The halls of the Cathedral stood silently among the shadows as the light of dusk seeped in through stained glass windows. A thin layer of dust covered the interior of the structure, masking the once Holy place with an aura of emptiness and abandonment. A cracked layer of marble rested beneath the dust, its fissures showing through to the black iron hidden throughout the grand pillars and flooring. No living thing had entered the Cathedral for centuries, yet it was not completely empty this time.

Sitting on the front-most pew, clutching a jewel encrusted cane in his wrinkled hands, a man could be seen. He wore a black cotton cloak, trimmed in gold thread and lined in crimson silk. His clothes were of finely tailored fabrics and golden jewelry, a status of royalty long forgotten. The man's bright white hair and bushy beard would have made him look rather hospitable, had it not been for his eyes. Bleak and unforgiving, the man's eyes showed no emotion, just cloudy white orbs, as if blinded by his old age. Yet the man saw more than most ever could. He knew there were others coming, and he knew why. He simply needed to wait for their arrival.

He was very good at waiting.

Kitsune pushed open the massive doors of the cathedral causing a massive to creak to bounce its way through the building echoing all around. Stealth wasn't something to be considered, Kitsune's nose twitched as he entered the building and came into view of the man inside, there was silver here, Kitsune hated silver. Kitsune slowly crossed half the distance between him and the man his bells ringing softly, and then stopped focusing on his inner energy, "Your move." he said simply, while standing prepared for any defensive action he needed to take.

Rather than take the obvious route through one of the main doors, Ahven entered the cathedral from above, slipping in through a balcony door that anyone else would be hard-pressed to gain access to from outside. Silently, he drew a pistol from its holster as he stalked through the upper walkways until finding his way to the balconies overlooking the main hall, where his keen eyes caught sight of the two beings that had already begun to assemble. One was a strange fox-like creature standing in the main aisle, but much larger and standing on two feet, as well as possessing an abnormal abundance of tails. The other was an old man with a bejeweled cane, sitting in a pew at the front of the cathedral. The fox-thing was strange, to be sure, but it was the man that drew Ahven's attention. For all intents and purposes, he appeared to be nothing more than that, but the wrongness that rolled off him and soiled his surroundings made the hunter certain that it was he who was the target this evening. Rather than make himself immediately known as the fox had, he settled into the shadows of the balcony to wait and watch as events would unfold.

Walking up beside Ahven and leaning on the balcony Free smiled.
"Fucking vampires right? I know they're a huge pain in the ass, but between the two of us I don't think it should be a problem." Free whispered. He paused for a moment staring at Kitsune "What in the name of god is that....? Nevermind as long as he doesn't interfere. Oh by the way sorry about you know almost killing you against Diabolus. I wouldn't have used that move if not for the sheer amount of armor that thing had. Brilliant move you made there by the way shooting out its eyes, it gave me the chance to utilize the full power of my apocalypse beam. Funny enough not even that put the bastard down I had to use some alchemy on him next. Well I guess we should get this over with" Free whispered again. He held up his handa nd wind began to circle around it in an orb as he charged his magical powers.

With a slight smirk, the old man shakily pressed his cane against the ground, using it to support his weight before standing up. His body seemed to groan and pop with each movement. Weakly brushing the dust off his cloak, he straightened himself and turned to face Kitsune. His voice cracked with age, and he spoke with a non-threatening tone.

"Now I have moved, as thou has requested. Art thou pleased?" He tilted his head upward, as if speaking to the cathedral itself. "Such insolence. They dare enter my abode and invoke the name of God. As common rabble, they lack even the decency to shut the gates. Must I entertain such slothful peasants? It would seem..."

The old man waved his hand as a powerful gust of wind spiraled around the cathedral. Every entrance and exit slammed shut in a single crash. Even the stained glass windows now had iron bars blocking them from the outside. He had planned this long before their arrival, and hardly needed to expel his energy to spring the trap. The man turned his gaze on Kitsune.

"My quarrel is not with thou, but with those who killed my brother. If thou dost value thine life, beware of the others locked within The Iron Cathedral, they will certainly try to kill us both, as they did their last 'companion'."

