in on her eyes,” Vlad ordered.

The screen enlarged to just her eyes. A slight line and shading on the inside of her iris marked its end, but also distinction. Tauryu leaned back, “She’s Umbra. I doubt that she would have contact lens that would make her iris that color or give the slightest hint that her pupils are slitted.”

“She’s not one that I have identified in the group yet,” Wayne chirped.

“Who are her parents?” Luke asked.

“I only have her mother. No records of a father,” the ghost informed.

“And I’m guessing that you haven’t gotten an ID for our cambion yet,” the silver filled in.

“I haven’t. Still working on that,” King replied.

Chris stepped up to his brother. “You think that this… Stephanie Wickam is the cambion?”

“Guessing so. I have a feeling about her that is similar to the one I got when Vlad and I met the cambion. Her demon features are hidden, but I don’t see any life or good in her eyes. Cambion’s tend to have both of those missing with how they are hated by both of their blood species and worlds.” Luke said.

“What does that mean?” Shinyao asked.

“It means that we have to confirm everyone’s roles in this and then go meet them to see if they are going to cooperate.”

“I got into one of their phones!” Wayne called in excitement

“Who needs a team when they have you,” Ton complimented.

Wayne’s chibi character flushed red. “Thanks. I’m looking for text groups now. And… I got one!”

The chat came up with a huge collection of phone numbers that displayed who was part of the group. Luke pulled his phone back to himself as he scrolled through the chat in a blur. He began to grin giddily. “There are locations on here. I need to send these out to the other teams so they can find and deal with these rifts."

Chris snatched the device away. “I understand that you just got a present better than any you got for Christmas, but I think you need to slow down. It hasn’t even been an hour yet since we got this lead. There is no need to push yourself.” He glanced down at the chat in his hand and snorted in amusement. “It looks like they are wanting to add Highgate vampires to the list of Umbra on their hit list now.”

“See? Gossip is fun. Anything else?” Luke pushed.

Chris started back towards the café. “A lot of hate and resentment. Nothing much beside that.” After a few seconds his warm happiness faded away to an expression of terrified horror. “Big brother.”

The silver was right there to read over his phone. His face went dead instantly. “I love technology. This thing just saved me some gray hairs.”

“More than I’ve already given you?” Chris teased although his features were taught in concern.

“I have one lock of red hair left to lose color in. I don’t want to look too old before my time,” Luke replied.

“What’s wrong?” Tauryu asked.

The werewolf brothers looked at each other before silently handing the phone over. The others looked through it for what had brought so much worry to their friends. Ton frowned as she spotted an unfamiliar name in the hacked chat. “Ho-uska? What’s that?”

Vlad hummed in thought, “Houska. That sounds like a name that belongs on mainland Europe.”

“None of you recognize it?” Chris asked in disbelief.

“Is there a reason to?” Tauryu returned.

The red grimaced awkwardly at the question. Shinyao glanced at the other chats around it. “It doesn’t seem like these people are very happy. It seems like they are done setting up rifts for you to close Luke and are wanting to open one that will finally work.”

“If they can open that one, then it would be hard to close up again,” Chris growled quietly.

Garfunkel brought his crimson gaze to stay on the brothers. “The rift I went with Luke to was quite difficult and dangerous to close and handle. How much worse could this one be?”

The silver wolf chuckled to himself without mirth. “That one and all the others I’ve closed were small gates into hell. Just entry points to let dangers into the mortal realm. Simple things that I myself without any magic abilities could close. If they are planning on opening what I think they are, then I doubt any of us could close it again. Especially with all the hell beings waiting to be released from it.”

“What could this group want with creating all this chaos?” Tauryu questioned as he handed the silver his phone.

Luke stared down at the black screen. “I haven’t been able to find that out before. I think I know now. This is not to appease some demon or anything like that. They want the world as we know it to end. They want to expand Hell to all of earth.”

“Why would anyone want to do that?! That’s awful!” Ton exclaimed.

“I’ll have to ask them that,” Luke murmured.

Chris bristled as much as his human form could. “I’m not letting you face them alone. I’m coming with you.”

The older Bowen seemed tired as he looked at his younger half. A slight fond smile came to him. “Just like we use to?”

“Always,” Chris promised with an excited warm smile.

“I’m coming too!” Ton shouted, “I’m not going to let you save the world without me!”

“Ton, that might not be a good idea for us mortals to get involved with something so dangerous,” Shinyao warned before turning to her boyfriend. “Though I would prefer to come to make sure you are safe.”

The Count strode forward then to stand in front of the lighter haired Bowen. “You are not running off this time. No matter what you do or where you are going, I am going with you.”

A familiar mischievous gleam came back to the older Bowen’s green eyes. “What if there’s a lot of garlic? Will you follow me even into that?”

Garfunkel’s glowing crimson gaze turned into dangerous slits. “If you create that obstacle, I will retain or kill you while suffering. If an opposing force creates it, then they better be prepared to face my wrath. I am not going to let you go when I have come so much closer to learning the truth about you.”

“We are all going to help you Luke,” Tauryu stated certainly.

Chris glanced over to his brother. “When was the last time anyone swore themselves to go into a death battle with you without fully understanding what was happening?”

“Never,” The silver wolf whispered before grinning at them. “Pack your bags. We’re going to the Czech Republic.” Huan barked in excitement. “Not you. You and Leng are staying here with another Twilight while we’re gone.” Huan’s cartilage and muscle ears drooped sadly at the news as the girls giggled.

Chapter Text

The single lane road that was only big enough to permit one car to drive along it at a time wound through the dense forest that dipped down into swamps that were iced over. Up the highest incline in the current direction was a mountain that was well above the common water line. The snow on the road was packed down with vehicle travel while more than most humans would ever want to be in was layered everywhere else.

Ton breathed through her scarf as she tried to keep warm. “Why couldn’t we have rented a car and drove to the castle?”

“Because we are going to be here for a long time and renting a car for that long without using it is pointless,” Shinyao replied. “Also, Chris and Luke are loving the walk.”

Both brothers far ahead of the group that had stopped to peacefully enjoy the fresh air and forest simultaneously turned back towards them. Chris shrugged uncaring at the idea. “It’s a nice day for a walk.”

“My scarf is wet from my breathing and is turning into ice. Its freezing out here,” Ton complained.

“I don’t think you will get much sympathy from anyone here,” Shinyao stated as she glanced around at all the young men with them that were only wearing their usual Twilight jackets, except for the Bowens that were dressed for a casual summer’s day. Two undead that did not care or feel the cold and two werewolves with extreme temperature tolerance.

“Would you like my coat, Ton-sama?” Tauryu offered as he reached up to undo his long oriental styled coat with purple lining.

The dark-haired girl’s voice showed the smile that was currently hidden under every article of winter clothing that could be invented. “Thank you, but you keep it. I would feel horrible if I took your coat from you.”

Shinyao jogged slightly to come up to take Chris’s hand. “You seem very happy and relaxed here. So much more so than back in London.”

“I’m home,” The red head stated simply.

“Home?” The lighter haired Chinese girl asked.

“Meaning the forest,” Vlad filled in. “Werewolves are meant in their lore to live in the mountains and forests. Nature is where they belong. There are few other Umbra that have been created better for the conditions and terrain of the harsh wilderness. I’m certain that the ease and closeness of the city is extremely against all of that.”

“I do hate the city after a while. A few days are fine. It’s like a forest on its own, but there is nothing good about it other than it keeps humans away from where I am," Chris agreed.

Shinyao hummed, “So, if we did become more, we will need to find multiple houses all over the world that are away from cities to keep you comfortable.”

“You don’t have to do that. I want you happy too so I would have to compromise in some things too. I can stay in a city if you want,” Chris responded.

The petite girl’s smile was completely love filled. “We’ll do both. What forests are your favorite to live in?”

“This one,” The younger Were answered as he gazed around at the skeletal limbs of trees packed close together with occasional evergreen trees and bushes peeping out. “This is the place Luke, and I came out into this world in. We lived with a pack of werewolves in a hidden village that claimed part of its territory here for about four centuries. Then things happened and we separated. Even with being able to explore the globe and stay in so many different places, I have always come back to Europe’s forests and to here.”

“And you claim I’m sentimental,” Luke poked under his breath.

“I’m not afraid to be attached to anything,” Chris growled.

“And even with you staying here so often, you still can’t live here very well. It's too cold and wet for you,” The silver teased.

“I live here just fine,” The younger snarled as he lunged at his brother.

Luke laughed before they became blurs of barely able to be seen movement through the trees. They flipped and jumped from branches in the air to swerving around the trunks and vaulting off of them. Vlad tisked in seeming scorn that had a fondness hidden underneath. “Wolves. Always showing off and not focusing on what’s important.”

“Careful. You might not like to fall into this lake. It’s nowhere hot enough for your tastes,” Luke teased as he held his vibrant furred half over an iced over swamp.

“Drop me in and I’ll drowned you in brimstone. I doubt you would like going for another swim in that,” Chris snarled.

They were gone then. Laughter that came from both, their vocals skipped around the forest on all sides of the road as the sound was not fast enough to even finish coming from one. Then both wolves collapsed to lay on the road ahead of the traveling group. Smiles embedded in their faces as they laughed. “We should come here more often,” Shinyao said as they walked up to them.

“Or get rid of them more often,” Vlad suggested as he stepped over Luke to continue on.

“I’m in favor of that,” Luke agreed.

“Because that would mean you would get away from Vlad?” Shinyao clarified.

“I matured and began my reputation in a nearby country similar to this. I would enjoy visiting it and touring surrounding areas,” The nobleman quickly added.

The group laughed at his determination not to let the silver Bowen out of his sight even as it went against everything he had felt and thought for the past century of working with him. As the Weres got back to their feet Ton asked, “So this is the place you learned how to do your pagan rituals from and all that?”

“Yep,” Luke shared willingly for once now that they knew some. “Umbra may have taken us in first and introduced us around, but we found the human villages pretty fast. The Germanic tribes loved us. We were their pagan beliefs in the flesh. What can be more powerful and God-like than a human with animal features that is more powerful than either of the natural originals?”

“We used to join hunts with the different human villages and tribes all the time. When there was a war between different villages and people, we would join in with the ones we liked the most. That was fun. Usually, we were invited to help drag prisoners back to the villages for sacrifice rituals and such. There would be feasts and dances. It was almost a battle for us to leave at the ends of those with the humans wanting us to stay,” Chris remembered with his expression vacant in fond and bitter memories of the pass.

Tauryu readjusted his grip on all the bags he was carrying for their trip. The brothers also had similar loads so the weaker others only had to carry a few. “I was not aware of a culture and time that was actively on good terms with Umbra like the one you are describing.”

“It didn’t last long. Christianity came in and labeled animal hybrids as creatures of the devil and with demons and other Umbra influenced by that they changed human ideals, and everything plunged into annihilation for Umbra.” Luke filled in.

The road straightened out to allow the sight of a large building at the top of the mountain to come clearly into view. Its walls were made of white stone as a corroded green copper metal roof on the top distinguished Houska castle. There were no spires or decorations to inspire the normal awe and wonder that castles commonly were associated with. In fact, it was quite plain. More similar to a country manor from the outside. If viewed from above it could be seen that the roof sloped downward in an open square into the courtyard while two outer walls elongated out so the castle’s shape was irregular. Not a square nor a diamond. Two small single story brown brick buildings that looked to have been built much more recently gave an angle to a parking area that was completely snow filled. Long windows dotted the outside of the main castle almost blankly. As they got to the main clearing before the castle, they turned around to look over the land before them. The land sloped away for mountains in the distance to peek out. “What a beautiful view,” Ton breathed. “The people that built this place knew what they were doing.”

