Lycanthrope: Cover of Night
Bloody Affairs

For creatures that were cold and trapped in time, the mood of the ball was ironically alive with bliss, like the hot blood running through one’s arteries. Roxanne wrapped herself in a deer pelt over her beautiful wine-colored evening gown. The dress wrapped itself around her every sleek curve like a lover. Her collar plunged low showing off her ivory neck and chest, and a little blush applied to her high cheekbones and bow shaped lips warmed her fair skinned face.

The glamorous slit running up her left leg allowed her access to her gun and knife holster. Her attire also included a blue and gold mask concealing her face.

Her comrades matched evening dress with her. Zaac, Axel, and Hans wore handsome tuxedos with various colored lapels and masks. Lucille curled her short blond hair and wore a stunning scarlet chiffon gown along with a black lace mask.

Lucille examined the room and shook her head. “Whatever possessed us to come here?”

“The same question they will ask themselves for stealing the compasses and killing Bethany,” Hans replied.

“Do we actually have a plan?” she asked, turning to Axel and Roxanne.

“We know the fang that stole the medallion was trading with the Crocatta. His name is Merez. I found a tiny bit of his scent back at the Ironsi’s holdout. We’ll look for him at the party,” Roxanne replied.

Lucille looked at Axel to see if he agreed with her.

Axel shrugged. “It’s as good of a start as we’re going to get.”

“All right, Roxanne and Hans should scout the area, while we create a perimeter.”

“As usual keeping safely out of the action?” Roxanne sniffed.

“Staying practical, Gwenvi. One day you might get a little more adventure than you bargained for.”

“I’ve made bargains with demons, can’t be much worse,” she retorted.

Lucille sighed. “Then it’s not a question of if but when.”

As usual Axel had to be the one to cut in.

“All right, we’re going with the plan. Telepath to either one of us if you scout him.”

“What about me?” Zaac asked.

“Stay with either Hans or Roxanne, and keep an eye open,” and Axel then continued, “Oh, also try not to get eaten.”

Guests spun each other in dizzying circles in the middle of the ballroom. A loud, rock orchestra was positioned on a cascading platform that was carved in the front part of the stone room. Roxanne looked up and saw more guests conversing high on the balconies supported by iconic styled pillars. It was as if she stepped through a book and entered some ancient fairy tale, albeit a very gruesome one.

“Mind your surroundings,” Roxanne thought on perimeters. “The others are placing trip wire. I can maybe replace some help with the lower species.”

The old castle’s odor was faint, but she could smell rats and mice creeping in and out of the nooks of the room. She gazed up to the balcony where she spotted several birds perching on the railing and a couple of bats flying through the night air. She reached into her beaded purse and pulled out a few of the barley honey cakes.

“Now, what do bats, rats, and birds eat?”

Casually wading through the waltzing crowd, she grabbed a few chunks of cheese as well as meat from the table and spread it on the cakes.

Working quickly, she caught the scent of rats skittering towards the walls and placed them throughout.

She nodded satisfied when the little rodents accepted them. The next challenge would be the flying beasts on the balconies.

She lifted her skirts and ascended the stairs. A knot formed in her stomach when two male vampires noticed her and smirked. Remembering her masquerade, she smiled in sultry fashion.

They both grinned, revealing their fangs. Roxanne flexed the change in her mouth to just barely grow her canines. She could feel their eyes on the back of her head as she passed.

“She must have just fed. I can hear her heart beat from here,” she heard one say. Roxanne quickened her pace until she reached the balcony.

Taking the cakes from her pocket, she laid a few on the railing. A few birds mustered up some courage and picked at the hypnotic pastries. Roxanne turned her attention to the bats circling through the air hunting for flying insects.

“I don’t think they serve anything that you want on the banquet table.”

She extended her arm over the railing. a few mosquitos settled on her skin. Her lip twitched as they injected her with their venom and began to draw her blood through their long proboscis, leaving behind a burning itch. Roxanne quickly slapped them before they flew off and smeared their crushed bodies onto the cake, along with her own ingested blood.

Roxanne tossed a few in the air but it missed as the bat swirled and the pastry fell far below to the ground.

“Dammit,” she growled.

Repeating the process, she made progress by studying the bat’s pattern as well as timing it before tossing them towards the flying mammals. That worked.

When she returned to the table, Zaac walked up next to her.

“I’d say a masquerade is a little outdated, but I suppose that’s the charm of vampires. Preserving the times.”

“The elite preserved,” Roxanne noted.

“Though I never guessed they would be serving food at a party instead of all blood.”

Roxanne looked to the table of gourmet dishes he was talking about.

“They can still fill themselves with human food, but it doesn’t supply much nourishment. Like a human eating candy.”

