Have a holly, jolly Christmas... (private)

'What the hell is he doing?'

Ellis thought to herself out loud to no one in particular, despite Tai standing next to her on the rooftop across the multi-laned roads in front of the Nachton Mall. Twenty four hours of all you can eat, so to speak. The mall stayed open into the wee hours of the night as a courtesy to the uncommon nightlife which was so common for Nachton's residents. Ellis stood, perched on the edge of the building railing, leaning forward onto her knee with utter confusion.

'Is he going to Christmas shop?' Ellis' eyebrows knitted in further annoyance and dumbfounded...ness. Muttering she said in a wounded voice, 'He'd never do that for me.'

She waited, watching Simon and his child Nova talk briefly before entering. Maybe it was Nova's idea - not like Simon looked too anxious to go in. Ellis had been stalking Simon around the city the past couple of days. Normal day to day things or rather, night to night. Out to dinner with his lovely human, her ex-human - drinks with Alfarinn, cutie patootie Alfie and the occasional hunt for food. Simon always hunted alone, he preferred it and Ellis hoped it would be to his downfall. Travelling alone at night...tsk tsk.

Muttering again, to no one in particular, 'Nova is young...but her pops there isn't an ancient, so that should be a good test for your skills.' Tai's abilities stemmed from Ellis' old blood, but he wouldn't be able to control the strength this early on still. Possible fizzles as well, so Nova would definitely be an excellent first vampire kill.

Ellis never really liked her anyway.

Ellis' words floated down to Tai from where she stood, mingling comfortably with the little echoes and resonances of her voice that were always there in the back of his mind. He was crouched beside her on the rooftop; his eyes, which had been glued to the slutty blonde next to Simon, now snapped to the athletic-looking woman with them.

He measured her quietly as best he could from this distance. From Ellis' words he assumed she was a vampire, but beyond that he didn't question. Tai didn't labor under the illusion that Ellis would provide him with any more information. He had suspected for some time now that Ellis regretted turning him so quickly after taking him as a familiar. He was a means to an end for her, and Tai didn't care one way or the other.

But means or no, he was still here, like a dog at her side, because he was compelled to obey. Tai's loyalty might be misplaced, but he certainly didn't suffer under any false definitions. He was loyal to Ellis, for the moment, and Ellis knew it as well as Tai knew that she would associate with him only insofar as it suited her to do so.

Sink or swim then, for him. He narrowed his tawny eyes and watched the way Simon's child moved. Balanced, poised. He wondered if she were trained to fight or if she was simply athletic. It didn't matter. Tai didn't plan to die here. He'd expected to be sent after Carol. He'd studied her in as much depth as possible in the past week or so. Nova would be better. He'd rather test his strength against one of their own kind than an easily breakable human.

Nova pulled her trench coat tighter and rubbed her gloved hands together, finding that she missed the Arizona climates more than she expected at this time of year. Global warming what?

The idea of growing old enough to witness geological ages that most scientists could only theorize about was actually, she thought, pretty cool, even if it meant she’d be around if and when Nachton sank beneath the sea. And speaking of geology…

“Bling.” With a firm nod, she led them down the cobblestone walkway to Ehrlich’s, one of the premier jewelry stores in Nachton. “You just can’t go wrong with it. It’s shiny, it goes with everything from…well…nothing…to…dresses and stuff…” Realizing she wasn’t making that great of a case and was getting disturbing mental images of Carol walking around with nothing but gemstones and a smile, she cut herself off and shoved the door open, cringing a little as some rather loud chimes signaled her their arrival. Fumblingly presented or not, jewelry was still a good idea. Okay, so there were other things she might like more than something shiny but no one could say no to a pretty useless thing that cost a lot of money. Hell, it might even get a body laid!

She -really- needed to stop thinking about Carol and Simon having sex. Definitely sick and wrong. Forunately, there was a dancing reindeer singing, naturally, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, set up as part of a Christmas display inside the store that served as a perfect distraction.

Simon literally snorted when Nova finally spoke. He had planned on getting her something sparkly, but he wasn't sure what kind of 'bling' it should be. Diamonds usually implied something...definite. Nova pushed her way into a jewelry store and Simon reluctantly followed.

'Well...I suppose that would do. Earrings or...something,' he mumbled as they were approached by a sales woman wearing nothing but bling. It was subtle bling though, not crunk bling. Her outfit was Christian Dior and her earrings were flawlessly clear solitaires with a matching gold choker. Her hands were beautifully manicured but not over done with tons of rings. One ring adorned each hand and by the size and quality, that's all she needed.

Simon gave the woman a small nod and then looked at Nova with a hopeful yet lost look.

'That asshole!'

A jewelry store? He never bought her jewelry. Well, of course whatever she wanted, she just bought for herself. Maybe she never gave him the chance? Shaking her head, Ellis dropped off the roof and onto the sidewalk with a rather damage filled landing. The cement cracked beneath her feet as she continued to bitch none too quietly.

'You know seriously, I spend how many years...' Ellis walked out onto the multi-laned highway, ignoring the screeching of speeding cars around her. '...I give and give and what do I get? I get thrown into a fiery pit of metal. Honestly.' One car in particular got a little close and with much annoyance, slammed directly into her.

Ellis turned just as the screeching sounded just a tad too close and she leaned forward, putting her hands on the front end of the car, crushing the hood in, crumbling the sedan into an accordion. The windshield buckled and bits of glass flew forward, including the occupant who was subsequently thrown into their air bag. Once the car settled back onto the ground, Ellis peered into the car.

'Female drivers.'

Wiping her gloved hands together, she continued her war path towards the mall and Simon.

Tai watched, his only reaction a slight widening of his eyes, as Ellis proceeded to wreak havoc, literally, on the streets of Nachton. Ever conscious of watchful onlookers, he made his way down from the rooftop in a much more refined manner, discovering handholds and grips as he went, a silent shadow dripping down the corner of the building like an ink spill.

On catlike feet he made his way around Ellis' mess; certainly, he belonged to her, but only for the moment. His plans for the future did not include being caught on camera, or stuck in her crossfire. He had himself to think about.

Even that had her whispers in his mind growing stronger, and he hurried to follow her as quickly and quietly as possible. Surprise was an assassin's best friend and Tai intended to use every advantage on his unknown opponent.

Nova nodded in eager agreement with Simon’s somewhat reluctant mumbling, hoping he’d work up some enthusiasm as he went. A saleswoman was quickly approaching and she hoped the elegantly dressed woman wouldn’t make Simon uncomfortable…not that she would have to try.

“Earrings are nice, or a pendant…are her ears pierced?” Nova didn’t usually notice that sort of thing and come to think of it Simon might not have either. Perhaps they were safer with a necklace in that case.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that the saleswoman greeted them with a deep, almost soothing if slightly snobbish tone of voice. Marta, as her nametag indicated, (not Martha or Marty or Mary, which were names Nova had at least heard of), pleasantly asked if they were shopping for a gift this evening, and Nova felt it perfectly appropriate to answer in her creator’s stead.

“Ya, we’re looking for something for his –girlfriend-,” she said, sounding immensely pleased. Marta raised both penciled eyebrows at Simon, then gave him a secret sort of smile.

‘I –see-. Well you’ve certainly come to the right place. Can I show you some of our more personalized gifts, perhaps?’

Nova tried to sneak behind the saleswoman and give Simon an alert of some kind; it sounded like she’d pegged him as money and was trying to steer him toward the expensive stuff first. She tugged firmly on one ear, but at that moment Marta turned around and gave her a ‘well aren’t you peculiar’ sort of look. Embarrassed, Nova let her hand drop to her side, suddenly feeling rather conspicuous.

Simon cleared his throat as the saleswoman began her spiel. He looked curiously at Nova as she begun to give him what he could only describe as baseball signals. Apparently he was suppose to try and steal second base...or something.

'Yes,' he began to nod but then Nova's look made him quickly reconsider,' Yes NO...actually.' Again clearing his throat, Simon proceeded to turn in a slow circle till finally something caught his eye. He had no doubt that Carol had no intention of ever going anywhere without him, literally and figuratively, so he made a bee line to the counter that caught his eye and then pointed straight down.

'I would like that.'

The saleswoman, a little disappointed, moved over to behind the counter and when she saw what he was pointing at, her eyes lit up with glee. 'Of course, sir.' The woman, Marta, opened the back counter door and reached inside, pulling out a delicate diamond ring. Two rows of princess cut diamonds set flush in a wide comfort fit band.

'You're girlfriend will appreciate the flawless quality of these colorless diamonds.'

Simon moaned quietly to himself. Just his luck, he probably picked the most expensive ring in the store. Closing his eyes and nodding, he murmured quietly to her. 'Wrap it please?'

Turning to Nova, he whispered out of the side of his mouth, 'Let's just go.'

’Arghle! Merble! Goo!’

Nova shook her head in an attempt to make room for slightly more coherent thoughts, but by the time she was able to raise objections it was too late.

A ring? Oh boy, he’d better be –damn- sure Carol was ready to accept something like that. If it were her getting a ring (not that that was likely to happen) she’d totally freak and she hoped for Simon’s sake that wouldn’t happen to him. At this point, though, there was nothing to do but be supportive and all that shit.

And being supportive meant making sure pops wasn’t getting ripped off. Not that this seemed like the sort of place one someone would get taken for a ride; the back of someone’s trunk this was not. Still, she demanded paperwork, certificates of authenticity, insurance, free cleanings, the works. Plus there was sizing to consider, and a close inspection of the setting.

In the end, though, her head was still spinning at how quickly everything had come together. She supposed that was how things happened when you weren’t buying on credit…and you were the type of person who could snap your fingers and get anything in this town. She wondered if Marta knew who he was, or if her attitude was just salesperson instinct. Of course it would take time to get the sale together but they were told to feel free to browse, or continue shopping and come back when all the forms were drawn up. Taking her cue from Simon, she agreed heartily to the latter option and led the way out of the store and into the cold evening air. The Christmas carols were in full swing out here and she resisted the urge to sing along as she turned to her creator.

“So…wow. She’ll…sure like that. Like….-really- like that.” She was starting to feel at least partly responsible for this purchase, and seriously hoped it didn’t backfire in a bad way. Maybe she shouldn’t be so cynical about this stuff but…well, she was, it couldn’t be helped.

Ellis walked up the parkway towards Simon and Nova when she looked over her shoulder. Tai was making his way silently behind her, doing what he did best. She stopped for a moment and considered her surroundings. No reason to be stupid, although she'd rather go with her current war path of rage - still, she was letting her jealousy get the best of her and that wouldn't do. Ellis looked north past the outer ring of the mall and towards the center anchor that was being built. The large high end retailer Harod's was covered in plastic tarp and still under construction. The smaller businesses and eateries were in full swing, twenty four seven. Ellis gathered that working retail was what happened to suicide victims...or maybe that's what people who worked in retail should do.

Giving the jewelry store a side glance, Ellis turned towards Harod's. Looking over her shoulder again at Tai, she whispered, 'Keep up, darling' and then blended into the night.

Simon reached over Nova and pushed the door out and held it for her as she exited the store. He wondered if his decision to buy Carol a ring perplexed Nova at all, then her awkward stammering seemed to confirm his thoughts. He looked down at Nova and shrugged.

'I never bought jewelry for Ellis.'

He was suddenly at a loss for words, so he left the statement to hang in the frigid air. Ellis never seemed interested in receiving 'baubles', as she put it, from him. He had to give Ellis that, she used her body for grander, loftier goals, definitely not for material things. Besides, he always thought his love was enough.

His last thought made him clear his throat, hoping Nova would change the subject.

Alfarinn shook his head at the Cingular sales woman who waved a sleek thin phone and started forward with a spiel about 'great any time minutes'. He moved further into the store and considered the plethora of gadgets before him. He wanted something truely unique and special.

There were several chairs with covers that performed various massage functions each with a remote control to change the rhythm and speed secured within arm's reach. Pausing half a second, Alfarinn rejected the idea as something he would rather do himself, despite the novelty it might have once or twice.

It was easy to bypass the high tech toy section though one little robot with a round tray caught his attention. Alfarinn chuckled to himself and picked up one of the white little servitors with his guileless red blinking eyes. Tucking it under his arm, he moved on, an idea forming in his mind.

He really hoped that Skodde wouldn't try to eat the poor little guy.

Finding another couple of things that he wanted to add, Alfarinn placed them all on the counter to be rung up. The salesperson gave him a dubious annoyed look that suggested that his time was being wasted by a kid with delusions of wealth and that he would soon need to be putting half the purchases back on the shelves.

