6 years from the present

The world is not as it was. At one time times were hard and tough, but now they are almost impossible. Death ravages the lands and the humans have turned to violence against any and all "supernatural" beings. The trouble began in December of 2012. The reign of Lilith began in that month. Lilith released the dark gates of hell and brought forth the beings that she created from her powers. Now she has an army of Super Venavores that are incredibly powerful, the humans call them demons, but Vampires call them the Vile. These new species of venavores are completely unlike the old venveroes who were strong as well, but these have new weapons that Magnus was experimenting with long ago in the African bush. It seems like yesterday that Zoe and I were fighting to stay alive from these Venavores with silver teeth and amazing speed. Some are larger than 7 feet tall. The humans were right these are demons, no soul and no mercy. They only obey there queen which orders them to kill.

Not only has Lilith released a new breed of Vampires, but she has released a new breed of Wolves with the help of the Lionesses bloodline, mainly Ruth, who was captured for a time and her blood extracted, before she was able to escape. With Ruth blood, Lilth was able to forge the hell hounds. A species of wolves that have the ability to disappear and the ability to destroy nearly any werewolf and black dog at will. The hell hounds are our worst nightmare. The Venavores are the Vampires. But sadly both the New Venavores and Hell Hounds have the ability to turn at anytime, walk in sunlight, eat and drink, but they can be killed. Killing them is another matter entirely and requires a huge amount of will and strength to overcome.

Lilith has also begun a new Vampire council that she forged from the pits of current man. However, her abilities are so strong that biting a human today makes him almost as strong as a 500 year old vampire. And yes, I mean Vampire, not venavore. Even Lilith thinks the venavores are a breed of infidels. Her council is consisted of Isacc, Terrance, Jackson, Claudia, and Claire. Each one powerful and each have the ability to control the venavores and hell hounds.

Luckily for us, Lilith has not been able to awaken the Vampires of old. Apparently, they are not where the legends state they should be. Fortunately for the werewolves we know where our elders are and we protect them around the clock to prevent anyone from opening the tombs; however, we might have to consider opening the tombs to kills Lilith and stop her reign of destruction. The humans see no sides, but there own. And who could blame them, there numbers are also dwindling. Soon Lilith will rule the world, but we must not allow that. We must band together once again and make for one last push against Lilith and stop her from opening the tomb of the Elder Vampires.

These are dark days indeed.... but they will get darker.


NATURE

Everyone must make the journey to a place, where the humans call, ground zero. Which is where Lilith rose the hellhounds and venavores from there graves to kill the head of the people, before spreading across the globe. This place was the heart of the free world. A place known as the Capitol.... The White House.

Caanin stood atop the building looking down and across the street, his amber eyes peircing the darkness as if it were midday. He watched the hell hound as it quietly prowled the area. loathsome monster he thought and gripped his sword hilt subconciously. He had been here in the Capitol when these monsters first emerged, with his beloved Akkhina. In the turmoil that followed Liliths rise to power they were attacked by one. It had hit him with such violent force that he was knocked straight through a brick wall, temporarily stunned he watched helplessly as it dragged her away. Fearing her dead but not wanting to believe it he remained in the city to look for her. Years later his desperate search continues.

The hound stopped abruptly bringing Caanins attention back to it. He eyed it warily it was much stronger than him only his age and experience in combat allowed him to hold his own but if a fight was to be avoided he would at all costs. He had once watched a hell hound tear a fully changed werewolf to pieces. With the silent stealth of a wild timber wolf he moved back into the shadows and headed for one of several places he used for resting. He almost chuckled at the irony when he sensed a group of humans holed up in a rather rundown town house. For centuries he had worried about remaining hidden from them and wanted nothing more than to find some of his own kind. Now he no longered cared if they saw him for what he was instead he spent most of the time hiding from his own species, a breed or so apart though he was from the hell hounds.

He searched his place carefully looking for any signs of trespassing viles or hounds, in this hostile new world paranoia was your best friend. Life had never been harder for Caanin not even when he was first changed and as his mind often did he began thinking of his past and how his life had been altered so many times throughout his long life. As he fell asleep his dreams took him back to the day it all started over a thousand years before.

Name:Caanin Fenricson
age:1025
bloodline:unknown, presumably Ruth

He was a master blacksmith and skilled norse(viking) warrior. As all vikings were well versed in combat it was his smithing ability that he took the most pride in. Most warriors could not afford swords but because he could fasion them himself, he became adept with there use, his favourite being a 38 inch longsword that he wielded with devastating effect. It was this warriors prowess that had him selected for a secret venture from Iceland too explore the mainland of the new world.

