To whom it may concern.

Yes, we're back. Tentatively. I personally trust about as far as I can throw a Volvo, but fans of these fics have asked that I continue to update here on However, this will not be the main place to find our fics. We will always update our Message Board waay before we even think about And if deletes any more of our fics without due cause and without explaination, we're gone.

Lashana Inferno

Darkside of the Moon

Chapter 9

Aiden yawned softly as she rubbed at the back of her neck, trying to ease the tenseness there as she and A'Janae followed Leo back to the lair. It had been an amazingly boring night. There hadn't been a trace of Moira anywhere, and even Leo had seemed surprised at the significant lack of crime on the streets. That, she knew, was a direct result of Moira being in the area, even though there hadn't been a reported killing in over a day.

A'Janae echoed her yawn from beside her, and she shot the Jamaican a sympathetic smile, knowing that her friend was just as tired as she was. Unlike Leo, who seemed to have a boundless supply of energy when it came to patrolling parts of the city, she and A'Janae were still suffering from Jet Lag and in great need of a warm bed and twelve hours sleep.

Unfortunately, once they reached the lair, it was painfully clear that going straight to bed wasn't an option.

"What happened?" Leo demanded when he saw Talia next to the couch, standing over an semi-conscious Ace as she lay a damp cloth on her sister's forehead. His gaze cut to Donnie and Kaia, and he frowned when the latter winced and avoided his gaze. "Donnie?"

"We... found Ace's contact," the other turtle sighed as he shifted in the chair he was sitting in and let Mikey rearrange the icepack that was resting on his left knee. "Turns out he was a Water Sprite and that he and Ace had a history. Also turns out that we've got some Fae among us."

Aiden sighed and glanced at Kaia, who gave her an apologetic look. "Bloody 'ell."

Leo glanced back at her when he heard that. "You knew?"

"We didn't think it was important," Kaia answered for her, drawing his gaze. "It just... seemed safer to keep it to ourselves. I didn't know Ace's contact was another Water Sprite. If I had, things wouldn't have gotten as far as they did."

"Carumba! What happened!" Eyes wide, Esper jumped down the stairs and darted her gaze over her friends, her attention quickly drawn to Leonardo, who looked far less than pleased. "Qué?"

Raph followed her down at a more lazy pace, glancing around before frowning at Leo. "Geez, what crawled up your butt and multiplied?"

Mikey grimaced and shot him a disgusted glare. "Ugh, thanks for the mental picture, bro."

Rolling her eyes, Aiden walked over to the couch and knelt to be at eye level with Ace. "You okay?"

"Ugh, I've got a headache the size of Texas and I don't dare move because I'm afraid I'll throw up," the woman groaned, raising a shaking hand to pull the wet compress down over her eyes. "Drained m'self. M'outta practice."

"Out of practice? You never even started practicing," Talia reminded her wryly. "You're lucky you didn't put yourself into a coma!"

"Luck smuck," Ace moaned. "Rather be in a coma. Hurt less that way."

Donnie shot a worried look her way, then returned his attention to Leo. "Ace is half Air Pixie, only she's been trying to ignore her powers. She got into the fight with Aros, her contact, in a major way. Only she's never fought before so..."

"It's a good thing Kaia kicked ass," Mikey finished for his brother as he jerked his thumb towards the nervous blue-haired girl. "Else we'd be fishin' these guys outta the river."

Esper frowned and looked at Kaia, wondering exactly how much Donnie had witnessed. At the Sprite's downcast look, she guessed that he had seen a lot. Now the challenge was to try to salvage the situation. "Talia?"

The girl met the Were's gaze for a moment before sighing and looking at Aiden. "No other choice, hmm?"

"Guess not," the other woman sighed, running a hand through her hair as she moved to stand behind the couch, leaning on it casually as she gazed over at an expectant Leo. "Talia and Ace are only half human. Ace is half Air Pixie, as you now know, and Talia's half Forest Pixie. Kaia's a full blooded Water Sprite. A'Janae and I are Human, but we're not without magicks of our own. She's a Seer, I'm a sorceress. Esper, as you all know, is a Were."

"Forest..." Growling, Raph sent a glare in Talia's direction. "'Gift' my ass! You knew you were gonna win the bet the whole time!"

"Well, duh," she shot back. "I wouldn't have done it otherwise."