“It’s like a part of them still remembers being human,” Zaac noted thoughtfully.

“Only the gluttonous and violent parts,” Roxanne replied, grabbing a goblet and sniffing it before taking a sip.

It was a type of rose wine. Not enough to inebriate her, but just enough to calm her nerves. Along with that, she tore off a leg from what appeared to be a roasted and glazed poultry. The meat was succulent and tender and mixed well with the wine.

She took another bite while scanning the ballroom for Merez. Not much luck.

“That is a beautiful dress,” came a husky, female voice.

It belonged to a beautiful, young woman wearing a champagne Victorian dress. Her complexion was golden, and her nose was arched and pointed down to her full lips. With her lush brown hair piled on her head in a chignon, she looked like an Empress. The only jewelry she wore was a gold and diamond pendant shaped into a symbol that looked like a dot with eight spade tails curling out of it in every direction.

The only thing disconcerting about her appearance was the shade of her eyes. They were sharp, fixated, and the color of blood.

“It simply compliments you in every way,” she stated, referring to Roxanne’s dress.

She remembered her act and replied in all manners, as well as a European accent. “Why thank you. I haven’t been to a decent event in what is probably a century. I figured this would be the proper time to show off a new frock.”

“What better time,” the woman agreed with her. “The dress looks modern, but that mask looks 17th century.”

“You’re correct. My late husband bought it for me,” Roxanne replied, then added more boldly. “When it was just coming into style too.”

The woman studied her with her chilling eyes, though she smiled in the end.

“Your act is spot on, my dear. Keep it up and you’ll have these bloodsuckers fooled the remainder of the evening.”

Roxanne felt her stomach knot and every nerve twitch, but she kept her character intact and forced an eyebrow up.

“Pardon me, but I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

“My dear Gwenvi. You don’t need to pull the charade with me,” the woman chuckled.

Roxanne saw no way out of it.

“How do you know my name?” she growled.

“We’ve already met actually, or well… we’ve been in each other’s presence.”

“You were the familiar with Olaf, weren’t you?”

“Indeed. My protégé, Azrais, mentioned a young red head who had recently joined the Pack. I had to get a good look at her myself.”

Roxanne looked worried. “He’s not here too, is he?”

The familiar laughed. “No, still safely combing Allosfaire for a leak. Luckily the same rules don’t apply to me.”

“Why are you here?”

“To monitor your work, my dear. As a growing young lady, I like to make sure you’re challenged at a healthy rate.”

“Spreading havoc and mind games?”

“Good for the soul and mind,” she purred, mockingly.

“With you making yourself present, surely, I’m about to stumble into a trap, right?”

“Why would I show that I was aware of your presence if there were a trap?”

Roxanne shrugged. “I don’t know, but the vampires are working for you. So that’s one reason not to trust you.”

“Good point, but it would only benefit the vampires if you were to be stopped or die here. I need you up to the very end.”

“And how do you suggest I get to the end?”

“Make a truce with the trackers. You’ll never have more of a human threat than they. Show that you have a common enemy. If you do retrieve the lost compasses, don’t stop there.”

“We already have dirt on Olaf for conspiring with a black-market dealer.”

“Technically another shifter. Doesn’t really inspire sympathy to your kind.”

Roxanne raised a shapely eyebrow.

“And where do you suppose I look?”

Sphixes chuckled in lieu of an answer. “Enjoy the party. I’ll be in touch down the road.”

With that she brushed passed Zaac. She gave him a sly wink and was gone almost immediately.

“I really hate fams,” Roxanne grumbled. “They reel you in and cut you short.”

“Seems we got some useful tips though,” Zaac hinted.

Roxanne grumbled.

“This place is dangerous enough. Go replace the others and tell them what’s up.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going to replace Merez.”

***

Roxanne searched the ballroom until her scent caught up to a dark haired thirty something vampire. She forced up the courage to engage.

“Good evening.”

He looked at her and smiled.

“Good evening to you. Are you enjoying yourself?” he said in a Hispanic accent.

“Oh, most definitely. I couldn’t help but notice you on the balcony. You stand out quite handsomely,” Roxanne flirted.

Merez made a half smile. “Well, that’s extremely flattering coming from a lady most beautiful as yourself. Would you care to dance?”

Roxanne pretended to blush. “Of course.”

He extended his hand and she took it. She shivered at how cold his skin was. He led her out to the dance floor and placed his spare hand over the small of her back. Roxanne did her best to calm her breath and heartbeat.

“You’re very warm. Have you fed recently?” he asked.

“Less than an hour ago,” Roxanne laughed.

“Really, where?”

