Miray's Story

"Get her!" Apparently the homeless man wasn't a homeless man, A half dozen thugs showed up. Well drat. Not two minutes in town and already she is... wait. That mark! The homless man wore it on his face and clothing! She recognised it. Closing her eyes she cast out a handful of apparent buckshot, smoke grenades that exploded upon impact with the ground. As soon as the smoke was thick enough she took off. The thugs from her past lost in the thick choking smoke.

She took off down an alley and turned onto a northern devided street. Not bothering to look both ways the blackclad woman dashed across the first street headed south, then across the northbound lanes. Stupid memories. Unwanted memories. She had a scar on her right side of the face from a fight gone bad with that same group. Apparently they were not too happy she managed to walk away from that street battle.

She heard footsteps behind her, then the ping of a bullet against a brick building face. Diving headlong into a open window she freeran through and ove out the back and climbed up a fire escape. She had a number on her somewhere. Finally somewhat safe she searched for it. It was an address.

643207E; Stoor Apartment Complexe She read. OK, Building E, sixth floor. How hard could it be ? She looked around and found over a window frame a letter of F. She turned around, aha! There, The letter E stared back at her. She climbed onto the railing of the fire escape and jumped across the small yard down below. Her weight nearly caused the thing to crumble from the wall as she pushed off. Galldratted thing.

She started up the stairs to the next level where there was an open window to a hallway and thenfound the stairs from there to climb up. Floor six, number.... 43207.... ah there it is. She counted off the doors as she passed them once on floor six. She only had the address off a recently found body. Possibly a hunter of some form.

Once at the door she knocked twice. Hopefully someone was home. her gaze shot to the door down the hall where the stairs were, She heard foot steps and voices, "She can't have gone far! This place is locked tight!" Said another, the door nob rattled from what she saw and heard. She knocked again on the door. Come on, come on. Hopefully, judging by what the body had on him, this place had a bomb crafting table she could borrow.

Behind the door a muffled barking could be heard, followed by the muffled sound of a voice. After a second of silence, the sound of three locks being undone were heard, and the door opened to reveal a tall, tired looking man. His eyes, however, were calm and piercing, almost predatory as they stared blankly at the female at the door. His eyes then darted down the side of the hall as he heard the thugs approaching.

The man gritted his teeth and opened the door wider, looking to the female. "Get in, and don't touch anything." he said calmly, walking out of the door and down the hall. Soon after he did so, the sound of multiple people yelling could be heard.

The inside of the apartment was decent enough; everything was kept moderately clean, though the furniture looked old and worn. By the fireplace an absolutely beautiful white dog laid quietly, observing the newcomer with watchful eyes as she waited for her master to return. Around her neck would be a collar with a tag that read "Snow."

After more yelling, the man who lived in this apartment came back in and closed the door, locking it. He then turned to face the female who looked very distraught and tired. "Who are you, and why are you here?" he asked. His voice was tired, and calm, but strong, so were his eyes, which only stared at the female as if trying to look at her soul.

Miray's gaze snapped towards the door down the hall as the door frame rattled as something struck it. She was about to knock again when she heard two things, a voice, and barking. Just her luck. When the door was opened she saw a tired looking fellow that looked as if he had seen it all and forgot most of it, or at least wanted to. Without so much as a thank you, though she did mouth such words as he admitted her into his home, she merely took two steps into the home and stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of Snow

She gulped. Oh boy. She didn't exactly not like dogs, she got along pretty good with them, when they weren't trying to kill her. She didn't trust them right off. Whifh put her on edge, a dog that well kept however made her just more then a little bit nervous. So she just took a few steps into the apartment, and stopped dead in her tracks. No gear, again. She had to leave her last apartment she had squatted at for almost a month in a hurry. At least she had some of her gear stashed where only she could get to should she need it. But judging by the look of the dog by the fireside, She somehow felt that going for her stolen tazer was not a good plan.

Oddly she felt safer there. Better than the apartment she had sqauttated at for a month. She did has told however, not to touch anything. But could not help looking around. Her ears picked up the sounds of yelling, lots of it. Then the sounds of footsteps and voices screaming to run. Had she come to the right place ? She hoped so. She was too focused on looking around,while still not touching anything when the man returned. She either did not hear, or failed to notice him staring her way.

But it was when the man spoke when he startled her. She snapped her gaze towards him. Since she was next to a table she set the address down on it "My name is Miray, I found this on a dead man outside the city limits. At the time I was being followed by a few unsavery fellows. Hadn't any time to pack." Her voice had a melodic tone to it. Almost as if she could have taken on a chat topping career as a pop artist or the like. On her person she had only a pistol. the ammo for which was both in the magazine it held, and also in her dimenesional pocket.

Snow sensed the uneasiness of the female in the room, but did nothing about it; she was a good dog, and wouldn't do anything unless commanded. The tall, tired man looked Miray up and down, his eyes focusing on the pistol on her waist, his eye twitching. He then walked up to the table and looked at the address on the paper.

A low, growl of a sigh escaped the man's throat as he picked up the paper before throwing it into the fireplace. "This...man, did he look like a hunter? Did you take anything else from his body?" he asked. At the sound of her voice, his expression softened a little, and his movements were less stiff, almost as if it soothed him to hear it.

