I had taken two nights of planning, but thus far things had gone well.
Vlad first had his loyal servant, Walters, scout out the building and find out all he could about the place and any form of weaknesses in the security system they could use to their advantage. However, Vlad soon decided something more discreet needed to be done if any mortal attention was to be avoided.
For several weeks now, Xanatos Enterprises had been moving out several 'abandoned projects' from Maddox Technologies to the main Eyrie Building, while rumor had it they were also competing with something call Nightstone Unlimited for those same projects. But that was of no concern to Vlad, save for acquiring one certain 'abandoned project.'
Standing just outside of the delivery warehouse door in the back of the building, Vlad patiently watched as delivery workers and security guards seemingly went about their work without even noticing Vlad or any of his companions. Yet if one were to look deeper into these people's eyes, they would see they had empty expressions upon their faces and their eyes were glassy, as though they were in a trance or under a mind control spell.
For the moment, he and his family had all the workers and security guards enthralled to them until the last of the containment chambers of the would be Halflings were loaded onto the delivery trucks to be taken someplace secret to be properly converted. Over twenty people of differing ages from a majority of late teens and early twenties to three in their mid forties, all were still in a deep comatose state within life size plexiglass containment chambers in suspended animation, and all showed signs of mid transformation from the now abolished experiment to create more followers for Madoc Morfryn and the Unseelie Court.
Afterwards, if Imre and Mikaela behaved themselves, Vlad will allow them a taste of the kine's blood they so crave, but just enough to leave them all comatose for a while longer.
He could not yet risk having his progeny leaving behind blood drained lifeless husks out of impulsiveness. If not for that retched book by Stoker, his kind would still be thriving on the ever bountiful kine.
So until they learned self control, they will need to learn the importance of survival.
Vince and the ones called Rita and Rael productively used their powers to help load these last four or five of the containers that sustained the suspended lives of the so-called volunteers, though continually complained about it. Vlad will have to deal with it at a later time to teach them proper obedience.
As he focused on making sure everything went smoothly, Elizabeth suddenly shouted out,
"Vladimir, my love, look above yonder!"
Vlad shot his eyes up to see two red gargoyles soaring just above them, something to be expected, but he would have rather avoided, yet it was not truly the gargoyles' unexpected arrival that surprised him.
"Empty night," he snarled, "I expected this day would come."
Glaring at his recent recruits, Vlad yelled a command to them,
"We have intruders! Deal well with them!"
Rita and Rael dropped whatever they were doing and shot cold blue beams of light from their palms to create light paths and soar up to the Brooklyn and Ariana, Rita clearly eager for action and Rael more reserved.
When the Halflings came to eye level with the gargoyle father and daughter, Brooklyn could only spit out irritated,
"Not you guys again."
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," Rita shot back, then suddenly shot a deadly ball of blue light at Brooklyn, hitting his metal chest plate dead center to push him back several feet in the air from Rita and momentarily disorient him.
Brooklyn was able to shake it off after only a moment or two as he realigned his wings to keep himself aloft and touched his chest plate, ever thankful for its futuristic technology for being resistant to a moderate level of Fey magic as well as advanced high energy weapons.
Even though much of his armor, his chest plate, arm bands, and shoulder guard were capable of withstanding even a deadly laser bolt and various forms of magic to a point, Brooklyn was still well aware his armor still had its limits.
He then tried to clear the spots that danced in his head from his peripheral vision, then they glowed bright white as he yelled at Rita,
"Geez, woman, what the hell's your problem?!"
"You damn gargoyles ruined my life!" Rita angrily shouted, "You always ruin everything, and I'm gonna make you all pay!"
The glow of Brooklyn's eyes dimmed a bit as he said with a shake of his head, "I've heard that said a million times for years and it's never a good excuse for doing something out of baseless hate."
Rita just gave an angered cry as she prepared another magical attack just as Ariana soared out of nowhere with eyes glowing crimson as she shouted,
"Leave my Dad alone!"
She was about to hit Rita with her Bo, but got intercepted by Rael as he yelled,
"And you leave my girlfriend alone!"
He shot at her with a milder version of the blue force ball, making Ariana tumble back and fall a short way from her height, but she was able to spread her wings and catch a strong enough updraft to glide back up to a sufficient height and set to attacking Rael.
Brooklyn would have gone to his daughter's aide had Rita not shot another blue energy sphere at him to nearly graze his beak. Instead he was forced to glide in another direction, if just to draw away the insane Halfling from his daughter while she handled to the other one.
