Night job (History for Zera/Aaron) The howl wasn't meant to frighten. Although, it could easily be meant to warn. There was something big and nasty coming, and the howler wanted all good creatures to stay indoors, at least for a little while.
The howl swept through the small town and was followed by the quiet. The quiet of a town waiting for destruction. Or the possibility of destruction.
They'd been sent out a few days ago to discover who was taking the children of a little town in the US. Some nowhere spot that rested dangerously close to a ley line. Logic would dictate that the town should either be larger, more important, or just plain crazy. The supes count was lower than should be - the reason the Tower watched it.
Now children were going missing.
"Right." Aaron bounced a little as he pulled on the bottom half of his attire; he did want to be presentable while they walked through the town of Chesterton. His Scottish accent a hint thicker than his more professional one; it usually was post shift. "Now we see what idiot is walking round after that, yeah?"
---
Zera's eyes scanned rooftops and nearby trees, detecting no signs of life. She'd half expected for something to move when Aaron made that sound of his. She'd seen it scare out the prey more than once. It was unsettling if you weren't used to it, and sometimes even if you were. It used to startle her every time, now she just had the side effect of goosebumps every once in a while.
The town was a little bit too small for her. She was not quite normal enough for it. People knew right away that she was different in towns like this. There was no hiding. No playing up the harmless eccentric. Then they started to talk among themselves about her. Whispering as she wandered by. Which, of course, was not really whispering to her ears.
"Any bets?" She glanced at Aaron. They'd been partners for a long time. They had their own language. Their own non-verbal cues. She understood things he was trying to tell her when he was in his other form. It was nice. "Think it might be kobolds?"
--- The large man gave something of a shake which might have made more sense in a wolf, as if he were shaking something off. He was.
"Kobolds?" Why such small things should bother such a large man was a good question, and one he wouldn't answer if asked by a stranger. Zera had probably heard the story of a slighted kobold giving him shit, literal shit, a time or two. He hated being at the mercy of something so small. Brownies were helpful, and Aaron could be pretty damn respectful. Just...there were times...
"So, we have a town that pissed off their home spirits?" He gave the vampire a smile. He reached over and gave her shirt a light tug. "Or you thinking something more sinister? I'd say a pied fuckin' piper. Vermin count is down." He'd done a quick round of the city, smelling what he could.
The piper might have been on the wolf's wish/bucket list of catches. Some had merfolk; his was the piper.
---
"You just want it to be a Piper so you can say you finally bagged one." Zera rolled her eyes. "I think the evidence points to something worse than that. A Piper would have taken more than one kid at a time, and there's been no deal that we know of with the residents here. It's gotta be something that started small and worked its way up to kids. I think the adults are the next step in that particular evolution. What would eat a whole town?"
Besides vampires, of course. Zera knew that a nest could do that. Would, actually. But she didn't know of a vampire, let alone a whole nest, who would eat anything that wasn't human. Sure, they could survive on it, but it was just so fucking nasty.
She was in work mode, but the ribbing about the kobolds had been instinctive. She couldn't help it. They had to do some actual investigating before the sun came up, though, so she let the teasing fall to the wayside. She could do that later. At her leisure, which mean at great length.
---
"A Piper would be fuckin' awesome." Aaron smiled, not at all minding bringing in something or someone that hadn't been seen in centuries. He wasn't buying the idea that Aramis and Simmons found one in Siberia. He refused to believe it, seeing as he hadn't met the Piper.
"A nest." He wasn't being cruel. It was simply a possibility. "Though what nest starts with the small shit and works up? A nest of kid vampires?" His nose wrinkled at the idea of it. He could handle vampires, but the sickos who made children into nightwalkers were disgusting and deserved to be put down. The idea of ending the childlike bloodsuckers sent chills down his spine.
He moved closer to brush hand over the back of Zera's head and shoulder. Just a quick touch. He had nothing against vampires who didn't cause problems. Just like he didn't have a problem with wolves who stayed social, didn't go violent or rogue. Every creature had to walk a certain line after all; it was what was best, right for the world.
"The howl should have done something. I feel nothing moving. You?" It was eerie that the howl had gotten little to no reaction; it was as if things were just waiting. "Trap?" His head tilted slightly to the town square not far from where they were.
---
Zera nodded. She wasn't at all surprised when Aaron said what she'd been thinking. They had this knack. Maybe it was because they worked so well together, or maybe they worked so well together because of it. It was hard to say. It was like a much more complicated version of the chicken and the egg. She supposed it didn't really matter in the long run. The vampire nodded again when he mentioned the kid vampires. Kids were a tricky bunch when they were turned. Some of them were demure and scared to hurt anybody. Others were creatures far more vicious than any grown up vampire she'd ever seen before.
