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Previously on Gargoyles

"Something bad is brewing. The remaining six demons, plus a few other villians are planning on a take over." ~Hecate

"We are going to warn as many clans and human contacts as possible."~ Olliefat

"We’ll also warn the other Outcasts"~Melusine

"I am refering to the great warrior who is resting on my island home. Not long after he has awaken we shall begin."~The Cubus (Demons)

"The gag of silence is now removed." ~Oberon

"Send word to the others. I want a spy to be sent where the banished prefer to lurk."~Titania (Dark Alliance)

"If you think you can keep me from reclaiming what is mine then you are wrong."~Alphonse Mystic (Love Hope and Memories)

"Our champion has become active."

"Siho Il Sao! The time has come. Break free from your shackles. The time for the great upheaval has come!"~ The Cubus

Goliath staring at the dragon statue and the bronze sword.
"Is this what is needed to slay such a monster?"~Goliath

""The darker magics are actual fools. The true demons use them as their tools. The damage of the south is the start but this city is the heart. The Yang’s champion shall be slain. The weapon marked of Yin’s vein."~The second dragon in Fox's dream (The Calm Before the Storm)

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The announcement of it being time for the five Ills to rise and free themselves from their place of rest had reached the ears, hearing holes and sockets of each of the demons the Cubus had spoken with before. There was no doubt that most of them were moving, tearing out what mundane object that once held them. Only one stayed within the small patch of gray land that had served it’s home.

Siho Il Sao had risen to its rocky feet. The smaller hills and lumps of rock that surrounded the volcanic hill served as its immense paws. The rest of its limbs were buried underground. The demon seemed almost comical, a thick pointed hill perched onto long spindly legs that ended in large blocks of rocks. Smaller slabs of rock near the pointed top slid back to reveal a circular disc of black obsidian. The demon stared out at the world around him. The world that will belong to him and his kind.

"Demon," the woman that hissed out the word was copper in color and parts of her skin on her legs and arms appeared to have been covered in leathery bumps of thick flesh. Long horn like spikes adorned her shoulders and knees. She held a sword of brilliant blue metal in her hands.

Siho Il Sao snorted in bemusment of the site of the woman. Just by her appearance he could see she was a barbarian of some sort. He was a little surprised that some could still exist in today’s world. There was no doubt she was a warrior. Skimpy armor that clothed her skin. Her hair was long dark tangles, only kept out of her hair by a thick tiara covered with more lumps of leather and ivory spikes. The large demon wasn’t too sure if that was part of her armor, or if it was actually part of her forehead. That part did not truly concern him. His main concern were her weapons. In addition to her sword she carried a spear and scythe on her back. Most metals could not harm his thick stone like body but weapons of certain enchantment could slice through him as if here made out of mere talc. He doubted the warrior woman was stupid enough to attack him with ordinary weapons.

Siho IL Sao did not wait for his challenger to move. He opened the large jagged crack well beneath his eye. A large maw widened revealing long and curved stalactites of stones that served as teeth. A thick cloud of dark smoke poured out of the corners of his mouth. The smoke would be of two advantages to the demon. It would make it difficult for anyone to to breath f and thus weaken the woman, and it would make it impossible to see. He had the upper hand, only demons could see through the smoke. He stepped away from the warrior, hoping that she would be lost in the smoke he had shrouded her with.

To his disbelief the woman ran straight for him. Inconceivable! There was no way for a human to see through his shroud, unless she had demon blood flowing through her veins. The sight of the warrior made him freeze and did not give him much time to think of another idea. He did the first thing that sprang to his mind. He reached out for her. She was quick. The first attempt at grabbing her she jumped out of his paw. The second time he was able to lash out and grab her. He could easily crush her to death.

Xyl did not even wait until the stone fingers had completely closed to make a fist around her. She grabbed her sword and plunged it straight up, cutting deep into the stone palm of the demon. She braced herself for the blowing roar of pain that escaped the large mouth. Her eyes were on the claws as they relaxed around her. To her dismay it was not enough for her to slip through. She remedied that small problem with her sword. with a few quick swings she was able to cut off the end of one of its finger and crawled out.

The pain that Siho IL Sao felt from the blade was indescribable. He had no time to dwell or focus on such pain. He glared at the warrior as she crawled past his energy and tooth top of hiss hand. He was not about to take any chances with such a creature. He launched everything he was able to spit at her, dark sludge that fell in forms of large globs, long cycles of half cooled volcanic rock an even defining roars.

Xyl ignored the cries despite the pain that filled her ears and head. She focused on the assault from the demons mouth and leaped from his wrist up further along his arm. Her strong fingers and nails able to hold onto the rock surface. She climbed up even further to avoid the sludge that came her way. Only her left foot did not make it away Scot free. Xyl cringed as she felt her foot burn from the extreme heat of the sludge. She anticipated the burning javelin of rock and quickly raised up her sword. The rock was sliced right down the middle with the stone pieces flying towards opposite directions.

She leaped up higher onto it’s opposite arm before she had to quickly duck for another silver of rock struck her. The fiery stone flew over her head before she scaled up his arm, only pausing to swing her sword against whatever he threw at her. She had almost reached his main form when the rocks began to shoot out of his head.

Siho IL Sao still had no idea what the minor demoness had in store for him. Trying to scale up his side towards his back was a foolish thing for it to do. Especially since his weak spot was in his front: his eye. If the foolish creature wished to take risks then he would throw risks at her.

Xyl examined the rocks that shot straight out of the opening at the top of the demon. Each stone was no bigger than her fist was when she was a normal human. The thought of the past disheartened her. If she were able to destroy him and the rest of his ilk she would be able to rejoin with her children in the after life. She pressed her body against the stone and hoped the rock would continue falling down, bouncing against the lumps and crags, missing her body. A few pelted against her arms and shoulders, leaving developing bruises and a few others bounced off her strong forehead with no damage whatsoever.

The Demon could still feel her climb up his back He knew she had to at least be struck by some of the rocks. There was no conceivable way for him to completely miss her. He still was lucky that she was only climbing up in the same direction. Still, he was not about to take any chances and increased the size of her rocks.

Xyl hissed at the sight of the rocks. They have grown to the size of her head. She was not going to be able to keep up her pace with rocks at that size. Xyl quickly stood up and leaped forward, landing at a spot a rock had just bounced off a few seconds later. She leaped forward again. She should have done that in the first place. Her pace had increased and she was half up his body in no time. She wasn’t able to avoid all the boulders and felt some of the rocks strike her head first. Her akward forehead was able to deflect most of the pain and damage. A few of the stones chipped and fell of and she bled from several cuts on her head. What she wasn’t able to deflect she tried to clock off with her sword.

The demon had to give her some credit. She was able to stand up stronger and last longer than he had anticipated. He was annoyed in the fact she was able to climb up faster. He had no choice but to increase the size of the rocks once more.

Xyl’s eyes widened at the sight of the boulders that shot strange up and tumbled down the back of the demon. She could possibly duck from the boulders when the bounced and flew up in high arches ,but she did not want to risk too much. Her sword could only do so much. she was going to need the aid of her scythe in finishing the demon. Xyl sheathed her sword before a boulder tumbled straight for her.

She leaped out of the way and grabbed the side of the demon. She climbed as fast as she could before another rock tumbled toward her and leaped again. Xyl hardly had enough time before she had to jump higher and towards the left. Upon landing she withdrew her scythe and tried to run up as fast as she could. The former human ran until a boulder bounced down towards her and she vaulted out of the way. She continued that way only pausing and swinging her scythe at the near misses. The long blade was able to slice through the rock.

Just near the edge of the mouth of the volcano and she was able to flatten her self against the demon. Still holding her scythe in one hand she climbed to the edge. Her hand grabbed onto the igneous edge of the volcanic opening and jumped inside.

Siho IL Sao had no idea what that little hybrid was trying to do. Did she think by throwing herself into his volcanic opening she was sacrificing herself. That was it was going to take for her to stop him. He had heard and seen many foolish humans who had thrown themselves into a actual volcanoes. The good news was that he was free of her. Ignoring the small piercing headache that was developing inside him and continued along his way towards the nearest human settlement. He would have to swim a great distance before he would be able to step onto land that was home to humans.

He had only made it far by a few feet before the piercing pain intensified. She could not still be alive, she had to have died inside him. The demon tried to intensify his internal heat and felt the lava gurgling within his stomach. Burning orange lava trickled out of the corner of his mouth. Was it from the pain or the heat he did not know. He felt more lava ooze out of the two small holes that served as his nostrils and even more gush out of his mouth a few minutes later.

Siho Il Sao tried to continue until its limbs came out. Too weak to move. He couldn’t feel his limbs or even the fire burning within. He was not ware of the lava gushing out of his nose and mouth. All that he was aware of was the escrutiating pain within his head.

Smoke drifted around the demon’s obsidian eye, slender little whisps at first then pouring seconds before the mighty eye formed fissures across it’s surface. The large disc shattered, pieces of Obisidian shot forward along with a lost belch of smoke.

Xyl did not wait until the choking vapors died down and crawled out of the eye socket and back to the top of Siho Il Sao. She was covered with cuts and bruises. Her foot that had been struck by sludge still burned with each step she took. They would slowly heal. There was no time for her to rest, not when she had several more demons to slay.

Upon reaching the top of the volcanic demon she raised her scythe high above her head and cried out her battle cry at the top of her lungs. Only a few animals would have been able to hear her. She mentally set a signal to Hecate, to let her know that one of the last demons had been slayed.

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The Watcher never remembered it’s dreams and had wondered if it ever could dream. He knew that he slept. The sweet and blissful rest was enough to keep his mind at ease. Whether her dreamed or not, he did not appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night by the son of the Cubus.

"Wake up," the pre adolescent creature jostled him a wake by shaking his form. "Wonderous news is upon us.

The Watcher did not care if it was wondrous news or not. Interrupting his sleep would mean he would not have a productful hunt once the sun had risen. He kept his roofed eyes shut and hissed out his displeasure through the end of his snout.

"Now is not the time to be foolish," the spawn tapped the ends of his long, ebony claws onto the watcher’s hide. "It is time. My sire wants you awake."

At that hour? The Watcher rolled over sideways and opened his solid black eyes. Through a series of hisses he asked why and wondered why should he wake up before his time to hear the Cubus’s long speech of when they were to take over the world.

"Because it’s about to happen." the Spawn grinned widely, displaying his mouthful of fangs.

