[Lovvorn & Eric Hood]
"...ssstill don't understand why we have to come all they way out here!" Lovvorn's complaint was garbled by a mouth that had tasted one too-many tankards of ale. Curiously enough, his obvious drunkenness didn't hinder his ability to teleport himself and his companion. Lovvorn's spellcasting usually got better with the consumption of large quantities of alcohol. The two men appeared without fanfare in darkened alley behind a cloth-peddler's shop..

Eric, hearing his friend's complaint, simply shrugged.

"This the place?" he said.

"Ov courshe this is the place. Since when have I ever missed a teleport?"

"Yesterday."

"Beshides that."

"Day before yesterday."

"Did not!"

"Did to."

"You LIE!"

"Quiet! Are they here?"

The two men fell quiet for a moment. They both heard a fitful murmuring from somewhere in the alley. Lovvorn reached up the right sleeve of his robe and taped a small rune near his elbow. His eyes pulsed with a bluish light, and the dark street was illuminated with a near-daylight brilliance that only he could see.

"Doesn't do ME a whole lot of good, " said Eric.

"Well, you're just here to chase off the animals. Run along , now..." Lovvon walked over to a far corner of the alley where two figures, a man and a small blond girl, lay sleeping atop a pile of silk rags. The girl slept peacefully, but the man tossed and turned, mumbling and twitching is if besieged by a horde of tiny demons.

"Fleas..." said Lovvorn, "Someone should hose these people down every once in a while."

The mage watched for several moments, and several times it seemed as though the man were about to wake up, or at least wake the girl with his nocturnal convulsions. Nevertheless, they both remained asleep.

"That them?" said Eric. "I can't see."

Lovvorn waved his hands, and the air around the men began to glow slightly, allowing Eric to see the sleeping bums.

"That's him." said Eric. "And her. Let's get it done."

Lovvorn reached into is robe and pulled out his ceremonial dagger. The fat, red-faced mage knelt down and began to scratch a wide circle in the ground around the man and girl. He mumbled a few incantations and then began scratching runes along the inside of the circle. Each rune was slightly different, and the spell was not complete until the final one was drawn. When he was finished, Lovvorn stood, mumbled a few more words, then stepped back and smiled.

"Done." he said.

"You sure?"

Lovvorn bent down once more and picked up a small rock. He tossed it at the sleeping girl's head, but as soon as the rock crossed the circle it exploded with a soft *POP*. The rock became a brilliant shower of sparks, none of which landed on the inside of the circle.

"That ought to be good until daylight." said Lovvorn.

"It better. Mr. December wants these two safe. Well, the girl anyway. Hey, what happens if they leave the circle?"

"Nothing."

"Oh. Okay."

"Trying to get back IN, however..."

The two men suddenly vanished as Lovvorn teleported them elsewhere. No sooner than they were gone, Katerina opened here eyes, looked around curiously, and then lay her head back down.

[Damion]

Damion VonSinterbourne stormed up and down the hallways, looking for someone to hit. Unfortunately, there was no one to be found. Most of the men had gotten drunk earlier in the evening and, when the alcohol ran out, they all exited en masse and made a path to the Pan Demonica. Damion sighed... back at the royal palace they never had such problems with the hired help, but here in Montfort things were quite different. The few men that remained had gone with Fletcher to escort his animals back from the menagerie, which left Damion almost completely alone, save for one or two men that were too drunk to move.

After this morning's meeting with Aeragar, the day had rapidly gone to Hell. His rapier, a gift from his father, had managed to disappear during the time it took to walk from Aeragar's suite to the front door of the club. He suspected Leonardo, but he must surely have enough weapons of his own. Perhaps it was that damned Imp.

Then he returns and finds that Terris had apparently gone on some kind of murderous rampage. No one had been hurt, but he and Zade mysteriously disappeared and have not been seen since the early morning. Next, he leaned that the remainder of his celebrated wine collection had been tampered with by some unseen intruder. Not one drop remained intact. That was the final straw. Damion had to lock himself in his quarters for quite a few hours just to keep from strangling the first ten people he saw. And if THAT weren't enough, he recently received unofficial word that someone had made a large foosh purchase from Aeragar, nearly his entire supply. He had no confirmation of this, but if it were true, it would mean that his deal with Aeragar would be canceled, and he would have to wait quite a while to purchase more of his much-needed drug. And finally, Fletcher's meeting with the mysterious 'Eric Hood' turned out to be exactly what he had anticipated... a takeover attempt. No doubt there would be no end of trouble associated with this 'Hood' and whoever he worked for.

"DAMN!" shouted Damion. "DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!"

Damion kicked open a nearby door, leaving a very large crack in the sturdy wood. There was a cry from inside the room.

"Who's in there!" demanded Damion. The room was one of the men's quarters. He had selected the door at random, but had been reasonably sure that the room was empty at the time.

"Who that?" came a meek reply. Damion leaned into the room and saw Slimmon lying on a small cot, trying to hide under a blanket. This wasn't Slimmon's room.

"Slimmon? What are you doing in here?"