While he knew Ariana was a very capable warrior, Brooklyn could see they were still out matched if not out numbered. It often took the entire clan to take down just one Halfling, and aside from his high tech armor, Brooklyn did not have any iron on him.
Activating his commlink earpiece, he called for any nearby reinforcements.
Behind Ariana, Rael pursued as he skated upon his mystical light path construct, shooting cold blue beams from his palms or throwing light spheres like miniature comets at her as she zigged and zagged upon the air drafts to dodge his continuous mystic barrage.
Ariana raised one eye ridge in puzzlement, for something told her he was holding back.
"What's the matter, elf boy?" she cried out mockingly, "A lousy shot?"
"I don't want to hurt, kid," Rael cried back, "You and your kind should just leave us alone and stay out of our business!"
With stronger flaps of her wings, Ariana soared faster and harder upon the breeze as the natural acrobat she was hatched to be as she angled her wings to lift her high for a loop-da-loop and appear behind Rael.
Using her trained air combat skills she twirled her Bo so fast it was like a solid disk as she yelled to Rael,
"You're stealing something that doesn't belong to you, and that makes it our business!"
She then gave a hard swing of her staff and hit Rael in the back and knocked him off from his light made platform, making him give an exclaimed yelp as he stumbled over the edge.
Ariana smiled smugly to herself as she glided passed and watched Rael fall several meters, but it became a frown as she watched Rael break his fall with another light path construct.
This was going to be harder than she thought.
Hearing a loud whistle, she eyed her father not too far away as he soared hard with the female Halfling behind him. She gave a nod as she followed Brooklyn's lead.
They glided towards each other with a Halfling behind them, father and daughter on a collision course.
At the very last second they both simultaneously angled their wings and soared upwards in a vertical ascension, their beaks missing by inches. This was followed by Rita and Rael hitting each other with a hard bodily thump that may have broken a few bones, to then fall from their magically created light paths unconscious.
Brooklyn and Ariana high foured each other, Brooklyn smiling with pride how that old trick with the Steel Clan worked even now, and with even Halflings.
Below, Vlad watched the fight with a mild interest but became displeased as he watched his newest followers be defeated. Using his own magic to telekenically slow their fall and place them out of the way, his face then twisted into an angered snare as the armored red gargoyle landed in front of him with angry glowing eyes and flared wings.
"Whatever you're doing here, pal, it stops now," Brooklyn growled.
Vlad gave a snake like hiss at Brooklyn, then arrogantly said, "It's tiresome having to deal with naïve meddlers, especially the same ones in as many centuries. Walters!"
Vlad's loyal man servant seemed to appear out of thin air, giving a bloodcurdling war cry as he brandished what appeared to be an old 18th century rapier, thought the blade gleamed and glimmered as though newly forged.
Brooklyn held up his arms to shield himself against Walters' sword as it hit the gargoyle's arm guards, yet the blows were strong enough to drive him back a few steps.
Though Brooklyn knew Walters had to be a normal human in service to these vampires, he fought with greater than average strength and a furious rage Brooklyn had not seen since the Vikings' invasions in the 10th century.
Ariana was about to go to her father's aid when she was nearly hit by another blue energy sphere, making her turn to her left to face off against Vince. Yet before the bouncer was able to attack again, he gave an exclaimed yelp as something hard hit his left temple and left a deep scrape.
They both looked up to see Graeme preparing another projectile in his old fashion slingshot, with Lexington not far behind him.
"Need a hand, sis?" Graeme asked as he shot Vince again, hitting another part of his bald head, making the former Dracon bouncer yell in surprise and pain.
"You bet, Bro!" Ariana said as she and her twin brother began attacking Vince simultaneously, Ariana with spinning attacks with her Bo staff, and Graeme with what was now obviously iron pellets from one of his vest pockets.
It was enough to put the mobster Halfling off balance from using his powers, making him realize he had no choice but to retreat for now.
As Vince finally retreated, the twins gave their signature high tail to each other as a proud Lex landed nearby. But their victory was short lived as two more figures began attacking them, Imre went for the twins and Mikaela went straight for Lex.
They both seemed to be enveloped in foggy living shadows as they flew at the gargoyles, eyes glowing red but with faint white pupils, fangs elongated, and their nails sharpened to three inch long claws while their pale attractive and youthful features became more sunken and decayed as though to more resemble a corpse in death.
"Hello again, snack," Mikaela hissed with wild amusement as she grabbed a struggling Lex by his shoulders.
"Not you again," he growled as he tried to free himself from her vice like grasp.
