Chapter 3: Dancing with Death and Devils

A minor mission comes up that Des is put on, being within the region already in between her and Dwayne's appearance for the weekend. Taking on the guise of a penetant, she goes to gather entail being passed on by Father Valens in the confession booth of the local Catholic Church, the Chapel of St. John the Baptist. The simple mission goes haywire as soon as she exits, coming under fire from a local gang hired to take her out, the Cilcians have an ax still to grind with her cover as Gia Merroe. For once not on detail, Dwayne is shocked when he is able to feel danger coming Des' way, he and the rest of the Boys come riding in. And finally they get read in on what Des is, who she works for, the offer she has been given authorization to extend to them, and covers to bring them in on the opperation she is working.

Silver glances off twirling feet

swirling hair and shifting sand

blood pumping and the visage of the mad

taking fair devils by pale hands

and laughs carried by the wind to Death who waits to greet

For a favorite daughter and loyal servant is she

and merry are the dark ones that reach out

smiling in the night as they spin her around

Enraptured by the beauty and the wildness as they take her off the ground

Bringing the Daughter of Death to dare greater things

As her Devils around her bind themselves to her person and agree

they join her but under terms she is to understand

Death she is to deal out but never take by the hand

For even demons may love and forever of the Heavens they demand

Freedom from Death by their blood, by newfound love, common destiny

-Daughter of Death & the Love of her Devils by Makilome

Desemond's POV

She awoke to the sound of her overly loud hotel phone, one that she would have to replace along with paying damages for the hole she put in the wall when she threw it entirely though the thinley laid walls. She grimaced, hating that in the middle of a time sensitive and highly volatile mission she was on, she was being put on errand duty! It's not that she didn't feel like she was to good for it, it was that running another op, no matter how brief and uncomplicated as it may be, while in the middle of another one that involved being under deep cover put both opperations in danger of crisscrossing and blowing both covers sky high! She loved Julian, she really did, but every once in a while, she wouldn't mind taking Lilly Langtree's place in smacking the hell out of him! She knew he didn't understand the life she led. If he did, she wouldn't be leading it at all, he would yank her out, bind her within the depths of Daedalus' humble abode, and prey upon the much older vampire's sense of loyalty and friendship to make sure she stayed there! And remained human. Both of them knew, she more than he as she did afterall have the sight, that it was only a matter of time before she joined the ranks of Kindred. But her and his idea on the age of reason were vastly different! And yet he would keep her under lock and key till it was time for the whole duration till that moment if he could!

She told him what was coming. And her connection to him was to strong now for him not to know the bond she was forming with others of his kind. Running with Dwayne and Marko made it quite clear to her that the Lost Boys were in her future, their destiny were now weaving into a singular pattern. Though not sired to them, the bond of the Pack grew stronger inside her every day. Her attachment grew stronger, especially to Dwayne! He was never far from her thoughts, and catching sight of him as she went about her mission had become something that brightened her darkness, gave her something to look forward to. He was quick on his feet and he was damn good on working on the fly and running a cover created out of air in a manner of less than a second! During the day, his thoughts as he slept would reach her, reach her even though she never sought them out. He made her feel things, things no other man ever had made her feel, not even the traitor whom she was hellbent on destroying! Their connection ran deep, it lived a life past this one. They had knew one another before this life. And as the days passed, she became less and less frightened of it, and of how rapid and intense the emotions they provoked in one another were. But he was not alone in his pull upon a heart she fought died when Arkan had.

David has a pull of his own. It awoke the soldier in her, the commander that had to sacrafice her chance at a human life to save her men in the horrid wasteland of the Middle-East when the Assamites had come to feast! They shared the burden of command of knowing what it was like to send your men, men you have come to admire, who respected and depended on you to get them in, out, and back home out into the night knowing that most of them were not coming back. Sending men you cared for to their deaths was something you never got over. It did not matter whether or not it was for the Greater Good! They had to balance the wildness, the Predator inside that would roam the world, untouchable and free to dance the dance of death with the very real responsibilities they had to take care of the men under them and make sure they didn't do anything that would get them all killed. They spoke mainly through thoughts, and for the first time in more years than he cared to count, he had someone whom he could trust to share the burden of leadership with him. He respected her power, was awed by the blood of the great Roman that ran in her veins, and delighted in seeing someone, a human, so seperate, detached from the times and the people that ran around her. Unlike Dwayne, he had yet to say it, but she knew in the end what his price of joining Shadow Keepers would be.