A stifled snicker brought attention away from the endless landscape before them. Luke was silently laughing yet his amusement was centered on Dracula. The blond was glaring in a way that he only did when he was wrong or embarrassed. “What?” Ton asked in confusion.

“The Count does have a sense of humor!” Luke shouted to the entire mountain.

“Only an admiration for a lack of knowledge,” Vlad defended himself.

“What’s so funny?” Ton demanded.

The Romanian aristocratically avoided eye contact with all. “I did some slight research before we came here on this castle that made our fearless werewolves silent. In records, it is said that this castle was built originally for administration of government affairs of the time, but if that is so then they had no clue to what they were doing when they designed and built this castle. This place could not support even a dozen people if it was forced to. There is no kitchen or cellar to store or make food. There is no access to water that would sustain any group for a long time. There is only a cistern that stores snow and rain that comes off of the inner roof. Both of those things were necessary for even a shack or cottage during the thirteenth century when this thing was commissioned.”

“Maybe it was a safe place for merchants to stop at for the night. Or the town square for people to meet at and not stay,” Shinyao suggested.

“Or protect themselves in,” Ton added an idea.

Vlad nodded slightly in acknowledgement, “All plausible ideas that I considered myself. Only to question them. The only town that existed in this area was that of the construction workers while building this thing. No other villages close enough for this to be important. And any merchants passing through would have been few as we are far off from any of the trading routes.”

“What was this built for then?” Shinyao questioned.

“Protection,” Chris stated.

Tauryu nodded in understanding, “You did live here. It makes sense that such a confusing reason would be known by you.”

“Of course. Even I know the reason and I had escaped out of the area a few decades before construction even started,” Luke said as he walked up to the heavy metal and wood doors. His knock was hard and loud, much more so than a normal humans would come out as.

“So, who was this castle built to defend itself against?” Ton asked.

“Not who. Where,” Chris said as they grouped together in front of the door.

Vlad scoffed, “Saying that makes those stories online that are tales of doom and horror have more weight.”

Chris raised a surprised eyebrow at the blond vampire. “You don’t believe them?”

“Things online are often warped out of context. There is nothing other than rumor. There is no real proof or documentation that anything like that exists. There may be Umbra here, but I have doubts to any other story about this place,” Garfunkel stated.

“Better start believing, Count. Because, as far-fetched as the stories have become, some things are more real than anyone wants them to be.” Luke smiled at the girls. “This castle was built to protect the world from Hell.”

The heavy door clattered on the other side. Then it creaked open. An older man smiled at them as he stepped aside to invite them in. “Welcome to Houska Castle. I hope you had a good trip?”

“Very. It's beautiful out there,” Luke returned as they stepped inside. They were in an alcove.

The human man closed the door behind them. “I’m Jaromir Simonek. I own Houska. I take it that you have already read the terms and have signed the agreements?”

“We have,” Luke agreed.

“Good. Here is the key. I hope that you are satisfied with your stay. There is that other group that I warned you about,” Simonek said as he handed the silver furred Bowen a huge skeleton key.

“We understand. They made the appointment first. There’s no reason to call off their plans. We’ll stay out of their way, and everyone will be happy. We’ll let them in when they come,” Luke promised.

“Thank you. I am surprised that our government is looking into my property. I thought they would not acknowledge the idea of something not usual existing,” Simonek said.

Luke’s smile turned cold and sly. “Any responsible government accepts the idea of Shadow creatures. They just don’t tell most to keep them from panicking. Don’t worry Mr. Simonek. We’ll do our studies and the other investigating team that’s coming can do theirs and then you won’t have to worry about us.”

“Thank you. Well, have a nice time,” Mr. Simonek wished them before he left. The sound of his car driving away a minute later confirmed that they had been left completely alone with the castle.

Luke twirled the large key smugly. “We have enough supplies to last for over a month in every way. These next two weeks are going to be a great holiday.”

Vlad folded his arms crossly, “What did Simonek mean with government?”

The older Bowen grinned as he walked out of the alcove into the courtyard. A square of sky above giving them light. “I had a friend of mine in the Czech Republic government call and make the appointment for us to be here on terms of scientific research and analysis of public safety. It was the easiest way to book this place for two whole weeks on such short notice. Let alone with another large investigating group coming during that time.”

“You have more secrets than I realized,” Garfunkel stated.

“Who’s the other group?” Ton asked as she walked out to stare at the snow piled up in the center of the courtyard.

“A friend of our Cambion Stephanie booked for his group of twenty plus to come for three days to experience this haunted castle. I believe that is their excuse to get into this place to open the portal,” Luke explained.

“When are they coming?” Tauryu questioned.

“I got us in three days ahead of the first of the party to arrive. From the group chat that Wayne hacked, they are going to be coming in throughout the first day inconspicuously and then the second and third they are planning on working. So, should we go put down our stuff to set up for our stay or begin exploring?” The silver wolf asked.

“Set up first,” Tauryu stated. “We have plenty of time to explore, and Ton-sama’s freezing.”

“Thank you,” Ton shivered.

“The top floor should be the best place to stay,” Vlad said. “From what I read, the entire top floor has been renovated and is decently nice. Indoor plumbing and electric heating. Quite luxurious for a castle of this date.”

“Got to love modern touches,” Chris agreed as he started up the stairs for the level right under the roof.

Everyone looked around at the ancient castle in interest as they got up to the third floor and set their things down. “This is nice,” Shinyao said as the plastered and painted walls held a more welcoming look despite the freezing temperature and hostile feeling the entire building was emanating.

Ton frowned, “This is the strangest castle I’ve ever seen. Aren’t there supposed to be walls around this thing to keep invaders out, or holes you can attack them back through? Why is this place built like a square hotel instead of like all the other castles I’ve seen?”

“Now you’re starting to think,” Chris said as he messed with the heating system to get it started. “It will take a bit to warm everything up. We might as well…” He paused as a loud bang echoed through the floor.

Everyone glanced at each other to see that none were the cause of it. Whispers from another room began but not with anything able to be distinguished. Luke smiled in amusement, “That’s going to take a while to get used to. The Umbra here are always making noise. No point in living their daily lives any differently when strangers are coming and going faster than they care about.”

Chris glowered at the empty room. “Well, this room’s going to be cold for a while. Why don’t we go look at the rest of this place while we wait?”

Ton groaned in despair. “More cold.”

“At least it won’t be windy in here,” Shinyao pointed out optimistically.

A variety of sounds followed them around with footsteps and soft vocals as they checked the entirely renovated third level. Then they went down to the second. Most of the rooms here held the weathering of its time. They stepped into a room that had animal heads mounted on the walls with a table surrounded by multiple chairs in the center. Luke flicked the lights on and looked up at the electric lights overhead. “Keep your distance as much as possible from the lights in here. They like to explode sometimes. This is the Hunting room.”

Tauryu looked up at them in interest. “Could that be because it is so cold in here and the lights suddenly become hot and explode?”

The silver moved around the room to study the different mounts on the walls. “We’re going to be here for two weeks. There’s no reason not to put that to the test.”

The jianzhi reached up to feel a light bulb for a temperature as Vlad spoke up. “I feel a presence in here. It's stronger than all the others that have been following us.”

“Friendly or malevolent?” Tauryu questioned.

Garfunkel slowly closed his eyes as he just sensed the castle around him. “I don’t know. This whole castle is rejecting us. This land is trying to push us away as if trying to protect us. There is a darkness here. Like a black oil sheen over a window that you can still see through. Not consuming evil nor definite goodness. Just a lurking shadow of danger.” He opened his crimson eyes to gaze around. “This being does not seem to be as dangerous as everything else here. It's more like it's trying to discourage us.”

“Run,” A very faint voice growled.

The Asian origin of the group looked around for the source of the voice but lacking any surprise or fear. They all were too used to Umbra to have any real reaction. “Run?” Ton asked out to the emptiness. “From you or from something else? Who are you?”

“Out,” the voice growled.

Vlad crossed his arms, “No. We have much more important things to worry about than you or whatever danger you want us away from. We are going to be staying here for the next two weeks. You can either join us as a friend or we will deal with you as an enemy. The choice is yours.”

“Leave him alone Count.” Luke waved him off as he moved to the next room.

Chris took Shinyao’s hand as they followed. “Don’t threaten the Guardian yet. He’s doing his job perfectly. He hasn’t hurt anyone for the centuries that he has been here that haven’t deserved it.”

“Guardian? Why is he called that?” Shinyao asked curiously.

They stepped into a room that had furs of bears and wolves on the ground and couch. Weapons of many different styles and times of the area were displayed on the ground. Ton’s eyes lit up in excitement as she hurried to pick up a sword. “This is so cool! I wonder if I can summon these with my ring.”

“I’m certain you can. Why that would be necessary or practical is beyond my willingness to consider,” The blond nobleman said.

“This is the armory,” Chris informed. “Though I have no idea why they would build one here when there was no army here for weapons to be kept. I think it would be dangerous to have weapons in the place that your enemies are most likely to come to.”

“Maybe we don’t fully understand what happened here. These are placed here for show. This may not have been an armory,” Shinyao pointed out.

“That makes me feel better,” the younger Bowen mumbled.

They moved down from the middle level to the courtyard. Doors branched off on all sides in gentle arches of the gothic style that lacked any of the decorum that so many other gothic structures in Europe possessed. “Let’s start with this one,” Luke suggested as he started around the snow build up in the center of the courtyard to the other side.

Chris nodded to the snow mound as they circled around it. “There’s a cistern pond there. Only water in the castle. Toads live in there and an Umbra that has a humanlike body with a bulldog head and claws on his hands and bullfrog legs. He is asleep for the winter so we will not be bothered by him.”

Ton groaned sadly, “That’s sad, but I guess there are plenty of other Umbra here for us to meet.”

As they entered the room and shut it behind them Tauryu asked, “You both have been avoiding telling us why our suspects are wanting to set up a rift here and why that is so worrying both of you more than any other location they could have chosen.”

The lights flicked on, and Ton jumped in surprise at the hideous screaming face right in front of hers. “Oh. It’s stone.” Demonic faces had been molded onto the stone of the walls. Occult items and things associated with the devil were gathered around.”

“Welcome to Satan’s Study,” the silver wolf greeted as he jogged down another set of stairs.

“Why is it called that?” Ton asked as they went further down to find a grotesque devil doll seated on a chair.

“I think that’s pretty obvious,” Shinyao stated.

“But why the devil? Why build a shrine to something that is so horrible? Why not to some being that is nice?” Ton demanded.

“For the display,” Chris answered. “This is not original. All of this was added more recently to give tourists something to take pictures of.”

“Alright. But still! The devil!” Ton exclaimed as they went back up to the courtyard.

“Demons are notorious around here,” The red furred wolf said as he silently looked to his brother to take over. The lighter of the two was unusually quiet though and did not break. “There’s… A millennium ago, there was a huge crack in this mountain. It was so deep that it could not be filled and if you dropped a stone into it, you would never hear it touch bottom. That’s because it was bottomless. But it was extremely dangerous as parts of it were connected to Hell. Umbra from that realm would come up and create chaos and terror among the humans.”

“Hell? Wouldn’t it lead down to the kingdom of the dark elves?” Ton asked curiously.

“Technically it should, but humans imagined that it was Hell on the other end. So, the realm was given a connection to this,” Luke explained.

“How much of those legends were true before this castle was built though?” Vlad responded. “How much of that was created afterwards for a story? There are Umbra here, but not the amount that such tales would create to terrorize humans.”