"Mr Björn! How good it is to see you!"Â?

Looking up in mild surprise, Alfarinn saw a tall well dressed man quickly moving towards him and leaving a rather dumb founded customer behind. The little golden name tag on the man's shirt read Alexander Ansley with the title Manager written in smaller letters underneath. The man maneuvered the sales clerk aside and started ringing up the purchases.

"The gentleman over there would like to see our selection of monitors, Harry. Please be so kind as to help him out."Â?

Turning back to Alfarinn, Mr Ansley gave him a bright smile and proceeded to make small talk. He could feel that the man was nervous and excited and in return he felt a small bit of sympathy for the man's situation. Responding with more patience than he felt, Alfarinn said.

"My holidays have been very good so far. Thank you. Has it been terribly busy for you here?"Â?

People were lining up behind him and the first bits of annoyance could be sensed like small jabs of daggers in his back. The manager seemed willing to continue talking as long as he was willing to let him. Alfarinn picked up his bags and gave the woman with two kids standing directly behind him an embarrassed grin. Stepping aside, He smiled once more at the manager.

"Have a good evening, Alex."Â? Because he had insisted that Alfarinn call him Alex. "I hope you get some time for yourself and your family this year. Don't work too hard."Â?

The manager stared after him until the woman rattled her package under his nose to demand his attention. With an inward sigh of relief, Alfarinn made his way out of the store, purchases in hand.

With Simon's explanation, buying the ring made a little more sense. Except that it totally didn't; what was -that- supposed to mean? Nova made a brief effort to call back on her relationship experience to see if she could muster up a little empathy for her creator's frame of mind, but she couldn't honestly say she had many dealings in ending relationships with psychotic killers who want to use and then dispose of her entire family. She could, she supposed, appreciate that Simon wanted to do things differently with Carol, and that was enough explanation.

“Well it's sure to be a hit! Damn, and I was thinking I would get Evans something...leather and manly. Like a wallet. Is that lame?”

She breezed right by the fact that she didn't usually get boyfriends Christmas presents. It was just a thing, was all. More of an 'I acknowledge that I've put you through crap' sort of present that the celebration of a holiday, at least in her mind. The timing was coincidence.

Besides, she felt a little shitty about leaving him dateless on New Years, whether she would admit it or not. She'd gone back and forth on that and had ultimately decided that if she -could- leave for Arizona before the end of the year, she would.

Thinking of arrangements sparked another thought, and she turned to Simon as they continued along the walkway.

“Hey, do you think I could give Marthinus a call? He's still out of the country but...well it's Christmas and stuff, you know? When's he coming back, by the way?”

Realizing she'd peppered Simon rather liberally with questions, she paused for air and thought to look where she was going. Further up there was some construction, which she figured they should probably avoid. Even so, she slowed a little, her eyes narrowing, her expression disturbed without really knowing why.

After a moment, she flicked her hair, frowning, and picked up her pace again.

Brig watched the recon group return, LT bringing up the rear. He knelt down and put his hand up into the fur along LT's neck, rubbing him. LT began to shake his head but Brig's hand pushed down on his shoulder.

'No.'

LT's brown eyes blinked and the wolf sat back onto his haunches. Brig did not want him to change back, not just yet. None of them were old enough to be able to really handle shape shifting like himself or Hammerthynn. He nodded towards Larue, a medium sized black wolf who barked softly and stepped back. Brig and the other wolves watched Larue's body start to shift back; the painful transformation took several minutes until finally the freckled, seemingly young teenager was covered in sweat and breathing like he had just run a marathon.

Brig stood and retrieved Larue a jump suit. He looked at the kid who seemed no older than 16 but in actuality was in his late twenties. Red curly hair and freckles, he stepped into the suit and zipped it up.

Larue spoke softly, 'The woman, she entered the construction area, ahead of Huntington and his female. Want me to head up the second team?'

Brig nodded, 'Do that, LT will take the first wave.'

'What about Huntington?'

Brig looked at Larue and a steely expression crossed his face. Hammer had been specific, kill the dark haired woman - all other objectives rescinded. Brig had asked about Huntington and he replied with the same words Brig said now to his team.

'What about him?'

The Pipers nodded and LT's group stole back into the night.

Simon gave Nova a side look glance and permitted himself a grin. 'I thought Evans wasn't your boyfriend...so he is now?' He enjoyed Nova's company but he worried about her strange love life at the same time. Of all people Evans, but then you can never tell with love.

'If you're going to get him something, I would suggest something red, skimpy and with a thong - for you, not him of course. That would be disgusting.' He shuddered and grinned again, waiting for Nova's reaction when she asked about Marthinus.

The happy feeling had been fleeting and it was replaced with that usual burden of guilt on his shoulders. He'd have to tell her, he'd have to tell the clan. There was no stopping the changes in Nachton, and putting off his duties to protect that clan were unacceptable. 'Actually Nova, about Marthinus...'

She wasn't paying attention to him. Nova was looking off, suddenly distracted and had slowed her pace as they passed the construction site. 'Nova?' He watched her eyes narrow and then suddenly there it was, that razor thing ice pick digging into the back of his head. Adrenaline immediately started to pump inside him, his sense telling him that something was near. Something...familiar. The same feeling he had with Carol when he inadvertently pushed her against the alley wall when he felt something pass him. Only this time it was coming from the unfinished structure.

Nova turned away and picked up her pace again.

'Wait.'

Alfarinn exited the store and looked around at the various shops along this wing to see if there was somewhere else he should go for his Christmas shopping. The jewelry store made him think of Dani and he wondered if he could find something in the shop that suited her. It would have to really strike him as something she would like and wear because jewelry was not an easy gift to give to a friend. He would want it to be something that wouldn't collect dust in a jewelry box if at all possible.

He was about to head towards the store when his pager went off. Setting the bags down, Alfarinn looked at his belt clip and then flipped open his phone.

"Are you checking up on me? I am getting a little Christmas shopping done."Â?

He smiled and reached down to pick up both bags. Heading towards a nearby bench where he was out of the way, Alfarinn set the bags down on the seat and continued his conversation.

"Your lump of coal has already been picked up so no need to worry. Was there something you needed?"Â?

Listening to the reply, Alfarinn looked around the mall. Squinting down towards the unfinished department store, he focused on a man and woman standing in front of it. Was that Simon? The woman looked familiar as well but it was hard to tell from this distance. The leader of Tacharan was someone who was easily recognizable. Perhaps when he was finished with his telephone conversation he could catch up to the pair.

"I can get to that tomorrow. Send me an email to remind me. Well you know... I might forget about it after a few cups of your finest."Â?

Had she not been so focused in blending, Ellis might have picked up the distinct feeling that she was being watched. However, she held her blended profile, backing slowing into the building as Simon looked as if he was coming to the realization that something strange was afoot at the Nachton Mall.

Passing a mirror, she looked and caught her reflection or lack of it. She could see the faint heat like waves of where her image should be. Looking directly at it, one would just assume it was some sort of global anomaly, much like a mirage. Blending was such a wonderful ability, one she relied on so much lately that it had been taxing her other abilities. This would have been good to know, but her concern at the moment was standing outside the construction area - wondering what that familiar feeling was.

Ellis stopped moving, not wanting to leave his immediate perceptive area. Quietly she whispered to herself, 'Might as well come in, Simon - it's already too late.'

Tai slid back into the shadows behind the construction signs and equipment. The woman, Nova, had looked right in his direction, although he was fairly certain she hadn't seen him. If she had, she showed no sign of alarm.

Only peripherally aware of Ellis' location now, Tai was completely focused on his prey, waiting for the exact moment to strike. Not before Simon was engaged... Ellis' old flame was far stronger than he. Tai might enjoy a good fight now and then, but he wasn't a complete fool. If push came to shove, he valued his own skin.

Loyal he was... perhaps, had his relationship with Ellis been somewhat different (like if she were Yuu, a little voice in a corner of his mind whispered), he would have thought differently. Tai wasn't a stranger to placing himself in danger for a greater cause. His Yakuza family had expected, and received it. His ties to Ellis were different. No less strong, but different nonetheless.

Nova merely grunted in response to Simon’s teasing mention of a boyfriend, thinking that making a smart assed remark about just wanting to buy a Christmas gift to keep her name out of the papers would probably be a case of ‘the lady’ protesting too much. Funny that the idea of discretion would occur to her…but then, she’d felt a little more on the defensive in the past few days.

His ‘red thong’ commentary didn’t earn either the laugh or the horrified expression it really should have and she felt bad for getting distracted. She turned just as Simon called out for her to wait, realizing that she was leaving him behind in her haste to get out of there. Doubling back, she frowned and called out as she walked.

“There’s nothing over that way…”

And there wasn’t – it was just construction, no actual store yet, but somehow it seemed as though that sentence came out all wrong. Because there –was- something over there, something that made that a bad place to be. She couldn’t put her finger on it; her perception tended to register things without necessarily giving her conscious mind the full picture, instead just telling her that something was wrong. Had she heard a creak from the scaffolding? Seen a flash of metal where it shouldn’t be?

“Hey Simon? I don’t think…”

She realized she wasn’t sure of how to finish that sentence without sounding a little nuts, but then it occurred to her that if he was lingering, that might mean he had seen something too. And if he wasn’t running for his life maybe she really –was- being paranoid. She came to his side again, still frowning, and looked where he was looking.

“…what…”

She realized as soon as she started speaking that Simon might be trying to look or hear or think or something, and she cut herself off and kept her eyes open instead.

Simon's eyes panned the front of the construction site, plastic tarps gently swaying from an unseen breeze. The music was suddenly so loud in his ears that he didn't hear Nova's stammered questions. He found himself walking closer to the entrance as a holly jolly Christmas blared in his ears.

He was focused now, his perception picking up minute feelings around him. Nova's racing heartbeat, bits of annoyed shoppers, happy laughter but something...something was drawing him into the building but it made him want to stop dead in his tracks. It was conflicting, what he was hearing from the building.

In the mixed of what sounded like controlled heart beats, there was one fluttering quickly, with each step he took, the anxious beat of a heart was thumping in his ears.

'No,' he murmured as he picked up his pace a little. 'No, no.' He reached the plastic tarp covering the entrance and pushed it aside. If Nova was behind him, he wasn't paying attention anymore. He stepped up into building walked further down uncompleted aisles and island counters till he reached an unfinished escalator. Whatever it was, had left this floor, so he stepped quietly up the steps until he reached the second floor. He stood at the landing and looked around - still nothing, so he continued to the third.

As his foot hit the third floor landing, his perception went off again like an alarm in his head. 'No, no...you're dead.'

Alfarinn snapped the phone shut and then looked around for Simon. The man seemed to have disappeared. Where was he going to shop? Obviously not the half built store. He picked up his bags and moved closer. There was the jewelry store, the electronics boutique, a small food vendor...

Simon's companion was still standing near the plastic covered opening of Harod's. He frowned slightly as he sensed her confusion and anxiety. Christmas shopping could be stressful, for certain, but something was wrong. Had someone attacked the Tacharan?

He was pretty close to the woman by this point and there was still no signs of Simon. Now he recognized her; she was once again dressed for comfort and practicality. The red hair and native features were not seen often in Nachton; Nova was unique. She was Tacharan or human? A familiar? Alfarinn decided he could dwell on that potential revelation later.

Setting the bags down, he pretended to be rearranging them for more comfortable toting. He paused a moment, his hand on the robot box, and closed his eyes. Opening himself more fully, Alfarinn let the emotions of those in the area assault him full force. Pain...coming from the food vendor and now annoyance. Nova's anxiety, happiness... a couple of Christmas shoppers walking past. Each emotion was like a snippet of film on high speed; he did not know the finer details but he was left with many different impressions. They all bombarded him at once. Anticipation, excitement...shock. It was on the edge of his senses but it was felt so sharply that Alfarinn could sense it through the dizzying mix of feelings that ran through him.

((OOC: Simon and Nova sensed with permission. If either of you think this should be worded differently then let me know. ))

Nova stood where Simon had left her, watching him leave as one might watch the tide dragging everyone’s castles and collections of seashells away. She was conflicted; on the one hand, she should go after her creator. On the other…she really didn’t want to go in there. On the other –other- hand, he’d said to wait; maybe he meant to wait here while he checked something out?

Feeling only further anxious the longer she stood there, she looked around, wondering if anyone was watching. She had an exposed feeling, which might have just been from being out in the open, but she didn’t like it. So far, though, her eyes had told her absolutely nothing useful that she could ascertain; it was all ‘feelings’ and abstractions.