He wanted her with them, not just till her time had come up. He wanted her to be a part of them, forever. He only knew peace, knew any form of hope when she was there with him. And through her, his own destiny awaited him in the form of his mysterious dark haired Hunter. And then there was Paul, who never ceased to make her grin and laugh outloud just at the mere thought of the man! He was a pervert of a high order, with just enough charm and striking looks to be able to get away with it! And he abused the privlidge often, with every pretty girl in sight! But when he was on watch with Dwayne, his eyes never, ever left her form. He traveled down her body, a thousand thoughts filled with passion, many that were surprisingly highly romantic and showed a gentle, tender side of him she knew the others never saw. He desired far more than to fuck her. Every touch he could manage to steal sent electricity though the both of them, and he had come to crave that feeling. He would loose himself to the point that he became useless as an information gatherer on herself, but it gave her this feeling, this sense of being worshipped as a woman in that man's heart. And she liked it! She liked it that both he and Dwayne had this way about them that made her feel like she was the most beautiful woman in the room, the only one that mattered beyond sport sex and a blood bag.

And Marko, he was her Cherub, her sweet one. He never complained aloud, never tormented himself to deeply about what he had lost, but he held on to what he had left of his humanity with a death grip! He had lost so much of that, especially of late from the cruel rejection of the only Pack member she had yet to meet, Star. He had openly given her a place in his heart, even though he had been against David turning her, giving her the benefit of the doubt and she, in her very mortal, prejudical heart could not find it within her to return that openess, that willingness to love. She never saw past what they were to who they were. And for someone who cherished the humanity he still had, it had been crushing to him for her not to even try to reach out and see it! Des had given him something since she had arrived that made him forever in awe of her. Not just a purpose, a way to matter in a world unaware of beings like him, but a connection back into that humanity. He had a simple, pure, and strong love for her, had embraced her in all her darkness, her blood stained and tainted soul that had dealt in so much death and unending war. Someone constrained, human though she still was, to the shadows no different than he. And she was to understand, he had every intention on keeping her. He wasn't going to be letting her go.

Any mission she was on, whether they could join her ranks or not, he was going to be there, ready to take the bullets, kill everyone if need be, and run her out if she was harmed. Her regular guardian devil. Her rather long talk with Julian had gone a course that she didn't quite imagine, but illuminated her pull to them, especially to her Native. Kindred became creatures of fate in the way regular humans never have been. Their destiny was woven into a secret pattern into the world, and with each of them, there was bound to them someone meant to share with them their burden of the world. Someone that once they meet, they will never walk away from. That person became their light, their sun in a world of never ending night, who's life they valued beyound all price. Their mate, the person destined to become their beloved! And though not common, those who carried the blood of Lilith, the first of all mages in their veins, as she did, were those mates. For the descendents of Lilith were bound to fate every bit as much as vampires, and for her, for whom she was and who she called father, it was almost beyond all doubt that she had a mate, maybe more than one. Also not unheard of. And ever since that first connection, that first night Dwayne saved her life, a powerful, uncontrollable pull that she had no power to resist came over her.

Not one night had gone by since then that she hadn't dreamed of him. And now she was beginning to understand how it was that he provoked those deep, and intense feelings inside her. She never had let anyone in like him, though now Paul and Marko were getting closer. The walls evaporated between them both like they never existed. She enjoyed her work, believed in her mission, had faith in her Cause again because he had faith in it, he wanted desperately to be a part of it! And he wanted her, more and more all the time. Like her he had fought it for a while, and now was also testing it. But if it was true, their resistance wouldn't last very long. Whoever said there was no love at first sight did not run in the circles that they ran in. She knew that just like Marko, though it wasn't even a concious thought, he would never, ever let her out of his line of sight when on mission. Her life was precious to him, and sooner or later, fear for her and knowledge of her recklessness and the dangers of the life she led would lead him to turn her. And she knew that should it come, she wasn't going to fight him. She had been preparing for that life for a very long time. And Julian, he was 100% sure of who he was to her. He didn't like it, but he had no power to stop it, either. "Whether either of us would have it or not, you and him are destined. You will become his mate, his eternal bride sooner or later. And as more time passes, the greater the desire for him to consumate that matehood and be joined to you as One will become.

