A/N HEADS UP! Some drug use in this chapter. Then again, this fic is full of all kinds of adult stuff. Just to tell you, it's rated M for a reason.

Chapter 27- New Skills

He watched from a rooftop as the girl in the car smiled sweetly to the stranger in the driver's seat. After she gave a nod, she leaned forward and buried her face in the man's neck. After a time, the man's head rolled to his shoulder.

The girl emerged from the car and straightened her clothes before she moved on. Feeling that familiar red haze come over her, she rolled her eyes and turned abruptly. "He's not dead," she complained. "I only made him pass out."

His hand gripped her wrist as he pulled her roughly to the shadows just as a pair of cops turned the corner. "You are too reckless for your own good," he informed her softly.

She then retorted in mock sweetness, "And here I thought you did it because you didn't like the idea of your daughter posing as a whore."

His palm twitched in an effort to keep himself from slapping that smart mouth.

"Why don't you go feed?" she asked.

"I do not need to feed," he responded.

She smirked as she saw the way his skin seemed a little more pale than usual. "Yeah, sure. That's why you are as white as a ghost and not white as a sheet. You can't fool me. After that sparring match, you need something to sustain you." She then smirked as she asked, "You need some help, old man?"

He vanished in a blue steak, causing her brow to furrow. She concentrated and tapped into his mind. She could see him almost soaring over the landscape of the small city and then it became open landscape. A deer stand in the distance brought the scent of blood to him.

As he came closer, he smelled the reason they were there when it wasn't deer season. The strong scent of burning herbs hit his nose. The inhabitants of the deer stand were laughing and talking incoherently, passing around a tightly wrapped white object and a lighter. They would light the end, take a puff, and pass it.

The girl smirked as she congratulated silently, "Bravo, Hagi. Four at one time." He stealthily moved in and sliced a small gash in each of their necks, drinking what he needed from each. It was done so quickly that he wasn't detected. The four teens fell against each other, thinking they had passed out from the drugs.

In the morning they'd awaken thinking, "That was the best pot ever! We have to get some more of this stuff!"

She broke the connection and burst into laughter. "Not so much better than me, are you?" she laughed as Lulu landed next to her.

"What's so funny?" she asked and then smelled that the chevalier had been there and was now gone. "Don't tell me you insulted him again," she groaned.

"No," she commented, "it's not that. I just made him go out to feed and you know what? He doesn't need any help at all. The guy just found four stoners in a deer stand."

Lulu smiled and informed her, "Hagi's been around for more than 100 years, I think he knows what he's doing."

She turned to the Schiff and responded, "Yeah, I guess he does. I just thought the guy never fed." She then added, "Well, he's on his way back. Let's get to the truck and go kill some monsters."

~0~

The large truck turned down a small road in the dark cover of night. Lulu poked her head over the seat with twitching ears. "There's a lot of them, guys," she informed.

Hagi could sense the numbers of them. This was going to be another very bloody battle and the odds were very much against them. He hoped that the 6 months of training the girl had received would be enough. She certainly had some very good weapons and knew how to use them, but did she have the stamina to fight through the night?

The truck came to a halt just a few meters from the epicenter of all the commotion. Hagi and Mary Frances jumped from the truck and waited as Lulu handed off items to them quickly before she jumped down. The trio had little time to prepare for the fight as the monsters had caught their scents and were slowly making their way to the headlights that beamed in their direction.

Hagi, having little to do to prepare himself, was ready before the two girls. His hand went to his jacket and produced a few daggers.

Mary Frances wasn't far behind with a click of her arsenal in the belt and a swish of a long hooded cloak. The staff was hit against the ground, causing the massive, very sharp metal blade to release. She would save the second set for more formidable prey. Looking back, she regarded Lulu.

The lavender haired girl donned her hood shortly after strapping something to her waist and then grabbed her axe. The nod she gave told Mary Frances she was ready.