Looking again, she frowned at the sight of a seriously tall kid fussing with some packages. Could that…no, just a look alike. Arin Bjorn probably had shoppers to do his Christmas stuff for him.

Still, the resemblance was –amazing-.

Had to be him.

No…

Damn it! What was wrong with her, getting distracted by cute young blondes? Shaking her head fiercely, she turned once again to watch for Simon to come out again.

“-Fuck- waiting,” she concluded after about twenty seconds of anxiety. And with that, she headed into the construction, following in Simon’s wake.

Ellis' concentration on her blending relaxed her as Simon finally made his way up to the fourth floor where she was waiting. He was alone and seemed cautious but as he reached the center of the room, a mere 10 feet away from her, he suddenly looked sad.

He knew. She didn't have to say anything.

Ellis began to circle Simon, brushing by him with her vampire speed, then slowly passing behind him, letting him feel her. He'd recognize that feeling. Oddly enough, she was almost happy to see him. Ellis had missed his pensive demeanor, his almost sad indifference. Always so willing to be the shadow, the support. She supposed that's what made his betrayal such a surprise.

She brushed by him again and she heard his sigh. He had resigned to wait for her to show herself. Ellis gave Simon a small smile and leaned in close, about an inch away from touching him. Suddenly she could smell his scent and felt his warmth and the feeling it conjured up inside her perplexed her.

She very badly wanted to wrap her arms around him and just dig her face into his neck. Have him hold her like he used to...but didn't she always pull away from him first? An aching in her that shocked and angered her rose up. How could she still love this man, after all these years and after such a bitter and premeditated betrayal?

The question burned in her mind just as she noticed the barrel of a gun that had made its appearance just below her chin.

'Now what kind of 'hello, I've missed you' is that?'

He moved two steps away from Ellis, gun still pointed at her face as he extended his arm. He backed about six feet away and held the gun level to her right eye. It wouldn't kill her, but a bullet to the brain would sure as fuck sting.

In a dry, monotone voice, Simon replied slowly, 'Hello. Gosh, I've missed you.'

With a flip of her hand, Ellis pushed back a bit of her black hair and gave Simon a large smile, coupled with a chuckle.

'I'm sensing some sarcasm.'

She pointed a finger at him and then put her hands behind her back. Her fitted black jacket was unbuttoned, revealing an equally tight and black sweater. 'You know, you had me really confused that night back at that bar. What's it called...uh, Shades I think?'

Ellis shrugged and moved a bit plaster with the toe of her buckled boots. 'I'm thinking...you were hearing voices? My voice maybe?'

Again with her shit eating grin. If there were one thing he wished he'd never have to see again, was her smug smile. As she did her best to be charming, he kept her right eye in his gun's sights as she flipped her hair and shrugged prettily. He concentrated, listening to her heart, waiting for the tell tale sign of adrenaline pumping into it when she lunged at him to claw his eyes out. There would be no other reason why she lured him into the unfinished building.

'Even in death you were equally as charming, E.'

'Really?' Ellis laughed prettily. 'I bet.'

She tipped her head to the side and watched the barrel of the gun follow her eye. Wow, he meant business. She looked past the barrel and asked, 'Is the gun in my eye really necessary?'

The look on his face would have been comical if it had been a funny situation which technically it wasn't, but Ellis was still enjoying herself.

'Alright.' She lifted her hands slowly, showing him her painted black nails. 'Look, I'm unarmed. Besides, if I wanted to kill you Simon, I would've done that while you were shopping for Carol's Christmas gift. I won't guess on what it was,' Ellis purred slowly.

'I like surprises too.'

Alfarinn picked up his bags and headed towards Nova. He was not sure what she was doing with Simon but it was obvious that they had been together just a moment ago. Therefore she might have a better idea of what was going on.

He got closer and...

"Nova....wait..."Â?

Too late. The woman decided to head into the construction area. His luck would be that this was some Tacharan Christmas rave set up, "Deck the malls...with vampires."Â? and he would suddenly find himself very out of place. Quite possibly in serious trouble. Alfarinn could tell that there was not that many people in the area yet. So if this was some secret meeting then at least not everyone had arrived. Still there were enough different sets of emtions to make him distinctly uncomfortable.

He muttered a few choice oaths in Norwegian before heading under the tarp himself. Setting his bags down, Alfarinn then wondered which way Nova wandered off. The other emotions in this area were further away. He moved further into the store. Towards the center the other emotions were closer.

Alfarinn looked up at the ceiling. This was not a good situation. Their kind might survive a fall from a several story building but that was no good reason to trap yourself up on one with no good way down. He looked around for the stairs. He wondered if Simon had told Nova to stay put...obviously she didn't listen.

Sounded just like a Tacharan.

Opening the door to the stairwell, he sent to Thaddeus to quickly let him know what was going on. There was no need to unduly alarm his companion. Thaddeus could also get Evenhet security here if things went awry. No need to call in the cavalry yet though. Alfarinn made his way cautiously up the stairs.

Thanks to an overabundance of agility and an unfinished elevator shaft, Tai wisped away from the woman, staying close to the shadows and emerging onto the unfinished third floor across the room from the figure of Simon.

Ball, heel, ball, heel... Tai's quiet, measured steps brought him up behind the distracted Simon. The floor was so roughly finished that there were plenty of obstacles about; Tai stood half-hidden by a floor-to-ceiling pillar as he raised his arm, hand gun and all, a small, compact weapon. It wouldn't do any more damage to Simon, he was sure, than Simon's would do to Ellis, but for the moment they had Simon outnumbered and at a disadvantage.

Tai was loathe to give up his presence and position, but the situation seemed to require it at the moment. He held the Sig P228 steadily, and with hardly a movement at all, cocked the hammer with an audible click that echoed through the empty floor.

The audible click was so loud it rang in Simon's ears, breaking his focus on Ellis. He half turned and immediately zeroed in on the soft beat of a steady heart standing half hidden by one of the pillars. It was a face he did not recognize but one, he imagined, he would come to know. The implication that this man's revolver would actually hurt Simon was laughable, but the point was well taken.

Ellis was no longer alone.

Was he? Simon wondered as he turned and looked back at Ellis, standing with her head tilted down, large smug grin in place. Her hands were still up and she wiggled her fingers comically. It had been a full year since the inferno that had supposedly devoured the black evil in his life, yet here he was. He squeezed the gun in his hand, causing it to tremor. Why did he expect a fair fight?

Just then Ellis shrugged, blinking slowly at him. 'Why indeed' she seemed to reply, reading his mind. 'You know,' Simon started as he continued to point the gun in her face.

'I seem to recall using a gun at our last stand off. It didn't work then...' Simon suddenly relaxed, stepping out of his prepared stance and casting the gun to the side. It clanked down the escalator steps loudly, the noise vibrating throughout the building.

'So maybe this time I'll kill you with my bare fucking hands.'

The next few moments were a blur to Simon. There was the steady, angry thumping of Ellis' heart, the slow methodical rhythm from her unknown accomplice but much to his dismay, the erratic heartbeat that was coming from the mouse like shocked Nova. For a split second Simon turned, distracted and frantic, yelling at her to run. He barely got the word out when the shiv like knife that Ellis had slipped from her sleeve was coming at him with blinding speed.

Tai didn't need any more cue than what he saw before him next. Simon turned to Nova, actually looked straight at her, and shouted for her to run. Tai's eyes remained on Simon, but he noted the bit of Nova he could see now, tucked in behind wiring and pillars. A shoulder, an arm.

Ellis lunged at Simon then, which cemented Tai's next move as far as he was concerned. Nova was his target, and Ellis had eliminated the option of shooting Simon. He shrugged internally; let her tackle him. Literally.

His hand swung steadily to the figure crouched in the shadows.

That could be Yuu.

Tai blinked for a moment, the thought springing to mind unbidden. Don't get in the way now, Yuu, he thought. Not a good time.

The moment of hesitation passed... or rather, was buried. Tai couldn't let Yuu interfere in this. This was his purpose; this was why Ellis had made him what he was. Let it be done with, and let him go his own way.

He pulled the trigger, and, without waiting to see if his shot hit, leaped toward Nova's ineffective hiding place.

He had yelled at Nova to run and his voice echoed against the drywall that was leaning against the third floor pillars. Their innate speed was an odd thing, something that always fascinated Simon. He would later described Ellis' calculated thrust as liquid, but then her heightened agility was a sight to be admired. However, her ability to bend like a pretzel, albeit a rather handy thing to have during sex, could not overpower her inability to control her temper.

Ellis lunged with a fury he had only been witnessed to several times and each time he noticed something interesting. She pulled back on her strength to compensate her need for speed and with this advantage, Simon fell back, letting her practically fly over him. With an added boost of his legs, Ellis had sailed clean over him with the steel of her shiv digging into the ground, instead of his chest. Simon turned quickly and righted himself onto his feet, cowering down to find again the other opponents position and pondered the sight.

He saw something flicker across the other's face. It was...hesitation? It gave Nova the advantage as she backed away from the situation. She would flee, at least he hoped she would, especially when the Asian man moved with a speed he'd had never seen in a human. Simon looked back at Ellis who was picking herself off the floor as quickly as he had.

'He's...,' was all he could muster.

Was that jealousy creeping back into his voice? He looked at Ellis with a confused and pained expression. 'You...made him?' It wasn't a question he didn't have the answer to. It made sense for her to pick another but who was he? Where was he from? Simon didn't recognize him in the least so who, after all these years, would she have picked over him?

His face curled into an unfamiliar expression of anger as he lifted his hands in a fighting stance and waved her on.

The shiv scraped the ground beneath her as she hit the ground. Using it to turn her, she dug deep into the concrete and it flipped her around clockwise. She bent at the waist with her hands on her knees and then looked up at him.

'You...ASSHOLE.'

She left the bit of metal in the ground and cast an annoyed glance at Tai who was now going after Nova. Well done, she thought as Simon finally figured out the rest of the whole sordid story.

'Yes, I sure as did. Granted he's not you but he's a fuckton more loyal.'

She wiped the plaster dust off her hands onto her pants and snorted at his readying stance. 'Right, yes...let's do this.'

Ellis came at him and swung her hands like claws at his face, each move he dodged and she passed him on right and swung again, this time bringing her elbow up right into the spot he stepped into and caught him right in the nose, knocking him back stunned. She stepped high and kicked him in the mid section, sending him back along the floor.

With a confident shrug, she fixed the sleeves of her jacket and gave him a smug smile.

He should've known better than to assume she'd go all girl on him. Coming at him with her nails almost made him laugh. Simon had never seen her tear at anything, for fear of ruining her nails. No...she loved her swords but loved her guns just as much. Hand to hand combat with her was not part of their training although over the years they had gone through plenty of fights and had always seen her use her fangs before using her nails. So when he side stepped her claws again, he was promptly rewarded with an elbow to the nose, sufficiently breaking it. The well placed kick to the sternum only added to the embarrassment.

'God...damn-it,' he muttered as he shook his head and quickly stood up again. Her god damn smug smile infuriated him as he cracked his nose back into place. With a guttural snort, he spit out a mouth full of blood and came out her with everything he had.

A solid punch to the face and she was pushed back against the propped up dry wall, but this time he continued his onslaught, kicking at her as she broke the drywall into pieces behind her. It was game time now and he saw the look on her face as she grabbed his foot and twisted it. Flipping in the air, he caught himself before his top half hit the ground and he kicked back with his other foot. They scrambled to the ground when Ellis finally snapped at him with those remarkable fangs.

Simon reached up and grabbed her head and rolled on top of her, pinning her down. He propped opened Ellis' mouth with his fingers and reached in with the other, trying in vain to tear her fangs out.

'I swear to fucking god, Ellis. One more smug ass smile...ONE MORE.' He smeared her lipstick, bruising her lips as she tried to bite down on his fingers. He could feel the adrenaline in him try in vain to keep up with the rise of his blood lust. He'd snap her jaw if he had to, he was just so tired of her face.

Yes, go for the escalators...

Tai followed Nova fluidly, determination on his features. There was no enjoyment in this, none at all. The challenge was there, and the satisfaction of a debt repaid; he owed this to Ellis. But Yuu was in his head, Yuu who wouldn't let him believe that he should be attacking this woman (shut up, Yuu, and let me do my job).