Your own desires will be magnified, they will mirrior one another. It's not unheard of to have more than one mate. The others will be the same, but this connection, there is only one time I have known it's equal, Des." she sighed. Julian had been driven mad by the Brujah murder of Catelyn, his human mate. The only thing that kept him from walking out into the sun had been her and Sasha. And it remained the only reason why he continued now. He needed her, and it killed him to have the confirmation now that her change was inevitable. He wanted her to have a human life, the life he never got to have. But Des had not been made for the life of being a wife and raising children. She was a soldier, a witch priestess, an assassin who's connection to the night ran long and deep. But this call was more than one of both hope, and her father's despair. There was a time sensitive opperation going on, something that had to do with foreign Qui-Gin out of the Far-East seeking to stake out Cammaria territory in San Francisco had him tearing his hair out by the roots! Something about the energy vampires troubled Julian deeply. Their take over of New York had shook up the entirety of the Masquerade, and their were rumors going round that an alliance might be made with the Eviqetes Novem in order to take out the Cammaria for good!

There were no words for the catrasphe that would cause! It would be the end of the Masquerade, and it would not be long before it would be open season on all supernaturals world wide! He had a agent who had took on the cover of a traitor of the Cammaria who had managed to get deep in with the greater head of all the Qui-Gin, a descendent of Ghangis Khan. They were using a trust worthy priest who transferred to Santa Carla out of the local San Francisco diocese a few years back acting as the Church's go between. Long ago, Arkan had managed by some miracle to not only stop the violence between the Church and Kindred, but later managed to shift it into a alliance as the Sabbat got more and more out of control and gained members of the Watch Towers to call up the Fallen from out of the Pit and into the physical world. That same church feared the Qui-Gin and their rapid rise to power. So they were acting as the go between agents, passing the information on through their multiple and untraceable channels to Julian and the Princes across the cities of the United States and the United Kingdom. She would have to make a trip now as herself, use Julian's code word to get the information from Father Valens under the cover of the Confessional. If it hadn't been for the timing, she would have been happy to go.

Witch priest as she was, the heart of a Catholic still beated in Desemond de Luna, as much as it still did in Julian himself. And it had been long sense she knew the comfort of attending a mass or going to confession. The night hours she had kept to run her mission had only just begun to get easier, thanks in a large part to her constant and very lovely shadows. But this was a solo run, she didn't feel the need to involve them in a routine pick up, disguise, and drop. It was beautiful out, an hour just before sunset, giving her time to actually see the seaside town in it's corrupted glory in a way she hadn't had the luxury yet to do, so she left on foot, making sure she was light on weapons. She had always been uncomfortable on violating the sancity of the Church by having to carry weapons within hallowed walls for protection. But she never forgot who and what she was and anything could happen, anywhere, at any time, and be caused by anyone. Gaiden had retaught her that, painfully. She understood all to well now that she could trust no one, not even those who worked under Julian, except for the the coven that had pulled her in like a magnant in less time than she ever imagined such a thing could happen. She wore her platform boots with the easily activated small blade on the inside with steam punk buckles that concealed weapon ready and deadly pins.

