The Fox and the Crow

A Crow was sitting on a branch of a tree with a piece of cheese in her beak… just to show the Fox that she could sing she gave a loud caw. Down came the cheese, of course, and the Fox, snatching it up, said, "You have a voice, madam, I see: what you want is wits." –Aesop

Bullets rang out in the warehouse district; explosions were going off in the near distance. Riko had just fished taking out a couple of dark guild members in the warehouse he was in. He and his team were systematically going through the warehouse district clearing out the new drug ring that had formed call "The 12 Crows". All Riko knew was that a new mob boss moved in about three months ago and slowly taken out the dark guild masters, drug lords, and executives of the illegal trading companies and unified them all under one mafia boss known as "The Shadow Master".

He seen movement out of the corner of his eye to the left up on the giant wooden crates marked for export to Seven. A flash of a long blonde braid told him who it was. Zosia's newest recruit, some chick from Bosco. He'd been too busy to learn any details about her other than she could be deadly up close with a pair of daggers. He didn't do too much digging on Zosia's people. It kept everyone safe because they couldn't be questioned about their own spies. He picked up him paced as he heard the familiar sounds of fighting.

He rounded a corner to with his twin ladies drawn and ready. The scene he came upon was somewhat confusing. The petite blonde wielding twin daggers doing the dance of death with a man that was the size of Walker but had a taste for ice. The brute was laughing as he made his own twin blades as the circled each other. "Aww come on pretty. Let's not fight. Come 'ere and give Bronx a smooch. I won't bite much." He laughed.

"No thanks meathead. I like my men who look less like a dildo and that don't break into women's apartment's and kill their pet snakes, you big douche." Cat spat back at the bald headed monster. She had been tracking this man for two weeks. She had been in the Foxes for three weeks and had been giving this task. Apparently, this dipshit and two others broke into a guild mates flat, tried to "persuade" her to join this shitty crow guild to make drugs, and when she escaped they trashed the place and killed all the poor woman's pet snakes. She had already track and taken into custody the shadow mage and other seith mage. Now she had the ice make mage enforcer to apprehend.

"Stupid bitch deserved…" the monster started but a double shout had rang out. The man just dropped to his knees, fell forward into a puddle of blood that was forming around his head. Cat didn't flinch but ran forward toward the now dead body, her eyes flaring to life with the green light as she tried to grasp hold of the man's soul before it left his body, "No! No! No! You big dumb bastard don't you fucking die yet!" Cat screamed. She was kneeling in the puddle of blood, grabbed the man by the shirt and rolled him over onto his back. She saw the bullet hole mid-chest and in his neck. She wasn't trying to staunch the blood flow she searched with her eyes for the tell tell little flickering flame that resides in everyone's chest. "There you big dumb idiot. Never would have taken you for having a pink soul." Cat's magic latched onto the little flame and coaxed it out of the dying man's chest. She pulled a magic container from her belt and placed the little flame in it. She got out her cell and dialed a number but before she could say anything to anyone that may have pick it up she felt the hard tip of cool gunmetal on her scalp. The voice that came with it was one she would never forget.

"Give me one reason seith, why I should let you live and not give you another hole in your pretty little head?" Riko seethed at the blonde seith mage. The woman didn't flinch. She didn't break down and start sobbing or plead for her life. She was quite the opposite. Cool, calm, collective. He watched her take a deep breath and let it out while her shoulders sagged. She said one word, "Tito." She never moved from her position or addressed Riko.

Riko was usually a patient man but this woman didn't say anything to him. He knew she knew he was there and who the fuck is Tito. There wasn't anyone else in this warehouse besides him, her, and a cooling dead body. He blinked and shifted no one moved for what felt like forever but only a few moments had past. Then without notice, his long black duster had a mind of its own. He was now fighting his own coat. It had pulled his arms across his chest and effectively pinned his arms. He fought back against his coat, but it was no used his duster had become essentially a strait jacket the blonde in front of him was the key. He had fear and anxiety now dumping adrenaline into his blood system. Never had he felt so helpless as he did right now. He was an exceptional requip gunner mage, but with his arms and hands pins to his opposite sides, he was at her mercy. He watched the lithe petite blonde stand from the crouching position and stand, square herself up to him, and walk slowly towards him. Her eyes no longer with that eerie green light that seith mages have. He swallow bile, his heart raced. The past came rushing back at him.