Yuu, who was unwittingly acting as his conscience when a conscience was a very bad thing to have; Yuu who had unknowingly caused his initial hesitation; Yuu who was throwing all kinds of legal jargon at him as he tried to get a moment's peace and quiet... would you just be quiet for one moment, you...

"...Bitch!"

Yuu's face vanished as he flung himself at Nova, tackling her toward the escalator and plunging them both down toward the second floor. The tangle of limbs became even more complex when they barreled into a third party just below the third floor. There was little to no time to try and halt their downward momentum; Tai simply concerned himself with making sure any bits of Nova and this third interloper he could reach were sufficiently slammed against the unmoving stairs, while he did his best to make his own landing as feline-inspired as possible.

No one had warned him of a second opponent; he wouldn't have put it beyond Ellis to throw this one in too. Regaining his feet as quickly as he could (which was, he found, quick indeed), became his priority as the three of them slowed and stopped.

((ooc: Permission to play with Nova and Alfarinn))

He beat down on her while they scrambled down on the ground to gain the upper hand. It was all unexpected, his rush of violence on her. Never had they fought each other like this - so winging it was the best she could do in the situation. She had taught him everything her father's weapon master had taught her, but over the years she thankfully worked on her skill, but unfortunately it was with her sword more than anything. Fucking ridiculous, she thought. Twenty first century and she was fighting with her sword and a gun only handicapped her in close fighting. She'd have to pull every dirty fighting trick in the book to even regain her footing against him. Ellis snapped at him angrily with her fangs, which only made things worse.

Suddenly his hands were on her face, painfully forcing her mouth open. Apparently she had really gotten under his skin, she thought as he muttered angrily about her smile. Funny, she always liked her smile.

Ellis tried to push him off her, but he felt like a ton of cement. She reached out, trying to find something next to them to hit him with when she was finally rewarded with one of the thick copper pipes used for plumping. She wrapped her fingers around the pipe and swung up as hard as she could, connecting the piece of metal bar with Simon's head.

'You fucking DICK!'

Ellis turned over and began to pummel Simon with the pipe until it was bent completely out of shape. His arms came up, protecting his head and finally his elbows bent and broke the bar. Casting it aside, she grabbed one of his arms and pulled him close as her arm pulled back to connect with his face. The blood lust now was pounding in her ears. Everything around them was forgotten, even Tai and Nova.

Her fist connected with his face and knocked it to the side. He was stunned and disoriented now after the cold cock to the head. Ellis smiled as she continued to punch him, dead in the face, his bloodied nose splattering up at her. Suddenly she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer to her face.

'Why, Simon? WHY? How could you do this to me? How could you LEAVE ME THERE.' Pushing him back down to the ground she laid her arm across his windpipe and pushed down hard until his gurgling was loud in his ears.

'No, no, no, Simon. You won't die now. Not yet. Not for a long FUCKING time.'

His hand came up and grabbed her face again while the other crept up and pulled at her hair. Ellis cursed as he ripped at her hair, pulling it out; the stinging biting at her scalp. Then finally he pulled her face forward and grabbed her neck and squeezed.

'Oh you...fuc...FUCKER!' She manage to squeeze out as they choked each other.

Alfarinn was admittedly distracted but he should have been paying more attention to what was above him. He had just enough time to keep a secure grip on the weapon in his hand when he was bowled completely over by Nova and some unknown man.

He banged into the side of the escalator railing and tried in vain to grab it with his free hand to stop the fall. His fingers clawed futilely against the slick metal surface as his slid down the hand railing, Nova laying on his chest and the other man wrapped around her legs. Alfarinn winced as the stairs sharp metal edges dug into his back and the three of them tumbled further down the staircase. He tried to pull himself free when they succeeded in coming to a stop. Once he had maneuvered painfully out from underneath Nova further opening the gouges made in his back, he pulled himself up on the railing.

Looking up at Simon and then back down at Nova and her unknown companion, Alfarinn decided that he did not have enough time to get to the Tacharan leader in time to warn him. He yelled up to the top floor.

"Simon, there is more of them!"Â?

It is possible, he just realized, that the people were Simon's and he had just given away an advantage to Ellis but it did not seem likely that the others waiting in the wings belonged to the Orphan. It simply was not how he expected Simon to deal with even Ellis. He was more honorable than that.

Reaching down to Nova, he pulled her to her feet and tugged her awkwardly behind him.

"We've got to help Simon."Â?

He was not sure what to make of the other man but it would likely be quickly revealed which side of this engagement the Asian was on.

((OOC: Being abused with permission... from Tai and Nova ;) ))

Nova scrambled backward for the escalator, thinking of Simon’s gun and wondering what on earth she would do with it when she got it. Deciding she would figure out step two when she finished step one, she turned at last and ran flat out, hair flying behind her in a wild mass of dusty reddish tangles. The man, Ellis’s companion, called out behind her, too close, she hadn’t been fast enough.

‘He doesn’t even –know- me,’ she thought, absurdly, as she flew through the air. Then she bellowed in pain as her shoulder connected with the metal steps, and the next several moments were spent having her body slammed and scraped against the stairs as she twisted and struggled and tumbled down. She let out a moan of despair when they collided with yet another body, sure that this was the end of her, that she’d been shoved directly into a trap…

…a blonde, young, extremely good looking trap…

Her eyes going huge and round, she cried out, trying for the ever intelligent ‘You!’ but making a sound that was more like ‘goo!’ She clung tightly out of instinct, not realizing she was dragging Arin down until it was far too late to stop their inevitable slide.

As one they came to a stop, and she was still trying to sort her head from her ass when she saw the gunman wriggle free and get to his feet. Trying to roll off Arin just as he was moving to get out from under her resulted in her landing gracelessly on her back, but she still had some fight in her even after that nasty trip down the stairs. With a snarl she kicked viciously at the gunman’s ankles, glaring as she reached for the surprisingly cool hand of Arin Bjorn. He easily hauled her to her feet and she turned to fend off her attacker, but then the young blonde began hauling her up the stairs and calling after Simon.

She knew she’d hurt her shoulder in the fall and she could feel aches and scrapes all over, but the pain was distant to the panic of the moment. God, there were –more- killers?

They were –so- fucked.

Deciding that if they were going down, she was at least going to take a mother fucking bad guy with her, she pulled on Arin’s arm, speaking frantically.

“He’s behind us, give me the gun, we have to shoot him…”

Somewhere in the midst of her hysterical babble she realized she was talking to…Jesus, just a –kid-, a total babyface. Her instinct at that thought protective; she spread her arms wide behind Arin, blocking the killer’s way and screeching at the top of her voice.

“He’s a –kid- you fucking fucker, back the fuck off, what’s –wrong- with you?”

She was trying to beat him within an inch of his life to do god knows what to him later. No, that wasn't going to do at all. Simon squeezed her throat and watched her eyes start to bulge but she absolutely refused to let up off his throat. It was taking everything not to just relax this throat and let her crush his windpipe, so gathering all the blood lust rage he could, he let go of her face and grabbed her arm and slid it up his throat, directly in the path of his mouth.

Simon tipped his chin down and managed to grab a mouthful of her flesh. He bit down as hard as he possibly could and started to feed. The pressure immediately came off his neck as Ellis tried to pull away from the death grip on her arm. That's when he heard Alfarinn call out.

“Simon, there is more of them!”

Ellis turned towards the voice and Simon pushed her off him, releasing his grip on her arm. He sent her flying back, again sliding on the dusty floor. His blood lust was raging now with the taste of her blood, if there were more, his sensory overload would not be able to pick them up. Right now he wanted more blood and Ellis' would do just fine.

That was Alfarinn's voice. She'd knowed that high bred ancient's voice anywhere but why was he here? She'd figure it out later and maybe if she was lucky, she'd get to a take a swipe at his tight little ass after she was done with Simon.

Ellis stood again, her clothes now covered not only with Simon's blood, but with her own and dusty plaster. She checked the arm that he had bit and saw the rip in her jacket. Her shoulders slumped and she glared at him.

She tore off her jacket and threw it at the ground. Ellis was back again where he had first thrown her and her shiv was still stuck in the ground. Now she pulled up her sleeves and looked at the wound closely. It was already starting to close but the damage was done. She grabbed the shiv and started to walk back towards him.

'It is fucking on now.'

This time they clashed together, Simon with his fists, Ellis with her shiv. She slashed at him and he grabbed her arm and with his knee, planted a nasty jab into her stomach but she refused to let go. Buckling her legs, she brought him off balance and she threw him, across the floor. She came at him with her feet and he backed quickly across the floor. Suddenly a piece of dry wall came flying at her and despite it all, she laughed.

'You're throwing dry wall at me?'

Ellis let Simon stand and she held her arms out, beckoning him. She twisted her hand position on the shiv, this time the blade going down her arm, not up and she managed to slash his knuckles wide open. The smell of blood now was driving them both on the edge. Simon came at her again and this time grabbed her arm, twisting it painfully, forcing her to drop the weapon.

He had her arm up behind her back and her face twisted up in pain. She would not be outdone by such a simple and weak move so she did what she had to do. With all her might, Ellis brought up her heeled boot and came down onto Simon's foot with such force that it cracked the plaster. Simon let out a roar and stepped back, falling. He gave her an incredulous look and she once again smiled her smug smile.

'Here's when the good die young.'

Ellis picked the shiv back up and stepped quickly onto Simon, planting her knees onto his chest and raising the weapon high in the air. The sudden look in his eyes, through the mixed blood and plaster, held such fear that it welled up inside her, letting what she was about to do next, come so easily.

Then she realized that Simon wasn't looking at her, but at the very large reddish brown wolf snarling behind her.

Simon didn't know whether to thank the animal or back away as Ellis became the least of his problems. He slipped his arm out from underneath her knee and her eyes flicked back to him.

'Don't.' He raised his hand quickly, regretting his actions immediately as the wolf now bared all its fangs, growling loudly at them. 'You heard Alfarinn.'

There were more. There had to be. Simon tried to blink through his blood lust, tempering it down to search out the area. There were more.

'Twelve.'

Simon looked up at Ellis who had spoken. She was searching the area too. Twelve. Against them. A regular wolf was one thing, but if this was what he thought it was, and odds are it was, then twelve against 2 ancients wasn't going to cut it.

'Anantya.'

Her eyes had narrowed and Simon then realized that she had no idea what they actually were. 'Ellis...no.'

Ellis brought her arms back down and threw the shiv to the side, away from them. He had brought a dozen ancients or near ancients.

'You brought Anantya into this?'

Simon was shaking his head slowly as the wolf standing next to her was breathing into her face. They were surrounded and Ellis didn't need her perception to know this. They crept out of the walls and behind the plastic tarps covering the window walls. All solid colored shape shifted wolves, no doubt. Shape shifters, that SO should've been an Evenhet ability. God damn Darius and his Evenhet blood. Looking back at the wolf, Ellis slowly slipped off of Simon and sat next to him.

With one knee propped up, Ellis rested her damaged arm and looked around the room. The wolves crept closer, all of them snarling.

'Ain't this a bitch.'

Ellis watched the largest of them walk closer to them. It had a missing eye, left to be exact. Her eyebrows furrowed, trying to recall where she had seen...

It hit her like a jackhammer to the forehead; this was the tall bloke at Babylon. The one that blocked her way towards the private rooms. Her mouth opened and she uttered, 'Oh.' Then the beast started to change.

Whatever it was - it was tall and male. Ellis' eyes grew wide and she uttered several colorful expletives as she watched the wolf slowly...and somewhat painfully...take human shape again. A full minute went by and suddenly there he was, kneeling down on one knee, covered in sweat and standing in a small pool of it - was the biggest man she had seen in a long time.

And she meant that the dirty way.

'Wow...hi?'

She heard Simon make a noise and she looked over to catch him rolling his eyes.

'That's not an Anantya, is it?'

Hammer answered for Simon who seemed annoyed at the woman.

'No I am not one of your kind.' He said that with every ounce of disgust he could muster without betraying any emotion in his expression. 'Far from it.'

Hammer stayed in his knelt down position and was still looming over them. 'My name is Iov Hammerthynn. We are here to kill you.'

'Oh. Really now? My, my.' Ellis reached up and touched her bruised and cut lips with her bloodied hand. Whether it was hers or Simon's, she couldn't tell.

'Well, we're kind of in the middle of something right now.'

'Jesus, Ellis. And you wonder why I want to kill you?'

Her obnoxious sarcasm used to be charming, but over the years, especially the past couple, it had really begun to grate his nerves. Slowly, he began to stand, wiping the dust off his slacks.

