MSI


Tex's laughter broke the tension. "I have an idea. We put gloves on you two and toss you into the ring and let you pound on each other and if that doesn't fix it, we toss you two into bed together in all sweaty and hot. One way or the other, you'll work it out."

Twin death glares turned toward the tall woman who seemed immune to their heat.

"Not every problem can be resolved with violence and sex," Terra said with an eye roll.

"Huh. Really? Always worked for me," Tex said glibly.

"Hardly," Lucy snorted.

"She has you there," Heather added with a smile.

"Well if at first, you don't succeed try try again"

"Don't buy the bravado. Under all that tough exterior there's a vulnerable, caring soul who is learning to share her burdens and work through her issues," Heather explained.

"Hey! Don't give away all of my secrets, it damages the mystique."

"This is when we showed up and met these loony tunes," Sakura interjected.

"If anyone is a cartoon character it's you! You're getting a bit ahead of the story. See, Heather knew the reports of what happened in Alabama because she wrote the after-action but I was in the thick of this mess. I was also curious enough about things to ask questions of the principal actors so I know how it all went down," Tex explained.


Washington County, Alabama


"Willow? Is that your wizard teacher in the backyard?" Edith Johnson asked.

"Yes- yes it is," Willow replied with mounting suspicion. Through the window, she could see Mike was sitting next to the propane grill in the backyard pulling dressed animal carcasses out of a cheap styrofoam cooler and laying them onto the grill.

"What are you two scoundrels up to?" Nana shouted as she leaned out the back door.

Mike didn't even look up. "Cooking some meat. Axe had a windfall while hunting."

Willow pinched the bridge of her nose, remembering Axe hunted and ate in his animal form. The only thing from civilization he seemed to desire was cold beer, parts for his guitar and amp set up, and now that Kashi had helped him get it working, stuff to keep his motorcycle in good repair.

"So you're over here to steal my propane!" Edith exclaimed

"Borrow."

"Bull! I'll believe you planned to repay me when you ask first."

"Hey! I pay my debts. It's just I can only pay in possum."

"You'll be repaying in squirrel, not possum. Two of them and that's if you don't ruin it. Move!" Edith said as she stormed out the back door.

Mike backed up from the sheer force of Nana's personality forestalling any argument.

"What sort of fool puts unseasoned meat on the grill? Not even any salt and pepper? You're too late to marinade but we can do a quick rub. Quiet guy, go inside and get my big platter. Willow go get the wood chips for the electric smoker. You don't grill raccoon, you got to slow cook it. I'll be taking a quarter of that too for my trouble. The Lord wept, most men at least know how to grill. Honestly!" Edith groused, her sensibilities deeply offended by this insult to the culinary arts.

Axe ran inside to get the platter and then joined Willow in setting up the smoker. Mike was kept hopping from task to task by Edith as she salvaged the attempt at meal prep. Soon there was little to do but wait for the heat to finish cooking the now-seasoned and properly prepared meat.

When Edith stepped inside to get a cool drink Willow narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "How much of that was you actually sucking and how much was it trying to trick Nana into cooking for you?"

"No comment. Even if it was, it backfired."

"How much of you changing our lessons from the sphere of Prime to Matter is wanting to make a quick buck pawning stuff I transmute?"

"I started teaching you Prime because every Mage should know how to wield the underlying power of magic itself. We worked on Forces a bit because it's good self-defense and your brother wanted to see you do some 'wizard shit.' Calling fire and lighting are very 'wizard shit' flashy. Maybe not the best thing to use, but looks baller as fuck. But, when it comes to serious learning you have to see what you can learn well and what will take more time."

Willow still looked dubious.

"The ten spheres can be divided into gross and subtle pairs. Five are tied to physical reality and five are tied to metaphysics." Mike held up his hand and enumerated with his fingers. "Time, Space, Matter, Forces, and Life are the former. Fate Mind, Death, Prime, and Spirit are the latter. You suck at Fate, it's your sphere of weakest potential which means teaching you its counterpart time won't be easy. Ironic as Death and Fate were once seen as entropy and used to do stuff you can do better with your sphere of Death. Death itself is metaphysical and correlates with Matter. So your aptitude with one should help with the other."

