Chapter Text
In the steadily growing hotter day, many animals settled to rest as others awoke with the rising sun. Along a small off shoot of the Nile, a young man laid in the shade provided by the washed-out bank with the water nearby making everything more cool. Huge crocodiles rested on the banks that were exposed to the sun to warm themselves for the day nearby. Watching the resting other but not getting near him. His skin was tanned dark by the constant sunlight that he lived in as a robe of tradition for the nomadic Muslims that traversed the area covered him. His head wrap was abandoned nearby to let his silvery gray hair be seen, a lock of red in one side of his bangs. Despite the color of his hair, he obviously was not old. Exactly in his prime was the better description. Though he seemed normal when around the caravans, it was more than his hair color and that he was a stranger that set off whispers of him. It was the rumors that he was a child of one of the local Egyptian gods. The Muslims avoided him as the Egyptians drew closer in amazement.
In the nights, they could hear the howl of a canine that had all the jackals silencing, the roar of lions going quiet, and the bellow of crocodiles instantly hushed. A silver haired man would race through the desert and hunt creatures out there for his meals that had claws, a gray furred tail, large canine ears poking from his untamed locks, sharp teeth, and glowing bright green eyes. A god or one of their descendants now hunted here. It did not take much imagination to associate this human like man with the less than so one.
A trumpet sounded loud out in the desert for the young man to sit up in interest. Large black canine ears lifted out from his hair to turn to listen. After a few seconds, he grabbed the fabric to cover his face and his bag filled with dates and hummus and a water sack to leap over the bank. The crocodiles splashed into the river to escape as he blurred out into the sand that was not hot yet but was going to become so soon. He moved faster than anything natural could as sand was kicked up after him.
As he ran, other things that were neither animal nor human came out of their hiding places to join him. Chimeras created from a collection of different animal body parts kept up easily as fiery red birds flew overhead. Three pyramids came into view before a large sprawling city. The collection of mythological beings stopped before a huge statue whose head was the only thing exposed of it from the sand that covered the rest of it. It was the face of a man with a headdress. Once, a lion’s face had been there until it was weathered and destroyed that an ancient pharaoh had commanded his own face to be carved into the remaining stone to make the monument beautiful again. The eroded and weathered body of the lion was still below their feet under all the sand.
“What is the matter?” The silver haired young man questioned.
A bi-pedal creature that had a body of a lion and a face of a man standing beside the stone sphinx lowered the long metal trumpet that he had been using to call them. The statue spoke instead. “In the shadows I dwell, unseen and unheard. My presence brings fear, yet I seek aid. Who am I?”
“An Umbra needing help,” The canine like man answered the riddle that the sphinx always spoke in that answered his question. “What Umbra? Where?”
The head that was larger than all of them tilted in acceptance. “I am a creature that men call myth, yet do I exist. With the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. Guarding treasures and secrets, I am fierce and noble. What am I?”
It was quiet for a minute as all the creatures of myth that were not supposed to exist but did considered the riddle. They were Umbra, unnatural creatures created by human from their imagination, fears, and desires. Few of them had parents as their origin. The silver haired man spoke up. “A griffin?”
“Correct,” The statue rumbled.
The fleshed and much smaller sphinx stepped forward to motion to them. “It is Nekhbet! The queen of Umbra in this land; the great golden griffin. She has become ensnared in the trap of our enemies!”
“Where is she?” the young man questioned.
“High on a cliff, Luke Bowen. You are the only one that can free her. Most of us cannot reach her, and the rest of us cannot free the trap,” The smaller sphinx stated.
The young man that was from far north in a hidden werewolf village in the mountains and forests of Europe nodded in understanding with the distinctly other culture of Umbra. He was alone and different from them, but they accepted him better than his own people did or the humans that feared him to the north. “I’ll get her loose.”
“Right. No time to lose. Come,” the smaller sphinx said before he went sprinting off into the desert. He was faster than humans could imagine to get to themselves, but he was easily kept up with by the others with him. Far out into the desert that was becoming hot they went. As a wind began to blow and the grains of sand were kicked up with it, the foreign umbra wrapped his head wrap about his face to shield himself from most of it. Eventually they came to an extremely tall, sheer cliff that towered over their heads. Their guide pointed up the rough wall of stone. “She’s on top of that ridge. Be careful Luke.”
