Many miles away, a typical patrol had turned bad as four beings ran for their very lives with a rampaging beast hot on their trail. A dragon, wolf and lioness dashed into an alley, but the woman who followed them turned to look back at the Werewolf chasing them. "I hate to do this," she informed it, spreading her hands apart in front of her as she concentrated, "but you leave me with no choice!"

Ice blue eyes narrowed as the blonde concentrated, her gaze focused solely on the Werewolf. Its howl fell on deaf ears for she heard nothing, not even her own breathing as she focused and reached out to him. The Werewolf stopped in its tracks and gave a growl of confusion as it shivered. The blonde lowered her hands slowly, and as they dropped, so did the Werewolf's body temperature. When her hands fell to her sides, the Werewolf hit the pavement, instantly unconcious but unhurt.

The blonde let out the breath that she had not even realized she'd been holding as she slipped from the alley. The wolf, lioness, and dragon who had run with her now took up position at her sides again. The heels of her boots echoed around her as she walked up to the Werewolf. She stooped down beside it even as its think fur disappeared, revealing the white skin of a human male.

She sighed and shook her head. "You didn't know what you were doing. We can't just leave you here." But where could she take him?

Before she could fully contemplate that question, a gruff voice shattered her thoughts. "You'll be taking him nowhere, miss. I don't know how you did it and I suppose I should thank you, but I didn't need your help. Now step away from the beast."

"Elvira, Cindy, Blue," the blonde's lips did not even appear to part as she whispered to the animals that accompanied her, "stay still but try to get behind me when he's not looking." It was a steely gaze that met the hunter's as she stood while announcing firmly, "I'm not going anywhere. You won't have his pelt."

"I'm not after his pelt," the man returned though he kept his rifle trained on the Werewolf. "I'm just going to make sure that he doesn't hurt anybody."

"He hasn't hurt anyone -- at least," she amended, not knowing if that was the truth or not, "not knowingly."

"If he hasn't, then he will. It doesn't matter if what's left of his human mind is aware of it or not."

The blonde's unblinking eyes never moved from the hunter's as she stood her ground. "I'm not letting you kill him."

"What are you?" the hunter questioned, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Some kind of monster lover?"

"You might say that," she returned with just a tinge of a flippant edge, "but I'm not moving." She could see both the wolf and the lioness edging behind her, but her eyes did not even flicker. She kept her gaze firmly on the hunter, but their movements still caught his attention.

"No wonder you're being such a stupid bitch! You've got one of the beasts!" he exclaimed. Before she could stop him, the man had taken aim and fired. The bullet sped toward Elvira. The blonde moved to knock the wolf out of the way but was not in time to keep her from being hit. The bullet dug deep into the wolf's hind leg, breaking past both fur and skin to embed in bone.

Elvira howled, and her mistress screamed in horror that one of her babies had been hit. The lioness growled and began to run at the hunter as the dragon screeched as he flew into the air and soared for the hunter, belching out a great gust of fire as he did. The hunter ducked and rolled out of the fireball's way, firing off a shot at the great cat charging him. She barely avoided the bullet and continued on. Blue went in for another attack, but even as he let loose another fireball, a net dropped down, seemingly from nowhere. The dragon screeched again, this time in panic, and all heads swung to see him being lifted further into the air. He tore at the net with his talons, but it wouldn't rip. It didn't even burn when he loosed another fireball. He cried out again, screaming for the blonde who called his name desperately from where she looked up at him from the ground.

"BLUE!!!!!!!" Through her tears, the blonde could barely make out the form of the helicopter that lifted him into the air. Her hands shot up into the air; she was about to try freezing and breaking the net to release her precious baby when yet another shot rang out. This time, the bullet hit her, blasting into her right shoulder with enough force to throw her back to the ground. Elvira's body broke her fall, and the wolf's whimper as she fell on her tore even more at her broken heart.

Ignoring the pain that flamed through her shoulder, the young woman flipped back to her feet. Her fury had ended her tears and drastically dropped the temperature around them to a freezing level. "You're with them, aren't you?" she hissed through clenched teeth. She did not give him the chance to answer her question (not that she needed him to) as she turned him to ice on the spot. Hot tears once again sped down icy cheeks. This man had shot her Elvira and helped someone else to take Blue away, most likely to his death if she couldn't find a way to stop them. She could barely think past the grief that clouded her judgment and filled her heart. She didn't even flinch as she clenched and unclenched her hands, sending the man shattering into a thousand bits of ice that flew all over.