Spelled small blades strapped and hidden in places only Paul would proabably think to look, she dressed to kill, in a short, one shoulder bearing tunic dress of midnight blue with silver accents that clipped the single shoulder to a beautiful drape that reached below the hymn to the back of her knee that was matched with a daring belt. Just above the daring cut of the shouler to her bust the dress had a sheer look with the embroidery in the style of lace. Past that designs and swirls that accented her frame were sewn in with a darker shade of the same color. Her hair was half pinned up with a braid that circled her crown like a head band before draping into smaller braids feeding into a silver hair pin in the form of a sleeping dragon, same as the clip on her shoulder holding the top together along with the back drape. The rest fell, longer than usual due to being straightened and feeling lighter than air. She was daring and artful with her make-up, eye shadow mirrioring the hour just before twilight with black eyeliner drawing vines and swirls. The blush was light and her lipstick was dark, a near purple color. It was the look "Gia" was known for, and now that she was working that cover, she had to start working into the part. She couldn't be running around the town now in her usual clothing, the Weres would sense something was off.

They were up and out in force on various places in the town and along the Boardwalk. Those she came across as she enjoyed the breeze and the changing lights as sunset drew closer and closer she made sure to give a knowing wink, and some of Knox's men that she knew she blew kisses to and gave the pervy comments and smirking smile she was known and beloved for among his circles. When she reached the Chapel of St. John the Baptist she had been astonished at the beauty of the place! Though small, the designs were intricate, and worked in some old and lovely styling known so well by the older churches turned mosqes in the Middle East as well as the gothic carvings and engravings of vines, with a daring and lovely one representing the Heavenly spheres that made her throat tighten. Two statues, both modern but with rennisance sensibility and influence stood 7 feet tall, in loving detail with the crowns of fresh flowers with pink orchids and yellow, blue, and pink roses about the Holy Mother and a standing set of a collection of white and red flowers about the feet and strung around the shoulders of Saint John the Baptist. On the wall hanging above them, behind the altar and the cabinent baring the day's holy erucharist, a great crucifix of marble hung.

And the realistic artist showed the pure emotion on Christ, showering the looker with his physical pain, his great burden, and the pity had love he bore for the lost. The message was one lost on Prostetants, to those like her this showed how greatly Christ loved those lost in the misery of sin, oppresion, and ignorance of God. So great was that love that he was willing to suffer the ultimate price, feeling not only his own very real physical agony, but in his breif moment of abandonment on the Cross he felt the weight of the sorrow, the pain, and the despair of a lost world and he so took this path, that he may redeem that pain, and bring forth Light into the world, and in her heart she believed that even the sons of Cain were not exempt, in that death they too could embrace that Love, and find grace again. She couldn't linger long, she dabbed her eyes and pushed back her thoughts of magick, that she believed was God's gift to be used to protect and save others, the reason she did what she did, and headed for the confessional. "Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been 1 year since my last confession. I am a daughter to a penitent son of the Church in San Francisco that bares the Mark and a guardian of Men." the code given, the priest spoke. "Bless you child and servent of the Holy Archangel Saint Gabriel! Hail and merry met, peace be upon thee, for you have found favor with God and your task is blessed in his light." she smiled.

Father Valens was still a masterful agent! Underneath the cloth part of the confessional that he kept instead of a screen, a slender envelope bearing a floppy disc was slid across to her. "Tell he who bares the Mark that God smiles on the undertakings of the peacemakers and stands with all those who bare their swords against the forces of the Serpent. His brother in New York made it out alive and is gathering his faithful about him. More word will be given as our Brother in Christ learns more about the plans of the Enemy. Go forth of light heart. For God has gifted you with what you long have sought for in vain, Desemond Bianca de Luna. You have the love of your newfound faithful, and they shall never depart from you, nor turn aside. A vision of the Lord tells me all will be revealed to you of the heart of the young Marked son soon. Know this, understanding has come, and he loves you to deeply to hide it from you much longer. Time matters not when God destines certain hearts to become One, and one of his lonely Guardians he gives the gift of being a bride." Father Valens had the gift of the Sight, that served the Cammaria many years for the good of the City. She quivered, heart clenched, filled with a thousand emotions at once. He was telling her that Dwayne wasn't just connected and becoming more attracted to her.