They had setup camp just beyond the treeline the tundra streched out vast and barren before them. Just after sunset the full moon beaming down upon them, howling was heard but it was like no wolf howl they had ever heard before and it sounded close too close. Suddenly a cry of human agony filled the air, one of the sentries was in trouble. Caanin grabbed his sword and ran out of his tent just in time too intercept the second sentry coward he snarled in old norse To what creature does a Norsemen run in fear of another agonized cry was heard Answer me Thorvald he roared at the sentry It...It...Its the son of Loki, Fenris, he comes to punish us we have angered the gods
[color=orange]Don't be a fool Fenris is just a myth, follow I will prove it[/color] suddenly the whole camp was in turmoil cries of dieing men and the smell of spilled human blood tainted the air. Then he saw it, the beast standing before him moonlight shining on it's silver coat red eyes gleaming the werewolf turned and looked Caanin in the eye he was to be it's next victim. Unsheathing his sword Caanin charged forward he would show his men even the mighty Fenris should fear his peoples might. Swinging with all his strength he hit nothing What manner of sorcery is this he hissed his last words that day as the jaws of death closed around his shoulder. He was not a small man 6'5 and 240 pounds was suddenly hoisted from the ground and flung into a nearby tree all thought and feeling left him then.

He awoke a full day later, weak and delirious from bloodloss and hunger, yet somehow miraculously still alive. His brethren however were not so lucky, all 29 men lay battered broken and very much deceased amongst the ruined camp. He picked up his sword and began to walk in the direction he thought the ship was in, a weeks travel away. That night the change took him, for a new werewolf it was a slow and excruciating process he did not recall all the details of that first night in full wolf form only the elation of running at lightning speed through the trees. He awoke the next morning with the blood of an unkown upon his hands and the knowledge that he was now a monster, just like the one that killed his crew.

Lost and alone he spent his first century fighting his "curse" and for his life,In an unknown land. The locals would hunt him crieing out wendigo as they chased him. At first he would barely escape stumbling through the trees always half starved. Until the day came when he found out he could summon the wolf within without the power of the moon. Although he could not change form fully he found he could pull forth the wolfs abilities in human form. He relied on this more and more for everyday survival and slowly his two souls began to mold into one being and he gradually lost what little humanity was left in him.

The merging of his souls Had a direct effect on his physical appearence aswell, he could no longer hide what he was from the prying eyes of mortals. his eyes turned amber his teeth and claws were elongated, though not anywhere near the extent of his full wolfen form, and his long blond hair was streaked with black, silver, and red the colors of his other form. He began to terrorize the local populace. His keen wolf senses made him hard to track and his sword and regen abilties made him a horror in combat. whole villages would be decimated and left to burn in one night. He had no mercy and no pity, he had lost all shred of humanity. It would be this way for the following four centuries as he made his way across north america leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him.

A sound barely audible awoke Caanin from his dreaming, he lifted his head to scent the air but the windless night carried no scent. There it was again that sound. Caanin rose and unsheathing his sword readied himself for combat.

it has been 6 years since the last official meeting of the clan leaders. We at the Marcus clan had our own issues to deal with. Since Liliths successful campaign todrive everyone into submission, we have been hiding out in one of our bunkers. Luckily the location was kept secret to even Magnus.

I was reviewing my email logs when I came across something interesting. An email from an unknown sender through an unknown server. "Urgent: To all Clan Leaders: Report to Ground Zero as soon as possible". After 20 seconds, the email deleted itself without leaving a trace of it anywhere.



4 years before
Myself and 4 other Marcus clan members were out in Nevada searching for a relic. A staff that was said to have been embued with pure blood essence of the first Vampire, Lilith. We needed a pure sample of her blood for the labs.

"Terrence, you and Tao go to the cav system out in the Valley for your search. Phil, Zach and myself are going to..." I put up a stop signal with my right hand. I could hear something moving toward us. Something Massive.

I picked up my sat track PDA and zoomed in on our location. There was a massive heat signature the size of a football field coming at us at Mach 2. "Everyone. Grab your gear. We are leaving".

I had seen that heat signature before. It was one of the Venavore squads lilith had created. The 5 of us could barely take on 1, let alone an army.

We ran for what seemed like eternity before we reached the east shoreline of the United States. The Atlantic ocean never seemed so Inviting. I pulled out that PDA again and switched to a different satellite. But the link was dead. I prepared to say goodbyes as we watched the army of Venavores approaching us when something unexpected happened. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was watching their movement.

