(A/N) Hello, fellow fans. Welcome to the start of another story. Before we get into this one, I should let you know this is part of the same universe four of my other stories take place in: Hollow Moon, Blood Moon, Paper Moon, and Broken Moon. While you don't need to have read those stories to enjoy this one, I would definitely suggest checking them out if you find yourself enjoying this verse. For those of you who have been waiting for this story to begin, welcome back. I thoroughly hope you enjoy.

Also, full list of pairings for this story is as follows: Maine/Wash, Felix/Locus, Carolina/Emily Grey, South/C.T., Grif/Simmons, North/York, and Wyoming/Florida. So yes, quite a few of them. ;)

Warnings: Gore.

Through Steam and Frost

Chapter 1: Into the Darkness

Excerpt from the Nettle Witch's report on the Daemon Wars to Senator Malcolm Hargrove, Chairman of the Hunter Registration Committee

Really everything can be traced back to the actions of Leonard Church, known in his time as the Shard Witch. He was widely regarded as the most brilliant witch of the age, having created several magical applications in the fields of medicine and agriculture. He was, however, also a very gifted hunter and it was through the invention of a certain focusing technique of his that he earned the title Shard Witch.

Under normal circumstances, witches partner with their familiar spirits in order to engage in hunting, the spirits forming the necessary weapons or armor. In the case of Leonard Church and his familiar spirit, Allison, they were forced to find an alternate means when Allison became pregnant with the couple's twin children. While sexual relations between witches and their familiars are certainly common, the conception of children in such cases is very rare. Having no wish to risk the lives of their children, Church was forced to seek out another way of focusing his power. The method he invented was something he termed a sort of soul fragmentation – a technique that no witch since has been able to duplicate. The man was truly brilliant, but sadly, brilliant men are often given to obsession.

Things began to go downhill when Allison was killed during the hunt for the fallen angel, Farah. When Church lost Allison, he began to devote all of his resources and considerable intellect to defying the angels – to making the gates of death move in reverse so he could reclaim what he'd lost. After four years of work, he managed to discover a way of attempting his blasphemous course. It was, unfortunately, his intent that no other be able to follow in his footsteps, so he left no record of the ritual he performed. He didn't even inform his two comrades of their role in the working. He said only that he needed them, and Sound Witch Reginald Wexler and Nettle Witch Aiden Price, being the devoted disciples they were, obliged him.

There were four souls present the night of the Shard Witch's casting, the three witches and Price's familiar, Gwendolyn, sister to Allison. But there was also, unknown to the participants, a fifth soul. They had been followed by Church's young son, David. Was it the boy's presence that caused the casting to fail? It's impossible to say, but the fact remains that it did fail. Leonard Church summoned the first angel, Alpha, and used his soul fragmentation technique in an effort to fuse with the angel and take control of the gates of death. He managed to call Allison back to him, but her soul was incomplete, a thing only half existing. Unable to complete the full working, the combined angelic witch soul was unable to maintain the violation any longer and fragmented completely, creating individual entities of immense power colloquially known as Spirits.

Both Alpha and Leonard Church were destroyed in this process, leaving behind only the Spirits (See subheading Meta Initiative). Without its chief guardian, the boundary between the here and the hereafter began to fray and is fraying to this day. It was for this sin against the balance that the daemons rose up in war against humankind.

Chief among the spirit creatures that inhabit the world, the daemon race has historically been on shaky terms with humanity. The Shard Witch's trespass was all that was needed to spur them into conflict. Unable to recruit enough witches to fight against the daemons, the state began to conscript divisions of human soldiers, outfitting them with suits of armor made of merikite, the only mineral strong enough to withstand daemon attack. The human soldiers were able to stand against the enemy, but they were also more likely to be the victims of a daemon's last resort – implantation.

Implantation had been a very rare happening before the wars began. It may never be known why the daemons became so fixated on what is essentially war rape, but the fact remains that it became commonplace in the midst of the fighting. Upon being bested by a human soldier, a daemon warrior would implant its genetic material into the human before dying. Most often this was done via bite, but other daemons preferred more unsavory methods. The point being that, whether male or female, the soldier would become impregnated with the daemon's spawn.

In many cases, this was a death sentence for the soldier, as a daemonic implantation cannot be removed without serious damage to the soul. Depending on what form these offspring, or cambion, took, they could easily kill their bearer upon birth. Other victims chose to destroy these cambions rather than run the risk of becoming attached to them. More still suffered just that fate, unable to kill the offspring upon beholding them for the first time. The truth may never be known, but the chief theory that persists is that this is a daemon's final form of vengeance – to make their foes love their enemies in the form of their own children.