“A local bar, one poor soul couldn’t replace his way home. Though I’m probably going to pay for it with his high alcohol content,” she laughed.

“Oh, that’s no good. A lady like you should only feast on the best.”

“Do you have something better to offer?” Roxanne asked in a sexy voice.

He flashed a fanged grin and chuckled. “Only the best. You’re a young blood. I can tell.”

“Barely over a few decades,” Roxanne replied. “How’d you know?”

“Your color. Especially, how flushed your body gets after feeding. The older you get the more your body regulates itself.” Merez answered. “What’s your name, my dear?”

“Lilith,” Roxanne quickly answered.

“Lovely. Named after the oldest vampire. It’s as if your parents knew of your destiny.”

“They were always strange sorts.”

“You know, we’ve had some trouble with lycanthropes these past few months. They always drone on about how they’ve been a part of this world, but we know we’ve been around longer. Before Adam even had Eve for a wife and afterwards when Lilith sought out a place in Allosfaire from the human world.”

“Two shifter mothers seeking refuge in different worlds. It’s almost as if we’re cut from the same cloth, except one is a wolf and the other is a bat,” mused Roxanne.

“You take a lot of interest studying lycanthropes,” Merez interrupted her thoughts.

Roxanne lifted her eyes and smiled. “Know thy enemy.”

As he twirled her, she caught sight of Axel and Lucille dancing towards them. She acknowledged their subtle nod.

“This is he,” she telepathed.

“Take the next moments to get his scent,” Lucille replied mentally.

As the music changed, so did the waltz. The movement was delicate, and Axel and Lucille deliberately missed it.

Instead, they bumped hard into Roxanne.

She took the moment to slide her foot out in front of her and slip.

As she slid, she caught herself by driving her nail into Merez’s hand as he supported her. The whiff of blood immediately caught her nose as he lifted her back up.

“Please excuse us, so sorry,” Axel apologized.

“It’s nothing. As long as the lady is not hurt,” Merez replied.

“I’m fine,” Roxanne replied. “It’s nothing, just lost my footing.”

She quickly bent her index finger under her palm to conceal his blood.

He studied her for a moment. “Good, I’d hate to think you were injured.”

Roxanne corrected him. “I’m not some helpless human.”

“No, you are certainly not.”

One of his attendants walked over and whispered in his ear.

“Yes, I’ll be there immediately,” he told them and then turned back to Roxanne. “Forgive me, Lady Lilith. I have some affairs that call my attention.”

Roxanne nodded. “Certainly.”

She carefully watched him go before turning out from the dance floor. The look of satisfaction was hard to conceal even with a mask placed on her face.

“Axel, I have his scent. I’m going to see where his lair is and what I can replace.”

“Well done, Roxanne. Lucille and I will stay out here in case we need to make a quick exit. Take Zaac and Hans with you though.”

The two men were easy to replace. Both were talking and drinking at the banquet table. Hans glanced over when she returned.

“I got what we need.” She held up her finger in front of them.

Hans smiled.

“Well done Rox. How did you manage that?”

“I have my ways,” she replied smugly.

“Did he make any protest as you gouged him?” Zaac questioned.

“Only that I was a drunken partner who lost her footing while dancing.”

“Nice,” he laughed.

The scent led them to a pair of guarded doors under the balcony. As they approached, the guards held up their hands in protest.

“Oh, we’re with Merez,” Roxanne tried to persuade them.

“You don’t have the rings. Sorry, members and blood donors only.”

The three were in a quandary for a moment, until Hans roughly grabbed Zaac by the shoulder.

“What do you take us for? We’ve got a blood donor right here.”

Roxanne refrained from looking shocked. “What the hell are you doing!?” she asked mentally to Hans, but he ignored her.

“Are you saying you’re going to turn us away on account of some stupid human standards?”

The guards realized their mistake but still looked puzzled.

“Let me have a try first.”

The guard advanced towards Zaac and quick as lightning pricked him on the arm with a sharp fingernail.

“Hmmm, type zero. Good replace,” he complimented after licking his finger.

“Really?” the other guard asked. “Let me see.”

Hans blocked him off from Zaac.

“It’s not going to do me any good for you to be sucking down the merchandise. If you want him, I hope to see you in the auction.”

The two looked at one another and the other gave him a nod. He opened the door and the trio walked inside.

“Remember how I mentioned some humans and vampires can have mutual relationships?” he asked her, as the doors closed behind them.

“Yeah?” Roxanne asked.

“During my trading on the black market, I found there’s a particular business in that factor.”

“Like humans being trafficked as blood donors to vampires?” Zaac asked.

“Precisely,” Hans replied. “And that’s what role you will be playing while we seek out Merez’s private office.

