Ancient Enemies and Forbidden Feelings [Numbers + Rikaya][M]

[Numbers]

In Medieval times, the balance between the human world and the fey world was equal. Humans were aware of the fey and the fey, for the most part, left the humans alone. However, due to rising population among the humans, so did certain tribes among the fey world in response. As the fey tribes grew in power to match the humans, the humans started to fear the fey world more and more. Eventually leading to the establishment of a holy order among the humans. This order began to gather rare materials from both the human and fey world in order to craft weapons that were infused with the souls of the fey. These unique powerful weapons allowed them to weaken the growing fey tribes in different ways. When these weapons were created, the fey tribes retaliated declaring war on the holy order. The war waged for a hundred years before the fey finally defeated the order. However, in order to prevent the fey tribes from getting the weapons and returning their powers back to them, a lone high ranking officer in the order was sent to leave for Asia where he could hide the weapons. As hundreds of years go on, the different tribes settle back down, thinking that the enemy is destroyed as they learn to live with their new weaknesses. All the while, the remaining order officer passes down the teachings of the order through the family, working to eventually rebuild different connections, resources, and contracts with the different nations of the world.

Now after hundreds of years the order has returned and began the hunt once again to destroy the fey world. Will the tribes that stood against the order before reunite against the ancient enemy? Or will the problems of a new world stop pacts of the old world from surviving?

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Out Of Character Thread:
https://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=91841&p=2992262#post2992262

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At Medical Experimentation HQ:

Eleven people sat around a table waiting for the king to arrive. It was the day to discuss the next step of their plans. For a few years now they had been spending resources to try and figure out where the artifacts of old had been buried. The hope being, that they could retrieve the artifacts and restore their own power back to the state that it used to be. As they made idle chatter, waiting for their king to arrive when suddenly the large doors to the conference room opened and the king came walking into the room. The eleven heads of the family stood with a slight bow and the king raised his hand to motion to them to sit down.

As the king sat down at the table he began to spoke. "Thank you, all of you for coming. I know that with the recent expansion of our company and the many locations that we are adding for the furthering of our business, you all have been busy with helping to manage these new projects. Today we are here to discuss not only the beginning of phase one of Project Restituere but, the spearhead agent who will be the leader of the project. A few months ago when the last time we met, I had asked all of you to put names forward on who you think should spearhead this project. Since then we have worked through your lists of suggestions and I have decided on what we are going to do. Each family is great at a different part of the company and as such, each of your top picks will work together on a sort of mini-council for this project. Each council member of this smaller council will be in charge of the different roles that they do best. The person will be leading this council will be my daughter. With this plan announced are there any who disagree?"

The king looked around the table to see the different heads of the family discuss it quietly with those around them. Finally, one of them raised their hand and the king motioned to him to speak. "While I do not disagree with the plan I do have a question. How much power will your daughter hold in this mission if she is leading them." The rest of the heads of family nodded before the king spoke to answer the question. "She will have the ultimate power to make the decisions. Your people will serve as her advisors, telling her the best course of action for the different things in motion. More than likely, multiple council members may have a different idea on what is best for proceeding in different situations. This is why she will hold the ultimate power to make the decision of how things will proceed. Now with no further questions, let us move onto the next thing on the board."


At Construction Zone for new Medical Experimentation research lab in Delta Colorado:

Valeria was overlooking the construction zone that was in front of her. She was wearing her normal dress like outfit. Working on the construction of the zone was the werewolf clans. It was one of the few instances where her race worked with there's. They built the stuff the vampires wanted to be built and in return, the vampires paid them with experimental medicine to try and help give them slightly more control of their beast forms. She had just been informed of her father's plans a week ago and knew that today was the day that her father and the other heads of the family would be voting on the plan. She knew that no one would oppose her father on the plan so instead of being there to receive the news she was continuing to work as security for the new construction zone. Mainly she was making sure humans didn't make their way into the zone somehow. She had several divisions of agents around the area as well covering everything with the order to report to her if someone who shouldn't be in the location was trying to get in. For now, she was simply watching the werewolves work, observing the different werewolves and what they were capable of. She was more so interested in observing the Alpha of the clan that was working on the current construction project. She had never met the Alpha and it was enough to make her curious.

[Rikaya]

Kaden was confused. His vision seemed to be blurry and the things he was seeing appeared as foggy images that kept flashing in and out in odd and random ways. Nothing he was seeing went together, didn't form a coherent sequence of events, and didn't make any sense. The only thing he was sure of, was that he saw everything from his own perspective, like he was actually there in that moment. Flash... "Kaden go upstairs please....." a woman looked down at Kaden with a concerned look on her face. Mom? Kaden found himself thinking, what is she doing here? Flash... Another woman which Kaden didn't recognize knelt down to him. "Hi Kaden" she said with a soft tone and a warm smile. Kaden looked behind her to see a man standing there with what looked like a clerical collar. Were they from a church? Flash... The room was hot, too hot and it smelled like......something was burning? Kaden couldn't move or breathe. His lungs were filling with smoke and felt himself cough. Then a scream filled his ears and Kaden jolted awake in his bed, his body moving to a sitting position. He was breathing heavy, sweat running down his face from his hair line, which he wiped with the back of his hand. Trying to catch his breath, he looked around and realized he was in his room. It was dark, probably the middle of the night, and he figured out that he was dreaming.

What the hell was that? Kaden thought to himself and got out of his bed to go wash the sweat off his face. In the bathroom, he cleaned up and then looked at himself in the mirror. The man looking back at him was a 26 year old kid who's life was turned upside years ago. Now his body was 26 but he himself was much older due to his werewolf immortality. He wondered sometimes how he even got to where he is now because being a werewolf was never on his agenda. His mind still racing from his dream, Kaden made his way back to his bed, laid down and looked at his clock to see what day it is. It was almost that time again.......sighing he drifted off back to sleep.


*******************

The construction site was booming. Kaden has managed to motivate his clan to get into their work and get things done and he was glad to see hard work in action. He himself was using a woodcutter to cut down wooden boards into long thin strips which were going to be used as wall reinforcements in certain sections of the building they were working on. He wasn't paying much attention to anything else as he was engrossed in what he was doing and his mind kept going back to his dream he had last night. It still didn't make sense.

The woodcutter was loud so when someone approached him he didn't notice them until a stack of papers were shoved his face. A little peeved at this display he turned off the woodcutter, removed his protective glasses and was about to snap at whoever got in the way like that until he saw who it was. Carolina stood next to him with a wide smile on her face holding the papers. She was a girl from Kaden's pack who always seemed to be a bit infatuated with him and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. "Carolina? Why are you on the site? I thought you girls had another job to get to" Kaden wondered. "I'm here just trying to help out! The final construction plans are here and your review is needed" she explained and extended the papers to him again. Kaden hated doing paperwork, but as Alpha of his clan and the lead on this construction project, he didn't have a choice. "Oh right, okay" he said and took the papers from her, she also pulled out a pen from her pocket before Kaden could even ask for one. This made him chuckle and shake his head, "Always ready aren't you?" he commented. "Of course!" she responded.

Kaden took a few moments to go over the paperwork and he walked around the site, checking on things and marking things off as he went. Once satisfied with what he was seeing, he needed a signature from the person who requested the construction job to ensure that they also approve the plan. Looking around, Kaden found the vampire girl who was always here when his clan was working. He has heard about her multiples times and knew she came from an important family and someone from her family had requested this medical office to be built. Kaden made his way over to the vampire and when he got closer, the other vampires she had positioned all over the site moved towards him which made him stop instantly. Raising his hand up as if to show that he comes in peace, "Just need the boss to sign some papers" Kaden spoke up referring to the vampire in charge. The vampires always seemed to have really tight security around their construction sites which Kaden respected, but also found a bit excessive at times.

[Numbers]

Valeria raised her hands as the vampires got closer, making them retreat back to their hiding places. As she walked to where he was, her dress moved, and as her dress moved, different patterns came in and out of view on it. Almost like the dress was many different patterns all at once and not at all, all at the same time. She took the papers for now and overlooked them real quick before starting to walk again. "Follow." Was all she said before she went to take a look at the first location. The sun only served to make her skin look whiter than it already was, making her skin look the color of fresh snow.

As she looked at the first location, it was then she spoke up again to the Alpha. "So you're the Alpha hmm? I don't recognize you. Though, I guess it's been a while since we hired your tribe to do work for us. So what is your name?" As she spoke to him, she was aware of the eyes of the other werewolves watching the two of them. Especially the eyes of shewolf. Possibly his mate, it brewed a possibility to cause some drama and trouble if she touched the Alpha in some wrong way.

She marked part of the paper for the area they were looking at before handing him the papers again. She then went to move around him, putting a hand lightly on one shoulder as she moved around behind him over to his other side, giving an almost hinting look to the shewolf that was watching. She had no attention with the alpha at all, after all, he was just a mutt. Not even a purebred as far as she was concerned. Even if he was a purebred, it wouldn't interest her at all since he was just a dog. However, she did love to cause drama and trouble, both among her own race and among the other races. After living for centuries upon centuries, it was one of the few ways she still found entertainment.

[Rikaya]

The vampire girl definitely carried herself with poise and her status was fairly apparent, even to Kaden's untrained eye. Kaden never came from a high status family, he knew his parents had money but they weren't anyone of any huge importance. As far as Kaden was concerned, they had good jobs and they never struggled, to him they were just normal people. So even though Kaden wasn't of high status himself, he could tell that royalty was written all over this girl. It almost made him scoff they way she told him to follow her, but he knew better than to run his mouth. He wanted to observe her for a while.

He followed behind her as she walked and looked over the work his pack was doing on the site. As she walked, Kaden's keen nose couldn't help but pick up on the scent of her perfume and he noticed how fair her skin looked in the sunlight. Kaden wasn't sure how much tolerance the vampires actually had for being in the sun, but even if it hurt her he doubted she would show it. He remained quiet as they walked, until the vampire spoke up. "Heh" Kaden began, knowing that the vampire wasn't wrong about him being new. "I'm fairly new, you might remember Royce if you've ever worked with this pack before. He was the Alpha before I took over" he explained. "I'm Kaden" he introduced himself and watched as the vampire walked around him, as if sizing him up, her hand gently grazing his shoulder. Instinctively, Kaden's muscles tensed. He never meant to react that way, but years of being a lone wolf he taught himself to be on high alert at all times. His ears also picked on the sounds of a very strong heart beat a little ways away, a heart beat of someone who was growing anxious or angry. Kaden looked up to see Carolina looking particularly peevish at how the vampire circled him. Now he knew what this girl was doing. "And what shall I call you?" he asked politely with a crooked smile and took the paperwork back from her when she was finished with it.

Almost instantly Carolina was at his side and Kaden raised his eyebrows at her. First, he didn't like his pack using their abilities so freely in the open, he always cautioned them about who may be watching. Second, he hoped that Carolina would have better control over her emotions. "I can take those from you Kaden, I know exactly how you like them filed" she piped up and shot a death glare at the vampire. Carolina fell right into her trap. "Thank you Carolina" Kaden answered and handed her the papers and the girl walked away with a proud look on her face. Kaden cleared his throat, "Can we try this again? I'm Kaden, Kaden Walker, I thank you for your business Miss-?" he asked and extended his hand to her.