"Yes, me again, I only got a little sample of what you taste like last time," she said with deranged hunger as a salivated tongue licked at her cracked and dry lips, "And it had a very interesting effect on me. I wonder what'll happen if I eat all of my dinner."
"Go ahead and try it, vampire bitch," Lex practically smirked with large white glowing eyes.
If just for the insult, Mikaela snarled as she opened her mouth wide and prepared to sink long fangs into Lex's jugular. But instead, Lex used her angered attack against her as he head butted her hard, and used his smaller size and flexibility to bring his legs up and kick at Mikaela's mid section hard at the same time he used his gargoyle strength to hit her arms out and release her grip on him to free himself.
Yet a second later he noticed she was still able to leave three deep gashes on his upper left arm. He gripped them as he looked at the younger female vampire with shocked horror, thin bits of blood leaked from between his fingers.
"Relax," she said snobbishly, "If I wanted to turn you, I would have already. You're a meal, not a convert."
This did not make Lex feel entirely better as he looked at her in anger for the attack. She just gave him a smug smile as she began licking blissfully at the blood on her long claws, savoring it like a fine wine.
"Gaaggh!" she suddenly cringed in disgusted surprise as her tongue suddenly burned with pain.
She looked at the olive green gargoyle with puzzled shock, because now he was smiling in satisfaction.
Sniffing at her long claws, her sunken corpse like face twisted into a disgusted hatred to make her face more twisted and ugly.
"Garlic, bleegh!" She sneared.
"That's right, you blood sucking bitch," Lex said proudly, "I've been eating plenty of garlic since the last time you bit me. Only down sides are the bad breath and so much carbo loading almost made me a smaller version of Broadway."
Mikaela just hissed dangerously at Lex, and retreated in the opposite direction instead of attacking him again. Lex wanted to chase after her but decided to instead try to find Brooklyn and help him.
Not too far away, Imre fought to get at the gargoyle twins who fought like the life long team they are. Every move one made was balanced out or countered by the other enough to keep the young male vampire off balance and confused. As Imre tried to attack one, the other would strategically dodge the other way while the other took the advantage to strike and keep the young vampire in a continued state of confusion as well as using Imre's impulsions against him. For every lashed out claw swipe Imre tried to deliver, Graeme and/or Ariana dodged or countered in defense while the brother and/or sister counterbalanced with their own claw swipe, a punch, a kick, and even a whip crack from their long tales, all to further frustrate the adolescent vampire and have him wear himself out.
However, what neither noticed was that Imre had come closer than expected, his elongated claws had deeply scratched at the armbands on the twin gargoyles upper arms, creating some minor yet critical damage. Graeme and Ariana had continued their valiant fighting with sheer determination and adrenaline powered stamina.
"Hold still, you little morsels," he snarled in frustration, "My sister's the only one lucky enough to have sampled you juicy steaks. I want a taste."
Graeme and Ariana just gave Imre a hard double whammy kick in the stomach, momentarily taking the wind from his lungs as he fell back, but he recovered fast.
He hissed dangerously as he prepared for another attack, but his 'sister' grabbed him tightly by his arm as she said,
"No, brother. That little green twit has poisoned his blood with garlic, and the rest of them may've done the same. We can't risk it."
Imre's face twisted in disgust as he snarled, "I always hated Italian food, even before becoming Undead."
The vampire siblings retreated into their shadowy cloaks, landing in front of their sire to tell of Lexington's defense. The infamous vampire lord gave an irritated scowl, yet part of him was pleased to see his progeny finally using some common sense.
The twins meanwhile, found themselves suddenly being attacked again by a recovered Vince whose hands each gripped a cold blue green orb of magical energy and his face was twisted in a crazed snarl.
Looking around Vlad assessed the situation, which was looking to becoming increasingly at a disadvantage.
Walters continued to keep the armored red gargoyle at bay while a smaller green one began his own attack on the rapier wielding servant by trying to attack from above and grabbing the maddened man servant, who just easily ripped Lex from his shoulders and threw him away hard.
Vince was barely holding his own against two pre-adolescent gargoyles, and Rita and Rael were only now beginning to stir from their earlier foolish collision.
The security guards and warehouse workers paid no attention to the battles that progressed around them, having still been enthralled in deep trances. There were only two more life sustaining tanks to be loaded onto the delivery truck, yet Vlad was certain that by then it would be too late, if these gargoyle nuisances were not taken care of now.