Roxanne didn’t like the idea. It would be putting Zaac in danger, but it was the only card they could play if they wanted to keep the charade up.

“Before we go any farther, I want to make sure they don’t call back up if things get out of hand.”

“How do you propose to do that?” Hans asked.

Roxanne grabbed a rat from the corner and brought one last barley cake out and fed it to him.

“No tracks,” she whispered to it. The little rat scurried off.

“Another trick from the kitsune?” Hans asked.

“The rat should take care of the security cameras. That way when we draw them out, there won’t be reinforcements.”

“I love how Roxanne automatically knows we’re going to be starting a commotion,” Zaac laughed.

“And I used to be so optimistic,” Roxanne declared.

They walked down the hall and were stopped again by a group of coordinators.

“Adding to the collection?” a tall, red head asked.

“Yep, he’s a rare replace,” Roxanne beamed. “Type Zero apparently.”

The woman checked him out for herself. “Young and handsome, too. Maybe I’ll put some money on him.”

“As long as we get the right price,” Hans corrected.

“A percentage,” she retorted and then turned to Zaac.

“Come this way, Sugar.” She placed her long fingernails around the back of his throat and beckoned him with her. She pushed him into the darkly lit room and called back behind her.

“We need some time to prepare them for clients. If you want to watch the auction, there are separate booths. The entrance is right over there.”

Hans smiled. “Thank you. That would be perfect.”

The woman gave him a cold smile and disappeared into the room behind Zaac.

“Better replace Merez’s office in the meantime.”

Roxanne gave him a look. “We can’t leave him here.”

“Not leave him. We’ll come back for him after we replace the evidence and compasses.”

The young woman didn’t like the idea. It was too risky to cause a scene while they were separated. The first moment their cover was blown, Zaac would be dead meat. She figured it would be difficult arguing with Hans, plus Axel was already on her case about going alone against Olaf, so she went with it.

“All right. Let me just catch the scent again,” she said, lifting the blood to her nose. It would be hard trying to decipher it with all the various strangers coming in and out of the castle halls. When she glanced up, she saw the familiar Sphixes, still the same brunette dressed in the golden disguise down the hallway.

Roxanne stopped short when she saw her grinning in her direction.

“What’s wrong? Who is she?” Hans asked, looking worried.

“The familiar that I ran into just now, and in Mydohl’s Town,” Roxanne cried.

Hans looked worried and supported her. Sphixes’s smirk only stretched as she advanced. She stroked the wall as she paced forward.

“Who’d have thought down the road meant just the hall,” she cackled.

Roxanne’s heartbeat pounded like a hammer. She tried to move but Sphixes slashed the wall, causing ricochets to surge toward her. The blow hit her hard. Hans grabbed her and pulled her around the corner.

“Shit, what the hell just happened?” he cried.

“She got me with some type of psychic blow.”

Hans looked frantic. “Let’s get you somewhere safe where you can lie down.”

He led her to the auction observation booth. It was dark and compact, enough to keep them safe from prying eyes, while Hans opened his mind to Axel.

“Axel, the familiar queen got Roxanne. She’s under another hallucinogenic spell.”

“What?! Oh damn. Did she sting her or just cast her?” Axel cried.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Did she make physical contact with her before Roxanne went under?”

“No, just sent some type of ricochet.”

Lucille cut in. “Hans, if she didn’t sting her than it will be only something she sees in her mind. She won’t have to physically move anywhere.”

“She just has to battle it from within?” Hans asked.

“Yes. Just make sure she’s in a safe area. Try to talk to her and keep her calm. Push her through.”

“We’re in a private booth. She can get through. She has before, twice,” Hans reassured him.

Roxanne shivered from the sensations. Hans laid her down and stroked her hair.

“You can do this, Rox. I’m right here. You’ll be safe, but you must face what comes next. You can do it.”

***

His words sounded like a far-off echo as Roxanne woke up in another twisted reality. The walls glowed gold and red and seemed to sway from an unknown force.

She glanced over to what appeared to be a silhouette of herself being cradled by Hans.

“You have to keep moving, Roxanne. Find out where you have to go if you want to leave.”

“It’s like my mind has left my body,” Roxanne realized. It unnerved her, though Hans was right. If she wanted to escape this hallucination nightmare, she’d have to see what the familiar had in store for her.

She took one last look at her physical body being comforted by Hans.

“I can do this,” she thought. With that she turned the knob and opened the door.

All golden and red as blood, the pulsing walls appeared down the hallway. Sphixes was watching her from the end of the corridor. She smirked and turned the corner.

Roxanne followed her.

