AN: I like to think of this chapter as my greatest fight scene I've written yet. Working with so many people was a little difficult, but after a minute or two the words began to flow. I hope you find it as enjoyable to read as I did to write.

Chapter Eleven: The Battle

As soon as the front door exploded, people launched into their pre-determined acts. Sango rushed as soon as the door exploded, her claws ready to rip and tear. Miroku pulled out his gun, using his other hand to get another bullet cartridge ready. Like flowing liquid, he stood up in one swift movement. Ranma's arms tightened around Merle and he bolted for the kitchen. Van was right behind him, Hitomi tucked carefully under his arm.

Akane's reaction, displayed the most ingenuity. Sango froze when she realized that behind the fading smoke, her enemies were armed with guns. Two of them were male; both held firearms. They smiled and were about to open fire when a coffee table suddenly hurtled at them from across the living room. Caught off guard, they were both struck from the side, bowling them over. The other three enemies were women holding what appeared to be balls of fire. Seeing Sango vulnerable and without cover, they hurled the balls at her. As soon as they came near Sango the fireballs were extinguished, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Miroku had no time to praise Sango's growing talent at controlling fire. One of the men had gotten up. Miroku hid behind the couch and took careful aim. The throwback from the gun made his wrist ache, but he was a steady shot. He watched as the man's heart and lungs splattered against the wall behind him. The armed man looked down in surprise and remained standing.

"Shit. Sango! Vampire!" He could not hear it when she cursed, but he saw a mouth move. They didn't have the ammunition to take on a vampire.

The other man had dropped his gun and was on all fours. His clothes were shredding, large handfuls of coarse grey fur appearing between the widening cracks. Miroku's blue-grey eyes were wide. They definitely didn't have anything to take on a werewolf either! Worse, the three witches were no longer summoning fire, but ice! Miroku fired a bullet in their direction, ignoring the sting emotional of pain when he remembered he'd been taught to never strike down a girl. In its stead was the driving need to protect Sango. The bullet merely slowed down as it reached the witches, reaching a crawl before it dropped to the ground, wrapped in a fine layer of ice.

Miroku was thinking they were just a little in over their heads. He could call for help, but they couldn't be here fast enough.

XxXxXxX

In the kitchen, Sakura looked petrified, though she tried hard to reign her fear in under control. "What's going on?" She jumped when she heard the sound of something heavy breaking apart.

Ranma put down Merle. She immediately dove for the door to the living room and Ranma had to lunge to stop her. For his concern he got a series of claws in his arms. "Let me go!" she cried. The words were still clear even though she had to speak around a set of quickly growing fangs. Her stripped tail whipped about, terrifying Ranma, but he still held on. "I can help! I can fight too!"

"You're just a little girl!" Ranma snapped. She glared at him. "They take children! They do things with them… that you can't even understand!"

Sakura's ears seemed to perk up. She narrowed her eyes at him. For the first time Ranma seemed to acknowledge her He pushed away the fact that she wasn't freaking out over her friend suddenly developing ears and a tail to ponder over some other time. Her face was a furious red, offsetting her pink hair. "What aren't we supposed to understand? Assault? Eating us? Abusing us? Raping us? How about using telepathy to rip our minds to shreds to make us subservient? We're not supposed to understand that? I don't know where you live, Ranma-san, but back here in reality not only do some of us understand it, we've lived through it."

Her blue eyes were fierce. They met Merle's killing edge step for step. Ranma felt his arms slacken. "Those are the people who killed Al, aren't they?" she demanded.

"Yes," Ranma said without thinking.

Van spoke, drawing Merle's attention from Ranma. "Merle. I am going to stay and fight. I need you to look after Hitomi. Get her out of here. Take Sakura too. Go down the street and stay with Minako. You'll be safe there."