"My name is Joey..."

Damion sighed. He honestly had no idea what was wrong with Joseph Slimmon. The man had been acting like a four-year-old child since his return from the brewery the night before. Still, it could have been worse... he could have ended up like Oger...

"What are you doing in this room?" demanded Damion.

"I don't know."

"Well.... carry on then." Damion closed the door and walked away, shaking his head in disgust.

His tour of the compound soon took him near the front door, where he heard a commotion arise from just outside. There were a few shouts and what sounded like weapons being drawn.

"Looks as if Zade has returned." said Damion out loud. He thought a minute... What if it wasn't Zade.... what if this had something to do with this 'Eric' person? All of the guards were gone....

Like a true noble, Damion drew his rapier... and backed steadily away from the door, fully intending to bolt and run at the first sign of trouble. That sign came not two seconds later, when the door flew open and Fletcher, followed by two guards, rushed inside and quickly closed and bolted the door.

"Fletcher?" said Damion. "What's going on out there? I heard fighting."

"Get back, sir," answered an obviously frightened and very out-of-breath Fletcher. "We'll hold it off here! Get to somewhere safe! I don't know how long this door will-"

Suddenly, the door exploded into a shower of splinters. One of the guards was flung to the side, and Damion winced as the man smacked into the wall and slid to the ground. Blood began to pool around him.

Fletcher dashed over towards Damion and stood in front of him, facing the doorway with this rapier drawn.

"Get behind me, sir! I'll protect you!"

"Protect me from WHAT!?" Damion answered his own question with a quick look at the door. The creature stood about eight feet tall as was covered with thick brown fur. The thing looked like a bear, except for the fact that it had tusks protruding from its snout, and its claws were longer and sharper than any bear he had ever seen. The Ursinor growled, sniffed the air, and then let out a wall-shaking roar.

Fletcher took a few steps back, nearly bumping into Damion, who was frozen in fear.

The remaining guard rushed forward with his longsword poised for a strike. The Ursinor made two swipes with its powerful arms... the first took off the guard's arm just below the shoulder, and the second disemboweled him and splattered his insides all over the walls. Ignoring the fresh kill, The bear-creature dropped down on all fours and headed straight for Fletcher.

"RUN SIR! I'll hold it off here!"

"Are you MAD!!

Damion waited all of two seconds for an answer before he turned and ran for the rear stairwell. He looked over his shoulder and saw Fletcher narrowly avoid being decapitated by the beast. The thing was on its rear legs again. Fletcher ducked under the sweeping arm and made a thrust with his rapier directly into the center of the beast's chest. The strike was perfectly executed and aimed right at the beast's heart. Fletcher had put all of his strength behind the attack, but unfortunately his thin rapier was no match for the thing's thick hide. The weapon bowed and finally snapped in two, sending the sharp end flying across the hallway where it left a deep grove in one of the walls. Fletcher was left holding an empty hilt.

"RUN FLETCHER!!" shouted Damion.

Too late.

The Ursinor caught the small man with a back-handed swipe. Fletcher was airborne for what seemed like several seconds before he bounced off of a wall and slid to a halt on the floor. Blood was everywhere, and Fletcher, if he was alive, was making no attempt to move.

"FLETCHERRRR!!!" Damion ran, and he heard the beast's feet pounding the floor behind him. It was gaining on him. Damion ducked into the kitchen and then out through a far door which led to another

hallway. He was intending to double back to the front door and out into the street, but the beast smashed through both doors before he could take more than a few steps. It was still gaining on him. As he ran

towards one of the guards' quarters, the door opened and a man stepped out. Damion halfway expected Slimmon, but it was one of the drunken men awakening from an earlier binge. The man saw Damion and the creature behind him... and froze in his tracks. Still heading for the front door, Damion blew past the man without a word. The Ursinor trampled the guard, crushing his skull into the floor, and kept after Damion.

Damion was screaming when he reached the rear wall of the building. Rear wall...

"DAMN!!!" he shouted. In his panic, he had turned the wrong way out of the kitchen! Not only was there no front door here, but the rear stairway was at the end of the OTHER hall! Damion was trapped!!

Damion turned to look at the beast as it bore down on him. He drew his rapier, held it upright in front of him, and then closed his tear-filled eyes...

----------------------------------------

[Blaymore]

His blue cloak trailing behind him, Blaymore sped through the streets of Montfort. His thoughts were deep, and when there was thinking to be done, Blaymore liked nothing more than a pleasant night run to clear his mind. All manner of buildings flew past him as he moved from one street to another... of course, at his present speed all the buildings blended together to become a solid, gray blur. Blaymore frowned behind his blue mask. He kept the enchanted sash wrapped around the lower half of his face even though it was completely unnecessary. While moving at the superhuman speed that was his birthright, Blaymore appeared to be nothing more than a mysterious blue streak.

He had already criss-crossed the northern part of the city several times before deciding to head south. It was going to be a long night... Blaymore had a lot on his mind.