"I'm good with Correspondence or Space or whatever you want to call it."

"Which is linked to the sphere of Mind. Mind is useful but not the best self-defense."

"Someone is pulling in upfront," Axe's laconic voice interjected.

Mike hopped to his feet and started a quick walk to the side of the house. Axe also began ambling his way to the other side, his longer legs putting him able to see around the building at about the same time Mike could. Willow noted it as another example of the subconscious coordination of the two. They had worked together so closely for so long that either one seemed to always know what the other was doing.

Willow could hear talking, but she couldn't make out the words. Axe and Mike seemed to relax a bit as the speakers rounded from Axe's side of the house.

Edith waved. "There she is. Willow this is your kin the Kimura's they've come all the way out here to Alabama just to see you and Kashi."

Nana was in the lead of a colorful group of characters. A pair of Dragon-Blooded teens: a fire-aspected boy, and a wood-aspected girl, and a more mature-looking air-aspected woman in between them. Bringing up the rear was the most enormous man Willow had ever seen. He was a bit shorter than Kai Silbern, but his girth was of awe-inspiring proportions. Willow's mind went to the Kashi version of the Spirit of Christmas Past in her Awakening vision.

The older air aspect gave the younger two a pointed look. She then gave a formal smile "We are pleased to meet the sister of Kashi. We have heard of your trials from Kai Silbern and others who fought in Los Angeles."

"What's that Cooking? It smells good!" The enormous one said, interjecting, while rubbing his enormous belly, almost in anticipation.

"Wild-caught game. You're welcome to some. Come, sit down, don't be shy. We don't get visitors from Japan often here."

"Actually Sakura and I are from Hawaii," the fire aspect boy said. "The Kimuras are pretty spread out. Ichigo there is from Okinawa. Aiko is from Yokohama but she spends a lot of time at the main house in Okinawa. Oh yeah, and I'm Sora!"

"Oh good to meet you. I'm Kashi's sister, Willow. This is my tutor in the spheres of the arcane, Mike D'angelo and his…umm…assistant Axe of clan umm..."

"No clan," Axe mumbled quietly.

"And yet known to hold the favor of Luna herself! I am sanctified by her holy will. The spirits whisper tales of your glorious battles. The Argent Mother holds a special place in her heart for outcasts and survivors, and you are both," Ichigo smiled, never taking his eyes off the grill.

"And you are? What? Some sort of Shaman?" Mike asked in a very unimpressed tone.

"I have seen the face of the Argent Mother and she has smiled on me, yes."

"Then she should tell her pups to stop being such assholes."

"Well that is a work in progress I would say," Ichigo said with a smile.

"Hey!" Mike exclaimed as Edith started distributing the food to everyone at the table.

"Hush. I have a couple of frozen pizzas in the fridge that are more your speed than this stuff. They'll keep longer too and whatever magic you have doesn't keep food fresh at least from what Kashi told me about cleaning out your fridge."

"Oh yeah, he was mad. I have never seen Kashi just throw out food before. Leftovers don't last long in our house. I guess I still haven't as what you had in that fridge didn't really qualify as food anymore," Willow interjected.

"I didn't come here for this abuse," Mike said, annoyed.

"No you came here to leech propane," Edith shot back.

"The abuse is just another service we provide," Willow added.

"Hey, is anyone back there?" called a voice from around the front of the house

"Christ on a cracker, is everyone in town going to show up?" Mike groused.

"You started cooking outdoors in the south. Even if it is winter, it's unseasonably mild so the smell is going to carry," Edith explained.

Accel Johnson rounded the side of the house "Well I wasn't expecting a gathering. My word! You three you'd be Manifested! And you, why you sir, are well…you're…umm…"

"Big?" Ichigo finished.

"Why yes! Very big if you didn't wrestle in school it was a waste. You have the makings of another Andre the Giant."

"I did of sorts. I was a champion Sumo. Recently retired."

"Oh, that Japanese wrestling you know I saw that on the television once. Seemed a fine sport. Ya'll are related to Kashi then? You have his look about ya?" Accel asked.

