A minor skirmish. Nothing to really worry about.

The Descendants of Pitch historically did this, tested the defences of a known HOG branch. You could almost call it a game by this point, both sides knew what the other was doing, it was only the bad blood of ancestors and previous events that drove them. Broken bones are usually the worst outcome, but if HOG didn't try to defend, then it might tempt the Descendants of Pitch to try something a bit more drastic.

It does us both good to be honest, keeps our techniques sharp, keeps us on our toes.

So I sat crouched on a rooftop, watching the streets intently while Taboo watched my back. The only way we even knew this was happening was because Billy had spotted a Nightmare the night before near Tanglewood, and caught the scent of about 5 Descendants. Nothing had happened last night, so we thought tonight would be the night.

I had already been here since the sun went down two hours ago, and I was stiff beyond belief. From here I could see the west of Burgess, and frost was down all across the North West part of the town, which was my section. It wouldn't catch a Fearling, but Descendants rarely used Fearlings, and the chances of Pitch showing up were astronomically low.

The clock struck ten and we gave our hourly reports to Nigel in sequence. Nothing had happened yet.

I let out an annoyed noise, but otherwise didn't move. Jamie was the only one not to report, as he was with the kids. Since he wasn't an official member of the Branch, when it came to deciding who had to stay behind at times like this, there was very little arguing.

"I heard something." Taboo said.

What?

"Nightmare, it's mine!"

Alright. I responded with mild amusement and Taboo's enthusiasm.

I quickly looked at her behind me as she jumped off, landing on the tarmac with a click of her icy paws.

I didn't see what happened, having turned my gaze back to my original position, but I heard the start of an aggressive whinny, which was quickly silenced by a clack of frozen jaws and a muffled growl.

I reached for my ear piece to activate the microphone and said. "One Nightmare dispatched in the North West section."

"Noted." Was Nigel's response. This wasn't anything too interesting, no need to get worked up.

There was a crashing noise that caught both mine and Taboo's attention. It was off to my right, and with Taboo still on the ground she went to investigate.

"Something knocked over the bins." She said. "Probably the Descendant in charge of the Nightmare."

Any scents?

"Yeah, of rubbish. Too strong to get anything else." Taboo's voice was filled with disgust, and I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose in sympathy.

Get back up here the- My thought stopped abruptly as I sensed something on the frost a couple of streets away. I focused on it, the pattern of movement, vibrations and surface area impacted, all of this was streamed into my brain for me to identify, forming a mental image.

Footsteps, armoured footsteps, little taller than me, hard to tell anything else through the metal. Behind them trotted a Nightmare.

This one's mine.

"Go for it. I got the last one." Taboo yawned, having already gotten back to the roof just before I jumped off onto another roof.

I rolled across the asphalt roof out of habit, the armour taking the impact. I stood back up and shook my limbs to get the blood moving, metal armour clanking in places. I then took off into a run, putting my helmet on and doing a couple of arm stretches to warm up.

I quickly found them and I flattened myself against the roof to watch the pair walk through the street. Neither of them appeared to be monitoring their surroundings, just looking straight ahead.

My eyes narrowed behind my visor as I identified who it was. Paura, who I used to call Purple Hair until I found out her name seven years ago. Was it really seven years since Melbourne? I was starting to feel old.

Well, it would be seven years in a month, but that hardly made a difference.

She didn't looked my way as she walked past, striding with confidence as the Nightmare strutted behind her. It made me question why she wasn't riding it, just what was she doing?

Once she was out of sight I continued to follow her via the rooftops, using her footsteps to mask mine. This part of town was silent right now, as it was a residential section. Everyone here would be asleep if the Descendants of Pitch had done their work correctly. So if I contacted Nigel right now, there was a chance she would hear me in the dead silence.

Suddenly she stopped, and looked over at where I had been watching from earlier, where I had left Taboo. I couldn't see her face from here, but I ducked down behind a short rooftop wall as Paura moved her head around in a scanning motion.

What's she doing?

"No idea." Taboo replied from her original position as well. "Heard anything from the others?"

Nothing.

"I'll watch her, you call. If she hears you-"

Run?

"That's one option I suppose."

I stifled a chuckle before pulling back the visor far enough to get a hand underneath and tapped the earpiece. "Purple Hair and one Nightmare in North West area. No confrontation as of yet, just watching." I whispered. I wasn't sure if I'd ever mentioned Paura's actual name to HOG, it had seemed like an insignificant detail at the time.

I could hear Nigel wince on the other end, he knew about what had happened at Melbourne, but surprisingly I didn't feel all that bitter about it. If she wanted to hold a grudge, then go ahead, wasn't my problem.

"Keep an eye on her I guess." Nigel sent back, his language made it clear that this was up to me from here. "Just, try not to provoke her."

"I wasn't feeling particularly suicidal tonight." I muttered back, which got a chuckle out of him. "Jackie out."

From my 'ice' sense I could tell that Paura was walking again, so I stood up on the roof. From here I could see that she was in armour as well, only without a helmet, which allowed her tied up black hair to reflect back purple in the street lights. Her black armour was bit more fused together than mine, the single pieces barely having a seam to distinguish them while they were all worn together. Unlike mine, which had gaps around the joints and in some cases around the sides of the leg and arm guards and the breast and back plate. In some peoples they didn't quite join together, leaving only the leather straps to protect the gaps.

