Time: Night
Location: The Witch’s Brew
Interaction with: Desecrating some corpses


His time spent riding aimlessly in the truck had provided Noah with one useful sight, a sign for a small cafe he’d never really paid much attention to, The Witch’s Brew. This was the perfect spot for his next move, it even had the word ‘witch’ in its name. Noah, of course, had no idea that such a place was owned and run by the oldest and most powerful witch in Ember Grove. Nor did he have any real reason to believe it was some kind of witch hot spot, but what he did know was that if Ember Grove had a vampire themed hangout he would most certainly go there for the sheer irony of it. He could only assume that witches might have the same appreciation for kitschy irony as well, and that statistically, at least a handful of the cafe’s patrons must be witches. Maybe one of them would know of Shay, or if he succeeded in creating enough of a scene, perhaps she would hear of such a thing on the news. He could imagine the headline now ‘Satanic Slaying found inside The Witch’s Brew’ and such a thought made him grin. Many years ago his father used to be the one writing those headlines, and now it would be Noah who made them.

He needed her attention, needed her to be drawn out so that he could better hunt her, she would start making mistakes. He knew his message had to be clear and bold. Something that couldn’t be easily swept under the rug like so many crimes of Ember Grove. He needed to grab the town’s attention, make sure that his message would reach Shay, that it would reach every witch in town. So he waited in the backseat of a car in the back lot of one of the bars until his victims arrived. To his luck two humans came to the car, already very intoxicated, and therefore so much easier for him to deal with. Normally Noah preferred to play games with his prey, but humans were not what he was hunting right now, the witch was. He snapped the neck of the driver before savagely tearing the throat of the passenger, finally getting the meal he’d been craving for most of the night. By now it was very late at night, most people of Ember Grove were gone from the streets, the majority of creatures out at this time were likely up to things almost as devious as Noah was.

After he fed he was calmer, it was easier to focus on the rest of his plan, his mind was no longer drifting away to thoughts of his past. He parked the car near the back door of the cafe close to the dumpster. Breaking in was easy, a locked door was no match for his vampiric strength. The body of the victim with a snapped neck was drug inside, carefully placed propped against the tree that grew inside the cafe. A decorative bird cage that he found inside was then placed over the victims head, whose neck had been twisted enough to make it look like the corpse was always trying to watch it’s back. In Noah’s mind this was all too perfect, it was just like the cage they would return the witch to, a cage for a pet. While she could watch her back all she wanted, just like the body Noah posed in the cafe, he believed her fate was already determined.

Noah had brought with him a handful of things that he’d grabbed from home; a knife, a gift tag, a greeting card, and a can of bright red spray paint. Now it was time to wrap his gift, which came in the form of entrails removed from the victim he’d drained of blood earlier. These he used to decorate the tree inside the cafe much in the same way his family had decorated their christmas tree. Taking them from the corpse already mostly drained of blood made much less of a mess than he anticipated, and he hoped this would only further confuse those who came upon his scene. Once this was completed he set to work on preparing a bow for his gift.

A pair of eyes perfectly plucked out were placed upon the counter right next to the cash register, with a severed tongue in front of them. Both of these parts had been harvested from the body with a snapped neck that now sat under the tree. A few stray droplets of blood were scattered around the counter but for the most part he left a much cleaner scene than he had in the woods. This time Noah thought things out more, he was careful and deliberate. He left a gift tag, tied around the piercing on the severed tongue, it was written in blood and stated simply, ‘To: Shay, From:’ and rather than his name he signed it with a crescent moon drawn in blood. Noah knew his own name wasn’t well known, it would carry no weight, but a moon drawn in blood would point those with supernatural knowledge towards Sanguine Moon, and that would have to do for now, until his own name became one that struck fear. He wasn’t sure if news of this part of his gift would reach Shay but he really hoped it would.

He continued his project with the can of spray paint, writing out ‘SHAY’ in big red letters on the wooden floor in front of the counter. Even after the majority of the mess he was making here was cleaned up, the message on the floor would be much harder to get rid of, and Noah wondered how long it would sit there. He wondered if at some point she’d walk in and see it, and know that he’d killed people because of her, because she had defied Drake. He really hoped she would, it would serve a nice reminder for when they got her back what would happen if she tried anything again. In the dark he looked around for a pen to sign the card before he left. The card was mostly plain with Happy Halloween on the front and a picture of a black cat wearing a pointed witches hat sitting next to a jack-o-lantern. Inside he wrote, ‘Bring us Shay, or more will die’ and signed it with a happy face that had a pair of fangs. He placed the card in the hands of the victim with no eyes, tongue, and a twisted neck, leaving his bright red paint stained fingerprints on the card. Before he left the cafe he washed blood from his hands in the sink, and took one last look at his beautiful masterpiece, wondering if Lord Drake himself would be proud of such a work of art.

Noah envisioned how the morning would play out, the look of shock and horror on the face of whoever came to open the cafe, the building soon covered in police tape, the hours they would spend collecting evidence. He had no reason to worry about fingerprints or DNA, if anything was even able to be traced back to him, it would only lead them to a missing and presumed dead teen from years ago. Nosey journalists would desperately try to pry into the details, releasing as much of the grizzly scene to the public as they could get their hands on. Ember Grove was used to mysterious disappearances, the occasional body found mauled in the woods, but this would be different. Vampires rarely made such a proud spectacle of their work, he would have all the attention that the truly great monsters of history only ever got. He would be Ember Groves very own Jack the Ripper, and that thought filled Noah with a bubbling giddiness that he never felt before.

He drove the car, along with what remained of the bloodless corpse tucked away in the trunk, deep into the woods and left it there. Instead of returning home to his clan, he walked back to The Witch’s Brew where it’s back door still sat slightly ajar. He didn’t intend to miss what would happen when his gift was found, the best part about giving gifts was watching people open them after all. Noah climbed up to the roof of the building that sat right next to the cafe, the sheer anticipation building in him as time crept by. Soon the place was due to open, soon somebody would arrive and he could watch it all unfold. He hoped to hear a scream right out of a horror movie, and with his enhanced vampire sight he felt confident he would be able to spot the reactions of those who saw such horror. He would stay here all day, although the thought of hanging around in the daylight greatly annoyed him, it would be worth it in the end, to watch the chaos his plan would unleash. To watch for any reactions that could point him towards more witches, anyone who could bring him closer to catching his prey.

Location: Ember Grove University - Art Exposition
Time: Night
Interacting with: @teaSorrel @IthradineVolvango
Mention:

“I’m perfectly ca….” But Finn stopped his sentence before he completed it. He knew that she was right and denying that he was agitated would not be helpful. There was just something that pissed the young wolf off. A dark shadow from his past that still loomed over him, no matter how much miles away from his former home he was.

With all the vehicles approaching the place would soon be swarmed by hunters looking to kill some werewolves. Not a good spot to be into when you’re all alone with no real place to go. Finn let his tail hang and slightly bowed his head as a sign of submission towards the alpha. He would follow her to her place. Maybe she could help Finn find his brother as well.

One more time the young wolf looked over his shoulder towards the scene. It was a fucking mess with dead people and vampires all over the place. That Alexander Drake guy was a first class asshole. Maybe on a next encounter he should bite his head off. But for now Finn was just happy that he and some others managed to survive.