[Numbers]

Valeria watched the reaction from the shewolf a sly smile before turning her attention to the Alpha. "Zurbank. Valeria Zurbank, first princess to Edward Zurbank, king of the vampires." She had noticed the way he had tensed before when she touched him and decided to speak up again. "Either you're not much for other people, or you have a strong distrust of my kind." She stepped away from and walked up to a part of the building that was mostly completed. The construction zone was building a campus of multiple buildings. "I was wondering where Royce scurried off to. I'm glad that the fact that you are alpha means I didn't scare him and the whole pack away. We used to hire Royce a lot but after the last job he did for us, we figured he and your pack might choose to not take our jobs anymore. Rather bloody, messy accident. A couple of humans stumbled into the construction zone, saw something they shouldn't. He wanted to knock them out and make it seem like they were out partying. I had them killed instead." She then started to move again, putting her hands behind her back as she continued to walk among the construction zone.

She was curious to know what Kaden's stance was on the human population. Her race very much saw them as cattle, food, lesser beings that would often get in the way. Yet, despite them being a lesser species they were the most populate and forced the rest of the races to go into hiding to avoid another war. She shook her head before thinking about it. "If you're a new Alpha then, I am guessing it means you're a younger pup. At least, age-wise, young compared to me. Tell me, what did your last Alpha tell you before you took over? Any information on the other packs, information on the vampire royal family. What about your mate just now? I am curious to know just how old you really are." She said with a curious glance to him, waiting to see what his answer would be. As she did so she made sure to keep an eye out for the shewolf, already planning different things to cause some fun with the shewolf.

[Rikaya]

So she is royalty, Kaden thought to himself after the vampire girl, now known as Valeria, introduced herself. Kaden knew of the vampire hierarchy but he was never sure how much they lived up to being called kings, queens, and princesses. Clearly, they lived up to it a lot. It wasn't a bad thing but it also seemed a bit daunting. How is anyone supposed to live up to their expectations? How do they build alliances? Werewolves had it a bit easier. The Alpha had the ultimate control and the ultimate say, but before the Alpha can be respected, they have to earn it, literally fight for it. Kaden worked his way in, most of his pack trusted him, but there was a set few that still wanted his spot as Alpha. This was normal in werewolf packs and a power struggle happened from time to time, but that's what the Alpha ritual was for. If you wanted to claim your spot as the true Alpha of the pack, you had to put the ones who question you in their place. Denver, Kaden's beta has been preparing him for this as Kaden had yet to earn his tattoo which would signify his status. He knew that not having solidified his place as Alpha made him an easy target, so he had to act soon.

Kaden listened as Valeria spoke, she was a curious one for sure, but his instincts told him to be careful with how he answered her questions. "Don't be offended, there was a time where I didn't trust anyone. Call it a reflex of sorts" Kaden explained his reaction to her touch. Hearing her talk about Royce made Kaden think of him too, though not in a good way. Kaden used to hate him for turning him, but he let that go after he decided to finally join the pack. Royce wanted to be Kaden's mentor but he died before he could do that, so he left Kaden with all of his journals and books to help educate him, except Kaden hasn't touched any of them yet. He himself was a learn as you go type of guy. A smirk crossed his lips when Valeria mentioned his age. "Perhaps I am younger than you, but since its rude to ask a lady her age I guess I won't ever know" he commented. "I am a new Alpha, yes, but isn't age just a number?" he evaded her question. He wasn't sure if she was genuinely curious or was looking for reasons to mess with him. After all, she already had Carolina dancing to her beat. "And Carolina, she is not my mate. I have a whole clan of werewolves to maintain, I don't have much time for women these days" Kaden went on. "May I ask why you're so curious about me and my pack? If this is about the job, I assure you, these guys are some of the best. So if you're concerned about how I handle my clan and the job getting done, you don't need to worry about that" Kaden assured her and looked over to see Carolina, who was helping some of the guys load their trucks and stealing glances over at him and Valeria. He would need to have a chat with her later.

[Numbers]

"Good answers. Answering your question should give you a pretty good idea of just how old I am as well. Considering your answers I must assume it means that Royce didn't tell you much about what it is you should know. About a couple of centuries ago, war broke out between the many different intelligent races of the planet. Humans were able to forge unique weapons that resulted in us fae races being weakened. Vampires losing their powers while out in the sun, werewolves being unable to control their powers, fairies being unable to open up their legendary faerie rings, and so much more. As a result we fae races banded together in an alliance and waged a deadly and long war against the humans. The result was that we destroyed the order that made these weapons, but the weapons themselves were lost to the ages." She continued to walk and would give glances over to Caroline as if begging the woman to try something again.

"I fought in the wars and I remember them like they were just this morning. The result for our races, due to what appeared to be the permanent loss to our abilities, was that we all decided it was best if we faded from the view of humans and turned simply into the creatures of myths in order to better protect ourselves and avoid a new war. This is the reason I am asking you a lot of questions about you and your clan. The previous Alpha had no issues keeping his people in obedience. Not everyone in your clan will agree with the vampires either, after all, there are other packs that are more feral, who are only invisible because of the vampires and other fey races taking actions to make sure that humans don't discover them. You could say that me checking in on you is making sure that we don't have a new problem to deal with. A new issue, in need of culling. Do you understand so far?" As she asked the question she stopped and looked him dead in the eyes. Her threat was very real and she wanted to make sure that he knew it too. "Of course if you want your people to be more feral like the other packs that is something we can arrange."

((on a different device than usual sorry if there are spelling and grammar issues xD))

[Rikaya]

Kaden followed and let the vampire talk. It seemed she wanted to get a point across and the story she was telling was something Kaden wasn't fully aware of so he listened with interest. As he listened, he began to realize that he should probably go through the journals and books that Royce had left him. Kaden was more than sure that if Royce was still alive he would do everything he could to build Kaden into the next Alpha. Though, admittedly Kaden was never too sure on why Royce took such an interest in him in the first place. Sometimes Kaden's memories or the things he thought he knew seemed out of place or missing entirely. Something had always seemed off but he never fully committed to figuring it out. Perhaps now was the time to start. As Valeria explained the history of the war and how it impacted the fae, things began to make a little more sense about how things worked. Kaden appreciated the history lesson but he couldn't help but wonder what she really wanted from him.

When she shifted the topic back to him and the pack, he figured out that she was just fishing to make sure him being a new Alpha wasn't going to be a problem. Kaden narrowed his eyes. He wondered if she only requested his pack to come work for her just so she could feel him out, test him, question him. That didn't sit well with him and he felt his emotions stirring, but he knew he had to keep it under control. Being as polite as possible, he let the girl finish her rant before he spoke up. When she looked him in the eye and threatened him, that's when he had to say something. "Listen" he began calmly, "I realize my knowledge about the nonhuman world is lacking. There is a lot I may not know or understand, after all I wasn't always a werewolf, but I own up to my weakness and recognize them" he explained, but then something changed in him as he considered the rest of her words.

His body shifted into a defensive position, his eyes changed from his usual blue to his bright yellow wolf eyes. Kaden looked down at the girl knowing full well she could probably take him in a fight, but not like he wouldn't fight back. "I know I'm not Royce, he was well liked and respected by this whole pack. I have my work cut out for me, but I decided to take this position for a reason. I didn't want any of this at first, but I'm here now and there is no turning back. Whatever responsibility I have to take on I will" his voice grew huskier as he spoke, a growl wanting to force its way out of his throat, he had to maintain control. "So instead of keeping tabs on me and trying to make sure I have control over my people, why don't you worry about your own and let me do my job" he concluded and allowed himself to relax, his eyes changing back to his normal color. "After all, I have to finish building your lab, so lets go back to a professional level shall we?" he suggested and stepped away from her. He turned to look at his clan packing up the site for the day. Denver, his Beta, was waiting by a truck and when he caught Kaden looking over at him, he waved him over. "Is there anything else you need from me Miss Zurbank?" Kaden asked. "If so I would be happy to stay and assist you myself as my men are packing up the site for the day" he offered trying to come off the rush of anger this girl managed to get out of him.

[Numbers]

Her smile curled at the ends as she had a wide sly smile on her face now. "Nothing I need right now but a few more minutes of your time. I must say it has been a while since someone spoke to me like that. Your previous alpha was certainly too scared, or maybe he was simply not stupid. Hard to tell whether its courage or stupidity. So often, they're the same." She walked to move in front of him so that she would be in his gaze again. "I hired your pack because they're some of the best builders among the clans, not to test you. I am glad though that you will choose to do your job well though. After all, among my race, I am the one in charge of enforcing the fae laws that came out of the peace treaty. Soon, a messenger will be coming to your pack from another pack. The message is gonna be relevant to the work that I do and it is going to have a request in it. Just remember that to me everything is a game, a side effect of my old age. I rarely get serious since the war happened and when I do, not many live after it." She said with a sly smile before not only looking to the beta but the shewolf.

As if to prove the point that she was rarely serious she quickly moved forward to Kaden and gave him a soft gentle kiss on the side of his cheek before backing up slightly to jump from her spot to a part of the building that was sticking up. Her hands were now resting on the building next to her feet as she was crouched over looking at him with the side of her head cocked. The kiss meant nothing and served a singular purpose, to rile up the shewolf for some more fun. "I expect the messenger will arrive for you tomorrow. My guards and I will be here on campus through the night and the day that is tomorrow. You can give me the answer to my request then after talking to your pack and doing research." Even without her powers in the sun, she was still pretty strong, flexible and limber. After all, she was a soldier and she has had hundreds of years to perfect not only her killing but physical abilities without her powers. For now, she would simply watch with amusement of the new alpha's pack as she wondered what kind of impact he would leave.


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Etmere was laying down on his stomach with his sniper rifle in hand as he looked through the scope at the target. He slowed his breathing and time almost seemed to slow down around him as he pulled the trigger a few times. The sound of his powerful rifle echoed through the gun range, though everyone in it paid little attention to it due to the earmuffs that everyone was wearing. He took his eyes away from the scope and moved to stand up, placing his rifle on the table to his side. He then pressed a button making the targets move from the end of the range over to him. Each bullet found its mark in its head. Granted, nonmoving marks were easy to hit, especially when the environment didn't have any of the environmental effects that would mess with the path of the bullet beside air resistance and gravity.

He went to take off his ear muffs and as he did there was another agent standing behind him with a yellow envelope. "Nice shooting as always Special Agent Etmere. Command says its time for your next mission and for you to receive your new partner. They want you to head up to the conference room to meet her and for the two of you to receive your next mission."

Etmere took the envelope from the agent before opening it up. Inside was the papers of the person he was supposed to work with, as well as a special letter issued from his unit commander, marking it as one of the special missions that most of the FBI knew nothing about. He grabbed the rifle and compacted it into it's smaller form before handing it to the other agent. It was very similar to the hidden one his back. He couldn't train with it since there was the chance of it being seen on a camera and bringing a whole host of questions. So he always borrowed the one that was in the training armory. "Return that for me, I'm heading up to go get the details." He figured that he should probably read the details on his partner but he preferred to just meet her in person and see who she really was. The agent nodded in response before leaving. Etmere himself went to the elevator and pressed the button for the tenth floor. He was currently in sublevel five where the shooting range was located. As he rode the elevator to the top he couldn't help but think about what his new mission would be.

When the elevator doors opened up he was greeted by a large number of agent offices. He went to where his office was and grabbed his black coat and put it on before grabbing his badge and heading to the conference room. When he entered, he noticed that the person who must have been his new partner was there. A woman, with an obvious build that wasn't that of an FBI agent. Which meant she was a task force agent like himself but one from a different country than the one he was embedded into.