To her horror, a fire guard was waiting for her when she passed the corner. Suddenly, the cat eyed vines snaked up and down its body and his ax was set aflame. The only place the vines didn’t creep over was his arm that held the flaming ax.

“Don’t waste your energy. Just let it pass.”

The guard stalked forward. Roxanne dodged into the nearest room. She ducked over and under various furniture.

She waited for its patrol to lead it down the hall and pass her. She took a few shots at the cat eyes to prevent the guard from coming after her. The vines shriveled up and dropped from the walls like a pile of dead leaves.

Where the walls in the first hall were brightly colored, the one leading to a pair of oak doors, seemed bluish black and slimy.

As she advanced, a horde of too familiar beasts crawled on the walls behind her, their eyes glowing red in the dark.

All the way to the end, dozens of haints reached out for her with their decayed hands, almost rendered to claws.

The oak doors opened with ease. Ahead of her, was a long ascending staircase. She lifted her skirts and once again began her climb.

No enemies popped out at her.

Up the stairs was Sphixes, still in her beautiful dancer attire. She cackled and beckoned her to follow. Roxanne knew she didn’t have a choice, so she obliged.

The mind game became a cruel world as the stairs appeared to be unraveling themselves. First the stairs behind her drifted away and then the stairs above her disintegrated into the black abyss that was once the hallway.

Roxanne fell with it.

She landed unharmed in what looked like the main ballroom but with the pillars tightly compacted to the center, covered with the red eyed vines.

She wasn’t alone however.

It was not her comrades she found but many ferocious beasts, all wearing masks. They weren’t the ordinary ornate masquerade ones she had seen the vampires wearing earlier.

They were gruesome and bloody.

There were satyr and minotaur masks that appeared to be no more than goat and bull skulls with red eyes peeping through. There were vampire masks with faces pale as milk with blood dribbling through the fang grins, stretching ear to ear. Haint masks had decaying skulls with glowing blue eyes. The Crocatta and rabid masks were skinned dog faces with white soulless eyes and patches of matted, bloodied fur.

The fire guard masks had to be the worst though, because they appeared as fox heads with snarling bloody muzzles, singed red fur, and burning eyes.

To match the macabre scene, her own mask took on a grisly appearance. A mirror against a pillar revealed that the designs of her own mask were cut into her face. Blood seeped down her cheeks and around her eyes. Any painted line of it was matched by a red one cutting into her skin.

The reflection of the gruesome mask made her recoil. At least no one seemed to notice her. They carried on as if it were a regular party.

From the center of the room, on top of a shortened pillar, the familiar unwrapped herself and addressed the room.

“We’re going to play a game,” she boomed. “A game of mystery and murder.”

As she spoke, her elegant dress and human appearance began to shift back into that of the shaggy, twisted, catlike demon.

“Like the actual game of a mystery murder, the culprit lies amongst a faceless crowd, and therefore must be picked out before they kill everyone else.”

She peered down at Roxanne and grinned when she said that.

“So, mind your surroundings, and look for clues. Every moment you take, your opponents may not take the same leisure as you do.”

Roxanne glanced around nervously, aware that any one of them could attack.

“Choose who you take out wisely, because a condemned innocent man is more likely to stir vengeance than a guilty one,” Sphixes continued to advise.

Her words burned into the pillar and with one last laugh she wrapped herself in her tail and was gone again.

Roxanne wasn’t sure what to do at first.

“So, I have to replace out who the murderer is before they can pick me off and everyone else? Well, that’s all bloody fine and dandy but how the hell do I figure out . . . WHOA!”

Roxanne whirled around on guard as she felt someone advance at her from behind. She bared her teeth and brandished her knife at her assailant.

It was a haint masked player. He hissed and withdrew his knife and sailed passed her when he was aware that she was aware of him.

“Attack of surprise? That probably means they’ll attack from disguise,” Roxanne thought and then narrowed her eyes with disgust. “Oh, Mother Wolf, now I’m rhyming.”

Roxanne was on her toes as her rivals circled the room this way and that.

“Pay heed to your surroundings.”

She held up her knife and spun around again when this time a tracker tried to surprise her.

Some of the other masqueraders tried the same thing, but when one was too slow, the assailant lashed forward and slaughtered it. The next attacker was a haint. Roxanne remembered Sphixes’s words. “The condemned innocent man is more likely to stir up vengeance.”

“Is he who I have to pursue?” Roxanne thought. She began to stalk after the haint. When he became aware of her presence, he whipped around and grew angry.

“That must be the guy,” she thought. “Now to lead him away.”

She led him to the pillars and turkey ran around the column to put some distance between herself and her pursuer.

She tossed her bottle and watched from a safe distance as she pulled it forward and he stopped as it clacked over the hard floor. With his back turned to her, she lurched forward and drove her knife into his back.