The silver furred werewolf took in the climb that would be nearly impossible for humans without rope and then calculated how long it would take to go around to get up there easily. Much too long. Their enemy kingdom could return during the day that it would take them and finish the griffin. He pulled off his face covering and the heavy robe that kept him cool from the heat to be in his much more simple under shirt and pants. Then he sprinted for the cliff. At the base, he raced up the vertical incline until his speed no longer was enough to counteract gravity, gravity and all things natural seeming to slip to let him go. That was when he grabbed onto the jagged cliff to begin his climb. Even then it seemed too easy as he flipped and leaped to handholds and ledges with little fear for himself. Stone crumbled threateningly under his clawed fingers but did not give way enough to slow him. At the top, he peeked over the ledge. There was a huge golden furred and feathered mix of a lion, and an eagle entirely tangled in nets there and no one else in sight. Her wings limp, her eyes half-lidded. Even tangled in nets, she radiated power and pain.
“Nekhbet,” Luke whispered to himself at the huge, magnificent Umbra he had never seen before. He climbed up onto the level stone platform to quietly approach the breathing creature. The griffin’s eyes snapped open then for her to scream in terror and begin to thrash against her restraints. “Calm down. I will not hurt you. Stay still,” Bowen said as he knelt beside her to take in the ropes wound about her feet and wings.
He took it all in to reach for the rope around her neck. Nekhbet screamed in fear as she sighted his sharp claws moving towards her. “It’s alright! Easy. Easy,” Luke continued in his calm murmur as he quickly worked around her. His claws sliced through the ropes for them to snap back under the strain that was being put on them by the griffin. As the last rope holding her snapped, the European werewolf stepped back with a smile. “You are free!”
A huge golden wing slammed into him then for the solid ground of the ledge to no longer be under his feet. Through the air out of reach of the cliff he plummeted, gaining speed as he fell for the rough rocks and sand below. The impact would kill him no matter which way he landed, but it was more worry of the pain that would accompany it as his body would heal and bring him back to life eventually. Seconds stretched out too long as the distance shortened much too fast. Bowen barely had time to see the horrified faces of his friends before he was jerked away from the ground.
His green eyes blinked before looking up to find Nekhbet’s taloned feet around his arms. Her eagle like cry of excitement as she flew both of them over the waves of sand below had a grin spreading to him as well. She let go of him then to duck under him so that he could land on her long back. Upwards they went until they were passing through the clouds themselves. Luke leaned forward to look at the queen of the Egyptian Umbra in the eye. With a smile he called, “Higher!”
They went straight up to above where any had been known to reach before Nekhbet flipped to let him fall free. They dived back to the clouds together before her eaglelike feet encircled his upper arms to hold him as they flew above the white. When it opened up, all of Egypt and beyond was to be seen. Waves of sand, the blue and dark brown of the Nile, the green around it and the fields connected to its life-giving waters. More in all directions and a hinting of green far in the distance to the south that hinted at jungles.
Down they dived then for the Nile. The long minute would have been heart stopping if they were not confident in the griffin’s flying ability. Both smiled hugely as they pulled up right before the water. Nekhbet’s wings touched the water as she pushed her new friend along the surface. Luke’s grin could not be any bigger as he skimmed across the surface at a speed that he could do on his own but let someone else do for him for once. Then he noticed the huge congregation of crocodiles floating in the river ahead. Nekhbet let him go for him to skip over all of the large predatory reptiles in the water and then continued to glide along the surface afterwards. She was there to continue to push him.
With nothing but joy and excitement he leaped up into the air to be caught on her back. She veered toward a canyon carved deep into the desert floor. In the side of the sheer drops that fell so long, she angled for a large cave in the side. Other smaller griffins called in their birdlike language and flew up about them. Her huge golden wing flapped hard for a moment to complete a soft landing at the cave’s mouth. Another griffin that was slightly larger than even she stepped out to look over the newcomer that slid off her back. He nodded in understanding after their conversation to nuzzle and preen at Nekhbet caringly.
