Chapter Eight:
Thierry was really mad. An angry ancient fury. Hannah was sure that she hadn't seen him like this, ever, in all her lifetimes. She could understand why, Ash Redfern and his soulmate Marry-Lynnette were both dead, they just hadn't found the bodies yet. It was possible that they would only ever find pieces. They were on the plane that had been attacked by the demon, Raksha.
They had fought so hard to be together. Ash had almost lost himself trying to slay his inner dragons, and Mary-Lynette had spent a year trying to understand why her soul needed his. And finally they had resolved everything, only to have this tragic waste.
All night, Angel, Chyana, Thierry, Keller, and Arcadia, had been going through everything possible to figure out how to kill Raksha. According to Chyana, Raksha is completely insane, and a very skilled huntress. And according to Angel the demon that created her had designed her to live forever. And then died without ever telling anyone how to kill her. The basic things – things that killed everything living, didn't seem to work. For example, beheading, that had already happened once, and she lived, and had killed the entire village for trying to kill her. This was not the kind of thing you want running unfettered around LA.
The door to the room opened, "We have a plan." was all that Thierry said.
~
Dreko got off the private jet, and was met by several vampires, one of whom was the famous Theorn, or Thierry.
"So what can I do for you Thierry?" Dreko asked casually.
"We want to buy your services. We have a problem, and it needs to be taken care of."
"I know that. It's the reason I came, now just what is the problem?"
"We can discuss this at my place."
"Fine." Dreko said coolly. Not terribly impressed. You would think a private limo would be the ideal place to conduct business arrangements. When they dragged you home, that was when you had to worry.
~
Thierry walked through the door; with him came several very good-looking people; three male, two female. Chyana thought they looked about eighteen years all the way up to around twenty nine. The apparent leader sat down on a couch just as Thierry motioned for him to take a seat.
"Now," said Thierry, "This is Chyana," she nodded a greeting, "and that's Angel."
"We've met." Angel said, "You never told me you were contacting the pack."
"I didn't know you'd have heard of them." Thierry looked puzzled.
"I know Monique." Angel said in his calm way.
"Hello Angelus." The dark haired, eldest female purred. "How have you been?"
"When did you crossover into doing good?" Angel asked, skipping pleasantries.
"When did you?" The other female demanded, blue eyes flashing.
"When I got a soul." Came the simple reply.
"I didn't turn good." Monique told him slyly, "I just work for the highest bidder."
"Where do you know each other from?" Thierry asked.
"He used to run with the pack," Dreko said, "Well, way back in our younger, wilder days."
"Can we get on with this?" Chyana demanded, "I have a business conference in two hours, I may own the company, but this is important."
"As you wish." Dreko said smoothly, "Allow me to introduce my team, that, as you know, is Monique. Beside her is Skya." The slim blond smiled, not kindly, "She's a vampire witch, and the newest member of the team, across from her is Dumas," Dumas was tall and built like a line backer, with golden hair, "He's a vampire/ werewolf cross. And our last member is Conn. He's Monique's little brother." Conn was red haired and blue eyed, with an icy expression. "Now what did you want to see us about?"
"This." Thierry motioned for a young man to out a tape in the VCR. "This video was the only one of the incident and we have it."
The TV came on and showed a dark shape glide by; it turned and headed toward a large plane. Once the light of the plane's hit the shape the room could see what it was. A very large Black Panther with bat-like wings. The pack stared at the screen, enthralled. The panther landed on the plane and it dipped sharply. The rest of the video played out what happened at the airport, and ended with the massive explosions of the plane colliding with the tower. Thierry pressed stop on the VCR.
"What was that?" Dreko asked.
"Was it a dragon?" Skya demanded, looking very excited.
"That was Raksha, 380 year old demon, created by a vampire known as 'Doc Tomb'." Thierry informed them. "So far she has killed a lot of humans, six of my people and two were very close friends ~ they were on the plane. We need her killed. Chyana and Angel will tell you everything else."
"Well," Chyana started, " First you should know about her history. She was-"
"Who cares about her history." Blue eyes sparkled with excitement, "All we need to know is where she is so we can hunt and kill her. It'll be such a -"
"Skya!" Dreko snapped at her, "When you fight any foe, especially such a powerful one, you need to know them. Chyana, please continue."
"As I was saying," Chyana glared at Skya, "She was my best friend. We both grew up in a small village in Ireland, I was a slayer, and she helped me. She truly loved the hunt, and enjoyed the kill just as much. She was always a little . . . Well, let's just say she had violent needs. Protecting our people satisfied them. One night we were out, some vampires had led us far from the village. When we came back, we discovered it had been a set up. Angelus and his group had killed nearly everyone. Then Doc decided to try his experiments on us. It resulted in Raksha becoming what you see. It also changed her nature. Now she lives to kill. She doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything on goddess green earth. All humans, demons, vampires, witches, you name it, are is a food supply and source of entertainment."
There was a submissive silence and Chyana looked at them with deep steel eyes before she continued. "Raksha is totally insane, but never ever underestimate her. She's always been a brilliant strategist, and a creative fighter. She never does the same thing twice. She changes moods very quickly. As to her weakness', well, she can't go out in the sun, but we've never found where she holes up in the day. I know she has to drink blood, and eat flesh. I'm just not exactly positive how often it is because she kills everyday. Probably just for fun. She's not picky, or maybe she is. But enjoys eating the flesh of demons, as much or maybe more then that of humans. But it doesn't slow down the human death rate. Don't bother trying to behead her. It doesn't work. So the best of luck to you. Good luck trying to kill her. You're going to need it." With that Chyana turned away, getting ready to leave.
"Wait." Monique said, "What happened to you?"