*I have heard it before* The Watcher hissed out through a yawn and rubbed one of his curved shoulder spikes.

"You haven’t heard this," the spawn grabbed him by his arm and tried to pull him to his feet. "Our Champion is fully awake. He tore through his pod and has most of the muck cleaned up.

*He is awake?* The Watcher sat up, fully alert.

"That is what I have been trying to tell you."

*Why didn’t you say so?* He did not wait further and rose up. His own flat feet had to work harder to keep up with the Spawn’s cloven hooves.

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The Cubus had learned about patience for a long time. He had waited till he found a weak spot to break through and leave the fiery depths of his home. He had waited for centuries while he dallied between the roles of incubus and succubus before he learned of what he must do to bring forth the legions of the underworld. He had waited well within the dungeons of the Illuminati society until he was able to deviate a plan to help him escape. He waited until he found the right host to help him become corporal and sire a spawn. For the past few years he waited until the Champion was fully rested and ready. If he was able to wait that long he could wait a few more minutes for his spawn to rouse the leader of the dark race from his slumber.

"Sire!" At last his waiting came to an end. The call out from his spawn and the sound of hooves against the stone floors of the caverns announced the four of them could formulate their plan. "We are here."

"We can fully begin," The Cubus replied at the sight of a smaller version of him and the dark gray creature. The younger demon was a smaller version of the Cubus except for their coloration. The Spawns shaggy brown pelt covering his hips down to his hooves was a lighter shade than the Cubus’s. His skin wasa deeper shade of red instead of orange-ish red and his dark horns and pointed spikes covering his chin was only half as long. "We should at least ask how our Champion is feeling."

*What is that?* The Watcher’s voice rose to a shrill chirp when he saw who was with the Cubus. His large eyes doubled in size. *Where is the creature I sealed in a pod?*

The Cubus laughed under breath. "Ah my friend. Do you not recognize the injured creature?"

"He has a right to be confused," the fourth member in the room spoke with a voice that sounded like two voices merged together with a distinct echo. "I have changed since he healed me."

"Indeed you have," The Cubus stared at him in admiration. He had heard the full description from the Watcher. When the Champion first went into the pod he was a bluish black gargoyle with white hair and red eyes. Quite a large one too. The black creature that was in the chamber was the twice the size of the Watcher’s decription. He had become a hulking beast with gigantic leather wings with several ribs. His neck was longer than that of an average gargoyle. Firm lantern jaw and distinctive nose were merged together into a long snout. His once white hair had changed color to a dark blue and ran from the top of his head down to where his lengthened neck met with his shoulders. Long and curved horns were behind each browridge and soared above his head.

*That is him?* The Watcher blinked.

"Do not be too surprised," the Champion told him. His once round pupils had become thin oval shaped slits. "You had no idea how much I was going to change."

*How?*

"It may be hard to explain."

"Please allow me," the Cubus held out his hand before turning towards the tall gray creature. "You have noticed how all the pods are connected to deep beneath the ground by long root like tubes?" He waited for the Watcher to nodd before he continued. "You don’t know what it’s connected to?"

*A life giving source?* The response was more of a question.

"You are correct my friend. They are connected to an organic matter. A living treasure buried here and years ago those scientists who created you found it." He reached out and grabbed the Watcher by one of his hands. "You are created from human blood, the same as the scientists. You are also created from the dark blood from that organic matter. What you may not know that matter was placed there long ago by the dragon."

*You have spoken of this dragon in the past.*

"It is the very same dragon. He is a creature close to my lord, our lord. The large pod was created by our leader and he was in control of it and developed our Champion."

"I thought he would be bigger," the spawn spoke in a petulant tone. He had been silent since he had sat down. "He is going to be able to take over the world?"

"What your tongue," the Cubus narrowed his eyes at his child. "He has enough strength and power and do not forget he will not be alone."

*There is us.* The Watcher brought up.

"Precisely," he lowered his tuft ears. "We have our army here, my allies and our army on Antarctica."

"When shall we begin?" The Spawn asked.

"Patience young one," his sire waved a clawed finger back and forth. "We have to decide where and when."

"I thought you have started," his Spawn raised his brow ridges in confusion. "The others trapped on Earth."

"They have. I can suggest to Unseelie that they can attack their way."

"We are going to destroy one city," the Champion spoke up. He tried to stand on his feet but the ceiling was too low for him. He couldn’t stand nor spread out his large wings. "Destroy every structure, burn it to the ground and kill everyone. Use as evidence to get the world to sway to us."

"I knew you would be a fitting champion," the Cubus’s grin was from ear to ear. He held onto the Champion’s wrist, admiring his large hand ending in long and curved claws. The Watcher had told him the gargoyle he had rescued had four talon and three toes. The transformation had given him another claw per hand and foot. "Clever and strong. I believe you may even have a city in mind."

"Manhattan," his growl bounced off the walls while his eyes lit up with enough of a fiery red glow to fill the whole room. "I will have my vengeance on the whole city." He flexed his arms. The remaining slime that coated his limbs made his skin shine like silk and the three long spikes on each elbow and knee appear to be carved out of obsidian.

"I see," The Cubus grinned. "I am more willing to transport you there."

"The clan is formidable," he lashed his tail against the ground. The sharp arrow shaped tip scraped against the rock. "They have friends through the city. I cannot make the same mistake."

"We will send half the dark race there, along with myself."

"What shall we do?" his fledgling asked. The younger demon spoke both of himself and The Watcher.

"You both shall take the other half to hunt down the jaggars and teleport yourselves to the nearest mainland. I have to let our pawns." He reached out to grab onto the Champion’s hand. "Do not try attacking now. Your are still a gargoyle and subject to dawn’s entrapment in stone. Rest now."

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Howling winds blew across the froze plains. There was hardly any creature trekking across the snow covered land, even the penguins, seals and walruses had sought shelter. The land was the same clean shade of white as scraped bone.

A dark orange spot appeared across the pristine land when something from underneath broke through the frost and snow covering the frozen land. The Cubus felt no cold despite the fact he was naked and had no hair covering him from waist up.

"What’s this," he examined his surroundings. There was no sign of the Unseelie, no stench from the monsters they have created, not even a single goblin or imp scurrying across the land. He held out his hand, trying to find where the others where. He tried to reach out for them, sense their prisons. The pull lead him to a wide and empty plain. He had to strain his eyes to find the castle. A castle? Yes the blurry shadow had taken on the shape of a castle. He blinked once and the blurred image was gone. Of course. At his last visit the castle was being built. All it was going to take for him to do was focus on where he had seen the flicker of the castle and teleport to it.

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The throne like everything else in the castle was created from snow and ice. It had taken the underlings several hours to construct the castle. Gluing blocks of ice and bricks of hard packed snow together with water until it was complete. It had only taken a few seconds of magic to change it’s structure from frozen water to stone. Once the exteriors was complete they had to take care of the inside. They covered the ground with snow and changed into carpets of fine angora, cashmere and velvet, created furniture out of ice. Artwork was made out bones of various animals stuck together into sculptures and collages before changed into sculptures of stone and paintings.

Despite the origins of the throne it had seated Set in a comfortable manner. The cushions that once been snow had felt like they were made of the finest silk and filled with goose down.. The Egyptian fae leaned back in his throne. Since his vote to be the lord of the Unseelie he had chosen to look the part. He was dressed in a cotton tunic with elbow length sleeves ending in golden threads. He wore a vest and loincloth of pure crocodile hide and ivory buttons. A cloak of black silk was held to his chest by gold cloakpin. Chains of gold wrapped around his throat and hung low. He had replaced his plain arm bands for ones set with rubies. A band of gold encircled his forehead as a crown.  He still kept a few of his old items. His feet were still clothed in leather sandals. His clipped ears hung from the simple golden hoops and his eyes were lined with the same black make up he had always worn. He still enjoyed his favorite simple pleasures such as his favorite wine made from palm dates. He drank the dark brown liquid from inside a crystal goblet.

"I hope you have a strong constitution," a voice Set had not heard for a while addressed him.

"I can hold my own," Set removed his aardvark like snout from the glass before he stared at the visitor. "We haven’t seen you for several months."

"The same can be said of you," The Cubus paced around the throne room. His hooves made loud hollow sounds against the marble tile. "Quite a place you have made for yourself."

"We used what material we can get our hands on," Set placed his glass down on one of the arms of the throne.

"And you made it quite invisible."

"To mortal eyes only. A few months ago we spied a ship not too far away. We have no idea whether scientists might return to this place."

"Don’t you have a border protector?"

"If the humans see the Midguard serpent and alert it to the world we can grab undesired attention."

"You fear the mortals?" The Cubus turned around at the sound of several footbeats against the floor. A handful of smaller sprites had entered the the throne room. "Considering how much power you have?"

"We alert a few and it can be broadcasted to the world. Several armies would be notified."

"Even several armies you can defeat while working together with my troops."

"We still fear the weapons of iron and the could arouse the attention of Oberon and his ilk."

"But Oberon is still on his island."

"There are several other members of the third race who have been banned that didn’t join our ranks. I have also been told that Oberon may have sent a few scouts after you and Raven freed Mab and fled."

"You have thought things through," The Cubus looked up again. Several more members of the Unseelie court had gathered around. Some were minor imps like the handful that arrived first. The others were tall dark faeries.

"We try not to draw too much attention to ourselves," Set rose to his feet and held out his arms. "We did not summon this castle out of nothing. We created it from the materials around. We still summon some of our food. It does not take to much energy."

"We lesson our abilitis fer a good reason," A tall willowy woman entered the room. A gown of flowing green material clothed her pale body and clung tightly to her chest. Hair of cornsilk cascaded down her back and formed a train that swayed with each step. "Tis keeps the spies o Oberon from sensing a disturbance in the force as ye will."

"And this was all Set’s idea?" The Cubus asked.

"Most O it," she nodded.

"I can see why they had selected you to lead them," the demon nodded in approval at the Egyptian fae. "That and the contestes you have told me about."

"It was that and there was the last event," Set lowered his eyes for a mere second.

"Contest?" His questioning tone of voice was answered with several peals of immature laughter.

"I wish to not disccus it," He reaised his glass for another drink. "May I ask what brings you here? I believe you may have some good news."

"That is correct," The Cubus waited until the Unseelie leader lowered his glass. "Our Champion has awaken."

The mere mention of the Champion was enough to grab Set’s attention. The mention of his being awake and caused the goblit to fall from his hand and shatter on impact of the floor. "Are you saying it is time?"