He moved to the kitchen, fixing his overcoat as he did so. He opened the fridge and pulled from it a pitcher of water. He set that on the counter and pulled a glass from a cupboard next, and poured a glass of water. After putting the pitcher away, he took the water and handed it to Miray. "Here, drink." he said. Don't ask how he knew she needed water, he just knew.

"I know these...unsavory fellows, and they know me quite well. We have clashed multiple times, each time ending in their defeat." he explained, taking off his overcoat and tossing it onto a coat hook on the wall behind him without looking. His arms were covered in old scars, and were skinny; any amount of muscle he used to have was now compacted into smaller, less powerful looking muscles. But he wasn't showing off.

"They used to be a powerful street gang, but then I came into town and settled down here. They, like any tough-guy gang, wanted payment for protection. So I beat the crap out of their messenger, and anyone else they sent after me." he said. "Any of them that you see now are those who were lucky enough to not be sent before they gave up. The rest of them are either in the hospital, prison, or dead." he explained as he sat on the couch. He spoke as if he didn't care about their lives, or was just too tired to care.

He gestured to the chair behind Miray; an old, but very comfortable leather recliner that was in pretty good shape.

Snow let out a small whine followed by a quiet bark. "Hush, Snow." the man said calmly. "My name is James, I see you've at least seen my best friend, Snow?" he asked, his head nodding towards the beautiful dog. "She's my only friend now anyway....all the rest are dead."

Another sigh escaped his throat as he leaned back and put his feet on the coffee table in front of the couch, trying to relax.

"Couldn't tell, he looked more as if he'd been in a fight with a boar. Took some smoke pellets off him, some flash pellets too. But they were wet, so I threw those away." She still had some of the smoke buckshot somewhere on her. Though it could also be in her pocket. Which was weird because her outfit had no pockets to speak of. "He had that paper on him. As if he was trying to get to here or something. I followed it and it brought me here." She said. she made no move towards her pistol, but knew he was carefully eyeballing it. "I am not sure if it ment anything to the man or not. I did not stick around after testing out the wet sparkpellets"

She watched as he went to the kitchen, got a glass and water. Then held it out to her. saying to her to drink it. She took the glass in one hand. Gently and carefully, listening as he spoke, he knew of those guys. "Sparrow Mere Apartments Complex" She said, that was her last run in with the major part of the gang only hours before.

She had been woken rather rudely, and forced to flee with nothing but her pistol on her, her gear, mostly extra clothing, stored in a seperate pocket. She set the glass down, "That is where I was when they showed up on me this morning. Acting like they owned the place" Sparrow mere was a mostly luxary apartment complex over in Solinus, Or at least it was. In recent months it was emptied out, set for demolition or some such.

"They know the streets. It seems the smoke pellets did little to deter them from tracking me this far. Do they know you are here ? In this exact apartment ? I was not expecting anyone to be in here. I was glad you opened the door though, for a second I thought I had the wrong address." Or you weren't home She said. Miray took another long drink of the water. It was fresh, and felt great. Better than what she had been drinking at Sparrow Mere.

"It is nice to meet you, James,... Snow," Miray said, to both James and the dog. It felt weird to say such words to an animal that wasn't trying to kill her. She nodded at his new question, yes she had seen Snow, got momentarily scared at the sight of the dog as well. It was hard to let something like that just fade off. She didn't exactly not like dogs. It was that she did not trust them, much if at all. As long as they weren't trying to kill her, then she was fine with them. So for the moment, she felt safe around Snow. But for how long she did not know.

'Seems like I did a better job with him than I thought.' he thought. "Well, if he was in a fight with a boar, and had pellets with him, he was probably some sort of wandering alchemist or something." he said calmly, leaning father back into the couch he sat in. "Sparrow Mere...Ah, yes. That place. Always wanted to live there, never had the money." he mused.

"They owned the streets as of last year. The ones who chased you didn't know I was here, but the gang-leaders do know, and they stay away from me." he explained calmly. "Wrong address..." he chuckled softly, "Yea, that would be a logical fear to have." he agreed calmly. "Luckily, you were correct in following that paper." he said.

"The pleasure of our meeting is mine." he said. "I haven't laid eyes upon such a fair face in over two years." he smiled. "But that isn't why I let you in here. I let you in to provide a safe haven from those fools." he said. He took a deep breath through his nose, secretly getting to know Miray's scent while he did so.

"You seem a bit uneasy around Snow, yet at the same time you feel safe." he observed. "Your body language suggests that anyway, the nervous bouncing of your foot, the setting of the glass down, the urge to touch your pistol, and the tense shoulders. And since you are really only looking at me instead of the beautiful dog by the fire, I'm assuming you're uneasily safe around her." he concluded.

"But that's just a guess." he shrugged. "Snow, come." he said, tapping his leg. The dog stood, revealing it to be about the size of a Siberian Husky, and slightly more wolf-like in appearance. The dog came obediently and James pet her head, scratching behind the ears. "Go and say hello to our guest." he said, gesturing to Miray.

Obediently the dog went over to Miray, sniffing her cautiously, her tail wagging idly and her ears down submissively as she sniffed and got to know Miray's scent.