With enemies as formidable as the daemons, one is almost left wondering how it is that humans managed to survive all out war with them. This was due to the involvement of the other spirit races. Apart from the daemons, only one other race stood united against humanity – the mermyds. In the beginning, these creatures of water stood with the daemons in their war, enraged at the destroyed balance. Other races were not so uniformly on one side or the other. The faerie folk withdrew from the world entirely, closing the borders of their realm against the conflict. The vampires were about evenly split, some fighting alongside the daemons and others alongside the humans. The werewolves fought either against the humans or not at all, never given any reason to bear anything but hate toward them. Many of the races were divided in this way, some on one side, some on the other, all in conflict.

The balance of power began to shift, however, when the mermyds began to fight amongst themselves. Ultimately, their own infighting became so bad, they were forced to withdraw from the conflict. As of this writing, the status of the underwater realm Atlantis is unknown, but it was the loss of this ally that caused the daemon ranks to fracture. Many of the spirit creatures who had previously allied with them began to defect to the humans. As humanity's allies swelled, the daemons were gradually winnowed down to just a small minority of the spirit world, where before they had been the ruling majority. Ultimately, the fighting came to an end when the daemon hierarchy simply couldn't raise enough of a force to challenge their enemies, leaving only the smallest pockets of daemonic resistance remaining. Over the years, those who remain have occasionally attempted to mount another stand against humanity, but nothing ever comes of the rabble-rousing of these few radicals. In the eyes of history, the Daemon Wars have been over for five years.

For most, the war is long done, but there are still many for whom the war will never truly be over – they who were used to bring cambions into the world. Due to the influx of cambion born, the politics surrounding them have become a great deal more complex. In the early days, the killing of cambions was a simple matter. No authority would bother to bat an eye at mobs putting these children and their parents to death. But with so many near the war's end, people began to question the practice. Moreover, stronger cambions were being born all the time, creatures that could destroy their attackers with little more than a thought (See subheading Covenant Incident). In the face of such power, a tenuous peace exists in the land.

The state has, of course, conducted extensive research into the cambion born (See subheading Project Halo), but much remains to be learned about them. At the current moment, the advised course of action is to continue research into the full abilities of these half bloods. Likely it is through their power that order will be restored to our world. It is for this reason that the council must be urged to vote in favor of hunter registration. The cambion born are unlikely to ever submit to any sort of proposed registration, given their treatment at the hands of the state, but with all hunters in the direct employ of the state, it will be a much easier proposition to locate the cambions with the necessary abilities.

XxX

"Junior!" Tucker called as he hurried through the thinning trees. "Theta!"

The ex soldier had been looking for the two children for about an hour now. If they weren't with Donut, they could usually be found playing in the forest, but there'd been no sign of them so far and there wasn't a whole lot of daylight left.

"Fucking dammit," Tucker muttered to himself. Those two scamps knew better than to wander out into the badlands, didn't they? They knew how dangerous it was. Maybe Grif and Simmons had found them?

"Lavernius Tucker Jr.! If you and Theta don't get your sorry behinds out here this minute, it is not gonna be pretty!"

"Hiding. Hiding. Hiding. Hiding."

"The fuck?" Tucker started upon hearing the muffled voice. Moving in the direction he heard it coming from, he found himself drawn to an old rotting log he'd passed by earlier. As he drew closer, he started to hear another voice.

"Caboose, no. Be quiet," came Theta's high-pitched whisper.

"Hiding. Hiding. Hiding."

"Caboose, what the actual fuck?" Tucker growled as he tore a section of rotten wood away from the log, revealing the young witch crouching inside the small space with Junior and Theta. "You were supposed to be helping me look for them, not helping them hide!"

"But I did find them," Caboose insisted. "And Theta said we were going to hide and surprise you."

"Yeah, but then you spoiled it," the young spirit creature said, though he was still grinning as he looped his arms around Caboose's wide shoulders.

"Well, you didn't fail in scaring me half to death," Tucker berated them as he reached in to pick up his grinning six-year-old, who was holding out his hands for him. "Caboose, how did you manage to even get in there?" he asked as he plucked Junior from the log. He sometimes forgot because of the man's simple behavior, but Michael J. Caboose was actually a very big man.

"Oh, y'know, just sorta crawled in," the blond witch explained as he began to crawl back out, and without Tucker really seeing what it was he'd done, he was suddenly standing outside the log with Theta hanging from his shoulder, both grinning playfully.

