Hillman Compound

Ellis tugged at her glove with her teeth as she walked directly to the front entrance of Hillman's compound. Tucking her gloves into the three quarters trench coat style jacket, she flipped one side of her hair back over her shoulder and graced the security guard with a glorious smile.

'Right. Ellis Duban, here to see Terrance Hillman.' She crossed an arm and checked her nails as she waited.

Officer Adam blinked stupidly at the woman standing in front of his check point. There he was, standing at his post, watching the monitors in his little shack. Suddenly, there she was, walking straight up to his check point. Everything about her was black. Her hair, shoes, clothes...she seemed to blend in the night. He almost didn't notice her but did.

He blinked again.

'Right. Ellis Duban, here to see Terrance Hillman.'

Blink. Blink. Officer Adams forehead wrinkled for a moment as the now disinterested woman started to check her nails which were, ironically, painted red. Blink. He put his hand on his shoulder radio mouth piece.

'Uh...Ellis Duban is here?'

Officer Adams was not known for his ability to apply security rules to real life situations, but he did very well during the training class.

Blink.

Ellis walked with a deliberate sway as they 'escorted' her to the interrogation room to wait for Hillman. Deeper they walked into the wanna be Domicile, she had decided to call it. Ten sub levels later, they opened a steel door and asked her to wait patiently in the room with the one chair.

Refusing to be touched, Ellis sidestepped the guards and walked confidently into the room. The door slamming behind her resonated deeply and it made her fangs quiver. She had brandished one at a guard named 'Williams' who kept staring at her mouth. Something she did get a lot but he seemed more interested in her fang and looked as if he'd burst at the sight of hers. They always coveted the fangs.

She undid the buttons and strap to her coat and sat down on the metal chair with a flourish. Crossing her legs, she stared into the one way mirror, waiting patiently for her host.

Simon emergered from the darkness of the sewar with Carol speaking in his tiny ear piece, directing him to the blind spots along the security perimeter of Hillman's compound. He was a sizable distance from any opening in the building structure. Checking his watch, he noted that the night was pressing on without the clan even being within 100 yards of where they needed to be.

*Simon?* Said a tinny small voice.

Simon snapped out of his reverie and answered Carol. 'I'm sorry, was looking at the layout. No one's here yet but Ellis must be inside. Are you in yet?' They would need access to the security system soon. Alec and Ginnie needed to place the explosives and time was running out, but his concern wasn't for Ellis.

He looked up at the moon as it made its way back down.

They were running out of time and he'd sooner die then further jeopardize the clan anymore than Ellis already had.

Carol popped her gum, ignoring the fact that it was probably not a little annoying.

'Bah, this fucking system is making our program go tits up.' Funny term, she thought. 'Wouldn't tits up be a good thing? Tits down sounds saggy. Anyway, we're running several other hacks and I'll be in this thing like a prom dress...wait, does that make sense?'

Carol and her team were sitting a half mile away in an abandoned building that was commonly used as a monitoring station for clan hunts. They sat in a semi circle, surrounded by monitors, blinking lights and the whirr of computer drives. She snapped her fingers and pointed towards one of the four Mercs sitting with her. Barking orders at him, she turned back to the monitor. Her monitor split into an eight view camera link up. She couldn't see Simon but knew he was there by the signal his com link was transmitting.

She called out to the orders, 'We SHOULD,' eyeing up the Merc she just yelled at, 'have our link to the compound ready when the rest arrive.' She checked her watch. 'We're on the wrong side of midnight people, let's not wake the neighbors before it's time. Alec, Ginnie...you read me?'

Chuckling a bit to the banter, Alec nodded uselessly as he hooked on his suction harness and extentions.

What kind of prom dress are we talking here? We copy. Sitting tight until we get the green light. From setup to my access point is a nice leisurely four minute walk. Recon, rigging on one and ready will be approximately six to eight minutes later depending on placement of their assets. Ginnie looks like she's doing something my feeble IQ can't handle, so I'll let her speak for herself.

Glancing back at Ginnie, she was bent over a variety of very dangerous things of varying complexity...things he would shortly be carting about. Smiling, he watched the way her face contorted in concentration as she worked. From the collection of raw materials, Alec knew this place would be coming down in a really big way. Quite the crater.

Ginnie tucked her tongue into the corner of her mouth and set the last wire in the last device. She had twenty hastily made bombs, all messy, but they would do the job, and only go off if hit with a flaming arrow or she pushed her little button

"Copy, Carol. I'm ready as I can be. I need to seal these cases, and pack this shit. And I think you meant in like prom night."

She picked up and aerosol can and began to spray each 2x3 inch device. She liked the deck of cards style and size it was easy for assembly and easily overlooked. When finished she picked up one of two hard-sided black backpacks and put half of them into secure slots then packed the inside with fitted inch thick foam pieces. She handed that bag to Alec and began to fill her own.

Arriving and getting her first in person look at the place Val was working on finding a good spot to work from. The M4OA3 had an excellent suppresser on it and the 500-yard perimeter fence was only about half the gun’s maximum range, so she should be able to pick off anyone trying to flee as long as she had a solid spot to set up.

Listening to the back and forth over her earpiece, she made a face at the mention of being on the wrong side of midnight. She hated being rushed and she really disliked the idea of sunrise; seventy odd years as a vampire and it still made her go cold.

Damned waterfront property, there was no good elevation to work from. She’d have to climb to the roof of another building if they wanted her to snipe.

“Just let me know where you want me.”

She was still looking for a likely perch, but thought it would be a good idea to let them know she was there and ready.

Ginnie didn't recognize the voice in her ear, but she figured anyone that was willing to speak up would be an asset.

"Who ever just spoke, come to the van. I have a job for you."

She had charges that needed to be set around the foundation of the building and scattered around the grounds as land mines. These were large bombs that barely had a casing, and were messy to look at but they would make a big bang and that's what mattered.

This would also give her a chance to meet the new member.

“Copy.”

Speaking up had its advantages, she hoped. ‘I have a job for you.’ Sure, it was vague but with any luck, it would get her involved in the action even a bit sooner. It sure as hell had to be more productive than looking for a perch.

Quickly making her way to the van Val took a second to look about before lightly wrapping on the closed door.

The door swooshed open and Ginnie beckoned the vampire inside. She smiled and pointed to herself then gestured to Alec.

"I'm Ginnie, that's Alec. We're your resident bomb squad."

She moved into the van and picked up a third, still open, hard-sided, backpack. She pulled one of the charges out and waved the woman over.

"Know anything about setting a charge?"

Carol tried to get a reading on Ellis but without having access to their security system, she might have well have been locked up in a lead box. She considered Simon's silence the entire evening. He must be grappling with issues that she couldn't even comprehend. Her bond with Ellis was nothing but a memory now, but her death, if it happened, would cause such a ripple effect across the city and the Tacharan in the rest of the world that it could very well shake whatever foundation that her mistress had created. Simon would have quite a bit on his hands.

Carol listened to Ginnie and her team ready the bombs. Simon left the specifics of the infiltration up to Carol so she began with the instructions that he had given her earlier.

'Here's the dope. As I said before, the compound is mostly underground. We need to prepare the charges on the outside perimeter but be able to get down to the sub levels. We want it to implode on itself, not blow out. Ginnie, can you do that?'

Ginnie's face split into a grin. Carol's question made her wish she had video taped her last two break-ins.

"Well it won't be nearly as fun, but sure. If that's what you want, that's what I'll do."

She turned back to showing Valentine how to set up the charges, paused looked in Carol's general direction, even though she knew the blonde couldn't see her.

"Are you sure, cause I can make a right pretty 'splosion on the outside and make the underground crumble in on itself. I tell you that there'd be somthin' ta watch." Her voice had taken on a southern twang and she did her best not to giggle. 'Really Ginnie, you ought to be serious. Nobody likes a smart ass right before they go into battle.'

Nova adjusted all the…crap the mercs seemed to think would be handy…and headed to the dock side of the compound, listening to the exchanges but still feeling oddly quiet herself. The smell of the water was making her feel slightly ill, or at least that was what she was choosing to blame it on.

She was close enough that, on Simon’s order, she could move in. She wasn’t sure of how far she would get, but with any luck she would at least get a look at the lab before the others blew it to smithereens.

Might as well see what the other guys learned before they killed them all. Of course, Nova didn’t really have her hopes up; finding information wasn’t the main priority.

“I’m out back.” She shook her head, watching people go about their work, and muttered under her breath. “They have no idea what’s coming.”

It didn’t seem at all odd to smile and exchange intros while preparing to set bombs and destroy things.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Valentine.”

Stepping into the van she took a look at what was set out. Much of it looked familiar. She was better with a gun that a bomb but was not ignorant of explosives

“I know some, mostly car bombs though.”

Listening to the exchange between Ginnie and Carol Val decided that this would be more of a challenge than driving in and blowing up, but more effective too.

"Great! All you do with these is peel off this strip to expose the adhesive and put it as far down on the actual foundation as you can get it. Then you press the green button once, let it beep then press it again. That will prime it to go off when I push my detonator."

She set that back in the backpack and took out a more circular looking explosive. It was dark and ovular so that it would blend into the ground.

"Ok these are land mines. I want you to scatter them on the ground. Listen up every one. If you see a little red blinking light, don't fucking step on it."

She grinned at Valentine. That would suck if one of her people lost a limb or two or their life to her bombs.

"To set these you do the same thing. Press once, let it beep then press again. Make sure the little light starts to blink before you walk away. If it doesn't let me know. Now these guys will go off when I depress a certain series on my detonator. I will explode them last."

She tucked the mine back in the pack and tucked in the two pieces of fitted foam.

"You have fifteen of each device. Space them at three feet intervals around the building. Do not pattern the mines, but cover as much ground as you can with them. Any questions?"

She smiled and gave the pack to Valentine. Hopefully she wouldn't blow herself sky-fucking-high, before the charge was called.

Mathias watched the activity in the compound from his spot near the dockside edge of the compound. He mentally ticked off the seconds an dminutes for guard patrol patterns, not wanting any unnecessary surprises.

The comset was perking up with various Tacharan checking in, and so Mathias did likewise.

" This is Mathias, I am dockside,awaiting further orders. "


Watching Hillman's employees go about their night, he almost felt a twinge of sorrow for them. An apocolypse was about to descend upon them and there was nothing they could do to fight it.

Simon listened quietly to the others call in their position and ready themselves to enter the compound. 'There's nothing more we can do until Carol gets the link up and we get the signal from Ellis.' Although he wasn't sure if that signal would come. If the guards outside were any indication of how tight security was, this was going to be a challenge for a handful of vampires, but he had faith in his people.

'Carol, you have five minutes before we start picking off guards on the outer ring.'

Simon took his rifle off his back and knelt down, readying himself for long range shots. He was about five hundred yards off and at that range, it would be cake.

Carol rolled her eyes. 'Oh yeah, no pressure there, Simon.' She whacked one of the Mercs on his arm who flinched but then turned his monitor towards Carol. Her eyes glittered as she watched the code scroll down. Her eyes racing, reading as much as she can.

Leaning back over to a computer on her left, she and another Merc frantically deciphered the incoming code and rerouted the information back with their hacking program. Suddenly the monitors overhead flickered and then came to life. They watched silently as each of the dozen monitors lit up with feed from inside the compound.

Carol reached over and grabbed the Merc she had just hit on the arm and gave him a huge kiss on the cheek. 'Simon, we're in.' Snapping her fingers, the mercs all hovered over their own computers, Carol spoke over her shoulder to them while concentrating on her own monitor. 'Find me the security codes, floor schematics and location of Ellis.'

Her eyes flickered across her three screens as they searched for Ellis.

Williams watched Ellis whistle to herself as she sat relaxed in her seat. She didn't look around, not that there was much to see, but stared directly into the center of the one way mirror, whistling a rather catchy tune.

He stood there, motionless as he concentrated on her. The other guards came and went and a few scientists would step in and whisper to themselves. The plan was to milk her on her own beast and surely she realized that. Why had she come alone? No, they must be outside, waiting for her signal. They hadn't searched her and that was per Hillman, the idiot.

Williams gauged her outfit now, she had at least two guns on her and her gloves, the tips were brushed metal. The small decorative spikes on her outfit didn't fool him. They were strategically placed to tear the top inch of bare skin off in one swipe. With her strength, she could easily penetrate their padded armor. While raging, which he knew most of her kind shared in ability, she'd pierce kevlar. Suddenly, Ellis smiled on the other side of the one way mirror. She was happily baring her fangs again, teasing whoever was behind the mirror.

Williams radio burst into life with a static screech but he did not flinch but immediately answered it. 'Williams here.' Hillman authorized the interrogation to begin. 'Commencing.'

His hand hovered over the panel in front of him but he stopped. He watched her again, chuckling softly to herself. He decided to introduce himself first and put his hand on the door into the room.

She didn't have to look around the room to know that it was completely sealed and sound proof. The metal intrigued her, though. It turned the sound of a vacuumed sealed room into a slight hiss. There weren't even any vents in the room which made her wonder how much air she had, but was not worried about it. The eletrical noise the door made meant it was probably eletrically sealed. So whistling helped passed the time until one of them would come in to check her for weapons. The thought made her smile as she stared into the ridiculously cliche one way mirror in front of her.

The door hissed open much to her delight. Here was the first contestant. She casually looked at the door which was situated to the right of the mirror and noticed the same guard that had been staring at her mouth. He closed the door behind him and the sizzling electrical noise filled the room.

Ellis was quite sadden by the fact that he did not appear afraid. Instead he looked curious, but they always were. Neither one spoke for a full minute, they just looked patiently at one another. Suddenly he took a step forward and moved his hands behind his back.

'Ms. Duban, I've been instructed to collect your weapons.' He hesitated for a moment, looking down at her.

Ellis slowly tilted her head to look up at him.

'But I think we both know that you have no intention of giving them to me.'

Ellis waited.

'You don't want me to try and take them from you.' It was more of a statement than a question.

'By all means,' Ellis said slowly and with a soft, loving tone. 'Please try.'

The .38's were nestled happily in her back hip holsters. The metal chair made them dig into her skin a bit but it was a welcomed pain. Reminded her of why she was there. She watched the guard and noticed he was looking at her mouth again. He spoke again before she could comment.

'Your fangs, you don't hide them.' Again, another statement.

'Where's the fun in that?'

'Indeed', replied the guard. His hands came forward and clapsed together and he bowed politely. 'Was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Duban.'

Ellis watched him. He was friendly, unassuming. Clear psychopath. Of course, one psychopath would know another. She did not reply but watched him exit the room.

The rest was a blur.

Kyle picked himself up, wiping the vomit from his mouth. He wondered just how much of his dinner was left after all the puking he was doing. He stumbled back, towards the chair and despite its metal appearance, suddenly looked very comfortable. He reached out and grabbed the arm of the chair and gripped it.

It twisted like paper in his hand.

He pulled back like his hand was on fire. He stared at his hand which was covered in his blood but as soft as could be. Kyle looked at the metal arm, twisted and imprinted with the little crevaces of his hand. It reminded him of play-doh.

There was a click and a voice chimed into the interrogation room. 'You just crushed the arm of that chair.'

Looking up, Kyle rolled his eyes and said, 'Fucking BILL ME.'

With a monotone tone, the voice continued, 'You are feeling the effects of the drug that is the by product of the vampire blood we harvested from the specimen you had the good fortune of meeting earlier.'

Kyle wiped his hand on his pants and again spoke up into the air, 'I wouldn't call that fortunate.' He mumbled, definitely not for the vampire.