Ace whimpered. "No yelling..."

"But why didn't you tell us in the first place?" Mikey frowned, meeting Talia's gaze when she looked at him apologetically.

"Appearances are one thing, Mikey. But we've all had problems because of our magicks and because of what we are."

"Like what?" Leo asked softly, genuinely curious.

Aiden rose her gaze to his. "Think Salem Witch Hunt. Then add in automatic weapons."

A snort from across the room drew everyone's gazes to the Were, who grumbled something about poachers under her breath, her fangs quite visible as her upper lip curled in disgust.

"Look," Aiden continued. "We just wanted to make sure. Two days ago you lot knew nothing about magicks, the Fae or Weres. We were waiting to see what your reaction to Esper would be."

"Oh, muchas gracias, amiga," came the sarcastic snarl. "Nice to know that I can be of use to the Tribe. Fling me into the fray and wait and see if I get my tail scorched."

"It was a good idea at the time," A'Janae shrugged, earning herself a venomous glare from the Were. "Well it was!"

"Alright look," Ace muttered from her prone position on the couch. "I'm sorry, Kaia's sorry, everyone's sorry!Okay? Happy? Now can y'all please just stop yelling? My head really hurts..."

The pitiful whimper that ended her tirade made Donnie push the icepack off of his leg and get to his feet, brushing past Mikey as he moved to the couch and gently scooped Ace into his arms. "C'mon. I'll let you take over my room. It's further away than the train car, so it's a lot quieter."

Leo frowned and turned his gaze to Kaia. "How bad was it?"

"Well... let's just say that there'll probably be a story in the papers about a large portion of the docks going missing," she replied a little sheepishly. "Along with a freak windstorm that came out of nowhere. Oh, and the tornado."

Mikey's eyes widened. "Tornado!"

"Ace is an Air Pixie," Talia reminded him. "Wouldn't be that hard. Though it couldn't have been too powerful, considering that she came to New York in the hopes that the pollution here would squash her Pixie magicks into nonexistence. She's never been happy to be half Pixie, y'see. I'm surprised that she actually knows how to use her powers."

"Oh, she knows," Kaia smiled. "She knows a lot. She just has to work on her endurance. Once she had the proper motivation, she got right into the swing of things."

"What motivation?" Truthfully, Leo wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Aros attacked Donnie. She snapped and went all out."

"I knew it!" Talia grinned, blushing when everyone looked at her. "Uh... nevermind."

"Stop matchmaking," Esper told her as she stretched her arms above her head and headed for their train car. "Since there's no emergency, I'm going to sleep."

"You gotta love how she just takes this kinda stuff in stride," Mikey smirked, sending a pointed glance in his brother's direction. "Right Raph?"

"Shaddup," the turtle in red growled. "Stop matchmaking."

Morning came far too soon for all of the girl's tastes, brought on by the sounds of what turned out to be a full scale wrestling match between Raph and Mikey. While A'Janae simply pulled the blankets over her head, Talia, Kaia and Aiden trudged out in search of a bathroom, food and caffiene, not nescesarily in that order. Their moods, already sour from the early wake up call, grew darker when Talia found Esper still curled up in her jaguar form, snoring away.

That discovery was quickly remedied with a glass of cold water. And thus another ruckus broke out in the lair, this time caused by Talia and Esper as the latter chased the girl around the room. This too, was quickly brought to a halt, when Mikey jumped into the fray and in a strike of genius - or perhaps evilness - threw Klunk's catnip toy right into the jaguar's face.

And thus they all learned that jaguars were indeed affected by catnip. Or at least Esper was. Hence the fact that she had sprawled herself out on the living room carpet in her jaguar form, purring gleefully at nothing in particular while she batted at things that only she could see. This wasn't aided by the fact that Klunk, now also inebirated by the famed catnip, had dragged the toy over to the Were, thus adding another hour to the catnip induced reactions.

Naturally, pictures were taken. Especially when Mikey dug up another one of Klunk's cat toys and sent the jaguar on a merry chase after a remote controlled plastic mouse. It was even funnier because Esper was drugged out of her mind and thus kept tripping over her own paws and tail.

Three hours later, a hungover Esper, once again in her Human form and in control of herself, staggered into the bathroom and locked herself in. No one was stupid enough to argue.