Shaking his head, Tucker turned to head back to the village with Junior clinging to his neck. Honestly, it was probably something to do with Caboose's errant magic that Tucker didn't want to think about. Magic had been a little too much a part of his life ever since Junior had come into it. Not that he would trade his son for anything, but it didn't mean things weren't more than a little crazy a lot of the time. Theta, for instance. When the little spirit had come to them, he'd been little more than a wisp of pale pink smoke with a vaguely human shape, but prolonged contact with Junior's cambion powers had granted Theta a mostly corporeal form. There were days Theta almost looked like a normal human child. As much as Tucker didn't want to think about the type of magic that must involve, he was content with it. After all, Theta was the only real friend Junior had. The residents of Blood Gulch tolerated their presence on Sarge's good word, but none of them were really willing to risk letting their children play with Junior. Even though he didn't fully understand just what sort of spirit Theta was, the shy little thing was still a blessing to them.

"Tucker…you're not mad…are you?" Theta asked uncertainly as he and Caboose followed after them.

"Only because I was worried," the former soldier answered, holding his son a little tighter. "You know I worry. I just wish you wouldn't test me like this."

"So…do we still get to make cookies tonight?" Caboose asked.

Tucker laughed at the naïve question, and if there was a slight edge of near hysteria to it, well…who was really going to call him on it?

"Sure. Why the hell not. Snickerdoodles and chocolate chip all around."

Junior glanced indignantly up at him, licking his lips and shaking his head.

"Junior says he wants to make peppermint cookies, too," Theta put in as he skipped along beside Caboose.

"Peppermint, huh?" Tucker asked, grinning teasingly down at his son. "Damn, kiddo, that's a tall order. We'll have to see if Donut can get us the ingredients."

"Tucker!" a new voice was suddenly shouting. Looking up, Tucker saw Grif, Simmons, and Donut racing toward them. Donut was in panther form and as they ran, Tucker saw the puca spirit shift back into his human form – a young man with black hair that was highlighted with blond in several places.

"Thank the gods, you found them," Simmons panted, out of breath once the small group finally reached them. Tucker could see that the bumbling witch was fighting not to straight up drop to his knees.

"Take a breath there, smart ass," Grif said, pounding the other man on the shoulder and nearly knocking him over. With his stocky build, Tucker honestly wouldn't have been surprised if there was some dwarf blood somewhere in his family tree.

"I did. Why? What's going on?" Tucker asked, gaze shifting between his three friends.

"There's trouble in the village," Donut picked up. "Two guys showed up. Sarge is keeping them occupied, but…we think they might be looking for Theta."

"How do you know? What did they say?" Tucker pressed, gaze briefly darting back to his son's friend, who now looked worried, clinging anxiously to Caboose's side.

"Just that they were looking for a spirit. Mum as to what kind, but anyone asking questions like that does tend to set me on edge. I'm thinking you guys'll probably want to lie low for a few days. Maybe camp out in the old grove. These two look like they mean business."

"Then what makes you think hiding will help?" a new voice asked. Snapping to attention, the four ex soldiers immediately fell into a defensive circle around Caboose and Theta. Tucker set Junior down next to Theta before turning to face whatever the threat was.

He found himself staring down two men, one dressed in a black cloak trimmed in gold and the other in a white cloak. The one who'd spoken, the one in black, was nearly a head shorter than his partner. His hair was blond and his blue eyes were sharp and piercing. The other was a mountain of a man, hulking frame barely kept concealed by his white cloak. He had no hair to speak of and his eyes were an intense amber color Tucker didn't think he'd ever seen the like of before. If looks could kill, the former soldier was pretty sure this guy would be a mass murderer.

"Are these the guys?" Tucker asked Donut, reaching for the pistol he kept at his belt, ready to protect his two boys.

"Nope. Never seen these guys before in my life. Keep your eyes on the big one, though. He's a vamp."

"And him?" Tucker pressed, aiming his pistol at the shorter man, who just kept staring calmly at him.

"Witch. Gotta say, though, I don't think I've ever seen a witch take a vampire as a spirit partner."

"He's not…not exactly my spirit partner. It's…complicated," the man tried to explain, shaking his head as a slight smile moved across his face. The giant raised an eyebrow, smirking wryly as he elbowed the shorter man. The witch looked up at him in fond exasperation. "What? It is."

A moment of silence passed between the pair in which the vampire seemed to say something to the witch, but whatever it was, Tucker didn't hear anything. All he heard was the witch's next response.

"Don't even give me that. You don't know the first thing about being a familiar spirit. We're not- oh, sweet gods, this isn't even important right now. We're getting off topic," he said, turning his attention back to the huddled group in front of them.

"Who the hell are you people?" Tucker demanded, keeping his pistol pointed at the witch.

"My name is Washington. His is Maine. We're part of a freelance hunting agency that operates outside of Armonia."

"Washington? Maine? The fuck kind of made up names are those?" Grif asked.