From the living room there was a snarl that was more cat then human. They heard Miroku shout some kind of a warning, and then a body was flung into the kitchen from the living room—and straight through the wall which had divided them. Ranma's heart skipped several beats when he saw it was Akane. She was coated with a layer of drywall dust, but she was still awake. She didn't even realize Ranma was two feet from her as she slowly got up, rubbing a stiff and sore shoulder, mumbling under her breath. Ranma was sure he'd heard the word 'bitch' in there somewhere.

Merle and Sakura took one look at each other and bolted-straight into the living room. The two men watched in horror as they stared through the new hole in the wall. Sango was in her tiger form and battling with a werewolf. Akane was in the middle of a fight against three witches. Miroku was wresting with a vampire, and losing—badly. The girls tore around the corner and, yelling a battle cry. Merle pounced on the werewolf when it flung Sango away. She landed on his back, tearing and biting. The wolf howled in pain and reared on human-like legs, trying to dislodge Merle. Sakura ran into the foray with Akane, delivering a kick to send one of the witches rolling away. Her hands in the air, she yelled something and for a moment the air around Akane seemed to intensify.

Ranma glanced at Van apologetically. "Take Hitomi and run."

Both of them looked shocked he'd suggested such a thing. Van was the one who managed to speak first. "That's our daughter fighting in there."

"And that's my fiancée fighting outnumbered and my best friend wrestling a fucking vampire!" His yell made the kitchen utensils on the counter clatter. Ranma was pissed. "I'm not going to stay and fight with you when those two girls are out there while we're outnumbered and we could honestly use their help! Either stay or leave. I don't particularly care which one it is, but we'd better get this fight over with sooner rather than later!" Ranma dove into the fight.

Van glanced down at Hitomi. Both of them knew they'd stay. There was never any doubt of that when Merle was involved. He pushed her towards the basement with enough force to know that she shouldn't object. Van's body was tense. He wanted to spill blood; lots of it.

"You'd only get in the way," he said, as gently as he could. "Stay there where it's safe. I'll be back soon, Hitomi."

"Van?" He glanced back at her before he shut the door to the basement. In the bleak darkness, her face was ghost-white with worry. "Protect Merle."

He smiled at her. "With my life."

XxXxXxX

"Stay within the circle," Sakura told Akane as they watched the three women circle them.

"What?" She glanced over her shoulder too Sakura behind her, reaching up to her shoulder to touch it probingly. It stung for a moment and then it was no longer bleeding. Akane turned back to face the witches who circled her. She made a mental note to query Sakura later.

One of the witches laughed. "A little witch!" she squealed in delight, clapping her hands. "Oh, look! Isn't she adorable?"

"She's an annoyance!"

"Why didn't you tell me you were a witch?" Akane demanded over her shoulder.

Judging from her tone of voice, Sakura seemed to be smiling. "You never asked me. I'll handle defense if you think you can take care of these guys."

It was Akane's turn to smile. She mentally apologized to Van and Hitomi for the damage she knew she was about to inflict on their house. "Let's see how they like being thrown into a wall."

There was no defense for the three witches as Akane's mind closed around them and plucked them into the air. Combined, their power had been sufficient enough to throw her through a wall. By herself, holding three witches, they barely made a dent as they struck the wall over the couch. Their bodies bounced off and they got up, but slowly. They weren't trained fighters like Akane was; they didn't know how to take a hit.

She felt a brief moment of exhilaration. For a moment Akane dreamed they could come out of the battle unscathed. She was blatantly ignoring how she was panting from exertion. She wasn't used to throwing such weight, or so many bodies. She also ignored the blood matting in her hair, itching her scalp. Reaching out with her mind, Akane relentlessly tried to pick the witches up again. They picked her and Sakura up. Akane had the strangest sensation of her power ricocheting back at her as she whipped through the air. The glass window dominated her vision. She released her psychic hold on the witches and grabbed for a struggling Sakura, trying to brace the impact from the girl's smaller body. She had just gotten Sakura's body in front of hers, her back ready to take the brunt of the blow, when she hit the window.