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"Serenity why are we heading towards Pergrande. It's not safe this time of year to travel towards the border. There are too many traders this time of the year." Riko called out to his girlfriend. They had been dating since they were fifteen. He loved her short black bobbed hair and purple concentric eyes. He knew her magic had its taboos. He knew her family was with a dark guild but she wasn't. They had been travelling northeast towards the Sin/Pergrande border over the past month on a hiking vacation.

"Don't worry baby. We are going that much further. There is an inn up ahead. We can stop for the next couple of nights." She promised him with a look of desire in her eyes. He looked her eyes. He could sit and get lost in them for hours. Purple irises with concentric eyes swirls of green. He would do anything for her.

They made it to the inn two hour later. Checked in took a long hot shower together, made love in the large comfortable bed. Riko loved Serenity with every fiber of his being. He fell asleep staring in her violet and green pools with her warm curves snuggled up against him.

He woke suddenly to a hand on his crotch, stroking him. Unfamiliar lips on his and his neck. A heavier weight than Serenity's lithe little body pressing him into the bed. He was panicking but when he opened his eyes, he saw Serenity's gorgeous purple and green eyes glowing into his. She whispered to him, "Its ok, my love. It's just me. Let me love you this way. I promise I'll make you feel good." Riko shook his head. At that moment, he would do anything for her. He closed his eyes again and let her run her heavy thick calloused hands over his body. He enjoyed her stubbly kisses on his neck and her much heavier weight pushing down on him again. Something in his mind snapped and told him it wasn't Serenity when he felt pressure trying to enter his body. He clinched down and opened his eyes again. He looked around and saw a man on top of him doing all those things to him that he thought his Serenity was doing to him. He requipped one of his pistols and unloaded it into the man trying to rape him. He had blood all over him. His girlfriend emerged from the bathroom just off the room. Her eyes wide at what was happening. "What the fuck Riko!? He paid me good money to fuck you! I can't have you killing off all the Johns. I'll never make enough money to buy the nice things I want, you stupid bastard!" She raged at him. Her eyes starting to glow green. Riko already had his pistol in his hand reloaded with incendiary magic ammo, level the weapon out at his girlfriend he thought he loved and shot her twice. He watched her head explode in a fiery mess and then her chest exploded on the second impact. He was already covered with bloody gore from the man he killed now he was covered in his girlfriend's blood.

"Fucking seith bitch, I'm no one's whore. I'll hunt every lost one of you to rid the world of your foul magic!" Riko seethed as he got up and cleaned himself off and started back to West Nitespring

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Now he just stared at crystal blue eyes that were as blue as the bluest topazes, no hinted of green in them. Long blonde hair in a thick braid over her shoulder, tight tank top that hugged her chest just right and tapered down her small waist. She was covered in that behemoth's blood. He had stopped fighting his own damn coat because it was useless to fight it. He just stood there and watched her walked toward him. Cat tattoo adored her right arm and shoulder, their guild emblem on her left bicep in lavender. When she spoke, her voice was soothing to his inner turmoil, "So gunner, I thought we were on the same side. Guild mates and all?" She asked. He just grunted at her.

"Not a big talker huh? Well you know I'm a seith so you KNOW I can make you talk right?"

He snarled at her. He wasn't going to let that happen again. "Yeah I know what the fuck a seith can do. Trust me. Keep out of my head, blondie. Just because we're guild mates doesn't mean I trust you."

"So I take it you've had one run amuck in your pretty head, huh? Only someone who survives something like that reacts like this. Trust me pretty boy I have better things to do than play in your head. So what happen to the one that play with your soul?" Cat asked as she cocked her head.

Riko refused to entertain this bitch anymore. She was hitting too many buttons all at once. He was already sweating and having tremors in his legs from the panic attack that was starting to be more than he could keep under control. He just grit his teeth and closed his eyes.