"Seriously? That's your question?" Simmons snarled at the other man. "Didn't you hear him? They're hunters. Probably came for Junior and Theta."

"If we could all just calm down, that would be good," Washington said, raising his hands in supplication. "We didn't come here to hurt anyone. I heard you say you've got Theta with you," he continued, shifting his head as if trying to look around them.

"That's none of your damn business," Tucker snapped. "Whatever you want with him, you can forget about it. Theta's my responsibility, no different than if he was my own kid."

"Then the best thing you can do for him is to let him come with us. We can take him somewhere safe," the witch explained, taking a tentative step forward. Tucker aimed his weapon directly between the man's eyes, letting him know the advance wasn't welcome.

"Where? A cell? Is he just going to disappear into some government prison gem? I'm not falling for that. You can just back right off, Washington."

"Tucker, I already told you. I'm not a state witch. We don't work for them. We're freelance. I just want to keep the wrong people from getting ahold of Theta. People like the Spirits in your village right now."

"Hold up. Those two are spirit creatures?" Donut interrupted. "That can't be right. How come I couldn't sense what they were?"

"Probably because they didn't want you to. They're not spirit creatures. They're Spirits. Capital S. They're very powerful and very dangerous, and Theta's one of them."

"That's just ridiculous. Theta's not dangerous at all," Simmons tried to argue. "He's definitely nicer than a lot of other people I've met."

Washington raised an eyebrow at him. "You're a witch, aren't you? You're telling me you can't sense what kind of power he has?"

Simmons flushed in anger as he looked away from the other witch. "I'm a witch. I've got power…I'm just not very good with it. I never learned to use it."

"How…how do you know what I am?" Theta's quiet voice suddenly interrupted the argument. Blinking in surprise, Tucker turned to look back at Theta and Junior. His son was clinging to Theta, but the young Spirit was staring past him – at Washington.

"Theta…"

The expression on his face softening somewhat, Washington slowly dropped to one knee, bringing himself closer to Theta's height. "I know because…because I was there the night you were born."

Theta gasped at this, eyes widening in shocked realization. "You're…David?" he whispered.

"Hey, Theta," the witch said softly, maintaining his gentle front, even though there was clearly pain in his eyes. "It's been a while."

"Theta, you…you know this guy?" Tucker pressed, but instead of answering, Theta broke away from Junior and slipped past him, running toward the witch.

"David!"

"Theta, wait!"

With a look of amazement on his face, Washington caught the young Spirit in his arms, holding him close as Theta sobbed into his neck.

"David, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Theta cried as he clung to the witch.

"Shh. Sh, sh," Washington soothed him. "It wasn't your fault. You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"I d-didn't know what- to do. So I ran. I ran away. I c-couldn't do anything," the little Spirit choked out.

"There wasn't anything you could've done."

"But you…I…they hurt you."

"That was them, not you. You couldn't have stopped them."

"D-David…please…p-please forgive me."

"Theta, there's nothing to forgive," Washington said as he began to wipe the tears from Theta's cheeks. "But if it'll make you feel better, then of course I forgive you."

Theta smiled weakly up at the witch, throwing his arms around him again. Junior tried to move toward them, but Tucker immediately stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. When the witch looked up at them, Tucker glared at him.

"Thought you said your name was Washington."

"To you, it is," the man said pointedly. "A person can have more than one name."

"Tucker, please don't be angry with him," Theta started as he turned back to them. "He won't hurt us. David's nice."

Washington offered up a tired smile at this. "While I don't know how true that is these days…Theta…you aren't possessing another body. You're…corporeal. How are you doing that?"

"Oh, that's something Junior does," Theta answered, pointing back at his friend, and as Tucker put his gun away in favor of keeping both hands on his son's shoulders, he found himself near praying that Theta's trust in Washington wasn't misplaced. If the wrong people found out Junior had that kind of power…

"The child?" Maine asked, speaking for the first time in a gruff and quiet voice. Washington followed the vampire's gaze as he got to his feet.

"You're…Junior?" the witch asked slowly, to which the young cambion nodded vigorously.

"Junior doesn't talk," Theta said. "His voice got scared off."

"I know," Washington said quietly, keeping his gaze on Junior.

"Don't go poking around in his head," Tucker warned. "Only Theta's allowed to do that. If you wanna know something, just ask him. Theta will answer."

Washington blinked at him in confusion for a moment. "That isn't…how I know. I would never read someone's mind without their permission. I'm not-"

"Wash," Maine interrupted suddenly, laying a hand on the witch's shoulder as he sniffed the air. "Something's burning."