"That is correct. I have already told my comrades it is time to start attacking."

"This is beyond great." Set clapped his hands together. The shattered remains of the glass and the droplets of remaining drink drew together. The clear shards rasembled themselves and the liquid returned to it’s glass beofre it rose back to his hand. "This calls for a toast." The drink goblet was refilled.

"We can toast later. After we had taken over." He gave the Unseelie king a pat on the shoulder. "Choose your own way of spreading your power. I trust in you." The Cubus never lost his grin as he slipped beneath the floor.

"You heard him," Set addressed the crowd once his guest had left. "Release the beasts and travel north. The first lands you touch we shall attack."

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It had seemed just like a routine and pointless patrol to the group of weregoyles who glided from their village to the lifeless expanse of land. It was part of one of the routine patrols, one that seemed more than pointless to over half the clan. Only the elders seemed to express interest in gliding over the treeless patches of dirt and not stopping until they had reached the large pit that was full of old bones. An ancient burial ground of some sort.

It was a shock to the three youths when they hadn’t even fully left the rain forest area of their patrol rout to see a long serpentine monster slithering towards them. It appeared to resemble the skeletal body of a snake at first but as the monster came closer they could see that it wasn’t. It’s body appeared to have been made out of several bones woven together and covered with tatters of flesh. It moved along by slithering on its belly and by the thin needle like appendages that moved like the multiple legs of a centipede. At the end of it’s body was a angular head ending in a long snout. At first it looked like it had a thick lower jaw but on a second glance the youths could see that it had two sets of jaws,one stacked ontop of the other.

"What is that?" One of the youths asked. He was kept aloft by a pair of large orange wings with an extra strut of flesh at the top and bottom.

"A monster," the smallest of the trio said. His aqua hued limbs were connected by leather like flesh forming the wings of a flying squirrel.

"It is a bit obvious its a monster," the orange youth said. "Where did it come from?"

"It does not matter where it had come from," the only female of the trio said. She was also the tallest one of them. "What matters is that it is heading towards the village."

"She’s right," the smallest turned around and began to glide back home. They had to make it back before the strange monster could. They had to warn everybody and knew what was going to happen next: the members of the village who were in bed were going to have to be roused in order to fight the new threat. Phone calls to the neighboring villages who knew about their kind and tell the network what was happening and check out the monster database to see if they could be able to find out how to kill the skeletal monster.

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The stench of fresh animal carcasses under neath the hot sun had entered the nostrils of Loki. The Nordic demigod snorted in disgust, yet couldn’t keep the smirk. The thousands of dead sheep, cows and horses lain stretched out across the numerous farmlands and near the small village. Loki had followed Set’s orders and took with him the trolls that he had been developing. He ordered the monsters to attack and kill the animals and only scare the humans.

A shrill cry split his eardrum and brought his attention towards the cluster of humans that threaten to trample him if he didn’t move. Loki chose to not float above their heads and allowed them to pass through them followed by the hulking forms racing behind them.

The two large trolls were pale green in color and made out of nothing but muscle. Their smooth egg shaped heads rested on the tops of their thick necks. Their dark beady eyes were set into a glare while their mouths were wide open, exposing long tongues that hung like a panting dog and two rows of crooked brown teeth. Animal skins were stretched across their bodies and held together by teeth and claws. They each wielded thick clubs and held them with large hands. Their arms looked like they were screwed on backwards and covered with patches of hair.

They were followed by the smaller trolls. These trolls were pure fae underlings, some of their genetic make up was used in creating the larger trolls. While the larger monsters did not have to fear the bullets they shied away from the sight of guns. Except for their hands, stomachs and feet, they were covered with thin pelts of mangy fur. The tops of their heads were crowned with thick manes of hair that stuck out in several directions. A pair of spiral horns sprouted from each temple. Some of them raced after their large counterparts on two legs while others raced along on all fours.

"They are good and scared," Loki rose up high above the village. "Time for the next step." His wild flame of bright red hair paled in color until it became more of a strawberry blond while it’s texture and span changed to a shoulder-lenght mane of silky and bouncy tresses. His eyebrows thinned and became the same color as his hair. His sharp features soften and his eyes changed from red to the color of the sky. His tight ensemble of leather changed to a gown of gold and robes of white while feathery wings sprouted from his back. "I might use this form again. No woman can resist a pretty boy like me."

The Nordic fae removed his invisibility and flew towards the nearest fire. He held out his hand in display while the flames dwindled into nothing by a single command he whispered.

"Mama!" A small child who tried to huddle along with his mother and a few friends into an alley pointed at Loki. "An Angel."

"Praise God!" The woman rose to her feet. The fear that was spread across her face was replaced by joy and gratitude.

"Do not thank me just yet," Loki shouted out in a melodious voice as he flew to the same group of trolls that had passed through him. Once again he held out his hand for pure display and just sent the trolls back to their artic home with a mere thought. "I have more work to do."

Loki flew over the fertile lands used for farming and the village. Every fire he came to he held out his hand and put out the flames each group of trolls he came across he sent them home. He made a bit more of a display with the Jotun trolls. He dodged the rocks and sticks the large monsters threw at him and sent forth small blasts of light. He had specifically trained the many headed beasts to scream at the sight of such flashes. After a few blasts he sent fourth a large blade of light that surrounded the trolls before he sent them home.

When he had finished he flew towards the largest group of humans and set down. His feathery wings cloaked across his shoulders. He studied their expressions. Many carried weapons, guns and knives.

One brave man in his late forties stepped forward. "Thank you?"

"You are a little resilient?" Loki raised his disguised brows. Behind him he could hear more people gather. "Is there something that you are afraid of?"

"No." The man shook his head. "Everyone is a great shock. It all happened at once."

"What were those things?" A younger man holding a shot gun asked.

"Are you an angel?"

Loki raised his hand before the crowd grew too loud with their questions. "One at a time my friends. One at a time. Those monsters were sent by the dark lord Oberis. He is a servant of Satan."

"You were able to defeat them," the first man who spoke to him took off his hat and held it against his chest. "You are an angel."

"I am Lucas. I am a lesser angel under the tutelage of Michael. Dark forces are spread across the planet. It is my duty to help you humans fight against this darkness."

"We can’t fight against those monsters. We have tried."

"Do not fret," Loki placed his hand against the top of the elder’s head. "I can show you how to make even more powerful weapons and I can lend you the power that is needed to fight against the evil."

"How?"

"By blessing you," he stared into the eyes of all the people. "All you have to do is pledge to me."

"We pledge to you and to our lord and Jesus," the elder fell to his knees followed by the rest of the villagers. His eyes shone with an ethereal beauty that hid the true nature of his malicious soul.

"Excellent," Loki smirked. The other might prefer their ways of forcing the humans into serving them. He preferred to take on the form of the false savior. He had hoped the rest of the Unseelie were able to gain ground with what other tactic they had chosen. All he had left to do was mentaly inform Set that he has at least one village under his sway.

______________________________________________________________________

"Goliath, is that ye lad?" Hudson asked from the stone battlment he used as a perch for when he slept during the day. Dawn was approaching and had expected either Goliath or Brooklyn, the other two gargoyles who slept on top the tallest tower. The footsteps sounded a bit too heavey for Brooklyn.

"Nae old teacher," the deep voice boomed out of Goliath’s rookery brother. "It is me." The black gargoyle caped his large pumpkin colored wings as he approached his mentor. "The others will be coming shortly."

Hudson nodded. "Why do ye wish to see me?"

"I simply wondered why you decided to ascend to the top of the tower when there were plenty of hours of night left."

"There nought be hours but minutes," Hudson tried to point out. "I just wanted t’ be alone fer a bit and stare at the city."

"I understand," Othello turned towards the skyline of the skyscrapers below. The brilliant assortment of lights would only be illuminated for an hour more before the light of the day would be enough for the humans. "It is always a beautiful site to see the stars above us and in away below."

"Does the air seem a bit different t’ ye?"

"Different?" The younger gargoyle raised his browridges. "How?"

"Like there is a bit of electricity, something that makes my skin crawl and tingle." He scratched his beared chin while trying to find the right words. "Like there is sorcery going on."

Othello shook his head. "I feel nothing."

"I must be paranoid," Hudson shrugged. "All this worry about the Unseelie and demons and the gifts Goliath recieved."

"We all are a bit tense."

"Aye. I hope those gifts do become of some use for Goliath."

"I am certain they will," Othello noticed bright shade of blue staining the edge of the skyline and heard the footsteps of both Brooklyn and Goliath on the steps behind them. "Sleep well teacher." He spread his wings and glided towards the next tower over.

_________________________________________________________________________

Huesodrainar had to give the mortals some credit. They knew that in order to fight against himself and the rest of his ilk they were going to have to work together, forget their petty differences. Whether the gargoyles and the humans had teamed up recently or have been allied together for a few centuries he had no knowledge. The last time he had seen them they stood alone save for one small village. He was able to lead the humans from other villages and towns against the one and shattered the statues of the sleeping warriors. It was right before he was cursed to sleep in the bone pit.

The demon stared at the barrier the humans had made with their vehicles. The gargoyles had pushed them onto the sides making it easier for the weaker species to be able to fire at him and then duck. Most of the gargoyles attacked from the air. They swarmed high above him while firing arrows, throwing spears and knives at his form. Many of the weapons bounced off him after inflicting little to know damage. Those that struck the top of his head he didn’t feel. The ones that did burn were those that had been treated by water that had been blessed.

Huesodrainar did not rely solely on his strong body. He breathed out a mist at at several of the gargoyles. Those that were not able to avoid it became sick almost instantly. He had shot several other of his other weapon and the clan and their human allies. He was able to fire off the pointed ends of his insect like legs. Whenever one sharp point struck a tree it’s leaves turned brown and several fell from the lib. Whenever it struck a gargoyle or a human the creature would pale and become sickly.

An over joyed shout brought his attention towards those behind the barrier. He did not like their cheer. It could mean they had found some way to actually weaken them. He sent forward ten of his insect like limbs. Three gargoyles glided in-between the needles and the barier. Their shields deflected over half the onslaught. Two gargoyles crashed to the ground from behind struck by the projections. One remaining ligament sailed forwards straight into the trees and another struck one of the humans.

The bearded clan elder rushed forward along with several humans in grabbing the fallen gargoyles and men. They carefully laid him down before peering over the home made shield. He watched as one gargoyle was able to glide by the monster and slice of two limbs. The young warrior quickly glided away to avoid being burnt by the icor that oozed out and struck the ground, burning what little vegetation that was there.