“Last of the most famous of rooms here,” Luke announced as he opened another door from the courtyard.

Vlad moved after him to recoil at the doorway with a feral hiss of hatred. “A church!”

The silver smirked back at him, “Good to know that there is something in this world that is powerful enough to knock your ego down other than me.”

“Are you alright?” Ton asked in worry.

The vampire glared at the doorway. “I am. I can’t go in. Beyond has been sanctified and dedicated by Christians. No Umbra of darkness like myself can enter.”

“Come,” Tauryu ushered the dark-haired girl in. “He will be alright outside.”

“This is the chapel,” Chris announced.

The room was almost empty. The walls were a grayish white of plaster that had been placed over the main stones that were cracking. A table at the end of the small room held some simple objects of significance for the chapel’s holy purpose. Candle sticks and a few other things rested in the window wells. Three stained glass windows in the pattern of crosses were on the far wall facing the doorway.

“Oh. These are colorful,” Shinyao noticed as she turned around to find a collection of paintings by the door of medieval style drawings of holy personages. They were the only true color in the castle.

“Frescos,” Tauryu said as he looked at the paintings. “Experimental plaster paintings of the time. Surprising that they are in this good of condition.”

“What are these then?” Ton asked as she pointed up at the more plain walls. Black sketchings of a much different style decorated the walls above their reach. Men with weapons and mythical creatures made up most of them.

“They tell the purpose of this chapel,” Chris stated.

“What are they saying?” Shinyao asked as she looked up at a woman centaur Umbra holding a bow.

“They are showing the Umbra that were coming out of Hell and hunting humans and their herds.” Chris looked over to his brother. “Luke.”

“Yes?” The silver replied.

The red wolf glared at his other half. “You can’t keep this up. Tell them.”

The older Bowen deflated unhappily as he gazed around the chapel. “The crack Chris told you about is right under our feet.”

Eyes went down to the laid stone floor. “What do you mean?” Ton asked.

“The crack that is a portal from Hell to this mortal realm is right under our feet. Humans got tired of letting their enemies come up to them and managed to close it off,” Luke said. He sighed then, “But there were many hell beings that managed to get through long before that happened. Many may question if the hole is real, but Chris and I know it is and what is down there. We were born down there after all and escaped through this portal.”

Ton blinked, “Wait. Born…You were born in Hell?”

Luke nodded, “We were. We were formed from the blood and agony of the humans trapped for eternity in that awful place.”

Chris spoke up, “There was a demon that took us in and taught us at first. He kept us from getting killed. Down there it is a literal dog eat dog world. Umbra will hunt each other to establish fear and their own power. Stringing up each other to torture and tear apart. Killing and consuming each other is the only way to eat and survive.”

“We learned how to do that,” Luke said. “We stepped out from Mahkal’s wing and started fending for ourselves.”

The red snarled in hatred, “I hate him! He thought he could force us to give our lives over to him to destroy for a little protection!”

“He learned,” The silver furred wolf chuckled. “We learned how to fight and take care of ourselves. We explored most of Hell with the other scum leaving us alone for the most part.”

Chris smiled softly at the memory. “Of course. If we had wanted power and position, we could have slaughtered our way up to the sides of the Princes of Hell. We didn’t though and not many others wanted to get themselves killed by going against us.”

“Why would they with you around? You have a knack for tearing people apart and roasting them in fire and brimstone,” Luke teased.

“You weren’t any better! You left them alive in agony and unable to heal. That’s even worse.”

“They deserve it for thinking they can gang up on you.” Luke smiled at the others then. “It was not a very nice place, but it did force us to be strong and gain power to survive. We would not be anything like we are now without it.”

“How did you end up here?” Shinyao asked.

Chris shrugged as he did not look in her direction. “We like exploring. We found this hole going upwards and decided to see where it led. It took us a while before we came out right here into a green alive forest. I had never seen anything like this world before.”

“A werewolf pack that had been created up here took us in. It didn’t take too long before we met the human villages of the area,” The silver continued. “They loved us. To them we were almost divine. We lived here for a while. Then the opinion on us changed and we were forced to go into hiding. Experiments were done to find out what was down the hole with fatal consequences for the humans. Eventually they placed stone slabs over the crack and cemented them in place. They built this chapel over the portal to provide holy protection to counteract the evil from below. The rest of the castle was created as a fortress to keep any Umbra in and away from the rest of the world.”

“There are Umbra beneath our feet in hordes that are desperately trying to get through to take over this world,” Chris said quietly as his large black wolf ears twitched this way and that to listen. “The cambion’s group is not going to make a magic rift. They are going to open a physical one that has existed for millennia. Unless it is closed back up again, it will be impossible to stop the army that is going to come out.”

Luke turned to intensely meet all eyes. “Legend has it that if this portal is opened then it will be the end of the world. I think that is a very real estimate. Hell has been gathering Umbra for the past centuries, and they are not content to stay there anymore. They are waiting for any chance to come up here to stay. It will be the extinction of all mortal and weak species. Only the most powerful of both the most evil and most good would survive.”

Shinyao quietly moved over to Chris to place a hand on his crossed arms. “Then we will keep that from happening.”

He glanced down at her. “I’m basically a wolf demon. Werewolves are just a species that I share a lot of powers and characteristics with.”

“You’re still a werewolf to me. I don’t think you’re any different than you were in the first place,” The lighter colored chinese girl said. “If Ton can date the son of the devil that Dracula is then I think I’m just fine with a demonic werewolf that Hell is terrified of.”

The red Were’s stern expression warmed slightly as he relaxed. “They probably just hate me now from managing to get out.”

“As long as you don’t get associated with me,” Luke said as he strode for the door.

“Why is that?” Chris asked suspiciously.

The cheerful Were grinned back mischievously, “Mahkal and everyone sort of hates me for closing rifts and keeping them from getting out.”

“They deserve it,” the younger brother huffed.

The gray canine Umbra stopped outside for him and the vampire to meet each other’s eyes for a long moment. Then he moved on.

~

“EVPs are operational,” Ton reported as she finished setting up her cameras and equipment.

Tauryu pulled out a seat around the table for her to sit at as they lounged in the Hunting Room. “That was much faster and less hassle than I was expecting that much equipment to take.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Ton said as she pulled out an energy bar to snack on while waiting. “Everyone ready?”

“Do I really need to be here for this? You already have a lot of people here to help you,” Chris grumbled from the darkest corner.

“You can do whatever you want. I just want to get some Umbra interviews taken care of now and get our Twilight business taken care of as much as possible before Stephanie’s group gets here. Who knows what we’re going to have to take care of after we’re done with that,” Ton said.

Vlad raised an aristocratic eyebrow at her. “I’m surprised. That is more planned out than you usually are.”

“Be nice or I will kick Luke out to go enjoy the woods and you would have to chase after him,” Baileu threatened.

Luke laughed as he patted her on the head. “You’re learning. I would like that.”

A bang from another room quieted them some. Ton straightened in her seat. “Let’s get this started. Hello. I am Ton Baileu. My friends and I are Twilights. We would like to speak with the Guardian of this castle. Come speak with us. We have devices to help you communicate with us and other Umbra that will be able to translate and understand your view points. This is very important.”

“You’re embarrassing me,” the blond undead Umbra stated.

“Then you take care of this,” Ton ordered.

The nobleman’s eyes flashed as they began to glow before he closed them. A sudden gust of cold wind came through the room despite all the windows being closed. “Go.” A deep male voice came clearly through the EVP speaker.

Vlad stood, “You are the Guardian? I am Vlad Garfunkel, the once Count Dracula. I represent the Twilights. We wish to create an alliance for peace between the humans that visit here and the Umbra that live.” All the doors connecting to the Hunting Room slammed shut. Dracula glanced around at all the closed exits unimpressed. “Was that necessary?”

“He’s going to mess this up,” Chris muttered with a dangerous smirk.

“Sh,” Shinyao quieted with a bright smile. “Just watch and enjoy.”

Garfunkel gave the couple a scathing glare at the not supporting commentary. The Guardian spoke again, “Dark, wicked Umbra. You are a danger.”

“We were created by darkness, but that does not mean that we are. We are attempting to do right. I would like to request that you give us the chance to show that this is true,” Vlad said to the still room.

“An undead strigio, and werewolf demons. You all belong below. Not in this realm,” The Guardian growled.

“I am not a strigio. I am a superior vampire,” Vlad said with a little irritation at being called one of his species less powerful ancestors. “We may have connections to Hell and once belonged to it, but no longer. These wolves work to help humans, and I no longer associate with demonic beings. We have risen above what we were originally to something much better.”

The room was quiet for a few minutes waiting for the unseen Umbra’s response. “Leave. You are not welcome here.”

“We understand,” Luke said as he studied a deer mount on the wall. “We will leave as soon as we can, but not now. There are others that are coming that mean harm to the castle and all. They wish to open the portal below. We are going to stay to stop them and then we will leave.”

“I will take care of them,” The Guardian said.

“Good. Then we are on the same side,” Luke said as he turned back to the main room. “You can deal with them how you see fit, and we will do our own part to handle them as well. Then no one gets past either of us. Everything will stay the same and the danger will be no longer.”

“I will handle this alone. I have done so for centuries. I do not need evil Umbra fighting for me,” The Guardian growled.

“You believe yourself capable enough to handle any problem that comes to you,” Vlad mused. He looked down in thought, “How strange that I once thought the same. That there was nothing that I couldn’t do on my own and that all others were inferior to me and a hinderance. I learned fast that it is only wicked deeds that go so far with only one in control. Good deeds are much more difficult. Those require others to be able to accomplish even the simple tasks. Evil is extremely powerful and will attempt to crush all light that opposes it out of existence.” He looked up into the empty air. “If this group is successful then the portal will be opened and all of Hell will be released. Do you think you could stop them then? The hell beings will hate you for trying to stop them. If they don’t kill you here for that, then they will chase you across the world to do so. You won’t survive and neither will we in the end. Is your pride in yourself worth that risk? Worth the whole realm?”

Tauryu stared blankly at the blond. “I can’t believe that you were the one to say that. Is Luke starting to get through to you?”

Vlad glowered, “I’m working on improvement.”

“Very well. Do what you think is best. Be gone as soon after,” The Guardian said before the entire roof creaked and the feeling of another presence was gone. The lights in the room suddenly exploded. Glass tinkled everywhere as the darkness of the night entered the room.

“Is that going to get us in trouble with the owner?” Ton asked in worry as they pulled out their phones to turn on the flashlights.

“Shouldn’t,” Tauryu answered. “I think that is expected to happen around here.”

Luke skipped for a closed door. “That went well. I’m going for a run in the woods. Have fun.”

“That sounds better than laying around here,” Chris agreed as he strode forward to catch up with his older half.

“I love the woods,” Shinyao said as she joined them.

Ton and Tauryu turned towards Vlad simultaneously. He raised a questioning eyebrow at them. “What?”

“Aren’t you going with them?” Ton asked.

“Why should I? I’m not a primitive savage that lives outside. This castle is perfectly fine,” The vampire stated.

“What if Luke is going to a secret entrance or place connected to meet a powerful Umbra?” Tauryu pointed out. “There is much he could be doing without you there to hide from.”

Vlad frowned before getting up. “You are right, and I hate that I am compelled to follow that misbred mongrel.”

Ton smiled as the Romanian left. “He follows Luke like a puppy.”

“If he realized how much that fit himself rather than the wolves then he would be upset,” Tauryu stated.