'Although I would've liked to have done it myself,' he waved a hand towards Ellis and shrugged. 'Have at it.' To Ellis he smiled and said, 'You're on your own.'

'No, Simon.'

Hammerthynn stood and now towered over Ellis who sat dumb struck at the sight. Simon looked Hammer, from head to toe as he straightened his sleeves.

'We'll be kiling you as well.'

Ellis eyed up Hammerthynn as Simon decided to throw her under the bus. What was he, a good six foot four or five and good gravy, the unit on this guy!

'Listen...if its no rush. I'm more than happy to discuss this issue we're having here.' Ellis looked down again at Hammerthynn's...nakedness...and smiled.

Simon's face tightened up into an angry expression and he snapped at Ellis and her insinuations.

'He's threatening to kill you and you're asking him out on a date? THIS is why, Ellis. THIS.'

'Oh my GOD. What is it with you? It's what...fifteen hundred years later and this still bugs you?' Ellis fumed at Simon - the nerve he had. First he loves her, then he hates her and leaves her to die in an inferno, then he gets jealous?

'For a second, Ellis. For ONE SECOND - open your fucking eyes and look at him. Not his fucking cock, but HIM. He's a fucking werewolf.' Shaking his head, he looked around the room inconspicuously and tried to get her to see his point.

'I'm the least of your worries now, E.'

It appeared their passenger from the escalator was a young man, tall, fair-haired, and far too pretty. Tai rolled easily to his feet in spite of Nova's kicking at his ankles as the man helped her up, tilting his head curiously as she moved to block him. If Nova's concern was this kid, as she called him as stridently as possible, she could rest her head on that score... and shut her mouth before any nearby glass started to crack.

"He's not my concern," Tai said. "I'm just here to do a job. No offense."

The last was said with a flash of a humorless grin as he closed in the space between them. He wasn't about to take his eyes off either one, kid or not, but the way they were arranged Nova was between them anyway.

A stride or two brought him in close, and from there his foot snapped out, aiming a sharp kick at her own ankle much in the same way she'd just tried to do, but with far greater force.

Alfarinn was briefly surprised when Nova spread her arms out in front of him and started yelling at the stranger. She thought he was a kid. Perhaps she was only human after all? It was remarkably sweet and noble of her to try and protect him. Thaddeus might argue that one looked more noble without so much profanity but he felt that in this situation it might be warranted and the bold woman before him could be forgiven.

The man stated that he was not after him which at least cleared his conscience of involving Nova in some crazy assassination attempt on either himself or his public identity. This had something to do with her and he would guess since she had been with Simon earlier that it had something to do with the leader of the Tacharan as well. Perhaps Ellis just wanted witnesses gone? No, who was he kidding? She would likely care less. Maybe she thought it would hurt Simon or maybe there was something else going on? Now really wasn't the time to worry about it.

The stranger reached out and kicked Nova hard in the legs. Alfarinn grabbed her, wrapping one hand around her waist and pointing the gun at the stranger with the other. Dragging Nova back with him a few steps while watching her assailant, he said.

"I'm not going to let you hurt her. This woman has a family. Have you no conscience?"Â?

He did in fact meet her brother though they looked nothing alike. Alfarinn had thought at the time that they were both from a family of adopted children; it was wonderful to see that they were actually close.

"Whatever you're being paid I will double it if you go away and do not harm her."Â?

Any more than you already have. He figured Nova would at least survive the fall down the stairs and the one kick but it was obvious this man was not here to play games.

((OOC: Playing with the raggedy nova doll with permission ;) ))

Not one to concern herself with stoicism at a time like this, Nova howled loudly when the attacker delivered a hard fast kick to her ankle. Bastard! She would heal but that didn’t mean she wasn’t sick with sudden pain. Before she could lash out again in retaliation, though, an arm went around her waist and she felt herself pulled back into a tall, lean figure. To her relief, Arin shoved the much coveted gun in the attacker’s face even as he tried to reason with the crazy fucker.

Between the fact that her ankle still –really- hurt, even moreso because it was slowly healing, and Arin Bjorn’s brave and noble statement, she damn near swooned. How could she be thinking about the hotness that was Arin at a time like this? Still, there was something damn sexy about the ‘have you no conscience?’ bit. And…he remembered enough about her to know she had a brother. Hot.

Not that she liked playing damsel in distress all that much; in fact, this damsel wanted to break away and tear the bastard’s eyes out rather than negotiating with him. The gun kept things under some sort of control though; Nova suspected that a bullet wouldn’t kill the man standing in front of him but unloading in the guy’s head would be enough to get a solid running start. Guns escalated the situation even for vampires and she knew better than to fuck around and let her temper get the better of her with something like that.

Of course, Arin wouldn’t know what to expect. She –really- needed that gun. Arin had all the confidence of youth but she had more of the picture; this guy was with Ellis. There was a lot more than money at stake here; Ellis would end him in a heartbeat if he switched loyalties.

Without taking her eyes off the attacker, she slowly reached out and put her arm on Arin’s outstretched one, sliding it up to his hand.

“Arin…I think you should give me the gun.”

Once she got the gun she would tell him to run like hell while she blew this guy’s face off. Unfortunately her plan had one slight flaw; her other hand was, she realized, gripping the hand around her waist rather tightly. The fucker had snapped her ankle and while she was putting on a good show of standing, the truth was she couldn’t put much weight on it yet.

Again, she decided to figure out step two once step one was taken care of.

Tai didn't worry quite so much about the gun as might be expected. Thanks to Ellis' little "experiment," he was aware of his own ability to fight through the pain of a bullet wound. Still, it was two on one as apparently this fair-haired youth didn't intend to let him have his way.

And was audacious enough to offer a bribe, too. Tai hesitated there. Oh, if only he really were mercenary, at that point, he would have taken the money and been done with it done with Ellis, done with the whole thing. He shook his head though, as much to himself as to the stranger.

"Tempting, but no."

Ellis was in his head so deeply she may as well be a part of him... there was no escaping her until his commitment was fulfilled. Maybe even after. His loyalty must be absolute and his will, for the moment, was not his own.

There were several more weapons concealed on his body, all within reach of both hands. The matter of which one to go for was the poser, but in the end Tai found himself ducking, rolling with all the agility his vampire form afford, and coming up on one knee with yet another handgun, aimed at Nova.

"Your turn," he said, almost cheerfully... for Tai. His finger tensed on the trigger; did they care to test the odds and determine whether or not he could function with a gunshot wound, or how fast his reflexes really were? He had limited patience for standoffs the moment, from the noises above. With a sigh, he shook his head.

"Nevermind. Fairness is overrated." Firing two bullets in quick succession, he let them choose. Take the bullets and fight, or dodge and do the same. The projectiles were aimed at Nova, as was his body as he attacked. He paid little attention to the gun in the youth's hand.

No human moved like that, Alfarinn reflected. If he had any lingering doubts that the man in front of them was with Ellis they were abolished by seeing the neat tuck and roll...too neat, too quick. It would be difficult to argue with anyone that Ellis deemed worthy enough to have at her side these days. Whatever nostalgia for something good and decent that led her to Simon had, he figured, been stamped out thoroughly in the past.

Whether Ellis could have ever found redemption was not worth pondering over; everyone had that point in which their character was irrevocably chiseled into the stone of their being. Whether the vampire in front of him had yet to reach that point was also none of his concern.

Alfarinn's offer had been rejected and though the emotions that whirled in the man before him spoke of a deeply conflicted soul, he could feel that loyalty and duty were winning out. He would kill Nova because he was told to. Alfarinn's features hardened then and he released his grip on the woman he had been holding up, giving Nova a gentle shove to knock her out of the way. At the same time, he unloaded the half the clip at close range in a tight cross pattern. Go ahead and try to dodge them all.

His voice was flat and cold as he did his best to block out the emotions that were strong in front of him.

"Your choice"Â?

((OOC: Terribly sorry there Tai, no hard feelings, heh... Speaking of feelings, Tai's emotions read with permission ))

It was pure instinct, a split-second thought process, and inhuman agility that kept Tai on his feet. The youth (and was he really a youth, after that show?) fired off a round in a very tight pattern. His hand moved very little and Tai's sense of self-preservation informed him quickly that the solution was to move to one side or the other. He slipped nimbly to the left, coming off of his knee, not worried about avoiding the bullets so much as having them hit someplace less critical than his chest or stomach. It was pressure more than pain as his right arm jerked back. One of the projectiles embedded itself in his bicep while the other tore through the flesh between neck and shoulder.

Pain would come later; for now Tai remained focused on his objective, and that was Nova, who seemed to be weakening. Or so he hoped. He could no longer ignore this new threat though. Recovering his balance, Tai made a leap for Nova. It was here he would have to hope that his own natural skill would help; he aimed a quick jab at the woman, a short furious punch at her wounded hand, trying to keep her distracted while he feinted and snapped a wide kick at the wrist of the youth holding the gun.

Tai wasn't one for sparkling conversation during a fight, but he responded to the pale-haired man anyway.

"There is no choice to be made."

It wasn't a plea for sympathy; it was a simple statement spoken with very little emotion. Family, Clan, were strong motivators for Tai. The structured world he'd grown up in had no room for disloyalty. For now, Ellis was his Family. He would follow her directive as long as he was capable. However badly Yuu's voice in his head was crying for him to turn away and drop everything, he couldn't and wouldn't.

Alfarinn doubted the bullets would stop the man in front of him but he was hoping they'd have slowed him down a little more than they had. He hadn't been looking for a macho display of survival of the fittest vampire and was hoping that the distraction was enough to scoop Nova up and get her to safety.

Unfortunately the stubborn assailant remained willing to continue their now physical debate. Damn mulish Tacharans! He turned his attention to Nova, reaching down with his free hand to pull her once more to her feet. It was then that he noticed she'd been shot. Alfarinn caught sight of the wound in time to see their chatty assassin friend aim a punch to it. He still had time to notice that it was healing...and rapidly.

Nova was not a human and therefore far less fragile than he had thought. That was a load of concern off his mind. She was still in danger though. His attention turned back to the man in front of him in time to receive a kick to the wrist. His hand and arm were flung backwards and the gun was sent flying over the railing.

Alfarinn flowed with the blow letting it push his shoulder backwards and aimed a kick at the man's knee.

"Run Nova, I'll catch up."Â?

She was a vampire and seeing her with Simon suggested that she was probably one of his clan, which likely made her just as stubborn as the rest of them. The odds that she was going to run were really quite low but he could try. If nothing else then perhaps it would split the attention of their assailant.

'Shit, this guy is fast...'

That was the only thought Nova had time for as the assassin's fist made contact with her fucked up hand. With Arin's help she had managed to get all the way onto her feet but the hit messed up her balance enough that she had to grab the rail with her free hand for support. Her lip curled back into a snarl; now she was angry, and her hand -hurt- like a motherfucker. She was half convinced, in fact, that it wasn't going to heal – it would just rot and fall off because things this disgusting and painful couldn't go on. Looking down, though, she managed to register that it wasn’t quite that bad before she heard the whistling air followed by the fateful sound of the gun bouncing on the floor below.

Oh. Fuck. For the first time it truly hit her that getting shot multiple times had barely affected the killer, compared to how it had fucked her up, but it still sucked to see something she’d put so much hope into go sailing into the air and out of sight.

Her first impulse, when told to run, was to yell back something really clever like 'no YOU run', but by this point several things were becoming clear. The killer wasn't going to leave her alone, not for anything, and it was her he wanted. Arin didn't seem to have any intention of running either, and at some level Nova thought that made sense in spite of the obnoxious gender implications (and was now -really- the time to think about such things?). Why would he run, when it would mean the person he was defending would most likely be killed? There might not even be time for him to get to help before the assassin caught up with him next. If -she- ran, though...she thought the killer would come after her. They wouldn't be splitting up so much as working together in a situation that -had- to be better than the one they were in now. It sucked that he had gotten into this but might as well make it work – Arin was only going to get more messed up if they kept exchanging blows.

Not looking at Arin, she kept her focus on the killer as she spoke. Her muscles twitched and she felt a trace of excitement, odd as it was under the circumstances, at the thought of a chase.

“Screw that. I want a piece of this fuckstick.”

She lunged, charging like a bull straight for the killer...or nearly straight. At the last second she swerved, effectively hurling herself at the opposite hand rail and flinging herself over it with a yell that was half terror and half exhilaration.

Knowing that her ankle, while mostly healed, wouldn't respond well to any serious impact, she took the fifteen foot fall with bended knees, her hands splayed out in front of her, sending up a fine cloud of dust when she landed. She looked up with a smile; a thought had occurred to her on the way down.