"How many are there?" A woman in her mid thirties asked. She had kept her long hair tied back in a braid. A small scar decorated her upper lip.

"Only thirty," the still panting human teenager replied. He was exhausted from his run to the weregoyle village with the supplies. "There are many other stones and shafts to make more."

"Turquoise," a female weregoyle eyed the pale aqua stones that were carved into the pointed arrow head shapes. "Why do all the powerful weapons have to include expensive jewels?"

"No," the beaked female said, shaking her head. Her voice shook from the grief. "Not again."

"We cannot allow another member of our clan to die," Juan gritted his fangs. Beneath his three progned forhead his eyesnarrowed and his battle axe shaped tail twitched. He handed the arrows over to the female. "Spread these out amongst the archers of our clan."

"I hope this works," she held them to her chest as she scurried along the ground to the nearest healthy tree. Juan had selected her because her dark coloration would help her blend against the darkness.

"We are all hoping these will work," Juan selected his bow and docked the arrow before aiming at the monster. No one on the Network new anything about the monster. They had to rely on an ancient text with a crude drawings.

Juan released the arrow. The turquoise tipped weapon flew though the air and struck the pale demon in the neck, a few inches below his skull. The beast let out a pain filled screech. A sound that was louder than another noise it had made. The weregoyle lowered his bow. He had to rely on the other archers, both humans and weregoyles who received a turquoise tipped arrow each.

Huesodrainar still had the taste of the fresh bones in his mouth when he was struck. It had been so long since he had eaten and the decaying bones that had served as his home did not provide any sufficient type of meal for him.. He was not only able to eat once but thrice. Any hope of being able to snap up another gargoyle, suck outs bones was eradicated from the arrow that struck it’s throat. Huesodrainar remembered the last time he had felt such pain. The weapons of turquoise that kept striking against him, beating him back to the pit of bones where he was bound.

The demon extended his limbs and shot out several more claw tips. He wriggled around while trying to fire off as many as he could. After the last had been shot he would have to wait a full minute before they were able to reload. To his disgust he only managed to stick about eleven gargoyles. The rest of his sharp ends had become impaled in trees.

A second arrow struck him in the middle of his body. He was going to have charge full a head. He was not going back to his prison. He was going to plummet straight towards the barrier. He would be able to snap up at least two more bodies while it took time to eat.

A third arrow struck him in the side between legs and a forth pelted him on the back. He watched the gargoyles around him. All of them seem to staring at him, watching them as they seemed to land. Land? Yes they were landing around him. The approaching light in the distance seemed to approach. Dawn was coming.

"Foolish mortals," he sent the message into their heads while he cackle his dry voice. "I will only give you until dawn before I shatter your forms." He glared towards the humans huddled behind the make shift border. "As for your human friends their bones will taste sweet."

He watched as the sky grew brighter and was ready to hear the dry cracking sound of skin turned to stone. What he heard instead was the sounds of bones cracking and the screams of several humans. He turned towards the gargoyles. To his shock they were transforming into humans Their wings were being being painfully with drawn into their backs. High arched feet blattened itno feet. Claws thinned into weak fingers. He had heard the stories of creatures that were gargoyles at nigh and humans by day.

"Now!" the fomer gargoyles cried out. They had picked up their weapons and aimed their arrows at him.

______________________________________________________________________

The Kumiho gritted her teeth at the sight of the distraction her beasts were causing. It was a habbit she formed over the centuries. She would clench her jaw and rub her teeth and fangs together when she was either frustrated or confused.

Things appeared to have been going as planned. She had sent both the drakes and tokebis to attack a small fishing town. The slender black drakes slithered forward along their bellys. Their long worm like limbs grabbed whatever they could while their arrow shaped heads snapped at anything that moved, sharp teeth each as long as a person’s finger. The dark beasts were able to get around the air on bright red leather wings. Each drake had two pair of the leathery appendages and four pairs of their long limbs. Occasionally they belch out large clouds of poison.

The goblins raced along on large green feet. The color of their bare skin clashed with the white shaggy hair that covered the rest of their bodies. Their large comical grins seemed ironic compared to the blood stained knives they had wielded. Their large eyeballs rolled around trying to find more people to torment.

The fox eared Unseelie was not perplexed at the sight of the destruction, on the contrary, she was pleased by the fires and smoke. The amount of people trying to flee the scene and the amount of bodies that littered the streets. The local authorities had tried to fight back with their weapons. They did manage to kill several goblins, but their weapons were weak against the drakes. Several of the humans had fallen from their breath and jaws.

What confused her was what they had called the Unseelie.

"Enemy combatants," Her black fox like tails flickered at the word. They were not calling them monsters but terrorists. She could not belief her ears. She and her troops were not mere humans soldiers who just simply atacked. Why couldn’t they have called her beasts and underlings monsters. "Let them use whatever words they want," she bounded from building to building, marveling at the destruction her beasts had left around her. She paused briefly to watch the sky and five drakes circle around in the sky.

The blasts came from the ground, not too much of a great distance from the Kumiho. She watched and the burning missiles struck against the flying snakes. The drakes that had been hit became incinerated, leaving behind nothing but a pile of ash.

"They have perfected a weapon that can kill my drakes?" She gritted her teeth again while she leaped across the roof tops. She had too see what was causing the destruction.

The answer was in the form of two large furry creatures. Both beasts were larger than elephants and stood on webbed feet. Their large mouths were circular in shape and took up most of their heads. The furry monsters did not have much in a way of a nose. The Kumiho doubted that was the reason why they were immune to the dark smog that surrounded them, caused by the toxic breath of the draks.

"Bunyips," the Kumiho barely got the word out when four more projectiles shot out of one of the bunyip’s mouth and aimed straight for the draks. The burning missile struck the beast in the head. "How did Bunyips get here?"

The furry monsters did not pay attention to her. They ran down the street firing more missals at the draks, unaware they were being chased by goblins. One of the small underlings threw a knife against a leg of one of the beasts. The blade bounced off but left a bleeding cut.

The Bunyip spun around in it’s tracks. The beasts large eyes focused not on just the goblin that had threw a knife at him, but all the goblins. It aimed it’s mouth at the small beasts and inhaled. A small wind vortex spiraled out of the large mouth and in the direct path of the small monsters. The goblins tried their hardest to get away from the gaping maw, but found themselves caught in the wind tunnel, their bodies spun around as they were inhaled.

"The goblins are stronger than the drakes. It makes sense." The Kumiho realized. Bunyips did not eat meat. They only inhale creatures to convert into weapons. Animals that are powerful make more powerful weapons. The goblins were of the unseelie race and made a suitable weapon against the drakes which are monsters. "Who sent them here?"

"The same one who made the humans believe you are terrorists." The voice that came from behind made Kumiho jump.

"Gidja," she glared at the tall being that stood behind her. The slender fae was tall and had silvery blue skin. Large pointed ears were full of piercings made out of sun baked bones. His hair was kept in plaits and black tattoos of the phases of the moon decorated his body. "How long have you been here?"

"Ever since you heard what the humans called your beasts," Gidja crossed his arms. "Technically I and the Bunyips have been here longer than that. You just didn’t know who have been here since you were in another part of town."

"You are the reason why the humans don’t recognize us?" She blinked.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you are adorable when you are confused," he ignored her growls. "It’s a simple glamour. The drakes look like planes and the goblins appear to be foot solders. I even did it to myself and my Bunyips."

"You did it to yourself?" She could not believe why the self appointed Bunyip keeper had found her, nor why he disguised himself.

"Like this," his form changed from a faerie to human dressed in am military suit. "I was able to make my Bunyips appear to look like tanks." He changed back.

"What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" He raised an eyebrow. "I am here to stop you."

"Why are you helping them?"

"Lets make this conversation short. I’m am trying to keep the Unseelie and the demon who is using you from taking over the world because I like the humans. I am also doing this in the hopes Oberon will forgive me and the other Outcasts and allows us back into his graces."

"You want to be in his graces?" Kumiho twitched her large ears. "To help those that Oberon himself doesn’t seem to care fore?" She turned back to where then Bunyips were once standing. She stared overhead. There were no draks within the vicinity. "You don’t think you can possibly win with all my forces and your two Bunyips?"

"I have more than two. I have several through out town."

"You lie."

"No, I am not. You can go and look if you wish."

She studied his eyes. There were so convincing. "So what if you are telling the truth. We are gaining territory across the other lands."

"I am aware of that. I’m ready to fight more of your forces," he leaned towards her. "I’m willing to fight you right now, little vixen."

"Not now, but we shall meet again. Just remember your Bunyips are only able to be found on Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand." She faded out of sight.

"They may be confined, but I’m not." He would see how the Bunyips are doing right after he took care of business.

_____________________________________________________________________

The skyline of the city was maginificant to behold to the Lhiannon Sidhe. Through out her years living a low profile she had visited the British metropolis and each time she woud stare at the city line.

"It’s so big," the smaller figure who traveled with Lhiannon gasped. She appeared to have been a full grown woman in her early twenties. Dark hair hung in sausage crules that framed her face. Her brown eyes were wide and her mouth was drawn into a peaceful smile. She was the size of a child, only reaching Lhiannon’s hip.

Lhiannon smiled at her friend. "This is London." She wanted to begin in her homeland of Ireland. A simple game of rock, Paper, Scissors was the deciding factor to allow Mab to take them to London.

"Its different."

"Ye did spend a lot o centruies imprisoned on Avalon," the taller fae reached down to stroke the human like face of the nearest manticore. They had developed and bred a hundred of the powerful creatures. They were strong beasts with the sleek and powerful bodies of panthers, human like faces and the poisonous tipped tails of scorpians. They were also accompanied by the Spriggans.

One of the thin underlings cleared his throat as he approached his mistrees. "Beggin your pardon, Miss Lhiannon, but I was wondering why we were here instead of the Southern Hemisphere." He and the rest of his kind was shorter than Mab by a couple of handsrpeadths and were twice as thin. With their sparkling eyes, large pointed ears and nimble fingers, the resembled elves more than goblins. Thier blue skin, long noses and mouthful of sharp teeth gave them a somewhat frightened appearance. 

"All the other places were claimed," When they began their attack all the others shouted out a country or an island to take over. She had felt it was bold for Kumiho to lay claim to the entire country of Australia.

"Why not take over another part of England?"

"I want London," Mab gave her reason, feeling it was just as good as any other reason.

