Prince of House Vladd

THE PRINCE OF HOUSE VLADD

CHAPTER 13

BOOK 2

BY ARTHUR

As the meeting progressed, Peter suddenly heard the running footsteps in the passage outside, with a quick adjustment to his hearing, he picked up the thoughts of Leon, one of his computer experts, as the boy reached the door to the common room, Peter called for him to come straight in.

Leon looked to be breathing a little harder than normal and Peter waited for him to relate his story.

"My lord, we have just picked up a conversation from the North, it's about three boys caught and transported to a place up in Michigan, we've narrowed the signal down to an area in the Upper Peninsula, we haven't been able to narrow it down further than the Mount Arvon to Sugar Loaf or a little further North to the Porcupine Mountains before the message ended, it's a large area but at least now we know the general direction the Vaga boys have been taken too, what do you suggest we do now?"

"Go back and call the House Vaga in Detroit, ask them to send a few of their Canines and Avians to look the area over and see if they can find anything that will help to narrow down the search area, we need to get this underway as soon as possible, I don't want those boys held any longer than necessary."

"Yes my Lord."

Leon spun on his heel and ran for his computer office where his boyfriend Carter waited for him, the two boys had been working non stop since the first hint of the three Vaga boys disappearance.

Peter turned back to his group of friends and they all settled down to start their planning to rescue the three Vaga, their first and biggest problem was the distance they would have to travel to get to the kidnap area, it was a long journey over totally hostile lands, their enemies in the North would be alert and waiting for some type of rescue, of that they were all sure of.

The two men in white coats sat watching the three monitors on their desk, the room around them had been darkened so the three subjects would not see them, only the three cells were brightly lit to make it even more difficult for the subjects to see them, little did they know about the abilities of the Folk.

They continued to watch carefully as the smallest of the boys began to stir from his drug induced sleep, slowly the boy began to awaken, firstly he stretched and yawned widely, had the two men not been watching so intently, they would have missed the micro second flash as the boy appeared to take on the appearance of a large black cat, the image appeared and disappeared so quickly that they were not sure they had seen it at all.

Silently they watched on, the boy finished his stretch then looked around the barren room in apparent concern, after the quick look, the boy seemed to just sit on the small narrow bed and begin to hum deep in his throat, the two men thought he sounded like a cat purring, quickly they turned up the sound receivers and confirmed that the boy did, indeed seem to be purring like a house cat, they looked at each other and could only shrug at this first phenomena from their captives, they again closely watched the screen marked "Subject 1", because of this they missed the same effect on their screens of the "Subject 2", had they been less intent on the first boy they might have caught a similar flash of a large wolf on the second screen, as it was, they were so taken with the smaller boy they missed it, although it was automatically recorded by the hidden cameras.

Leo, the smaller boy, had spotted the two cameras on his first look around his cell, his purring sound was in fact a sub vocal call to his friends, both he and Dani, the Canine in the next cell were capable of this form of conversation as were all Canines and Felines, it also had the benefit of passing through any wall or obstruction so they could communicate with each other or any of their kind regardless of where they were, only their other friend, Reece, the Vampire, could not talk this way although with his extra sharp hearing he could listen to them.

Reece had also awoken and listened to his two friends as they talked to each other on the sub vocal wave length, to anyone else it was just a series of growls and purrs with the occasional rumble from deep in the chest of Dani but, too the three boys it was a wide open chat. Leo pointed out to the others where the two cameras were situated in their cells, all assumed there would also be microphones hidden in the walls, slowly they put together what had happened, they were not a happy trio but decided to wait and see what happened, it was plain to see that these cells had been especially prepared to hold them, as a quick test, Dani rose and walked to the barred front of the cell, carefully he reached out and touched the bright shiny bars.

Leo and Reece heard the loud yell and curse as Dani found out the bars were electrified, his rumbling words almost deafened the other two as he swore and cursed the two men in the darkened room who thought they could not be seen by the three subjects, Dani railed on about the two men's ancestry for another minute before returning to his own bed where he continued to growl and rumble as he talked to his cat friend, Dani knew that Reece could hear them but did not have the vocal range to talk with them.

The two white coated men listened to the purrs and growls, they now had confirmation that they had indeed caught some of the fairy tale folk, their time would now be spent observing and later, experimenting on them, they had their orders and they would complete the Presidents designs for them, they would all be hero's some time in the future if they could pull this off, it was a chance to really do something no one else had ever attempted, they now had definitely caught a werecat, werewolf and some other type of boy, this boy, "Subject 3" had yet to show his true self but they were sure he would prove to be invaluable in their work as the other two.

The facility was well hidden deep inside Sugar Loaf Mountain and protected by one hundred and twenty hardened and fully armed Marines, the four scientists were told they had unlimited funds and anything they needed for their investigation into these weird folk would be provided, regardless of cost, it was a scientist dream job, now all they had to do was produce results for their President.

In sub vocal range, Leo told Dani and Reece what he suspected was going on, he had heard about their prince being in a similar situation and so were well aware of their plight.

"Dani?" Leo called in sub vocal.

"Yep" came the reply through the thick wall.