Wandering what ? she wanted to ask, the hell was an alchemist ? One of those herbsniffers ? Possibly. She smirked slightly, "Not sure if you'd want to live there now." She said, the place was run down, and as of recently, only a scant few of the buildings were even in operation or even kept up and clean as they were advertised. The luxary condos they were called, heck, Miray was lucky enough to find one that fit not just her needs, but was actually rat free.

"As far as I am concerned, they still own the streets in the area. If the gang leaders know you're here, then that is good right ?" She hoped so. Because if it wasn't, she was in for a world of hurt.

She inwardly blushed as he called her out on her beauty, that was one reward she relished in. marred only by the scar on her face from a fight a few years back that never quite healed. An eyebrow raised slightly however at his next words, she was nervous around the dog yes, but something told her not to be; it was hard ot let it go so quickly. She'd need some time. But out of reflex alone she wanted to run, head for the door as quick as she could.

But no. Instead she crouched down, a hand went out. Nervous at first as Snow sniffed it then licked it. A smile soon graced Mirays face. Safe haven, that was what James called his home. Was he welcoming her into his home ? Saying she'd be safe there ? If so, for how long ? Did he want payment ?

She then remembered her gear, and something of personal importantce still at Sparrow Mere. She gave Snow one last headrub before standing back up. "I need to go." She said somewhat sad at the thought of doing so, she finally had a place she could call safe. but there was something she needed to make it feel like home. Sort of. "I have something I need to pick up. I'll be back soon. You'll recognise my knock I am sure." Once more a faint smile was on her face as she left by way of the open window to the fire escape.

James shrugged, "I wouldn't be able to afford it even if I still wanted to." he said calmly. At her next words, a rather amused smile came to his face. "As long as they stay away from this building, then the streets are theirs. While I walk on the streets, they belong to me and they know better than to challenge that." he explained.

Snow licked Miray's hand a few times, and panted happily as the female human seemed to relax around her. After that, Snow moved back over to her bed by the fireplace.

James looked up at Miray as she moved towards the window. "If you're going to go, know that those thugs will still follow you if you're alone." he said, standing up. "I'm coming with you." He grabbed his overcoat and put it on, brushing his black hair out of his face quickly before looking back to Miray. "Besides, I need to get some things taken care of anyway." he grinned.

Snow whined and James looked at her, telling her to stay with a hand signal. Once outside and on the fire escape, James took a deep breath of the fresh air, seemingly reinvigorated by it. As he followed Miray down the fire escape to the streets below he looked around the street, noticing the average people who walked the sidewalks, and noticing some other people that kept their distance now that he was outside.

"So, Miray. Aside from run away from old accomplices, what else do you do for a living?" James asked her calmly, trying to initiate a conversation so that the trip to wherever they were going wasn't so awkward, and so that they looked more normal to prying eyes.

Miray kept her mouth shut, when the man mentioned that the people after her for squatting actually showed him respect had her thinking she had made the right choice in following that address. "I need get back to Sparrow Mere, I left something that I need. If I take the route I took out, they'll find me sure, but if I go by way of sewer or water ways. They wont look there." Hey, she wasn't stinking the place up, yet. She still ha to get that keepsake. Her mothers birthstone ring.

She said nothing of when he said he was going with her however. She had a task, and if he too had one, she asked no questions. In fact, it felt good to have someone that had her back. Soon as she hit the pavement she started walking, back in the direction she was pretty sure was Sparrow Mere Complex. It was along the eastern seaside. Which meant lots of switchback roads. But she did not care. Much, if at all.

It was not until a block later when he asked her what she did for a living. She went deathly silent. Finally after a long moment of careful thought she said. "I'm a hunter. I hunt only a certain class of animal though. I doubt you want to hear it all. But let me just say, the reason I under that type of animal, is..... personal business." She tried to smile, but thinknig of the loss of her family to those werecreatures only two decades ago, that struck her hard.

She did not really notice many people looking her way to begin with, some men maybe with leery looks and what not, but otherwise, they rermained a respectable distance. So in a mannerr of speaking, that helped, somewhat, She had someone that had her back, someone she felt she could trust. But only so far.

Hey at least he didn't have his dog attack her.

James blinked when he heard the word "hunter" and almost stopped dead in his tracks, but kept walking anyway. He cleared his throat and smiled. "Oh, no, I'd like to know! Tell me, what exactly do you hunt?" he asked. He was curious, though he probably knew what she was going to say: Vampire, Demon, Fairy, or the one he feared she'd say the most: Werewolf.

In the back of his mind, the urge to kill her right then and there emerged, but he pressed it out of his mind, not wanting to kill a girl he had just saved, not one so beautiful, not one that he could potentially be friends with. Of course...that would require her not knowing that he was a werewolf.

The fact would not be easy to hide from her, but he would manage as best as he could. He caught the scent of another hunter somewhere among the crowd, and turned his head to look at the male who currently stared at James. James in response would hunch slightly, acting like he had been captured by Miray from afar while looking like he just wanted to walk with a hunch because it was more comfortable for him to walk through the city like that.

He had set out today with Miray with the hope of buying a bag of dog-food for Snow and not be attacked by hunters. However, he would use the fact that Miray was three and a half inches taller than he was to his advantage and make it look like she had captured him to the other hunters in the area.