“Sounds like a plan. I’m Finn by the way.” Spoke Finn telepathically towards the Alpha as he made his way out of the backdoor and into the woods.

Time: Morning
Location:Alexander's Private Chambers, New Paeonia
Interaction with:

"No dents. No scratches." The female vampire who had a bit of a joyride in Alexander's Rolls Royce tossed the keys to Alexander who stood with a chilled glass of fresh blood in his hand. He caught the keys while still maintaining eye contact with her.

"And the paint?" Alexander sipped the blood, his eyes still on the woman. Sasha was only a few decades old from what he remembered. Before her changing, she was athletic with a sharp mind. A standout is what many in the clan might call her and those Alexander recognized and could recall. These vampires filled smaller roles, but Alexander saw them as future leaders within his clan. Other names that came to mind were Noah Beaumont and Adrian Schulz. Though they were not the most disciplined, they did not shy away from violence.

"I apologize Alexander, but we weren't able to completely get it out." Sasha frowned as she lowered her head. She had heard word of Alexander not being in the best of moods after last night. Despite that very fact, the old vampire smiled.

"Thank you for trying, Sasha. I think I will get it cleaned at one of the local businesses the next time I head into town. You may go… And I would love for the next thing you toss me to be that witch's caved in face." He didn't mind if it was harder for him to identify.

Time: Morning
Location: Witches Brew
Interaction: @Helo Noah
Mention:
Vibes: ”To that king I will bow...at least for now.”

---

The rest of Maeve’s night went by pretty uneventful, other than the fact that she now had a lot on her mind. She’d sat in a lounge chair in her hidden house outside of Ember Grove, sipping on some brandy as she pondered what her next steps would be. Would she try to keep the peace still with Alexander or was it truly time to say enough? To gather allies and fight back? These thoughts plagued her deep into the night until she couldn’t resist her exhaustion any longer.

The next morning she woke up not in the most pleasant of moods, what with her lack of sleep and stresses on her mind. She still got herself ready for the day, however, as she was opening the shop alongside one of her human employees, Hazel. She was dressed in a drastically different outfit than what she’d been dressed in the night before. Her makeup was different, but not something out of the ordinary for her when she was working and her hair she kept in loose, messy waves. When she was satisfied with how she looked she walked out to her garage which was full of an assortment of vehicles, but she got herself into her old 1973 VW Beetle. She started the classic car up and began her trek back into town.

She pulled up to the back of the Witches Brew just before Hazel pulled in and got out of the car, waiting for the young woman to park as well and join her. ”Good morning Hazel, I hope your morning has been good so far.” She greeted the woman with a friendly grin which was returned to her.

”Good morning! Yes, actually, it has been a wonderful morning so far. I just woke up in such a good mood that I have good vibes about today.” Hazel said happily in reply as she walked with her boss towards the shop. Unfortunately Hazel’s cheerful mood was about to take quite the hit. Maeve noticed it first, the back door seeming to have been busted open and she immediately went on alert. She slowed Hazel down and silently pointed out the alarming sign. ”Oh no…” Hazel said as they both slowly made their way into the shop.

It was quiet which had Maeve hopeful that whoever broke in had taken what they wanted and left. She turned to look to her employee and instructed her, ”Go check the register up front and see if there’s anything left in it. I’m going to check the security cameras really quick and then we need to call the cops.” Thankfully Maeve didn’t keep much in the register at night, only a small amount for whoever was opening in the morning to start their day. If somebody had robbed them then they wouldn’t have made off with much.

Maeve had just begun looking at the security camera videos when a blood curdling scream came from Hazel. Dread overcame the witch as she sprinted towards the front of the shop. The sight she was met with was quite gruesome, but not the worst thing she’d ever seen in her long life. For Hazel, on the other hand, the sight would have been horrendous and terrifying. She quickly grabbed ahold of Hazel and turned her away from the scene, pulling her into a comforting hug. ”Shhh it’s okay. How about you go outside and call the police for me. I’ll join you shortly, I’m going to get those security tapes ready for them when they get here okay?” She spoke gently to the girl who took a moment to nod and bolt outside sobbing crying.

Once Hazel was gone, Maeve took a minute to glance around at the scene, her arms crossing over her chest. As soon as she read the spray painted name of Shay she immediately was filled with anger. Had Drake really instructed his goons to do something like this to her shop even though she’d truthfully told him she didn’t know this Shay? She was full of pure fury as she took in everything that had been done to her shop. Then her eyes landed on the eyeballs and she smirked a bit to herself. What useful items to leave behind. She conjured both eyeballs into her hand and then decided to do the same with the tongue, just to keep it from looking too suspicious. The tongue to her was useless and could be disposed of, but the eyeballs were precious things.

She turned to exit towards the back of the shop when something caught her eye out the window. It was a small blip of red and as she looked closer she realized it was a person sitting on the roof of the building next to hers and watching. ”Intriguing…” She mumbled to herself and cast invisibility on herself as she decided to greet the new friend. In a matter of minutes she was on the roof and standing behind the young redheaded man. She’d made sure all her wards and protections on herself were in place as always before heading up there just to be safe, but now she was ready to confront the suspicious man.

”Well, well...I’m assuming you are the one that left me that lovely gift down there, are you not?” She said as she let the invisibility drop and she stood with a hand on her hip. ”Oh, but how rude of me to assume. How about we find out for sure, hmm?” She then said as she conjured one of the eyeballs in her hand and then began muttering something under her breath. In a moment the eyeball was floating and glowing slightly before an image appeared before both of them. It was the last image the man had seen of Noah feeding off of him. ”What an uncanny resemblance, don’t you think? This is the last thing that poor man saw before he died, strange that it was of you.” She sighed before letting the image drop. ”Now…” She began before muttering ‘summone lux’ and a chain of light wrapped itself quickly around Noah, holding him in place. She then cast a duplicate spell as she moved closer to Noah, four of her now surrounding him. To him they would all smell the same, look the same, and move and speak all the same at exactly the same time. ”Tell me why Drake sent you to do this to my shop? I informed him last night I knew nothing of this Shay person. Does he truly wish to throw our friendship out the window? If so, there will be consequences.” She asked Noah angrily, the duplicates all imitating her and causing the questions to sound unsettling as the sound surrounded him and all four Maeve’s slowly circled him.

The piece of paper in Vivian’s hands crinkled slightly as she lifted it closer to her face to examine it. The page itself was an old receipt, with ten digits scribbled on its wrinkled surface in messy writing. A lead. Vivian’s grip on the piece of paper tightened. Her search for information about New Paeonia wasn’t bearing much fruit, and now she might have just found a way in. Even though the posh gated community wasn’t too far away from Ember Grove, it was strange how little the locals had to say about it.

Vivian spent her time off yesterday at Alexei’s, playing billiards. She didn’t mind being at work in her off time — to be honest, there wasn’t really anywhere else she wanted to go, since her social life hadn’t really developed much since moving into town a few months prior. Her coworkers were her main friend group at the moment, and they got along well. Alissa, in particular, was quick to help Vivian adjust to her new environment and job. It made her disappearance weigh that much more heavily on Vivian’s heart, and she felt responsible for making sure she was safe. Progress on the case was slow, however. The police didn’t seem to think Alissa was missing at all, but Vivian never held high hopes for the efficacy of local cops anyway.