There was an electrical hiss and the door opened. Kyle turned and from the left of the one way mirror entered the same scientist who injected him with the drug. 'These are residual effects of the drug and one of the few things about the drug that makes it so damn popular.'

'How is it I've never heard of this Eternity junk?'

'Simply because you are not rich enough, Mr. Evans.'

'I don't know, I'm pretty rich.'

'No Mr. Evans, not at one hundred thousand a dose, you aren't.'

Kyle shrugged, 'I've drank more than that in six months, you don't know me that well.'

The scientist approached Kyle and smirked. 'Funny man.' He reached out to touch Kyle's face.

Kyle grabbed the scientists arm and it caused the man to crumble. Kyle let go and picked the man up by the collar, easily lifting the man off the floor and to his eye level.

Grunting, the scientist said quickly, 'I mean you no harm, Mr. Evans.'

'Are you fucking kidding me?'

'In the room, next to us is the creator of that beast. You don't want to be here when she gets out and she will. I'm here to help, Mr. Evans.' He pulled at Kyle's hands.

Kyle watched the man, he was clearly in distress and it wasn't from being lifted off the ground. This man was worried. 'Why are you helping me?' He nodded towards the mirror, 'where are the others?'

Fighting for air as his collar slowly cut off his air supply, 'They're all going to watch the interrogation next door, believe me, no one cares about you, Mr. Evans. I didn't sign up for this.'

'This being torturing a species?' Kyle slowly lowered the scientist.

Coughing, the scientist sputtered, 'You have no idea what you're in the middle of, do you? Of what these vampires are, of WHO they are or how far their control goes. The rabbit hole goes further than you think, Mr. Evans. Straight down to hell.'

'I could kill you and make a run for it with these abilities now.'

'They're temporary...and you wouldn't make it one hundred feet. Not without this.' The scientist pulled out another vial out of his pocket. It looked like an injection pen that diabetics used, but this wasn't insulin.

Kyle took the pen and put it in his pocket. 'Fine, we're out of here.'

'One thing, Mr. Evans. The drug, it's addictive and you've had more than the normal dose.'

Kyle's eyes widened. 'What the fuck did you put in me?'

The scientist squealed, 'It was Hillman. He wanted to see the effects of a massive dose on an addict. Your alcoholism.' The scientist shrugged, 'I'm sorry.'

Kyle shoved the scientist to the floor and considered what he had just been told. The injection pen suddenly felt heavy in his pocket. One addiction for another.

Great.

At Carol's declaration that they were in, Alec went through his final preps. He strapped the flat charges to the back of his suction attachments. That would give them a bit of added protection and keep them in easy reach as he wound down through the base. He also did a quick inventory - all of his picks were in place, essential oils stored, the magnetic replicator was fully charged, the mirror array was well stored, the cutters were all set and everything else was neatly tucked in the belt. Depending on how long Ellis wanted with this Hillman fellow he might be able to get some interesting R&D from their labs. The idea of financial gain crossed his mind as well, but he somehow doubted he'd find any stockpiles of valuables that he'd recognize...mercenary compounds were not typically known for their art.

Carol, this fox is ready to get in among the hens. Moving to position and awaiting Simon's signal.

Turning to Ginnie, he started

Well, I'm off mon co...

...and stopped abruptly. It probably wouldn't do to transmit endearments mid mission. Blushing, he coughed a bit, and continued

Sorry. See you on the inside.

Focusing strongly on his blending, Alec began his walk to the area around the perimeter from which he'd be making his approach. He'd wait until Carol's confirmation that she had stricken the facility deaf and blind and Simon gave him the all clear, but he'd rather have just walked in. Still...this was what being a team player was about. Following orders no matter what your personal preference might be.

This could take some getting used to.

Bypassing several posted guards who were well into their boring routines was quite simple. They rarely had a deja vu type reaction when they were entirely aware and awake. Patrol in the cold of winter always resulted in shorter circuits and more time at the warm points on a route. Finding a well concealed point directly across from the electrical maintenance hatch, he hunkered down comfortably, hoping it wasn't too long a wait. It was a bit chilly.

In position across from my entrance. Let me know when to head inside.

Ellis' eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the guard exit. She recrossed her legs and decided to get a little comfortable.

Click.

She heard the noise and looked around the room. Nothing had opened, but she clearly heard something click. She slipped off her left glove, resting it on the metal arm of the chair when the humming started. It was soft and almost barely unnoticeable. Was it a noise or a...vibration?

Ellis twisted around to look at the back of the room and nudged her glove off the arm. Again, nothing opened or seemed to move. Turning she began to reach down to pick up her glove when she noticed it wasn't on the floor. It was hanging on the side of the arm. The metal studs on her glove were stuck to the steel. She reached out to touch it and was shocked. Ellis blinked. Staring at the glove it suddenly occured to her.

She barely had enough time to activate the disc in her opposite hand before the electrical currents ran up her body, arching her back against the chair and throwing her head back in a horrible howl of pain.

'Hmm,' said the merc sitting beside Carol.

'Hmm what? What are you looking at?' She leaned over and looked at the merc's screen.

'I was going through the security files when I found this.' He pointed at it. 'I was doing a search of Ellis' name and the beast when this popped up.'

Carol read through the file, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. 'But this says...'

The merc nodded, 'Yeah...it does.'

Another merc yelled out, 'I GOT HER.'

Carol turned to look at his screen. 'WHAT? Where?'

Merc #2 shrugged, 'Her locator went off 5 seconds ago and it looks like she's in one of the interrogation rooms, but that's what their computer is telling ours.'

Suddenly the lights on the building started to fluxuate. The link up to the security cameras inside the building started to darken as well.

Carol returned to her computer, calling up the electrical grid. 'It's not an outage from outside, it's coming from the inside.' She paused. 'What the fuck are they doing with that much voltage?'

The lights started to dim as Kyle and the scientist stood talking in Interrogation room #2.

'Christ,' the scientist mumbled.

'What the hell is that?'

The scientist turned and ran for the door. It wouldn't open. He leaned his head against the cold steel and started to whimper.

'What the hell is THAT?' He walked up to the scientist and pushed him to the side. Grabbing the door knob he pulled as hard as he could on it. The door buckled, pulling away from the frame but only where the door knob was. He regripped it and pulled again, it didn't budge.

'It's wearing off.'

Again the injector pen called out to him. 'Fuck that, I'm not wasting it on a door. If i'm going to be a full fledged addict, it's going to be for more than a fucking door.' The lights keep flickering, off and on. 'What are they doing to her?'

The scientist slid down against the wall in the corner. 'They're electrocuting her with about 100 million volts of electricity.'

Kyle blinked. 'Well, I'm guessing that's...bad?'

They had no idea.

Simon had been twiddling his thumbs when the light started to flicker around the compound. Carol started her commotion over the com links and the power drained significantly, powering down to a soft glow.

'What the fuck are they doing with that much voltage?'

'Can you get a visual on her?' Simon put his hand on his rifle and waited.

'Can you get a visual on her?'

'We're trying, one second.' Carol and the mercs raced to narrow down the specific camera into the interrogation rooms. 'For fuck sakes, how many rooms does this guy have?' They started to reach over one another, checking all the screens and narrowing down their search when suddenly they found her.

Well they thought it was her, they couldn't actually see her since the electricity had burned out the camera links to the room.

'My...god.'

Ellis gripped the metal chair arms so tightly that she crushed them into tiny slivers and were embedded in her forearm and the palm of her hands. The metal on her outfit had been a poor choice. Her feet were planted on the ground and were shaking with the intense vibration of the electrical current coming up from the floor and the chair itself. The metal studs on her leather pants and forearms were burned into her skin. Her .38s melted and formed a bond between her and the metal chair and the pain from that was nothing compared to what was happening to her body.

She was literally melting. The skin on her face was cracking and her gums receeded back, exposing even more of her teeth and fangs. The smell from her hair and the smoldering of her leather outfit filled her nostrils and her back arched painfully as the currents seized her, tearing her asunder.

Ellis opened her eyes and let loose a horrific scream, one that came from the depths of her black soul. So loud, so furious, so pained that even the devil felt it. For one painfully excrutiating long moment, Ellis felt her long, treacherous life pass before and she was humbled. If there was a god, he'd let her die now.

If there wasn't and she didn't, she'd fucking find him.

The air in her lungs disappeared and her body refused to function further as the currents scrambled her mind like breakfast eggs. As if she wasn't already pissed off.

Simon felt a sudden wave of nausea, right about the same time Ellis began to scream. He bent over at the waist to try and catch his breath.

He wasn't bonded to her, so why was he feeling this? He took deep breaths out of his mouth as he tried to keep from throwing up. She was his creator and to his knowledge, her only child. He had no idea the creator bond would be like this. But if he was suffering, would Carol?

'Carol?'

Merc #1 responded, 'Simon she's uh...throwing up right now.'

Carol felt her stomach suddenly lurch and she rolled back in her chair and lunged for the garbage can. It felt like she was throwing up everything she had eaten not just that day, but every single day since the 3rd grade. In between the nausea she answered, 'Simon...I,' but was cut off by more vomiting.

He didn't know what to say to her without saying anything about their bond, but he fought past his nausea and did the next best thing. He lied.

'Carol, it'll pass. It's your bond as Ellis' familiar.' He considered what she was going through right at the moment as the lights continued to flicker. 'It's because we're close to her right now that you feel her pain.'

Carol was, in fact, feeling Simon's distress but the other's did not need to know that. Not right then. They were undoubtedly waiting for Simon to give the word to enter. He wasn't sure how long they had been electrocuting her, but he was fairly certain it was something she had never dealt with before and if it didn't kill her...god he couldn't imagine what she'd do.

The lights suddenly came back on full strength, signaling the end of whatever they were doing. Now was as good a time as any.

'Carol, cut the alarms and everyone MOVE IN!'

Wiping her mouth, Carol pulled back in front of her computer and disabled the alarm system.

'Done, move in and take this motherfucker, people.'

Carol wiped her forehead, the sick feeling fading. She knew what Simon was trying to say and why he said what he did. However she had forgotten to tell him what her and the merc had found and would not remember for several more minutes.

Wondering what the hell was going on inside, Alec simply stated

Copy that, gaining entry. Cancel fire in section 14 of the overlay maps - I'll be blending through there.

Rising from his hiding place, Alec silently slipped around the sentries at the checkpoint - with the flickering lights he'd be completely invisible to even the most trained eye. Approaching the hatch, he checked the area - clear. Kneeling, he quickly yanked the padlock open, oiled the hatch hinges, worked the oil in, opened the door, placed a magnet on the inside of the hatch to hold the now useless padlock in place and sealed the hatch behind him.

I'm in. Proceeding to electrical junction to set charge one and then down to the elevator shaft to set the main support charges.

Knowing the cameras were blind, Alec skittered quickly and quietly through his selected electrical crawlspaces. Reaching the primary junction box, he set the adhesive charge on the back side of the incoming power entries. Continuing through his tunnels, he went left, left, right, straight. straight, straight, left and was at the access mesh to the central elevator system. Twenty feet above would be the primary mechanical room.

Placing clamps on the edge of the thin metal grate, he pulled the grate inward and bent it up to the ceiling. Poking a mirror into the shaft, he saw that no elevators were coming. Crawling out, he anchored himself to a support piling and began his short ascent up the shaft using the air suction on the suit attachments. With each slight movement, there was a small sucking and puffing of air sound as he worked the air pumps on his hands to open and close the suction valves. He pulled himself up onto the catwalk and proceeded to the right a handful of steps. Reaching the entry to the mechanical room, he lifted his shirt for his traditional picks. Licking them clean after removing them from his scar, he easily picked the simple door lock and entered. The four bays of elevators controlled from this room would all fall to the bottom floor when this charge went off, severing their lines. Setting the charge in a central location, he radioed in.

Charges set at primary electrical junction and primary mechanical control. Make sure to use the stairs, folks. Heading to machine rooms one and three - you should have entry by then and I'll be setting charges for floor two. How is it looking out front?

Simon lifted his rifle and immediately started shooting off rounds. From his vantage point up on a ledge, he picked off the surrounding guards, one by one.

'The front is covered, don't wait on us, Alec. Everyone make your way in.' Simon holstered his rifle for a moment and stood. Taking a step, he leapt off the ledge, onto the ground below. The guards were coming out of the main entrance now and as he swung the rifle around on its strap, he pulled out his guns.

In a hail of gunfire, Simon walked slowly into the main entrance.

Ellis smiled as best she could at Williams who didn't find the smile as comforting as he would've liked, she wagered. She could smell his urine but more importantly, his fear.

Her hand was still placed on the door over his shoulder. She leaned into him, seductively, causing the man to gag slightly. Ellis pointed at the fangs and with her fangless grin whispered softly to the man.

'You really don't think we need those...do you?' And then began to feed.

At the charge order, Ginnie stood and began to take out the guards in her path. She would be setting the interior charges and then make her way down the elevator shaft to set other charges, before moving in to place her remaining charges on support beams. She'd fed just before loading the lab, and fed well, but she might probably indulge in a guard or two later.

She moved with speed and efficiency toward the door on her side and went in. 'Ok this is too easy.' She set her charge in the room and moved on. There was four other charges to set on this portion of the compound before moving to the elevator.

Ginnie pried open the door of the first shaft, leaned over the side and set her charge. As she stood, she felt the air rush from her body as a foot was planted squarely in her back.

"Son of a bitch!" She pushed herself up and spun around in the same movement and nearly fell back over laughing. It was a tiny little female guard. What the fuck was Hillman thinking. Then again that kick hurt like a bitch. Ginnie knew the woman had power, but still this might actually be fun. Though she really just needed to kill the woman and be on her way.

"Yeah, I really don't have time to play games right now, so..." Almost before the woman could blink Ginnie had pulled her Brownings and was firing. The little blondes body jerked backward with each shot and by the time the clips were half empty she was sliding down the wall a bloody mess.

"This is Ginnie. No worries, I'm alright. Guard nearly got the better of me, but I don't think we need to worry about her anymore."

She rolled her shoulders, feeling the already healing bruise on the middle of her back. 'That really was a low blow, the bitch.' She pried open the second door, looked up and down the hall, and leaned over the edge to plant her charge.

"If it's possible, warn me next time, huh?"

She finished up the other elevators, climbed over the edge of the last one and using a hand clamp, slid down the lines to the next floor. She pried open that door and set out to plant the rest of her charges. She knew there wasn't much time left and she wanted to get back above ground before setting this shit off.

"Copy"

Mathias brought the rifle up and triggered a 3 round burst. A guard spun around and down. He noted the recoil and made his adjustments. The next burst caught a guard in the head. Less chance of kevlar there. Move. Fire. Adjust. It wasn't a blur,but combat to Mathias had become a well rehearsed dance.

One which he knew the all the steps.

Carol listened to the soft putter of gunshots through the com link as her and her team tried to redirect the cameras to try and find Ellis. Suddenly, in the hallway camera, the interrogation door she was in seemingly blown inward, ripped off its hinges.

They all stopped and a quiet hush fell over the control room. Only an occasional beep and whir could be heard. Carol's expression changed, from shock to confusion.

'What...' was all she could muster, it was Merc #2 that finished her thought.

'...the fuck happened to Ellis?'

What they saw on the screen was beyond words. It was Ellis, at least, they thought it was Ellis. It looked...like her, somewhat.

Merc #1 stammered, 'That power drain registered at about a bajillion volts. That can't be her.'

Carol whispered, 'I know.'

'There's no way.'