Ton got up to collect her equipment. “Now that we got rid of Vlad, how would you like to help me chase down the dark shadow figures that walk around the level and make footsteps and scream? They kept me up last night.”

“I would be honored to help you in that task,” Tauryu responded as he helped her pick up her electronics.

Chapter Text

Sunlight came through the long thin windows, but it held no warmth. The ballroom on the highest floor was a cozy temperature with the heater fighting to keep it that way with the wind and frozen temperatures outside. Blankets and pillows were set out for Vlad and the girls to be sleeping through the day. Chris restlessly tried to do the same as Tauryu quietly walked around and idly cleaned the floor for something to do. Luke sat in a corner on his phone with occasional loving smiles at the scene.

Ton sighed happily in her sleep. “Hi.” Vlad tiredly opened his eyes to look over at the dark-haired girl. “He’s so handsome,” She giggled as she turned over with a smile. The vampire listened in interest to her vocal dream. Ton giggled then cooed, “That’s so cute! Hold hand…”

A snort of amusement had the blond sit up to see Luke. Reluctantly, he forced himself up to move over to sit beside the silver. “Why are you awake?”

“That’s a more appropriate question for you. Sunset is not for another four hours.” The wolf returned.

“I think you know that one,” Vlad said as he looked a Ton as she hummed happily in her sleep.

“Yeah. You’re worried because I’m in her dreams and not you. It’s hard,” Bowen teased.

“That is not the reason in the least,” Vlad huffed.

“Sure. As if there’s anyone else that is handsome and cute around here,” The silver teased.

Dracula glared at the Were before looking at the sunlight coming in through the ancient windows. “You say that and then I wonder if you are truly saying it.”

“I am. I am me and the words are coming from me. So, I am saying it.”

“Don’t try to confuse me,” The Count said. “You haven’t been acting like you are truly interested in Ton anymore. When she first came you were fighting and threatening me to try and keep her attention. Now you only use words as if you’re in the habit.”

Luke huffed a quiet laugh, “You’re a couple months slow, but you’re catching up.” Multiple deep bangs came from another room as the resident Umbra continued on with their normal lives. “Don’t hit yourself. There’s nothing wrong with being a blond.”

Vlad glared at the Were beside him. “You don’t know what being hit sounds like. Let me teach you.”

Luke intercepted the fist coming for his face and then another one. The wrestling match started as Vlad kept trying to get at him. In a minute, the silver had flipped the vampire around so he was pinned to the floor and sprawled across his own legs. “Don’t hurt yourself too much Count,” Luke whispered with a grin.

“If this was night,” Vlad retorted in normal volume to quiet himself as shifting blankets sounded. A smile was fighting to make itself known to his features. “There are many things I would do.”

“Like?” Luke quietly fished. A snort came from the room. Chris shook his head at them before rolling over and pulling a blanket over his head to try and block out everything. The older Bowen kept himself from laughing as he let go of the vampire.

“What I would do would depend on the previous moment,” Vlad said as he sat up to lean against the cold stone wall.

“Sounds like you don’t actually know what you would do to me if you could bring yourself to,” Luke replied as he bent forward to get his phone.

“At times it’s a struggle not to bring such harm to you,” Vlad returned. “What are you doing?”

“Checking emails and texts.”

“From whom?”

“A couple dozen people you don’t know and don’t care about.”

“Are they part of your secret teams that I’ve been learning about?”

“Maybe. Or my extensive list of girls that I am working on dating. Which would you prefer to read?”

Vlad tisked at the tease. “With all the girls you’ve spent your time with, I’m surprised you didn’t get someone before your brother.”

“We’re are opposites of each other in some ways. I flirt and he ran, and now he’s trapped and I’m free. That’s how it always has been for us.”

“Why? Have you never felt inclined to stay with one girl before?”

Luke sighed as he scrolled on his phone. “Some. They are usually witches and demons or should be with how they act. I just can’t seem to get away from where I came from. No matter how hard I try to get away, it always comes to me in some form.”

“I thought that you had plenty of good women available to fall for.”

“If only.” Luke muttered. He smiled sadly, “I am not worried. I’ve known for a long time that when I die that no one is going to care or shed any tears. They’ll probably throw a party to celebrate actually.”

Vlad hummed in consideration, “The final absence of the world’s greatest annoyance? You’re right. I would celebrate that.”

The silver snorted, “Tell me how you really feel.”

“You already know that. I would finally be able to sleep during the day with you no longer around for me to concern myself with. No more secrets to chase down and force out of hiding. Such an idealic setting.”

“I’m mortally wounded,” Luke stated with a dramatic pout.

“Your heart with be back in one piece in a minute. I’m not worried.”

The wolf snickered, “And girls wonder how a handsome man like yourself is still single.”

“They don’t realize all I have to deal with from you. If they did, they would take a silver bullet to your worthless self to save me.”

“And you would walk away instead of saying thank you.”

Tauryu stepped back into the ballroom and walked over to them. “There is a hurt person in the courtyard.”

Luke slipped away his phone as his brother got up in anticipation of something to do. “Let's see what’s going on.”

All the Umbra young men moved outside into the cold to look down into the courtyard below. A man was stumbling about. His head was completely missing as a flood of blood spouted out of the stump of his neck. “Oh. Him.” Chris said simply.

“The girls might enjoy seeing him though,” Luke pointed out.

Tauryu went back inside to wake up the girls. Vlad looked up at the bright sky. “Why is an Umbra like this active during the day?”

“That might be like asking you why you’re awake right now,” Luke returned as the groggy girls came out while zipping their coats closed.

“What’s going on?” Ton yawned.

“We’ve got a headless man in the courtyard. Thought you might want to meet him for your video,” Chris said as they started for the stairs down.

“I would love to! Do you know what happened to him?” Ton asked as she hurried to turn on her camera.

“No. He came into existence when I was gone,” The red said.

“We can find out then!” Ton said in excitement.

“He’s missing a head,” Vlad pointed out. “He can’t speak or hear you. How do you think that you are going to communicate with him?”

Ton hesitated to think for a solution. Shinyao had a possibility. “Maybe he can feel letters like Hellen Keller or knows morse code.”

“That would work!” Ton agreed.

They got down to the courtyard to see the headless being stumbling around the area. The blood from the stump of his neck bubbled down his body to disappear without trace when it touched the ground. “Ew,” Ton said blandly as they watched him move around.

“Disappointed?” Chris asked

She frowned in sickened disgust. “I thought it was going to look like a Halloween costume lack of head. This is much more gross.”

“You mean being able to see his neck still wiggling as if he’s looking around? Or the blood?” Luke curiously asked.

“Both,” Ton said as she grimaced.

“Do you still want to try to talk with it?” Tauryu asked.

“We should try. At least see what it is like,” Shinyao said as she stepped towards it. The girl that rarely was put off by Umbra hesitated before reaching out to touch its arm. The Umbra jumped in surprise and began flailing as it ran aimlessly.

Luke began to laugh as it ran into walls and slipped on the iced stones. Vlad glanced over at him, “This is not funny.”

“It’s hilarious! This is better than chopping off chicken or other animal heads and watching them flop around!” The silver laughed.

“This is entertaining,” Chris agreed with a much smaller version of his brother’s smile.

Garfunkel hummed, “I forgot for a moment that you grew up with torture and mutilation as your games. This would be very nice for you.”

Tauryu watched as the Umbra ran into the alcove going to the door outside and disappeared entirely. "I believe that he was a harmless Umbra. His existence is only to scare humans with sight. Not actually interact or harm them.”

“That’s good. I don’t want to find him again,” Ton said in disgust.

Movement in the corner of his vision had Vlad turning from the main spectacle. A black figure was standing just inside the doorway of a barely open door watching them. It closed the door silently when it saw that it had been spotted. “There’s another Umbra over here,” The vampire announced as he walked towards the door.

“It’s not headless, is it?” Ton groaned.

“Not that I saw. It was only darkness,” Vlad said as he opened the door for nothing to be there.

They moved in to find the set-up of Satan’s Study. Ton sneered at the demonic faces screaming at them from the walls. “I hate this. They should take it down and make it nice and authentic like the rest of the castle.”

“That could remove some of the concentrated demonic energy that a set up like this draws,” Tauryu agreed.

Shinyao turned around to gasp in surprise. The others looked over to find a dark figure in the corner where nothing had been before. A pale humanlike face was the only thing that the black cloak revealed. Vlad scanned over it. “Another druid?”

Luke smiled, “Nope! I know this one. He stays here in the Study. Sightings of him began after the Nazis were kicked out of here during World War Two.”

“The Germans were here?” Tauryu asked.

“Yeah. They were messing around with the occult and the portal. They were wanting Umbra power,” Chris said.

The figure began to slowly move towards them. The human girls stepped back. “I don’t like how this one feels,” Ton stated.

“It does have a malevolent aura,” Tauryu agreed.

The cloaked being stopped a few steps in front of the young men. Its voice came out in a deep rasp. “The demons of Hell are trapped below. But man has loosed their own demons here above. They love gifts, and for others to join them.” His robe covered arm began to come up.

All Umbra sprang back as if they were rubber balls to the edges of the small room to avoid him. The Bowens attacked from opposite directions. Their claws sliced through an incorporeal blackness that made up the figure not to leave any injuries. “That’s not good,” The silver muttered as they braced themselves to attack again.

“You cannot touch me,” The cloaked being laughed as it turned towards them.

A purple glow came as Tauryu pulled a revolver out of the sleeves of his oriental Twilight jacket. He aimed and fired multiple times without a word. The Umbra gasped before disappearing in a billow of darkness. “It’s gone,” Vlad said as he moved back into the center of the room.

“At least we don’t have to worry about him anymore,” Shinyao said.

Tauryu put away his weapon. “I left holes in the wall.”

“That’s a bigger problem,” Luke muttered as they stared quietly at the bullet damage.

“Well… if we can get some putty or something like that, then I think I remember a talisman from my grandmother’s books that can change a substance into what everything else around it is. We can patch them up so no one knows,” Ton offered.

“Worth a try,” Chris accepted.

~

The London Twilights lounged around the ballroom watching as the girls worked on editing the footage they already had for the castle. It was mind numbing and almost painful with the hours of blank worthless footage, but it was still something to do and Vlad had stolen the ridiculous amount of cellphones that Luke kept pulling out to see what other world ending secrets he had. It was almost becoming a running joke for them to expect another device to come out of nowhere and have a line of messages for the silver on them from different people. The insults on lacking intelligence were also quickly being replaced by teasings of being a spy master instead of just a normal detective.

As the afternoon came both werewolves perked up. Luke grinned then, “Shinyao. Would you be a dear and go let our portal making friends in. They’re at the door.”

“Why don’t you go answer it?” Vlad asked.

“Because I don’t want any of the Umbra coming to recognize us as Umbra as fast and our cambion knows what you and I look like. If we can keep our distance a little and let them just begin to think that we’re normal human investigators then we might be able to get the whole gang together in one place for easy capture,” The older Bowen explained his logic.

“We all better move down to a lower level to make it believable that we heard them knocking at the door then,” Tauryu suggested as he got up.

They all put on their winter gear even if they did not need it to keep up appearances before heading to the lower levels. Most of them moved into Satan’s Study with the equipment to seem like they were working as Shinyao went to answer the door as a heavy knocking sounded on it again. “Hello?”

“Hello. We’re an paranormal investigators,” A man introduced himself.

“Oh! You must be that team that Mr. Simonek told us about! Come in. I’m Shinyao. My team is in the study gathering temperatures and energy levels. The third floor has the heater on. We took the ballroom. You can stay anywhere you like.”

