It wasn't all love potions and phenomenal cosmic power. Actually, it was rarely love potions and never phenomenal cosmic power. Love is impossible to duplicate correctly and there's always someone stronger. Or, how does the saying go? There's always a bigger fish.

Edrik Pedrone was your ordinary looking man, of a sort. He wasn't too tall, but taller than average and while he looked thin it was due to his lean muscles, or so he'd have you believe. He was a naturally lanky looking man that looked to be in his mid thirties with hair slicked back and greased as if it belonged to an era past. His eyes were the color of money and carried a look that was reserved for CEO's and politicians. He knew he was better than you, but there was no need to say it.

The Wizard, for that was precisely was Edrik was, came from a long line of money and in his centuries of life he had continued to mass it in no small quantity. It showed by the way he dressed, even when skulking about after hours in a grave-yard it was clear that he did not belong.

He wore an expensive suit with the shoes to match, all black. Even the cane he used for walking, carried in his left hand, was black with gold filigree. Of course none of that was visible right now, no, Edrik wouldn't be caught dead walking into a cemetery. The only cause for someone to think someone was prowling around was due to the open gate and foot prints that he left behind.

Skilled in magics as he was Edrik had decided that it was prudent to travel using The Ways to get as close as he could to this place and then wrap himself in a veil of invisibility for the short trek. At the moment he walked across the grass, a fog laying close to the ground to add to the eeriness of the grave-yard.

It wouldn't be until he was well out of sight from the main road that he let his veil drop. Edrik adjusted his suit jacket and peered about the immediate area.

“Yes, this will do nicely.” His voice was somewhat nasally, but cold and distant. Around him were not just simple graves, but crypts from long ago. Ornate pieces at one time he was sure, but now time had stolen away their beauty and they were left, forgotten by the current era.

Edrik paused at one such crypt, a large and beautiful thing that looked like it once depicted angels. But the carving was mostly faded, spray paint marked one side and the sculptures that once stood guard had been blasted away by the elements. All things seemed to fade in time he lamented, taking time to pay his respects, head bowed in silence.

The silence had been absolute, the sort of silence one might expect where the dead rest. It was in this silence, with his head bowed in respect that Edrik heard something. It was a foreign sound, displaced from a grave-yard. Edrik’s head snapped up and in the direction of the sound, to a crypt on the right.

Those green eyes narrowed as he focused his attention solely in that area. It could be anything he told himself, and he was hesitant to call forth magic simply because he had been caught unaware by something. Taking his cane in his right hand he pulled back the sleeve jacket on his left hand so that a leather bracer was visible, though barely in this darkness.

“Hello?” He called out in a casual conversational voice. There was no need to let anyone know he had been startled and caught unaware. “Show yourself.” He demanded, eyes scanning the darkness for any signs of movement. It was likely a raccoon or some other animal he thought, scavenging around. Yet…

The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he took a step closer to the crypt, something didn’t feel right.

Something was off, a wrongness saturated the grave-yard. Edrik was no stranger to things that went bump in the night and had a fair share of run-ins with supernatural creatures. He had faced what his people called Black Court Vampires dozens of times, he knew they favored places like this. Could one be out there right now?

The only answer to his question and demand was the strange crunching and smacking sound, like something wet on gravel. One didn’t make it long as a Wizard without taking certain precautions and so Edrik reached into his coat pocket with his left hand and withdrew out his .38. There was a chance that whatever was out there wasn’t an animal, but it could also be a thrall and he wouldn’t attack with his magic until he knew for sure.

Slowly Edrik walked toward the direction of the sound, though he stepped sideways to his right in an arch. The last thing he needed to do was suddenly round a corner and get shot or worse.

Closer and closer Edrik came to where the sound emanated from. He steeled himself, taking the final step around a corner raising his gun, his eyes falling on the indistinct shape of some hunched creature. Edrik didn’t need light to know what was going on, it was feeding, gorging itself on the remains of something. The smell assaulted his nostrils and they flared in distaste, yet, the Wizard did not recoil from the horrendous sight.