The entire sky lit up with the lights and booming of well over 500 black hawk helicopters. They hovered above us for a few seconds before 1000 missiles were shot at the oncoming Super Vampires. We seized the opportunity to get us some Venavore blood. Most of the
Army was incapacitated or injured beyond repair. Me and the other 4 drew our blades and took off as fast as we could toward the Venavores. We decapitated around 40 before the remaining ones came to and started to fight back. I lost 3 of my own before me and Terrence escaped.

Present Time
"Well...ground zero should be LESS than fun" I muttered to myself. The marcus clan hadnbecome the largest one out of all the remaining clans. Save for the new Lilith sect. After the fight between Magnus and samantha over 6 years ago, we started a new campaign to find suitable new recruits. And it has worked well to our advantage so far.

I turned on the compound wide Announcement system. "Attention. This is Toodles. Our clan is to be immediately represented at ground zero ASAP. I, and a squad of 15 gene modified soldiers will be attending. The compound is on lockdown until otherwised ordered".

Terrence had been my number 1 since that day 4 years ago. "Terrence, have the squad and proper transportation ready in 1 hour". "Yes, sir" he said.

It was ironic. Me and my clan. The ones who, as recent as 6 years ago were ridiculed for being young and stupid, have become the strongest Clan to defend against Lilith and her hell minions, or so I believed.

It took only a few hours to reach ground zero. It was quiet. I could smell Werewolf and hellhound in the air. Both stenches were fairly new. No, the werewolf was still present somewhere. The Hell hound is gone. It would seem that it wasn't only Vampires who were to attend here.

I gave only silent hand orders. All 15 squad members fanned out to investigate the area. We found the tracks of a hell hound. Gone no longer than 15 minutes. I could suddenly feel its stare on me. I yelled at the squad "grab your weapons! The hellhound is here!" It jumped out of a bush and lunged for me. I couldn't move nearly fast enough.
I was on the ground and managed to dodge its first strike when the Ranged vampires opened fire on it. The other 6 jumped on it and ripped it to pieces.

I got up and gathered myself. I could still smell the Werewolf. And I knew it was watching us. "We are not friends of Lilith" I yelled into the air. "We were ordered here by an unknown. I am Toodles, leader of the Marcus clan....Reveal yourself". There was only silence. "Alright. Fan back out and find the wolf" I ordered.

I walked around the Ruins of the old White house. I could see what remained of the Pentagon just off in the distance. This entire city was now a ghost town...Literally. The only things that roamed the streets were the Hellish minions of Liliths Creation. The few pockets of Humans who had survived were under ground in the White House Bomb shelter. With walls of steel so thick that Lilith herself couldn't break in.

I looked at the PDA sat track thinking to myself "It's only a matter of time beforemy satellites go out". I could see a number of cold signatures heading this way. Slowly.Cautious. Regular Vampires no doubt. I could also see the extra hot signature of the wolf. But I decided to play his game.

Six years may have seemed like a long time for the Vampires and Werewolves under siege by Lilith and her ilk. For Zaio however, it had been a long and welcome break from the rule of his father.

Just before the bulk of conflict began, Zaio had left the coven. Confused by his new found abilities and haunted by voices in his head, he needed time to think.

He traveled the world, attempting to meet the oldest of old vampires, in order to understand what was happening to him and why he felt the need to destroy what little family he had left.

In the meantime Magnus had got missing. After the great battle he was whisked off the scene by his security detail and nobody has heard from his since. The Marcus bloodline seems to be leading now, with Mr Tootles at the helm.

After a long six years traveling, it was time for Zaio to return to his home and take his place as the leader of the clan. He expected heavy resistance, but that would be met with fierce retribution.

Nobody would stand in his way, not even his father if by chance they met. With the glare of his purple eyes, his sword on his back and what little belongings he had left, Zaio started his long journey from the Himalayas to America.

Why America? He didn’t know. It had come to him in another of his nightmares. Scenes of death ages past along with new images from the new world which had grown out of the chaos of the war.

He suspected Lilith attempting to lure him back. As one of the only “new” elders to have been born, he was an asset sought by both sides. He however, would create a new side, and forge the Vampire nation into what it should be.

It would be a long and cold walk down the mountain. Luckily for him, one of his new found abilities was to day walk as other old vampires had called it. Direct sunlight would still harm him but with enough protection, Zaio could wander the streets in broad daylight and the only discomfort was the burning of his eyes.