Tucker leaned his head back to try and get the scent. He couldn't smell anything, but when he looked up, he could see the distant orange glow of a blaze against the darkening horizon.

"Fuck! It's the village!" Simmons was the first to realize.

"Kai!" Grif shouted, immediately running back the way they'd come. Simmons and Donut were on his heals the very next moment.

"Caboose, come on!" Tucker shouted as he picked up Junior, starting to run after his friends. But before he could make any ground, he was stopped by Washington.

"Wait!" the witch shouted as he threw himself in the ex soldier's path. "You can't go back there. It's too dangerous."

"They're my fucking friends! They might be a bunch of idiots, but that doesn't mean I don't have to help them. Now get out of my way!" he snarled, trying to move around the other man, but the witch just continued to block his path.

"Dammit, would you just listen!" Washington snapped as he pushed him back. "It's the Spirits I told you about. They did this, and they're after Theta. If you take these kids back there and the Spirits see what your son can do, they'll only take him, too. You cannot go back there. We have another team back in the village. They should be taking care of it."

"So how come the village is on fire?" Tucker couldn't quite help pointing out, fighting to keep ahold of Junior, who was struggling to get out of his arms.

Washington winced at this, briefly glancing over his shoulder in the direction the others had run off in. "Maybe I should go back. You all can wait here with Maine."

Maine seemed about to protest at this notion, but if he actually said anything, Tucker didn't hear it, because that was the moment Junior managed to slip out of his arms, quickly disappearing into the darkening forest.

"Junior! Stop!" Tucker screamed, immediately tearing off after him, even though he knew he wouldn't catch him. If Junior didn't want to be caught, he couldn't be. All Tucker could do was run in the direction he knew his son was heading, completely ignoring Washington and Theta's shouts.

Junior, if you get yourself killed, I'm gonna fucking kill you, he swore to himself as he ran. He could see the angry orange glow of the blaze through the trees up ahead, but when he finally burst out of the forest, it was still a shock to see the conflagration that had once been the village of Blood Gulch.

Most of the buildings had caught fire and the small shack on the edge of town where he lived with Caboose and the two boys was completely in flame, and the last he saw of Junior was the young cambion disappearing into the burning building.

"JUNIOR!" he cried out, prepared to make the final sprint toward the pyre that had once been their home, but before he could move, an iron fist closed around his arm and held him back. Before he could even begin to struggle, he saw Theta dart past, as fast as if he'd been on wings. When he looked back, it was to find Maine holding him in place.

"Wait."

"Fucking let me go!" Tucker snarled at the vampire hunter. Maine shook his head.

"Wait."

Tucker continued to struggle, but he couldn't break Maine's grip on him. He barely even noticed when Washington and Caboose came running up behind them. All he could do was watch the house – watch the house and pray.

Given the size of the house, it couldn't have been all that long, but it still felt like an eternity that Tucker waited for his two boys to emerge from the flames. When they finally did, Theta was leading Junior by the hand, his own pale figure covered with soot and ash while the grime was barely visible against Junior's dark skin. The moment they appeared, Maine released Tucker and he was racing across the stretch of ground between the shack and the forest. Crashing to his knees beside the boys, he caught them both in his arms, holding them tightly against his chest.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" he snarled as he hugged them close. They both hugged him back while Theta apologized and explained.

"He had to rescue Vic."

Choking back a near hysterical laugh, Tucker looked down to see the little stuffed fox Junior had tucked into his shirt – his very favorite toy.

"Fucking gods, you almost got yourself killed for a toy," he said, feeling he probably found that funnier than he should. Everything was just happening so fast.

Almost as if in response to his thoughts, a soldier came flying out of the flames, smashing into the ground barely ten feet from them. The fighter was dressed in armor, but Tucker could tell it wasn't merikite just by looking at it. It reminded him more of the spirit armor he'd seen witches form with their familiar spirits, only there was something wrong with it. Every few minutes or so, the purple-hued armor seemed to flicker, leaving a brief glimpse of a redheaded woman beneath it.

"Carolina!" he heard Washington shouting as Caboose and the hunters ran toward them. Caboose and Maine came to them, but the witch went toward the woman.

"No. Keep back," she said as she struggled to her feet, but there was something odd about her voice – like a deeper undertone. "We can do this."

"Dammit, Carolina, the fusion's not holding. You're just going to get yourselves hurt if you-"

"We can do it," the woman, Carolina, said as she pushed Washington back, though her voice was starting to sound more and more like two separate voices. "We have to."

Before the witch could protest further, another warrior burst out of the flames, barreling straight into Carolina. This one was dressed in white armor, and the moment he appeared, everyone except Tucker dropped to their knees, even Washington and Maine.