"You think you can stir up those two men hiding in the dark?"

"Why?"

"Just to see what happens, I think they assume we can't see them, I want to give them a feeling of insecurity."

"Sounds like a plan."

Dani rose from the bed and came close to the bars again, the two men in the dark watched closely as he stopped and looked straight at their position, the next thing they heard shocked them.

"Hey, fuck wit that your boyfriend, you holding hands with in the dark, just like two little girls."

At the sudden scraping of chairs in the darkness, Dani let out a loud burst of laughter as he saw the two men try to move away from each other, they also heard a small titter of giggling from the first and third cells, Dani turned back to his bed and went sub vocal again.

"How was that?"

"A good start, lets see if Reece can do his disappearing trick on them, Reece, did you hear that, if you did then see if you can pull that trick you use on your food targets."

Dani and Leo easily picked up Reece's light laughter as he went into his own performance for the watching white coats, using his natural ability at distortion, Reece appeared then disappeared from the men's vision, it was the same trick all Vampires used to distract their victims, what the two men saw was a young teen one moment then nothing, the boy would then reappear in another corner of the cell and disappear again, it all happened so fast, even the cameras had trouble keeping up with the speed of movement.

The two men now had new problems, what was this subject 3, if he could just disappear in a small cell, there was no way they could ever take him out to experiment on, he would just disappear and they would loose him, as yet they had not seen that he would fall into his death sleep when the sun rose outside in the morning, the two white coated men got a distinct feeling they were being held as the butt of the boys jokes but had no idea how they were doing it.

Leo and Dani continued to chat in sub vocal as Reece listened in with is sharp hearing, he knew that they would hear him if he whispered but so would the watching men so he just stayed quiet and listened to his friends chatter away, it was a great comfort to know they were still together, they also knew that they would be the centre of a big search by other folk, there was no way they would be left to their own devices in this situation, all they had to do was survive and wait for their other friends to rescue them, unless they got a chance themselves, as yet they had seen nothing to give them any hope but, time would tell.

President Simmons received the first report from his secret Sugar Loaf facility, after reading it carefully, he sent off his own instructions for the scientists and then sat back and continued to read other reports, with luck he should have some results from his experiments and be able to work on developing his own special army, the rumblings from the Mexican border and from the other nations was becoming a little more intense as time passed, the whole nation was now under threat from outside.

President Simmons last mean of oil supply was now under threat as well, the Canadian Government was putting more and more pressure on him to reopen the borders and allow members of the United Nations to enter and assist the population where needed, the President continued to refuse entry to all, only those few nations that were prepared to trade with the United States had any chance of admittance.

Back at the facility the three boys were still chatting in sub vocal mode, the two scientists had now become four as they watched and tried to work out what was going on with the purrs and growls, only the third boys was silent and this brought many questions to the minds of the four watchers, first among those was why he was the only one that was silent, it was the next two minutes that brought surprise and fear into the hearts of the four men.

As they watched, they whispered to each other on the possibilities of their three captives, suddenly they were silent as the three boys began to strip and, as the strip was in the form of a show from some triple X rated dance club, the four men could not take their eyes off the boys, it was as though the three boys could hear some silent music as they bumped and ground their way to almost nakedness, subject 1 ended up wearing only the smallest pair of briefs the men had ever seen, they barely covered the boys privates, subject 2 looked to be of a bigger build, he was all muscle and sinew, he was wearing a pair of very tight boxer briefs that showed his teenage charms to be well developed, subject 3, once nearly stripped looked to be the weaker of the three, his skin was pale and almost anaemic, he had very slender muscles and was now clothed in only small black briefs but his thin body moved with a rhythm of its own, he almost appeared to be floating above the concrete floor as he twisted and danced in the small cell.

The four watchers were now so involved in watching the third subject they had nearly forgotten the other two, when they did remember to look back, what they saw brought shivers down their backs, where subject 1 had been standing there was now a prowling black panther, its emerald eyes were staring at the four watchers with murderous intent as it paced back and forth with a rumbling growl and occasional snarl, from its head to the tip of its tail, the panther had to measure more than six feet and stood nearly three feet high at the shoulder, its front fangs were extended as it snarled at the four scientists.

If they had been frightened by the big cat, what they now saw in the next cell of subject 2 was even more of a horror, for standing in the middle of the cell with red rimmed eyes was the biggest wolf they could ever dream of, it was even larger than the black cat, its eyes glowed red as it stared balefully at the four men, its fangs dripped saliva onto the pristine concrete floor as it snarled and its heavily clawed feet gouged at the floor with murderous intent, just like the cat.

Turning back to subject 3 they sighed with relief as they saw he was still just a young teen boy, even though he was now practically naked, he stood in the middle of the room glaring at the four men then, slowly and with obvious enjoyment, he smiled at the watchers, it was then they knew they had more problems than they could have wanted for the teen now showed his true colours, his eye teeth became two three inch long fangs, his eyes turned blood red and seemed to shimmer as he glared at the men, the intent of the young Vampire was very evident.