Carol replied, 'I know.' She pointed at the screen. 'Simon, Ellis is uh...alive. We think.'

"Simon, Ellis is uh...alive. We think."

Finishing setting the charge in the last of the mechanical control rooms, Alec paused. "We think? What the hell does that mean?"

I am in position above elevator shaft three. All mechanical and electrical charges are set. Um...requesting clarification on Ellis' status. Is she in need of backup? I have the most direct route.

Waiting for a response, Alec popped down along the main support beam adjacent to shaft three, setting charges while he awaited a response.

Kyle held the pen injector in his hand, feeling its weight. It was a steel tip pen with a clicking device at the top. One click activated the needle, a rather nasty looking one and a second click released the drug. Ironically he was impressed with the technology, but his eyes kept travelling back to the middle section of the pen. It was clear glass and rolling inside was the smooth, candy red liquid that his body was very familiar with now. He didn't feel the familiar pull of addiction, but if he needed this dose, he knew he would. Weighing the choice of death or deathly addiction was harder than he thought.

The scientist looked up from his crumbled position in the corner by the door. 'We have to get out of here.' Slowly he stood, looking down at his feet when suddenly an ear piercing scream came from the next room.

A cold sweat broke out over Kyle as his eyes widened at the noise. Both he and the scientist jumped at the blood curdling noise. The scientist lunged for the door.

'WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE. OPEN! OPEN!!!!'

CRACK.

Kyle threw his arms up as the steel door was kicked in with such force, it knocked the scientist back against the wall in the corner, smashing his head open. The blood spatter caught Kyle on the face in an angry diagonal spray. What walked in the door made Kyle's blood run cold. No more wanting to throw up, instead his knees buckled and he fell back onto the floor, looking up at the creature walking in.

Whatever it was, it was human once and female. Blood dripped from lips of the once woman and patches of new skin were mixed in with burnt, black crisps of flesh.

'Fuck...me,' groaned Kyle as he pulled himself backwards on the ground, away from the door. The burnt woman came in and with twinkling green eyes, gave Kyle a wink and a grin.

Um...requesting clarification on Ellis' status. Is she in need of backup? I have the most direct route.

'No, finish planting the charges. You'll have more to deal with doing that then going for Ellis. Whatever happened to her, she must be alive. Give me the location of her level, Carol.'

Simon reloaded the gun in his right hand and shoved the clip home on his opposite palm. His hope that Hillman would finish Ellis was now dashed. No one could reach Ellis before he could. Although he wasn't sure what he would do when he did.

The compound was eerily familiar to the Domicile that the hallways all led to main elevators. He made it to the main elevator on the main floor, not without taking several direct hits in his chest and shoulders. The thin layer of experimental kevlar in his tunic helped him resist piercing. The less blood he lost, the better.

Simon stood at the elevator and was not happy about the key entry. 'Carol, open the main floor elevators. Uh...' there were several on the level and they were not marked. 'Open them all.'

Not only did Carol and her team open the ground level elevators, apparently they opened them all. 'Oh, well they're open.'

Carol found Simon on the elevator camera and forced the elevator's program to take him to Ellis' level. About 15 seconds into the process, the elevator retook control. 'Oh no you fucking DIDN'T.'

Merc #1 turned to Carol, 'They're trying to override our control.'

'Yeah, caught that.' They struggled with the program and in the corner of her eye could see more guards coming down the hallways where Simon was stuck in between. For now he was safe, until they decided to jump down and visit him.

It was almost as if the override program knew what they were using to counteract it. Then it hit Carol, like a jackhammer between the eyes. 'Simon,' she started. She had forgotten when the Merc had noticed, but it was falling into place now. Of course they knew what program they were using. They knew where to try and trap them with the traitor clan members and more importantly, they knew where to find the beast.

'The only way they'd know even half the things they do, is if someone...someone high up...told them.'

Frowning, Alec continued his labors.

Yes sir.

Climbing down the slick surface, he heard one of the great hydraulic systems kicking in. Looking down, an elevator was coming up toward him quickly. Timing it, he stepped onto the top of the elevator and then off onto the central support cables between elevators. Waiting a moment, he stepped off, and resumed his way down the shaft, placing charges along the way. Complete with this primary support, he stepped onto another upward bound elevator.

Wait. Upward bound elevator...

Folks, there are elevators headed upward. Hostiles incoming. Main elevator support charges are all set. Starting the spiral on floor three. Shoot some bad guys in the face for me, y'all.

Hopping from one support beam to another, Alec made his way to the Floor Three ventilation system, only to discover that it wasn't quite up to code, and he wouldn't be able to fit. Grumbling, he headed to the elevator door. Opening it, he headed silently for his first charge point on three - a secondary support beam. He doubted that it would be a clear run...so far things weren't working out at all according to plan. "Here's to hoping..."

"Copy that,moving to intercept and engage hostiles"

With methodical precision Mathias began clearing his way towards the entrance. He felt the tug as bullets found their mark on him. He wasn't walking into the storm of bullets,but his focus was more on forward movement than dodging attacks.

"Moving in, I need eyes"

Mathias moved to one of the hallway corners,pulling back as he was greeted with a hail of gunfire. There was a group of 5 guards further down,who had set up an ambush position. Risking another peek he tried to get a 'feel' for the group. They seemed to be a standard group,although one of them appeared to be in charge,or at least was taking that role. Mathias triggered a 3 round burst at him,only to be rewarded with his rifle jamming. Dammit, I thought the British were good at gunmaking he cursed,slinging the rifle and pulling one of his pistols.

"I have 5 hostiles,hallway 3 - throwing flash bang"

Grabbing one of his grenades,Mathias popped the pin off and threw it in one move,his unnatural agility guiding it exactly between the group of guards. Ducking back,he saw the reflection of the flash and heard a loud *BANG* as it went off,followed by the screams of the now blind and deaf guards.

"Moving in"

Putting a bullet in each struggling guard,Mathias made his way towards the elevator. *bam* 1 *bam* 2 *bam* 3 *bam* 4
Wait...was fi

The air rushed from his lungs as Mathias was violently slammed against the wall by the fifth guard - the one Mathias saw directing the others. He pulled off his tinted goggles and Mathias could see some sort of ear protection. Clever mortal he thought , twisting and throwing a punch at the guard's head...

..which was caught unnaturally quick - Mathias blow was stopped and again he was flung violently against a wall.

Ok...this could be a problem

Johnson smiled as he caught the vampire's hand and began squeezing it. This is why he had sold his soul to Hillman - this rush. Sure the costs of the drug kept in in virtual slavery,but the feeling fo power he had, the feeling of invincibility...that was worth any price! Worth the loss of his home,his marriage,even his children - nothing could compare to being a God among men.


He knew he should finish this bloodsucker quick,that others were likely following,but he wanted him to suffer and feel defeat. Johnson threw the man against the wall again,listening for a satisfying crunch.

"How's it feel to be on the other side of the equation now,huh??"

Ginnie moved with stealth as she listen to the chatter on the com link. Whatever had happened to Ellis was sure a shit mucking up whatever plans Carol and simon had made, which put her and everyone else into danger. She had just a few more charges to place and could make her way back out, and by the sounds of things that was not going to be as easy as getting in had been.




She set her last charge on the support beam of her least assigned floor and made her way to the elevators. They were, for now, the only viable escape route. She slid around the corner and found herself face to face with six very big men in black.

"Fuck."

Both pistols were out and firing when the drew as one. She had managed to take out three and began to dive around the corner when the first shots rang out. Pain like nothing she had ever felt before seared up her leg as she landed. Ginnie looked down at her right thigh and found a growing stain on her jeans. The bastards had actually shot her. 'God damn it.'

"I'm hit. Trying to make my way out."

She pulled her legs underneath her and stood, wincing as her injured leg took weight. She peeked around the corner and drew back as gun shots flew through the air. She took a deep breath, cocked her own guns and stepped out from behind the wall firing. Shortly the only shots ringing were her's and she lowered her weapons. Panting she released her clips and pulled new ones from a pocket. She snapped them home and moved to an elevator. She pried open the doors, attached a hand clamps to the wires and began to ascend the shaft.

Her leg throbbed as she felt blood run down and begin to drip off of her boot. The bullet or perhaps bullets had gone clear through. She could feel the ripped muscle and ligaments and the leg seemed to weigh more as she struggled up the lines. Gun shots did not heal as quickly as other wounds and she began to feel light headed as her life force dripped slowly down her leg.

The elevator beneath her began to ascend and she stopped moving to wait on it. She dropped to the roof and listened for voices inside. Hearing none she popped open the maintainance panel and peek inside trough a small crack. The car was empty.

She pulled open the hatch and dropped heavily inside. She leaned gratefully against a the door wall, hiding herself, knowing that where ever this thing stopped it would be letting on guards. The car slowed and, she was happy to see, stopped at the ground level. The tiny ding sounded and she started firing as the door opened. She had no idea if the guns shooting back at her were friendly or not and she didn't feel like taking a bullet to find out.

A searing pain rent through her shoulder and she very nearly dropped her gun. She let out a scream of pain laid down a shower of fire and bolted for the front door.

Ginnie ran until she tripped over something and went rolling. Her eyes registered a little blinking light in time for her to catch herself and stop three inches from it. She pushed herself up, wincing as her shoulder protested the movement. Standing she limped toward the van. As she crossed out of the ground perimeter she felt a jolt in her back and realized she'd been hit in her vest. She spun pointing her gun and fired into the face of the guard twenty feet from her.

"Asshole. He fucking shot me the back."

She made it into the van and motioned to the Merc serving as sentry. She gave him a weak smile and asked for his hand. Then spoke formally.

"This is Ginnie. I have multiple gunshot wounds. I have planted all my charges. Awaiting orders to detonate. Ginnie out."

At which point she sank her fangs deep into the wrist of the tall blond Merc. Sometimes you fed on your own just to survive.

Carol listened to Mathias and Ginnie engage hostiles in what sounded like fierce fire fighting. She turned to Merc #1, 'Lay down a supressing fire and cover Ginnie on her exit. She's got the trigger, YOU will not lose her position.'

Turning to Merc #2 she barked, 'Give me the visual on Mathias, I'll work on the elevators.'

Merc #2 whistled when he found him, 'Got him. He's fighting a human...I think.'

Carol closed her eyes, she knew one of the guards would have eternity. Mathias had age on his side so her attention went back to Simon.

'Do you understand, Simon? There are only four people in the world that have that information.' She took a breath, 'You...me...Marthinus and...god damnit, all this time, Simon. The ENTIRE time. It was never about the money or building up Tacharan.'

Her mind reeled. Her loyalties already swayed, she could not believe what she was about to say. Her three years as a human familiar in the clan had been a lifetime to her. What she had seen, been allowed to see, the things she had done for her.

'For fuck sakes, Simon. Ellis sold us out.'

Ellis sold us out.

Simon put his hands on the elevator door and rested his head against the cold steel. He could barely fathom how deep Ellis treachery really went. She not only betrayed the clan, but her species by not only selling out and harvesting her kind, but by partnering up with Hillman. It all made sense. It wasn't just the Mercs or a hacker, it was their leader. How deep her hatred must run for the Elders.

'Alright,' he said slowly. Looking up he jumped and pushed open the elevators cubby hole. Pulling himself up and out, he looked around. There were ten sub levels. He was in between the sixth and seventh. 'I'll take care of it. What level is Ellis on?'

Carol gulped quietly. She noted Ginnie was safe and ready to detonate. She sighed, 'She's on the 8th, are you moving on foot to the stairs?' She heard gunfire resonating from the floors around him and saw the guards pouring onto the levels on her monitor.

'If you go on foot...they're everywhere.'

'No,' he said, grabbing the elevator cable. He was suddenly reminded of that ridiculous Matrix movie and there being no spoon. At this point, he gave a fuck about the spoon, he was going for the bitch. 'Not exactly.'

Simon took out his weapon and pointed it towards the cable above his hand. He took a deep breath and turned his face away.

SNAP.

The severed cable snapped around as the elevator started its decent. Flashing past the seventh, Simon leapt forward and grabbed onto the frame just as the box passed the eighth floor. He clung there precariously as the elevator smashed to the bottom level. Hanging onto the bottom right hand corner of the frame, he looked around for something to pull himself up on.

Alec stalked silently and invisibly through the corridors. Hearing the sounds of arming and conversation in the distance, he altered his route. Avoiding the group arming to head above to deal with the rest of his team, he slipped through their base, setting their charges. Coming upon a computer room, he noted several servers - this could be a pocket of their system's defense. Pulling out both of his guns, he slipped into the room behind the programmers, executing them with his silenced weapons, spraying blood and brain all over their monitors. Poor geeks hadn't stood a chance, engrossed in whatever it was they had been doing. Glancing about, Alec spotted a large, older model server. Smiling, he pulled its backup tapes and slipped them into his belt. Someone might be able to use that, even if he couldn't.

Turning to leave, his ears caught a hint of sound just before an individual turned and dropped his coffee tray at the carnage in the room. As the man reached for both his weapon and his gun, Alec dove into him, knocking his gun and walkie away. Despite landing on top of the geek, Alec wasn't as in control of the situation as he'd have liked, his groin painfully violated by the man's knee during the fall. Using his momentum, he latched on to the man and headbutted him in the nose and mouth, hearing the satisfying snap of teeth and breaking of cartilage. Despite the cut the teeth had given him, Alec continued his assault, driving his forehead into the man's face until his arms stopped twitching. Wiping his goggles clean on the man's cuff, Alec stood. Time to go to the next floor.

At that moment, he heard the sound that he'd been dreading, Ginnie's voice, but not happy as it usually was.

I'm hit. Trying to make my way out.

Merde. Merdemerdemerdemerdemerde. Simon had ordered him to continue, but Alec's emotions warred with his common sense. Ginnie was a big girl and had been doing things of this sort for hundreds of years before he existed. What help could he really bring her? But not helping...how could he do that? Clenching his teeth, he steeled his resolve. Finish the mission. "She CAN take care of herself...she's packing more firepower than that squad you just avoided and you just got kneed in the balls and cut on the head by one of their fucking programmers. Finish the job."

Dropping down the elevator shaft two levels, he squeezed into the ventilation and quickly crawled toward his destination, when he heard another outburst he really did not want to hear.

Asshole. He fucking shot me in the back.

Clenching his teeth, he sped up. He wasn't quite silent, but he'd finish the floor in two minutes. Hopefully he wouldn't be needed up top, but they needed to get this wrapped up and things weren't looking all sunshiny as they had before. Finally, some good news came.

This is Ginnie. I have multiple gunshot wounds. I have planted all my charges. Awaiting orders to detonate. Ginnie out.

Well, that was a relief. Now he could focus on the task at hand. Not trusting himself to say anything over the mic at this point, he stayed silent. Speeding through his crawlspaces, he set the charges for the next two floors without incident. Hopefully the final would be easy as well, but it had looked to be fairly well honeycombed, and one was a security level. That could be problematic.

You...me...Marthinus and...god damnit, all this time, Simon. The ENTIRE time. It was never about the money or building up Tacharan. For fuck sakes, Simon. Ellis sold us out.

Wait...Ellis had sold them out? That simply didn't make sense. Obviously, things were getting out of control everywhere. How could she have done that? Wasn't she hurt?

Stop. Stop thinking, stupid. Do the job in front of you. One more floor.

She drank for only a few moments, before dropping the man's arm. She had not taken enough from him to cause him any harm. He might not heal as quickly, but he would be fine. She looked up at the Merc and gave him a bloody smile. The look of disbelief on his face made her want to giggle. Lucky for him it didn't take nearly as much vampire blood as human for her to start healing. She could feel the muscles in her legs start to mend and it hurt like a son of a bitch.