Vivian was in the middle of practising trick shots when a guy approached her to play a round, introducing himself as Devin, an Ember Grove local. Their conversation began with small talk as they took turns around the table. Devin’s skills were decent, but he was quick to notice Vivian’s. She already had the intention of asking the local about New Paeonia, but to her surprise, he was the one to mention the community first. Apparently, some old rich guy who lived there was paying a lot for a skilled player to show him the ropes. At first, it seemed too good to be true. Vivian’s search was at a standstill, but suddenly, a guy literally walks into her life offering a load of cash and a literal free pass into a gated area? Suspicious, definitely, but Vivian was still curious about the offer. He wrote down the contact details for the job on a crumpled receipt.

As Vivian stared, the numbers on the receipt started to look more and more like dollar signs. Noticing her own greed, Vivian laughed, and placed the piece of paper down back on her nightstand. Instead, she grabbed a half-empty box of cigarettes and walked over to the window in her room. The panes were stained in a dingy hue, and made a low screech as she lifted it open. Paint was chipping from the wooden windowsill, which Vivian leaned against as she lit a cigarette and took a long drag from it. It wouldn’t take more than a glance at Vivian’s room to understand why she might be in need of some extra funds. Her shitty apartment was tolerable at best. The floorboards creaked with every step, and the sparse collection of furniture in the room was second-hand. Vivian made an effort to DIY some stuff, but a roughly sanded and stained shelf in the room was evidence enough that crafts weren’t her forte. Teaching the geezer how to play billiards was starting to sound more tempting. The money was a bonus of course. Her priority was finding Alissa.

After taking a final puff, Vivian extinguished the cigarette in an ashtray that sat by the window. She had made her decision, and dialed the number from the paper earlier into her phone. It rang a few times before she heard someone pick up on the other end.

“Hey, heard someone was looking for pool or billiard lessons?”

Time: Morning
Location: Indoor Track Operation Humanity Base
Interaction with:

---

Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeep.

Sean broke into an explosive sprint along the track. He hadn't gotten sleep all night… A normal occurrence for Sean Stone. He never liked the idea of sleeping when the monsters were out gallivanting, so he sacrificed a large portion of daylight so he could match their schedule. He was sacrificing a lot lately. He had gotten a very very stern talking to from Colonel Trotter after returning to base regarding his duty of maintaining positive control of Operation Humanity's assets. His attempts at arguing about both of the experiments' lack of suitability in hunting were shot down. Again he was asked if he was willing to become what he dubbed a "Frankenstein."

Beep. Beep Beeeeeeep.

Sean slowed down to a light jog when the interval timer beeped through his wireless earbuds. He was attempting to keep his mind off of everything that happened. Not only was he told he was a shitty babysitter, but he was informed that the cause of death for seven people found at the scene was from cardiac arrest. The jolt from the incapacitating electroshock proved to actually be fatal to some. It was a risk he took in desperation to keep witnesses confined to the surrounding area of where the art exhibition was held, but he couldn't help but feel guilty.

Beep. Beep Beeeeeeep.

Sweat-soaked, he launched into a full sprint once more attempting to push the thoughts away for a moment and just focus on running as far as he could on the track before time ran out.

Beep. Beep Beeeeeeep.

On the bright side, Operation Humanity was able to get a lead on Finn Cooper who mysteriously escaped from Angel, Remy, and an independent hunter. Sean couldn't help but sigh at how unbelievable that was. He was positive they allowed Finn and the other werewolves to escape after helping dispose of several of the vampires. The 'other werewolves' part was the troubling part. Did Finn Cooper bring members of his pack with him? I guess I'll need to talk to his brother to find out more. Just a few more sprints.

Beep. Beep Beeeeeeep.

Time: Morning
Location:Alexander's Private Chambers, New Paeonia
Interaction with: Vivian @Pink Khione

"With dents and scratches," Sasha replied as she took her leave of Alexander's private chambers. He currently appeared just as calm as he had been for most of the art exhibition. To Alexander, anger was not a luxury, though the thought of some tortured witch running around the local area with sensitive information on his current operation would not cease to bother him. If his people were unable to locate Shay Knight, then maybe it meant she was long gone. Or maybe it meant she already found safety with his enemies.

I will not allow that quarter-century old bitch ruin everything I… We have built.

Alexander caught himself scowling as he caught a glimpse of his reflection in crimson within his glass. With a sigh, he calmed himself and just in time as his phone began to buzz within the pocket of his black slacks. His free hand swiftly grabbed and answered the phone without really looking at the number that called. The unfamiliar feminine voice he heard as well as her words caused a grin to form across his face. It was her.

"Billiards, yes! Is this Vivian? My name is Alexander Drake and my dear friend Devin informed me that I might receive a call from you about showing me the game... or is it considered a sport? Either or, I would like to have the pleasure of learning from the best… with payment of course."

Time: Morning
Location: Rooftop near The Witches Brew
Interaction with: @Tae Maeve

Noah buzzed with excitement as the sound of a scream cut through the quiet morning, finally someone had found his gift. His vampire hearing picked it up with perfect clarity and it was just as satisfying as he had imagined. He waited for the rest of the scene to play out just as he had imagined it but was taken by surprise when moments later a woman, obviously a witch, appeared on the roof with him. He was thrilled to see his gift had in fact found its way to a witch so quickly, and even better was the look of fury that danced in her eyes. Was he lucky enough to have already stumbled onto another witch? He could hardly believe his good fortune, he hadn’t expected them to be quite so easy to find but he was after all, very clever.

She continued with an array of tricks, the sudden appearance of the eyeball he’d left in the cafe, then making it levitate and glow. It became like a projector showing him the beauty of his last kill, the glorious savagery of it, but now he was getting to see it from the prey’s eyes. Noah with a wild and toothy grin watched the image the eyeball played in front of him; how thrilling to watch himself kill, to see himself depicted as a perfect monster. He let out a deep throaty laugh at her question, it had such an obvious answer, did it even need asked? He gave a slow clap at the trick and smiled at her question.

“Strange? Why would it be strange? I did kill him.” The eyeball trick had been incredibly amusing, a real showstopper but Noah cared for her next trick far less. A heavy chain wrapped itself around Noah like a snake, constricting his movements. The chain itself was brighter than the sunlight that struggled to break through the clouds on this overcast morning, and it stung with more intensity than even sun on a bright day. It made his skin tingle and itch. The trick that followed next was another impressive one, as four of her now stood before him, speaking in unison. Noah continued to grin, now allowing his fangs to show in excitement, he’d always enjoyed a good magic show. Two things were abundantly clear; this witch was more powerful than Shay, and for some reason she thought Drake had sent him to The Witch’s Brew.