Bowen smiled at the care that the female’s mate had for her. They then looked at him intently before looking inside. He followed their gaze to a nest. “You are going to be a mother!” the werewolf exclaimed with an excited laugh. With a glance at the smaller griffins about, “Well, again.”
Carefully he approached the nest to find the eggs were as large as his chest. Cautious not to alarm the parents, he knelt beside the nest and placed a hand against one. “They are so warm. Will they hatch soon?”
The parents fluffed up in pride and happiness. Nekhbet began to motion and click in an attempt to cross their language barrier. The wolf that had taught himself human languages to get out of his own wolf language for a similar reason watched carefully. “It takes a year to hatch them and then every ten years you have another clutch? I’ll expect more any time I come back then.”
Luke backed away as Nekhbet came forward to lay herself across her eggs. He fluffed up the nest of reeds, fur, and feathers around her. “Take good care of them. I haven’t found a mate for myself yet to have any little kids to share.” The male griffin nudged him with his wing teasingly and with tough support. A slight wind blew through the cool cave to stir up a few feathers. A clawed hand was fast in catching one of the larger flying feathers. It glittered and shone like pure gold in his hands. With a smile, Bowen ran his lightly furred fingers along the edges to smooth them and feel their softness before he placed it back in the nest. The griffins watched him curiously before Nekhbet picked that feather out with her beak and offered it back to the immortally young man. The werewolf accepted the gift with a wide grin before he lunged forward to hug her tightly about her lionlike neck and chest.
A while later Nekhbet placed him down on the bank of the Nile and he hugged her one last time before she flew off into the sky. As she and her family disappeared from view, he looked down at her feather that she had given him. With all gentleness to care for it, he slipped it inside his shirt.
The feather rested on a shelf in a locker now. The dressing room was empty as the werewolf, with his canine features hidden, got dressed in his café uniform. Many things had changed in the centuries. Modernization and globalization had occurred. Living conditions and jobs were also quickly changing. The only thing that had not was the werewolf himself. His suntan had lessened some from Egypt as he now work in London England at a café as a chef, but nothing else. As he folded his casual regular clothes to put away in the locker, he paused to take out the still pristine feather. He hadn’t seen Nekhbet in decades. But the feather still gleamed, untouched by time, like him. Fondly he held it before deciding to place it in his less used Twilight jacket. The uniform that symbolized his true job as a member of a law enforcement and peace agency for Umbra and Umbra-human relations.
With a smile he moved out of the dressing room as he mentally counted down the years since he had last seen Nekhbet and her mate. They should have another nest of eggs now, most likely a couple of months ago. Usually, he didn’t have to do so much guess work, but the past couple of weeks had been hectic around here. The great great-granddaughter of the woman that had first started the Twilights and made him a Twilight nearly a century ago had come to England with her friend from China to study college abroad. Though she was human, she had a lot of Umbra power in her. Between that and her grandmother’s reputation, nearly every single problem that could happen did. Her friend was kidnapped and almost killed multiple times with his younger brother trying to keep her safe, normal Umbra troubles, their jianzhi friend Tauryu had lost control with the loss of his talisman and had tried to kill them, and then two power hungry humans had been playing a deadly game with them while a well-meaning Umbra hunter association worked on eradicating them. In the end though, things turned out alright. Both oriental girls were safe now, his once rogue brother that had been trying to kill him for centuries was on good terms once again, and almost everything was back to its strange form of normal.
The silver furred werewolf stepped out into the main area of the café to smile at the sight of everyone else that was also members of the Twilights or café. His vibrant red furred brother was attempting to stay out of the way and out of mind against the far wall as the light brown-haired girl, Shinyao, that he had kept alive stayed close to him in habit and familiarity. Her dark-haired friend was with her as always. Baileu Ton was a cute and beautiful young woman. Her thick black hair fell loose part way down her back as her ready brown eyes laughed. Her normal outfit of heavy boots, black shorts, and a formal white shirt under a red leather jacket accented her more rebellious break from the soft, perfect girl dresses that she had worn back at her home in China.