Leaning heavily against the side of the van she stripped of her jeans and looked at the mess of her leg. She had in fact sustained three gunshot wounds in her thigh, each lancing clear through leaving six holes in her leg. She cursed softly under her breath and pulled a spare pair of jeans out of a black bag between the front seats and pulled them on. When she turned around the Merc was still staring at her.

Chuckling softly she limped over to him and patted him gently on the shoulder.

"It's ok, mate. You did a right good turn for me. I owe you one."

He blinked at her and she tried hard not to laugh as he looked from her to his wrist to the bulge in his pants.

"First time since you were turned huh? It's alright. It will go away." She patted him again and fished the detonator out of her bloody pants and then planted her weary ass in the chair to look out the window, awaiting orders. She really wished Alec would report in. She sorely need to hear his voice and see his face. She glanced back at the Merc who was adjusting himself, and had to suppress another laugh.


((ooc feel free to have Ginnie blow the place to bits. I won't be posting again until after the Holidays. Good Luck all!))

Jan moved into the complex and followed along behind some of the others before veering off down a side path. Stealth was a better weapon for him and aside from the device he had been given, his weapons were of a silent but deadly variety. It would not do to be in a group of stomping loud troops that were going to get shot at with only throwing knives and a blowgun for weapons.

There were a lot more people than they had originally suspected, this place turned out to be crawling with men. Jan climbed into one of the elevators and opened the top hatch. It was only a matter of time, he figured before a group of the wrong sort had to use it for transportation.

His estimation was correct and soon the elevator began to move upwards a level and come to a halt. Jan stopped mentally humming the theme from Mission Impossible to lean over and look down through the small gap in the grate that he had left open.

'You know, its absolutely amazing how many people never look up.'

Waiting until the doors closed, Jan pulled out the small gas bomb, and twisting it so that it would go off on impact, dropped it down into the hole. Quickly sliding shut the grate, he then scurried up the wires as far as he could. It was only a matter of seconds before people inside started shooting through the top of the elevator.

'You know...that plan wasn't as well thought out as it seemed.'

The shooting stopped and someone tried to push open the hatch, Jan kept it closed with the force of his telekinesis from his perch further up on the cords. More shooting, which slowed and then ended when the elevator came to a halt. He wasn't sure they had been knocked by the gas or not. Holding his breath and cautiously lifting the lid showed bodies on the ground but not as many as had been in the elevator when it started.

'Damn'

The elevator doors started to close.

'Shit!'

Jan jumped down and pushed through the opening. It was then that he noticed they must have originally planned to go further down but someone had pressed the button for the next floor when the gas grenade hit.

'Didn't think of that...'

One of the bodies in front of him moved and Jan sent one of his knives at it blunt end first. Whoever it was might be useful in telling him something.

Moving over to the unconscious form, Jan held a hand over his mouth and stifled a laugh that was part nervousness and part amusement. He'd hit Nova and if he hadn't wanted information he might have killed her... or at least made her a very hungry, very cranky vampire.

Quickly stowing the knife and schooling his features to look worried, which wasn't that hard under the circumstances, Jan gently shook his sister's shoulder.

"Nova! Nova wake up! I got him, promise."

The sun blazed on Nova’s back as she walked through the crowds lining the steps of the church, armload of ‘presents’ in hand. The bag’s contents seemed to shift as she moved toward home; one moment she would look down to see second hand clothes, the next several wrapped presents. Sometimes the bag felt so –heavy-; it seemed to get bigger and bigger until by the time she got to her front door the bag was bigger than her, weighing her down, suffocating…

Nova!

“Merfle.”

She got the bag into the house, and now it was a Christmas tree, fully decorated with little lights and everything, though she didn’t know how she had managed to carry that home. Her brother came out of the kitchen…sometimes it was Jan, sometimes it was her big brother Honovi, sometimes the littlest brother Yoki…the face kept changing, and the words made no sense, though she knew what they were saying anyway…

Nova, wake up.

“’am awake. Don’t wanna go back.”

Honovi was telling her to take the tree back, cursing, telling her that she made him sick, angry, breaking ornaments. He kicked at the bag, which was somehow still full, and the snow globe inside shattered into a million pieces and suddenly it was Yoki in front of her, crying. Then it was Jan again, handing her the bag, everything inside still intact.

I got him, I promise.

“Don’t wanna go back.”

What was she saying? Where was she?

Nova tried to take in her situation, though she had no idea what she was doing lying face down on a cold floor. Answers came to her after a moment when she remembered the raid, but what had happened? It didn’t make much sense for her to lie down and take a nap in the midst of all of this.

All of this.

She opened her eyes.

“Jan?”

She was about to ask him what had happened but the hallway chose that moment to blow up.

She had forgotten about setting off the pen. Grabbing Jan’s arm, she pulled herself upright and half ran, half threw them both into the now empty elevator, slamming on the buttons until the door closed, just before the fireball hit.

She turned to Jan, grinning.

“Damn but I’m glad to see you.”

The elevator started going down after that, and Nova turned, frowning.

“Er. I didn’t tell it to go down…”

Current time: 4:34am
Sunrise: 5:18am

Time marches on.

"How's it feel to be on the other side of the equation now,huh??"

Arrogant bastard,bad enough to break my ribs but do I HAVE to listen to him gloat? Mathias grunted at the reminder of his injuries. A couple of grazes and at least dislocated ribs. While his skin is tougher than normal, even it couldn't protect him against the kinetic impact.

Slowly getting to his feet,Mathias reacted in time to deflect the oncoming boot. He wondered why this guard hadn't gone for the easy kill or strike. then it came to him, he must be on a derivative of Eternity - and he wanted to enjoy his newfound power. Must have felt so weak before...he is going to make this last Mathias thought to himself again stopping a powerful blow.

Assuming,of course, I last that long...

Time to end this Mathias had suffered enough of this fool. While they were evenly matched in speed and strength, Mathias possessed two distinct advantages over his opponent.

1000 years of exerience

And he wasn't playing a game

Another kick came at the kneeling man, and Mathias waited until it almost connected before moving,grabbing the booted foot and twisting. The human went down,head smacking against the floor. He swung a foot at Mathias,who stepped over and landed a kick of his own to the mortal's genitals and was rewarded with a howl of pain. He hauled the now whimpering guard up,searching for something , anything to end this with.

In Nomine Patris
The green arrow above the elevator door lit up and Mathias could see more guards in the car as the door began to open.

Et filii
Remembering the pen Ginnie gave him, he grabbed it and shoved it in the guards pocket.

Et Spiritus Sancti
He clicked the button he thought was the tear gas and threw the body at the onrushing guards,who fell back into the elevator with a thud.

Amen
Leaping back,he expected to see a white chemical cloud and was surprised to hear a *whoomf* and see flames billowing forth as the incendiary went off instead.
Well,that works he thought,collapsed against the wall.

"Hostiles engaged, casualties nine guards and one elevator. Orders?"

Nova was giving him a bit of a scare and he shook her a bit harder until she finally came around. She didn't want to go back? To this place? He couldn't say that he blamed her.

Nodding when she said his name, Jan was about to inquire if she was okay when the hallway exploded. He had not done that one. That was about all the time he had to think about the matter before Nova yanked him into the elevator.

He smiled weakly at her when she said she was glad to see him. Personally, he was glad to see she was awake and that neither of them were vampiric torches.

"I'm glad to see you too but really you didn't have to create such a fuss on my account. I would have been happy with a few small fireworks, honest."

Looking up at the elevator panel and then at the floor indicator proved that they were indeed going in the wrong direction.

"Come on then I don't want to be standing out in the open when this thing comes to a stop."

They probably didn't have time to get up through the hatch but they could at least move off to the side. Hauling Nova to her feet, he then pressed them both against one of the side walls.

"So this is what you do with your time..."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. A man and a woman in white coats hurried inside looking nervously around in every direction. They spotted the two against the wall, and Jan pushed both humans back out into the room.

"the lab."

He finished looking around at the metal counters and unfamiliar equipment of exactly that.

'Hey, I know you!' Ellis smiled, well...as much as she could. Having fed on guard Williams, she had partially regenerated, but only about 10 percent of the visible skin on her body reflected it. In fact, her smile was lopsided, bloody and just overall disturbing. Her fangs, however, had grown back.

Smacking her lips, she turned and looked at the scientist. 'Poop.' What a waste. 'Well he said he wanted out.' Turning back, she laughed at Kyle's horror stricken face. He was on the ground, backing up to the far wall. This wouldn't do, they didn't have time.

'Hey listen, we need to go.' Again, the terrified face. 'Really, Evans, I don't look that bad.' Oh yes, Ellis knew exactly who Kyle Evans was. Who and what he had been doing. She met him, not too long ago in a Bar. He was, of course, drunk but also a reporter for the Nachton Times. She saw an opportunity here. If she kept him alive, she could have a body, so to speak, at the paper. Manipulating general information was the best past time.

'Alright, come on.' She walked over to Kyle and grabbed him by the leg. 'For fuck sakes, snap out of it. It's just a couple burns,' she past the one way mirror and looked at her face. Oh. Well yeah, that was pretty bad. Fuck it, she thought.

Pulling Kyle by his foot, she walked back out into the hallway where she could clearly hear the gunfire above. 'Ahhh, the calvary is here! Come come,' she dropped Kyle next to the painfully pale guard Williams. She pointed to his face and chuckled. 'He apparently really wanted those.'

Guard Williams laid half out in the hallway, his skin had paled to an ashen gray and in his eyes or at least where his eyes had been had in each ocular cavaity... a perfectly white fang.

Listening for a moment, Alec extended his senses just a bit. He couldn't go nearly as opened up as he would have liked to with all of the gunfire from the upper floors...and what was sounding like what he HOPED were the penbombs being set off up top. None of that was coming from the present floor. The floor above the Beast. As close as he'd ever want to be to it considering its purpose. Wondering again what was going on down below, he followed his own instructions. Do the job in front of you - set the final charges, get out.

Dropping down into the floor in a remote section, Alec was convinced that he was alone. It looked like a storage area. Slipping up his goggles, he expanded his sight...

Holy shit.

Checking the contents, it confirmed what he'd suspected. Ammunition...for a damn army. Fuck...were those RPGs? Rocket looking deals, anyway. More than enough grenades to supply Tacharan's little run on this place, that's for damn sure. Checking the perimeters of the storeroom, he found what he was looking for - an inventory. Scanning the list, he didn't see anything too unusual, just...an awful lot of all sorts of explosives and other devices not typical to your standard research facility.

Grabbing a couple of grenades, just in case, he set a spare charge in the room. Couldn't hurt. Listening at the door, he heard someone passing back and forth on the other side. Fucking sentries. Crawling back up into the ventilation, he headed one room over...it looked like some sort of office. Likely whomever was in charge of distributing all of those goodies. Dropping down, Alec sealed the grate behind him and slipped behind the desk. A quick search didn't turn anything too unusual up, but there was a concealed safe under the rug under the roll mat for the chair. Damn external hinges had almost worn through the rug. Sloppy installation. Checking it quickly for traps, he listened at the safe, popping it by sound alone.

Lenses? Who keeps six lenses in a floor safe? Shrugging, he bagged them. Part of a puzzle for someone else. The clock was rolling. Setting himself up next to the door, he oiled the hinges and waited for the footsteps. As the guard started walking away from him, Alec pulled his long, narrow fighting knife, opened the door and strode silently up behind the man. Smiling, Alec stabbed him in a downward motion through the seam in his armor directly between the collarbone and the shoulder. From the clicking gasp and the twitching of the blade, he knew he'd hit heart through the subclavian artery. Twisting and removing the blade, the man sighed as blood spattered on the ceiling and on Alec's chest as he guided him slowly to the floor.

Closing the man's eyes, he moved down the hall, hearing a conversation through a closed door. Dammit. Altering direction, he went to the end of this secondary hall and listened. There was someone there, but they were also facing away from the door. Still, better than two folks actively aware, and close to one of the charge points. Oiling the hinges, he very slowly disengaged the lock on the door. Not hearing an intake of air from the other side, he quickly opened the door and shot two rounds into the guard's face. Reloading, Alec left the clip on the man's chest. Glancing around, he headed down to the next room and set his charge. One more should do this floor. On the other side of the guard substation. Looking up, he hopped into one of the vents and made his way there.

Shit. Four in the room. He'd have to do this really quickly. Steeling himself, he silently backed to the nearest junction, pulled the pin on one of his stolen grenades, rolling it toward the grating and skittered down the opposite junction quickly. It should come to rest right on the grate above their heads. Hearing the sound of weaponfire, he kicked open the grate open on his target room, dove to the floor and rolled as the grenade exploded. Standing, he saw a very surprised man in a suit staring at him, getting ready to shout. Smacking him with the metal grate from the vent, the man staggered for a moment, shout forgotten. Alec kicked him in the groin and drew his knife.

The man started crying. Looking at his reflection, Alec realized he looked pretty damn fearsome. Coated in blood from mid chest up, soot mixed in, looking the part of the merc. Shaking his head, he placed the tip of the blade to the man's chest.

Will it hurt?

Nodding once, Alec stabbed the man through the heart. Watching the man's consciousness depart, Alec withdrew his blade. Checking the man's wallet, he pulled his ID and keys. Edgar Cayce.

Setting his charge, Alec hopped onto the desk and into the vent. He could hear the cavalry coming to the guard station. No one would notice Edgar, though. Crawling to the junction, he rolled another present for those folks stacking furniture in the guardroom to look in the vents.

Crawling quickly away, Alec heard the shouts of surprise and the scramble right before the blast. Popping into the elevator shaft, he saw one clearly disabled on the bottom floor and one looking functional. Popping the grate, he dropped in, set it for two and hopped back out, just in case of other stops. Replacing the grate, he rode his box back out from hell and back to the surface of the earth.

Final charge set - heading up from Hell and back into the walking world. Does anyone need assistance on extraction? If not, I'll be heading to the reload point. See y'all topside. Fourteen minutes max to detonation, folks.

Ellis pulled the kevlar flak jacket off of Williams. She tossed it towards Kyle and then patted the dead guard down again. Reaching into his pocket, she squealed happily when she recovered a fresh pack of cigarettes. 'Now that's a nice piece of fried gold, right there.' She took out the matches tucked into the celephane and opened up the pack. She purred, they were unfiltered. She gently balanced the cigarette in her mouth and lit it. The glow of the lighter reflected off her glassy green eyes. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.

The smoke trailed out of her burnt lips and again, with a crispy smile, Ellis sighed happily. 'Fuck ME, I needed that.' Dragging off the cigarette again, Ellis nudged Kyle with her foot. 'Giddy yup, I need to find someone.'

She patted herself down and found a usable pocket and tucked in the pack. Again reaching down, she took William's gun out of his holster and tossed it to Kyle. Then she reached behind her back and fingered the melted steel in her back. The cigarette dangled precariously on her damaged lips. 'Fucking things are in there pretty good. That's going to hurt later. Ah well,' she decided to leave the guns embedded into her skin.

Ellis took the cigarette out of her mouth and tapped the ashes onto the floor, giving Kyle an impatient look.

Simon pulled himself up onto the door frame, inching his fingers along. He managed to level with the door and was able to pull the elevator doors apart. He wished out loud that no one would be there.

He was correct. Slipping through the doors, he pulled out his guns again and walked quietly down. 'Her location, Carol.'