"It is what she wanted," Lhianon explained. "It is also one of the more popular and powerful cities. If it falls then the rest of England falls."

"We underestand," The Spriggan bowed.

She nodded. "Good, now attack!" She pointed towards the city. The Spriggan’s replied with thier might battle cry and the Manticors roared out.

______________________________________________________________________

Screams filled the air, mostly coming from the children as their mothers and fathers hurried them in the dug out shelters beneath their houses. Those with teenagers had ordered their eldest children to be the ones to usher their younger sibilings into the shelters while they stared out the windows, want to see how bad it was, how their spouses were raring in their battles against the small furry people, the ugly old women with the long and pointed elbows and the monster like creatures that had accompanied them.

Kali caught a few glimpses of the humans who stared out of the window and choose not to acknowledge them. It was far to tempingting for her to sneer at them by focering both of her wandering eyeballs to stare straight ahead at the humans and wiggle the end of her long toungue. She used all of her will power to focus on the battle around her. It appealed to her senses. Her dark blue skin could feel the heat from the fires of some of the larger buildings. The smoke pouring from the windows was detected by her nose, the smoke and blood from several slain humans and her own kin, (some of those weapons contained iron). She was able to taste the fear and battle lust emited from the humans fighting against her and her kind.

She felt wiriggling underneath her right foot before the voice of her prisoner spoke out. "Let me breath."

"No," Kali stared down at the struggling human under her foot. Her heel rested on top of his collarbone and toes tapped against his soft throat. She took pleasure from the the gasps coming from his mouth when ever she pushed down. "Talk, leader." She called him what he was. When Kali and her party had arrived she took on a human disguise and learned where the town’s important building was. She did not care what was the specific name of his title, all she knew was that he was the leader of the human settlement.

"What do you want?"

Kali watched as one of the Elbow witches skewered another villiager though the skull. The old woman did not look like she could be spry enough to run after the armed men and women. It may have been the boney face covered with layers of withered and dried out skin, or it may have been the the thick clothing the female underlings wore that made them appear hunched over. The elbow witches had strong and graceful legs that allow them to run at a high speed. Thier most dangerous weapons were the long bone like projections on each of their elbows.

"Do you want to kill us?"

"No," she spoke the word with no hesitation even though it was a lie. She wanted to kill the leader and the rest of the villagers. She couldn’t lay waste to an entire settlment, not without an official word from Set. "I want you to surrender." She focused both of her eyes on him and felt the end of her tounge waggling. It felt good to finaly sneer at someone.

_______________________________________________________________________

The sun rose higher in the sky, bathing the Letchfield farm in it’s light. The dark shadows were slowly shrinking back towards the house and barnyard, both structures were adorned with the stone figures of the Letchefeld clan. The name was granted to the owner of the farm and the leader of the clan, Orson Letchefield. He along with his wife, father and several farm hands were victims of the Gargoyle Sidhe. The poison she had inflected from a single scratch to their flesh had caused their transformation from humans to gargoyles.

Music by The Killers erupted from the garage, the source was the radio placed next to a sports car. The hood of the vehicle was up, several of it’s parts were placed on newspapers that were spread out across the floor. The paint from the vehicle had faded and chipped from over the years.

There was no apparent sign of the oldest Letchfield son when Coldfire entered the garage, except for a pair of legs ending in thick and heavy boots sticking out from under the car.

"Bufford Nate Letchfield," the voice that came out from the machine did not match the robot’s first owner. The voice was from a gargoyle from a younger genration. The robot’s form no longer resembled it’s original figure. The butterfly shaped wings were removed and replaced with bat shaped wings with a a single rib, and an extra strut on top and bottom. The tail was different, the tip ended an oval shaped bulge. The metal that was chosen to replace the original was more of a copper alloy than the original golden bronze. It was her request to have a metal that was closer to her original skin color

"Don’t call me that," the youth replied. Small metallic clangs mixed in along with the music. "I told you to call me Ford."

"I’m sorry, Ford." She stared down at his shoes. "I am just repeating what your grandmother asked me to repeat."

"What does she want?"

"She wants you to know that lunch will be ready in half an hour and she wants you to be there this time."

"So I was able to eat breakfast while working in here," he pushed himself out on his dolly. He was dressed in a tattered old gray sweatshirt and a faded pair of blue denim overalls. An old baseball cap was backwards on his head. "Why can’t she let me work in peace?"

"Is it so wrong to have her family together for meals?" The ensouled robot tilted her head to the side.

"Once in a while, not when I’m busy."

"She wants have her family be together always."

"I’m leaving around August for school. She is going to have to learn to deal being without me."

"Stop it!" Her voice rose. "She can no longer enjoy meals with her whole family, not all the time, not like she used to." She walked towards the radio. "You and your sisters are the only ones who are still human." She reached for the off button.

"Port Lincoln, Australia is being attacked by-" the pressing of the off button had silenced the radio transmission.

"Don’t!" Ford shouted, despite the fact it was too late. "Turn it back on."

"Why?" She still wasn’t finished with her lecture.

He pointed at the radio. "It’s an emergency."

"Oh," she turned it back on. "Sorry."

"The Australian Government has pretty much kept the threat under control," the DJ continued in his report. "There are warring factions in South Africa, Argentina, and the South East Islands. As of now we still don’t know if it is all connected."

The spirit within Coldfire’s metal shell did not understand everything within the world. She did understand what the DJ reported. "War."

"Sounds like it." He turned off the radio. "I think the Network mentioned this."

"Should we check to make certain?"

"You check, or ask Scott or Marcia to check. I’m going to help my Grandmother set the table."

_____________________________________________________________________

Prado Pacifica, Peru

"He’s getting close," A driver in one of the large van’s cried out.

"Pull back," Juan ordered. Several jumped aboard the jeeps and vans. Those behind the wheel pressed down on the accelerator while keeping the vehicles in reverse. Those on foot scattered into the woods to keep out of view of the demon while running after the vehicles. Only a small handful of warriors stood behind the demon.

The largest van stood in the direct middle and the driver shifted the vehicle to the right while two other vans pulled on each side of the vehicle and shifted direction, creating a new barrier. The first had been destroyed an hour ago.

"We cannot keep this up," a female member of Juan’s clan told him. Her gargoyle form was the deep purple gargoyle with the braid. The dark clothing she wore was going to trap more heat from the progressing daylight, despite the fact it was late autumn beneath the equater. "We’ll be at the village before long."

"This is where we make the final stand," Juan stared down at the newly made arrow in his hand. "Esteban, how many more have been made?"

"We only have twelve more," Esteban told him. A freely made arrow was laid out on top of a pile of eleven. "We are also running out of stones."

"Everyone," Juan called out. "Aim for the middle of it’s body, avoid it’s skull avoid its-" the word "legs" were still on his mouth when the demon threw it’s head back and reared up high on the middle of it’s body. The exposure of the demon’s underbelly provided a perfect shot.

______________________________________________________________________

The over head sun sent down rays of intense heat, baking the sands and the abandoned temple that was the final resting place for a great and noble warrior. It was well within that temple that the two headed serpent demon, Renepep had awoken briefly. He had a strong connection to that building and the Cubus knew it.

Deep beneath the abandon temple the demon had gathered as much ashes as he could find into the several canters. Unlike the other demons the Cubus had to perform a small ritual in order to awaken him. It did not have to be the same long ceremony that the humans have used to awaken the lesser demon, just a circle of ash and a droplet of his own blood. He bit his thumb, the sharp edge of his teeth tore through his flesh. He held his hand over the circle and allowed the droplets of blood to fall from his hand to the ground.

The impact of the blood striking the ground caused the ground and the ring to ripple like water. A second later smoke arose from the ring and billowed high into a thick column smoke The smoke filled the area rising to the ceiling and thinking to an almost solid opaqueness before it disappeared. In its place was a golden, two headed cobra, that was tall enough to reach the ceiling.

______________________________________________________________________

They had ignored the screeching sounds coming from outside and didn’t stare out the window until they recieved a phonecall from Dr. Blake Edwards’ old college, Dr Lydia Duane with the warning to stay inside. One look out the window and the site of a few scrawny blue people along with a large red panther like monster. The scorpion like tail was not enough for Edwards to draw the curtains. It was the monster’s human like face and mouth full of sharp teeth that had frightened the former human.

 Edward’s had offered to clean up and wash the dishes. It was all the former human could offer in exchanged for the delicious roast lamb his lady friend, Ekidna created.

Pain coursed out through his body and a simple dessert plate slipped from his scaly hand and struck the kitchen floor, shattering into several pieces. Edward’s felt a numbing sensation creep through his arms and legs, making it difficult for him to stand, let alone finish washing dishes. He stared down at his body, wondering what was wrong when he noticed the runes that hung around his neck were lit up and glowing.

__________________________________________________________________________

"Renepep," the Cubus spoke the name of the creature he had awoken. The massive beast was large enough to reach the ceiling. It’s scales of bronze and gold glinted from the light of the single lit torch in the room. Blazing red eyes stared back down at him. "You are free."

Who are you The word echoed in the Cubus’s mind. What are you?

"I am a Cubus," the smaller demon bowed politely before the serpent. "You might have heard about creatures like me. We appear before our sleeping victims and make love to them, and feed off their sexual energy.

Incubi and succubi The two headed monster responded. You are sexual vampires. I do not care for vampires.

"We are not vampires, we are demons like you. I am a being that can be both." He stared at his body. His broad shoulders and chest narrowed while a pair of breasts bloomed out swelling to spheres big enough to fill his large hands. His waist became thinner while his hips fuller. His once large hands and thick hooves shrank in size. Dark eyes widened, lips became fuller and his hair on the top of his head grew longer till it reached the middle of it’s back. The noticable sheath between it’s legs shrank to it’s body. "Although we are rarely corporal."

Why did you awake me? The large creature was not impressed with the demon’s transformation. I had hope your reason is better than the last vampire. They thought I‘d serve them because they had merely awaken me. He lowered one of his heads. I do not like the way they taste.

"You have been awaken because it is time for us demons to claim the world for our own. The foot-soldiers have already started and our fellow demons have already broken free from their places of rest and are causing their forms of destruction."

What other demons? Both of his forked tongues shot out through the split in the lips.

"Huesodrainar, Lillebarn and several others. All of them are spread across the world causing as much damage and suffering as possible."

"You will have everything you once had, plus much more."

Plus more. The demon snake lowered both his heads. The humans have ruled this land for far too long. It is my time now.

"I new you would like the idea," the Cubus grinned. The body reverted back to his male form.