XxXxXxX

Saliva dripped down between the werewolf's long fangs. Sango lashed out, her claws severing many of the long whisker's on the wolf's face. She tried to back up more and couldn't. A tiger was large, but werewolves, except on the full moon, were never entirely wolf. Instead they retained their human forms—or some of it. He had height over her, and the bastard was using it to his advantage. The small room had become a major problem for Sango. Sango cursed, and cursed the werewolf which kept her from getting to Miroku.

She snuck a quick glance at him. The vampire pounced on him and Miroku delivered a kick at him that sent the vampire crashing into the television. Unfortunately, the shards of glass only served to make the vampire angry. With a ferocious snarl that even made Sango jealous of its strength, he seized Miroku by one arm and flung him over his shoulder, pummeling him into the ground. Miroku didn't block the fall and he absorbed the full impact of his body being flung into the floor. The vampire, without letting go of his hand, pinned him with his body.

He struggled to get up—oh he struggled! The vampire merely smiled sadistically and applied pressure on the twisted arm he held and Miroku stopped from the pain. The way he cried out made Sango's blood boil.

She turned back to the werewolf with renewed vigor. She attacked in a series of sweeps and advances that made him back up. As satisfying as it was to see his ears pull back against his head to keep him from losing one, her attacks weren't landing, and her claws, though capable of disemboweling him, might not kill him. But disemboweling him would keep him down for a good many hours. She tried to leap for him, to get some height, but his arm caught her mid air and sent her tumbling into the wall.

Then something else pounced on the werewolf. Sango took a moment for her fuzzy, blood-lusting mind to realize it was Merle. Underneath the blood lust, she felt a tremor of worry for the girl before she realized that the added strength would help the werewolf go down twice as fast.

She needed to get to Miroku. I can't let him die! I can't!

The werewolf pulled Merle off and threw her into Sango. Merle twisted in the air and landed on Sango without causing either of them harm. The werewolf, thinking they'd be knocked over, was already coming in, gaping jaws wide. Sango used her larger, feline body to push Merle out of the way, sheltering her with her body. The jaws of the werewolf clamped down on her shoulder savagely and Sango howled in pain, but she held her ground. Her tail lashed behind her, a black and orange whirlwind. If she could just get her hands on the wolf, she'd rip them in two…

Merle! Go for the stomach or the neck!

Merle looked up at Sango with a face that was still mostly human. Her large cornflower blue eyes seemed horrified. She understood what Sango was telling her: take him down; get him off me; kill him. Then resolve settled in so quickly and with such cold and brutal determination that despite the younger girl's lack of experience in fighting, Sango felt happy to have the girl on her side.

There was no snarl as Merle attacked this time. The werewolf was struggling to keep close to Sango's body. Her tiger form didn't allow her to swipe at him from his current position and he was using muscle to keep it that way. Sango was pushing back against him to keep him from pushing down unto the ground. She knew that with his superior height and mobility that if she went down on the ground now, the fight might very well be over.

XxXxXxXxX

His arm was filled with nothing but pain; pain so intense he was blinded by the tears in his eyes. Miroku cried out, and he could hear how the vampire laughed at him. God, how he hated vampires! He tried to lift his leg to knee the vampire. Even being undead, that still hurt a man. The vampire simply applied more pressure to the arm and Miroku cried out again, letting his body lie still. If he struggled, the vampire was just going to apply more pressure to the arm until he broke it. At this angle, Miroku knew just how it would break. Fracture. The bone would burst right from the skin.

Sure, there'd be endorphins suddenly swimming through his body to numb the pain and the shock, but Miroku didn't want that. He didn't want to break his arm for a good many reasons. What did he have that could possibly fight a vampire? He was pinned! He didn't have Sango's flexibility or Ranma's strength or Sango's claws… he just had his brains.