Other hunters that eyed James would see Miray and nod in recognition to her as a person of great skill, as if she were well known trough out hunter society.

It took another two blocks before Miray noticed how James was walking. "You alright ?" She had no idea what he was doing or why he was walking hunched over. She felt it weird. At one point the guy's hat blocked her vision, now she saw clearly over him because he was hunched over. Well great. what happened now ? She heard his question. But she seemed lost in thought, or bad memories. Finally she said, "I was a child when it happened. A band of werecreatures storm our home. My family was slain. I fled." She had been disowned in everything, including her family name of Whitewire.

Apparently her parents got to debating where each of their oddspring had originated. Miray was the youngest, yet the most beautiful, for seven years old. She was a looker already. So her parents, her father mostly, was trying to figure out where Miray had come from, in this case, who his wife had screwed to give birth to such a rare beauty. It frightened him. Seeing her almost as tall as he was. {at seven she was nearly five feet tall, her father a mere five foot eight. was scared of his own daughter!}

the debate soon turned ugly as her mother confessed whom was Mirays true father. A pretahuman known only as Hunter Killer. The bane of every supernatural creature in the universe. Miray was his daughter through blood! That fact made Miray curious at the time, she refused to acknowledge the fact however and merely said to James at his question posed to her. "My father paid tribute to the local count, he disowned me in everything, even use of his name, no ties to anyone in the family, I was seven." She sighed as she stopped at a light. waiting for the signal to cross.

She looked out onto the traffic passing "My father left us briefly that evening. My last dinner in the house. He came back, his eyes full of fear, and told us all to hide or flee as quickly as we could, the count was sending his troops looking for the Bane of Creatures child. He was scared. Of me. I fled to my room, took what gear I had, and then hid in the floor boards of the house until the fighting was over. Everyone was dead. Father, mother, both my sisters. plus several werecreatures of various types." The signal changed to allow them to cross the street.

She continue speaking, though softer. "I buried my family, took what little I could from the house, including my weapons. and then left, I vowed to track down the band that took my family. They took my past. It is why I say it is personal business of what I hunt. Because quite honestly I am not sure if what I am hunting is exactly what I seek." What did she seek, retribution, revenge, mercy ?

James smiled. "Nothing is wrong," he said, yawning as they turned the corner, if her eyes were focused on his mouth, she'd notice that his canines were sharper than those of most humans. "Werecreatures?" he asked. 'Well...it sounds like I just might be screwed if I blow my cover too quickly.' he thought. After stopping at the light, he listened to her story.

"If you don't mind my asking, what type of werecreatures were they? Werepanthers? Werewolves?" he said. He then paused, "Whatever they were, they were willingly working with a vampire....that pretty much narrows it down to those two races of werecreatures." he explained.

He continued to walk forward as the signal changed, following Miray closely enough to ward off the other hunters in the area, and yet far enough away so that it didn't seem like he was clinging to her. "I am sorry for your loss. I too have lost my family, though...my story will have to wait for a much more appropriate time and place." he said.

"But still, I hope you find what you are hunting, and I also hope that it ends peacefully when you do find it." he said, clearing his throat again as he started to no longer hunch his back forward. He looked around the street for anything he could recognize as a landmark so he knew where he was. After a few seconds, he found one, and his eyes shifted forward again, focusing on following Miray.

For a long moment she was quiet, finally she said, "I do not remember. I remember only they were werecreatures, sent by the Count of Cratatur Hill." She said, She was at the time quite young. And for the moment too focused on her bad memories to notice anything different of the man she walked with. To a pretahuman, like herself, survival was a way of life, her own teeth were sharper then most human creatures. Not enough to bite clean through flesh and bone though.

"Even so" She turned to him, his hat nearly getting her in the nose as she turned his way. "I will not rest until those that took my past from me are dead." that meant going as far as the count itself. For all she knew, a world class vampire of some form. Or worse. "I too hope I find what I seek, but it has been twenty years since that event. And yet, here I am. Still wandering, still hunting."

Another two blocks and she slowed. they were almost to the Wing City city limits. From there on out, it was through the sewers or the creeks and rivers. Sewers were quicker. though there was also that Tunnel Bridge network that ran under the surface of the planet to begin with. "To Sparrow Mere, I came this road, but not all the way, mostly by water." She followed the river most of the time, and at times, swam.

As she came to a halt a voice called out to her. "Zhǔxí nǚshì, nǚshì! {Madam, madam!}" A young man came running up, looking as if he came direct from a warzone or bar fight.

"Zhè shì shénme? {What is it ?}" Miray asked the young man, he seemed a servant of sorts. Man she forgot about Zashimal. The young man was left in her care at a recent gathering, she left him in charge of a place, a place she had yet ot return to. The Core. A safe haven, like Timbers house.

"Biǎn gāng tuánhuǒ qiú nǐ. Tāmen méiyǒu wàngjì tāmen dédàole tiàodòng {Stee gang seek you. they have not forgotten the beating they got}" The man replied, he stopped to catch his breath

"Zàishì mǎ, nǐ zěnmeliǎo? {Zashimal, what happened to you ?}" Miray asked him, seeing his level of injury, a few bruises, some cuts. and a few bite marks.

