After a day or so of travel, the League arrived in Madrid, Spain. (A/N: IDK if Madrid is a coastal city, but w/e. sorry if u r particular about that stuff, but hey, it's my story, so suck it up.) They were all still grieving for Allan, but Skinner was the one to put on a brave face and go into the city, forcing Tom and Henry to come with him. Madrid was beautiful; the city was all blue water and whitewashed buildings. Skinner's eyes quickly found some lovely Spanish Belles, who giggled and waved as the three men walked by.

"C'mon, Tom! Those lovely ladies don' cheer ya up even a lil' bit?" Skinner said in a provocative tone. Tom glared at him. Henry sighed and stepped on Skinner's foot.

"YEOWCH! What was that for, Jekyll?" Skinner demanded.

"Really, Skinner, is it so difficult to show a little tact?" Henry hissed furiously.

"The lad's grieving. We all are, so just leave him be." Skinner shrugged and lapsed into silence.

After the rather depressing trip into the city, Skinner, Tom, and Henry returned to the Nautilus. There, they stayed until nightfall. They had every intention of staying there for the night…but something rather unexpected happened. The League had gathered in the library, when they heard an earsplitting crash. Everyone in the room leapt to their feet.

"Wha' the bloody 'ell was that?" Skinner cried in his Cockney accent.

"Only one way to find out," growled Tom, speaking for the first time in two days. After sitting around doing nothing, poor Tom was thirsting for action. Anything to get his mind of Allan.

Tom led the way out of the Nautilus, since the crashing had come from outside. Skinner, Henry, and Mina followed in his wake.

The foursome was making their way up the street when a bloodcurdling sound echoed through the empty streets. It was a howl. A death-bringing, terrifying howl.

"Let's go!" Tom cried, and they set of at a run towards the sound.

After much running and a bit of tripping, they arrived at the alley where the howl had come from. There, eyes blank and sightless, was a man. A furry, grotesque figure was bent over the man's torso, snapping up his intestines and swallowing them like spaghetti noodles.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Skinner muttered.

The creature looked up at the sound of his voice, glaring in the direction of the sound. The creature had a distinctly wolfy face, and its two-inch fangs dripped blood. Its eyes glowed with malice as it began to run at Tom.

"ARIYANA, NO!" Screeched a woman's voice from above. Suddenly, a small black figure hurtled out of the sky, slamming into the creature's side. The creature growled at the figure and threw it off. The body slammed against the wall.

"Ariyana, please," said the figure. Mina stared hard at the speaker. She saw that the speaker had a womanly figure to match her voice, and that she had on a wide-brimmed black hat that cast her face into shadow. She had on black leggings and a long black leather trench coat, and a black scarf covering the bottom of her face. She had two short, shining blades strapped to her back, and a Colt pistol strapped to her waist. The figure began to tentatively make her way towards the snarling creature.

"Ariyana, my friend, this isn't you," the woman murmured. The creature looked about wildly and whimpered. "That's it," the woman said in a coaxing way. "Come here, my dear one. This isn't you. Focus all your energy into changing back. Thaaaat's it," crooned the woman. With a last wailing howl, the creature convulsed and fell to its knees. The League watched in shock at the transformation that occurred.

The creature shrank considerably, until its six-foot body was barely five feet tall. The muscles vanished, the long, shaggy brown fur retracted back into its body, the fangs shrank into human-sized teeth, and where the wolf-creature had stood, a shivering, naked girl remained. She took a look at the man's disemboweled corpse on the ground, gasped, and burst into tears. The other woman took three long strides forward and gathered the smaller woman in a tight hug.

"I-I k-killed th-that m-man," stuttered the girl, shivering. "I-I'm sorry…I-I didn't know wh-what I was doing, I…"

"Shh," whispered the woman in black. "I know, Ari, I know…Here, put this on…" the woman shed her trench coat and wrapped the other in it. Then, she started to stride toward the League members, who stood in the street, stunned. She stopped several paces away and put her hands on her hips.

"Well?" She said in a commanding voice. "Are you just going to stand there, mouths agape, or are you going to tell me what the hell you're doing here?"

Mina's astonishment was abruptly replaced by annoyance. Who did this woman think she was, acting like they were the weird ones for not taking the other woman's conduct in the stride?

"Who are you?" Replied Mina in a biting voice.

The woman sighed and pulled the scarf away from her mouth and the hat off her head. The light of the moon cast the woman's pale skin into an even lighter relief, so she looked like a ghost with green eyes that glowed slightly in the darkness. Her pink lips were pursed into a tight line. "Alex Warren, mermaid, demon-hunting, ass-kicking independent bitch," the woman replied in an icy tone. "Who are you?"

"Mina Harker, chemist and vampire," said Mina calmly.

"Rodney Skinner, invisible gentleman thief," said Skinner, stepping forward.