"Aww. Don't quit on me now gunner. Who. Fucked. Up. Your. Head. Let me take care of them for you." Cat pushed the man. She hated fucking seiths who took advantage of people and left them in a psychological mess like this man was now. Grammie always taught her that seith magic was too heal and help not harm and hurt the soul. This man's soul and mind was obviously hurting.

"CATRINA! Release Riko NOW! What the hell are you two doing?" Zosia yelled out as she look over the scene in front of her. Dead body in a pool of blood, Riko tangled in his duster, Cat looking at him curiously, as if someone had given her a math problem to solve. Good luck with that one girl. He's one tough nut to crack, Zosia thought.

Riko dropped to his hands and knees. Whatever was holding him let go. He was shaking and taking huge deep breaths trying to quell the anxiety in him. He held back tears memories and a sob. He got up and took off out of the warehouse. He needed to get out of there. He needed anywhere but there. He needed Piper, but he couldn't call her. She was basically in witness protection because of what happened to her and until the Foxes get the Crows under control, he wasn't sure when he would see his sister again.

Zosia shook her head as she watched the requip gunner dart out of here. It wasn't like him to run from anything. She knew who killed the dead man. The two bullet holes told her a lot. She focused back on her newest addition to her Eyes and Ears, her very calm and determined little seith mage. Zosia knew she would be a great asset due to her Bloodhunter and death dealer training, her Boscan heritage help immensely, but what made her deadly were her figure eyes. If she could get a look locked onto your eyes, your soul would open up to her and tell her all your dirty little secrets. Your mind could forget things but never your soul. "Little sunflower, listen to Mama Zosie. Leave that man alone. He's had enough traumas in his life from one seith mage…"

"Who is it, Zos? I'll hunt them down and exact vengeance on them for what they did to that sweet man. His soul is so beautiful even though the things that he said to me were vile. I've seen many people hurt by dark seith. I'm not gonna sit on my hands to watch a guild member hurt like that." Cat seethed.

Zosia shook her head at the blonde, "Cat that boat of revenge has done sailed. He exacted his own revenge the night it happened. He still holds animosity against seith. You and your grandmother are the first seith that have immigrated here that are either not retired or working for a dark guild. There aren't many seiths here anyway. Maybe 20 not counting you and Sylvia."

"So he killed the seith that cracked his soul in two?" Cat asked

"Yes and that's all I'm gonna say on this subject. Let's get you back cleaned up and tell me what you found out before Riko ventilated out friend here." Zosia said as they teleported back to the guildhall.

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Sam returned back to his office. He picked up on a very familiar scent went he closed the door to his office he locked the door. HE casually walked over to his desk as he didn't notice the other presence in the room. If anyone else had seen his office, they won't see anything out of place. Large messy desk with a desktop monitor on it, pictures of him and children that grew up at the guild of the years, large cushy couch that has seen its share of happy and sad times, artwork all over the wall that depicted various kinds of interpretations of foxes. Regular mages wouldn't pick up what Sam could scent in the room, maybe a silly old dragon he mused. "Astrid you can come out of hiding. I know you're in here. I can smell you darling."

A woman wearing a loose flowing cape that covered most of her face and body, materialized out of the shadows. She laugh a low seductive laugh, "Oh Sam, I could never hide from that nose of yours, even in the shadows. How's living among the humans been treating you? I see you've got quite the family here."

Sam smiled slyly at the cloaked woman, "Astrid, my lovely lady of the shadows, why hide your beautiful face from me I know what you look like." He walked up to the woman, placed his warm hands on both sides of her face, and pushed back the hood on her cloak. His smile dropped as he saw her face for the first time in a long time. A growl tore throw him as his lips pulled back to show elongated canines.

Astrid looked away and tried to pull his hands from her face so that she could hide her face again. She knew her face was marred. She knew she had a hideous jagged scar that ran up the right side of her face from her mouth to her hairline at her temple. "Sam stop it!" She couldn't get him to move his hands. Her red eyes broke eye contact with him as she held his wrists and whimpered. She wasn't proud of the scar that adorned her face, but it was a by-product of overthrowing a maniacal shadow mage who has let the power almost erase his humanity.