A small price to pay to the see world in a whole new light..

The sound was getting louder, Caanin moved quietly sword in hand towards a broken window, that gave him a view of the street. Then he caught the scent of vampires several of them all rather young. Then he saw them 16 in all, 15 armed and dressed like soldiers. What are they doing here he wondered and decided to follow them. Quickly and quietly he sheathed his sword and gathered what few possessions he had. Including twin tomahawks a one handed battle axe and two grenades, he had found on a dead human soldier. He also grabbed his rather dingy grey trench coat then putting up the hood of his equally dirty sweatshirt he made his way to the roof.

He followed them silently leaping from rooftop to rooftop until they came to a stop. He noticed that it was the same roof he had been on earlier that evening. Caanin watched as the leader gave the order to fan out and make a perimeter. Just then the hellhound that had been lurking around leapt from a bush at the lead vampire. He went down but the others opened fire and Caanin watched as six of them leapt on the beast tearing it too pieces. Caanin took note that these soldiers were a little bit stronger than the local vampires. Suddenly he heard the leader yell out We are not friends of Lilith ... we were ordered here by an unknown. I am Toodles leader of the Marcus clan ...Reveal yourself Caanin answered with dead silence, he froze, his only experience with vampires had been with the locals and those meetings usually ended with him decapitating his attacker. These ones were armed however and he would be dead before he even got across the street. Toodles seemed to grow impatient and then ordered his men to fan back out and find the "wolf". This jarred Caanin into movement he needed to get away. Then a thought occurred to him this Toodles seemed well connected, perhaps he could help him find his lost mate, and he did claim to be no friend of the Demon Queens.

Making a decision Caanin began to move off the roof. He would talk to Toodles, but it would be on his terms not with an armed escort. He watched Toodles walk to the side of the white house. Caanin turned and headed the other way, he had an idea. Living and surviving alone had given him a unique knowledge of the city both above and below. He knew the sewers like the back of his hand. they were the only place liliths minions never went. On his way to a man hole cover he caught the scent of other local vampires drawn towards there own kind. Another thought put extra speed to his step, a memory only two years old. A group of vampires had banded together for survival about 25 or so but so many vampires all in one area had attracted every vile for miles around, and all of them had been slaughtered. After that the city vamps lived solitary or in pairs to draw less attention. Toodles wasn't from around here, he didn't know, and all that gunfire would bring in every vile and probably every hound within at least a mile. He needed Toodles help and now Toodles needed his.

Caanin followed the sewers until he was on the far side of the white house. He quickly climbed out and made his way to were he had last seen the vampire leader. Traveling below ground had an unknown but beneficial effect on Caanin it blocked him from satellite view. Had he tried to sneak over land Toodles would have tracked and caught him easily. As it was when he reapeared it was just as Toodles looked up from his screen at two returning guards.

Caanin couldn't wait and risk detection this close to them, gripping a tomahawk he threw it at one of the guards as he sprinted towards the other. The first guard was down the small axe blade buried deep in his shoulder. The other soldier attempted to lift his gun and fire but Caanin was already there. He yanked it from the vampires hands and hit him with the end of it once in the gut and once even harder in the head to render him unconcious. Then glaring at Toodles he said Now that I have your attention, my name is Caanin, and we have some urgent matters to discuss. I suggest calling the rest of your men back in... We wont be alone here much longer and if indeed you are an enemy of Liliths then I highly doubt you will enjoy our guests. If you will trust me I can get you out of here with all your limbs attached. Eyes fixed on Toodles he awaited an answer

Zach stood watching and waiting for the others to arrive at the capitol. What a strange view this place once held. Now it is desolate and a breeding ground for Vile and Hellhounds. Just as Zach was about to sit down he heard motorcycles headed his way and a brief sniff suggested that they were humans. Luckily, they were the humans that Zach trusted to meet with. After all it was the humans that suggested the meeting at the capitol.

When the humans pulled up they were rugged looking and armed to the teeth. Zach was in a beat up faded brown leather jacket with some old black soldiers fatigue pants that had seen better days. Zach quickly spotted the leader of the humans and to his surprise it was a young man. No older than twenty and he led people twice his age. Very strange indeed. Zach took another sniff and realized that his posse was also here, but hiding in the shadows; Ruth, Zoe, Calvin, and Margaret. The humans showed no fear and they had no reason to unless they betrayed his trust and tried to kill him.

Where are the others? The young human asked, brushing his hair back.

My name is Zach and you are?