"Yes sir! We're his kin from Japan and Hawaii. Jin is the son of Jinpachi. Jinpachi is the brother of Hidetoshi who was the father of the identical twins Higa and Ichigo. Sakura and I are the children of Ichigo who immigrated to Hawaii to seek his fortune by starting his own farm. Big Ichigo there is named in honor of our father but is the son of his twin brother Higa. Higa being the eldest, stayed in Japan to inherit Grandpa Hidetoshi's watermelon farm," Sora added in a dizzying and rapid fire speech.

"Sora and I are Ichigo's first cousins Kashi is our second cousin. Aiko is more distant. Let's see you're Central Kimura but on the matrilineal line you'd be the great grandpa Yoshido's sister's defendant so that would make you Kashi's second cousin once removed?" Sakura broke in

"No, I'm not that elder. Third cousin no removals," Aiko hastily corrected in a slightly staccato voice. It seemed her grasp on English may not have been as refined as her cousins.

Most of the table was a bit overwhelmed by the lengthy answer. Edith was the first to break the lull in the conversation. "You'll find people around here are passionate about genealogy as well. Mostly for good reasons, it's important to have pride in your family."

"Where's Kashi? I didn't know he had visitors, but I am in desperate need of some help," Accel asked.

"Kashi's not here. He left on some personal business. We're not sure when he'll be back. Tomorrow, maybe the next day," Edith answered.

"Just my damn luck. Pardon my language"

"What's going on Accel? You look to be nearly in a state of panic."

"Angel's kid has come down with the flu. He doesn't want to take him to Consuela. You know she normally doesn't mind looking after the grandkids but you've heard how her health is. She catches the flu, it could kill her."

"More than having lived so long I value that the Lord has seen fit to leave me good health. So many aren't so lucky. I suppose you could bring him here. I'm not so vulnerable despite being older than Angel's mother," Edith offered

"Kind of you to offer but I doubt Angel would go for it. You've been back for less than two months. He doesn't know you well enough to accept charity. I was hoping to get Kashi to run an errand Angel was going to do for me. I needed him to run into New Orleans. I have some imported trees that have cleared customs. I need someone to pick them up. Kashi might not have a CDL like Angel but he knows enough to drive the big truck. Hell technically it doesn't need a CDL it just squeaks by the limits."

"New Orleans you say? Hmm?" Ichigo asked, his interest piqued.

"Oh no! You got him started. He was complaining about not getting to stop in New Orleans. There's some restaurant or the other he wanted to try," Sakura said with an eye roll

"Several I wanted to try! You know I have a CDL, Sakura! I had to have it when I was helping your dad."

"Your farm is big enough that you use that big of a truck?" Willow asked.

"Oh yeah! Golden Sun Pineapples aren't the biggest brand but we have our niche," Sora smiled.

"Wait, wait, wait! That is a luxury pineapple brand. They're a big company. Mom and Jin lived in Hawaii. Kashi was born there!" Willow sputtered.

"Yeah, if Jin hadn't been an ass, Kashi and I might have been playmates as kids," Sakura said wistfully.

Willow blinked. "Jet's family has money!"

Ichigo shrugged. "My Dad's farm grows mellons that start at two hundred bucks and have gone for as much as five grand. Agriculture is starting to take over as the Kimura's main business. It used to be fishing, but the Chinese are cutting into our yields."

"When mom finds out she'll kill him. They moved to the mainland because Jin said he couldn't find work."

"Bullshit! Daddy wouldn't have let Jin starve. He's a mechanic. There's always equipment that needs work. No Kimura would let another starve. Jin just didn't want to ask for help," Sakura snarled somewhat defensively.

Aiko held up a finger then shook her head and put it down "No, no correction swearing is appropriate here Jin is..."

"A colossal asshole?" Ichigo offered.

"Yes, thank you, Ichigo. There is no kind way to say it. Jin is a colossal asshole," Aiko repeated.


MSI


"Wait a damn minute! You mean to tell me when they wouldn't let Jin reenlist all he had to do is drive to the other end of the island and ask for a job?" Banyan exclaimed.

"That is precisely what I'm saying," Sakura replied

Banyan ground her jaw in a rage then closed her eyes and started rubbing her right temple with two fingers.