I'm going to follow her.

"You sure? What if someone else turns up?"

I'll come back if she heads into someone else's section. I want to see what she's doing. Paura's behaviour puzzled me, she was so calm, not even trying to hide. Was she trying to attract attention? Because she'd certainly succeeded.

"Fine. I can't stop you. Just try not to confront her, okay? You've got kids to think about."

I doubt it'll come to that. I rolled my eyes. It was unlikely that she was going to go that far on what was a routine raid. She won't even see me.

I could tell that Taboo wasn't convinced, and I realised I was probably being a bit too cocky here. I kept following her however.

I stayed low, ready to drop down if she looked up and behind. Most people didn't look up, but the Descendants of Pitch knew our tactics, they knew where we liked to hide. Unfortunately.

Paura made her way towards the edge of town, Nightmare trotting at her heels. I was starting to slow down as she got to the woods though. I had to watch the town, I could keep an eye on the woods, but going in them after her was just reckless. During raids, that's where the Descendants of Pitch liked to hide.

I came to stop and lay down on the roof of the house as best I could. It had a sloped roof, so there the risk of me sliding off. To avoid that, I iced my feet to it.

I kept watching her as she made her way towards the red, orange and yellow carpeted forest, then stopped right on the edge. The Nightmare also halted right on her heels.

I frowned at the pair. What was she doing now?

Paura flicked her hand and the Nightmare took off, rearing up and cantering towards the forest before getting into the air. Where it then turned around and headed straight for me, accelerating into a gallop.

I ducked my head down as the sandy hooves nearly clocked my helmet, merely scraping against it thankfully. I had to brush off trails of its sand off my armour and I got rid of the ice, sliding backwards down off the roof and landing on the ground.

I heard a whinny and looked up to see the damn thing still charging down at me. My blades formed and I held them out above me, waiting for the Nightmare to come to me.

It flew down into the gap between the two houses and I raised the blades even higher. It levelled off before it hit me and flew behind me. I turned to follow it before I sensed something behind me via the frost and honed instincts.

I dove forward, rolling towards the now landed Nightmare, which reared up to stamp down on my head as I rolled up to my knees.

The frost that I'd placed down hours ago now had a use as it acted as a quick medium to form spikes, which pierced the Nightmare from below. It let out a loud cry before dispersing into black sand.

Remembering that there was someone behind me I dove forward again, avoiding a spike of sand that might have pierced my armour. I didn't actually know if it would, but I'd prefer not to find out.

I was quickly back on my feet and flung myself around to Paura, because who was it going to be?

"Oh for moon's sake." I sighed, and Paura scowled, her expression not helped by the long diagonal scar on her left cheek, from the tip of the lip to the corner of her eye. "You still haven't let this go?"

Seven years ago I reacted with fear. Now, I guess I was just sick of this. Sick of the guilt, I still felt it, Hell, I still had nightmares, but I wasn't afraid of someone who still held a grudge over something that happened so long ago.

"What do you think?" she snarled back at me.

"I think you're answering a rhetorical question with a rhetorical question." I noted.

A spear of sand shot past me, only narrowing missing me as I ducked, the sand thudding into the house that closed off the alley. I didn't take my eyes off Paura as she lowered her arm, fist unclenching.

"Shut up."

I stood up straight and my hands instantly went for my hoodie pocket, which wasn't there, so I settled for putting them behind my back.

"Alright. I assume you just want to kill me anyway." There was a decent chance I could take her on my own, but at the same time, I wasn't sure I wanted to take that risk. However, as that thought crossed my mind, Paura smirked.

"What?" I asked.

"You're thinking you can call in for help. Your freak tiger thing and your Branch mates. Well..." The smirk grew wider into a unnerving grin as she began to count off her fingers. "I would say in 3...2...1..."

My earpiece seemed to explode with sound, with each Branch member giving a quick report.

"Nightmares in the North East."

"Descendants in the South West and East."

"Nightmares and Descendants in Tanglewood, shit!"

Nothing from Taboo, just a lot of snarling.

Something stirred in my gut as I twirled away from a sand spike from the ground, clutching my head. I rummaged frantically under my helmet to pull out the ear piece. They clearly hadn't had time to tap the microphones off, so I could hear everything.

I ripped it out and chucked it on the ground, where it skittered away into the shadows, muffled yells and shouts still coming from it.

I looked back up at Paura, to see her charging at me with a black metal sword swirling with shadows while drawing to draw in light from the nearby streetlamps. I backed off, belatedly recognising the feeling in my gut; the sword was made from lead from the Earth's core.

"Good." Paura was smirking again. "You're scared."

The sword slashed again and I heeded the instincts that were born from the lead's appearance.

I ran.

"COWARD!"

I heard Paura furiously roar at me as I went up on a pillar of ice and then skated off. I skated hard, arms pumping as I shot through Burgess, the buildings becoming a blur. I kept going as I felt the fear trickle away. The clamour of any fights seemed further away than they should be, replaced by loud breathing rattling in my helmet and my heartbeat pounding in my head.

Well done idiot. I chided myself. You gave into fear, the one thing you're not supposed to do and have never done. And now you don't know where she is.

I made an irritated noise under my breath and slowed down before going up into the air above the town, so she couldn't take me by surprise from the shadows.

Once I was up high enough I ditched the ice path and formed my wings, becoming a smaller moving target.