“You, smell like…” Noah took a long pause, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath as he made a show of sniffing the air. He was enjoying this, it was dramatic, encapsulating, and he felt like a great villain. “Power.” He said with a laugh as he opened his eyes back up. “How interesting, and to treat me with a magic show, with surround sound, and it’s not even my birthday.” He thought about her questions, unsure of what exactly Drake would want him to reveal to a witch. The thought that a witch could ever do real harm to Noah wasn’t something he could comprehend and he found her threat of consequences amusing. Witches were beneath vampires; they lived, breathed, ate all the same as humans did, even with a touch of magic witches were still lesser beings. He wondered why Drake would even bother to maintain a show of friendship with one, why not just take this witch and make her turn over Shay, surely such a thing was within his capabilities. He studied her reaction, searching for any clues as to what interests a witch could hold to a vampire, other than the amusement of their magic tricks.

“As for my gift, Lord Drake sent me to find his lost pet, and where better to leave a message for a witch, than at a cafe with witch in its name? You’re not the one I’m looking for but you’ve got tricks up your sleeves don’t you? I’ll bet you could give me a hint, help me find the lost witch and I won’t have to leave anymore messages.” Noah paused and turned his head to look towards The Witch’s Brew where there had been a very human reaction to the scene inside only moments ago. “Hey was that your friend screaming, it was quite lovely, I think I’d like to hear it again. How ‘bout it, by the pricking of your thumbs, bring us Shay, or something wicked her way comes.” He turned back towards her, showing no concern or any sense of danger at his situation. He wondered how the witch would react to a threat against her human friend, if witches even concerned themselves with human lives or if they were more akin to vampires in such matters.

---

Time: Rest of the night/Next day early afternoon
Location: OH HQ/Diner
Interaction with: none

Much to his annoyance outside the exhibit were several operatives from Operation Humanity. The humans who tried to flee had been stunned unconscious, probably to cover up the whole vampire debacle. It made sense, the mass panic that would ensue if most people knew what was out there would be much worse than keeping people in the dark. The world certainly did not need modern day witch trials. Still being electrocuted unconscious and waking up in a OH interrogation room was not a fun way to continue his night, even if he could understand the reasoning behind it.

Unsurprisingly, a secret military monster hunting group knew far more about him by the time he woke up than he ever did about them. The Holy Saviors, at least when he’d been a part of it, kept a very low opinion of OH. Not only did they allegedly use witches in the development of their weapons, there were also rumors that they did ‘unnatural experiments’ on their operatives as well. Though to be fair Father Xavier also considered everything from vaccines to removing ones appendix to be an ‘unnatural experiment,’so Eli didn’t exactly put much stock in anything he’d heard from that source. They asked a ton of questions regarding the vampire incident while answering none of his own.

What Eli told the operatives of OH was mainly focused on the vampires. They already knew there were werewolves, no use lying about that, it wasn’t as if he could pretend he hadn’t seen giant lycanthropes tossing vampires around. When asked which direction they were headed he could honestly say he had no idea, they left out the back and that was all he knew. He briefly mentioned the redhead and the insane child, both of whom he suspect worked for them, but said nothing of the witch. She’d been at the art gallery initially in disguise, and he omitted her from anything he told Operation Humanity. Sure, she could be working with them too, maybe that was what she and Red had been arguing about, but just to play it safe he acted like he hadn’t seen anyone besides the child playing with fire at the art gallery.

Then came their recruitment speech, offering him a place in their organization that came with a thick contract and rather tempting signing bonus. While he was more than sure the resources they could provide would make his job a hell of a lot easier, signing up with a secret military operation would have far more strings attached than he could imagine. He’d already left one cult and wasn’t looking to join another, especially one so well controlled and funded; there was little chance that they’d let someone who worked for them just walk away. Upon being led out of the one building he spotted a brief glimpse of Colonel Trotter; the man, the myth, the mustache, himself. Then a black hood was placed over his head and he was driven back into town in complete darkness. Once he finally made it back to his apartment he finished off his night with his usual pre-bedtime ritual; drinking until he could finally pass out. It wasn’t the healthiest coping mechanism but when one’s soul becomes as burdened as his had, it was the only reliable way to sleep. If he did have dreams while passed out drunk he never had the unpleasant memories of them, and that made a morning hangovers more than worth it.

A bad night and a morning hangover were best settled with a morning cigarette, diner food, and black coffee. The diner was within walking distance, as was just about everywhere in Ember Grove, so he smoked his morning cigarette as he walked there. The first cigarette of the morning was always the best one, the only one that still gave a taste of that nicotine buzz and he savored every inhale. This was one of the few times where his mind was clear, and his only thoughts were of his cigarette and a peaceful view of the overcast sky. Inside the diner he ate alone, enjoying the unlimited coffee refills, and letting the calmness of the morning linger before he had to again worry about all the creatures that lurked in the shadows of Ember Grove.

Time: Morning
Location: New Paeonia
Interactions: @Helo@FunnyGuy

Adrian woke up early in the morning. His hair was a mess, and he was shirtless. While he laid on the couch, he held his head because of a headache. He looked at the blinds on the window and grumbled. It was light, his sleep cycle was zapped. He was going to spend hours upon hours meandering around the house. He started with a cup of coffee.

It took a special blend to get him where he needed to be. He flushed down some water in the coffee pot, then added the ground beans, placed the pot in the center of the coffee maker, and started it. It would be ten minutes. Next, he looked around and noticed several books stacked underneath the living room table. He walked to them and picked one up. It was an obscure book about poetry, but he was not interested at the moment. Before he returned to the coffee he picked up another book, something by Tom Clancy. He sat it down after reading a little and returned to the chopped up coca beans. He had eight cups at his disposal. But, he got a extra large cup so it was more like six. He poured some into his oversized cup. Then, he went to the refridgerator and got some milk, and also retrieved sugar from a cabinet. He added it all together and before he was finished his headache was going away. He went back to the coffee maker and assembled another cup. Then, he went back to the couch.

Adrian remembered Noah, who had been detached. He didn't want any beef, or coffee, or pot, or nothing. He wanted to know what happened to his "friend." So, he got his Samsung smart phone from his pant pocket and turned it on. He logged in. First, he checked his messages. He had a few, but not anything too impending. First of all, he selected Alexander's number and pulled up the tab where he sent and received texts and sent a text telling Alex he had no luck finding any witches. He added that Noah was on a venomous killing spree. That's all he would say. Before he exited his phone he went to text Noah, messaging him that he did not know what happened last night, and said watch your back to his young undead colleague.

His coffee was sitting on the living room table, and he swallowed some before he made the decision to not read, but to get high. He went into the kitchen blind spot, which was inside of the ventilation duct inside the kitchen. He removed the copper mantle, pulled out some marijuana, put back the duct, and went to his bedroom to get his ceramic pipe. He came back and took out a big piece of bud, broke it up into little pieces and loaded his pipe with expensive cannabis. He pulled out his lighter from his pocket and started his flipped sleep cycle.

Time: Morning
Location: Ember Grove Mall
Interaction with:

---

The initial reason for Ylva to choose the city of Ember Grove as a good place to stay was because it was a relatively small town, surrounded by woods and in a certain manner, reminded her of the small town she used to live in Norway. The woods around the town were perfect for her to let herself truly free for once in a while. Heading further into the woods, hunt could probably be found and since it was a small town, it was unlikely that someone would bother that much with some 'wolves' hunting in the forest. At the same time, it did seem to be a rather cozy place and surprisingly enough, the humans of that town were quite hospitable, showing themselves glad to help a newcomer, even if it was a foreigner. While all those points did make Ember Grove into a good place to stay, one of the main reasons why she choose that town in specific, was a particular smell that she felt in the air as she was walking through the town... A scent that she knew well... There were others, others like her in that city.