Sayuri had seen Kashi and Willow do the same when aggravated. She decided to help move things along before a rant about Jin derailed things further. "So, I take it Ichigo headed to New Orleans?"

"Yup, Willow said something about wanting to see the city and hear some of the bands. Mike invited himself along to cover her magic lesson. They bailed as soon as they got to the city. The loading was going to take longer than expected so Ichigo went on a restaurant crawl. Willow got free eats and live music. It was so late when the truck was ready, Ichigo decided to get them a room. He couldn't get up with Mike but left him a message about where they were and when they were leaving then rented two rooms in a nice hotel," Sakura explained.

"And that's where we got involved. You see, Mike had an ulterior motive for coming along." Heather began.

"Nooo!" Terra exclaimed sarcastically, cutting her off.

"It's worse than you think. Mike found out about a Setite plot to cause a blood crash," Heather continued.

"Oh for fucks sake. No one knows what that is!" Lucy interjected. "Okay, for those of you new to all of this let me explain. The New Orleans cabal is insanely rich. The seed money for their wealth comes from two sources. The mage Nikki Sparks owns Sparks Pharmaceutical which holds the patent on the drug Pigment. You have to reveal a production method when you claim a patent and the previous production company never did. So, when they went under everyone raced to figure out how to make the drug that was vital to projector technology. She was able to reverse-engineer the process that changes Kakos stromithicarum into a bridge between the living world and the underworld. So, she was able to claim it. Every legal projector and underworld manipulation tech company has to pay her for their supply."

However, before she could continue, she exploded in a fit of coughing and went to take a drink of water.

Terra continued the explanation while Lucy wet her throat.

"Blood is the other; both legal and supernatural. One of their members was a medical doctor and bioscientist who invented the process of growing cloned blood; he partnered with House Tremere to start Vital Fluids, the company that supplies eighty percent of the world's blood banks.

"The existing market didn't want to let them in but resistance to them folded when the company offered to buy real human blood collected by their resistant competitors. On the surface, this is for testing purposes and improving their product. Most think it is just a bribe to leverage a monopoly. The truth is cloned blood is only as good as animal blood for vampires."

Sayuri sat up straighter. "I might only be premed but isn't that something like ninety million units of blood a year?"

"Yes, enough to feed a quarter of a million vampires. Also, they can survive on cloned blood for three or four days with no ill effects at all. The company has made a large dent in the needs, particularly of the vampires less able to hunt," Terra finished

"As with most things our Tremere Ezekiel has done in his life, coming to New Orleans wasn't solely altruistic. It was also the center of the secretive vampire blood market that supplied elders too old to feed on human blood as well as independent ghouls who had no master to supply them.

"Our Cabal absorbed them. We had a lot of money and inroads with the weakest of vampires that most needed our products. We had commodities to trade. Ezekiel gave thin-blooded vampires eight units of cloned blood and two normal ones for every unit they gave back. If you can't make a ghoul your blood isn't addictive but will still feed the Elders. If you can, it's a commodity worth thousands to the ghouls who need a monthly dose minimum.

"We make more money and are owed more off-the-books favors than even our near monopoly on human blood would otherwise indicate. The Setites have always hated us. They once controlled a large part of that market. Mike had stumbled onto their plans to slip an entire tanker truck of blood into the United States," Heather explained

"Vampire blood is more addictive than heroin. Setite blood is twice as addictive as normal. That's some scary stuff," Lucy added as she put down her water glass.

"How much money would that be worth?" Banyan asked.

"Two hundred and sixteen million dollars. Way more than Mike needed to get out of debt from when he was a blood addict," Tex answered. "But, anyway, so, Ichigo and Willow were staying in a hotel…"

"I'm surprised Nana let Willow stay out overnight with a man she barely knew." Banyan interrupted, obviously a bit annoyed.

"I'm not. Ichigo is like your Kashi from what I have heard. He's charismatic, cheerful, and an all around stand up guy…til' you cross him, his family, or try to hurt children. Then he gets impressively violent," Terra answered.

"He's a dork and while your daughter is fine you'll want to smack him one when you see him," Sakura said.