Hagi was startled at the loud battle cry he did not expect as a crowd of brown beasts with glowing red and blue eyes closed in on them. He never noticed it before, but they did have one red and one blue eye. No time to think on it now, they had to kill them first and ask questions later. In a flash, he was gone, reappearing shortly to slam the case against one beast and slash another with his claws.

Lulu giggled as she heard the loud cry of her student calling out the start of the battle. Mary Frances brought the scythe across in front of her as her hand dished out three of those sickles. They found their marks in a couple that came at her.

Lulu sprang into action, leaping over Mary Frances and bringing her axe across in a wide swing, decapitating the ones that were injured by the sickles. She then produced a large silver object from under her cloak and gave it a toss like a Frisbee before she jumped again.

From under the Schiff's mighty leap, the hooded, tall figure emerged with a scythe. She heard the grunts as the razor edged boomerang Lulu threw found a few marks. They had moved from the park lights. The new moon was making things even darker. Even though chiropterans can see well in the dark, the sheer numbers of chiropterans closing in on each other and them, made it hard to distinguish individual members visually.

Mary Frances caught the scent of blood, causing her eyes to glow. They were an eerie addition to the red and blue solid orbs glowing, as hers were just rings. She placed one foot in front of the other and gave a mighty leap, spinning herself and her long scythe came around like a blender blade, slicing thick arcs of blood through the air as her foes fell. The silver boomerang made it back to its owner before she landed.

Hagi heard more than saw something above. He could hear the rush of wing beats above him. Without a hint of expression, the massive wings came from his back and he leapt into the air. Knowing he wouldn't be able to tell individual members in the lack of light, he decided to count how many blue orbs he saw and attack them instead. It would at least give him a target and there were only six. He brought his daggers back and thought, "This will be a long night."

Lulu leapt over Mary Frances and brought her axe across one that only had one eye, proving that a sickle had just found its mark. The metal clang told her that she wasn't getting out of this one that easy. "Mary Frances!" she shouted as she leapt back to her student's side.

The pair had been fighting and sparring side by side for the past six months, Mary Frances knew that her teacher never called on her unless it was an armored one. With a smirk, Mary Frances singled out the one Lulu had attacked as it came closer to them. A flash quicker than lightening and strange netting now covered the beast. There was a sick smile on the woman's face as she pressed the button and watched the beast writhe in agony with the buzzing sound that came from it. Another beast got too close and was now dancing a deadly jig with it.

"You really enjoy that too much," Lulu noticed as Mary Frances quickly extracted the now uncharged net. Lulu came over them and beheaded the unarmored one. Mary Frances searched the other for a weak point and found it- right at the base of the neck. With the precision of a surgeon and a speed faster than any human, she brought her scythe across its neck.

At this point, the two were surprised as a massive bat-like creature fell to the ground a few feet from them. They both looked up to see Hagi in a battle with five more. His clawed hands came forward as he used a few beats of his wings to get some momentum and ripped the wings from their backs, causing them to fall from the sky with shrieks of rage.

Mary Frances stood stunned as Lulu finished the pair off. When the small Schiff returned, she noted Mary Frances' shocked expression and turned her eyes skyward. "What is it?"

Mary Frances took in the sight of the chevalier as he impaled a winged creature with his claws and then slammed him into another one, his wings beating the sky, keeping him airborne. His wings! In a somewhat whisper like voice she answered, "He has wings."

Lulu looked again and responded, "Yeah." Then it dawned on her, Mary Frances had never seen Hagi's wings before. "Oh, sorry, yeah, Hagi has wings and claws. He's supposed to be able to fully transform like Nathan, but he never does. I think it's because Saya thinks that they are monsters."

"Fuck that!" Mary Frances commented. "I want huge-ass bat wings, too!" She then looked at the Schiff and asked excitedly, "How does he do it?"

Lulu shrugged, "I don't know. Mr. Joel says that when he was cornered by some villagers that wanted to kill Saya, he transformed like that and protected her. I guess you have to get mad."