Who shoots out an elevator cable and hangs on to the wall with their fingertips? Her man did, she thought proudly. One of the Mercs snapped his fingers, pointing at Ellis feeding on the guard.

'...yikes,' she murmured. Looking at the floor plan, Ellis looked to be on the other side of the floor. In the middle was the floor elevator where the beast was being kept. It would ascend directly to the top. Just then Alec radio'd in, he was ready.

'Her location, Carol.'

Carol snorted, 'You won't miss her. You're on a direct path to her and the beast. You won't miss that either, it's a heavily secured door that surprisingly is unlocked.' Merc #2 typed in the command and the Beast's entry way was opened on her screen.

Carol checked her watch. 'Sunrise is in 13 minutes Simon.' Shaking her head, 'I do not suggest getting caught in it.'

Nova was still feeling a little dazed and gave Jan an uncomprehending look when he pulled her to her feet and off to the side. Everything he said seemed to take precious seconds to register and the voices in her ear from her various clansmen were somewhat lost on her. She reached around to feel the back of her head, wincing when she touched a tender spot, but that was about all the time she had to lick her wounds before the elevator doors slid open.

Jan’s reaction times were apparently a good deal better than hers at the moment and she simply followed behind him as he shoved the two scientists out into the lab.

The lab.

Blinking once, she gave the scientists a hard look before pulling off her wool sweater and turtleneck in one go, leaving the tee shirt behind. As she tied the neck of the two shirts to make something reasonable for carrying things, she spoke, barely hearing herself but dimly aware that she was back to going a hundred miles an hour.

“Get the samples and slides, right now.” She jerked her head in the direction of the glass cabinets, pulling a face at the nauseating sensation that gesture caused. Swallowing hard, she continued. “Unless of course you’d rather get shot, I’m getting a lot better at using this thing.”

She herself moved over to the other side of the lab, where two computer stations rested on countertops.

“Fucking Mac users.”

Deciding to forgo making a nice neat backup of all the crap stored on the computers, she yanked open the cases and pulled out both hard drives, dumping them into the turtleneck ‘bag’.

Then Alec’s voice finally registered.

They had fourteen minutes….and that was before she started on the computers.

Plenty of time.

She opened the cabinets above the computers and started gathering up the various lab books inside.

The result of the unexpected and rather lethal dose of voltage to Ellis was as much a surprise to her as it was Hillman. Ellis considered what was happening to her as she took a final look at Guard Williams. Kneeling down she looked him in the face, gray and lifeless though it was. She hovered over him, lips grazing his sullen cheek.

'Can you see?' She sang softly and flicked her cigarette at the dead man.

Standing swiftly she turned and headed down the hallway, Kyle in tow. It was the pain of the guard ripping her fangs out that snapped her out of the unconscious trance it had forced her into. The pain was...in a word...magnificent. Tasting her blood as he walked away, her eyes flew open and a single, deep breath filled her crispy lungs.

She was amazed at the control it took to rip herself from the metal chair and how quietly she was able to do it and be behind him in a blink of an eye. Even without her fangs, the empty sockets tingled. It made that dark, evil part in her that not only loved to kill but lived for it tremble inside. Finding Evans was a stroke of pure luck. Her blood lust was just starting to beat like drums in her ears when she saw him. Curious though, why he was there. The reporter from Nachton, indeed. Plus he was cute, so why not, right?

As they walked down the corridor, the digging of the melted guns on her kidneys annoyed her. Reaching back, she dug her nails around the metal and deep into her skin. Wincing, but still walking, Ellis pulled.

Kyle was looking down at the gun in his hand when he felt something wet spray him in the face. Looking up as he walked behind Ellis, he watched her dig her nails so deeply into her back that it caused a fine spray of blood to jut out and cover him, yet again. He slowed his pace and turned his head.

He wasn't going to eat for a week.

Just then he heard the soft popping noise of distant gunfire. 'Are you in...any...shape to...uh...,' he closed his eyes. He really wanted a drink. 'Are you going to be ok?'

If she wasn't capable of getting them out, he figured he might be able to. Then he considered it. No, they were fucking screwed and he had no idea what to do. He hoped she had a plan.

The metal bits in her back hit the ground with a loud clank. The pain throbbed up her back as the open wounds tried to heal themselves. She hadn't fed nearly enough to heal these wounds anytime soon and her urge to feed was starting to drown out her patience for the human Evans. So much so that she turned to look at him, eyeing up his throat.

Suddenly a bullet decided to lodge itself into her back and it nudged her forward slightly. Kyle seemed pretty repelled by the blood spatter on him. Wow he was covered in a lot of blood. Turning back down the hallway, she heard the small troop of guards gathering forces and barking orders.

What followed next will be remembered fondly as a blur of blood.

Terrance was nervous, to say the least.

The beast had been rolled into the back area of its holding floor. He watched the monitors on the wall near it as Ellis...fed. He wasn't sure what he was feeling. It wasn't quite like fear or despair...it could possibly be described as a sad realization. He slid his hands into his pants pocket and sighed.

Six months prior, after he had inquired about the Duibne company, he was contacted by someone who had information on Duibne and its dealings. Terrance subsequently met who he referred to as Judas. Turns out Judas was a vampire. He was a representative of the person who was willing to sell out Duibne and its secrets.

That person was Ellis Duban.

Judas set up their meeting. They talked of history, wine, war and the necessary things. The evil things. Their discussions began to take a darker tone and the beast was mentioned.

The beast.

Terrance shivered and focused on picture in front of him. Ellis was...making a mess. She was clearing the entire floor on her hyper bloodlust caused by his brilliantly stupid idea to electrocute her. The desire to betray her was so overwhelming it was too good to pass up. He had everything, her Domicile plans, her Beast contacts, her Eternity traffic and distributors. He had it all but the beast and he didn't even need it, but he had to have it. Terrance turned and looked back at the steel demon behind him. Not a complicated device by any means, but it was what it represented. They were going above and beyond.

It was just so fucking evil.

Shaking his head, he looked back at the monitor. He paled suddenly. It was empty, only it wasn't. She littered the bodies in the hallway outside the entrance into the Beast's lair. Ironically, there was very little blood.

'Waste not...', Terrance Hillman mumbled to himself.

Jan eyed the two scientists, a few daggers resting in his hands. His attention was momentarily diverted from them when Nova began to pull off various garments. Switching his gaze from the captives to his sister and back in rapid glances, he gave her an incredulous look.

"Odd time you've picked for a strip tease. Don't you think?"

Watching her put the two pieces together in order to form a bag, he smiled and shook his head. Scientists, as a rule, had an odd sense of what was valuable. This was made evident by her demanding glass slides and tossing in books while leaving behind expensive equipment. He would admit the stuff was likely heavy but then so was a sack of literature.

He eyed the two strangers in contemplation as well as keeping a wary watch over them. Jan did not think either himself or Nova was the kind to kill them in cold blood but according to the Cajun voice in his ear they had 14 minutes or so to get out of the place before it blew sky high.

"You might want to hurry that along. Help her out will you? We need to be going."

The scientists looked at him in confusion a moment more, startled at the requests from both burglars for their assistance. They shared a look between them and it seemed neither decided being a belligerent hero was a wise course of action. Without any words spoken, they silently began helping fill Nova's impromptu bag.

Jan kept an eye on the situation and also listened to the sounds of coming from the rest of the building as well as the voices confirming their exit from the area. It did not take long for the three of them to fill up the sweater to near bursting, seeing that it would be difficult to stuff anything more in, Jan gestured with his knives towards the door.

"Let's be going, you two lead the way, quick-like. This place is going to be rubble in a few minutes and I don't plan to be under it."

Hopefully given that news the scientists would be motivated to lead them towards the quickest exist. Jan narrowed his eyes at Nova and then gave her a quick shove towards the door.

"Come along, little Jenny, this toy store is about to blow."

Ginnie breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Alec's voice. He had been silent for so long, she had begun to worry. She looked down at her watch, and set it to beep at ten 'til and five 'til. She was starting to get antsy and the Merc behind that was lifting his hand up as though to touch her and then putting it back down, was beginning to be annoying.

She considered taking pity on him and just draining him, but that would take longer than she had and would involve a bit of vomiting on her part. After all he was a very big man. She shrugged and spoke into the air.

"Ok kiddies, listen up. In approximately eleven minutes I will be depressing this little button in my hand. The charges set will begin to go off three seconds later. They will begin on the lower most level and work their way up in three second intervals. You have this time to make your way out and find shelter.

My van will hold ten comfortably and fifteen uncomfortably. There is a Duibne warehouse directly west of my position that provides an underground staff room. I placed blankets and other emergency supplies in there."

She looked down at her watch as it gave off its little "beep beep beep." "You now have ten minutes until sunrise. Waiting for your mark Simon. Ginnie out."

She stood slowly, wincing at the ripping of her newly mending muscles. Ginnie limped to the front of the van and depressed a little button on the dash. Thick black shades began to descend on all of the windows, including the windshield and back doors. She limped back to her chair and depressed the button on the side of the shade of the window she had been looking out of and it raised slowly back up the tinted glass.

'For fuck sakes, Simon. Ellis sold us out.'

Now that he wasn't engaged in a life-or-death struggle with some chemical monster.Mathias had a moment to reflect on that and other things. Carol had to be wrong,mistaken somehow. He knew Ellis and the Ellis he knew would not betray Tacharan. Tacharan was all for her - she prized loyalty to the clan above all. No,there must be some other explanation for this - and Mathias would find out what it is.

Ellis deserved that.

But for now his attention needed to be on pulling out of here and making sure others were capable of doing so. 13 minutes till sunrise...time was not on their side.

"Ready to assist evacuation,need a direction please"

For a brief moment he allowed himself to think about Shay. Mathias knew he needed to keep his attention on the here and now,but he knew Shay would be worried about him until she heard from him. Going home wasn't possible,not with the little amount of time left till sunrise and Mathias didn't exactly have an alternate plan ready.

Kyle stumbled back at the gunfire and hit the ground. Covering his head, he heard cursing and shouting. Suddenly a shrill blood curdling scream ripped through the air. There were lots of 'what the fucks' and 'fuck this' and the distinct sound of cloth tearing. Scrambling to his feet, he grabbed the side of the wall as he caught sight of Ellis advancing onto the team of guards.

Her fangs looked larger than life and her eyes were huge green pools as she fed, one by one, on the men. The screams turned to gurgling and that's when Kyle could not take it anymore. The hallway T'd and he passed Ellis and guards, trying to find his way out. Blindly he fell into another hallway and saw a door.

Pushing through the door he hoped for a bathroom but instead it turned into a large storage room. He stood, looking up at all the equipment and boxes stacked. Blinking his eyes zeroed in on a curious word.

Explosives.

'Oh...' Kyle started just when someone grabbed him from behind and shoved him to the floor. A strong hand turned him over and suddenly there was a tall man coming at him.

Correction, this man had fangs. Kyle finished his thought.

'....SHIT!'

Simon stepped quietly into the room and immediately recognized the equipment stacked high in boxes.

Bombs, guns, weaponary of all tastes and sizes. This was a storage room...in about the dumbest place ever. An explosion from this room alone would collaspe the entire facility. Simon closed his eyes and sighed. With the rest of the explosives in place, there would be no doubt that this would be one huge sink hole after it was all over. The trick was to not to let it happen before he wanted it to.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of gunfire and screaming. Raising his gun, he turned back towards the door as it suddenly started to open.

'Holy cow,' Carol murmued quietly in his ear. 'She's really going to town.'

Carol must've been watching Ellis attacking whatever that was down the hall from him. He couldn't ask what was coming in the door in the room he was in without letting whoever it was know he was there. He side stepped and stood behind the door as it opened.

A human walked in. Tall, black hair and covered in blood. It wasn't one of his. The human walked in and stood quietly looking at the equipment, probably making the same assumptions he was.

Simon slowly nudged the door closed with the barrel of his gun.

'Oh...' the human started.

Simon tucked his guns back into their hip holsters and he bared his fangs. The tingle was starting again, his blood lust yearning for this one's blood.

He always liked the quiet ones.

Quickly he lunged at the man, pushing him to the ground. As roughly as he could, he turned the shoulder of the man.

'SHIT!!!!!'

Pushing the man's jaw up, exposing his neck, Simon bared his fangs and lunged at the man's throat.

'SIMON...NO!!!!!!!' Carol yelled loudly in his ear. He jerked to a stop at the sound of her voice and listened.

Carol and the mercs sat riveted by the show Ellis was putting on. She was decimating the guards in her path. The electricity must've hyped her blood lust and coat of arms, but she wondered for how much longer. Ellis would undoubtedly try to harness this untapped source of power.

Her face twisted into a puckered squint. 'Holy cow. She's really going to town.' Her eyes were staring so intently on Ellis' carnage that she did not notice Kyle pass by the camera and into the storage room that Simon had just entered.

One of the merc's whistled. 'Did you see that? That one just stabbed her in the chest and she didn't even flinch.'

The other replied, 'Can you imagine? All that blood, she's probably healing like a motherfucker.'

Carol snorted, 'Seriously.' She flicked her eyes over at the sudden movement of another screen and watched Simon holster his guns. She looked back at Ellis and then blinked.

Suddenly she lurched forward in her chair. Simon jumped onto Kyle and pushed his jaw back, ready to bleed him.

'SIMON! NO!!!' She yelled and then covered her mouth.

Simon stopped immediately and froze. Poor Kyle had started to blabber.

The sheer force of the vampire's grip just about made Kyle pee his pants. Suddenly his chin was shoved up and his neck exposed.

'Wait, WAIT! GOOD GUY HERE. GOOD GUY!!!' He wailed and then suddenly the vampire did stop.

Slowly his assailant eased his grip on Kyle. He watched him, turning his head to the side and looking off, like he was listening to someone. He held his breath and in the quiet of the room, he heard a small tinny voice.

An ear piece.

Well whoever it was had called this big fucker off him.

'The woman, Ellis...she's in there.' Kyle pointed his finger out the door, quickly throwing the woman under the bus.

The other man knelt back, completely off Kyle and onto one knee. He finally looked up into Kyle's face and gave him a look.

Scooting back, Kyle backed up as far as he could. Both men sat on the ground looking at each other.

'Waste not...'

'Want not,' Ellis cooed as she strolled leisurely into the room. There they were...the bane of her existence and her ticket to a higher one. She rubbed her tummy slowly, feeling the tautness of the skin. She had fed. A lot. Ellis could feel the last of the damage repairing itself as she took her time closing the distance between her, the beast and Hillman.

'Terrance...Terrance, Terrance, Terrance. You've been a bad boy.' She clucked her tongue. Her mouth was covered in blood, but her hair swayed softly on her cheeks. Silk, smooth strands had replaced the burnt crispy pieces. Ellis ran her hands down her back, feeling the smooth skin where there had once been steel metal and open flesh. She stopped about 20 feet away from him.

Looking down at her nails, she noticed the slivers of steel still in her forearms and wrists from the metal chair melting into her. Ellis reached in with a fresh nail and dug a long silver out that was just beneath her skin. She giggled at the sensation. The bit of metal clanked on the floor. Flexing her hand tightly a few more smaller pieces pierced through her skin and dropped to the floor.

'Well now,' she said softly, looking up. 'I believe you have something that belongs to me.'

'I believe you have something that belongs to me.'

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and shrugged. 'You would've done the same thing, Ellis.' Terrance grinned. He wasn't afraid of her, but was in awe of her. They didn't make them like Ellis anymore. That necessary kind of evil that made life worth living.

He stepped closer to the beast. 'You could've made another one easily. Why did you go through all the trouble?'