Aaron's touch reassured her that he wasn't doubting her. He never did, he had always had faith in her. From the time he'd found her, he'd never given up. He'd encouraged her, pushed her toward what he knew she could be. And held her up when she'd slipped. Aaron was, quite simply, the best thing that had ever happened to her. She supposed that she could argue that without her maker, she would have never met him, but she couldn't thank that bastard for much of anything.
"No." She scanned again. There was nothing her eyes could see, or her ears could hear. She sensed nothing around them. It was eerie. Zera followed Aaron's indication and took a deep breath that she didn't need. "So totally a trap."
---
"And I just bought these pants." Humor was a good way to get through something like this. Or certainly getting through the waiting period that always seemed to come before the springing of a trap. He sighed softly.
"Let's see just what we're up against before I go feral, yeah?" He was already nudging himself toward the change. Just enough to heighten his sense, to add a little power to his punches. It wasn't a true in between state like so many stories attributed to the werewolf. It was simply an increase in endorphin really. Probably a few other chemicals. There was a definite increase in the disturbing feel of predator, or there would be if Aaron were the regular werewolf. In Aaron, it was simply a presence. It bothered some, but most felt a comfort. Thankfully the large man had learned how to use the effect; he could usually control rather or not it would feel like support in battle or a dulling of anxiety and anger depending on his "target." Perhaps it was more that the other person or people understood who and what he was.
"Remember, no killing until we get answers." His accent was thicker, more notably by those who knew him. "Unless they're actually going to kill you." He gave her a wink and continued on to the square. It was a little brazen, but that seemed to be the only way to find out exactly what was going on. Now and then he'd sense something, but so much to process, that something kept slipping away somehow.
---
Zera smiled a bit. She liked that Aaron could find a way to bring humor to pretty much any situation they found themselves in. She liked his general calming properties. It had really made a lot of things less violent than they might have been. The combination of the two things was very helpful in their line of work.
"Yes, let's." She thought that going into this situation with him already wolfy would be a bad idea, if they could talk their way out of anything, big teeth weren't going to help out. Even the most scary of scarys tended to react badly to a giant wolf. It didn't matter how much Zera tried to assure them that he wasn't a mean pup. He was just intimidating to look at.
"No killing until we get answers." She agreed. It might have been the less fun route, but Aaron was right. They needed to know what was going on, and it was very difficult to get answers from the dead. Not impossible, just harder than it needed to be.
---
The large man breathed slowly in, preparing himself for the crazy that was about to hit. There was always crazy when he got that feeling. That little feeling that trailed down his spine when he knew he was walking into and through something nasty.
He reached out again to lightly touch his partner's shoulder, just a brushing of fingers before stepping away, giving room. The vampire needed room to fight if it came down to it. He took another deep breath and stepped into the square. The moment he did he felt a shift in the air.
He growled as the smell hit him. Death and rot. A figure sat in the center of the square; he hadn't seen it before, meaning that feeling was his passing through a cloaking spell of some sort. It was a trap after all.
"So, the Tower sends a lovely sacrifice. How good of it." The voice was a mix of many, all children. Other figures were coming from the shadows, all too tall to be the owners of those blended voices. Here were the adults, all the adults?
---
The tension in Zera made her flinch a little when Aaron touched her. She glanced at him with an apology in her eyes. She always got a little uptight when there was violence close at hand. Throwbacks to what she'd been before he'd found her. She did her best to keep it in, to keep it curbed, but there were always some bits of it that leaked out. She knew that Aaron hadn't been trying to trigger it, hence the silent apology.
She smelled it almost at the same time that Aaron did. If she'd hackles to raise like he did, they would have been standing at attention. It was sickening, the potency of it much more than it should have been. She wondered how it could have ever been masked. Must have been one hell of a spell. Or maybe one hell of a power behind it.
Zera tensed when she spotted what had to be the source. Her body went absolutely rigid when the talking started. It was beyond eerie.
---
Aaron didn't mind the flinch. He'd rather have her prepared and ready, and he knew eventually the new recruit would channel tensions into being more aware, not just ready for action. He gave Zera a wink and a smile, not the most appropriate time for such signs of affection, but Aaron wasn't known for being the most conventional.
His attention now was on the creature. It was no human, even if it was currently riding in one, or by the sounds of it many. He could take on many adults at once, even as a human or sometimes specially as a human; just because he could didn't mean he wanted to. He took a few steps closer, but the smell was moving quickly to unbearable. Aaron was no scavenger; fresh meat could start the big man drooling, but the rot and fester made him sick and angry.
"Sad that one of you is already dead. We will find a use for you, pretty child." The voices were just as sickening. The hint of wails in those child like voices suggested the children had not died, if they were dead at all, peacefully.