“Oh…” The newcomers hesitated uncertainly. “When… are you leaving?”

“In eight or nine days. It depends when we get all our studies completed. Don’t worry. We will stay out of your way and won’t interfere with your investigations. Would you like to come in and meet everyone?” Shinyao said peppily that did not hint against any ulterior purpose like they had.

“I thought we had the castle to ourselves when we signed up?” A woman said in confusion.

“I’m sorry about that. Our government scheduled us quite suddenly to come and conduct all the tests that we are capable of to determine the safety of this castle for the Czech people and others that may visit. Poltergeist activity has a way of causing harm to the public,” Shinyao said confidently.

“Good job, Bro,” Chris muttered under his breath. “You taught her good. She’s as good at making up a story and making it sound real as when we do it.”

“Thanks, little brother. I tried,” The silver accepted.

“The government cares about Umbra?” The man asked in surprise.

“They do. They know they exist and often allowed trained teams to monitor such activity. I’m sorry. Was I misinformed? I was told that your group would be much larger,” Shinyao replied.

“No. Not at all. The rest of our team hasn’t arrived yet. They have separate transportations,” The woman replied as they peeked into the Study to take in the other unwanted guests that were intruding on their plans.

“Oh! Alright. If you would be willing to let them in when they come for us, we would be thankful,” Shinyao said as she stepped inside. “Anything?”

“That cloaked apparition would have only been able to leave bruises and bad aches if it had touched us,” Chris answered. “If people are aware of it then it should pose little threat.”

“The EVP went off while you were out,” Ton added as she held up a device.

An amused laugh came through and then. “Trick.”

“Trick… Were you tricked? Do you like tricking people?” Ton asked into the air as if she was trying to learn from the being what was going on.

“Well… we’ll see you later,” The man said as the newcomers left.

Luke chuckled to himself a minute later. “They’re calling her. We have them worried.”

“What is their backup plan?” Vlad asked.

The silver furred werewolf listened for a minute. “They are still coming. They’re going to try and work around us to open the portal. If we become too much of a nuisance they will ‘take care’ of us.”

“Typical,” Vlad scoffed.

Chris smirked, “We are going to destroy the year of one cambion.”

“Just a year? Something like this has got to be a life goal. And we are dealing with a couple dozen other beings,” Luke pointed out.

The red wolf grinned, “I love crushing dreams in mass.”

“How did I never see your upbringing before?” Vlad muttered to himself.

Through the day and next night, the Twilights were busy seeming official in their work as they recorded footage and other evidence of Umbra. The steadily growing others uncomfortably huddled together unproductively and watched them. With the coming day, the Twilights settled down to rest. Towards evening most of the other group had arrived. Quietly their suspects trickled out of general observation range. Vlad sighed as he opened his eyes, “We’re going to have to follow them, aren’t we?”

“Yep. We can’t let them do anything too sneaky without us,” Luke agreed as he got to his feet.

“About time! I’ve been so bored waiting for them,” Ton said as she got up and began stretching.

Everyone got up and began getting their outer layers on before stopping to stare at the vampire that had not moved. “Vlad, you need to get up.” Tauryu urged.

“The sun is not going to set for another thirty minutes to an hour. Take care of it and I will join you when my power comes back,” Garfunkel hissed.

Luke grinned much too wide, “Sounds good to me. See you later. Come on, guys. We’ve got a cambion’s cult to break up.”

The others hesitantly followed after him for the door. The Romanian frowned after them as he forced himself up. “Stupid wolf. Why does he make it sound like I have a choice when he is forcing me in every way to go along with him?”

In a minute the blond jogged down to join them in the deep shadow of the middle level walkway as he clasped his coat and cape in place. “A woman has arrived,” Tauryu barely whispered.

“That’s our cambion,” Luke stated.

A small woman that was wearing a slightly loose grey hoodie was looking over the group gathered. “Where’s the other team?” She demanded.

“Upstairs. They’re asleep,” Someone answered.

“Are they going to be any trouble?” She questioned.

“No. They are all Umbra geeks that don’t know what they are doing.”

She paused to gaze around. Slowly a frown formed, “This feeling. I’ve felt one of the presences here before.”

“There are a lot of Umbra here,” one of the women informed.

“Yes. I feel them, but this one…” A snarl suddenly formed on the woman’s lower revealed face. “That…! Come out!”

Luke moved forward to lean on the railing to look down at the gathering in the courtyard. “Nice to see you again.”

“You! And the others on the investigation team are your friends too, aren't they?” The cambion shouted angrily.

“I believe that a more appropriate question is, who is not his friend,” Vlad stated as they all moved out of the shadow to look down at those they had been waiting for.

“What’s wrong?” One of her friends whispered.

“That gray haired Umbra is the one that has been closing our gates! He is the reason that we have not succeeded!” The woman that had most of her features hidden screamed. “How did you know to come here?”

Luke carelessly motioned with his hand. “You’ve been leaving clues behind you everywhere you go. You made a few too many. One of you slipped up and we got a face, and my tech expert had all of you, your plans, and your childhood crushes on file in less than five hours. We could have been rounding you up for a little while, but I thought it would be easier for you to come to us. Don’t you agree Stephanie?”

The hooded woman froze at her name. Many in her group turned to look at her in surprise. “Your name is Stephanie?”

“How is anyone supposed to gather a group to destroy the world when they don’t know your name?” Tauryu asked in disbelief.

Black flames began and grew along Stephanie’s arms as she reined in her anger. “I am going to kill you. I’m going to rip your tongue out and pull the rest of your organs along with through your mouth.”

“I’ve tried that. Pretty effective on the pain but it’s too hard to really do. Especially with my big brother,” Chris carelessly mentioned.

One of the other women stepped forward. “The rest of you can leave without harm. We are opening the portal here and that man cannot leave. He must suffer for what he has done. The rest of you don’t have to suffer as well.

“Too late. I have to live with him,” Chris turned down.

“We’re his friends and team. We are not going to let you do anything to him or open the portal!” Ton declared.

“Then die,” Stephanie said as she threw her arms out at them. The Twilights yelled as an invisible force slammed them back against the stone wall. “Everyone, split up! Anna, Cathy! Go for the outer walls! Delphi! The chapel, blow the portal open. Lydia! The foundation!”

All of them struggled against the invisible force crushing them in place. Luke relaxed as he tilted to the side. “Chris! Roll!”

The red head leaned to the side and then they slipped loose and rolled under the Cambion’s power. With the same movements and timing as they could have been exact reflections of each other, the Bowens sprang over the railing for the demon hybrid that was being abandoned by her team to do their assignments. Stephanie moved back as she pulled her flames up about herself for protection. “This castle is coming down. My girlfriends were trained for explosives, and we are going to put that to use.”

The Bowens attacked her from opposite sides. “We were trained in almost everything and torture. You don’t see us using that,” Luke said.

The invisible power holding the others in place dropped as the demon human focused on trying to charcoal the werewolves after her. They dropped back to the ground and sprinted for the stairs down.
“We’re coming!” Ton called.

“And I’m here,” Shinyao added as she fell over the railing for her wings to snap out and dive at the other woman. Stephanie brought her flames up too slow to shield herself from the Chinese girl that was even shorter than herself. They went skidding through the icy snow built up in the center of the courtyard before Wickam flipped them over and roughly twisted the light-haired girl’s arm while punching her hard. Luke kicked her hard for the military trained woman to roll with it and come up to return combat with flames and spells tracing along her arms.

Chris knelt beside his girlfriend as she slowly sat up. “Are you alright?”

“Nothing that some rest and pain killer can’t help,” She groaned as she touched her head.

“Guys! The others!” The silver wolf called as he ducked under a spell that would not do any good to any anatomy. “Don’t let them set off their explosives! Shinyao, head to the chapel. Tauryu, west group. Ton, Vlad, you two take the east. Little brother, mind finding our basement dwellers?”

“What about you?” Vlad demanded.

“I have my hands full right here. I’ve got her. Go!” Luke shouted as he flipped into the air and impossibly turned in it to avoid the Cambion’s power.

Stephanie sneered as the others took off running in their separate directions. “One of each of them against my people? They are not going to last long.”

“I love it when beings like you think that. It makes it all the more fun when you realize you lost to a lot less people than you were expecting,” Luke said with a feral grin as he threw himself fully at her.

Vlad stretched his long legs to keep up with the human girl that was fast for a mortal and used to running. “Why did I get paired with you?”

“Because you don’t have power in the daytime and I am slow and fight on the ground so you can keep up with me,” Ton stated as they ran into the side room. The group here was gathered around the woman called Cathy as she opened her backpack to begin pulling out packages. “Stop right there!”

“Neutralize them,” Cathy ordered without looking up as she pulled out an electronic device.

“But…” One of the others hesitated.

“They have become a nuisance and have to be taken care of. Do it!” Cathy ordered.

Ton reached into her shadow to pull out a collection of chains with her spell ring. “Take this!”

The chains threw most of the group. Vlad ran over to take the explosive supplies from the military woman. “That’s enough.”

She snarled as she leaped at him. “You!” She was strong and well trained. For human standards at least. The blond young man moved back from her before slamming her hard into the ground. With light perfect touches the others that came at him also went down. He scanned the room to find their opponents either unconscious or tied up with Ton’s chains. “Too bad we have nothing to tie these roughians with so they can’t continue to cause us trouble.”

“Do you want duct tape, twine, zip ties, or bubble gum?” Ton asked as she reached for one of the pockets on her heavy winter coat.

The vampire had little expression, but his eyebrow did raise in precise surprised questioning. “And why would you have any of those things with you?”

“Because Luke says that those are the essentials for any situation with a multi-tool. All you need is some creativity, and you can fix anything with them. I have needed them a couple times before, so I always make sure that I have some with me now,” The dark-haired girl said as she pulled out bright multicolored zip ties from her pocket. “Let’s try these and go help the others.”

“That wolf is corrupting you,” Vlad muttered as he took the ridiculous tie and started to restrain their group with them.

Luke ducked, dodged, and whirled under all the attacks that the Cambion set on him. She was strong and determined with more hatred towards him than most could ever live with. As she threw a spell at him, he dropped down to slide across the icy courtyard and hit her legs. She went down and he secured her in a hold that would not break, and she would suffocate herself in if she fought back more.

“I’m surprised that it took you this long. She’s not that strong,” Vlad said as they all came running back to the open space.

“It's more the trickiness of her powers than the power she has,” Luke replied.

“What are you?!” Stephanie demanded.

The silver grinned easily, “I don’t see what harm you can do to us by knowing now. My species is common in lore, but you will rarely see us as we are generally secretive and hidden away. I’m a werewolf.”

She glared at Vlad. “You. You feel of dark power. You are just like me. Why do you stand in my way?”

Garfunkel tisked, “Just like you? No. I am better than you ever will be. You are a pathetic little demon spawn that will never be anything. I, on the other hand, am a king of vampires. Bram Stoker’s perfect and elite Count Dracula.”

The hood of the sweatshirt she was wearing slid off to let her features be displayed. Her crimson glowing slit eyes widened in surprise at the information as she looked over the vampire. “Oh…”

Vlad focused on Bowen. His eyes widened, “Luke! Watch out! She’s…”

An explosion of violet, black fire erupted in the courtyard. Snow sizzled as brimstone sunk downwards while still flaming. Luke groaned from the far side of the courtyard as he slowly picked himself up. “Are you alright?!” Ton yelled as she sprinted over to help the Were.

The silver grimaced as his body was badly shredded and burned. “I’ll live. Where did that little devil go?”

“I don’t know. She disappeared,” Tauryu answered.