Trouble. Indeed. He had betrayed her, stolen from her and killed her. Well, he tried to, at least. He looked at her now, clothes torn but skin radiant and her hair so black it was blue. She had such a beautiful and alluring smile. Part of him knew that he'd try to take what was her's when they first met. And she had to known he'd try. Really, why all the trouble for a machine that holds more value in principle than in actual worth? A ton of chrome and a bit of plastic. He was indeed curious.

Ellis grinned and tipped her head down. Her hair falling into her eyes as she closed the distance. She put her hand up on the steel machine and leaned against it. She shrugged and continued her magnificent smile.

'I was bored.'

They stood there like that for a few moments, like old friends catching up. She rested her chin on the metal and Terrance leaned in closer. Two friends sharing a funny joke.

'I assume you have a deal?' Terrance chuckled. 'Come on Terry, you gotta own up. You cut me deep.' She shrugged, pushing off the machine and standing even closer to him. Ellis looked into his eyes and gave him a small simper. 'Give me one reason why I shouldn't leave you here, disembowled and bled dry?'

The whole point of this raid wasn't to get the beast back. It was the principle. Someone took something of her's and that would simply not do. She had spent the better part of seventeen hundred years learning how to hold a grudge and not having to worry about the wrinkles. Ellis was always open to a good excuse though. He'd have to make it quick, unfortunately. If her estimations were correct, the place was about to blow any minute now.

Her eyes went wide, 'Dazzle me, but make it quick. I got somewheres I gotta be, love.'

Simon listened to Carol explanation of who the man was.

'Kyle Evans,' he said out loud. 'Carol has requested I not kill you.' He stood and looked down at the human. 'I hope you can keep up. I'd hate to disappoint her.'

Turning, Simon walked out the door and back into the hallway. Turning the corner that Kyle had come from, he came upon the scattered bodies in the hallway. He paused, looking at the faces of the humans. Pale, bloodless. Her blood lust must have been reaching epic proportions. He had never seen her feed on so many, so quickly. She'd be strong right now, but he didn't know for how much longer. Her blood lust could linger for several hours. Would the heightened ability and amount of damage she's had to have her body repair slow her down quicker? He dismissed his thoughts and headed down the corridor to the beast's lair.

He could hear them, chatting quietly.

'I assume you have a deal?'

Simon had begun to draw his guns but instead he let his hands fall to the side.

'Give me one reason why I shouldn't leave you here, disembowled and bled dry?'

Simon stepped into the room and watched the two of them standing closely. Not mortal enemies, but more like lovers. He lowered his eyes and stood in the shadows, as he always had done. Feeling his fists clench tight enough to have his fingernails cut into his palms. Even after everything he had decided, her wanton flirting still made his blood simmer.

'Dazzle me, but make it quick. I got somewheres I gotta be, love.'

'Ellis.' She turned and looked at him. Her smile large and happy. 'It's time to leave.' His hand slipped into his pocket and his fingers felt the cold cylindrical device. He had something he had to show her first.

Ahh, the companion. Terrance turned towards who he presumed to be as Simon Huntington and gave him a stiff nod. He would not be happy with him, he wagered. Stealing his girl, killing his girl and now standing here and chatting up another deal with his girl. He'd be pissed too.

Again Terrance shrugged at Ellis. 'I've given all I can give, E. But as I see it, you're in no position to bargain.' He knew he was right, her being here broke every single rule in the vampire world.

'YOU made the deal to betray your clan. YOU came to me with the beast. YOU made the beast and had every intention on using your own people as cash cows. YOU broke about a thousand clan rules bringing your clan here and killing god knows how many humans. YOU are bringing attention to the vampire nation. Your elders would sooner have you dead than alive and on your knees, Ellis.'

He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. 'Why don't YOU...dazzle ME.'

'My elders?' She closed her eyes. 'Terrance darling, I have a theory.' She pulled him close, tucking her arms around his. She pressed her chest up against him and cooed. 'I believe...you can't really go to hell, if you don't believe in it.'

Ellis looked over at Simon and with a small smile said, 'Simon love, do you have a pen? I've seem to have lost mine.'

Simon had reached into his pocket and was holding something. Slowly, he pulled it out.

A pen.

She looked back at Terrance. 'Tell you what. Why don't I write you a little note. Let's call it...a will? A living will, of course.' She smiled, baring her fangs. 'I'll write up a little something that says you can have it all if I die.'

Without looking, Ellis reached out and caught the stylus from Simon who had tossed it lightly into the air. She reached into Hillman's jacket and looked around for something to write with. She pulled out his business card holder and slid out a heavy stock paper card.

She began to write. 'I, Ellis Duban, being of sound mind and judgement, bequeath all that is dear to me to my beloved partner in crime, Terrance Hillman.' She still had an arm wrapped around his as she wrote on the card. Ellis squeezed, causing a gasp from Hillman. 'I'll throw some xx's and oo's for prosperity sakes?'

Ellis clicked the pen and it made a soft humming noise. She showed him the card and then she pressed her lips against the whiteness of it, leaving a bloody kiss print. With the card in her hand, she straightened his jacket, buttoning it back up. Ellis tilted her head to the side for a moment, before she took the pen and rammed it into Terrance's heart.

Carol knew what the click was.

'Simon...you just...that bomb is going to...EVERYBODY OUT WHO ISN'T OUT.' Carol yelled into her microphone. 'Simon it's sunrise.'

The merc's in the room had since left and she was alone in the control room. Streaks of sunlight were peeking through the boarded up windows.

'Everyone pull back, Simon's making the extraction and he's incoming with Ellis and a human.' She took a final look at Hillman as the others left in the compound made their exit. 'When that bomb goes off, it's going to set off the explosives in the next storage room. Everyone stand by.'

She knew it wouldn't matter now when Ginnie and the others set off their explosives. Carol hoped Simon would live long enough for her to ask him why he gave her the pen bomb. But part of her knew why.

Only one of them were coming out.

Carol covered her mouth and watched.

Like Val was going to ignore that. No, hell no. There were explosives and sunrise, anything else could wait. She’d always harbored a certain fear of sunrise and gave into that now. Besides there were times in any campaign you had to think of yourself and getting out alive.

With extreme speed, she packed up the stock and then bolted for Ginnie’s van praying the girl was one hell of a driver and could get them out safe. She’d come back for her own car later. Deciding there wasn’t time to stand on ceremony she quickly climbed into the waiting vehicle. Unable to come up with anything clever or witty to say she just smiled at Ginnie.

“Well they’re all set.”

What in the hell was going on? Ginnie had spent the time between her last communication and now, securing the van, and making sure it wouldn't blow if it got shot at. She was looking out the one uncovered window, dawn's light made her wince, but the sun's rays had not yet made it to her portion of the world.

"Should I detonate, Carol? These things won't explode on their own, even when on fire."

Well the ones around the foundation of the warehouse would, but the fire had to get to them first. The door opened behind her, she hadn't seen anyone approach, but then again, her mind was trying not to have a melt down, as she had not heard from Alec in over ten minutes and was just about to loose it.

She spun and her heart sank into her stomach when Valentine climbed in.

"Well they're all set."

"Ok, thanks. Find a place to sit, you did a good job."

She lowered the shade to protect her occupants, the blonde Merc had taken refuge in the back of the van and contented himself by staring at her. It really was unnerving. She limped to the driver's seat awaiting orders and Alec.

Mathias finished evaccing the last Merc and ran for his car. He had purposefully parked it not only for safe distance,but also for maximum amount of shade.

" Mathias reporting in - am out and away "

He waited for the boom

Nova was busily going through the bottom cabinets and shouting to the scientists, asking them where various items were kept and getting muttered responses and points, when Jan started making ‘lets get the fuck out of here’ noises. Eventually the pair took a more active role, getting slides and documentation into the ‘bag’ and freeing her up to look for anything they may have hidden.

A small fridge in the corner of the room held a carousal of test tubes filled with blue fluid and she blew a few minutes breaking cold gel packs to, with any luck, keep them at a safe temperature.

By this point Jan was waving his knives around and herding them toward the door and she spared one more look over her shoulder before following the scientist’s and Jan’s lead. They made their way out into the hallways and began working up to ground level, but when they took a turn even Nova recognized as wrong she shouted up ahead.

“Hey! Quit dicking us around and get us out of here!”

One of the scientists turned around, a frightened expression on his face, and shook his head in denial of the accusation.

‘This way is shorter, it’s direct from the lab to the sewer exit.’

Nova threw up her hands and shot Jan a look just as Carol shouted in the ear piece to get out.

“Crap…”

They were in too deep not to trust the scientists, though they could quite easily be leading them into the street or just suiciding and taking herself and Jan with them, and so the four ran through the hallways as the seconds ticked away.

“Me and Jan are on our way out, no worries here…”

Jan sighed and continued to herd Nova and the two others onward until they seemed to all have their minds on getting out and not on finding more interesting little baubles in a lab.

Nova halted though and he was about to knock her on the head again and carry her out, his knife hand even twitched with the anticipated throw that would send her into unconsciousness but she soon spoke up and it would seem that she had a valid reason to be concerned.

He narrowed his eyes at the hostages that were leading the way and briefly wished for some ability that would allow him a better understanding of whether or not they were telling the truth. They seemed to be honest enough if his street wise guess work was any indication; they looked at Nova directly when they answered her and, though they were probably full of adrenaline anyway, they did not seem to be more agitated or excited as one might be when trying to pull off a lie.

With a deep intake of breath, he nodded and pushed on through the hallway.

"Let's get on with it then."

Nova's statement into the com link that they were on their way out and not to worry was a bit premature in his opinion but he did not think now was a good time to argue the point.

As Alec finished his walk from his special entrance, he listened silently to the goings on. He was clear, so now was time for thinking. Things had gone a bit too pear shaped for such a pro job. That wasn't chance. Carol's assessment could be correct. If it was, that left Simon and Ellis below and together. Was Simon in on it, or not? Question of the day.

Day. Oh, shit.

Abandoning any lines of reasoning, Alec picked up the pace and rapidly approached the van. Opening the side door, he was framed for a moment - a blood-drenched spectre entering the material world. Popping in, he noted that they had guests. Sighing to himself, he slammed the door shut and tugged off his blood saturated mask and streaked goggles.

Allo mes amis. Less than two minutes to detonation. Let's hurry home.

Smiling at Ginnie in the rear view mirror, Alec ducked under a mylar blanket. He wasn't taking ANY chances with sunlight, and even if he could, sitting in the front covered in this much blood would be a bit of a bad idea. Endearments would have to wait until he got home from work. Those nagging questions would likely be answered before they got home, anyway.

The exit was sudden; they rounded a corner and they were in a dim hallway with a large grate at the far end. In spite of Nova’s confident statements, she breathed a sigh of relief as the approached the grate and gave Jan a little smile.

“Home free.”

She reached down to pull open the grate but to her surprise one of the scientists stayed her hand.

‘Er. Better let me do that; this is where we dump the hazmat waste.’

Nova scowled, but stepped back to let the rubber glove clad scientist do his work.

“I should shoot you right now. I swear to god, I’m not some EPA loving tree hugging…whatever…but that’s fucking ridiculous right there.”

Her rant was cut off when she realized the two scientists had already jumped down into the tunnels below. She shrugged moodily, still swearing under her breath, and jumped down to begin her grumbling anew.

“Where does this out? And if you say the docks I swear to god, someone’s getting hit.”

The scientists looked shifty.

‘Er.’

Nova reached out and thunked the nearest one over the head with her hand, though admittedly not very hard.

“Dumbass.” She looked to Jan. “You believe this shit?”

Following the two scientists and hearing their statements about dumping into the sewers, Jan was rapidly changing his mind about killing them in cold blood.

He turned to Nova and said.

"I am beginning to think killing them would be a service to humanity."

Glaring at the scientists briefly, he pushed on ahead and moved down the tunnels towards the nearest exit. It did not take long before a faint stream of light was seen. Sunrise. This was going to suck.

With an internal sigh, he peered through the grating judging the distance to the nearest shelter. There was a car parked a few feet away or they could continue on and try to find the ones that linked up to the Domicile. If the choice was to go topside then it needed to be made soon.

"Up or continue on?"

Speaking into the ear piece, he did at least advise the others of their where abouts.

"Nova and I are in the sewers and away from the building."

Eyeing the two humans, he said

"We could use them as body shields, they might squirm a bit, but it would be an organic umbrella and probably the best use for them yet."

Nova followed Jan’s gaze, completely ignoring the two scientists they were speaking about with such contempt, and considered the question at hand. While it really would be totally badass to race against the sun to get to shelter, at some point she had to face the reality; no way in hell would she make it.

“Let’s go up; you first.”

She held up her arm at that, grinning. “Naw, I’m fucking with you, let’s try and find a way out that doesn’t involve sun dodging.”

Organic umbrellas…Nova considered that idea for a moment before filing it away for another time.

Simon was kind enough to hold the door open for her. She reached into one of her mangled pockets and pulled out the guards cigarettes. Ellis walked quickly out the doors and down the corridor. She could see Kyle running like the devil was on his heels.

She chuckled and lit her cigarette.

'How long before that pen bomb goes off, I wonder?'

Simon gave her a look as he grabbed her arm and started to run.

'Oh, that short huh?'

Taking a final inhale of her cigarette, she threw it down and took off with her liquid vampire speed. Her blood lust had climaxed. At least, it wasn't getting any stronger. The entire floor opened up to her and she easily passed Simon. They caught up with Kyle in about 4 seconds and she grabbed him by the material of his sweater and yanked him behind her.

She was fairly certain his feet never touched the ground.

The look on Kyle's face would've been comical if the situation hadn't been so dire. That click of the pen just set off a one minute timer. He wasn't sure what a double click would've done.

Kyle did not need to be told twice and he took off back down the corridor.

Simon watched as Ellis shoved the pen with such strength that it impaled Hillman to the wall. Guess the partnership was null and void. Simon opened the door for her and as always, followed behind her.

As they made their way back down the corridor towards the elevator, Ellis grabbed Kyle. They reached the elevator door, which was still open, and he checked his watch.

'Fifty seconds.'

Carol closed her eyes. She didn't think there was any other way than to set off the charges. They needed to clear their mess, with or without them. Her heart sank thinking of not just what would happen to the clan but her life without Simon. Just when she met the man her soul most connected with, he had to go and be a vampire and trapped in the middle of a building surrounded by explosives and his psychotic creator.

Just another day in Tacharan, she figured.

Carol opened her com link again and spoke quickly.

'Ginnie and Alec, when those bombs go off, how will that effect the charges in the rest of the building? The entire place will collaspe inward, right? Will setting off your charges before that give Simon and Ellis a better chance to make it out?'

Ginnie had slipped into the driver's seat on a sigh, when Alec had entered the van. She had the detonator primed all she had to do was press her thumb down twice. when her ear piece crackled to life.

'Ginnie and Alec, when those bombs go off, how will that effect the charges in the rest of the building? The entire place will collaspe inward, right? Will setting off your charges before that give Simon and Ellis a better chance to make it out?'

"Mine won't go off unless the plastic melts and the C4 catches fire, or I press this little button. When I press this button, the floor they are on will blow then every three seconds the floor above will go. Honestly I have no ides if that makes it better or worse for them. I didn't see that room. Alec?"

She turned to face the man in the passenger's seat curled under his mylar blanket.

Frowning under his blanket, Alec replied as quickly as possible.