He glanced around, forcing his eyes open. The threatened to shut again as the vampire shifted, pinning down his other hand with his knee and gripping Miroku by his hair to pull back his head. Miroku's heart erupted when he saw that mouth open and the long, slender fangs suddenly descend. Something! There had to be something!

Miroku never got the chance to even look around for a weapon. A shadow flew over him and kicked the vampire in the chest where Miroku had shot him only moments before. The vampire howled as he was pushed away. Ranma landed over him, graceful and ferocious. "Lay off my best friend!"

Miroku scrambled up off the floor, rubbing his neck. "Thanks…"

"You okay?" Ranma never took his eyes off of the vampire.

"Yeah… but I'm never going to be able to get his breath off of my neck." He rubbed at his neck, trying to rub away the fetid, coppery smell of blood that clung to him. Miroku settled down behind Ranma.

"You should get Hitomi out. She's hiding in the basement."

Miroku's face turned stubborn. "I'm not leaving this fight when you guys are outnum…"

A rumbling sound cut him off. The others glanced around. Their opponents looked gleeful at the sound. The vampire, in particular, as he smiled at Miroku. "I'll get you yet," he promised. "I'll pay you back for shooting me, asshole. Let's see how you like being shot in the knee and left to live. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be begging for me to end the pain."

His expression looked like he'd eaten something disdainful, but his voice was full of venom. "I hope that you choke on a garlic clove and die." He quickly glanced around and retrieved two long pieces of the wooden table Akane had thrown earlier. He tossed one to Ranma. Miroku didn't even flinch when he felt a splinter work up under his nail. Both of them sunk down together into a fighting stance. They'd never win offensively, but if they made the vampire mad enough to forget he was fighting two of them…

XxXxXxX

The window rushed up at Akane. She felt herself strike the pane of glass, but it never broke it. In her arms, Sakura was breathing heavily. The pane of glass suddenly bent to accommodate them, as if it were made of warm plastic. They rolled harmlessly off of it, and Akane's quick reflexes helped her to land on her feet. She stared in shock at the glass while the witches were still struggling to get up from landing against a wall.

"I never even thought to use my power…" she heard herself mutter. Her arms released Sakura, who stood, fatigued and weary. Akane looked down at the young girl. Something had made that glass move like that, and Akane knew it wasn't her. She wanted to ask Sakura if it was her, but there was no time to waste.

The ground began to rumble. From their spot at the window, they could see the cars suddenly pilling up out front, filling the street and the Kanzaki's front lawn. People poured out of the vehicles: witches, vampire, shape-shifters, and-god help them—an illithid and several creatures Akane could not recognize yet. Shabranigdo was throwing all of his forces into this one!

Akane glanced back down at the girl in front of her, swaying on her feet, and made the quick connection. Hitomi's power was sight. That wasn't much of a power. If they were after the IBSP members, then they could have grabbed them some other time. Van had wings—special, yes, but nothing that required so many people to grab them. Merle was amazing for her age, and Van should be proud of her ability to protect herself, but again, nothing that needed this many people to capture.

But Sakura? Sakura, who proved herself to be a healer and capable of erecting shields and god only knew what else…?

Akane gripped her by her shoulders. She was yelling—but she hadn't meant to yell. "Sakura! Sakura, listen to me! Are you a member of if the IBSP?"

She nodded her head. "I'm in training. My partner… she…" Sakura became choked up. "She was taken, by them two weeks ago. First her, then Alphonse, and now they want Merle… well, I'm not going to let them take anyone else I care about!"

Akane could see everything suddenly clicking into place. A young girl from IBSP taken for god knows what else, and all those psychic vampires and Shabranigo himself to read her dying thoughts. All they'd need is a single memory of Sakura to know that there was another young girl they could break, or even rebuild into a psychic warrior of their own to throw back against the IBSP.

"Sakura, what's your power?"