"This is where we come in, you see, Alex had gone out to help the projectors deal with a haunting. What they, at first thought was a ghost, was in fact a pissed-off spirit," Tex said, restarting her tale.


Silbern Residence

St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana


Alex stepped into the spare room Tex was using as a workspace. He eyed the sheets of computer-printed maps taped to the wall with notes jotted on them. He slipped up next to his girlfriend and used his height to peer over her head at the computer screen that displayed facts about the various school boards of the Greater Los Angeles region.

"Hey, babe whatcha doing?"

"Oh! fell down a rabbit hole doing research on the schools we might end up using. Heather had been pondering what our options would be. School access will be a major issue. You won't own your own private school for all the SuperNat children. So, I took a load off for her and offered to do this.

"Everything is cross-referenced with an emphasis on security and safety but all the metrics are weighted be it scholastic, athletic, or nutritional. I downloaded maps of most of them so once we do make a choice we can familiarize ourselves with the layout. We'll also want to make note of the emergency exits in case..." Tex petered to a stop as she looked up at Alex.

He just raised his eyebrows.

"Shit. I'm doing too much aren't I?"

"Yeah, a little bit. Truth be told you're freaking Heather out some."

"I'm sorry. I'm just nervous about screwing all this up and I want to do my best. The girls are a big part of your life and I want to do right by them." She stopped and took a deep breath

"And I didn't notice I was slipping toward an episode. I swear Alex the meditation and self-monitoring exercises…I'm better at keeping myself healthy than this. It's just-"

"The stress. I know. Do you think maybe you want to try meds? I know the regular ones don't work well with your powers but Nikki might be able to do something if not you could go see Dr Alanni?" Alex asked gently.

"I don't know, I might. I just don't like the idea of being chained to a supply. That sort of dependency can be an Achilles' heel in a protracted engagement."

"Well, it's something to think about. No pressure from my end or Heather's. She just wanted me to talk to you because she wasn't sure she could deal with it."

"Yeah, not sure how to deal with the crazy woman."

"Not exactly what she was worried about, mostly her own fears of screwing the conversation up."

"Her fears?"

"Heather has had a job the whole time we've lived here. She's been a lynchpin in this place. Meanwhile, I've been the caregiver. Now she's thinking about giving that up and going, full-time mom. It's something she thinks she wants but she's never really done so it's scary. She's pretty sure she wants this but the thought of failure is kicking up stuff deep in there and then…" Alex gestured to all her work.

"Then Hurricane Tex shoves her out of the way in an attempt to latch onto the role of supermom. Shit, you know that wasn't what I was meaning to do."

"I know that. She knows that, intellectually. It's just kicking her inner worries into overdrive so she wanted me to talk to you. Give her time to get it under control."

"I'm going to go apologize," Tex said standing up.

"I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

As they were walking down the hall they found Heather was not where Alex had last left her. Curious, Alex noticed the open doors to the war room. He poked his head inside.

Doc Spectre was on the video phone. "Hey, there's Alex. I'm transferring her back to you, Heather."

Heather seemed flustered "Wait, Doc…"

"Hello?" A voice came over the speaker. Something about it tugged at Tex's memory.

"Umm Hello, this is Alex Silbern who am I speaking with?"

"Oh good! I'm Willow. Willow Kimura! Lucy spoke highly of you as did Kai Silbern. I am in a bit of trouble, you see they left me."

Tex perked up; it was the little redhead who had stayed with Gram. Her brother had helped her wipe out the main den of the Sabbat in San Francisco.

"Who is they?" Alex asked, confused.

"Oh, my chaperone Ichigo Kimura, my magic teacher Mike D'Angelo, and his bodyguard Axe Wolfson."

"Mike is back?" Alex glared.

"He came by in this big-rig truck with a liquid tanker and started yelling at Ichigo. I don't know what they said. Ichigo told me to stay in my room while he figured out what was going on. They were talking when these guys pulled up and started shooting out the windows at them. Axe shot back killing one guy and Mike curved the bullets to take out another. They all piled into the truck in a hurry and drove off. So they left me."

"They what? How old are you?" Alex asked, even more bewildered.

"Me? I'm thirteen. I think maybe they were trying to lure trouble away but a second car showed up just as I was leaning out to see where everyone had gone. I had to stop them. I'm safe for the moment but I don't know what else is out here."

