Yeah, so I'm back. Somethings changed in my scheduale to make it a little less stressful, but I still probably won't be back to updating like I did till next week. I promise to upload again at the end of the week though. HOpe you enjoy! Review if you want

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Chapter 10: Discussions

Inara sat at a desk in the library as men from the village filed into the large room. Her boots propped up on the cleared desk, she was already putting men in different categories of the plan. Inara and Gabriel had two plans, one which included the town's men, and the other which involved just the two of them. They figured that the first one would be the easiest, and more efficient, so that was why there was now thirty, middle-aged, men standing in the room. They looked nervous, making Inara smirk as Gabriel entered the room with the mayor.

"Here they are, all the men that are willing to help."

"Adrian you liar! You said that we had to come here," shouted one of the men. Gabriel turned to glare at the mayor, who shrunk away with a whimper and a shrug.

"I'm... sorry, it's in my nature..."

"Leave," Gabriel snapped. Adrian jumped and ran from the room, leaving the two knights alone with the group of men. Gabriel rolled his eyes and walked over to them. "If any of you do not wish to take part in this, then leave now. I'm not going to lie and say this is going to be easy, or safe. I'm not even going to say that you'll all make it back alive. I am going to say that you will be protecting your family and friends. If you don't wish to participate, then leave now." For a moment no one moved, then slowly, men began to leave the room. At the end there were only a dozen men left. Gabriel sighed, turning back to Inara, who just shrugged.

"It's still enough to pull off the plan," she smirked, standing and rounding around the desk. Gabriel nodded, this was the Inara he remembered, cool, collected, a fighter. The woman turned and walked in front of the men, who sized her up without much censorship.

"I know that you all must find it pretty hilarious that you're going to be expected to take orders from a woman," Inara smirked, "but you will or you will be gone, or dead, I don't care which." This caused the smiles on a few of the men's faces to disappear, but caused Gabriel to smile. "I am trained in killing werewolves, but because we don't know how many, that's why we are asking for assistance. The plan is easy, I assume that you all have some type of gun, that will basically be your job."

"Surely you don't need all of us," smirked one of the older gentlemen. It's just a big dog." Inara smirked, shaking her head as she walked over to the man. Gabriel grinned, knowing that evil look.

"A big dog? Have you ever seen a werewolf?"

"No."

"I assumed so. See, I've seen many werewolves in my time. If we were talking about a young werewolf, a child turned, then maybe your description would fit." Inara was right in his face, and even though this man was almost a foot taller than her, he took a step back, intimidated. "Adult werewolves stand almost nine feet tall. Their claws are like knives, their teeth, like daggers. They hunt to kill, not to turn. If you're killed you're the lucky, but not always so. Sometimes they'll start eating you before you're even dead. And when they're done, there is nothing yet. Pray, my friend, that what we're facing is just 'a big dog' and not a full grown monster."

"Inara," Van Helsing calmed.

"I'm just telling the truth," she shrugged innocently, but she took a few steps back, winking at the man as she returned to that desk.

"We will split up into two teams. Team one will accompany myself, and the other will watch over the bait," Gabriel explained, rolling out a map on a near by table. "We're going to need all the silver in the town collected to make bullets for your rifles, and the latest reports on..."

"Excuse me?" Gabriel looked up to see a scrawny looking teenager poking his head out behind the adults.

"Yes?"

"What's the bait?"

"I am," Inara smirked.

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"What the hell was that about?! I thought we agreed that we were going to catch a live deer!" hissed Gabriel. The men were already gone, preparing their rifles and nerves for the upcoming trap. "When the hell did you decide to agree for a suicide mission?!"

"You know as well as I do that werewolves would much rather have human over deer. Besides, this isn't the first time we used me as bait."

"That was because it was in Greece and you were the only one not effected by the siren," shot Gabriel. "This is different."

"I'm faster than you, and all of them. I can do this Gabriel, it's better this way."

"No, it's a suicide. If DeVoyl finds out..."

"When did you actually start caring about what the Cardinals think?"

"When it concerns you I listen. Do you not remember how angry they were when they found out about Greece?"

"That's because we took that friar, Christopher, with us and he couldn't keep his big mouth shut," Inara smirked.

"You weren't the one that got chewed out for putting the first female knight in danger."

"Gabriel, our job is the epitome of danger, and how dare the Cardinals patronize me. I'm not a china doll." The male knight let out an exasperated sigh, running his hand through his hair.

"This is insane, Inara."

"Yeah, I know, but it's our best chance for success."

"It doesn't mean I have to like it."

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I know it's kinda short... sorry... my head's been fried with papers and a really nasty head-cold. Ugh I hate the autumn/winter change. W/e, I'll update in a week! Review if you want!