"We want you to release this town. It would be better for all involved." Aaron knew that even if he and his partner did not make it out, the Tower would send more to investigate and shut this whole operation down. "We can find a place for you to--"
"This is our place! These are our people! Destroy them!" Aaron had tried to reason; he always tried the peaceful approach first. The creature wanted none of it; they rarely did when death was part of their m.o.
The adults started moving and in some cases shambling toward the pair. The ones that moved more slowly also seemed to be gnashing their teeth, as if they were already chewing the meat they found on the bones of the people they attacked.
---
Zera did not at all like the sound of that. She didn't want to be used for anything by this... whatever the fuck this was. And she did NOT want to be called pretty by it, either. That made her skin crawl. Aaron's confidence, and his not-so-subtle flirt, did help though. It grounded the vampire in the here and now, and she relaxed a little. Not a lot. And when the full force of the stench really hit her, she tensed right back up. It was horrible. The smell of death and decay had never really done anything for her. Just informed her that something wasn't right. Blood, yes, that could get to her and trigger her hunger, but meat? Not her thing.
She was admittedly out of her depth here. She had no idea what they were facing, or how they needed to kill it.
And now all she could focus on was the threats toward her and Aaron. Zera wasn't sure if she could kill the creature with her bare hands, but she was very willing to try. She was also very willing to take out every single one of the townspeople who were currently coming their way.
She needed guidance. Zera glanced at Aaron. If he signaled to hold back, she'd put them down but leave them alive. If he gave her the full go-ahead, she was taking them all out. As quickly as possible.
---
"As little damage as possible." Aaron knew they might have to kill on almost any mission/case they were sent on, but he liked to keep the damage to a minimum. It meant less paperwork, for one.
"End them. Spare only their hearts. We want a taste." Aaron growled at this command. He didn't step in front of Zera; recruits didn't learn much if they were always protected, but he would die before letting anyone take the vampire's heart. Not that it would do much. A removed heart was just as much dust as the rest when removed. Though he had heard rumors of some ritual that allowed them to preserve heart and all.
As one of the gnashers came close, the large man swatted it aside, managing to keep from wretching at the squelching feeling and sound that came from impact. They weren't whole; they felt as rotten as this place smelled. The non-gnashers stood back; some mumbled, others held weapons.
The creature on the throne stood up in it. It was little more than a toddler, and when the light finally caught it from some window - people had decided to watch the show - it was indeed a toddler. One that had aged, skin sagging, eyes cloudy with cataracts. The throne it stood on was bits of animal, ranging from bird wings to cow heads with lolling tongues. Beside the throne was a woman who looked just as worse for wear as the child.
"Her!" It was only a guess that the woman was the starting problem, but parents could do some crazy things when it came to children.
---
A small nod. Just so he could see that she'd heard. She didn't want him to be fearful that she was rushing out into battle without acknowledging the instructions. She'd had problems with that at first. Just doing what came naturally, getting in trouble for so many people dead at her hands when it could have maybe been resolved another way. Though she'd stand by most of her decisions from even then.
The intention changed a bit, though, when the creature commanded the hearts to be kept. It was more the threat to Aaron than the threat to herself. Zera didn't really care about her own life and well being most of the time. She could give or take life on the best of her days. But Aaron? He was precious to her, even if he didn't know it. He had saved her, and then there had been more. Feelings.
The vampire visibly flinched when the werewolf made contact with the ... whatever it was. The sound, the smell, the sensation the air had after its destruction. It was all bad. They weren't really zombies, or at least they weren't zombies of any sort that she'd encountered before.
Maybe the rest of them could live. Be returned to something like normal. Or maybe they couldn't. Zera knew one thing, though. That woman was not going to be alive at the end of this. She rushed forward through the crowd, bent on taking out the mother. The child would be dealt with after.
---
Aaron didn't take much time to consider what was going on. He worked on making a hole in the attackers for his not so secret weapon. Zera was dangerous, and he could trust her to be ruthless, which was what the situation seemed to require. Take out the parent, take out the child. He would protect the little vampire girl, no, woman. He would make sure she survived if it was the last thing he did.
He growled, forcing the wolf down yet drawing on its strength and ferocity. He knew if the fight went on too long he'd have to shed his humanity and give into the animal. He didn't want to give in to it just yet; he needed to keep his head.
Whatever was at work in the square was actually dampening Aaron's natural calming nature. There had been times the darker magics had had an opposite effect, or it just pushed Aaron in such a way that he overcame the upsetting sensations for not just himself but also those with him. He had been able to settle dangerous situations that way. This was not the case in the square.
The large man bit down on a cry of pain as one of the dead things bit him. He didn't think about the possible implications. He just yanked away, wincing when he realized the rotting teeth were still in his arm. His attacker now toothless.
"More! More! We like this!" The toddler bounced a little on its throne. The mother crouched swayed, stepping forward a little as if to meet the vampire coming for her.