“Fooled ya!” she growled triumphantly.

After the haint lay dead, she looked around and realized the gruesome game was still going on.

“Dammit, you mean I have to keep playing this stupid affair?” Roxanne asked, frustrated.

Her last assailant turned out to be a vampire. This time Roxanne used a blood lure to draw her enemy in and bore down on him as a wolf.

By the end, Roxanne had escaped numerous close calls before the game was over and sighed in relief when the last culprit stopped twitching.

She collapsed to the floor, holding her elegant mutilated face, as blood dribbled into her finger tips.

“Just let me wake up now!”

The silence mocked her. Nothing stirred.

There were no hurried footsteps, no creepy violin music, no sounds of her rival’s screams as they were picked off.

She had half expected Sphixes to jump out when it was over to admire and mock her work. She never appeared, but Roxanne couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched.

Roxanne sat on the blood-stained floor. Rusty splotches stained her pale legs and blended to her deep burgundy dress.

There wasn’t any sound at first, but then the gentle rustling of wind caressed the lace around her neck.

She turned. Her jaw dropped as a magnificent brilliant white light dashed forward, completely enveloping her.

***

Roxanne woke up in a cold sweat to a loud pounding noise that sounded a bit like techno music. The blood donor auction was set up like a runway, with flashing lights, and parading young men and women.

Hans turned around and noticed her conscious state.

“Hey, you’re awake!”

“I’m just as surprised as you are.”

“Was it really bad?”

“The worse one I’ve been through yet. I really didn’t think I was going to come through.”

Hans looked thoughtful and sympathetic. “What matters is you did. That old cat has met her match.”

“It’s a relief,” she smiled. “Oh, crap. How long was I out?!”

“Don’t worry. They haven’t sold him yet. In fact, you’re right on time.”

Sure enough, they paraded a shirtless, glittered, and made up Zaac to the stage.

Zaac walked to the center and flexed his muscles on cue. Though he looked confident and alluring, the fear in his eyes was faint but unmistakable.

The female vampire’s voice purred over the speakers.

“And last but not least, American Male. Age 25. Physique healthy. Blood Type Zero.”

The female announcer’s voice boomed over the mic, calling out as the rising price continued the blood bidding.

The bidding began at fifty thousand, then a hundred, and then one fifty…. And on and on it went until it peaked at five hundred thousand.

“Dang it looks like we get our compasses and we make a profit off the meat boy,” Hans grinned.

Roxanne grimaced.

“Someone wants him badly. Let’s hope we can.”

A black-haired woman in a cobalt blue gown was pronounced the victor. She glided out on the stage to lead him away, all the while eyeing him like a juicy piece of fruit.

Roxanne watched him leave with a tight stomach. “Hang in there, Zaac.”

The red-haired auction coordinator returned.

“I’d say that was a successful bidding. It seems everyone wanted a bite.”

Roxanne turned her attention to her. “No pun intended, right?”

The vampire fixed her eyes on her and chuckled dryly.

Hans cut in.

“Thank you for allowing us to contribute. I believe there was an accommodating percentage included?”

She flashed a fanged smile and rolled out the crisp Euros.

All twenty thousand of them.

“Thank you for your business. I hope the rest of your evening is as grand as its beginning.”

“You as well,” Roxanne smiled.

Then they were left alone.

Hans broke the silence after examining the money.

“Well. Guess we should head up to Merez’s office?”

“HANS!”

“Just kidding. Of course, we’re going to rescue Zaac.”

***

Zaac looked around the private den while trying to contain his composure. The blood lusting woman crept up behind him like a ghost.

He nervously turned toward her, trying to stall.

“Um, do you mind if I have a drink first?” he asked.

“Oh, but alcohol thins the bloodstream,” she purred.

Zaac mustered up a pleading smile.

“Okay, orange juice then?”

She laughed heartily. “You’re cute, I think I’m going to like you.”

She forcefully pushed him back on the sofa and slid on top of him. Her fingers trailed down his cheeks, his chin, then his throat.

“You’re nervous now, but it will only hurt in the beginning. Over time you will come to enjoy it.”

“We’re talking about being fed on, right?” Zaac turned pale and muscles tensed as he felt the weight of the glamourous ghoul on top of him.

“Well, maybe after the third or fourth time,” she laughed coldly, ignoring his comment.

He tried not to make a sound but the pain of her fangs digging into the soft part of the nape of his shoulders seized him like an iron claw.

He gritted his teeth, but was unable to fight back against her inhuman strength. His struggles and cries only made her force his chin up further.

“Holy shit! She’s already on to him!” cried Roxanne as she and Hans hurried over behind them.