With the money she managed to earn by hastily selling and grabbing what remained of her parents' economies, Ylva managed to rent a small but cozy studio apartment in the city and surprisingly enough, it didn't needed much for her to be hired by the local Starbucks despite her lack of experience as being a barista. Being hired so quickly wasn't due to 'luck' though and Ylva knew that well. She probably was hired thanks to her appearance, more specifically her hair and her tattoos which did fit with the overall aesthetic of some of the local clientele. Nonetheless, she was pleased that she at least had means to earn money and wouldn't have to keep digging into the 'emergency funds' she had brought with herself. Another good point of working on the local Starbucks was that they were pretty lax with the working schedule.

Unlike other mornings though, that one was a bit different. The city was silent and had a rather heavy air due to the apparent terrorist attack on an art exhibition the previous day. According to the rumors, it was very brutal. Some people said that hallucinogens were used but it was honestly hard to distinguish the rumors that were actually true from exaggerations. Nonetheless, people were still afraid and the Starbucks owner decided to have it closed that day in solidarity with the victims or those who lost someone in that attack. Being left without anything to do, Ylva was simply walking through the mall looking for a nice place to have breakfast. Preferably somewhere that didn't smell like coffee like the Starbucks did. She was starting to get tired of that smell. Wearing a simple dark jeans and a shirt with the Sacrament of Sin album art from the Powerwolf band. Quite ironic considering what she was but since her appearance by itself wasn't exactly 'discreet' and did drew some attention, she didn't care much about it.

Time: Morning
Location: Witches Brew
Interaction: @Helo Noah
Mention: @FunnyGuy Alexander
Vibes: ”Don’t say I didn’t warn you about it.”

---

What an interesting little vampire. This was what kept going through Maeve’s head as she listened to him speak and watched his reactions. How old really was he? It seemed like he hadn’t had much experience with witches before and that fact alone made her find the whole ordeal a bit more amusing. Unfortunately he was about to get a little taste of what a witch can really do. Would it really affect him though? There was something hidden behind his eyes, a madness of sorts. How truly broken was he? Maeve supposed she would find out soon enough. ”I smell like power you say? Interesting…” She said while smirking at him, but didn’t say any more on the matter. She likely wouldn’t be able to truly change what he thought of her or make him fear her and that was fine. It wouldn’t stop her from getting a bit of retribution.

She let Noah finish answering her questions and even ending it with a threat to poor Hazel. That was when her and the duplicates stopped circling him and she tsked. ”Now, now, we were having such a lovely time and then you had to go and threaten one of my employees. That was quite unnecessary.” She said with a sigh as she crossed her arms and shook her head. Then she grinned again. ”You said earlier you enjoyed my little magic tricks, well then let me provide you with another one.” She said as one of her duplicates stood in front of him. She used the duplicate to gently caress his face and lean in, planting a kiss on his lips as she cast a fear spell on him. She wasn’t sure what he would see as the spell tapped into the victims mind and drew out some of their deepest fears, playing them out before them in their mind. While Maeve couldn’t see anything that was happening, Noah would be briefly trapped in something that would feel very real. While the spell really only lasted a couple minutes, it wasn’t uncommon for the one it was cast on to feel like they were stuck in those horrors for hours.

Once the spell ended, the real Maeve stood in front of Noah with a sadistic grin. ”Now it’s my turn to send a message to Drake and you’re going to be my lovely little messenger since you seem fond of sending messages.” She intensified the bindings of light around him a bit more, hoping to leave some marks on his skin for awhile even though she knew his healing factor would kick in eventually and heal him. She then gently touched his cheek again while her other hand found its way to his hair. She roughly grabbed his hair while the thumb on her other hand moved to his right eye and she began to dig in, savagely gouging out his eye. Once it was popped out of the socket she took hold of it and yanked it the rest of the way to detach it from his body. She wondered if his healing factor would eventually regrow the eye, having a feeling that it probably would, but in truth she really didn’t care. If this young man enjoyed eyes so much than how fitting it would be to use his own eye to send a message to Alexander.

”There, that should do quite nicely. Thank you for your cooperation. Please tell Alexander thank you for helping me make a decision and helping the warrior queen to return.” She said with a grin as she let her duplicates drop and then cast levitate on him. She kept him bound in the light for a moment more as she kicked him in the chest hard, sending him floating over the edge of the building. She then dropped the levitation spell first and then the light spell as he dropped to the alley below. She then cast invisibility on herself once more before returning to the Witches Brew as she heard sirens approaching.

In the back room of her cafe she quickly cast the same spell on the eyeball that she’d used with Noah, but added a little something extra to where the image wouldn’t appear until it was in the presence of Alexander. She placed it in a small box and then quickly jotted down a note on a piece of paper that read:

Your lovely little redhead made a mistake in wrecking my shop and so I demanded retribution. I really wish it didn’t have to end this way, but I guess you’ve made it clear how you want this relationship to go.

XOXO
Maeve

Using magic once more she sent the box to Alexander, knowing it would quickly find its way to him before she went to wash her hands of Noah’s blood, grabbed her security tapes, and then went out to meet the police and Hazel.

---

Vivian took a second to register the voice on the other end of the phone. It was different than what she expected. The man on the line sounded rather enthusiastic - chipper, even - not exactly what she had in mind for an ‘old’ rich guy. He spoke rather formally nevertheless, so Vivian figured it was just that his voice didn’t match his age.

“Yes, this is Vivian,” she confirmed, following her statement with a light chuckle. She felt that Alexander’s effortless words of praise were a bit of an overestimation of her abilities. “Glad you find my skills satisfactory. I’m a bar player though. Not a professional, but you swing the cue just the same.”

Vivian paused, realizing that underselling herself in this situation wasn’t doing her many favours. She could only hope her skills were an accurate match for his seemingly lofty expectations, so that he didn’t lower the pay. Not that it mattered much if he did — Vivian was sure it would be a generous amount for her circumstances either way.

“So, Alexander, when and where would you like to start?” Vivian tried to keep a nonchalant tone with her next phrase, to avoid making her sleuth-y intentions too obvious. “I can… commute to your residence if you’d like. If you have the equipment, of course.”

"Hmm..." Alexander pondered the option of starting the lessons here in New Paeonia. He figured Vivian would remain safe in his company, but would his people remain safe after she was exposed to the community. Operation Humanity was known to use tricks and schemes to mount attack on his clan and Alexander needed to be sure that this woman was not another Trojan horse. "As much as I would love for you to see what I have set up here in my home, I think it might be best to meet you at more public venue." He kept his tone polite as if his decision was meant to make Vivian feel more comfortable with their first meeting.

"You mentioned being a bar player. We could meet at one. I would like to see you perform on your more usual playing field. Less pressure, safe... oh, and drinks on me."

Well, shit. Vivian figured it wouldn’t be that easy to get into their exclusive little community. Though, it seemed like he was offering to meet in public for the sake of courtesy, which lessened Vivian’s disappointment with having her plans of detective work thwarted.