Was this some sort of Ghoul or deformed Black Court Vampire? He couldn’t say for sure. What he did know was that it wasn’t natural, and to him it was an evil that needed to be destroyed and if killed perhaps studied. Clenching his teeth together he focused his will, determination evident in the stiffness of his jaw and set of his eyebrows. He would not run from this fight despite the horror the creature represented.

Six shots. That’s what the revolver in his right hand had. It was hard to tell in the dark but Edrik guessed he was somewhere between twenty and twenty five feet away from the creature. It wasn’t the best lighting for shooting, but Edrik figured it was close enough to risk. With his hand already raised he squeezed the trigger twice in rapid succession, both bullets’ were aimed for center mass, dead center of the form. The second shoot would be slightly higher and to the left of the first, though that wasn’t intentional, Edrik simply wasn’t an expert marksmen.

The flash of the gun briefly lit the area as the weapon barked, the sound deafening and surprising Edrik slightly. It had been a little while since he had fired the weapon and he forget how powerful its kick was.

In the darkness of the night Edrik was at a severe disadvantage, he simply couldn’t see with enough detail to make out how effective the gun had been. Had he even hit or had the rounds gone flying off into the night? Such rounds wouldn’t stop most undead, which is what Edrik pegged this thing as until he had sufficient information to determine otherwise.

When the thing moved away, darting around the corner to get away, Edrik was tempted to run after it but knew such a thing would be foolish. He needed to be smart about this, attack on his terms. A well prepared Wizard was a hard thing to beat. So, bringing his left hand out in front of him he made his way forward, slowly and carefully.

As he stepped forward the creature began making some bizarre sounds. Was it wounded? Edrik hoped so? Or was it calling for aid? Edrik had never met a creature like this before and if it proved to be the later of the two he was confident that he could run away if he had too. Still, he moved forward slowly, towards the corpse the creature had been eating before Edrik interrupted it.

On the third step Edrik made a small effort of will and caused the pommel of his cane sword to glow blue. The light came to light with the soft hum of magic, not something that could be heard, but rather felt by those sensitive to such energies. The light stretched out against the darkness, casting back the shadows a good twenty feet out from Edrik.

Unless otherwise attacked or interrupted he would make his way to the corpse, he wanted to inspect its wounds and see if he could discern any more before deciding if he wanted to tangle with the unknown creature.

The corpse was a mess, no longer discernible. It made Edrik sick to his stomach. He had used corpses on occasion, certain body parts were excellent for rituals. But he had never done or seen anything like this. It was like a train wreck and Edrik couldn’t look away, he knelt down to inspect it further.

That’s when a sound to the right drew his attention away. Had the creature circled around to catch him from behind? Then, without warning, Edrik was yanked off of his feet as a the creatures tail wrapped around the bicep of his left arm. Edrik was not a heavy man, nor was he particularly strong and he knew instantly that he couldn’t simply muscle his way out.

The initial surprise was replaced by fear and anger, two powerful emotions. Such emotions were fuel for the sort of magic that a Wizard used, they helped to shape and give power to whatever spell construct the wizard wished to bring to life. There wasn’t so much a need to gather power as there was to simply open the flood gates and give the magic form, a form that was aided and strengthened by the bracer he wore on his left wrist.

The bracer had been specially prepared and was in all actuality an item limited in what it could do. But what it did do it did very very well. The bracer helped only with water magic, specifically defensive minded spells. Edrik was also far more skilled with Water magic than he was the other elements, save earth, and the spell that he brought to mind was reflexive in nature, one that he had used hundreds of times in his life.

Looking up wasn’t something that could easily be done, as Edrik was being drawn up with his body at an angle. So he didn’t make eye contact with the beast, not that he would of anyways, looking into the eyes was a dangerous thing, especially for Wizards and it was a practice that Edrik avoided. That being said, his body visibly shivered when the creatures eyes ran across his body and he closed his own in defiance, and out of practicality of what was to come.