Julian had been right, and the Native was meant to be hers, and she his, and now that she knew he was truly falling in love with her, she knew the truth. She did belong to the Pack, and they would come into this with her. Her own Sight of being turned would come, far sooner than she ever imagined! A joy, overwhelming gratefulness filled her, and she spent a few moments in the confession box to master herself before she exited. And as soon as she did, there was something else she felt. Something was off! It wasn't something she could pinpoint as easily as the weres or her own kind or sabbat vampires. It was a tainted pulse, fantical, enraged and feeled with an estatic joy known to serial killers and assassins! Only a human with violate so much the steps of holy ground with blood of another human, blood of Lilith or not! She couldn't get a feel for how many of them there were, and her scant clothing gave her only enough to wear a breast plate underneath and over her heart. She had to exit the church, but the emotions of the elated blood thirst of a human being became over whelming as she drew closer to the door. She pulled on the sacred energy of the Holy Host from inside, and the power of her Patron goddess as she pulled, for the first time, on the power of her bond with the Pack.

She filled herself with the brim till she could feel and see the energy crackling around her. About her person she created a seal of Solomon, and activating the pins she slowly pulled them out of her boots and walked out of the building. Gunfire was heard immediately! she jumped out of the way, scraping her leg on the pavement before building her shield and aiming the first pin at the top of the building of a bar right across the street from the Chapel. She smiled hearing the sound of a scream, by intonation she had got him and he had fallen. But more gathered around the edges. She was outnumbered and outgunned. She could not use magick this visably out in the open other than protective, and she could pull on only one of those energies without end. She filled her hands will as many pins as she could and dove to the side with a tuck, taking cover and using magick to get a visual. It was 9-1 and they were doped to the gills, something she could work with, but they were moving in for the ambush and the lust she provoked by defiance and her dress showed her what they meant to do to her. She was filled with anger. Big mistake! One came from behind, grabbed a hold of her waist and pulled her against a chest of solid muscle with stinking breath and a sickening voice whispering twisted things! The others closed in. She took out another with a well-aimed kick, slashing his throat. She broke another's hand and fought well, till she felt the cold metal of a semi-automaticslide across her bare shoulder to just above her heart.

So she did the one thing she could think of. She pulled with all her might on her connection to Dwayne, it was the most powerful she had and he wouldn't second guess anything till he got her out! She hoped to God he was awake! She had to get out of this and protect the priests! "Hellcat, now you know better than that! We just want to have a little fun, if you are nice we may even let your pet Church go free and leave you alive, to send your pet Weres a message!" without warning, one of the others, to ensure her not moving, put a warning shot through her bare shoulder, blinding her with pain and sending her screams though the night.

Dwayne's POV

He had just woken, when he felt it. Like a gunshot through his left arm! He felt rage, determination, there was a power that cackled that couldn't be unleashed... He swore and prayed to a GOd he hadn't spoke to in years "Please don't let it be Des, please God! And a cold panic paired with an uncontrallabe rage shot through him when with painful clarity he caught the image of the CHapel of St. John the Baptist, a block from the Boardwalk, 8 men, Des, blindingly beautiful, with a gushing wound out in the open locked with gang bangers intent on rape right there on the Church steps, and something, highly important for Julian! He let out a painful roar that sent all the Boys running. "We've got no time, the bastards got Des, she's shot and loosing blood, fast! She's outnumbered, and out in the open so she can't use her magick to kill! She is at the Chapel, you know the one! It was supposed to be an easy peasy mission!" right now he wanted to murder the Prince of San Francisco, slowly and painfully, but more than that, building panic about Des over rode everything! He had to get to her! He had to get her out! She was loosing to much to fast, it made her to weak to physically fight and the pain was to much to start a fight she could win! He jumped on his bike, not knowing except for the uncompanying roar and a surprising rage coming out of Paul that the others were right behind him!