Luke glanced around. “Chris is not here.”

As the silver forced himself up to his feet Shinyao continued the idea. “He must still be having problems with his group then. Should we help him?”

“This is my little brother we’re talking about. Of course he needs help. We all know it,” Luke tried to tease. His levity fell flat as he stumbled, and his knees almost gave out from under him.

Tauryu caught him before he fell. “You need to wait for your body to heal. She tore you apart.”

“I don’t have time for that. We can’t let them blow the portal open,” The silver stressed as he stood on his own.

“The chapel is safe. They won’t do anything to it,” Shinyao reassured.

“I could care less about the chapel,” Luke stated as he hurried for the side door that had never attracted their attention before.

“What? What do you mean? I thought that the portal was under it,” Ton questioned.

“It is, but not directly underneath. There is a storage cellar directly underneath the chapel. The ground of that cellar is the stone covering the hole going into Hell. If they blow that room’s floor out, then we might as well take our own heads off to spare ourselves the agony the rest of the world is going to have to deal with Hell reigning over them,” Luke said as they rushed down the stairs.

Right before they reached the lower-level, Chris blurred back and shoved them out of sight. “I thought you were going to deal with the Cambion, big brother,” He growled.

“I was. I had her under control until she blew me up and escaped,” the silver Bowen returned.

“Then be useful and take care of her now,” Chris snarled but more out of stress than anger.

“Come here werewolf. I am ready to give you what you deserve,” Stephanie called.

“Should have guessed she’d be here. Where are the others?”

“Under the chapel. There are four weak Umbra that were managing to hold the stairs to keep me from getting down there while the few humans with them worked,” Chris replied as flames shot up the stairs towards them.

Luke frowned, “There's not a lot of space down there. That’s either going to make things harder or easier for us. Everyone, watch the others and work around and with them.”

Then the brothers were gone. Vlad tisked as they rushed down the stairs after them, “He couldn’t have bothered to plan something.”

“Considering that he told us that there was not space and to work around each other, I think he told us more than he usually does,” Shinyao said.

They came out of the stair to find that they were in a six-foot-wide space that had risen sides to keep people from falling on to the stairs going down on either side. The space was only twelve feet long and Stephanie had flames everywhere as she guarded the top of the stair well on the right. The girls and Vlad stepped back at the oppressive heat. “Of all the times they could have attacked, they couldn’t have waited for night,” Vlad hissed in frustration as he only had human strength and abilities currently.

Ton squinted through the smoke and wavering heat. “I would like to pull out a water cannon to deal with this, but that might make more problems. All that steam and we don’t have very much room to avoid it. Everything will be wet.”

“I think just a little water would help cool things down a little. Spray us down at least so our clothes don’t catch fire,” Shinyao recommended as the Bowens flipped and dodged in the fastest and most impossible ways to land blows on the demon that had the advantage of the terrain for her powers. The light-haired girl stretched her hands out for her vines to shoot up from the floor to wrap around the cambion’s legs.

Ton’s water weapon splashed over the stone floor and them as they all moved in. “I hope our cameras can handle this much heat and moisture!”

“Forget about your insipid videos and focus on the issue at hand,” Vlad snapped at her as he spun a kick to the cambion’s gut and head.

Stephanie hit the ground and rolled up to melt the black vines trying to lock her to the ground into an oily tar then threw a spell that exploded the far stone wall. “Dracula. We are both Umbra that belong to Hell and the darkness. Your lore is that you are wanting to take over the world, isn’t it? Why don’t you help us? You can rule. You won’t have to take orders from anyone. You won’t have to deal with humans that are foolish and disrespectful ever again. You can live anywhere you want with all the wealth and anything else that you could want.”

Garfunkel moved back to the wall to avoid her attack on the powered Umbra. “That is a very tempting idea and one that I would love to come true. To no longer have to deal with anyone and their pathetic problems would be wonderful. Yet, I am not that foolish. I would be rejecting troublesome fools to deal with demonic idiots such as yourselves that are so much worse. Besides, I have vowed myself to a partnership with this werewolf. I will not break that for all the power and wealth in the realms.”

“Oh, go on,” Luke teased. “How long are you going to drag this partnership out? When are you going to say that you are satisfied and that I am behaving well enough to be let go?”

“Never. I doubt you are ever going to change or tell me your secrets. I have come to find that you need all the help you can get no matter if it seems like you do or not,” Vlad returned.

Luke smiled slightly. “We’ll see if you can be any use. You’re in the way currently.”

“Give me five more minutes and you will be retracting your words,” The blond hissed.

“Whatever you say partner,” The silver said as he leaped back to throw the powerless vampire into the opposite stair well away from all their enemies.

Vlad grimaced as the stone steps bit into him as he fell on them and smiled slightly. The independent wolf had called him partner. That was hopeful. He took in an unnecessary breath as he felt his power flood back into him. The sun had just set.

“Hurry up!” Stephanie shouted into the right stairwell as the vampire swirled into existence beside her.

“We’re just finishing up. Just a few more things to attach,” another woman shouted back.

As the blond threw the less powerful dark Umbra, Luke kicked her hard in the face to flip out of the way of a flame attack. The older Bowen glanced around in consideration. “Ton! Shinyao! Go down and take care of the others. We’ll keep working up here.”

“Alright,” The girls agreed as they leaped over the wall into the right stair well. Flames boiled after them, but they got far enough down to avoid them. At the bottom, a small twelve by twelve-foot room that had nothing in it other than the nine that were cramped inside.

Four lesser powered Umbra stood closest to the exit as a blond-haired woman worked fast at connecting wires in the slight indention in the ground that bowled inwards. They turned to face the girls.
Ton paused to pull a shield out of her shadow to protect herself from a blast of power as Shinyao ducked under it. The dark-haired girl slammed her shield into the Umbra with her entire body strength and weight as her lighter friend twirled through the gap she had made for her vines to whip through the gathering. Beings slammed into the solid stone walls; the explosive rolled across the dirt covered floor with no one to attend to it.

“Little brats,” one of the older Umbra men spat in hatred as he threw all of his considerable strength into trying to crush them.

“Why are you doing this?” Tauryu questioned as the boys worked on wearing the demon human hybrid down. She had excellent physical endurance, but her powers seemed to only be strong for a short time of use.

“Have you never thought to do this either? I grew up in a mortal world with more power than anyone could ever dream of. Everyone was afraid of me. No one wanted to be around me. Adults quickly abandoned me because they did not know how to handle the power that I hid. I hid away my wings, horns, and tail and yet they treated me like a freak although I looked just like them. Now humans use me. They throw me here and there to do what they can’t and are afraid of doing. They beat me down and hate me just because they can feel that I am strong and different. That’s going to end. Humans are no longer going to be in control. My people and I will rule over this world. I will finally be accepted,” Wickam spat at them.

“I take it you’ve never met a hell being in person,” Chris growled.

“I have talked to my father and other demons through spells and mediums. They have always encouraged me. I would have ended my life and those of all those that had hurt me long ago without them teaching and showing me my true strength and power. I am tired of dealing with humans. It's time for those who should always have ruled to come up!” The cambion replied.

“They will treat you even worse than the humans have. There is no love or kindness in hell beings. The few that are good are rare. If you open this portal, then every wicked being will be set lose. They will destroy this realm. I’ve been down there before. They will not hate you as much as humans, they will torture you,” Luke tried.

“Lying will not help you,” Stephanie said as she blasted a huge fire ball through the small space.

Vlad disintegrated to avoid the attack and formed behind her to put her into a stable hold. “You are the only one lying. To yourself. You have been harmed by the selfishness of others. This can’t have destroyed all the good that your human mother gave you. Let us show you what the world is supposed to be.”

The blond held on as her wings tore through her hoody to beat at him. Chris and Luke blurred forward to hold them still. “Tauryu! Go check on the girls. We got this,” Luke ordered. The Jingzhi nodded and hurried down the now open stairs. Luke turned back to their captive. “We need to kill her.”

“We need to try to help her. We can’t just kill her when she has never been given a chance to improve,” Vlad protested.

The cult struggled to get free of the vines pinning them to the walls. Ton crouched over the explosives and checked over the wirings. “I don’t know what to do with this!”

“Try shielding it at least,” Shinyao suggested.

The woman that had been putting it together snarled in hatred. “No, you’re not.” She pulled a knife free to cut through the vines that were holding her. She lunged forward to the center of the room.

“Ton! Wat…” Before Shinyao could finished her warning or stop the military woman, the hilt was against Ton’s chest, the blade not in sight.

“Ton-sama!” Tauryu shouted as he came down the last steps.

The golden-haired woman shoved the Chinese girl away as she grabbed the explosives. She snarled as she finished placing wires in place and pressed the button. The entire castle and the land about trembled as the bomb went off. The young men holding the cambion down froze as the solid stone floor buckled under their feet.

Chris looked behind them down at the stairs going down that had a physical cloud of dust of debris billowing out of it. “Shinyao!” He blurred down the stairs to find three bodies at the bottom of the stairs. Tauryu’s back was shredded, and he was almost blown to pieces. Under him, the girls were mostly whole as he had shielded them. Shinyao sat up carefully with a grimace. “Shinyao! Are you okay?”

“Yeah. My wings took the stairs and Tauryu kept us safe,” She groaned as she reached up to hold her head, her light brown hair begin to spread to a wet, dark crimson.

Ton reached up weakly to place her hand over the quickly bleeding knife wound in her chest. Stone shrapnel and burns covered her to a small degree considering that she had been almost on top of the bomb. Ton’s hand pressed against her chest, blood seeping hot between her fingers. Her voice was small, almost bewildered. “She… stabbed me.”

Tauryu silently forced himself off of them as a black mist began to come from his wounds and close them. He looked around the room that had too much dust in the air for any to see through. “She couldn’t have survived that. She was human.”

Chris pulled out his phone to turn on the flashlight. The light gave them a hazy view of the inside of the cellar. All the humans that had been working down here had been obliterated into paste. The four Umbra were wisping blackness as they died. “Good.”

Shinyao squinted and then blinked to try and get the dust out of her eyes and her throbbing head to work. “Is there something wrong with the floor?”

Chris directed the light downward almost directly before their feet. A jagged black hole was there and gulping up the swirling dust greedily. “Oh no.”

They watched as something curiously moved in the dark hole. Then a serpent featured demon slimily crawled its way out to look around. Its black eyes were bright in excitement as it realized that it had reached the mortal realm. “At last. Its open!”

A horse bodied and human headed creature leaped out of the opening to the little stone left along the edges of the room. Chris shouted over his shoulder with fear edging into his voice. “Big brother! Its open!”

Luke drooped at the news. “Not good.”

“Help!” Stephanie screamed. “They are going to close the portal again! They are going to lock you away again!”

Chris grabbed Tauryu and the girls to get them back to their feet and away from the portal as a winged abomination burst through in a blaze. Dozens of horrid nightmares began scrambling through the wide hole and over each other in a demented desperate scramble. The red wolf shoved the girls up the stairs. “Check on her and take care of her injuries.”

Shinyao nodded as she placed her thick winter gloves over the stab wound in her friend. Blood soaked into her gloves and coat sleeve desperately as she pulled the staggering dark-haired girl away from the horde. They came out up top. Vlad glanced back at them for his glowing crimson eyes to blow wide. “What happened?”

“One of the military women stabbed her then blew herself and everyone else to open the portal. We’re only alive because Tauryu shielded us. He’s not in good shape,” Shinyao reported as she glanced at the stairs going further up and the stairs behind them that had screams and growls choiring up from it.