She shifted nervously. "I… I can manipulate molecules," she said. "I can alter a substance's molecules to make it thick as a shield, like the air around us, or to make something breakable turn malleable."

The floor seemed to disappear under Akane's feet. Good God! Yes, Shabranigdo would go to this length to capture a girl with such an amazing talent! What could they do with a talent like that? No door would be safe… Jesus! If Shabranigdo got a hold of Merle and she ended up using her powers on a living person…

Her hand gripped Sakura's. "I've got to get you out of here."

"I'm not leaving without Merle!"

"Sakura!" she snapped. "Don't you get it? They're after you!"

Her face paled. "M… me? Why would they be after me?"

She tried to run, and got stuck straight in the chest with a fireball. It singed her clothes, but the shield that Sakura had erected around them was still intact, absorbing most of the damage. The witches were standing. "Don't think that you're leaving so soon, bitch! We have unfinished business!"

They never saw the attack coming in from behind. Van swooped down on them. In his hand he held a katana. The weapon was still in beautiful condition, but a few nicks and scratches indicated that it had seen use before. In one clean blow, one of the witches head went rolling from her head. Sakura let out a squeak of fear as blood gushed out in a violent spray. Van's shirt, once freshly pressed and white, was soaked with blood.

Glancing up at Akane, his eyes told her what he didn't have time to say. He told her to get them out. Akane's grip tightened on Sakura's wrist so hard the younger girl let out a small sound of pain. She released her grip, but not a lot. Van could take care of the witches.

"Merle!"

XxXxXxX

Merle had never killed someone. She had spilt blood in anger before, but always in self protection. Sometimes, it had even been accidental. Other times it had been in a fury. This was the only time that she'd ever been about to it in cold blood. Merle knew what she was doing. She knew what she was going to do.

She moved swiftly and silently. It took less than a second for her to move in close enough to bite. In one swift move she locked her still-human arms around the werewolf's body and lifted her legs. She planted her feet against his chest, her back claws unsheathed. The wolf had released Sango from his jaws and his hands tried to pull her off, but Merle was on there. It was too late. Her toes lashed in, and Merle kicked.

She never felt the blood as it seeped down her legs and matted in the fine layer of fur covering her body. She could smell it, though. It stank. Blood stank. The werewolf screamed in agony, and ran into the nearest wall. He smashed Merle against it to shake her off, and she felt her body tighten. She willingly let go and collapsed into the darkness that licked the edges of her vision. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to breathe…

Sango stood up shakily on all fours. She didn't have the energy left to give animation to her tail. It hung lifelessly between her rear legs. Blood dripped down on the floor from her shoulder. She cried out Merle's name, but the girl didn't move. Sango took little satisfaction in seeing how injured the werewolf was. Merle had done her best to disembowel their enemy, but she had no practice at it, only instinct. Instinct had not been enough. There were ten long scratches against the werewolf's stomach. They were deep. He favored his stomach in the way he stood, letting one hand protect them from further injury, but it had not been deep enough to kill him.

Merle…

Sango roared. She launched herself at the werewolf and was kicked in the head for it. The floor and the ceiling were indistinguishable from one another as she rolled. When she landed, Sango's instinct overrode her body's desire to lay there and heal. She let the predator inside of her take over.

She attacked without thinking. She dodged and was struck without realizing her wounds. She didn't think about Akane or Miroku or Merle. She thought only of her own survival, and that meant killing the werewolf in front of her.

She'd heard it called blood lust. She'd heard it called the killing edge. She didn't know what it was, just that it was good. Her body and mind were numb to everything: numb to the blood on the ground that was hers, and numb to the way his blood seeped down her neck and throat and she tore into his body. She held him down while someone with a sword finished him off from behind. She didn't know who it was, only that she sensed something inside of him reflected back at her. It took her a moment to realize what it was.

He was just as crazed as she was for the kill, the need to defend. Sango turned her back on him to face the wave of people that were coming in from the doorway. She heard guns go off, but she didn't think that they were hitting her. Then one struck her chest as she reared.