"Hello, you must be my new partner. My name is Special Agent Etmere Roloft of the FBI, an operative of Michael. Looks like the boss isn't here yet which gives up an opprotunity for introductions before we get our first mission."

[Rikaya]

Kaden chuckled at Valeria's response to him. He was sure she was going to try to wring his neck but he figured there were worse ways to die so he wasn't worried about it if it ever came to that."Well, then I may be a little bit of both, stupid and courageous, but you won't be disappointed with our work. You'll have the best medical office in town" he assured her and then was a bit surprised with her next comment. A messenger? What else could this vampire want from him? A part of him was intrigued by this but another part was slightly suspicious. "If that's the case," Kaden went on commenting about her never being serious. "I just hope I'm not the one to trigger the deadly warrior woman lurking deep inside that small frame of yours" he joked with a smirk on his face. He was hoping Valeria had at least a little bit of a sense of humor. When she kissed him on the cheek he wasn't too phased by it. He figured she was playing one of her games she spoke about and he shook his head lightly at this display. Especially since Carolina almost lost her head a few meters away from them. Luckily Denver was there to keep her from doing something stupid.

"You have yourself a lovely rest of your day Miss Zurbank" Kaden spoke to her with a smile and gave her a small bow before disappearing in a flash. Superhuman speed was a gift. When Kaden got to where Denver was standing by the truck, he noticed Denver looking at him with a grin. "The ritual needs to happen soon" Kaden spoke to Denver hoping Denver wasn't thinking him and the vampire had some "thing" going on. After having the conversation he had with Valeria, Kaden suddenly had a surge of motivation run through him. He wasn't sure if he was just being a typical prideful male who wanted to prove a point, or if he didn't want her to have excuses to mock him. He needed to become a true Alpha and soon. Denver's grin turned into a smile filled excitement and he rubbed his hands together before following Kaden into the truck, "You got it boss!" he replied and the trucks belonging to the werewolves all seemed to start at once and one by one they left the construction site.


<-------------------------------------------------------->

The click of high heels could be heard through the halls. Katja had arrived at the American FBI location she was sent to by the FSB, the Federal Security Service, the Russian equivalent to the American FBI. For a while, she has worked for the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), an independent branch of the Russian FBI, which kept her traveling to many foreign countries for the past several years. A mission of great importance has sent her here, and she was told she would be briefed on it further when she got here and met her partner. She was dressed professionally for this meeting by wearing a suit jacket, a light blue blouse and a pencil skirt to match the heels, in her hand she carried a small briefcase.

She approached the security desk and smiled at the agent that stood there, the agent seemed to recognize her and smiled back. "Ms. Ivanova, welcome to America" he greeted her and shook her hand. "Thank you for having me" Katja responded with a slight Russian accent. After spending years of learning other languages, she had hoped she would lose her Russian accent, but some of it still stuck around reminding her of her heritage. Sometimes that reminder made her feel closer to home, a home she hasn't visited in a long time due to her dangerous line of work.

Katja placed her briefcase on the table in front of the American agent, "A gift from Russia" she commented with a smile. "Always appreciated ma'am, but as you know we will have to have this vetted" he explained. "Of course, do what you need to" Katja was no stranger to protocol and let the man do his job. "Here's your new ID badge, if you'll follow me I'll show you to the office" the agent handed Katja her ID badge and showed her to the tenth floor and into a conference room. "I hope you'll be okay here? Your partner should be here soon and then you will be debriefed" the agent explained. "Thank you, I will be just fine" Katja reassured him and the agent walked out of the room.

Katja unbuttoned her suit jacket and stretched her arms, a 15 hour flight left her a bit stiff. After several moments, she heard the door open again and a young man around her age walked in. She turned to him when he spoke, "Hello, I presume the same about you" Katja commented on him being her partner. "Katja Ivanova, special agent of the FSB and SVR, Russian division. It's good to meet you Etmere" she introduced herself and extended her hand to him as a greeting. "If you read my file at all" she nodded to the envelope he was holding in his hand, "you should know I mostly work alone, so I'm sorry if my teamwork is a bit rusty at first" she joked.

[Numbers]

"Well, I didn't read it. I opened it and that is about it. I prefer to get to know my partner through meeting them and working with them. Files and papers are great and all, yet they only tell what the person who wrote the file thinks of the person, not who the person really is. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and ultimately, so is every opinion. I wouldn't worry about your teamwork. I have worked with others before, though I have to admit, this is my first time working with someone who isn't from the FBI." He said with an amused and sly smile.

"So tell me, before the command gets here, what are your weapons of choice. Mine is a large rifle, I prefer to fight from long distance but I do keep a weapon for close range in case someone gets close to me somehow. What about yourself?" He asked as he moved over to the table and sat down in one of the chairs watching her.

[Rikaya]

(Sorry for such a long one! xD I kinda figured this part would be pretty lengthy)

Katja nodded at Etmere as he spoke, "that's a fair assessment" she agreed and sat down in a chair across from him. "We have our own divisions in Russia who function much like the FBI, but I personally have been with foreign intelligence for the last several years and a lot of my work has been.....off the radar if you will. I usually don't stray in one place for too long" she explained and folded her hands together on the desk, looking the man over. He seemed approachable enough but Katja had a hard time letting her guard down this quickly. New partner or not, she would tread lightly until they earn each other's trust. She smiled at his next question, "When it comes to weapons, I like a crossbow myself. Hand to hand combat is what I was trained in the most however, so I like to carry blades in case things get hairy in those situations. I have gun training too and can use one if need be" she went on. "I kind of wonder why they chose the two of us to be partners, any idea on what this mission could be?" she wondered.


<-------------------------------------------->

Kaden sat on the floor, with his werewolf pack sitting around him in a circle. They had all been informed by Denver that the alpha ritual will take place tonight and everyone looked a bit uncomfortable as they waited. Everyone gathered in the large basement of the mansion which used to be owned by Royce and after his death, was inherited by the remainder of his pack. Royce was a great business man, and he build a prosperous construction business. His work was known in at least 15 states across the country so he was able to afford certain luxuries, such as a mansion big enough to house a werewolf pack. Royce's shoes were definitely big shoes to fill, and Kaden was going to start tonight, by completing the Alpha ritual.

The ritual consisted of two wolves who want the Alpha position going head to head in a battle and earning the respect of the other wolves in the pack. Kaden wasn't sure who his opponent was going to be but it could easily be any of the men in his pack as he was more than certain that most of them would like to be Alpha. "So, who is it going to be?" Kaden finally asked and stood up slowly circling the group. No one said a word until Kaden heard a stir behind him and turned to see some of werewolves moving over to the side to let someone walk through into the circle. Kaden tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow in surprise to who he saw walk into the ring. "Denver? I didn't think you would be the one to come in here" Kaden commented. "Are you really that surprised?" Denver replied. One known fact is that Alpha's are not always the biggest wolves in the pack and this was evidenced by Denver. He was the Beta in the pack and he was of a bigger build than Kaden. Kaden was tall and lean but he was strong. Denver's strength was visible in his broad shoulders, his arms and chest. Any outsider looking in would probably say that this is a done deal, that Denver would take Kaden out in a second, but Kaden was determined tonight.

He smiled at Denver, "I'm not surprised, but you do know I have to fight with the intent to kill, right?" Kaden asked him. "Don't hold back on my watch" Denver replied with a smirk and took the liberty to phase first. Denver's eyes turned yellow, he bared his teeth which turned into his fangs, and his hands flexed as his claws grew slowly from his fingers. Without a full moon, werewolves could not turn into their full wolf form successfully. It was possible, but the lack of control they had over their full wolf form made it safer to only transform into the phases they could control. Kaden followed suit and transformed into his third phase as well with his eyes glowing yellow, and his fangs and claws on full display. The third phase also enhanced their abilities, not as much as their full wolf form, but enough to where they could do some damage.

The two werewolves circled each other and the rest of the pack watched patiently. Denver threw the first punch which Kaden caught and with one hand and swiped his free hand toward Denver, which he narrowly avoided. Breaking Kaden's grip on his fist, the two wolves went at each other, punching, clawing, moving at impeccable speed. When they broke away, they were both visibly out of breath. Denver's cheek was cut open with blood coming down his face and several cuts on his arms. Kaden had a deep gash in the shape of claw marks going across his chest. Werewolves were known for their self-healing abilities and Kaden already began to feel the skin on his chest tighten and close, although Denver wasn't okay with that.

Dashing towards Kaden, Denver pushed his claws into Kaden's chest almost sending Kaden into a nearby pillar which was supporting the ceiling in the basement. The pain was instant and excruciating but Kaden had just enough time to block Denver from digging his claws any further into his chest. Denver pushed against him, both wolves growling at each other, their eyes fierce. Kaden dug his own claws into Denver's arm, making him growl in pain and Kaden took this opportunity to wrap his arm around Denver's neck and give him a good kick in the gut, sending Denver down to his knees.

Kaden clutched his chest as this wound was deeper and worse than the last, so his body was having a hard time healing. Kaden took a quick look around the rest of the pack noticing that they were all watching with hard expressions and he knew he needed to do end this soon if he was to take his place as Alpha. Letting rage take over when you are even partially transformed, could turn into a deadly situation, but rage could be a major fuel for a werewolf's power. A big part of Kaden didn't want to kill Denver, but the point was to fight like you intend on killing. So Kaden began to focus on his rage. Meanwhile, Denver took a minute to recollect himself but this was all part of his plan, to take Kaden by surprise.

It worked for the most part because Kaden didn't even see Denver coming. He came off his knee quickly and lunged himself at Kaden. Kaden stumbled back and reached out his arm towards Denver and his hand collided with Denver's neck hard enough to knock some wind out of him making him let out a cough. Kaden however didn't let up and he squeezed his fingers tighter.

Denver struggled to breathe and he grabbed at Kaden's wrist to try and pry him off, but Kaden wouldn't budge. He growled and began pushing Denver back down to his knees and as he did, a wicked idea crossed his mind. Kaden moved his fingers just enough so that when he released his claws they went right into Denver's neck. A shriek could be heard in the room and Kaden recognized it as belonging to Carolina and the rest of the pack stirred, some of them rising from their sitting positions. Kaden growled in their direction to let them know that they should stay back, and they did. Blood began to seep from Denver's neck as Kaden pushed his claws in deeper. Denver's eyes now changed from fierce to panicked and he kept struggling to catch air, his hands desperately pulling at Kaden's wrist. Denver was on his knees now, making short gasps and chocking sounds. "Kad.....en....." he managed to say through his gasping but Kaden was lost in his own rage. He stood there, claws deep into his Beta's neck, and he knew he was killing him. When Denver's hands fell to his sides and his gasps for air grew shorter and shorter Kaden's humanity flooded back in and he finally released Denver's neck, letting his Beta fall to the floor barely alive.

Kaden stood there looking down at what he just did, his hand covered in Denver's blood which was dripping slowly to the floor. There was regret, horror, and remorse that flooded him all at once but when he moved his eyes to look at his pack, he knew he couldn't lose this moment. Carolina's eyes were filling with tears but Kaden had to ignore all that. He bared his teeth and let out a loud growl making sure to make eye contact with as many of his pack members as possible. This was the final step, the call of the Alpha. If the rest of the pack bows to him, that means he did it, he has earned his place.

As his growl rang through the room, the rest of the pack froze and Kaden looked them over intently. After a few moments, one by one the pack began to get down on one knee and bow their head to Kaden. It was done, he was now the true Alpha.