"Tucker…I don't…feel so good," Caboose groaned before throwing up on the singed grass. Junior wasn't far behind, turning his head to the side to avoid throwing up on either Theta or Tucker.

"What is it? What's wrong?" the ex soldier demanded.

"You don't…don't feel it?" Theta asked, leaning against him as he groaned in pain, clearly fighting throwing up.

"No. What the hell's going on?"

"It…it's Gamma…the one in white. There's…something wrong…with the body he's possessing," the little Spirit choked out.

"Carolina, fucking stop this! Let us handle it!" Washington tried to argue as he struggled to his feet. Tucker couldn't guess how he planned to handle anything in his current state.

"You had best not let me near him, Kathryn," the soldier in white said in a strange monotone sort of voice. "What happened the last time he tangled with a Spirit?"

"Shut up!" Carolina snarled, delivering several blows to her enemy, but he didn't seem to feel them.

"Did you really think you could fight me like this, Kathryn? Without a proper familiar? Even with York, you could not defeat me. Do you plan on getting your nephilim friend killed as well?"

At this, an enraged snarl came from the purple-clad warrior – a sound not all human and not all animal, but definitely all rage and all pain. Carolina bodily lifted her opponent and threw him several feet, immediately springing after him. When she spoke, it was with two distinct voices – one male and one female.

"I told you to shut the hell up!" the warrior with two voices screamed as she bore down on the Spirit. But before she could land another hit, Gamma was on his feet again, grabbing Carolina and slamming her back against the ground. This time when she hit, there was a sudden flash of light and there were two people lying in the dirt a few feet apart from each other – Carolina and a much larger man who had blond hair and a set of golden angel wings. The only trace of the purple armor that remained was in the color of this man's cloak.

"North! Carolina!" Washington cried out in panic, moving to run forward, but he was stopped when Gamma generated a sword from thin air, moving to stand over North.

"I'm quite certain you'd hate to see more violence, even if most of the village is already destroyed. Surrender our sibling and this all goes away. Or…perhaps you need a little more persuasion," Gamma said before driving his blade through one of North's wings, pinning him to the ground.

North screamed in agony as the sword pierced him, body jerking as a small spurt of blood arced from his mouth. Gamma twisted the sword several times, both driving it in deeper and drawing several more cries of pain from North.

"North…" Carolina cried out weakly, but all she could manage to do was roll onto her side.

"You know something, North Dakota?" Gamma started as he dropped to one knee beside the man, twisting the sword progressively deeper. "This is just how your precious York looked before he died. On the ground before me – helpless."

"That…that's a lie," Carolina ground out, barely conscious, her fingers scrabbling at the dirt. "He was…protecting me."

"Is that what you want then?" Gamma asked, leaning down even closer to the suffering half angel. "To die like he did? Why anyone would give up their own life to protect someone else's is beyond me. Your lover was pathetic."

At this, North's eyes snapped open, glowing with an intense white light. When he reached up to seize Gamma's wrist, he spoke with a voice that had the rage of the sun behind it.

"Don't you dare…talk about Finn…like you knew him!" the half angel snarled as he tore his wing free of the spirit blade. It was left half-shattered, but North was still able to lunge forward and wrap his hands around Gamma's throat, rending what little armor protected the delicate flesh.

Briefly, North managed to reverse their positions, keeping the Spirit pinned beneath him as he fought to choke the life from his body. But then Gamma delivered a harsh blow to the side of the half angel's head, easily dropping him. When North collapsed to the scorched earth, he lay completely still.

"NO!" Theta screamed, tearing himself away from Tucker and heading into the fray.

"Theta, stop!"

"Brother, please stop!" Theta pleaded as he flung himself over North's unmoving body. "Don't hurt them!"

"Ah, Theta is it," Gamma said, a sense of satisfaction clear even in his strange disjointed voice. "But you're corporeal. Now however did you manage that?"

"That…it's not important," Theta said, voice becoming small again as he shrunk back from Gamma, though he kept his own body securely over North's.

"I beg to differ, little one. Can you imagine what we could accomplish free of the need to possess a physical vessel? Now how did you do it?"

"I said it's not important. You came here for me, didn't you? Why don't you just take me?"

"Leave him alone!" Washington snarled as he suddenly shoved Gamma back, placing himself solidly between the two Spirits. Then, without the aid of a familiar spirit, Tucker was shocked to see the witch manifest a spirit sword, falling into a defensive stance before his opponent.

"And now we have the precious son," Gamma said with a stilted chuckle, easily reconstituting his own sword. "Are you going to stop me? This I might have to see. After all, we're all quite familiar with your track record when it comes to fighting Spirits."

"I won't let you have Theta!" the witch shouted before launching himself into battle with the white-armored Spirit.