Mary Frances tried to concentrate on getting mad, but nothing happened, except her eyes glowed. She growled as she tried harder, but still nothing. "Damn! Fuck! Come out already," she commanded as she looked over her shoulder to find nothing there.

Lulu tugged at her cloak and said, "Um, Mary Frances, I know you want to go fly with Hagi, but I think I need you here on earth right now."

Mary Frances turned and saw a large horde of chiropterans headed their way. She rolled her eyes and groaned, "Yeah, guess you're right."

As Hagi finished off the third one, he watched the scene below. Lulu and Mary Frances were plowing through the ones on the ground like a freight train. The two worked in tandem, slicing, punching, kicking, and stabbing, leaving a trail of dead chiropterans in their wake. For a moment, he wondered if he and the princess would be able to work together so well some time in the future.

As he was distracted momentarily, a remaining chiropteran slammed its talon through the chevalier's gut. The claws exited his back, causing a spray of blood, material, and skin. A trail of blood let the corner of his lips. Hagi coughed a mouthful of blood as he was still pinned to the chiropteran.

He then slammed his claw through the flying beast, causing it to feel the same pain and effectively pinning it to himself. He then drew his booted feet up to the belly of the beast and in a great swoosh, brought his wings forward at the same time as he used his legs to kick the beast and his body apart.

A murmur was all that gave away the chevalier's pain, but blood spayed from the wounds of himself and the beast that hovered across from him.

Lulu thrust her boomerang and jumped up, allowing Mary Frances to go in for the kill. A slight rain of blood fell from the sky, landing on Lulu and the beasts that were near her and Mary Frances. Lulu turned her gaze skyward to see Hagi falling as well as the other beast.

"Hagi!" the Schiff girl shouted as she ran to his side when his body smacked into the ground. Plumes of dust filled the air around him, making it difficult for Lulu to find him right away. When she did, she was surprised to see him leap to his feet. The hole in his belly was still healing, but he wasn't finished killing the beast. It had already begun to take to the sky again, Hagi following behind.

The clang of metal behind Lulu alerted her to the fact that she still had business left unfinished. Mary Frances shouted to her, "He's a chevalier and heals faster than us. I need your ass over here right now." She tossed a handful of bloody sickles through the air. As they battled, they retrieved their weapons so they could reuse them.

Metal sliced through the air as another two fell at the hands of the tall, hooded woman. She turned to her left to see five coming at her. Looking for a way to retreat, her head turned to find 6 more to the front and 4 on the other side. "Oh shit!" she gasped. Lulu came through in a blur of silver and blue, arcs of blood and guts in her wake. "Thanks," Mary Frances smiled as she gripped the massive scythe and shouted for Lulu to halt.

With three long steps, she found the two in front of her and sliced through them in a swift motion. As they bowed over with spurts of blood, she leapt to their backs and kicked off. As she turned a wide back-flip, she pressed the button on the scythe, releasing the two smaller blades. Grasping the back of the smaller one, she pulled and sent it flying. A chain extended from the staff to the blade as it found the neck of one of the beasts. She sliced one in half as she landed and then yanked the chain, causing the very sharp blade to cut through the neck of the beast it had found.

Lulu was feeling a sense of foreboding as she began to count the remainder of the ground foes. There were at least 20, but the sky was becoming a lighter shade of blue and the eastern horizon was taking on a shade of pink. "Damn," she muttered as she looked toward Mary Frances. She would have to finish this alone.

Her eyes turned to the aerial battle to find Hagi had just slammed his fist into the bat-like creature's face. He should be done with that one soon and he and Mary Frances could finish the rest together.

"Mary Frances," she called to her student. The girl gave a grave nod to say she understood. Lulu gave a toss of her boomerang and watched as Mary Frances jumped over it gracefully, cutting the chiropteran in front of her in half vertically as she did so. The boomerang left two of them chopped in half before it returned to its owner as she got to the truck. She smiled as she propped her axe, blade side out, on the front grill of the truck.