"Safe? Miss, what did you do?"

"Oh sorry, I sort of, just, reanimated the dead guys. They surprised the others. Now I have a dozen semi-intelligent zombies protecting me but they are really obviously dead and I don't think that is something I can explain if the cops show up."

Alex turned and looked at Heather and then at Tex in shock.

"Hey, Willow this is Tex. Do you remember me?"

"Of course! I didn't know you were here!"

"Where is your brother?"

"Oh, he's off with some crazy Russian assassin on some mission of mayhem at the request of some lawyer. So for once, this isn't his fault."

Alex gave Tex another bewildered look which she waved off. "Hold tight sweety I will come to pick you up and get you somewhere safe. You can de-animate the zombies can't you?"

"Oh yes, one of the first things Miked made sure I learned. He got tired of incinerating them."

Heather spoke up. "Good idea. The Doc is chasing Mike. He was trying to talk to the girl. She didn't know my name so didn't trust me. It wasn't going well, splitting his attention. If Tex gets the girl Alex you can head them off on this side of Lake Pontchartrain bridge."

"They are not getting away this time. That shitty son of a bitch will pay. Leaving a thirteen-year-old girl alone in this of all cities," Alex raged.

"Come on Beefy, let's get to the garage. I can drop you off as we cross their path," Tex called out.

Both rushed out and soon were zipping away in a pickup. She'd picked the heavy vehicle due to Alex's sheer size once transformed. He had a gift that made his Crinos war form double rather than half again his height. Being a seven-foot-tall man added plenty of extra-base size before the scale-up.

Their forces had already diverted traffic so Alex was in the bed of the truck ready to transform and make the leap as Tex, who was driving down the wrong side of the bridge, passed the tanker.

The A.W.T.E.P.S. force really didn't want to try a spike strip and risk an overturn on this big bastard.

Alex braced and lept sailing through the air as Tex continued to speed away. He judged the jump correctly and landed on the top of the massive liquid tank about halfway back. The truck shuddered at his added weight.

He started making his way forward using his claws to keep traction when Axe crawled out the passenger side of the cab and up onto the trailer. While assuming Crinos form as well.

"I don't have time for you!" Alex screamed as he rushed the smaller werewolf.

Axe was a fast and vicious fighter. If allowed to set the pace, he'd tie Alex down. Knowing this, the larger man charged, risking a slip to catch his opponent before he had a chance to grow familiar with the shifting environment. With a grab, he took Axe by the arm and leg and spun, tossing him not only off the trailer but off the bridge into Lake Pontchartrain.

Alex only had a moment of triumph. Something hit him hard in the lower back from behind and he started to fall. Feet going first. He reached back and snagged his assailant with his left arm and caught the back of a massive knee.

Alex hit the surface of the bridge hard. He had the enormous weight of a giant sumo land atop him.

"I don't know who you are or exactly what is going on here but I'm tired of being chased, shot at, and run off the road. Start talking, Tiny! Tell me what's going on before I paste ya," Ichigo demanded.

Alex rolled from sitting into a crouch and lunged for Ichigo. In an impossible display of speed, Ichigo dodged. Alex's mind worked trying to fight the blood rage as he recovered from the missed attack. Something wasn't right.

As Alex turned, howling in fury, he saw Ichigio set into a fighting stance. He then transformed in a blaze of silver light that formed the imagery of a jungle pond.

As a man with five daughters, Alex had seen entirely too many animal TV programs. He knew from them there were a few animals that nothing sane in nature dared challenge. Animals that were so tough, so resolute that even so-called apex predators gave them a wide berth. Where Ichigo's human form once stood was a hippopotamus man who was just as tall, twice as broad, and whose massive jaws opened in a bellow of fury.

The rational part of Alex's mind was screaming caution. Those jaws were large enough to fit around Alex's thigh; they'd tear flesh and snap bone. A normal hippopotamus could crush a lion's skull with minimal effort. This thing had enough super strength to move him before it transformed and was in a fighting stance that showed it had martial training.

The feral part was in a panic. Alex had never "foxed" out of a fight before. But his instincts were pushing him hard to turn and run from whatever this thing was.