The older Bowen glanced to the other side of the room at the last two of their group. Tauryu was cleaning the wood flooring with a mop as a golden-haired young man cleaned out his teapots and got the herbs for the night’s tea sorted. Silently he stepped over to the blond that was approximately his unnaturally tall height whose skin showed the lack of sunlight he avoided in its perfect whiteness. Crimson eyes raised to look at him in calm control. The vampire that had been created by the powers and lore of Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula looked back to his task. “You’re smiling too much. What trouble have you gotten into now?”
“When am I not smiling?” Luke returned as he leaned against the bar.
His brother across the room snorted in agreement. Vlad Garfunkel was not as easy to get to laugh. “I have learned much about the differences in your smiles and laugh in the past century. Most of them are for an idiot and worthless flirt. This one has some plans in mind.”
“If it’s for a hot date, I wouldn’t mind that at all,” the still bachelor said. He deliberately looked across the room with a thoughtful smirk at the dark-haired girl. “Ton has a lot of energy tonight.”
That instantly had the Count’s attention and ire as expected. All of the Umbra young men that had worked at Café Forbidden before the girls had arrived cared deeply for their long-deceased friend’s descendent. The arguments and stand-offs between them for her attention and dates had been nearly as big of a mess as her arrival, but they had slowly pulled back as they realized that they would not be the best for her in the end until Vlad and Luke were the last ones still sniping each other about it.
“No. You cannot take the night off to join her in hers,” Vlad quietly hissed.
Luke exaggerated his rolling eyes. “No kidding. Not when I made the work schedule, and I scheduled both of you for tonight.”
Garfunkel’s crimson eyes narrowed in thought. “You made the schedule? That’s Tauryu’s job.”
“Not when I take over. I have big plans for this month.”
“And that might be?”
The werewolf hummed in mocked up thought. “I was thinking about a black-tie dinner at the best place in London. Caviar, champagne, soft candlelight… you know, the basics.”
“Forget it, wolf,” Vlad hissed angrily at the wonderful date idea with the one he cared for.
“How can I? I already have the reservation for tonight. Everything has been ordered and planned already,” Luke returned back.
“But you scheduled yourself to work tonight,” Vlad pointed out before he took in the grin that was becoming more and more amused. “You planned that… if you planned to work tonight and made a reservation for tonight, who is taking Ton to dinner?”
“I don’t know, but he would have to be off. If he doesn’t know, then I guess that I might have to give Shinyao the night off instead and have my brother take her. Too bad Wayne is not alive anymore. I would love to hack the restaurant’s security cameras to see that.”
“Your brother has as much formality at a gangster,” Vlad stated before he suspiciously glared at his coworker that he argued with so much. “That reservation is for me?”
“Unless you have a more romantic thing in mind. I happen to know the answer to the riddle of ‘what do you have in your pocket.’ Such simple jewelry is something that needs to be given decently fast before someone else’s is accepted.”
“Why are you giving me that chance? Aren’t you wanting the same thing with Ton?”
“Count, I have lived a century with you and there is no one better in the world to make you stress or lower some of your pride. I’ve known for longer than you’ve known that she is the one for you that we would be just friends. I’ve just kept everything up because it’s fun to get you scared.”
Vlad scoffed as he looked away, “Only someone so primitive could find amusement in such a way.”
Luke placed the reservation ticket on the bar. “Do what you want with it. I don’t want to see you until morning and only then with a broken heart or a full one.”
“What then?” the vampire questioned. With only the laughing grin, he picked up the ticket. After a minute of checking over it to make sure it was real, his crimson eyes lifted to the darkhaired girl laughing with her friend. His shoulders straightened in determination before he began taking off his apron as he walked through the enchanted mirror. Another mirror rippled, releasing him near the café tables.
Ton smiled up at him as he approached, “Yes Vlad?”
“I happened to have a reservation for a local restaurant. Would you care to join me tonight?”
Her brown eyes light up in excitement. “I would love to! What kind of restaurant is it?”
Garfunkel shrugged almost uncaringly, “Just a common five-star, elegant dining.”
“Just! I can’t go to a place like that in this!” Ton panicked as she looked over her current clothing.