The calmness of science was now broken by the fear of the unknown and the evil of dark stories, they had been asked to experiment on creatures of the dark lords, even their deepest desires to unfold the mysteries of mankind had not prepared them for this event, the three subjects held their attention so thoroughly that they could not think straight any more, the sinuous movements of the panther, the snarling power of the huge wolf and the malevolence and sheer horror of the Vampire, all of it brought instant fear into the minds of the four men.

As suddenly as it had happened, it all finished, the four watchers were suddenly watching three young teens getting dressed again, of the animalistic horrors there was no sign, it was as though it had all been a dream and the sound of the three subjects laughing loudly in their cells brought the four men back to the here and now, had it all been some type of joke, had they really seen those images from hell, now the doubts began to enter the heads of the four scientists, as much as they knew what they had seen, they also knew it was impossible, there was no way that those innocent looking young teens could turn into such large and menacing beasts, their God would not allow such demons to live in the halls of men.

The four men shut off the lights and left the observation room, each buried in his own thoughts, what they had seen was real but their heads could not evaluate it, even now, there were doubts, had they been hypnotised somehow to believe what they had seen was real, the four men sat in the common room and could only stare at each other in disbelief until the head of the project said.

"I saw it and still can't believe it, there's no way that a boy as small as subject 1 could develop the body mass to become a cat that size, it has to be some sort of suggestive hypnosis and, as for subject 2, a wolf that size would be impossible to find, there's no way it would be able to find enough food to sustain it, I know the President said this was a special investigation but, to think there were boys that could change into cats and wolfs seems a bit far fetched, maybe its us that are being played with, what do you others think?"

Another member spoke up.

"I know what I saw, but I also know it's impossible, logic and science says what the boys did was not possible, hell, my own brain knows it's not possible, I'm almost inclined to agree that we are the subjects and not those boys, perhaps the President wants to see if some new hallucinogen will work on the more developed brain of scientists before he uses it on his enemies, I just can't believe that there are boys that can change into wolves and cats, its just fairy tales to scare young children."

A third scientist broke into the conversation.

"Ok, I grant you those points, but, what about subject 3, could he have been an illusion as well, I mean, he looked as though he had real Vampire fangs although his body shape didn't change apart from his eyes, we know they are real boys, we put them in there when they were under the drugs, surely, if they were some super human species, they would have been able to fight the drugs, aren't those horrors of the night meant to be immune to drugs and chemicals, I mean they do say that those types of animals are immortal, nothing can hurt them except for the usual things in the story books, perhaps we should find a priest to make them safe or kill them if they are truly those animals?"

The first scientists took up the question again.

"Granted, those fictional figures were meant to be unkillable and immune to everything but, did you see how much drug it took to stop those three boys, another point, what was used on the three of them would have killed an elephant or at least put it out for a couple of days, those three small young teens were awake four hours after being hit, a normal boy would have been dead within twenty minutes of a dose like they received, my conclusion is that what we saw was real and that's why were here, the President wants us to find out how the boys did it and what makes them work like that, suggestions?"

The fourth scientist spoke up.

"Only one thing we can do, we are going to have to work on them, the only thing I can see that's in the way is, how do we control them once they are in their animal form, if we drug them for the experiments then they won't be able to change into their alter egos, if we let them change into their animal forms, they may very well tear everything to pieces if we let them out, if we drug them in their animal form will they stay that way or do they revert back to the boys body, there's a lot here we don't know yet, we're going to need a plan before we even open the glass doors to talk to them."

The other three sat and thought about the problem in front of them, it was one of those conundrums, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't, everything they had seen was to far fetched to be real, but after watching the replays of the security tapes, there was now no doubt, the three boys were really changelings of the worst kind, they were the work of the devil and all the dark stories of the underworld had now to be believed, with this final realisation, the four scientists now had to work out what they would do and what experiments they would need to make, the President had said he wanted to find a way to make soldiers that were unbeatable in combat, the four men sat and began to work on their main problem, what was needed to create super soldiers from these weird and dangerous boys.

The men had somehow now come to accept what they had seen was real even though it flew in the face of all they believed in and what sciences had said for hundreds of years was impossible but, it was now a new time and a new day, anything was possible, the four scientists turned to work out what they would need to do with the three boys now they had them.

Deep in the trees surrounding Sugar Loaf Mountain, the small squad of six soldiers kept a sharp eye out for any thing unusual, they had heard small rustlings in the bushes and the number of birds high above had seemed to increase as time went on but these were only natural events, what they had to watch for was any incursion by humans, natural animals did not count as being important enough to call and alert to the rest of the supporting troops waiting in and around the new facility.

Sergeant Bryant lifted his eyes to the trees as he heard a faint rustling high above him, spotting the bird, a Falcon, Bryant turned back to his five squad members as they kept up their vigil, they still had another hour before relief came, Bryant gestured for his men to continue their patrol, the Falcon above them was of no concern even though it was a little unusual to see one so deep in the woods.

As the patrol moved off, four more pairs of eyes followed their movements, with a high pitched scream, the Falcon took to the air and headed south at high speed that only a Falcon could maintain, behind the fast moving bird the four large bodies moved closer to get a good scent of the six men, even for their size the four bodies moved as silent as a snow drop in winter, not a twig or leaf crackled or snapped as they followed along behind the squad.