Sensing her husband's concerns, Elizabeth stepped forward to assure him as she said,
"Fear not, My Dark Love, I shall end this irritating scuffle immediately."
Her own lovely Eastern European features twisted and became more distorted than Imre's and Mikaela's had been; her face paler, more sunken and rotten, her eyes a deeper shade of red, and two sets of fangs; sharp canines and shorter lateral incisors, and five inch long claws.
She flew at Graeme and Ariana, leaving behind her own dark streak of tangible shadows and fog as her elegant aristocratic dress billowed madly behind her, and grabbed the twins tightly by their throats as she easily held them in the air from a cringing Vince.
"Leave," she hissed with husky voice, and Vince needed no other words from his master's wife.
Lex had come to Brooklyn's aid against Walters, having landed on top of the human's head and trying to impede his vision by wrapping his web wings around the swordsman's face.
But even blinded, Walters proved too strong for the smaller gargoyle in his berserker rage as he grabbed Lex's arm and threw him hard to the ground.
For a moment, Lex could only think though his muddled mind that his arm was going to have bruises from Walters's vice tight grip, while his other arm had deep scratches, and he was going to feel that concrete hit tomorrow night despite any healing from stone sleep.
When Lex's vision cleared a moment later, he saw Walters preparing to slash his head off with the rapier; but instead the slender sword hit one of Brooklyn's arm guards as he intercepted Walters's sword.
Walters was about to take another slash at Brooklyn when a hoarse female voice shouted,
"Gargoyles!"
Without any instructions from Elizabeth, Walters made a hasty retreat while Brooklyn and Lexington eyed with fearful shock the elder vampiress holding the twins by their throats.
"Listen well, night warriors," she hissed, "If you wish the lives of these pups spared, you will leave now and cease this childish meddling, or have their lives forsaken."
She squeezed their throats tighter, cutting off their breathing even further as her claws cut deep into their necks, Graeme and Ariana clearly loosing strength to continue struggling.
"NO!" Brooklyn shouted.
"Let them go, you monster!" Lex yelled.
Elizabeth just gave a hoarse laugh as she said,
"Their time shortens, small night warrior, but I am not the one who shortens it. I sense something inflicts their young lives even now, and it threatens yet again which is a pity. We are not unalike, my kind as well lingers on the brink of extinction and merely wishes survival same as you."
"We're nothing alike!" Lex snarled.
Elizabeth gave a snake like hiss, then coldly stated,
"Then your choice is clear."
She threw the twins at the two gargoyles as she made a swift escape, becoming only a billow of mist that Lex tried to chase after as she joined the rest of the vampires in the back of the truck and its captured cargo.
Lex made a jump for the back of the truck, but was only able to land and claw onto the closed back door as the truck began speeding away from the Maddox Technologies building. Lex pounded at the closed door as he roared in frustration, leaving a deep dent the size of his fist.
"Lex! Help me!" he heard Brooklyn shout in frightful desperation, which he would have ignored had he not seen the terrified look on his older rusty colored brother's eyes.
Brooklyn had caught his children before they landed hard on the concrete ground, both of them coughed hard for breath as their throats' circulation returned steadily with each choked cough. Brooklyn held them close as he kneeled on the ground, waiting seemingly forever for Lex to return from his pursuit of the vampires and their stolen goods.
"Dad, I don't feel so good," Ariana moaned as she gave another small cough.
"Me neither," Graeme groaned in pain.
Brooklyn eyed the cause of their infliction, panic nearly over came him as he gave heartfelt roar that echoed throughout the canyons of the surrounding buildings, a cry that rivaled a grief stricken roar from Goliath.
"They're getting away!" snarled Lex, his eyes glowing angrily as he landed next to Brooklyn, "What kind of second in command are you to let those monsters get away!?"
Brooklyn just ignored his smaller brother's rant as he stated,
"Graeme and Ariana are in trouble and you're the only one who can save them!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Lex yelled, "That's what we got a new healer for!"
Brooklyn's own eyes glowed angrily at his brother as he growled,
"No, Lex! It has to be you. Those arm bands they wear aren't fashions statements, they're all that keep them alive!"
Lex's anger evaporated and his eyes lost their white glow as he took better note of the twins. Their colors had a dangerously pale tint to them and they both looked like they could barely move. He also saw that their arm bands were somehow damaged, yet it was by a great fortune they were not beyond repair.
Lex looked back at his brother, a mixed expression of anxiety and guilt on his youthful features while Brooklyn's own eyes glassed over with tears that were practically begging Lex.
Lex could only frown and give a small nod.