Denver was laying motionless on the floor before he awoke with a loud gasp for air. Kaden was relieved to know that he let him go with enough time to allow him to heal. Kaden sat down next to Denver and put his hand on his shoulder giving it a light squeeze. "You good?" he asked and Denver looked over at him, managing to give a weak grin. "That's how you do it" he said through labored breaths and raised a fist to Kaden, which Kaden met with his own.

[Numbers]

Before he could answer with his opinion on why they were put together an answer came from a man who had silently entered the room, the command of order's division in America. "It's because the two of you are strong in the area that the other is weak. Katja, I trust your flight was well and thank you for coming to assist our division with this mission. Before the two of you ask any questions lets move onto the briefing." He came over to the table and sat down at it as well before pulling a remote out of his pocket. He pressed a button and a screen on the wall turned on showing information that would match what he was saying.

"Tomorrow, we begin operation cleansing rain. This operation is only coming into play due to the fact that we have gained information that the fae races are starting to stir and cause trouble again. Mainly the vampire clan is starting to look into the artifacts that we have long kept hidden from the world. If they find the locations of where each artifact is buried, the fae could gain massive amounts of power that they could use to once again plunge the world into fear. While we could go and grab the artifacts and bring them back to more secure places, this actually gives us a unique opportunity. Intel suggests that the one spearing heading the vampire search is 'The Queen', the same vampire agent who lead the special operation missions against our people in the first war. She was extremely dangerous then and should be considered even more dangerous now since she has had many years to perfect her state of killing compared to us. Agents who run into her are instructed to retreat. We expect that we are going to need close to a few platoons together just to take her down with the little information we have on her." He pressed some buttons to show some drawings of the vampire and photos they took of her in recent years.

Then the slides went onto the different clans of the werewolves. "While we guard the locations of the artifacts we are going to start hunting the werewolf clans. We don't have much information on a lot of the clans. The information we do have is on the more wild clans. Our hope is that by hunting down and torturing the Alpha of these more wild packs, we can gain information on the names and locations of the quieter more hidden packs. The two of you are one of the teams that will be hunting the werewolves. Your first location is going to be Yellowstone park and you are set to leave right away taking one of our smaller jets. Now, any questions?"

[Rikaya]

Katja turned her attention to the man who walked into the conference room and nodded at him when he spoke. "Thank you sir, it is good to be here" she answered him and leaned back in her chair as he went right into the briefing of the mission Katja and Etmere were being assigned to. At one point she crossed her arms across her chest and watched the screen as the mission was explained, focusing on the images of her soon to be targets. As she listened to the briefing, part of her mind began to wonder back to her teachings from Catholic school. When she attended her specialty classes, she was taught about the demeanors and habits of the multitude of fae that existed in this world. Some were more dangerous than others, but all were viewed as a threat. If they kept their heads down no one would need to take them out, but the hunters still existed to maintain control. Looks like it was time to bring her hunter handbook back out which she had put together during her time in school and one she kept updated as the years went on. Part of Katja's job was to acquire intel and it's a habit she decided to keep. The more she knew the better off she was. After the briefing was over Katja unfolded her arms, "I do have a few questions if you don't mind. Why are we starting out with the werewolves? Is there information you'd like us to obtain from them, or a specific group you need us to take out? Or are all werewolves our targets?" Katja wondered.

[Numbers]

"Our primary goal will be the vampires, however, as of right now they're too dangerous to start with. To say the least, we have no idea how organized they are, how many of them there are, their whereabouts, and their goals. What we do know though is that the different mythical races stay in contact with each other and help each other with different needs. The fairies from what we can tell are very low on numbers and finding them will take longer than we have. The Merfolk retreated to some of the deepest parts of the ocean making it impossible for us to reach them currently. The werewolves, on the other hand, are a different story." The commander motioned for his own agent to speak, of which he then stood up to address his new partner.

"The wolves it looks like that we're going to be chasing are currently blending in with society in a way that makes it so that we can't find them. However, there are wolf tribes that are much easier to find. Namely the feral tribes who we have been keeping an eye on to make sure they stay in their place. I believe the goal of the commander is that while we ultimately want to hunt down and destroy the vampires we need to find the civilized wolves to find them. To find the civilized wolves, we interact with the feral wolves and use them to get information on where their more hidden cousins are." He then sat back down to let the commander speak again.

"If you have to kill every wolf to get to those bloodsuckers, then you have permission to do so. We are against a clock though, so kill as many wolves as you need in order to get the information on the vampires. Then proceed to move onto the bigger prey, killing smaller vampires to learn about bigger vampires. The information you gain on any vampire agent should be given back to command here since vampire agents are quite strong. Not to mention killing them would only draw the attention of 'The Queen' agent. Something we should avoid doing for now if possible."

[Rikaya]

Katja took in the commander’s explanation and nodded in understanding. “Understood sir” she replied and looked over at her new partner, giving him a small smirk. In truth, Katja hasn’t been on a hunt in a long while. Sure she’s hunted down other people but she hasn’t hunted a fae in quite some time and she knew she would need to adjust her skill set just a little to be better suited for the work she’s about to do. Katja then raised her hand up briefly, “Sir, may I add one more thing? The FSB sends their regards and has sent with me something we are currently manufacturing in Prague. It is a specialty device...or weapon if you will, that could be potentially useful with this current endeavour. Your men are currently vetting it so feel free to test it out” Katja suggested. “My Russian commanders feel it might be especially useful on the werewolves. But, there is no pressure of course, it is afterall a gift to you. Other than that, I am ready to go.” she added and looked over at Etmere.


<----------------------------------------------->

Kaden was in his room, sitting at his desk with the door shut rubbing his temples. His injuries from the fight with Denver have already healed but at the moment, his skin was healing from his alpha tattoo (https://goo.gl/images/sLxKrX) he had obtained not too long ago. Currently, a different annoyance was stressing him out, namely his alpha duties. Since the fight, most of the pack members have settled down and Kaden felt better about having control. However, there were a set few who still decided to test him. Carolina was giving Kaden hell after he asked her to be his omega within the pack, claiming that she is not a “mother” and will not babysit the pack for him. No matter how much Kaden tried to explain the position to her she wasn’t having it so Kaden chose to leave her to stew for a bit until he was ready to deal with her again. Denver teased Kaden about the fact that Carolina just wanted to be his alpha female and that was definitely not up for discussion at the present moment.

To distract himself, Kaden started to read through some of the journals that Royce had left him. They were all basically self-made encyclopedias on all things fae related and Kaden actually found them interesting. There was one journal however, that caught Kaden’s attention and he fished it out of the pile and turned it over in his hands. It was a smaller journal, green, worn as if it was used the most, it was locked, and it had what appeared to be Royce’s initials on the bottom right of the front cover. Kaden could only guess that this was probably a personal journal of Royce’s and a part of him wondered if he should even read it, though it was in the pile of other journals he got so if it has something useful within it, Kaden wanted to know what it is. He took a second to see if he can find a key to the lock but there didn’t seem to be one, so Kaden grasped the metal latch and pulled it apart with his hands. The lock mechanism clicked and the metal latch broke off, falling to the table. Kaden flipped through the pages and noticed that it was Royce’s personal journal after all, as it was dated with every entry. As he kept flipping through, something on one of the pages caught Kaden’s eye and he flipped back to the page and ran his finger over the words. What he saw made him frown instantly and he brought the journal closer to him as if he misread something. “What?........” Kaden said to himself in disbelief. The name in this entry read Serenity Walker. Why did Royce write about mom? Kaden thought to himself and his interest was suddenly peaked and he settled in his chair to read the entry in the journal.

[Numbers]

Valeria was sitting on the highest point of the new building that was being constructed. The day had since gotten dark and the moon was high in the sky. A half moon. Two weeks and her new friend would be forced to transform. She smiled at the thought before looking down at the vampire soldiers moving throughout the construction zone. There was more than one reason for the new facility and quite simply, there were things that the vampires had to construct themselves to make sure everything went correctly.

The main reason her soldiers were moving around though was the fact that they were burying a new device in the ground. A failsafe the council called it. If the day came that they would be hunted again, then all of their campuses had bombs implanted underneath them. Only the bombs were dirty bombs, filled with radioactive materials that would not break down anytime soon. The vampires, thanks to their healing powers, had no problem working near it without protective gear.

She always thought it was funny that humans would make a weapon that was so deadly to themselves, without realizing that it was perfect for the fae who were unaffected by it. Add in the fact that the humans produced radioactive waste and hired outside companies to dispose of it safely, it was easy for the council to obtain and repurpose into bombs. Each facility had at least one, or more depending on the size. In cased in a special cement compound to prevent the radiation from leaking yet, surrounded by enough smaller advanced explosives that would only explode from a special signal device that the vampire king and his heir held.

To her family, the war was never over with the humans. Not until they retrieved the artifacts that took their powers away from them in the first place. Until they got their powers back, they would never stop fighting, infiltrating, and killing those that called themselves mankind. She thought about what Kaden would think of the vampire messenger. She knew that he would be arriving early and would be at the mansion of the wolves soon enough. It was a secret place to anyone but those in the clan and a few other individuals. She herself, having worked with the previous Alpha, had been to the mansion on several occasions. Only a few of her trusted advisors who worked as her private soldiers that reported to her instead of her father knew the location as well since they usually went everywhere with her. She smiled, knowing the time was coming soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander had come to the gate of the private territory of the wolf clan. He rolled down the window and stuck his hand out, pressing a few buttons on the gate to make it open before driving through. As he drove a few more minutes he came out in front of the large mansion-like house that the wolves used as the base came. He had no doubt that they already heard his car a mile away.

He got out with ease though and grabbed the suitcase that was in the backseat before walking up to the front door. He made sure his suit was straight before his free gloved hand knocked on the large door of the wolves mansion. He had his job and he was gonna make sure it got done no matter what. He knew what was in the case, as well as the importance of what was in it. Besides the fact that he was chosen because he knew where this location was, he was also chosen because of just how important it was that the message didn't get intercepted. Because of that, the case was built out of silver to keep wolves from touching it and had a small acid container on the inside to destroy the message if humans got it instead. For now, he waited for the door to be answered.

[Rikaya]

After my encounter with Serenity Walker,
I couldn't get her out of my mind.
She had every chance to kill me, to rid this world of yet
another abomination.
She had the skill, the weaponry, the desire gleaming in her eyes.
But she didn't do it. Why? I couldn't begin to understand......

Kaden read through the journal entry he found which seemed to be about his mom. It wasn't clear what exactly was happening in this point in time because he didn't start reading from the very first entry of the journal, but it was interesting nonetheless. When Kaden finished reading this entry, he wrinkled his nose in disgust because it became very apparent that Royce was attracted to his mother, if not more. This was a detail Kaden was not aware of, nor did he know that Royce even knew his mother. If given the chance Royce probably would have told him, but Kaden spent years avoiding the man and holding a grudge for turning him into a werewolf. Unsure of what to think of this new knowledge, Kaden put down the journal, unlocked his bedroom door and walked down the large spiral staircase of the mansion to find Denver. The beta was found in the kitchen, listening to his music with his headphones on and making himself a quick meal. "Denver...." Kaden spoke up a little impatiently. Denver noticed Kaden and took out one of his headphones. "Hey man, what's up?" he wondered and Kaden approached him. "Did you know anything about Royce and my mom?" Kaden asked in a hushed tone deciding to get straight to the point. If there was anyone who knew anything about Royce, it would be Denver. Denver was visibly surprised by this question and raised an eyebrow. "Your mom? Not at all. I don't know if you know this but whatever Royce scribbled in his personal journals were not known to many" he explained and then a frown crossed his brow and he took off the second headphone.