"Tucker!" the ex soldier suddenly heard Grif calling out to him. When he tore his gaze away from the fight, he saw his friends heading toward him down one of the burning streets. Grif was helping Simmons walk and Sarge was carrying an unconscious Kai on his back. Donut was with them, but he looked about ready to collapse.

"Lemme guess. Simmons threw up," he said as the group ran up to him.

"Now how would you know a fool thing like that?" Sarge asked. "Thought the kid was the magic one, not you."

"It's this guy," Tucker explained, nodding toward the fight between the Spirit and the witch. "He's one of the Spirits. Whatever effect he's having, looks like it's affecting spirit creatures and witches. Did…did anyone else get out?"

"Not that I saw. Afraid we might be the only ones left," Sarge said in a heavy voice. "The other one's just about torched the whole place."

"Other-"

Before Tucker could even finish the sentence, yet another figure burst out of the burning village, bearing down on the witch and the Spirit, and before Washington even seemed to realize what was happening, the new comer had grabbed ahold of him, pinning his arms against his sides while he struggled against the new assailant – a man with dark hair and eyes.

"Wash!" Maine cried out, still struggling against Gamma's effect.

Rather than simply run the witch through, though, Gamma allowed his sword to dissolve, giving that same strange chuckle as he approached.

"It seems Sigma has already begun it. And here I was hoping to be the first," the Spirit said as he laid a hand against the witch's chest – just above his heart.

"If you don't get your filthy hands off me right this second-" Washington started to threaten as he struggled against the other Spirit's hold.

"You'll do what? You are no match for us, David. You are nothing but a vessel – an empty vessel waiting to be filled with our power," Gamma mocked him.

"Would you fucking get it over with, Gamma! We do not have time for you to grandstand! The rest of us would like a go, too," the other Spirit snarled angrily.

"A little patience, Omega. I have waited a long time for this. I know you have, too. You'll have your chance when I am finished," Gamma said, then he was burning something into Washington's chest and the witch was screaming in pain.

"David!" Maine screamed, finally managing to get to his feet. The witch couldn't react to his partner's distress, though. When Gamma pulled his hand away, Washington slumped in Omega's hold, unable to struggle or cry out. He didn't even have the strength to get free when Omega released one arm and pressed his now free hand against the same spot Gamma had burned. Washington couldn't even manage a whimper when Omega left his own mark.

"The beloved son of Leonard Church," Omega growled in the witch's ear as he held his unresponsive body in his arms. "Such a lovely creature. Perhaps we'll feed from you, too."

"Stop doing this! Please stop!" Theta cried out as he leapt to his feet. "I'll go with you. Just don't hurt these people anymore."

"That suits me just fine," Omega said as he dropped Washington to the ground, beginning to move toward Theta with Gamma close behind.

"All of the others are dead anyway," Gamma put in. "No one will care if this little town disappears. No one will even notice."

"No…don't!" North suddenly begged Theta, reaching a trembling hand up to grip the Spirit's arm. "Doing this won't make anything better, Theta. If you go with them…if you…"

"It can't be helped," Theta said miserably. "I always bring suffering to the people around me. I can't let them hurt my family. Thank you for trying to protect me. I will never forget it."

"Theta, no!" Tucker shouted, but before he could do anything more, Junior had slipped away from him yet again, moving to stand in front of Theta as the other two Spirits approached him.

"Junior, get back! Don't do this!" Theta pleaded, trying to push the young cambion away. Junior shook his head frantically, throwing his arms wide to shield his friend.

"The boy?" Omega hissed quietly as understanding dawned in his eyes. "That's how you've achieved this state? My, my, my. Gamma, have you ever seen a cambion with this kind of power?"

"I can honestly say I have not, brother mine. I can think of a few people who would be very eager to speak with him."

"If it's all the same to you, we'll be taking your child as well, Lavernius Tucker," Omega called back to him. "This is not a gift to be wasted in a backwater place like this."

Before Theta or Junior could do anything, before Tucker could argue or even pull out his pistol, an enraged white blur smashed into Omega, sending him skidding several feet away from North and the two boys. Just as Tucker realized it was Maine, the vampire's fingernails extended out into lethal claws, which he plunged into the Spirit's throat. With an angry growl, Maine mercilessly tore Omega's head from his body, crimson blood painting the vampire's white cloak with streaks of red.

Immediately, a dark sludge-like energy began to seep from the dead body, flowing across the ground toward Tucker and the others. Before any of them could react, the energy had climbed up Sarge's body and into Kai's. In another moment, her eyes were blinking open and she was standing on her own.