It had been two days of searching to finally find proof of the location of the three missing Vaga, even after this amount of time their distinctive scent remained above ground and the four wolves had no trouble recognising it once they had narrowed down the search area, now all they had to do was keep a close eye on their targets and wait for further orders from their Prince.

The Eagles and Hawks had had the job of searching the Porcupine Mountains and come up with nothing, the wolves and a small number of fast falcons had been given the area of Sugar Loaf and Mt Arvon, after two days it was the sharp eyes of a Falcon that had seen the small patrol and put two and two together, it then went in search of the wolves and took them to the area where they were quick to pick up their brothers scent in the air around Sugar Loaf, it had then been only a matter of watching and tracking the patrols to see what the situation was, that, and wait for their Prince to send help.

Within an hour of finding the patrols, the Falcon had reported to House Vaga in Detroit, quickly the message was passed on to Peter where he wait patiently in the common room of the pyramid for news, Carter ran in to pass on the message and Peter began to make plans for the rescue, their biggest problem was how to get all the way up north without being seen or caught.

The solution to the transport problem proved to be easier than first thought, Peter, along with Swiftwing and their five guards would gather a further crew of ten human guards along with ten more vampires and fly to Canada just north of the Peninsular and on the other side of the lake, once there they would all change into combat gear and, using RIB's, they would make their way across the lake and hit the mountain from the seaward side, the steep cliffs would be easy for them to scale in the dead of night and would be the last place the guards would think they would come from, they had to move fast as in four days the first of the three days of the full moon would start and no one, not even the most powerful Vampire, would want to be around when the wolves felt the pull of the moon at that time.

Peter sent a message to Detroit's House Vaga, they would have twenty Felines and Twenty more wolves in the woods waiting for Peter and his group to arrive, in the mean time they would keep a close watch on the goings on at the facility, the main problem was going to be to gain entry into the underground facility but, Peter was sure they would find a way when they saw the entrance, until then all they could do was prepare as best they could and get moving as soon as possible.

That night saw the small private jet take off from the private air strip just outside the city, the sun had just sunk into the horizon and the dim light of approaching night covered the movements of the small group of men as they filed onto the jet along with a quantity of unknown gear, the take off was smooth and the jet was soon at altitude and heading for the eastern coast, in three hours it would land at another private air strip just inside the Canadian border and on the edge of the lake that separated Canada from the USA.

Near midnight the jet set down smoothly on Canadian soil, there to meet Peter and his group was the Councillor for Canada along with the other four members of his countries council, all were relaxed and happy to meet the newest prince of the night, they had heard a lot about Peter and his retinue and this was the first chance for them to all meet.

An hour later and Peter, along with his personal crew, were ready to leave, the four RIB's had been made ready and the almost silent electric motors attached, everyone put aboard their gear and settled in for the trip across the lake, once there they would be met by two of the Vaga wolves and led around the coast to the cliffs, to a normal human, it would be a daunting trip but to these beings it was no more than a stroll in the park, only the ten humans with Peter would find it hard going.

Under any other circumstances, Peter would not have included the ten men but he was sure they and their skills with sniper rifles would be needed before the night was over, while it would be a hard slog for the humans, there training regime under Sin Yu and other folk would make it easier than on any normal man trying to do the same thing, all the men would have to carry was their rifles, all their other gear was going to be carried by the stronger and faster folk.

As the RIB's moved off from the Canadian shore, thick dark clouds gathered and covered the bright almost full moon, thanks to two young teens sitting comfortable, if a little impatiently, in the pyramid of the city of stone, Quetz and Tezca had tried to go with the force but had been stopped by Dad Peter on the understanding that they would be allowed to make a quick trip up North and visit the President after the Vaga boys had been rescued, while not totally happy with the plan, the thought of going on their own private expedition tempered their disappointment.

At their arrival on the shore of the USA, Peter set two humans and two of the younger Vampires to guard the four boats, the rest had only to wait a few minutes before two wolves put in an appearance from the close by woods, swiftly all their gear was checked and then they set off following the two Vaga wolves towards the coast, within and hour of hard paced moving, they came upon the coastal sands, moving around further they them came up to the cliffs which towered over them in the darkness.

The strategy was simple, four of the Vampires would quickly scale the cliff and lower ropes, the remaining eight humans would be pulled forcefully up the cliff face while Peter and his own people would scale them once the humans were up on top, the four Vampires up top could easily handle the dead weight of the men and their rifles, in thirty minutes, everyone was standing on the cliff top and looking around, they now stood within half a kilometre of Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Vaga wolves began to quietly tell Peter all they had found out and the general lay out of the doorway into the facility.

The three boys had now been in their cells for three days, in all that time they had been left alone but under surveillance by two or more of the scientists most of the time, as they sat on their beds and occasionally talked in sub vocal, most of their time was spent just looking out at the men in the now brighter room, the scientists had found it was stupid to try and hide from the weird boys as it only brought ridicule on their heads when they tried.