“Booze and pool, a favourite combo of mine. I'll gladly accept that offer.” Vivian replied enthusiastically as her lips stretched into a toothy grin. The deal just got sweeter. “I work at Alexei’s in town. They have pool tables there. If you want to start today, my shift begins at 3PM so I can do anytime before that.”

"Noon it is then." Alexander was quick to set the arrangement, despite his opinion on Alexei's. The establishment was known by all supernatural faction leaders in the area as a ceasefire zone. The magic there dulled abilities and traits of vampires, werewolves, and witches, so it was only natural for the vampire puritan to not favor the place. "A pleasure speaking to my soon to be instructor."

“Solid. I’ll see you at noon, bye.”

Vivian tapped on the red phone icon on her phone to end the call, realizing in that moment that a precise amount for payment was never discussed. Her hand raised itself to her forehead instinctively out of exasperation as she stared at the screen. She had been so focused on her goal of getting into New Paeonia - and to a lesser degree, by the seemingly generous compensation - that it had totally slipped her mind to ask something so basic. Ah, whatever. I’ll ask him before we start the lesson.

Time: Morning
Location: Operation Humanity HQ
Interaction: @Princess @Potter
Mentions:

“Thanks for driving me home Angel! Also bye bye Ms.Flamethrower!”
‘I wonder why Ms.flamethrower was holding on to that painting so much, she must really like art! I should color a picture for her!’ She went to Angel’s room to use her laptop to print out some coloring book pages, because Angel still had printer privileges. She looked through google and found a bunch of coloring pages of women with fireballs and clicked print. Over at the printer she took the page and wondered why the printer was still making sounds but shrugged it off. Back at her room coloring with her markers when she heard a loud banging knock and Trotter entered.

“REMY! Did you do this? Do you know how expensive ink is? You printed a 100 copies!”He said scornfully holding a stack of the coloring pages.
“Oh I only wanted to print one Mister Mustache”
“Remy… You’re punished, stay in your room till I tell you can leave.”
“But Mister Mustache I want to go to the dump I gotta pick up more fabric for sewing I got things to make”
“No. Stay in your room and think about what you’ve done. Also I've told you my name is Colonel T-r-o-t-t-e-r not Mr.Mustache.” He left the room sighing.

‘As if, When there's a Remy there's a way.’

Time: Morning
Location:Alexander's Private Chambers, New Paeonia
Mentions: Maeve @Tae, Noah @Helo, Adrian @role model

After his brief phone call with Vivian, Alexander took a seat on one of his sofas and continued to enjoy his beverage. He had plenty of time before noon reared its head, so he would fill that time with…

"Ah." Alexander smiled as he caught a small wooden box that had come flying towards him. "And what could this be? Witchcraft for sure." He inspected the box in his hand before setting it down on the arm of his sofa. It can wait.

Alexander lounged for a few minutes until he finished his drink in the silence and solitude of his private domain. It was not until this moment that he decided to pay the box attention again. Blood… and Maeve? His curiosity peaked, causing him to open the small box revealing the eyeball inside. Before he could raise an eyebrow, the eyes projected the still image of Maeve sadistically grinning. He patiently stared at the image, almost admiring her looks as well as her expression.

"Empathy…" He whispered before taking a hold of the paper inside the box. A note from the woman herself. "Empathy indeed." Alexander set the paper back in its box and watched as the projected image of Maeve vanished. Red hair, green iris… and one of the few vampires that would get into trouble like this. Mr. Beaumont… Adrian Schulz had also sent him a text message regarding Noah going on a killing spree, which only solidified Alexander's assumption. He sighed in disappointment. Noah's lack of self-control was expected, but Maeve's lack of respect was a tragedy to him.

"If this is your declaration of war… I say no. I refuse to recognize an eye of a young vandal and a written complaint as a declaration of war… How about I return something more fitting instead, Ms. Brannigan.

Time: Morning
Location: Rooftop near The Witches Brew
Interaction with: @Tae Maeve

Noah could detect no hint of fear in the witch, what he could sense was power and age, just as he could with older vampires. How old could a witch really be? They were, at least to his knowledge, mortal just like the rest of his prey. The witches he had killed the other night, they had smelled like fear, they weren’t interesting, not like this one. She was smirking, she found him amusing, just as he found his own prey to be amusing when they tried to fight. She didn’t like his threat against her human, but he wasn’t sure if it was because she cared about humans or if it was more like when the vampire from The Pit had claimed another human as hers. Either way he would have to remember that, in case he needed leverage, he might be able to use her employee in the future. One of the many Maeve’s that surrounded him approached, it touched him first, then it kissed him. Disgusting. Noah tried to bite the witch who was now close enough to his teeth that the chains didn’t matter, but the image of the witch only shimmered and vanished. Was this her big magic trick, it was hardly impressive.

Suddenly everything around him started melting and shifting, reality twisting and turning itself about in a confusing mess. All the duplicates of Maeve changed before him, becoming horrible hissing geese, wings flapping and beady eyes shining with rage. Confused, Noah looked around, only to find himself no longer on a rooftop, but near a pond and the witch was gone. One of the geese let out a loud honk and he jumped as another swooped at him. He realized what this was; a memory. Noah remembered the very first time he felt true fear, his oldest memory of it, when a flock of geese had attached him as a toddler. He stared at the serrated edges of their beaks as they hissed at him, mocking him. He knew it was stupid, he was a vampire, there was reason to fear these creatures and so he hissed back, showing his fangs.

Then there was disorienting darkness, the feeling of being trapped, of hunger and fear. He blinked a couple times, each time things brightened, until he could see where he was, a small space dimly lit and it smelled of rot. He was back in a cage, staring through bars at his father’s bloated and decaying body. He watched as his father’s head slowly turned towards him and began to laugh before the corpse collapsed into dust. He was human cattle again, filled with fear and huddled with his mother and sisters. Helpless, as his mother wept only to turn to him and speak, only her words weren’t those of his memory, they were, instead of what he feared to be true.

“You let us down, Noah, you let us die.” As the image of his mother spoke it changed and withered until it became the frail and emaciated version of her that he remembered when she had died. He watched as she continued to whither until she too collapsed into dust.

Noah lost his sense of reality; the memories were his, the changes to them were all things he knew to be true, and fear made it impossible for him to remember that this wasn’t real. He could feel again what it was like to have a heartbeat, for it pond against his chest, thumping in his ears. The sensation of inhaling stale air in short ragged breaths, and instead of the burning thirst for blood, there was the horrible nausea of a twisted stomach; weak both with hunger and the constant intake of the scent of decay. He felt weak, tired, and afraid.

“You were a terrible big brother.” His younger sister, Hope spoke, shaking her head as she became just as withered as his mother and crumbled into dust.

“Worthless.” Another voice spoke, the sound of his youngest sister, Angel, agreeing. He didn’t want to look at her, but it had been so long since he’d seen her face. The one ghost who never visited him but as he stared into tiny blue eyes filled with disappointment, she did not become dust as the others did. He didn’t know how she died, what it had looked like, because he hadn’t been there. Instead he watched her die dozens of different ways by unseen hands, each more vicious than the next. Noah couldn’t move, he was frozen and powerless to stop it, and the death kept replaying until finally he closed his eyes, tried to block out the screams, until eventually they stopped. Even without the imagines and in the quiet, he still felt the icy grip of fear. He felt cold in a way that a vampire never could.