Shinyao stood up with her excited smile, “You might have a dress that would work. Let’s go check.”
Tauryu was with them then. “Your grandmother also left behind some different articles that may be appropriate. I shall find them for you so you can decide if you want them.”
And then there were only three left in the general seating area of the café. Chris scoffed as he leaned back in his seat. “Tauryu definitely did dress that Rijan woman when she was alive.”
“I am not going into this,” Vlad said as he left as well.
The red furred werewolf passively looked over to his older brother. “Was that necessary?”
“I have learned that it is. Some people can do the right thing on their own, and others need encouraging. Without me, this entire place would fall apart,” Luke admitted cheekily as he took over wiping down tables.
“So, I am starting to see. No one would be able to do anything without your matchmaking skills. Try those out on yourself sometime,” Chris said bluntly.
“You first,” Luke teased his younger family.
The glare he received hinted towards dangerous. “Don’t you dare.”
Shinyao entered then, “Did I leave my phone here?”
Chris stood up to grab it for her. “Yep.”
Luke put down his rag to stretch, “Well, little brother, will you keep everything under control here? I need more than Shinyao to be responsible and keep everything going while I’m gone.”
The petite brown haired Chinese girl with soft honey brown eye turned to the silver. “Where are you going?”
“On patrol. I need to check on everything and see what is going on that Chris didn’t tell us last night,” Luke shared.
“You don’t trust me?” Chris gruffly demanded.
“No, I just want to know what I need to be keeping a secret from Vlad too.”
Chris’s grin was lopsided and sharp as he chuckled in amusement. Shinyao raised her hand. “I can take patrol tomorrow.”
Luke noticed how his brother stiffened at the thought of her going out alone into the large city that had already tried to kill her so many times. His protectiveness was not worn out yet. He smiled at the young human girl, “That sounds good, but I want you to take a new patrol route tomorrow. I have a map you can follow.”
Shinyao was more quiet, “I… I am not that familiar with London and maps, but I’ll try.”
Luke chuckled to himself, “How about you take Chris to read the map, and you both can learn the new route so you can do it on your own later?”
“Alright! I’d better go help Ton get dressed.”
Chris had a fond smile as she left. “Thanks. I’m not quite certain it’s safe for her to go out on her own yet. What with learning her new powers and a new country and culture.”
“Or you.”
“Can’t you do anything other than match make?” the red wolf demanded.
The elder Bowen turned away with a playful grin. “Much. I know a lot about many and have to keep more than half of that from being spoken. If I broke, this world might collapse.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Chris growled.
“I’ll try not to,” Luke said as he swung his green lined Twilight jacket about his shoulders. “Don’t kill anyone until I’m back to help.”
“I’m not that bad,” the younger Were huffed.
“I have yet to see proof of that!” Luke called before he was gone. The snow was swirling down to pile thick and high in the narrow streets. Winter casting a chill that nipped at the silver furred werewolf that was dressed for summer. Luke didn’t notice though with his Umbra specialties keeping him warm.
Down the street he was an almost unseen blur until he ran up the side of a multistoried building to get to the roof. All of London was laid out to his night sensitive eyes in white soft mounds. His footfalls were light to not alert any that there was someone on their roofs as he blurred over them. His unnatural speed so fast that he created wind. At a wider street between buildings, he agily flipped. For a brief second, he was flying with his old friend. Flight and control of the air was one of the few things he did not have, but with the right beings, it was amazing.
In more downtown London, his run slowed as he paused to listen to something off. All the Umbra he had seen tonight were going about their peaceful lives unnoticed by humans. Nothing seemed off in the least, but the soft crying was definitely wrong. With more focused attention, he deviated from the normal patrol route to begin checking other alleyways. Then the four-year-old girl in one had him pausing. She was still dressed in her light princess night gown as she huddled against a snow pile by a trash can.
Softly he jumped from the roof to land on the street and quietly approached. His unhuman features shifted away as he knelt in front of the little girl with a kind smile. “Hello little one. What are you doing out here? It’s kind of cold out here.”
“Stay away!” The little girl blubbered through her terrified sniffles and shivering.
