PlVendetta moved faster than Ray-Roy could follow. Lilith was suddenly in a head lock. Vendetta's dagger held against her throat. "Why are you really here?"

"I'm really here to help." Lilith gasped out. "I have a message from Slade for you." Her hand moved and Vendetta's hold tightened.

The necromancer held her other hand out in a non-threatening way and stayed in place while she pulled her phone out with the other. She clicked a button and Slade's voice came out.

"Vendetta and Ray-Roy." He said. "Lilith Wreath is a new member of your team. You three are to get the final gems then meet me at the safe house when finished. If she is killed you don't get your share."

The voice cut out.

"See?" Lilith tried to look at Vendetta. "I'm telling you the truth."

Vendetta hesitated. Her eyes narrowed but she let her go.

Lilith stood rubbing her throat. "Nice blade you have there. Where'd you get it?"

Vendetta just glared.

Lilith shrugged. "Woman of few words. No problem. I can handle that. Vendetta right?"

Vendetta just glared.

She turned and smiled at Ray-Roy. "You must be Ray-Roy Sanguine. Nice to meet you! So, where are we going now? A safe house? Hotel? I like hotels myself but that's just me."

Vendetta walked away. Ray-Roy gestured for Lilith to follow.

…

They got to the safe house about an hour later. Vendetta disappeared to who-knows-where. Lilith was making herself right at home while Ray-Roy rummaged around for something to eat.

"So you're Solomon Wreath's daughter?" Ray-Roy said as they sat together in the dining room. There was still no sign of Vendetta.

"Yep." Lilith played with a pen. "I'm a necromancer like him too, but I use a stick instead of a cane."

"Why?"

"Because cane's aren't cool like a stick is."

"How is a stick cool? It's a stick."

"It just is."

Ray-Roy shook his head and kicked his feet up onto the table. His sunglasses were off, revealing the black holes where his eyes used to be. They sat in silence for a bit.

"Where's Vendetta?" Lilith finally asked.

"I don't know."

"Why do you not know? Don't you tell each other where you're going?"

Ray-Roy shrugged. "She likes her privacy. And I've learned the hard way not to mess with her. By the way, a word of advice. Don't make her mad. Don't try to provoke her. She has her own rules and boundaries. She doesn't hesitate in laying down the law. Got it?"

Lilith nodded. "Yep."

Another moment of silence. "Are you two dating?"

"No we are not."

Ray-Roy and Lilith turned to see Vendetta walk in wearing her usual combat wear. Ray-Roy grinned. "Hey there Pretty Lady, where'd ya run off to?"

She didn't respond and sat down on the couch. She glared at Lilith for a moment. "Why are you here?"

"I told you already," she said. "To help."

"We were getting along fine without you. Why all of a sudden you're here?"

Lilith shrugged. "Maybe Slade thinks you aren't doing well."

Vendetta's eyes flashed and Ray-Roy quickly intervened before the Vampire could kill her. "Um, I'm sure what she means is that Slade maybe is in a hurry and thinks that we'll get the job done faster with some help."

"The job gets done when it's done." Vendetta's eyes smoldered. She curled a lip. "We don't need help. Especially from a little necro like you."

Lilith's eyes narrowed. Ray-Roy knew this was going to end very badly. After another minute of the eye lock, Lilith got up and walked away.

Vendetta leaned back against the couch and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. She crossed her arms. "I don't trust her."

Ray-Roy decided it would probably be best to leave Vendetta alone for now.

…..

Razor paced back and forth next to his friends. Nicholas leaned against the wall. Flare and Bane sat on either side of Aphrodite on the couch. Aphrodite had been in pretty rough shape when they found her but she was bandaged and looking like she wanted to kill someone. Everyone kept their distance.

"What are we going to do now?" Flare asked.

"I'm thinking." Razor continued to pace.

"What about this." Nicholas spoke up. "We lure them in using stuff they like then drop a big cage on them!"

Bane scowled. "Did you get that from Tom and Jerry?"

"Maybe."

Razor sighed then stopped pacing. "Let's look at what we know. A man named Isaac Slade has enlisted help to get his ten gems located around the world. Dusk and Billy-Ray Sanguine are going after five. The son of Sanguine and whoever the heck this Vendetta person is are going after the other five. Dusk and Sanguine have three of the five gems and are working on the fourth as we speak. Vendetta and Ray-Roy have four of the five and are working on the fifth one as we speak. We need to work on getting the gems away from those two and nabbing the last one before they can. What is our next move?"

No one spoke.

"We could go with my idea." Nicholas spoke up.

"No." Aphrodite said.

Nicholas scowled.

"Let's concentrate on the final gem." Flare spoke up. "The sapphire, where is it located again?"

"In France, in a high class museum. Should be very interesting."

"Let's head there then." Flare leaned back against the pillows. "Should be easy. It is a mortal museum after all."

"Um….." Nicholas and Razor looked away.

Bane's eyes narrowed. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Well…."

…..

"The Chante De Louvre." Vendetta said as they looked down from the rooftop onto the museum. "One of the most famous and well known sorcerer museums of France. Filled with magical artifacts from around the world. The sapphire is in the North wing next to the pottery. We'll make this fast and simple. Get in get out. Then we'll head straight back to Slade and once I get paid I'll never have to see either of you again."