After half an hour, straws were drawn to see who would end up going to see if she was alright. In the end, since the winner - or loser, depending on how you looked at it - had adamantly refused to go, it was agreed that Raphael would be the best sacrifice. Not only had he already survived her temper once before, but Mikey had come up with the conclusion that since Raph was the only one among them that had experienced a severe hangover, he was the only logical one to send in.

Naturally, this didn't go over very well.

"Me? Why the fuck should I go!"

"Um... because we're too young to die?" Talia offered, smiling at him cheerfully when he glared at her.

"Not in my books ya ain't. This is all yer fault anyway!"

Mikey blushed and scratched his cheek. "It's not like I knew catnip would do that too her."

"But you were the one to bring out that mouse on wheels," Kaia added.

Talia smacked her on the arm. "Shh! You're not helping!"

With a roll of her eyes, Aiden lounged back in the chair next to the couch and idly played with the hem of her tee shirt. "As if you two need any help."

"Hey, I didn't see you trying to stop us," Talia accused with a glare. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who brought out the camera!"

Leonardo, who had previously been in the dojo, chose that moment to join in on the conversation, wiping sweat from his face with a towel. "Would someone like to explain to me why there's a Were throwing up in our bathroom? I tried to get in to take a shower and nearly lost an arm."

"One word," Raph growled as he folded his arms over his plastron. "Catnip."

That took a second to sink in. "...oh no." He glanced back the way he had come as a low murmur from the hallway where the bathroom was caught his attention, wincing when it was followed by a feline shriek of rage and a yelp of fear.

"Sounds like Donnie just found Esper," Aiden mused, looking over at the other turtle that staggered out of the hallway while clutching his chest. "Enjoy your workout?"

"I nearly jumped out of my shell!" he cried as he tried to convince his heart that it really would be a good idea if it slowed down a little. "What's wrong with Esper!"

"Catnip," Leo explained, shrugging when his brother shot him a look of worried surprise. "Apparently there were pictures taken. How long was she out of it, anyway?"

"Oooh, three hours, give or take," Mikey replied sheepishly.

"Three hours? Shit, Mike, no wonder she's so sick!"

"Oh, like you noticed," he shot back, frowning at Raph. "You were holed up in your room listenin' to music!"

"I didn't know jaguars could be affected by catnip," Donnie frowned, glancing from Leo to Kaia when the woman shrugged.

"Don't think they usually are. But Were-Cats are different that way. Their true forms are that of a certain species, like a jaguar or tiger, but they still carry the traits and instincts of all their ancestors, from housecats to sabretooth tigers."

"I think I remember Esper telling me that her great grandmother was a tiger," Talia mused. "Then she switched to Spanish and gave me this long explaination about how the reason she didn't have stripes was because her mother's genes were dominant over her fathers. Didn't know she even knew about genetics."

"Well, she has picked up a lot in the past few months," Aiden pointed out.

"This is really nice and interestin' an all," Raphael growled lowly. "But how the hell is this gonna help Esper?"

Donnie immediately shook his head and stepped away from his brother in red. "Don't look at me, I'm not going back there!"

Mikey smirked. "Whoever votes that Raph should go, raise your hands and say 'Aye'!"

Six hands shot into the air. "Aye!"

Raph glared at them until no one dared meet his gaze, then growled and stalked for the bathroom.

"Well, now that that's settled..." Grinning cheerfully, Mikey hopped off the couch and beamed at the others. "Who wants waffles?"

"Waffles! They send me in to get my arm ripped off and they're making fuckin' waffles..." Grumbling, Raph stomped over to the bathroom door and pounded on it hard enough that the walls shook. "Hey! Ya ain't the only one who lives here!"

There was a low growl. "Go away!"

"Nuh-uh! Open the freakin' door!"

"No."

As the sound of running water filtered through the door, he frowned and drew a sai, glancing around for a moment to make sure no one was around before he inserted the tip of the middle prong into the lock. A slight tweak and a nudge later, the soft 'click' of the door unlocking reached his ears, and he grinned smugly as he turned the handle. "If yer not comin' out, I'm comin' in!"

When he didn't get an answer - or the sight of claws coming at his face - he pushed the door open and peeked in, frowning at the sight of her perched on the edge of the tub while she held a wet cloth to her flushed forehead. "Damn, you look like shit."