The name is Peter. And we cannot start talking unless the others are here. The leader of the vampires and the leader of the wolves. Where are they?

Not exactly sure. You see much has changed in the six years. Magnus has vanished. Zaio has also went off the radar. The vampires leader? I have no idea who that is. As for the werewolves my friend, hell if I know. So if you want to wait for the others, we can wait. But they may never show, because they are either dead or missing for good.

Well while we wait. Perhaps you could enlighten us on what happened here at our capitol? Peter asked, his tone defiantly changed.

I do not know. I was not here when that event took place. I only have stories of what happened. And I am not sure if I believe them. Zach said, looking around for some sort of sharpshooter, just in case.

Like wise Zach. We only have stories as well. But I will tell you mine and you tell me yours. Deal?

Deal, cowboy

Peter began, Apparently, the vampire known as Lilith was captured by the United States government in the 1930s. From there Lilith allowed the scientist to experiment on her and the likes. Of course, Lilith was just using mind control on the scientist to build genes for her future soldiers. She forced them to hide her genes in an underground vault under the white house for safe keeping until she could infuse them into her body and give birth to them. Lilith escaped in 1935. And then again in 2012, she broke into the outhouse with the help of some venavores and took the genes and infused them into her body. The process only took a few minutes and then she gave birth to over 100 baby Vampires. The vampires, not the venavores destroyed the world. What story do you have?

Well mine is completely different. Lilith did not need to harvest genes for babies, she only needs a mate for that. But what you did get right was that there was a secret vault, next to the bomb shelter down there. The vault Lilith entered had the corpses of Venavores that the united states was collecting from Africa. These corpses were found in a valley and they were Magnus experiments. Lilith entered the vault and gave life to all the venavores down there and, well, the rest is history. Zach said, looking at Peter who was apparently agreeing with Zach.

That sounds plausible. So Lilith can give Life?

Yes, Peter, but she is known for taking it instead.

Well Zach, looks like you are going to have to wait for the surprise. Peter said, as his men quickly drew there guns. But not in a hostile way, just a prepared for combat way.

What surprise? Zach asked, confused.

A weapon of the ancients. We humans call it the spear of destiny. I believe you supernatural beings call it the spear of freedom.

The word sunk into Zach's ears and he could hear Margaret explaining what the spear was to Zoe and Ruth. Yep Margaret was definitely book smart. Not that Ruth or Zoe were stupid by any means, but Margaret read at least 100 books a day in Magnus's library. It is strange that she does not know where he is. If anyone did it would have been her. Zach's mind wandered and he quickly brought it back to the attention of the spear.

The spear was a relic of the ancients liberation from the great hybrid of wolf and vampire. The first ancestor of Wolves and Vampires. Lilith was his first creation according to Margaret. The spear killed him when the first Daughter of Lilith jabbed it into his heart after he turned her lover into a werewolf. The hybrid, who is never named, died. Lilith angered at her daughter then took the spear and stabbed into her daughters heart. Her daughter died next to him. But not before Lilith's first born lover attacked Lilith. Lilith was severely wounded from the fight. This wolf became the first leader of the werewolf line and is King John great grand father. But that cannot be for certain, it could also have been his grandfather. The texts are very obscure for back then. There has never been another hybrid, ever.

If the humans truly have this spear. Then they have a powerful weapon. And they all would need to protect it. This is the weapon that can defeat Lilith, all the ancients both Vampire and Werewolf, and any of there minions. Now all Zach had to do was wait for the rest to show up. And they were not far away at all.....

[edit on Jul 24th 2010 by TheMythLives]

I was staring out at the old pentagon when two of my men came up to me. One of them informed me that the area was clear. I glanced back at my screen and the hot signature was gone. What the hell?! I said. And as the words rolled off my lips, an axe struck the soldier to my right, dead in the shoulder. I turned to see who threw it but I was too slow. The soldier on the left was unconscious and a Lycan was holding his fire arm

Now that I have your attention, my name is Caanin, and we have some urgent matters to discuss. I suggest calling the rest of your men back in... We wont be alone here much longer and if indeed you are an enemy of Liliths then I highly doubt you will enjoy our guests. If you will trust me I can get you out of here with all your limbs attached. He said to me.

I glared at him for a few seconds before saying finally [color=Orange]Well, aren't you the sneaky one? I tell you what, how about we just kill you and deal with the locals ourselves?[/color]. As I said it, the rest of the squad surrounded us and pointed their silver loaded side arms at the wolf.