"Dr. Henry Jekyll, at your service," said Henry, bowing slightly, but not enough to lower his guard.

"Tom Sawyer, of the American Secret Service," said Tom, not taking his hand of the pistol shoved in his belt.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Sort of," she added, more to herself than to the League. She turned and walked back to the other woman, as if to leave.

"Now, hey, wait a minute," Skinner said, taking another step forward. The woman whirled around, her right hand flying to one of the knives on her back.

"What?" She demanded.

"I haven' seen you figh' bu' I be' you'd be an awful great asse' to our League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," said Skinner in a persuasive tone that the others had never heard him use before.

"Oh? And why is that, Mr.…erm…Skinner, right?" Alex asked, her hand slowly sliding away from her knife.

"We're one shy of a full deck," Mina said, stepping forward as well. "We could use a real…ass-kicker like you," she said.

The corner of Alex's mouth twitched. The show of humor instantly faded, and her face took on a thoughtful air. "And suppose I said yes," Alex murmured. "What would happen then?"

Henry had been paying attention to the conversation, but his sight wandered to the woman behind Alex. As soon as his eyes settled on her, he heard Hyde's mental breath catch. Then, he burst into a show of questions that made Henry's head hurt.

Who is she, Henry? Where does she come from? Is she joining the League? What—

EDWARD! Will you shut up a minute, please? All the questions are making my head hurt, Henry thought in irritation, and he gazed harder at the shivering, crying woman.

For the life of him, Henry couldn't see what it was about the woman that had piqued Hyde's curiosity. He supposed she was pretty—beautiful, in fact—with long brunette hair and eyes as blue as the sea in summertime. But he still couldn't see what it was about her that had Hyde lusting for her with a passion.

Meanwhile, Skinner and Mina had been explaining to Alex what, exactly; being part of the League would pertain.

"All right," Alex said finally after the lengthy explanation was concluded. "If I join you, however, then Ariyana's part of the deal," she added, her eyes like pieces of green steel.

Mina nodded and opened her mouth to speak, when Tom suddenly broke in, saying, "can your friend control herself?"

Alex slowly turned her icy glare on Tom, causing him to take a step back, his had flying to his pistol again.

"She has enough self-control that she will not kill you, if that's what you mean," she whispered in a deadly voice.

"Well, tha's good enough for me," said Skinner, clapping his hands together. Alex went over to Ariyana and put her arm around the other woman's shoulder.

"Come on, my friend, these people will not hurt you," Alex murmured in a gentle voice.

Edward was still hammering the inside of Henry's head with questions, so he took a step forward with a small smile on his face.

"Forgive me," he said, addressing Ariyana, "but there is another man with us here tonight, and he has a great curiosity about you."

Ariyana glanced about her in alarm. "I don't hear anyone, or see anyone," she said, "so who are you talking about?"

"Well, you wouldn't see him because at the moment he is here," Henry said, tapping his temple. "Edward Hyde, when I haven't drunk an elixir that releases him, resides inside my head."

Ariyana and Alex stared at Henry, obviously surprised. Alex gave a surprised bark of a laugh. "Well, I have to admit I am impressed," she said, giving him the first real smile that any of the League had ever seen. Skinner, who was a bit of a flirt, found the smile particularly beautiful…

Ariyana's shaking hand came out from under the trench coat, and her fingers gently traced across Henry's forehead.

"I know how you feel," she said, directly addressing Hyde, looking almost past Henry, as if he could see into Henry's head. "I know what it's like to feel trapped…though, not in such a literal sense," she added, with a small, solemn smile.

Henry laughed at Hyde's reaction to Ariyana's words. He was, for the first time in his life, completely speechless.

What are you thinking, Edward? Henry thought, barely suppressing his mirth.

She is…so beautiful, Henry, Edward thought, so very, very, extremely beautiful.

"Um…yeah. So, shouldn't we go back to the ship now?" Tom said, drawing Henry out of his internal reverie.

"Oh…yes, of course," Mina said, and she, Tom, and Skinner began to lead the way back to the ship. Slowly, Skinner began to lag behind, until he was directly behind Alex, Ariyana, and Henry, watching Alex's hips swing gently as she watched, back and forth, back and forth…

Alex sighed. "Please keep your thoughts to yourself, Mr. Skinner," she said, without turning around.

Skinner stopped in his tracks, completely taken aback. "Wha' are you on abou'?" He demanded.

Alex glanced at him over her shoulder. "Mr. Skinner, I asked you to keep your thoughts to yourself because I doubt that anyone here wishes to hear what you think about my ass,"

Tom, Mina, and Henry all burst out laughing. Even the timid Ariyana gave a small giggle, and Alex smiled demurely at Skinner over her shoulder, before striding a bit faster, leaving a disgruntled Skinner in her wake.