Today was going to be the first day the scientists would lower the glass panels and talk directly with the boys, up until this time they had spent most days and nights trying to work out what they would do with their captives and how to go about it, the answer, when it came was simple, they would dose one of the boys and, when he was asleep, they would take him out and strap him to a specially prepared table, once that was done the first of the experiments could take place, but the only problem was, which one, the Vampire boy was just to dangerous with his ability to disappear, the wolf boy was also a threat because of his shear size and dangerous temperament, he was always the one to try and start getting the scientists angry, no, it looked like the cat boy, he seemed the least dangerous of the three.

One of the scientists reached for the control button for the glass safety door, the other took out a tranquilizer gun and loaded it with care, they had agreed to increase a normal dose to four times the norm in the hope it would be enough, they didn't want the boy to be out for too long but they also didn't want him to stay awake or wake up when they went in to move him.

With a soft hiss the glass safety door slid down into the floor, the scientist aimed and fired as soon as he had a clear shot at the trapped boy, the dart imbedded itself in the boys chest, with a lightening fast swipe, the boy pulled it out and threw it on the floor but enough had entered his body in that split second to start to affect his co-ordination and his speed, with a soft sigh he collapsed onto the floor of his cell, the other two cried out in anger as they saw what was going on but felt the impotence of being trapped in their cells while their friend was sedated.

Quickly the power was cut to the bars and a stainless steel trolley was wheeled into the cell, within seconds the boy was scooped up and placed on the trolley, next, before they started to move him, they fastened thick leather straps over his four limbs and the wider one across his mid section, this done, the two scientists breathed a sigh of relief, there was no way the boy was going to get loose from those straps, they then wheeled him out to the main room and waited for their colleagues to join them for the first experiment.

In the other two cells, Dani and Reece watched with angry stares as young Leo lay unconscious on the table, using his sub vocal voice, Dani called to Reece.

"I wonder if they know he's not out to it, should be interesting to watch a pussy cat turn possum on them." Dani let a chuckle pass his lips as he watched the centre of the room where Leo lay.

It was only moments later when the last two scientists entered the room, the quartet gathered in a corner to discuss what was going to be done on the boy and where to start, from a nearby cabinet, the scientist began to take items from the drawers and move towards the comatose boy on the inspection table.

The first test were the usual mundane ones of blood samples and various MRI and Cat Scan, during all this time the boy lay without moving, the thick leather straps holding him tight to the table top, for the scientists it was an easy day, the boy was still alive and still asleep from the large dose of tranquiliser, however, none of the scientists saw the very slow movement of the boys fingers, noire did they see the very slow emergence of the black claws from the boys right hand.

The claws only emerged about an inch from Leo's finger tips, the ebony black glint of the razor sharp talons were instantly seen by his two friends as they watched from the cells, again Dani sent a sub vocal message to Reece which was also picked up by Leo as he continued to play possum with the scientist.

"Well this little possum is about to wake up, let's get ready; we need to move as soon as Leo can open the cells, I'm pretty sure we will be under surveillance from outside the room."

With infinite slowness, Leo began to run his razor sharp claw over the chest strap, it was the only one he could reach with his fingers as they lay strapped to the table close beside his body, if he could get the chest strap loose or even off, then he would have no trouble getting out of the others by a quick change into his animal form, Leo waited until all four of the scientist were together and engrossed with their various results of the first tests, it was time to strike.

Unknown to those trapped underground right at that moment the rescue force was making its way through the outer defences of the facility, the fences were no problem but the mine fields had to be taken slower, with their exceptional vision and sense of smell, the force began to pick out where the defending troops were located around and through the inner cordon.

The Vaga boys that had been keeping an eye on the facility while waiting for the force to arrive, were also taking up positions on the other side of the compound, their task was to take out any and all resistance from that side while Peters force would attack the entrance it self, from the reports so far, Peter knew that there were approximately twenty five troops around the guard ring, some hidden in set places among the close by woods, others were standing guard in and around heavily sand bagged fixed positions close to the large main doors.

Much to the amusement of the Vaga Wolves, the defending troops had six large guard dogs running free around the defence positions, it took only a few low sub vocal growls to get the six dogs attention, as the guard dogs back hair bristled and their mouths began to open with snarls of challenge, the Vaga Wolves let out low snarls of their own but these were loaded with threats and danger to the six dogs, as though they were one, the six dogs whimpered and then turned tail and ran for the protection of their handlers, their innate animal instincts told them they were no competition for what was hiding in those dark woods.

At the reaction of the guard dogs, the six handlers became very alert, their trust in their dogs was absolute and for the dogs to come sunning in evident fear meant there was danger for all of them close by, by the time they could start to pin point the threat it was already to late, only a few screams and yelps echoing through the still night told the other troops that something was up, for the outer guard of men and dogs, it was the last time they saw the night or breathed in the scent of the woods, their end was swift and other wise silent as the Vaga Wolves struck with the wildness and viciousness of the were folk, two of the werewolves stayed to feed as it was far past their feeding time and they had been slavering at the mouth as the smelt the enemy so close.