Kaden picked up on it too and they both turned their heads towards the front door. Their ears picked up the sound of someone at the gates of their home, someone who knew their passcode to get the gates opened. That information was not available to many people at all. "Who the hell is that?" Denver wondered slightly on the defensive. "I think I know...." Kaden replied and remembered his exchange with Valeria the other day, that must be the visitor she was talking about. Kaden began to walk towards the door and reached it just as a knock came through. Unlocking the door, Kaden saw a very put together young man standing outside. Valeria sure likes to keep her people looking nice, Kaden thought to himself. "Hi, you must be the visitor I was told to expect, is that correct?" Kaden asked the man and his eyes wondered down to the suit case he was holding. It was obvious that it was made of silver and Kaden looked back up to the man with a slight smirk on his lips. Whatever is in there, Kaden would need this guy to help him access. Valeria thought of everything.
"Would you like to come in?" Kaden offered and stepped to the side to give the man an option at entering if he wanted to. "I'm sure you already know this, but I'm Kaden Walker, the Alpha. That there is my Beta, Denver" he motioned to Denver who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and gave a wave to the vampire outside their door.

[Numbers]

The man looked at the two wolves in front of him. "Yes, my name is Alexander Von Bulwark. Call me Alex for short though. I am Valeria's most trusted soldier." Instead of answer on whether he would like to come in he did. "Thank you for the invitation though you do not need to worry. Your previous Alpha gave special privileges to me and Valeria that allow us to enter without needing permission. Not that Valeria would need it due to her noble blood. Only a lesser vampire such as myself would need an invitation." He looked to Denver. "I see you're still alive. Guess that means I lost the bet. Darn." He then looked back to Kaden. "Kaden Walker. Freshly made alpha, I can tell by your scent. Werewolves aren't the only ones with strong smells. Though yours is superior that is for sure." He then turned his attention to the stairs and started walking to them.

"We have important business to discuss. Let us meet in Royce's... Sorry... Your, office. Gather those you would trust with your life in their hands. After all, my mistress has an offer for you that could affect your whole tribe." He stopped at the stairs and turned his head to them, looking at Denver now. "If you need extra convincing I believe Denver can explain to you on what I am about to say. It is over an ancient weapon called the Full Moon Staff." He then turned back to the stairs and started to walk up them heading to the office. He knew where it was from memory. He had been to the mansion many times before when Royce was the Alpha.

[Rikaya]

Kaden nodded as Alex walked inside and he closed the door behind him. "Ah yes, I keep forgetting of the relationship Royce had with your clan. I'll keep that in mind" he commented on the fact that Royce had already invited Alex and Valeria inside previously. Denver was looking particularly smug when Alex teased him about still being alive. "You two must know each other too then?" Kaden remarked and looked from Denver to Alex. "Only met a handful of times" Denver replied and walked over to join Kaden and Alex at the stairs. "But yes, as you can see, can't get rid of me that easy" he added with a wink. Kaden shook his head at the exchange between the two men. In truth, he was still new to his pack and while he was well acquainted with the members of his pack by now, he was still working on understanding the alliances Royce had formed before his passing and this meeting was going to be a good learning opportunity. Something Kaden learned since joining this pack is that he should take things as they come to him and be open minded. A lesson which was hard for him to learn, especially after spending years as a lone wolf.

Kaden chuckled when Alex corrected himself about Royce's office. "Don't worry about formalities, Royce's presence is still here even though he is no longer with us" he replied and began to follow Alex up the stairs. The vampire seemed to know his way around the mansion just fine and this made it very apparent that Royce dealt with the vampires quite a bit. The mention of the Full Moon Staff made Kaden look over at Denver as well, who seemed unsure of how to address the subject. "Oh...yeah, Royce has mentioned it before. I know it was a huge ordeal when he was alive and him and Valeria worked together to obtain it but once they did it was never put to use. Or at least not to our knowledge because Royce had passed away, so whatever plan he had with Valeria must have been put on hold" Denver explained. "Though, I wasn't the Beta at the time that was going on so I didn't have the privilege of knowing all the dirty details" he added as they reached the top of the stairs.

Feeling intrigued by this staff, Kaden wanted to know more, but there were a few other werewolves from his pack he wanted to invite to sit in on this meeting. "Denver, could you please help Alex get set up in the office? I'll go grab a few other people to join us" Kaden requested and walked in the opposite direction to where the other bedrooms of the house were located. After a few moments, Kaden walked into the office to join Denver and Alex, with Carolina and two of his middle ranked werewolves trailing behind him. "Alex, this is Carolina, Oliver, and Malcolm, you may speak freely in front of them" Kaden introduced them and took a seat at the table which stood in the middle of the office. He kept an eye on Carolina who looked both shocked to have been invited to this meeting and giddy at the same time.

After everyone was seated, Kaden turned his attention to Alex and his armored suitcase. "So, care to go more into detail about this staff of yours? I'm all ears" Kaden opened the floor to Alex so he may speak.

[Numbers]

Alex nodded as he was asked to begin. "Before I explain on this staff let me stress to everyone, that what you are about to hear, is not to leave this room. You are to tell no one else, and you are to only talk about it to others here in the room when you are sure no one else is listening. This information comes from the highest of secret information among even our organization. The only ones who know are Valeria, me, the council, and the king himself. With that out of the way, let me explain more on this staff. As I said before it is called the Full Moon Staff, as you can guess it has to do with werewolves due to the full moon name in it. The staff itself is a weapon, created by an ancient order of humans that the major fae races once fought against many centuries ago. The humans created a wide array of weapons by forcing the fairies to use their magic. In turn, there was a total of ten weapons made. Once for each major fae race, and a few others for a variety of uses against the fae. Each weapon was used to weaken the fae races by a considerable amount. These weapons almost made us lose the war against the humans, which would have ended up all of the fae races being wiped out. However, in the end, the war was won with many loses. The result of the war was that the fae decided that it would be best if we went into hiding, blending in with the humans, and moving to the new world. We made contracts with the people of this continent at the time and became gods to some, demons to others, and humans to even more. Nowadays, our races are simply stories while we blend in with the humans."

He started to undo the locking mechanism on the suitcase and he continued to talk while it worked on being unlocked. "The Full Moon Staff was the weapon that was created to deal with the werewolves. As I am sure you know, you have some control over your ability to change, yet on a full moon, you are forced to change into something else as well. These effects you feel on the full moon, as well as the ability to achieve your true form, which I doubt any of you know since I think you all are too young to have been in the war, is caused by the staff. In order to remove both your curse from the full moon and your curse of limitation, the staff must be used again to reverse the effects." He opened the briefcase and pulled out a small white gem, that was circular and looked like the moon itself. "This is the Full Moon Gem, the artifact that Royce, the previous alpha, and Valeria, the princess of the vampires, managed to retrieve. The whole staff should have been with it, but it wasn't. The gem by itself is useless and worth nothing." He set the gem carefully down on the desk and pulled some documents, handing them to Kaden since he was the new alpha. "Which brings us to why I am here. Valeria has discovered many potential locations on where the rest of the staff, as well as other artifacts, may be located. The Vampires and Werewolves, since the war, have always had a more stable relationship, and alliance, than the other races. Valeria wishes to use this relationship to the mutual advantage of both races again. The offer is simply this. Kaden and one wolf of his choice will accompany me and Valeria, to these new artifact locations. We personally recommend leaving your Beta here, to run your pack in your absence, of course, the decision is fully up to you though." He took the gem and put it back into the suitcase after everyone had a chance to look at it, only to reseal the suitcase with it's lock again.

[Rikaya]

As Alex spoke, Kaden listened intently and occasionally gave stern glances to his pack members to make sure they were listening too. The topic of conversation interested the young Alpha and he wanted to learn as much as he could. Some of what he was saying, Kaden remembered from the journals Royce had left for him, but he had only scratched the surface on his own. He figured the humans that Alex was talking about were the hunters, which is a topic Kaden started to read about in the journals. The fact that the fae kept a low key lifestyle made sense because Kaden did not recall ever running into a hunter, and if he did, he definitely had no idea who they were.

When Alex revealed the contents of his suitcase, Kaden and his pack members all examined the gem before Kaden was handed a folder packed with some documents. He took them from Alex and opened the folder and flipped through the papers that were inside. There were various pictures of what appeared to be the ancient artifacts Alex was talking about, and each picture was paper clipped to a description of each and other information that was gathered in regards to the artifacts. In the back of the folder were maps, perhaps something Valeria had put together to try and pin point the locations of these items. Looking at these documents made Kaden frown a bit and an uneasy feeling stirred inside him, the images he was looking at felt oddly familiar to him even though at the moment he was sure he's never seen them before.

Denver noticed his Alpha's odd expression and leaned over to him, "You alright?" he wondered in a hushed tone so not to disturb Alex. Kaden took a quick glance at Denver before closing the folder, ".....Uh yeah, fine" he lied, not wanting to get into it at the moment. His thoughts went back to the topic of conversation and the Full Moon Staff sounded like an impressive creation. If this thing could give the werewolves back control of their lives, then in his opinion, this alliance was worth it.

He let Alex finish speaking before he spoke up. "First off, thank you for trusting us with this information Alex, I appreciate the knowledge" Kaden began. "Second, if Royce believed in this alliance then I have no problem honoring that. I didn't know the guy very well and....him and I don't have the best history, but I'm willing to bet that he knew what he was doing. So, if Valeria would like my assistance in this venture, I will help" he agreed. "Though I will ask for one thing. As you know the next full moon is in 2 weeks and we have a protocol to follow when that time comes. I only ask that you let us get that out of the way before we begin this journey. We're all....less than pleasant during that time as I'm sure you understand" Kaden explained.

"Once that's done, we should be good to go" Kaden concluded.

[Numbers]

"That is understandable. As it stands the princess can not begin the mission until this construction job is done anyways. After all, she has to make sure that this project is finished in order to make sure other certain projects are underway for the future. I was also instructed to give you a gift should you to choose to accept this alliance." It was amusing what his mistress would command him to do at times. He pulled out two letters and handed them to the werewolf. "Both contain different items. The first contains a key that unlocks a room at a hotel. In that room, you'll find a bag of supplies, tools, and a phone with a singular number in it that leads to our princess. I won't tell you why such a thing would be needed, that is for you to decide if the need ever arises." He then looked over to the rest of everyone.

"The second letter contains a new passport for you. You'll need it when going on these missions. We didn't know who you would choose so our... Intelligence officers... made a set of passports for the wolves they would determine to be most likely based on the observations we made while you were working at the construction site. There is one for you, your beta, your mate, and a few other senior wolves that you have. Who you decide to use their new passport, is again up to you." He then gave a bow, with one hand on his chest, and one hand holding his briefcase. "Now I shall take my leave. Do not worry about seeing me out. I know my way, and I am sure you and your advisors have much to discuss once I am gone." He waited though to see the answer and the reaction of the wolves on the gifts, as well as the permission to go ahead and leave.

[Rikaya]

Kaden nodded as Alex talked about the construction project that was still underway and which Valeria wanted to complete. "You can also pass on to your princess that we will be working diligently on this construction project as well. Even with the full moon, I expect no serious delays" he reassured the vampire. Though it seemed as if there was more that Alex was instructed to do as he pulled out two envelopes and handed them to Kaden. Raising an eyebrow a bit at Alex's explanation of the contents of the first letter, Kaden opened it and looked inside briefly to see the key he was referring to. He almost let out a chuckle because this was very like Valeria, seeing as she liked to mess with him, but he stifled his laugh because Carolina was fidgeting in her seat. The mere mention of Valeria could send this girl on a spiral, but Kaden receiving a key to a hotel room which will in turn lead him to Valeria, probably made the young wolf's blood boil. At the moment, Kaden really wished that Carolina didn't let Valeria get under her skin so much.