He used his link to her, that precious link, to keep her awake, keep her fighting, keep her alive till he could get there. "Des hold on, do you hear me?! Don't you dare die on me! I can't lose you! You cant' die! You fight like that crazy bitch I know you are! Please! Please! You have to stay with me! You have to stay with me! Tell me you hear me!" he was loosing his mind, pushing his bike well past it's intended limits with his own power, all the others doing the same. "Native?! Hurry! I'm loosing blood, fast! I can hold for a little longer, but I can't push to hard... Please..." relief and more anxiety! There was going to be a blood bath, and the Father was just going to have to forgive him! As he rode over the Boardwalk, her blood hitting the air, in his panic everything was getting rather clear to him. His intense emotions, they had a name! He knew he was strongly attracted, but now she was the only woman in the world to him that mattered, her beauty outshined the den, her strength, her skills at what she did. Even as she fought when he caught a visual, she was so lovely, a tower of strength and power made vulnerable because of Paradox... But even as her eyes were glazed she killed another one, a butterfly knife shoved into the throat, an artful duck that led her to the ground. "Stay down, my God you have too! Take a dive! We're here!" there was a wave of elation and then power, magickal power that swept him and his brothers.

Endowing them with a gift of enhancing their already enhanced physical abilities. She couldn't blow them away with her power but she could transfer it! He tore off his bike, pinning the man against the church step and ripping his head off clean by his hair! He put a round through his body with his own gun. Make it look like gang violence! He got through to her, and she was the only damn thing in the world at that moment that mattered! She held on to conciousness by sheer will power. He ripped into his jacket and she screamed when he bound the wound to stop the bleeding. He brushed her hair back, stared into her beautiful eyes. "You've got to hold on for me, alright? We can fix this, but you must stay awake! Stay with me!" he felt his eyes water, weekly a hand went to his face. He laced his fingers into hers and refused to look away while his brothers finished around him. "We can make this never be a fear again, we can make you not know or taste death. Let us give it to you! Hold on to me, hold on and we'll go home, and we'll take you, you'll be one of us! We aren't letting you leave, you hear me?" she gave him a small smile, before she arched with pain. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. "Tell me you'll take the blood!" he half screamed, half cried. Conserving strength she spoke silently. "I am already part of you, am I not?" and he knew she wasn't referring to the rest of them.

He knew what she was asking. She had to know! They could go as slow as they needed but she needed to know. "Yes you are!" it was forceful, and he felt it with all his being. Like she was another living part of him, and this great desire to be reunited with the other part was so strong... He started the bike and he raced like hell, taking every short cut he knew! They all moved as one, Paul right beside him, taking a hold of her hand with a desperate look he never saw on his face before. "Be with us, you have too Kitten, you have to! I can't see you in pain like this!" she squeezed back. "The wound...it's not fatal... But it was inevitable. When Arkan died, I knew. Give me the blood!" her voice was stronger, the magick was finally being able to work! Relief and a long dead faith filled him. "It will be done. The bottle Marko!" David commanded. Dwayne continued to hold her in his lap. He felt her becoming stronger. He ran his hand up and down soft skin. "I'm sitting you up, ok?" he said. "Yeah, but you have to support me, it's eatting my power to push the bullet out." he facepalmed himself before undoing the wrap and looked in amazement as the bullet did pop out, but the wound did not reknit itself, the blood came out slower. He pulled her up slightly, but pulled her close, reassuring himself that she was here, and she was saying yes, and he would never have to go through this again!

Paul took the bottle from Marko and uncorked it. "Slow and easy Kitten." his voice was so gentle... Another shock! He poured it down and it was hard for her to gulp so he reached up and massaged her throat. "Swallow, swallow for me baby!" and she did, she took the whole thing down, and finally the wound began to reknit. It felt like he could breathe again! She regained strength, and David wiped the blood away, only a vicious scar left. She had a smile on her face and she gave Paul a look. "So, am I still a hot bitch?" she joked. She never saw him wipe the tears from his face, but Dwayne did! "Hotter still, Kitten! My God you scare the shit out of me sometimes! But tonight is a night of victory and celebration! Welcome offically into the Pack, Des!" he pulled her up by her hands and she laughed. "You've been practicing that haven't you?" she teased, all of them wore goofy smiles. "You know I have!" he said in that pervy voice that was pure Paul. Marko hit the rockbox and Paul pulled her into a close dance. "I want in, Desemond de Luna, so start talking!" he said even as he spun her. They were interupted by a scream and a look of horror. Dwayne rolled his eyes. "Oh dear God Star! She did it of her own free will, knowing fully well what we are and of what we are capeable, better than anyone! So don't throw a shit fit!" Marko had been the most hurt by Star.