She didn’t like guns anyway.

Ri-goddamn-diculous.

Ellis kept repeating the word in her head as she looked over at Simon who had once again thrown her under the bus with a dozen or so fucking wolves snarling at her. Simon stood up quickly and with a rather annoyed look, picked at her arm trying to get her to stand as well.

'Fuck me.'

Finally standing, Ellis took a moment to survey the situation. Turning 360 around the floor, she counted exactly 1 dozen very large, very angry wolves circling them. She felt Simon stand close to her and instinctively they assumed the defensive position and pressed their backs up against each other.

'I can't help but find this ironic.'

Simon turned and she felt him chuckle slightly. He nudged her shoulder, signaling a very old, very familiar move. She missed the violence of the middle ages, the gang wars and kung fu idiots of today's world did not compare. There was nothing more vicious than an angry Norseman or a put out Scot. Good times.

They began to turn in place, both getting a good look at the beasts closing the distance. 'You know, I'm still not completely sold on this werewolf crap. How do you know that he wasn't an Anantya? How do I know you haven't been going buck ass wild with my clan, causing all sorts of problems?'

Simon stopped and turned, giving her an incredulous look.

She sniffed with disdain and muttered, 'You fucking do gooder.'

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the first wolf jump into the air at them. The second she noticed, she knew Simon would've picked it up on his own perception. Quietly Ellis said one word.

'Go.'

Without looking, Ellis reached over and clasped Simon's hand and he pulled, twisting her around his body counter clockwise, her feet kicking out. It had been a long time since they had the chance to fight side by side and immediately her blood lust reignited. The exhilaration hit her like a shot in the dark and as Simon whipped her around him, her feet connected with the first wolf, knocking it clear and away, laying stunned and motionless on the ground.

One down, eleven to go.

They were completely inundated by the werewolves. That thought alone terrified Simon as he helplessly watched four of them lay siege onto Ellis while he fought off the other seven. Part of him wanted to go to Ellis to help, but he knew that they were underestimating her as the weaker female. His thoughts were broken off by the pain of steel traps clamping down on his arm, causing him to bare his fangs and twist violently to the right to fling one wolf off his back who was desperately trying to gnaw his shoulder blade.

Simon's knees had buckled under the onslaught of the wolves, but he picked himself up began to pummel the wolf attached to his arm. Not trying to rip it off, but beat it into submission until it finally whined in protest and disengaged itself. Grabbing another wolf, he swung it as hard as he could and knocked two more back until finally he was able to keep his back clear. He had stunned the one he had thrown and the other two were trying to climb back to their feet. Turning he looked over at Ellis who was busy with her now two attackers, the other two lay stunned and trying to gain footing to attack her again.

Again they backed into each other, both breathing heavy and blood dripping from their faces and limbs.

'We need to leave,' he said trying to catch his breath.

'Ya think?' Ellis answered just as breathlessly. 'By the way, I believe you now.'

Simon smiled but it faltered as he saw that the wolves were once again readying to attack. He was suddenly pushed forward by Ellis being jumped again by another wolf.

Well, at least Nova made the decision easy for him, Tai reasoned as he watched her leap recklessly to the ground floor. Turning to the fair-haired youth, he touched his fingers to his forehead in a mock salute and coiled himself to spring after his prey; it would have been interesting to see where this fight went, but orders were orders. Nova had to be first; work before pleasure.

Springing and moving to tuck himself for his own fall, Tai was rudely stymied when he felt a vice grip around his ankle and the weight of the rail and scaffolding against his chest. If he'd needed air, it would have been knocked out of him just then. As it was, he saw stars for a moment.

Twisting around, he snarled at the man who had clamped down on him with inhuman strength. In a frozen momet, Tai wondered exactly who he was, what the look on his face meant, what Nova meant to him... but then it was gone, and his coiled free leg exploded. Meeting his opponent's chest with heavy force, Tai felt the fingers around his ankle loosen and then fall away.

Tai fell free as well, but between his newfound vampiric agility and the long years of acrobatics, his body unraveled itself, catlike in its precision, and he hit the ground with a bent-kneed thud that sent up clouds of construction dust. Crouched in place, he took a moment to locate Nova, narrowing his eyes as he got ready to move again.

((ooc: Permission to move Alfarinn))

There were just too many of them. Ellis was forced back and she fell against Simon as one of the larger wolves, as if they weren't ALL large, dug its claws into her chest, its feet tearing the skin on her thighs. It snapped its jaws at her face and it just nicked her jawline, causing fresh blood to run. Losing her balance, Ellis fell to the ground with the dog as Simon went sprawling onto the ground near more drywall and bits of metal.

She had lost too much blood. Ellis began to struggle keeping the wolf off her, pushing up at its gaping jaw when her hand slipped inside. The wolf wasted no time and it bit down, crushing her hand. The pain welled up and she felt the tears sting her eyes - as well as her blood lust finally reaching its pinnacle.

In a rage she had not felt since Simon let her drop into inferno at Hillman's compound, Ellis pulled the wolf close to her and with her fangs pulsing in her mouth, bit down the wolf's shoulder. It emitted a howl so loud, so painful that it overpowered the beating her of raging heart.

Good god the blood. She fed on the wolf, taking in as much blood as possible and draining the beast dry - but it failed in nourishing her. Its blood had a thick, barely palatable taste that she could only recall having but a few times in her long life time. A taste so distinct that she briefly wondered if she had fed on a werewolf before and never knew.

Disengaging from the wounded beast, Ellis turned her painfully crushed hand and grabbed part of the wolf's jaw and with her other hand, grabbed its bottom jaw and twisted. There was one solitary yelp and then it slumped on top of her. Pushing the beast off her, she looked up at Simon who was looking back at the wolves with a bit of metal in his hand. Ellis looked at the wolves.

'Oh shit.'

Ellis hit the ground below with a resounding crunch, still she pushed herself to stand up and start to run. They were behind them and stopping to gain her bearings wasn't going to be a luxury she could afford. She put her hand down on the broken glass, sufficiently cutting her hands even more and pulled herself up. Simon was already grabbing her by her arm, pulling her up as he ran. Was it she was getting too old for this shit?

Risking one look over her shoulder she saw four wolves had dropped down already and were sprinting after them. Pushing as hard as she could, Ellis ran for the park outside, running through the small ponds that separated the mall walk ways. Almost tripping on a bench on the opposite side, she could see Simon trying to look for a way out and not die in the process.

The mall was designed with dark cherry wood columns and an open design that had the stores weave back and forth across the path each corner section surrounded by more bridge ways and ponds. They ran through the crowds of people, pushing them aside and running through the water almost slipping on the hardwood floors. The only way out would be to make it to the opposite side of the mall and what she was fairly certain was the sewers. The development was new and she hadn't bothered to scout any of the layout so she went on assumption. Hoping Simon was thinking was she was thinking, she grabbed him and nudged her head in the direction of where she thought they should go.

'We need to disappear,' she said as her legs pumped painfully, running at break neck speeds.

Nodding, Simon suddenly pushed her off to the right as a wolf came barreling down on them, clipping Simon and sending him falling on top of Ellis. She felt something crunch as she hit the floor, but managed to pick Simon up and head east, far out of their way as they tried to head north. Ellis suddenly became very aware of the loud Christmas music being piped into the mall and she began to laugh.

Here comes Santa Claus!
Here comes Santa Claus!
Right down Santa Claus Lane!
Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer
are pulling on the reins.
Bells are ringing, children singing;
All is merry and bright.
Hang your stockings and say your prayers,
'Cause Santa Claus comes tonight.

'What the f....' They entered the east wing of the mall and it opened up into large skating rink. The stairs leading up and back towards the north section were blocked temporarily from the sides due to the newly installed ice rink. Without stopping to discuss it, they both jumped the side of the rink and made their way, slipping and sliding, to the opposite side.

Nova growled and looked prepared to charge the man head on. Was she so young she had no sense of self preservation? His eyes widened in surprise but then he realized she wasn't nearly as angry as her actions suggested. She seemed more calculating. A bluff perhaps? She came rushing forward and he made no attempt to stop her. It was a good thing because she seemed to have enough common sense to put some distance between her and this attacker after all. Not all Tacharan were crazy...

Alfarinn tried to help her along by giving her a good head start. He grabbed at the man's ankle and held on tightly; however the kick to his chest loosened his grip. Falling backwards, Alfarinn slammed against the other side rail to the escalator. He watched the assassin go over the side and had no delusions that the guy had landed in an awkward broken heap.

Pushing himself off the railing, he stood up and jumped over the side. Nova's attacker may be agile but that didn't mean he was fast; Alfarinn had the many immortal years on him, not to mention stride length.

There was the sound of crashing glass, he looked up to see if more would soon be joining their fight. Instead he saw Simon and Ellis landing in a shower of glass.They began running as soon as they landed and not from each other.

....What the hell?

He saw why as a whole group of gigantic wolves leapt through the opening a few moments later. Wolves on steroids... He gaped a second longer before shaking his head and turning back to find Nova and her assailant.

((OOC: Nova's emotional motivation with permission. Getting grabby on Tai with permission ))

Nova shoved herself off the ground and half ran, half scrambled across the floor, reaching out and grabbing a large round pillar and using it to swing herself around in a sharp left turn. Her plan was simple – stay moving, stay unpredictable, get the fuck out of this construction. Anyone perceptive enough (and she had to assume her attacker was perceptive) could find her easily if she tried to hide in this construction, but if she could lose herself for just a minute she’d be able to call for Jan.

And all those mercs. They’d probably help too…

She ended up running toward the floor to ceiling windows and was about to make one last turn to the stairs when she heard the explosive sound of shattering glass. Instinctively, her hands flew up to protect her face, but she quickly figured out that the window in front of her was still intact.

And then her creator and Ellis went sailing down, wrapped up in each other’s arms, cutting through the picture perfect view. Her arms sagged and her jaw dropped at the sight that followed, and for a moment she entirely forgot about the case as several…ten, she counted out of habit…wolves dropped down.

“Oh…fucked.”

That little incoherency out of the way, she shook herself back into motion, heading for the stairs. Simon and the wolves (and wouldn’t that make a great band name, her mind inappropriately interjected) had given her an idea, though.

When she reached the stairs, she would go up.

Nova wasn't hard to spot; she'd scrambled across the floor after she'd landed, and the dirt and dust left from the ongoing construction were enough to leave marks in. Nova was just ahead of him, and no doubt her pal with the hair wasn't far behind either. As Tai darted to catch up to Nova, towards an impressive-looking set of windows, he drew to an abrupt halt.

Nova, too, had seemed to momentarily forget what they were involved in... and no wonder. From where Tai stood, it looked like Ellis and Simon had just plunged past the window. He watched with open astonishment, which didn't come anywhere close to fading as, right on the heels of the first event, a pack of wolves ran between himself and Nova.

There was time to blink. Even to look at the floor as if to verify that yes, a pack of enormous wolves just crossed and headed that way.

Footsteps behind him confirmed that he had been followed; the moment of shocked silence ended and as if it had never happened, everyone burst into action again. Tai, stuck between Nova and her buddy, was both persuer and persued as he took off once again for the woman Ellis had ordered him to eliminate.

Simon felt his arm pop out of socket as he landed on Ellis. The wolf had clipped him into a hard spin and it took everything not to bounce his head off the tiled floor when he connected. The sickening pop was soon followed by Simon popping his arm back into the socket as they ran on. A thin sheet of sweat covered him as he fought the urge to throw up.

They were beyond the point of what their blood lust and extreme resilience could handle now, having already lost so much blood from their fight, not to mention the wolves taking even more. They were in both no condition to stand their ground so their only option was to run and pray to god they made it to the sewers where they could lose them; however the sewers were at least a good quarter of a mile away from the east side of the multi story mall. As they turned the corner and approached the east exit they were confronted by another obstacle.

Who puts a skating rink in a mall?

Using his good arm, Simon heaved himself over the barrier and fell to the ice along with Ellis. He could not describe the colorful expletives she was emitting but he could probably add to them. Simon immediately stood but lost his footing and landed back down on one knee painfully. The cold ice bit into his hand as he tried to steady himself. Ellis was managing the ice with her heightened agility, getting across the ice a little faster, so he reached over and grabbed her as he managed to get back on his feet. That's when he heard the clatter of nails on the ice.