The choice was taken from him as, with alarming speed, Ichigo launched himself at Alex. Powerful open-handed blows sought to stun and hold. Force pushed and weight was expertly shifted to leverage Alex to the ground.

Alex felt his feet lose traction as his weight was turned against him. He managed a slight twist and, seeing a target, latched his teeth into the back of Ichigo's thigh just above the knee. He used his mighty arms to prevent him from slamming fully into the bridge's tarmac.

Screaming in rage and pain, Ichigo released his hold on Alex momentarily. Hope filled the werewolf. Until it became clear he was getting a fresh grip. Ichigo's hands enveloped Alex's ankles and the massive being raced away spinning the giant werewolf like a wind-up top. Alex got a blurry view of the world in motion, although he could clearly make out the infuriated hippo's face. He was then launched into the air. His vision cleared to show he was sailing off the bridge into the lake.

So occupied, neither Ichigo nor the recently departed Alex had any idea what was going on at the edge of the bridge. The local ghouls, in their role as a subunit of the state troopers, had a roadblock in place. They had deployed spike traps in case Alex failed to halt the truck.

As they sat facing the bridge, waiting for the speeding tanker to get close, those with the Auspex discipline saw something pass them from behind. A strange shadow that might have been a car. They raised an alarm.

The others saw nothing, but before they could respond to their companions, reports of a large van speeding toward their position came and they turned to deal with the threat approaching from the rear.

Mike slammed on the brakes as the windshield exploded around him. With a horrid squeal, the big rig came to an ear-torturing stop. He went for the door to escape, only to stop and lift his hands over his head in defeat.

The shadow that had effortlessly passed the ghoul roadblock from behind materialized into a car. Behind the wheel was the assassin Jon Cole. He had his pistol pointed at Mike. The mage was solidly in his sights. The car was stopped but something was running away from it at inhuman speeds. Seconds after Alex flew into the air a foot impacted the side of Ichigo's skull right in the temple.

A gold light exploded into the air mixing a brilliant surf into Ichigo's swamp while a golden dragon coiled merrily about the new figure, taunting the assortment of silver, spectral wildlife below it.

A flurry of fast-paced fist and knee strikes followed. Even the supernaturally quick Ichigo could not keep up enough to get a hold of his new opponent. Seeing an opportunity, the golden whirlwind managed to get his arm around Ichigo's massive neck and apply pressure.

This was a tactical mistake as Ichigo planted his feet and pushed. His arms sought leverage on his opponent's body. This sort of move would force his foe to either lift his bulk or release the hold and find himself now in Ichigo's arms pinned to the ground.

Police units who had been chasing the tanker as well as those racing from the roadblock to chase a black van got video of the event that transpired next. They would occasionally review it when they started to doubt the reality of what they'd seen. Glowing like a summer sun, the golden teen set his jaw. His muscles swelled and veins bulged up from under his skin. His body reddened and his sinew seemed ready to snap but he pushed back and up. Shoulders first, he lifted Ichigo into the air.

Surprised, Ichigo's counterhold slipped and he fell into a side-long lift. The blazing golden champion took three labored halting steps as the asphalt cracked beneath his feet and tossed Ichigo right off the side after Alex. The silver light streamed after the plummeting Lunar.

The teen then nearly collapsed, taking a wide stance, hands resting on his knees to pant and puff. He looked up as he saw the silver light returning. He peered up in confusion as a glowing hummingbird zipped into sight then climbed twenty-some feet into the air only to resume the form of Ichigo. His falling foot extended into a kick.

Suddenly a chain wrapped around his ankle and pulled him off course. Kashi launched forward to deliver a wild haymaker only to be blocked by a flaming bar of power held by a smaller teen.

"Ichigo NO! That's cousin Kashi!" Screamed a twenty-something pink-haired girl on the other end of the chain.

"Cousin what?" Kashi asked, dumbfounded.

"Hey, dude! I'm Sora! I'm your grandfather's brother's son's son. So we're cousins!" The younger teen said with a familiar grin that Kashi had seen in pictures of his own face.

"What the hell is going on? I got a call from my sister Willow that she was in trouble and people were after her. Seems to happen on a quarterly basis, actually."