"The nearest village is half an hour away, if you slither fast," the smaller demon pointed in the direction of the village. Everything was coming together. All he can do until his champion awoke from his stone slumber was to sleep for a few hours himself.

________________________________________________________________

"Ekidna!" Edward’s called out the name of his house mate. He was going to need her help until either the demon he had once faced was returned to his slumber or until it was destroyed. "Ekidna...help." He struggled to grab onto the counter.

"Blake," the former citizen of New Olympus slithered forward on her segmented stomach and tail. She had only taken one look at the broken plate and the weak form of the snake man as he clung to the counter before she slid forward even faster. The snake like form that took up the lower half of her body was able to glide as swiftly as a running human.

"Ekidna," Blake’s body felt asleep. He could barely move. "It Hass happened. He Hass awakened."

"The snake demon?" She slung one of his arms across her shoulders and held on to him while she half guided and half dragged him to the nearest chair. "The runes seem to be working."

"They are," he could feel himself lower to the chair but he couldn’t feel the soft cushion he sat on. "I need you to make a phone call."

"Who do you want me to call?" She returned to the sink and opened up the doors underneath.

"Arthur Pendragon."

"You want him to know it has happened." She understood. She pulled out a small broom and a dustpan. "I’ll call after I clean up." She slithered over to the broken remains of the plate and swept it up into the bin.

"Ssorry," the forked tongue slipped out broom the split in Edward’s upper jaw.

"You don’t have to apologize." She told him. "Do you also want me to call your other friends? Lydia and the other Arthur?"

"Pleasse, unlesss they are busy with thosse thingss. Could you alsso call the embasssay in Washington?"

"The embassy?" She blinked her crimson eyes at such a request. "I can’t call them, not unless they already know."

"They already know about my condition." He tired to point towards himself but he did not have the strength to move.

"Not that. They don’t know if I am living with you."

"Oh. I never told them, but you have to call anyway."

"I can’t do that," she crawled towards the waste basket and dumped the shards from the pan. "They will see to it that I am hunted down and returned to New Olympus to receive judgment."

"You will not have to do any talking. Jusst dial and hold it against my Fasse"

"Why do you wish them to know? The live across the Atlantic."

"I wish to ssay goodbye to them," he looked at her weakly. "The reason why I wanted Arthur Pendragon to come over iss sso that he can kill me."

Ekidna could not believe what she had heard. "Blake do you have any idea of what you had just said?"

"I cannot allow mysself to become a sservant of evil."

"I won’t allow you, nor will yourself. You are strong enough to stand up against his command," she crawled closer to him. "You have the runes."

"I don’t know if they will be enough." His whole body began to tremble. "I can already feel a new kind of sstrength return to my body."

"The runes, along with your willpower, is keeping you from succumbing to his mental call," she stared into his pale yellow eyes. "I won’t let you."

"I don’t know how sstrong I may become."

"You don’t how strong I can be." She rose as tall as her body would allow. "If need be I will hold you back."

"I can’t allow you to put yoursself in ssuch danger."

"I cannot allow you to kill yourself. I will get you the phone, but only if you promise not to call for anyone to try to kill you."

"Promisse." He tried to reach for her and nearly fell out of his chair, his new strength hadn’t entered him yet. Luckily for him she was there to catch him.

___________________________________________________________________________

The delicious scent of humans radiated out from the village. There were so many lives, so many more than what Renepep had experienced when he was awoken a fear years ago. He would be able to satisfy is hunger.

"The monster is coming," the farm boy had escaped him nearly an hour before pointed at him. "He is the one who ate my family."

"This way," a woman grabbed him by the hand and pulled him down through the alleyways.

So you have told them. Renepep made certain his voice was heard in all the minds of the villagers as they scattered around. It does not matter. Many shall still die.

Several men and a few woman raced towards the entrance with rifles in their hands.

Try and use your weapons. I have faced such before.

"Attack!" One of the men shouted before pulling the trigger. Bullets flew from their from their guns and pelted against he leathery flesh of the serpent.

Renepep continued onward. His wounds bled, but not profusley. Some of the humans were trying to reload when he came upon them. One strike and both of his heads were able to snatch up a human.

____________________________________________________________________

The demon ducked down before Juan was even able to dock his arrow. It was good thing he hadn’t tried to shoot it. He may have hit the woman who was holding onto the back of the demon’s head. The demon bucked up and down and shook from side to side trying to throw the woman from his back.

"What is she doing?" Juan asked as he tried to study her. "I thought I told everyone to stay back." He noticed her skin was like golden leather and her legs had been burned in the past. Whoever she was she was strong. The demon had only succeeded in shaking loose a spear from her.

The woman wrapped her scarred legs around the demons neck and held on as hard as she could while she removed the scythe from it’s sheath on her back. The demon reared back and fell back down, nearly striking it’s bottom jaw into the ground as she brought the blade of her weapon down and sliced it through the thick flesh. The demon swung back and forth while she kept holding onto her weapon with one arm and held onto the demon with the other. With one had she was able to cut into more of the demon skin and muscle, cutting to the bone. The monster shook it’s head weakly, spraying its acid like icor around while the strange woman cleaved again. One last swipe of her scythe and the head of the demon flew off and rolled onto the dirt.

She had spied them with one of her three facet like eyes. She did not know why they were dressed like that nor what they were aiming at her. All she knew was they were weapons, they caused pain.

The guns went off at once and sprayed her with bullets. She paused when she felt the first searing lumps of lead pierce her skin. It did not matter how much damage they could cause. She was almost immune to their damage and she enjoyed the pain.

When the bullets had finished the demoness turned towards the humans. All the tendrils on her head whipped forward like a striking cobra. They were silent, the only sound that followed were the humans screaming. Several of them had open wounds appear on their arms. Blood poured out of what appeared to have been the entry and exit wound of bullets. Baridi-Enye’s long tongue shot out from the end of her flute shaped muzzle and soaked up the pain that was experienced amongst the humans. it was a savory meal for her to taste.

One her appetite had been satisfied she sought out a healthy human and found him in the form of a fatigue clad man. His arms were rippling with muscles that threatedned to rip through his cloths. He had one of thise long range weapons aimed at her. She had felt pain and caused pain. She needed to do one more thing.

As fast as her mutiple legs could go she raced towards him, absorbing the bits of hot metal that instantly fired off the end of his weapon. The man had waited until she was almost upon him before he turned around and ran.

Baridy-Enye held out her hand, but did not grab him. A single, stinger like projection shot form her finger and into his flesh.

The man paused the instant he was tagged, his legs buckled and he felt to the ground. His life energy had fled from his body the second he was stung.

_____________________________________________________________________

It was an odd site to see for the people stepping outside the store in front of the museum. The image of a small child walking down the steps of the building without a chaperone. The girl looked no older than eight and was dressed in a pink dress. The sunlight shone off the top of her golden hair

The woman carrying the cans of soup and a loaf of bread reached the child first and noticed she wasn’t wearing any shoes. "Hello," She greeted. "Where is your mother or your father?"

Lillebarn said nothing. She smiled, her lips were still stained red from her first feeding. Some of the blood from her victims had dripped down the front of her chin and onto her dress.

"What happened?" The woman pointed towards the stains on the child’s dress. "Something bad happened inside?" There was the possibility the child had witnessed something horroific and couldn’t speak. She tried to look into the Lillebarn's eyes. Instead of pale blue iris she saw two eyes that were entirely black.

The woman stared into Lillebarn’s eyes for a few seconds before she leaped back. "No!" She cried out, tears streamed down her cheeks. "There is no reason to continue." She crawled across the walk towards the grocceries she had set down. "No reason." She grabbed onto one of the soup cans and smached it against her forhead repeatedly.

"Ma’am," a man grabbed onto her and wrestled the can away. "What’s wrong with you?"

"It’s all over," she cried as she tried to grab the can from his hands. Her entire forhead had already begun to turn a violent shade of purple while lumps had formed. The edges of the can made a smal gash high above her right eye. "I don’t have any reason to go on. It won’t matter if I am a success or not. I will fail and even If I suceed nobody will care."

"Don’t talk-" his words were brought to an end when a knife was shoved into his neck.

"You are all trying to kill me," another man pulled back his knife out of the other man’s neck. Not too far away from where he stood another man was lying in the pool of his own blood. He glared at the crowd as they slowly drew back. "I won’t let you get me." he ran after them.

The woman grabbed the can out of the stabbed man’s hand and repeatedly smashed it against her head herself until she was rendered unconcious.

Lillebarn walked down the path. The man with the knife avoided her and most of the other humans tried to keep their distance away from him. She walked alone until someone grabbed her and pulled her close to them. Lillebarn continued to smile as she stared into their eyes.

________________________________________________________________________

It was not even a part of the Gobi. The land was once lush with grass covering the ground like a thick carpet. The branches of the trees were once covered with bright green leaves and bright and colorful flowers and the early fruits and berries. The once beautiful land has been reverted to a dry and barren field. There was no sign of the grass that covered the dirt and the trees had shriveled up into deferred stumps of brown death.

"Beautiful," words whispered out like wind blowing dry leaves across dirt and cement. The words escaped the cracked wooden lips of a mask like face. "I do great work as usual." The thin face was almost two dimensional there was no back, no ears at the non existent sides. The face itself floated on a thick yet dried out stick of a neck. Flames danced above the face and lit up the empty spaces that served as it’s eyes.

"Kiyamei," a faint voice called out to him.

"Now who could this be?" the demon rubbed his mummified hands together, long and slender finger bones ended in thick, curved claws. His main body resembled a famine victim. His stomach was so drawn in it appeared almost non existent and made his chest appear large. Papery flesh was pressed against his ribs. He moved with a stoop in his back and on legs that were thick bones that stuck out like an axl. From the rounded nub ends were three long bones that protruded from apposite directions and ended in long, flat feet, the toes curled in the opposite direction. When he moved his legs spun and he ambled forward.

Kiyamei moved forward, surveying the ruin he had brought to the land. Amongst the decaying plant light were several animals, all of which were emancipated. Several were still alive and suffering. The little strength in their limbs caused them to lurch and wiggle forth. Their eyes rolled back in their heads and tongues hung out at the sides.

"Kiyamei," the voice repeated, louder than before.

"Where are you?" Kiyamei called out in an amused voice. He had wondered who the mysterious voice was. Was it a fellow demon? It could be lesser creature, someone or something he once had a tryst with in the past. It could even be a female member of the Unseelie. One that wants to work beside him, or it could even be a mortal that knew and respected him.