He was glad when the attention was taken off of him when Alex revealed the next letter as having passports for each of them. This time, the mention of Kaden's "mate" seemed to calm Carolina down and she went back to having a content expression. The idea of having a mate made Kaden feel uneasy because part of him didn't see a necessity in having one, nor did he really want to deal with a werewolf such as Carolina on a daily basis, she was already difficult to handle. Though Kaden knew he would need to address this with her sooner or later and just the thought of that gave him a headache. Not that Carolina wasn't a pretty girl in her own right, with her olive skin, brown hair and green eyes, but Kaden never had time to think of her as more than his pack member. Most of his thoughts revolved around figuring out his past and how to be a good alpha.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Kaden stood from his chair as Alex was getting ready to leave. "I appreciate the gifts...whatever they may be for" Kaden commented, mostly referring to the first letter with the hotel key. He reached out his hand to shake Alex's as a thank you, "Thank you for coming. If we have any questions should we be reaching out to you?" he wondered.

[Numbers]

He turned to look at the Alpha. "You should simply ask The Queen', you know where to find her. If you don't know who she is somehow, then you should read the information left behind for you. Specifically the ones regarding the holy war." He then spoke up again. "With that, I must take my leave young Alpha." He bowed one more time before leaving the wolves to themselves to discuss their now new possible plans as well as to discuss on what he had hoped, on how to proceed and who to choose to send with his queen.

As he eventually left the mansion and got back into his car, he pulled out a cell phone and brought it to his ear as it started to dial his queen. "The deal has been accepted as you predicted it would be. Hopefully, they are discussing who they would like to have work with you. Now we shall see if your other predictions come true my queen." Was all he said before hanging up and starting the car as he prepared to leave.

[Rikaya]

After saying their final farewells, Kaden saw Alex to the door of the office and allowed the vampire to show himself out of the mansion as he stated he could do. The rest of Kaden's pack were all huddled in the hallway outside of the office with very curious expressions as they also watched the vampire leave their home. Still standing in the doorway of the office, Kaden then looked back at Denver, Carolina, Malcolm, and Oliver his strongest and most capable wolves. Denver was still looking concerned because of how Kaden reacted to the photographs in that file, and Kaden wished he could explain this to his beta, but he couldn't, because he himself wasn't sure what was wrong.

With no set answers ready at this moment, Kaden needed to leave his pack with at least something before he adjourned this meeting. He walked back up to the desk in the middle of the room and sat down at the edge of it next to Carolina. Running his hand through his hair he spoke up, "That was a lot to take in and I know you probably have concerns and questions. I have them too, but the only thing I'm sure of is that this alliance is worth seeing through, for Royce's sake. He believed in this stuff and I know you all believed in him when he was alive. I don't plan to fail you either" Kaden spoke and looked over at his pack sitting at the table and smiled at them. "There is a passport for each of you and as much as I would love to take you all, I can't, I'm sure you understand that. Denver, you have to know that you won't be going for sure. No offense, but you're the next in line in case something happens to me" he went on. Denver smirked at his alpha, "Damn...responsibilities" he commented in a joking manner and leaned back in his chair with his arms behind his head. Kaden rolled his eyes before settling his gaze at the other 3 wolves at the table. "The rest of you, give me some time to think this through. Wherever we go may be dangerous and I have to consider that as well as the well being of the pack. I will let you know who will come with me in a few days. For now....I want everyone to prepare for the full moon" with that Kaden let everyone go.

The next two weeks wore down on the wolf pack but more so on Kaden. The encroaching full moon was beginning to have its affect on everyone and the wolves were growing restless and emotional. Kaden had his own things to work out in his head but his own emotional state made him agitated and he found it hard to focus. The only thing that kept him from losing his cool is their work. Physical labor was a great asset to werewolves around the time of the full moon and it really helped Kaden keep his pack under control. Having something else to focus on did wonders on taming random urges to kill something or someone. In some ways, it made the werewolves work harder at their jobs because they wanted to remain distracted so the project Valeria had planned was moving along a lot faster than usual over the course of these two weeks.

It was a Wednesday and the full moon would fall on Friday. Kaden had just finished with a section of the roof before coming back down to the ground. He took his hardhat off and fixed his hair which was a little damp from his sweat, it was an unusually warm day today. He needed to go speak to Valeria about taking the rest of the week off because tomorrow, the day before the full moon, his wolves could come unhinged and that was not a risk he wanted to take. He looked around for the vampire girl that liked to lurk around the construction site and spotted her a little ways away from him. He waved at her with his hardhat to see if he could catch her attention.

[Numbers]

Valeria saw Kaden trying to get her attention but she was busy with something else. With the construction project approaching completion, she was overseeing the fail-safe installation. Right now, in the center of the campus, there was a deep hole in the ground. Above the hole, was a large steel looking box that had a skull warning symbol on the side. The warning was in the vampiric language so none of the wolves would understand it. It was made to only be read by the vampires to warn them of the fact that it is a dirty bomb.

The crane started to lower it into the whole and red danger lights started to flash on the steel box. Valeria kept using her hand to motion for it to go farther and farther down. Slowly the box got finished lowering and the crane started to move back up without the box attached to it. Valeria smiled before turning around and walking over to Kayden with a smile on her face. When she got over to him she put an arm around his arm and pulled him close to herself with a smile. She knew that tensions and emotions would be running high with the approaching of the full moon.

Which to her, meant it would only cause more fun to come from the shewolf seeing the female vampire pulling him close to herself. "So what is it that you needed my new found toy." She said with a smile as she kept him forcefully pulled closer to her. She smiled pulling a key out of her pocket and holding it in front of him. "We can always go to that special room I have. I think it would do well to let you see what you're dealing with if you're going to keep pulling me close in front of that shewolf." She said with a sly smile and a teasing tone as she waited to hear what it was that he really wanted from him.

[Rikaya]

Seeing that Valeria was occupied with something, Kaden took this moment to take a short break while he examined what she was doing. He opened a bottle of water and took a long swig before wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his t-shirt. There was a large metal box that was being lowered into the ground and Valeria was overseeing it. It had a large picture of a skull on the side which to Kaden only meant that its something dangerous. For a second he contemplated asking her about it but he doubted she would tell him, so he decided against it.

When the vampire finally turned towards him she had that all too familiar smile on her face and Kaden shifted in his stance trying to prepare for her sarcastic and playful nature. In truth, he wasn't in the mood to deal with it and when Valeria slipped her arm around his and pulled him close to her, his agitation only began to rise. It made him wonder if her games ever got her into trouble. At the mention of the "she wolf" as Valeria liked to call Carolina, Kaden decided to play along, because he figured that Carolina would behave herself, especially if she wanted to prove to him that she was worthy to go on the expedition with him. This would be a good test.

Kaden moved his arm so that his hand slipped down to Valeria's and he held her hand for a second before pulling her to him in return. He turned his body slightly and leaned down so his lips were close to her ear, "You know, my temper is not the only thing that's heightened right now. So if you keep threatening me with that room, I might just take you up on it" he whispered before moving away and releasing her hand. He went back to being casual and looked at the vampire with a smile, "I have a favor to ask of you my Queen, the next two days will be a bit rough for my wolves so I was wondering if you'd allow us to take these two days off? For safety concerns of course" he asked and made sure his ears were tuned in case Carolina started to react, so far, he didn't pick up on any distress which was a good sign.

[Numbers]

"Time off? That depends on my lovely Kaden. Since you sound like you want to go to my room with me alone, I guess I can give you these two days off." She was talking louder to make sure the shewolf heard. Though she went back to a normal tone and started to pull him in the direction of the hole. "Truth be told though, that is more than fine. You wolves have your needs, and it will take about two days to fill this whole back up completely with cement. Especially since we will be making sure that the mixture that goes into the hole to seal it, is done correctly. It's a specialty compound that is both weak to explosions, but strong to pretty much anything else." She overlooked the hole as she just stood next to him normal now.

"It's good to see that you have decided to accept the alliance. The previous alpha knew that it really was the best option considering the alternative. To see you follow in his footsteps worries me some though. Mainly, I hope that all of your decisions aren't the same decisions that he would make. I would hate for a similar fate to happen to you. After all, the stress of having to manage the clan and manage the relations with me can be quite deadly if one isn't careful. I don't need a sheep for an ally. I prefer a wolf." She said with a sly smile at him.

[Rikaya]

Kaden had to admit that his own flirtatious and playful nature began to show a bit more. Something that he didn't always do, but seeing as the full moon fuels his emotions he couldn't always help which emotion would be the dominant one. He went from being irritated with Valeria to just letting her have her fun. "Thank you for letting us off. I'm glad you understand our circumstances. We'll be good as new once the full moon passes" he assured her and followed her over to the hole in the ground where the metal box was being placed and seeing as the vampire addressed it, Kaden decided to ask after all. "So, what is this exactly? A bomb?" he wondered. It wouldn't surprise him if it was, as Valeria seemed to always be scheming and planning something. She seemed calculating and careful but also intelligent and experienced, admittedly they were good qualities to have but Kaden wasn't going to mention that. In fear of giving the vampire a bigger head than she already has.

"I appreciate your concern, but I wouldn't worry too much. I respect him for the kind of alpha he was but at the end of the day I'm not him. Not sure if you know this, but I never really liked the guy anyway" he chuckled at the last part. Though he had to agree that he wasn't too keen on leading himself down a path that lead to his death, like it happened with Royce. Kaden wasn't afraid of death per se, especially if he died doing something good and important, but he didn't want to die because he was reckless. Kaden then stepped behind Valeria and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently running his fingers down her arm. He bent down again and whispered in her ear, "I assure you I am no sheep, I can be as big and bad of a wolf as you'd want me to be..." he trailed off and let out a gentle low growl.

[Numbers]

Valeria smiled as he got close to her and would touch her and whisper into her ear. She pressed back against him, letting her body be against his as she had a sly smile on her face. "Careful wolf, we may play, but nothing more than that. After all, I am a princess, heir to the royal family of the vampires. Though, I do wonder what your blood tastes like." She said with a smile, letting her head lean back to let her lips get close to his neck while letting her drawn fangs brush against the skin of his neck before pulling away.

"As for your previous question, don't worry about it. If we found ourselves at war with humanity again, they might try to take our buildings. We let them march and then the failsafe activates, killing any intruders who thing they can learn the secrets of our people." She then turned and started to walk away from the hole. "Tell me, have you on who you're gonna bring with you?"

[Rikaya]

Kaden smirked in response to Valeria's reaction to his advances. He was mostly playing along with her games but he would be lying if he said that this wasn't at least a little enjoyable. "Oh what fun it would be for me to corrupt a princess" Kaden replied to her comment and moved his head a little to give her more of an opening to his neck, almost daring her to take a bite. "Maybe I'll let you try it one day, though something tells me you might not like the taste of dog" he went on and laughed as he made a joke about himself. Oddly enough his sour mood was slowly getting better. Valeria's teasing nature was actually helpful in this situation. Though with the full moon so close, this good mood might not last long, and Kaden was very aware of that.