“I had such hopes for you, what an utter failure.” The voice of his master, of Drake, spoke. Noah opened his eyes again to face the look of disappointment from his clan’s leader. Noah knew this was it for him, he had failed to find Shay, his failure would be punished. He looked away from the piercing eyes of the powerful vampire and waited for his death. But Drake turned his back and walked away, Noah was not worth his time, he was not important.

“I gave you such a gift, and you wasted it.” The voice of his sire spoke, her voice like venom, as her elegant hand gripped his jaw and forced him to look at her.

“I’m sorry, I can do better.” He whispered back, but somehow he knew he couldn’t. He failed his family, as painful as that had been, that he could deal with, they had been weak, but to fail his clan and even worse his sire, that meant he too was weak.

“No. You can’t. Worthless as a human, even more so as a vampire. You were a mistake.” The words felt like his heart was being ripped out but, instead of his heart though she went for his fangs. His mouth was pried open and his fangs were ripped from his mouth as he shrieked. He could taste his own blood, it tasted like failure. Celeste gripped his fangs in the palm of her hand and they too crumbled into dust and her dark eyes looked at him like he was nothing.

Something hit him hard in the back of the head knocking him to the ground and as he turned to look he saw the perfect version of himself. A vampire with fangs that gleamed and eyes that held nothing but bloodlust and it looked at him and it grinned with hunger.

“Prey.” The other, better, Noah spoke and as he looked down he saw the floor was made of mirrors. His reflection in the mirror was human, no fangs, no bloodlust, just a scared human boy covered in bite marks. Human cattle. The mirror floor shattered and broke sending him falling into darkness.

Noah closed his eyes and opened them again as the sensation of falling stopped. There was still nothing except the darkness. He screamed but he couldn’t hear the sound. He tried to reach out to feel something and his hands hit against something hard and cold, covered in jagged scratches directly in front of him. He knew where he was now, this was the coffin. Panic set in as he frantically scratched at it, he could feel his fingernails snapping as he clawed, trying to escape. Trapped, in the dark and alone, back in the coffin, where there was no escape. He knew no one wasn’t going to let him out this time. He kept trying to scream but there was only nothing. This was worse than death, trapped alone forever with only the thirst.

Then there was Maeve again, grinning in front of him, she spoke but Noah couldn’t focus. The spell was gone but the fear and panic remained, he struggled against the magic chains that held him. Whatever she had done to him, the spell that made him see and hear things, filled him with rage. As he writhed against the chains the light grew hotter, seared against him, he felt like an ant beneath a magnifying glass. His skin sizzled and burned and he grinned, the pain was a good thing, it was something, it was better than trapped alone in a dark coffin.

He felt her hand grip his face and he snarled, his fury trapped just as he was by her magic. The feeling of her thumb digging around beneath his eye socket was nothing compared to the feeling of being irrelevant and helpless, the way he felt before being a vampire when trapped as a blood slave, and the way he felt when kept inside a coffin as he was being reformed into a killer. He hated it; helplessness and weakness, he was supposed to be above that now but it seemed he had so much more to learn. Noah realized that he had grossly underestimated the kind of power this witch held. She was different, not like Shay or the two he had killed, this one was special. As his right eye was ripped from him he let out an explosive scream of pain and rage that devolved into laughter. With the eye that remained he saw the witches face and expression, one filled with brutality and fury. He understood what she was, she too was a monster, and that he could respect.

The sublime and piercing agony he felt where his right eye had once been was nothing compared to truly feeling fear in a way he had not for a long time. Not since his sire left had anyone been able to match such exquisite torment. She identified herself as ‘The Warrior Queen’ before sending him off the rooftop and into an alleyway below, which made him wonder if she was something more than just a witch. As he staggered back to his feet he could feel blood dripping from his face, and as he gently touched at his skin he winced. He stared at The Witch’s Brew, wanting more to do something more but now was not the right time.

In the distance he could hear sirens just barely able to make them out over the ringing in his ears. He remembered his hunt, not for this witch but for Shay. This witch would have to wait for later but he could feel a new obsession taking root, hatred and fascination whirling around in his mind. He licked the blood from his fingers, it did not taste like failure the way it had in the fear vision, that was all mind tricks. The culmination of the mind tricks, the loss of an eye, and the still persistent ringing in his ears made his head ache in a way that demanded immediate attention. He needed to feed, not just to soothe the pain and confusion, but to wash away the still lingering memory of the fear vision, to remind himself of who he was. Except it was morning and he was covered in his own blood and barely able to walk around, he could not hunt like this. There was really only one place he could think of to get blood but the thought of going there for help made him sick. He kept himself in the alleyways, slinking towards Alexis’s, a bar he knew served vampires too incompetent to hunt down their own meals, and a place he knew he could, at least, get blood.

Valentin awoke, stretching and opening his eyes in one action, and cursing as the book about applying mathematical proofs to philosophical or other immediate situations that was on him fell to the floor. His phone was full of text messages, and as he read the locals news with his cereal he laughed. They really were a load of stupid buggers, from what he could read of the happenings at the university. He wondered what he'd tell his students about his almost suspiciously perfect disappearance from the scene. Well, that was Monday and it could wait.

He wondered momentarily if Operation Humanity would indeed go through with his suggested plan to capture the pup, but then ignored that too. The hunter had given more than enough help, and though he had one more plan to catch the beastie he really didn't like it and would only give it a go if the other plans failed. For now though, he had other work to enjoy. He would have to check up with Josef regarding the arson of the more powerful Witch family, but this morning he was to hunt an entirely different one more as sport. But it was also work, of course. Harvesting organs was how as a contractor he was able to maintain an impressive arsenal without the great funding of the Operation.

Finishing his breakfast the man went ti his basement, heaving aside a false wall ti reveal his armoury. It took him about ten minutes to suit up, but when he was done he looked in a way that younger warriors would have photographed and posted on instagram with tags like "tacticool". Armoured from head to toe, he had a set of thermal imagers mounted upon his helmet and magazines stuffed into pouches. Not a bit of skin was exposed, and his SIGMCX was covered in all sorts of pieces of tactical equipment upon picatinnies. That was far from all however as two pistols pistols silenced much like the .300 carbine were in armpit holsters. It was but a fraction of the list of things he brought along with himself on a hunt however, so Valentin went down said list to make sure all was present and the went to his car.

It wasn't a drive too long to the woods, Valentin making sure nobody was about to see this man that looked more like he belonged in a movie than a moderately sized American town. Having made some distance the man then looped around a few times, hiding by a trail. Several people passed along with groups, until he saw the correct one. He waited for them to pass and then the man emerged from behind the tree, stalking them from a short distance. He might have been about two metres in height but he was bloody quiet, even if he said so himself.

Deciding to not waste bullets on such filth, the Romanian removed his telescopic baton and struck it rather heavily upon the head of the eldest woman present, who from his observation and guessing was the most powerful of the group. Blood covered the weapon's metal and the woman went down. As the family turned to face him he aimed another swing at the athletic looking boy nearest him who collapsed in suit. The father drew a pistol which Valentin had no expected, but as the fellow fired the bullet harmlessly hit his plate carrier and was sent flying away. Before any more shots could be fired Valentin pulled on the man's hand to both get him to drop the weapon and lose balance to therefore fall.