It looked like there was enough explosive material in that room to mix things up a bit if it goes early. It'd be like setting off one of the munitions annexes of the Domicile UNDER the lair. If we wait, it could be blowing UP instead of down or laterally. We'd have no idea how things would turn out. Best case is it buys them 10 seconds or so - worst case the weakened structure allows for a greater upward explosive force. The charges will set off that room as well, but the blast force will be directed more laterally than upward.

Nineteen seconds.

Jan looked at Nova and blinked expressionless at her readiness to head up into the sunlight. He shrugged one shoulder and started climbing up, grinning at the wall when he heard her say she was joking.

"Oh, well whatever you want to do."

Starting off down the tunnel, he turned and arched an eyebrow.

"I understand that its pretty scary. "

Personally, he didn't want to go out into the day either but he couldn't resist messing with her over it.

"So do you have any idea where we are going?"

Nova gave Jan a playful shove when he dropped down from the ladder.

“Stuff it, Mr. I’m-a-billion-years-old-and-take-strolls-in-the-sun-all-the-time.”

She turned around in circles for a moment, muttering under her breath. How hard could this be? The docks were that way, so unless they wanted to take a swim that wasn’t the way to go. The Domicile was definitely west, then…and north.

Or South.

Or maybe they had to go west, and then Northeast.

Still muttering, mostly things like ‘if the stars were still out this would be easier’ and ‘never eat shredded wheat…’, she evaluated their options. The tunnel they were currently in had an intersection that could be promising, and there was another one behind them as well. It looked like they could go north…ish…if they took the turn ahead of them.

“Sure I know where we are. We want to turn up there.”

She might not have the best internal navigation, but Nova felt she made up for it with a willingness to fake it until she saw a landmark or something. She was pretty sure if she just remembered where the water was, they’d be okay.

Looking affronted, he held his hand, knives still in them, to his chest and gasped.

"A billion years old? I'll have you know I do -not- look a day over one hundred!"

Jan grinned at Nova's confidence and figured nothing too terrible would happen while they were down here except for wandering aimlessly in the tunnels through the daylight hours.

Listening to the voices over the coms as they prepared for the building to blow, he spoke to aloud to himself.

"O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy."

Chuckling at the quote and moving the scientists along down the indicated tunnel, he continued his speech.

"And the Lord spake, saying, First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number though shalt count and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt though not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it. Amen."

((OOC: quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail because it had to be said. ))

When this was all over, Kyle decided he would see his doctor about this increasingly high rate of vomiting.

Standing inside the elevator after being snapped from one end of the corridor to the other in about .5 seconds, he shook his head and bent over at the waist. He put his hands on his knees and tried to fight off the feeling of needing to puke up a lung. Kyle looked over at Ellis and her nervous laughter.

'Is she alright?'

Simon was becoming alarmed. That couldn't be a good sign, he thought. She had a drunken look to her now and she kept sighing. Taking big breaths. He straightened and looked up at the elevator level indicator.

5b

Halfway.

Turning back to look at her, he took a step forward to help when the elevator jerked to a stop, half knocking him to the ground.

Carol considered their options.

'We need to let them get as close to the surface as fast as they can. Don't detonate until those god damn things are to set themselves off and hopefully we can keep it...fuck I don't know...a little organized.'

She checked the remaining floors. In the back of her mind, she heard Simon announce the time.

'Fifty seconds.'

The sub-levels were clearing out. Word that Hillman had been killed was spreading quickly on the tapped frequency. Everyone was now evacuating.

'Any and all compound personnel must be eliminated, people. No one gets out alive, except for the human with Simon and Ellis.' Carol gulped as she announced the kill order. This is not what she went to school for, but then neither was being a familiar for a notorious vampire.

Suddenly the pen bomb went off a little early.

Ellis was coming off her blood lust, but her effects of the electricity was having an odd affect on her. She was weakening and having shortness of breath. He grabbed her by the arm to hold her up. Kyle was crowding, trying to help as well, but he shook his head and listened to Carol give the orders to kill the remaining compound personnel.

She had barely finished when suddenly an explosion rocked the elevator, causing it to come to a grinding halt. They braced themselves but he lost his grip on Ellis and she fell completely to the floor.

'That wasn't a minute, what happened?'

Repositioning herself on the floor, Ellis looked up and said, 'Was I not suppose to click it twice?'

The force of the explosion caused the elevator to go offline and literally picked it up several feet before dropping it again, only to be caught by the emergency brakes. Kyle knew enough of this to keep from panicing.

It didn't really help though.

Scrambling to his feet, he jumped up and pushed out the emergency hatch door. 'Let's go, let's go let's go.' He reached down for Ellis and hoisted her to her feet with Simon. It was only a small jump for the 6'2 man but he grabbed the ledge of the opening and pulled himself up and out. Even from here, he could feel the heat and hear the small explosions beneath him.

Reaching back down, he stuck his hand out for Ellis to grab. With a goofy smile, Ellis allowed herself to be pulled up and out into the elevator shaft. Simon followed quickly behind her, shutting the hatch just as another explosion rocked the shaft.

'Looks like we're in between levels four and five.' He looked around and found a recessed ladder. He pointed to it and Simon nodded. Kyle looked at Ellis who was standing on her own feet now. Good enough.

Then Kyle ascended the ladder.

Ellis Dubán
'Was I not suppose to click it twice?'

'WHAT DID SHE SAY?' Ellis had double clicked the timer, shortening the detonation down to thirty seconds, most of which was wasted talking in the elevator. The explosion knocked the cameras on that level off line, but she caught enough to see the flames. That fire was going to find its way out.

She was about to tell Simon to go up the shaft when she saw on the elevator camera that he was already climbing up and out. The explosion vibrated up the shaft and knocked out the sensors, so she was blind but not deaf.

'Simon you need to move fast. You heard Ginnie and Alec. We can't really control the explosives if we let them go. Y'all might...it might all fall in or it might blow up and OUT.'

Simon chuckled as he helped Ellis up out of the elevator.

'You know Carol, you keep saying that like I don't already know it.' Inwardly he grinned, despite the all too certain death. His humor was lost on Carol.

Carol's lips turned white and she pointed her finger at the monitor.

'ATTITUDE!'

They climbed the recessed ladder up to the fourth floor when another explosion almost knocked them off. Simon hung precariously for a moment before regaining his grasp and following, half shoving Ellis up. Below them the elevator flew up to just beneath them and then back down and with a sudden violent snap, it fell back down to the firey pit from whence it came.

The last explosion blew the elevator doors in on nine and eight. The steel crumbling from the heat and force it was hit with. All three looked down from their vantage point and then continued on quickly to the third level.

'Carol we're just about to level three, how's it looking?'

Just then, the elevator door for blew in for five, then six.

'Oh god its moving fast.'

Indeed it was.

Carol looked at the monitor for the outside of the compound. Smoke was starting to rise up out of cracks forming in the roof from the explosions.

'It's clear up to you at level four now. I've never seen anything like it.'

She felt human and it disgusted her. Her strength was gone and she felt...soft. Climbing up the ladder she felt fatigue crawl into her muscles and the heat from the fire was ripping the fear inside her apart.

This fucking sucked, Ellis thought as she pulled herself up the rungs.

Reaching the third floor, the explosions seemed to have slowed down but so had they.

'Can we make it to the top from here?' She looked down, queasy at the site of flames licking up the walls towards them. Suddenly the second floor door above them exploded open and the steel door narrowly missed them as it fell back down to the fire.

'I'm going answer my own question and guess no.'

She motioned down to Simon, pointing at the third level elevator door beside them. Ellis pulled herself away from the ladder to find the emergency handle to crank open the door. Finding it she pushed with all her might and just barely got the mechanism to move, the elevator door creaking open slowly. The last bit of her vampire strength extinquished, none too happy about the sudden effort.

Ellis whistled up and got Kyle's attention, who reached over and put his hand in between the doors, pulling on one end, forcing the opening even bigger. Slowly, Ellis precariously leaned off the ladder and squeezed through the opening. Both men followed suit.

Carol raced through the remainder cameras to find a clear path. She watched all three enter level three, just a mere 100 or so feet from the surface. 'That entire elevator shaft is in flames, you have to cross over to the other side. That side's shaft looks clear to make it to the main level, but you still have to make it through the fire to get out.'

She thought to herself, that should be easy...right? When her camera link to the floor blew out, she decided she would have to reconsider that thought.

The wave of heat swept her hair up and across her face. Reaching up to clear it, she cautiously moved down the corridor to the other side of the compound. Thinking to herself, Ellis considered what her options were when they made it out, although part of her was beginning to wonder if they would. Not a fan of fire, her anxiety level was increasing, despite being so close to almost out.

Out loud she decided, 'Next time, I'm choosing a business partner a little more wisely...say Sorin.' For sure these humans were just too much trouble to deal with.

Simon had made some choices in his lifetime. Some good, some bad. Well, most bad. He spent his entire life following after one woman's dream of infamy and power. His reason? A stupid one. He loved her.

'Next time, I'm choosing a business partner a little more wisely...say Sorin.'

Simon looked at her. Even in the fire, with sweat and smoke, she was radiant. The look on her face though, it was laughable. She genuinely surprised by his reaction to what she said. He could see it. All these years, he was nothing to her but a means to an end and she would discard him for Sorin if the pot was sweet enough. Oh she'd let him hang around, run her clan, keep them out of trouble but that's all he'd be.

Her butler.

Simon reached into his ear and pulled out his com link. He reached out and handed it to Kyle who curiously took it. Taking Kyle by the arm, he started to walk him off.

'Go to the surface. Now. Tell Carol.' He nodded to the com link and turned back to Ellis. Only in his hand now was his gun and what he did with it, surprised the hell out of even Kyle.

He was standing there, again, with that look on his face. The wounded puppy. Why did he keep doing this, after all these years? Simon turned away from her and said something to Kyle.

'Simon, come on...' She huffed, rolling her eyes. Seriously, this jealousy shit was just too much.

She started to walk towards him, just as he told Kyle to go to the surface. Glared at Simon. 'What the fuck are you d-...'

Ellis, in her annoyance, had not noticed Simon pull his gun. Nor did she realize fully what he intended to do with it until after he had done it. She was inches from it when he squeezed the trigger. The force of it propelled her back about ten feet. Her vampire strength and resilience gone, it shocked her into silence.

She laid there. Dumbfounded and bleeding. Ellis, flat on her back coughed up blood, much to her dismay. Her blood lust had robbed her of her strength and apparently her dignity. The wound hadn't killed her but the pain was just short of getting kicked in the head by a pissed off mule. She tried to sit up but her lungs caught on fire, causing her to cough more.

Simon stood there, in the same place, looking at her as the inferno creeped up onto the third floor.

Rolling over to her side, she half sat up and looked at him. Touching her chest, she felt the bullet wound, dead center of her breast bone. Oh, that's why she couldn't fucking breath now.

'You fucking SHOT me.'

Carol heard the soft sound of fluttering, which unbeknownst to her, was Simon handing his com link to Kyle. The cameras had burnt out on the third level as she watched them move towards the other side.

'Simon?'

No answer. Suddenly she heard foot steps again, pounding on the floor and breathing.

'Simon.'

The moaning of the structure surfaced through, but still no response from him.

'SIMON!' She yelled as loud as she could.

Again the fluttering and a voice chirped through.

'Kyle, what the hell are you doing with the mic and where is Simon?'

Kyle didn't wait around to see what Simon did with the gun. He could guess. He took the com link and clasped it tightly in his hand and ran off towards the other elevator shaft. A few seconds later, he heard the gunshot but it was muffled by his hand and so were anything coming out of it.

He by passed small fires and hovered low as the smoke gathered around him, causing him to cough. He finally released the com link into his pocket, just ask Carol yelled into it.

Scrambling, he dug back into his pocket and pulled it out. Not slowing down, he looked at the odd black thing and stuck it in his ear. If was soft and fit perfectly.

'Kyle, what the hell are you doing with the mic and where is Simon?'

He stammered, not sure where the microphone was suppose to be. 'Uh...with Ellis. Can you hear me?' Dodging red hot steel patches and waving through the smoke, he continued his path across the compound.

Things just got better and better. As the van trembled from the force of the deep detonation, Alec realized that the blast was way too early. Things were pretty much fucked now.

Shit.

And they were still down in there? Hopefully they had their wills in order.

Wait. Who the fuck was Kyle?

Wait, who the fuck is Kyle? Does he know about the minefield we set? Do you know about the minefield Val set outside the exits? And what do you look like so we don't shoot you in the face?

Mathias could only listen in futile anger at the events unfolding. As much as he wanted to run out and help Ellis,Simon and Kyle, there was no way he'd even survive the trip there. With the sun coming up and the distance involved he'd be ash.

Damn you...MOVE!! he thought to himself

Mathias heard a voice praying to Saint Jude,patron of desperate causes and impossible situations. It took him a moment to realize it was his voice. We may be damned, Mathias thought, but this is most certainly a desperate cause.

" ..... Make use I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy help, where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolations and help of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly your request and that I may bless God with you and all the elect forever.... "

"Run...come on...."

Simon heard the fire before actually seeing it. It was deafening in his ears or it may have been his heart pounding with andrenaline. He hadn't just shot Ellis, he attacked his creator and this act alone was beyond treachery. He was struggling, looking at her as she looked at him with shocked eyes.

The fire finally reached the third floor and an explosion down the corridor from where they had came rocked the level. There was a loud, painful groaning and the floor began to tilt. The corridor was dead center of the level and, like the other levels, connected the massive floor platform that led down to the beast's lair which was now so engulfed in flames that the metal had melted the foundation. The room beside them on his left suddenly started to slide off, the wall tearing apart and revealing the gaping hole of the melted center.

The structure was caving in, causing both Ellis and Simon to slide directly into it.

'Wait, who the fuck is Kyle? Does he know about the minefield we set? Do you know about the minefield Val set outside the exits? And what do you look like so we don't shoot you in the face?'

'That what? Wait, WHAT? What do you mean minefield? What do you mean shoot me in the face??' Kyle scrambled down the last bit of the hallway and saw the elevator in sight. He almost stopped at the mention of a minefield but forced himself to the doors and dipped his fingers into the center, parting them with a loud grunt.

'I'm Kyle Evans, I'm a...fuck...I'm a reporter for the Time. Carol knows who I am...Carol tell them!' He put his back against one side of the door and pushed with his right leg, forcing the doors open. With a clank they stopped with a big enough opening to squeeze through. He reached for the ladder and jumped, the doors closing behind him.

'I'm wearing a black turtle neck, I have black hair. I'm unarmed.' He climbed the rest of the way to the ground level and pulled on the crank to manually open the doors. The building rocked again and he felt his balance shift. The building was tipping, he could feel it. Christ, he thought and opened the doors.

The ground level was still intact and he ran down the hallway, pushing through doors so hard that they banged against the walls loudly. He recognized the hallway out through the smoke, his lungs now on fire.

'Which way is safe?'

Ellis started to slide and tried reaching out for anything to grab onto. She thought to herself, 'Isn't this just a nice slice of fried gold.' Simon lost his balance and hit the floor next to her.

The wall pulled away and part of the metal skeleton of the foundation peeked through, she reached for it on the way into the pit but missed. The pain in her chest became secondary as she felt the heat rise up and hiss across her skin. Frantically she reached out and suddenly was caught by something. Looking up she saw Simon who had managed to catch the metal beams.

He was saving her. Good, she thought, because he's fucking dead when I'm out of here.

Instinctively Simon reached out and grabbed Ellis, saving her from slipping in. Fifteen hundred years of protecting her does that to the reflexes. She looked up at him and smiled, but he knew what would come next. He knew what he had already set in motion when he betrayed her by giving knowledge of the beast to the Elders, protecting Marthinus and falling in love with her familiar. He managed to break every rule he lived by, all these years.