Following the vampire away from the pit, he listened to her explanation of it, which wasn't much of an explanation, but it was enough for him to decide that he did not want to get on her bad side anytime soon. "As for that, I'm still deciding. It'll either be Malcolm or Carolina and before you get too excited, no I wouldn't be bringing her just so you can harass her some more. She's a good asset to the pack so I would hope that you ladies could behave yourselves if it should come to that" Kaden commented and glanced across the construction site to see Carolina helping a few of the guys begin to load up the trucks as their work day was almost over. It seemed as though being at work was helping Carolina stay focused as she wasn't paying too much attention to him and Valeria. "Once we get past the full moon, I'd say we have another few weeks to go on this site and then my boys will be done. Is that when you're planning on heading out to.....where exactly will this venture take us?" Kaden wondered.

[Numbers]

"I would not worry about how she and I will play together. After all, I have no plans to steal you from her. If I wanted to have a suitor then I already would have one. If I wanted you, I would have already used some of the abilities we vampires are graced with. Even in our weakened state, indoors or at night, our charm ability still works pretty well. Especially when used in combination with more natural tactics." She said with an amused smile to his comment about her playing nice with Carolina.

She continued to walk with him listening to his next question as she slowly led him to the perimeter of the campus by the woods now. "Yes, that is when me, my aid, you, and whoever you choose to accompany with you, will leave. As for where we will be going, we will have a few stops to make first before we go to one of the rumored locations of the artifact. After all, I want to make sure the retrieval of said artifact goes to plan, and in order to do that, we need to make sure we are not interrupted by any of the fae races. Or, even worse, accidentally discovered by some mortal humans. Not that they're any threat if we appeared to be human, there is a chance that being close to the artifact will, in turn, start to give slightly more control back to your and your companion. Of which, if the humans see us digging somewhere we shouldn't, and then call the cops, we will have a whole new mess to deal with."

[Rikaya]

"Well, I'm afraid there is no one to steal me from" Kaden concluded after hearing Valeria's comments about stealing him away from Carolina. "Also, if you really wanted to charm me, I don't think you'd need to use your abilities. Not everything is a game you know" he smiled at her teasingly. "Sometimes it is best to just let nature take its course, something you learn very quickly being a werewolf" Kaden explained and followed her along to the edge of the woods. Valeria then went on to explain the mission they were to go on and he nodded as she talked to show his understanding. "I trust you have a good plan of execution for this. I assure you myself whoever I bring will exercise caution as much as possible. Is there something in particular you'd want us to do for you on this trip?" he wondered. As the work day was reaching it's end, Kaden turned briefly to face his pack and let everyone know that they can start packing up for the day before he turned his attention back to Valeria.

[Numbers]

"I have lived for thousands of years. I have lived to see many generations go by and have had a lot of time to plan, to move the pieces into the correct places. That way, even if something goes wrong, there are already pieces in play that are ready to take over for the one that was lost. As for what I would want you to do, you'll be doing a variety of things as different scenarios come into play." She started to lead the wolf back to his pack. Once they were there she turned to him one more time. Go ahead and take your week-long vacation dog, just remember who gives the orders in these upcoming missions after the work you're doing here." She then leaned up and gave the alpha a quick kiss on the lips in front of his whole pack before pulling away. "I look forward to playing some more. Maybe next time, you can show me just how much of a wolf you really are." She said with a sly smile before walking off to head back to the pit that was now holding a bomb in it. She couldn't wait to start the actual missions with him, and hoped that the shewolf was the one who would get picked in order to keep her entertained.

[Rikaya]

The kiss happened quickly and Kaden didn't have enough time to react, so he stood there looking at her as she stepped away from him. He could feel the heat rising in his body, but it wasn't due to arousal, it was because his anger had returned. If she was going to play her games, he'd rather she didn't display it for the world to see. Not acknowledging the vampire any further, Kaden began to walk away towards his truck, trying to avoid the confused stares he was getting from his pack. A loud snap could be heard in the air which made Kaden stop in his tracks and his eyes shot up to where the sound came from. Carolina was staring daggers in his direction and in one of her hands she was holding a piece of a thick wood slab she had just broken off in her anger. Kaden didn't back down and stared intensely in her direction to let her know that she needs to cool it immediately. The girl dropped the broken piece of wood to the ground and walked off to one of the trucks. Feeling his headache and frustration returning, Kaden got to his truck and the wolves drove off.

Before the full moon had arrived, Kaden had to explain to a pack of frustrated wolves that Valeria was just playing one of her games and that the kiss was nothing more than that. Denver however, didn't let him forget it and that was a very typical Denver thing to do. When the full moon had arrived, Kaden had to ensure that the protocol was followed, it was actually a standard procedure for all Industrialist wolves, to have a safe space for the werewolves to transition. In this mansion, Royce had built a chamber or sorts in the basement. It was geared with a large metal safe door, and behind it was a long hallway which contained a cell for each wolf to occupy during their transition. The cells were equipped with a coded gate which could be programmed to lock and open on its own after a certain time.

That night, before the moon was at its peak, Kaden led his pack down to the safe room. Typically the werewolves dressed down for this occasion because the transition was painful and always tore the clothing they wore. Everyone also brought some clothes with them to change into after the transition. As the werewolves settled into their cells, Kaden and Denver had to be the ones to lock the others inside and only the two of them knew the codes to the gates. As they did this, Kaden's heart sank a little as he saw the pained and some scared expressions on his pack's faces. Not everyone in his pack was used to this yet and he understood the fear that came with it. Denver went into his cell second to last and his cell was across the hall from Kaden's, "Just another day right?" Denver said to his alpha as his gate was shut. "Just another day" Kaden replied with a melancholy tone and he squeezed his beta's shoulder through the bars of the gate before the code locked the gate and electrified it. All the gates came with a safety precaution and were all electrified in case the werewolves tried to break out. Kaden went into his cell last and he locked his gate a little differently. On his gate he had to put the code in first and set a timer so that his gate would open first in the morning, then he locked himself inside and listened as the soft hum of the electricity began to run through the bars of the gate. Now it was just a waiting game.

Depending on experience, some transitioned relatively quickly while for others it could take up to an hour to fully transform. Which meant an hour of pure agony and torture as every bone in their body would brake, move and twist to accommodate their new form, the body of a wolf. Kaden hated listening to cries and moans of his pack as they began to change until his own body began to morph. Kaden's transition was faster but the pain that came with it was never less. He screamed as he dropped to his knees and felt his body shift before the familiar feeling of blacking out came over him. When a man become a wolf, the feeling in the brain is as if you had slipped into a deep sleep and woke up in a body that was not your own. There was still some idea of who you are but your actions don't come from you, it comes from the animal you have now become. Your thoughts are wilder, less controlled and the instinct to kill is strong.

Kaden was now looking through his wolf eyes, seeing his front paws in front him. Werewolves took on the shape of a wolf, but their sizes were much larger than your average wolf. Kaden walked over to bars of the gate careful not to get too close because he could feel the electricity in the bars. Snarls were coming from the cell across from him, it was Denver. A black wolf emerged into the light. Some white streaks could be seen around Denver's eyes, ears and front paws but the rest of him was black, his eyes glowing yellow. Kaden's fur was white in contrast to Denver's, it appeared silver in the light. The two wolves stared at each other, but Kaden wasn't sure what state of mind Denver was in at this very moment. Kaden's instinct took over and he let out a loud howl which rang loudly in this small space. This howl could probably be heard for miles if he was outside, but in here, the walls were sound proof and he could not be heard to anyone outside.

[Numbers]

The vacation time for the wolves went by both quickly and slowly for Valeria. Her people were using the disappearance of the wolves during the full moon to lay down the more secretive construction work. Special electrical wires, communication lines, fuel lines, escape routes, all the different kinds of top secret information that the vampires had for the place that they couldn't even let their allies possess.

By the time the vacation was over for the wolves, Valeria had finished all of the secret construction parts of the campus, moving it into the final phase. For the most part, everything was built but Valeria and her team were walking through the buildings, making notes of anything they needed to finish. Originally there were a few buildings that needed to be done still but in the process of doing the secret construction parts, her team of vampires had finished those last few buildings. They weren't as strong as the werewolves but they had numbers on their side as a lot of the lesser vampire thralls, who were basically a bunch of eager puppies just waiting to serve their masters however they could.

Which meant that when the wolves came back all they would have to do left on the actual campus itself was fixing any of the small mistakes the Valeria and her team saw on the small walkthrough of the campus. Thankfully from what they could, the wolves were definitely worth the pay as they were expert workers. Valeria finished writing up the list and for now excused her team of vampires, even excusing her personal guards as she went to the front of the campus and on one of the pillar marbles that was next to the gate.

With her, she kept her the notes of the campus, which highlighted the parts they did best, and the parts they should improve on in the future. Next to her was also a large black suitcase, which contained half a million dollars in twenty dollar bills. All of them were legal bills that were used by the company to fund their more important sites. This was by far, the largest payment that the vampires had made to this particular group. Previous payments for a job never reached above a hundred thousand, only usually averaging fifty thousand or so. However, Valeria wanted to make a point to her new Alpha wolf. The point being that her family and company was very rich, and as long as he and his wolves did what she wanted, there would be more money to follow. The previous Alpha was very resistant to their allyship as it only broke down to contracting building zones as time went on. Which made sense to her since the previous Alpha quickly became suspicious in what it was that she truly wanted. Now though, a new Alpha was in play, which meant better control of the situation. Though she would have to be careful at the same time during the day, she had no doubt that at night she would have no problem in a fight against the alpha and his wolves. Even on a full moon she was sure she could take the alpha by himself. It wasn't something she wanted to test out though.

[Rikaya]

After the full moon was over, Kaden and his pack spent some time recovering. Some of the younger and more newer members were feeling the aftermath the most, soreness and some bruising marking the spots where the bones had broken and twisted. Overall, recovery time was going well and Kaden was impressed with everyone's resilience. Kaden unfortunately didn't have that much time to rest because he had a lot to think about and consider. One, was who he will take with him on Valeria's mysterious expedition and two, he was wondering what the key was for which he found in his cell in the basement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaden was the first to regain his human form, usually the older and more experienced werewolves would be in and out of their wolf forms quicker and easier. Before he got out of his cell to go and retrieve Denver, who was the second one to turn back, he couldn't help but notice something odd about the walls of his cell. In the far back corner, partially hidden by the darkness of the dimly lit cell, looked to be a patch in the wall. It appeared as though there was a hole there once, maybe Royce had smashed through it during one of his transitions? Were Kaden's first initial thoughts, but he decided to examine it anyway. Behind the layer of paint, the patch felt cold against Kaden's fingertips and of different consistency in comparison to the rest of the wall, it wasn't concrete. Peeling off some of the paint revealed a small metal door, which reminded him of a cover that is typically used for circuit breakers. It wasn't locked, so opening it wasn't difficult. Inside, the only thing Kaden found was a plastic card, which he figured was a key card for a door. It was black with initials T.O.M. on the front right corner of the card. Kaden couldn't even begin to guess what this was for and why it was hidden behind a small metal door, in the corner of Royce's old cell and painted over for concealment. Kaden was growing increasingly more interested in figuring out what Royce was all about and what this key card was for. Before exiting his cell, Kaden pocketed the key for a later investigation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The key card, Kaden kept hidden inside Royce's personal journal as he continued to read through it for the next few days. There was a new found motivation within Kaden to learn all he could about the world for the fae, Royce, and his relationship with his mother. He spent his days locked in his room, with all the journals opened at once, bouncing back and forth between Royce's personal journal, to the self-made encyclopedias of information. Kaden now knew more information about the war that happened between the fae and the humans, or as they were also known, members of an ancient organization of hunters which spanned across centuries. The next on the list was learning more about Valeria and her lineage of vampires.