The woman who Valentin identified as the warlock's wife and mother to the two youngers present sent a great ball of fire at him, and though it hurt the fire retardant anti-stab clothing covering the hunter insured only a few hairs were singed. Her he gave a kick, before once more striking the head of the disarmed warlock. He laughed as he heard the cry "Run!", tugging on the hoodie of the young girl heeding the command and pulling upon it to get her to fall. Once she was on the ground he stomped down, and it all went black for her. From then on it was just a few more strikes here and there and the family was motionless.

Wait. The boy was gone. Leaves were disturbed, and he couldn’t have gone far. Valeting roared in anger, running about in a few quick circles to see where the boy ran off to, but no avail. Until of course, the realization hit him. He had made himself invisible. Valentin could only chuckle, flicking on the thermal-imagers and then putting them on his eyes. He had to take only a few turns about until he located the cowering youth. The mist did mess with the goggles to some degree, but he was still able to make his way over to the lad after taking off the goggles pretending he couldn’t find him. He stood right by the tree that Valentin remembered his quarry was leaning against, and then shrugged, before violently lashing out with the baton to crack bones.

Then it was the boring work of course. The hunter dragged his prey off to a pit full of leaves, and then brought over some coolers full of ice. The hunter was no doctor but he knew enough to properly remove each valuable internal organ of the magical fiends, and store them in the ice.

There was of course the matter of his… well, his artwork. After one individual's organs were removed he grabbed his saw and with said saw removed the heads of each witch and warlock. Using pins and string he forced their faces into happy little rictuses of death, mounting them upon a broken-off rib in a pretty circle. All in all it was a productive morning between this piece that would inevitably send a message to the witches and warlocks related to the family, while the organs now in coolers would create a fairly large payoff. Valentin started sawing at the arms of fiends such that he could get them to hold hands one last time, alas it wouldn’t be.

A howl was heard, which Valentin ignored momentarily until his brain caught up to his ears telling the body that wolves weren’t supposed to howl at this time, and anyway there weren’t many real wolves in these woods.

Damn.

Dropping the saw he raised his carbine, looking around. Well, it was only one howl for now. Likely just a “lone wolf” that overheard the shooting and cries of pain from afar. Valentin decided he’d been here far too long as was, and slinging his rifle picked up his cooler before starting to run towards his car; the circle of “happy” heads would suffice for now he reckoned, better not as impressive of an art project than him losing his own life. Live to express creativity another day! — that was his motto.

Alas there was another howl this time to his left, followed by two to his right. He sprinted now, but another howl was in front of him. He looked down, and saw the pistols under either armpit that had not yet fired a shot. They would not save him from so many wolves in one place, oh no. He’d take a few with him, but no more. Dropping the cooler he made a gambit pointing to the largest, most impressive looking wolf among them before spreading his arms wide, hoping they did not notice the secret weapon he had just mounted.

“Come puppy, surely you don’t need a whole pack to take me on? Or are you scared you won’t survive without them? Fight me, alone. Give me an honourable death at least, surely you know of that.” He really hoped it would extend to him the courtesy he wasn't particularly sure he would extend to one of its kind.

This had not worked so far it seemed, with the other wolves closing the distance to him. As a last ditch he made squawking noises to imitate a chicken, and strangely (but thankfully) this worked. The beast waved away its comrades, and started circling Valentin who remained standing with either arm outstretched. He had but a fraction of a second to hit the deck as the animal pounced, and once more a fraction of a second to bring himself upright. He side-stepped one swipe of its claws, ducked under another and tried to jump over a third; he wasn’t fast enough and the struck sent him airborne. Oh it hurt, but he couldn’t show weakness. He stood up, yet again spreading his arms wide. “Is that all?” he demanded. “Weak! Pitiful!”

The creature this time roared, and charged. Behind his face-shield Valentin smiled, swinging a ham-sized fist in a haymaker that connected with a beautiful crunch noise as it crushed the snout of the monster. Valentin was a large, muscular man. But that was not was made his strikes as if a sledgehammer to the beast; upon his fists were silver-plated and gently spiked knuckledusters carefully designed to do exactly this.

Now even if the hunter did flatten the vile fiend’s face it was still a weighty monster of many kilograms flying at him and it landed heavily, sending Valentin to the ground. He had to act fast before it recovered, striking it in the throat and stomach to get the wind out of it. Straddling it and bringing down successive punches on its head until there was a red, pulpy mess before him, Valentin eventually finished what he started.

Standing up the hunter brushed himself off, drawing either pistol. The black he was wearing hid the great amount of blood dripping from him brought on by the thrashes of the monstrosity but no doubt they could smell it coming off of him. Nevertheless, he hoped that the death would intimidate them… or failing that, he hoped the pack had the honour of their master to leave the man who won fair and square. Keeping both firearms upraised and picking up the cooler Valentin slowly walked to his car making sure he never took his gaze away from one of the wolves for more than a second. When there were only a few dozen metres left to his car Valentin sprinted with the great second wind that those in fear always had. Finally inside his car the hunter breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes and giving a quick prayer to whoever might be listening. Opening them, he muttered “Oh shit.” as he noticed that there was a young man walking his dog walking by, and said young man saw him bloody, armoured, and bearing two pistols.

The pedal went to the metal, and violating the local speed limit the hunter went home to lick his wounds. The weekend had not began as he hoped it would. But hey, he had a pay-check on his lap and a message left in the woods for the practitioners of witch-craft. No pain, no gain, the proverb went, right? Well, on that note if he was speeding, then there wouldn't be much harm in texting while doing so; he made sure to inform appropriate parties that there were a good deal of organs up for sale.

Time: Morning
Location: Operation Humanity Base
Interaction with: Mike @Milkman

---

Sean strode through the corridors of one of Operation Humanity's sub-levels where the interrogation booths were. He dressed casually, with just a plain black t-shirt, olive cargo pants, and his usual pair of black combat boots. In his hands, he carefully held a box that was unusually flat. The contents of the box had taken about an hour to acquire, but it was prepared to near perfection.

Sean entered the booth without looking at Mike who had been seated and cuffed as he usually was. He set the box down on the table and slid it towards Mike. Sean's piercing eyes finally met the detainee's just before he opened up the box revealing its contents

"Not out of New York, but it's better than the baby food they feed you, right? Oh and I figured you'd prefer meat lovers. By the way, my name is Sean and I will be your interrogator today." Sean spoke casually as he sat across the table from Mike. Whether he indulged in the meal or not, Sean would question him. He didn't consider himself an interrogator, but he would try to get answers.

"Why are you really here? You came all the way down here to hide or something? Here… next door to Trotter of all people. And don't get me wrong, you did a pretty good job of blending in for a good year or so, but then we get a real solid tip that not just a member of the Cooper Pack is in town, but it's the son of their leader. Then to top it all off, your file says you surrendered immediately and have been cooperative during your month-long detainment. So, why did you position yourself to get captured?" Sean asked as he reached for a slice to eat while he listened to Mik's answer.