"Oh, muchas gracias, señor idiota," came the sarcastic groan. "Did you come here just to tell me that?"

He rolled his eyes and shoved his sai back under his belt as he walked in and kicked the door shut, thunking the toilet seat closed before sitting down and looking at her. "That stuff really did a number on ya, didn't it?"

"I want to die."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Sighing, he stood and rumanged in the small medicine cabinet over the sink. "Think that you can handle swallowing a few pills?"

"I think that if the scent of food from the kitchen gets any stronger that I'll be throwing up again."

"Warn me first." He grimaced and tugged a box of Gravol free of the mess, tearing it open and popping one of the flavored tablets free of it's little foil blister. "Here. Chew this. And don't gripe about it, just do it."

She rose her head and looked at him for a moment before she took the pill from him, eyeing the orange tablet for a moment before popping it into her mouth, grimacing at the taste of it. "Raphael, this is seriously not helping."

"It will. Just give it a few minutes." The items in the cabinet started to landslide then, and he hasitly slammed the mirrored door shut, giving it a good shove to make sure the lock had taken before returning to his seat. "You look like you went on a three week drinking binge."

The glare she sent him was seriously dampened by the pitiful groan that left her, and she winced at the sound as she rose one hand to her head and the other to cover her mouth while she tried to remember the last time she had felt this bad. She heard Raph move again let him tug the facecloth out of her hand, listening as he turned on the sink taps and remoistened the cloth. "What was that stuff anyway?"

"You don't know?"

"No."

He smirked, trying to keep from chuckling. "It's called 'catnip'. It kinda like a trippy drug for housecats. Makes 'em all happy. Klunk loves the stuff." He turned off the taps and wrung the excess water out of the cloth before sitting near her again and holding it out to her. "Looks like it has the same affect on you, 'cept Klunk doesn't usually have hangovers after being near the stuff."

Groaning, she took the cloth from him and held it to her face, smiling a little in comforted surprise when she found it warm instead of cold. "...gracias."

"That means 'thanks', right?"

"Si. Yes."

"...yer welcome... Just don't tell anyone." At her curious look, he smirked. "Gotta uphold my reputation of bein' an asshole."

"Oh, si, of course. May the Gods forbid that anyone thinks otherwise."

He grinned at the sarcasm and rose to his feet again as he met her gaze. "S'right. Now, ya'd better give up the bathroom before one of the others grows a spine an tries ta throw you out. Can ya walk?"

Frowning, she gingerly used the edge of the tub to push herself to her feet, groaning when the world around her tilted and spun wildly. Arms wrapped around her waist, and she automatically leaned into the strong hold as her knees threatened to give way, making her clutch at Raph's shoulders in a weak effort to keep herself upright.

Sighing in mixed exasperation and sympathy, he reached out to open the door before carefully lifting her in his arms, making sure not to jostle her as he went back into the main area and headed for the couch, then altered course in mid step and brought her to his room instead. "No one'll bug ya here," he told her as he set her on his bed and then took a moment to kick a magazine under his nighttable. "You get some sleep, kitten."

A sleepy growl came from her as he threw a blanket over her and tucked it around her. "Don't call... me that... idiota..."

He smirked at the mumble and silently slid the door closed behind him before the scent of Mikey's waffles caught his attention, and he immediately headed for the kitchen, folding his arms over his plastron as he leaned against the doorway. "Bathroom's free. Chicken-shits."

"We are not!" Talia protested with a glare. "We merely..." she glanced to Kaia for help.

"Choose our battles carefully," theWater Sprite finished for the Half-Pixie. "Well, all of us except for Ace."

"I resent that!" Eyes narrowed, the lavender haired woman kicked at Kaia's leg under the small kitchen table, wincing when she hit her sister instead. "Sorry."

"Sorry my ass," Talia grumbled as she lowered a hand to rub at her aching shin.

"Anyway," Mikey grinned as he licked extra waffle batter off a spoon. "What's the plan for today?"

"Donnie an I are gonna try to do a little hacking to find out more about those killings," Ace answered as she leaned back in her chair, pushing off the floor until the chair was balanced on only two legs. "Food first though."

"Definately," the turtle in purple agreed. "While we do that, Leo and I were thinking that, when Esper's better, that she and one of us should go out and try to track down those Were's that ransacked Ace's place."