At the same time as the Vaga attack, peter and his own force began to take out the other guards, the snipers were well hidden and had taken up positions of advantage to eradicate the guards further away from the door, the battle began with the far guards dropping one by one as the snipers worked their magic with night visions copes as Peters folk went into action in the only way they knew, while the battle was short and sharp, the folk did not go unhurt, the two sand bagged bunkers at the entrance caused a moment of trouble until Peter, Swiftwing and Sin Yu used their abilities to get into the bunkers and quickly laid to rest any resistance, from the most senior of the two surviving troopers, Peter pulled the coding of the doorway and then removed the needed card from the mans shirt pocket, in minutes the great steel doors were starting to lift as Peters force got ready for further combat with those still in side.

As the doors rose outside, Leo was very slowly cutting through the chest strap, as he felt the tightness begin to release he went into his change, while the four scientists were still in deep discussion over their first results, none saw the black cat emerge from under the now loose straps, the first they knew of something different came from the deep throated snarl behind them, as they turned towards the table their faces became a visage of horror and terror, on the floor staring at them with baleful eyes was the biggest black Panther they would much rather not see in the confines of the laboratory.

Their terror increased further as the cat slowly stalked towards the four terrified men as they looked around for the doorway to escape, slowly it dawned on them that the slowly stalking cat was between them and the door, one of the men made a rash decision to run for the tranquilizer gun, in the blink of an eye the black cat was savagely tearing the man to pieces as the other three stood rooted to the spot, unable to move at the horror in front of them.

The blood flowed freely as the cat took a few large mouth full's for his own use while at the same time keeping his bright green eyes on the others as they stood in fear and watched the cat feed on the remains of their associate scientist, it was not a pretty sight and the stomachs of the remaining three were churning at the bloody mess on the floor.

With a final lick of its lips with the long pink tongue, the cat growled deep in its black furred chest as it moved forward and forced the men to retreat towards the nearby corner, once they had their backs hard against the wall behind them, the cat began to shimmer and quickly changed again into the small thin Leo, the smile on the boys face was both amusing and scary at the same time to the terrified scientists.

Leo pointed to one of the terrified men.

"You; go and release my friends and don't try to run for the door or you will end up like your friend, I'm still hungry."

Leo smiled another one of his semi snarls and let his fangs drop and his face begin to elongate as he looked at the man, it took little more to convince the scientist to obey the young teen without making any overt moves towards the doorway, quickly he pushed the right buttons and the two remaining cells were soon open, Dani could not help himself and changed his form immediately and stalked towards the scientist he thought was the leader, the heavy rank smell or urine filled the room as the three remaining men saw the size of the wolf boy as he changed, had they been able to direct their terrified gaze else where they would have seen something more to worry about, but they could not keep their eyes from the distorted vision of the large wolf.

The scientist at the switch board hardly had time to register the fact he was suddenly in the grip of the young pale teen before he felt the twin fangs bury deeply into his neck, too his surprise he almost felt ecstatic as he felt his life's blood begin drained from him by the boy who had seemed to appear right before him from thin air.

Leo was the first to speak as the man under Reece's hands slipped to floor totally drained; Reece wiped a hand over his lips to clear away the final few drops of the fresh blood and sighed with satisfaction.

"What about you Dani, are you hungry?"

The wolf, Dani, changed back to his teen form and smiled at the last two horror filled scientists.

"Nah, I'm good, just pissed; what we going to do with these two?"

Reece was the first to speak in his soft almost boyish voice.

"If we leave them they are only going to try again and we can't have that happening to any of our people."

Dani slowly nodded his head as he looked at the two men still trying to force their way into the wall for protection, the front of their once spotlessly clean trousers now wet and smelling of urine, Dani contemplated them for a few more silent minutes and then with a shrug of his shoulders, changed again into his wolf form, he moved so fast the two men never saw it coming, with two quick swipes of his sharp claws, Dani almost decapitated the two men then changed back into his human form.

"Well what do we do now?" Leo asked the others.

"Get the fuck out of here for a start." Dani replied

"You two should change back into your forms, we could meet a bit of resistance trying to get out of here." Reece told the others.

With a nod of agreement, the two boys changed back into their animal form, while in this form they were almost indestructible where as in their human form they could be severely damaged and would take days to heal properly if hurt badly enough, the three boys made for the doorway, Reece being the smallest of the three now that the other two had taken on their animal form, looked carefully around the door, the passage was empty and so the other two took the lead, they had no idea which way to go so just followed the passage until the could find directions to the surface.

Meanwhile, at the main door, Peter and his men had their hands full, the inner guards were well positioned and protected by inner armed bunkers that were made from bullet proof glass and thick armoured steel barriers, the possibilities for entry looked grim at best, the heavy machine guns and large calibre rifles were keeping up a deadly barrage as soon as one of the folk showed them selves in any way, these troops had been assigned here for that one single reason, nothing unauthorised from the outside was to enter at any cost.

Peter stood back from the door and called his friends together, it was Swiftwing that came up with the obvious answer, after a quick discussion on the how's and why's, Swiftwing began his own change, it took only seconds before his body disappeared into his familiar green mist, the others waited out of sight of those defenders inside as Swiftwing used his Shaman abilities to slowly drift unnoticed inside the complex and work his way slowly towards the unsuspecting defenders in their secure, or so they thought, bunkers.