The Dagger was still in the possession of that frozen bastard, and Blaymore was no closer to retrieving it than he was when he first learned of its theft. Ordinarily such a thing would be child's play, but this particular object could not be taken by force or stealth without dire consequences. It must be freely given or taken from its owner while he was in the act of using it. December hadn't used the Dagger so far, and Blaymore dared not ask for it without revealing the Dagger's true power to the monster who possessed it. Assuming he didn't already know. That was quite a possibility, considering December's recent acquisition of Jerimiah Trisk's substantial library of magic. If he DID know, then it was only a matter of time before he tried to use it... and that would be disastrous to say the very least. The image flashed across Blaymore's mind... the entire town of Montfort... dead. Every living thing... men, women and children... plants and animals. All dead.

Blaymore shook his head. He could not allow that to happen. He had spent the past several months gathering information about December and his henchmen, as well as his few surviving enemies. There weren't very many. In fact, Jerimiah Trisk had been the last. December guarded his secrets very well. Both his house and his place of business were riddled with so many wards and magical protections that not

even Blaymore could penetrate them. This in itself was an enigma, since such magic was beyond December's rather limited spell-casting abilities. That mystery had been solved earlier today when December's brightly-dressed mage... Lovvorn... showed his hand. Things were beginning to fall into place now... December surrounded himself with the best people he could find. Alone, December was a force to be reckoned with, but when aided by the likes of Lovvorn and N'Doki.... was there anything that could stop him?

And then there was Zade. Her sudden presence raised the level of complication to the Nth degree. A war would soon be fought among Sinterbourne and December as they vied for power. Zade was on the wrong side. She, Fletcher, and Damion Sinterbourne will almost certainly end up being served as crushed ice at December's next jewelry show. He couldn't allow that to happen, either. Not to Zade. Fortunately, he already had a plan in motion that could solve the problems of both Zade AND the Dagger.

A shrill scream broke Blaymore out of his focused train of thought. The speeding assassin slowed and finally stopped, standing alone in the middle of a deserted street. He listened...

The voices were being carried from several blocks away:

"Look OUT!!"

"There too fast! RUN!"

"NOOO!!""

The scream was repeated, this time it ended suddenly.

Blaymore was already in motion. He had placed the commotion at two blocks to the east; Blaymore was there in less time than it takes to blink. Still running, he approached a two-story building that looked as if it was a home for a moderately well-off family. The screams were from *behind* the house... Blaymore would have to go around... or through. Without slowing, he ran straight for the front door. His mouth whispered the words to a spell... and Blaymore went intangible a split-second before he would have crashed into the heavy wooden door.

Since his feet could no longer find purchase on the ground, Blaymore's considerable momentum carried him forward, through the walls and furniture of the dwelling, and then out the back door. He released the spell, and his legs picked up where they left off... having only lost the smallest fraction of his speed.

He found himself in a short, wide alley that opened out into another street. Two figures... human... a woman and a child of about six...huddled in a corner at the end of the cul-de-sac. Before them crouched two creatures that Blaymore at first mistook for cheetahs. However, the muscles were all wrong, and the mouth and teeth were more like those of a large wolf. A quick look around confirmed the worst... a third human figure, a man, was laying face down at the mouth of the alley. It looked as if he had tried to run... and ended up as some jungle cat's dinner. The body was being torn apart by three more of the cheetah-things. Blaymore had been too late to save him.

He stopped and faced the besieged family. One of the creatures glanced at him, growled, and then began to walk towards him. The other kept the family pinned down.

In one quick motion, Blaymore reached into his cloak and pulled out his scimitar. Midnight black on one side, highly reflective on the other, the specialized sword was made both to hide its wielder in the night and to reflect the sun into the eyes of opponents. It was the key to many of Blaymore's illusions, but tonight, he intended to put it to a more mundane use.

As soon as Blaymore moved, the jungle cat leapt. It was fast. Faster than Blaymore had expected. In a move that any other human would have been too slow to do complete, The assassin ducked to the side. He brought his sword up...

And caught the reflection of three more cats as they leapt at him.

DAMN!

Blaymore went intangible, barely completing the spell in time. The felupines passed through his ghostly form, landed, spun and leapt again. They kept at him... In a burst of speed, Blaymore jumped through the attack and landed at the end of the alley near the family. One lone cat was still guarding them. The others were running straight for him.. Blaymore swung his sword and released the intangibility spell just as the blade...

... passed harmlessly through the empty air where the cat had once stood. The felupine had dodged his attack!

That's Impossible!! thought Blaymore. No one dodges ME!!

Now he was trapped.... the cats were a second away, and if he left the family then the beasts might just take out their frustrations on THEM.

His hands moving too fast to be see by the human eye, Blaymore pushed his cloak back, away from his right side. He grabbed something from his belt and threw it... *something* struck one of the cats dead-center in the chest. Three more of the invisible daggers were already airborne, but when the first cat went down, the others leapt to the side and the weapons clattered noisily on the stone street some distance away.

The cats stood their ground and growled at him. A stand-off.