"Wǒ yě hǎo fūrén, duǎn duǎn jǐ nián xuējiǎn. Shénme dōu bù chóng yào. {I am fine madam, just a few cuts, nothing important." He replied. Miray looked him over carefully before nodding.

"Ràng zìjǐ qiān chū de héxīn, wǒ yǒushì yào chǔlǐ.{Get yourself checked out at the Core. I have something I must attend to}"

"Shì de fūrén! {Yes madam!}" Came the reply, the young man bowed stiffly and took off quickly as he was able as instructed.

Turning to James Miray said, "Nothing you need to concern yourself with, I actually forgot Zashimal was given to me as a servant and friend some time ago. He's a good man, good cook." And also a bookies bookie, but still, a good cook. Zashimal kept the records at the Core, a safety net of sorts. He also acted as chief map keeper and also historian of where Miray went to before she wandered after a fight gone bad before taking up squatting at Sparrow Mere.

James sighed, relieved perhaps that she did not know what type of werecreatures that they were. "Twenty years....a long time." he mused. He continued to listen to what she said, and nodded to show he was following along. When she stopped, he stopped and looked at the road. "Sounds like a good hike...." he said, a rather amused smirk on his face.

He turned around before the young boy spoke, almost as if he heard or smelt him coming before he did anything. He couldn't understand what the two were saying, so he turned around and looked over the landscape, taking in deep, slow, calm breaths. In reality he was smelling what was around them; a bunch of birds, some stray dogs, a deer or two, and...god dammit... werewolf hunters. They were far off, but they were very slowly closing in.

He turned around as the boy left, and nodded at Miray's explanation. "I understand." he said. "Now, let's keep going, we're almost there, yes?" he asked, doing a very good job to hide the urgency he had to get away from the hunters.

"Not far off actually. Those buildings there" It was actually ten minutes hike up river to the place, but still, well worth the walk. Moving swfly to the gate she kicked the lock spring open with a solid kick before grabbing it to not make any noise other then a loud cracking sound. The rusted thing was barely useful as it was in itself.

She stepped into the yard, looking left and right carefully. Noboy in sight, perfect. the window she had dove out of that morning was directly above. She looked up and smiled, yep, her outline was in that window, what was left of it. She pointed up, "I'll be right back, that window there" The window she pointed it had a outline of someone crashing through it, herself. "That was the apartment I was staying at. I wont be long." With that she scampered to the wall and started up rather quickly. using handholds, hanging cloth drapes. Even some broke wood poking out of the floors to climb up.

Within seconds she was inside. A brief look around and she spotted what she was after. The birthstone ring hung on a silver chain from a wall hook. With it her mothers chainsword whip thinger. Miray had become rather skilled with both the whipsword and the hoopsword. The whipsword she snapped against her left leg, coiling the thing in dark silver against her shin as her other hand went for the silverchain that held the birthstone necklace.

As she reached for the keepsake she stopped dead in her tracks. Drats. Again she did it. Walked dead into a trap. She felt eyes on her. Many eyes. She snatched the chain and draped it around her neck. Turning on her feet she stared into the face, well, open maw headed for her own face, of a werepanther.

Without thinking it she brought up her whipsword and cracked hard at the open maw, breaking the lowerjaw off and sending the werecreature flying into a wall where it laid in a heap. Miray made for the window, she had to shout down to James, a trap! But she didn't exsactly make it that far before the whole oceanfell out from under her feet and she saw the entire iceberg. Exactly a dozen werecreatures were in the room waiting for her.

She'd never get to the window to warn James. He'd have no clue of what was going on.

James smiled and nodded, following her to the building. He saw the window he pointed at and nodded again. "Alright, I'll just wait out here for you." he said with a small smile. He was going to offer to help her up into the window, but by the time the thought came to his mind, she was already up.

All was quiet as he turned and looked around at the buildings. Wait....quiet...too quiet. A gunshot rang out across the landscape and James stumbled forwards as the bullet nailed him hard in the right shoulder, causing him to let out a loud canine yelp of pain before he caught himself and stood straight, the bullet falling out of his shoulder as he healed. He removed his jacket and tossed it to the ground as he looked around him.

Hunters with guns, nets, batons, and knives were all around him. "We're going to have fun killing you for what you did to our brothers!" one yelled.

James let out a low growl and crouched into a fighting stance. Another gunshot rang out and he flew back as it hit him dead in the chest. He laid on his back motionless after that.

A group of hunters ran up to his body and looked at him. "Dammit Jerry! We told you not to kill him unless we were out of options!" a hunter yelled. Just then James let out a ferocious snarl and barked madly as his body partially shifted, his muscles and bones getting bigger and harder as he grabbed the nearest hunter and tore off his leg. James then proceeded to literally use the leg to beat everyone around him to a bloody pulp.

James closed his eyes and let himself be taken over by his instincts, and a black mist filled the air as his body transformed. Bones, muscles and joints audibly snapping, reshaping, and rearranging themselves as he took his werewolf form. Once the transformation was complete, he stood at ten feet tall, with an extremely muscular build and black fur with dark green stripes running through it, making themselves look like scars.