"Who…did…this?" He snarled. He had lost all control over his human form. He was standing in front of his longtime lover in his full kitsune form. His cropped auburn hair flowed down just past his shoulders, his facial features were still human like but sharper. His eyes were hazel but took more of a predator's shape of the fox's with a vertical pupil. His canines were long. His fox ears on top of his head had laid back in an aggressive manner. His nine tails were out in all their glory twitching. His magic filled the room. He was angry. He wanted revenge. He wanted blood. He wanted to hunt.

Astrid loved Sam. She had loved him for a very long time. She had seen him angry from time to time, but she had never seen him so full of rage that he could not contain his magic. She knew it was crucial for him to keep up appearance as a "human". She knew this little loose knit family he created years ago filled a hole in his heart. "Sam! Stop if anyone sees you like this…" She started but realized that it wasn't calming him dawn anymore. He was past the point of caring if his family knew his true identity. She tried another tactic, "Sam! Sam! I'll tell you if you get yourself under control but not until then."

That seem to do the trick Astrid watched as Sam calm down regain control over his magic and reverted back to his human form. She wrapped her arms around his broad chest and took in his scent of the deep woods. She always felt safe in his arms. She stayed that way for a few moments and then took a deep breath. "Strauss Dresdan. He did this to me. It happened when I overthrew him as guild master in Fiore. His guild the Shadow Stalkers were…are a guild a shadow mages that now just trade in information. We trade in information only. He originally had the guild set up that way but then he turned it into a dark merchant guild, black market shit. Slaves, magical non-magical animal illegal trade, souls, anything you name it, he dealt in it. I didn't help him with anything but the information. I finally put my foot down, Sam, when I found out that he placed a shade inside his daughter to possess her, to make her into a grim reaper like creature. She had seith magic. I watched him rend his wife's soul out with a twisted black dagger. I…I couldn't let him do this anymore. These were people he was supposed to love and protect and cherish, Sam. I was able to fight him but it was a hard fight. His has powerful shadow magic, it's almost matches mine and the voids usually don't bother me, but that dagger Sam. It did this to me. He still has it. It steals the souls of the living. He doesn't need a seith mage to take a soul." She told him her red eyes searched his hazel.

"Astrid lovey I thought you left me all this time. I thought I lost you. No not you. You silly strong woman took over a dark guild. This Dresdan fellow he's here in West Nitespring. He's after one of mine. She has no magical abilities but she has a dormant kitsune spirit within her. I don't know why it never became active when she was a child. It's protected her all these years. I know you just got back to me but can you go to her and keep watch over her?" Sam asked as he hugged his love in his arms for the first time in years. She smells just like he remembered a cool night breeze in the summer.

"I don't mind, love. I came to let you know that Dresdan's daughter is here in West Nitespring as well as his mother-in-law. Sylvia Sinclair is the mom-in-law…"

"Cat is his daughter. Great"

"You know them?"

"Cat and Lex are in the guild now. They both have been great additions. Do I need to worry about them going rogue on me?"

"No. She hates her father maybe more than me. She knows now that he killed her mother. You may a have a wild card as far as what she would do to him, but she's loyal. Sylvia raised her right, even with her training in the Bloodhunters, which, by the way, was forced on her by Strauss as well. Plus implanted her with a shade to slowly take over the girl's body, so I may have to take a number on who get to kill the bastard first."

"I'm not too worried about wild cards. I have plenty of them in the guild already. Walker is my biggest one, but he keeps them in check."

He pulled her close and nuzzled her neck before pulling back and kissing her softly on her lips. She melded into his kiss and allowed him in when he nipped at her lower lip. He deepened the kiss. His hands caressed her back. One hand went up into her into her thick black hair and the other one skimmed down and squeezed her butt. He let out a growl and she returned one.

"Well, well, well, this is all hot and steamy knowing that my guild master has wonderful taste in women but boss we have a teensy problem…" Zosia said as she plopped a blonde seith mage on the couch, who sat there with her arms crossed and glared at the tall greenette.