Ellis tried to climb up Simon's arm, trying to get a grasp but couldn't. He watched her as the compound literally tilted inward, the heat burning his face as he looked down at her. Past her could only be described as hell. The burning inferno's flames licking up at them.

He felt his grip loosen on the beam. The sweat and pain from the fire burning his skin. Simon looked at her. His life was always with her. He loved her, despite enslaving his family and alienating the clan from their nation. Simon felt the pain in his heart as he looked her in the eyes and he spoke quietly to her. He mouthed the words, 'I loved you.'

Then he let her go.

'Yes for god's sakes, do not shoot him. I'll explain later.' Then directing her attention back to Kyle. 'What is going on, why do you have Simon's com link? Where is he?'

Simon wasn't gone, she could still feel him. At least, she assumed her bond with him would've been strong enough to tell if he was. He hadn't told her what he was going to do, if anything. She didn't think it was her place to ask. The pit of her stomach felt like a knot wrapped around a brick.

She waited, her eyes searching the outside parameter of the compound. It would be alright and Simon would make it out, she kept telling herself but it didn't stop the tears welling up in her eyes.

Ellis was swinging just above the broken floors. Most of it was on fire. Comforting, she thought. She reached up and tried to get a good grip on Simon, to pull herself up but her strength was gone. The pain in her chest was nothing compared to intense hate for the man holding onto her. She would kill Simon, with her bare fucking hands, but first she would bleed him for a thousand years.

They looked at each other, the seconds ticking by like years. He was trying to make a decision, she could see it in his eyes. Fifteen hundred years with her, he better make the right one, she thought. She tried her hardest to smile up at him, to reassure him but he was taking forever, just staring at her. Suddenly he opened his mouth.

'I loved you', he said.

Her eyes went large and the hate bubbled over. She reached up to claw at him, to crawl up his body and rip his eyes out when he let go.

As Ellis fell into the bowels of the building she did a curious thing. She prayed. Prayed that she wouldn't live through this and find Simon, because there would be nothing in the world that would ever stop her from hunting him and every single thing dear to him. She'd kill the clan if she had to, but his suffering would be legendary.

Her thought was cut off as she fell onto a steel beam, breaking her spine. The pain mixed in with the insurmountable hate and she continued to pray as the building crumbled on top of her.

Simon turned and pulled himself up the broken beam, trying to climb up. He closed his eyes and a sob wracked his chest. Simon's sorrows were many, but his guilt was almost unbearable as he tried to pull himself up to the floor. One thing kept him from letting go and joining Ellis.

Carol.

He pulled himself up and onto the tilted floor. He scrambled along the wall and made it into the hallway. He stumbled, the temperature now would be unbearable for a human and for a vampire...well it wasn't the sun but it was damn near. He stood and ran as fast as he could down the hallway to the other elevator shaft.

Simon pushed his vampire speed and made it to the elevator doors as the building continued to be rocked by explosions, some from above. Pushing open the doors he reached out and grabbed the ladder and started to climb. Suddenly the second level elevator blew out and down, just grazing him and leaving a gash on his back. He felt his blood lust start to rage from the pain, his fangs tingly wildly, but to no avail.

Fire streamed out of the second floor and into the shaft. The fire from below and reached the bottom floors on this side of the compound. He was surrounded by flames. Simon closed his eyes and tried to breathe, but the heat in the air seared his lungs.

He had a final thought before being engulfed by the flames. He had done the right thing, he told himself. Dying now was only fitting for the things he had done for Ellis over the years. He'd be at peace with that.

Simon hung on the ladder in his makeshift tomb, waiting.

Outside the compound's roof was littered with cracks and smoke rose out of it like a volcano. In the dawn's light the building started to cave in, exposing the fire within and feeding it. It greedily sucked in the oxygen and flames licked out of the open cracks.

No doubt the sleeping Nachton would notice that the ware house docks were on fire and soon the police and fire department will be rushing to extinquish it and clear the area. Within 15 minutes the area will be crowded with government personnel, fighting the fire.

"Damn..."
There was no way anyone survived that...and nothing Mathias could do now.

Wearily,as if the weight of his thousand years suddenly weighed upon him, Mathias dialed Shay's number. Each ring seemed like an eternity and again and again he went over what occurred.

"Shay? It's me - it's over...yes,yes I am fine love. I need to take a cab to this address and drive my car back to the house. The keys will be under the driver's side mat. I will be waiting in back - I love you Shay, see you in a few "

He had not wanted to be so abrupt with Shay, but time was of the essence and Mathias was still trying to understand what happened, much less discuss it.

Mathias pulled the heavy kevlar tarp over him and waited on Shay. But every time he closed his eyes all he could picture was Simon and Ellis in that inferno.

"Damn it to hell..."

"Carol, I'm out will rendesvous at The Domicile"

(( OOC - Mathias out. Thanks all for a great thread, I had a...blast? :oops: ))

Well, crap. I didn't lay them out, so doing this from memory. Don't fuck up the math and don't step on anything that looks like it is bad for you. Straight out the front door 8 feet is safe, then you hit the array. Nonstandard. Straight out 6 feet...that's 14 total feet from doorway, diagonal 30 degrees right, forward fifteen feet, diagonal 55 degrees left, forward 7 feet, diagonal 30 degrees left, forward 12 feet, diagonal 80 degrees right, forward 16 feet, sidestep three feet right, forward 40 feet, turn 30 degrees left, you'll be home free.

Carol - can we get him a pickup? We're a little loaded down in here.

Ginnie watched the entire thing with the same morbid fascination that one unwilling watches a car accident. It took her about ten seconds to realize that if she didn't detonate her plants, then they would be found and traced back to her, maybe.

She took a deep breath and pressed the red glowing light. It beeped at her and she pressed it again. Under her breath she counted to three and the first explosions began adding to the fire and confusion. By the time she reaced thirty, the bomb Valentine had placed around the outside of the foundation had begun to go. They went up in the order she had planted them.

The remains of the warehouse swayed omniously before collapsing on itself and adding to the inferno. She made the screen on over the driver's window tranparent and started the van.

"Carol we're hauling ass. See you at the Domicile."

'Oh good lord, this whole thing is me fault, I shouldn't have given Simon one of the bombs, and I should have known about the room of explosives, and how the building would react to such a blaze, that was my fucking job.' Now because of her her Ellis and Simon were dead, and there was a human witness. 'Fuck.'

As she drove from the firey grave of the one person she feared the most and the one person she respected the most, she realized she had no idea where she was going.

Alec Devereaux
Well, crap. I didn't lay them out, so doing this from memory. Don't fuck up the math and don't step on anything that looks like it is bad for you. Straight out the front door 8 feet is safe, then you hit the array. Nonstandard. Straight out 6 feet...that's 14 total feet from doorway, diagonal 30 degrees right, forward fifteen feet, diagonal 55 degrees left, forward 7 feet, diagonal 30 degrees left, forward 12 feet, diagonal 80 degrees right, forward 16 feet, sidestep three feet right, forward 40 feet, turn 30 degrees left, you'll be home free.

Kyle stood for a moment, his mouth agape. He swore if and when he ever got to meet the guy giving him directions, he's punch him in the mouth. With that thought, the explosions set off around him, one by one. Kyle ran out about fourteen feet and then broke right, an explosion cut him off and he doubled back the other way.

He heard a feminie voice laughing.

'OH NICE, YOU'RE LAUGHING?' Kyle ran, his arms up over his head, zig zagging back and forth out the door and away from the building as it imploded.

Through her tears Carol laughed as she watch Kyle run in all directions trying to get away from the building. The situation clearly did not call for it, but she could'nt help but giggle watching him zig zag around with his arms up over his head. Her smile faded as she watched the compound erupt in a huge explosion. It was surreal, it blew up in a compact explosion, shooting debris in the air and then it just fell in.

The cement and steel crippled and fell in, trapping whatever was left inside. She watched, quietly. The tears began again, running down her face. They were gone. Not just Ellis but Simon. No sign of him.

'Can anyone report seeing Simon make it out?' Her voice was small and meek, but more importantly, was hopeless.

Kyle cleard the fence surrounding the parameter and broke out into a full out run. The building blew upwards, not out. If it had he surely would've been killed by the building's debris, still he felt the rush of air and it pushed him to the ground, toppling him over and over until finally he was close to the main road leading to the docks. He waited a few moments and turned to look over his shoulder.

The building seemingly swallowed itself whole. The hidden sub levels below absorbed the outside building and it fell in. The explosion had been deafening but through the ringing in his ears, he heard crying.

'Carol?' He said out loud.

'Carol?'

She had begun crying into her hands, sobbing softly. 'He's gone,' she cried. The explosion had blown out all the monitoring cameras in the area. The force was so great it blew out the electrical grid for a city block. She sat, in the dark. The rest of the clan was retreating out, away from the sun.

'Get out of there, Kyle.' She murmured, looking into her hands. 'There's nothing left now.'

Carol tried to search out for any presence of Simon but all she felt was pain. Either her heart was breaking or she was having a panic attack. Either way, this was pain. Real pain, but not death pain.

'Kyle, do you see anything? Do you see Simon?'

The other vampires reported they were retreating back to something called the Domicile. He looked around as parts of the building littered around him. Carol was crying, pretty damn hard.


'Get out of there, Kyle. There's nothing left now.' Carol said quietly.

All he knew about Carol was that she was one of their familiars. He had met her, after Marthinus Steyn, the head of Duibne suffered his heart attack and miraculous recovery. They had dinner. Now she was mourning the loss of her vampires. He honestly felt bad for her. Plus he never could stomach listening to a woman cry.

'Kyle, do you see anything? Do you see Simon?'

'Carol...' he started. There was no way anyone lived from that explosion. He stood. In the distance he heard the wail of sirens. 'I left him inside with that Ellis woman.' He paused, 'I doubt anything...' Suddenly something heavy landed behind him.

It was a steel door from an elevator and it just missed him. He stepped back and caught his breath. Looking up, he saw something else coming straight towards him. He dived foward and just missed being hit by Simon and by the sounds of it, he was alive but just barely.

'What the fuck?'

'Well I'll be god damned', he muttered. 'Simon?'

The sudden screaming from Carol in his ear made him jerk back and almost lose his balance. 'Christ, Carol!'

'WHAT? IT'S SIMON? MOVE HIM, KYLE. MOVE HIM INTO THE SHADOWS! ARE YOU NEAR THE STREET? MOVE HIM INTO THE SEWERS. PLEASE KYLE, PLEASE DON'T LET HIM DIE!'

She stood up and ran out of the room heading towards the stairs out of the abandoned building. All the way screaming for Kyle to save Simon.

Kyle reached out and touched Simon. Not only did Simon groan in pain but Kyle pulled back. His skin was on fire and almost literally. Simon's skin was hot to the touch and felt like greasy bacon. Resisting the urge to throw up, he reached out and grabbed Simon again, heaving him over his shoulder.

The larger pieces of the building had fallen and were still falling around him. Chunks of cement and steel were littering the road as he head down it, looking for a man hole.

The sirens were growing louder, the fire engines horn blaring in the morning horizon.

'Great,' he said to himself. 'I've got Carol screaming in one ear, the police sirens screaming in my other, a burnted up vampire over my shoulder and me without clean underwear.'

Grunting he carried Simon down the street and into an alleyway. He found a man hole and placed Simon near the cover. He reached down and put his fingers in the holes and pulled.

It didn't even budge.

'My god these things do weigh a million pounds.' He tried again, pulling on the manhole and it just wouldn't budge. He looked at Simon, he'd be no help. The vampire was currently turning a nasty shade of pale and his skin was beginning to crack. He let go of the manhole and knelt down in front of it, placing his hands on his thighs.

He felt something in his pocket. Reaching in, his fingers closed around something that made him pale . 'Oh god,' he said sickly. Kyle pulled out the item and looked at it.

The syringe of Eternity from the scientist.

'Fuck.' He said as the sirens got louder.

Kyle looked at Simon, who had saved his life. If it wasn't for him, he'd still be inside that building. Kyle looked at the syringe again. The crimson red liquid rolled around the clear cylinder. He wasn't going to be able to move that manhole unless...he sighed. He clicked the top button of the pen like syringe and the needle came out. He jammed the needle into his thigh and clicked again.

The feeling was much different this time. Not nearly as painful as getting it injected directly into his heart. This time, it was pretty fucking nice. Kyle smiled. He was lost in the euphoria of the drug as it took affect. He looked down at his hands and the scraps and burns slowly faded. He felt great. Then he looked at Simon.

'Oh yeah.'

He reached out and pulled manhole off with one hand. He flipped the cover to the side like a paperweight. 'Come on now, up we go.'

Kyle smiled lazily as he picked up the dying vampire and gently lowered him into the sewers. He grabbed the manhole again and threw his legs into the hole. He climbed down the small ladder and slipped the manhole shut just as the police pulled up.

Nova listened with inward amusement as Jan gave the grenade his blessing. Then Mr. Catholic had to go and make things serious and she rolled her eyes.

“Guys, Simon is…”

Whatever denial she was going to say was cut off by the first explosion, which shook the walls of the tunnel. As promised, though, the destruction stayed where it belonged, in the compound, and while the explosion nearly knocked her off her feet, the damage to the tunnel was minimal.

She turned to Jan, whistling through her teeth.

“Damn.”

Still feeling a little dazed, she listened as the discussion unfolded, trying to regain her focus. Looking over to Jan, she gave a little shrug.

“Looks like Simon lost his little earring. Who’s betting we see him back at the Domicile chilling? I bet he beats us all there.”

She laughed uneasily to cover the crack in her voice and faced the tunnel once more, trying to keep the sick dread welling up in her chest from distracting her.

She could hardly resist an evil grin at the discovery that Kyle Evans of all people had ended up in the middle of all of this. She’d had a feeling they would meet again.

“As for Mr. Evans…I bet we could pick him up. How you doin’, Kyle dear? Remember me?”

Remembering that they were supposed to be offing the two scientists, which she really didn’t want to do anyway, she added:

“Uh, not going to get very far if we kill our navigators though.”

Pointing to the two scientists, she barked out questions.

“There’s another sewer exit, right? Closer to the entrance?”

At their nods, she added:

“Get us there.”

She turned to Jan again, speaking firmly.

“He’s fine.”

It was at that point that several things happened at once. Nova didn’t notice much else besides the second explosion, though. The tunnel they had just left flared up with a light that was damn near as bright as the sun, at least by her estimation, and she stood staring at the purging blast of heat for a long moment as the chatter continued over the radio.

“Glad we weren’t standing there…hey guys, want to see if the water’s on fire?”

This last question was directed at the two polluting scientists, who had the grace to look sheepish. She was distracted from further admonishing them, though, when she heard Kyle’s voice, followed by Carols screams.

“Fuck.”

With that succinct assessment of the situation, she urged the scientists forward with one thought in mind.

Get to Simon.

Ginnie was no more than a few blocks away when Carol's screams rang in her ear. Simon was alive. Tears began to leak out of the sides of her eyes, as she became more focus and got the twelve other vampires counting on her home and underground.


((Ginnie out))

Why did she suddenly think this had been the wrong time to move to Nachton? Val basically hid in the back of the van, thinking Alec had the right idea about hiding under a blanket and tried to process everything she’d seen and heard. It wasn’t working.


No, not working at all. Instead, she chose to just let Ginnie get them the hell out of Dodge and wonder how she was going to get her car back.

((OOC… out))