“Get in the other stair area. Get some instant healing talismans on her and compress the worst of her wounds. If you can certain that she is not going to die you can help us,” Luke ordered as he looked around desperately.

Stephanie’s face had fallen in sorrow. “Lydia’s dead?”

“Yes. Is all this trouble worth her killing herself and a dozen others?” Vlad hissed.

Her eyes blazed as her hatred and fury rekindled in grown emotion. “She always stood with me. I will finish what we started together.” Demons started bursting up the stairway. “I am one of you! Help! They are trying to stop us!”

The demons lunged for the two Twilights. They were forced off the Cambion that snapped down the stairs with her large black wings. “I suppose that the world is about to end now,” Vlad said as calm and easily as if it was the weather as he whirled and struck as fast as he could through the horde that was pouring upwards. Martial arts while he created spells to destroy in mass.

Luke had almost completely disappeared from sight. The blur of movement of his usual speed no longer visible as he moved at his full undefined speed. The narrow stairway suddenly had Umbra bodies dropping to the steps as blood and flesh splattered against the stone. The silver then stopped at the foot of the stairs to stare down at the gaping void at his feet.

“Big brother,” Chris gasped, and he and Tauryu got up from the stairs the mob had shoved them down on. They were torn apart viciously as the demons had tried to kill them fast and as painfully as they could.

“Wishing that you had taken my offer to leave now?” The cambion sneered as she stood on the far side of the portal.

Luke looked up at her with a sharp smirk as he ducked to the side to rake his blood covered claws through a demon that leaped at him. “You wish we would leave. Even if you run now there is nothing that is going to save you. Every Twilight, military, and law enforcement team in the world will be hunting you as soon as we close this portal back up again. You have destroyed your life with this little thing.”

She smiled with no happiness for herself, only vengeance and all soul consuming hatred. “Your life is about to end. I’m going to enjoy watching it.”

Another wave of hell Umbra forced their way out of the portal and at them. The three slowly backed up the stairs with the tide forcing them back. The blackness of death was almost so much that they could not see themselves in the choking death of Umbra power. “What do we do?” Chris gasped as he forced himself to keep fighting even as his limbs were nearly completely torn off.

Tauryu was in even worse shape from the bomb and then the attacks. He staggered as he lowered his revolver. “Brace yourselves.”

He pulled a grenade out of his sleeves and tossed it for the portal. Stephanie’s eyes widened in horror. “Down!” Then she blasted the grenade back up the stairs. The explosion rocked the castle once again as body parts splattered outwards.

Luke hummed as if he had just learned something mildly interesting. Tauryu and his brother were now sitting beside Ton in the other stair well. “Thank you,” The jianzhi said as he leaned back to wait for his body to heal.

“No problem. That grenade was a good idea. We might need to use a few more of those for crowd control.” The silver said as he flipped back into action.

“We need to retreat,” Vlad stated as they worked around each other in the enclosed space.  The stair way leading up to the courtyard had Umbra they could not handle streaming upwards.  Screams came from above before the Guardian's presence settled in the courtyard to face the invaders.

“We can’t. If we give here, we are never going to get back here to finish this,” The older Bowen said.

“We’re out numbered and being torn apart. I may be powerful and the rest of you to some degree, but power does not always matter when you have numbers and determination against you. We are going to die here if we don’t do something,” The Romanian vampire said in simple knowledge.

“Then we will and avoid having guilt for the little time that we have alive before they catch us that we ran and abandoned earth without giving everything we had,” Luke said, his voice was lacking emotion. “If we make ourselves big enough of a problem then they will just kill us. If we wait, they may take us alive to torture.”

“It will be a pointless martyrdom. We could destroy many more of these Umbra if we plan strategically at another time than here,” Vlad pointed out.

“That would be true, if we weren’t going to close this portal and keep these Umbra from getting out in the first place,” Bowen returned with a teasing smile.

“You know how to close this?” Shinyao asked in interest. Her wings were not present in the much too small space and crowd, but hundreds of black vines twisted everywhere as twin blades stayed in her hands. Even without formal combat training, she was keeping her kill count high.

“I have an idea,” Luke shared. Their three badly hurt friends forced themselves to join the fight again. “Hey Ton. Think you have enough power in you to make those talismans that turn putty into stone again?”

The dark-haired girl’s hair had turned almost entirely an unnatural shade of red. Only the roots of her hair were still black as dark blood-red stained the tips in a darker shade. She was pale and barely standing as summoned knives were in her hands for the battle. “I… I can. I can’t do very much more.”

“Then make those and take a break,” Luke ordered. “Shinyao. When Ton gets that made, I need you to weave your vines as thick and tight as you can over the portal. That talisman should help them finish the job.”

Hope sparked in all of them as they realized the plan. Baileu dropped back fast to focus on pulling the talismans out of her shadow. Tauryu pulled out another grenade. “I think we need to get down there.”

“Please. Do so,” Vlad urged.

The jianzhi dropped the unpinned explosive into the right stair way. A few seconds later it went off.

“Down the rabbit hole we go!” Luke cheered as they all rushed to get down the narrow stairs that were empty for a few seconds. Tauryu pulled his machine gun out as he fired without restriction on the mob above without any of his friends in the midst to get possibly harmed.

The bottom steps were a wall of flames. The cambion female glared at them as she stood in her hot power. “What’s the point?”

Garfunkel tisked as he formed a spell. “There is a point in all things. We just refuse to change this realm. It is awful and warped in unfairness and wickedness, but it is so much better than you understand. There are great positives mixed into the negatives. You just have to recognize and embrace them.” His spell ripped out to blow the flame and demon hybrid back. Then they were over the bottomless pit. Strikes of both their close combat training connecting and blocking. Neither backing down.

“Shinyao. If you would please,” Luke requested sweetly as he and Chris moved to slaughter the Umbra crawling out.

“Sure thing,” she agreed as she began forming her vines to weave over the opening.

A huge creature reached up to force the not fully reaching vines back. “You are not locking me away again.”

“I haven’t tasted vampire in a long time!” A small almost monkey like nightmare screeched in excitement as it sprang up to latch onto Vlad’s leg. It scampered up the blond’s body to bite down hard on his neck.

Stephanie punched the nobleman hard in the face that knocked him back to the far corner of the room. She turned to send a gush of fire at the stairs as Dracula fought to get the monstrosity off of him. The girls dropped low as two werewolves and a jianzhi tried to shield them. The flames boiled over all despite their best attempts. As soon as it had passed, they were all fast to rip their flame-covered winter coats off and smother their other clothes and hair. “I need a new haircut,” Ton said softly as she obviously had run out of energy.

“Let’s get back to London first,” Luke replied as he grimly took in the situation. “Tauryu. I need some of your grenades.”

“I can’t get my vines to close,” Shinyao began to panic as terrified tears began to escape.

“Tauryu. Put a bullet between that Umbra’s eyes,” Luke ordered. He then grasped Chris’s shoulder hard. “Take care of them.”

The deafening report of Tauryu’s gun sounded. The giant hell being locked up before he fell back through the hole. The silver furred wolf then was in the air as he tackled the cambion. They slammed back into the back wall. Then her wings snapped around to slice him off of her. “You’re getting desperate.”

He smiled slightly, “In some things. But most of us won’t be in a minute.” The limp dead body of the monkey like abomination hit the woman in the back before Vlad struck her hard. The silver followed up with a swipe of his claws. As he landed back on the last step, he chuckled. “Have you ever been to Hell? Why don’t I show you around your father’s home.” He leaped up to nearly the ceiling. With a backflip, he grasped the base of her wings.

The cambion yelped as she was jerked backwards with the sudden momentum. Then the silver werewolf and her dived through the portal. All the Twilights were frozen in surprise as they waited for Luke to come back up. Seconds later the unmistakable tremble of a grenade going off came through the stone. Chris came back to awareness first. “Shinyao! Close it!”

“But Luke…” She began to protest.

“Close it now! He’s not coming back up! Close it before more come!” The red shouted.

The light-haired girl stared in horror at the portal before she reluctantly weaved her vines tightly over it. Ton stumbled forward to slap her talisman on as shouts began from beneath. The black vines spread into a gray stone like bleeding paint before them. In a minute, the hell beings trying to get through were slamming hard into the stone and cursing with furious screams, but they were not getting through.

The small room was now too dense and stifling. All sound muffled and heavy with only those below to prove that time was still in existence. Slowly, Vlad floated down to set his feet on the bumpy weaved stone. His crimson gaze was wide in glazed disbelief. He turned distantly to take in all of the covering that hid the portal right below his feet. Then his eyes turned to the stairs. “Your brother is down there.”

“I know,” Chris breathed. Anger was trying to rekindle in him, yet it was being choked back.

Carefully they all moved to stand on the new stone. “How do we get him out?” Shinyao asked.

The red shook his head. “We’re not. This portal is closed and needs to stay that way. We can’t risk opening it again just for him.”

Vlad turned on the red furred werewolf with an angry hiss. “Luke’s your brother! You are not allowed to give up on him! You have been working on being better than this.”

“I know!” The younger Bowen snarled. Every muscle was tight as moisture gleamed and gathered in his eyes, but he refused to let it escape. “I,” His voice cracked and strained. “I know.”

Shinyao moved to wrap her boyfriend in a comforting hug. He sluggishly returned the gesture to encase her. “What’s going to happen to him?”

Chris swallowed heavily, “Death. If he’s lucky. Demons were never nice in the first place. They will be after his head after fighting against them here and managing to close the portal. The worst would be if they decide to torture him.”

“There’s got to be another way,” Vlad said as desperation began to seep into his calm voice.

“It took us two weeks to come from the highest level of hell to up here, even with our speed. Depending on how far he falls, it could make that longer. There are thousands of beings down there that hate him. Even a deity would struggle against those odds.”

Garfunkel stared down at the stone beneath their feet. Thumps of Umbra below throwing themselves against it in hopes of escape vibrated through as curses sounded. It did not seem real. He was gone too simply. Just a cheeky tease and a slight bit of dramatic flair and then he was through the portal. No struggle or anything more. “Forgive me. If I had killed the cambion before, she wouldn’t have needed to have been dealt with.”

“You did what you thought was right,” Tauryu comforted as he held Ton as she cried.

The couple was fighting back tears, but their features were heart wrenching. Chris glanced over at the blond before roughly grabbing his arm to jerk him over. With an arm around both of the lighter haired beings of their group, he deliberately breathed for a minute. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of all of you.”

Vlad’s sad and lost expression tightened as he closed his eyes. A small tear escaped the vampire that lacked so many emotions. “We need to hunt down those Umbra that escaped and get everything fixed up back to normal so no one notices.”

“We have more than a week to do that. Let’s fix ourselves up and heal first,” Chris murmured as an even more faint rumble came through the stone of an explosive detonating deep in the earth.

Chapter Text

Café Forbidden’s door was open and welcoming in the night’s darkness. The cool softness of fresh spring wafted in, so warm in comparison to the winter that had given up. No customers had arrived yet as the employees moved through their tasks. Ton smiled as she came through the enchanted mirror from the kitchen. “Hey Vlad. Tauryu and I are goin to pick up supplies and then go check out the Tower of London. Think you and Wayne can handle things here?”

The blond startled at her sudden appearance. “Of course. There is little that I can’t handle.”

The Chinese girl's eyes went instantly to the picture frame he was holding. Her eyes and smile dropped in grief as she instantly knew what it was. “Vlad. I know you were friends with Luke for a century, but you shouldn’t be spending all your time looking at that.”