A loud, mighty howl echoed throughout the entirety of the landscape and in all the buildings, and it came from none other than James before he sniffed the air, knowing where everything and everyone was before darting into the side of the building Miray had gone into, providing a hole in the wall for her to escape from while he attacked the other werecreatures ferociously, tearing at them with teeth and claws; tearing them limb from limb, or picking them up and throwing them through the walls and then chasing them out before moving on to killing hunters, who were shooting swinging and trying to cut him like crazy.

And he never flinched. He looked at Miray and only nodded as if to say that she was safe from him, but only if she helped him like he was helping her.

For a few moments the fighting was fast and furious within the enclosed space of the fourth floor bedroom. With only a strange whiplike weapon Miray held her ground well enough. Occasionally kicking at random, two were dead and down for the count when she heard the howl. That voice, she thought she recognised it.

As James came in, Miray was thrown clean out from a rather violet toss from one of the werecreatures she was fighting inside an enclosed space. Sailing four floors to the ground in a heap of smashed car and ruined building, glass littered around her as she shook her head and blinked to get the blood out of her vision. Pulling herself ot her feet she kicked out at a hunter and sent the man flying forwards as another tried to get a bead on her with his pistol, she had her own out and fired, the thunder of the shot hammered into the man, sending him sailing backwards as she ran forwards and grabbed up a strange sticklike item, her whipsword.

She snapped the strange iyem against her leg, as it coiled she activated a strange spell, a hoopsword came out of the design she had suddenly transcribed in the thin air. Using the hoop sword she struck first at one werecrature, then defended easily against a hunter, then struck twice more at the werecreature before finally striking at the last hunter that managed to stay on his feet long enough to get knocked flying.

She fended off another hunter before catching sight of James. There was no missing those eyes. The look he gave her, help me and I'll help you, was written all over it. Werecreature! She fought the urge to attack him, she gave a nod in reply, yes, she trusted James. She trusted James with her life. And he trusted her with his own life!

To that extent she struck out fast and deadly with the hoop sword, the massive weapon mopst people found useless, she had trained with. The hoop sword was unweidly, hard for normal people to even try to carry. Yet Miray handled the weapon in almost a dancelike fashion. Snapping the thing out, kicking occasionally, and lastly striking when she needed to, It was easy to use it, a least for herself.

She rolled out of the path of an oncoming attack before standing back to back with James. He stank, but she was too focosed on defending him and herself to comment on it. Broken glass litered the ground almost as if it were sand. Fast and furious she struck and danced.

And just as quickly as the fight started it ended, casting the hoopsword into the air she cast a spell with it, the weapon disappeared. As the weapon disappeared Miray dropped to her knees and spat out the revulsion that built up within her from the stench, not of the dead, but of the werecreature scent. The hell did I just do ? she asked herself, she had saved a werewolf, who in turn had saved her! Impossible! She thought, but no, it was possible, in fact it happened!

The ferocious fighting continued for a while. After James made eye-contact with Miray, he seemed to smirk before he kept fighting, promply turning around and grabbing a hunter by the throat and picking him up with one hand while slamming a fist into a werecreature with the other hand.

His movements were almost the exact opposite of Miray's; as his were quick, jerking, and powerful whereas hers were fluid and beautiful almost like a dance. He used every part of his body to attack and defend while she used her weapons and feet occasionally. While his style of fighting in this form was surely much uglier to watch, it got the job done.

When he was back to back with Miray, something in his eyes changed, from more savage and uncontrolled to calm and controlled. After that, the fight lasted maybe only another few minutes before everything that had attacked the two was dead.

As Miray dropped to the ground and puked, James seemed to straighten as he started to shift back into his human form. The first thing to go was his fur, which became a black ball of mist that covered the rest of his body from sight as he transformed back into a human. Once he was human again, the mist converged on his body, and became a freshly cleaned set of clothing for him to wear; complete with his black travelers overcoat, a dark green shirt, brown cargo pants, and black shoes.

After the transformation was complete he looked around at the aftermath of the chaos around him. He walked up to a hunter and let out a fierce growl.

"You were there when my family was murdered." James growled.

"No, please! Spare me!" the hunter cried.

"If only you'd listened to my family when you helped murder them." James scoffed. With that he brought his shoe down on the hunter's neck, and twisted, insuring an extremely painful, yet quick death.

James then turned to Miray and walked up to her. "Come on, let's get out of here before the authorities catch a whiff of all this bull shit." he said, offering the female a hand to help her up.

For a long moment the woman knelt on one knee in the tall grass, breathing heavily. "I thought....." her eyes were distant. Remebering the unwated past. ".... wrong" She said; In her mind, in her heart, everything she knew, Weres were evil, killing on command, but now.

No.

Now she knew better.

Not all were creatures were evil, to be hated. She reached a hand up and took hold of James own hand. He was strong, that was clear. She pulled herself to her feet. Once steady she said simply, "Thank you." Meaning keeping her alive. Working as a team gave them the only chance they had to survive. they had traded hunters for weres in the fight, back to back.

A team.

A family of sorts.