Blaymore stood aghast... He was used to fighting men who were much slower than he was... but these were no men. As a general rule, animals had reflexes quicker than any normal human. Blaymore was no normal human, but these creatures could even match HIS speed. At least in close quarters.... maybe if he could get them out into the open. After all, there were only four of them.

Five Blaymore corrected himself as another cat appear from around the corner. Obviously attracted by the noise and the smell of the fresh kill. A sixth and seventh cat soon joined him. And then an eighth.

Blaymore readied his sword, but he was sweating profusely beneath his mask. He could take on six men and kill them all before the body of the first hit the ground. Even with their speed, he could certainly deal with two or three of these cats. Maybe four. But Eight? Invisibility and illusions would be useless, since most animals hunted by scent. He had gone out without black powder or any of his other useful chemicals. He could only remain intangible for a few seconds, and he had to become tangible... and therefore vulnerable... in order to strike. In the time it took to kill one of those beasts, the others would already have their fangs in him...

"Okay," he said aloud, "Who's first?"

"Run mister..." came a frightened voice behind him. He didn't risk averting his eyes to look, but it had to be the voice of the woman huddled behind him. "They followed Warner when he ran. All of them. He was too slow, but you..."

"Can't do that." he said. "What about you two?" Blaymore had and idea before the sentence was even completed. He spun quickly and faced the woman and child. The cats were already in the air...

Blaymore spread his arms and fell upon the survivors like a giant blue shroud.

"Hold your breath!!" he commanded an instant before he landed...

He took them in his arms as he passed, and went intangible. The strain of taking so much mass with him was considerable, but he wouldn't let himself fail. If the spell faltered, they would all be dead well before the cats got to them...

His momentum carried him and the others down into the street. The passed through several feet of stone and dropped into open air.

Blaymore released the spell and the three of them fell into the Montfort sewers. The smell was horrendous, but they were all alive. Blaymore stood and helped the others wade through thigh-deep sewage to a small stone walkway. When he emerged, his blue cloak was still clean, dry, and perfectly spotless. The mother and child, however, were covered with filth.

"Sorry about that," he said. "There should be a ladder somewhere around her. They go back up to the street at regular intervals. You can stay here until morning, or you can walk a few blocks and try to go back up. Either way... be careful."

"What about you?" said the woman. "Where are you going?"

Going? Blaymore was already gone.

...

He emerged from the stone street like a spirit rising from the grave. A running start and a momentous leap was all he needed to carry his intangible form up and out of the sewers. He was near the alley, standing in the street just outside of its entrance. The cats were still there, sniffing around frantically searching for their prey.

It's only a matter of time before they stop looking and move on to some other family thought Blaymore, Can't let these things run around loose... I'm going to have to deal with this...

Blaymore drew a breath and whistled. Eight fanged, furry heads swiveled towards him.

"Wanna race?" he called.

The cats glared at him, and then seven of the beasts turned towards the eighth creature, who was slightly larger than the others. The pack leader sniffed... and tore out of the alley directly at Blaymore. The others followed suit, falling into a arrow-head formation behind the leader.

Blaymore turned and ran. His arms and legs pumped furiously as he pulled out further ahead of his pursuers. He was holding himself back... he didn't want to lose the beasts. The may be able to nearly match his reflexes, but there was no way they could best his running speed. Or could they?

Blaymore hazarded a look behind him. Sure enough, all eight cats were following. They were closer than Blaymore expected them to be. And they were gaining. Rapidly.

...faster...

Blaymore increased his speed. He obtained a comfortable lead and then headed for the outskirts of the city. Every time he looked behind him, the cats were closer than they had been before. They were faster than had assumed. Much faster.

Blaymore reached the perimeter of the city and turned sharply. He put on a sudden burst of speed so the cats wouldn't catch him at an angle, and then continued on at the new pace. The felupines still matched him.

No matter... thought Blaymore, I'm just getting warmed up...

Blaymore was a speeding blue streak in the night. He circled the entire city twice, and then took two straight line paths bisecting that circle. As he ran, his eyes searched the surroundings... looking for more cats. He had no idea how large the pack was, and he didn't want to leave any behind. The streets were mostly deserted, which was fortunate because he saw many things didn't belong. Animals. Savage beasts... Even a pair of chitracks munching on a pack of wild dogs...

Was that a Razor-Warg? Nah... couldn't be... who would be THAT stupid...

Danger was everywhere, but unfortunately he had his hands full at the moment. Hopefully someone else would deal with the less dangerous beasts. The town was FULL of heroes... and, despite his speed and illusions, he couldn't be everywhere at once.

He continued his race...His speed increased with each step, but his pursuers kept up. Once, they got so close that he could hear them snarling behind him. Once satisfied that there were no more cats around, he zoomed out of the city. The cats followed him into the woods southeast of town. He had counted on the trees presenting a problem for the beasts, but the supple bodies of the felupines weaved in and out of the tree trunks without loosing a step. Blaymore was forced to run through them... dipping into his dwindling supply of magical energy for one intangibility spell after another. The tactic DID gain him a small lead, but when they exited the forest minutes later, the cats quickly closed on him.