The vampire sighed as he turned to the shelves behind the bar to place the color photo of Luke grinning so brightly beside the sepia toned one of Sha Rijan. Their little memorial of the ones that were the most important and no longer with them. “I spent that entire time trying to ignore and distance myself from him. We were nothing more than coworkers and irritants that we had to work with.”

“Not at the end,” Ton tried to comfort him. “You were his partner.”

“And one that he did not want. I was a parasite that he could not get rid of,” The blond muttered bitterly.

“But you found out so many things. If you hadn’t started trying, then we would have never have been able to step up when he… left.”

“He always had a plan. I doubt that we were the ones that were meant to find his secret apartment and the huge spy network that he was operating,” the Romanian returned. The amount of computers and phones they had found in Bowen’s private apartment was ridiculous. Books and binders full of names, and information from all over the world for almost everyone. Conspiracy boards and case files everywhere for unsolved problems. Everything was almost beyond belief. It had taken some time to hire a team to go through all the information and split up the responsibilities that their once chef had hidden from them.

The calm that remembering their werewolf gave the undead Umbra faded back to mourning. “I wonder if he ever planned for things to end like this.”

“Of course not. He never planned anything. He liked seeing the situation and working with it from there,” Ton said. She frowned as the crimson eyes didn’t look away from the two pictures on the shelf. “Are you alright?”

“I wasn’t enough to save Rijan. I have grieved for her for the past century. Now I wasn’t enough to save Luke. I am the only one to blame for both of them. I will I ever learn?”

“Only if you learn to stop blaming yourself for things you could not control. You can’t torture yourself over this. Neither my grandmother or Luke would want you to do this to yourself,” The petite girl encouraged.

“Maybe. Someday I may be able to move on. From what history has shown, that may take another hundred years before I open myself to care for someone else right before I lose them.” The vampire turned away from the shelves to start working on brewing a tea.

Ton tried for a sad smile, “You already like us. I think that’s a start. You love Chris.”

A distant smile tugged at the blond’s features. “He’s so much like his brother. Just so much more passionate and impulsive. He’s not a secretive puppet master.”

“Uh-huh,” Ton agreed with a smile as she brought out her phone. “Shinyao sent me these.”

A warm life came back to the nobleman as they scrolled through the selfies. Dense jungle was in most of them with stunning volcanoes and mountain ranges covered in green and clouds displayed. The couple posed with different rain forest animals they had encountered. A video of Chris chasing down a monkey that had stolen one of their water bottles and gutting it before managing to calm himself down played for the two to laugh at. Cities with a specialized cultural style displayed. “They are perfect together.”

“I can’t wait for when they get back from their trip so I can see Shinyao’s engagement ring! It looks so beautiful on camera,” Ton exclaimed.

The vampire hummed an amused laugh. “Women. It’s unfortunate that Luke can’t be here when they get married. He would have been thrilled to tease them.”

Ton took his cold hand and comfortingly squeezed it. “We’ll just have to do that for him.”

Tauryu stepped out into the main area. “Ready Ton-sama?”

She gave the vampire one last smile before she skipped over to the jianzhi to hold his hand. “More than ready. I’ll have another video for you to watch later, Vlad.”

The blond tisked, “These videos are pointless.”

“Yeah right,” Ton replied before the Asians walked out of the café.

Vlad watched them leave. Maybe he would have been more disappointed that Tauryu had managed to become Rijan’s granddaughter’s boyfriend instead of himself if the silver furred werewolf hadn’t sacrificed himself for them. He never could have imagined that he truly cared for the canine Umbra as much as he did until he had lost him. It was much too quiet and lonely in the café without the usual humming or cheerful laughter. No garlic scent wafted around, no tricks or pranks to be on guard for, no friendly arguments to share. Fighting and competing for Ton had been enjoyable with the silver snarling challenges. Maybe someday he would regret not fighting harder for the dark-haired girl’s favor, yet at the moment, he could not stand the thought of caring for someone else with his track record of them dying.

He looked back at the picture on the shelf that was grinning as bright as ever with mischief promised. “Your brother is doing well. He’s taking good care of us, just like you told him to. He’s becoming better. Even though he’s centuries old, you can see that he’s starting to mature now.” The picture did not answer but the slight trace of Luke’s power still lingered in the café and soothed his grief at the same time as made it more raw. “From what I’ve heard, they already have a plan for after they are married. Shinyao’s going to finish school to be a manager and financial accountant. They’re going to buy farms all around the world and build a house on each of them so Chris can comfortably move around. She’s going to set up a route to the dark elves below to trade and make sure everyone has enough to eat with her farms. Chris is thinking about restoring vehicles in the spare time. You would be proud of them.”

The vampire forced himself away from the picture to get to work. Talking to a ghost that did not exist was pointless. As customers began to come in, Wayne in his mannequin hurried out of the kitchen with the decent attempt at biscuits, scones, and cookies that Ton had made that had been gradually working their way to a lighter shade over the past few months. She was slowly getting better at her baking. As a metallic ringing began the Umbra boys paused in confusion.

Vlad blinked in surprise as he recognized it as the ancient rotary phone that was attached to the backroom’s wall. No one had called it in years and that was only a salesman. “I’ll get it,” the blond told the ghost as he moved out of the main area. Interested, he picked the earpiece off the hook. “Hello?”

“Kabanwa. Genki desu ka?” The other end replied.

Garfunkel frowned at the Japanese language as he translated the words to ‘good evening’ and “how are you?’ “Genki desu. Denwa bangou ga machigatsu te iru to omoi masu.” (I’m fine. I think you have the wrong phone number.)

“Koko wa Forbidden Cafe desu ka?” The man on the other end asked. (Is this Café Forbidden?)

“Hai. Sou desu. Velad Garfunkle no banashi desu. Watashi wa anata no tame ni nani ga deki masu ka?” Vlad returned. (Yes. It is. This is Vlad Garfunkel speaking. What can I do for you?)

“Watashi wa hijou ni warui mondai wa kakae te i masu . Jibun de naosu koto wa deki masen. Watashi wa jibun no akuma wa nikun dei masu ga, nige te shimai mashi ta. Tasuke te ne, Velad chan,” the caller ranted. (I have a very bad problem. I can’t fix it on my own. I hate my demons, but I have gotten away. You must help me, Vlad.)

Vlad grimaced at the response that sounded closer to a mental condition and the honorific that was used for children. “Soshite, anata no mondai wa?” (And your problem is?)

“Sono sekai no owari! Watashi wa hito desu. Watashi wa karera no anzen wa mamoru tame ni yuujin ya kazoku to wakaregiwa mashi ta ga, mata karera to ni i tai desu. Tasuke te kudasai, Velad chan!” the man begged. (Its world ending! I am alone. I left my friends and family to keep them safe, but I want to be with them again. Please help me, Vlad-chan!)

The undead royal forced himself to stay calm as he felt that the other was cheekily mocking him. “Doushite watashi ni sou shite hoshii no?” (How do you want me to do that?)

A smile was audible in the other’s voice. “Anata wa katsute watashi ni, kesshite watashi kara hanare nai to yakusoku shi mashi ta, Velad chan. Sono ji, anata wa sore wa iji suru to kataku ketsui shi te i mashi ta ga, moshika shi tara suu kagetsu de anata no nebarizuyo sa ga yowamatsu ta no kamo shire masen.” (You once promised me that you would never leave me, Vlad-chan. You were quite determined to keep that then, but maybe a couple of months has been enough to weaken your tenacity.)

Garfunkel paused at the reply. That voice was way too familiar. So was the teasing and cheeky hinting. Only one person came to mind, but he couldn’t be… “Kore wa dare desu ka?” (Who are you?)

A bright laugh rang through the phone. “Watashi wa ooku no mono desu. Anata wa katsute watashi wa o kami to yonde i mashita. Koko no hitoodoriji wa watashi wa ookamiotoko to yobu deshou. Namae nitsuite wa takusan ari masu ga, anata ga watashi wa shitsu te iru no wa Rook Bowen desu.” (I am many things. You once called me wolf. The people here would call me a werewolf. As for names, I have many, but the one you know me by is Luke Bowen.)

Vlad leaned against the wall before his knees became too weak to keep him up right. “Luke?! What? How… I thought you were in Hell!”

“How caring of you Vlad-chan,” the older Bowen teased.

“Where are you?”

“I’m in Beppu Japan.”

The blond relaxed in relief at the mortal realm location. “Japan? Why there? How did you get out of Hell? We closed the portal and warded it good enough that anything short of a ten-point earthquake or a volcanic eruption will not open it.

“Good job. About time you start taking initiative. Did you take care of everything connected to that Count? Or did your chronic laziness kick in?” Luke teased.

“Contrary to what you believe, Mr. Simonek didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary or damaged in the least. We and the Gaurdian hunted most of the escaped Umbra down before we had to leave.”

“I’m impressed. How’s everyone doing?”

“Good. Everyone is healed and recovered. Ton’s video on that went viral and we got huge financial donations and many volunteers because of it. She and Tauryu are an item now. Chris proposed to Shinyao and they have wedding, and after plans being made. They are currently on a tour of India down through the Indochina belt to end at the upper Australian islands.”

“Yes! I knew that was going to happen! Do you think I can be factored in as a bride’s maid?”

Vlad tisked at the ridiculous question even as he smiled. “That would suit you perfectly. You have no masculinity.”

“Great! We’ll make the greatest matching pair ever!”

The blond frowned at the insult. “What happened after you went down into the portal? How did you get out?”

“What happened was pretty typical of Hell. I fell for a long time. I eventually was able to leap off the side of the pit to get onto one of the levels. Stephanie was screaming mad. She tried to set everyone on me. It worked, but I dealt with it. She got a quick education in what her father’s people were like when they started beating, raping, and torturing her. Luckily, she was more powerful than most of them and I showed her the ropes of how to survive down there. I ran for it. Hell was a lot less crowded down there when I left. I came out through a different portal.”

“Another portal? How many are there?” Vlad asked with panic beginning to claw at him.

“There are dozens all over the world. They are directly connected to Hell, but Umbra usually don’t come out of them often or are rarely permitted to pass. The seven hell hot springs here in Beppu are directly heated by the lake of fire and brimstone below. I came through the Chinoike Jigoku Onsen. I hate hot things, and most Umbra in Hell hate how hot this hot spring is or are disintegrated by the heat. I am lucky enough to have fast healing. It has blood-colored minerals in it that disguise the blood of those being torture perfectly. It took a while to get through the narrow water ways. The last ninety feet of the actual blood pond was the easy part. So, I’m just here enjoying a foot Onsen and eating food that was boiled in the Umi Jigoku onsen.”

“I am also guessing that you have a couple of dates lined up with some tiny Japanese girls,” The blond sighed.

“Bingo. I’m borrowing one of their phones for this. I actually have some American tourist girls here that saw me come out. They are both terrified and fangirling over Demon Slayer anime. So, I’m being well cared for here.”

“Why did you bother to call then?”

“As I said. Loneliness. You know how I am. I also want to see if I have anything to do to combat soon coming boredom. Know how to solve this?”

“Unfortunately. Is there a way I can pay those girls to keep you longer and out of my way? I have a mess with hiring and getting your spy network sorted out.”

“Oh… Well, that’s good that you are being responsible for once. I’ll have to work on building up more secrets from you.”

“Not happening,” Vlad said as he reached as far as he could with the attached phone to grab his Twilight coat and cape. “Call me. I need to take care of whatever mess you have made.”

“Careful Count. Your desperation is coming through,” The silver wolf tease. “Warning. It’s day here. Come to me.”

Count Dracula smiled as he hung up and faded away. He was going to get his partner back.