That she felt, even through the pain. The pain didn't go away. It hurt. It hurt to breathe. The cloud of rage began to clear from her mind as she stumbled backwards, trying to avoid incoming blows. Her animal form began to dissolve. She didn't know why. Half-tiger and half-human, Sango felt herself trip over something. Things seemed to come to her in a haze. It was a man… who looked kind of like a wolf. His head was laying beside his body, and it looked like a large animal had brought him down, gnawing at his arm until the bone was visible through the matted flesh…

She turned to her other side, and saw Miroku rushing towards her. She smiled at him. It was going to be all right. She knew it was. She was stronger than he was. She was a half-demon, after all. She tried to tell him that it was going to be okay, but her lips wouldn't move. Puzzled, Sango didn't understand it when Miroku fell beside her, crying.

"Sango! Sango!"

She watched the tears drip down his face. The ground shook again, but everything seemed to not care… Everything was all moving so fast, except for Miroku. Pleasant Miroku. Perverted Miroku. Beautiful Miroku.

She lifted her hand and dried his tears. Her touch left behind a streak of blood on his strained face. She could see the rage building up beneath him. Even as she lay bleeding in his arms, she admired the way he dominated his anger. It made him so easy to get a long, and so beautiful and rare when he let it show.

She licked her lips. Sango put everything she could into her words. "I thought I was going to lose you again," she whispered. Her words sounded strange.

Miroku showed her a beautiful and dazzling smile. He held her closer. "Sango, you've never lost me."

He was right, of course. When was Miroku wrong? Sango closed her eyes, accepting his answer. Somehow, the pain in her chest seemed lighter now…

XxXxXxX

"Sango! Sango!"

"Get her out of here!" Ranma yelled as he used the broken table leg to stab another vampire.

He whipped his head around to snarl at the man trying to protect them. "They shot her in the chest! I want retribution!"

"Trust a geek like you to use big words in a fight! What are you going to do, Miroku? Read them their auras until they die from boredom? You're not a fighter! Now make yourself useful and get Sango the fuck out of here!"

The next thing he knew, Van stood over them. Panting and out of breath, van looked the worst for wear. His shirt was shredded and hung from him in tatters. His expansive chest was streaked with blood both foreign and his own. His knuckles were white from holding his sword.

"You can't do much either, Ranma. Fists won't kill a vampire, nor a steak an illithid. Anything can die from beheading. Take my wife and go. I'll hold them back and then grab Merle and come with you."

Ranma wasn't going to argue. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were losing, and badly. He nodded, and dove back for Van to take his place. Miroku scooped Sango up into his arms and followed Ranma.

He went straight for the kitchen and to the door to the basement. Hitomi looked up in surprise and Ranma felt like a ghost had walked over his grave when she smiled at him. Even blind, she still recognized him. No matter how long he spent with them, psychics would creep him out.

"Van?"

Ranma would have been an idiot to miss the note of concern in her voice. He reached out and picked up her, hoisting her on his back. He was a fast runner, and Hitomi was surprisingly light. She didn't complain at all, except to gasp at the strange sensation of a man other than Van carrying her. "He's getting Merle. We'll meet up later."

Her hands tightened around his shoulders as he started running. Miroku had shifted Sango to carry her in the same way. It was a good thing, Ranma thought, that Sango was unconscious, however. If she knew that Miroku had used his belt to tie her hands together so he could sling her over his back and support her by her legs, she'd have kittens. Ranma didn't like the worry on his friends' face.

"…you're not going to grope her, are you?" Miroku shot him a look. "Just making sure. Come on. I can feel Akane. She's gone this way."