She smiled, "Police ? Heh, I've always wanted to see a police car go flying by.... I guess now is that chance." there was something of a spark to her eyes. Something of wanting to start trouble. "Those hunters and weres were working together, In my line of work, hunters and weres never worked as a team, but we did, we survived, they did not. What caused them to work together ? Was it you, or was it me ? Or was it the surviver gets the spoils of war ?" She went over to one of the hunters and patted the remains down carefully. A wallet. She opened it, reading quickly before tossing it aside. "Well shit." She grumbled. She patted the man down further. the man was one she had cut down with her whipsword.

A cop.

She rolled the body over. Yep, a cop. "We got a problem. if the authorities were not onto us by now, they are onto us now." She found the mans badge. WCPD. Shit. shit shit shit!

Wait.

What the hell was a Wing City policeman doing out at Sparrow Mere ??

James smirked as she took his hand and got to her feet. "No problem." he answered her thanks. "And....thank you as well..." he said, meaning the same thing she did when she said it. He never once thought that a hunter would keep him safe from other hunters, but now he had something else to think about. Perhaps not all were as bad as he thought.

He chuckled as she smiled and got that mischievous spark in her eye. "You remind me of my children; always raring to see something new. But...you don't want to see the cops." he said calmly. "They...weren't really working together...not as I would classify it anyway. They were each merely trying to kill their prey, and happened to not kill or shoot each other in the process." he shrugged, not caring either way.

"Still, whatever made them work without killing each other for at least a few minutes must have had something to do with how important it is that we are dead." he explained, shrugging again. He walked over to the body that Miray rolled over and growled at the sight of the badge. "Let's get out of here, now. If they've got an agent here, then their jurisdiction may reach out this far, or they're working with our enemies.

The wail of sirens was heard in the distance, by James anyway, and he looked in that direction. "They're coming this way, Miray." he said. "If you've got everything you need, then I suggest we get out of here as quickly as possible. In fact, I'll take us back to my home in the blink of an eye, if you so desire, all you need to do is grab onto my arm, and grab tightly." he said, his arm extending towards her.

If she grabbed his arm, the environment around them would suddenly blur, wind blowing fiercely in Miray's hair and face. After a few seconds, they would be on the fire escape of James's apartment.

If she did not grab his arm then he would look at her and raise an eyebrow, "What are we going to do then?"

"I've seen many, but not as many as I'd like." She had been in and out of jailhouses many a time. And most recently she had in fact gotten it into her head that staying out of such places was Plan A. For a long moment she gazed at James, he saved her life, and she saved his, he was thanking her ? "Your enemies or mine ?" She asked, she went to the last three bodies and searched them all. They looked in pretty good shape, for the most part at least. She patted each one down carefully, taking first the wallet to find out their names. Then checking for anything else. In this instance, keys or keyrings. Most such bodies had them. One of these men had to be the local grounds keep.

All the while she said nothing as she check each body. Finally she stood up. "I think it was me. What I am, my skills, my kills. I've had run ins with groups like this, werecreatures and hunters working as a team to take me down. None of them lived to tell the tale though." It was either because she hunted the supernatural directly; thus cutting into other hunters territory while doing so. Or because she had killed enough of the supernatural to earn herself a mark from them to get other hunters after her. Or something else entirely.

She had no idea how correct she was on all counts there.

After all, being the daughter through blood of a legendary supernatural hunter known as Hunter Killer. A pretahuman with skill and ablity beyond human kind. It made some of the supernatural take out contracts on her at times. Though none of them were paid up in full because even the contractor was taken out by her skill. "There is one last thing." She said in regards to anything else she needed. Yes, she needed one more thing.

Information.

She looked carefully over the dead werepanther she had slit the throat of. With a flick of her wrist she removed the torn shirt. There. That symbol. She recognised it directly. He was present at the raid twenty years before at her home. Apparently its master was enraged she got away. Yet, for this long, she'd been alive and well. Hunting her enemy with skill in dancing mostly. Whereas her enemy tried brute force, it never worked well enough.

She stood and kicked hard at the body before turning away. "I've seen enough. Lets go, I have what I sought." Indeed she did. She had exactly what she sought. The keepsake was safely tucked away in her dimenesional pocket, along with her extra clothing and gear.

The mark on the werepanther, was the crest of a powerful vampire somewhere on Terra. With that she took hold of James as he indicated and held on tight as instructed.

When she had solid ground under her and a building to lean on she did just that. Leaning against the frame of James living room window.

"The cops of Wing City don't usually mess around, so I'd suggest not wanting to see them at all." he said calmly. At her next question he shrugged. "They're our enemies now, so it doesn't matter." he spoke calmly, without any regard for the lives of his enemies.

As she said there was one last thing he seemed to let out an annoyed huff. "Well, quickly, the cops are coming." he said, speaking with a sense of urgency. After she was done looking over the body of the werepanther, he looked to her and nodded. She grabbed his outstretched arm.

When the were on the fire escape, he watched her lean against his living room window frame. He smirked. "Not many people can handle that much movement at once, so you may feel a bit sick afterwards. But you'll be fine in about an hour or two." he assured her, patting her shoulder gently. With that he opened his window and climbed through it, petting Snow as she trotted up to him happily.