Ray-Roy frowned at the building. "What kind of security do they have?"

"Enough to deter normal robbers." Vendetta said. "But we aren't normal thieves."

The sun was beginning to set and the Vampire doubled over in pain. She fumbled with her pocket and pulled out a syringe.

Ray-Roy felt the color drain from his face. "Y-Ya ain't gonna do that now are ya?"

Vendetta raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather me rip off my skin and devour you?"

"Well…." Ray-Roy started to weigh the options. Then Vendetta jabbed the needle into her arm. He started to feel sick.

She put the syringe away then turned. "We're moving in"

She leaped off the building, landing on the roof of the museum, located across the street. Ray-Roy stared. He couldn't make that drop. No way.

"I have to make a quick call." Lilith stepped away into the shadows.

Ray-Roy quickly got over his remaining nausea then burrowed through the building then along the ground underneath the road and across the street. He continued up through the museum and erupted on the roof, his momentum carrying him up.

Vendetta was pulling a skylight open, tying a rope securely to a ventilation duct. Once it was secure, she dropped it down the open air vent. She jumped nimbly down, not needing the rope.

Ray-Roy grabbed it however and shimmied down to a balcony. Lilith came down a few seconds later.

"Now what?" she whispered.

"We find the sapphire."

Ray-Roy jumped and wheeled around to find Vendetta behind them. "Don't do that!" he cried.

She raised an eyebrow.

"This way." Lilith started off across the museum. Vendetta hurried to take the lead.

Lilith and Ray-Roy followed the Vampire down to the third floor. Their footsteps, other than Vendetta's, echoed against the marble floor. The guards, Ray-Roy knew, were busy sweeping the opposite side for intruders. They wouldn't be back over on this side for another half hour.

Vendetta stopped suddenly and cocked her head. She frowned.

"What is it?" Ray-Roy asked, suddenly worried. Every time she did that bad things happened.

"Hide."

"What?"

"Don't argue. Just do it."

Confused, Ray-Roy and Lilith moved back behind some columns. When they turned to look back, Vendetta was gone. A few minutes past and then a Vampire shot by. Its skin alabaster white, eyes big and black like coal. At first, Ray-Roy thought that Vendetta had shed her skin, eager to kill both him and Lilith to finish the job herself. Until Vendetta dropped down from above.

The vampire didn't see it coming. She landed right on top of it, flipping off and ending on her feet. The vampire wheeled around, ready to attack but she punched it, sending it stumbling. Vendetta cornered it at the edge of the balcony then kicked it off.

She turned. "Come on!"

Lilith and Ray-Roy chased after her, running through exhibits to the sapphire.

"Why?" Ray-Roy asked. "I thought that it was against your code not to kill other Vampires."

"I didn't kill it." Vendetta didn't look at him. "I just bought us time. You're lucky I'm a vampire too, I know how to fight the darker side of my nature."

"Look!" Lilith pointed over to a glass case as they entered a large room. The ceiling peeked into a large dome. Glass cases lined the walls. Ray-Roy hurried over to the case holding the sapphire and popped it open.

They moved back out into the hall, Vendetta listened then nodded left and they started back to where they had entered.

"Well." Ray-Roy said. "That was easy."

And then Vendetta turned, blades flashing in both hands. A couple minutes later, five sorcerer guards came around the corner.

Ray-Roy grabbed his straight razor and Lilith called the shadows to her.

Battle erupted around them, shadows and flames flashing in the air. Blood splattered the pristine white halls, screams and cries filed the air.

A male sorcerer smashed into Ray-Roy. The Texan snarled and kicked him in the knee. The man threw a punch that knocked Ray-Roy's sunglasses off. He grabbed the man and hit him repeatedly then threw him into a woman.

Lilith was holding her own ground a few yards away, her black necromancer robes blending with the shadows that rose around her. She flicked her stick, conducting the shadows to throw people away. Surprisingly, she wasn't killing them.

Vendetta was a blur of black, whirling from enemy to enemy. Her knives and daggers catching the moonlight as she attacked. She obviously had no qualms like Lilith about sparing people.

Another man came at him, fire flaring in his hands and Ray-Roy went to work.

…

Vendetta had just dispatched a woman when a wave of shadows slammed into her, nearly throwing her off the balcony. Her legs went over, followed by her abdomen. She managed to grab the edge at the last second and there she hung, half off half on. The four story drop to the foyer floor.

The vampire looked up and saw Lilith her hands outstretched. A man with a dagger swirling with shadows beside her, unconscious, on the floor. "Throw me the sapphire!"

Vendetta glared.

Lilith's eyes darted to a man running to intercept. Reinforcements had arrived and Ray-Roy was doing his best to keep them at bay.

"Quick!"

Vendetta thought fast. Her hand dug into the pocket and pulled out the sapphire. She threw it to Lilith. The necromancer caught it then nodded, putting it in her own pocket, and turned to help Ray-Roy.

Vendetta pulled herself fully over the edge onto the balcony. She picked up one of her fallen knives and turned as the vampire slammed into her.

Please review! And thanks to everyone once again for everything, I really appreciate it! Especially MJEG and SP (guest). You guys are all amazing and I hope to hear more from you. :)