"Dunno if she'll be up to it," Raph muttered. "She's really out of it."

Aiden frowned and nibbled on her right index fingernail. "Well... I suppose I could do a seeker spell. It's not as neat as Esper's tracking skills, but it'll get the job done. I'd have to go back to Ace's apartment though."

"Not an option," Leo said sternly. "It's too risky. If those Weres found Ace's home, they might be watching the place."

"Yeah, and they might be tryin' to hunt her down too," Talia countered. "And if Esper could follow our scents down here, another Were could too. So why not find them before they end up on your doorstep?"

"Pipsqueaks gotta point," Raph agreed. "Rather find 'em before they find us."

"It wouldn't be wise to confront any Weres without Esper present," Kaia frowned. "As a Werejaguar, she would be able to insure our safety against any except perhaps a Weretiger."

"Or a pack of wolves," A'Janae spoke up, having been silent for the entire conversation, choosing to listen to all angles of the plans before offering her opinion. "Ace may be a target from a rival pack of Werewolves. After all, you said yourself that you are friends with a werewolf, the owner of the Electric Nation."

"Nuh uh, wouldn't happen," Ace said as she laced her fingers behind her head. "There's nothing they'd gain by gettin' me. Rayard isn't part of a pack. He's an outcast, he prefers Human company to Weres."

Mikey poured batter into the waffle maker as he spoke. "They why would anyone be after you?"

Ace smirked. "You mean besides the fact that I hack computer systems for a living, generally get into fights in bars and dance clubs and shun everything that I am?"

"Point."

"Either way, we should wait till nightfall before doing anything major," Aiden mused. "If anything, it'll give Esper time to recover, and plenty of time for Ace and Donnie to do some decent hacking."

A'Janae's nose wrinkled. "And that leaves the rest of us to do what? Sit here in a comatose state and stare at the wall?"

"We got an old can of paint," Mikey offered gleefully. "You could watch paint dry."

Kaia joined the other women in 'booing' him and chipped in a bit more by gathering the moisture in the air into her right hand and then lobbing the small ball of water at him, grinning evilly when he shot her a pitiful look while he rung water from his orange bandana.

"Screw that," Talia muttered. "I'm heading for the closest mall and I'm not coming back until closing hours."

"Oh sure, the mall. And what the hell are you gonna do there without any money?" Ace countered, paling when her sister grinned mischivously and held up a very familiar piece of plastic. "That's my Visa Gold Card! Why you little--!"

"Ack!" Vaulting from her chair, Talia barely dodged her angry sister's lunge, then darted behind Raphael and grasped the edges of his shell, turning him this way and that to ward off her sister.

"Hey!" Growling, Raph tried to twist out of her hold, very aware of the giggles from Kaia and Aiden as he tried to get Talia off of him without actually having to hurt her. "Leggo of me you little Pipsqueak!" Giving up on going easy on her, he reached back and grabbed one of her arms, hauling her off her feet and holding her in front of himself, glaring.

"Uh..." Still hanging there, Talia smiled and rose her free hand to wave at him. "Hi?" When he merely glared some more, she glanced from her oncoming sister, then back to Raph. Figuring that it was time for desperate measures, she reached out and pulled at the Earth energies below them, grinning at Raph's cry of surprise when the ground beneath his feet lurched, weeds growing out through the cracks to curl around his ankles, distracting him enough that she managed to wriggle free and bolt from the kitchen.

"Get back here!" Eyes blazing silver, Ace leap frogged over Raphael who was using his sais to cut through the vines tied around his ankles and sprinted after her, screaming in rage when Talia laughed in triumph and waved the Gold Card above her head.

Kaia sighed and joined the others at the entrance to the kitchen, wearily watching the two sisters run around the lair. "Pixies," she muttered in amusement. "Always knew they were a little off."

"I heard that!" Ace yelled, pausing to glare at Kaia and thus losing sight of Talia, who grabbed a pillow from the couch and smacked her upside the head with it. "OW! Why you... Get back here!"

Leonardo watched the chaos for a moment before chuckling and glancing over to share a look with an amused Donnie, the two of them sharing a common thought as they both smiled and quoted one of Splinter's most used phrases when describing situations like the one that was playing out in the livingroom. "Kids."