The vampire hissed like a feral cat and hunched over her victim protectively.

“Who the hell are you? These are my private quarters!”

“We just want the human. We’ll even give you back the profit we made.” Roxanne reasoned.

“Not all of it, right?” Hans asked turning toward her.

The vampire laughed, showing off her Glasgow crimson smile, red from Zaac’s blood. “How bout I drain you two first,” she threatened and then lunged forward.

Without hesitation, Roxanne fired her crossbow at the vampire’s heart. The blow caught the fiend for a moment and made her quiver.

Hans brought her down completely with a shot from his gun.

She landed cold on her back.

Hans checked the hammer of his pistol as Roxanne ran over to check on Zaac.

“You okay?” she asked as she dabbed the wound with a handkerchief.

“Yeah, don’t worry. She didn’t bite my neck,” he laughed.

“Of course not. That would probably kill you,” Hans scoffed. “Fangs prefer to keep their purchased blood donors alive for a while.”

“You think you can walk?” Roxanne asked.

“Yeah, going to be sore but she didn’t get much,” he laughed.

“We need to get what we came for,” Hans reminded them.

“Don’t worry. I think Sphixes put me on the right track.”

“Roxanne, we can’t trust her. How do you know this isn’t a trap?” Hans asked.

“I know she’s not an ally but she wants to keep us around to the end.”

“Who’s helping us?” Zaac asked.

“Never mind. We’ll talk about this elsewhere.”

“Thanks. I can’t imagine how things would have gone if you two hadn’t barged in,” said Zaac.

“For that much money, she wouldn’t dispose of you quickly,” Hans grumbled.

“And you work with these people? Fine company you keep.”

Hans became irritated.

“Use your head, Fang Bait. The other worldly merchandise we sell to survive attracts attention from the general public.” He growled, “All it takes is one nosy health inspector or government official to ask questions and start trouble. Don’t want to leave a trail? Then the black market is the only place where no one questions the public.”

“I’m sorry Hans, I shouldn’t have put it like that. It’s just been a bit of an ordeal tonight.”

“You should talk to Roxanne then. She’s enduring mind spells in exchange for familiars’ help.”

“Oh my God! That’s who’s helping us?” Zaac asked, turning to her.

Roxanne sighed.

“She has her dirty tricks but, along the way I think she was trying to show me something.”

“The blade before the beheading?” Hans asked dryly.

“Hans, if you don’t feel comfortable, you two can rendezvous with Axel and Lucille while I replace the evidence.”

Zaac and Hans sighed. “No, we’ll stay,” Hans grumbled.

“Someone’s got to watch your back,” replied Zaac.

They ascended the stairs that led to the antechamber. They could tell it was the room that lay directly above the ballroom, because the beautiful stained glasswork ceiling bulged from the floor. Roxanne smelled the blood on her index finger and lifted her mask.

The aroma lifted around her like a wreath.

“Merez came through here.”

The two men removed their masks as well and examined the room.

“Time to prove that bastard’s crimes,” Hans gloated.

The attic area had been turned into a makeshift office, containing file cabinets, and a network system. Next to the laptop was a compass on display.

“That’s one of the compasses that was stolen in the sewers,” Hans noted as his eyes narrowed. His long nails entwined around the silver chain with a ruby gem embedded in the compass.

“Bethany’s birthstone,” he said gravely.

Roxanne felt his pain.

“There’s bound to be something in Merez’s files that will be dirt on Olaf.”

Zaac raised an eyebrow.

“Like proof that Olaf worked with vampires?”

“We have Blaire and Tyler for that,” Roxanne replied. “Plus, we have one of the lost compasses.”

Hans eyes were glued to a computer screen as he clicked through several of Merez’s transaction e-files.

“Hey I recognize these people. This woman is about as oily as they come. Some of this stuff goes back before Anchorslotte. Drug deals, extortions, murder coverups.”

One page in particular was the gold mine as they looked examined Merez’s spreadsheets.

“This is the formula for the wolf bane gas!”

“Perfect,” Roxanne beamed as she copied the data from the computer and uploaded it to her flash drive. Once she had all the data, she moved the USB device to her convenient space before turning to the others. “Now let’s get the hell out of here!”

The celebration was cut short as Merez and the auctioneer vampire known as Calista, glowered into the room.

“Well, well, you never told me you were also a connoisseur of ancient artifacts, Miss Lilith,” Merez laughed.

“Lilith? I thought you said you didn’t like clichés?” Hans asked.

“I consider it more of irony.” Roxanne added dryly, before addressing the vampire. “How long did it finally take you to figure it out?”