Luke held up his hands to show that he meant no harm as he reached to pick her up. “It’s alright. I won’t hurt you. Let’s get you home. I’m certain your parents are worried.”
“Don’t!” The tiny human cried as he pulled her towards him.
Luke’s green gaze fell to the rope around her middle that had kept her tied to the wall. “What’s…”
The solid paved ground fell out from under his knees then. He twisted to land on his back with the child on his chest. With a careful breath to get air back into his lungs, he sat up. “Are you alright?”
She sniffed as she stared at him. “Yeah. I think so.”
Bowen looked about to see that they had fallen about twenty feet. All the pavement and metal of human influence had changed into soil and rocks down here, but the biggest things that caught his attention were not so large. The hole was exactly square. Then his glowing bright green eyes settled on the little paper slips about. Talismans. Magic and power channelers. This was a trap set by someone with some Umbra abilities. If those were removed, this hole would most likely go back to being solid all the way through. All it took was its bait being disturbed to set them off.
The centuries old young man stood up to gently place the calming child down on the ground before attempting to leap out of the hole. Halfway up, something invisible slammed him back, solid, unyielding. Dropping down he searched for a way out. He pulled out his cellphone to find that its screen woke up, but nothing else was working. The barrier was designed against it as well.
His green gaze lifted to the little girl then before he smiled gently. “Hey. Would you like to help me? Let’s see if we get out of here.” She got up to move over to him in the trust that was so characteristic of children. He picked her up before climbing the pit’s side until he could not go any further. “Do you feel anything trying to stop you?” As he continued to lift her upwards.
“No,” she stated.
The werewolf lightly tossed her up for her to land outside of the trap in the piled snow with only a soft thud that would barely give her any bruises. She peeked over the edge at him then as he went back to the bottom of the pit. “Are you not coming?”
“I’m kind of stuck down here. Do you know how to use a phone to call?” Luke asked.
She nodded confidently as she shivered from the cold, “I use my mummy’s phone!”
Luke unlocked his screen and tapped on the phone icon before tossing it through the barrier to the pavement above. “I need you to call my friends then. Can you read?”
“No. I learning letters,” the girl said as she picked up his phone.
“Then find the one that has a T at the beginning in my favorites.”
The girl frowned in concentration at the task. “There’s two Ts.”
“Pick the longer one then.”
She tapped at something and held the phone to her ear. A few seconds later, Luke could hear Tauryu’s voice over the phone. “Hello?”
The werewolf smiled as the child did not answer. “Say hello and tell him what’s going on.”
“Hello,” The girl said shyly. “I’m in trouble.”
“How so? How do you have this phone, little one?” Tauryu asked in confusion.
“Tell him to find my phone’s location and come help us. It’s a magic problem,” Luke instructed from below.
“Find this phone. You need to come help. There’s magic,” the girl relayed.
“I’ll come as fast as I can,” Tauryu promised.
Luke’s wolf ears pricked as he heard someone approaching. “End the call and hide! Don’t make a sound.”
The girl disappeared from his sight fast at the warning. A moment later a huge, disproportioned, lizard-like thing shoved its sharp fanged head and snake-like neck into the trap to hiss threateningly at the Umbra caught inside. A tutting came from beyond. “Calm Sueli, calm. What have we caught tonight? A fiery demon, a helpful fairy, or a big fat…” A man stepped into view over the edge of the pit. He was tall, but undoubtedly of Asian descent. His dark black hair was shaved on the sides for the top to be long and brushed over to one side. Only a black suit with a purple undershirt marked him in clothing. His smug, controlling expression widened for a second in surprise as he saw the silver haired young man below. “Boy.”
Luke swallowed hard as he recognized the man. It was hard not to after having been in danger from him not long ago. Haysin. A human man, but one with a genetic mutation that gave him the ability to absorb Umbras’ life and power and use it for himself. That ability had let him live longer than humans generally did while still appearing young. He had once been Ton’s great, great, great-grandmother’s brother until he had killed her to support himself. With Ton’s discovered arrival in England, Haysin had set his sights on killing her for her power as well. The fight had been a long and hard one with himself, Chris, and Tauryu taking on the golem summon that Haysin had created as Ton and Vlad dealt with the other problem maker and saving Shinyao. His power and abilities were long and hard, but they had eventually worn him down to kill the thing. In the ensuing chaos, Haysin had escaped.