"Would it mean anything if I told you Mike D'Angelo is at fault?" Said a man in a black hat and duster who had just walked up.

"Yes, it would. Who are you, Doc Holliday?"

"Close. Dr. Remington Spectre."

"Oh, the vampire hunter I've heard of you."

"Don't worry about your sister, Tex is picking her up now."

"Tex is here? Okay, well, I can trust her. I guess. Jon should have Mike. He was the guy driving that truck right? Jon said it looked like him."

"Yeah, that was Mike. Quiet Russian guy that Jon? Jon Cole?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Can you guys explain what's going on? Please?" Kashi asked tiredly.

"Yeah, let's go put it all together there are parts I want to hear too."


MSI


"So, we all got to share stories. Kashi and Jon had been on a mission to east Texas to raid some Sabbat safehouse for spies. He'd called Edith to let her know he was coming home. She had told him about his visitors. Kashi didn't believe they could be his relatives, but offered to meet with them anyway. They told him to meet them in New Orleans as Ichigo and Willow were already there.

"So, he was nearing New Orleans when Willow called him and it went to voicemail as Kashi was eating when she called. Jon's police scanner led them to the bridge where Jon's stealth powers got them past the roadblock," Tex explained.

"He can stealth cars? Banyan asked.

"Apparently. The Kimuras were coming from the opposite way but just behind them. They got past due to some highly improbable moves Aiko somehow pulled off."

"That's nothing, I drive better," Sakura boasted.

"I safely picked up what Jay Odele's files say is my half-sister. Apparently your daughter."

"My... Oh, your mother. Was also his victim?" Banyan asked.

Tex nodded. "I never knew her. The fae took my memory. All I have is a few pictures and facts. There are three of us, myself, your daughter, Willow, and a woman named Anne who they sent Jay to find."

"Well, Willow could use an older sister with experience in this supernatural business."

"That's what we thought. Kashi didn't agree. He has such a protective streak. I thought he was going to fight Tex over it," Heather said, suppressing a smile.

Banyan closed her eyes. "That boy."

"It was a purely emotional response and he was still on edge from Mike getting her into such trouble. Tex disarmed him quickly with an emotional response of her own," Heather said.

"That's not how it happened, it wasn't calculated. I just-" Tex shook her head unwilling to continue.

"What? What happened?" Sayuri asked.

"What do you care? He's old news. You have bigger issues to handle, remember?" Natalia interjected.

"She cried," Heather said quickly to avoid the derailment.

"Cried? As in wept?" Bree asked.

"Big strong man who can lift an oversized Hippo just standing there at a loss. Big, fat 'I'm hurt and you're twisting the knife' tears rolling down the tough girl's face at his 'she's my sister, not yours rant,'" Heather nodded.

"That would do it. If there is one thing Kashi can't stand, it's being the bad guy," Banyan said with a shake of the head.

"Well, we got everything sorted. It was a real watershed moment. We took some steps. We were going to talk to you about Mrs. Kimura. As you are here we don't have to hunt you down.

"We enrolled Willow in the St. Tammany Parish School for Excellence in Education. The bulk of the student body is supernatural, the children of such or otherwise from families in the know.

"Nikki Sparks and our resident necromancers and projectors can give her a support and education network far superior to D'Angelo at the simple cost of not being exclusively Mages.

"Edith agreed to all of this, for now, its continuation is contingent on your approval," Heather explained.

"I'll want to see the details but it sounds like it addresses all concerns. It makes me wonder why it wasn't offered first."

"Because Mike was the best option to decode and reverse engineer Willow's power. We are allies of the Council of Traditions. Neither they nor us fully trust the other. They see us as too centralized and authoritarian and growing more centralized every day.

"We fear their loose power structure and everyone-for-themselves attitude is a serious security risk and an impediment to progress," Terra explained.

"Well, they played right into that stereotype. I wouldn't trust them with my daughter, that is two shots they've had to do right by me."

Terra suddenly laughed and everyone turned to look at her. She waved for them to wait as she stood up. "I have to go wake someone up who was here to see you, Banyan. I'll be right back this is literally the most perfect time for his message."