Kitsune frowned, the strange man appeared to have no quarrel with him and had instead of attacking warned him of another threat. Kitsune countined to focus his energy while turning to look at up the rafters that he had previously heard voices from while keeping the old man in sight. There appeared to be a wizard of some sort as well as a gunman. Kitsune fully refocused upon the old man watching him carefully and shook himself roughly, the man's words seemed to dull his senes, obviously he would have to be careful of listening to the man. "From what I understand the only threat here is you." Somewhat shakily for the old man had thus far presented little threat.

Ahven was half tempted to reach out and strangle the mage, then throw him over the balcony and let the demon below tear him to pieces. Apparently, the concept of stealth was completely foreign to him, as he stood there and "whispered" his drivel in a cathedral known for fantastic acoustics and in the presence of a fox (who have notably acute hearing) and a demon, who could very likely have the same level of enhancement. The enchantments on the hunter's armor would have hidden him from that particular sense, especially at this range, but the mage had no such precautions against being heard, and now it seemed both of the others knew they were here. He would have to remember to thank Free for that later.

Settling for pushing him out of the way with a glare, he casually leapt over the balcony railing to land on the pews below, now that his cover was blown. First, he addressed the fox. "I have no quarrel with you, so if you are here on business unaligned with either this beast or myself, stand aside and I will not harm you. If you are here to aid him, your fate will be the same as his." To indicate the beast he mentioned, he raised his pistol to aim at the old man's heart, though still kept his gaze on the fox. "If, however, you are here to destroy him, as I am, I welcome your aid." Then with no further warning he gently squeezed the trigger of his weapon and sent a burst of pure destructive energy hurtling toward the demon's heart.

He was abruptly pushed to the side as Ahven leaped over the balcony. "Always straight to business aren't you." Free said. Ahevn began talking to the fox creature, and fired a blast from his pistol at Dracula's heart. Free wanting to see how this turned out simply continued to stand on the balcony and charge his magical energy.

As soon as the gun was pointed his direction, the old man prepared himself. The destruction of Diabolus had made him slightly stronger, but not enough to withstand the blast that would come from that weapon. Instead, he chose to cast his spell of teleportation. With very little time to work with after the firearm ignited, he only moved a few feet to the side. In fact, he didn't even take his cane with him, though he still held it with his opposite hand after the shift.

"Now now, mine hand does not wish to be forced so quickly, but thine actions leave me with little choice." The man spoke with a silver tongue, lacing his words with the subconscious triggers of his near-psychic ability. "However, as I am not thine first target, and I assume I am far from the last. We have similar goals, and we should at least determine the compatibility of them, I think." He focused his thoughts at Ahven, but any human mind within The Cathedral would be targeted.

Kitsune waited while finally tuning his energy to the delicate point where it could be used to its maximum effectives. He concentrated on not the letting the man's hypnotic words have any effect and on him, Kitsune would wait until the Old man made a move or left himself open

Ahven could feel the human half of his mind being drawn to agree with the words of the beast before him, could feel the subtle cadence of acceptance being drummed into his psyche by the words and the power they held. In the end, it mattered little. The dark parts of his mind, the parts where his power lived and where the most vile cravings of his darker half spawned, those parts rejected the alluring cadence of the words and their power. Recoiled and drove themselves against the corrupting influence in a battle that was over before it could even truly begin. Such was the result when the man that loved reason and beauty and life in him was forced to wage a never ending war with the demon that craved death and destruction and chaos. Neither side was willing to give ground, and so the intruder was cast out viciously by both.

"Tell me, beast, do your parlor tricks usually work on your fellows?"

As he stood awaiting the response, he allowed a fraction of his power to begin bleeding into the pistol that he gripped, replenishing the energy expended in his first attack.

Free could feel the beast trying to enter his mind and twist his thoughts. Free shook his head back and forth and using the immense willpower that allowed him to cast his spells cast the beast from his head. "As if that would work on a mage" Free muttered walking over to the end of the balcony. Throwing his left hand forward white flames shot forth towards the demon. "Have a taste of my dragons fire!" Free yelled.