At the same time as Swiftwing's change, the three escapees were making their way through the myriad passages until, finally, Reece looked carefully around a corner and spotted an elevator at the far end of the long passage, also at the elevator were two armed guards who were standing stoically by the closed doors.

Reece looked at his two companions, Dani in his wolf form let his large mouth open in the semblance of a wolf smile and pushed forward, these two were his and so, with the speed only a werewolf can generate, he started his run towards the two guards, the length of the passage allowed the guards to see him coming but the sight of a very large wolf running free in a sealed complex, unsettled the two humans, even so, they managed to raise their firearms and started to take aim at the wild animal charging towards them with a snarl on its huge muzzle.

There was only one short burst of fire from the two guards before Dani was on them, the five bullets that struck him in the chest did not even slow down his attack and the snarling wolf soon dispatched the two men, as he waited for his two friends to join him, Dani could feel the spent bullets dropping from his chest onto the floor and the open wounds healing as he waited.

While the other two were looking at the elevator, Reece spent the time to quickly remove the two combat knives from the bodies on the floor, once done he joined the other two boys in time to see they were on the bottom floor so the only way was up, stepping into the elevator, Leo pushed the up button with a black paw and settled in for the ride, two minutes later and the elevator slowed to a halt at the highest level, as the doors opened the three boys heard the loud sound of firing from further away down another long passage, with a shrug of their shoulders they began to make their way towards the sound of battle.

Peter waited patiently hidden behind they large door as Swiftwing began to melt into his mist form, any other form would have been almost suicide, even with their regenerative powers they would still have lost men as the fire power was fast and furious every time someone showed a part of their bodies, Peter took a quick glance around the corner, far to fast for the defenders to react, Swiftwing's misty form slowly crept along the floor towards the barricades, Peter still did not know how Swiftwing was able to make his double Kama disappear with him when he took this form, it was one of the mysteries of his boy friend.

With infinite slowness, the thin tendril of mist drew closer to the first bunker, it then began to wrap around the edge and disappear under the sealed door, another fast glance showed Peter the tendril growing in size behind the backs of the first of the defenders then continue to fill the bunker with its green mist, another fast glance and Peter saw the men in the bunker start to realise all was not well in the defensive point, suddenly they realised they had an intruder but, by then it was to late as Swiftwing took form and began his attack with both Kama swinging freely, the last image any of the men had was of a wild looking Indian kid attacking them with two strange tomahawks, ten seconds later and the bunker was silent, Peter again watched as a thin tendril of green mist left the bunker and started to work its way towards the second one.

As Peter was about to pull his head back, Movement further down the passage caught his eye, there, as bright as brass, were three of the folk, Peter began to wonder how on earth three of his men got inside behind the enemy and then it struck him and he smiled, one Vampire, one Wolf, and one Panther, the boys had freed them selves, another glance and he saw the look of relish run over the three approaching young Vaga folk, they had their own plan as they advanced behind the last line of the enemy.

The number of bunkers in the long passage was going to take Swiftwing some time to clear but no, with the three captives advancing from the rear and obviously in the mood for a fight, the end was that much closer, every one present knew that this was no time for mercy and that every one of the captors was going to pay with his life, so far, Peter had been lucky to only lose two of the Folk and with the addition of the three Vaga from the rear, this was going to a lot less painful for all of them.

Swiftwing's mist disappeared into the second of the bunkers just as the three Vaga boys reached the rear most bunker, as Swiftwing's form took shape, the three Vaga attacked the rear most bunker with speed and power, the door was wrenched off its supports by the Vampire boy and the Wolf and Panther were through the door before the men inside could react, in the second bunker, Swiftwing was doing his thing with the two Kama, but, Peter also noticed that now the other defenders were taking notice of the mayhem in front of them although they had not as yet looked behind them.

As the mist of Swiftwing left the second bunker, a heavy fire from the others started to try and break up the green mist, it was a useless effort as the mist just flowed around the hard hitting bullets as they struck the concrete floor in a shower of sparks and chips of concrete and still the mist flowed towards them, one adventurous soldier tried a flame thrower and still the mist advanced, Peter could now clearly see the panic on the faces of the soldiers as Swiftwing's mist form reached another bunker.

The defenders of this third bunker tried desperately to seal the door but the mist continued to seep inside, finally the four men turned their weapons on the mist waiting for it to solidify into the form they had see earlier, in the many other bunkers the firing stopped as they watched the one in front, this was the chance Peter had been waiting for, he only hoped Swiftwing would keep his mist form and not try to take on the four soldiers while they were ready for him.

Peter along with two wolves and three Vampires made a run for the first and second bunkers, their sudden rush caused the other defenders to take note of the advancing force and they opened up with everything they had but were far too late to have any effect as Peters small group made the safety of the empty bunkers, the distraction was enough for Swiftwing to materialise and take out the four stunned soldiers and then back to his mist.