Des was everything to him in her short time with them that Star wasn't! She was so damn strong that apparently a bullet couldn't stop her from offing half of her attackers before they got there! "Star, I know you don't wish this for you. But this is my choice. And they are making theirs. If you ask it, they will show you how to beat your hunger and leave you with Michael. I have been authorized to offer them all spots inside the CIA unit known as the Shadow Keepers, made up of mages, were-creatures, elementals, phsyics, mediums, and our very first vampire recruits." Paul stopped dancing and stared at her. David's jaw actually dropped and Dwayne couldn't move for a second he was in profound shock while Marko smiled. "Makes perfect sense to me! I told you the CIA knew everything!" he facepalmed himself. His brother was a conspiracy nut... TO have this confirmed meant years of gloating! "Do you have any idea how cool you fucking are Des?! CIA, a witch... And run that last part by me again! She laughed. "The Lost Boys, made up of David Benton, Marcus Drech, Paul Eusteppe, and Iyokpaza Hanhepi-wi are to be offered positions at the Order of the Shadow Keepers, to make up a special team with Desemond de Luna in regards to anything involving the activities of supernatural creatures that make up the terror group known as the Sabbat and it's splinter group Equites Novem, effective immediatly.

"Upon accepting, they are to be fully briefed on the current mission, and the following one, sending agents Desemond and Iyokpaza on a solo mission to Japan and the others to work directly with Prince Julian Luna working all together to uncover the connection of the Qui-Gin to said splinter group and determine if they are an enemy of the United States." Star's eyes grew large, and the group that followed her, those Frogg boys and Michael, were in shock. "I'm in!" Paul yelled, whooped, and then picked Des up off the ground. "I accept this offer." Dwayne said with an elated grin. This was what he had been waiting for! "Yes, I accept, on grounds you two after we clean up this mess call me daily!" David said with all the growling of a father bear that made him and Des both giggle. She looked back up at those seeking to take them out. "We all share a common enemy to our freedom, and our peaceful and bloodless departure from this place depends now on the decisions you make. Choose to beat the thirst, or help us destroy the true head vampire, and return to your human state." Dwayne addressed the unwelcome visitors. "But I thought he..." the younger brother, pointing at David started. "I lead this group of misfits, but I am not the head, not yet. Max is our common problem. To you amature hunters I say this, we will leave you your little town, won't even seek revenge for what might have been our final deaths.

In return, you help us take out the real problem, and real threat to your friend's family." David replied. Star continued to stare mystified at Des. "What did you do to them?" she asked, half accusing. "What you wouldn't, I accepted them for who they were, seeing past what they were. Kindred are not the monsters you paint them to be. I would know, my father is Julian Luna, the Prince of San Francisco. And in blood I descend from the ancient Arkan." the Frogg brothers' mouths dropped! "So it's true! I knew it!" Edgar shouted with the triumph of an obsessed looney tune. He bit down a laugh. It would take one hell of a hunter to take down Julian! God knows it had been tried multiple times! And anyone who did had to deal with his second in command, and no one in their right mind wanted to fuck with an 1500 year old Nosferatu! Maybe they will do them all a favour and get killed by their own stupidity! "Now, as he said, decisions. Michael, you want this to stop? It can go away. No muss no fuss, like we were never here. But first, we take out Max. Are you in?" Des turned that rather great power of both charm and authority on and wore it like a cloak, penetrating even the thick thog of the Froggs stupidity. "Yes, we'll meet tomorrow, and we'll talk about ending Max." he had Star nodding, still in shock her agreement.

They left, and another bottle, that of Paul's stash of vodka was quickly out and presented to Des. "To the woman of the hour goes the first shot!" he declared! She gave him a wicked smile and shared a conspiritual wink with Dwayne. She took it down, no flinch, no grimace, with a staring and highly appreciative Paul! "Holy shit woman!" and finally he let out the laugh he was holding in!