The Chinese man stared down at the young man that he had in his trap before kicking the lizard like summon with him without warning. “Sueli, have you been digging holes again? Dumb animal.”
“Don’t blame her for this. We both know this is not an accident. This was designed to be a trap,” Luke stated confidently despite being trapped.
Haysin smiled slightly as he knelt down at the edge of the hole and held his hand down to the one below. “Trap? I think you’ve been down there for too long. Come now. Take my hand.” Bowen warily eyed the offered hand that could drain him out of existence too fast before he sprinted up the side of the trap to take it. Haysin pulled him out with none of the barriers stopping him now. “Now that you are well, you’d better go home.”
Luke stood his ground next to his hunter and friend’s enemy. “I don’t think that is a good idea. What are you doing back here, Haysin?”
The dark man paused before smirking lightly. “London has been my home for a long time. Where else am I supposed to go?”
“You are also hunting Umbra that could be good and using innocent humans that could get hurt to do that as well. I understand that not all humans want us alive, but harming your own species just for power is where I draw the line.” The silver wolf noticed Sueli eyeing an area of piled snow where the little girl had hid herself and stepped to between them.
“I am afraid I don’t fully understand,” Haysin hummed. The lizard like Umbra’s gaze zeroed in on the girl peeking out at them to launch for her with a hiss. Luke caught it fast enough to keep the predator under control. The Chinese man yelled as his summon’s tail struck him to tumble into his own created pit.
Bowen avoided the huge claws and teeth to slam Sueli into the packed snow covered pavement and put her into a too strong hold that she wouldn’t get out of. Haysin snarled to himself as he pulled himself out of his trap. “I’m going to kill her. I’m going to kill that egg sucking salamander.” He stormed over to his summon ready to drain her life from her before he paused. He dark eyes traced over the young man that had beaten his creation with almost nonviolent ease to stop on a glimmer of gold in the green lined jacket pocket. For a minute he considered with a smile before he bent down to pull the large feather out. “Good girl, Sueli.”
“Give that back,” Luke snarled as he released the preening lizard that no longer had any consideration for the child with the danger of her master’s wrath.
Haysin only studied the feather more. “What a pretty feather. Where did you get it boy?”
“It was a present,” Luke answered cautiously and with suspicion of the Umbra killer.
“That’s nice. Who gave it to you?
“That’s a secret,” the silver said as he pulled the feather free and back to himself.
The formally dressed man chuckled. “That is no secret, Luke-kun. You see, I already have the father.” The canine Umbra’s green eyes widened in horror and understanding. Nekhbet’s mate. “Now, why don’t you tell me where the mother and her little eggs are?”
“No,” Luke snarled dangerously as he tried to keep from acting rashly on his emotions.
Haysin only smiled controllingly, “Sueli.”
The lizard summon launched at the werewolf as other talismans swirled to form other malformed creatures. Luke barely glanced at them all before he threw himself fully into battle. All his wolf features shifting out as his claws tore through the beings. Speed making him a blur as he thew some and kicked others back hard. The tiny human girl watching held her hands over her mouth to force herself to stay quiet as the horrible monsters seemed unable to beat the nice man, but there came more of them until they were no longer flying through the air and disappearing in black smoke for the man to be forced to the ground.
Haysin chuckled lightly to himself as he moved to place his nice snow dusted shoe on the werewolf’s clawed hand that had managed to grasp his abandoned phone in the chaos. “So much fight in you. I do admire that. You’re coming with me boy.”
“My brother’s on the way!” Luke snarled as he tried to push himself for even his unnatural strength to be limited against so many restraining him.
The dark man only laughed hard, “Ah yes. Chris-kun. He is so much like you, but more easily used and manipulated. Also lacking in many ways. Please, don’t let him hurt me. I would hate to have to be on the receiving end of his anger.” He leaned down then to tear away the green lined Twilight jacket that was only slightly damaged to toss to the side mockingly. “Let’s go boy.”