"I’m on the other side of the hill," the mysterious girl sang out. ""I’m waiting for you."

"You know what I am?" Perhaps it was a human woman who secretly worshipped him. He should have felt special tingle he usually received whenever a mortal prayed and made offerings to him.

"You are a powerful demon."

"You know who and what I am," he stopped in his tracks. "Yet I don’t know anything about you. Why don’t you come out from where you are hiding?"

"I thought you’d never ask." A woman dressed in armor and a cloak rushed towards him Kiyami had viewed a flash of red and orange hair, goat skulls, and sparkling blue gems before he felt warm knuckles against his face and felt the full strength of a creature that was stronger than a human and a child of Oberon, yet weaker than a demon.

"Deceitful cow," he tried to swat her away but only felt air. Whatever had struck him was no longer there and all he could find was a dark streaks burned into the ground. "That will teach you, pity you are no longer alive to learn such a lesson." He removed his gaze from the ground and stared at a deep green forest full of life. He had work to do.

________________________________________________________________

Years had passed through the rest of the world while only mere months were experianced on the magical island. Both the male gargoyles and several number of the fae had helped Princess Kathryn in preparing the castle for a new rookery of eggs. The several members of the fae went around the island searching for tall growths of hay that would be suitable for straw.

The females themselves dined of food rich in protein. They ate meals great in freshly hunted meat, large chunks of cheese and small portions of vegetables. They drank the milk from the enchanted river and snacked on nuts from the forests. They hated being a hindrance on their mates and wished they could engage in the various island activities.

"It’s so unfair," Guinever shouted from her make shift bench. The children of Oberon had set up seating for the expecting females and members of the third race who wished to be spectator to the sporting event instead of participating. "Why couldn’t they have waited until after we had laid our eggs before deciding on playing their games." She stared down at her turquoise abdomen that was between her halter top and loin cloth.

"I thought this was your least favorite game," Nerissa told her. The smaller gargoyle was coral in color and wore a leotard that had a upper part that wrapped around her neck and a lower part made out of connected piece of cloth and a belt threaded through the make shift notches in her webbed wings. Her own stomach pushed slightly against the cloth. The material was given a small enchantment from one of the gossamer winged Faeries to stretch conformably for through out her time of being with egg.

"That may be true," Guinever tossed one of her blond braids over her shoulder. "It’s just they way they casually announced they were going to play a game. It could have been any game, one that I might have loved."

"You may have raised a point," Nerissa watched the field as the ball rolled across the grass and several members of the mortal’s team raced after it wheedling long sticks that ended in thick rubber foam. "Teresa loved this field hockey."

"Exactly," Guinever watched as her mate raced a head while trying to avoid both Coyote and the Bin Sidhe from stealing the ball. "That’s it my love."

"Thats the spirit," Nerissa could not keep from smiling. "We must cheer on our mates."

Both their attention was recaptured by the field as Tristam raced closer to the fae’s goalie. The large arachnid, Anansi stood in front of the goal. His rested his body weight on the bulge of his abdomen and his rearesed two legs. The rest of his long appendages held onto the hockey sticks and the leather glove used for catching. It had appeared that Anansi had all the corners covered. He tried to lurch his fat body to look as threatening as he possibly could when the granite colored gargoyle neared him. When Tristam moved closer to his left the spider god moved his hockey sticks to block the opening.

Tristram moved towards the right side and made a quick dash to the left before pausing. To Anansi’s shock he no longer had the ball, he had passed it off to a team member. The trickster turned towards the right just as the gargoyle, Lancelot had swung his stick. Anansi reached for the ball with a glove, but his attempt to block was futile, the ball slid across the grass and into the goal.

________________________________________________________________

"Excellent," Titania rose from her seat placed in a special box on a high pedestal near one side of the field. "Quite a clever shot."

"Yes, well done." Oberon clapped politely. His mouth was set in a bored frown.

"Not clapping too earnestly?" The faerie queen raised one of her pink eyebrows. "Not quite pleased that you are rooting for the losing team?"

"The are only loosing by a couple of points," Oberon removed his gazefrom the field bellow. "I believe you are only rooting for the mortal team due to your hand maidens playing for them."

"That may be true," she refuted his accusation with a smirk. Since the female clan members are with egg, a few female members of the fae decided to join the mortal team, including Peaseblossom and Mustardseed. The mortals even were allowed to choose another member of the fae to be their goalie. The gargoyles had chosen the four armed Ganesha, whose long trunk also helped in the game.

Both King and Queen turned back to the game when several gasps and shouts rippled through the crowd. A tall fire ignited in the middle of the field. No smoke billowed from the crackling flames.

In one sweeping glance Oberon was able to see the faces of all his subjects, no one appeared to be responsible. Everyone was as shocked as he and Titania was.

The flames died down, leaving the ground unescorted. A woman dressed in leather and armor stood where the flames had crackled and sparked. "Unbelievable," the words were spoken the second the flames had vanquished. "The world is in turmoil and this is what you do?" She pulled back the hood of her cloak and cast the material back, giving everyone a good view of the bleached skulls placed on her shoulders and hair, golden orange and bright red, seperated by a streak of black. "You play Hockey?"

"Hecate!" Oberon rose from his seat. His eyes were glued on the invader. "You are not welcome here!"

"You only care about my presence?" The hybrid narrowed her eyes at the faerie king. She placed her gloved hands against her hips in disbelief. "You don’t care what is happening around the world as we speak?"

"Here me now," Oberon’s voice echoed across the island. "We are Oberon of Avalon. We command all laws that go on We-"

"Won’t listen to what is important," Hecate snapped. She heard the sounds of gasps all around her. "I am Hecate the formerly sealed. I had my fist against the wooden face of a newly freed Kiyame."

"Kiyame?" Titania returned to her feet and grabbed onto her husband’s arm, hopefully to cool him down. "He is freed?"

"Along with the other demons who had been sealed across the world," Hecate’s glare was replaced by a pleading look. "The Unseelie are working with them. Several have already conquered several countries within the southern hemisphere." She turned around to stare at the others. "If you truly care about the mortals then help."

"Hecate!" Oberon resumed his commanding voice. "You are banished from Avalon’s soil."

"I don’t believe you," Hecate’s slowly faded from view. Her harsh voice faded along with her.

"You know she is going to come back," Coyote glared at his king. "She only left because she is doing what we are supposed to do."

"We have no obligation to help them," Luna spoke from her place below the king and Queen’s seat.

"Oberon told us the rest of the world is not of our concerns," Phoebe followed along.

"Let the mortals fight," Selene spoke out while tilting her head back. "We don’t need to concern ourselves with their trifling affairs."

"Trifling?" The giant Atlas allowed his hockey stick to fall from his hand. "Trifling. While we are still bound to Avalon this world is ours to share."

"Do not raise your voice to our king," Luna warned.

"I’m not raising my voice at our king. I’m raising it at you."

"Raven, Mab and the other Unseelie are fighting against the mortals," Odin stood up from where he sat amongst the benches. "The mortals are fighting our enemies."

"If Oberon does not care then why should we."

"Because unlike you three we lived in the world and got to know them better," Coyote snarled.

"Some of you are going to help them," Phoebe spoke in her all knowing voice.

"They are going to risk banishment from our lord?" Luna asked in an appalled tone

"Let them go," Selene turned her back to the field. "Good riddance to those who wish to soil themselves with the stink of mortals."

"Enough!" Oberon’s voice boomed. "This is a dire cause," He stared at his agitated subjects. "Those who my queen sent out to watch over the world may go now to help fight the fight." His sentences wasn’t finished before Coyote, Odin ,Atlas, The bin Sidhe and several others faded from view. "The rest of you will stand by and watch. If things take a turn for the worst then we all shall go and fight."

"Well done my husband," Titania smiled approvingly at her husband. "I knew you would come to your senses."

"Your Majesty," Selene apeared in front of her king and queen and floated a few feet above them. "Why did he command this?" Her sisters appeared beside her.

"To send everyone would be overkill," the faerie king shrugged.

"Why send anyone at all?"

"If the enemy succeeds we would be trapped here," Phoebe told her. "if they wish to take us on then the fight would be much harder on us than now."

"We could still defend ourselves," Selene pouted. "and why would anyone want to leave here. This is Avalon our home."

"You do not understand what we feel," Titania glared at the dark haired sister, fighting back every urge to call her what she was, a stuck up and spoiled brat who deserved to have a good dose of humility. "While you three were ordered to watch over the island the rest of us lived in the world."

"We didn’t always watch the island," Luna spoke up. She ignored the sharp looks both Selene and Phoebe gave her. "Only for a few periods of time."

"And the rest you spent plotting with a time traveling wizard,"Oberon pointed out. "Using a couple of mortals to be your foot soldiers, your instruments of war?"

"We had to do it because there were mortals on your island," Selene said.

"Mortals are always welcome here, albeit the follow the rules. They did, eventually give away there little magic book, yet you seemed to be bent on keeping them off our island."

"It was for you," Luna bowed.

"Hmmm," Oberon rubbed his chin. "There was a mortal, a king, who was placed into the hollow hill by my permission. He was awake when I returned home. I never brought it up before, but I wonder if you three hadn’t something to with it."

"We would never defy you," Selene bowed along with her sister. Only Phoebe remained where she floated.

"I may not bring it up if you join the mortals," he smiled at his wife. "If you do not go, I am certain my queen will think up a suitable punishment."

"As you wish my king," Phoebe grabbed her sisters and caused them to fade along with her before Selene would have chance to protest.

"Well done again," Titania grabbed Oberon by the collar and pulled him close to her.

________________________________________________________________

Vinnie held onto the steering wheel of the Redemption Squad airship. He understoond whyhe was given the task of being the pilot despite the fact he was still learning. He head great teachers in the form of Both Robyn and Harry Monmoth. The director explained how urgent the latest assignment was and how it coinsided with the other attacks across the planet, the most recent one being in London. The team needed Vinnie to fly the ship while the rest of the team attacked whatever threat it was plauging China.

"Ye are doin quite well," Robyn told him from her position as the copilot. "I don’t think ye need me ta watch over ye."

"I might when we get near the place," Vinnie tried to keep from grinning. "We don’t know if this monster the boss sent us after is able to blow up a large amount of smoke."

"We’ve practiced on cloudy days," Robyn assured him. "I know ye’ll do fine."

"Are you certain? I don’t want to crash."