...passed the dexterity test...let's see what else we can do... ah-HA!....

Blaymore lead the beasts to an open grassland. They were miles from Montfort now... at a continuous run, a man on a fast horse would take DAYS to get back into town. Blaymore was on familiar territory; he knew exactly where to go...

The huge outcropping of rock was just ahead of them. At his present speed... one blink of his eyes took the natural rock formation from just a blip on the horizon to a looming ridge of stone, fifteen feet high and twenty-five feet wide

Blaymore smiled.

His legs pounded the soft ground like small thunderclaps. Tall grass whipped at his thighs. The swiftness of his passing was almost enough to set the dry waist-high grass aflame. Almost. Still, for all his speed, the beasts behind were on the verge of becoming the beasts *on top of* him.

...here we go...

Blaymore hit full speed. Flames erupted from the grass that had not seen rain in many weeks. His heartbeat was like the flutter of a hummingbird's wings... his feet moved like nothing that nature ever made. The landscape around him sped past at such speed that not even Blaymore's quick eyes could distinguish one detail from another. It didn't matter... the only things he needed to worry about were directly behind him... and straight in front of him...

He pulled out in front of the creatures, no longer worried about loosing them. They had kept up well so far. Blaymore leaned forward and fought to keep up his speed; he would need every ounce of it. Once again, his lips were mumbling the intangibility spell. The ground grew stony and treacherous...The small mountain of rock was a fraction of a second away... At this speed there could be NO mistakes. His last remaining magic flowed around him... then his left foot slipped on a loose stone... he felt his ankle snap...

No.. WAIT!!!

Everything went black.

---------------------------------------

[Leonardo]

The Club was in full swing. Leonardo peered over the high balcony and looked down at the seething mass of criminals that crammed into the main floor of the PanDemonica. Behind him, the Imp flapped its oily wings and clucked like some large, obscene chicken. He/She/It was restless... there hadn't been any trouble at all so far, and, as almost everyone knows, the Imp LIVES for trouble.

Almost as if in answer to the Imp's infernal desire, there came an insistent pounding at the door. It sounded as if someone was throwing their entire body against the metal door as opposed to just knocking on it with their fist. Suddenly, there was screaming and yelling. The voices were male, but the screams were decidedly less than masculine.

Leonardo looked at the Imp. The Imp stared at the door for a second, and then nodded.


The door flew open of its own accord and dumped three large, well armed men onto the floor. They were all bleeding and covered with fresh wounds. Their armor... most of it cheap leather... hung off of them in tatters.

"What's the matter?" asked Leonardo as he looked down on the men. "Is that Zade-woman harassing the patrons again?"

"Close the door!" shouted two of the men simultaneously. The third was investigating a large wet stain on the front of his trousers. "Close it! ClosethedoorclosethedoorClose the DOOOOOR!!!"

The door slammed shut with just a subtle nod from the Imp.

"Mind if I tell you what's going on?"

"They're EVERYWHERE!!!" replied one of the men, a large bearded man with an eyepatch.

"Who? The Tower Guard?"

"I WISH!!!"

"Well... what, then?"

"ANIMALS! FREAKING BEASTS ARE EVERYWHERE!!"

"Animals? What animals?"

"Lions!!"

".... And Tigers!!!"

"...And Bears!!!"

"... and THINGS!!!"

"I think all three of you have had too much to drink already tonight." said Leonardo. "Not that I care. Welcome to the club. Have a good time."

"...but....but...."

"I assure you, you are perfectly safe inside the club."

"But there are-"

"AHEM!" Leonardo cleared his throat and stared at the frightened troublemaker. His left eye gleamed for a second... "I said you are safe inside the club."

"...uhhhh.....We are safe inside the club..." repeated the man. His voice had dropped to a slow monotone.

"Good. Perhaps you should spend some time in the Velvet Palace. Take your mind off things."

"...uhhh....Yeah..." the man's voice had returned to normal, "Let's go to the palace, boys!"

The man's companions looked at him, then at Leonardo, then back to him. They grumbled something and followed the man down the stairs, and soon lost themselves in the crowd.

Leonardo sighed.

"The quality of the patrons certainly has gone DOWN over the years. Or perhaps it's just this city-"

He was interrupted by another loud bang on the door. This time, Leonardo walked over to the door and physically opened it. A single youth, barely out of his teens, burst into the club screaming and waving his arms frantically.

"AAIIIIIIGH!!!!! RUUUUN!! EVERYBODY RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIVES!!!!!!!!"

"Calm d-"

Without warning, two more men that Leonardo recognized as regular patrons rushed in the open doorway and sped down the steps as if something particularly nasty was after them. In their screaming, panic-stricken haste, the men knocked the first boy down, and Leonardo stifled a smile as the youth tumbled down the hard metal steps and crumpled into a heap on the stone floor below.

The Imp snickered like a crazed chipmunk, and then fell ominously silent.