"Kai?" Grif started uncertainly, but his sister just sneered at him before delivering a hard blow to his neck, knocking him unconscious and sending both him and Simmons to the ground.

"Dammit, girl, what's gotten into you?" Sarge tried almost before meeting the same fate as Grif.

"I really don't think you want to know the answer to that question," Kai said in a voice that was an eerie combination of hers and Omega's.

"You're…Omega," Tucker started, finally drawing his weapon and aiming it at the Spirit. She laughed as she looked at him.

"I am, but I'm also Kaikana Grif. So what are you going to do, Lavernius Tucker? Shoot me? Enjoy explaining that to your friend when he wakes up. If you don't mind, I think I'll be going. Our partner will be very anxious to meet your two boys," the Spirit said, making to move around him.

"No! Don't move," Tucker snapped, keeping his pistol pointed at the person who both was and was not Kai Grif. "If you touch them, I'll blow your fucking brains out."

"Ooh. Will you?" the Spirit asked, grinning at him with Kai's face as he slowly started to move forward.

"Not another step. I'm warning you," Tucker said, though he could feel his hands starting to shake.

"So you've said. The thing is, I don't believe you will shoot me. Not like this," he said, moving until the muzzle of the pistol was pressed right up against Kai's chest. "After all, you won't kill me if you shoot. You'll kill her. I'll just move on to a new host and you'll be left with a dead friend and another friend who will never speak to you again. Can you bear it, Tucker? Can you survive yet another dear friend turning his back on you?" he pressed, an ugly sneer stretching across his face.

For several long minutes, Tucker just stood there, hands trembling, barely managing to the hold the gun to his enemy.

Junior. Theta. Remember them. You have to protect them! You can't let them down! Do it!

But ultimately, he couldn't make himself fire. Kai may have been a pest, but she'd been kind to him and Junior. He couldn't repay her like this. He let the weapon drop to his side, unfired.

Omega let out a malicious laugh at this, throwing Kai's head back and reveling in his victory.

"Isn't this fun! All your talk, everything you've been through, and you're still a coward. Maybe it would be best if I just kill you now and save you the heartbreak of being separated from your son. But really, that would just be too much fun to miss out on," the Spirit said, laughing right up to the moment he collapsed to his knees.

"W- what?" Tucker mumbled, uncomprehending. Before he could even begin to make sense of what he was seeing, his attention was drawn back to the fight between Maine and Gamma when the other Spirit cried out in pain. Maine had managed to penetrate one of the joints in his armor, driving his claws into the Spirit's vessel. But rather than abandon the vessel as Omega had done, he shifted away from Maine, reappearing beside the downed Omega.

"What is it with your inability to keep a vessel?" he demanded as he knelt beside Omega.

"At least I have my pick. You're stuck with that old trash heap."

"Can't control her?"

"Barely. Dying in the last host left me drained. I was hoping you'd be able to nab the brats."

"I doubt it. The boy is very strong. I would need to be at full strength."

"Dammit. They're not going to be happy about this."

"Well, they'll just have to suck it up, now won't they. This time these morons beat us to the punch, so we have to take the loss. After all, the evening wasn't a total waste. We've certainly made progress on the Initiative," Gamma said, glancing past Tucker, back at the downed Washington.

"True enough," Omega said, a pleased expression moving across his face as he looked up at Tucker. "Unfortunately, we'll have to leave you now. Don't worry, though. This isn't the end of it. We will find you…and we'll get what's rightfully ours. Oh, and before I forget, say hello to Felix for me," the Spirit said just before Gamma slung an arm around his shoulders. Then they both disappeared into thin air.

For a moment, all Tucker could manage to do was stare at the spot where the two Spirits had been. When he finally managed to shake himself out of his stupor, he realized he was the only one who was still standing. Sarge and Grif were both out cold, while Donut, Simmons, and Caboose were all down for the count, still suffering the effects of Gamma's lingering presence. Junior and Theta were both crouching next to North, who was barely clinging to consciousness, and Carolina was also completely down. Maine had also fallen back to his knees, but had made his way over to Washington, who was just beginning to reawaken as the vampire gathered him in his arms.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," the witch repeated several times in response to something Tucker hadn't heard Maine say. If the vampire said anything else, the ex soldier still couldn't hear it. All he heard was Washington's response.

"It's okay. You didn't know. I wasn't ready for it either. It's not your fault, Maine. We're okay. We're all right."

Then, not entirely to Tucker's surprise, Maine bent a little closer to Washington and pressed his lips against his in a gentle kiss.

"All right," Tucker started when he finally managed to recover his voice. "Now that you've had your little sappy moment, would one of you mind telling me…what the fuck just happened!"

XxX

(A/N) So…shall we continue?