"Don’t say crash. We are going ta need ye up here when we are fighting this thing."

"Robyn!" The doors to the cockpit slid open and Harry stormed through. "I’ve been pondering over a few things recently."

Robyn groaned as she rolled her eyes.It didn’t seem like an evening would go by without a complaint from Harry. "What is it?"

"I’m still not clear why we are bringing that pretty boy teacher along."

"We need all the help we can get," Robyn unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up. "Ye knew he’s really a hero."

"You don’t think we are enough?" He crossed his arms.

"This is a monster," Robyn glared into his eyes. "It can be as bad as that dragon like monster that attacked Ishimura. It can be even worse."

"Are we going to take him along on all our missions?"

"Are ye tryin t’ be this daft. This monster has caused death of several animals and humans and deforestation. It’s nearly wiped out the nature preseve."

"You still haven’t answered my question.

She threw up her hands. "Ye are not going to understand."

"Of course I understand. You just want him as a team member."

"Yer thick headed," She grabbed his chest. "We won’t always be fighting monsters. Now go back with the others before I get angry."

Harry starred into his eyes and stepped back. "Just as long as we are clear now," he stepped back to the doors. "He isn’t coming with us on all our missions. I understand." He stepped out of the cockpit.

Robyn let out a sigh as soon as the doors had closed. "What is wrong with him?" She slid back into her seat. "Why is he so threatened by him?"

"He likes you," Vinnie answerd. He had been silent through out the small spat. "And I think you like him."

"Keep yer focus on piloting the ship," she spoke in a dry tone. "I may have t’ go back there." She did not want to snap at him, not when there was a task underhand.

________________________________________________________________

The cramped room used by Alphonse Mystic had no room for clutter, yet there were stacks of papers and folders in one half of the room that was piled so high that it was about to fall over. The sorcerer/ business man rarely allowed his office to get messy. It may get cluttered but he would never allow it become an actual sty. He vacuumed regular and dusted and polished everything else. There was no garbage on the floor, nothing but several filing boxes and stacks.

Mystic sneezed and grabbed a Kleenex from the top of the cluttered filing cabinet next to his computer. He knew it wasn’t because of the dust, there was hardly any in the air and he kept his window open to allow fresh air in to come through. There must have been something in the air outside. He could hear the sound of a lawn mower. It’s probably the scent of fresh cut grass that caused his nose minor aggravation.

He should be more focused on his assignments. He had promised the executive vice president he would finish going over the reviews of the other junior executives that weekend. The damn old man should have been retired, but like a fool he held onto his position tenaciously. The head C.E.O was going to retire that September the baton would either be passed to one of his vice presidents and Mystic was hoping it would be him.

The scarred man gritted when the sound of the gangster rap music was turned up several notches. He didn’t mind having Rusty as a housemate so much. The former circus employ was good at lawn care and doing other minor grunt work for him. He would rather having a sleet of super natraul beings working for him. After his failed attempts of trying to awaken and loosing a clan of gargoyles he tried other sources.

"Rusty!" Mystic shouted through clenched teeth. "Turn that noise off!"

"This is the best part," the other man whined from the entertainment room.. "I gotta crank it up at the best part."

"You don’t have to crank it at anything," Mystic ran his fingers through his pale hair and massaged his forehead. "And how can you tell if this is the best part? It all sounds the same."

"It’s the part where I dance the most."

"You can dance while it’s at a lower volume," The sorcerer should not feel like he should be his servant’s father. "I can’t hear myself think."

"But."

"No buts. Turn it down or turn it off."

"Man!" the volume of the so called music decreased. "What do you want for dinner, beef or chicken?"

"Beef, and try not to burn it this time." Mystic turned back to his monitor and read over the last part of the review. Henderson’s file was practically the same ever year. He was a hard worker, loyal to the company, but did nothing to wow anyone. He would receive the same raise he received every year.

The sorcerer changed the window from his assignment back to the Explorer. He had decently logged onto his e-mail. He only had five more reviews to go over and he needed a break. Mystic had been taking breaks to see if he could find some more magical supplies earlier. In addition to trying to create a small army of monsters to do his bidding he had been trying to remove the scars from his face and create small miracles he sold to clients, a form of a side business.

"Enlarge my what?" Mystic blinked in the response to the header of the spam at the top of his in box. "No thank you." He clicked the delete button, sending it to his trash bin along with every e-mail advertising a miracle, vacation, webcam, and a promise to lower his bills and mortgage. The last e-mail he hovered his finger over the mouse button. "Increase my power? Probably some sort of miracle drug offer. No thank you."

He returned his work, reading the last review and typing a bit of a report on the woman. She was do for a big raise and recommendation to go up from Junior executive to a Senior executive. He had just pressed the save button when a pop up appeared in front of him.

"Are you sure you don’t want supreme power?" the add asked with the two selection buttons of yes and no.

"What the?" There was no way they could have known he had deleted the e-mail and sent the pop up as a response. Something else had to have been at work. He had dealt with the knowledge of magic long enough to know. He clicked on the No button.

The add changed. "Good, I’m about to offer you a deal. I can make you more powerful now if you swear to be my alley." The message only had one button underneath it. "Continue"

"Might as well."

"If you agree I will make you strong as one of Oberon’s children."

"I guess this should be worth it," Mystic clicked on the yes button, wondering if he would receive a different pop up. The gray box had disappeared.

"Turn around," the voice boomed from behind the sorcerer. Mystic spun around in his chair and early jumped up. He was no longer alone in his office. A creature that clearly wasn’t human was with him "What, who are you?"

"I am simply known as the Cubus," the tall orange creature responded. He stood on a pair of goat legs ending in iron gray cloven hooves and had two long spiral black horns crowning the top of his skull. "Neither an Incubus or a Succubus, but actually both."

"What do you want?" Mystic couldn’t remove his eyes from the long black nails of the demon, nor the ivory fangs that filled it’s mouth or the long dark tail that ended in an arrow shaped point.

"To complete the offer I gave you," the Cubus raised his brow ridges.

"Why me?"

"The better question is why not? You are already a friend to the dark forces. You are a skilled spell chucker, and you have potential to become so much more."

"There are others like me."

"That is true," the Cubus held up a finger. "but you have this spark inside you, something that yearns to be so much more. This desire is what called to me."

"What do I have to do in return?" Mystic raised his eyebrows. "Sell you my soul?"

"No," the Cubus chuckled. "I’m not one of those demons. I have no use for souls." he paused to stare at the round metal band in his hand. Tiny figurings hung from the band like charms. Mystic could make out a small doll, a tree, a serpent, what appeared to have been a melted army figure, a rock and a skeleton. The last two were different from the first four. While the others seemed to almost glow with a different color. The rock was gray and dull and the skeleton was still white, but lacked any illuminence "What I need are warriors and if I give you the right amount of power I can make you a warrior."

"You want me to fight for you," Mystic shrugged. "I guess I can do that."

"After I give you your powers you may practice them in anyway you see fit. Just remember to come when I call you."

"Deal. Where is the contract?"

"You don’t have to sign anything," the Cubus held out his hand. "We just shake on it."

Mystic accepted the clawed hand of the demon to take over his own. The second their skin came incontact he felt a surge rush into him and course through his body. It felt like a mixture of sugar caffeine rushes, adrenaline rush from a roller roaster and electricity all rolled into one. The surge was so strong he was forced to his knees and he eventually toppled forward.

When he sat back up he noticed he was alone in the office. "Woah, head rush." He looked at his hands. They were paler than before. He grabbed onto a lock of hair and stared at it. His hair had darkened to a rich golden blond. He ran his fingers over his face wondering if there was more of a change and to his delight he felt nothing. His scars were gone. "Bitching!"

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Rusty had placed the roast into the slick pot after he had lowered the volume on the stereo. There were times when he truly did not get his boss. The fact the sorcerer did not enjoy great music such as Fifty Cent. He did not get, nor did he understand. "Ingredients," Rusty muttered the word underbreath while trying back his greasy hair and replacing his baseball cap, after washing his hands he searched through the cabinets for the right seasonings: basil leaves, paprika and wine. He doused the roast before massaging in the spices.

His boss’s cry of pain tore him away from the roast. "Boss?" He felt his fingers fumble for the lid and slapped into the top of the pot. "Are you all right?" He was answered by the loud slump of a body striking the ground. Rusty raced towards the office. The scream and the slump could have meant a lot of things, but the one that stood out on his mind was that Mystic had electrocuted himself. "Hey boss?" His hands trembled as he grabbed onto the door know and turned open the door. He had no idea if he was going to find a dead body or if Mystic was simply unconscious.

"I feel fantastic," Mystic was sitting up, his back turned towards his servant, giving Rusty a good view at his darker hair color. "Better than fantastic. You cannot possibly comprehend all that is surging through me right now."

"Thank God," Rusty let out a sigh. "I heard a scream and I thought you were hurt."

"It only hurt for a few seconds at first," Mystic rose to his feet and turned around to face his servant. His skin had paled to a ghostly white that was even lighter than his original hair color. His eyes had darkened, the iris’s had turned to a deep black. "I feel wonderful now."

"Are you sure?" the shorter man’s eyes widened at the sight of his boss’s transformation. "You look different."

"It’s the price I pay for feeling this good." He stared at his hands, giving Rusty a good view of how long his nails had grown.

"What happened?"

"I received a pop up add. The pop up add to end all pop ups."

"I usually just close those and check the computer for spyware."

"This was sent by a demon," Mystic stepped lightly over to where the Cubus once stood, careful as not to disturb the high stacks of paper and folders. "And then he showed up here. He shook my hand and now I feel the best part off getting high."

"A demon?" Rusty blinked. "You didn’t sell your soul did you?"

"He doesn’t want my soul. He just wants a warrior."

"That’s why he super charged you?"

"Precisely."

"I hope it didn’t give you the munchies. Dinner won’t be read for a few hours. I’m slow roasting this time."

"That’s the least of my concerns, I need to practice my abilities."

"You gotta have some form of target practice."

"Exactly," Mystic pointed at Rusty. Bolts of electricity shot forth from his fingers and struck the servant heed on. Mystic ignored the howls of pain and the please to let him live coming from Rusty. He continued sending forth electricity long after Rusty had finished crying, not even feeling the slightest bit tired.

The onslaught of electricity had come to an end a few sends later. The charred remains of Rusty fell onto the floor, the bone underneath the burnt flesh rattled from the impact, yet was kept intact.

"Looks like it works," Mystic grinned. "and now for more serious matters."