I watched his facial expressions before I caught a scent. It was more of the super vampires. But I also caught a brief wiff of another wolf somewhere nearby. An older wolf and one I was familiar with. Skyler or Zach maybe? And a number of humans.

I ordered my men to stand down and said to Caanin we need to hide, please lead the way

Zach was heavily curious now and the humans had his full attention. Zach turned and waved for the others to join him. Margaret, Ruth and Zoe appeared out of the shadows and the humans were definitely thrown off guard.

Peter was talking to one of the men, probably telling him to take a walk and make sure no others were around and if there was to bring them in, but only if they friendly of course.

So, while we wait, mind telling us a story? Peter asked, We hardly know anything about you or your kind, or any of you really. It will help pass the time.

A story to tell? Zach looked at Margaret and Margaret began telling them about the elders. While Zach and Zoe, decided to take a short walk around.

You know the last time I saw your father we were both held up in a tunnel back in the old town. We were chasing someone. Not sure who it was, but Magnus was definitely concerned. And he seemed upset that he could not catch her. The other thing I caught of her was her scent and of course her blonde hair. I had run into her before when I made an escape from the assassination on my head by the Vampires. That is when we first met, remember? This woman was different. She in many ways resembled you. Pure blood and apparently quicker than Magnus to out run him and I. but along the way she dropped something. An old ring, with a ruby, but this Ruby had a strong scent of blood in it. I was surprised that Magnus could not smell it and apparently no other vampire could smell it either. So I hid it, on impulse, it was a stupid decision, but when I realized my error,, becaus ethis blood was different, I had never smelt it before not human and not vampire or wolf, and gave the ring to Toodles. I was going to give it to your father, but he went missing. So I went Toodles, told him that Vampires cannot smell the hardened blood and to run tests on it. Hopefully, Toodles has found something. Because to be honest, I have no idea what it is.

Zoe, could tell that Magnus was missed by many. Especially Zach, who began to view Magnus as a father figure. Sadly, Magnus has disappeared and only everyone could hope that he was still alive. His power will be needed in the future. Zoe, was concerned more for her brother, her father and Zaio had been butting heads before he left. In fact, Zoe was sure that Zaio had killed him, but when she asked him Zaio stated that he did not do that. And Zaio has never lied to Zoe. Strange what a crisis can do to a family. Very strange indeed......

As we slowly moved through the rubble, I caught a glimpse of a group of people. I could tell some of them were humans and immediately recognized Margaret, Zach and Zoe. Margaret was telling a story to the humans but we were too far away to hear what was being said. Unsure of how the group would react to us just popping out of the rubble, I decided we would wait and watch for others to arrive. The sat track was showing the Venavores had reached our first destination and were moving in after us, slowly. I was a little nervous but knew it would take at least 45 minutes for them to reach us, so we waited.

I still had the old ring Margaret had given me a while back, it was in my pocket. While we waited, I pulled it out and fiddled with it. I knew the test results of it and I knew that Margaret wouldn't want to hear the results, but it meant everything to us all.

Zach and Zoe strayed from the group and began talking amongst themselves a few yards away. I noticed something moving in one of the nearby bushes. Apparently neither Zach nor Zoe noticed. Neither did any of the humans or Margaret. They were all into what was being said. I sent one of my men to scope it out. The sat track showed nothing in our vicinity just yet, but Caanin had done a bang up job demonstrating how easy it was to fool the satellite. I switched to my infrared goggles and saw it. A Hellhound, just sitting there, watching. It was not aware of me and my men just yet, so we had an advantage.

I ordered the squad to switch to infrared and load up on half silver/half infrared rounds and take aim. We inched closer until we were in optimal firing range. The group just below us, still unaware of the danger. I gave the finger countdown by 3 and we opened fire. The hound was down almost instantly.

Everyone in the group below us screamed in surprise and within seconds we were surrounded by Margaret, Zoe and Zach. HOLD! I yelled. ITS TOODLES!. We just took out a Hellhound that was about to eat you all alive. All the humans were on the ground flat by this point. I looked down and started laughing. Zach smiled and started slowly walking back to the group of humans and informed them it was ok to get up.

I handed Margaret the ring and told her I would give her the results later, when we were in a more hospitable environment. I got in front of the crowd to make a speech. Our satellites are tracking a group of Venavores on their way here. We should be expecting them in around 3 minutes. I suggest we all depart before we are food. Sorry to cut the meeting short.

I signaled my men to begin preparations for departure and waited for Zach to give the orders as well.