"What's wrong?" asked Leonardo. The assassin's eye fell across the still open doorway and the steps that

led up to it from the street. Leonardo's amused expression froze on his face as he saw the giant, two-legged lizard that crouched at the bottom of those steps. The thing was fully nine feet tall, and covered in scales and hard ridges. Its elongated mouth held jagged fangs that were stained with fresh blood. The creature's scaly head rotated from side to side, its forked tongue jetting out to taste the air around it. Eventually it found the trail of its prey, as well as the scent of an entire nest of the soft, warm-blooded creatures that it had been recently gorging itself on. The lizard locked eyes with Leonardo.

"Imp," said Leonardo, "would you mind closing the door before that creature gets in and starts eating the patrons?"

The Imp hissed and the door swung closed, but the lizard was too quick. The thing covered the stairs in one mighty leap. It smacked into the closing door and, with a roar that shook the entire balcony, forced it open. The thing stepped into the club and sniffed the delicious air. It fixed its large, reptilian eyes on Leonardo and licked its lips.

Leonardo clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth...

"No, no, no... this will never do. Imp..."

Huge claws extended, The lizard leapt straight towards the assassin. Leonardo took a quick hop back and folded his arms across his chest. The lizard hit the ground in front of him and hissed in ravenous fury. Of course, Leonardo could hardly hear the creature since it was now only three inches tall.

"Much better," said Leonardo. "Maybe I'll keep it as a pet." He reached down take the creature in his hand, but the tiny lizard bit him on the tip of his finger. He snatched his hand back, and brought his boot down on top of the thing. He heard its bones crunch beneath his heel.

The Imp began snickering once more. Leonardo walked over to the door and looked outside. He sniffed. He listened. He looked up and down the street. After a few moments, he closed the door. Leonardo walked past the Imp's pedestal to a small area of the balcony that was usually hidden in shadow. Here, there was large oblong jewel imbedded in the wall. The thing was yellow with a large red highlight running down it's center. There were many such jewels tucked away in the club's numerous dark corners, but most of the patrons never saw them. Those that did, called them 'eyes,' which is exactly what they were...

Leonardo ran his fingers along the hard surface of the gem. His hand tingled and grew cold; then the tingling shot up through his arm and into his brain where it formed words...

%YES, LEONARDO?%

"We got ourselves a little problem," said Leonardo. He spoke aloud, even though his boss could easily read his thoughts through the gem.

%SO I SEE.%

"Some beasties running around outside the club. You got any idea what's going on?"

There was a pause, and then:

%THESE PARTICULAR ANIMALS BELONG TO MR. VENDREDI, A HUNTER WHO HAS JUST ARRIVED IN TOWN. I HAVE HAD DEALINGS WITH HIM IN THE PAST... HE IS NOT A PARTICULARLY PLEASANT MAN.%

"Should I have a word with Mr. Vendredi, then? Tell him to keep his pets locked up?"

%NO. I SENSE DECEMBER'S COLD HAND IN THIS. OUR FROZEN FRIEND IS UP TO HIS USUAL TRICKS. HE OBVIOUSLY HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN THIS CHAOS... AND OUR ...UNDERSTANDING... PREVENTS US FROM INTERFERING IN EACH OTHER'S AFFAIRS. STILL, WE CANNOT ALLOW OUR PATRONS TO BE INCONVIENIENCED.%

"Well, what do you want me to do, then?"

%SEND THE IMP.%

Leonardo nodded. He removed his hand from the gem and turned to face the hideous creature simply known as 'The Imp.'

"Go outside and deal with those animals." commanded Leonardo, "Clear out a five block radius around the club and return here immediately. And don't have too much fun.... we're watching."

The Imp drew itself up to it's full three foot height. It spread its red, oily wings and leaped off of its pedestal. The Imp took flight, soaring through the air above the main floor of the club. Several patrons looked up to see it, and, recognizing it as the IMP, quickly looked back down and ignored the creature. The Imp flew across to the far side of the balcony, and left the club through a large open window.

The few patrons that saw this were quite surprised that the Imp had actually left the building. Even more surprising was the fact the window through which it had gone did not exist until a few seconds ago.

------------------------------------------------

[Damion]

*CRACK*

silence....

*CRACK* *CRACK*

Damion's eyes snapped open, and he couldn't believe what he saw.

"ZADE!!! HELP ME!!" Damion screamed at the top of his panic-stricken lungs. Zade, half-dressed in her characteristic leather armor, stood behind the savage beast and was tugging on her whip, which was wrapped around the Ursinor's tusks. Zade had hooked the Ursinor like fish...the sharp metal barb on the end of her whip was sunk deep into the beast's snout. .She yanked hard on the leather strap, which twisted the beast's head into an awkward position. The beast responded by rising up onto its hind legs and jerking its neck backwards. Zade's boots slid across the floor as she was dragged towards Ursinor. Now, she was just barely out of arm's reach.

"GET OUT OF THERE, YOU IDIOT!!!" she shouted.

Damion gulped. "You want me to run PAST that thing?"

"DO IT!!"

Damion ran. He smelled the beast as he scrambled past it. The Ursinor turned sharply and snapped at Damion, barely missing him.