Everything happened so fast, being pulled into the air, raised up above where he had been standing. The glue blowing light of the creatures eyes dancing across his flesh and the ‘snap’ rushing sound that followed mere moments after.

Water, the magic of entropy and change, it was perhaps the most versatile of the elements. It could eroding, dissolve, disrupt, decay and various other things. Heck, a powerful enough jet of water could cut clean through steel with ease. Such was the power of the shield that sprang to life a couple inches from the leather band and parallel with Edriks arm. The shield itself was circular in nature and had a two foot radius, centered at Edriks wrist.

It was a high pressure circulating disc of water that could disintegrate bullets before they passed through, Edrik was hoping the high pressure shield would be enough to slice through whatever appendage was holding him and drop him back down to the earth where he could formulate a better plan and get into the open. If all else failed perhaps the shield would block the creatures sight enough to stop whatever it was doing and prevent arms or maw from attempting to eviscerate him.

Edrik simply didn’t let his rote water spell fizzle away, he kept most of his focus on maintaining it. Some Wizards were capable enough to cast two and even three spells at a time, Edrik was not one of those wizards. He was the focused type, do one thing and do it right.

Having been lifted up by his bicep brought him up at an angle and extended his arm upwards and away from his body. He wasn’t strong enough to do a one handed pull-up. Luckily his rote had been at least somewhat successful because he felt the resistance of the creature’s tail, and then nothing as it gave way to the slicing power of Edriks magic.

Even as he began his fall he brought his left arm in close, so that his knuckles were up against his ear. Like a Spartan taking cover behind their shield, it was Edriks only defense. He knew that he needed to get away, get on even footing where he could unleash the full torrent of his magic, or if that failed, level a death curse that would surely take the both of them out.

The creature would find that the shield of water was in its way again, making it difficult if not impossible to reach around and still find purchase in the split second it would take for Edrik to fall out of reach. And fall he would, hitting down on his right foot first before stumbling to the side to regain his balance.

The shield of water would vanish only a few moments after he struck the ground, when his focus shifted from it to not face planting on the corpse that he stumbled over.

Edrik certainly assumed that the creature was a predator, and was very conscious of the fact that it could be right behind him, ready to attack his exposed back. So, while he stumbled over the corpse that he had been lifted away from he stumbled towards an open patch of ground. As his left foot struck the ground he held onto that fear and channeled it into the tip of his cane sword, runes along its length began to glow with a deep blue and bright white.

He turned himself around as he fell, landing on his ass with his cane pointed in the direction he just came. He was prepared to launch another magic attack, nothing as brutal as the water shield. Rather, if the monster pursued it would likely find that gravity would be turned against it and like a telekinetic push and if stuck would find itself thrown back into the stone crypt it had just dropped from with enough force and strength to crack the crypt wall, though certainly not break it unless it was far more brittle than it appeared.

If not followed than no attack would be forthcoming, rather, Edrik would instead try and scramble to his feet and build his magical power, which would be evident by the brightness and strength of the magic focused on his cane implement, a focus too designed specifically for use with earth magic.

Edrik stared on in open disgust as he scrambled to his feet, cane leveled at the creature, it's rune glowing with arcane power that became brighter and brighter every moment as he continued to gather and focus his will into the spell-casting implement. He watched as the creature, clearly not what he thought it was, devoured the tail that Edrik has just severed. Then, to his surprise its tail near instantly came back.

"What in the hell?" He whispered as he watched, morbid curiosity staying a magical onslaught. It was beautiful, in a sick and twisted sort of way. Part of him screamed to use the precious moments it took for the creature to eat its tail to rain down destruction, to summon the very powers of the earth and crush the creature where it laid. Yet, he didn't. Couldn't.

He needed to learn more, know more.

To his surprise the creature darted off, away into the woods, the moment its tail came back. To set up another ambush perhaps? Edrik wasn't sure, but he walked the other way, to the other side of the crypts where he originally was and where it was much more open and easier for him to detect the thing if it came upon him again.