No one followed them as they fled from the house. They could hear sirens coming. Apparently one of Van's neighbors had finally decided to call the cops. They just hoped that Van could get out of their soon. Otherwise he was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

XxXxXxX

There was something to be said for having something physically different about yourself. Sango would have understood. People see that you can change your form and they think suddenly that shape-changing is your power, that there's nothing else you can do. Van liked it that way. Nobody was expecting it when they opened fire and the bullets bounced off a shield he had created around himself. Van began fighting his way over to where Merle lay. Nothing stopped him. He cut through limbs and necks and bodies without a care.

He did what he would need to do to keep Merle safe. If that meant fighting them to the very last man or using his dying body to protect her and hide her, then the cost was worth it. He would have felt the same way for Hitomi. There was no price too high to keep them alive and well. Not even his own soul.

Merle still had not moved. He picked her up and felt her body shift. She had some broken ribs. He'd have to be careful of them. Sheathing his sword and his daughter braced under his arm, Van spread his wings. He could create shields, but they wouldn't be enough to cover his wings… he had to get out quickly.

The mob was dispersing. He could hear police sirens drawing closer. Van ran to the back of the house, his great white wings tight behind him. Spreading them after he cleared the back door, he beat them. They hoisted he and Merle into the sky, slowly but steadily. He smiled, reveling at the freedom of the sky, endless and abounding with stars.

He thought he'd done it. He'd thought that everybody was out. He had thought that he'd come out victorious! And then someone got off a lucky shot. A bullet ripped through the joint in his wing. He cried out in pain and began plummeting to the ground. As the wind rushed by him he thought he heard Hitomi calling out his name, panicked and worried… but it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He rolled in the air. He had to land on his back. He had to! If he landed on his front, the weight of the impact would crush Merle! He had…

He landed on his back. He felt his other wing snap. Pain made his vision fuzzy, but he could still hear feet approaching him. Someone kicked his head, thought not out of cruelty. They just wanted to see his face.

"This is the one she wanted."

"If he wakes up, those wings could be a problem."

"Well tie them up."

Inside his mind, Van cried out, cursing and begging for divine intervention. Tying his wings would hurt. He couldn't hide them back in his body when they were injured. They'd have to remain out until the hollow bones of his crumpled wings healed. If they were bound incorrectly, the healing would begin incorrectly and then... then he might never be able to open or even spread them again…

"The bitches looked alike. This is the one we want, right? She only said that his daughter had pink hair and was a little hellion. She never told us how to distinguish between the two."

One of the figures bent over and picked Merle out of his arms, holding her by her hair. The pain was enough for Merle to start coming too again. The man held her there until her eyes opened. Merle found herself staring down at her foster father, and tears welled up in her eyes.

His wings… oh God, his wings!

"What's your name? Hm? Identify yourself you little bitch!"

Merle winced when he shook her. Snarling and curling her lip, she tried to kick him. She got him good in the groin, right where it hurt. The man released her and the other man grabbed her before she could get away. He smacked her hard against her neck, hard enough to knock her out again. The man on the ground wheezing in pain managed to laugh.

"She's a hellion all right. We'll take her with us. He must have some attachment to her, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to protect her. If the boss doesn't want her, then I'll take her. I'd love to pay her back for what the little slut did to me…"

"Just as long as you leave enough blood in her so that I can have a little snack. We were the ones who shot him down, after all. Why shouldn't we both enjoy the prize?"

The man smiled. Van's couldn't see much anymore. He wished he had lost consciousness earlier, or that it cleared enough to see their faces. When he got out, when he was able to fight again, he was going to cut out the bastard's tongue with a knife. No one hurt his daughter! No one!

"My dear friend, you can not only have a sip, but you can help me break her! With a fire like this, Shabranigdo will love to add her to her little collection. We'll ask to be the ones to break her. Oh, she'll cringe at first, but in the end she'll be so loyal to Kikyo and so afraid of us she'll be complacent enough in and out of the bedroom, won't she?"

I'm going to cut your heart out with a spoon… I'll never forget your voice, you whoring bastards… never!

XxXxX

To be Continued...