[Zade]

As soon as Damion passed her, she released the whip from the thing's tusks, turned and ran. The thing howled in pain as the whip's barb ripped out a plug of its flesh, but it was after them again almost immediately.

She caught up with Damion, grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him into the kitchen as they passed the smashed door.

"What are you DOING!!" shouted Damion. "We have to get OUT!!"

"You think THIS thing is bad?! You go out there and see what's running the streets!!"

"Where are we GOING!?"

"Just follow me, Dammit!!"

The exited the kitchen and turned right, back towards the rear of the building. They had only gone six or seven steps before the Ursinor burst into the hallway behind them.

"TOO FAST!!" shouted Zade. "Get to the stairway and WAIT!!"

"We'll be TRAPPED!!!" screamed Damion.

Zade turned to face the snarling beast. It was just a few yards away. She brought her whip up, frowned for a half-second, and then moved her powerful arm up and sharply downwards with a fierce snap...

*CRACK*

The beast drew to a sudden halt and howled in pain. One of its eyes had just been removed with almost surgical precision. With blood pouring down its face, the thing drew up on its hind legs once more and snarled.

"Damn." said Zade. "Its not running. Its supposed to run... animals RUN when they get hurt! DAMMIT I'm SICK of animals that don't do what they're SUPPOSED to do!!"

"KILL IT, ZADE! KILL IT!!!"

"You're supposed to be in the STAIRWAY!!!"

The beast was closing on them again, with a little more caution this time... Zade frowned...

*CRACK*

The Ursinor's other eye disappeared in a spray of blood and tissue. Zade lowered her whip and placed her hand on her hip. She tapped her foot on the floor impatiently.

"What are you DOING!!!"

Zade ignored Damion for the moment... she was more interested in the beast.

Now completely blind, the Ursinor was back down all four legs. It was growling constantly, sniffing the air. It took a few steps forward... sniffed... a few more steps...sniff.... then the beast snarled and leapt... not at Zade, but PAST her, directly towards Damion.

"AAIIIGH!!!" Damion turned and ran for the stairs, narrowly avoiding the charging beast. If he had been a second slower the thing would have landed on top of him. Even blind, the beast still would have killed him in less time than it would take to scream.

"What the HELL's going ON HERE!!" shouted Zade. The Ursinor was still approaching Damion, but much more slowly. Now that it was blind, it was tracking by scent alone. Damion's scent. It wasn't interested in the fresh kills by the door, or even in getting back at the human that had blinded it. It was after Damion. Him, and him alone... almost as if it had been SENT here after him.

"Downstairs!!" she shouted at Damion as he reached the stairway. "GO DOWN!! ALL THE WAY!!"

"I'll be trapped down there!!!" he shouted back. The beast was approaching at a very fast walk, stopping every few yards to sniff the air.

"JUST DO IT" Zade doubled back towards the kitchen. She rummaged through the various cabinets, not finding what she needed. She was totally unfamiliar with where anything was... she usually took care to AVOID this part of the building.

"meat...meat...meat...meat...." she repeated to herself. "where's the meat...meat...meat..."

She came across a locked door. The wood was particularly thick and sturdy, so it took TWO kicks to unhinge it instead of her usual ONE. She entered and was rewarded with the full smell of raw meat.

"BINGO!!" she said. She grabbed up an armful of the salty meat and turned to leave. She stopped...

I wonder what raw meat TASTES like? she thought. She shook her head and left, running back towards the hallway. She arrived just in time to see the Ursinor bash through the stairway door and enter.

The thing stopped and sniffed, and then cautiously headed down the stairs. She ran after it.

The stairwell was one of the open types, where one could lean over the railing and look all the way to the bottom. Zade did just that. She saw Damion standing at the very bottom, looking up with a worried look on his face.

"Where IS IT?" he yelled. Zade looked over to the side. The beast had gotten the knack of navigating the stairs while blind, and was now pounding down the stairs at a surprising speed. It was growling, drooling, and looked very hungry.

"LOOK OUT!!" called Zade. Without waiting to see if Damion had moved, Zade took her whip and, with a snap of her free arm, wrapped the weapon around the railing. She grabbed the whip, clasped the load of meet tightly to her chest and leapt over the side...

"YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"

The whip snapped tight, almost yanking her shoulder out of place.

Zade was dangling several yards above the bottom of the stairwell. Still too far to jump without risking injury... but at least she could survive. She let go of the whip...

"WOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

She landed hard, she bent her knees and collapsed onto the floor so her legs would not absorb the full impact. As it was, she still twisted her ankle. Zade stood, gathered the meat and, ignoring the pain in her ankle, bolted through the door and nearly ran smack into Damion, who was standing just on the other side.

"It's coming!!!" she said. "Take off your clothes!!!"

"What?" said Damion. "I hardly think that THIS is the time for-"

"TAKE OFF YOUR DAMN CLOTHES AND GIVE THEM HERE!!" Zade followed that with a string of obscenities that made Damion's hair stand on end. He quickly undressed and handed his clothes to Zade.