Turning back they watched the wolves as they begun to jump the barrier and land on the ice, only they were having just as many problems. The rink was almost Olympic sized, much to Simon's dismay, as they were having to cross its length as its longest point. The sides were blocked off preventing the wolves from rounding it and meeting them at the other end, still the only advantage they had over the wolves was that they had opposable thumbs.

There was a gurgling noise and Simon looked at Ellis as she clenched her stomach. 'What, what is it?' She looked at him with frightened eyes as she sudden turned her head and threw up onto the ice. It was a dark thick substance which he realized was the wolf's blood. She had fed on it yet it did nothing for her and was making her sick. He had seen her do that once before, a long time ago. He broke off his thought as she grabbed him and continued to vomit as the wolves struggled to close the distance.

'JESUS...'

As much as she tried, she could not get out the proper amount of curse words to describe the inopportune timing of her vomiting. She immediately recognized the feeling and taste as one she experienced quite some time ago. It half made he laugh to know she had fed on a werewolf once before.

Fuckers.

The blood splattered onto the ice and their shoes were leaving a slimy trail behind them. Once. Twice. Ellis began gasping for air as she finally vomited the last bit of werewolf blood in her, easing the cramping in her stomach. A sickening sheet of sweat covered her body as she shook off the nausea and finished crossing the ridiculously large skating rink.

'Christ,' she shook her head and helped Simon across the ice, 'come on.' Though weakened, her agility did make it easier for her to maneuver across the ice and finally they made it to the opposite side with a reasonable distance put in between them and the wolves. Turning back as they passed through the gate, she held up her hand and flipped the wolves the bird.

Grumbling Simon grabbed her, urging her to hurry up as they ran up to the Christmas decorated flight of stairs leading to the second floor. The plan was to double back and keep heading north.

In the few minutes they had been sprinting across the mall, they finally managed to get the attention of several security guards and patrons who were watching two very haggard looking individuals running from a pack of wolves. Their wake left screams of terror and guards yelling at them to stop. After grabbing Ellis and pulling her up the stairs, the crowd on the steps parted for them as they pushed through.

Again more screams as people realized what they were running from. The guards following now the group of wolves were yelling into the radios for the police, the fire station and animal control. The mayhem they were causing was not lost on Simon and apparently not lost on Ellis who was now laughing uproariously as she recovered from her vomiting.

His mind ached as he opened up his perception to feel what they were possibly running toward. Fluttering heart beats ahead of them, no doubt wondering what the commotion was and a raged set of breathing behind them from both the wolves and the guards. Looking over the side as they ran back above where they had passed, catching in the corner of his eye was a wolf climbing over the ledge of the stairs and leaping at them, bypassing the mess of plants and columns.

Simon let go of Ellis' hand and reached down to pick up a wooden bench, heaving it back towards the wolf, knocking it back down to the skating rink below. Three down, nine more to go, he thought as they rounded the corner and continued north.

They were running no way near their optimal speed, in fact they were only managing a normal gait for a man and a woman. Simon felt the drain on him from the blood he lost and was still losing. Ellis managed to stay with him as they jumped over benches and pushed through the crowd till finally they reached the turn to the stairs leading down to the northern entryway. The wolves had now made it off the ice and were tearing down the second floor walkway, knocking people off their feet.

'GO!' Simon yelled to Ellis, ignoring the turn to the stairs. 'GO, GO GO GO!' Once again they jumped the barrier and bypassed the stairs, landing on the main floor below with a loud crunch. The floor below them buckled and left a crater as they continued towards the doors out to the fairway leading to the bridge overpass and sewer tunnels.

She was enjoying this entirely too much. Despite the disgusting taste of werewolf blood and the subsequent torture of throwing it up, Ellis was having the time of her life. With the Christmas music blaring into the mall, Simon at her side and trouble bringing up the rear, Ellis began to laugh happily at their situation.

Without hesitating, they both jumped over the side of the landing and fell to the ground below. The landing wasn't exactly graceful, but the looks they received for suddenly appearing out of thin air was priceless. As they ran towards the glass doors, Simon pushed the door open for her, ever the gentleman, and they ran out into the night.

Huffing and puffing, Ellis slowed down, pulling on Simon's arm a little. 'That'll hold them, right? No opposable thumbs...those door handles will take them a minute, right?'

Simon slowed just ahead of her and looked back. He had begun to open his mouth when the shattering of glass stopped him. Once again he ran up to Ellis and pulled her with him across the lawn.

'WHAT?' Ellis yelled as she ran, looking over her shoulder. 'WAIT A MINUTE, THAT AIN'T RIGHT!'

The bridge overpass was nestled downhill from the Mall itself and the grass sloped down at an extreme angle causing them to slip on the wet grass down to the sewer run off. They had at least made it to the sewers, but they were not safe yet. The wolves were still following and Simon wagered would not stop until they were dead.

The sewer entrance was just big enough to crawl through but as they both passed into the tunnels, it opened up big enough to drive a car through the maze. The design of the sewer system was much different than the rest of the city, with the Mall and general area being on a hill, it produced more of a run off and with the recent weather, had filled the tunnels up to shin high. The water was cold but refreshing as they ran through towards the main interchange or what they hoped was the main interchange. None of the area was familiar and travelling by sewer had tapered off along with their hunts.

They both turned at the sound of water splashing behind them and they continued to run deeper and deeper into the sewer system till it forked off into two smaller tunnels. Choosing right, Simon and Ellis ran in the darkness as their footfalls echoed in front of them and more echoed behind them. Simon turned around to look when suddenly Ellis grabbed him.

He had nearly stepped off into the large main interchange of sewer tunnels. The tunnels continued on the other side, but with their limited abilities, it wasn't a jump they could make but would have to climb down and then back up.

'Ready?' Ellis asked him as she jumped down to the bottom. Simon waited a moment before plunging into the cold water, not knowing how deep it was.

His six foot five frame fell to the bottom of what felt like a fifteen foot deep containment center. Swimming back up, he saw Ellis already trying to climb up. Reaching up his hand slipped on the slimy mold that lined the walls. Ellis and her agility made the walls maneuverable but for Simon he began his slow struggle up to the connecting tunnels just as he heard the wolves splash down behind him.

The wolves had found them and were splashing down into the containment area, just below Simon. He barely managed to get out of range of their jaws as he climbed his way slowly up the wall. Reaching the tunnel was no easy feet, but her abilities made it a little easier for her. Pulling herself up into the tunnel, she shivered against the cold. It had soaked her clothes and felt like icicles were stabbing her skin as the cold enveloped her.

The barking had started now as they wolves tried to climb the side after Simon. It echoed loudly, making her cover her ears and yell out. 'SHUT UP!!!!!'

She walked down the tunnel a bit and found the opening to a more recognizable part of the sewers. Doubling back she walked back to the edge and saw something profound and irresistible. Kneeling down she lowered herself to the edge of the opening and watched Simon struggle to pull himself into the tunnel. The slime was thick here from the spill off and he was unable to get a strong enough grip to pull himself up. In fact, he was on the verge of slipping back down.

Looking past him Ellis saw the dogs, jaws open and eyes full of hate. They had hurt 3 of their pack and to say that they were angry was an understatement. They would tear to shreds anything that came within snapping distance of those steel jaws. Ellis settled herself on one knee and looked at Simon who, by the look on his face, realized just what Ellis was thinking.

Simon hung precariously on the edge, his fingers turning white from the strain of holding himself up. Ellis tipped her head to the side and gave him the softest of smiles. Speaking just above a whisper, she knew that Simon could hear her next words, even above the frantic barking of the wolves below him.

'Boy, this is ironic, isn't it?'

She left him there, dangling above the jaws of his certain death...and she was OK with it. Well she thought she was. Wait. No, she was. Pretty much.

Ellis blended into the tunnel and turned towards the recognizable way out. It was ironic to find them both in the position they were in. He had always saved her and did it with unflinching loyalty or so she thought. She really had no idea how long Simon considered killing her, but part of her hoped it wasn't that long. She didn't notice the change in him until Marthinus had almost died. Maybe that was it, but it wasn't as if he hadn't watched another dozen or so of his kin die. Nothing was different about Marthinus impending death. Maybe it was Carol, Ellis wondered as she walked slowly away from Simon.

She could not pin point the exact time he wanted her dead, she only remembered when her love meant everything to him. The promises he made that he broke in the end. But she wondered, maybe even knew, that she had brought on her own 'death'. Ellis stopped and looked back at Simon. There wasn't much that she received that she didn't think she earned in some fashion - why would this be any different?

But he let her die. He wanted her...to die. She watched him mouth those precious words she took for granted and nothing hurt more than seeing him tell her he loved her and realizing that it was 1, past tense and 2, his last words to her. It had enraged her. In the end Simon had chosen, the greater value of the whole than the one. In the end he chose the clan over her and despite this, she still found herself leaping back towards him as she watched his hands slip.

Landing flat on her stomach she reached out and grabbed his hand as he fell. It took everything not to fall with him and not have her arm ripped out of her socket. She released her blending and looked him dead in the eye. With a sizable grunt, much to the wolves dismay, Ellis pulled Simon back up into the tunnel.

They were both short of breath now, their breaths visible in the cold air of the tunnel. Shivering they looked at each other. Her on one knee and Simon sitting with his arms on his propped up knees. She watched him breath slowly, trying to regain his composure and probably trying to figure out just what the hell had happened. Hell, she was trying to figure that out.

Ellis looked at the only man she ever loved and the only man to ever kill her. His wet hair was sticking every which way, fresh blood had seeped through the near closed cuts on his hands and face. Closing her mouth she sighed heavily and swallowed. What had she done? Had she just sealed her fate or maybe healed one? Is this what she wanted, him alive? His dark hazel eyes glared at her now from his seat on the tunnel. The sound of sirens nearby pierced the incessant barking of the wolves. It sounded like the entire city police was surrounding the Mall and they heard the patter of feet as the wolves made haste away into the night. They'd have ole one eye to answer to, Ellis figured.

Ellis balled up a fist and gave Simon a final look. She quietly again spoke of irony.

'I didn't let go.'

Standing slowly Ellis looked away from his face and turned to leave when she felt him grab her arm, stopping her. Again she looked back into his face, into those brooding hazel eyes as he held her there. Her heart broke into a thousand pieces as she realized just how lost and alone she'd be without him in her world, for better or worse...granted she'd never tell him that.

She looked down at his right hand that had the firm grip on her arm and then flicked her eyes back up at him defiantly. He did a curious thing next, something that made her stomach clinch and reignited feelings she thought were long gone for him. In a slow and painfully erotic move, Simon brought his wounded left hand up to his mouth. He caressed his wound with his tongue, bringing his lips down on top of it and sucking the fresh blood that was on the webbing of his thumb and index finger.

Ellis felt her chest tighten and then his hand was gone from her arm. He was letting her walk away but she knew it was just for now. Whatever happened next would be a mystery to her and with that, she turned away from him and blended back into the night.

LT and his small group of Pipers ran quietly into the woods near the Mall property. They had failed and he shook slightly, his hackles rising at the thought of what this meant.

Pipers did not fail.

Huntington and the woman had made it successfully into the sewers and beyond their reach, this held little consolation for LT and his men. They would return to the Den to speak to the Commander and suffer the Beta's disappointment and this only fueled their inherited hate for the woman.

((Pipers out))

It would seem that he was not the only one brought up short by the sight crashing through the window. Alfarinn pushed himself to get that extra bit of speed out of his long legs. He reached out and grabbed Nova's attacker by the back of the shirt and slung him around.

It was then that he heard Thaddeus in his mind.

[What?]

Blinking a little in confusion, Alfarinn grabbed onto the man's arm lest the shirt give way and his captive get loose. Let down his defenses...that's what Thaddeus had said. He smiled; his partner was worried about him.

[Of course.]

Realizing that he was grinning like a fool at a perfect stranger who had recently shot a pistol in his general direction, Alfarinn eased his expression into neutrality and gave the Asian a solid punch in the face.

[I'm fine.]

He took a moment to look in the direction Nova ran and hoped she was getting far enough away despite her injuries. The ankle was probably completely healed by now.

[You're right though I'll leave them down.]

((OOC: Response to Thaddeus from "Coffee Break" in Residence))

Tai growled softly as the long-haired stranger grabbed the back of his shirt. As he swung around, he shrugged his shoulder, feeling the seam of his shirt tear and exposing the vibrant tattoos beneath. There was a moment to catch a glimpse of a grin on the pale man's face, and then there was a punch that wrenched his head back on his neck.