Sam pulled back from Astrid, rested his forehead on hers, and mumbled, "Wild cards…"

"Hello Zosia, why are you here with Cat? And why is there a problem?" Sam asked in a tired voice.

"Really Sam? Do I need to spell it out for you? Cat is a seith mage. Who in our guild has a problem with seith mages? Three guesses and the first two don't count and he has a purple mohawk." Zosia lead.

Sam let out a heavy sigh, "Riko…dammit what did he do now?"

"Well he tried to give our kitten here a new hole in her head, but she had somehow tied him up with his own duster. I interfered with their game and he took off like a bat outta hell." The greenette informed him.

"Get Walker to find him and bring him in." Sam said.

Cat watched the conversation take place but her gaze moved over to the black haired woman with the red eyes and scar on her face. She knew who it was as soon as she set eyes on her, Astrid Dresdan. The woman had be instrumental in her being able to escape from her father and get back to Bosco before Grendace thought she abandoned the Bloodhunters, putting Lex in danger. Astrid and her father may share the same last name but they were not related in any way. Astrid was from Sin. Strauss was from Bosco. Worlds apart, just a coincidence in names. Cat always got a sense of Astrid being older that what she looked. The same feeling she got from Sam. She never once looked at either of their souls out of respect. "Astrid, I never got the chance to say thank you for getting me away from my father…"

Astrid shifted her attention over to the blonde on the couch, "Catrina, I'm so glad that you were able to get away from that monster."

Cat noticed a nasty scar on her face that wasn't there before and a chill went through her body, "Astrid tell me you didn't get that scar from my father because of what you did for me?" Cat said with a tight voice that threatened violence against the man that had given her half of her DNA profile.

Astrid didn't answer and only broke eye contact and brought her attention back to Sam. The non-answer was all the information that Cat needed to hunt her father down. She just needed to figure out where the hell he was. "Master, I wish to have a sabbatical to look for my father in Fiore…" She started.

Sam just shook his head, "Cat there is no need for that. You father is here in West Nitespring. He is the leader of the 12 Crows…"

"Good I don't have to leave Grammie or Lex. Permission to kill the fucking bastard on site, because I want to rip his goddamn soul out and then shred it in a million pieces for all the atrocities that he has done to not just myself and my family but to my clan. He can't be allowed to take another breath. He has to pay by the law of my clan. Clan Felernas has laws for those that do harm to its own kin." Cat informed her guild master with the same tight voice before she promptly got up and left the office.

Sam just shook his head at no one then looked at Astrid and heavily sighed. He was going to have his hands full. He had a gunner on the run that was probably going to try and kill his only seith mage. His only seith mage took off with a murderous look on her face, and he had a non-magical member that was the sister of the loose gunner half a world away in a world of dragons.

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Strauss stood looking out the giant glass window in his high-rise suite in downtown West Nitespring. It over looked the harbor. The ships came and went just like the ebb and flow of the tides. Hands clasped behind his back as he watched the ships. He was musing on how he was going to get his brilliant chemist out of Magnolia from her father and back to West Nitespring without rousing the suspicion of the mage guild she frequented there. His intel had told him that she befriended some powerful mages. He thought about pulling her through the voids with his shadows like he did his wife and daughter but decided against it because a non-mage wouldn't survive it.

As he stood there deep in thought, a knock came to his door interrupting his thoughts. He frowned at the interruption. "This better be important." He warned in a flat tone.

A short round man, who he kept as an assistant, entered the room, "I apologize, sir for interrupting you, but a message came for you from the warehouse district. Bronx, your ice make mage, is dead. Killed by one of the Foxes gunner mages but the seith mages that found his body said that his soul had been taken by another seith, sir." The man relayed.

Strauss stood and digested the information. He didn't particularly care for the ice wizard. He thought he was disgusting, but having his soul taken by a seith mage was problematic. "Put a hit out on the Foxes gunner mages and find out what seith mage took his soul. Bring me that seith."

"Yes, Sir."

Strauss went back to watching the harbor. He now had to contend with his daughter, who unexpected showed up in West Nitespring, and now harvesting souls. "That's so unlike you daisy." He said to no one. "I wonder what else your grandmother has taught you."