Hagi noticed the pink horizon and knew that Lulu was going to retreat, leaving Mary Frances on her own. He had to finish this battle now. The monster in front of him seemed to stretch his mouth full of glimmering teeth into a nasty smile.

The chevalier slammed his clawed fist at the beast, finding nothing but air. He swung again, but a hard fist found his gut. He gasped in pain, but then turned his attention to the closeness. At this proximity, he could grab one of the wings and drag his prey to the ground. At this height, that wouldn't do enough damage. His grey-blue eyes scanned the terrain and something shiny caught his eye.

In a swift motion, Hagi grabbed the wing in his clawed hand and began the deadly descent. As he drew his wings inward, the speed increased. The glint that caught his eye before was now in clear view as he could hear the beast behind his shrieking in anger.

The shriek was soon silenced with a loud thump as Hagi released the body and was now standing on the top of the black semi. The winged creature he had been fighting was now smashed on the grill of the truck with a red axe blade sticking out from between its shoulder blades and a massive blood splatter on the front of the truck and the ground in front of it.

Hagi then landed on the ground in front of the truck and pulled back the flattened creature like some cartoon image. He only needed a dagger to separate the head from the body at this point. Once that was done, a shrill cry from the battle field caught his attention.

Mary Frances was staring wide-eyed at the chevalier and her black truck in front of him. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" she screamed as she started to advance toward him. "My baby! My truck! What is fucking wrong with you?" she shouted as her eyes began to glow. One was brown rimmed with red and the other, brown rimmed with blue.

His brow furrowed slightly and only for a split second before he tried to warn, "Mary Frances…" The creatures were advancing on her quickly and her anger had blocked her from sensing them.

"Don't you fucking Mary Frances me, Lurch!" she shouted as she gestured to the truck that was now splattered with blood and guts. "You have got some nerve, you asshole!" She was now nearly at him, not noticing the creatures that surrounded her. She took a blade in her hand and began to attack him, but was cut short as something hit her back and her gut felt like it was burning and stinging at the same time.

She and her father looked down at the same time. Something was covered in blood and protruding from her belly. Clawed fingers dripped in blood as they moved slightly. She could hear each beat of her heart as her eyes met her father's. There was a brief look of confusion before everything went black and she fell to the ground in a heap of black cloth and alabaster skin.

Hagi's eyes went wide. He was shocked as the girl looked at him in confusion. It was as if she was asking him, "Did I just die?" In the next moment, she was on the ground with her eyes closed. Something inside him took over at that moment.

The normally quiet man's lips pulled back into a snarl that revealed sharp fangs. His vision hazed and then clarified to perfect sharpness as his eyes began to glow a brilliant blue. He fired several daggers, slicing anything they touched. His claws ripped through flesh and bone as he cried out in a rage. His wings beat as he would swoop and slice with his claws.

Those same clawed hands were grabbing and twisting the heads off the monsters that surrounded him. A moment later, he unsheathed the blade at his side and began executing any that were in his range.

Lulu could only watch on in awe before the first rays of sunlight drove her into the sleeper for the day. Hagi was in a rage she had never seen before. Mary Frances lay on the ground, unmoving. Tears fell from Lulu's eyes as she moved to the sleeper. She and Hagi would find a way back, but she was sorry Mary Frances had to go. The girl was just beginning to open up.

Drops of wetness sprung up on Hagi's cheeks as the sun began to rise. He growled as he decimated nearly all of the monsters that surrounded him and the body of his daughter. How could she be so careless? She was yelling at him and forgot about the fact that she was in danger.

All this over a truck. He grunted with the effort of pushing the blade though the next victim's neck. Blood sprayed his clothing and his hair was barely still contained in the ribbon, but he fought on.

Lulu made a tearful call to Virginia and Lewis. She sniffed, "Lewis, please inform Dr. Julia and Mr. Joel that Mary Frances was killed in battle this morning."

A/N I know...I know... just remember, reviews are love... not to mention, they inspire me to write and post new chapters faster. Just sayin'.