He took off his overcoat and tossed it onto the couch. He then stuck his head out the window and looked at Miray, "Come on, you can lay on the couch if you don't feel good." he said. Once she was inside, he'd close the window before heading into the kitchen. He looked through some cupboards and looked over to Miray. "Would you like to stay here?" he asked. "I have a bedroom that I never use, and the bed should be clean unless Snow has found her way in there." he chuckled. "She's a smart dog." he added with another chuckle.

If Miray chose to stay, James would direct her to the bedroom, which was the first door on the right down the short hallway. The room didn't have any windows, and that made it dark. But with both hunters and werecreatures after her, Miray would probably feel more safe knowing there isn't a way for someone to sneak in without alerting James first.

Fine in an hour or two, interesting to say in the least when it merely felt as if she ran a marathon in five minutes. She did not feel ill by any means though. So what did he mean by felling sick ? She watched him for a long moment, how he was so playful with his dog Snow. she climbed through the window.

She watched him for some time, but he had to repeat his words to her of his offer to stay. Her entire being screamed at her to not accept, but she nodded. "Yes" She said, "I'll stay, what you did for me today made me think. Maybe there are good werecreatures in the world."

When he directed her to the room she smiled with her back to him as she took the room in, perfect. A place wherein she could be safe, only one way in, one way out. No trouble whatsoever to get to her. After all....

James saved her life.

She could trust him.

No sooner had she laid down on the sleeping pallet when her senses awoke. Not because of Snow, nor because of James. But because of her memory. Her photographic memory. Places she had been, people she had seen......

People....

Her eyes snapped open, she sat up on the bed and put her feet over the side. She was followed; not by thugs, but someone else. James was right about WCPD officers not cooling down on a sting. The local police did not mess around when they had their scent locked down. She was tracked.

She had lead the police straight to James. Straight to her.

She stood up and activated her second dimenesional pocket. Tossing the silver birthstone ring on its chain into the pocket she closed it and activated the other. Light body armor that looked more like a scuba suit with metal add ons worked best in times like this. Ease of movement, quiet, and nonrefelctive. Everything she required. It even masked her scent. She went over her weapon options.

Taking a few clips of the pistols rounds she racked it in such a way that a dimenesional pocket could activate at her wrist and reload the weapon when needed. Ten thousand rounds or more could be kept in that pocket. And she had no idea how many rounds were already in the thing as it was.

She moved quickly and silently. She did not want to alert James to her work. Not worry him.

When her weapons were ready it was about an hour later or so. She exited the room, seemingly refreshed and ready for the day. Cleaned up and her clothing seemed slightly more polished then it had been.

James smiled as he heard her say that she'd stay. "I think you'll find the room to your liking then." he said, guiding her to the room and opening the door for her. After he did so, he went back to the living room and laid on the couch with a tired groan. He stretched himself out and relaxed before grabbing the TV remote and turning it on, flipping through the channels until he found something good.

However after a while he'd notice that Miray's scent seemed to lessen to the point where he could only just barely smell her; and that was because he knew what he was sniffing for. He lowered the volume on the TV and listened carefully, noticing that he couldn't hear anything either.

"What the hell...." he muttered. "I swear if this one tries to kill me, too...." he growled quietly. After a few minutes, he turned the volume on the TV back up and continued watching the news.

"This just in!" A news anchor said. "New evidence at the newly discovered scene at Sparrow Mere! Traces of blood has been found on the ground not too far from the massive pile of bodies where a WCPD officer was found dead. The blood does not match any of the DNA sequences of the bodies identified at the scene." The reporter continued, shuffling his notes. "Apparently the genome does not completely match that of a human, either, so authorities believe that they may be dealing with some sort of supernatural being. However, any attempt to match the DNA to any known supernatural citizens has proven to be inconclusive."

James growled loudly before laughing like an amused sociopath. "Of course they can't trace it to me. I gave them my wolf-form's DNA, not mine." he thought to himself, a wide smirk on his face.

When Miray came from the hallway, James looked at her. "You're up early. Too early, in fact, for someone who's only just been exposed to such fast paced movement." he commented, his eyes darting around her slender frame to look for anything abnormal. His eyes immediately caught on to the seemingly more polished clothes she was wearing, and his nose hardly picked up on her scent even though she was perhaps only twenty feet away.

"And I can hardly smell you, what is going on?' he said, sitting up from his position of lying down on the couch. Snow rolled over onto her other side, not even bothering to get involved anymore. She was tired!

"... hey, this is Officer Dubicki. Yeh, yeh, I think I found the suspects from the murders in Sparrow Mere. They entered an apartment complex," spoke a lone officer in her hidden cop car peeking around the corner. She hadn't followed the suspects, but had spied them on duty, looking for speeding cars, or... speeding... raptors n'shit. Whatever weirdos were going too fast for Wing City streets. Which there was a lot of.

But she had spotted the redhead and her friend. After a cop's partner had been murdered at Sparrow Mere, he'd caught sight of those running away from the scene of the crime. Got a good description.

"I'll need backup. Yes, sir. I can take care of it until someone gets here."

Her thoughts went back and forward as she approached the door of the apartment the suspects had disappeared inside. She raised a fist to knock on the door.

Probably not the best thing she could have done, Saiga thought, looking down at her uniform, at the nine-shot revolver at her side, which replaced her automatic 9mm. She just couldn't get used to it.

"WCPD! Open up!"