“That two werewolf agents were in our midst? You left one of our clients in a demised state,” Calista added coldly. “She was one of our oldest buyers. This would have been her thousandth bidding.”

“Not anymore,” Zaac growled, rubbing his sore shoulder with the telltale bite marks.

“I have to admit the foiling of our security system was quite clever. But when suspicion arises, the young bloods are always the rats.”

“You should have tried looking for literal rats,” Roxanne replied.

“Pardon?”

“Nothing.”

Merez chuckled and exchanged looks with Calista.

“Well, awkward situation considering I bought your act, but I believe there is only one way this is going to end.”

“Oh, I can think of at least ten outcomes. Y’all just have a lousy imagination,” Hans jibed.

“The two of you are gutted like pigs and the human is resold,” Merez replied, ignoring him.

Calista’s smirk was as oily as a rag, “Hmm, never had someone live long enough to be sold twice,” she murmured.

Hans laughed trying to stall. “Well. . . you see, the thing about that is. . .” he stopped midway before dropping his tone to a more humorless one. “Ugh, screw it. I don’t have anything,” he finished before firing his gun.

Roxanne joined in.

The two vampires took their own shots as they tried to make their way out of the room, but his reinforcements swarmed in like flies to carnage.

Zaac helped by flinging smoke bombs and holy water, while Roxanne and Hans tried to make a funnel toward the exit.

Two vampires forced themselves on Roxanne. She fought like the she-wolf she was, despite being outnumbered. Hans ran up to intervene and the four of them were caught in a tussle. Roxanne managed to turn the tables by shifting her weight onto her opponent and driving him back towards the ceiling glasswork.

A terrifying sound pricked her ears as they realized it was the glass work of the ceiling breaking. . .

Roxanne fell freely with the vampire beneath her. It was the only thing that broke her fall.

Hans was okay, he had a few glass pieces in his limbs, nothing he couldn’t shake off now. Roxanne cured her own wounds by plunging her spur into the vampire’s neck and draining him dry. When she recovered her senses, she realized that their human acquaintance was missing.

“Shit, where’s Zaac?” Roxanne gasped.

“He must not have fallen,” Hans replied and then his expression turned pale as he shifted his gaze. “We have bigger problems.”

It was the case of being literal party crashers. After the shock was over, a few of the unarmed vampires retreated and made room for the reinforcements to enter the room. The others hissed menacingly as they began to make a circle.

The two werewolves formed a back-to-back standoff. Weapons ready, and hair on end. There was nowhere they could run, and the first bullet fired meant they would be descended upon by several dozen blood lusting fiends.

“We should move,” Hans whispered.

“Where to?” Roxanne growled.

“Hey Lucy, what about our getaway and or exit?” Hans asked telepathically. The next silent moments were agonizing as they waited for a reply. Just when the vampires made a lunge at them, they heard squealing tires accelerating.

The same jeep they had rented crashed through the entrance. Axel and Lucille were riding in it.

“Get in!” Axel cried taking aim at the guards, trying to clear a path.

“How’s this for an exit?” Lucille proudly shouted before taking aim at one of the chandeliers, causing it to land in the middle of the room and send shards in every direction.

Roxanne and Hans sprinted over the wreckage as the distraction bought them several precious seconds.

“Wait, we can’t leave without Zaac!” Roxanne screamed.

“Shit, Roxanne, what do you suggest we do?” Hans growled.

Roxanne scanned the room desperately, looking for any sign of him. At the far end of the room Zaac was using a smoke bomb as a decoy as he charged after them.

“Zaac, over here!” she called.

He turned his head in her direction frantically.

Throwing her hand out to reach him, she pulled him onto the jeep with the others.

“Are we good?” Lucille called from the driver’s seat.

“Yes! Step on it!” Hans called.

The woman floored the pedal.

When they were in the clear, Roxanne threw her arms around Lucille.

“That was some timing.”

Lucille was startled by Roxanne’s affection but patted her arm gingerly. “Good work, I’m glad all of you made it out okay.”

“Good thing they were preoccupied on you, and the fact I still had a few decoys left,” Zaac laughed.

Roxanne patted his leg. “You held out your own really well.”

Zaac returned her smile. Even Hans complimented his work.

“I agree. Way for taking one for the team, Fang Bait. And you as well, Fam Bait.”

Roxanne playfully swatted him on the side.

“Well, we went through some rough patches, but I think we got what we came for.”

“We found one compass but the other is still missing,” Hans declared pulling it from his pocket. “He probably already sold it.”

“Yes, but we did get some dirt on Olaf,” Roxanne grinned, patting the flash drive in her holster.

Lucille swerved the jeep on to the public road as they put distance between themselves and the castle of wrathful vampires.