"Now what?" said Damion, now completely naked.

Zade looked him over and smiled.

"I guess that thing they say about royalty isn't true after all..."

"WHAT?!?"

"Go hide in the pit-room. Hurry! And DON'T COME OUT UNTIL I CALL YOU!!"

"The PIT-ROOM!! I'm not going in there!! It STINKS in there!"

"Yes!" said Zade. "That's the only way to mask your scent!! Now GO!" Zade began to wrap Damion's clothes around the load of meat she had brought from the kitchen.

"No! Its slow and blind! We can kill it!! Give me my clothes... I say we make a stand right HERE!"

At that exact moment, the Ursinor burst through the stairway door, stood upright, and roared.

"Never mind..." Damion turned and ran for the pit, his pale, naked backside jiggling as he bolted past the empty animal cages.

Zade watched him go, and then turned to deal with the beast. The thing was approaching... sniffing the air as it came. It sniffed in Zade's direction and began to growl.

Zade turned and ran for the nearest cage. She looked at the flimsy bars, and ran a few yards down to one of the larger cages.

"Yes!" she shouted. Zade unlatched the cage door and threw the meat wrapped in Damion's clothes onto the floor of the cell. She backed away.

The beast was running full speed now. Zade's heart sank as the Ursinor ran right past her trap and straight towards her...

"OHH SHI-"

The beast drew to a sudden stop. It sniffed the air again. It took a few tentative steps forward, sniffed, and then turned around.

Zade breathed a sigh of relief. The Ursinor paused outside the open cage, and then leaped inside and began ripping at Damion's clothes. Zade ran up, slammed the door shut and quickly locked it. The Ursinor never even noticed... it was hungrily devouring the pack of meat that, thanks to Zade, smelled exactly like Damion Sinterbourne.

Zade stepped away and watched the captured beast eat.

After a few moments, she heard Damion's frightened voice calling from the dark tunnel that led to the corpse-pit.

"Zade?"

Zade started to give the all-clear, but she hesitated...

"Zade is it safe to come out? It smells REALLY bad in here...."

...there was still the matter of her back-pay.. or would that be 'payback'...

"...Zade...are you out there?"

...plus a little EXTRA for tonight's escapade...

"...Hello?...Zade...?"

With a wide grin on her face, Zade turned, limped down the hall, and started up the steps...

"Zade?..... ZADE!.... ZAAAAAAAADE!!!!!!!"

------------------------------------

[Blaymore]

Blaymore emerged from the far side of the rock moving at little more than a slow crawl. Contrary to his original plan, he had entered the black depths of the mountain *in the air* instead of running along the ground. His sudden trip and flung him... at nearly full speed... right into the face of the stone outcropping. He managed to complete his spell, and that was the only thing that saved him. Fortunately, his speed was enough to carry his intangible form through the rock without coming to a halt.

His spell fizzled out an instant after he emerged. Blaymore hit the ground and rolled to a crouching position. He waited.

And waited.

Finally, he stood, putting all of his weight onto his right foot. He took a deep breath and smiled...

If those cats were going at full speed... there's no WAY they could have stopped or turned-

Two cats scrambled around the far side of the rock and ran straight at him. Simultaneously, a third beast appeared *on top* of the stone, and jumped down directly towards him, claws outstretched.

DAMN!!!

Blaymore turned as if to run, but instead of running, he drew his sword and continued to turn until he faced forward again. The razor sharp blade sliced the leaping cat cleanly in two. The other beasts arrived at the same time.

Sharp claws ripped through Blaymore's cloak and raked across his arm. Fangs flashed, and sharp pain shot through his already wounded leg. The moon reflected off of Blaymore's sword as it flew from his hand and imbedded itself in the earth several feet away.

There was a pained yelp as an invisible dagger sank into one cat's exposed flank. The dagger twisted,

was yanked away, and then was thrust deep again. And Again.

Fangs hit bone as the second cat chewed the assassin's arm. Blaymore gutted the beast with a slash of the bloody knife. Both cats lay still, as did Blaymore.

After several moments, the assassin stood. Blood, both his own and that of the beasts, rolled off of his cloak like rain off of leather. He limped over to is sword and retrieved it, then slowly made his way over to the far side of the rock. There he found five dead cats to match the other three he had just dispatched.

Actually, Blaymore *assumed* that there were five cats... the bodies were so smashed and mangled from the impact that there could have easily been just three... or as many as ten.

Blaymore sat down in the middle of the carnage and began to treat his wounds. He ripped off large swaths of cloth from his cloak and tied them around the bites. The bleeding stopped, but not after he had lost a great deal of blood. The long walk back would certainly start the blood flowing again. His ankle was broken. He treated it as best he could, and then stood up. The area around his was desolate, it was very unlikely that he would come across a walking stick any time soon.

Broken ankle... two bites... and a ripped cloak... If I don't BLEED to death I might make it back to town before I die of rabies...

The assassin straightened his cloak and began to hobble in the general direction of Montfort...

[To Be Continued]