The three Vaga folk had by now taken two more of the reinforced positions, the net was starting to tighten and the defenders knew it, they also realised that they were fighting for their lives, the sheer brutality of the attack and the resulting mayhem left them with little doubt as to their own futures, most were by now unsure if even surrender would do them any good as the Demons of dreams were now coming at them from both sides.

Peter and the other folk could now smell the fear as it permeated the long wide passage of the entrance, it appeared that the green mist that turned into a semi naked Indian with two sharp blades was bad enough but now, from behind they were being attacked by three others, the least of the worries were the two animals, one a panther and the other a large wolf but, what really hit home was the small fame of a young teen that had the strength of more than three grown men and could move faster than a bullet, he was their worst fear, the same small teen showed absolutely no mercy as he buried two long fangs into the men and tore at their throats with apparent relish, this more than the other horrors spread fear into the defenders.

The time was fast approaching when the defenders had to make a decision, keep firing and die a horrible death where they stood, or hope they could surrender and survive, the slow decimation of the defending forces was taking its toll along with the horror of what they had so far seen of the nightmarish folk and what they were capable of, it was looking like the last stand of Custer, no where to go and little hope of surrender, the last remaining Officer looked about, his force had now been decimated to the last thirty men, those on duty outside had to be assumed lost before the attack started inside.

It was the loud growls and snarls of the three attackers from the rear that made up the Officers mind, with little hope but no where else to go, he called his men to cease firing, the sporadic shots tapered off as the order went through the com units, the sudden silence brought Peter to his feet from behind the fourth bunker where he and the others had made it so far, Swiftwing was standing in the sixth one with the fresh blood dripping of his two Kama, the three Vaga boys paused as the firing stopped and looked towards where Peter stood up.

The front of Reece's shirt was soaked with the blood of his defeated foes, Leo and Dani transformed back into their normal looking visages, they also showed blood around their mouths and fronts, to any not used to the feeding habits of the folk, the three boys looked to be covered in gore, it was the smile on their young faces that really scared the last of the defenders, that and the sight of the young semi naked Indian boy who was also covered in the blood of his enemies, it was a messy and frightening sight, even for those soldiers who were veterans of overseas wars.

Hesitantly, the Officer stepped out of his bunker and called out for the leader of the attackers, when he saw the young "fifteen" year old boy step forward, eh started to have doubts about his own sanity, could this be real, a hand full of kids did this to trained professional soldiers, even allowing for the demons behind them and the weird and strange habits of the Indian boy, all he now saw in front of him was a group of young teens, not one of them seemed to be into his late teens or early twenties, had his force of well trained and highly skilled soldiers been beaten to a standstill by kids?

The Officer stepped forward on very unsteady legs as he saw Peter walk towards him, he was still shaken that this small group of youngsters could account for more than ninety well armed troops, but his eyes had seen the carnage they had wrought and the fact that now he had seen with his own eyes at the hideous and brutal forms they could take when under attack, he had no defence against them, the Officers shoulders slumped when he finally realised he and his men were at the mercy of a young teen boy, he straightened his shoulders and walked towards where Peter waited just by the last bunker to be taken, he watched as the Indian boy came out and stood beside the younger one.

"My name is Captain Barnett, who am I addressing?"

Peter spoke up and decided to take a softer tone with the older man, he had no need to eradicate all of the remaining forces, the savagery of their attack would tell its own story when it got back to President Simmons, beside he was sure they did not have the time to mess around before reinforcements arrived, the facility must have been able to get a message out when the attack started and Peter did not want to hang around to see the results of that message.

"I am Poitr Vladd of the House of Vladd, if you offer your surrender, Captain, I will ensure your safety, we are only here for the three boys behind you, let them pass and we will leave, there's no need for further bloodshed."

"You can guarantee our safety and survival, Master Vladd?"

"You will find my word is good Captain, ask your men to lay down their arms and move aside to let us leave and none will be harmed by us, the decision is yours Captain."

Captain Barnett turned and ordered the release of arms, the men being well trained to follow orders did as they were commanded and then the survivors stepped aside as Leo, Dani and Reece walked past them to join Peter and Swiftwing, Peter looked over at the Captain.

"Thank you Captain, we're leaving now, you can tend to your men, they'll not be harmed any more as long as they don't do anything stupid as we leave."

"Thank you Master Vladd, there's one thing I would like to ask you though?"

"And that is?"

"Why are there no adults with you, this seems a little odd for young teens to attack a government facility?"

Peter smiled openly at the Captain as he answered.

"We are not as you8ng as we seem, Captain"

Peter turned with his friends and left quickly leaving a stunned and confused Officer behind them, this would leave an unanswered question for the Captain for as long as he lived, not one of the boys he had seen could truly be called an adult, of that he was sure, the frown on his face stayed there as he watched the backs of the boys disappear into the darkness of the surrounding woods, within a minute there was no sign or sound of any of the weird folk, only the remains of the blood and gore convinced the Captain that the attack had really happened.

Half and hour before sunrise saw Peter and his force sleeping in the light proofed jet and on their way back to the City of Stone and the two waiting boys who were reincarnated gods of the ancient civilisation.

Artcart65@vodafone.co.nz