One evening, Kaden was in the living room, sitting in a big arm chair, reading Royce's personal journal. He decided to back track and read his entries from the beginning to he could have a better grasp on his relationship with his mom, Serenity, had developed in the first place. This is something Kaden had no idea about because he figured he was too young to remember it. Or.....maybe, the fire is what made him forget? There was a lot about that night Kaden couldn't remember very well.

He was brought back from his thoughts when the front door latched shut, and he looked up to see Carolina who had gotten back from her evening run. Kaden closed the journal in his lap, "Hey, have a good run?" he asked looking over at her. Carolina looked startled for a moment but then walked up to the door frame of the living room, wiping some sweat off her forehead with a small towel she kept around her neck, her brown bangs sticking to her skin. "Uh yeah, as always" she smiled a little at him. "Come have a seat, I'd like to have a word" Kaden went on, motioning towards the other arm chair across from him. Carolina walked over and took a seat looking at him curiously. Kaden put the journal down on the end table by his chair and leaned over, resting his arms on his knees. "So I've done some thinking and I want to ask you to come with me on this mission, or whatever, for Valeria" Kaden put it out there simply for her and awaited her response.

Carolina looked a little surprised at the offer and seemed to turn it over in her mind for a bit before answering. "I would love to, but, can I ask why you chose me?" she wondered and it was a fair question. "Because, despite what you might think, you're a valuable asset to the pack, you're one of the strongest females I have and you do good work, but..." he paused briefly. "What I don't want is for you to think that I want you to act on your resentment towards Valeria. This isn't about that, and whatever you girls need to hash out, do it on your own time if you must. I'd rather you didn't" he added quickly. "but this trip is not the time for that" Kaden explained and Carolina began to look visibly annoyed with him bringing up her hatred towards the vampire.

"Look, before you get all hot an bothered. I want you to come with me because I could use your caution with this situation. I get that you don't trust her, or like her, but I don't want you acting on jealousy during this trip, I want you to be my second pair of eyes. You sense something off, you let me know" he explained. Carolina looked smug, "You know this is what she wants right? She'll do whatever she can during this trip to get under my skin" she suggested. "Of course she will, but you can't let her. Good time to learn control don't you think?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
Carolina smirked back at him, "Okay, if you need me I'm there" she concluded and got up from the chair walking out of the living room and up the stairs to her bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaden pulled up to the gates of the construction site in his Silverado 1500, with Carolina with him in the passenger seat. They were asked to come and meet with Valeria to discuss pay for the construction project. Kaden could feel Carolina's discomfort and he looked over at her and she back at him, "Nows a good time to start" he stated simply before getting out of the truck, letting Carolina follow when she is ready. Taking a deep breath, the female werewolf followed her Alpha outside, shutting the door of the truck with her palm. Valeria was already there waiting for them.
"Hello Ms. Zurbank, hope you are doing well. As you can see, I have lived to see another day" Kaden raised his arms up in the air and smiled at the vampire.

[Numbers]

"Excellent. I would have hated for you to die to yourself. I see you have brought the shewolf with you. Interesting choice." Valeria stood up from the spot that she was sitting, quickly jumping off of it and landing on the ground lightly. She walked over with a smile to where Kaden was, not paying any more attention to Carolina. She held up the briefcase in front of her. "My people and I took a walk around the area, looking over what small details still need to be taken care of before the job is considered finished. That being said though because it is only small details, I have the pay ready for you and your people to receive."

She walked over to where the vehicle was and put the briefcase down on the hood. She then proceeded to open the briefcase and as she did, all the money was revealed. "I hope that you and your pack will find this payment suitable. After all, those who do a good job and listen to the orders they are given, are more deserving than those who try to seek their own way. Feel free to count it if you want, but let me save you some time. Half a million dollars. Legal, twenty dollar stacks. Should be able to help your pack in many different ways, wouldn't you say?"

She was wondering if Carolina was the pick that would be joining them on the missions. In a way, she was hoping that it would be shewolf. The fun that she would be able to have was something she was looking forward to since the hunt for the artifacts was sure to be stressful. Both on herself and on her people.

[Rikaya]

Carolina stood on the right side of the truck, leaning against the front with her arms crossed over her chest. Kaden was putting more trust in her and she didn't want to disappoint him, so she just eyed Valeria with careful eyes. Kaden watched Valeria approach him and lay the briefcase on the hood of his truck, opening it to reveal it full of cash. Half a million dollars to be exact. This made Kaden frown and both him and Carolina glanced at each other at the same time, Carolina's forehead wrinkled a little too at this strange display. "Half a million?" Kaden asked carefully, looking over at the money inside the case. "Isn't this a bit much for the kind of job we're doing here? Especially since all you have left for us to do are basic touch ups?' Kaden asked curiously. He figured that Carolina knew a bit of history of how Royce was paid for his work even though she was still relatively new to the pack herself, she was around a little longer than Kaden was. Kaden found this suspicious for a different reason, he was now in charge of the books and records on the various jobs that his pack would do, and he definitely reviewed Royce's records. None of the payments ever reached this amount of money.

Kaden reach over to the case and closed the lid with his palm and then moving his gaze over to Valeria, only now realizing that the female vampire was quite a bit shorter than him than he initially realized. It made her a little cute but also very menacing, he had no doubt she could tear his head off if she really tried. "Unless you're paying us for building you a castle, which we clearly didn't do, I suggest you explain your motive. Not that my pack will complain about the money, but I also don't rip my customers off" he explained. "What are you trying to do? Buy my loyalty? If so, I assure you that cash is not required for me to assist you. I have already agreed to that" Kaden concluded and left the floor open to Valeria, knowing full well she was about to pull one of her many tricks with him.

[Numbers]

She smiled at him. "This may not be a castle but, it is very important to my people. After all, besides slowly sharing some of our secrets with humanity in order to further hide our identity from the hunters, building these research centers serve to advance our own private research and range of influence over the world to allow for better observations to be made of the surrounding areas." She took her hand and grabbed his, feeling the different textures of the skin.

"You did agree to an alliance with me. So did the previous master though, and he eventually went back on his offer. Something that I assure you, is not a wise idea." She let go of his hand before turning around and walking to the pillar that she was standing on top of originally. She had prepared a lie ahead of time, in case she needed to hide her motives or intention. She was trying to buy his loyalty, a stronger loyalty than the one he had already given.

"I assure you though, my motive is a simple and more pure one than the one you think. If I wanted to buy you, I would give you something else instead." As she said that she threw a sly smile his way before continuing with what she was saying. "This money reward is much larger because I want to make sure your pack is taken care of. After all, your second in command is going to be in charge while you are away. This money will make sure your pack has everything they might need while their brave leader is off doing jobs with their brand new ally." She said with a smile before turning back around. "Of course, my people can always take the money back if you would prefer that instead."

[Rikaya]

Kaden raised an eyebrow at the vampire, almost not believing her words, so he took them with grain of salt. The money offer was way too generous and Kaden was almost certain Valeria had other intentions than the ones she was telling him about. Since the beginning, this vampire seemed to be of a complicated and secretive nature, always calculating everything to a science. Kaden knew full well that he would probably never figure her out completely but he can tread lightly and hope this alliance doesn't blow up in his face.

Kaden looked over at Carolina who was tense, but didn't react, which was good. He nodded at the briefcase still sitting on the hood of his truck and the girl moved towards it and took it off the car, cradling the case in her arms. Kaden then looked back at Valeria, "I mean, you offered, so I'll take the money" he gave the vampire a half smile. "I'll tell you one thing though, as you have so kindly offered to take care of my pack by giving us this money, I want to take care of them too. So if at any point you put any one of them in any unnecessary danger, I assure you I won't have a problem going back on your deal either. At that point you can have your money back and hopefully it doesn't end in violence for any of us" he concluded suddenly feeling a bit angry at the doubt Valeria seemed to have in him and his loyalty. What an infuriating woman, he decided in his mind before turning to walk back to his truck, Carolina was already getting into the passenger seat.

"My boys and I will be back tomorrow morning to finish whatever touch ups you may need" Kaden kept his goodbye short as he hopped into his car and started the engine. As he pulled away from the construction site, he kept a watchful eye on the vampire, all the while his mind raced with thoughts. Why did Royce try to go back on his deal with Valeria? Is that what got him killed?...... Kaden truly hoped that he wouldn't fall victim to whatever games this girl liked to play. Dying was not on his agenda anytime soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katja boarded the private jet her and Etmere were granted permission to use for their transport for the upcoming mission. Her black uniform was simple and light weight for easy movements, but it was also meant to withstand certain weather conditions. The belt of her pants had a handgun strapped to it and her pants had various packets which stored her blades and other small protective devices. When she seated herself in one of the seats on the jet, she pulled out her tablet and began to scroll through some files and intel on their current mission, trying to gather as much information as possible before they went off to Yellowstone. Etmere was close behind her and she didn't look up from her tablet as he boarded the jet as well.

[Numbers]

She smiled as he started to pull away and she gave a small careful wave to him the leaving wolf, a sly smile on her face as she watched them pull away. Once they were gone, her smile went away. "I know you're listening young one." After which a new being appeared over her shoulder, seemingly coming from under the shirt that Valeria was wearing. It was a small winged human, a Fairy. "Are you sure that we can trust them?" The young fairy asked her. Valeria shook her head in reply. "We don't have a choice though. There are whispers in the shadows of its return. If we're going to survive, not only are we going to need our powers back, but we are going to need allies."

The young fairy flew in front of her searching her face for answers. "What is it? You're the Queen. The vampire responsible for wiping the great holy city of Stonehenge from the memory of humanity. The champion chosen by us fairies." Valeria smiled and started to walk away from the compound where a motorcycle was waiting, hiding away. The fairy flew and landed on top of her head.

"It is the reason humanity and the fae ended the war in mutual defeat. Don't worry though, among the money in the briefcase, is the instructions for where Kaden and Carolina need to meet with me. The address to a nearby private airstrip at the local airport. For now, we will head there and will wait for them to arrive." Valeria grabbed her helmet, letting the fair get off of her head so that Valeria could put on her helmet. The fairy flew around before disappearing into a poof of dust as he went back into the charm that Valeria kept around her neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Etmere boarded the plane with Katja and when he did he closed the plane door before walking over to the cockpit. He stuck his head in to give orders to the pilot before walking over to where Katja was sitting, sitting in the chair across from her own. "Yellowstone, the home of one of the more destroyed packs of wolves. They made an enemy with the vampire queen and as such, she murdered all of the members old enough to remember the history of what makes them a werewolf. Left with only the history since the formation of this country and no experienced leader, the pack broke down into a more tribal form. They became one with one of the local native American tribes and is one of the few tribes to live on a reservation in the country. Yellowstone is their hunting grounds and because of all the bad blood between them and the vampires, as well as the, becoming one with one of the native tribes, they're more helpful to us than to the other fae races."

Etmere leaned back his chair and put his feet up on a nearby table as he got comfortable. "That being said, they still work with the fae races in a very tense partnership. The sort of thing that we can take advantage of to hopefully game information on some of the more hidden wolf packs that have blended into humanity too well. Find one of the hidden packs, and we'll have a much better time figuring out what the big time fae races like the vampires and the missing fairies are up to."