She sobbed aloud as the realization of what she had done hit her immediately. Elvira's whimper of pain brought her back to what needed to be done. She turned and knelt beside her beloved wolf. Bending over her, she placed the crystal she wore around her neck to Elvira's wound. The blue crystal, in the shape of an intricately-carved snowflake, began to glow the moment it touched the wolf. Even as it healed Elvira's horrible wound, the blonde called out, "Jack! Jack, I need you!"

Even though it only took seconds for the crystal to remove the bullet and repair the grisly damage, as it completed its task, a cold wind whistled through. What appeared to be a young boy, his entire body and outfit the same icy blue as the blonde's eyes, appeared in front of her. His eyes took in the scene, widening in shock. The tremor in his voice was noticeable as he spoke, "Crys, what happened?

"I don't know, Jack. I just don't know." She shook her head fiercely from side to side. "One minute we were dealing a little Werewolf situation. The next, a hunter showed up and shot Elvira. Jack, he SHOT her! Then he helped them take Blue!"

"Who? Who took Blue?" Jack asked her. He wanted to gather her into his arms and comfort her but had already guessed that he didn't have the time for that.

"I don't know!" Crys sobbed. "I don't know! They just showed up in a helicopter that didn't make any noise and threw a net over him! He tried to get free but the net wouldn't burn or tear!"

"What about your ice?" Jack started to ask but then stopped as his eyes fell on his cousin's shoulder and the blood seeping through there.

"I didn't exactly --"

"Crys, you're bleeding!"

"Fuck that!" she snapped, her ice blue eyes blazing. Jack looked at her in shock for, in all her years, he had never known Crystal to use such language. "We don't have the time, Jack, and my blasted shoulder can wait! I need you to go after Blue and find out who they are and where they're taking him!"

"Only if you heal yourself --" he started only to be cut off.

"When it recharges, I will." Jack didn't need to ask why the crystal needed to recharge. He already knew. She had used it to contact him in Switzerland and to heal Elvira with not one single thought for herself. He nodded, flew up into the air and disappeared.

Jack tried to follow Blue, but as he reached out with his powers, he could not find the little dragon anywhere. After trying for a good half hour, he finally reappeared -- in the same exact spot he had disappeared from. "Cuz, you're not going to like this," he started.

"What?" she snapped, her brow already creased in worry and fear already laced tightly around her heart.

"I can't find him. Something's blocking me out completely."

"Damn!" Crystal exclaimed.

"I'm sorry." She nodded in understanding and knew that she didn't have to tell him that she didn't blame him. He already knew. "You know, Crys, just because I can't find him doesn't mean somebody else can't. That sounds like some pretty unique aircraft and --"

She cut him off again. The glare she shot at him cut straight through. "Don't go there."

"What? The aircraft?" he asked innocently.

"Jack, you know damn well that's not what I'm talking about."

He nodded and was silent for just one brief moment before speaking again. "But, Crys, it's Blue. I can't find him. And if I can't, you can't."

Crystal sighed. As much as she hated it, she knew he was right. She had to contact her brother. She had to do what she had sworn never to do again. Endanger Angel. "I'm going to get him killed yet," she muttered.

Jack opened his mouth as if to say something else but thought better of it. "I'll keep trying, and I'll alert Big Red. If I can find out anything, I'll be at your side faster than the North Wind can Blow."

The metaphor that normally brought a laugh from Crystal for what it symbolized to the two of them didn't even draw a smile this time. She only nodded to Jack before looking back to Elvira. "Are you ready?" The wolf nodded as she got to her feet at Crystal's left side. Glancing to the right, Crys found Cindy already looking up at her. The big cat rumbled reassuringly to her as she rubbed against her right leg. Crystal knew that Cindy was trying to reassure her but, for the first time in all the time she had known the cat, it didn't help at all. A disc of ice grew underneath them, and soon they were soaring through Los Angeles on the disc.

A/N: That's it for now. Both of us have lost our inspiration for this story. If we had more feedback, it might change. But until we get it back together, this is it.