Snakelike, Tai twisted and pulled away now, frustrated at being deterred in his objective. It would seem he had to take care of this stranger first before he could finish his job. The punch had been surprising, but it hadn't caused him any lasting injury. Still, he moved about his attacker with newfound caution. The man was very strong.

Testing the waters there, Tai launched a flurry of quick jabs and punches, expecting some to land and some not to, gauging which did and didn't. It was in his best interest to finish this quickly, find Nova, and get lost before the fact that a pack of wolves was tearing through Nachton led people here.

There were times when his Norse mentality would show through even after all these years; Alfarinn felt it was better to simply take the punches that the man dished out in order to get in a few more of his own. He knew that while the man had obviously been very skilled in life, he was a newly turned vampire and therefore was not likely to hurt him terribly by punching him and besides the little shit was quite agile.

"I'd give it up. Ellis has long left you and from the looks of things she has bigger problems to worry about than whether or not you get Nova. "

He hmmphed from another punch and continued.

"Which is a terrible task. She's a nice girl and a wonderful dancer."

Alfarinn grinned and hoped Nova was no where around to hear his last comment. He wondered if somehow Ellis managed to survive the pack of wolves; if anyone could find a way out of that mess it was that woman. Like a cockroach, she was. Simon, on the other hand, might not be so lucky. He really doubted there was much he could do for the Tacharan at this point other than hope. If Simon was going to survive the wolves then he was likely long away from here.

Tai sparred with the long-haired man a bit more, shrugging off the blows readily, and realizing as he did that simple punches and kicks weren't going to have much effect on either of them.

It wasn't as if there weren't plenty of shattered glass, broken boards, and all sorts of useful tools he could use to incapacitate this unwanted assailant. Thus far, the talk hadn't bothered him in the least and Tai hadn't necessarily felt the need to respond to it. He'd made it clear he had nothing against Nova. A job was a job. Even this one wasn't really worth it, as the man said.

Tai's mercenary side agreed. Wolf packs and falling off of escalators were well out of the normal job description, but Ellis' smile and Ellis' laughter were wrapped around every little move of every little muscle, and there was nothing he could do about that. He had to see it through. Quickly, if possible.

He ducked and swung, noting in the back of his head that if they weren't on completely opposite teams, he might actually be enjoying the challenge. Even so, he tried to get the taller man in a position Tai could take advantage of. There was a broken window nearby; that would do. It appeared to have done for Nova, so there was an element of convenience as well.

It appeared that this guy was content to continue the useless battle between them. He had no reason to kill Ellis' child but at the same time it seemed the man was going to be singularly hard headed about staying until his job was done.

They were inching closer to the window and though that seemed to be his assailant's plan, Alfarinn decided to go along with it. The opening might be useful to either one of them. The new vampire had inherited the toughness that some of the Tacharan were famous for, so pounding on him was proving futile.

Pulling one of the knives off the walking weapons arsenal in front of him, Alfarinn made several quick jabs and slashes with it. Hardly a great sword but it was sharp enough. Once he had managed to cut his opponent, he curled the knife handle in his hand so that the blade ran parallel to his arm.

"You can still bleed....and you can still die."Â?

It was the last warning he was going to give.

((OOC: playing with Tai's toys with permission. ))

Tai was growing frustrated, but he hid it fairly well. He was far too disciplined a fighter to let it get to him, but at the same time entirely unused to not being the winner. Assassins who lost ended up dead, and while he couldn't exactly claim to be alive, Tai could at least have faith in the fact that he'd had a winning record before meeting Ellis.

Still, the few hits he was getting on this tall man were ineffective, and if he were going to end this he needed to do something soon. It was taking a distressing amount of concentration just avoiding the man; Tai depended on every ounce of natural and unnattural agility he possessed and even those weren't one hundred percent, as evidence by the fact that somehow the man was able to reach over and forcefully pull one of the knives from the its sheath on Tai's left wrist.

Tai took the cut on his upraised forearm, retaliatating in kind as they closed in to exchange a few more blows, letting the knife on his right wrist drop into his own hand. Ignoring the stranger's jibes, Tai turned a bit, angling the man at the window and aiming the knife for his ribs. Hit or not, the move put the man in a bad position that Tai hoped to take advantage of.

Nova scooted along the beam like an upside down inchworm, squishing up with her legs, then stretching, then scrunching again. Her coat and her long hair hung loose in the wind and if she were being honest with herself, she felt a little bit badass right now.

She was close enough to the broken window to hear the sounds of a struggle, but not so close as to be seen. Another few inches, though, and they were sure to notice her. If, of course, they weren’t too distracted by other things. Hadn’t Jan said something about people never looking up? Visions of ninja crazy surprise attacks crossed her mind, but those were wiped away when she moved another couple of feet up and found herself looking directly at the assassin sent to end her life.

‘Damn,’ she thought, stupidly. ‘Didn’t realize they were so close.’

Arin had his back to her but all the killer had to do was glance up and he would meet her eyes.

‘Well, come on Nova. Jump in there like you said you were going to. Superhero ninja, remember?’

Somehow the idea didn’t seem nearly so compelling now. Besides, if she tried to jump in now all she was liable to do was to knock Arin over or possibly into the knife in his opponent’s hand.

She supposed the best thing she could do was to turn the surprise around – after all, which was more alarming, two guys hanging out near a window or a crazy monkey chick coming out of nowhere?

“Hey fuckstick, you forget something?”

They were by now fighting right next to the broken window and Alfarinn figured it was time to end this so that he could find Nova and Simon. He frowned in concentration as they exchanged blows, his assailant choosing a knife of his own. Well, he guessed that choice was made. If he killed the man then Ellis would just have to make another cold hearted killer; he was quite certain she would be able to find one somewhere. It was a shame that a life was wasted on something that the man obviously didn't believe in but that was his decision.

He could feel that someone else was close, another set of emotions and from what they were, Alfarinn suspected that it was Nova. She was...above them? There was a shuffling sound from over head and he paid it more attention that he should have. Tai's knife stabbed cleanly through his ribs.

“Fy Faen!â€?

Alfarinn dropped his own knife and pushed the other man up against the window. All the ducking and dodging had gone from annoying to irritating but there was a way to solve that problem. He wrapped his arms around his opponent in a tight vampiric bear hug. Struggling for a moment with the instinct to drain the man dry, he thought of Thaddeus' renewed connection with him. He did not want his partner feeling something so primal from him so soon. Alfarinn lifted the smaller man up and tossed him out the window. It looked like he'd survive after all.

The momentary surprise of seeing Nova in the broken window wasn't enough to truly distract Tai although he did hesitate a second. Reflexes being what they were though, his knife still slithered in. Assassination had its perks. While normally he wouldn't go for a stab (too damn many ribs in the way), his sensitive hands still managed to guide the blade adeptly between the bones and into the flesh of the torso.

It probably hurt, but unfortunately it only seemed to piss the other guy off for now. The fair-haired man dropped his stolen knife and shoved Tai up against the window with unbelievable strength. Shards of glass dug into Tai's back as he shoved back, but it was a futile effort as the man locked him in an iron grip. No break, no amount of training Tai had could help him determine how to combat this type of force.

He was thrown over the edge of the window, unceremoniously, and had a brief glimpse of the pavement below before instinct had him turning, trying to regain some kind of balance, but the momentum was too much and the pavement was rushing up to him instead of waiting politely for the inevitable splatter.

There was a sickening crunch... several sickening crunches, maybe a few more as he hit a pile of something or other and then the pavement. Tai figured Nova or her pal might be down at any second to finish the job, but he couldn't find anything in him that actually cared. He tried to turn his head to the side and kissed thepavement, and his consciousness, goodbye.

((ooc: Tai out. Hopefully no street cleaners nearby))

Oooh, that didn’t go as planned. Nova winced in sympathy as the knife slid into Arin’s side, mentally cursing herself for distracting the wrong person.

Arin got his own back, though, and then some. Nova wrapped both arms around the support at the elbow, worried about getting knocked off even though there was plenty of clearance for the killer to fall neatly through the air. She turned to one side and watched his decent, wincing again when he splatted on the ground. Then she turned her head to look (or gape, depending on how generously one chose to describe her) at her rescuer. Who knew the sexy teen idol would turn out to be such a bad ass? It was actually a little scary, come to think of it. She spoke somewhat tremulously from her perch.

“Uh…yeah just so you know, I was calling –him- a fuckstick, not you.” She paused and swallowed. “And…hi. I mean…thank you. God.”

Could she ever say the right thing? She was still a little wary of making sudden moves though Arin seemed pretty controlled now. Probably not a bloodluster or the assassin would have been a pile of dust. Then again, what were the odds that Arin Bjorn would turn out to be, not only a vampire, but a Tacharan as well?

That was the first time it truly occurred to her that the man would probably survive this encounter. Should they do something about that? Nova shuddered and clung tightly to the beam. She didn’t want to go down and see. Besides, there were more important things to worry about, like the fact that Arin had been stabbed and Simon had run off with Ellis (Ellis! Alive!) and a pack of fucking wolves after him.

“You okay? Wait, this is stupid…” She hoisted herself up onto the beam, then gripped it with both hands and kicked out with her feet, launching herself back through the window with a great deal more force than necessary. Landing gracelessly on her ass, she gave a soft ‘oof’ before quickly shoving herself upright and dusting herself off, feeling just about as ridiculous as was possible.

Alfarinn stared for a long minute through the door at the man on the ground. He pushed aside the emotions that came from his victim before unconsciousness hit him. It was difficult to harm someone when you feel what they are feeling; in the past it had required an enormous amount of hate on his part. He hadn't any loathing for the new vampire and indeed, considering the man's creator, he had felt a bit sorry for him.

Turning his thoughts inward, he connected with the comforting emotions that he sensed from Thaddeus; they were a rock and an anchor, no matter what the actual feelings were. In as calm a mental state as he could muster, Alfarinn sent to his companion.

[I'm alright, Beloved. It was a lucky shot and I should have been paying more attention. The fight is over for now; though we will need to find Simon.]

Turning his attention upwards, he gave Nova a small smile. The target of her name calling was fairly apparent but it was nice of her to clarify. Realizing that she blamed herself for his injury, Alfarinn said.

"It was not your fault."Â?

He favored her with a bigger grin at the last of her remarks.

"Hello, and it is a pleasure seeing you whole and well again."Â?

Frowning down at the wound and the ripped and bloodied shirt, Alfarinn considered what was the next best action before taking off after Simon. The bleeding would stop on its own eventually and would only be a problem if they had to make their way through a multitude of people. Reaching down a hand to help her up, he said.

"I'm fine. Let's move out of here before the police come. You wouldn't happen to know if Simon's phone is set to vibrate would you?"Â?

If the Tacharan was hiding then he would really hate to have his position given away with a telltale cellular ring, however funny that might be in the movies he didn't think Simon would appreciate it. He hoped they were already out of danger and had eluded the pack of werewolves somewhere in the sewers and that a simple phone call would be enough to let them know that Simon was alive and out of harm's way.

It seemed sort of surreal to be exchanging pleasantries in the midst of all of this, especially considering the fact that Nova’s manners weren’t the greatest in the best of situations. Arin was, of course, unfailingly polite; she very nearly gave a girlish sigh as he helped her to her feet.

“Thanks…again…and you’re sure you’re alright?”

She approved of Arin’s stoicism – of course any damage to that near perfect form was nothing short of a tragedy but he would get better. She took him at face value when he said he was ready to go on.. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t worried about him but she knew if she were the one hurt and bleeding she wouldn’t want people making a big deal about it.

She was a little concerned about getting around without being noticed but she figured they could cross that bridge when they came to it. Her coat could conceal the dirty streak down her front from the bar but there was no helping her bloody hand or Arin’s bleeding side.

Nova nodded her head before really thinking about Arin’s last question, and replied absently as she led the way to the stairs. “Um, yeah he should have it in silent mode…” It occurred to her then that she’d never heard a ringtone from Simon’s phone. Each possibility that came to mind was more outrageous than the next. Maybe he used a Christmas carol. Or porn voices. Or Brittany Spears.

She decided she didn’t want to know – getting Simon back in one piece would do just fine.

“Why don’t you let me call?” She thought, in spite of them both getting roughed up in this battle, that right now he was the worse for wear, and her instinctive bossiness took over.

Flipping out her phone, she scowled when she looked at the small screen – it looked like the call would have to wait until they got out of the construction.

/ooc both out, unless Alfarinn would rather not be out, of course. Knowledge of the state of Simon’s phone done with full and informed consent :D.